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|8 posts found
Novice Member
Joined: 5/06/07
The old business model:
Smaller market had to earn every sub. Devs were forced to make a deep gameworld that would keep players hooked for years just in order to make a decent buck. Hardware and bandwidth costs high.
The new business model: (mostly)
Huge market. Make it fast make it cheap, boxed or F2P. Count on massive number of frustrated or A.D.D. gamers to at least try your game get hooked for 6 months. Money made through cash shop or boxed or online sales, enough wont leave due to cash or time investment.. Keep server running for practically nothing (cheap bandwidth and VM ware server). Start new cookie cutter MMO, rinse repeat cash grab.
My point is not that every MMO works like this today, but a fair number certainly do and the numer grows every quarter. 8 Years ago this would of been an unsubstainable business model, today it seems to work just fine. Allot of the MMO market has become the same as the console game market..
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Novice Member
Joined: 12/30/09
yes .. the true wow killer. they killed the entire genre.
Novice Member
Joined: 1/04/11
Minister of Propaganda for GW2 Fascist-Capitalist Party
So far most cookie-cutter MMOs that came out lately are P2P. Very few of them are Freemium or B2P.
Elite Member
Joined: 5/09/09
Fast money-grabs happen in a lot of industries, but I'm not convinced that they're the ones making the most money in the MMORPG game currently.
Although the sense that a game might be a fast, low-quality game is partially driven by the fact that established MMORPGs reinvest some of that money back into the game (cyclicly making a dramatically superior product than competition within each "tier" of MMORPG.) These MMORPGs started higher quality and kept people interested (or they wouldn't have done as well as they did to make this cyclical trend happen.)
Free or Subbed, if you're not providing a game people want to play and pay for, they won't.
"Joe stated his case logically and passionately, but his perceived effeminate voice only drew big gales of stupid laughter..." -Idiocracy
Apprentice Member
Joined: 3/10/04
Be Brief, Be Bright... Be Gone.
Originally posted by alderdale
Old business model - smaller market, very few games, making any and all of the ones that existed a success regardless of whether they were good, polished, had content. Most of them released in much much much worse shape than todays' games, and fairly on par with Vanguard. Daoc had a decent launch though. Players that liked the genre played for years in 1 of 3-4 games because there was no other choice.
New business model - huge market, hundreds and and hundreds of games, games are given once chance (mostly) to get your attention and keep it. A bad launch will kill a game. They have to offer more content, more activities, more styles of gamplay, and thus appeal to a larger market to be able to meet operating costs and have any chance at making a profit. It is much more competitive and cut-throat than in the past, with developer costs, taxes, benefits... being much more expensive than before.
My point is that developers today have much more risk, and far less reward than they did in the past. They have to compete much harder for your sub than in the past. Which is one reason why so many are exploring alternative revenue sources.
edit - I will probably get flamed for this. But you know what, I'm not getting jaded of games, I still like them. I'm getting more and more jaded of people, of these forums. I think I need to take a break for awhile.
Quit worrying about other players in a game and just play.
Joined: 1/31/09
Originally posted by VengeSunsoar
Noooo! Don't leave me alone with all these cranky bitter old people. :(
Advanced Member
Joined: 10/21/08
A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.
No doubt it will be interesting as GW2 IS B2P apart from this being a AAA title ,and according to the hype they are going to change the MO scene with all sorts of features not seen in a freemium model or in many P2P games.
If this is a monumental success whch by all accounts it will be could this then change the business models for future games,could F2P be replaced by B2P just as ROM,Atlantica shook up the F2P markets with there so called AAA status.
If so this could change the Mo industry we could actually see more quality launches like Rift as they will need to compete from the get go, as they will not be given any time by consumers if their product is are sub standard.We will see lesser Mo's as more devs concentrate on long term projects and not shove out content faster than most customers could download stuff to their hard drives.
Elite Member
Joined: 1/07/06
The adult I am takes care of most things real life. However my inner-child is a GAMER!!
The old business model was that way cause the market was rather niche and compared to today pretty small.
The new business model follows what seems the work better then in the old day's (keep in mind I like the old allot more)
But your last sentence didn't make much sense TO ME. Cause to me it's the other way around where the console market copies what works from the pc-market, as in the old day's of the console market they needed to bring out a game that worked instantly cause there wasn't any internet connection to it, while pc's had internet allot sooner then the console, with pc games most of them often got patches, downloadeble content, extra's, something that now is working the same with the console's.
You also know that the market has expanded into what it is today, where in the old we might have had 3/5 choices of MMORPG's to play, where we now have hunderds of MMORPG's to choose from.
I think it's the overload of choices that makes us see more crap being released where there still are a few gems that seem to work just fine.
So in short the new business model even though I personaly dislike it seems to work just fine for the majority of gamers into this genre.
But mannnnn do I long for some of the old evolving into something next gen, but as I said in other topics the type of MMORPG I personaly would want might be one of the most expensive MMORPG ever created due to what I want and see/read what others of the old want.


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Unless I miss my guess, no American city has done more to advance a composer's international reputation than Chicago has done for William Bolcom in recent decades.
Under two successive regimes, Lyric Opera of Chicago has commissioned and premiered three major operas by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Bolcom, with librettos by the late poet and playwright Arnold Weinstein: "McTeague" in 1992, "A View from the Bridge" in 1999 and "A Wedding" in 2004. Each has gone on to achieve a respectable number of performances beyond Chicago – somewhere between 25 and 30 for "A View from the Bridge" alone, by the composer's reckoning.
Bolcom is back in town this week, serving as composer in residence at the Grant Park Music Festival, where he is overseeing Grant Park Orchestra performances of his symphonic and vocal works. One of these, "Millennium: Concerto-Fantasia," will receive its world premiere, commissioned by the festival for the final concerts of its 80th anniversary season, Friday and Saturday nights at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Carlos Kalmar will be at the helm.
Bolcom has kept busy composing and, to a lesser extent, playing piano, since his retirement in 2008 from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he taught composition for 35 years and where he presently serves as professor emeritus.
The title of his Grant Park piece, "Millennium: Concerto-Fantasia," refers both to the futuristic outdoor concert hall where Bolcom's music will take wing this weekend and to the great millennium change of 2000 (or 2001, if you will), which has prompted more anxious questions than rosy predictions, as the composer sees it.
"I'm not sure what's going to happen next – are you? It's one of the most uncertain periods, I think, of any I've ever heard of," Bolcom said in a recent phone interview from the country home outside Ann Arbor where he lives with his wife and frequent concert partner, mezzo-soprano Joan Morris.
"So many of the cultural institutions of the previous millennium are now under heavy review, and one of them on the endangered list may be the orchestra itself. Many in our society do not relate to this culture at all. It is clearly up to us in (classical) music to invite these people into our enclave and to the many beauties waiting for them."
A concerto for orchestra whose six continuous sections unfold like chapters of a novel, "Millennium" finds Bolcom addressing, in the abstract, a fateful question: How will the symphony orchestra face this brave new musical world going forward?
The result is a pocket history of the symphony orchestra as it has evolved over the last four centuries, in which various solo instrumentalists and orchestral choirs engage with one another for some 22 minutes.
"The final section, 'A Conclusion, for Now,' won't provide the comforting closure of many large orchestral pieces," the composer says. Nonetheless, he adds, the work as a whole "has the positive charge of being premiered in a millennial park in a vibrant, evolving city."
Bolcom was a natural to provide a celebratory work to cap Grant Park's 80th anniversary, says Kalmar.
"Last year, when we were thinking about commissioning a new piece to honor this milestone, we asked ourselves which composers closely linked to the city could write something for us. Bill Bolcom's name came immediately to mind. Knowing how busy he is, I worried that our request would come too late. Fortunately, he was available."
Bolcom week at Grant Park also will include a selection of Bolcom's wry and frisky "Cabaret Songs," to texts by Weinstein. To the set of seven songs Bolcom orchestrated in 2007 for a Deutsche Grammophon album by Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman, he has added, at Kalmar's request, two more orchestrated songs, "Fur" and "Places to Live." All will be sung at Wednesday's concert by members of Lyric Opera's Ryan Opera Center.
The loss of dexterity in Bolcom's right hand over the last decade has curtailed his piano playing and made transferring his musical ideas to score paper more laborious, the 76-year-old composer-pianist told me. But with the help of a graduate-level assistant at the university and the use of musical notation software, Bolcom says he's coping well enough.
"I suppose I could regain some finger and hand mobility if I practiced an awful lot, but if I did that, I wouldn't have any time to compose," he says.
The composer recently added another work to his sizable orchestral catalog: "Circus Overture," a 70th birthday gift to conductor Leonard Slatkin, a longtime champion of Bolcom's music who led the premiere with the Boston Symphony Orchestra last week at Tanglewood.
The music world will not have long to wait to hear another Bolcom opera. The Minnesota Opera recently announced it has commissioned him and librettist Mark Campbell to write a comic opera, "Dinner at Eight," based on the play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. The company has scheduled the world premiere for its 2016-17 season in St. Paul.
Bolcom says he originally approached Lyric Opera about taking on the project but was told there was no room to fit it into a schedule that's fully booked for the next five years. Even given that disappointment, the composer says he hasn't lost hope of eventually adding a fourth opera to his triple crown of made-in-Chicago stage works.
"If the late Elliott Carter could compose his first opera at 90," Bolcom observes, "maybe I will have a couple more up my sleeve by the time I reach that age."
Carlos Kalmar and the Grant Park Orchestra will be joined by singers from the Ryan Opera Center for a program that holds William Bolcom's "Cabaret Songs" and works by Mozart and Piston, at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Grant Park Music Festival season will conclude with the world premiere of Bolcom's "Millennium: Concerto-Fantasia," sharing the program with Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloe," at 6:30 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park, Michigan Avenue and Randolph Street; free; 312-742-7638, gpmf.org.


