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First, here's a letter from Verant CEO John Smedley regarding the new policies and security checks announced. (From EQ Vault)

Ok. We put the poll in, and with roughly 15,000 people participating the poll came up with 83% of the people being fine with us running the check for cheating.

DESPITE THIS POLL we have decided that it's the wrong thing to do. Enough people have convinced us that it's chipping away a little too much at people's privacy EVEN if they do consent for us to implement this policy.

Therefore, the change to the EULA will read as follows:

Solely for the purpose of patching and updating the Game, you hereby grant us permission to (i) upload Game file information from the Everquest directory and (ii) download Game files to you.

Now, before anyone wonders exactly what this is, let me explain. Technically speaking we probably should have had this language in there from day one for you to consent us to even download new game files to you in the first place. We apologize for not realizing that we should have gotten this consent, but live and learn.

We can admit when we make mistakes, and I believe this is a case where we owe an apology to our Player base. In our haste to try and thwart people from damaging the game we went overboard.

There will be absolutely no scanning of anyone's computer for any reason other than the normal patching process (which won't do any sort of checking on what you have running).

Regards,

John Smedley
President and CEO
Verant Interactive, Inc.

So to summarize, Verant apologized for their planned policy even though 83% of their player base supported it because they realized it was wrong to scan their computers. They even apologized for not stating previously in their UELA that they scanned and downloaded information to their users for patching (which all online games do).

Here's a posting from the EverQuest Message Boards by Gordon Wrinn, the Verant Customer Service Rep, in reply to a comment by a player.

[In Reply To: Scanning my tasklist for hack programs is not that big of a deal and if it gets rid of the hackers anyway, I say go for it. IMO it is not an invasion of privacy to do this. I give out more information, personal information, everytime I use my credit card at the store ]

Unfortunately it is a case where paranoia ended up winning out. I think that we could definitely have done a better job explaining what it was we were doing, and that would have lead to a bit more buy-in. Instead, some people decided to make up reports that we were scanning directory trees (false), internet files (false), internet history (false), cookies (false), and email (false), and unfortunately many people believed them.

The general paranoia resulted from the assumption that we (meaning: our servers) were actively collecting information from your system. This simply wasn't the case. The client simply would examine a small subset of information on your system, none of it containing information personally identifiable to a third party, and only send it to our server in the event that you were "running" an illegal program at the same time you ran EQ. We had absolutely no interest in what was installed on your system, only what you were running when you connected to ours.

I think privacy is important as well, but I don't really care about what a piece of client software is doing on my system. I only care when that piece of client software is transmitting information from my system to an outside source. In this case, the only time any data transmission was to take place was when something bad was found by the client. There was to be no server-side analysis of raw data. I'm sure that most people would agree that we do have a right to insure that our software license is being complied with.

In any case, I guess it's water under the bridge now. I'll blame Hollywood for all of the misunderstandings.

-Gordon

While I don't agree with all his views, I do see where he's coming from. His viewpoint reflects the majority of EQ players.

Hope that cleared a few things up.

"A person reveals his character by nothing so clearly as the joke he resents."

I dunno if anyone noticed but the black wizard is exactly the same as the black (dark magic) wizard from Final Fantasy 1. Man that takes me back....

The movies you speak of do exist. You can find them on the same website that this story was posted on (IGN) here.

I was looking through the pics and came across the pic of the weird boy. Anyway, his dagger,sword sure has dildoish (didlic?) looks to it? Anyone else see this?

Actually, they have released some movies from the console at the GDC. Here they are at pc.ign.com.

Far be it from me to start a flamewar, but it seems to me that you might be experiencing EQ burnout and therefore giving EverQuest a harsh representation.

My experience with EverQuest has been pretty positive. I started beta testing for the game a little bit over a year ago and continued to play it past the release for six months. During that time, I played a variety of characters up to level 20.

If you yourself played EQ long enough to build up a 50th level (highest level possible for you people who don't play the game) and 25th level character, then something must have brought you back to the game night after night.

