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Look, the reason why Macintosh is decent at security where other OSes fail is that 'root' is NOT required to run games, or record a DVD. RedHat 7, 8 or 9, start cdrecord (xCD-BURN), and it asks for the Root password. That's just plain nuts from a security standpoint.

That's why I'm very excited about the NSA Linux kernel extensions (there is no root, only levels of authority). This will give to Linux what Mac already has, and what all 'secure' Operating Systems need.
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Even under NT, if someone doesn't need to belong to the 'Administrators' group, then this cuts the spyware, malware and virus installs my more than half. Cut PowerUser access and your down to a few percent of bad things that can happen.

But game manufacturers keep putting out games that won't run without Administrative access.

today's press release concerning the 0.999~ = 1 debate was also a bit humorous. (although that only really applies to those who frequent the war room)

Well, the next Starcraft will be a console game.

Because I beleive alienation is 'a bad thing' (tm)... here are some terms explained. If I missed anything, post it and someone (maybe me) will help ya out.


WoW - World of Warcraft (the game, duh)
Push - Phase
EQ - EverQuest
D&D - Dungeons & Dragons (Pen and paper, not MMORPG)
DAoC - Dark Age of Camelot
PVP - Player versus Player
PVE - Player versus Enemy
MMORPG - Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game
RTS - Real Time Strategy
NPC - Non Player Character
XP - Experience (a measure of progress between character levels)
RP - Role Playing
Aggro - Aggression (when an enemy is focused on attacking you)
DPS - Damage Per Swing
AoE - Area of Effect
Root - An immobilization spell (not admin :P)
Mangina - Derogitory slang for a male playing a female character (in this context anyways)
Mez - Mesmerize (stuns target for a set time, or until it is attacked)
HP - Hit Points
AC - Armour Class
emote - (electronic-motion ?) A special command that causes your character to perform an animation (like waving, cheering, bowing, etc)

Happy, er.. reading!

...anyone remember PCXL?

Bottom of the page, friend.

Blizzard has a good track record for supporting the Mac, and while none of their offerings quite fit the FPS or RPG catagories, I'd suggest getting Warcraft III for those with RTS leanings. Also, their World of Warcraft beta signups are still going on (end tomorrow night), and yes, the Mac platform is being beta tested.

World of Warcraft Beta Signups have begun.

Please start here for more info.

Possibly the best MMORPG ever.

www.blizzard.com

Would you get a job in a restaturant because you like to eat? Maybe, but it is better to get a job that uses your strengths. You may have become a fabulous cook because you like to eat. Did you become a fabulous programmer, graphics, sound, writer, or designer because of video games?

Having the skills does not mean that this is the best place to apply them. That fabulous cook may be able to profit from writing cookbooks or designing frozen dinners more than working in a restaurant. Good programmers probably make more money in the corporate world than as as game writers (and it is easier to find a job since there are more of them.) Graphics and sound skills may be used in other media. Writers are always needed, but there are always too many for any field, so work with what you know. Game designers are more limited, but if you have the skills to be great, you will probably be starting/joining a new company rather than trying to break into one of the gaming powerhouses. (You can join them when they buy your company.)

My second dozen programs were all games. (The first dozen were HelloWorld and exploring the capabilities of the language.) I became a really good programmer. I also had talent for streamlining business processes. I merged the two skills to become a "corporate technology consultant". I analyze businesses and I write software. I would love to be writing games, but I do not believe the income could compare to my current career. And the APIs for games are very different from what I typically use, so my experience would not give me much advantage if I tried to change careers. (Take the advice about how the game industry is hard. My cousin is a game designer for Maxis. I would not want to trade jobs.)

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Today's news includes that Blizzard is hiring level designers. The page defines exactly what they expect from anybody thinking about applying. Yes it starts with Absolute Passion for playing and making computer games, but they expect experience or a demonstration of skills. Good luck

Blizzard does this in a sense with their "Blizzard Friends" program where if you are selected for a Beta and you consistantly provide original and reproducable bugs in the game, you get added to the Friends list. The users on this list are automatically entered into the next Blizzard beta (whatever it will be..in this case the WoW Beta) but then they have to re-earn the right to be on the list for that one and so on and so on.

