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Slashback: Indreams, Dejagain, Codrivel
The name of Gildred's project has me hooked ;) impaler writes: "Looks like Indrema's Game Exchage site is up. There are a number of free and commercial projects already started. Now, when do people get to fjear my insanely low gxc UID of 15 (I was the first non-indrema person added to the database). Seems like they are even closer to becoming a reality (even though the launch date seems to have been pushed back). So, start writing cool games!"
I wrote to Indrema honcho John Gildred recently to inquire about the console's current status, hopefully we'll have an update on that soon. In the meantime, you may prefer to visit the English-language version (kudos, Oliver) of the Linux-on-Playstation petition mentioned shortly ago.
"Whither newsgroups?" is not an idle question. Ronda Hauben wrote to point out her essay newly posted at Telepolis about the recent sale of the Usenet Archives by Deja to Google,Inc. She writes:
"The culture of the online community is based on fostering collaborative activity and online contributions.To read and ponder; hopefully someone at Google will have some things to say as well. And when you're done, check out more at Netizens.How does the technical and research community continue to foster the online contributions and collaboration? Is there any problem having such contributions bought and sold? Is there a way to have nonprofit or academic or research institutions involved in archiving such collaborative contributions like Usenet?"
Apropos the former, the following: wdavies writes: "A previous article suggested that Idealab's new company New.net would provide a plug-in -- this article suggests otherwise -- more of a series of deals with large ISP to support the resolution of TLD with private DNS. The article suggests there might also be a plug-in available, but seems to hammer home the point they are planning an end-run around ICANN decision making on TLD's. Interesting, what if they can indeed undermine ICANN's role using commercial pressure ? Good or Bad for the internet ?"
And finally, please don't do this. And getting worse and worse since the last time it was mentioned on Slashdot, Midnight Thunder writes: "There is a great page on how to write unmaintainable code. Now that you have insured that you will keep the job, now for the demands ;-)"
#define a=b a=0-b
Mmm.
The list have few good ideas, and some that implies broken code (the define), or illegal (like the 8 bits char).
The best obfuscated code is writing in an undocumented langage. You make the compiler/interpreter yoursef, and code the solution in the langage.
I have done this once, on purpose. A company that fucked me too much while I was a student. When I left the software worked flawlessly, only a couple of features were left unimplemented.
The code looked like:
const char *p = {
0xf3, 0xfa, 0x3v, 0x00, 0x00, 0x43
.../..
}
for a few kilobytes, followed by the interpretor (Which itself looked roughly like:
while (1) switch (*p)
{ case 0x12: p = *(p+*(p+1)); break;
.../..
default: (*f)(*p++)
}
(And of course, the couple of features left unimplemented required a drastic change in the langage itself...)
Cheers,
--fred
But the X-Box hasn't been released yet! Right now, PS2 is simply the best console to ever be released. I don't doubt that when X-Box gets a release it will be the "best" - but then so is *every* console when it is released. Pricepoint and marketing is going to swing this for [or against] Microsoft, not technological superiority.
It sounds like you're sidestepping Indrema's BS but walking right into Microsoft's. Console wars have *never* been won on technical merit.
I mean, seriously.. they expect people to pay extra money to have a cheesy ".biz" TLD? And .biz is supposed to make a website seem more legit? And ".name" has got to be the lamest choice for a TLD imaginable. Just try saying something like "janesmith.name". That just sounds so awful!
I think that if they get a little competition, maybe they'll wise up and hire some people to come up with ICANN-approved TLDs that don't suck.
*nux does not need the plugin. You either just add "new.net" to your domain search list in resolv.conf (Think about it. Pretty clever huh?:-) or for those of you running your own DNS add the new.net servers for the TLDs they have claimed. I'm not sure the latter method works yet, they said `mid-march' to have those servers running.
Either way, new.net has the instruction on their site.
And in all seriousness, if noone else steps up, I don't see why the federal government shouldn't- it'd certainly be less a waste of money than SDI. Where's the harm?
The 10th amendment was just an attempt to make the southern states and states rights nuts shut up. Apparently it didn't work.
