Buy John Romero's Ferrari On EBay

TheMightyZog writes: "John Romero is selling his Ferrari Testarossa: eBay and his own site. Is anyone else distrubed by the graphic on the top of his home page?" At last check, the reserve was not yet met.

Comments

Ominous signs ?

[hack0rama]

Ominous signs of the times ? Maybe not, Carmack is still bying more Ferraris's and selling more games!

Re:Ominous signs ?

[spazoid12]

Check out this other fancy car
Not my taste, but the guy is well-meaning (we work at the same place) and I hope he succeeds.

Re:Ominous signs ?

[morcego]

Will he ship the girls to you if you buy the car ? :-)

Re:Ominous signs ?

[Denial of Cervix]

Egads. Someone needs to explain to this well-meaning gentleman (so obviously someone from the pr0n industry) that he's not getting a penny of that $150,000 he "spent" on that van-tastic paint job when he sells it.

Same with Romero's car. Yeah, he's done a lot of hardcore tuning to it, but that means almost nothing at resale time, unless you find the right individual. Add maybe 10k (for "celebrity ownership") to the value of a used TR of that vintage, and you're still looking at $70k.

IIRC, Norwood Tuning is the firm that got the Ferrari crowd's collective knickers in a twist when they took a second-generation GTO, dropped a twin-turbo V8 in it, and went record-hunting at Bonnevile.

Good luck sellin' the cars, guys, but both these items have a pretty small pool of interested buyers.

DoC

Vale adding feature

[yobbo]

The car comes with 50 free copies of daikatana. That together with 20 dollars of petrol, adds a combined total of 15 dollars to the price of the car! *BARGAIN*

Re:Vale adding feature

[lupetto]

This is really a useless article. Some rich fuck is selling a car on ebay.wooohoo! Who gives a fuck.

In other news today.

United Devices recently announced a distributed client to aid anthrax research. They also have distributed clients to help find cures for cancer and alzheimers. They only have windows clients right now, but they can be downloaded here.

Re:Vale adding feature

[Dougie]

I hate to point this out mate.

But when you see people that are in the IT industry having to sell their cars, and other assets, it can give an insight as to how much money is floating about.

This can give a small indecation of how the industry may be looking, or affecting certain sectors.

Yes, may be not as intresting or as important as UD and what they are doing.

But I would still say intresting.

Re:Vale adding feature

[Anonymous Coward]

United Devices recently announced a distributed client to aid anthrax research. They also have distributed clients to help find cures for cancer and alzheimers. They only have windows clients right now, but they can be downloaded here [intel.com].

And they're only going to have Windows clients, just like with the cancer and Alzheimers projects. The only people that matter are Windows users, because they run on the fastest and best hardware. Additionally, only patients with geniune Intel Inside stickers and Microsoft licences (98, 2000, NT, ME and XP)* will benefit from any cures found.

* Note: You must possess a license to a supported Microsoft Operating System at the time of treatment.

Kwijibo lives!

Re:Vale adding feature

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a 'y' in 'kwyjibo', idiot. The boy spells it right out during the episode and everything. Sheesh, you kids today...

Re:Vale adding feature

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a 'y' in 'kwyjibo', idiot. The boy spells it right out during the episode and everything. Sheesh, you kids today

There may be a 'y' in 'kwyjibo', but there isn't one in 'kwijibo', old fool! Have you ever looked it up in a dictionary?!? Bart cheated, it's spelt with an 'i', not a 'y'. ;b

Kwijibo lives!

Re:Vale adding feature

[Gecko(dude)]

heh, do you not realize who the hell john romero is? the only game god ever to get fired, he made:

• Wolfenstien 3d (good)
• Doom (good)
• Doom 2 (good, and it had his head on a stick at the end)
• Quake (good)
• Quake 2(good, he might of left ID after quake 1)
• Diakatana (crap.)

between him and john carmack there has been no one who has had as big an effect on the current game industry (with the except of warren spector and sid mierer). this was posted for the humor fact that he is broke as hell now, he used to buy such things like toys.

Re:Vale adding feature

[dark_panda]

between him and john carmack there has been no one who has had as big an effect on the current game industry (with the except of warren spector and sid mierer)

And the possible exceptions of...

• Shigeru Miymoto (Mario, Zelda, all things Nintendo)
• Gumpei Yokoi (R.I.P. -- died in a car crash in '97; responsible for the GameBoy among other things)
• Will Wright (all things Sim)
• Hironobu Sakaguchi (all things Final Fantasy and Square).
• Peter Molyneux (Populous, B&W)

Carmack might be a 3-D engine/DeathMatch god, there's no question on that one, but all of the above guys have had major contributions to the entire concept of a video game. (There are many others, of course, these are but a few...)

J

Re:Vale adding feature

[WNight]

Oh thank the heavens for Miyamoto.

Without him, we wouldn't have a game that involved running from one side of a map to another, to get a quest that involves running right back across the map, to get a quest ...

And then, INNOVATION, he did it again but in 3D with crappy camera angles!

He's also mastered the art of RPGs that measure your progress completely by the last checkpoint you passed (which means they're perfectly linear) and the ammount of gold you have. Of course, they don't actually store the gold, you have to collect that every time. But hey, 90% of the game is collecting gold by 1) slaughtering basic monsters or 2) pulling up flowers.

What a tribute to the GOD of gaming.

... end sarcasm

Re:Vale adding feature

[Anonymous Coward]

And most inportant of all, Sid Meyer (Civilization) :)

Re:Vale adding feature

[dark_panda]

You might not like him or his games, but his influence on game design is undeniable.

Just look at a few of his games (that he either directed, designed or produced) and think about how many others they've influenced...

• Pretty much all of the Mario series -- SMB 1-3, SMW, SM64...
• Same with Zelda -- Zelda 1-3, Zelda 64, a few of the GameBoy Zelda's...
• F-Zero (man I loved that one)
• Super Mario Kart (and to a lesser extent, Mario Kart 64, which I'm not overly fond of compared to the original)
• the original Donkey Kong, which ranks up there with Space Invaders and Pac-Man as one of the most important games in the early days of arcade gaming. (And later home gaming, when it was ported to the ColecoVision, which rocked, but unfortuntely didn't do enough to win over users from Atari's piece of crap 2600/5200/etc series. The 2600 port was terrible.)

Those are his more well-known games, and they've obviously influenced a lot of other games and game designers out there. How many platformers were based on Super Mario Brothers? How many kart games borrow heavily from Super Mario Kart?

Quoth Romero himself in an interview with Primagames: "You can't forget about Shigeru! He's just awesome. He's the game-design god of the universe." I don't know about "the" god, but he's definitely up there with the best, or at least most influential.

J

Re:Vale adding feature

[WNight]

I don't deny that he influenced a lot. I simply think we'd be better off if he hadn't.

The games he's made seem like standard console crap. Limited interaction, lousy controls, etc.

Mario is pretty good I guess, for a simple game. Zelda ruined RPG/Adventure games though.

F-Zero I never played, but Mario Kart (and SMK) I played and they seem like fairly basic games. I don't see what the innovation here is? The crossover from Mario to racing?

Donkey Kong was good, but if he brought it out today with the same level of interaction I feel that he'd call it an RPG.

It's probably not really his fault, it's just that consoles are very very limited and you can't make real RPGs or (in the case of cartridge games) anything with much interaction. (And the limited space also explains the endless reuse of maps in those types of games.)

In a car analogy, you don't insult the guy who designed the Gremlin, or Pinto, because he probably had a tiny budget and many constraints, but you also don't call him a design god.

BTW, "How many cart games borrow from SMK?" Isn't that a problem with the Nintendo console? Few games (compared to the PS) and mostly derivative...

Re:Vale adding feature

[dark_panda]

Okay, so you've made your point that you're obviously an RPG fan, since every second sentence of your post mentions RPGs in some way or another, but there are other genres out there, and he's touched quite a few.

Lousy controls? Have you played Super Mario 64 or Zelda 64? They have near-perfect control, at least in my (and apparently many, many others') opinion. Very fluid, and for a mere console game, quite intuitive.

I wouldn't even consider Zelda an RPG in the first place, more of an action/adventure, 'cause it seems to be missing all of that standard-fare RPG stuff, like endless character stats, class-building, experience points and all that jazz.

The thing about F-Zero and SMK is is that they're both FUN. Maybe not terribly innovative (although their use of "Mode-7" scaling and rotation was pretty cool at the time), but they're fun. Is that not the most important innovation of all when it comes to games? You can have all of the gee-whiz graphics and next-gen online world crap you want, but if the game isn't fun, then what's the point? How many cart games were really that great before SMK?

Donkey Kong? An RPG? You obviously don't think much of the man if you think him that insipid. To my knowledge, Miyamoto himself has never called any of his games "RPGs," because none of them really are, including Zelda. (Except for maybe Paper Mario, which I haven't tried.)

As for consoles and cartridges... what is your point? Maps make the game? "Real" RPGs need a lot of storage space? Storage space equals interaction? Would Tetris be any more interactive or engaging if it came on a DVD with millions of background images than it would be on a GameBoy with one "map"? This so-called limitation you see is a thing of the past anyways, as we see consoles like the PS2, GameCube, etc. coming out with games on DVDs (hope that solves your lack of maps) and USB ports for keyboards (will that make the game more interactive?). Not that any of those things necessarily make a game better or more fun...

'BTW, "How many cart games borrow from SMK?" Isn't that a problem with the Nintendo console? Few games (compared to the PS) and mostly derivative...'

Huh? You do realize that when I say, "borrow from SMK", I do mean that there are other games on other consoles that borrowed heavily from this game. Yes, that means consoles (and PCs and whatever else) that *weren't* designed by Nintendo? This was never supposed to be about Nintendo, so I don't see what your point about "the Nintendo console" is, so perhaps you'd like to elaborate? Are you trying to so say that only games on the Nintendo consoles borrowed from SMK? I think you'll find that there are more than a few PS games that borrowed from SMK, and believe it or not, many of them are quite derivative.

J

Re:Vale adding feature

[WNight]

> Okay, so you've made your point that you're obviously an RPG fan

Moreso than whatever Zelda is, yes. But mainly isn't just annoyance at games like that being called wonderful.

> Lousy controls? Have you played Super Mario 64 or Zelda 64? They have near-perfect control,

[choke] M64 has probably the worst control I've ever seen. You have to press in the direction Mario is facing to move forward, not "up" like you would in any well-designed game. This means that when he runs past a wall and the camera swings, you have to move the controls just the keep running in a straight line.

This was less of an issue in Zelda 64 because there wasn't as much action, but I saw a few cases where I though the maps were designed very tight simply to make you fight the controls more than the bad guys.

> I wouldn't even consider Zelda an RPG in the first place, more of an action/adventure,

It's much more like King's Quest (imho) than an RPG, yes. With a little weird fighting tossed in to make it cross-genre. (To the annoyance of most people I know, who want either a good fighting game, or an adventure game without the twitch crap.)

>The thing about F-Zero and SMK is is that they're both FUN.

So is solitaire, if you're into that. But I don't think the inventor of a new form of solitaire is a game god. SMK is okay, but there are games that do that "silly racing" much better, like ReVolt (PC and maybe PS, I dunno).

>You obviously don't think much of the man if you think him that insipid.

I don't think he's insipid, but I don't think he's helped the gaming industry. The thing I don't like is people running around crowing about how wonderful M64 and Z64 are without a clue of what both could be if they didn't have lousy layout and controls.

It's like I don't think Romero is an insipid freak, except for his "Suck it down, Daikatana will kick your ass!" stuff.

> As for consoles and cartridges... what is your point? Maps make the game?

Maps don't make the game, but stretching a game by including the same maps over and over again just to be able to claim more hours of "gameplay" (more like "Gamework") is cheap. How many times did you cross the central hub in Z64? 50+ I'd imagine, because it was used in all ages and you constantly had to run from one side to the other.

They took a given ammount of content and stretched it very thin by making you run between distant points just to experience it.

>Would Tetris be any more interactive or engaging if it came on a DVD with millions of background images

No. But it would be less enjoyable if they made it take longer by having you perform busywork (run across a map, etc) between levels, just so they could claim it took longer to play. In Tetris they boiled away the crap and let people get to the actual gameplay.

>This was never supposed to be about Nintendo, so I don't see what your point about "the Nintendo console"

Most of Miyamoto's games are for the Nintendo, right?

>I do mean that there are other games on other consoles that borrowed heavily from this game.

Perhaps. But whenever I've seen nintendo consoles they'd had very standard games. Racing games like SMK (with or without weapons) and platform games like Mario. When I've seen the PS or Dreamcast they seemed to have a much wider variety of games. (I am willing to accept that this was just luck of the draw though.)

I don't have a console (and never have) so I'm not biased against Nintendo for personal reasons.

Look at Z64 though and tell me they didn't stretch gameplay.

To get the special quiver you have to play a mini-game, but to play you need gold. And there are other examples that I don't remember, where you need gold to play a mini game to try to win an item. Technically they're optional, but most of very important.

An "honest" game would let you either buy the item (by using money gained in the adventure) or endlessly play the mini-game. Requiring both is just a way to make the play take ten minutes between tries, thus a 15-second mini-game ends up taking two hours if the user needs ~10 tries.

I feel about Z64 and M64 (and Miyamoto) like I would about _Dude, Where's My Car_ and _Water Boy_ if someone said they were the best movies ever and Adam Sandler was a genius.

I understand that they can be enjoyable (and very popular) but they're tragicly shallow and full of the same formula jokes that have been used in bad movies for twenty years.

Ditto with people who loved ST:Enterprise because of the detox scene. There's better porn available free online, and better shows on, but flash a little T&A and the market jumps.

Which brings me to Tomb Raider. Many people say it's one of the best games ever, but it has so many flaws and bugs (and lousy gameplay) that it'd never get rated that way if it weren't for tits.

So M64 and Z64 may be good games, worth playing if you've got an N64 even, but they aren't shining examples of the best games ever made.