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Wot I Think: Primal Carnage
Dinosaurs vs humans with high-powered modern weaponry. It's a tale as old as time ' or at least Jurassic Park. Games, though, have struggled desperately to strike a proper balance between man and his planet-populating predecessor, but to little avail. So then, can Lukewarm'sPrimal Carnage finally break the lukewarm streak kicked off by the likes of Dino D-Day and Orion: Dino Beatdown? Here's wot I think.
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Holdings: Vol. 1, no. 1 (Jan. 1966)-v. 38, no. 12 (Dec. 2003) & v. 40, no. 1 (Jan. 2005)-v. 42, no. 5 (May 2007)
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Posted by Royce Young
Newly acquired guard Vince Carter will make his debut for the Suns against the Philadelphia 76ers, coach Alvin Gentry told the Arizona Republic.
Because of swelling in one of his knees, Carter has yet to appear for his new team since being traded from Orlando two weeks ago. Lately, Phoenix has dropped three in a row and one of the issues that ail the Suns is a lack of scoring.
Carter has practiced with the Suns over the past week but just hasn't been ready for game action. Of course he faces the challenge of adapting to the fast paced Phoenix offense and also getting used to playing with Steve Nash.
Carter is a similar player to that of Jason Richardson, but with a little more one-on-one ability. Carter will get plenty of looks from 3, but in order to be successful with the Suns will have to run the floor, make good cuts, move without the ball and create shots for himself on the wing.
Most have written them off, but with the back end of the West not looking as strong with the Hornets fading and the Trail Blazers bruised again, there could be an opening for the eight-seed. Houston is improving and if Carter plays how he's capable, Phoenix could start sneaking up the standings. Currently, the Suns sit 11th in the West which is only a game-and-a-half behind the Rockets and Blazers.
Steve Nash, who likely is hungry for some help, tweeted Tuesday evening, "It's gonna be fun. He can do things no one on our team can do and will improve us."
Assuming Carter plays to his potential -- even if he's a bit over-the-hill -- he definitely will make them better. But then again, he has to be healthy too, something I'm not sure has happened in five or six years.
Blog Entry
Vince Carter set to debut for Suns Wednesday
Posted on: December 29, 2010 2:19 pm
Category: NBA
Tags: Phoenix Suns, Steve Nash, Vince Carter
Since: Sep 5, 2006
Posted on: December 29, 2010 6:22 pm
Vince Carter set to debut for Suns Wednesday
This is a tough one to figure. Vince normally gets bored / restless / upset / unmotivated in a particular city, starts loafing through games, gets traded and then turns it on. But in this case, Vince was loafing through games before he got traded, got traded, and then immediately talked about getting surgery done that would end his season. He must have realized that there is - 1,000,000% chance that Phoenix is going to pick up the option on his deal for next season and figures he better start trying for a few months.
Since: Aug 14, 2008
Posted on: December 29, 2010 2:53 pm
Vince Carter set to debut for Suns Wednesday
He's only missed 18 games in the past 5 years, what are you talking about?


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David Rickard's Tech BlogThoughts on C#, WPF and programming in generalhttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/davidrickard/atom.aspxTelligent Evolution Platform Developer Build (Build: 5.6.50428.7875)2010-03-09T03:18:00ZDateTime and DateTimeOffset in .NET: Good practices and common pitfallshttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/davidrickard/archive/2012/04/07/system-datetime-good-practices-and-common-pitfalls.aspx2012-04-07T00:37:00Z2012-04-07T00:37:00Z
It becomes necessary to deal with dates and times in most .NET programs. A lot of programs use DateTime but that structure is frought with potential issues when you start serializing, parsing, comparing and displaying dates from different time zones and cultures. In this post I will go over these issues and the APIs and practices you should use to avoid them.

Background

The DateTime structure stores only two pieces of information: Ticks and Kind. 1 tick is 100 nanoseconds (10,000 ticks in a millisecond). The ticks counter represents how many 100ns ticks you are away from 1/1/0001 12:00 AM. It's the part that determines that it's April 6th, 2012, 3:32:07 PM.

Another bit of data is the Kind: represented as a DateTimeKind enumeration. Utc, Local and Unspecified are the possible values. Utc means that the ticks counter represents a Coordinated Universal Time (that doesn't change due to daylight savings or time zones). Local means that it represents the local time of whatever time zone the computer is set to. This one is sensitive to daylight savings. Note that a timezone offset is not built in to the DateTime structure. It can only get back to a real UTC time by checking the current time zone settings on the computer. ToUniversalTime() and ToLocalTime() will do these conversions. It will return a new DateTime value with the Ticks adjusted to get the correct year/month/day and with the requested type. Calling ToUniversalTime() on a UTC DateTime or ToLocalTime() on a Local DateTime has no effect. Remember that these functions are generating a new DateTime value and not modifying the original.

There's also a third type: Unspecified. This means we don't know whether it's local or UTC. All we know is the year, month, day, etc. When working with DateTime values, Unspecified is not very helpful since we don't know what to do when we want to get a local or UTC time from it. If you call ToUniversalTime() on one of these, it assumes that the type must have been Local and converts based on that. If you call ToLocalTime() it assumes that the type must have been UTC and converts in that direction.

DateTimeOffset is a newer structure. It is also based on ticks but instead of storing a Kind, it keeps track of the offset from UTC as a TimeSpan. A DateTimeOffset always knows what time zone it's in. Calling ToUniversalTime() will always result in a TimeSpan.Zero offset, and ToLocalTime() will convert and result in an offset of the user's current time zone.

Use DateTimeOffset, not DateTime

DateTime has countless traps in it that are designed to give your code bugs:

DateTime values with DateTimeKind.Unspecified are bad news. It's common for code to call ToUniversalTime() or ToLocalTime() to make sure it's got the date properly ready for storage or display respectively. If you call ToUniversalTime() it converts X hours in one direction, but if you call ToLocalTime() on it, it converts X hours in the opposite direction. Both of those can't possibly be correct.

DateTime doesn't care about UTC/Local when doing comparisons. It only cares about the number of Ticks on the objects. It could not care less that you've lovingly specified that value A is most certainly UTC and value B is local; it won't do any conversions for you. 7:30 AM Local is always going to be evaluated as less than 8:22 AM UTC, even if your timezone is EDT and really the first time was 11:30 AM UTC.