Both the best and worst part about EverQuest is its addictiveness. It's been called "EverCrack", a name that suits it pretty well. I remember when I was in the high point of my addiction cycle I would stay up into the wee hours of the morning questing with friends. March 16th was EverQuest's one year anniversary and according to EQ Vault, they hit their 200,000 active subscribers mark. Obviously, despite all the people who have quit the game to its negative aspects (camping, large time investment, ebay item farmers), a large number still remain faithful to the game.

In my opinion, Verant Interactive is the best developer of massively multiplayer online games currently out there. EverQuest easily dominates over its competition. While Ultima Online was created first and Asheron's Call offers some innovative features, both lack the customer service and addictive quality that make a truly good online game stand out. One of the reasons I quit EQ was to beta test for Asheron's Call, which I highly regret doing now. Despite being the newest online RPG on the market, the game was poorly developed and rushed prematurely to meet the holiday season. How typical of M$. However, Verant's game design and customer policies allow me to rank it high amongst game developers, almost equaling Blizzard. My advice to all you Star Wars fanatics out there is to keep your eye out for news of when Verant will begin accepting applicants for their beta test and book your spot.

On a side note, The Ruins of Kunark, a expansion to EverQuest is due to be release next month. I'm planning on buying it to begin my relaunching into the world of Norrath.

I thank you for your sweetly faked attention.
~ Kurt Vonnegut, Timequake

I don't care for the idea of monthly fees either, especially when you already had to pay to buy the game. This is what kept me from buying Ultima Online and Everquest, I just couldn't see myself paying the monthly fee in addition to paying for the game.

I think another thing limiting their potential customer base is the lack of a demo. Whether it's even possible with this type of game I don't know, but currently it seems the only way to try it is to be fortunate enough to find out about the game before it's release and get into the beta test. I did this with The Realm, Ultima Online and Asheron's Call. The AC beta was the one that finally persuaded me to change my mind about fee based games. I got hooked during beta and ended up preordering it. I do wish you could just download the clients instead of having to pay for the game, even if it does include 1 free month. AC, EQ and The Realm were all downloads for the client during beta and UO was a $3 cd. A download or a small fee I think would attract more players and it also would help some with the lack of a demo since it would cost less to get started.

I have to disagree with the statement about not needing additional maintenance, at least in regards to AC. Other than the obvious costs such as servers, bandwidth, admins, etc as stated by previous posters, Turbine (the developer of AC) is still hard at work changing the gameworld. While UO got a 2nd edition and EQ has an addon coming out, Turbine is doing it differently and not making the players wait for a new edition of the game or an addon pack. They are doing monthly events that make a lot of changes to the game. They have added new quests, dungeons, armor, weapons, items, monsters, updated graphics, lighting, monster models, etc. I feel the way they are doing it really helps to justify the monthly fee as you don't have to pay again to buy another version of the game. Some of the updates can make drastic changes also, as shown at the end of beta when there was a comet on a collision path and meteors were crashing down with entire cities getting destroyed. Kind of a shame they don't really plan on events quite that drastic, it was a blast. :) Check out ACVault under the Event Specials heading on the left side if you'd like to check out what they have been doing with the events.

Ooops, wrong link: it's here.

Though this may seem like a biased report seeing as how it's a Nintendo related site, it's also IGN and they usually report accurate legit stuff. It would seem that if you look past the fill-rate capabilities of the PSX2, you run into some hardware limitations of a different kind.

Since that topic is sorta Dolphin related, some of you may want to check this other link as well...it would appear that a Dolphin release later this year isn't that far fetched after all.

Though this may seem like a biased report seeing as how it's a Nintendo related site, it's also IGN and they usually report accurate legit stuff. It would seem that if you look past the fill-rate capabilities of the PSX2, you run into some hardware limitations of a different kind.

Since that topic is sorta Dolphin related, some of you may want to check this other link as well...it would appear that a Dolphin release later this year isn't that far fetched after all.

Though this may seem like a biased report seeing as how it's a Nintendo related site, it's also IGN and they usually report accurate legit stuff. It would seem that if you look past the fill-rate capabilities of the PSX2, you run into some hardware limitations of a different kind.