Re:Vale adding feature

[dark_panda]

To each their own then, I guess. Personally I thought SM64 had excellent play control. I doubt that holding up to run in the direction Mario is facing would have been an improvement, though. I mean, how stiff was the control in Resident Evil, which used a similar approach? I believe Bubsy 64 tried a similar approach and its overall design was quite similar to SM64, and although I haven't tried Bubsy 64, I hear it's an utter mess. I do agree about Tomb Raider and ST:E, though. (Although, Tomb Raider did have that "press up to go where X is facing" and its controls were still terrible. But I doubt that anything could have fixed that game.)

The only other thing I'm wondering about -- Zelda and King's Quest? King's Quest had zero action in it, especially the earlier ones where you had to type out commands and such. Man, those early ones got annoying...

> look box
It looks like a box
> look IN box
It's closed
> open box
It's locked
> unlock box
You unlocked the box
> look in box
The box is closed
> OPEN BOX
The box is open
> LOOK IN FUCKING BOX
I don't understand what you are trying to say

Ugh. They sure seemed fun at the time. I used to love those games. I still have an original King's Quest V CD, actually, haven't pulled that sucker out in quite a while. I still have copies of Police Quest 1 and 2 and Space Quest 1 through 4 sitting around somewhere. (Spread out across 40 3.5" floppies, of course.)

J

Re:Vale adding feature

[WNight]

Well, as a general game design issue, I tend to like single-genre games, action or adventure, or puzzle, etc.

I often found the RPG (collect money) aspects and the twitch-gaming got in the way of an otherwise fairly enjoyable adventure while I was playing Z64. Had I wanted twitch I'd have played SMK or Skyfox.

Yeah, the early King's Quest games were kinda bad for that.

I haven't played Bubsy or RE so I can't comment. Tomb Raider had "logical" control layout, but the camera moved around (imho to allow tit viewing) and made it hard to move accurately near a wall for instance.

As for RE having bad control despite the layout, in the early day of first-person shooters there were many that used the same controls as Doom and yet felt bad, sluggish or something. While a good layout is essential it isn't everything.

My favorite games from the past are Loderunner, Ultima 5 (though 4 was pretty good too), Tetris knockoffs, and SSI's AD&D roleplaying games.

I do like most genres of games, however I dislike it when you're playing an RPG and have to use twitch skills all of a sudden. Or if you were playing Loderunner and had to advance in levels to dig big holes.

Re:Vale adding feature

[el_chicano]

this was posted for the humor fact that he is broke as hell now, he used to buy such things like toys.

Broke? According to this Time article he was worth an estimated ten million dollars in 1998.

He must of gotten some bad investment advice -- was he a major Enron stockholder or something?

There's more where those came from

[Ryu2]

He's actually got (at least) 3 of them. Another one of them was won by Thresh (a high school friend of mine, BTW) in 1997, after the Red Annihilation Quake II tournament. (Pictures from there are here).

Anyways, it's not his Testarossa, but one of a few...

Re:There's more where those came from

[Ryu2]

Sorry -- wrong John, that was John CARMACK, not Romero! Please disregard my previous post!

Looks like Ferarris are popular among the id employees, though...

Re:There's more where those came from

[magister707]

A disturbing side of Slashdot revealed! [slashdot.org]

for god's sake, people. flaws in the slashdot moderation system do not constitute a national crisis. i think you can find a more worthy crusade than this.

Re:There's more where those came from

[dagoalieman]

Kinda funny.. I remember reading an article (online or paper, I don't remember) a few years back when the 3d genre had just hit hard, right after Doom and the rumors over doom II were starting to be proven/disproved..

I recall him saying something like "My mother thought I was on crack. After I bought my third Ferrari I asked her if it was still a bad career choice..." The "After.. I asked.." is a verbatim quote, the rest I can't promise..

I wonder if he wished he had invested that money now? Or if he'd already saved plenty... Hrmm..

.

Strapped for cash?

[Anonymous Coward]

or just 'upgrading?'
anyhow, it's nice to see what being a coding game geek can buy you.

Re:Strapped for cash?

[painkillr]

Eh, remember, equity is wealth 99% of the time.

Quite frankly

[Metrollica]

Is anyone else distrubed by the graphic on the top of his home page?

Quite frankly, I am disturbed by all the graphics.

Re:Quite frankly

[ByteHog]

I agree, but his girlfriend is kinda cute. By Herself. http://www.stevana.com/

Re:Quite frankly

[CarbonJackson]

Quite frankly, I am disturbed by John Romero.

Re:Quite frankly

[arkanes]

You know, what I find disturbing is that he's just now learning DirectX. And that he's REALL EXCITED about the new games! Because! His page has lots! Of exclamation points!

Re:Quite frankly

[Jucius Maximus]

"Is anyone else distrubed by the graphic on the top of his home page?"

Honestly I prefer his girlfriend's page.

`;-P

Re:Quite frankly

[Anonymous Coward]

Cute? She looks like a transvestite! Yuck! Another latent homosexual shacks up with a girl that looks like a guy just to keep society satisfied.

Re:Quite frankly

[Anonymous Coward]

Silicone chips, silicone tits... nah, not my style.

Re:Quite frankly

[discogravy]

why? She's so pretty!

DOESNT HONOR BIDS!

[Romothecus]

Did anyone else notice a comment under user feedback at ebay, claiming that Romero won an auction and didn't pay for the item? Kind of what I felt after buying Daikatana.

Re:DOESNT HONOR BIDS!

[niola]

The one comment in his eBay profile that caught my eye was the one that said he ordered the Dokken video tape. LOL, and I thought he only looked like an 80's reject :) --Jon

Re:DOESNT HONOR BIDS!

[Fjord]

The first thing I went to after the main ebay page was the seller's ratings. Yup, there it is.

"Complaint : Won Item..3 e-mails- never received payment since 3/30. DOESN'T HONOR BIDS."

Re:DOESNT HONOR BIDS!

[Rogerborg]

And while we're at it, he's also blatantly in breach of the T&C's by linking to a site that attemps to sell the car outside of eBay, rather than just providing more information on it.

• Links from the eBay Item page to pages that promote off eBay sales in any way are forbidden [...] Users may not use systems or techniques to circumvent eBay fees. Some examples include ... Offering in a listing the opportunity to purchase the item or other merchandise outside of eBay.

And last but not least:

• [Banned:] Listings with an e-mail address or domain name in the title

Seller is John rome.ro, right? ;-)

Re:DOESNT HONOR BIDS!

[Mr_Perl]

To be fair, the guy complaining has 9 negatives and 12 neutrals.

Not exactly ebay premo himself.

Re:DOESNT HONOR BIDS!

[Anonymous Coward]

Well to be fair, there are 1181 positives for the guy. D'ya think out of 1190 transactions, maybe 9 are neutral is sort of an ok profile? I mean that's .1% fer krissakes.

Re:DOESNT HONOR BIDS!

[Malc]

Why is this marked as interesting? This seems like a miss-leading troll. That's one complaint out of 60. In most cases, the praise is very high. In that light, I think I would more than overlook that one complaint and just assume that something else happened for which I know not the facts, or that the complainer was a bad apple.

Re:DOESNT HONOR BIDS!

[Zenjive]

Damn, and I was just about to spoof-bid his car!

Yellow and Heavily Modified

[paule9984673]

This guy's got no taste.

It fits with his somewhat 80s Hairstyle though.

:)

about the home page graphic

[Anonymous Coward]

Is anyone else distrubed by the graphic on the top of his home page?

Well, look at the face on the far right of the graphic. I see someone how's definitely not fit to drive. Maybe that explains why he's selling his Ferrari on EBay?

Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[Buran]

I'm vastly amused by the fact that this Italian supercar is humbled by the same annoying automatic seatbelts that I, to this day, cannot stand. It was DOT regulation at the time, so all US-market cars in 1991 had them, but ... you just don't think about that when you think about Ferraris.

Incidentally, "testa rossa" is Italian for "redhead" -- I believe it was a reference to the fact that at least some of these had red valve covers (or something like that -- anyone know?) in the engine. Most are red to go with the meaning of the name.

Don't care much for the wheels. I'd think a good set of BBS wheels, like the ones on this car, would be nicer. But if you have that much money to spend on a car, you have the money to drop $1500 on a good set of wheels and tires.

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[yobtah]

Actually, the regulation required some sort of "passive restraint". Cars could either include the motorized seatbelts or airbags. In 1990 and 1991, most manufacturers hadn't added airbags to all cars, so many cars were sold with the motorized seatbelts as a temporary solution to meet the requirement. A few 1990 and 1991 cars actually have airbags. Ferrari is a fairly small manufacturer, so developing a working airbag system probably required some time.

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[HRH King Lerxst]

Yes, testa rossa does mean red head, but Ferraris, all having overhead cams don't have 'valve covers'. The cam covers on Testa Rossas and Testarossas are painted with a red crinkly finish paint.

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[GigsVT]

Funny, I had a 1992 Nissan that had neither airbags or auto-seatbelts.

I totaled it though. I'm glad it didn't have airbags, I'd have probably been hurt worse. The seatbelt was plenty of restraint.

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[BitwizeGHC]

Incidentally, "testa rossa" is Italian for "redhead" -- I believe it was a reference to the fact that at least some of these had red valve covers (or something like that -- anyone know?) in the engine. Most are red to go with the meaning of the name.

Whatever the case, I've taken to calling them Testosteronas for reasons which should be obvious.

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[Anonymous Coward]

You'd actually put BBS wheels on a Ferarri? Thats the worst thing I've heard yet today. You should have your mouth washed out with soap. Try Fikses. Light high quality forged wheels. Unlike those cast boat anchor BBS wheels.

http://www.fikse.com

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[Anonymous Coward]

Your nissan dis have those annoying seatbelts that attatch to the door top and bottom, though. The regulations said that they are a type of automatic seatbelt. You can technically get in and out of the car without ever unlatching them, but I've never known anyone to do that. The latches were probaby labeled "emergency release" or something similar.

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[GigsVT]

Oh yeah, the seatbelts were part of the door, now that I think about it. I never thought to leave them buckled and get out of the car though. :)

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[Anonymous Coward]

MOD PARENT UP

Repeat after me - unsprung weight reduction is *the* single best mod you can make to the handling of your car. most aftermarket 17" increase the unsrung weight which is a BAD thing.

Less noisy over bumps , more stick round corners (espically over bumps) , better braking, better acceleration.

The bloddy heavy, oversized aftermarket wheels most people get conned into buying actually *reduce* the levels of grip they have round corners (execpt of course when you go from those super skinny wheels OEMS put on to bring down the MPG a couple of gallons)

They also suffer from tramlining at high speeds (inability to turn at 120 mph plus (scary when it happens ! )) wreck the self centering action on the steering, over increase the surface area leading to aquaplaning in the rain, if you got the offset wrong and they stick out too far , they chuck rain and stones up at all the other traffic on the motorway, I could go on.

Aftermarket 17" type wheels from BBS, TSR, Some OZ (not all) are a rip off. Educate yourself my friend, and have fun going fast !

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[Anonymous Coward]

$1500 on a good set of wheels and tires
You are kidding right ?
Or did you mean for a single wheel?

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[Anonymous Coward]

?
BBS has a lot of light fordged models

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[Chris Hiner]

There are cars before 1990 with airbags. Dual airbags were standard equipment on the 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo. My insurance company regularly removes my airbag discount, as someone there keeps thinking that a 1988 car couldn't have them.

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[sysadmn]

Incidentally, "testa rossa" is Italian for "redhead" -- I believe it was a reference to the fact that at least some of these had red valve covers (or something like that -- anyone know?) in the engine. Most are red to go with the meaning of the name.

If by "some of these" you include the original TR from the '50s, you're right. I think the official model name was the 250MM, but if I'm wrong, someone will correct me. Hell, if I'm right someone will correct me...

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[ConceptJunkie]

Ironically, my sister bought a used VW from about that period that _only_ had the motorized shoulder strap attached to door. No lap belt at all! If the door was open, there was literally nothing holding you in the car.

I can't believe something like that was ever allowed to be sold. (Or that my sister and her husband would buy such a car (which they no longer own)).

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[JJorda]

There were even cars before 1980 with airbags. Cadillac had driver's side airbags available in 1974, but there wasn't enough of a demand to warrant keeping the option in production. Also had anti-lock brakes in the rear available in '72 as well.

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[Anonymous Coward]

The Red-Head from which this car derives it's name is ~literally~ a head: the cylinder head. Legend has it that after they painted they cylinder head red, they started calling said car testarossa.

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, I'm sure it's a much worse car than your Porsche, isn't it? Get back to your homework.

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[Buran]

I was not sure, and I was hoping that someone would be able to set me straight; hence the 'anyone know?'. Thank you for the information. Perhaps sometime I'll look for a photo of a Testarossa engine.

Re:Comments from an Auto Enthusiast

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it was because the car was available only in red for a while. It still looks better in red anyways.

His ferrari, eh?

[Eskimo Bob]

Sure, it's all shiney an' purty, but...

I'd rather bid on a lock of his hair.

So I could secretly make... A JOHN ROMERO CLONE WHO IS 10 TIMES SEXIER THAN THE ORIGINAL JOHN ROMERO!

I mean, just look at the man! Look at the mans hair! Does it not totally scream out how utterly and completely sexy he is, it is?

it's hard to try to make a joke when yer abs are cramping up from coughing.

Re:His ferrari, eh?

[Osty]

I mean, just look at the man! Look at the mans hair! Does it not totally scream out how utterly and completely sexy he is, it is?

Sadly, that sexy John Romero chick cut her hair. Now it's all short and butch-looking. And to think, she used to be hot!

Re:His ferrari, eh?

[leuk_he]

Isn;t ther a saying about men with big cars have a small ....s

Makes you think when he says when he sells his modified car.

Next thing in your email:
-Learn all about P.... enlargement. [spam alert]

Re:His ferrari, eh?

[tcr]

...and the ad says it's on a new engine already.... ;-)

Re:His ferrari, eh?

[Jucius Maximus]

"So I could secretly make... A JOHN ROMERO CLONE WHO IS 10 TIMES SEXIER THAN THE ORIGINAL JOHN ROMERO!"

By my reckoning, your clone would be identical to the original. But I didn't use my calculator watch to do the math so I may be wrong.

