ShamedSalmon's recent activity

  1. Comment on The “loneliness epidemic” myth in ~life

    ShamedSalmon
    Link Parent
    "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. —Wayne Gretzky" —Michael Scott

    "You miss 100% of the
    　shots you don't
    　　take.　—Wayne Gretzky"

    　　　　　　　—Michael Scott

    6 votes

  2. Comment on What's your favorite music album to get high to? in ~music

    ShamedSalmon
    Link
    Do you like chill hip-hop? If so, maybe: Damn Fine by mtbrd

    Do you like chill hip-hop? If so, maybe:

    Damn Fine by mtbrd

    8 votes

  3. Comment on What are some examples of media that really captured lightning in a bottle? in ~tv

    ShamedSalmon
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    I think you make a solid case, but it may also be worth mentioning that the absolutely fantastic World of Warcraft launched in 2004, while the "Night Elf Mohawk" ad campaign ran three years later,...

    I think you make a solid case, but it may also be worth mentioning that the absolutely fantastic World of Warcraft launched in 2004, while the "Night Elf Mohawk" ad campaign ran three years later, in 2007.

    Personally, I don't feel that WoW knocked down any walls, but it did fill a massive amount of space that had been opened up by the state of the industry that preceded it. I would say that WoW was a great improvement over all of the work that EverQuest started five years prior. 1997's Ultima Online is where we got the term "MMORPG", but "EverCrack" set the stage for what WoW would improve on in almost every way. Titles like Diablo and StarCraft aided Blizzard's meteoric rise in 1997~98, establishing them as compelling story-tellers, fabulous game designers, and competent multiplayer managers. By the time WoW launched in 2004, however, people already knew what MMORPGs were because of the initial success of EverQuest—even though that title never quite reached the popularity of WoW.

    Now, 2007 was a wonderfully busy year for video game ad campaigns:

    Halo 3 - Starry Night
    Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters - The Shrink Ray
    God of War II - The End Begins
    Mario Party 8 - Everybody Likes to Party
    BioShock - Beyond the Sea
    Metroid Prime 3 - Feel the Power
    Halo 3 - Believe
    Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - The Legend Has Arrived
    Beautiful Katamari - Rolling Your Way
    Tomb Raider: Anniversary - Go Back to Your Past
    Guitar Hero 3 - Is There a Guitar Hero in You?
    Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - Wars Change
    Assassin's Creed - Tear Drop
    Mass Effect - Many Decisions Lie Ahead
    Rock Band - "The"

    My opinion is that by the time of WoW's launch in 2004, gaming was already ubiquitous. Three years later, it was only more so. Similarly, in order to stand out in such a packed 2007, Blizzard's marketing team needed something like Mr. T to make their ad campaign a little more unique.

    Advertisements aside, if we're talking about the impact of singular titles, I would argue that such a crown should really go to Grand Theft Auto III, especially for the way that it furthered the success of the Playstation 2. It re-imagined the series by jumping to 3D and sparked a rabid popularity for a franchise that has managed to outlast the likes of Halo, Half-Life, and in some respects to today's relevancy, even Warcraft. GTA: III's portrayal of violence in the form of player freedoms garnered it both fame and infamy, achieving the kind of panicked headlines that had made Doom and Mortal Kombat household names just a few years prior.

    Now, the Playstation 2 was the best selling console of its generation, and including the DVD player massively helped it. However, if a household did not care about games, they weren't more likely to buy a PS2 and additionally purchase the media remote when they could just buy a dedicated DVD player for around the same ~$300 price range. The Playstation 2 did so well because it catered to those households who were looking to upgrade both their home console and their VCR; people wanting to jump to the next generation of both games and home video had an easy, all-in-one solution.