You really love the PSX don't you? You've posted comments both about hwo all the DC games suck and are just "eye-candy" and now it's Nintendo's "cartoony" games.

introduction of the N64 we have a plethora of crappy cartoon oriented games that leave me with the chills

It seems to me you're implying that JUST because it has cartoony graphics it's automatically crap. Perhaps you should try playing some of those "cartoony" games and actually form a real opinion of them. Some of those cartoony games are my favorite games, and the fact they are cartoony has nothing to do with that, nor detracts from that.

almost completely eliminated the concept of cheat codes

Hardly any games have straight cheat codes anymore, N64, PSX, or DC. Most of the time it's "easter eggs". But if you really want them, just look at Game Sages. under the Nintendo section (god I hate frames!)

require an additional "expansion pack"

Very very few games require it, actually, only DK64 at the moment requires it, and it comes with the game. And there isn't too many titles that even support it. And I"ve seen some really good graphics even without it.

I would rather not spend all my time trying to beat one of those games that Nintendo makes falling in lava, getting shot from 10 directions at once or having the evil elves kill me without warning are all symptoms of this problem.

Seems you can do all the same things (or at least comparable things) on the PSX too. Seems to me you just hate Nintendo, because you love Sony and don't have the capacity to handle two systems at once.

I can play all the games just as good if not better...

Perhaps you're not aware of the amount of power in the PS2. As a synonym, the PS2 does to your computer what a dual K7-800 does to a 286. It violates it. The PS2 has more than 6 times the Floating point power of a Cray Supercomputer (valued at $16M US). It can do over 75 million poly/s. Even the Annihilator Pro only comes out at near 10-15M. The PS2 draws at a near-constant 3600 fps. 3600. It redraws the same frame 60 times before you ever see it. This means that effects such as fog and lighting are performed effortlessly with 0 loss in framerate. The PS2 will support higher res with no loss in framerate.

Anyways, my point is that the PS2 will absolutely destroy your computer in terms of graphics capability, and will continue to do so for at least another two years or so.

PS2 Floating Point Performance: 6.2 GFLOPS
Cray2 FP Performance: 1.0 GFLOP
PS2 Post T&L Poly Fill rate: 75M poly/s
APro Post T&L Poly Fill rate: 10-15M poly/s


psx.ign.com/news/7154.html
www7.tomshardware. com/graphic/99q4/991011/geforce-01.html

--
"A mind is a horrible thing to waste. But a mime...
It feels wonderful wasting those fsckers."

The first clip is mirrored here, and the second one is mirrored here.

The first clip is mirrored here, and the second one is mirrored here.

• System Clock: 300 MHz
• Co-Processor: FPU (Floating Point Multiply Accumulator x 1, Floating Point Divider x 1)
• Vector Units: VU0 and VU1 (Floating Point Multiply Accumulator x 9, Floating Point Divider x 1)
• Floating Point Performance: 6.2 GFLOPS

The PS2's vector units are running at three times that speed and are almost two times longer. Plus, there are two of them in there.

Two words: Holy shit.

The PS2 accessories article has pics of the "PocketStation". What the hell is that?

Anything that's been released in Japan other than the fifteen listed elsewhere in this thread, pretty much.

From the reports I've seen so far, here are a few of the big names:

• Vagrant Story is the one being used as an example in most places (quite an underwhelming one, though - check this screenshot).
• Gran Turismo - the texture filtering looks nice, but due to the way tracks are loaded, the faster CD option crashes the game.
• Bloody Roar - also looks better with texture filtering, though it's less noticeable than with GT. Faster CD option works fine.
• Final Fantasy VIII - works fine, but allegedly looks worse with the texture filtering.

BattleWheels and Road Blasters also show off the Lynx's excellent 3D capabilities.

BTW, there's a new Lynx game coming out based on BattleWheels' 3D engine, called CyberVirus...

BattleWheels and Road Blasters also show off the Lynx's excellent 3D capabilities.

BTW, there's a new Lynx game coming out based on BattleWheels' 3D engine, called CyberVirus...

BattleWheels and Road Blasters also show off the Lynx's excellent 3D capabilities.

BTW, there's a new Lynx game coming out based on BattleWheels' 3D engine, called CyberVirus...

COMPATIBILITY UPDATE ( http://www.sony-otaku.com/news/0200/021700/021700a .html):

Sony's Japanese site tested fifteen Playstation games on the Playstation 2 in order to see exactly what is flawed with the PS2's backwards compatibility. Sony picked a lot of Japan-only titles, but some notable (and random) flaws include the following:

In some titles after loading from the memory card the previous screen's image remains on the screen, overlaying the entire game.

