Initializing a neural net with random weights =/= making a neural net with no preconceptions on how to play. It still has those preconceptions, you just don't know what they are.
Closing your eyes so you can't see the contents of a room =/= the room is empty. Not knowing what something is, is different from it not existing
This is probably my favorite article I've read on here all year. User experience is so important and so hard and so iterative (and requires so many new sets of eyeballs) that far too many people and organizations call it quits at the 10% mark without ever realizing it -- this is as true in web design as it is in game design. It's great how spending time learning lessons in one can translate into improved performance at the other.
Mark Rosewater, lead designer for Magic: The Gathering, likes to talk about how he looks for designers with experience doing things other than designing games because they can bring new perspectives and approaches that can help redefine their game design problems in new ways. I completely agree, and again feel like that same lesson can be applied in reverse—hire great game designers to work on your UX, assuming you can pull them away from their game designing long enough! It'll be good for them and good for you.
> In the end, Apple decided to reveal the iPhone several months ahead of its official June launch because it could not keep the secret any more. Apple has to file with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the permits needed to operate the iPhone, and once those public filings are made, Apple has no control over the release of that information. So, Jobs said, he made the decision to have Apple tell the world about its new phone, rather than the FCC.
I think in this case "biggest swing for the house" should be interpreted as "biggest edge in favor of the house," not anything to do with variance. Everyone knows the house always wins in the long run (that's why "the house" is so much nicer looking [well, bigger, anyway] than your house).
That's why you build a personal brand while you're riding the coattails of a popular game. See Day9, who plays whatever game he feels like playing on his scheduled "day off" and streams it. He definitely has fun, even if it doesn't make him money (he recently streamed Mario, for example, which Nintendo [probably] claimed the revenue for) he's still building his personal brand and personal audience. His fans will follow him no matter what game he starts playing, because they're following him. But you're right that it's a hit-based system and if you don't become a hit (which requires a lot of effort and a lot of luck) then you're going to starve trying to "play video games for a living."
Yup. It's a new "field" if you will, and a lot of people are getting hurt during the birth phase. That said I've noticed streamers focusing more on being game agnostic, they'll demo new games and take note how much of their fan base follows. If the new game is a success they'll keep at it, if not they'll migrate back.
I don't think anything is different about playing Nintendo games on Twitch.
There's a streamer (iateyourpie) who makes a living from mostly playing Mario games, and usually not even being a speedrun WR-holder, just being an entertaining person who markets himself well.
Sure and you could have another thread when the schedule is announced but that doesn't make for interesting conversation or an interesting front page. There's nothing in this thread that wasn't in last week's thread and chances are there won't be.
I have no faith that a Snow Crash movie would live up to the novel, as much as I want it to exist anyway. A series would be better, especially one with a planned ending.
I found the Runelords series by David Farland really enjoyable and cinematic. Great exploration of a fascinating magic system, with some very memorable characters to boot.
For Sci Fi, Netflix is currently making a series based on Altered Carbon which I'm very excited for - I love that series to death (Richard K Morgan, author).
Hopefully they're incentivized to pour a huge budget into these given the "competition" of the movies (and GoT) and they make it worth the Prime subscription. (Personally Prime has so much value add these days for me I can't imagine not being subscribed anyway.)