DateTime values are not aware of standard format strings. For instance the "r" (RFC1123, the format used in HTTP headers) and "u" (universal sortable) formats both put UTC markers in the string you serialize to. If you call .ToString("u") on a local time, DateTime will happily label your local time as UTC without doing any conversion. The basically guarantees disaster when it gets parsed back in again.

Parsing a string that has a UTC marker with DateTime does not guarantee a UTC time. If you run DateTime.Parse("2012-04-06 23:46:23Z") you might expect the result to be a UTC DateTime since the "Z" UTC flag is right there in the string, but you do not. It will correctly note that it is dealing with a UTC time, then promptly convert it to a Local time. It's still technically correct, but it can result in the hours count changing when you are not expecting it to.

But DateTimeOffset doesn't have any of these problems! It's the newer, more robust version; think of it as DateTime v2. They couldn't fix the old DateTime object because that might break existing code that was relying on the bad behavior.

So you'll want to use DateTimeOffset in any situation that you're referring to a specific point in time. You might still use DateTime for things like general dates (July 4th, 1776) or store hours (9AM-5PM), since they are not affected by time zones.

Pick the right format when serializing

It's common to convert DateTimeOffset values to strings for storage or sending them somewhere else. The list of standard date and time format strings is helpful when you are contemplating how to do this. These are used with the DateTimeOffset.ToString method: for example myDate.ToString("u"). Note how with most of the standard formats you get different values for different cultures: different month names, swapped month/day places, etc. If you use one of these to serialize and Parse back in, it might work if you have the same culture on both sides, but will break if one side uses a different culture. You can get failed parses or swapped month/day values. Only the "o", "r", "s" and "u" formats are culture-invariant. Use one of those for serialization:

 Format string	 Name	 Example

 "o"	 Round-trip	 2012-04-17T16:46:48.0820143+00:00 (UTC)
2012-04-17T09:46:48.0820143-07:00 (local)	 The only format that preserves the DateTimeOffset fully. The others round to the nearest second.

 "r"	 RFC1123	 Tue, 17 Apr 2012 16:46:48 GMT	 Used for HTTP headers

 "u"	 Universal sortable	 2012-04-17 16:46:48Z

 "s"	 Sortable	 2012-04-17T16:46:48 (UTC)
2012-04-17T09:46:48 (local)	 Not a great format for this use as it has no timezone or UTC marker and can change based on what offset you have

Conclusion

Use DateTimeOffset and be careful with serialization. If you're dealing with legacy code that's using DateTime, be aware of all the timezone-related pitfalls when comparing, serializing, parsing and converting.

One final issue...

If it is Coordinated Universal Time, why is the acronym UTC and not CUT? When the English and the French were getting together to work out the notation, the french wanted TUC, for Temps Universel Coordonné. UTC was a compromise: it fit equally badly for each language. :)

RandomEngyhttp://blogs.msdn.com/davricka/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxUsing the Dispatcher with MVVMhttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/davidrickard/archive/2010/04/01/using-the-dispatcher-with-mvvm.aspx2010-04-01T03:27:00Z2010-04-01T03:27:00Z
When writing an MVVM application, you want to separate from the UI. However you also need to make sure that UI updates happen on the UI thread. Changes made through INotifyPropertyChanged get automatically marshaled to the UI thread, so in most cases you'll be fine. However, when using INotifyCollectionChanged (such as with an ObservableCollection), these changes are not marshaled to the UI thread.

This means that unless you modify your collection on the UI thread, you'll get a cross threading error. Thus the problem. We're in the ViewModel and we don't have access to the Dispatcher. That's on a View object. How do we update the collection on the UI thread?

I came up with a small static class to help with this:

public static class DispatchService { public static void Invoke(Action action) { Dispatcher dispatchObject = Application.Current.Dispatcher; if (dispatchObject == null || dispatchObject.CheckAccess()) { action(); } else { dispatchObject.Invoke(action); } } }

When your ViewModel gives the DispatchService actions, it can run them on the correct thread. Which is, in the case of unit tests, always the current thread. A call to the DispatchService may look like this:

DispatchService.Invoke(() => { this.MyCollection.Add("new value"); });

The use of a simple lambda statement makes it a relatively lightweight way of updating on the correct thread.
RandomEngyhttp://blogs.msdn.com/davricka/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashxSaving window size and location in WPF and WinFormshttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/davidrickard/archive/2010/03/09/saving-window-size-and-location-in-wpf-and-winforms.aspx2010-03-09T03:18:00Z2010-03-09T03:18:00Z
A common user interface tweak is to save the size and location of a window and restore that state when the program starts up again. That way, the users don't need to re-do their work of resizing and moving the windows to where they want them. However I've found that there isn't really a convenient way to do with in C#. Many solutions focus on recording the window width, height, x and y coordinates and current state (maximized, restored, etc), then applying all those values again on startup. But then you have to deal with edge cases: What if the user has changed resolutions since your program last ran? What if it was present on a monitor that's now disconnected?

Fortunately, there are a couple of native Windows functions that can do all this work for us: SetWindowPlacement and GetWindowPlacement. MSDN has a sample demonstrating how to PInvoke to these functions in a WPF project, but it's got a few issues with it. For one, it's trying to store the placement as a custom type in settings, which can cause strange errors every time you open your Settings file. Here's my take on it:

using System; using System.IO; using System.Runtime.InteropServices; using System.Text; using System.Xml; using System.Xml.Serialization; namespace WindowPlacementExample { // RECT structure required by WINDOWPLACEMENT structure [Serializable] [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)] public struct RECT { public int Left; public int Top; public int Right; public int Bottom; public RECT(int left, int top, int right, int bottom) { this.Left = left; this.Top = top; this.Right = right; this.Bottom = bottom; } } // POINT structure required by WINDOWPLACEMENT structure [Serializable] [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)] public struct POINT { public int X; public int Y; public POINT(int x, int y) { this.X = x; this.Y = y; } } // WINDOWPLACEMENT stores the position, size, and state of a window [Serializable] [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)] public struct WINDOWPLACEMENT { public int length; public int flags; public int showCmd; public POINT minPosition; public POINT maxPosition; public RECT normalPosition; } public static class WindowPlacement { private static Encoding encoding = new UTF8Encoding(); private static XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(WINDOWPLACEMENT)); [DllImport("user32.dll")] private static extern bool SetWindowPlacement(IntPtr hWnd, [In] ref WINDOWPLACEMENT lpwndpl); [DllImport("user32.dll")] private static extern bool GetWindowPlacement(IntPtr hWnd, out WINDOWPLACEMENT lpwndpl); private const int SW_SHOWNORMAL = 1; private const int SW_SHOWMINIMIZED = 2; public static void SetPlacement(IntPtr windowHandle, string placementXml) { if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(placementXml)) { return; } WINDOWPLACEMENT placement; byte[] xmlBytes = encoding.GetBytes(placementXml); try { using (MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream(xmlBytes)) { placement = (WINDOWPLACEMENT)serializer.Deserialize(memoryStream); } placement.length = Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(WINDOWPLACEMENT)); placement.flags = 0; placement.showCmd = (placement.showCmd == SW_SHOWMINIMIZED ? SW_SHOWNORMAL : placement.showCmd); SetWindowPlacement(windowHandle, ref placement); } catch (InvalidOperationException) { // Parsing placement XML failed. Fail silently. } } public static string GetPlacement(IntPtr windowHandle) { WINDOWPLACEMENT placement = new WINDOWPLACEMENT(); GetWindowPlacement(windowHandle, out placement); using (MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream()) { using (XmlTextWriter xmlTextWriter = new XmlTextWriter(memoryStream, Encoding.UTF8)) { serializer.Serialize(xmlTextWriter, placement); byte[] xmlBytes = memoryStream.ToArray(); return encoding.GetString(xmlBytes); } } } } }

To get the placement of an existing window, you give it the native handle for the window, and get back a string of XML that represents the placement for the window. You save this string somewhere, then when the program starts back up again, apply it with SetPlacement. The above code works for both WinForms and WPF. And in both cases you can open your Properties/Settings.settings file and add a new setting to store the string:

This will store the window state locally, per-user. Of course you could also store the string wherever you wanted to.

