Console Cowboy

https://twitter.com/GreatDismal/status/1005958197654351872

The trailer for Cyberpunk 2077 strikes me as GTA skinned-over with a generic 80s retro-future, but hey, that's just me.

I guess when you cut costs, it has to show somewhere. Too many people digging on Polish medieval fantasy series Witcher cred which is like comparing apples to oranges, or the singer of Motley Crew to Leonard Cohen.

For the record, I offered Mike and Lisa my story for the big breakout but was told they wanted a more experienced writer. CD Project Red hired a Polish game blog writer instead.

I'm pretty sure there would be appropriate blueprints floating freely in the Nomad community.

Not to mention parts....

Seven Minute Video

Blow your mind. It is selling for $40,000 AUS dollars (so I hear).http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxvfDTaUVAo

I know people who would live in this on the McDonald's parking lot where they work their slave job for minimum wage. This, and a subscription to the YMCA/YWCA, is really all you need.

Arise! I command thee! ARISE!

Source:http://news.yahoo.com/humans-controlled-tiny-parasites-180652943.html

Permanent record: Can Humans Be Controlled By Tiny Parasites?

By Jason Koebler | U.S.News & World Report LP – Fri, Dec 7, 2012

Could microscopic parasites have the ability to take control of a human being? Scientists are starting to think so.

A third of the world's population may have a parasitic infection that scientists believe to have an impact on human behavior.

The protozoan parasite, called Toxoplasma gondii, has long been considered to be an "asymptomatic" parasite in humans. But lab tests and a new report suggest that it may cause or intensify severe forms of schizophrenia, could have an impact on how human hormones are secreted in the brain, and may cause personality changes.

Scientists have determined that the parasite, which thrives in rats and reproduces in house cats, tricks rats into getting into harm's way.

"The parasite grows in a rodent, but it needs to get into a cat somehow to reproduce," says Shelley Adamo, a biologist who studies neuroparasitology at Toronto's Dalhousie University. "When a rat becomes infected, the parasite somehow makes rats become attracted to cat urine, when it would normally avoid it."

The CDC estimates that more than 60 million Americans carry the single-celled parasite. Most people get it from infected, undercooked meat or from cats. According to the agency, "of those who are infected, very few have symptoms because a healthy person's immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness." But scientists are starting to rethink that theory.

In a study published Wednesday in the Journal of Experimental Biology, Jaroslav Flegr, a scientist at Charles University in Prague, suggests that people infected with Toxoplasma have slower reaction times and are "less altruistic" than non-infected people.

Women infected with Toxoplasma "more often report that diplomacy is not their strong point...that some people have the power to impose their will on others with hypnosis... and that they have a weak instinct for self-preservation: in situations where somebody else might be afraid, for example being alone in a forest or in an empty house at night, they remain calm."

Flegr notes that the existence of these correlations "cannot distinguish whether the observed changes are manifestations of the manipulative activity or only symptoms of the chronic disease" that is sometimes caused by Toxoplasma. But he says that the widespread prevalence of Toxoplasma infection makes it an ideal "model for studying manipulative activity in humans." He says there are a "large number of parasitic organisms ... that may influence the human host even more than the Taxoplasma."

Most neuroparasitologists, like Adamo, normally study insects, where there are numerous examples of insects infected with parasites behaving oddly. The most famous examples involve "zombie caterpillars," which are controlled by a parasitic virus that instructs the caterpillar to climb to treetops where they melt in the hot sun, raining the virus down on other potential hosts.

Even in insects, it can be hard to study the parasite-host relationship because of the need to raise two organisms in a lab and facilitate an interaction, Adamo says. In humans, it's nearly impossible.

"The ultimate experiment would be to have a bunch of people, and to infect some of them, and then measure their behavior before and after," Adamo says. "We're never ever going to be allowed to do that with humans." In a lab setting, Toxoplasma also binds to dopamine receptors, which are the brain's reward centers.

"It's quite possible and plausible that if you have an agent affecting dopamine, it could influence people's behaviors," Adamo says.

A disease that completely alters a human's behavior isn't unprecedented. A human infected by rabies will nearly always display a fear of water, just the way a dog would--so it's not beyond the realm of possibility that a parasite could influence a human's behavior in more subtle ways.

"In invertebrates, the effects are far more drastic. In mammals, the effects are smaller. I say that, but then you look at something like rabies," Adamo says. "And you see that things like this can cause huge changes in behavior."

Nice to see the premise come alive. How long before mainstream TV will pick up on Cyberpunk stories? (Or has it already happened while I have been in POland this past decade?)

