Well... there were several games written to teach kids programming while they have fun. Obviously, I'd recommend ChipWits (see my sig) - a 1984 Mac game, which I ported to Windoze (for free, so don't worry). Several other games like that were created (for example 'Mind Rover'), and they really are a nice introduction.
Strangely enough, board games would work, too: there is a great little game called "Robo Rally" (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/prod/roborally) where you actually program a robot in a race across a changing map. Very enjoyable.
After that, I'd strongly suggest a language which was created to teach students programming: Pascal. You can get Delphi (the continuation of Turbo Pascal, have a look at http://www.codegear.com/products/delphi/win32) pretty cheaply these days (eBay), and I believe you can download a free version somewhere, too.
Don't worry too much about the exact language to use, though (mind you, I do also STRONGYL advise against Visual Basic) - kids can pick up such things much faster than we think. Just set up a system, show him a good book and some good sample code, and bingo;-)
Obviously a country incapable of the M would not launch a missile attack (no matter what the US war industry might claim), and any attack launched by an M-capable country would reduce the US to slag, even with a 99% effective shield (which will never exist). It will also turn the entire northern hemisphere into a deadly dump, with surprisingly low survival chances for *any* country in it. Einstein said (quite correctly, as he often did): "I don't know with what weapons the next great war will be fought with. But I do know the weapons of the one following it: sticks and stones."
The idea of a missile shield looks completely moronic to people with an IQ > 75, both for its cost and the political effect on other countries. However, looking more closely, it does make perfect sense: the US industry controls the politicians, and wishes to make more profit. Keep in mind that they only think one quarter in advance.
Actually, you can. 2D Boy (http://2dboy.com) brought out a very nice game called "World of Goo". I can certainly recommend it: a very nice game, great fun, no copy protection at all, good long demo for free, and the game itself for $20 (nicely low price).
And yet they still got pirated. See, they allow anybody to send in their high-score. And thus they found out that between 80% and 90% of these high-scores come from pirated versions. (http://2dboy.com/2008/11/13/90/) Thus: no DRM, great game, low price: 80-90% piracy.
The biggest joke is that they don't mind. They prefere to concentrate on their 10-20% legal users.
Thus, a huge, inhuman game designed by a huge company and a committee and sold for a high price and a moronic copy protection (DRM is just a PC term) will certainly have a rather higher piracy percentage. And the producers should get used to this.
"...the silly idea it is will be really quite clear to anyone with opposable thumbs."
You're right, of course. However, may I add that this does not apply to politicians. They have a spectacularly strong loss of real-world contact, and usually very little brain in the first place. Thus, even wile they might have opposable thumbs, they are normally just used to deny things by turning them down.
Well, Anonymous Coward, I am not all that willing to discuss these things with you - I prefere named users.
I am willing to say one thing, however: I couldn't care less about what happened here two generations ago. When the war was over, my father was a (very) small child. My grandfather was a doctor in the war. Horrible things were done, by all sides. It's history, and I Don't Care. I had no part in it.
May I suggest a good book to you? It's called "Bury my heart at wounded knee".
...your PC game must be as PC as possible. It must have a white guy, a black guy, and an asian woman. Because, if you don't closely look at races, you're a racist.
*shakes head* This does not seem to be so much of a problem here in Europe...
A CEO in BusinessWeek is talking about a concept "failing to meet the expectations of investors."
I've heard that a *lot*. Usually means "I don't understand this, but I like to babble". So you think you cannot make as much profit on FOSS? Isn't that sad? Perhaps you could make more money selling home loans - something your reality-dysfunct cow-orkers all seemed to agree on, some time ago.
Usually it's not worth listening to managers talk.
Here in Germany, they plan (and already have) to simply control you. Are you an eeeeeevil terrarist? Do you think of possibly considering, at some time in the far future, if you might want to do something which might bother some state bureaucrats? Do you Obey The RIAA?
It's not about spam, and zombie computers, and stuff like that. It's about control.
And, by the way, they are allowed to secretly enter your home, install some crap on your PC, and leave again. The might need a judges permission, but will get it in 95% of the time, no matter what reasons they give. Welcome to 1984, v2.08
Actually... there were quite a few PC games about this. A classic title would be 'Democracy' - several games have been written under this title over the years, some of them quite successfull.