I don't know if rewarding bug-hunters with stat/item upgrades would be in the best interest of trying to develop an environment so dependant on balance, but I think Blizzard has a good idea.

I was selected for the Warcraft III: Frozen Throne Beta but unfortunately did not have the time to be a persistant tester, despite it being very fun.

Here's hoping for WoW!

Not exactly in game, but amusing none-the-less. Blizzard has a couple of MP3s with a Christmas theme. The 12 Days O Xmas features StarCraft units in a parody of the classic song. Nasty Diablo is a parody of Frosty the Snowman. Both are hilarious!

Not exactly in game, but amusing none-the-less. Blizzard has a couple of MP3s with a Christmas theme. The 12 Days O Xmas features StarCraft units in a parody of the classic song. Nasty Diablo is a parody of Frosty the Snowman. Both are hilarious!

MGS3: Snake Eater
MGS: Twin Snakes
CY Girls
Gran Turismo 4
Starcraft: Ghost

These games are all due out soon... i'm not even thinking about end of 2004 yet, as that's too far away (nearly an eternity in the gaming world, as so much can change)

Where the fsck are the games? I'm going to buy a GameCube when Pokemon Colosseum come out, and then perhaps Rebel Strike and Zelda. Where is Colosseum? Nintendo said previously it would be released for Christmas, but now, apparently, I have to wait until March to snag it.

Also, where is Halo 2 and Starcraft: Ghost? Both of them were slated to be released by Christmas, but Microsoft pushed Halo 2 back to April, and Blizzard has pushed Ghost to February. I was really looking forward to Ghost too, just look at these screenshots....

The dictionary describes a Golem as "an artificially created human supernaturally endowed with life" in Jewish folklore. Golems of the mud and rock varieties also appear prominently in WarCraft III, of course - what would the Jewish folklorists think of all this? Anyway, Gollum is, of course, nothing of the sort. -Dan You can't spell "pedantic" without "dan"

I think it is ironic how this has all happened. I remember in high school having "LAN parties" at friends houses, to play the original WarCraft(Blizzard). We wouldn't tell people about it cause they would make fun of us if they heard about it.

Now, it seems like every guy and girl in town owns an XBox... and they get together once a week to network them together for gaming!? Suddenly its cool to spend an evening or weekend playing video games in mass!? I never thought I would see that day come! The funniest part is they seem to think this is new technology. "Wow, you can network the consoles together to play each other?" Yikes! I remember trying to setup a coax network to try to get a Marathon game going.

9. WarCraft III: The Frozen Throne Expansion M

Last time I checked, WarCraft III was rated "T"

You want her to get this job, right? :)

... what's next? Duke Nukem Forever going gold tomorrow?

And the Diablo2 1.10 patch was released as well. Maybe Bil^H^H^HSatan did install new air-con.
HellFrozenOver-text-640x.jpg

The trials and tribulations Richard Garriott and his team at Origin underwent in order to bring Ultima Online to the masses.
The article completely fails to mention the fact that Richard Garriott and the Ultima Online team turned the largest and (in my opinion) best MMORPG ever into a waste of time for everyone involved, with players, having played for four years deserting it mere weeks after them bringing out the Age of Shadows expansion pack. For those unaware of what happened with Ultima Online, the Age of Shadows expansion pack irreversibly changed the game for the worse, causing floods of players to leave to other games, such as Everquest, Diablo 2 and Star Wars Galaxies. Leaving Ultima Online left a sour taste in mine, and I'm sure many other fans of the games mouths.

Blizzard's homepage advertises the patch by saying "HELL HAS FINALLY FROZEN OVER..." Christ, didn't they notice that Apple used the same slogan not two weeks ago? I hope it's a joke/reference to Apple's ad.

According to the 1.10 info here, they say you should be ready to 'save and exit' quickly.

I'm betting on all monsters turning into MSLEBs or something. Whatever it is, it will probably piss off their userbase.

I didn't see anything specific to single player, but I wonder if they are butchering SP runewords or limiting certain drops/enhancements to battle.net only. Assuming that I even play D2 again, I think I will stick to the Santuary mod (AKA 3Wave).

If I'm right, then some time next year, Blizzard will show us all what we've been missing.