Some titles, like Gradius Deluxe Pack, experience major slowdown throughout the entire title.

After exiting a menu or a part of a game, some sounds might continue playing.

In one RPG, the dungeon maps would not display on screen.

In Wing Commander III, the animation starts looping until an error message appears on the screen and the game freezes.

Gallop Racer, a very popular Japanese title from Tecmo, doesn't display many screens including the race times after an event.

In some strategy titles the wrong menus come up, or a menu will pop up at a random time in mid-battle.

In some games sound effects and background music won't even play at all.

Some repeat offenses included the image overlay problems, memory card bugs, and general sound screwups. If this is just a random sample of fifteen titles, imagine what will happen with the over 2600 other titles out there.


Here's a list of 15 games which do not work properly on PS2 ( http://ps2.ign.com/news/15350.html ):

Not Treasure Hunter
Gradius Deluxe Pack
Aidoru Promotion -Suzuki Yumie
Toua Plan Shooting Battle
Oukyuu No Hihou: Tension
Wing Commander III
Gallop Racer
Ongaku Tsukuuru: Kanadeeru 2
Monster Farm
Dragon Beat
Susume! Kaizoku
Tsuiridou Keiryu Kohen
Virtua Pachinko V
Virtua Pachinko EX
Konya Mo Senryobako! 2000



From IGN PSX2 FAQ's ( http://ps2.ign.com/news/14132.html ):

Will it be backward compatible with all older PlayStation games?

Yes, the PlayStation 2 will be able to play original PlayStation games. Because the system's I/O (input/output) processor is essentially the core (main processor) of the original PlayStation, the system will use this processor to insure backward compatibility with all existing PlayStation games. Sony will most likely continue to institute the territorial lockout to make sure that only US PlayStation 2s play original US PlayStation games.

Answers to questions as to whether or not the PlayStation 2 will "enhance" original games with effects like a high-resolution mode and texture filtering has been answered. Sony has said that the system will not enhance PlayStation games, but rather play them in their original look, speed and context.


I wish I had a complete list, but I do not. I looked on Sony's Playstation website and could find no mention of incompatibility. The available information seems intentionally ambiguous when Sony could just test all the games and let us know. I wonder why Sony does not let us know?

COMPATIBILITY UPDATE ( http://www.sony-otaku.com/news/0200/021700/021700a .html):

Sony's Japanese site tested fifteen Playstation games on the Playstation 2 in order to see exactly what is flawed with the PS2's backwards compatibility. Sony picked a lot of Japan-only titles, but some notable (and random) flaws include the following:

In some titles after loading from the memory card the previous screen's image remains on the screen, overlaying the entire game.

Some titles, like Gradius Deluxe Pack, experience major slowdown throughout the entire title.

After exiting a menu or a part of a game, some sounds might continue playing.

In one RPG, the dungeon maps would not display on screen.

In Wing Commander III, the animation starts looping until an error message appears on the screen and the game freezes.

Gallop Racer, a very popular Japanese title from Tecmo, doesn't display many screens including the race times after an event.

In some strategy titles the wrong menus come up, or a menu will pop up at a random time in mid-battle.

In some games sound effects and background music won't even play at all.

Some repeat offenses included the image overlay problems, memory card bugs, and general sound screwups. If this is just a random sample of fifteen titles, imagine what will happen with the over 2600 other titles out there.


Here's a list of 15 games which do not work properly on PS2 ( http://ps2.ign.com/news/15350.html ):

Not Treasure Hunter
Gradius Deluxe Pack
Aidoru Promotion -Suzuki Yumie
Toua Plan Shooting Battle
Oukyuu No Hihou: Tension
Wing Commander III
Gallop Racer
Ongaku Tsukuuru: Kanadeeru 2
Monster Farm
Dragon Beat
Susume! Kaizoku
Tsuiridou Keiryu Kohen
Virtua Pachinko V
Virtua Pachinko EX
Konya Mo Senryobako! 2000



From IGN PSX2 FAQ's ( http://ps2.ign.com/news/14132.html ):

Will it be backward compatible with all older PlayStation games?