It *is* strategy, you know, just a different one. Instead of sending a Planet Buster to their proruction capital planet, whisper to some allies, turning them into ex-allies... fun.
He's in power for a couple more weeks, and has to make the most of it. Obviously he'll do his very best to help his friends and cronies one last time, while he still has the power to do so.
I'm more and more and turning away from major game companies. There were quite a few games I really wanted to buy (Bioshock, Silent Hunter 3, Spore, GTA 4, and quite a few others) and then couldn't, due to ridiculous copy protections (Digital Restriction Management going nuts, no thanks).
Thus I sniffed around the indy games market more and more, and found some really nice ones. Simple Flash shoot-em-ups like Robokill (http://www.rocksolidarcade.com/games/robokill/) or wonderful enjoyment like World of Goo (http://2dboy.com/games.php, PC, Mac, soon Linux). Much cheaper, get it immediately, no copy protection at all, and... better. Yes, better. Not because of the graphics (although WOG is amazing), but because of the pure fun.
So: thanks. A lot. No, really. I'm spending less money, and enjoying myself more.
No, it does *not* deter causual copying. By now even Joe Dumb has heard about cracks.
Yes, it will lower the resale value by a *lot*. Meaning, less people will be willing to risk buying it, trying it out, and then (if they don't like it) re-sell it on eBay. Means lower sales on the originals. Possibly not a lot, but I bet it's quite a bit.
Another good reason for indy games. Have a look at the discussion from the (three) developers of the (indy) game "World of Goo": http://2dboy.com/2008/11/13/90/
They released their (amazing) game without any DRM, allowing anybody to also play the sub-game "Who makes the highest tower". Thus they could find that piracy amounts to about 90%.
This will always be the case. Always. You add DRM, it's not going to lower this percentage, because even Joe Dumb knows about cracks these days, and thus even your consumer majority can/will copy your game. Concentrate on the 10% legally buying your game, support them. They will like you for it, and support you.
Save your money, save your time, sniff about the Indx games (no, no, I'm not advertising my free gamelet in the sig, that's just the port of an '85 mac game).
Yes, you are quite correct - most people don't know. And quite a few don't care.
This, however, could change in two, three years. When these people want to play their nice game again and suddenly find out that they cannot. Could have quite an impact on SecuROM.
After all, I do know quite a few 'casual gamers', who don't know and don't care. But they like the game. And they will want to play it again in a few month. Or two years, on the brand-new PC. And it'll fail. And they'll get pissed. And then they'll want to know exactly WHY THIS DOESN'T WORK.
Thus any company using this crap now will loose quite a bit of face in the future. Obviously, they don't care, because management only thinks ahead for one quarter, two at most. *shrug* Let 'em die.
I've been lookig forward to this game for quite some time (played all previous versions and liked them). But by now I've found that I much rather prefere Indy games - the cash goes straight to the developers, no DRM at all, lower prices, and (often) actually a lot better.
A classic example would be The World of Goo http://2dboy.com/games.php - I've been playing computer games since 1981, and I've never laughed as much while playing one;) Cheap, fun, no DRM idiocy, good support - tell me again why I should bother with the multi-million-dollar companies?
So, it's actually a Good Thing that the management fools have decided to use the hated SecuROM - it'll cause me to not spend time and money on Grand Theft Auto anymore. I can buy several indy games with that money, and enjoy myself a lot longer.
Besides, for ALL games there's a simple keyword: "SecuROM". Simple response: don't buy.
Well, 3D games require a heck of a lot more work, thus making the development more expensive. For some reason, managers consider 3D to be the Latest And Greatest - why? Some games certainly require 3D (flight simulators come to mind, and I'm sure STALKER looks better in 3D than 2D), but on many others it's simply completely wasted. An commenter mentioned the great (2D) game 'Worms' - lovely and very funny in 2D, boring in 3D.
Many games (strategy) are simply easier to view, judge and control using 2D. And, interestingly, the same counts for quite a few shooters. For example, have a look at http://www.rocksolidarcade.com/games/robokill/ - nice little shoot-em-up. The graphics are quite simple (not even scrolling), but they fit perfectly, and I'm having a lot of fun. In 3D, this would be a whole lot less good.
