Well, you could place the Linux game on a boot CD. This would fire up something like Kylix, and immediately start the game - perhaps using the HD (or an USB stick) to store save games, settings, and the like.
This would allow beginners to simply pop the CD into the drive, boot the PC, and play.
And the Linux people would simply install the game itself on Linux (using the script provided).
The only problem I see (and which game companies are going to whine uselessly over) is the copy protection. You can forget it, and that may be a big problem for them. They still haven't understood that copy protection only annoys the people who actually buy the game.
However - EA has produced lots of massive stinkers for quite a while now. Yet people are still buying lots and lots of them.
I remember a time (veeeery long ago, yes, I'm an Old Fart) where Electronic Arts games were hits, nearly all of them... sigh.
I'd suggest looking at (and acting like) companies such as Introversion. They produced really good games: Uplink and Darwinia. Both are cheap (I am NOT spending 50 EUR on YAPOS (Yet Another Piece Of Shit)), and something quite new and interesting. Cheap to produce, too: they're just three people:)
Two million dollars budget for a game... no wonder profits are so low.
Here they disguise all their spacecraft as asteroids or comets, and you go and damage them! Sheesh, humans, didn't you know that this one was their external swimming pool?
a) completely moronic (aimed at the lowest common denominator, and man, that's low)
b) disturbing and in-your-face. It's okay to see an advert as an aside (see Google Ads, for eyample), but I do not wish to be interrupted in my train of though by some garbage jumping at me. Pop-ups, Pop-unders, yowling flash, flickering GIFs...
Soooo... it's your job to irritate me? Fine, it's AdAwares' job to disconnect you from me. Thanks, AdAware!
Hey, I've been using Hotmail since before it was taken over by Microsoft. I still use it a lot, because I can easily and quickly use it from anywhere, and all my friends know the address.
But I'm now also on GMail, and it's quite a bit better. Been looking for a good reason to switch and - voila! - here it is. Now I'll be forced to switch completely to GMail... good thing, actually.
Didn't one of your presidents have a third term, waaaay back?
Would not be terribly difficult for Mr. Bush now, would it? Simply say that in times such as this (panic, stress, war, all house-produced at just the right moment) he would either delay the vote (by a year, more?) or allow himself to try for a third term.
Obviously the vote would be electronic, whiuch would cause him to be elected for a third term.
I'd actually be willing to bet on something like this happening. Thank heavens the USA threw me out in 2001;)
I don't think it'll fly below-deck. After all, you'll loose GPS and probably radio-contact.
It'll probably just buzz about your cities, looking for 'terrorists'. I din't think it'll have the speed to keep up with a ship, especially a warship.
Frankly, I don't quite see its use on ships. It seems to be programmable to follow a certain GPS path, filming things. Very useful for keeping an eye on the population, perfectly useless on ships.
Very simple. I have friends and girlfriends with TVs. I've seen what it it does to people. And, having grown up beyond the reach of TVs, I can see much more clearly how deeply it has reached into people. These people, being in it, can't see see it as well. Couple this with my vast intellect, my amazing reasoning powers and my astonishingly big mouth and, yes, I'm *am* an expert on it:)
And I follow these discussions to see how people react to limitations, DRMs, copyrights, trademarks, patents and similar impediments to progress (how I define it, anyway). Besides, I'm nosey.
I saw that nice bumper sticker "Shoot your TV". After some thought, I realized that this was meant entirely seriously. I do not have a TV (never had, never will), and I keep hearing people say "Yes, but I only watch nature documentaries and the news...".
Chaps, the TV is like heroin. You get drawn into it. You can't help it. It's like a TV in a bar. Even if you hate it, your eyes find it again and again.
Get rid of it.
You want to see a movie? Get yourself a nice big TFT (they're getting really cheap), and watch a DVD (or, better, Xvid) off your PC.
As a kid, I'd be first horrified, and then terribly insulted. It's like these idiotic cableless cameras to watch over your kid. All you need to do is look at the TV to see your kid! In color, too!
Keep in mind that you're spending most of your waking time at your work - you'd better like it. I can't imagine working for a company I don't like - heck, I'd be wasting my entire life doing something I hate!
If you don't like it, or something happens that changes your work massively to the worst, don't simply quit - start looking for something else fiorst. Don't simply walk out, hoping to find something better soon.
But definitively start looking. And be prepared to move large distances, even out of the country.
Why do people want all these 'ring-tones'? What's with all these moronic noises, none of which sound the least bit like a telephone of all things? Perhaps I'm just an Old Fart, but my mobile phone simply goes BeepBeep...BeepBeep... and then shuts up, switching to answering machine.
It's very very seldom that somebody needs me to be instantly accessible, and even less common that I *want* to be.
