SiN

I've always hated the two-column blog layout. The side-column just detracts from the content, and isn't even that useful. I prefer to center the content, and increase the font size (and line spacing) a little. Most links (archive, twitter, about) can go across the top, along with the one-line blog description. As for comments, I prefer to disable comments and leave contact information instead. In my experience, comments that are emailed in tend to be far more thoughtful. You may miss out on the odd insightful comment here and there, but it works out pretty nicely overall.

What does that even mean?! -- wait. Never mind. I don't actually want to know.

XP/Vista -> 7 is worth it for Aero Snap alone. And the better graphics driver support. (basically, the thing that lets you alt-tab out of games without everything going to shit)

Nah, that was nothing. I mean, the jump from command line to WIMP was huge. Every release after that had some usability improvements in some places, removed a bunch of useability features else were.

Thing worth noting: the Keighley thing is hilarious and pretty terrible, but I respect his work. I'm not sure how well-known this is, but before he was a Video game CELEBRITY, he ran a series called "The Last Hours Of" on GameSpot, detailing the last hours of development on some high profile games. I believe the recent Portal 2 e-book was his too. He's a totally legit journalist, and one of the few doing at least semi-investigative work. I just wish he was doing more of that, and less of ... this ... thing.

I agree with this, but there's a difference between the probability of something happening and the actual outcome. The probability of getting double sixes is 1/36, but rolling a pair of dice 36 times doesn't guarantee you'll get it, right? Similarly, doing (rand()%100) < 80 doesn't guarantee 80 hits and 20 misses. What I proposed wouldn't guarantee it either, but it would tune the odds to make the 80 hits/20 misses outcome more likely. Well, that would depend on the algorithm. But personally, no, I wouldn't do that. Tweaking the algorithm to feel natural (enough) is key, obviously. I don't think it would be any more (or less) confusing than a straight rand()%100 number generator. RNGs are perceived as black boxes anyway. Like Forbin said earlier, players will call foul on even a totally fair RNG. Depends on what the art is trying to say though, doesn't it? If a movie is able to convey the worthy message of the importance of brushing your teeth (to use a perfectly reasonable example), but also has implausibly exploding cars, and a protagonist who survives far too many bullet wounds, does that take away from the message? I think art tends to do that, simplify or straight-up fudge some aspects of reality, to bring other aspects into focus. In my mind, the reality of probabilities isn't the point of a strategy game. It's the part I'd be willing to fudge. However, there's no reason why one couldn't make a game where the point/message/takeaway is focused on the perception vs. reality of randomness and probabilities, I'm not sure how one would go about doing that, but it sure would be interesting!

I was waiting for him to interview the doritos and mountain dew or something.

Maybe an example would make my point more clear? Let's generate 5 random numbers between 0-99: 88, 78, 82, 19, 91. Only two of those numbers are <80, so only 2/5 "hits" happen. Even though we're testing for <80 (ie 80%), effectively our hit rate is 40%. Obviously, if we kept generating random numbers, like say, 50 or 500 or 5000 of them, our effective hit rate would be 80%. My point though, is that many games don't generate *that* many random numbers, and so effectively the game would feel unfair. What I propose is an algorithm that normalizes the random numbers to the stated % over a shorter period of time, more closely tuned to the rules of the game itself, not to an abstract "as we tend to infinity".

That's true ... eventually. It probably wouldn't be true over the course of a single game.

I believe there are "fair" ways to do this. The implementation details matter. Here's what I think: if there's an 80% chance of something happening, in the purest terms that means that random(0, 100) < 80, right? If that's the case, it's very possible that your RNG will continue to output high numbers, and in reality your chances end up being something like 20%. To me, as the player, this feels unfair/frustrating. What I'd like to try is an algorithm that normalizes the output to the stated % over time. So lets say the odds are 80%, but after 3-5 rolls the actual % chance is something like 30-40%. Over time, the algorithm will make the chances more likely (raising it up to, say, 95%) so that after 10-15 rolls, your actual chances end up being 80% or close to it. I'm sure this kind of adaptive algorithm is how the numbers are "cooked", but it feels somewhat fair to me.

Forever ago, when I worked internships in Toronto, I'd take the train to work with my Dad. We share a love of Backgammon, so one weekend I hacked my PSP and wrote a Backgammon game for it. (see: forever ago statement above) The dice rolls were completely random. Like, literally (rand() % 6) + 1 random. My Dad was *convinced* that I had the dice rolling in my favour.

It's kinda genius, because I think that's part of the experiment too. By making such a hyperbolic claim 22cans is basically challenging hackers to go nuts. Since Curiosity forms the framework of their codebase, they need it to be stress tested for load balancing & security.