What I like about this approach is that the WindowPlacement class does the XML serialization for you and gives you a nice, tidy string containing all the placement data.

But where in the program code should we hook in to save and re-apply the window placements? The answer is a bit different between WinForms and WPF.

WPF:

You might benefit by throwing a couple of extension methods on the WindowPlacement class to make things a bit easier:

public static void SetPlacement(this Window window, string placementXml) { WindowPlacement.SetPlacement(new WindowInteropHelper(window).Handle, placementXml); } public static string GetPlacement(this Window window) { return WindowPlacement.GetPlacement(new WindowInteropHelper(window).Handle); }

To save the window placement, just handle the Closing event on the Window:

private void Window_Closing(object sender, CancelEventArgs e) { Settings.Default.MainWindowPlacement = this.GetPlacement(); Settings.Default.Save(); }

To restore, you'll need to hook in on SourceInitialized:

protected override void OnSourceInitialized(EventArgs e) { base.OnSourceInitialized(e); this.SetPlacement(Settings.Default.MainWindowPlacement); }

WinForms:

This one is a bit more straightforward. Save on the FormClosing event and restore the window state in the Load event handler. The Form's native handle is accessible from its Handle property.

Now we have a robust and relatively painless way of persisting window sizes and positions, and we only need to keep track of one string per window.
RandomEngyhttp://blogs.msdn.com/davricka/ProfileUrlRedirect.ashx


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I agree that increasing fees as well as changes in shipping options of various mail carries is making selling internationally a bit more of a challange. I just sold a tenor saxophone a week ago to a gentleman in Greece. Getting this thing shipped was a bear. I've sold and shipped many saxophones internationally in the past but it's been a couple of years and shipping this time was a bear. This is a very high price item and the only services that would ship it insured for its full value were UPS and FEDEX International but between the size of the package and the insurance the shipping rate would be about $450. The buyer opted to sign a shipping liability realease and have it shiped USPS Express Mail which in the past would have insured it for up to $2500 but that has changed. Now maximum shipping insurance to Greece is $650, a significant difference. In the past they would not have shipped the package Global Guaranteed but now they would accept it but the cost to ship would be over $500. This was the last of my saxophones so I don't have anything that large and valuable to sell anymore but if I did I would probably seriously reconsider shipping internationally.
As a follow up to my original post. The Leica package arrived yesterday! Interestingly USPS's tracking still says the package hasn't arrived in the United States yet. I'm so happy that I don't have to worry about it anymore (a welcome end to my "hysteria") but sure enough USPS's tracking as usual has no relevant connection to the actual movement or delivery of the package. That may not be that big of a deal to some others but I still think that is hugely problematic when dealing with high value items. Of couse the obvious solution is what many have echoed in this thread, just pay the higher cost for the shipping service that provides what is needed. I'll gladly do that in the future.