Re:His ferrari, eh?

[Anonymous Coward]

All it was was "her" long hair to make "her" look "hot"? All you guys are latent homosexuals who are turned on by pre op transexuals. That chick looked some much like a guy that I can't have an erection for 12 days now.

Re:His ferrari, eh?

[necrognome]

are you john romero's bitch?

Re:His ferrari, eh?

[el_chicano]

Sadly, that sexy John Romero chick cut her hair. Now it's all short and butch-looking. And to think, she used to be hot!

Calm down, Beavis!

Economy

[morbid]

Can it do 40+ miles to the gallon? How much do new tyres cost?

Harsh

[olman]

..But maybe nicer for him than the Repo man.

New economy? Bah.

Re:Harsh

[el_chicano]

..But maybe nicer for him than the Repo man.

A Ferrari Testarossa? The Repo Man's wet dream!

"Never broke into a car. Never hot-wired a car. Kid. I never broke into a trunk. I shall not cause harm to any vehicle nor the personal contents thereof. Nor through inaction let that vehicle or the personal contents thereof come to harm. That's what I call the repo code kid. Don't forget it etch it in your brain. Not many people got a code to live by anymore."

Bud, from the Repo Man movie (quote from the online Repo Man script)

Graphic ...

[YeeHaW_Jelte]

"Is anyone else distrubed by the graphic on the top of his home page?"

Yes, very much so, as it makes my mozilla segfault.

Re:Graphic ...

[atari2600]

whos that chick?

Re:Graphic ...

[Anonymous Coward]

That's Killcreek, his girlfriend.
She was a level designer for Daikatana and posed for Playboy.

You can find nudies of her on the net.

She makes my willy wilt.

to slashdot advertising department

[woolite]

I would be most grateful if someone could send me the advertising rates for these kind of adverts.

TIA

Re:to slashdot advertising department

[ignoramus]

Are you kidding? This truely is stuff that matters. Maybe you are not all the Nerd you claim to be.

;)

Re:to slashdot advertising department

[Chris Burke]

Hey, it's only advertising if you think someone will buy it. And linux users don't pay for anything, remember? :)

Re:to slashdot advertising department

[Anonymous Coward]

You are a whiny little bitch. Shut the fuck up.

TIA

No sidekicks please

[oingoboingo]

I'd bid for it as long as it didn't include any annoying sidekicks that got in the way of your driving and always died at inopportune moments.

Re:No sidekicks please

[Anonymous Coward]

Whatever, but does it include the bimbo?

How...?

[GdoL]

What? How? Who?

Slashdot is know a ebay adv channel?

Who would want that car?

[KL1NK]

It probably has lots of his long, silky hair in it.

Hmm.. great deal

[phaze3000]

It may be a Ferrari, but it's the worst car they ever made, and it's been owned by some arrogant fuck who you know is going to have cared for the car very badly.

Seems like a piss-poor deal to me..

Re:Hmm.. great deal

[dimator]

So... care to point me to an article in which you read that the Testarossa is the worst car Ferrari has made?

some arrogant fuck who you know is going to have cared for the car very badly.

If you read his page, you'd see that was not the case. He's got a turbo (625HP!!!!), a new clutch/trans., computer controlled EFI, and a new engine (500 miles), among other things.

Re:Hmm.. great deal

[gazdean]

You don't need to read an article to know that the testarossa is the worst ferrari ever. You just have to look at it. It's worse than the Mondial.

Re:Hmm.. great deal

[barzok]

If the engine's been replaced, other parts have probably been abused as well.

Re:Hmm.. great deal

[Rogerborg]

• If you read his page, you'd see that was not the case. He's got a turbo (625HP!!!!), a new clutch/trans., computer controlled EFI, and a new engine (500 miles), among other things.

So, we're basically agreeing that he talked a good game about how amazing and genre redefining it was going to be when it finally matched his supreme vision, turned on the money hose, gave vague instructions to some minions to "make it cool" without any consideration for the usability, then when it eventually matched his bonkers specification, he gave it a token test drive then lost interest and wandered off to rave about another project-of-the-nanosecond? Sounds about right.

Re:Hmm.. great deal

[Anonymous Coward]

And how, exactly, is this a troll? Ferrari Testarosa == Miami Vice. 'Nuff said.

Re:Hmm.. great deal

[phantumstranger]

Honestly, not to burst a bubble but (625HP!!!!) for a sport / race car isn't all _that_ swell. If you want outlandish ponies try a 4,000 HP 4-Cyl Integra!!!

Re:Hmm.. great deal

[Keeper]

The only thing that drag car shares with an Integra is that the body vaguely resembles one. It sure as hell isn't "streetable" either.

Re:Hmm.. great deal

[Anonymous Coward]

Better yet, buy a supra and spend a few k on it and you'll have just as much HP.

Re:Hmm.. great deal

[ahfoo]

Well now, that's not necessarily the case. I'm just putting my third long block into my '79 Celica and it's in freakin' primo condition. Well, except the rust --and the interior.

Question

[Kargan]

Who exactly is John Romero?

Re:Question

[henrik ostman]

A GREAT computergame programmer, made Quake I and Deus Ex

Re:Question

[geeky-troll]

Wasn't that John Carmack??

Re:Question

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.game-revolution.com/games/pc/action/dai katana.htm has some background info on John Romero's accomplishments.

Re:Question

[Tet]

Who exactly is John Romero?

A few years ago he wrote a little computer game with John Carmack. You may have heard of it... it was called Doom. He went on to do Quake before falling out with Carmack, and leaving id software to start his own company, Ion Storm. They released the moderately successful Deus Ex, and the, erm..., not so successful Daikatana.

Re:Question

[Osty]

theRomero was on the Quake team. Deus Ex, however, was done by the awesome, ever-so-talented Warren Specter. Deus Ex was also done at the ION Storm Dallas (or wherever it was -- not Austin, where theRomero was) office, which was not closed. Instead, it went for some name change, I don't remember what. That same studio is now working on Thief 3, as well as Deus Ex 2. ION Storm Austin is gone. Dead. Finito. Tom Hall (also an ex-id guy, sucked into ION Storm by theRomero, made the moderately successful yet still fun Anachronox) and theRomero started Monkeystone Games, where they make games for various handhelds. They already have one game out for the PocketPC, something about a delivery boy. Maybe theRomero is learning, since this game was done in a matter of months, rather than years.

And remember, "Design is Law!" Oh, yeah, and theRomero has cut his hair. He's no longer sexy.

Re:Question

[shut_up_man]

Even though Ion Storm did release the quite successful Deus Ex, I think it needs to be made clear that Romero was not involved in the project. Executive producer was Warren Spector, lead designer was Harvey Smith. Check the Deus Ex Team list for more details.

Re:Question

[RoninM]

I thought he was a programmer, but based upon the pictures, I'd venture a guess he's some combination of (a) a model for 5-cent romance novels; (b) the next spokesperson for "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter;" (c) Fabio post-run-in with a well-trained goose.

Re:Question

[StrutterX]

As informative as my ass!

Ion Austin still exists. Dallas is long gone. Romero was in Dallas.

Hah! Fanboys.

Re:Question

[Jucius Maximus]

theRomero was on the Quake team.

You're forgetting the best game he EVER made: Commander Keen. Damn, I STILL play Keen4, 5 and 6.

:-)

Re:Question

[Molina the Bofh]

Out of curiosity, but are moderators on drugs ? What's Insightful or Funny on this ?

by Kargan on 04:17 AM January 23rd, 2002 (Score:4, Funny) (#2886986)
(User #250092 Info) http://slashdot.org/ [ Neutral ]
Who exactly is John Romero?
Man: Lamers are dangerous, so if you see one where people are swimming, you shout, 'look out, there are lamers!'

Moderation Totals: Insightful=2, Funny=1, Total=3.

Re:Question

[ajm]

Dallas is GONE. Austin is still around. How do you get rated informative when the information is wrong?

Re:Question

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, today they're more on *ketamine* than crack, they're fucking mental!! :-(
posting anonymous... dont dare risk my poor karma...

Re:Question

[laserjet]

It has been widely known for quite some time that the Slashdot.org moderators are normally on a form of cocaine, namely Crack. This explains their often eratic and nonsense behavior. Don't believe me? Post!

Re:Question

[Osty]

Yeah, figures I'd screw up the office locations. I never was a big fan of ION Storm (even though I did buy Deus Ex and Anachronox). The important part is that the office where theRomero and Tom Hall worked was the one that folded, while the office where Warren Specter worked (and which pumped out ION Storm's only really successful game) did not. Aside from that, the rest of my post is correct, and I would assume that's why I got rated as informative.

ok how many of are gonna get aroused by this link

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.stevana.com/images/Gallery/stevie305.jp g shes his chick and what a chick

Revenge?

[Gogo Dodo]

Is /.'ing his server revenge for Daikatana?

Re:Revenge?

[slittle]

Nothing could ever make up for that.. but this comes close..

Re:Revenge?

[Anonymous Coward]

Huh? Revenge is causing tons of traffic to see his item up for auction, so that the price goes up???

Re:Revenge?

[Lord Sauron]

Nothing beats Walter Mercado and his mystic powers. And, yes, it's a man.

Re:Revenge?

[schlach]

Puh-leeeze! Everyone knows the best thing to come out of the Daikatana fiasco (excepting Old Man Murray's coverage of said fiasco; who can forget "Daikatana Development to be aided by Helpful Monkey", and "John Romero Reserves the Right to Suck It Down"?) was the Laziest Men on Mars' Superfly's Johnson. From mp3.com's description:

A parody of one of the worst games ever made, "John Romero's Daikatana." A game that was notoriously late, terribly designed and without any redeeming qualities... except... when the characters' dialogue is taken out of context and laid over a trashy 70's waka-chika porn groove, the game suddenly becomes _much_ more interesting. A must-have for Romero bashers and FPS players.

If you haven't ever listened to this, I strongly recommend you download it. You'll never feel like Daikatana was worthwhile until you do...

Re:Revenge?

[bigmaddog]

Slashdoting is no longer a side-effect of limited bandwidth - it's a distributed computing project ran for the good of humanity.

Daikatana?

[Metrollica]

I know this is offtopic but read.

Why does this parent post and another poster both mention Daikatana?

I did not find Daikatana anywhere on the pages.

Can someone clue me in.

Re:Daikatana?

[enneff]

John Romero, the guy selling the car, is the guy who directed Daikatana.

A Geek's Car

[stuffman64]

As stated on his page:

...conversion from Naturally Aspirated (carburator) to Electronic Fuel Injection with a Motec system. You can have your passenger plug a laptop into the computer (behind the passenger seat, inside) and remap the fuel ranges while you're driving!

I can see it now. While driving along peacefully at 65mph, obeying the speed limit, your 14 year old script-kiddie son sitting next to you remaps the fuel injector to inject the fuel at full capacity regardless of throttle position. Since he was running Windows, his computer crashes shortly afterwards and you find yourself cruising down the highway at 200mph. You put her in neutral, in a vain attempt to lose speed, but the engine over-revs and blows up. As you finally coast to a stop (about 10 minutes later), you teach your son a lesson.

Never remap fuel settings in Windows!

(Ok, so the above story wouldn't actually work because the butterfly valves would prevent any air intake to the engine, but who cares..)

Re:A Geek's Car

[stuffman64]

This is slashdot, we will never learn that anti-windows jokes aren't funny anymore.

Re:A Geek's Car

[Carrott]

I can see it now. While driving along peacefully at 65mph, obeying the speed limit, your 14 year old script-kiddie son sitting next to you remaps the fuel injector to inject the fuel at full capacity regardless of throttle position. Since he was running Windows, his computer crashes shortly afterwards and you find yourself cruising down the highway at 200mph.

Actually this won't happen, if you add lots of fuel without adding lots of air, all you get is smoke and not very much power. After a while, you also get a worn out engine.

What you should watch out for is when you have quite a lot of power and not enough fuel, then you get a melted piston or valve.

Re:A Geek's Car

[stuffman64]

um... did you read that little blurb on the bottom I wrote about butterfly valves?

Re:A Geek's Car

[G-funk]

Actually unless you're using a dedicated system, you always remap fuel settings in windows. But running the car too rich would just blow fuel and smoke out the back and backfire, not over-rev the engine.

Re:A Geek's Car

[nitsuj]

On a side note, have you noticed that he is seriously ugly, and his g/f is a whore? I mean really, look at the pics she proudly displays on her sites - clearly a lady of negotiable virtue.

She's a nice person. I met her in college, and I knew her father well. You, however, are a sexist asshole and certainly the only one of questionable virtue.

Re:A Geek's Car

[Scooter]

LOL :))

Hehe and anyway - unless he strapped a turbocharger or supercharger to it at the time he dumped the carbs it's *still* naturally aspirated.

Re:A Geek's Car

[Don Negro]

No script-kiddie son of mine will be running Windows!

Re:A Geek's Car

[WD_40]

It's turbo charged just like the site and eBay listing says. Kudos on doing your homework.

Re:A Geek's Car

[Anonymous Coward]

It *IS* turbocharged you inbred, illiterate, cock-sucking, LOLing piece of shit.

Read the fucking description before you post.

Re:A Geek's Car

[mattACK]

Those laptops run DOS and are connected by RS232. My (suicidal) friend has one in his rx7.

Re:A Geek's Car

[Anonymous Coward]

Much like Romero's car, she's had a lot of mods since then.

Re:A Geek's Car

[Anonymous Coward]

I think we all know the answer to that one...

Background?

[dayL8]

Could someone post some background on this story, like who is John Romero and why would one care that he is selling his car?

Re:Background?

[phalse phace]

Here's some more info. Nothing exciting!

Re:Background?

[Yakman]

Could someone post some background on this story, like who is John Romero and why would one care that he is selling his car?

John Romero was a "rock star" of the computer game industry in the early 90s. He then disappeared to work on the "ultimate computer" game. Instead fucking it up, releasing Daikatana, and now needing to sell his Ferrari to buy Ramen Noodles.

In summary, he's no one relevant and you shouldn't care.

Re:Background?

