firehose

Call of Duty "has almost ruined a generation of shooter players.":

It’s the gameplay mechanics that they become used to. The way that players instantly accelerate when they move, they don’t build up speed. “The weapons really don’t have a lot of power” [in RO2]. They’re all very weak. The way they handle… They’re like: “I hate Red Orchestra, I can’t play it.” Well, why? “Because the guy doesn’t move like he does in Call of Duty. Call of Duty has greatmovement.” Why is it great? “Because it just is, I just like the way it works.” So you don’t like the momentum system in Red Orchestra? “Yeah, it sucks, it’s clunky, it’s terrible.” Well, why? “It’s just because I’m used to this.”

I make it sound like there was a combative conversation, probably because I get a little emotional when I think about it. But it was really a calm discussion of, “What don’t you like?” and “It doesn’t feel like Call of Duty.” Almost every element boiled down to “it doesn’t feel like Call of Duty.” And really, watching some of these guys play… one of the things that Call of Duty does, and it’s smart business, to a degree, is they compress the skill gap. And the way you compress the skill gap as a designer is you add a whole bunch of randomness. A whole bunch of weaponry that doesn’t require any skill to get kills. Random spawns, massive cone fire on your weapons. Lots of devices that can get kills with zero skill at all, and you know, it’s kind of smart to compress your skill gap to a degree. You don’t want the elite players to destroy the new players so bad that new players can never get into the game and enjoy it. I’m looking at you, Dota. [laughs] Sorry.

But the skill gap is so compressed, that it’s like a slot machine. You might as well just sit down at a slot machine and have a thing that pops up an says “I got a kill!” They’ve taken individual skill out of the equation so much. So you see these guys—I see it all the time, they come in to play Red Orchestra, and they’re like “This game’s just too hardcore. I’m awesome at Call of Duty, so there’s something wrong with your game. Because I’m not successful at playing this game, so it must suck. I’m not the problem, it’s your game.”

Really interesting article that addresses many of the reasons I don’t enjoy FPS games like I used to, and it doesn’t even have to get into the shit-talking little pukes who ruin the online experience for so many other reasons.

caringspiritfox:

Omfg. Look at my new book! So excited to start reading this.

When Did Indians Become Straight? is a theoretically rich text with complex renderings of what is at stake in the way kinship, sexuality, tradition, and sovereignty are thought of. It is an expansive study that works through the early years of the United States as a republic, tracing historical representations of Native peoples to present-day configurations. Stylistically, Rifkin challenges readers with nuanced critiques and deep readings of literature. He weaves together queer theory and Native studies to critique the heteronormativity of settler colonialism using literary and cultural analysis. Unlike previous studies that focused on “two-spirit,” “Joyas,” “Nadle,” or other “third-gender” Native people, Rifkin’s book focuses on intellectual and political formations that rendered Indians as either aberrations or celebratory exceptions. By being either aberrations or exceptions, indigenous social practices continue to be judged against a European American heteroreferent. Privileging that referent as the naturalized elemental of sociality was the excuse by which indigenous populations were and continue to be denied sovereignty. In other words, heteronormativity and settler colonialism were responsible for the imperial conclusion that Native social structures were inadequate foundations on which to forge a structure of governance. Here Rifkin shifts the focus of queer Native critique away from those subjects easily identified as queer or nonheteronormative, focusing instead on the wider field of technologies of normalization that settler colonialism relies on.

clintcatalyst:

‟ There are only two actions I cannot tolerate. The first is denim. The other is murder. If denim is not wrong, nothing is wrong. ”  — Sebastian Horsley

Photo : Gabriella Meros

maudelynn:

Breakfast at Tiffany’s 

mattfractionblog:

greg-pak:

Yep, I bought this amazing sketch from @dylanhorrocks.

mymorningsketch:

Jack Kirby (Jacob Kurtzberg, USA, 1917-1994)

Comics Will Break Your Heart

Buy this sketch (SOLD)

This sketch tells the story behind the quote that opens Hicksville. It was told to me by James Romberger, an artist and cartoonist whose amazing graphic novelSeven Miles a Second (written by activist and artist David Wojnarowicz) has just been reissued by Fantagraphics.