text:
A process for assembling a microactuator on a R/W transducer that includes forming a first wafer of semiconductor material having a plurality of microactuators including suspended regions and fixed regions separated from each other by first trenches; forming a second wafer of semiconductor material comprising blocking regions connecting mobile and fixed intermediate regions separated from each other by second trenches; bonding the two wafers so as to form a composite wafer wherein the suspended regions of the first wafer are connected to the mobile intermediate regions of the second wafer, and the fixed regions of the first wafer are connected to the fixed intermediate regions of the second wafer; cutting the composite wafer into a plurality of units; fixing the mobile intermediate region of each unit to a respective R/W transducer; and removing the blocking regions. The blocking regions are made of silicon oxide, and the intermediate regions are made of polycrystalline silicon.
1. A process for assembling a group of elements having at least one first element and one second element, said first element including a microstructure without package, the process comprising:
forming a first wafer of semiconductor material comprising a plurality of microstructures including first and second operating regions separated from each other by first trenches,
forming a second wafer of semiconductor material comprising blocking regions connecting a plurality of first and second intermediate regions, said first and second intermediate regions separated from each other by second trenches;
joining said first wafer and second wafer to form a composite wafer wherein said first operating regions are fixed to said first intermediate regions, and said second operating regions are fixed to said second intermediate regions;
cutting said composite wafer into a plurality of units, each unit including at least one first operating region and one second operating region, and one first intermediate region and one second intermediate region;
fixing said first intermediate region of at least one unit to said second element; and
removing said blocking regions.
2. The process of
3. The process of
forming a substrate of semiconductor material;
forming said blocking layer on top of said substrate;
forming a semiconductor layer on top of said blocking layer; and
forming said second trenches in said semiconductor layer to obtain said first and second intermediate regions.
4. The process of
5. The process of
6. The process of
7. The process of
8. The process of
9. The process of
10. The process of
11. The process of
12. The process of
13. The process of
14. The process of
15. The process of
16. The process of
17. The process of
The present invention relates to a process for assembling a group of elements comprising at least one first element and one second element, one of the elements comprising a microstructure without package.
As is known, hard disks are the most commonly used data storage solution; consequently they are produced in very large volumes, and the maximum density of data storage is increasing year by year. Hard disks are read and written by actuator devices, the general structure whereof is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and is described hereinafter.
In particular, FIG. 1 shows an actuator device 1 of known rotary type, which comprises a motor 2 (also known as a voice coil motor) secured to a support body 3 which is generally known as E block, owing to its "E" shape in lateral view (see FIG. 2). The support body 3 has a plurality of arms 4 which each support a suspension 5 formed by a cantilevered plate. At its end not connected to the support body 3, each suspension 5 supports a R/W transducer 6 for reading/writing, which in an operative condition is disposed facing a surface of a hard disk 7, so as to perform roll and pitch movements in order to follow the surface of the hard disk 7. To this end, R/W transducer 6 (which is also called picoslider or slider) is bonded to a coupling called gimbal or flexure 8, which is generally formed from the suspension 5 and comprises for example a rectangular plate 8 a, cut on three and a half sides from the plate of the suspension 5, and having a portion 8 b connected to the suspension 5 and allowing bending of plate 8 a caused by the weight of the R/W transducer 6 (see FIG. 3).
For increasing the data storage density, it has been already proposed to use a double actuation stage, with a rougher first actuation stage, including the motor 2 moving the assembly formed by the support body 3, the suspension 5 and the R/W transducer 6 across the hard disk 7 during coarse search of the track, and a second actuation stage performing a finer control of the position of the R/W transducer 6 during tracking. According to a known solution, the second actuation stage comprises a microactuator interposed between the R/W transducer 6, as shown in FIG. 3, which shows exploded the end of the suspension 5, the gimbal 8, the R/W transducer 6 and a microactuator 10, in this case of the rotary type. The microactuator 10 is controlled by a signal supplied by control electronics, on the basis of a tracking error.
The microactuator 10 comprises fixed parts and suspended mobile parts. In particular, the latter, during assembly of the R/W transducer on the microactuator and when forming connections with the control circuitry, may be displaced and/or may collapse. In addition, stresses may be set up in the structure of the microactuator, such as to cause fragility of the structure.
In order to keep the final assembly process similar to those used before the introduction of a dual actuation stage and at the same time prevent displacement and collapse, systems for protecting the microactuator have been proposed, which, however, are complex and consequently costly.
The disclosed embodiments of the invention provide an assembly process that enables protection of microstructures when assembled on other components in a less complex and more inexpensive way.
According to the embodiments of the present invention, a process for assembling a group comprising at least one first and one second element and a unit thus assembled are provided, including a microstructure without package, the process comprising: forming a first wafer of semiconductor material having a plurality of microstructures including first and second operating regions separated from each other by first trenches; forming a second wafer of semiconductor material comprising blocking regions connecting a plurality of first and second intermediate regions, the first and second intermediate regions separated from each other by second trenches; joining the first wafer and second wafer to form a composite wafer wherein the first operating regions are fixed to the first intermediate regions and the second operating regions are fixed to the second intermediate regions; cutting the composite wafer into a plurality of units, each unit including at least one first operating region and one second operating region, and one first intermediate region and one second intermediate region; fixing the first intermediate region of at least one unit to the second element; and removing the blocking regions.
For a better understanding of the present invention, a preferred embodiment thereof is now described, purely to provide a non-limiting example, with reference to the attached drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 shows a top view of an actuator for hard disks, of a known type;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of certain parts of the actuator of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the micrometric actuation unit in an actuator device having dual actuation stage;
FIG. 4 is a simplified top view of a semiconductor material wafer housing a microactuator of the rotational type;
FIGS. 5 and 6 show cross sections through a silicon wafer housing a protective structure according to the invention in two successive fabrication steps;
FIG. 7 is a perspective cross-sectional view of the wafer shown in FIG. 6, fixed to the silicon wafer of FIG. 4;
FIGS. 8-13 are cross sections of the structure obtained in successive fabrication steps; and
FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the obtained final group.
In the ensuing description, reference will be made to the process of assembling a microactuator 10 on the slider 6 and on the suspension 5, as shown in FIG. 3. For this purpose, in a first semiconductor material wafer, the microactuators and the corresponding control circuits are first formed (for example, as described in the European Patent Application EP-A-0 913 921).
For a better understanding of the invention, in FIG. 4 a first semiconductor material wafer 11 is shown, wherein a plurality of microactuators 10 is formed, only one of which is shown as regards its essential elements. The microactuator 10 comprises an external stator 13, designed to be rigidly connected to the plate 8 a of the gimbal 8 (FIG. 3), and an internal rotor 14 capacitively coupled to the stator 13 and designed to be bonded to the R/W transducer 6 (FIG. 3).
The rotor 14 comprises a suspended mass 15 of a substantially annular shape and a plurality of mobile arms 16 extending radially outwards starting from the suspended mass 15.
The suspended mass 15 surrounds concentrically an anchoring region 21, which is fixed and is separated from the suspended mask 15 by an annular trench 18 connected to four radial slots 19, which extend radially inside the suspended mass 15. Four elastic suspension and anchoring elements, hereinafter called springs 20, extend between the anchoring region 21 and the suspended mass 15 inside the radial slots 19. The springs 20 have the function of elastically and electrically connecting the suspended mass 15 to the anchoring region 21. The anchoring region 21, which is of a cylindrical shape, thus has the function of supporting and biasing the mobile mass 15 and the mobile arms 16 of the rotor 14 through a buried conductive region (not shown in detail).
The stator 13 comprises a fixed region 22, surrounding the area housing the rotor 14, and a plurality of fixed arms 23, which extend radially from the fixed region 22 and are arranged so that they alternate with the mobile arms 16. The mobile arms 16 and the fixed arms 23 are separated from one another by a trench 24 which extends in zigzag fashion annularly between the fixed region 22 and the suspended mass 15. The fixed region 22 houses biasing regions for the rotor 14 and the stator 13, components of the control circuitry, as well as the connections between the microactuator and the control circuitry, in a per se known manner, and hence are not shown.
According to this embodiment of the invention, a second wafer 25 is made which houses a plurality of supporting and protective structures, one for each microactuator 10 present in the first wafer 11. The second wafer 25 is bonded to the wafer 11 so as to support and protect the microactuators 10 during cutting of the wafer 11 and bonding to the slider 6 and to the gimbal 8.
To this end (FIG. 5), the second wafer 25 comprises a monocrystalline silicon substrate 26, a silicon oxide blocking layer 27 deposited or thermally grown, an insulation layer 28, for example made of silicon nitride, and a polycrystalline silicon layer 29. The substrate 26 has an initial thickness of 650-700 μm. The blocking layer 27, which has a function of mutually blocking the mobile parts and the fixed parts of the microactuators 10, as described hereinafter, preferably has a thickness of at least 0.5 μm. The insulating layer 28, which has the function of electrically insulating the polycrystalline silicon layer 29 from electrical connection regions, which are made subsequently, preferably has a thickness of approximately 90 nm. The polycrystalline silicon layer 29 is made preferably by depositing a polycrystalline silicon germ layer and performing an epitaxial growth until a total thickness of approximately 5 μm is obtained.
Subsequently, the polycrystalline silicon layer 29 is masked with resist mask and etched out to form cavities 30, having a thickness of between approximately 5 and 10 μm, separated by projections 31 a and 31 b (FIG. 6). The projections 31 a, preferably with an annular shape, are each formed at a respective suspended mass 15 of the first wafer 11, while the projections 31 b are each formed at a respective fixed region 22, as shown in FIG. 7 for a microactuator 10.
Next, the polycrystalline silicon layer 29 and the insulation layer 28 are masked with a resist mask and etched to obtain first trenches 33 a and second trenches 33 b, which extend up to the blocking layer 27. The first trenches 33 a, which are narrower, have a preferably annular shape and are arranged so that each of them extends approximately along or near the circumference that externally delimits the region of the first wafer 11 which houses the respective rotor 14, this circumference separating the rotor 14 from the respective fixed region 22. The second trenches 33 b, which are wider, are arranged along the scribing lines of the wafers 11 and 25. In a way not shown, trenches are also made at the contact pads of the first wafer 11. In this way, the polycrystalline silicon layer 29 forms mobile intermediate regions 29′ and fixed intermediate regions 29″, separated from each other by the first trenches 33 a. In addition, the fixed intermediate regions 29″ corresponding to adjacent microactuators 10 are separated from one another by the second trenches 33 b.
Subsequently, the second wafer 25 is thinned out from the back in a mechanical way, for example by grinding the substrate 26, preferably until a total thickness of 300-400 μm is obtained.
The second wafer 25 is then bonded to the first wafer 11 so that the projections 31 a face the suspended masses 15, and the projections 31 b face the fixed regions 22, as shown in FIG. 7, in which the reference number 35 designates a substrate region of the first wafer 11, from which the anchoring region 21 extends; number 36 designates insulating regions, for example of silicon oxide regions, which electrically separate the fixed region 22 from the substrate region 35, where necessary; number 37 designates the bonding material, and number 38 an air gap extending beneath the suspended mass 15 and the mobile arms 16.
In this way, a composite wafer 39 is obtained, which is subsequently mechanically thinned out, for example by grinding, so reducing the thickness of the substrate 26 of the second wafer 25 to approximately 30 μm. Then, the substrate 26 of the second wafer 25 is completely removed by wet etching or plasma etching, which is stopped at the blocking layer 27, as shown in FIG. 8.
The blocking layer 27 is then masked and etched so as to be removed completely from the areas where metallic regions of electrical connection are to be made and at the contact pads of the first wafer 11 (in a way not shown). In particular, of the blocking layer 27, blocking regions 27′ remain at the trenches 33 a and 33 b and where the electrical connections for the slider are to be made. In this way, the blocking regions 27′ form, together with the mobile intermediate regions 29′ and fixed intermediate regions 29″, a unitary protection and blocking structure, which completely covers all the microactuators 10 formed in the first wafer 11 and blocks the mobile parts, so preventing them from being displaced or from collapsing.
Next, on top of the insulating layer 28 and the regions 27′ and 27″, where these are present, a metallic multilayer is laid and defined (for example, formed by an aluminum layer and a gold layer) so as to obtain metallic regions 40 a and connection lines 40 b that extend partly on the insulating layer 28 and partly on the regions 27′. In particular, the metallic regions 40 a extend approximately over the suspended masses 15, and the connection lines 40 b each extend between a peripheral portion of the mobile intermediate region 29′ and the portion, which faces the latter, of the respective fixed intermediate region 29″, passing over the first trenches 33 a, as shown in FIG. 9.
A test is then carried out on the composite wafer 39 in order to verify whether any short circuits are present. Next, the composite wafer 39 is cut into single units 41 at the trenches 33 b, as shown in FIG. 10. In this step, the individual microactuators 10 are covered by the protective and blocking structure formed by the regions 29′, 29″ and 27′, so that the operation of cutting will not damage the microactuators 10.
Subsequently (FIG. 11), a slider 6 is bonded on each unit 41. In particular, bonding material 42 is interposed between the metallic region 40 a and the underside of the slider 6. Then, the connection lines 40 b are bonded to contact pads 43 present on the slider 6 by means of conductive material 44, using, for example, a laser soft bonding technique, and the metallic region 40 b is bonded to the body of the slider 6 by means of a conductive glue 45 so as to provide a ground connection for the slider 6.
Next (FIG. 12), each unit 41 is bonded on a respective suspension 5 at the plate 8 a using a bonding material 47. The connection lines 40 b are electrically connected to respective contact pads 48 provided on the plate 8 a by means of conductive wires 49, and the contact pads present on the first wafer 11 (not shown) are electrically connected to respective contact pads 50 provided on the plate 8 a by means of electrical wires 51, which are visible only in part.
A test is carried out on the suspension/microactuator/slider units that have just been assembled. Then, in a not shown way, the assembled units are fixed to the supporting body 3.
Finally, the blocking regions 27′ are etched away using hydrofluoric acid gas to obtain the final structure shown in cross-sectional view in FIG. 13 and in perspective view in FIG. 14.
By removing the blocking regions 27′, the mobile parts of the microactuator 10 (suspended mass 15 and mobile arms 16) and the slider 6, which is fixed to the aforesaid mobile parts through the mobile intermediate region 29′, are free to move with respect to the fixed parts (fixed arms 23, fixed region 22 and fixed intermediate region 29″). The electrical connections 40 are free and have the necessary elasticity to enable rotation of the slider 6 with respect to the fixed intermediate region 29″.
The advantages of the described process are the following: first, the process enables the unit made up of the microactuator 10 and the slider 6 to be assembled on the suspension 5 and enables the latter to be assembled on the supporting body 3 in a traditional way, as in standard actuator devices not having the microactuator 10. In addition, it provides a structure for protecting the microactuator 10 when cutting the wafer 11 and subsequently during assembly and bonding, thus reducing the risk of damage and collapse.
The described process comprises typical steps of microelectronics fabrication techniques, and hence has a high reliability and reproducibility, along with contained costs.
Finally, it is evident that numerous modifications and variations may be made to the process and unit described and illustrated herein, all falling within the scope of the invention, as defined in the attached claims. In particular, it is emphasized that the operations of electrical connection and joining of the various parts may be carried out according to any suitable technique. The microactuator may moreover be made of polycrystalline silicon or a metallic material, according to any known technique of fabrication.
The first step of reducing the thickness of the substrate 26 of the second wafer 25 may be omitted; however, this step is advantageous in order to reduce to a minimum the grinding time after bonding of the wafers 11 and 25, and consequently in order to reduce the risk of damage to the microactuators 10.
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A Lemur Crisis in Madagascar
Dr. Patricia Wright | Posted 09.17.2012 | Science
Read More: Center Valbio, Madagascar Lemurs, Endangered Species, Lemurs, Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar, Science News
Since a political coup in 2009, laws are not being enforced and illegal logging, fires to turn forests into charcoal and hunting of lemurs is rampant throughout much of Madagascar.
ANDASIBE, Madagascar -- The most charming animal I have ever seen apparently seduced my wife as well. How else to explain why she would allow a wild p...