    For those who remember, the lack of DVD playback was frequently leveled against the Gamecube, and the mandatory purchase of the "DVD Dongle" hurt the Xbox's reputation. By spring 2001, Microsoft was quashing rumors that the Xbox might be able to play Dreamcast titles. Likewise, Nintendo apologists were doing what they can to wave away the need for backwards compatibility. Over on the Playstation front, however, Sony was able to boast the ability to play every single title it had ever released, all in one place. Now, if this wasn't enough in the looming midst of competitor console launches come Fall of 2001, Sony and Rockstar would debut their smash hit just two weeks before the highly anticipated Metal Gear Solid 2 (which had quite the TV ad campaign of its own), maintaining Sony's foothold that Christmas.

    The following year, 2002, brought the launch of GTA: Vice City, and with it came its own TV ad campaign and record-breaking sales. In fact, Vice City sold more copies (5.97 million) in the U.S. during its first two years than WoW (1.4 million) did in the same span of time. At the end of that period came GTA: San Andreas, which didn't do as well as Vice City, but still managed to outsell all of its video game competitors in 2004, including WoW.

    Of course, I am not trying to denigrate World of Warcraft. My point is more that by the time it came about, video games were basking in the accomplishments of their golden era. However, it cannot be denied that WoW was just so good that it was able to stand out in the midst of some of the most incredible titles of the time. It was so incredibly successful that it was able to gobble up 62% of the MMO market on its own. WoW still holds a crown as one of the highest grossing titles of all time ($12.8 billion), but not far behind it is GTA: V ($8.5 billion). Unfortunately, Fortnight has them both beat ($20 billion), and in a shorter span of time. But WoW nonetheless showed what could be done by the might of Blizzard after it had become a household name in 1997~98.

    One last thing: for cheekiness sake, if we're really just talking about who could boast having Mr. T in their ads around the time of "Night Elf Mohawk", Snickers managed to book the A-Team legend:

    Snickers: Get Some Nuts - Football
    Snickers: Get Some Nuts - Speedwalker

    EDIT: spelling and clarity

    6 votes

  4. Comment on What are some examples of media that really captured lightning in a bottle? in ~tv

    ShamedSalmon
    (edited )
    Link
    You said it didn't have to necessarily be TV, so I think we should talk about 1998 in Video Games It was the platinum year in the golden era of gaming history. Every single platform rejoiced with...

    You said it didn't have to necessarily be TV, so I think we should talk about

    1998 in Video Games

    It was the platinum year in the golden era of gaming history. Every single platform rejoiced with the launch of genre defining and exclusive titles.

    Nintendo was having a blow-out year, having launched the Gameboy Color. With it, Europe and the States received Pokemon Red & Blue while Japan received Pokemon Yellow. The full-color re-release of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX launched, with support for the Gameboy Printer that came out alongside the Camera over that summer. Meanwhile, the Nintendo 64 was being graced with titles such as Mario Party, Banjo-Kazooie, NFL Blitz, F-Zero X, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, Turok 2, and the great console-seller, Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

    Sony was maintaining its stellar course, starting the year out right with Resident Evil 2, followed by titles like Xenogears, Tenchu: Stealth Assassins, Mega Man Legends, Spyro the Dragon, MediEvil, Crash Bandicoot: Warped, and of course Metal Gear Solid.

    Even the oft overlooked Sega Saturn was met with some of its most fondly remembered hits, such as Radiant Silvergun, Burning Rangers, House of the Dead, and the highly acclaimed Panzer Dragoon Saga. But this wasn't the only place that Sega was generating buzz. Japan—and lucky importers—were getting a taste of next-millenium gaming with the launch of the Sega Dreamcast, which, along with Sonic Adventure, slipped in just before the end of the year.

    If that sounds like a crowded schedule already, imagine how PC gamers were feeling, coming right out of the gate with StarCraft. The must-play list would rapidly pile up from there with titles such as Fallout 2, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six, Thief: The Dark Project, Grim Fandango, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard, Baldur's Gate, and Starsiege: Tribes, finishing strong with StarCraft: Broodwar. To stand out in such a momentous year, many games were delivering on the promises of 3D by introducing more innovative game designs. Others were refining tried and true models by incorporating stronger narrative immersion, which Half-Life delivered in droves that fall.