Yes, the PlayStation 2 will be able to play original PlayStation games. Because the system's I/O (input/output) processor is essentially the core (main processor) of the original PlayStation, the system will use this processor to insure backward compatibility with all existing PlayStation games. Sony will most likely continue to institute the territorial lockout to make sure that only US PlayStation 2s play original US PlayStation games.

Answers to questions as to whether or not the PlayStation 2 will "enhance" original games with effects like a high-resolution mode and texture filtering has been answered. Sony has said that the system will not enhance PlayStation games, but rather play them in their original look, speed and context.


I wish I had a complete list, but I do not. I looked on Sony's Playstation website and could find no mention of incompatibility. The available information seems intentionally ambiguous when Sony could just test all the games and let us know. I wonder why Sony does not let us know?

From said article:

"It's historic, a mass-market appliance that fundamentally changes society in the way the printing press did," says Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronic Arts and CEO of 3DO. "This is a new canvas for humanity that takes us back to our nature."

Now have a look at this article:
http://dreamcast.ign.com/news/16056.html

It basically says EA has its lips firmly planted on Sony's anus. I am still undecided on buying a PS2 (Sony is just as bad, if not worse than Microsoft) but I know I will never buy another EA game for ANY platfrom for as long as I live.

I noticed a couple of less-than-entirely-accurate responses to this one, so here are the genuine facts.

1. Entirely false. If you head over to Core Magazine you'll find a couple of pages of shots of the innards of PS2 (1, 2). From what I've heard, the screws are covered up, but a little bit of effort and you can get at them. Expect this to void your warranty. :)
2. Entirely false. Every report I've seen of the DVD playback has suggested that if anything it's superior to other DVD players in the price range. And the playback software is upgradeable (stored on the memory card) - future versions of the software will be enhanced. Progressive video is said to be available with the next version. For more information, see IGN's story on PS2's DVD capabilities.
3. Partly false. It is backward compatible with most PSX games - of the games tested, about 15 don't work so far, and these are mostly obscure Japanese titles (Wing Commander III being the one exception). There may be a few more in the Western lineup, but not that many. Compatibility is considerably better than Bleem, since this is hardware emulation, not software. There's a real PSX chip in there doing the work (doubling as the I/O controller). You can optionally configure the system to enhance PSX games with faster load times and bilinear filtering of textures. This reduces compatibility, resulting in some big-name games failing to work, and bilinear filtering makes the textures look less crisp (but smoother) rather than more so.
4. It is backwards compatible with the old controllers, but the new version of the Dual Shock controller has enhanced features that you won't get if you're using the old ones, including analogue buttons all round and a slightly better made analogue stick. The expectation is that old controllers/memory cards will mainly be used for PSX games, whereas PS2 games will tend to require the new kit (you can't use a PSX memory card to save PS2 games, for example). At the moment none of the games out there really make use of the analogue buttons, but expect this to change fairly soon.
5. True, provided your definition of a supercomputer is woefully outdated. This has been rumoured to cause problems with export, but it's mainly marketing hype - the only potential real problem with exporting the system is likely to be the strong encryption on the memory cards.

"The two announced peripherals are the new PS2 analog dual shock controller and the 8-MB Memory Card. However, the new PlayStation2 peripherals will not work with PlayStation." from the ps2 faq

you can use your old psx mem cards on the ps2. you can also use the new 8 MB ps2 mem cards on the ps2. they needed to keep the interface the same so that the old mem cards would work. one reason for the encryption is to keep sales of psx memory cards up, because an 8 MB mem card is equal to about 32 regular psx mem cards. and encryption defeats using a ps2 mem card in a psx.

they would like to keep the markets seperated so they can generate as much profit from mem cards as possible, because everyone needs one. one way to combat this is to require an authorization code to use the ps2 mem card. if the psx can't send this signal, it won't work in the psx, and therefore, psx owners still need the psx mem cards.

basically, it is just to keep the mem card markets seperate, and to generate a lot of profit they wouldn't have gotten if the ps2 mem cards would have worked in the psx.

