Slashdot Mirror

Gamaroo writes "EuroGamer.net has up an interesting editorial by Kristan Reed in regards to the lack of hits that result from so many game releases near the Christmas shopping season, and the resulting post-Xmas lull. As Reed stated, 'Note to publishers; we can't afford to buy 20 games in the run up to Christmas. Even 10 would be a struggle, and the truth is gamers are forced to play safe and go for the games they know are going to be good.' He goes on to state that, 'Of the eight or so games that Microsoft put out exclusively on Xbox, just one of them (Project Gotham Racing 2) actually sold in decent numbers. Of Sony's extensive line up, literally all of them flopped; leaving its summer hit Eye Toy: Play to fly the flag for its first party strategy.'" It's worth noting that the editorial refers to the UK charts/sales figures, so Xmas release dates differed somewhat from the States.

cdneng2 writes "NY Times has an article that New York crosswalk push buttons are actually ineffective. Apparently, New York City deactivated most of the pedestrian buttons long ago with the emergence of computer-controlled traffic signals. From the article, 'More than 2,500 of the 3,250 walk buttons that still exist function essentially as mechanical placebos, city figures show.' Well, apparently New York city isn't the only city like this. I guess the answer lies in the same reason why people press the elevator button more than once."

darthcamaro writes "Looks like our federal tax dollars are hard at work - improving security on Linux! The NSA - you know the folks that are shadowy figures on X-files - have released the latest updates to SELinux (security enhanced). Internetnews.com has got a piece on it where they talk to Gentoo and Red Hat about the release's significance."

FreakyControl writes "Popular Science is running an article this month about how to change that dead iPod battery, along with links to sites that have other cool iPod hacks. It looks like Casey Neistat figured out how to do it for them, after ruining his own during a similar attempt: 'A few weeks later, PopSci gave him another third-party battery, this time from pdasmart.com ($60), and another iPod from a staffer with the same problem. That one survived and went back to its owner. And Casey ended up spending $400 on a new one.' Looks like all you iPod people may still have hope!"

stoolpigeon writes "MSNBC has an article about major actors and their relationship to videogames, saying: 'The trickle of A-list talent appearing in games has turned into a torrent of late and beyond publicity, the trend has triggered changes in game development. Stars now work with game producers on story and character development as agents and lawyers try to figure out how an actor can maintain his 'image,' in an interactive environment.'"

Thanks to HomeLan Fed for their interview with Robert Gehorsam of There Inc. regarding their U.S. Army-funded 'virtual world' project, as previously mentioned on Slashdot. This extension of an the existing There Inc. MMO title will apparently "enable a commander of an [Army] unit to say, 'Hey, my unit needs to train for its upcoming peacekeeping duties in Kumar.' He works with a trainer to develop a specific environment and scenario (or better yet, modify an existing one out of a repository), figures out who is going to play the bad guys, the civilians and the 'others' -- like the Red Cross, the UN, etc. -- and then prep his unit for the exercise." However, when asked about the types of features MMOG fans might recognize, Gehorsman suggests: "Guns? I'll admit, however, that the magic system is not particularly robust."

NickFitz writes "MacWorld UK has some comments from industry analysts on the question of whether Total Cost of Ownership, Microsoft's favourite metric, is lower for Apple Mac versus Windows. The MS website has no figures to refute the claim that 'An Apple technician may cost twice as much, but he comes to see you half as often.'" Bottom line: neither platform is the clear winner.

SparafucileMan writes "Ok, I'll admit it. I've spent way too much time at the pub drinking... er... playing these arcade golf games such as Golden Tee 2004. However I'm annoyed by the lack of features, graphics quality, and courses and figure that playing golf on my computer, where there are several outstanding titles available, would get me a lot more bang for the buck. However, what's the fun in playing arcade golf with a mouse and keyboard?! I want to invite some people over to hammer the bejesus out of a huge trackball, just like at the arcade. Anyone have any suggestions on where I can find such a contraption, or how I could build one myself (with USB hook-up, no-less)?" We've previously covered the cult of Golden Tee, and the inevitable injuries that result from the mixing of beer and trackballs.

This Slashdot interview has a little twist to it. Instead of using email, I'm going to relay your questions 'live' to people I meet while I'm here in New Delhi, speaking at LinuxAsia2004. Offshore outsourcing has gotten a lot of attention on Slashdot (and NewsForge) lately, but I figure that from this end we ought to call it 'onshore insourcing' instead. Feel free to ask other questions about 'geek life' in India, too; I'll ask as many questions as I can of as many people as I can, and post their answers when I'm back in the U.S.

An anonymous reader writes "MacSoft takes popular games and ports them to the Macintosh for all the Mac users to enjoy, but according to a TwinCities.com article, apparently there are far more users pirating Mac Halo than actually buying it A MacSoft spokesman 'didn't release sales figures [for Halo] but said illegal downloads number at least in the hundreds of thousands.'" The article uses this specific game to discuss how PC and Mac publishers are "...making gamers enter special codes, authenticate themselves online and jump through more hoops." It ends by describing the pain of the developer in seeing their title pirated: "It was a dagger in the hearts of guys who worked 12 to 14 hours a day [on Halo]... We're on an emotional high, and it all comes crashing down."

