Charity for game developers who make you re-purchase games that you still own in a different format? Give me a break. I mean, if you had software that you paid for on floppy, but your new PC only had a DVD player, would you re-purchase all of your old software in DVD format? That is just stupid. Copy your software to a new format and run it on whatever hardware is capable of running it.
You can write the memory card from Windows, Linux, Mac... or any system with USB. It is easy. There are "installers" that are very easy to use.
1. Put the "installer" save file on the memory card via an Action Replay USB dongle.
2. Load the save using a buggy version of whatever game you choose to use.
3. Burn a DVD for each console, loaded with the emulator for that console and all of that console's games. Since the Xbox is softmodded, it will run these DVDRs, and the end result is very nice and polished. Insert the DVD and you boot into a game selection menu for that system. Use the game pad to select the game and you are off.
1(a): The latest exploit installers easily work with version 1.6 firmware. See the Xbox-scene forums for details.
1(b): MechAssault is one of many games that can be used to install the exploit. It is easy to find the older versions of these games in used game stores, Ebay, or you can simply borrow a copy as you only need to use it for like 5 minutes... then you don't need the disc any longer.
2: You can use a copier to rip your cart's ROM images. You can buy a copier off of Ebay, www.tototek.com, and many other places. Use Google. Also, you only need to rip your cart's ROM images once, so you could simply borrow a copier from a friend, dump all of your old games, and then return the copier to him.
My Xbox can play more NES, SNES, TG16, Master System, Genesis, Game Boy, and N64 games than the Wii will ever be able to play. I find it funny that Nintendo fanboys are literally creaming themselves over a feature that Xbox had years ago.
My Xbox could play all of those games and many more. In fact, my Xbox can play more NES and SNES games than the Wii will every be able to play. Even better, its been capable of doing this for at least 3 years now.
Mario Kart changed radically from the original SNES game to the second game in the series, which was released for the N64. Yes it changed little from the N64 version on, but I'd say the the original version of the game is very different from the sequals.
This isn't true. The original game developers of Famicom and NES games designed the graphics with the NTSC distortion in mind. Hence they used various dither patterns, which are only blended correctly, yielding the correct gradients and colors when viewed through NTSC distortion.
Check out these comparisons out. The left-side column is what the graphics are supposed to look like, while the right-hand column is what they look like in most emulators. Note the hood of the truck in "Snake's Revenge". The dither pattern is blended by NTSC distortion, yielding a better look of a dirty rusted metal truck, while the simple palette-based method used in most NES emulators yields something almost entirely different. Similarly, the grass in the same scene that surrounds the dirt patch is correctly blended under NTSC, yielding a more intricate looking texture.
The Metroid screenshots also demonstrate nicely how NTSC blending (on the left), blends dither patterns. This is evidence that the game designers made the game's art to take advantage of the distortion or blending of NTSC.
Emulating the slow down of a NES isn't difficult at all. Nesticle was released roughly a decade ago, and it emulated the slow down common in NES games. Of course, back then, Nintendo claimed that emulation was a tool of the devil. Now they plan on adding a feature to the Wii that has been possible on PCs and even the Xbox 1 for years now? Too little too late.
Cycle-accurate Genesis emulation? I've never seen it. Care to elaborate? There is only one cycle-accurate SNES emulator, bsnes, and it is fairly new and extremely resource intensive. For some reason, internet saavy people put give far more credit to the accuracy of console emulation than is justified by the actual accuracy of console emulation. Few emulators are as accurate as many would like to believe. For example, most console emulators would be completely unable to win a "Turing-test" like comparison between real hardware and the emulator.
From the looks of this mod, it appears as if it would be far easier to see what would happen by modifying the hardware, as opposed to modifying a supposedly cycle-accurate emulator, as the emulator might not be setup for such modification, and it might contain bugs that would lead the experiment to the wrong conclusion.