In the 1980s, Romberger met Kirby at a convention in New York. Kirby kindly looked at Romberger’s work and then gave him a piece of advice: “Kid, you’re one of the best. But put your work in galleries. Don’t do comics. Comics will break your heart.”

Romberger followed Kirby’s advice for years, mostly exhibiting in galleries, while drawing comics for alternative and literary magazines – and occasionally for commercial publishers – on the side. When the first edition of Seven Miles a Secondwas published by Vertigo in 1996, Romberger mentioned in his artist’s bio that he’d once been told by Jack Kirby “comics will break your heart.” As soon as I read that, I knew I would have to use it in Hicksville. I’m grateful to Romberger for later sharing the full story with me and I urge you all to buy his & Wojnarowicz’sextraordinary book.

i have wondered for years the etymology of Kirby’s line here. Nice to finally know.

I fixed a computer once.

It was a huge mistake because now I fix all the computers.

Lawyers: Firing of tech developer who outed inappropriate comments on Twitter hard to defend in court - San Jose Mercury News

As non-traditional messaging services like Google Voice, iMessage, and WhatsApp continue to displace lucrative SMS services, carriers are looking for ways to hold on to what they have. Today, Verizon is announcing an update that brings its Verizon Messages (formerly VZ Messages) SMS service cross-platform, letting you send and receive SMS messages from your computer’s browser as well as your iPad or Android device — phone or tablet. Messages that you send are stored on Verizon’s cloud service for 90 days unless you delete them, and can be saved permanently on an SD card if you want to keep them around longer.

Can be set to send an automated reply when you're busy

Like iMessage’s Do Not Disturb feature, Verizon Messages can be set to send an automated reply when you’re busy. But unlike that service, all of your communications are tied to a single point — your phone number — which will help prevent iMessage's occasional finickiness and unpredictability. You can also customize your messaging experience by selecting your own background and bubble colors, if you’re so inclined.

While AT&T launched a similar service in January for business called Unified Communications Services, Verizon is choosing to continue going after consumers with this release. Take a look below to see how Verizon imagines you’ll use its service.

• Source Verizon
• Related Items verizon verizon messages instant messaging app application cross platform Verizon

“

@falloutboy

It’s @Courtney, bitch #SaveRockAndRoll http://youtu.be/Ty9CWp9l1p0
4:34 PM - 21 Mar 13

”

- Fall Out Boy’s New Album To Feature Courtney Love & Elton John

NCAA Tournament: Florida routs Northwestern State, 79-47 - latimes.com:

YES

After making it through the Steam Greenlight gauntlet back in January, the remake of La-Mulana is finally ready to launch through Steam on April 15. The punishing cave-em-up - not to be confused with that other one - will set wannabe adventurers back $15, but if you pre-order through Steam they can knock 10 percent off that price.

The Steam version of La-Mulana is based on the WiiWare remake, which took an inordinate amount of time to make its way onto Nintendo's digital distribution service, even being totally scrapped at one point. The Steam version also includes the WiiWare version DLC "Hell Temple" and supports USB game pads, including Xbox 360 controllers.

Gallery: La-Mulana (PC)

Continue reading La-Mulana explores Steam on April 15

La-Mulana explores Steam on April 15 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 22 Mar 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Om Malik, continuing the conversation by clarifying his point:

It is hard to trust Google anymore to make rational and consumer centric decisions. I said — nuanced as it might be — that I don’t trust Google to introduce new apps and keep them around, because despite what the company says, these apps are not their main business. Their main business is advertising and search — regardless of whatever nonsense you might read. …

I am far more likely to believe in and use products that are the main focus of the company behind them. Online storage? Dropbox. Time-shifting web content? … Instapaper. Short form communication? Twitter. Baby pictures and wedding photos to make single people miserable (or happy for being single)? Facebook.

The point is that a company whose main focus is a specific service or a singular product, like Evernote, is far more likely to focus its energies to build a business around it and keep it around.