CPU: IBM Gekko Processor (an extension of the IBM
Power PC architecture)
System Clock: 400 MHz
System Memory: High-speed DRAM technology
Memory Bus Bandwidth: 3.2 GB/second
Semiconductor Process 0.18 Micron Copper Technology

Graphics: Custom Chip designed by ArtX, Inc. of Palo Alto, CA
Clock Speed: 200MHz
Semiconductor Processor 0.18 Micron embedded
DRAM technology
Maximum Polygon Rate: N/A

Software Medium: Proprietary DVD
Enhanced counterfeit protection
Maximum capacity: 4.7 GB

The X-Men uniforms look a lot better than the one shown on ign.com a while back.

But I had to giggle at that shot of Cyclops in the black ball cap. Sort of an FBI/SWAT-team kinda look. The shot of him running in his "wrap-around" shades was a lot better.

Well casted all around, I think. We didn't see Anna Paquin as Rogue at all, which is disappointing. I wanted to know if she'll have big '80s hair.

Halle Barrie looks incredible with long white hair. And Rebecca Romijn-Stamos in body paint? Forgeddaboutit!

No one but Patrick Stewart could play Xavier. I think that's a given

Why are Sabretooth and Wolverine fighting atop the Statue of Liberty and not in the Canadian wilderness? Must every action movie include symbols of American patriotism?

And why isn't Spiderman sitting on the end of one of the crown spikes, looking all pensive?

Fortunately, I only play games by the rules... not life.

Company's use region codes to stereotype people by region, "Oh Americans aren't interested in that kind of thing, this wouldn't appeal to people in Thailand, etc..." That's what makes me sick, it is a kind of discrimination.

I know this wasn't the main point of your thread, but there is a lot of misleading in that statement. Yes, the PS2 uses a 300 MHz chip to do massive graphics, but it is a 128 bit chip, not a 32 or even a 64. It also has an 150 MHz "graphics synthesizer". M$ would need a fast 32 bit CPU to keep up, particularly running Windows CE.

For some more information about the PS2 to use for comparison, I suggest IGN's PS2 FAQ. For additional info about the PS2 including other information, try ps2.ign.com.

B. Elgin

I know this wasn't the main point of your thread, but there is a lot of misleading in that statement. Yes, the PS2 uses a 300 MHz chip to do massive graphics, but it is a 128 bit chip, not a 32 or even a 64. It also has an 150 MHz "graphics synthesizer". M$ would need a fast 32 bit CPU to keep up, particularly running Windows CE.

For some more information about the PS2 to use for comparison, I suggest IGN's PS2 FAQ. For additional info about the PS2 including other information, try ps2.ign.com.

B. Elgin

The Graphics are good. For proof, check out this pictures of ShenMue. And yes, that is in real time with you controlling the camera.

How about this guy? The quote that caught my eye was "we had a four month jump on most developers." And doesn't the PS2 use Linux in some form or another?

see http://psx.ign.com/news/7154.html and http://www.ps2web.com/cgi-bin/artic le.asp?id=98 for more details.

On a related note, their sci-fi section is lithe with nothing but the despicable hormonally-crazed Seven Of Nine worship which has completely turned me off on the sci-fi "scene" at large. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they were also into the pointless desparately-waiting-for-Natalie-Portman-to-become- legally-fuckable debacle shortly following Phantom Menace.

It wouldn't surprise me if it were an IGN publication which "Atari" (the author of this well-reasoned article) was mostly talking about, either. They tend to fall into the trap of showing off the "beautiful rendering" of female characters rather than giving useful screenshots.

But hey, I just read it for the articles. And rarely, at that.
---
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a .

On a related note, their sci-fi section is lithe with nothing but the despicable hormonally-crazed Seven Of Nine worship which has completely turned me off on the sci-fi "scene" at large. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they were also into the pointless desparately-waiting-for-Natalie-Portman-to-become- legally-fuckable debacle shortly following Phantom Menace.

It wouldn't surprise me if it were an IGN publication which "Atari" (the author of this well-reasoned article) was mostly talking about, either. They tend to fall into the trap of showing off the "beautiful rendering" of female characters rather than giving useful screenshots.

But hey, I just read it for the articles. And rarely, at that.
---
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a .

Now if you really want to achieve any of your goals, stop reading /. -- for now -- and return to work.

TheDullBlade? LameSword?