Maybe the netwonks do not want to upset the sheeple.... just scan them on time.

It'll be interesting to see what they can come up with. Despite my huge enthusiasm when Deus Ex:Human Revolution came out I wasn't really impressed with the game as much. The sandbox was much too small and limited, the game graphics were no where as good as I expected them to be, the plot was far too limited and linear. I played about ½ the game and then Skyrim came out which kinda killed more time playing DX:HR. I'll go back and finish it some day when I'm bored but it just didn't call to me. What I'm hoping the new Cyberpunk game will do is renew that faith in open ended, brutal gameplay. I don't want dead bodies disappearing after a few minutes, I want to see the bodies stack up. I want to be able to steal everything off a dead body right down to their soiled Armani briefs. I want to be able to start stuff on fire and just watch it burn. I want to watch cars explode after the hydrogen fuel cells rupture. I want to see high powered lasers burning through the darkness and smoke. Damn it, I want it all!

Hanns,

You've been looking out your window too much. Get back to the girlz. They need you!

I am looking forward to see how this plays out... Heck, I might even see if there is someone who can help me get a job here in Warsaw... Mike? You have any contacts to help me out in Warsaw, buddy?

optionally, get in touch with mike et all and hear if its ok to create "canon" fan material based on the 2020 base.

 

ok, so getting hold of hard copy versions of the old books may be hard these days...

As for getting a copy of the game, the facts of life are that PDFs are widely available and freely distributed. Also eBay has Cyberpunk for sale occassionally.

CC

We have to convince The Company to resume production of our old favourite Coke Classic. Should the production of the New Coke stop or continue, is beyond the scope of our interests.

We don't drink it anyway.

FRANKLY, MIKE PONDSMITH HAS MISSED THE MARK HERE BY CHOOSING NOT TO EXPLOIT HIS FAN BASE STRENGTH. A basic SWOT Analysis would do Mike a world of good.

I think all of us here two years ago were expecting v3 to be an RPG (not a computer game ) within the cyberpunk literary mileu. Clearly, from the negative and positive I have read, v3 is not cyberpunk.

Like Michał, I do not drink from that well so I don't care if it is poisonous or not. [insert rant here. Why? Because I have been betrayed by my reasonable expectations.]

whilst the setting and system work really well, the technology REALLY needs updating to make it a viable extrapolation of our future.

D&D, still, is the leader though it has changed over time. It has adapted because it has been given a life. Cyberpunk 2020 has been given a timeline. It has a built-in countdown. Even compare the books' manufacture to other books like the cyberpunk Neuroshima.

You've never heard of it because it is a Polish product fabricated in the cash-poor Polish market. But it has a better quality presentation. I hesitate to compare D&D hardbacks to what R.Tal has published for CP2020 because of the rationalisation that D&D has deeper pockets. Still, D&D needs to turn a profit at the end of the day and RPGs like Neuroshima, and other games presented in Hardcover format in Poland, should quell the argument about R.Tal being cash poor. Please!! Over $20 (new) for a laminated book on 120 card stock??

And a cell phone for 1,000 EB....... [insert rant on R.Tal's lack of ecomonic education and non-existent market research/intelligence, which is hurting my enjoyment of the product.]

so the new coke comparison kicks both ways. sadly i fear that mike have both alienated the old fan base, as well as not really reached out to new gamer markets

hobgoblin makes another valid point in the R.Tal case study. Mike might consider this whole Thread a rant, if he's defensive about his marketing decision, but he should read what his fan base are telling him - rather than listen to his fear. How can he market to a target when the market is not compatible with his product?

mike stated from the day they posted the first previews, that he would incorporate elements that allowed pick up and play style gaming. you get your stats, you pick your alt-cult, you pick some general gear from that and you go play. he built the game just as much to compete with computer games as p&p rpg games of old.

A Role-Playing Game is not the equivalent to a Computer Role-Playing Game. Period. A Game Master is not a CPU computer. There is no hard and fast software coded into the House Rules, which customise the game to the playing group BTW. There is a social aspect to face2face RPGs that all the CRPGs/MMORPGs can never satisfy.

If you want to see a character throw around a car, pick up a CRPG. It will be pixelated in graphic detail. However, for the objective of socially interacting with a group of people (physically and psychologically in the same room), then pick up an RPG.

Blending the two is simply a recipe for failure.

Coke wanted to be Pepsi. It failed. Pepsi had the Pepsi market. It led the Pepsi market. Coke had to go back to being Coke. And, when it did, it returned to the market that enjoyed Coke.

Someone buy Mike The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing for Christmas. It ain't perfect but it's a quick read and it gives marketing novices something serious to ponder.

