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July 14

Which Jersey Icon Should be for "U23 European Championships" for Cycling?

Does anyone know what the jersey icon should be for "U23 European Championships" for cycling?

Y.golovko (talk) 02:21, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Canadian God Bless America Equivalents?

Watching the All-Star Game, something occurred to me while they were singing "God Bless America" in the seventh inning stretch. What happens when they have the All-Star Game in Toronto? What song would they sing? Not "O Canada", because that's the national anthem. Is there a Canadian equivalent to "God Bless America"? Or would they just ignore this recent "tradition"? 69.120.0.81 (talk) 03:12, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

They might just do "Take me out to the Ballgame", like in old-timey times (as my son calls the late 90's). UltraExactZZ ^Said~ Did 12:48, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I can't believe we have an article for this. At the Skydome (or Rogers Centre although I refuse to call it that) they sing OK Blue Jays. OK! Blue Jays! Let's! Play! Ball! I don't know if they played that at the 1991 All Star Game, though. Adam Bishop (talk) 13:22, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

God Save the Queen maybe? I know it's the British anthem, sort of, but it's a valid song to sing in Canada, for similar reasons to God Bless America. Aaronite (talk) 14:25, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Most likely they played "Take me out to the Ballgame", as the "God Bless America" stuff didn't really start until after 9/11/01. Although I recall at Wrigley Field in the late 1960s (at the height/depth of the Vietnam era) that the organist would play "God Bless America" as the people filed out after the game. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:26, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, as songs, "O Canada" and "God Save the Queen" are closer in sentiment to "God Bless America" than to "The Star-Spangled Banner". The latter might be closer to "Rule, Britannia" in sentiment, taking all its verses together. I kind of doubt that Canada has a similarly self-puffing song, but I could be wrong. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:29, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Guys, seriously, no one plays God Save the Queen in Canada, especially not at a baseball game. As I said, the Blue Jays have their own song they play during the seventh-inning stretch. Adam Bishop (talk) 19:25, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

After 9/11, "God Bless America" was played at all Major League parks in seventh inning stretches, including Toronto's. This was an order from the league, and the Blue Jays were not given the choice of declining. Canada's unofficial No. 2 patriotic song is "The Maple Leaf Forever," which was sung by Michael Buble (in Mountie costume) at the closing ceremonies of this year's Winter Olympics. -- Mwalcoff (talk) 23:17, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Maple Leaf Forever? I've never heard it. I think the opening theme of Hockey Night in Canada would be your best bet (we could hum it). Clarityfiend (talk) 02:15, 15 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, that's lame. Apparently this was Paul Godfrey's doing, which is not surprising. Fortunately they don't do that anymore. Adam Bishop (talk) 02:07, 15 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

No one plays "God Save the Queen" in Canada? Too bad. Years ago ('70s) they used to play in movie theaters at the end of the film (or maybe the end of the last film for the evening). Everyone would stand in place 'til it finished.

They did the same in Australia. And they played it at orchestral concerts and similar events. Always at the start of proeceedings, never at the end. But the practice was abandoned about 10-12 years before we dropped GSTQ and adopted Advance Australia Fair as our National Anthem (1984). -- Jack of Oz ... speak! ... 21:29, 20 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My Sims Kingdom

Okay, I know Wiki really isn't for video-game cheats, but I really need the help!

I've been playing "My Sims Kingdom" on the Wii, and I'm on the Rocket Reef, I'm trying to build the rocket currently, but whenever I go to one of the Scientist people (Alexa, Dr. F. and Vic) they just go about their business and they don't give me a scroll or even mention the rocket. So I can't even build the Rocket. How do I get them to give me the scrolls? I already build the robot's Diner, he put the signs up and everything. Please help me, it's driving me insane! thanks.

Moptopstyle1 (talk) 03:34, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This is the site that I usually use for game questions. Dismas|^(talk) 03:42, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, but if I don't find my answer, I'll come back here. :) Moptopstyle1 (talk) 03:47, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

They didn't have any cheats or walkthroughs. Any other ideas I can use? I checked a bunch of sites by the way. Moptopstyle1 (talk) 03:50, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I found this on eHow, but all of that'll list, isn't available to me in the game.