[billcopc]

Beh.. he should keep the car and sell his girlfriend instead. A geek knockout who can design her own maps AND kick my ass at Quake simultaneously .. finally some proof that there is a god out there! :)

Re:Background?

[the bluebrain]

This being modded "Score:5, Informative " is just about the greatest burn in the whole discussion.

Ramen noodles, eh? Whoda thunk...

Re:Background?

[Anonymous Coward]

A geek knockout who can design her own maps AND kick my ass at Quake simultaneously .. finally some proof that there is a god out there! :)

No, she's a poli-sci major with a boob job, who got an overpaid job at a fucked-up company because she's boinking the CEO. Her boyfriend is, by all accounts, a rich prima donna jerk with a Ferrari .

There are a thousand women out there like that, and you could own one too, if you could pay for it. Or, you can make your own -- just find a poli sci major, add some silicone and a ferrari, and go.

Re:Background?

[billcopc]

Well geez, if it's that easy maybe you should start a mail-order poli-sci-bride business and get filthy fucking rich so you could buy your own ferrari and silicone girl and stop being jealous about it all!

Distrubed?

[arnoroefs2000]

I might feel 'distrubed' if I had a clue what it meant, is it like feeling 'lubed'? Some car slang maybe?

question...

[TheQuantumShift]

Good god, why? Does he need the money?

I'm getting distracted by the graphic

[Anonymous Coward]

gawd dammit! I'm trying to do some work here and that damn graphic on the top of his homepage is disturbing me!!!!!!!!

Heavily modified

[slashdot.org]

Although this goes well beyond what should be discussed on /. and has practically no significance at all, I have to say that 'Heavily Modified' bothers me when it comes to cars like this.

I always find it a bit sad. Like the original creators didn't do a good job. If you spend that much money, why buy a car that you don't agree with?

And if you (apparently) plan to sell it, it's pretty silly. Almost no-one will agree your mods are so kewl. By now they are out-dated, start to fail (believe me, I had a 911 Turbo and the one mod caused me a major headache) and it's practically impossible to bring the car back to it's original condition.

When a car like this is modified it usually means that it was just a rich kids toy. Not someone that bought it because they loved the car. For the true lover, there's nothing but the original.

In any case, the $100K Buy It Now is horribly over-priced. You get an original Testarossa from the same year for a little more than half of that. And it will still be worth something 10 years from now. (for example, not that I anything about this car, so this is not a recommendation) ;o)

Re:Heavily modified

[DCowern]

Like the original creators didn't do a good job. If you spend that much money, why buy a car that you don't agree with?

Kinda like spending $50 on Daikatana....

Re:Heavily modified

[psych031337]

As stated before, this is far away from being "stuff that matters".

What bugs me as weird though, is the fact that the car had a new angine at a little more than 33000 miles. I know that Ferrari's are not really known for longevity, but the engines are commonly seen as the best parts of the entire car. How can you kill an engine with that few miles? He must have a terrible driving style... I don't think I would buy that car based on that info.

And it will still be worth something 10 years from now

It might be worth somethin, but not a lot. A buddy of mine has worked at the Hamburg (germany) outlet of Ferrari for three years. He had the time of his life, for sure, but also had his illusions taken away from him. These cars rock if you turn them in for heavy inspection every 5000miles or once a year and face a 8000 bill every time. If you dont, the thing will fall apart under your ass in less than 5 years. EVERYTHING is inferior save the engine, gearbox and suspension. The interior is cheap and cracks and chuckles in fast turns. The door fittings (the rubber parts) are porous after two years of middle-european weather (mild winters, actually). They start falling off in the third year. Also, rusting is an issue if you don't live in the middle of the desert (or Italy). People who use their Ferrari on a regular basis (daily driving, at least when road conditions permit) buy a Ferrari exactly ONCE. The only regular customers are those who drive their car a few times a year (and even those get rid of it after 3 years max).

Ergo: The image is better than the cars.

Re:Heavily modified

[swb]

He mentioned that it had titanium pistons. I'm suspecting that the engine wasn't shot completely, but in order to add goodies like the pistons and other things which might add longevity to the car at its increased power, a "new" overhauled, custom-assembled engine was put in.

Or, maybe being a rich young guy in a hot car, he trashed the motor.

Re:Heavily modified

[cgleba]

"If you dont, the thing will fall apart under your ass in less than 5 years."

What do you expect from the country that brought you the Fiat (which the lovely Yugo was based on)? What can you expect from the country that tried to 'fix' the Leaning Tower of Piza just before the second World War and instead made it lean more then it ever had?

Face it, the Italians make excellent food and have good style but they can't engineer for the life of them :)

(this is in jest, obviosly)

Re:Heavily modified

[Scooter]

A friend of mine installed the phone system down at Ferrari some years ago, and he was appalled at the way the 18 year old lads in the factory were assembling the things with large mallets, and larger boot toecaps.... Hehe I had visions of old white haired master craftsmen taking months to hone every part of every car to perfection :)

Re:Heavily modified

[Rogerborg]

• A buddy of mine [worked for] Ferrari for three years [and] had his illusions taken away . [...] People who use their Ferrari on a regular basis buy a Ferrari exactly ONCE

Sounds like your buddy should have done his research. Ferrari's have always been (practically) "sold as seen" even when new, and Enzo was notorious for the contempt he showed for customers who brought theirs back with a problem. Ferraris were and always have been sold as ongoing projects, not finished vehicles. Heck, maybe the $100k Romero blew on this folly was just to keep it running.

• What bugs me as weird though, is the fact that the car had a new angine at a little more than 33000 miles

Various .plans down the years indicate that Romero's use of his toy was tooling about at 25mph blipping the throttle to attract attention, intersperced with bouts of frenzied drag racing (you know, like real car racing, but modified for a ten second attention span). It's a wonder it's lasted as long as it has, to be honest.

By the way, I'm not criticising Romero's essential childishness, as I own an equally impractical Lotus 7 replica, I'm just narked because I had to build my folly lovingly by hand from bits of old Fords, while Romero blew $200k of our and venture capital money for his toy, and is still trying to promote it as "cool" (not cool enough for him any more though) rather than having the panache to market it as what it is: a hugely useless, stupid and self indulgent penis extension. Come on John, show a little self awareness. Your cred went in the trash at the same time as all those copies of Daikatana.

Re:Heavily modified

[karnal]

Although this goes well beyond what should be discussed on /. and has practically no significance at all, I have to say that 'Heavily Modified' bothers me when it comes to computers like this.

I always find it a bit sad. Like the original creators didn't do a good job. If you spend that much money, why buy a computer that you don't agree with?

And if you (apparently) plan to sell it, it's pretty silly. Almost no-one will agree your mods are so kewl. By now they are out-dated, start to fail (believe me, I had a Packard Bell and the one mod caused me a major headache) and it's practically impossible to bring the ccomputer back to it's original condition.

When a computer like this is modified it usually means that it was just a rich kids toy. Not someone that bought it because they loved the computer. For the true lover, there's nothing but the original.
****snip

I know some of you will think I'm karma whoring (maybe I am :) --> but, there are people that don't understand quite why someone would go to great lengths to try to improve on a known good design to make it better. My whole point with the above comment was to enlighten those of you who don't "get" it when it comes to modifying your computer, your car, or any other thing in life; we're all just trying to make the stuff we have better.

:) Live long and modify!

Re:Heavily modified

[Zeinfeld]

When a car like this is modified it usually means that it was just a rich kids toy. Not someone that bought it because they loved the car. For the true lover, there's nothing but the original.

Absolutely, unless you plan to actually race the car, kewl modifications almost always detract from the value.

I have a '77 MGB which probably hasn't lost any value because it lost its CA emissions system many years ago and picked up some Weber Carbs. to replace the standard SU units, but the same mods on an E-Type or a TR would cut into value.

As a performance car the problem with the TR is that it will spend more time in the shop than on the road. For not much more than the current bid price you can buy a brand new XK8 that will likly be trouble free. For less than the current bid price ($50K) you can buy a clean TR of the same year which has not been messed with.

The last thing you want to do with a Ferrari is make it less reliable.

The other problem with the car is that it is the wrong color, Ferraris are RED.

Re:Heavily modified

[Skyshadow]

Plus, it doesn't appear that it'd be street legal (at least not in CA -- no catalytic converters or muffler).

For that kind of money, go buy a new 911 GT; less HP, but at least it'll last more than two years.

Re:Heavily modified

[Malc]

"What do you expect from the country that brought you the Fiat (which the lovely Yugo was based on)? "

Isn't Ferrari owned by Fiat? 'nuff said really.

Re:Heavily modified

[M-G]

What bugs me as weird though, is the fact that the car had a new angine at a little more than 33000 miles. I know that Ferrari's are not really known for longevity, but the engines are commonly seen as the best parts of the entire car. How can you kill an engine with that few miles? He must have a terrible driving style... I don't think I would buy that car based on that info.

Well, it was either Romero or Carmack who was featured in Car and Driver a few years back. Whoever it was, they didn't give a shit about longevity....they just did mods to boost performance.

The article was great, as I recall, but unfortunately, C&D's archive on their web site doesn't go back that far.

Re:Heavily modified

[ThatComputerGuy]

And we all know what FIAT stands for... Fix It Again, Tony.

Re:Heavily modified

[psych031337]

And we all know what FIAT stands for... Fix It Again, Tony.

Here in Germany they're dubbed "Fehler in allen Teilen" which translates to "Faulty in all of its parts".

Actually this seems to be not an overall-Italian problem. Alfa's run very good and have a decent longevity.

Re:Heavily modified

[psych031337]

Hehe I had visions of old white haired master craftsmen taking months to hone every part of every car to perfection

You'd have to visit the old Bentley plant for that. When they were taken over, the controllers checking the production for possible optimizing were astonished to find the guy who was sewing the leather steering wheels. He would produce two or three at most during a month. But this guy fits your description of a beardy guru who is a crack in his field.

Re:Heavily modified

[Anonymous Coward]

Carmack was featured in C&D getting his Testarossa and F-50 modified. I think there was a blurb about going through two F-50 engines before they got it right.

Re:Heavily modified

[Ch_Omega]

"I always find it a bit sad. Like the original creators didn't do a good job. If you spend that much money, why buy a car that you don't agree with?"

I once bought a really expensive HP-box. It's now heavily modified, and are running my website.

And you know what? Even though it was really expensive, the creators hadn't actually done a good job with it. After that, I went back to just building my own computers, because my own bad creations don't cost that much.

... oh, we are discussing cars... I thought I was writing on Slashdot, my mistake. ;)

Re:Heavily modified

[Fishstick]

AUDI - Automobile Unsafe Designs, Inc.
BUICK - Big, Ugly, Import Car Killer
CHEVROLET - Constantly Having Every Vehicle Recalled Over Lousy
Engineering Techniques
CHEVROLET - Can Hear Every Valve Rattle On Long Extended Trips
CHEVY - Charged HEaVilY
CHEVY - Cheapest Heap Envisioned Yet
CHEVY NOVAS:- (are actually designed by Toyota: Chevota or Toyolet?)
DATSUN - Disgraceful Auto That Stalls UNceasingly
DODGE - Driven Only During Grey Evenings
DODGE - Drips Oil, Drips Gas Everywhere
FIAT - Fails In Attempted Turns
FIAT - Fix It Again Tony
FIAT - Fine Italian Automotive Technology
FORD - Fought Off Recall Demands
FORD - Found On Road Dead
FORD LTD - Found on road dying, Left to die.
FORD - F___er Only Runs Downhill
FORD - Fix Or Repair Daily
FORD - First On Race Day
FORD - First On Rust Development
FORD - Fork Over Repair Dough
FORD - Founded On Reservation Dump
GEO - Good Engineering Overlooked
GEO - Gets Eventually Over 50
GMC - Gets More Chicks
GMC - Garage Mechanic's Companion
JEEP - Junk Engineered Executed Poorly
LTD - Laughable Trash Dump
MAZDA - My! Another Zany Detroit Assassin!
OLDS - Old Ladies Driving Slowly
OLDSMOBILE - Old Ladies Drive Slow - Mostly Over Bridges Into Lake Erie
PINTO - Paid Inspector Nicely To Overlook
PLYMOUTH - Police Laugh, Young Men Ogle, all Underestimating This Heap
PONTIAC - Penniless Old Nicaraguan Thinks It's a Cadillac
PONTIAC - Poor Old Nick Thinks It's A Cadillac
PONTIAC - Pours Out Noxious Toxins In American Cities
PORSCHE - Proof Only Rich Suckers Can Have Everything
SAAB - Sad Attempt At Beauty
SAAB - Sorry Auto, Always Broken
SUBARU - Screwed up beyond all repair usually.
TRIUMPH - This Really Is Unreliable Man, Please Help!
TRIUMPH - Tried Repairing It Until My Parts Hurt!
TRIUMPH - The Risk In Useless Machinery Pays Heavily
TOYOTA - Toyauto
TOYOTA - Towed Often, Yearly Overrunning Triple A

Re:Heavily modified

[Fishstick]

Yup, the two of them used to drag race and were constantly trying to up-mod their rigs to beat each other. I think you can still find blurbs in Carmack's .plan about his car. (seem to remember he had four at one point, gave one of them away - also gave away a dead piston for some contest too, I think)

Reminds me of a good quote by Romero - something like 'my mom used to rag on me to get a real job. after i bought my second ferrari she stopped complaining.'

Re:Heavily modified

[Anonymous Coward]

Italians can't engineer?

Hell, Leonardo Da Vinci doesn't count?

Re:Heavily modified

[Anonymous Coward]

Also:

Fat Italian Arse Transporter

Failed (or Feeble) Italian Attempt at Transportation

and my favourite:

F*cking Idiot Assembled This.

Re:Heavily modified

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, sounds just like my 1985 Alfa 33 TI (not sold in North America) which I use as a daily driver. Has had three gearbox rebuilds, two engine rebuilds, a cheap and nasty interior and in nearly eight years of ownership I've *never* had all the electricals working at once.

But it's a blast to drive and didn't cost me $100k...

