Tigershark_BAS

Excellent points. I don't disagree with anything you pointed out. Wait...did we just have a sensible debate on the offtopic forums without an "incident". Holy shit.....*marks red cross on calendar*

I wasn't going to weigh in on this....although I did vote. I want to build a little upon what Ebud mentioned in his post. Yes..the proprietry format sucks and it's lack of compatibility with other formats other than MP3 and AIFF. However, if you look at the device holistically it has so much more value than just a music player. A lot may also depend on the device you sync it to. As many of you are syncing it with a Windows PC I understand why you may not be getting the full benefit from it. Personally, I have the 30gb video iPod. Syncing it with iTunes on Mac also synchronsises the std calendar application, all my contacts from the std. contacts manager and also easily synchrosnises with several iPhoto libraries I have (std. photo manager). This means when I'm traveling I can carry photos of family, girlfriend of the moment and of course, porn....I mean, other important photos. This all happens seamlessly. With Windows this is a bit of a challenge as it requires MS Outlook and I think photos require manual updating. As a frequent traveler having all this updated and then coupled with the power of podcasting and in particular VIDEO podcasting makes this device the unequivocal winner for me. When I am briefly home, sync the iPod and get access to to my weekly video podcasts of diggnation and Ask a Ninja in order to watch on the train to the airport and on the plane. I believe that podcasting is the biggest draw card of the iPod. Do you need an iPod for a podcast. Well...in theory no...it could be any device....but it's the combination of iTunes and iPod syncing and the fact it is all seamless to me as the user that makes the device so appealing to me. I am also one of those "fools" that buys music from the store. The "price point" (to use a buzzword) of the music and individual tracks is right for me. I don't mind paying the 1 dollar for not having to go through the torrent bullshit and ghost files and viruses. But hey...that's just me. I know I won't have won over the haters but for what it's worth, these are my impressions of my iPod use and benefit I gain from it. In summary I get the following benefits as a frequent traveller with the iPod: - Full list of contacts including all numbers, email addys, snail mail addy, birthdays and a picture of the contact if added in the Mac contacts app. - Full list of events added to Mac calendar app - Photo albums synchronised with albums created in iPhoto. Useful for when you miss friends, family, the g/f (or gf's) of the moment. - Updated podcasts and video podcasts that pass the time on trains and planes. The screen is small but appreciate the entertainment on short haul flights with no onboard entertainment. - Ability to plug it into TV's in hotels to see video podcasts on larger screens. - Used as external hard drive for file transfer between laptops on the road...and for important files. Oh and yes....I am an Apple whore...I'll pimp it any chance I get....because for me...it is true when they say "it just works". It does suck royally at games though. Which is why I can never totally will give up a Windows machine.

No Playboy doesn't make dildos. (ok that was a very bad joke) I'm looking forward to ArmA, nothing else the gaming industry is boring. He he he he he What's a dildo?

I vote FPS. You're job is as a Stealth operative on a special poontang mission. Your job is get "in" and then "out" whilst causing maximum pleasure and escaping and evading the husband. Dayum...I missed my calling in life. I should be writing for trashy video game houses. Does Playboy have a electronic entertainment arm?

Oh....I forgot this other game too.....can't remember the name. It's like an RTS / FPS hybrid set in the times of the Greeks and Romans. You can play as a "hero" like Achilles when attacking a city. Is it Rise of Legends?

Hey guys, I recall a conversation once in this thread regarding in-camera effects editing vs. external processing/editing. Found this the other day. It's a discussion of JPG vs. RAW shooting. Makes for an interesting read and he does bring up some good points. Enjoy. RAW vs JPG Article

Spore...looks interesting but I also fear the same as Messy. God games are fun...but only for a little while after which they become boring. But Will Wright does seem to building into the product Net interactivity which mean you will get see what other creatures people are building. I think he is trying to address this issue so I'm keeping an open mind. Crysis also interests me if only to see if it is more than just eye-candy/porn. If it has some real meat behind it. Other than that...not much. Armed Assault may be interesting but I'm finding it hard to believe it aint just vanilla OFP with a modernised graphics engine. I hope I am surprised that it aint but i suspect it will be. Game2 is another story though...big hopes for that.

Very nice work. Land textures look nice and nice to see the variance of building around the landscape. Well done!

Any news on this?

Isn't it called "bounding overwatch". Or does that not apply to large formations?

Any news on this? Hellfish...any idea of a release date?

Wormbyte, I am interested in the challenge this represents and will begin some prototype work this weekend. I am planning to do this in Visual Basic and have an idea of some of the extra functionality this tool would need to make it truly excellent. My time is limited too and I can't promise anything. So there are 2 options. 1. Somebody else works on this in parallel as a backup to if one doesn't get finished. 2. If any other VB programmers are interested we can turn this into an open source pooled resource effort. Any takers....anyone know VB? The challenge for me so far is programming graphics in VB. Never needed to do this before and though it is not difficult I will be on a learning curve which will make development slower than normal. Also been a while since I touched VB (or programmed for that matter) but it is a challenge that interests me and we will have developed a niche piece of software for which a need exists but nothing (other than worm's Flash app) has been made. Any volunteers?

Bet your "bazookas" it is

Good questions Gnat!

Rainbow6:The Saddam Trials The R6 team take a well deserved break and watch the comical extrvaganza that is the Saddam Hussein war crime trial. They witness the extraordinary comic genius of Saddam as he belittles every witness and protests his innocence whilst signing future death orders for those who take the stand.

Coming Soon: Rainbow6:Playboy Mansion The rainbow team is charged with using their "guns" and finding as many "bazookas" as they can in the terrorist haven known as The Playboy Mansion Rainbow6:Cheney Quail Ranch The R6 team is given the unique challenge of dismantling explosive quail pens whilst the ever present threat of Vice President buckshot hangs in the air. Rainbow6:New Orleans The R6 does Navy Seals training and learns to swim through carcass infested waters in order to liberate white food "appropriators" and eliminate the African American "looter" threat. Please note: This is all in good fun and terribly sarcastic. Think before flaming me please.

Thanks worm.....and the C and R buttons?

OK wormbyte. Couple of questions. Is this the final map in your Flash program? If not, can you provide me the proper map? Also...what do the "C" and "R" buttons do exactly. Not sure I understand their function.

worm..any update on this?

Wormbyte, What was the original coded in? Any details on the technology behind it? Would you release your source code for others to modify it in a Open Source Software kind of model. Do you have a design document for the original? Can you post a download of the original so we can see it's functionality?

I'm with ya there eb! That's why I've been playing a lot more CS:S and DoD:S in my spare time as well as OFP. Realistic? No. Nice mature community? Hell no (although there are exceptions) but Fun? Yes. I think it's important to not be so snobby. We know OFP is good but that shouldn't stop us from having fun. The only exception to this rule is when someone clearly takes a backward step in realism such as the Rainbow6 franchise. Then they deserve what they get in these forums

Albert...while I agree with much of what you say I can't help but think.....dude...didn't take your happy pills this morning?

BBC Article

Addons funded by DARPA. If it's anything like our Coalescent Tech. friends whoever is making them for DARPA is probably taking community addons, re-packaging them as their own and then selling them for ridiculous amounts of money to the US military. Â Sad to say many BAS addons went on to make a lot of money for these questionable business practictioners

Another article in Washington Post regarding increasing relaince of games as training tools in the US Military Virtual Reality Prepares Soldiers for Real War