Very Distracted

Prepare yourself for an extremely massive wall of text:

BWU 6/20/08--SIN(.15)xDistance in World Units = Error margin for a given bullet at a specific range. In the case of the Battle Rifle on Guardian, the approximate distance from Snipe 2 to Gold 2 is roughly 18 world units. Plugging those numbers into the equation yields a value of .047 world units in the absolute worst case scenario for that bullet. Since one world unit is equal to 10 feet, the variation on that bullet is 0.047 world units, or roughly half of a foot. Considering that the Spartan model is 0.75 world units (the Chief is 7 and a half feet tall) you can get a pretty good idea of what kind of variation will come from that bullet, that works out to roughly a half a foot of variation at that distance. The Chief’s helmet is approximately 0.094 world units wide, so if the shields pop, that bullet – aimed and fired accurately – under reasonable network conditions yields a kill.

What this means is that there's a margin of error. Margin of error means a number range. A number range means it's random. It's simple, really. If there is a range of number (In this case from 0 to .047.), it's random. Period. The first bullet has a maximum margin of error of +/-.047 degrees. (I'm assuming it's degrees. Radians would have no chance of being understood by the community at large.)

Now, take into account that MC's helmet is about .097 WU wide. If the margin of error is +/-.047 degrees, that translates into a circle with the radius of .001 WU/WU. This means that the first bullet is 100% guaranteed to hit out to a range of, oh, 47 world units. That's great, really, but that's assuming that the target isn't moving.

Now, you can argue skill all you want, but when the deviance begins to get to the size of MC's head, it's hard to guess where the bullet's going to go. This starts eliminating skill as a factor and starts introducing randomization. (I'd use the neck as an example, seeing as how that that's the most popular place to shoot in competition at the moment, but the dimensions aren't mentioned.)

Keep in mind that this is for the [b]first[/b] bullet. The most accurate one. The one that, supposedly, shoots in a straight line (But doesn't, as shown).

Let's look at the other two:

BWU 6/20/08--The third bullet is between 0 and 0.38 degrees, the second bullet falls somewhere between the first and third.

.38. That's over twice the margin of the first bullet. Now, let's do some computations about the worst case scenario (A term used when the outcome isn't known, mind you!) of the third bullet:

sin(.96*) (Remember, it's +/-.38WU, so you must take that into account.)~.0167 WU/WU. This means that the third bullet, at the worst case scenario, isn't even guaranteed to hit the head up to 3 WU away. At 45 WU, it's not even guaranteed to hit the height of MC!

Let's start some assumptions, shall we? Master chief is 7.5 ft. tall, or .75 WU. The average shoulder width is about 18''. Let's assume MC is built (Not an unreasonable assumption given his abilities.), and give a little more on top of that assumption because he's holding a weapon. Let's make the shoulder width 21''. That would translate into .175 WU. So, if we look at this, the bullet's accurate until about 10.5 WU (I'm rounding up to the next half unit). That's about the length of Guardian.

Here's where I explain why this is bad:

1. The length across Guardian isn't that long. That was closing in on short range in H1, and just inside medium range in H2. Now this is the worst-case scenario for H3? You also have to take into account that most maps are bigger than Guardian. When you have to take leading, netcode imperfections (Which, unfortunately, must be done right the first time, and that is, for all intents and purposes, hard to do until the game is actually released), and lag into account, the ability to 4-shot across Guardian becomes nothing but a faint wish.

2. Burst-style weapons with that kind of spread tend to reduce the reward for individual players. Gone are the days when a player like T2 or players like the OGRE twins can concentrate on the killing while the other players concentrate on helping them. While this view isn't supported by all (And understandably so), I tend to like it because sometimes you just can't rely on your team. It's cool to see one guy rise above the tide of the battle and just start dominating. Teamwork is still encouraged (After all, that's how you take down the guy who's dominating, right?), but the lone wolf can still shine if the game isn't going his/her team's way.

3. The speed of the game gets reduced. When I watched H1 at the pro level, the speed of the gameplay--at times (It's a console shooter, after all.)--was hard to keep up with. H2 had that same kind of visceral feel to it. Now you're lucky if that happens in H3. The gametypes that come close are Onslaught CTF (Not a Bungie-made map.) and Amplified TS.(Again, not a Bungie-made map... nor a good map, so for once, Bungie wins out.)