    Now, other years would come close, like 2004 or 2007, but the online hype, the launch parties, the expo buzz, all of it initially reached lightspeed back in 1998. It's hard to overstate just how momentous this year was for those who remember it. What its undeniably successful titles demonstrated to a massive amount of people, more-so than ever before, was the potential of video games as an industry, a craft, entertainment, and cinematic experience. This is the year that showed people what could be done with video games. This is the year that made them mainstream.

    14 votes

  5. Comment on Microsoft launches generative AI-powered, Quake II “inspired” tech demo in ~games

    ShamedSalmon
    Link Parent
    Sounds about right. I would argue that it's not even really a game, i.e. a program is not being generated and run here, but a highly interactive video. It's constantly cycling new frames, but a...

    Sounds about right. I would argue that it's not even really a game, i.e. a program is not being generated and run here, but a highly interactive video. It's constantly cycling new frames, but a limited selection of user inputs can influence what is drawn next. Enemies are not "spawned", but the complex prompt attempts to draw them where it believes they normally should be based on the given frame set.

    In the video feed, Copilot attempts to manage health and armor by drawing a frame with lower numeric values in the same spots, but frequently guesses wrong. As a result, sometimes "taking damage" increases health, but usually the image just cycles between a range of 98/88 & 82 HP. Occasionally, as an enemy is drawn attacking the screen, it will blur enough over time to eventually turn into an inanimate object, which I find delightfully funny.

    4 votes

  6. Comment on Microsoft launches generative AI-powered, Quake II “inspired” tech demo in ~games

    ShamedSalmon
    Link
    For those who are going to try it: Look down, turn around, and look back up. Euclid's nightmare.

    For those who are going to try it:

    Look down, turn around, and look back up. Euclid's nightmare.

    13 votes

  7. Comment on Super Nintendo hardware is running faster as it ages in ~games

    ShamedSalmon
    Link Parent
    Ceramic resonators are less stable than crystal oscillators and have a much higher frequency tolerance from the get-go. It's what makes them the cheaper choice for circuit clocks. But generally,...

    Ceramic resonators are less stable than crystal oscillators and have a much higher frequency tolerance from the get-go. It's what makes them the cheaper choice for circuit clocks. But generally, over time the distance between the input and output slightly relaxes which causes the frequency to go up. This is most often due to mechanical fatigue but manufacturing quality and general environmental exposure can be a factor too. It's an issue that affects some retro-computers as well.

    Technically, the entire SNES isn't running faster, just one part of the audio chip is, which may skew how long or short the CPU has to wait for certain information as things potentially go out of sync. But in this case, as @Akir pointed out, the skew is likely not high enough to affect anything human detectable.

    12 votes

  8. Comment on Hacking the Xbox 360 Hypervisor in ~comp

    ShamedSalmon
    Link
    This is a fun read! For anyone who may want some architectural background on the Xbox 360: Xbox 360 Architecture: A Practical Analysis (Rodrigo Copetti) Another good article by Ryan Miceli, the...

    This is a fun read!

    For anyone who may want some architectural background on the Xbox 360:

    Another good article by Ryan Miceli, the author of this hypervisor post, details a single code execution exploit that affects four different consoles, including the 360:

    People in the OG Xbox hacking scene may recognize Ryan Miceli/grimdoomer as the creator of the impressive Halo 2 720p patch that came out last year.

    It's always nice to see fresh interest in the Xbox hacking scene.

    1 vote

  9. Comment on Infinite energy in ~creative

    ShamedSalmon
    Link
    Ideas are sustainably infinite and we fight over those too. In another hundred-thousand years, it will still be up to the individual to learn how to share. Though people are like this when left...

    Ideas are sustainably infinite and we fight over those too. In another hundred-thousand years, it will still be up to the individual to learn how to share. Though people are like this when left unchecked, don't read this integral flaw as a condemnation but as an infinitely sustainable opportunity to learn.