Having a mobile telephone is not the sign of Mr. Important. The true sign is a secretary saying "Mr. Important is not available at the moment, and will not be for the rest of the day".
Well, they're not terribly cheap, but very silent indeed. I now actually have to look at my PC to see if it's turned on:)
OTOH, it has two disadvantages:
a) It comes with non-standard piping. Meaning you have to replace the pipes if you want to use serious water-cooling for your GPU (and you do). The thingy you can buy from them doesn't cut it.
b) One tower is not enough. It'll do fine for a few hours, but the water temperature slowly creeps up over time. Thus I'm getting a second tower to put in series, which should be enough - not too cheap, though.
On the whole, I'd recommend it if you're looking for a silent PC.
Sure I'm terribly off-topic, but isn't that simply the *perfect* example of software patents stopping development? Imagine if there was no patent on that - would all computers be speaking smoothly by now?
Let me guess: massive Digital Restriction management, viewable only n times, no possibility of a backup, low resolution, Windows only, and about $5 per downloaded movie (which will cost me the download as well, depending onmy ISP).
I like my way better: there's a robot DVD shop around the corner. Open 24h. Costs me just one buck to rent a film for three hours (more if I keep it longer, of course). Plenty time to view it and decide if I want to maxe an Xvid of it. Anonymously. No restrictions. For a dollar. In any resolution. On any OS.
Could be too late for offering movies to download.
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Well, you could place the Linux game on a boot CD.
This would fire up something like Kylix, and immediately start the game - perhaps using the HD (or an USB stick) to store save games, settings, and the like.
This would allow beginners to simply pop the CD into the drive, boot the PC, and play.
And the Linux people would simply install the game itself on Linux (using the script provided).
The only problem I see (and which game companies are going to whine uselessly over) is the copy protection. You can forget it, and that may be a big problem for them. They still haven't understood that copy protection only annoys the people who actually buy the game.
Very interesting post, the parent.
:)
However - EA has produced lots of massive stinkers for quite a while now.
Yet people are still buying lots and lots of them.
I remember a time (veeeery long ago, yes, I'm an Old Fart) where Electronic Arts games were hits, nearly all of them... sigh.
I'd suggest looking at (and acting like) companies such as Introversion. They produced really good games: Uplink and Darwinia. Both are cheap (I am NOT spending 50 EUR on YAPOS (Yet Another Piece Of Shit)), and something quite new and interesting. Cheap to produce, too: they're just three people
Two million dollars budget for a game... no wonder profits are so low.
The alien overlords are going to be upset.
Here they disguise all their spacecraft as asteroids or comets, and you go and damage them!
Sheesh, humans, didn't you know that this one was their external swimming pool?
...if it wasn't so:
a) completely moronic (aimed at the lowest common denominator, and man, that's low)
b) disturbing and in-your-face. It's okay to see an advert as an aside (see Google Ads, for eyample), but I do not wish to be interrupted in my train of though by some garbage jumping at me.
Pop-ups, Pop-unders, yowling flash, flickering GIFs...
Soooo... it's your job to irritate me? Fine, it's AdAwares' job to disconnect you from me.
Thanks, AdAware!
Hey, I've been using Hotmail since before it was taken over by Microsoft.
I still use it a lot, because I can easily and quickly use it from anywhere, and all my friends know the address.
But I'm now also on GMail, and it's quite a bit better. Been looking for a good reason to switch and - voila! - here it is.
Now I'll be forced to switch completely to GMail... good thing, actually.
Very simple.
The USA had developed two nuclear weapons, operating on different principles. They wanted to test them both.
Japan was already contacting the USA, looking for a way to surrender without loosing too much face. This form of contact was completely ignored.
Interesting link: http://members.aol.com/essays6/abomb.htm
Do not trust the USA what it has to say about its reasons to use any weapon in any of the many many circumstances where it did.
...stands for BS Agency.
So what else is new?
Didn't one of your presidents have a third term, waaaay back?
;)
Would not be terribly difficult for Mr. Bush now, would it? Simply say that in times such as this (panic, stress, war, all house-produced at just the right moment) he would either delay the vote (by a year, more?) or allow himself to try for a third term.
Obviously the vote would be electronic, whiuch would cause him to be elected for a third term.
I'd actually be willing to bet on something like this happening. Thank heavens the USA threw me out in 2001
"an ideal platform for your corporate message."
Please! Please no advertisements on this thing! Advertisements are showing up *everywhere* and I'm SO sick of them!
And now they plan to create such a beautiful tool... and you can buy advertising space on it?
(ObFunny: at least there's plenty of space on it, haha)
>ever seen Portman in a non-SW movie?
Yes: Léon. Excellent movie, and she plays very well indeed. Aged 12, though...