(PS: I've just bought a 1970 Jag XJ6 as a second car because the Alfa was getting too reliable :-) )

Re:Heavily modified

[_ph1ux_]

Hello - didnt you see his girlfriends site?

yes, ok - she had her own geek qualities - but the thing is that you hafta see how romero drove that thing to impress the ladies:

romero pulls upto local dallas club (post ID BTW) and the ladies see his car... he drops a lot of cash at the clubs (coke, drinks, whatever)

gets girl in car... drives to his pad. On way she gives him a BJ while driving (this is *not* good for your driving style - slow fast - slow fast etc)

he mis-shifts many times while "she is at the controls"...

repeat this over many weekends and A) you would need a new engine as well, and B) you would be broke to the point that you had to sell the thing for said ramen noodles.

COCK OR CHALK?

[VAXGeek]

should i eat cock or chalk? they both are white and soooooo tasty!

love,

boogerman

Re:COCK OR CHALK?

[Anonymous Coward]

no wonder you were modded as a troll, cock is not white but a flesh color. the white stuff is what you hungerly gobble up after ejaculation.

-Metrollica

The graphic at the top of his homepage...

[Anonymous Coward]

Is the most bizarre and fucked up thing I've ever seen...

kinda reminds me of a David Lynch flick...

nuff said...

Screw the Ferrari

[slashdot.org]

I'm waiting for him to get rid of his girlfriend

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[Anonymous Coward]

Honestly, I find the girlfriend thing rather disgusting. I'd be really scared if I worked at a company where the CEO's (or whatever Romero was) girlfriend was also an employee. 'Sides, she's not that impressive. Try checking out her 'before retouching' photos sometimes. One of those women who always look better in low light.

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[Riktov]

...so you can screw THE FERRARI?!

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[slashdot.org]

:-) Bad choice of words, I suppose.

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[Spunk]

For your viewing pleasure!

Yum and yum.

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[AndyJ]

You would need to get past the dogs first to get to Stevie. She is a cutie though.

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, I thought she looked kind of cute back when she was just a good Quake player, before dating Romero, getting the boob job, and the Playboy spreads. The glam magazine babe look she's adopted just doesn't suit her well.

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[Anonymous Coward]

Personally I'd like to fuck her tits

Thank for for your attention.

Moderation advice: +5 Tits

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[grum]

The funny part is that she's "heavily modified" too!

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[toupsie]

I think I would think twice about touching Stevana. Besides the obviously made up name, she has put her hand near Bill Clinton's crotch! God knows what has been running around that!

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[buckeyeguy]

In other words, with lungs like those, she's 'unnaturally aspirated' ;)

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[LighthouseJ]

Fucking a girls' tits is so stupid, there are other, much better places to put your penis than in her cleavage. Might I recommend the vagina or perhaps the anus (if you have homosexual tendencies or if she asks for it)?

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[Anonymous Coward]

why the fuck for? the bitch won't even show pink

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[Anonymous Coward]

not to mention the bitch is ugly as hell

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[johnnnyboy]

I'm scared of dogs. :-)

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[ejungle]

Yah, but if you've already been all those places, it's fun to try something different.

Putting your penis between a girl's boobs is great fun, you really should try it. =)

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[ehiris]

oh yeah, after you buy his Ferrari you might have a chance ;)

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[laserjet]

wow, she really looks bad in that picture! that must have been before a ton of plastic surgery? either that or makeup has gotten REALLY good...

Take a look at it, it's just a picture of Billiam clinton shaking her hand...

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[Anonymous Coward]

I second that. Strange and sex-crazed, but definitely cute, in a Kansas girl kind of way.

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[Riktov]

... and has 30,000 miles on her.

Re:Screw the Ferrari

[Anonymous Coward]

Besides, I'm sure on chicks like that the other places are really well used.

More then the car is worth?

[jsimon12]

Why does he expect it to sell for more then the Blue Book Nada value for the car (I garnered this from his 100,000 buy it now option and who knows what the reserve price is). Suffice to say John Romero really must be sorta full of himself, least in my opinion, if he thinks someone is foolish enough to pay almost twice the value of the car just cause he drove it?!?!?!?! Sure it has a new engine and updated body? But my question is what happened to the old engine? Then again what am I saying, I have met the guy a couple times and in my opinion he is full of himself.

Re:More then the car is worth?

[cgleba]

"But my question is what happened to the old engine?"

Running 14lbs of boost on stock NA pistons, connecting rods and crank either did a number on them or he feared that he would do a number on them and decided to rebuild the engine with stronger parts to handle the boost.

All you need is for the engine to lean out ONCE at a good level of boost and you'll literally burn right through the pistons. He was probably screwing with his "fuel curve" via his laptop while driving and leaned out the engine.

Re:I hope CmdrTaco the kiddie diddler gets cancer.

[henrik ostman]

This "Anonymous Coward"(!) don't know what his talking about...

Hmmmmm

[cca93014]

Anyone who makes the modifications he has made to a car like that clearly has no idea what he is doing and doesn't deserve it in the first place.

If you're going to do that to a car buy a US made shit-wagon 'sports' car like a Mustang or soemthing.

Slashdot needs a new byline

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot - news for nerds, stuff that matters, free adverts.

So how does some programmer selling a car on eBay warrant a Slashdot article?

More importantly, how do I go about getting my eBay adverts posted as Slashdot stories?

Dude!

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd love to own a Ferrari previously owned by the guy who made "Night of the Living Dead". It'd be a "zombierarri". Schweeeet! Oh, wait, that's George Romero, not John. A gamer? I could give a fsck about a gamer. It's amazing how much time people waste on games when they could be creating something useful.

Re:I hope CmdrTaco the kiddie diddler gets cancer.

[Anonymous Coward]

In between your bouts of vulgarity, you made many relevant, salient points. It's a shame the Slashdot "leadership" doesn't rethink their stances on a number of vital issues.

Certainly Newsworthy.

[servasius_jr]

Will /. be running adverts for QVC next?

Daikatana and Stevie "Killcreek" Case

[Anonymous Coward]

Not being a gamer, I did not recognize the name John Romero. But I found a page that explains just why John Romero is (in)famous, and who is the woman on his home page (www.stevana.com): Daikatana review

Re:I hope CmdrTaco the kiddie diddler gets cancer.

[Anonymous Coward]

now all we need is gcc3.1 and i'll be happy... better add linux2.6 to that.

..and for an even bigger dream, how about a new release of debian.

girlfriends pic

[Anonymous Coward]

I must be some kinda perv: if I look at his girlfriends pic on the left, it looks like she is is kneeling on her hands and knees in front of him. with hips & suspenders that you can just see in the background.
then again maybe I look a too much pr0n.

Well..

[mESSDan]

Now we know the real cost of Daikatana. It sucked so bad that the guy had to go and sell his Ferrari. heh.

Times must be tough..

[Nazghal]

Selling his car..
Stooping to doing commander keen clones for pocket pc for a living..
He even recently cut his hair short (expect it on ebay soon?)

Re:Times must be tough..

[Anonymous Coward]

Speaking of Commander Keen, iD is worning on Commander Keen Forever, or Return to, or something like that. Hopefully it won't take as long Duke Nukem.

Engine Swap?

[Anonymous Coward]

WTF did he do to the engine in 33k miles to warrent an engine swap? My Jeep's got 350k on it and all it needs is a head gasket and carb rebuild every 80k! Geeze, ya think it's ragged out?

'Course the paint job rocks! Although if it's like my porsche I suppose you'd have to wash it yourself cus no car wash in their right mind would touch the paint.

Still, it's only worth 85k as is!

Re:Engine Swap?

[nosferatu1001]

Erm, there is a slight difference between a jeep engine, built to be DURABLE and easy to maintain, and a high performance car engine, such as a ferraris. still, 33k does see rather low...

He has completely screwed up the car though, yellow is NOT the colour for a ferrari, and defiling it by putting in a turbo is not nice.

50k, less cos of the "upgrades" he's put on it.

Re:Engine Swap?

[muffel]

He has completely screwed up the car though, yellow is NOT the colour for a ferrari

Urm. Actually, Yellow is the classical Ferrari color. Red came later.

Re:Engine Swap?

[Anonymous Coward]

Proof please. Ferrari started as a racing team running in scarlet.

Re:Engine Swap?

[oldmacdonald]

But it's a Testa Rossa. Rossa. Why do they even
make those in other than red? (Actually, I think
it had something to do with read cylinder heads.)

Re:Engine Swap?

[oldmacdonald]

Red cylinder heads, not "read." Though I do enjoy adding to the base slashdot level of confusion.

Shop around first

[Metrollica]

If you really wanted that same model, you could find it from another less well known seller and end up paying less for basically the same car. Minus the mods made to it. Shop around first of all. You don't have to buy it off the famous John Romero.

Description for anyone wanting it.

Now some other Ferrari Testarossas that are better deals

http://www.findit.co.uk/uk/cars/ferrari/173188.h tm

http://www.findit.co.uk/uk/cars/ferrari/174393.h tm

http://www.findit.co.uk/uk/cars/ferrari/195377.h tm

http://pro-auto.com/showroom/91fertest.htm

Re:Shop around first

[cgleba]

Forget that. Why woud you want a Ferrari when you can have a 10-second K-car?

Check out this video .

The cheer from the crowd is much cooler then the looks one gets for driving a Ferrari :).

(BTW check out this guys site. . .he did it with a 2.2L 4-cylinder, lots of boost and no nitrous).

Re:Shop around first

[Anonymous Coward]

Though those cars might be mint, they are listed in POUNDS! 58k US is 83K in pounds. Not quite the deal you make them out to be.

Plus, we don't know what the reserve is - it may be less than 100k.

Personally, I'd only buy a car like this if

a) i was rich enough to maintain it
b) i trusted john enough (knew him personally or something) that i knew there weren't hidden things wrong with it.

I believe that he put major moola into the car and it's probably worth 100k. But only if you're interested in the cost of maintaining such a heavily modified car - have you heard about Carmack's blown engines?

ohh kay ...

[Cl1mh4224rd]

rome.ro -> "This page has been accessed [graphical "1"] times."

nah it was a bet

[Anonymous Coward]

he bet his ferrari that sgi wouldnt sell all the 3d tech to ms. :)

He overclocked his Ferrari

[wardbekker]

Excerpt from the Time Digital

"His 1991 Ferrari Testarossa is outfitted with a nitrous tank for an extra burst of speed."

Looks like overclocking to me ;-)

rome.ro.com?!

[Anonymous Coward]

Romero is a pin head. First of all he looks like a phsyco, and that stupid long hair of his, ahhhhhh...

On the banner of his web site it says planet romero.com.

But the URL is rome.ro, so the tool actually registered a romainian web site, WOW hes so uber cool im in awe.

And his woman is a ditch pig, uhg. The only reason she ever gets talked about, or filmed is so weenie little nerds can stair at her over sized rack.

*shuder*

Even better

[Anonymous Coward]

is this.

Can you see those nipples? Whoohoo!! :P

Apologies to Office Space and Mike Judge...

[edmudama]

Adrian Carmack: That's it? If you had a million dollars, you'd do two chicks at the same time?
John Romero: Damn straight. I always wanted to do that, man. And I think with my rippin' Ferarri and my wad I could hook that up, cause chicks dig a dude with money.
Carmack: Well, not all chicks.
John Romero: Well the kind of chicks that'd double up on a dude like me do.

That sig's pretty cool tho

[Anonymous Coward]

seriously :)

Let�s wait how long

[Lispy]

shell stay with him when he keeps selling his Ferraris...same thing happened to Germanys "Hacker" Ego Kimble, (thank god hes in prison now):

http://www.kimble.org/kims_pictures.htm

cu,
Lispy

Re:Let�s wait how long

[jonbrewer]

Kimble really in prison? Any links to point me to?

thanks,

J

Who Cares! Slashdot==Drudgereport?

[tarbabyxxxx]

Is Slashdot becoming the Drudgereport?

Re:Who Cares! Slashdot==Drudgereport?

[Anonymous Coward]

Too many leftist bed wetters to be drudgereport. MICHEAL.. TACO.. OTHERS..

.ro

[dostick]

So, Romero is from Romania! Who could know..

Well...

[Anonymous Coward]

at least the guys from Amazon can buy a Ferrari with their amazing profit :)

Moderation.

[Night0wl]

Why is it they never give me moderation points when good stories come along?

I'm a funny guy, I prefer to moderate when things are funny. Instead they give it to me when some company is fined millions involving thinks I don't know or care about.

Or when something scientific has happened over my head. I don't have a clue what's going on.

But this story, I see lots of moderation needing to be done here. "Who the fuck is John Remero?" +1 Interesting.

"Daikatana sucked!" +1 Insightfull

"I can't believe it's not butter" +1 Funny.

But for once, I find my self joining those usually modded down. This is news for nerds? Stuff that matters? Please.

I don't care if bill gates sells his wifes vibrator. I don't want to hear about it. We might as well start posting submissions for Penny Arcade.

"It's Monday, and PA is back at it!"
Posted by Whomever: Todays, 2:45AM
Timmy_l33t was first in line this morning, with important news about penny arcade! Amazingly they've posted yet another comic, this one apperently asking /. to stop linking them, and that HomeLAN is considering cancelling there sponsorship, isn't that a hoot?

Flame, troll, funny, I don't really care. :p

Re:Moderation.

[bachelor3]

I don't care if bill gates sells his wifes vibrator.

Really?!? Where?
;)

Re:Moderation.

[Raleel]

Actually, if you have information on Bill Gate's selling his wife's vibrator, I'm sure slashdot and several other news papers would love to know about it.

Inquiring minds want to know, after all ;)

Re:Moderation.

[startled]

Gosh, it must be a slow news day, huh? Maybe there isn't stuff going on like spyware reading your forms, system config, and search engine queries.

Sigh. Well, I've got something more up their alley. There you go, guys. I've got extra karma, so one of you can submit it.

Expensive

[Oakey]

I'm surprised no one else has commented on how expensive this car is considering that Romero is the second owner. There are a lot more nicer cars you can buy for new at this price.

$60K???

[Anonymous Coward]

With that many miles a stock '91 Testarossa is worth closer to $30K than $50K. The mods really don't add much to the value of the car. $60K is an absolute gift FROM the high bidder.

