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I guess what my point is, is that even if EA didn't permit mods of any type, the game could and would still be modded. The mod we're both talking about is not provided or sanctioned by EA, and they wouldn't have any way of stopping it short of requiring server authentication and hash checks before the game will run. Oh damn, that almost sounds like a good idea (patent pending) . . . man, I'm working against myself ;).

Anyhow, getting ahold of this mod is an intentional thing done by the game-owner, and assumably with full understanding of what it does. It would be created regardless of EA's official mod stance (unless my patent pending idea is put into effect, which is realistically skirtable anyhow), so be it unfortunate or even wrong, EA still really isn't at fault. Did they make it easier? Eeeehhhhh. Would making it harder stop such mods? No.

I could very well be in the dark, but I can't think of a single piece of software -- entertainment, productivity, OS or other -- for any hardware platform that I cannot legally alter in anyway I please using my own means or the help of someone else. Of course, so long as I'm not using to offer commercial services, or resell as an altered, copyrighted, trademarked, patented work that isn't mine.

Wanna make some money? Let's anonymously create a "mod" that turns Window's sound sets and themes into verbally and visually graphic assaults that would make George Carlin blush, then turn around and sue Microsoft into oblivion. Yup, that won't work. That's all I'm saying.

I form my own opinions, but some other people put it very well here. Eurogamer also has a good piece, but I suppose objective news may be more appreciated in this case. Statements from EA and Jack Thompson are quoted in this Google cached San Jose Mecury News piece (hence the IP instead of URL). Jack makes a seemingly reasonable point, saying, " . . . EA is not taking action against people for messing with its software. They need to get their game back."

But like I said, they can't.

http://www.happypuppy.com/e3/photos.jsp

Sorry couldn't resist, since there are entire sites dedicated to the E3 Booth Babes :)

When I go visit friends and family I often am asked to sort out all kinds of problems, that for you or I would be simple.

And there you have it boys and girls...

You searched the world over looking for the Microsoft Community and found out that you are part of it.

So I think that your idea that "the majority of the internet is a MS community site" is bullshit.

It's ok for you to think that, but you'd be wrong.

There is no one website devoted to the Microsoft community. Instead it is divided into thousands of websites, each with unique purpose, a unique niche.

It's sites like this.

Or this.

What is it you need help on? Antivirus?

I held back on getting the game, mainly because of all the negative reviews. So last night, I jumped over to happypuppy.com (again, I subscribe to their FileSwarm - aka Onion WebRAID CDN, and got the file at about 670/Kb). Installed it, and played it for 30 minutes. I think the biggest problem is the gaming community (me and all of you) are very demanding. Technologically, I think it's an excellent game. Story wise it's hard to say in just a demo. It did draw me in and keep me playing for a bit, I just wish the demo let you play over the LAN or net on this map, even just in a deathmatch mode. I guess since they weren't even going to release a demo in the first place, this is better than nothing..right?

http://www.happypuppy.com/games/index.jsp?gid=411, I actually subscribe to the fileswarm service (which uses the OnionNetwork CDN technology). Luvin the fact that on my cable modem I can get 750~800K !! Go Opt Online!

The newly relaunched Happy Puppy uses the Tornado Cache Plug-in to provide some pretty fast downloads. If you're interested in seeing this stuff in action I recommend checking out the site.

That said, the OCN is open to any and all applications out there, so I'd encourage them to join the OCN.

BTW, old versions of Connectix Virtual Game Station would play Japanese titles without mods.

All depends on what suits your fancy.

Reviews
More reviews
Guess what?
What?
Reviews!

All good resources.

"The Indie Game Jam is a yearly game design and programming event designed to encourage experimentation and innovation in the game industry."

Here's some real innovation and experimentation:
Dani Bunten Berry

Pardon me while I feel nostalgiac...every game that comes out lately (esp. in the arcade) is either two guys beating the stuffing out of each other, or some sort of Exxxtreme Simulation, be it piloting a helicopter, shooting a gun, or pushing a shopping cart full of your worldly possesions down the street while being chased by cops and skinheads.

Okay, that last one doesn't really exist but WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH ALL THE SIMULATIONS??? You wanna be Deer Avenger Mega XL? Why not actually go hunt a deer. There are millions of 'em out there. You want to drive real fast? Go to the local racetrack and ACTUALLY DO IT.

I miss the quality games like Rampart, which was extremely playable as a multiplayer or single player endeavor...must stop ranting...trying to stay on topic:

A lot of the games on that web page are very, very cool ideas, and I'm really glad to see the big vendors (read: Intel) getting behind the local community. I would love to play Dueling Machine, because it sounds totally cool, and many of the others seem utterly hilarious.

God, I miss the good games. I think everyone fell in love with the "rich story line" after Wing Commander II and forgot about playability and the intense PLEASURE that comes from battling it out with a game like Lemmings. I bet the current crop of mainstream game designers has watched a lot more TV and action adventure movies and spent a hell of a lot less time playing lunar lander, drag racer, and Adventure on the mainframe.