Nope. I'm not.
I remember Episode I. Was I looking forward! Hopped about an entire week before it started, and man, I was 30 at the time.
It stank. Very badly. Really seriously badly.
Part II I got off the net. Saw less than half of it before I deleted the file.
Part III does not interest me at all - I would in all honesty not see it for free. I'd rather play with my cats, enjoy the sun, or play WoW...
...because it isn't here yet. Promises are cheap, functions get pulled at the last moment or turn out to be useless after all.
Thus, let's compare systems we can actually see, in front of us, and have experience in using.
I don't think it'll fly below-deck. After all, you'll loose GPS and probably radio-contact.
It'll probably just buzz about your cities, looking for 'terrorists'. I din't think it'll have the speed to keep up with a ship, especially a warship.
Frankly, I don't quite see its use on ships. It seems to be programmable to follow a certain GPS path, filming things. Very useful for keeping an eye on the population, perfectly useless on ships.
> Need I say more?
Distance.
Sunlight.
Magnetic field from the giant ringed planet in the sky.
Probably because we'd attack them otherwise, needing their fuel sources.
Score!
;)
You don't have a TV. A TV is a video display with an incoming data line to a certain source.
You, instead, merely have a video display and yes, I'm envious
Very simple. I have friends and girlfriends with TVs. I've seen what it it does to people. :)
And, having grown up beyond the reach of TVs, I can see much more clearly how deeply it has reached into people. These people, being in it, can't see see it as well. Couple this with my vast intellect, my amazing reasoning powers and my astonishingly big mouth and, yes, I'm *am* an expert on it
And I follow these discussions to see how people react to limitations, DRMs, copyrights, trademarks, patents and similar impediments to progress (how I define it, anyway).
Besides, I'm nosey.
Yes!
I saw that nice bumper sticker "Shoot your TV". After some thought, I realized that this was meant entirely seriously.
I do not have a TV (never had, never will), and I keep hearing people say "Yes, but I only watch nature documentaries and the news...".
Chaps, the TV is like heroin. You get drawn into it. You can't help it. It's like a TV in a bar. Even if you hate it, your eyes find it again and again.
Get rid of it.
You want to see a movie? Get yourself a nice big TFT (they're getting really cheap), and watch a DVD (or, better, Xvid) off your PC.
As a kid, I'd be first horrified, and then terribly insulted. It's like these idiotic cableless cameras to watch over your kid. All you need to do is look at the TV to see your kid! In color, too!
Bah.
Keep in mind that you're spending most of your waking time at your work - you'd better like it.
I can't imagine working for a company I don't like - heck, I'd be wasting my entire life doing something I hate!
If you don't like it, or something happens that changes your work massively to the worst, don't simply quit - start looking for something else fiorst. Don't simply walk out, hoping to find something better soon.
But definitively start looking. And be prepared to move large distances, even out of the country.
Why do people want all these 'ring-tones'? What's with all these moronic noises, none of which sound the least bit like a telephone of all things?
Perhaps I'm just an Old Fart, but my mobile phone simply goes BeepBeep...BeepBeep... and then shuts up, switching to answering machine.
It's very very seldom that somebody needs me to be instantly accessible, and even less common that I *want* to be.
Having a mobile telephone is not the sign of Mr. Important. The true sign is a secretary saying "Mr. Important is not available at the moment, and will not be for the rest of the day".
Well, they're not terribly cheap, but very silent indeed. I now actually have to look at my PC to see if it's turned on :)
OTOH, it has two disadvantages:
a) It comes with non-standard piping. Meaning you have to replace the pipes if you want to use serious water-cooling for your GPU (and you do). The thingy you can buy from them doesn't cut it.
b) One tower is not enough. It'll do fine for a few hours, but the water temperature slowly creeps up over time.
Thus I'm getting a second tower to put in series, which should be enough - not too cheap, though.
On the whole, I'd recommend it if you're looking for a silent PC.
Sure I'm terribly off-topic, but isn't that simply the *perfect* example of software patents stopping development?
Imagine if there was no patent on that - would all computers be speaking smoothly by now?
Let me guess: massive Digital Restriction management, viewable only n times, no possibility of a backup, low resolution, Windows only, and about $5 per downloaded movie (which will cost me the download as well, depending onmy ISP).
I like my way better: there's a robot DVD shop around the corner. Open 24h. Costs me just one buck to rent a film for three hours (more if I keep it longer, of course).
Plenty time to view it and decide if I want to maxe an Xvid of it.
Anonymously. No restrictions. For a dollar. In any resolution. On any OS.
Could be too late for offering movies to download.
Thanks for the picture.
The text was even funnier: "Only half as many keys to learn". Wow. Cool. I really need that.