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Gear Review
Eagle Creek Rincon Vita for Women
This a great multi-functional pack specifically designed for women. I wanted to have something I could travel with and not have to check at the airport as well as use for backpacking trips long and short. After receiving this I can already tell it's exactly what I was looking for. The zip away day pack is perfect for keeping your 'go-to' items separate from your main storage bag and there are plenty of funtional pockets and zippers to keep all of your items. I can't wait to take this on my 2 week surf trip to Hawaii. I also purchased several of the Eagle Creek Pack-It Specter Cubes since I am sometimes 'space-saving challenged' when I pack.
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How is he throwing zeroes for the Astros
How is he throwing zeroes for the Astros
I miss that Rick White
Most Vottomatic Player
Garner said he might be used to close on occasion with Lidge moved out of the closers spot.
Championships for MY teams in my lifetime:
Cincinnati Reds - 75, 76, 90
Chicago Blackhawks - 10, 13, 15
University of Kentucky - 78, 96, 98, 12
Chicago Bulls - 91, 92, 93, 96, 97, 98
White is off to a good start. But he is what he is and this is a marginal middle reliever. Those guys are a dime a dozen and you simply ride them while they are hot. The Reds bullpen has a bunch of similar types.
What are you, people? On dope? - Mr Hand
Rick White...the oft-missed used reliever for the Reds. Priceless quote when we DFA'd him.
"For every moment of triumph, for every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled."
-Hunter S. Thompson
Championships for MY teams in my lifetime:
Cincinnati Reds - 75, 76, 90
Chicago Blackhawks - 10, 13, 15
University of Kentucky - 78, 96, 98, 12
Chicago Bulls - 91, 92, 93, 96, 97, 98
Astros must know how to pitch him the way he needs to pitch.
"Since I've been with the Reds in 1989, we've never had a farm system this loaded," Bowden said. "If we were the New York Yankees and had unlimited dollars, we could have traded for Colon, (Jeff) Weaver, Rolen, (Cliff) Floyd, (Kenny) Rogers and Finley and gotten them all -- and still held onto our top five prospects. That's an amazing statement."
whisper words of wisdom
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The closely watched sex discrimination case is winding down, but both sides know that whatever the jury decides could have far-reaching implications.
You, too, can wield the power of mighty Thor when you heft a hammer purse designed to look like the superhero's sturdy weapon.
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We've laid out every Marvel movie and tv show in chronological order for you to watch -- or just to impress people.
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Sony reminds gamers at the Electronic Entertainment Expo that while it may not have the most original lineup, it will offer the most bang for your buck.
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Feature...CNU 23DALLAS/FORT WORTH 4/29-5/2/2015»»»
Development & Design
Camden's riverfront prison yields to redevelopment. 6/18 Update. Officially empty. Last Inmate GoneSubmitted by Michael McAteer on Tue, 06/16/2009 - 11:47am
Camden's Riverfront State Prison,as of yesterday, had exactly 30 inmates - down from 1,100 last year. In January, Gov. ... read more »