It’s a good distinction to make. I’m more conservative about what I invest my time into and who I trust with my data.

∞ Permalink

americanninjax:

I don’t even…my god this is amazing.

Shadowrun: Storm Front:

actual Shadowrun

warning: thread escalates quickly

Chili Waffle | Jamie Phelps

Harvard's 1st NCAA win brings 'unexpected pride' - US News and World Report:

shared for “Harvard” and “unexpected pride” in the same hed

Joshua Hale Fialkov’s resignation from Green Lantern Corps and Red Lanterns was certainly unexpected, but it wasn’t nearly as surprising as the primary reason for the writer’s departure: an editorial edict to kill off John Stewart.

To a generation of fans who came of age watching Cartoon Network’s Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, the character is Green Lantern — forget Hal Jordan, Alan Scott, Kyle Rayner and the rest. In addition, he’s perhaps DC Comics’ most recognizable African-American character, facing competition only from Static and Cyborg, each of whom also appeared on television.

ROBOT 6 reached out to the voice of Stewart himself, veteran actor and comedian Phil LaMarr, for his reaction to DC’s editorial decree.

“This is tricky because it plays on two things in comic books that I feel strongly about,” said the actor, who starred on Justice League and Justice League Unlimited from 2001 to 2006. “I think that for comic book stories to maintain their vibrancy, the artists and writers cannot be slaves to continuity or fanboy conservatism. On the other hand, black characters have a such history of being treated shabbily that my first thought was, ‘Watch, John will be the one guy who stays dead!’”

LaMarr, who also provided the voice of Aquaman and Green Beetle on the recently canceled Young Justice, also expressed disappointment that a character with a history like Stewart’s would be discarded for the sake of publicity.

“Sadly, I have no special insight on this,” he said. “Obviously, I have a strong affinity for the character of John Stewart, and I think what Dwayne McDuffie, Bruce Timm and all the other writers on JL/JLU did with the character was a primer on how to remake a minor character into a major hero. I would hate to see their work, as well as that of Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams, be tossed aside for a one-month sales bump. But, we’ll have to just wait and see.”

DC Comics has yet to comment.

Check out the exchange between Moore and Gibson in that bottom panel

The U.K. comics community has been getting its knickers in a twist over the whole Ian Gibson/Bristol Comic Expo “nude Halo Jones” saga. Twitter and Facebook completely blew up over it Thursday morning, with the usual mix of knee-jerk condemnation and some occasional voices of reason rising above the din.

Some sterling detective work by Paul Holden revealed that the image at the center of the dispute wasn’t even originally Halo Jones, but a character from Gibson’s long-gestating LifeBoat strip.  I’m glad, because some of the criticism on the matter sailed too close to being personal attacks on Gibson, which made me uncomfortable for a number of reasons.  For starters, “The Ballad of Halo Jones” is a longtime cause celebre for those arguing for creators’ rights within the United Kingdom, especially in the matter of how oppressive the old status quo of IPC and DC Thomson could be.

Gibson is the co-creator of Halo, but sees little to no financial reward from (current owner of 2000AD) Rebellion’s continuing exploitation of the character. If Gibson were to somehow try and monetize his history with the character by working on commissions or selling limited-edition prints featuring the strip’s cast, would that be such a bad thing? The perspective of fans and publishers on such issues is radically different: After all, Marvel sued Ghost Rider co-creator Mike Friedrich for a similar matter. Besides, the Bristol Expo website makes it clear that all these limited-edition prints are being sold for charity.

Mind you, that doesn’t excuse organizers’ attempts at marketing their convention in such a retrogressive, sexist, manner. As Chris Weston tweeted, it’s “one of those hate-bombs that get dropped on the comic industry: an ethical dilemma where no-one comes out looking good.” The print is now absent from the Bristol Expo webpage, with a subtle rewrite removing all previous mention of the pinup-style variant. The text accompanying the John Higgins’ Razorjack print still hints at the slightly leering style that offended so many.

