New York Considers Emergency Warnings For Gaming - Polidicks

[quote]It's happened to all of us: you're watching a recording of your favorite show, and the emergency alert appears at the bottom of the screen warning of an impending hail storm, tornado, or other apocalyptic weather conditions. At that point, the warning doesn't do you much good, does it? Especially since the reason you recorded your show in the first place is because you were playing Modern Warfare 2 when it originally aired. In order to reach a growing population of people who are less likely to listen to the radio or watch TV – the traditional methods for delivering emergency warnings – the state of New York's Emergency Management Office is considering a system that would allow warnings to be delivered via Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo's online services. The program is still in the testing phases, and no concrete details about an official roll-out have been announced. This sounds like a great method to reach and inform gamers, as long as it isn't too intrusive. Seeing an alert on the Xbox Live screens are one thing, but no gamer would tolerate warnings popping up during gameplay every time there's a storm nearby. Game Informer's offices are in Minneapolis, which means we wouldn't be able to play online from November through April without constant warnings of inclement weather.[/quote] Source: [url]http://gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2009/11/24/new-york-considers-emergency-warnings-for-gaming.aspx[/url] Good idea, possibly bad followthrough. I can see it now... the "WARNING!" message appearing on your screen and you do 1 of 4 actions: 1. Think it's a quicktime event and start randomly mashing buttons only to realize you aren't playing Resident Evil. 2. Think Microsoft is reminding you that your Xbox Live membership is running out, so you quickly run out the door and buy $100 worth of months and points. 3. Think that your Xbox is about to RROD, so you quickly turn it off and never play it for 2 weeks (in which you revert back into #2) 4. Wait for the emergency warning to disappear and continue playing while the shitty weather threatens your electricity. Oh, the possibilities.

haha "OH GOD YES I AM ABOUT TO BECOME THE #1 RANK!" "THIS IS A TEST EMERGENCY" "OH WHAT THE FUCK I GOT KILLED 20 TIMES WHILE THAT EMERGENCY HAPPENED"

I for once like this idea. I wouldn't mind seeing this happen; and for people who don't like it, they'll probably be able to turn it off in Preferences from the dashboard or whatnot.

They won't need to display it on WoW, most are already in the basement anyways, and they'd be too fat to be moved by a tornado if they weren't. Just joking, I know that not all WoW players are fat.

[QUOTE=acds;18566088]They won't need to display it on WoW, most are already in the basement anyways, and they'd be too fat to be moved by a tornado if they weren't. Just joking, I know that not all WoW players are fat.[/QUOTE] It only covers Xbox, PS3 and Wii users :v: I can see how you may have been confused.

[QUOTE=Saikotic;18565987]I for once like this idea. I wouldn't mind seeing this happen; and for people who don't like it, they'll probably be able to turn it off in Preferences from the dashboard or whatnot.[/QUOTE] Yeah it's a good idea, though it shouldn't be toggle-able, it is an emergency afterall, who cares if it ruins the match it's better than risking your life (well I guess it depends on the match). Of course minor communications should be toggle-able, but major ones shouldn't.

Make it pop up in the corner, just big enough to be noticeable. I actually read those achievement messages and such.

I rather die unknowingly while in the middle of a what I do best.

[QUOTE=Musicfreak59;18565916]1. Think it's a quicktime event and start randomly mashing buttons only to realize you aren't playing Resident Evil.[/quote] You're doing quicktime events wrong. [quote]2. Think Microsoft is reminding you that your Xbox Live membership is running out, so you quickly run out the door and buy $100 worth of months and points.[/quote] What. [quote]3. Think that your Xbox is about to RROD, so you quickly turn it off and never play it for 2 weeks (in which you revert back into #2)[/quote] I'm pretty sure that isn't how RRoDs work. [quote]4. Wait for the emergency warning to disappear and continue playing while the shitty weather threatens your electricity.[/quote] There we go.

[QUOTE=Sams Brume;18566290] What. I'm pretty sure that isn't how RRoDs work. There we go.[/QUOTE] Trust me, people are stupid and would actually consider #s 2 and 3 as a thought.

If someone hacked this it would be hilarious. [B]OH SHI-. HE HAS A GUN BRO![/B]

[QUOTE=Musicfreak59;18566306]Trust me, people are stupid and would actually consider #s 2 and 3 as a thought.[/QUOTE] "WARNING: HURRICANE!" "Damn I knew I should have bought more Xbox live time!" Yeah no they aren't.