100,000 sprites? You had to do something crafty with interrupts to get more than 7 sprites on my old C64. And yet, I have a game of MULE scheduled for right after I hit the submit button...

I light a candle for Infocom

This quote, from Gamespot's own site:

Some consider Dune 2 to be the most influential real-time strategy game. Others claim it was the 1970s mainframe version of Empire that laid the groundwork for RTS games as we know them today. That debate will never be satisfactorily settled, but we can honestly say that the RTS game that deserved the title of "being ahead of its time" is Electronic Arts' Modem Wars.

(More info here on the work of Danielle Bunten, including M.U.L.E., Seven Cities of Gold, etc.)

1. Revenue Model I'd love to know how Square intends to charge for the game. Generally, MMORPG games for the PC use a two-part revenue model: $9-$50 for the game software, then an additional $5-$13 per month for a game subscription.

Given the massively multi-player nature of the games, they require enormous support including servers, game masters, billing and account support and on and on. For a decent analysis of these costs, check this out. The bottom line is that it's expensive, way more expensive than your normal game. Square has two sets of considerations here: They probably don't want to become the company to try charging a monthy fee to Console folks who tend to skew younger and have less experience with this genre. This would lead them to either jack up the software price and minimze the monthly fee, or design a game that runs more like Diablo and less like a true MMORPG. On the other hand, these games have network effects, the more people playing them, the more fun they are. That would encourage square to come to market with a low price and use the subscription model to make it up on the backend. It will be interesting to see which way they go.

2. Audience and appeal Despite the buzz, the existing market for MMORPG games is very small, maybe 3.5-4 Million worldwide, and arguably only 1-2 million in the US. They are a unique bunch of people. Given the hardware issues its relatively clear that a console isn't the best platform for these types of games. To overcome that, a console game will need to broaden it's appeal and lower the complexity and learning curve considerably in order to succeed. It will be interesting to see what things square removes from the genre to do this. Based on the coverage in the article, it seems as though trade skills will go completely. So will (I guess) much of the politics and diplomacy with respect to clans and factions. What they have left will be something very different than todays MMORPGs. It sounds like MMORPG lite. Not a bad thing, just very very differnt.

In the mean time, people like LucasArts are working on Star Wars Galaxies to try to popularize the genre a bit by using a huge and popular license. It will be interesting to see which way is more effective.

3. Cost These things are big budget to develop. Given Square's failed film and new management, it will be interesting to see how much cash they are willing to risk on something this new. Square has never been known to go cheap, and I bet they risk a bundle on it. It had the potential to be another very high profile flop for them.

But then again, nothing risked, nothing gained.

It should be fun to see what happens. -rg

The guy did a cool hack.

But if you dont want to hack, you can buy a PSOne LCD screen for it, there are few types.

http://www.sonyweb.com/news/0101/049.html
http://www.gaming-age.com/cgi-bin/specials/special .pl?spec=psone&pagenum=1
http://www.happypuppy.com/psx/hardware/psonehardw- hw-1.html
http://www.games-console.com/acatalog/Games_Consol e_Sony_PSone___Consoles___Screens_22.html
http://www.eclectic-vg.com/psoneeng.htm

Do you want to know why?

Because GPLed games actually have a tiny chance in hell of being ported to the macintosh.

Seriously. I really kind of honestly believe the bit about gpled games will never quite reach the quality level of commercial software, (although i have seen some damn good shareware/freeware games) but i will say this: poorly ported gpled games are much better than *nothing*.. which, as a mac os x user, is exactly what i am getting right now.

Well.. all i have to say is thank god that it's so much easier to write emulators that run on the PPC than it is the x86 :P Lolo, i will always have you..

Umm, but anyway. Yeh. I am pretty sure i will never see a Worms Armaggeddon for mac os x, much less Worms World Party, but although i can't play OpenQuartz either, i at least have the *option* of porting the damn thing myself. Which just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. So.. well.. THANK YOU, TEAM OPENQUARTZ!

P.S. : Sierra : Where the fuck is tribes 2?? You were promising us a simultaneous cross-platform release for awhile there!! What happened?? GRRRR!!

^_^

P.P.S. You think we could go hunt down the original creator of Scorched Earth and convince them to go GPL?

P.P.P.S. Crossfire is damn ugly. Couldn't you at least have the quality of Taskmaker? Sheesh.

...