A couple of years back, Gibson had a public falling out with editorial at 2000AD, declaring the scripts he had been receiving were no longer of a high enough quality to bother with. Even at the time, this seemed like a extremely self-destructive piece of bridge-burning: In terms of work options for a freelance British comic artist with Gibson’s experience and skill set, 2000AD would appear to be the only game in town. His forays into American comics seemed to meet mixed fortunes (he writes of his frustrations while working for DC here, but seemed to enjoy his times with Dark Horse).

This current storm in a teacup has provided great free publicity for Rebellion’s coincidental re-release of yet another edition of Halo Jones reprints, this time minus any existing Gibson art on the front, and instead featuring a cover by in-house designer Pye Parr. I would have guessed this was something of a snub to Gibson, who presumably would’ve turned down any commission new cover art; for the previous edition, in 2005, Gibson did produce a new cover image. However, that doesn’t necessarily seem to be the case: Gibson seems happy enough to appear at upcoming events publicizing the release (the great London comic shop Gosh! has cheekily, opportunistically, been issuing tweets promoting just such an appearance in the middle of the raging storm). Usually reliable, Parr’s cover on the new edition does seem rather, pun unintended, sub-par. It looks to me like an e-book cover knocked out by a Photoshop novice.

It makes me pine for a time in the 1980s-’90s when Titan Books had the license to publish 2000AD reprints, and issued them with amazing new covers by either the original artist or a worthy superstar substitute. (Walter Simonson’s Rogue Trooper! Bill Sienkiewicz’s Judge Dredd!) Surely there have been many superstar artists who’ve claimed Gibson or Halo Jones as specific influences who would have made time in their schedules to prepare a cover worthy of one of the true jewels in 2000AD‘s crown (I’ll just drop a hint for Tharg by linking to this amazing tribute piece by Duncan Fegredo for starters)?

I’ll just further confuse this already-knotted problem by running this image, Gibson’s cover to the second collection of Halo Jones strips from 1986, reminding those who jumped to quickly condemn the man for betraying the feminist spirit of the strip, that there was always a cheesecake element present in the work. Dave Garnett of the U.K.’s left-leaning and comics-friendly The Guardian has managed to get quotes from both Gibson and Alan Moore on the matter. Moore, in typical fashion, is witty and dismissive of his past creations and previous collaborators in the work-for-hire sector (“I fail to see how my original intentions for the character are served by a long-lens shot of her with her 50th-century tits out … In fact, rather the opposite”).

Meanwhile, Gibson seems intent on bluffing it out:

Gibson said he found it “ironic that Halo would be known as a ‘feminist’ character”, after being “attacked in the past for ‘using’ her and thus all women for my own nefarious ends”, and explained how the topless image fits with “the ideas I had for any continuation of the saga”.

“I had plans for her being pregnant – hence the bigger boobs,” he said. “Also as a slave, hence the token chains and nakedness.”

Art by Jonathan Case

DC Comics will expand its digital-first comics line this summer with the debut of Batman ’66, a series based on the classic television series.

The announcement came last night in Hollywood, where Warner Bros. Consumer Products launched its Batman Classic Television Series licensing program during an event co-hosted by Junk Food Clothing and Meltdown Comics.

Inspired by the television series, which aired from 1966 to 1968 on ABC, Batman ’66 is written by Jeff Parker and illustrated by Jonathan Case. In an ironic turn, Michael Allred, whose Adam West/Batusi cover (below) couldn’t be used for DC’s Solo because of legal issues, will be providing the cover for the first issue. Like the DC’s other digital-first comics, Batman ’66 will be collected monthly in print.

“The juxtaposition of offering a retro Batman ’66 comic as a current and modern digital first title is fun,” DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson said in a statement. “DC Entertainment is the most prolific producer of digital first comics and, as we work to create new and compelling content, this is a great way to also preserve the legacy of our characters. It’s exciting to roll out the new Batman ’66 comic as part of this bigger initiative with our Warner Bros Consumer Product partners.”

A disagreement between Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox had long prevented the release of any products based on the Batman TV series — or, indeed, even any DVD collections. However, as the Beverly Hills event and the torrent of licensing announcements demonstrate, the two companies have settled their issues.