Along those lines, Blizzard has just updated the WoW site with an overview of how their quest system will work.

Wow, an MMORPG coming out, a pen-and-paper RPG from the good people at White Wolf, and now a board game. Blizzard's really putting their brand in as many pots as they can. Wonder if it'll pay off?

I would have no desire to run a bot if Blizzard wasn't letting the dupers/hackers ruin 100% legitimate play.

1. You presume that preventing dupers would be a trivial matter. Being a fellow who's worked on a few moderately sized programming projects, I can see how it might be impossible to stop such behavior, depending on the game's organization, behavior of multiple servers, versioning, and CPU limitations.
2. You speak of competing. But competing with whom? I am under the impression that online play for Diablo 2 is entirely voluntary. Unless you are actively invovled in pkill, you are basically in a cooperative adventure. All competition at that point is of a "How much can you bench?" sort. Seems that you have decided to treat a part of the social atmosphere of the game as if it were a necessary facet of the game itself.

Moving on...

Your attitude is a lot like the attitude of people who say "a lie is a lie,"

Quoting Inside Blizzard: General FAQ (http://www.blizzard.com/inblizz/genfaq.shtml)

How does Blizzard feel about Hacking and Cheating?
...Our top priority is to continue to evolve Battle.net and our products to minimize the use of cheats...We encourage players not to use cheats and hacks on Battle.net...We believe that through our ongoing efforts to eliminate cheating combined with the Battle.net community taking a zero-tolerance stance, we can minimize the effects of cheating on Battle.net now and in the future.

Emphasis added. Not my evaluation. As I said before, you cheated as defined by the game's creators. They are the ones who long ago established that this is a black and white issue.

if they didn't squash the free battle.net server that was being worked on.

A move intended to prevent piracy of their games, notably expiring closed betas which are always far more open than intended. I knew at least 6 people who were not beta testers who...were beta testers. Any anti-beta tests or CD checks would be trivially removed given bnetd's open source status. Again, you assume the reasoning here was to reduce server load and not a best effort at removing cheaters.

Not that I'm implying it's easier for you to blame Blizzard, trying to minimize your responsibility for your account's banning.

Once again, Blizzard > *

This gives me some hope for WoW, even though from the screens I've seen it's not a graphical style I prefer.

The reason it gives me some hope is because I'm comparing it to SOE's record regarding bans in Star Wars Galaxies. Sooooo many dupers, griefers, and assorted other cheats and exploits that people have discovered and used, in direct contradiction to the EULA, and yet SOE continues to sit on their hands.

I have a lot of respect for Blizzard's actions. It takes some cajones to tell people, "Yes, you bought the game, but you're not playing by the rules, so sod off."

Try Diablo and Diablo II.

Some of the dungeons were all consistent in feel, but almost always random each time you played the game. Though they're just crawlers.

Try Diablo and Diablo II.

Some of the dungeons were all consistent in feel, but almost always random each time you played the game. Though they're just crawlers.

The eerie operatic music combined with the glimpses of ultraviolent combat between zerg and human left a lasting impression on me.

I also remember that as one of the last big files I downloaded over the 28.8 modem before I got my cable-modem. You can still download it from Blizzard's site.

I read it on Slashdot that no one makes games for Macs, so it must be true. I better let Aspyr, MacPlay, MacSoft, Westlake Interactive, Ambrosia, Freeverse, The Omni Group, Blizzard, GraphSim, and Feral Interactive among many other commercial operations and hundreds of shareware developers that no one at all makes games for the Macintosh and that they should all shut down immediately. Additionally, Inside Mac Games should shut down their operation immediately as they are a waste of server space because they will never have any news to report ever.

I heard it on Slashdot so it must be true.

You're right. I can't exactly say that I enjoy trying to catch up to people that have put in 20 times as many hours as I have. Especially when it comes to MMOG's that have been running for a long time. I would much rather support online games that either wipe characters periodically (no links) or have a hardcore (permanent death) option, like Diablo II or Hardcore BatMUD. I'd say that Hardcore really weeds out the whiners.

Not that I'm knocking Blizzard for their quality in their games but the packaging can be a little more accurate.