2D also has the interesting advantage of being able to have higher-resolution graphics. Compare the concept of a pile of skulls in the corner: in 3D, this takes up a lot of triangles and even with good texturing, simply does not look as good as a detailed 2D-image of that pile, which also uses a lot less GPU power to display. Yes, of course this depends on the game - on an FPS, it obviously has to be in 3D;)
But I find myself playing a lot of old games these days (maybe I'm just an Old Fart), and enjoying the simple 2D graphics involved. They are quite a bit more fun than most new (and expensive!) games who insist on being 3D.
Nope - ever watched a movie on a relatively small screen? If it's a good movie, you'll never notice the low resolution. (Yes, exceptions, for example nature films with very nice, large, slow landscape shots, but The Usual Movie?)
If a movie is good enough, you'll slip into it, your eyes glassing over the artifacts. Ever really noticed a low resolution way back in the VCR days? I did - but only when I paused, never when it ran.
Besides... I am not a TV freak, will certainly not pay a large wad of cash for a huge TV to dumb out in front op. I watch my films on my PC - here the DVDs still fit nicely on my 21" screen.;)
The switch from VCR Tapes to DVD Disks was well worth it. The movies look very nice and clear, the medium doesn't wear out, and takes up a lot less space - in addition to supporting several languages and the like.
Tell me the advantages of HDMI again? Higher resolution? Don't really need that, DVDs pretty good. DRM out the wazoo? *Really* don't need that. Higher prices? Oh wow, how lovely.
Hey, here's an ideal way of making a profit on these people: The War On Piracy! Bomb them! Send the army there! Spend trillions of dollars!...and this time, actually have the support of the public for it!
Heh - weird. Your parent is termed "Funny" - correctly. Your post is termed "Insightful". Although I do agree with you, you simply didn't get the sarcasm of your parent. Let's see if I also get an incorrect value attatched - "flame" perhaps?;)
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Well... there were several games written to teach kids programming while they have fun.
Obviously, I'd recommend ChipWits (see my sig) - a 1984 Mac game, which I ported to Windoze (for free, so don't worry). Several other games like that were created (for example 'Mind Rover'), and they really are a nice introduction.
Strangely enough, board games would work, too: there is a great little game called "Robo Rally" (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=ah/prod/roborally) where you actually program a robot in a race across a changing map. Very enjoyable.
After that, I'd strongly suggest a language which was created to teach students programming: Pascal. You can get Delphi (the continuation of Turbo Pascal, have a look at http://www.codegear.com/products/delphi/win32) pretty cheaply these days (eBay), and I believe you can download a free version somewhere, too.
Don't worry too much about the exact language to use, though (mind you, I do also STRONGYL advise against Visual Basic) - kids can pick up such things much faster than we think. Just set up a system, show him a good book and some good sample code, and bingo ;-)
Nope - these days, it's:
d) Crash!
e) Huge losses!
f) State bailout!
(Note that "g) Country crash!" should follow soon)
Seeing that people are slooowly getting tired of THE WAR ON EEEEVIL TERRARISTS, here's the next Great War.
The state needs this to:
a) Support their friends in the industry
b) Grab more power for themselves
c) Bask in the warm glow of feeling important
Ignore this babble.
Even a 99% effective shield would not help.
Obviously a country incapable of the M would not launch a missile attack (no matter what the US war industry might claim), and any attack launched by an M-capable country would reduce the US to slag, even with a 99% effective shield (which will never exist).
It will also turn the entire northern hemisphere into a deadly dump, with surprisingly low survival chances for *any* country in it. Einstein said (quite correctly, as he often did): "I don't know with what weapons the next great war will be fought with. But I do know the weapons of the one following it: sticks and stones."
The idea of a missile shield looks completely moronic to people with an IQ > 75, both for its cost and the political effect on other countries. However, looking more closely, it does make perfect sense: the US industry controls the politicians, and wishes to make more profit. Keep in mind that they only think one quarter in advance.
Actually, you can. 2D Boy (http://2dboy.com) brought out a very nice game called "World of Goo". I can certainly recommend it: a very nice game, great fun, no copy protection at all, good long demo for free, and the game itself for $20 (nicely low price).
And yet they still got pirated. See, they allow anybody to send in their high-score. And thus they found out that between 80% and 90% of these high-scores come from pirated versions.
(http://2dboy.com/2008/11/13/90/)
Thus: no DRM, great game, low price: 80-90% piracy.
The biggest joke is that they don't mind. They prefere to concentrate on their 10-20% legal users.