“DC licensed the rights to all the actors from the 60s TV show (!), and we’re set to start reeling and rocking this summer,” Case writes on his website. “Really, if they let me develop with any superhero project, working with whoever I wanted, I honestly couldn’t have come up with a better fit: lighthearted, kid-appropriate, retro, and written by one of my favorite comics writers. The script Jeff’s writing for this series is gold. You can feel his love [for] the material, the era, the Julie Newmar.”

Art by Jonathan Case

“#5060,” 2006-2009. © Mike Brodie: from A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, Courtesy M+B Gallery, Los Angeles.

 

“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.” ―Jack Kerouac, On the Road

There’s an excitement and allure to hitting the road with no destination in sight and no route in mind. This is part of the appeal of Mike Brodie‘s recent work. Captured during a three-year period when, as a teenager, he hitchhiked, rode freight trains and lived off the grid with a group of fellow travelers, Brodie’s images have a movement and restlessness to them that celebrates the freedom of the itinerant life. This is the modern-day equivalent of Jack Kerouac’s seminal novel On the Road. But just as Kerouac and his Beat Generation peers had their share of despair, Brodie’s photos show that life on the road is not for the faint of heart. His subjects are soot-covered, sleeping on the side of the tracks and surviving on the food others have thrown away. Yet they ride on, ever curious about what the next spot on the map can bring.

“Mike Brodie: A Period of Juvenile Prosperity” opens at M+B gallery in Los Angeles on Saturday, March 16, with a book signing by the artist, whose first monograph, A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, was published earlier this month by Twin Palms. A concurrent exhibition is also running in New York City at Yossi Milo Gallery.

 

“#3102,” 2006-2009. © Mike Brodie: from A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, Courtesy M+B Gallery, Los Angeles.

 

“#5065,” 2006-2009. © Mike Brodie: from A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, Courtesy M+B Gallery, Los Angeles.

 

“#0924,” 2006-2009. © Mike Brodie: from A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, Courtesy M+B Gallery, Los Angeles.

 

“#3025,” 2006-2009. © Mike Brodie: from A Period of Juvenile Prosperity, Courtesy M+B Gallery, Los Angeles.

mwspb:

so-you-better-run:

Natalie Portman raps (x)

I know this whole song word for word

First off? We’re having internet issues in our house. This is why my presence here and everywhere else online has been a bit sporadic. I apologize for this. Without regular blogging my left eye starts to twitch and I acquire an unexplained limp. If I don’t solve these technological issues soon, I’ll be rotating around the “Free Wi-Fi” locations around here.

Secondly? Did you hear that they’re shutting down my favorite RSS feed reader in July? I mean – FIRST they took away the ability to share and comment on the thing – and now they’re getting rid of it? All together? Kim is not a happy camper.

For those of you who don’t know what RSS is or a feed reader, let me give you an easy summary. RSS is – literally – “Really Simple Syndication”. Basically, any website that creates regular content, creates RSS feeds of that content without any bells and whistles. Just the basic HTML of the content itself. Then, “Feed Readers” like Google Reader allow you to subscribe to those pages, and it funnels those RSS feeds all into one location. So, if you read a lot of blogs/news/magazines type sites, you can read all of their updates in one location. You don’t have to keep bookmarks or remember links.

Google Reader used to let you “share” out items you really liked. I loved this feature because my “shared” items also displayed on my blog. And then any of my friends in Reader could comment on those items. So, it gave us a little community to discuss articles and entries. And then? THEN? Google took that function away. And a small part of my soul died.

But now? NOW? They’re taking away the entire reader. Basically they want us all to use Google+, which we won’t do simply out of spite now. So…where do we all go? WHERE DO YOU GO?

On Twitter yesterday, some key peeps decided to start using The Old Reader. Evidently you can A) Share items and B) Comment on those shared items. Which I have already done with this entry.