You can argue that the speed of the game and the skill thereof aren't directly related, and you'd be right, but in this type of a game--where weapon and map control reign king, and the only factor controlling the wins in those objectives is your teamwork/teamshot--speed is what separates the pros from the amateurs. I could take out a pro team in this type of a game if I had all day to think. (Fortunately, H3 hasn't quite gotten there yet. :)

Now, here's where I tell you my position on H3 as a whole:

Is H3 competition-worthy? Yeah, I think so. It still encourages teamwork, the better team still usually wins, and TS (The gametype that would be most affected by this.) is kept to a minimum.

So, you're probably temped to ask: Why do I care if I think H3 is worthy of competition? Well, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, you see. I see H3 as a game with tons of potential, and it's being hampered by netcode and BR spread, primarily. As mentioned before, netcode is a bitch to fix--I don't personally blame Bungie for not trying to fix it as one screw up in coding in that area can put the XBL servers down for a long time.

This is why I focus on BR spread: so that the individual in competition can shine occasionally. So that team shooting is encouraged even further because it is now more effective. I would like to see the game that Halo used to be even in H2. Where one player, at the right moment, can turn the tides of battle if he/she executes properly. Do I care too much? Probably. Do I care that I might care too much? No.

Bungie used to be great, and while they still listen to the community at large, and are better than most other companies with their community support, they need to start listening to suggestions from the minority a little better. When a single community's this vocal about a problem, it can't be "explained away." The competitive community knows what's up about the BR--the explanation just confirmed the belief. A company can't say, "Oh, well, they're not the biggest part of our community, so they don't matter." The melee system was fixed because it was an obvious problem and everyone complained about it. While it's still BS in my opinion, (That's a whole other wall of text that I won't get into here.) it's better than what it was--and that consideration bettered my opinion of Bungie.

The fact that, with this BR problem, they just explained what was, for the most part, already known to the community that complained about it kind of ticks me off. That's not considering the option, that's just blowing it off, and no business should blow off a problem that a vocal minority is presenting. If it's important to even one part of your consumers, it should be considered. The competitive community knows that the BR is working "as intended." That's the community's problem with it. The way it's working doesn't promote well-balanced gameplay as a whole, or allow a player spawning to properly defend his/her self. Instead, H3 forces teamwork upon those playing because an individual can't survive on his/her own. While teamwork isn't bad (On the contrary, it's quite good), forcing it in that kind of a way isn't the way to go about it. It should be an advantage to be had over the other team, not a necessity for survival.

So, even though the the title basically spells out what this is for, I'll tell you what it's going to do. For every common point I've heard personally, I will present the counterpoint as to why H1 is probably the best console shooter in existence and why, basically, it's the most balanced a console shooter can get.

"But the pistol's OP! A TsK (Three shot kill) is way too powerful and kills ways too fast!"

--In the grand scheme of things, maybe a TsK is too fast. For H1, it isn't. Everything else is immensely powered, and this is your starting weapon. Your starting weapon is supposed to be just below the power of the power weapons, and above the power of any close range weapon. (I'm throwing in shotty as a power weapon, although the point still stands with close ranged weapons.) It kills faster than most weapons, has a good range, but doesn't kill nearly as fast as the two main power weapons (Sniper/RL) in the game.

"But I'd rather pick up the pistol over x power weapon!"

--You're pretty much crazy if you think this. A shotty at point blank range kills in one shot, two if you have bad luck/aim, a RL kills in one shot up to medium range (Past that and it's easily dodged.), and sniper can kill in one shot from ANY range. (Though close range, and most of the time medium range, is highly avoided.) That is much quicker than a TsK from a pistol any way you argue it. Hell, grenades kill faster than that!

"Pistol's random as hell!"

--This is one I just don't get. It gets increasingly random as you hold the trigger, sure, but it's not overly random when the trigger is pumped. I can still TsK from the bottom of one side of Boarding Action to the top of the other side, so it's not all that bad. Another thing you may be having trouble with is leading. H2 didn't really have much of a "leading factor"; at great distances, you could lead, but it's still a hitscan weapon, so leading was N/A 90% of the time, and the other 10% leading wasn't necessary.