Admiral Yamamoto

P.S. The article's top blurb states:

"Keanu's spectacular blockbuster is now being taught..."

Of course we all know Keanu Reeves was just lucky enough to have the superb support of Fishburne. Neo could have been played by any number of actors without any detraction; Fishburne is Morpheus, and gave the film every ounce of soul it enjoys today.

Of course, I'm not sure what the legal ruling will be on this, I think the main problem is that this is not a case of reverse engineering but involves some proprietary code, and thus is the difference between Bleem! and Virtual GameStation. I think if it had been true reverse engineering, the case wouldn't stand up in court, but because it involved looking at patented materials, it may be a problem. I still don't think Slashdot can be held accountable though, all they did was provide an open forum for people to express themselves on an issue.

I've never even heard of this [Gameboy Advance]

Well, let me enlighten you to this wonderful piece of hardware:

Nintendorks.com (includes "exclusive" GBA picture ;)


DMGICE


IGN Pockets' GBA FAQ


Nintendo's Press Release

As for your question as to why it did better, the answer is games. The games on that sytem rock. It has my two favorite games (Tetrix and Super Mario Brothers Deluxe), a ton of cool RPG's and 2D games, and Pokemon is one of the fastest selling and biggest videogames of all time. It's consistantly number 1 and 2 on the weekly sales charts. The GB is far from dead, and since the GBA is going to have backwards compatiblity and bring the possiblility of internet connection to a handheld, it's going to keep on going.

• Here
• Here
• Here

• No mention of RAM, but I'd take a look at what is available from ARM and assume it is about the same (I'd do it but I'm already late for something.).
  

Having just spent a few minutes browsing around the now accessible fox.com, I'm glad they decided to let users of non-monopoly platforms in, but find the site woefully lacking in information that's worth reading. Certainly not anything I want to wade through 10 minutes of frame-ridden, bandwidth hogging animations to get to.

If I want to read about The X Files, there are dozens of fan sites with better information delivered in a more efficient manner. Image galleries, episode summaries, audio and video clips, cast and crew bios, and guess what? Users aren't required to traverse through piles of junk to get to it.

Javascript is fine in limited doses, when used well, but the glut of it at sites such as fox.com makes me want to leave and never come back.

I suspect the real reason Fox continues to harrass their biggest supporters is that they are jealous of fan sites getting more traffic than they do. Maybe instead of trying to suppress people, they should look at why amateurs are more popular than they are, and try to learn something from it. Don't put down others; improve yourself! They'd be better off if they did.

Well, at least their web designers are trying, and I can't fault them for that. Their lawyers, on the other hand... grrr.

scifi.ign.com/movies/3408.html

They also gave the show a pretty good review, and I must admit I am looking forward to seeing it. This review gives away a little more plot and character information, so beware!

B. Elgin

http://dreamcast.ign.com/news/12062.html -Stephen

The laywers that found they were sueing thier own client, have dropped thier case (a couple days ago infact...) but other firms have chosen to pick up on such a "tempting" suit. For more up-to-date gaming news, pocket.ign.com is a good and reliable source


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Wasnt this suit allready dropped?

The Game Boy Advance is already planning a feature similar to this. You can connect and play against other people through your cell phone. Read about it here. (about midway through it)

I've made a small list of what seems to be a pretty complete list of the new PS2 info. If I've missed any, feel free to add-on.

Sony of America

Sony of Europe

Sony of Japan

PSX Nation

IGNPSX

Gaming Age

Next-Generation

Gamespot

The Magic Box

And then I'd also recomend you check out the MB's connected with some of those sites because there are some very interesting discussions in there. Also expect the major news organizations (MSNBC, ZDNET, CNN) to pick it up sometime tonight too.

I sure am. It sorta pisses me off that no one on Slashdot seems to even relize the potential power of the Dolphin. They just seem to ignore it. I, for one, am extremelly hyped about it. The announcement of the 1T-SRAM technology that Art-X will use is incredibly cool. I can't wait till the specs are officially announced, and then we'll see how the PS2 compares.

You can connect the Dreamcast to a VGA Monitor. You use the VGA Box.

Some more info can be found here:
GBA FAQ

Various stuff, including some concept drawings(not official though)

IGN Pocket