While I personally think paying real-world money for virtual items is ridiculous, I do believe in the idea that people should be able to sell their accounts with their characters intact. Everquest, Civ II, and the software for my digital camera are the only reasons I have my Windows partition. I retired from EQ about eight months ago and then returned. My account was still on reserve (though my characters would have expired had I not deleted them by hand) because it was tied to the activation codes on my CDs. If I had sold the CDs without selling the account, the new owner would not have been able to play the game without contacting me first. Also note that the Everquest EULA was amended to ban the sale of characters and in-game items after it had become standard practice. They freely tweak the EULA and require every player to click the 'I accept' button every time they play the game (or restart after every client crash). This guarantees that people are agreeing to things they haven't read, because even periodically reading the EULA every couple weeks may mean missing a change in the licensing (and there is no copy or changelog on the client machine). And for the benefit of the person who posted the portion of the EULA above: Let's try continuing that happypuppy article with the following: "You hereby grant us permission to download Game-related files to you. You also grant us permission to access, extract and upload (i) Game-related data as part of the patching process and (ii) data relating to any program that we, in our reasonable discretion, determine interferes with the proper operation of EverQuest." That's a piece of legal dung that no Open Source user or decent lawyer would accept, and it's one I missed being added in the time I was away. (It was also, according to The Register, hastily scrapped after an obvious outcry by users.) It's also one more reason I'll be happy to chuck everquest off my hard drive if I get into the Anarchy Online beta next week. (Yes, I'm addicted, but I'm not willing to use the online equivalent of dirty needles. I've already told Sony to fsck themselves over their predatory banning of people who post stories based on their characters in forums Sony doesn't own (see The Register again, Oct 6, 2000), and their unwillingness to honor Windows refunds for Linux users. My next laptop will NOT be a Vaio.)

From the everquest EULA:

"You may not sell or auction any EverQuest characters, items, coin or copyrighted material."

HappyPuppy has a good article on this. You play the game you agree to abide by the rules, fail to do so and sony can yank your account. Seems pretty cut and dried to me.

From the everquest EULA:

"You may not sell or auction any EverQuest characters, items, coin or copyrighted material."

HappyPuppy has a good article on this. You play the game you agree to abide by the rules, fail to do so and sony can yank your account. Seems pretty cut and dried to me.

Scorched Earth for DOS (runs under Windows 2000 in a DOS window as well, just perfect) is still available - you can get it at http://www.happypuppy.com/win/demos/scorchedea1.ht ml.

"Forklifts have universal appeal. Everyone, from old grandmothers to middle-aged businessman to your little brother can understand what to do with a forklift: race it through the streets of 1980s Yokohama!"

I disagree. Forklifts are best used as Tactical Thermonuclear Devices, as Ambrosia Software understands so well.

Remember that a large percentage of reviews are bought -- larger than most people think. The way to get an unbiased review is to check out smaller sites, like HappyPuppy.Com for game reviews, to take only one example. The only time reviews can really be biased is with larger sites like ZDNet, whose reviews are read by a sufficiently large number of people that vendors have a strong interest in swinging them in their favor.

So when all is told, I suspect that Linux reviews are just as biased as nay others in the industry. Now that Linux qualifies as being in the "industry", this will happen more often until it is at a norm with the rest of technology.

P.S. Sorry if the spelling and formatting are bad -- IE (stuck with it) has decided to all of a sudden not refresh the screen, making it impossible to read wat I'm typing.

Yup, as a not-so-proud player of the demo, John Romero can spend the rest of my life washing my car. I might even tip him a quarter if he waxes.

Here's a hilarious and well-written review of the game that hits it right on the nose: Mo' Diakatana!

-S

http://students.washington.edu/steve0/
steve0@u.washington.edu

Everybody loves Daikatana! Look at all these great reviews:

• Sharky sez it rawks! yeah right
• FiringSquad: "It is absolutely inferior in almost every conceivable way."
• Damage Gaming say: "I gave it a 3 out of 5, and that's generous"
• CTNews: "in the end all I got was frustration"
• GameSpot gives it a 4.6 out of 10
• DailyRadar: "Ultimate Gas Hands. Need we say more?"
• GameProWorld damns with faint praise: "It's not that bad."
• Computer Games Online gives it 1.5 stars - "amateurish epic lands with a spectacular thud"
• PC.IGN: "It's finally here. And we reviewed it. What? What else do you want us to say?"
• Honest3D - "You all know that I didn't enjoy Soldier of Fortune - well I liked it a lot more than Daikatana."
• GameCenter gives it a 3 out of 10: "Daikatana is a waste of your time and money. Go play Half-Life again instead."
• Happy Puppy: "It'll make you wish it never came out at all"
• GameZone actually seemed to kind of like it
• GameSeek really did like it! "f I had to describe this game in a word or two I would say that it is most entertaining!"
• Ingava didn't hate it all that much
• Game Revolution: "[A]lthough the game is nowhere near as good as it was promoted to be, ... it is not the worst game released this year. It is, however, stunningly outdated and mediocre."
• Maximum PC: "Four years for this?... It sucks. It sucks big-time. In fact, it sucks so bad, we have to wonder what kind of curious monstrosity the developers could have created with an eight-year product cycle.
• GameFan: "It's not as bad as you think."
• PCGamers.Net: "Final Score: 70 out of 100, and I'm disappointed. Sigh."
• GamePig: "Daikatana isn't a bad game, and was often fun to play. However, it's got several flaws that kept me from really enjoying it."

If you're at all curious about how the hell this happened, GameSpot has a great article called "Knee Deep in a Dream: The Story of Daikatana" that gives all the gorey details. They also have a complete walk-through, though the concept kinda makes me shudder...

--
Anonymous cowards are looking forward to the DVD letterboxed release of Ishtar

It's the funniest april fools site I've seen.
If you don't know it's a site for shareware/demos etc.
happypuppy
---CONFLICT!!---