-bugg
You might not see a point, but some people will. Basically, indrema will be launching the IES in two stages: a limited launch for the early adopter people so they can get funding for launch 2, the larger lauch. Remember that the DC did extremely well in the North American Market, it just failed in the Japanese market (and since Sega is from there, they probably care more about that market). There is always the chance that indrema can beat the other -- everyone has to start somewhere. Maybe it isn't for you, but it will be a good console for others.
Besides, if indrema does fail, they made the promise to give everything to the community -- the tools to certify games and all the source to their proprietary stuff (Stuff like the Digital Right Management Software that generated certification keys and checks them at runtime). So, if nothing else comes of it, you will have a fairly decent box with a nice graphics system (the GPU is in a card, so it is replaceable). So, there might be a reason to get one even if you don't want games (remember, they lose money on every console and make it back up in game sales).
Plus, they are very hacker friendly. I mean, the company was founded by a hacker. They have said they won't mind you taking apart the systems as long as you don't circumvent DRM (there will be a DRM-less dev console retailing at or slightly below production cost, more on that later). It has 4 usb ports on the front, HDTV + s-video + tv out, a graphics card socket, a modem, an ethernet card, and more usb on the back so...the possibilities are endless.
The developers console will also cost much less than all the other devkits. I mean, 600-900 bucks for a developers console (with cool extras like Code Warrior For linux and some 3d tools) is amazing! I mean, Sony charges what for their developers kit? Way too much for most small game development houses. Now, imagine this -- it is 1992, and id is just starting. Do they have the money for an expensive dev kit? Nope. So, they just make a dos game. Ok, so not a good example. But, it does make a point. Small game houses do make good games, but can't afford expensive developer kits. This gives them a chance to make their games for a console with a reasonable cost to them. So now they can be the next id.
So, I hope I've convinced some people about indrema. Or at least sparked some thought.
-------------
HAL 7000, fewer features than the HAL 9000, but just as homicidal!
This is cool. Some people in the indrema development community have an irc channel on openprojects (irc.openprojects.net). Its in..what else but #indrema. Its really cool because they have a developers (or rather, just a regular chat most of the time) chat with John Gildred and other indrema employees every wednesday at 4:30 PST (or 0030 GMT on thursday for people on the other side of the line). Its really nice to see a company that can have its CEO just talk to the normal people.
-------------
HAL 7000, fewer features than the HAL 9000, but just as homicidal!
It's been said before, I know, but here goes: Marketing is where it's at. MS is going to spend upwards of a half billion dollars promoting the X-Box, and they surely won't hesitate to spend even more money to make sure that their console is successful in every way (competitively priced, available in volume, supported by many games).
PS2 is going to get gobbled up by people who want the latest and greatest, but meanwhile millions of others are already quite happy killing some time with their old PSX.
Nintendo? Right now it's a pokemon machine. We'll see how impressive the gamecube is, but between PSX saturation and MS's shoving the X down everyone's throats, even they will have a rough time.
Considering everything that Indrema has going against their commercial success -- PS is good enough, MS will kick marketing ass, Nintendo fills in the gaps, where is the market for Indrema? Short of some attention on SlashDot (and I seriously doubt that a very large percentage of even /.ers will be buying this console, considerably less than will be buying the MS console) and a few blurbs on gaming websites, nobody really knows about indrema, and I just don't see that changing without a LOT of marketing money (and smarts).
I'd like to say that at least they have technological superiority going for them, but other than the word "Linux" flying around in the specs, the system doesn't have much (if anything) more to offer than the upcoming consoles.
---
Is there any problem having such contributions bought and sold?
Frankly, I don't see an issue with this. I could have started archiving Usenet news way back in the day and sold it today. So could you. So could have anyone. However, it was Deja who actually did it, and now they've made some money. Can BBS operators do the same with their message boards?
Is there a way to have nonprofit or academic or research institutions involved in archiving such collaborative contributions like Usenet?
Sure, if there is an organization out there with lots (and I mean lots) of disk space and the correct INN (news server) settings, sure. Just keep the messages around forever and after a while you have an archive.
Yeah, I agree--I use it, and that's all that should matter. BUT, consider this: Usenet was the first, best, and possibly only real online community of any size. Internet culture matters to it because it was a culture and a community unto itself. That culture is dead. That sense of community started to die with AOL and Canter&Siegel. Usenet as it used to be is dead, and we'll never see a community like that again online. That's all.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
you will get tivo-like digital vcr, mp3 jukebox, web browsing and email, DVD Movies, HDTV.
oh and it also plays games.
for the price, (it'll be around $300 I'm guestimating) a 600mhz pc with a sweet graphic card (upgradeable) and all the tv in/out/recording, I think it'll be an awsome deal.