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|932 posts found
Whats " I don't have enough time anymore" comment
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
Most MMO are shitty games and I don't want to spend time grinding in them when I could be doing something better with my time.
Also don't forget that MMOs are games that are meant to be played with other people. Often times, you end up playing with t he same people over and over again. And that means that you're on their schedule whether you likie it or not. The bigger the group, the more likely that the one of those people has a pavlovian response to the ding. Which means that if you don't show up, or stop playing, or have to ditch to go do something important, you become the asshole. It's never them, or their addiction to PHAT L00TZ. Nope. It's always your fault because you let them down.
In the end, games are entertainment. I want to be entertained. I do not want to join the online equivalent of a cult.
MMORPGs are too damn easy.
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
Oh for fuck sake!! Seriously?!
I hate to do what I'm about to do, because I'm a retro gamer myself and I love Olde Skool arcade and console games, but this has to be done.
First, there were tutorials back in the day. In the arcades they were called "Attract Mode" and they showed you what the goals of the game were. The games would also have the instructions printed on the bevel of the screen just in case you were the type of person that reads the nutritional information on cereal boxes. On consoles, instructions were a complete waste of time for most games. You only had TWO BUTTONS!!! Want to know what they do? Try pressing them Enstien.
Second, console games of the era were designed to compete with arcade games. Arcade games were designed to kill the player. The idea was to get another kid to plug quarters into the machine every thirty seconds to three minutes. What's more, arcade operators could crank the difficulty of a game if they thought the machine wasn't making enough money. Yeah, coin op machines were the F2P of their day.
Third, meaningless accomplishment is meaningless. Unless you're Billy Mitchell, no one really cares how damn good you are at video games. The endorphin rush is still the same regardless of how you got there. A sprinter and a marathon runner both get the same high. Back then,we used fake difficulty to make money, today we use massive grinds and peer pressure to keep people paying... er... playing....
The truth is that nothing really changed. Players were getting bored with the impossible difficulty of earlier games, so the industry found a new way to hook them. Now, players are getting bored with leveling treadmills and arbitrary achievements so the industry is going to have to come up with something else.
I'll bet good money that you aren't going to like the next thing that they come up with either.
Wow is dying aparently
General Discussion « World of Warcraft
Originally posted by Normike
It's been awhile since I played Runescape, but I don't remember them having a cash shop. As I recall, it's a freemium game where you either play limited content for free or pay a $5 a month subscription.
<shrugs> things might have changed though.
No Such Thing as MMO Addiciton?
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
Originally posted by Loktofeit
Touche good sir... Touche
No Such Thing as MMO Addiciton?
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
Originally posted by AzurePrower
You mean like when I go camping for two weeks?
No Such Thing as MMO Addiciton?
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
Go a week without playing an MMO. If you aren't addicted, then this should be easy.
I'll just leave this here and see what you guys do with it....
And the next console MMO will be...
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
OKAY I changed the name of the thread already!!!
<huff.... huff... huf....>
Can we please get back to the subject of a free to play Nexon gaming being released on the most MMO unfriendly service known to man? Please?
And the next console MMO will be...
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
Yeah, I remember FFIX and PSO and even Everquest Online Adventures. The title was meant to draw attention to the thread.
The actually pay off was the fact that a free to play Nexon game is going to be released as a free download on XBox Live Arcade AND the whole thing will run by an item mall. The fact that Microsoft is cool with this has got to be a sign of the apocalypse.
And the next console MMO will be...
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
No... Really....
.... I'm not kidding.
It's going to be on XBox Live Arcade. Considering Microsoft's stance on XBox Live games, I can honestly say that I didn't see this one coming.
Interesting MMO documentary
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
Originally posted by Zamen
So what happens when The Machine Stops?
Best MMOFPS?
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
Just because I like pouring pure gasoline on a roaring flame war....
Has anyone considered that the term 'massively' could have a different number attached to to it depending on genre? We know that MMORPGs put 'massive' at server population around 1000 to 3000 concurrent plyaers. But for something more network intensive, like an FPS or an RTS, the number of concurrent players would be something way lower. I think Planetside had an upward cap of 400 and MAG has 250 players per server. Hell, I played on original Tribes servers that hosted about 120 players at once back in the days of 56K. So an MMOFPS would need between 200 to 500 concurrent players?
Whoever said that a persistent would was not required was right. The important element is the MASS of people playing on the server at the same time, in the same virtual space. The level of mass that defines the MMOness of a game is really dependant on genre and the network demands that a given gaming genre would demand.
625,347 Full Loot PKs
General Discussion « Runescape
Originally posted by Emergence
And this is an example of when being stylistically clever is a bad choice. Let me aim for clarity this time.
A novice may have knowledge about a subject, but they usually don't know about the holes in their own knowledge. An expert has vast knowledge, but they also realize that there's a lot more to they have yet to learn and they know exactly where they are lacking.
Here's a quick example: While I was working on my degree in English I asked a bunch of graduate students what a participle was. None of them could tell me right off the top of their head. After a certain point, that kind of knowledge is no longer important to the writing process because you don't leave particples hanging. Even today, as a professional technical/copywriter, I go out of my way to avoid using semicolons and dashes. Sure, I could look up there usage in the Hacker's Manual, but why bother when I have other tools that will get the point accross just as effectively?
And that's were the phenomenon comes from. Novices are actively thinking about what they're doing as they're doing it while experts just use the patterns that always worked for them without conscious effort. Thing is, you still run up against things you don't know about. Experts recognize this while novices don't know that they lack knowledge and just move ahead obliviously and make mistakes without knowing it.
The result is an inverse humility. Novices get pissy and strut their "expertise" while actual experts get real quiet and start working it out in their heads. There's an actual psychological term for this but I'm too lazy to look it up right now.
Back to your post. You are a graphic designer. If you made the pictures you posted, you're adequate. Or your art style is very dry. Or you didn't spend a lot of time on those images. At any rate, you can draw. This doesn't make you an accountant or an MBA.
While I'm sure you may have heard some figures from co-workers, the business end of the business is not your specialization. In this light, your popping off about your involvement in the industry holds even less weight. You push pixels. You don't do the books.
625,347 Full Loot PKs
General Discussion « Runescape
Originally posted by Emergence
I'm going to go out of my way and take some of what you say at face value. Let's assume that you are under NDA for your company's first project. What's the company's name? I'm not asking about the project. I'm not asking for any stats. I'm asking for the company name. k?
Next up, this company that you allegedly work for hasn't produced a single game yet. You don't even have a game live at this point. How can you claim to have inside information about how the F2P business model pans out when you don't even have a working game that is making you money?
Right now, based on what you've volunteered, I'm assuming that you're a high school kid and that you and your friends decided to make an MMORPG. You don't know what you're doing and your learning as you go. That's good and that's bad. It's good that you're learning some hard lessons early so that you can be more successful next time. It's bad because you feel the need to fill your sense of failure with false arrogance.
Let me give you some advice. If you feel like an expert on something, then you're not. Over the course of my adult working life, I've worked with some of the best people in their fields. At times, I've been asked to consult others. What all experts have in common in a sense that they really have no idea what they're doing.
When you don't know a lot about something, then you don't know what you don't know. When you do know a lot about something, you know exactly what you don't know and you feel like an idiot for not knowing. You know?
Why Do MMORPGs All Use Massive Time Sinks?
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
Originally posted by Sid_Vicious
So you'd be totally cool with a game where you clicked a button to attack a mob and then had to come back in EXACTLY 48 hours to see the results and decide what to do next? And if you didn't come back on time, the monster would just keep attacking you.
Yeah, I'm exageratiing a whole lot, but that is basically what you're advocating for. There are plenty of Facebook and browser games that do that already. I expect something more from a AAA title with it's own client and a monthly fee.
Why Do MMORPGs All Use Massive Time Sinks?
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
Originally posted by Shoju
The fact that the majority of gamers are playing genres other than MMORPGs. Grand Theft Auto 3 alone sole more copies than the total number of World of Warcraft accounts. If you were to combine The top two games of just about any other genre and compare them to the subscription numbers of the top two MMORPGs, you would find out just how small the MMORPG market really is.
And why is the market small? Because it clings to designs that turn the majority of gamers off. And it isn't just action and console gamers either. By the end of the year, Starcraft 2 is expected to sell over 7 million units. The first sims game sold 16 million copies with the sequels doing equally well. The Pokemon series, argueably a RPG series, has sold 155 million units over the years.
And look at the upcoming games that are getting the most buzz. Planetside Next, Firefall, that zombie game from Undead Labs, End of Nations.... The MMORPG market is saturated and dominated by WoW and the market for that kind of gameplay is limited. Developers are striking out in new directions where there is some actual money to be made.
Fan made games.
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
So I just watched a presentation about open branding and I was thinking about how this could be applied to games. The concept is that a base company creates a brand and then allows other companies to use that brand, for free, provided that they stick some basic guidelines regarding the brand. It's kind of like a corporate GNU license.
The idea strikes me as actually pretty solid for gaming and MMOs in particular. Think about all of the free servers out there. Now imagine if they were all legit and the company owning the original game could pick and choose the best gameplay and lore modifications from among them. Imagine completely different spin-off products that are independantly developed and brand supported. It's the best of all worlds. You get the creativity of the indies, fan involvment, and the growth of your IP.
Yeah, there are some wrinkles here. The core organization behind an IP can pull the brand from anyone that violates the IP guidelines, so the indie projects don't have complete creative control. But the sheer diversity of products that could be created from an IP like Starcraft or Pokemon would be huge. The best would survive, thrive and grow the IP while the worst would simply fad away.
Why Do MMORPGs All Use Massive Time Sinks?
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
Originally posted by Shoju
Just because something is effective doesn't mean that it's necessarily beneficial to everyone involved. As someone who works in advertising, I can tell you that there are ways to get a high number of people to buy anything. In fact, the best case scenario is when we get millions of people to buy almost nothing at all (see also Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill).
The problem with Timesinks in MMOs is that they don't benefit anyone in the business chain. Developers are shackled to a design that allows for minimal creative freedom, publishers have their profits cut into by heavy bandwidth usage, and gamers get watered down, boring games. At this point, anyone that offers an alternative will be making a lot of money. The only reason these techniques are used is because it's the way that MMOs have always been done.
Keep in mind that MUDs were originally available on academic servers for free. DIKU itself was prolific specifically because of all the free DIKIMUDs available. When that model was switched to a commercial purpose, things went the wrong way fast.
Why Do MMORPGs All Use Massive Time Sinks?
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
Originally posted by Lerxst
Go back to FPS HURP DERP DERP!!!!
Seriously? Seriously?
BTW, how do you know what MMO's were "meant to be?" Do you know Richard Bartle or something? Nah, you couldn't because then you'd realize that he was actually experimenting with social interactions in virtual spaces. I doubt you've ever been to a tinyMUD or MUSH. Way different than the DIKU deriviatives that most MMORPGs descend from. But then again I doubt you've actually set foot in a MUD.
Don't try to lecture me on history that I lived through and don't claim an understanding that you don't have. There are plenty of actual RPGs that are carried by diverse gameplay and story. There is no reason why MMORPGs can't do the same.
POLL: Why do you post in game forums?
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
Because I'm bored period. I work at home so....
But still, I don't have to be at work to be bored enough to post here.
Why Do MMORPGs All Use Massive Time Sinks?
The Pub at MMORPG.COM « General Discussion
Originally posted by severius
Took you a whole hour to think that one up huh?
I don't think I've ever played an MMORPG that wasn't a "half-assed single player game." For all intents and purposes, UO and Everquest were basically standard RPGs with the story ripped out and replaced by a mob of complete assholes. The design never really rose above the "let's all beat the living shit out of random mobs together" mentality. UO had the groundwork for something more, but never quite achieved it. Seriously, the only difference between most MMORPGs and Diablo is the number of people you can group with. Well... that and the fact that Diablo was more fun.
If the whole point of these games is to just get into a giant mob and steamroll accross the landscape, why not just cut out all the extra, unimportant shit? Why do I have to specifically identify everything in my pack? Why not just have an Identify skill that automatically identifies stuff as I find it? Why do I have to specifically place my health and Mana pots in my hotbar? Why not just have a hotkey or hotbar slot set aside for them? Why do I have to collect ten Gimp harnesses from three different kinds of gimps that only drop harness one out of ten times? And when I do the Kill X missions, why do I have to kill 25 of something that I've already killed hundreds of? Why do we even have heal over time in a world where there are instant healing spells and potions? And why does every damn monster respawn in the same damn place? Even the bosses.
I get the whole playing with others toward a common goal bit. I even get the character progression bit. What I don't get is the introduction of grind when it 1) adds nothing to the game and 2) actually works against the business model that these games opporate under.