Here are captures of the packaging for Starcraft. If you look closely, you'll notice some things that aren't possible in the game. Things like:

Siege Tanks shooting Protoss Carriers.
Goliaths using guns (instead of missiles) on an airborne target.
Scouts using missiles (instead of guns) on ground targets.
Arbiters don't cloak anything.

Now obviously, these are not at all like the game. They are probably Photoshop chop jobs made by marketing gurus who had no idea about the gameplay. Yeah Starcraft is a fantastic game, but could you at least make the packaging accurate?

Blizzard Company Profile

Check near the bottom for the part about Blizzard North.

If Firaxis wants to let people have FreeCiv, that's certainly their prerogative. But it's certainly no reason that Blizzard should let someone copy their game.

Of course, this wouldn't be even be considered bad on Slashdot if Warcraft 2 was owned by a small group of Linux developers instead of a big company.

Anyway, check out this screenshot. Compare with this one. First shot is FreeCraft. (Dead giveaways are the red blobby thing from the catapult and StarCraft style health bars.) Second shot is of WarCraft II. Look slightly similar? (Especially the building in the lower left corner?)

So, yeah, I got the details wrong (I still think the copy I downloaded was early enough to be using a Marine artwork in place of a Footsoldier artwork). But they do indeed steal - directly - the graphics set from WarCraft II and are basically trying to "recreate" that game. They should have expected what they got.

This list is ridiculous.

1) They're saying that Ghost is going to be x-box only since they've only been showing screen shots of the x-box version? Huh? The x-box has the nicest graphics. It makes sense that they'll only show screen shots and videos for one platform and they'll use the one that looks nicest.

Not to mention that if you go to the Ghost homepage what do you see at the bottom of the very first page? A PS2 logo, and a Gamecube logo, right next to the X-Box logo.

Every trailer and ad I've seen has the same thing too. Is blizzard just lying? They just want to put the other logos on everything because they think they look cool? No, somehow I think blizard is saying it will be on all three consoles for a reason.

2) The perdictions about the PS3. It'll have CD and DVD playback, and backwards compatability with the PS1 and PS2. Well duh. Why would they take a step BACK from their current generation? That's not a prediction, that's an expectation.

Likewise, the Ethernet and hard drive. X-Box has them now, so they've upped the ante for the next generation. It's not a wild prediction to say that every next gen console will include these features. Just like the coming of the Saturn, and PS1 ensured that all consoles to come in the next generation would use optical media instead of cartriges.

3) Starwars Galaxies not coming to consoles! Wow. that one blew me away! You mean to tell me that a game genre that is best on the PC and that PCs are best equiped to handel won't be coming to consoles?!? I mean they might stand to loose HUNDREDS of sales from this not being on the PS2. The x-box I can see selling quite a few of these, but let's be real here. This is a PC game first, a console game second, if at all.

What exactly is the point of this article? Everything that isn't obvious seems to be just plain stupid (for instance the Ghost exclusivity).

Emulation options exist for every platform you mention.

Emulation options exist for every platform you mention.

If you find MMORPGs interesting, you should check out Blizzard's currently in development project, World of WarCraft. When it is released, I think I'll have to put eating on hold for a month so that I can upgrade. ;)

You're right about Nintendo... The GC rocks, and I would get one for Metroid Prime alone... If only I had money to burn, hehe.

The problem with CGI isn't how it looks - the WarCraft III Human box art is as close to photorealistic as anything I've seen. No, the problem with CGI is when it starts moving. CGI in motion has issues with lights and shadows, reflection, and lifelike movement, among other things.

Another issue is the use of "texture" images - a flat image looks photorealistic until you get close up. That's because it's a flat image, not a texture. The most obvious indicatior of CGI is clothing, because real clothes are exquisitely textured, while most moving CGI attempts to represent it as a flat image. Flat images would work if they could convey shadows, which is how you notice real-life texture anyway.

There's also the issue of collisions. In the Matrix: Reloaded discussions, someone brought up the fact that there are instances where they used bullet-time when it seemed completely unnecessary, for instance when the Agent jumps on the car in the freeway scene. This is because high-speed collisions rendered in CGI apparently look bad, so they slowed it down.

With three switchable characters, each with their different strengths (jump, dash, swing sword, shoot arrow, block with shield). A GBA version was released a couple of months ago, and a macromedia flash demo seems to be available.