Thus, a huge, inhuman game designed by a huge company and a committee and sold for a high price and a moronic copy protection (DRM is just a PC term) will certainly have a rather higher piracy percentage. And the producers should get used to this.
Thank you, AC. This does look like an interesting book, and I've ordered it.
"...the silly idea it is will be really quite clear to anyone with opposable thumbs."
You're right, of course. However, may I add that this does not apply to politicians. They have a spectacularly strong loss of real-world contact, and usually very little brain in the first place. Thus, even wile they might have opposable thumbs, they are normally just used to deny things by turning them down.
Well, Anonymous Coward, I am not all that willing to discuss these things with you - I prefere named users.
I am willing to say one thing, however: I couldn't care less about what happened here two generations ago. When the war was over, my father was a (very) small child. My grandfather was a doctor in the war.
Horrible things were done, by all sides. It's history, and I Don't Care. I had no part in it.
May I suggest a good book to you? It's called "Bury my heart at wounded knee".
...your PC game must be as PC as possible. It must have a white guy, a black guy, and an asian woman.
Because, if you don't closely look at races, you're a racist.
*shakes head* This does not seem to be so much of a problem here in Europe...
A CEO in BusinessWeek is talking about a concept "failing to meet the expectations of investors."
I've heard that a *lot*. Usually means "I don't understand this, but I like to babble".
So you think you cannot make as much profit on FOSS? Isn't that sad? Perhaps you could make more money selling home loans - something your reality-dysfunct cow-orkers all seemed to agree on, some time ago.
Usually it's not worth listening to managers talk.
Sadly, this is not quite correct.
Here in Germany, they plan (and already have) to simply control you. Are you an eeeeeevil terrarist? Do you think of possibly considering, at some time in the far future, if you might want to do something which might bother some state bureaucrats? Do you Obey The RIAA?
It's not about spam, and zombie computers, and stuff like that. It's about control.
And, by the way, they are allowed to secretly enter your home, install some crap on your PC, and leave again. The might need a judges permission, but will get it in 95% of the time, no matter what reasons they give. Welcome to 1984, v2.08
Actually... there were quite a few PC games about this. A classic title would be 'Democracy' - several games have been written under this title over the years, some of them quite successfull.
It *is* strategy, you know, just a different one. Instead of sending a Planet Buster to their proruction capital planet, whisper to some allies, turning them into ex-allies... fun.
Yes, of course he does.
He's in power for a couple more weeks, and has to make the most of it. Obviously he'll do his very best to help his friends and cronies one last time, while he still has the power to do so.
Don't tell me you're surprised?
...which will save me lots of money.
I'm more and more and turning away from major game companies. There were quite a few games I really wanted to buy (Bioshock, Silent Hunter 3, Spore, GTA 4, and quite a few others) and then couldn't, due to ridiculous copy protections (Digital Restriction Management going nuts, no thanks).
Thus I sniffed around the indy games market more and more, and found some really nice ones. Simple Flash shoot-em-ups like Robokill (http://www.rocksolidarcade.com/games/robokill/) or wonderful enjoyment like World of Goo (http://2dboy.com/games.php, PC, Mac, soon Linux). Much cheaper, get it immediately, no copy protection at all, and... better. Yes, better. Not because of the graphics (although WOG is amazing), but because of the pure fun.
So: thanks. A lot. No, really. I'm spending less money, and enjoying myself more.
No, it does *not* deter causual copying. By now even Joe Dumb has heard about cracks.
Yes, it will lower the resale value by a *lot*. Meaning, less people will be willing to risk buying it, trying it out, and then (if they don't like it) re-sell it on eBay.
Means lower sales on the originals. Possibly not a lot, but I bet it's quite a bit.
True.
Another good reason for indy games. Have a look at the discussion from the (three) developers of the (indy) game "World of Goo":
http://2dboy.com/2008/11/13/90/
They released their (amazing) game without any DRM, allowing anybody to also play the sub-game "Who makes the highest tower". Thus they could find that piracy amounts to about 90%.
This will always be the case. Always. You add DRM, it's not going to lower this percentage, because even Joe Dumb knows about cracks these days, and thus even your consumer majority can/will copy your game. Concentrate on the 10% legally buying your game, support them. They will like you for it, and support you.