    5 votes

  10. Comment on Best "complete" anime you'd recommend? in ~anime

  11. Comment on Best "complete" anime you'd recommend? in ~anime

    ShamedSalmon
    Link
    A good hard sci-fi series I haven't seen mentioned yet: Planetes Also, for folks who like fantasy comedy, it's hard to go wrong with a pair of classics: Slayers Gokudō-kun Man'yūki

    A good hard sci-fi series I haven't seen mentioned yet:

    Also, for folks who like fantasy comedy, it's hard to go wrong with a pair of classics:

    11 votes

  12. Comment on Best "complete" anime you'd recommend? in ~anime

    ShamedSalmon
    Link Parent
    Speaking of the dub, those who saw it on cable back in the late '90s may remember this excellent promo: Welcome to the Future 八卦散發！

    Speaking of the dub, those who saw it on cable back in the late '90s may remember this excellent promo:

    Welcome to the Future

    八卦散發！

    4 votes

  13. Comment on Do you have a game that you love from “before your time?” in ~games

    ShamedSalmon
    (edited )
    Link
    Phoenix for Atari 2600. My parents bought an Atari at a garage sale in the mid-80s. It's mostly what I played until I was older and had saved up for an N64 in the late 90s (though, by the mid-90s,...

    Phoenix for Atari 2600.

    My parents bought an Atari at a garage sale in the mid-80s. It's mostly what I played until I was older and had saved up for an N64 in the late 90s (though, by the mid-90s, we did have a computer that could just barely play Myst and a few other point-and-clicks, but those were within my time I suppose).

    For Atari, we had Adventure, Pitfall, Frogger, Space Invaders, Pong, Ms. Pac Man, Combat, Dig-Dug, you know, all the classics one might expect. However, Phoenix was by far my favorite and still is. The loopy tunes, the scratch of your gunfire, it's all just so nostalgic for me.

    As my father explained it, you're basically a plucked, uncooked chicken who must dodge the poop of several flocks of birds and then blow up some unrelated alien space craft. See for yourself, below.

    Watch It
    Play It

    (Note: I think the actual plot was something like you're a space fighter defending your planet from an alien race that seeks to harvest its resources—but that's not as cool as a raw chicken vs. queasy birds.)

    4 votes

  14. Comment on How often do you replace your phone? in ~tech

    ShamedSalmon
    Link
    I bought a used iPhone SE back in 2017 and it still seems to be working just fine. I'm not a heavy phone/app user, though. But I only use my phone for calls and texts, and I don't always bring it...

    I bought a used iPhone SE back in 2017 and it still seems to be working just fine. I'm not a heavy phone/app user, though. But I only use my phone for calls and texts, and I don't always bring it with me when I leave home, either.

    I'll probably buy another used iPhone when cell service stops functioning on my current one.

    4 votes

  15. Comment on On *wu* as described in *The Man In the High Castle*, or, that quality inherent in things that have been made with love? in ~humanities

    ShamedSalmon
    (edited )
    Link
    PKD is one of the neo-Gnostic greats! So, the Chinese word at play in The Man in the High Castle is: Wù [ 悟 ] verb / u⁵¹/ [Wade-Giles: Wu ] To realize; to awaken; to apprehend; awareness;...
    • Exemplary

    PKD is one of the neo-Gnostic greats!

    So, the Chinese word at play in The Man in the High Castle is:

    Wù [ 悟 ] verb
     / u⁵¹/ [Wade-Giles: Wu ]
     To realize; to awaken; to apprehend;
     awareness; enlightenment.

    Within the novel, Wù 悟 is being used in a Zen Buddhist context (Japanese: 悟る satoru, to realize; 悟り satori, realization).