Can any of you remember the classic "head over heels" for the C64/Spectrum/Amstrad? Head could jump and shoot, heels could run and carry stuff. They started the game apart, and once you got them together they'd move as one unit until you had to take them apart again. At one point, the game had been tentatively titled "foot and mouth".

Good times.

Does anybody have any favorite games with a similar mechanism?

When I got a GameCube, there were 2 games I had in mind: Metroid Prime and Zelda: Wind Waker. I got Metroid with the system, but I had to wait a few months for Zelda's release. I'm also considering getting Starcraft Ghost when it comes out, (because I'm a Blizzard fan) but I'm as-yet undecided.

When it comes to Mario Kart, I still have a blast with the original SNES game. I got so good at it that nobody was willing to play with me because I always won! I have the standing record on my copy for all 20 courses for time trial (using Yoshi), even though several people have tried to take some of them over the years.

I never really got into the N64 Mario Kart. Then again, I was unimpressed with the N64 as a whole (despite being a life-long Nintendo fan). The only N64 game I really enjoy is Zelda: Ocarina of Time. (of which I'm currently working on the Master Quest for GC)

This game, Mario Kart Double Dash, looks really cool, though. I'm especially looking forward to being able to play with 8 players, something I really wanted in the original. It gives me an excuse to get the broadband adaptor, too. :-) I hope it supports online play, so that if it gets to the point that nobody is willing to play with me at home, I could at least still find opponents online. I wish I could go to E3 to see what they have there on it.

Greatest... game... ever!

And, you don't even need that powerful of a machine considering it's a rather old game.

Strategy:
Civilization III (and the Play the World expansion) is extremely good, and addictive. Better than cheesy poofs. The month will have passed before you notice if you get it ;-)

RPG:
Also, as another poster has written, Planescape Torment is good. D&D-based RPG, in a totally weird and twisted world. You can get it very cheap, but it's definitely a good game. The Baldur's Gate series is good too. Icewind Dale is not, it's got a plot more linear than a yard stick. Fallout and Fallout 2 are good too.

RTS:
Starcraft (with Broodwar) is good, even though it's old. Don't play it on Battle.net, the people there generally suck. Warcraft III is good too, but it seems quite a bit harder.

Puzzle:
Frozen Bubble is very addictive.

Sorry, but I don't know much about action games, because I hardly play them, but you might want to check out the Grand Theft Auto series. I kinda liked GTA.

Presumably, most people here have a fair familiarity with the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game) phenomenon, but here's a rundown of the major products out there from my bookmarks, for anyone who's interested but not wholly informed. Feel free to correct any of this if my understanding of any of these games is in any way flawed:

Anarchy Online
Asheron's Call
Dark Age of Camelot
Everquest
Shadowbane (just released - very buggy)
A Tale in the Desert
Ultima Online

Horizons
Eve Online (final beta - close to release)
City of Heroes
Dragon Empires (in beta)
Everquest 2 (in development)
Lineage II (in development)
Star Wars Galaxies (closed beta)
Imperator (very early development)
World of Warcraft (very early development)

Most of these games don't release specific subscriber base numbers. However, a series of very good guesses is compiled here.

The male characters in any game are hardly you average geek either... They are all big, muscular, hard-core and handsome.

Seems like id Software isn't alone in reviving their old games...

Blizzard Classic Arcade

And, much like id Software, Blizzard is offering visitors to play an on-line demo of their old puzzle game "The Lost Vikings".

Perhaps it's just a coincidence, or it might be a trend... :-)

And I can't do anything else than smile at the fact that Commander Keen: The Universe is Toast was never made. I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that the same guys are responsible for that game as Duke Nukem Forever aka DNF aka Did Not Finish.

Seems like id Software isn't alone in reviving their old games...

Blizzard Classic Arcade

And, much like id Software, Blizzard is offering visitors to play an on-line demo of their old puzzle game "The Lost Vikings".

Perhaps it's just a coincidence, or it might be a trend... :-)

And I can't do anything else than smile at the fact that Commander Keen: The Universe is Toast was never made. I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that the same guys are responsible for that game as Duke Nukem Forever aka DNF aka Did Not Finish.

Someone better let Blizzard know!