...thus showing, in effect, my support for DRM?
No thanks.
Save your money, save your time, sniff about the Indx games (no, no, I'm not advertising my free gamelet in the sig, that's just the port of an '85 mac game).
Yes, you are quite correct - most people don't know. And quite a few don't care.
This, however, could change in two, three years. When these people want to play their nice game again and suddenly find out that they cannot. Could have quite an impact on SecuROM.
After all, I do know quite a few 'casual gamers', who don't know and don't care. But they like the game. And they will want to play it again in a few month. Or two years, on the brand-new PC. And it'll fail. And they'll get pissed. And then they'll want to know exactly WHY THIS DOESN'T WORK.
Thus any company using this crap now will loose quite a bit of face in the future. Obviously, they don't care, because management only thinks ahead for one quarter, two at most.
*shrug* Let 'em die.
I've been lookig forward to this game for quite some time (played all previous versions and liked them). But by now I've found that I much rather prefere Indy games - the cash goes straight to the developers, no DRM at all, lower prices, and (often) actually a lot better.
A classic example would be The World of Goo http://2dboy.com/games.php - I've been playing computer games since 1981, and I've never laughed as much while playing one ;)
Cheap, fun, no DRM idiocy, good support - tell me again why I should bother with the multi-million-dollar companies?
So, it's actually a Good Thing that the management fools have decided to use the hated SecuROM - it'll cause me to not spend time and money on Grand Theft Auto anymore. I can buy several indy games with that money, and enjoy myself a lot longer.
Besides, for ALL games there's a simple keyword: "SecuROM". Simple response: don't buy.
Well, 3D games require a heck of a lot more work, thus making the development more expensive.
For some reason, managers consider 3D to be the Latest And Greatest - why? Some games certainly require 3D (flight simulators come to mind, and I'm sure STALKER looks better in 3D than 2D), but on many others it's simply completely wasted. An commenter mentioned the great (2D) game 'Worms' - lovely and very funny in 2D, boring in 3D.
Many games (strategy) are simply easier to view, judge and control using 2D. And, interestingly, the same counts for quite a few shooters. For example, have a look at http://www.rocksolidarcade.com/games/robokill/ - nice little shoot-em-up. The graphics are quite simple (not even scrolling), but they fit perfectly, and I'm having a lot of fun. In 3D, this would be a whole lot less good.
2D also has the interesting advantage of being able to have higher-resolution graphics. Compare the concept of a pile of skulls in the corner: in 3D, this takes up a lot of triangles and even with good texturing, simply does not look as good as a detailed 2D-image of that pile, which also uses a lot less GPU power to display. ;)
Yes, of course this depends on the game - on an FPS, it obviously has to be in 3D
But I find myself playing a lot of old games these days (maybe I'm just an Old Fart), and enjoying the simple 2D graphics involved. They are quite a bit more fun than most new (and expensive!) games who insist on being 3D.
Nope - ever watched a movie on a relatively small screen? If it's a good movie, you'll never notice the low resolution. (Yes, exceptions, for example nature films with very nice, large, slow landscape shots, but The Usual Movie?)
If a movie is good enough, you'll slip into it, your eyes glassing over the artifacts. Ever really noticed a low resolution way back in the VCR days? I did - but only when I paused, never when it ran.
Besides... I am not a TV freak, will certainly not pay a large wad of cash for a huge TV to dumb out in front op. I watch my films on my PC - here the DVDs still fit nicely on my 21" screen. ;)
Well, *I* certainly am.
The switch from VCR Tapes to DVD Disks was well worth it. The movies look very nice and clear, the medium doesn't wear out, and takes up a lot less space - in addition to supporting several languages and the like.
Tell me the advantages of HDMI again? Higher resolution? Don't really need that, DVDs pretty good. DRM out the wazoo? *Really* don't need that. Higher prices? Oh wow, how lovely.
Hey, here's an ideal way of making a profit on these people: The War On Piracy! ...and this time, actually have the support of the public for it!
Bomb them! Send the army there! Spend trillions of dollars!
Heh - weird. Your parent is termed "Funny" - correctly. Your post is termed "Insightful". Although I do agree with you, you simply didn't get the sarcasm of your parent. ;)
Let's see if I also get an incorrect value attatched - "flame" perhaps?
Simple: he played the king in the Ultima Series. Thus he's called The King ;)