Not even street legal

[Faeton]

There's no muffler and no catalytic converters, just pure sound blasting out of the turbo, which acts as a kind of muffler.

The lack of muffler and cat makes this car illegal for use on normal roads. But nowhere in the ad does JR mention that. Yet another undocumented feature.

I would buy it...

[k0der]

but the mileage has past 31337

Let me get this straight...

[Anonymous Coward]

My *god*, people, Romero looks like a cheesy pr0n star. What's with the hair? GET A FUCKING HAIRCUT!

You people make me sick!

OK... and...???

[mr.ska]

Normally I don't make these kinds of comments, but this really typifies the very antithesis of "Stuff that matters". Is there a story quota you were deperate to meet, or what??

Who

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this the same John Romero who made all the living dead movies?

Re:ABOMINATION!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Well can you think of a better use for it?

big deal, not street legal

[Lumpy]

no muffler or cats.. ok so you cant license this car in any of the 50 states or legally drive it on the road.

I also like the "kenwood stereo that hides away so noone can see it" What the hell for? you're afraid that someone will break into the car to steal a $300.00 car stereo?? the window glass and damage from the break in would cost more. leave it in the open, and the doors unlocked.

Re:big deal, not street legal

[maX_]

Actually a lot of turbo charged cars do not have the full muffler you would find on a naturally aspirated car. The GMC Syclone/Typhoon and the Buick GNX/GN only had a cat and a resonator downstream from the turbo.

Re:big deal, not street legal

[__aafutm5472]

Do what we do when registering racecars -- find someone in your club/family/friends who lives outside of the DEQ area and register it there. I have a friend who has 15 cars registered at his house, and only 3 are his!

Only one?

[Pedrito]

Sorry, but unless you already have a Ferrari, I'd recommend against bidding on this one. Why? Ask anyone who owns one (I'm not one, fortunately), but you always buy them in pairs because one is always "in the shop." Not that they aren't great cars, but unless you have a place where you can drive it 150mph, the engines will always have problems. These cars are clearly built to be driven fast, and if you don't drive them fast, it's brutal on the engines.

If you already have one and need another for those days when your other Ferrari is in the shop, then feel free to bid.

Re:Only one?

[willum448]

but you have to start your collection somehow.

Re:Only one?

[Anonymous Coward]

> Ask anyone who owns one (I'm not one,
> fortunately), but you always buy them in pairs > because one is always "in the shop."

*yawn* this is the standard myth perpitrated by people who've never owned a Ferrari but think they know all about it.

Actually my Ferrari 308 GTS is very reliable. I've owned it and driven it regularly for 5 years with no breakdowns whatsoever. I'd like to see any other 22 year old car do that.

Also, most other Ferrari owners I know have the same story.

Its hardly surprising that there are some Ferrari stories about unreliability given that fuckwits like this guy have heavily modified the car with unauthorised parts and had the work done by Jim-Bob autos, not a proper Ferrari garage. Ferrari engines aren't Fords and do require specialist knowledge.

BTW for anyone thinking about buying this car, dont touch it.. the mods done make it worth less, not more, not to mention the loss of Ferrari service history. With Ferrari's especially, the more authentic it is, the more its worth.

Niz.

Re:Who the fuck is John Romero?

[Anonymous Coward]

How is this a troll? I've never heard of the guy either, and frankly, if he can afford a Ferrari and screw it up as much as he did, I don't think I want to know.

Coordinated DoS Attack on romero.ro !

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

Nice job /.

Don't spend over 65,000 on this car....

[MikeyS]

I saw one in mint condition(5,000 miles) go for 67,000 at an auction. Funny how these cars were over 100,000 when they were new. Ferrari enthusiasts actually frown on this car......

Re:Don't spend over 65,000 on this car....

[Anonymous Coward]

Those sold for $65k went half as fast also. Which would suck. He's selling the mods with the car.

You try and mod that $65k car the same way and it's a $165k car. He only wants $100k.

Blech, show some taste

[Phil the Canuck]

A yellow, turbo charged Ferarri. Blasphemy.

Re:Blech, show some taste

[Anonymous Coward]

The Ferrari F40 was turbo charged. The color yellow is quite acceptable. My only problem is with the owner.

Re:Blech, show some taste

[Phil the Canuck]

I'm not saying that there has never been a turbocharged Ferrari, that's certainly not the case. However, to many afficianados a turbocharged Ferrari isn't a real Ferrari. Frankly, I'm a little shocked to see Romero doesn't have rice-boy stickers all over the thing.

Re:Blech, show some taste

[Anonymous Coward]

Reminds you a bit of his girlfriend doesn't it?

Not True

[qurob]

Not if you live in a great state that doesn't have Nazi car laws. If you're in California, New York, or a few other places with emissions testing, yeah, you're fucked. Oh well!

Re:Not True

[robhancock]

What state allows you to license a car with no muffler?

Distrubed?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I would be distrubed concerning the graphic on the top of his page...if it wasn't slashdotted.

To win this car...

[rimdo]

...you must outbid me, John Romero. Hey, if someone would buy it for $1e5, why not up the ante to $1.2e5 to help make up for the Diakatana bust?

John Romero???

[mattboston]

Who the F*** is John Romero?

His girlfriend's server

[mizhi]

1) The picture on top is scary.
2) Fuck Romero's site, I'm more interested in his girlfriend's server. She's got some nice pics there and she's quite the looker. :-)

Re:His girlfriend's server

[Andrewkov]

The scariest thing is his girlfriends dog .. that mutt looks damn right evil!!

Re:His girlfriend's server

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder how much she charges... Oh, you said *looker*.

Re:His girlfriend's server

[Fishstick]

>The picture on top is scary.

Has anyone mirrored the image (the site exceeded its bandwidth limit, can't get it at all now)?

Re:His girlfriend's server

[Anonymous Coward]

She is, but if I were her, I don't think I'd put so much personal information on my server.

I never quite understood why people have this fetish with online diaries. I mean, if you'd stand up in front of everyone you've ever met and yell out your most personal thoughts and past, and you're more than willing to share all sorts of details about yourself with perfect strangers, *then* you're the sort of person who should put up an online diary.

Frankly, I think most people get decieved by the fact that a web page seems personal. That thing could get archived forever anywhere.

Re:His girlfriend's server

[mr qix]

apparently according to her FAQ she posed for playboy? hmm.

Re:His girlfriend's server

[Anonymous Coward]

That type of girl won't be sticking around for long if he is having to pawn his car off on ebay...

Re:His girlfriend's server

[jonbrewer]

Covered in Slashdot, quite some time ago. Here's a link. For fullest enjoyment, browse this one at -1.

(hi Stevie.)

Re:His girlfriend's server

[Loligo]

>she's quite the looker

She oughta be, she's got the best tits Romero's money could buy.

-l

Re:His girlfriend's server

[Anonymous Coward]

There's nothing wrong with that dog.

That's a top of the line dog.

Excellent animal.

Re:His girlfriend's server

[Andrewkov]

It's something in the eyes .. just doesn't look right! ;-)

Image gone

[pblaker99]

FWIW, just clicked over to the page ref (was viewer #1) and the image is gone.

Re:Image gone

[Anonymous Coward]

Hit page now and image is back (new? don't know what was there before) and #1(?) well, the counter probably doesn't work (sorry, heh, heh, heh).

which graphic?

[Anonymous Coward]

Which graphic are you referring to?

Pic 1 is "serious john"...this is when he is thinking of what he will do now that ION Storm is canned.

Pic 2 is stevie case...obviously getting it doggie style.

Pic 3 is "unemployed john"...enough said

Pic 4 is john staring at stevie case's ass.

Now which one is strange?

And here I thought his ego was big

[Anonymous Coward]

but it is eclipsed by the ego of his girlfriend.

I think Texas is the only state big enough to hold two egos that size.

Re:And here I thought his ego was big

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, there is a difference between "self-confident" and "egotistical." Humility is an admirable trait, and someone who is over-sure an lacks humility is often very trying on the nerves.

That's why "egotistical" is considered an insult.

"This is the most awesome Ferrari Testarossa ever"

[Dethboy]

Yeah - until The Carmack pull up in his little 1000hp ride...

John Romero's Hair

[Jeff Hobbs]

John Romero has pretty pretty hair, like a pony.

~jeff

I wouldn't buy it with *his* money...

[Thaidog]

New engine ehh? -Oh yeah... that means this thing's been ragged out like my mom in a junior high crackfest...

"Heavily modified"... Car lingo for: "Yeah.. we run drugs..."

"you will swear you're in a top fuel dragster as the car geometrically accelerates to a top speed of 200 mph..." Yeah... down hill in tropical storm bertha..

"A 10% non-refundable deposit will be required within 48 hours, and the balance must be paid within 5 working days..." Translation: My swiss bank account has mad interest so get yo ass a job

"This is the most awesome Ferrari Testarossa you'll ever see." You.. have... *seen* a Ferrari... right?

"Inside the car, add-ons include a cell phone, a Kenwood CD player, woofer-speaker box, and front and rear radar detectors." Golly gee really?

"The floor mats are slightly worn as are the edges of the seats, but there are no tears or cuts anywhere inside." -Translation: Hey! I know your girlfriend... eh..

"The rest of the body is just beautiful." ...but you'll see those sides after you pick it up, heh...

"Amazing handling & smooth ride" -You've... never felt the clutch on a sports car have you?....

Thats not at all unusual,

[tgd]

I'm actually suprised he got that kind of milage out of a Ferrari engine (not at ALL known for reliability) running turbocharged (which is absolute HELL of an engine not designed for it), and that kind of power level. That is absolutely fantastic that he got that kind of lifespan out of his engine. I know people who have burned out $15k engines with $10k of mods on them in a couple thousand miles!

As someone who has spent way too much money modifying cars, I can say for certain that reliability is entirely dependant on how well done the entire collection of modifications is. At that price level, even on a Ferrari, he didn't just slap a turbo on the engine and call it there. I'm sure there was a lot of fabricated parts that went to ensuring the whole package ran reliably, and clearly whoever did it did a fantastic job.

Never thought he was a hick

[afabbro]

So he's got a $100,000 car...and he parks it on his lawn?!?

Followup

[Jucius Maximus]

"You're forgetting the best game he EVER made: Commander Keen. Damn, I STILL play Keen4, 5 and 6."

Actually I think he was only on the teem for Keen1,2 and 3. Those were great too.

Ebay Feedback

[nyquist_theorem]

From his feedback:

minakokenshou (387) Jan-05-01 10:11:29 PST 503523037
Praise : Took awhile, but very polite. Thanks!

Hmmm, sounds rather like that last game attempt of his, doesn't it?

whan an ass JR must be.. hehe.

[Anonymous Coward]

bob5802@aol.com (1092) May-15-98 13:48:47 PST
Complaint : Won Item..3 e-mails- never received payment since 3/30. DOESN'T HONOR BIDS.

Motec is a pretty serious system

[DG]

The Motec ECU is a pretty serious system. It gets used in LeMans LMP cars, WRC cars, and the like.

http://www.motec.com to see. You can download evaluation copies of the programs to play with, if you like.

I have a similar system in my race car, made by GEMS (http://www.gems.co.uk) and it's awesome. Computerized fuel injection has revolutionized racing. You wouldn't believe the crap that thing can do.

Of course, the downside to having complete and total control over the engine is that you have to do all the calibration yourself. After having programmed the idle control/antistall stepper motor, and the accursed warmup maps, I have a huge amount of resepct for the OEM calibration guys.

Getting a car to idle smoothly under all weather conditions is tough work.

In any case, if Romero's Ferrari has a Motec system in it, then that ain't your garden variety Ferarri.

DG

Good lord!!! Look at that reserve

[Jaffro]

I don't want to rain on any bidder's parades... But Barrett-Jackson, for several years, hasn't been able to pull over $73k for one of these. If the "Buy it Now" of $100,000 is representative of the reserve, this guy's truly insane. I recall one not even pulling $51K this past weekend whilst poised above this nations wealthiest bidders, and it did not sell. It only had 2500 miles on the odometer to boot! Alain DeCadenet cursed this model stating that it was "the worst representation of Ferrari to date." This model also won't increase in value with this many miles on it. Save your money, buy the new 2003 GT-40 for $100k and wipe the floor with every Ferrari with a new car that's actually stylish... Unless you want to park it next to your Farrah Faucett poster.

Is someone in need of some cash?

[thunker]

Does anyone else here feel this guy has a huge ego? What will he auction next? His underwear?

hidden stereo

[sunhou]

From John's description of the car:
The stereo is in a hideaway spot in the center of the car so when someone looks in, it's not there.

Yeah, people often break the window of a $100,000 car just to steal the stereo. I'm glad whoever buys this car won't have to worry about that. He better also make sure he doesn't leave a $20 bill lying out in the open on the dashboard.

runtime calibration

[jabber01]

What this thing needs is neural input, a'la Hardwired..

Mirror?

[Necroman]

Anyone get all those images from ebay and his hopepage that they want to post on a mirror. we /.'ed it, and used up all his bandwidth.

Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.

Monkeystone Tatoo

[Ch_Omega]

Let's hope the money he gets from the sale of the Ferrari will help keep Monkeystone alive.

... after all, Stevie Case's new tatoo would probably be not be that hot if Monekystone goes the way of Ion Storm. ;)

Actually, it's not entirely obvious...

[Svartalf]

He's got a new company that's producing and publishing games for handhelds. His first game for the PocketPC (Yeah, I know...) has gotten good reviews and it looks like a good candidate for a GBA game from the screenshots they've done.

The only odd thing is that they're purportedly operating out of Quinlan, TX- that's this little town that's about a 20 minute drive to the south of Greenville, TX. Greenville is the county seat of Hunt county, some 45 minutes to the north and east of the Dallas side of the DFW metro area. It'd cost next to nothing to open up shop in Greenville or Quinlan as the rent's definitely much, much cheaper (One of the main Pharmacy tracking/billing/etc. software packages on the PC is developed in Greenville...)- I know this because I used to live in Greenville, TX.

It could very well be that he's selling the car to capitalize the GBA version of his game or any other number of things of that sort of nature.