Rocket Launch Step 1 Talk to Alexa once more to find out that Vic is feeling down. Step 2 Talk to Vic. Cheer him up, then use "Inspirational Text" on him. Cheer him on, and then try to convince him to be a hero. When he's ready for launch, go back to Alexa for another 25 King points. ..............

and so on. I finished ALL OF THE TASKS that have been given to me so far, but yet I can't get those people to talk! haha Moptopstyle1 (talk) 03:55, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I hate to sound like your mother... but if you have to "cheat", what's the point in playing? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:23, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

For fun. Surprisingly enough. Vimescarrot (talk) 15:32, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The reason, Bugs, is that it's as though the player is trying to finish a novel and is physically unable to turn from page 10 to page 11 until the player is able to pass a test. Sometimes it's a reflex test, sometimes a test of the player's tactics, etc. Players often go to GameFAQs and other game walkthrough sites in order to get past these tests, because the game designers were not thoughtful enough to make the barrier easier if the player has failed a few times. The player wants to see more of the game, more of the story, get to other tests that are more fun; and doesn't want to throw the disc in the garbage just because the player is currently unable to pass some reflex test. Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:24, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yet mysteriously if the game lacks any kind of test, it's quite likely they'll throw the disc away. It might be a test of reflexes, tactics, memory, learned responses ("skill"), guesswork, or management (and there are many more flavours than that), but games with no challenge at all are rarely popular. Yume nikki might be one, but even that has implicit challenges if you look closely - there's a challenge to explore everywhere and acquire all the objects. This conflict between wanting to frustrate yourself and not wanting to be frustrated is the fundamental enigma of games, and I'd love to read a discussion of it if anybody knows of one. 81.131.22.238 (talk) 22:47, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I'm the resident game developer around here - I'm actually a graphics programmer. The guys who design puzzles and decide how the overall structure of the game works are Game designers and they are supposed to be skilled specialists. There is a lot of research into what makes a good game - and those guys talk a lot about 'story arcs' and 'risk/difficulty/reward curves' and other scientific-sounding stuff. Very often, they design games with multiple paths you can take through the puzzles (or boss levels or whatever) so that you won't get frustrated by being stuck at a particular puzzle and unable to proceed.

However, once in a while they decide that there is some key 'story point' that you absolutely have to get past in order for the rest of the game to make sense. So Bowser MUST capture Princess Peach and Mario MUST fail to prevent that - or Mario has nothing to do. If Mario can prevent Peach from being abducted - then nothing else in the rest of the game makes sense.

Games can't be like movies where the entire plot is 100% fixed, but can be carefully plotted to be exciting all of the time - but they also can't be like real life where absolutely any decision is possible at any point in time, but 99% of people live moderately happy unremarkable lives with no bad guys with guns and helicopters anywhere in sight. We have to walk a fine line between forcing you down one narrow path and allowing the player to have a potentially boring experience.

Now, if those game designer guys are doing their job, then these "choke point" problems that you can't progress beyond without solving them should be relatively easy compared to the stuff you've been happily getting past in the previous gameplay. But it is incredibly hard to know what will trip people up...what seems a trivially easy problem to one person might turn out to be impossibly difficult to another.

However, not all game designers are good at their jobs - and there are some terrible games out there.

Another possibility is that you've actually found a bug - and that some small detail in the things you had to get done wasn't done the way the game design team expected and the software doesn't realize that you've done what you needed to do - but in some unexpected way.

Sadly, none of this is going to get you past that step in the game. I've never played this particular game - and I don't know any of the people who worked on it - so I'm not going to be able to help you there. Probably the best suggestion is that if you have a 'game save' from back before you started to solve this puzzle, go back to that and (knowing what you know now) just straightforwardly do all of the things you have to do - without all of the messing around you did while you were trying to figure out the puzzle the first time around. Failing that, see if there is a forum someplace where people are chatting about the game. Talking with someone who already solved the problem would almost certainly tell you what you're missing.

SteveBaker (talk) 00:33, 15 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It must be pointed out that, often, games are frustrating or bad not because a game designer isn't good at his job, but for other reasons — bad production schedule or budget forcing a 10-minute decision, or a lack of iteration after the initial design; or no focus testing, and the design group was just wrong; or inexperienced gameplay programmers, which are usually every bit as important as designers. At some companies, of course, notably Valve Software, nobody has the actual title "game designer" and it's acknowledged that everyone on the team designs the game, to some extent. Comet Tuttle (talk) 04:23, 16 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

What have I started????..................Thanks everyone, I found a walkthrough that I followed and it got me past that certain Level. Thanks. Moptopstyle1 (talk) 03:56, 17 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ben 10: Ultimate Alien airdates

When will Ben 10: Ultimate Alien return to Cartoon Network? Thirty-two episodes have been produced so far but only nine have been aired. Many thanks, --Viennese Waltz ^talk 07:39, 14 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]