"Grenades are too powerful!"

--This one I'm actually considering valid. I've seen games where it works (SR), but I'm not sure if this is one of them. Granted, they have to be well thrown grenades, it could still ruin gameplay at a high level. Since I haven't really done that, I can't comment on how it would actually play out.

"You're just a n00b and don't like H3 because you're bad."

--Since this is highly subjective, and since I consider myself to be at least decent at the game overall, I'm just ignoring this point. I never really tried to get good at H3, and I don't play it because the game as a whole's broken. You can't really say my "BR's bad" because I have a good H1 pistol and a good SR rifle, so yeah, it's not my aim.

Other praises for H1: Fall damage, not being on the moon, movement speed, ways to reduce the fall damage, melee system, auto-aim/magnetism (They really do go hand-in-hand.), splash damage.

Non-praises: Host advantage, no XBL (Though they couldn't help it.)

It's been said by Emily Dickinson that the people who don't regularly see success are the ones who appreciate the most. I am one of those types who--in the real world, at least--regularly sees success and acceptance wherever I go. The local newspaper never rejects my editorials, I always keep high grades, I understand concepts fairly well, I play 5 instruments all at the Class A level, etc., etc., etc. On top of all this, I do it without much effort. A little practice here, and little homework there, and bada-bing, I have high grades, play songs well, and write like a madman whenever something seems stupid to me. Then there's the failure part of that whole thing.

If Emily Dickinson said that those who experience success the least enjoy it the most, then the (near) antithesis is absolutely true. Those who experience failure the least tolerate it the least. What I'm speaking of is what happened after school today.

I was at drum major practice for our marching band (I know... we're all nerds here at the MLG forums. ;)) and, afterwards, I had to record for Capital Honors Band; a highly recognized private college that has an amazing music program and accepts only the best HS wind players every year to play challenging music. This is a dream for me as getting into this band almost assuredly means I will also make it to state--getting into the Ohio State HS Honors Band is no easy task, especially for brass players, because we have OSU, Capital, and BGSU all within 3 hours of each other. All three of these school are GREAT music schools, making competition very tough in Ohio. Fortunately for my girlfriend Rini, she has the best bassoon player, hands down, in Ohio giving her lessons for free because she teaches at our HS. Unfortunately for me, though, all three of our great music teachers are WW players, meaning I have to get outside support--which is really hard to find as I have 2 AP courses to keep up with, a pre-calc class that is going full steam just as if it was a college course, band, and a multitude of extracurriculars to do all the time. Long story short, at least for this part, is I couldn't find time for anyone to help me with practicing my State stuff.

On with the story.

So, as I was saying, we were at drum major practice for band. The practice went very well--I never knew I could learn to spin the mace as quickly as I did--and everything previously went swimmingly except nearly being late to EB Jazz Band, spilling my folder, forgetting my guitar for my Spanish presentation, and forgetting about the rescheduled NHS meeting. None of that really bothered me much. I cleaned up my folder just in time to get to jazz band on time, I had a replacement for my guitar, and it was the first NHS meeting I had missed in awhile, so all was good. What wasn't good was after drum major practice. I went to record my state etudes after a quick warm-up, and--for whatever reason--I couldn't play through the first one. First try I screwed up the descending scale in thirds part, cleared that out of my mind, and tried again. I got that part, but completely missed the arpeggiated section at the end. Whatever, try it again. I missed some random section in the middle completely. OK, whatever, I'll do it again. Screwed up the scale in thirds again. This time, the arpeggio again. After trying the arpeggiated section for the 4th or 5th time, I got so frustrated that I slammed down my stand, ripped my music off the stand, ran out the door, threw my music on the band room floor, threw my instrument in my case, and just basically curled myself in a ball on the nearest chair. I had very mixed emotions of anger, sadness, and disappointment that I wasn't exactly sure how to handle it.

I had failed. Not only had I failed, I had failed COMPLETELY. I'm used to partial failure: getting something half-right, knowing only certain areas on a test, etc. I had not even gotten through my first etude well enough to even qualify for districts--which I know I can do--and I was going for something equivalent to STATE. I was so angry at myself for screwing up so badly. I could record again, but what would become of the next recording? I'll find out tomorrow. Hopefully, if all goes well, I'll have had that cleared out of my mind for most of the day and just focus on getting it RIGHT instead of what I got wrong.