I use a pII 266 and have had the upgrade itch for too long. Indrema will give me that high end gaming system, without me having to shell out much money, and I'll still rtain all the functionality of a PC.
HDTV output alone is worth big bucks right now, this makes Indrema seem like the deal of the century.
I can also see it runnig graphic apps like gimp or blender and being able to work on a big screen tv would beat using a 17" monitor.
for most, the function of gaming/mp3box/tivo/DVD is enough, being a Linux Hacker means it can be all that and pretty much everything else you'd want it to do.
10baseT ethernet right out of the box, going right into my home lan, and now I can get online during commercials while watching TV in the livingroom.
if they took pre-orders, they'd already have my money even without the games.
"The Most Fun Possible on 4 wheels" is at SunBuggy in Las Vegas
If Sega doesn't have the muscle to keep a console afloat in the industry what makes Indrema's financial backers think they can do better? Will they have better in-house development than Sega? No. Will they have better third-party support than Sega? No. Will they be able to advertise as much as Sega (although Sega's ad campaign for the Dreamcast was anemic)? Again, no.
So, start writing cool games!
Cool open source games do not exist. Take a look at freshmeat. The closest you'll find are clones of PC games that were state of the art 8-10 years ago.
"Cool" games require two big things that open source lacks and will likely never be able to overcome.
One, they take a lot of money. This is primarily because games need to be developed much quicker than, oh, say, a compiler in order to reach the market while they are still fresh. Game developers work insane hours to get the games out when they do. A few people working on a game that isn't their main job are never going to cut it. All you'll end up with is the usual gnome-tetris-beta-0.12 stuff.
Two, games require art work. Usually lots of it. For instance take a look at Sega's Shenmue. Look at the credits for programmers. There's about 5-8 programmers listed, IIRC. Easy enough for some open source project to come up with. Then look at the list of artists. There's dozens, probably close to a hundred. People doing FMV. People making textures. People making character models. People writing theme music. People creating sound effects. Etc etc etc. The average open source project can't even get a decent set of icons for its menu bar.
So why should I buy an Indrema box to play the same crappy, rip-off games that I can play under Linux?
Remember: if you're the only person who can maintain your code, it not only means you can't be replaced, it means you can't be promoted.
question: is control controlled by its need to control?
answer: yes
This isn't as much "normalization" as it is "don't take so many drugs when you're designing tables."
Do you idiots not realize that dejanews.com was almost bankrupt? I can't stand those idiot, superficial whining crybabies that are complaining that they can't get their news. Use a newsreader, dumbfucks! Don't you realize that if Google didn't acquire the archives, it WOULD HAVE BEEN LOST????
GOOGLE IS NOT OUR ENEMY you dumb motherfuckers. If it weren't for them, we would have ABSOLUTELY NO ARCHIVE anymore.
I make games for a living. I was the founder of Dynamix a long time ago, and since then have brought games such as Red Baron, Incredible Machine, FPS: Football, Trophy Bass, and Tribes to market. Currently, I'm working on a start-up called GarageGames that helps independent game makers create and market their games.
/. very amusing. I read /. because it helps me understand what is going on in the open source/Linux community, plus it has some great content. The only thing that bothers me is that the game posts are so far off base, that I wonder how reliable the rest of the posts are.
I find most of the game posts on
The Indrema posts really brings my above comment into focus. I see posts talking about how the cruel an mighty Microsoft is shoving the X-Box down developers throats, and how great Indrema will be. Well, let me tell you, the X-Box is simply the best console to ever be released and I'll believe Indrema when I see it. This pains to to say this, because I don't want Microsoft to win any more than any of you do. But they have a lot of money, and the hardware is great. I root for Indrema, but gamers don't buy operating systems, they buy great games. I just checked the Indrema site, and they don't have any. I have also tried to contact Indrema, with a pretty compelling story that should have gotten a response, but... nothing.
Jeff Tunnell
President, GarageGames
http://www.garagegames.com
Independent Games
Jeff Tunnell
www.garagegames.com Independent Games