    Major spoilers ahead:

    Click to Expand
    Great reference to Edfrank Jewelry! For other readers, you may recall that the Japanese collectors' market had no interest in Frank's jewelry as it was something "new" and therefore lacking the austere of old American artifacts such as the Colt pistols ironically mass-produced by Childan. However, it was that very craftsmanship of Frank that drew Paul's eye and pulled Tagomi into the other world. In a figurative sense, what Frank's objects contained were the subtle aspects of their creative processes, i.e. seeming imperfections too minuscule to actually perceive but which further leads to and benefits their uniqueness. They have a tangible, immeasurable quality of hand-crafting which the eye and the hand can sense, but the intellect does not. Likewise, their being unique, different, and new is what make's Frank's jewelry the token symbols of change in an otherwise static market or culture.

    Now, when Juliana makes it to Cheyenne, she discovers that Hawthorne Abendsen has abandoned the High Castle to live a reclusive life with his family in their cabin. He says he has undergone a change of heart and no longer fears assassination. When she presses him about his inspiration for The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, he explains that he wrote it using the divination methods of the Yì​jīng 易經 (Wade-Giles: I Ching), the Classic of Changes.

    When Juliana asks "the Oracle" book why it wrote The Grasshopper, she receives an answer of [ ䷼, 中孚 Zhōngfú (Inner Truth) ]. To quickly gloss to the point, the guà 卦 / ideogram here displays a yīn / open center, suggesting a heart that is open to truth. Based on prior events, as well as the context of The Grasshopper, and the power of wù 悟 objects, Juliana infers that this truth is that their world is indeed a false one.

    ​
    As Satori 悟り is about embracing sudden realization, in a Buddhist context that realization is that the wheel of Saṃsāra—the cycles of life and death—is an illusion, and that the Dharma—the wheel of true reality—lies beyond the mundane perceptions or limits or manifestations of the world around us.

    Thus, Wù / Satori 悟り is a result of the perception of objects or events that interrupt ones focus on the illusions of the world, whether figurative or literal, enabling a sudden space within to experience the greater truth behind it. This psychological disruption is the operating mechanism behind both the Yì​jīng and Zen Koans, playing to a theme that runs throughout many Eastern religions that the worry of the intellect can get in the way of care-free action.

    A joke:

    The Bright Crane was approached by a student who had become deeply troubled over solving a logical problem.

    "Two hands clap and there is a sound. What is the sound of one hand?"

    The teacher was silent for a moment, then swatted the student's forehead.

    A sentiment:

    This did not break the student's illusion as he pondered further, so the teacher sent him home.

    While finishing his meal, the student continued to stare into his palm, contemplating the meaning of the lesson. He had not yet noticed his little niece wander over until she grabbed him by the hand, and off they went to play.

    It seems like you too may be sharing a similar set of experiences, observing the manufactured world as meeting certain demands yet not quite fulfilling holistic needs—shallow results that lack the depth of a process. Regardless of whether or not it can be instilled universally upon society, the good news is that individuals can bring craft into their lives. There is a book that looks at this subject which I think you might be interested in:

    Shop Class as Soulcraft

    EDIT: Some missing grammar.

    8 votes

  16. Comment on 40 gods, 40 hours in ~creative

    ShamedSalmon
    Link
    Some say that the shaman cult of the S'Thulus believe that a certain writing by nineteenth century theosophist Hermanus Cowan holds the key to spiritually traversing folds between the stars...

    Some say that the shaman cult of the S'Thulus believe that a certain writing by nineteenth century theosophist Hermanus Cowan holds the key to spiritually traversing folds between the stars through the intercession of their god. They claim that it briefly touched the surface of the unformed, primordial earth, and that in its next revolution, it will return to aid its followers in avoidance of what they call the Gulaas Kl'abri, or Expurgation. Few have encountered the sequestered K'niah halls of the S'Thulus, but each has reported them to resemble the same dark, spiraling burrows which faintly echo with the hissing chants of the n'Dorn-Gulaptha:

    DORN'ILASTRI, DORN'ILASTRI,
      My praises sound to thee...
    DORN'ILASTRI, DORN'ILASTRI,
      Thy mouth envelopes me...
    DORN'ILASTRI, DORN'ILASTRI,
      In thy carapace I flee...