Just goes to show that we all have to fall sometimes, no matter how much we may not want to.

No one buy ANYTHING from Pinnacle unless you are a technology genius who knows the problem as soon as it happens. These guys don't know anything about their own products. They just cause different problems to occur and waste all of your time. I have been spending a little under a week "fixing" my video capture problem with my DVC90. I figure you guys can help me better than they can, who just caused it to go from a video problem to a driver problem.

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Bugs:
• -Replying and hitting "Submit" brings you to a white page. Have to hit back twice.
• -Clicking on the "Most recent thread" by a forum brings you to a white page.
• -Using original blog profile URL signs you out.
• -Some types of picture files don't actually work.
• -Lines and paragraphs don't break automatically.

Praise:
• -VoD is much improved.]
• -ONLINE TOURNAMENTS FOR POOR PEOPLE! *sarcasm*
• -MLG Vidcast. +1 Zing!
• -Easier to access most of the site.
• -Got rid of the "scrolling menu," thus easier to navigate without clicking on the wrong link.
• -Better access to ranks and points.
• -No more MLG Cards! Pro team/player profiles much better.

Neutral:
• -Privatized blogs? o_O

Bad:
• -Limited customization.
• -Profile picture and avatar are the same thing. :[

Although it's probably still being debugged as we speak, the new layout can be summed up in one word: incredible. It's very smooth and streamlined, and a tad less annoying than the rolling tabs that went in and out of your mouse's range. Coding shows at the top of the page every now and then as a warning, but other than that, the new layout is absolutely gorgeous. GJ MLG!

I've decided to split the pot for prize money and donation. This way people have a motivation to get as many people there as possible.

After exploring my girlfriend's biology room at the HS, I found something. Each station has not one, not two, but FOUR outlets. Perfect for a Smash station. Two per table, to be exact! It wouldn't cost any rent, there's plenty of room outside the hallway and inside the room, and it the money from the tourney would go to a good cause. The teacher in that room has (had? :[) a daughter with systic fibrosis, a very rare disease that can lead to death. The money made from this, if a good turn-out is promised, would go straight to his foundation for systic fibrosis.

Now, because of this, the prizes won't be too good. Maybe a couple DS/GC/XB/PS2/XB360 games? Just have one of each and you can have your pic from 1st-3rd place. Money matches that I win will also go to systic fibrosis. (Doesn't mean you should still try your hardest. )

If you want, you could just donate money at the door.

I want to have a Smashfest. Either inform me of one, or a place where I could hold one. Please comment.

OK, so I'm in marching band, which mean I get into football games free--not a bad seat, either. We were playing about THE richest team in the district; professional training, professional directing, professional coaching, and the other marching band gets private lessons. Every. Single. One of them. Everyone was expecting a loss, except for me. I knew we could win it. We had a new coach who was sensible, our old line-up got extinguished from our losing days, and everyone had hope.

Hopes were low in the marching band for us winning, and I knew we wouldn't lose. What'd you know? First play: 80 pass TD. Second run we had lasted 3 plays and resulted in a TD. Third run resulted in a TD. They had 14 points on the board. We had 21. Most were amazed that we were ahead, that we had a hope to win. I knew we'd win.

After halftime the score was 28-14. OK, double their score. Not exactly a confident position, but a good lead nonetheless. After 3rd quarter, It was 49-14. There was no way that they'd come back. So, what'd our team do? They decided to rub it in! It was great. They stopped every play better than when they got on the field, making them go to 23 before the 1st down marker. We went 20, but still got beyond it. By the end of the game, the score was 62-14. They stopped 2:00 before the end of the quarter.

My point? Just because someone is rich doesn't mean they apply themselves. It doesn't mean that they have great talent. It doesn't make them better. It lets them have more opportunity for it, but it doesn't hand them talent. All I'm saying is that just because you don't have private lessons, just because you're not as rich as somebody else, don't give up any hope. For ANYTHING. If they have 4 years of private lessons and you have none, don't assume anything. Still try your best, still try to beat them. Who knows? It could be a 62-14 scenario.

