Slashback: Indreams, Dejagain, Codrivel

Craving at least some small bit of followup to old stories? Well, sit comfortably in your thousand-dollar Relax-the-Back recliner and savor a (minor) update on the fabled and hopefully forthcoming Indrema console, again something to chew on regarding deja again, and more.

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.

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?"

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.

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 ;-)"

Comments

why isn't Indrema dead?

[kaisyain]

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?

Unmaintanable code == bad idea

[legLess]

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

Will these dumbfucks please get off Google's back?

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Game Posts Are Humorous

[jefftunn]

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.

I find most of the game posts on /. 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.

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