    Tell me about the cosmic DORN'ILASTRI!

  17. Comment on Besides Shawshank Redemption, what films do you like that feature grit, resilience, endurance under hostile circumstances? in ~movies

  18. Comment on If your games library disappeared, which games would you repurchase? in ~games

    ShamedSalmon
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    We make a special trip just for you, same low price!

    We make a special trip just for you, same low price!

    1 vote

  19. Comment on If your games library disappeared, which games would you repurchase? in ~games

    ShamedSalmon
    Link
    Halo: Combat Evolved: I bought it for Xbox and a second copy for LANs, then again for the Anniversary in 2011, then MCC in 2014, then MCC in 2019. So what's one more time? The Elder Scrolls III:...
    • Halo: Combat Evolved: I bought it for Xbox and a second copy for LANs, then again for the Anniversary in 2011, then MCC in 2014, then MCC in 2019. So what's one more time?
    • The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind: I have also bought this for Xbox, then later on GoG, and then again on Xbox One Backwards Compatibility, for the nostalgia, but OpenMW is the future.
    • The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay: A third one I got on Xbox, then again in Assault on Dark Athena for 360, and finally on GoG over a decade ago when it was still available.
    • Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: I know, I know, there's a theme here, but it was such a great experience on Xbox that I couldn't help but buy it again on GoG.
    • Metal Gear Solid 2: I bought Substance back in the day for—you guessed it—Xbox, then I bought it again in the HD Collection, and once more when it came to GoG, but now I just use RPCS3 to emulate.
    • Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2: I bought it for Xbox (starting to sound old). When I had a PSP, I used to play a homebrewed rip of it on the go. Now I emulate it on Xemu.
    • Half-Life: I fell deeply in love with this game and it's expansion packs. Of all the games on this list, it's the only one that I purchased just once, because my Platinum Pack CD keys were redeemable on Steam. Now I play through Xash3D FWGS.
    • Quake: I bought it on CD in the early 'oughts, then later on GoG through a sale. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat! Addicted to the sound of that Ironwail!
    • Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire: I had it on N64, then bought a copy on GoG when it arrived there. I'm hoping this game gets some good decompilation treatment as I'd love to play it with a controller again.
    • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time: Everybody remembers their first love, right? I bought the gold cart for N64, then when it came to 3DS some fourteen years ago, I bought one just to play it on the go. No regrets. If I had to buy it again just to play on Ship of Harkinian, I would.

    In light of this, it may come as little surprise that I also enjoy watching reruns, lol!

    10 votes

  20. Comment on Why I am pursuing a life, professionally and personally, of Christian Virtue in ~humanities

    ShamedSalmon
    Link Parent
    Decisive of what, exactly? Not once in this whole chapter does Jung conclude that healing the split in the Western mind is itself objectively impossible. As you reread the paragraph, what you can...

    Maybe, but this conclusion seems pretty plain and decisive:

    Decisive of what, exactly? Not once in this whole chapter does Jung conclude that healing the split in the Western mind is itself objectively impossible. As you reread the paragraph, what you can see is that he is saying that grasping at the limits of Western religion and science, as they are currently implemented, are what makes deeper understandings of the self impossible to one who would not shirk them. You can read that to mean that your personal flavor of Christianity is therefore the universal solution if you like, or you can consider the point that Jung is making about psychoanalysis throughout the rest of the book.

    If that isolated sentence were some sort of conclusion, it wouldn't be placed in the middle of the paragraph and followed up with further explanatory sentences. If Jung felt, as you allege, that the Western mind could not be made capable of understanding other ideas, he would not have been able to understand or explain them himself, nor would he have bothered to write half a book and more about them. Again, this is something you can make more understandable for yourself by reading the source text.

    As to your question about which established religions should be used to socio-politically control people, whether good or bad, I would reiterate that you should consider digging deeper into Jung.

    3 votes