[QUOTE=MachiniOs;18566356]If someone hacked this it would be hilarious. [B]OH SHI-. HE HAS A GUN BRO![/B][/QUOTE] I would hack it, turn it into a virus, send it to Xbox users and implant it into certain games like MW2 and AC2, so that when the player gets to a certain part of the game, this message displays: "Hello there Xbox user! We have just received confirmation that your Xbox Live account has been associated with malicious acts such as hacking game files and using unfair playing practices online (i.e. speed hacking). We at Microsoft frown upon this behavior and therefore are closing your account. You will not receive a refund for any active or non-active memberships or leftover Microsoft Points in your account. If you believe that you have not done any wrong on your part, please contact our Support line or email us at http://support.xbox.com/support/en/us/nxe/contactus.aspx." [editline]03:04PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Negrul1;18566444]"WARNING: HURRICANE!" "Damn I knew I should have bought more Xbox live time!" Yeah no they aren't.[/QUOTE] They never detailed how or what the "Warning!" display will be. Hell, it could just be "Warning!" and you'd have to check your messages to see what the warning was about.

[B]It's happened to all of us: you're watching a recording of your favorite show, and the emergency alert appears at the bottom of the screen warning of an impending hail storm, tornado, or other apocalyptic weather conditions.[/B] actually no it hasnt

I hate watching a show in the middle of the night and then the TV makes a ripping noise and the emergency test broadcast comes on, and it fucking beeps so it scares the living shit out of me.

good thing it sounds like it'll only apply to consoles. sounds totally useless. except maybe for tornados, but those almost never happen here.

As long as there aren't [B]THIS IS A REQUIRED MONTHLY TEST[/B] messages and it isn't annoying as hell it sounds pretty good to me. Although I think you'd probably hear about it somewhere else before you saw the message on your xbox or w/e

[QUOTE=limulus54;18567043]good thing it sounds like it'll only apply to consoles. sounds totally useless. except maybe for tornados, but those almost never happen here.[/QUOTE] How exactly is an emergency broadcast useless? It's supposed to warn you before something bad happens.

I think that MW2 players won't take it seriously and think that WARNING: HURRICANE means that a hurricane will appear in the game... :v:

If I want a weather warning, I'll look out a damn window!

This sounds like a good idea. The only challenge here is to make it so that it does its job without pissing people off due to the warning message blocking the screen/HUD. I'd be impressed if they pulled this one off.

[QUOTE=Anteep2;18566602][B]It's happened to all of us: you're watching a recording of your favorite show, and the emergency alert appears at the bottom of the screen warning of an impending hail storm, tornado, or other apocalyptic weather conditions.[/B] actually no it hasnt[/QUOTE] This. Whenever there's a tornado warning on my TV, it makes that annoying ass tone noise to alert people, it pisses me off, but also gets my attention.

To all complaining it will be in the way, it will probably look like this. [media]http://i48.tinypic.com/s4sz61.jpg[/media]

[QUOTE=Dlaor;18567263]I think that MW2 players won't take it seriously and think that WARNING: HURRICANE means that a hurricane will appear in the game... :v:[/QUOTE] Or they will think they by accident entered the single-player campaign: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeXD7t16v8s[/media]

[QUOTE=acds;18566088]They won't need to display it on WoW, most are already in the basement anyways, and they'd be too fat to be moved by a tornado if they weren't. Just joking, I know that not all WoW players are fat.[/QUOTE] That's a fair point. Where do you go when a tornado hits? The basement. Where do nerds live? Their parents' basement. It's pretty redundant.

I don't care how many Tornadoes are in my area, get the fuck off my screen I can't see how much ammo I have!

When I read the title I expected some new ESRB rating that would prevent people from playing certain games without going through crap. But this sounds like a good idea if they do it right, just have something at the bottom of the screen or something and you'll be fine.

we dont have tornados or earthquakes in Brazil :v: what we need is a incoming lost bullet warning

Where did my fucking healthbar go!?! I KNOW THERES A FUCKIN' STORM [media] [img]http://i361.photobucket.com/albums/oo58/Bennygl/c4m5_milltown_escape0024_storm-1.jpg[/img] [/media] Anyone who played Hard Rain L4d2 will get it.

[QUOTE=acds;18566127]Yeah it's a good idea, though it shouldn't be toggle-able, it is an emergency afterall, who cares if it ruins the match it's better than risking your life (well I guess it depends on the match). Of course minor communications should be toggle-able, but major ones shouldn't.[/QUOTE] It's my life I dont want someone controlling what I do and when I do it, If I die from some freak tornado that came out of fucking nowhere while I was playing a game on my 360 I would say "Shit-damn that was fun... Wait how the fuck?"