What are you waiting for? GO JOIN! FOLLOW ME! I’LL FOLLOW YOU BACK! These type of communities ONLY work if we all go. We need to ALL go over there and start following each other and start sharing items and talking about them and creating what we used to have on Google Reader. PUH-LEASE? If you read more than 5 blogs or websites a day, you will love having a feed reader. It means you only have to make one stop every day to see all of your favorite websites. And their entries ONLY show up if they have new content. So, if they don’t update regularly you can still follow them without stopping by their site constantly for updates.

If you’ve never used an RSS reader before and have any questions/confusion – just post a comment here and I’ll help you out. If you have, then you may be like me and appreciate the excuse to start over with your subscriptions. Don’t you still have those blogs on your Google Reader that you don’t know why you still follow? You don’t ever comment or even read their entries anymore. Why are you still subscribed? Well, now you can just start over with the ones you actually want to read!

Or – if you want – you can import your subscriptions from Google Reader. I did not do that because I knew I needed to prune my list a bit, but if you like your list as is? Easy as pie!

Come join the party! We’re leaving Google Reader before they shut the place down, and we’re setting up at The Old Reader, I can’t wait to see you there!

Our user base recently grew 15x (and counting), and this changed everything. In a week we have gone from a personal project ran by three friends to a personal project ran by three friends with about 150,000 users.

Thank you everyone for your kind words, support, critique and active participation!

We are doing everything to bring things back to normal again, and we need your support.

We pay lots of attention to user requests, so we could not ignore the one where you had been asking for a way to donate us money.

We have been looking for a good way to accept donations, and we found Flattr. It is a simple way to manage your micro donations. You can either donate us fixed amount of money, or press the “flattr” button, and then your monthly budget would be distributed it among us and other projects you donated to during a month.

If you feel like donating a significant sum or you find flattr inconvenient, drop us a note (hello@theoldreader.com), we will figure something out.

If it’s a stretch, please don’t feel obligated to send us anything. We will use the money to expand our server infrastructure, which will help us to refresh feeds more often, process import queue more quickly, and even might even allow us to get more external resources to implement new features sooner.

Thank you everyone for your support. Every single contribution is an enormous help for us.

The Old Reader team.

(photo by rossomakha)

“

“It’s not really much different, so I don’t know why Australian consumers are charged over $1000 more for your product here for what doesn’t seem to be much localisation.”

If Australian customers don’t see the value of Adobe’s software, they can buy another company’s software, Robson said. Alternatively, they can take a trip overseas or import the American version.

“They can choose to go to America and buy it from local American businesses [or] they can choose to import it from local American partners,” Robson said. Adobe’s US software can be used in Australia but not covered by warranty, he said.

If the Australian customer would rather stay at home, he or she can download software from Creative Cloud, “which is significantly cheaper as a value proposition,” he said.

Robson said the cloud-delivered software is cheaper because it doesn’t have to go through traditional distribution and retail channels. He added that Adobe would prefer selling products over the cloud.

MP Paul Neville needled Robson on his argument that students pay less in Australia for Adobe software than they do in the US.

“I’m equally bewildered by the fact that you charge so much for some products and so little for others if your argument’s about cost and freight and operating in the Australian market as distinct from others,” Neville said.

“If that is a constant, how in heaven’s name can you take your educational material to market … under the going rate for a comparable product?”

”

- Adobe: Fly to US for cheaper software - hardware, Apple, creative cloud, digital music, adobe, software, photoshop, iTunes, IT pricing - Computerworld

Average lifespan of a Google product, via The Guardian

Apple ID accounts reportedly vulnerable to password reset hack, forgot password page taken offline for maintenance:

whoops

From the Photographic Morgue at the University of Texas, Austin.

RECORD NUMBER NYJA001002
SUBSERIES TITLE B. Subject
BOX NUMBER         B133
FOLDER TITLE Fawns
CATEGORY         Human Interest & Lifestyle
DATE PUBLISHED 1960-10-26
PHOTOGRAPHER UPI Telephoto
ITEM TITLE           Off to School
ITEM CAPTION   The pet fawn of Brad Curry of Galesburg, Michigan, watches him depart from home every morning on his schoolbus.

(via 1TB USB3 NES Hard Drive The Legend of Zelda 2 The by 8BitMemory)

go straight to hell and burn forever