CC

Nope, this time topic necromancy isn't Console Cowboy's work. It's mine.

 

CyberChristmas are coming again!

Well, there is this Fixer, Trevor "The 'K' is silent " Knutson. He goes by a few handles: Trevor The K, Trevor Terror, Nuts-son, and Clever. Christmas is a silent time for this fixer's cash business. Most of his work is done prior to the Holiday (23- 27 December) unless he has a special case like personally delivering someone from their liberators to enjoy Christmas Cheer with the backers. Part of the psyche of Clever is that he had an underpriviledged childhood and pulled himself up by the bootstraps, and quiet times like these are a good avenue to release a little pen-up childhood drama. Terror is one name for him and he is quite capable (and willing) to enjoy his eggnog shaken with Revenge - and has the pull to power it up. Nuts-son is a name to describe him only if you don't understand him. Like all my characters, even the bad guys, he starts from a center of love and what he loves is justice and he could give a damn about the system. That makes his judgement somewhat nutty at times when he chooses to do something that others would not - because of the enemy factor involved, let's say.

But, then again, Christmas is a time for giving. And depending upon who you are and the deeds you've done, Trevor The K will be sipping his eggnog with a smile on his face. I said smile damn it!! K? That's better....

CC

CitizenX has alot to do with my political views and I made a story after it, additionally I heard it someplace, maybe it was a billboard from Unreal Tournament advertising for a Fictional Political Movie. It stuck after that.

I had your name pegged from the comic book: More great images for Mr. X here.

CC

whoah. It's like listening to the voice of a past ME.

And people wonder why it's a good idea to spell check, proofread and even edit before publishing on the Net. The corpse may die, baby, but the words live on forever and ever.

CC

I was looking at the user names people here use and some of them must have stories behind them.

 

Mines not very exciting but here it is to start the ball rolling:

 

»Cyberjunk»

When I set my first Cyberpunk website up back in '95 it was a right mixture of things, some of it I thought wasn't particularly good and hence I called the site Cyberjunk. the first few people that e-mailed me actually called me Cyberjunk and it sort of stuck.

 

Heh, well, Console Cowboy has a history. So does Creative Cowboy, which is my RL handle. And they are joined. As many of you will know, a console cowboy is a term coined by William Gibson to describe a net jockey and made its first appearance in Neuromancer. So "Console" has part of its origins there - as far as this being a Cyberpunk board is concerned.

A console table is a table that is bracketted against a wall; sort of a half table with two legs instead of four. It is an apt description for a functional tool that blends into the surrounding. Well, in my real life, I provide professional consulting services in much the same unobtrusive/wallflower manner and I am pretty much a fixture with my clients. I also do "native English speaking" jobs here (because there is plenty of well paying clients) and that wallflower manner is definitely a job requirement when animating students to speak.

Now, I also have another side of me. I am a Cowboy or a loose cannon. And that in the best possible definition of authentic person: risk taker, tactful but unassimulated, champion of under-rated/represented causes, innovator.... I also throw creativity into the cowboy definition because to be a Cowboy requires plenty of creativity to use as much duct tape as possible while thinking on my feet. It also describes my RPG GMing style in both scripted structure and improvised play as well as my being a "console" for my players to access their game.

My original name is creative cowboy. I bow to the genre here and use Console Cowboy.

CC

The delevopers hope to construct a working prototype Flash RAM memory chip, using this technology, within 4 years....

4-years?!! Have they thought of working with Jell-O?

It may not be nanotech but it does morph as well as jiggle. It's also ingestible.

[image]http://www.lizhickok.com/04sanfran.html#photo[/image] Couldn't load this one but it looks an awful lot like BladeRunner. I wonder if Riddley Scott will use this technique now that he has used CGI?

CC

I'd still like to listen to Cyberpunk Radio on WinAmp .... before I die. Call it my dream.

Can someone help me figure this thing out, please? How about formatting the radio to accommodate WinAmp CJ?

CC

Thank you Jesus for another good Site for sore eyes (and for bookmarking). I like the daily updates!

CC

WinterJewel,

Try the link. Click on the underlined bit. It will transport you to their website.

CC

I'd Say Double Post ...

But I'd be wrong half-dozen times...

CC

I suggest a new Category : SWAP MEET

Until then... file this under "g?"

CC

Dead Link..

Prophetic...

Can we get rid of this one too? I don't think this merchandise went over too well. Maybe Mike wouldn't mind if we forgot it...

CC

Or you could simply buy it from Woody.

Everything but the Guide To The Net and Night City.

Can we kill this Thread too?

CC