Re:Actually, it's not entirely obvious...

[delysid-x]

I bet he's thrilled to be able to go back to simple tile-based games after dealing with the pain in the ass of 3d engines (not the ferrari ones)

The money says she's gone soon

[buckeyeguy]

Heh, don't know about this Kimble guy, but I do know that when the cash has dried up, the women move on... ;)

Personal cutdowns

[juju2112]

Why do you all feel the need to insult John Romero?

Why do you think he's "full of himself", and "egotistical"? Just because of some overzealous marketing department? On what basis do you make this statement?

To you, he is only words on a screen. But he's a real person. When he reads all this, he will most likely feel insulted, hurt, or pissed off. Is there something wrong with treating your fellow man with respect?

Re:Personal cutdowns

[Anonymous Coward]

I think he needs a hug now.

Re:Personal cutdowns

[wurp]

Because he has a ferrari and we don't. Is there a better reason?

Re:Personal cutdowns

[ReidMaynard]

Hey, I have a Ferrari !

zoom-zoom-zoom

so what if it's 1:32 scale !?! I be my insurance is cheaper.

Re:Personal cutdowns

[npietraniec]

Because most of the morons commenting here are 16 year old kids who only know the name "John Romero" from all of the negative press that Diakatana got. They were never exposed to his more revolutionary work... At least not when it was most relevant. I'd be willing to bet that no one insulting him was around ten years ago paying 60 bucks for Wolfenstien 3d. Romero's done some great work... There's a reason he's got a Ferarri, you know.

Re:Personal cutdowns

[Anonymous Coward]

...Ummm, did you ever PLAY Daikatana?

Cool...

[13Echo]

I want Fabio to paint my Dodge Neon too.

Homepage has been SlashDotted!

[mencik]

His homepage now shows:

Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily unable to service your
request due to the site owner reaching his/her
bandwidth limit. Please try again later.

Apache/1.3.20 Server at rome.ro Port 80

Re:Homepage has been SlashDotted!

[quantaman]

HeHeHe, that's what you get run running on open source OS... wait a second... isn't this MSN.org...

Uh-Oh.....

Re:Homepage has been SlashDotted!

[Mostly Monkey]

Looks like Slashdot made JR's server it's bitch. (reference to ION Storm's lousy ad campaign)

$100k for a used Ferrari and screwed up mods?

[Anonymous Coward]

Romero is trying to make you his bitch AGAIN !

The top of the page

[The Madpostal Worker]

Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.
Apache/1.3.20 Server at rome.ro Port 80
HTTP/1.1 200 OK Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2002 15:38:21 GMT Server: Apache/1.3.20 (Unix) mod_throttle/3.1.2 mod_bwlimited/0.8 PHP/4.0.6 DAV/1.0.2 mod_log_bytes/0.3 FrontPage/5.0.2.2510 mod_ssl/2.8.4 OpenSSL/0.9.6
Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.
Apache/1.3.20 Server at rome.ro Port 80

Yeah, that is slightly disturbing. You would think he would have a real ISP.

Re:The top of the page

[Hoi Polloi]

Most ads require being able to actually see them. Maybe he should buy some bandwith off Ebay while he's at it.

Pay Bills

[Anonymous Coward]

He'll need the money for the bandwidth bill rome.ro sends him

Perhaps you missed the horsepower.

[Anonymous Coward]

But it's far more than any NEW Ferarri to this day, and most likely faster in the 0-60 AND in the top speed. 100k would be a steal.

Uh why?

[Anonymous Coward]

Then you'd have a moderately fast 'shit wagon' Mustang instead of a rocket fueled Ferarri that would blow its Mustang counterpart doors off. Not to mention it's all about style. Mustang is cheap power and carries no style or esteem.

Auto-Tech sure has come a long way!

[El_Che]

Of course, the downside to having complete and total control over the engine is that you have to do all the calibration yourself. After having programmed the idle control/antistall stepper motor, and the accursed warmup maps, I have a huge amount of resepct for the OEM calibration guys. Getting a car to idle smoothly under all weather conditions is tough work.

Yeah, I can remember re-tuning the Carb (Solex!) on my 68' Bug -- on the side of the road in a downpour. Turn a couple of screws, jiggle the spring, tap the float, and go. (Even re-timed the ignition while I was at it!) Ran great for another 500 miles.

Totally user-configurable, intuitive interface, requres no specialized tools (except a timing gun).

Re:Auto-Tech sure has come a long way!

[maX_]

all you need to set the timing on an air cooled VW is a 12v peanut bulb with aligator clips on the leads.

Re:Auto-Tech sure has come a long way!

[El_Che]

all you need to set the timing on an air cooled VW is a 12v peanut bulb with aligator clips on the leads.

Heck, all you need is a 10mm wrench to loosen the distributor clamp, a lug wrench to turn the crank, and good ears to listen for the spark...

But a civilized man uses a stroboscopic timing gun.

You're missing the point.

[Anonymous Coward]

The mods for 450+ HP are done. They WORK, they eat any car out there ALIVE. This is not something done lightly, as if you can just go buy an un-modded version of this car and simply plop a turbo in it the next day. Most likely this car has been fine tuned and revamped for MONTHS on end to an end result: Simply one of the most decked out Ferarris ever built and modded (Except for Carmacks, of course.). He's not selling it because HE drove it, but because it's simply a monster. You wonder why people would dump thousands into liquid cooled CPU systems to run at 3.2 GHZ on a cpu when a 1.7GHZ system will do just the same, it's because it can be done, and when done, it's faster than anything you've seen. He's not expecting Joe Schmoe to simply walk buy and buy it, he's expecting a true Ferarri lover to blow his wad at all the modifications done to it that they dont have to do themselves and buy it as is. It's a hard sell, but im guessing some rap star or whoever from MTV Cribs will be showing this off in next months episode who wont even think twice how much it cost. It's pocket change.

Serious buyers will already know this....

[Anonymous Coward]

.....duh? This is not a troll. I'm being serious. More than likely this is a track/drag/mod car and not much else.

Smells...

[mrcparker]

...like jelousy. Most of the people here are coming off like children. John Romero is one of the nicest, most down-to-earth people you could ever meet.

Yea, haha, the guy who made Daikatana is selling his modified Ferrari. woo-hoo. No reason to tear him apart, though.

Disturbed?!?

[quantaman]

"Bandwidth Limit Exceeded

The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later."

That's just plain TERRIFYING!!!

Slashdot Cruiser?

[stepson]

So rob, how long before we see the infamous slashdot cruiser up on ebay? I figure, that sucker has gotta be worth at least the price of a new PT Cruiser! Maybe even more once you get rid of the 'slashdot.org' stickers ....

Aside from the obvious . . .

[phantumstranger]

. . . I can't see paying some $60,ooo for a car. If it's speed you want (aside from the looks of a Testy) I can modify a freakin' Ford Focus that'll smoke that slashdotted machine to hell.

I swear this isn't flamebait or a troll. I see this as the equivelant of buying a PowerMac instead of building the comprable machine yourself. Mod it to hell if you want, but the Ford team came in second overall in World Rally for 2001 and is poised for greatness in 2002 (Go Colin!!!)

Re:Aside from the obvious . . .

[__aafutm5472]

You and my wife would get along well -- she loves Coling (although I don't think it's entirely for his driving abilities). At any rate, I'm hoping that Citroen does some serious damage this year (although only contesting 7 events will hurt them - that and they're only great on tarmac). The one standout entry this year may very well be Tommi in the Subaru - 2nd O/A at Monte, nice work.

For info on rally in the US, check out Special Stage [specialstage.com] or Ben's Rally Page [bensrallypage.com].

Re:Aside from the obvious . . .

[DeepFyre]

Hahahahahahaha...Everyone knows that Colin McCrae only went over to Ford because they did a Microsoft. i.e. Paid him a shit load of cash.

Subaru will stamp all over Ford and their Focus like they did last year.

really?

[hawk]

>Ran great for another 500 miles.

You were able to go 500 miles without having to stop and screw the forward right sparkplug back in? Good thing those things had engine pans, or the plugs for my 74 superbeetle would have killed me.

and once, for good measure, It dropped *two* plugs: I felt the hesitation, worse then usual, and pulled over to put the usual plug back in. It was still sluggish. I went back, and an extra one fell out.

hawk

Ouch.. get your auction slashdotted!!

[josquint]

From his Homepage:

Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
Bandwidth Limit Exceeded The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.
Apache/1.3.20 Server at rome.ro Port 80

and now the images dont load on ebay's auction page... that's just gotta suck to have your auction slashdotted!

Pathetic

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, boy, this is a new low. An advertisement to buy a car on the front page of Slahsdot. So, how much of a cut is Slashdot getting from the sale of this car? And this will obviously be modded down in about 6 seconds. You disgust me, Malda.

Planet Fabio!

[javaaddikt]

I can't believe its not Linux.

Is the light just right for the photo? No, you assfuck photographer--my left side, my left side! Okay... unbutton the top button? More chest hair? Okay, not put them in a collage for the website. Yeah.

eh?

[kollaps]

"..., conversion from Naturally Aspirated (carburator) to Electronic Fuel Injection with a Motec system."

What does having a carburator have anything to do with having a naturally aspirated car or forced induction?

HAHAH, the final nail in the coffen (not the car)

[autopr0n]

But the slashdoting. The guy can't even afford decent hosting anymore :P

No picture

[hether]

The image in his E-Bay listing is broken. No wonder the reserve hasn't been met. Who would bid on a car when they don't know what it looks like? Perhaps his site is slashdotted and thus the picture disappeared? :)

BG's wife's vibrator

[rarose]

Nope... wouldn't happen. Her vibrator was licensed, not sold. But don't blame Bill... it's those damn vibrator manufacturers and their "per-vagina" licensing model.

Wrong...

[Anonymous Coward]

> Ask anyone who owns one (I'm not one,
> fortunately), but you always buy them in pairs
> because one is always "in the shop."

*yawn* this is the standard myth perpitrated by people who've never owned a Ferrari but think they know all about it.

Actually my Ferrari 308 GTS is very reliable. I've owned it and driven it regularly for 5 years with no breakdowns whatsoever. I'd like to see any other 22 year old car do that.

Also, most other Ferrari owners I know have the same story.

Its hardly surprising that there are some Ferrari stories about unreliability given that fuckwits like this guy have heavily modified the car with unauthorised parts and had the work done by Jim-Bob autos, not a proper Ferrari garage. Ferrari engines aren't Fords and do require specialist knowledge.

BTW for anyone thinking about buying this car, dont touch it.. the mods done make it worth much less, not more, not to mention the loss of Ferrari service history. With Ferraris especially, the more authentic it is, the more its worth.

Niz.

Re: Of course this "matters"

[Self-Important]

As stated in other posts, John Romero was a kind of 90's game-designing rock star. His conspicous excesses, trophy girl, and dubious new-money lifestyle became emblematic of dot.com and new tech millionaire waste in general. Thus, the fact that Romero is selling his Ferrari (an object scorned and ridiculed at Oldmanmurray.com, among others) is also emblematic of how the mighty have fallen.

And, to accomodate an earlier post: no, long hair, especially girlish long hair, is *not* sexy on men. It's silly and immasculating. Anyone not half as "tough looking" as Lorenzo Lamas (ha!) comes off appearing oh-too-fey. This isn't 1988, John Romero. The '80's called, and they want...actually, you know what? The '80's didn't call you at all. Nobody is, in light of the Daikatana debacle.

Rock and Roll, baby.

Re:Good lord!!! Look at that reserve

[Jaffro]

Well, on Ford's site they stated "the GT40 was engineered from the beginning for production feasibility." You raise a good point. No they have not released it yet, but considering that Ford does not have any chassis capable of competing with the Saleen S-7, Dodge Viper, or the C-5 Corvette (modified Mustangs? get real!!!), they are seriously missing the boat on Manufacturer's Championships. They really don't have much choice in the matter but to release it if they want to revitalize their image in the public eye. I think the only thing that could stop them from doing it is bankruptcy at this point. Here's the link to the concept... http://www.ford.com/en/ourVehicles/autoShows/detro it2002/vehicles/ford/fordGT40Concept/default.htm Nonetheless, even if it never makes it to production, there are many other cars that can be had for far less that will beat that Testarossa like the "red-headed" stepchild that it is. Namely... DeTomaso Pantera ($25-45k), Shelby Cobra (kit car $30k), Dodge Viper ($60k used) to name a few. Those all exist already. Romero's off his rocker for having his reserve higher than the current bid... Unless it sells, then the bidder's the crazy one.

Stick to what you know, geeks!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

It makes me sick to read /. replies by people who have no *&^%ing idea what they are talking about. Yes, we all know that a Ferrari of this year, model and condition isn't worth 60K. That's not the point. You can't compare apples to oranges. Let's check the facts. This particular Ferrari was at one time one of the top 2 fastest Testarossas in the world. There was a whole article in one of the major car magazines a few years back that I read about the whole mission to be the fastest. The engine that he dropped in it to be the fastest cost 50k alone. Never mind the turbo and other mods. So do some research and look it up. I believe it was Road & Track, Car and Driver or one of those magazines.

Dokken Video

[Anonymous Coward]

eBay feedback from pumpkumhead@***.*** Neutral: Excellent buyer! Fast honest & reliable! AAAAAA+++++ Dokken Video ships 5/1/99 Anyone else find this extremely funny?

The disturbing graphic ...

[Reziac]

... that informs us "Bandwidth Limit Exceeded" ?? :)

Hell is a place where:

[Anonymous Coward]

1. the Germans run the music.
2. the English cook the food.
3. and the Italians run the trains.

Texas rules

[Anonymous Coward]

Y'all come back now, ya hear? :-)

He does... He just didn't pay for more bandwidth.

[Svartalf]

He's got a real hosting service, I suspect that he didn't expect the page views that he just got today and didn't pay for the larger service agreement from them.

He's obviously not being extravagant like he was with Ion Storm these days. The core Ion Storm crowd seems to have formed a new company called MonkeyStone and they're producing games for handhelds (Something less ambitious than Daikatana and more easily done on a garage style development budget). The official offices are in Quinlan, TX (A small town some 15 or so miles to the south of Greenville, TX, a town 45 minutes drive time to the east on I-30 from the Dallas side of the DFW metro area...)- office space is dirt cheap there in Quinlan (it's not exactly "pricey" in Greenville, either...).