An anonymous reader writes "We all know that Apple generates revenue from iTMS via hardware sales. How the hell can pureplay music stores like Napster generate revenue enough to even stay alive? They don't. Is this the first indication of the bubble bursting? Is it time to figure out what to do when your Napster WMA files go unsupported after Napster 2 dies?"

Thanks to OgreCave for its article pointing out that Wizards Of The Coast, the Hasbro gaming division best known for the Magic: The Gathering CCG, is now trying a collectible charm-bracelet game called Star Sisterz. Apparently, the game "combines the popular beaded trinkets with truth-or-dare-style questions on cards" in order to target the difficult-to-reach female demographic, and "girls might be charged with going to the mall with their clothes on inside-out or reading a page from their diary aloud to all of their friends - how embarrassing!" The official site has more information on this 'game', although OgreCave notes the more interactive Duel Masters CCG, the current Japanese collectible card game of choice, will launch around the same time, with comics, videogames, action figures, and a TV show on Toonami/Cartoon Network all contributing to the Pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh styled media blitz.

Dan writes "Wired is reporting that a top lawyer from Microsoft will take over later this year as chairman of the American Bar Association's antitrust section. The panel is organizing opposition to a congressional plan that would require more aggressive oversight by the courts of such antitrust settlements. Considering the next major ruling in MS's case is due soon, you can figure out how important this is to MS."

johanneswilm writes "Michael Fallwell has figured out a way to overcome many of the problems of traditional telescope construction - making it way more compact and economical. And the whole thing is completely portable and achieves accuracy down to one or two millionths of an inch across an 18 inch surface!"

jxs2151 writes: "According to the Deseret Morning News former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt signed Utah's 2.4 million residents up for a pilot program that gathers dossiers on every single man, woman and child and didn't bother to tell anyone. According to the article MATRIX -- Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange '...cross-references government records from both public and private databases, putting together a dossier on individuals for use by law enforcement.' The state's homeland security specialist dismisses concerns: '...any data gleaned for Utah's participation in MATRIX is information already available to law enforcement.' The Utah legislature is trying to figure out how to get the state out of the program but the question is how was the Governor able to enroll the -whole state- without anyone knowing?"

Polo writes "While reading dpreview, I noticed that among several new products, Canon has announced a Digital Image Verification Kit to prove that an image taken by a particular camera has not been modified. It's disturbing to think about the conditions that would allow digital images to be accepted in a courtroom. I guess one defense would be to figure out how to 'verify' a photo of shark attack..."

Thanks to NewsObserver.com for reprinting an L.A. Times article discussing the genesis of Sony's inventive PlayStation 2 EyeToy USB camera hardware/software. According to the piece, the hardware designer behind the peripheral is Richard Marks, a "...Stanford avionics PhD who built cameras that guide one of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute's underwater exploration robots." He comments on low initial expectations: "If there's one thing that's been hammered into my head over and over... it's that peripherals don't sell, and the camera is a peripheral", and explains the early development of the quirky add-on at Sony's Foster City studios, as he "...bought a Web camera and hooked it up to a computer that fed video to a PS2 prototype." Concrete sales figures for the popular, 'mass-market' accessible EyeToy are also revealed: "By the end of 2003, it had sold more than 2 million units in Europe and 400,000 in the United States. Sony estimates it will have shipped 4 million units by March 31, the end of its fiscal year."

Chanc_Gorkon asks: "Just like to ask the Slashdot community if anyone has a set of step-by-step instructions for connecting two computers via IP over Firewire. Mac OS X Panther supports IP over Firewire, as does Windows XP. I would like to hook my PowerBook to a Windows XP machine, and be able to access the Internet and share files over the link. I am shooting for near full functionality, but the closest I came in my initial trials was being able to set static IP's per Firewire port, and do a FTP between the machines. If I can get this working, I figure this will be a good way of getting my PowerBook on the office network, without having to have a drop put in."

Thanks to Nintendojo for its editorial discussing ways to help Nintendo increase the amount of GameCube-only titles it releases. The writer notes that "...it is all too apparent that Nintendo's exclusive games lineup is very thin at the moment", and suggests one of many possible solutions: "Nintendo must figure out a way to increase the [development] capacity of Retro Studios and/or Silicon Knights. These companies must have as much depth [in amount of releases] as Rare had at the latter part of its life." How would you like to see Nintendo partnering to release more high-quality GameCube-only games?

skillio writes "The FBI arrested one Russell Sprague in Illinois on Thursday in connection with the previously reported Carmine Caridi dvd screener leak investigation. Given the FBI's figure of up to 60 screeners a year provided by Caridi, and Sprague's clearly sophisticated setup, one can't help but wonder if this will prove to be the main, if not sole, source of these dvd screener leaks. Caridi has yet to be charged, but after he's admitted to supplying Sprague with screeners for the last 3-5 years, I highly doubt his innocence will remain unchallenged for very long."