Alright, local Apple nerd must chime in now. On the iPhone 5: *love* the new look. Think it works better in black than it does white. Would be *perfect* if it wasn't for the bits of glass on the back. The 4" screen ... I dunno, really need to try it before passing judgement. I'm worried about the one-handability of it. Still, largely a thumbs up. I've heard "disappointed", "boring", "predictable" a few places. ​I dunno, they upgraded everything. The phone being leaked was probably a factor in that (totally a shame too, it's fun being surprised every year). But the other factor is this is just how Apple rolls. They don't change things for the sake of change. I get the feeling the industrial design of the iPhone is here to stay for a while. Similar to the MacBooks (and iPods, to an extent) they've found something that works, so now they iterate. Seigler wrote a pretty well though out article on this. On the Lightning connector: it can be connected either way. This is The Best Thing. On a smaller iPhone: Erkki mentioned this, and I think it might happen. The idea behind the iPhone has always been that "the screen is the interface" so give it as much room as possible. I don't think the screen would get any smaller, but the area around it could. The screen could run edge-to-edge, top area could shrink, etc. On the new Maps app: Thunderpeel mentioned this, and yeah, I've heard similar. (I'm too lazy to install beta iOS builds these days) This is the part of the Apple Master Plan that could falter IMO. Historically, their online services have been weak, and sure, it's getting better, but I'm not sure how they top Google. It's no coincidence that this excellent article on Google Maps ran after so many years of general secrecy. The money quote: It's such a shame too, because Google and Apple are the perfect couple. Like the Steves that founded Apple, one has this insane technical know-how, and the other knows exactly how to package it up into a winning product. On skuemorphism: wot Thrik said, basically. Get rid of it entirely and things get really boring. Windows Phone is even worse than Android in this regard. Largely, the iPhone 4 apps get it right (Reminders looks a bit gross IMO, but usability-wise it works). iPad's Calendar app is terrible though, and actually has the opposite of the problem Thrik describes. Going between months (by tapping next/previous) triggers a page turn animation, but swiping between pages doesn't actually work. The design (and feedback) are telling you one thing, but the functionality says otherwise. Similarly, iBooks acts like a book open on a desk, but the number of pages on either side never changes. Your current page is always the center of the book. Passbook is not so bad though. From what I've seen, it's essentially a skinned list view. Sure the SHREDDOR might be a bit over-the-top, but it's a nice touch for a non-frequent operation (similar to the paper-crumple of trashing an email). It's something I really hope Apple figure out though. They moved away from pin-stripped windows in OS X, so there's hope yet! And finally, On OMG HOW FREAKING COOL IS the iPod nano!?!?!?!: Seriously, I want one, but have no way to justify purchasing one. I'm dying for someone to jailbreak the sucker so I can write games for it. (oh man, wall-o-text. sorry guys, i've been on "vacation" back home helping my family move house, and there's no one to talk tech with, and had to get that all out)

Oh also, in other news: HOLY SHIT METAL GEAR SOLID MOVIE ANNOUNCED!!!!

Using TACTICAL ESPIONAGE ACTION, obviously. (pretty sure I bought Ac!d on your recommendation, which is why I remember )

Miffy did, I'm pretty sure. I played through a good deal of Ac!d 2. It's a very different game, obviously, but I found it mostly enjoyable.

Hello, only skimmed to avoid potential spoilers, but quick question: I've played MGS1-3. Do I play MGS4 or Peacewalker next? Narratively, does Peacewalker depend on 4 in any weird TIME PARADOX way?

"ECHO 11!!" was the highlight for sure

"Twitter. I give you the greatest news story of all time." https://twitter.com/...1645184/photo/1

Maybe he's in the closet and wanted to prove a point?

Wait, they don't do that already? In Dubai, internet porn was censored from day one. I assumed it was the same all over the Middle East. (not like that stopped the morally corrupt youth from finding workarounds )

Mad Men, Newsroom, Game of Thrones, and the odd WWDC talk. I started watching them late... like Thrik I wasn't looking. But two weeks ago I ran out of TV so watched ep1 on a whim. I'll get around to watching the rest of them at some point, but I'm in no hurry / want to make it last a bit longer.

I was worried it would end up being a lot like those "making of" videos, where they talk about everything after it's done "and here's level 2!", etc. Coming in with those expectations I like that there's a lot of Tim going "shit, what are we doing?" and then figuring it out as we go along. That's what I got out of the first two episodes, anyway. I can see what you're saying from a production perspective though. It has favoured the creative side of things heavily, probably because production isn't perceived as being interesting. But it could also be because pre-production has less emphasis on, well, production. (also, the behind the scenes history is pretty fun)

+1 on the documentary stuff. I'm also in the "EYES SHUT, NO SPOOOOOILERRRS!" camp, but I was pretty much fine watching the first two episodes. Also worth noting, it's been far more insightful than I expected it to be.

A different kind of uncanny valley. With the older games there were *much* fewer frames of animation, so we fill the gaps in our mind. With BS, because it's 30 frames, it leaves little/nothing to the imagination. That said, there are enough examples of good 3D animation (hello Pixar) that leaves my argument on shaky grounds.