I was playing MLG FFA on Middy the other day when I realized: The shotgun shoots waaaay too slow. I was screwing around with it during the FFA, and I found something. The continuous BXR with the shotty wasn't anything new, but something else was. You could use it right after your first shot. This could speed up your firing speed by a lot. Instead of waiting that one second to fire another bullet, you could do a BXR (One that cancels your melee.) again. This would cut the time to fire in half, almost like you were firing a BR! I'm not sure how it'd work exactly, but I think this could have some application in FFA and teams.

After thinking about this for about 5 seconds, I wondered. Is our school committing copyright infringement or not against MLG?

Our school's marching band's name is the Marching Little Giants (MLG), but we go by MLG almost strictly minus the PA introduction on halftime shows.

Example:
Rinature: would britain be allowed to sit with us during games or is it strictly mlg only?
WMDistracti0n: strictly MLG
Rinature: dang

BTW: Meant as a joke, for those of you who may think I don't know better.

School starts in 5 days. It's a mixture of dissappointment and excitement. On the one hand, it's school. On the other hand, I get to be in all the things I was in before and catch up on what everyone did during summer break. Now that I can drive, it should be easier to get around and I can pretty much do anything as long as I have permission. (Or else I won't be doing ANYTHING... for awhile.)

Thoughts on school?

At 9:05 PM, I had 1337 visits.

We had a Halo2/Halo/Smashfest thing for my birthday, and it was a blast. I only dropped one Smash game. (Switched to the bulky wireless controller I haven't played on in months and the guy before me had really sweaty hands. Stupidly, under these conditions, I chose Fox. >_>) We did 2v2 Halo, which my friend and I lost by 4. You get my other friend into the controls he'll take on anybody.

Cov331 and Brian did a few 1v1s against each other, and Brian won every single one of them. Joe guessed how much Brian would win by, and once he got it exactly right. I was tempted to give him $5, but I didn't.

I also got my driver's license on the 18th. I was really nervous about the maneuverability because, with me, it's a crap shoot. I just either do it or I don't. Instead, I got a 96 on my maneuverability and an 83 on my driving. Go figure.

On the same day that I got my license, I came home to find out that my Ford Ranger broke down. Just my luck, and he's still trying to figure out what the problem is. It's either the starter, celluloid, or a dirty battery. No matter what, it should be an easy fix.

I've also had a revelation. I may go to Falco as a go-to secondary instead of someone I use against Fox on Corneria...

Tomorrow I'm going to Olive Garden for my birthday with my girlfriend and family. It should be fun, and I'm sure my grandma will make it all the better with her general mood.

The 18th is my real birthday, but we reserved that day for my Halo/Smashfest thing. Once again, it should be fun and a lot of funny things should happen. (My friend's going to bring MD and sugar and mix them together... yeaaaaah....) I'm also getting my license that day (hopefully) and I could pick people up if they need the ride.

Band camp has been going on since last Wednesday, and it's been a blast. We memorized the movements AND the song for Pirates: Black Pearl. We memorized "Live and Let Die," "Proud Mary," our fight song, Alma Mater, and the "Star Spangled Banner," plus a warm-up routine. We still have 4 days left, which means 6 more songs to memorize. (Sort of...) The last day we'll march at the county fair, and the Friday afterwards is our first game. If I get a camera, I could have my parents tape it for me and I could put it on the web for you to see. XD

In a random happenance, I decided to use bottom tier characters and fight. This tested out where I was technically and how I adapted to extreme changes. Heh, not really. We were just bored.

WMD: Pichu Rini: Pikachu Result: 1 stock; Pichu wins
WMD: Mewtwo Rini: Pikachu (She just got obsessed with Pika for some reason.) 2 stock; Pikachu wins
Next matches were lower tier
WMD: Bowser Rini: Pikachu 2 stocks; Bowser wins
WMD: Yoshi Rini: Pikachu 1 stock; Yoshi wins
Next matches were middle tier
WMD: Link Rini: Pikachu 2 stocks; Link wins
WMD: DK Rini: (guess) 2 stocks; DK wins
Finally, one high tier match
WMD: C. Falcon Rini: (yup) 3 stocks (?); C. Falcon wins KNEE FTW!
So does 0dessa.