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Marc Hassenzahl explains the fascinating concept of User Experience and Experience Design. Commentaries by Don Norman, Eric Reiss, Mark Blythe, and Whitney Hess
User Experience and Experience Design !
Kamahara, Junzo, Nagamatsu, Takashi, Tada, Masashi, Kaieda, Yohei and Ishii, Yutaka (2010): Instructional Video Content Employing User Behavior Analysis: Time Dependent Annotation with Levels of Detail. In: Proceedings of the 2010 Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization 2010. pp. 87-98. Available online
© All rights reserved Kamahara et al. and/or their publisher
Watanabe, Tomio, Ogikubo, Masamichi and Ishii, Yutaka (2004): Visualization of Respiration in the Embodied Virtual Communication System and Its Evaluation. In International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 17 (1) pp. 89-102. Available online
© All rights reserved Watanabe et al. and/or Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
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Questions from eyestothesoul
Blepharoplasty to fix an uneven eye from injury?
I was hit in the left eye brow ridge years ago. Even though It didn't fracture the ridge on that side it got larger and pushes my left eye down on the lateral end, the... READ MORE


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IC Racer Foma produces both DS8 and Double 8mm the film the Bolex uses, the Eumig C3 uses the same film. the only DS8 camera I've mentioned was the Pathé. The link I've provided was to Wittner Cinetec and they sell both 8mm and DS(uper)8.
Ic-Racer is right though you can't use Double super 8 in a standard Bolex only Double-8mm. But be careful when buying the Bolex some were in fact converted to DS8. http://bolexguy.com/DoubleSuper8.html and http://www.duallcamera.com/store/ind...Super8mm.shtml


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San Jose, Calif. - When Cheryl Brennan sits down in her blue chair at her cubicle, she needs to get down to business. But that can be difficult in a small office with five other workers, where she's within earshot of every conversation of her colleagues. To help her focus, she puts on her white headphones and cranks up the heavy-metal stylings of AC/DC and Aerosmith.
"I zone out," said Brennan, who works for the Defense Department in Seaside, Calif. "When the music is on, everything in the outside world goes away and I concentrate on what I do."
From classical to electronica, rock 'n' roll to world music and country, workers across corporate America are plugging into their own portable music players and tuning out loud co-workers, office boredom and other workplace distractions. With the portability and popularity of iPods and other personal music devices, anecdotal evidence suggests more American workers are bringing their music to work.
"Employees are bringing their own music to work far more than in years past, simply because of the high-tech, portable players now available," said Laura Stack, a Highlands Ranch productivity expert, author and trainer who consults for companies nationally. "A radio sitting on a desk is fast becoming a rarer sight."
The trend raises questions whether music in the workplace is helpful to productivity and morale. Some experts wonder whether it further isolates workers who increasingly labor in rigid cubicle culture. And others ponder security and safety issues for some organizations.
Perhaps nowhere is the music blasting more quietly than in Silicon Valley, where tech workers with ears plugged into iPods or other portable music players are a common sight. Here in the valley that gave birth to the technology fueling the trend, music is endemic.
"Music is a big part of our culture," said Tammy Schachter, spokeswoman of Electronic Arts in Redwood City, Calif., which pumps high-energy music suitable for a rave into its multimedia lobby, where visitors are invited to play games at consoles. "It's a big part of youth culture and entertainment. That's what we're all about."
While many EA employees plug into their own personal music while they work, the same is true for Yahoo in Sunnyvale, Calif. Employees there are encouraged to listen to music, particularly since the company just launched a beta version of its music offering, Yahoo Music, said spokeswoman Heidi Burgett. The company recently passed out expensive headsets with microphones to all Yahoo employees, which they can use to listen to music and test out Yahoo's Voice over Internet Protocol feature.
"Everybody's listening to Yahoo music all the time," Burgett said. "That's how we are - we eat our own dog food."
Stack says plugged-in employees are especially common in offices where cubicles dominate the workspace.
"Everyone's in these cramped workspaces where it's natural to hear the clack of keyboards and copiers going off. You're asking for distractions all day long," said Stack, who runs TheProductivyPro.com. "It's very common that people turn to iPods to help them tune out those office noises and focus on their work."
Allowing workers to plug into their own music also gives them more personal freedom and control over their work environment, which can lift morale, according to some workplace consultants and managers.
Workers such as Marc Jensen swear by their music. Jensen and others say they're less likely to be bothered by co-workers if they have their headphones on. The medical-device engineer will sometimes put on his iPod headphones and won't even bother turning on the music.
"If you don't have an office with a door, wearing earbuds is a way to say, 'Go away. I have work to do,"' said Jensen. "I work and focus better with music."
But the trend is disconcerting to some workplace experts. More workers plugged into their own music might mean that they will "interact less, talk less and socialize less" - and that can mean more stress in the long run, said Michael Peterson, president of the Workplace Consultants in Landenberg, Pa.
"People need support from their colleagues and managers, people they can vent to and get feedback from," said Peterson. "If people retreat into their iPods and their little electronic gadgets all day, that will make them less connected to other people."
Still, scientific studies have shown links between music and increased productivity. But the type of music that's playing may be just as important, some say. Forget rock and songs with vocals, suggested Stack and others. Classical music may be best for working.
While most organizations don't have any policies on the use of portable music players, a few do.
UPS, the express delivery company, doesn't allow most of its workers to listen to music while they work.
Nearly all of its 400,000 employees make deliveries in the field or handle packages in the warehouse, jobs that prohibit the use of personal music players because of safety issues, said spokeswoman Diana Hatcher.
Other companies allow music but don't allow file-sharing on company networks. Electronic Arts and Jensen's company, Proteus Biomedical, are among them. "We're very sensitive about copyright issues," said Schachter of EA.


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