Looks like he's going for the garage games route of develoment, etc.- something sustainable with reasonable resources. Your guess is as good as mine as to why he's selling it. Could be he's trying to capitalize the GBA version of his game (they DO have to pay a license fee to produce the game for GBA) or he just decided it was an expensive toy (read: penis extention) that he just couldn't justify anymore and is trying to shift it for that reason.

Re:Good lord!!! Look at that reserve

[Pvt_Waldo]

Yes, but it's ROMERO's car. Killcreek may have been buck naked in there!

his gf is ugly

[Anonymous Coward]

when you put her in playboy poses and have a playboy professional photographer snap pictures she doesn't look half bad but when you see her in real life why, that's just scary!

guess it's true what they say, Playboy can make *anyone* look good!

but check it these desktop backgrounds! they're a perfect match, I've never seen someone so full of themselves in my entire life!

Re:his gf is ugly

[johnnnyboy]

She looks very good to me. I don't know what you are talking about. If I had a chance I would ask her out.

Hey, Maybe I'll get lucky and she'll email me! lol

At least Carmack could afford to give his away...

[PK_ERTW]

Who remembers a few years ago when they had the big end-all-be-all of quake tournaments. Frist prize was John Carmack's Ferrari. I even remember a cheesy press release where he was talking about owning 4 Ferrari's, and it was more than he needed.

Some dude that went by Thresh won it. PC Gamer even gave him a job as a staff writer, with a monthly column on multiplayer gaming. Yeah, because winning a quake tournament makes you qualified to write a magazine column.

PK
"Where are we going, and why are we in this handbasket?"

Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!

[Jennifer Ever]

Heh. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Uh oh

[RsD212]

I think we /.'ed Romero's website to death. Bandwidth exceeded. Oops!

needs to buy more bandwith with that money

[kernel flanders]

that or we need to not be so click happy. Tried to visit his site a moment ago but looks like his apache got /.ed

Sure she is!

[johnnnyboy]

Actually, I think she looks good in both the playboy and in real life.

Maybe it's just me. :-)

alias JohnRomero='Cowboy Neal'

[Anonymous Coward]

who is this John Romero anyway?

Porsche 944 (OT)

[ejungle]

Actually, I'd have to say the 914 is the lamest Porsche ever made.

As it relates to the 944, it is obvious you've never driven one. They are actually quite a nice little sports car. It may not have the power of its bretheren, but it handles like a dream, and is quite good looking to boot.

Keep in mind the 944 was never meant to be an extravagant sports car like the 911 or 928, but a Porsche accessible to the rest of us. Having had the opportunity to drive one, it most definitely lives up to the Porsche name and all that entails. Which is more than can be said for the 914 or even the 924.

Please have some idea of what you're talking about the next time you decide to open your mouth.

Re:Porsche 944 (OT)

[questforme]

My vote goes to the 924

Re:Porsche 944 (OT)

[Cirvam]

damn right, the 944 is quite a nice car. The 959 though is an awesome car overall, too bad they aren't legal in the US. :( Do a google search on them to find out why.

Some strange urges...

[El Camino SS]

Is it me?

Or am I not alone that every time I see a picture of John Romero, I have an urge to pop in an old Queensryche album?

The price!

[geoffeg]

Huh, certainly seems like Romero is satanic. The price of the car is currently $66,766.66. Screenshot. I would definetly have this car inspected and taken to your local exorcists-R-US before driving it around.

Geoffeg

Google's amazing cache

[WebMasterJoe]

Here is Google's cache of the page - the images may not load at first, but I got them after persistent refreshing. Note that Google says it's www.johnromero.com, but I think the two sites are one and the same since they both bring up the same "bandwidth limit exceeded" message.

Repo Man?

[Anonymous Coward]

Guys would turn the color of an...avocado
when he drove down the street in his...Testarosa
he was only five foot three
but girls could not resist his stare...

John Romero was never called an asshole.

...no, wait, I guess he was.

I'm sure she has many...

[matusa]

...Though I doubt she will willingly part with them. I mean, it's either the dildos, or something that is not only micro but also soft

Yellow?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would anybody buy a Ferrari that's not even red?

Web Hosting on ISDN?

[dbCooper0]

After finally getting to see the rome.ro site, I see that he has ISDN and satellite access in the "boonies". Even a cheap bastard like me would not try to host a website on that!

OTOH, even the Ebay link was slashdotted for at least a half hour...

Sid Meier

[Anonymous Coward]

Shit, I just wasted precious CivIII playtime writing this.

Ferrari's Audio system

[jquirke]

The stereo is in a hideaway spot in the center of the car so when someone looks in, it's not there

... unless they're a /. reader

--jquirke

Re: Of course this "matters"

[Anonymous Coward]

It still beats out all those guys who shave their heads... Hey, let's look like TOTAL morons!

I'll back you up.

[SethJohnson]

That 944 Turbo of yours is a FAST car. It's also reliable and cheap to buy and maintain. For people looking to get into Porches, the 944 Turbo may not represent, but it is a very fun car.

I'd throw my vote for the worst porsche at the forthcoming Cayenne
SUV they've been vaporously planning to launch for the last year or so. Jesus.

In pop-culture there is a term for when something great goes bad. "Jumping the shark." As in the episode of Happy Days where Fonzi jumps a shark on his motorcycle. In
Porsche's history, this SUV will be where the company Jumps the Shark much like SGI jumped the shark when it began shipping WinNT boxes. So much engineering resources have been directed at this project that they've withdrew their work on GT racing and basically let the Dodge Viper dominate where Porsche was once king. If you think it sucks working at a tech company as a developer and having to follow the Dilbertesque whims of the Product Marketing department in planning features, etc. imagine what it must have been like for those engineers working on f-ing fast race cars and having to design a 4x4 mini-van to sell to the insane SUV market in the US! For thee I shed a tear, Porsche Engineers.

Re:I'll back you up.

[ejungle]

I don't think this will be jumping the shark for Porsche. But I will say, I also dislike them neglecting their race program just when they were getting it going again with the GT-1s a couple of years ago. Also, neglecting to keep the GT-2s (or whatever they're called now) competitive with the Vipers is a shame. However, in Porsche's defence:

The Vipers are some pretty damn good cars.

Porsche has done the "off-road thing" before with good results.

There is no denying the success of Daimler Chrysler's Viper program is more from their hard work than Porsche's lack thereof. I'd prefer to see Porsche winning too, but it's doubly hard when you're going up against a company like Daimler Chrysler.

The last time Porsche went off-road they ended up making the best road car in the world. My favourite, and arguably the best Porsche ever, the 959 won the Paris/Dakkar rally 3 times (I think). The result of which was some excellent R&D for the 959 road car, then the Carerra4 and finally the Turbo. While the Cayenne may not come from the race world, I'm sure some valuable lessons were learned which can be put to later use. With the hurdle of the Cayenne's release crossed (or shark jumped, if you prefer =) hopefully more money will go back to the racing programs. I really wouldn't mind if Porsche took a break from GT racing for a bit, as much as I like it. So long as I got to see them in the World Rally Circuit. And it'd be nice to see them back in Paris/Dakkar (maybe next year. =)

This isn't the first time people thought Porsche has "jumped the shark". Initial reactions to almost all their new cars have been skeptical with the Porsche fanboys. The 911, 914, 924, 928, 944, 996 (water-cooled 911) all come to mind. While Porsche's experiments might not always pan-out, they never fail to produce quality automobiles. It's not like 911 production is going to stop tomorrow. And who knows, the Cayenne may be one damn fine auto. The 928 never got the recognition it deserved, and was only really appreciated after production ceased. So, lets give the Cayenne, and Porsche some time to prove themselves, and see if they really have jumped the shark. =)

A Quick Search Results In:

[Hunahpu]

http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/173778.html

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/23745.ht ml

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/226 81 .html

These should get you started.
Enjoy.

Re:A Quick Search Results In:

[jonbrewer]

Thanks!

The first time I saw kimble.org, I thought it was a parody.

There certainly connections to draw between Herr Schmitz and Mr. Romero. :-)

The bit about a live suicide was lacking in taste though.

Ta,

J

Huh?

[Hunahpu]

911 GT? No such thing if you mean a Porsche.

Re:Huh?

[Skyshadow]

Make that 911 GT2. 456 horses, overall drop-dead impressive:

http://www.edmunds.com/new/2002/porsche/911/gt2r wd 2drcoupe36l6cylturbo6m/prices.html

Proof?

[Hunahpu]

Fly Yellow, known at Ferrari as "Giallo Modena," is named after Modena, Italy, the area where Enzo grew up. Additionally, it is Modena, Italy's official color. It is also the background color of the Ferrari shield on which the "prancing horse" is displayed.
AND
The black horse on a yellow flag was originally the sign of a cavallry regiment, which through a turn of events became the OFFICIAL Ferrari logo/symbol.

So while not the "official" racing color of the team (if red is indeed the "official" color instead of the most used color), yellow IS more or less the company's OFFICIAL color so to speak.

At least more so than your presumed red.

Oh yeah, a quick web search would have turned this up along with other facts. Try to educate yourself or improve upon what you already "know."

-Ciao.

Re: Of course this "matters"

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, didn't realize that we had the judge of all things sexy here!! Got your name right at least, "Self-Important." Too bad you're not important to anyone else!

Re:Good lord!!! Look at that reserve

[Anonymous Coward]

Ford hasn't committed to making the GT40, right?

I assume with all their problems, this will be another dream car that will never see production.

Re:I hope CmdrTaco listens to 'his' public.

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this better?

I hope CmdrTaco wakes up to the needs and the will of his own community THAT UNDERWRITE HIS EXISTENCE.

CmdrTaco, you are a complete ass... This "SLASHDOT" is in the doldrums.

Taco, you are a far cry from a Linus Torvalds or an Alan Cox, who can work WITH people and their community to make things BETTER; you make this place suck worse. You suck. You wield your stick of power, you and you fag editors.

John-fucking-Romero selling a car on Ebay? Indiana Jones 4?

I would never presume to make Slashdot a 'freshmeat.net' or a 'sourceforge.net', that is to announce every picayune release of every little open-source project, but there have been some gross oversights here - particularly in light of the fact the very site and community relies on various core technologies and the distributions that in turn support those applications. My gripes are no longer relevant, as several releases of important things have gone unnoticed and honorable maintainers of the unsaid projects don't get recognized by the site that proclaims to be "news for nerds." What a crock.

I have also attempted to post using precedent. Doesn't help. What was front page worthy a week, month or year ago isn't again because I'm not an editor - even if the context and circumstance is the same. Bill Gates could die, and I'll bet anything I would never get the post, even if I knew a day in advance. Death, dark, painfull, death to you who hold the scepter of power.

You betrayed your community, you are a lucky bitch like Bill Gates, right place, right time. I hope to the powers that be you quit being the "leader" of this dirty unreadable mess you call slashcode and hand the scepter of power to someone who can RESPECT his community.

And a tip for you; you elitist jerk: Tell people why, besides blind stupidity or bias, you reject stories! You can't - that would be like seeing the M$ source code, it would be a laughing stock to actually reveal your twisted half-assed reasoning.

No wonder the Taco Snotting FAQs and all sorts of shit comes out on here, and all the crap flooding and trolling. YOU FAILED as a leader, you betrayed your community and you suck. I love slashdot for the others that come here, and the news ends up being better than shit (not hard to do in a world full of mega-omnipediaplex corporations that spew forth garbage 'news'), but the editors here are biased, unfair and categorically suck; I hope you all re-evaluate how lucky you are to have jobs, you suck at interviews, you suck at content and community management. You are not the "portal for nerds," the Yahoo for nerds if you will. You are a petty band of garbage vendors who have duped a larger company into giving you jobs so they can spray ads in our faces.

Give this project to a real person who has sex with people and doesn't fuck blow up dolls of anime characters and plays video games and "hack" Perl for a living. God damn loser. And pick up a book on Perl idioms.

Discount???

[Muggin]

Do you get a discount for having purchased Daikatana? I mean I think it is rather fair, since it was a POS, and that is a cool car. Just think of it as payback.

Pass the hat!

[DarkHelmet]

Next thing he'll have to sell Killcreek's implants to the highest bidder.

Like Romero's Girlfriend...

[Anonymous Coward]

I hear she is also heavily modified and over priced!

Hit counter

[Anonymous Coward]

Even his hit counter got /.ed

This page has been accessed 1 times.

Unless, I'm the only one to view the page...

The banner pic

[yellowjacket03]

Did anyone else think of the gunner in Spaceballs when looking at the photo on the right of the pic?

"Keep firing, assholes!"

Re:Value adding feature

[Anonymous Coward]

Or it could be that he bought the car ten years ago and has grown up a bit since then- and thinks he can get what he paid for out of an eleven year old POS cuz it has his name on it. Maybe buy a boat. Or a nice apartment in dallas. Or a 10 carat ring for that goddess he's been fragging for the last couple of years.

FOR ANYONE WHO MIGHT BID!!

[degauss]

Just a note that its technically is no longer a genuine Ferrari in all aspects. The body is a genuine Ferrari Tesstarossa.

HOWEVER, the new engine he has had put in does not appear to be a genuine ferrari engine.

I'm sure the person who is going to buy this will only buy it becasue it was john romero's ferrari, and not just because its a ferrari, so it most likely doesn't matter, but to ferrari purists (myself included) it really isn't a true piece of Enzo (Ferrari)'s Dream.

nipples

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh my god.

Look at the silver dollars on that babe.

Jesus, almost every picture has them.

Say what you will about Romero and his games, but it's cool to see a programmer with such a hot little number under his arm.

It gives me hope. :)

Say what you will...

[holysin]

but He had a hell of a ride, amazing what breaking a few laws will get you. Pitty about the suicide though, would have saved the taxpayers a bit of $.

name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage5.0"

[TheScooper]

Uh...

Hello?

John?

Hellooo!!!

meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0"
(from rome.ro)