On a related note, Nestopia is a NES emulator that takes accuracy seriously. It goes beyond being just cycle-accurate, as it goes as far as to emulate the analog video signal generated by the NES's digital-to-analog converter, which turns the NES's frame buffer into a human visible video signal. Hence a side-by-side comparison of a real NES hooked up to the PC via a TV-tuner or video capture card, and the emulator running on the same PC... even a hardcore NES fan will have difficulty telling the difference. Check out a screen capture comparison of a real NES, Nestopia, and FCE Ultra.
Test it out for yourself. Follow that last link and try to determine which screenshot is a real NES and which screenshot is Nestopia. Meanwhile, the screenshot of FCE Ultra sticks out like a sore thumb, even though it is comparable to what many consider to be highly accurate console emulation.
Re:A long historical tradition of dumb names
on
Both Sides of Wii
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· Score: 1
Was it any wonder that the Sega Genesis (which had some great games of it own and I consider the best console name ever) had more "cool factor" going into the early 90s?
The SNES sold 49 million consoles total, while the Genesis only sold 35 million consoles. While the SNES didn't dominate nearly as much as its predecessor, the NES, whatever "cool factor" you are refering to apparently wasn't enough. Maybe you simply bought into Sega's "blast processing" advertisements? But you are correct to point out that Nintendo often shoots itself in the foot. This seemed to start with the Game Boy and SNES, but it only really started to get bad with things like the Virtual Boy and the N64.
Why do gaming elitists deride cutting edge graphics as sucking the life out of the game industry, but then claim that cutting edge controller design is somehow going to save the game industry. Both graphics and controller are a means for communicating between the gamer and the game. Improvements in either controller or graphics will allow for the creation of better games, more innovative games, etc. However, in the end, the game is all that is important. A crappy game on a console capable of breath taking graphics is still a crappy game, and a crappy game on a system with an extremely innovative controller is still a crappy game.
I can't be the only person to have noticed the hypocrisy, but then again, the fanboyism around here seems to cause people to lose the ability to think rationally. Nintendo fanboys often say something along the lines of the following:
"The PS3 and 360 are crap because they emphasize cutting edge graphics, but the Revolution will be great because it emphasizes cutting edge controllers".
I really wish that somebody would make a console controller similar to the Xbox 360 controller, with the right analog stick replaced by a trackball. Using an analog stick for moving a pointer or your player's view in a first-person shooter is just terrible. Having a trackball would be much better for such actions. Also, with such a change, the controller would have 3 direction controls: D-pad, analog stick, and trackball. Each have proven themselves to be useful for certain game tasks, so why not make them all available at the same time?
Thank god these carrier pigeons can transmit our messages so damn quickly across the world. Maybe the lazy West will get off of its ass and invent a packet routed communication network based on computers and fiber optics. Or maybe will we just keep coasting.
The NPCs in Morrowind are sparse, bland, and they do not engage in typical daily activities, but instead they just wander around the same area doing the same thing no matter what time of day it is. There are a few mods that fix this issue in Morrowind, but does Oblivion fix this? I really hope that Bethesda payed close attention to the popular Morrowind mods, so that the features in those mods could be incorporated into Oblivion, straight out of the box.
What disclaimer? Are they told what kind of information is being censored? What prevents the Chinese government from claiming that the censored results are merely pornography and other criminal activity? Helping the Chinese government lie to its people to make them think that political dissidents or student protestors were never killed in mass, is definitely an evil thing. There is no grey area or middle ground on this issue. There is nothing brave about this.
Obviously when presented with Chinese language queries, Google throws them against a Chinese language index. Apparently the Chinese language index is the same one used for Chinese Google, which is censored. Why build large costly indexes in Chinese, if you are just going to censor the results obtained from throwing a search at them? My guess is when presented with English language queries to the Chinese Google, it throws them against the uncensored English index, but then filters the results before sending them to the client. This would explain the results that you obtained.
BTW, I used English language queries and Google Images because most Slashdotters do not know Chinese, but they do know English and they can view images. Hence it is a nice quick example to get the point across that something evil is being done.
Mod parent up! There really is a third option that involves using technology to provide an uncensored Chinese Google to the Chinese people. Such an option is the truely innovative option. I also think that in this third option, Google would need to lobby Western governments to prevent other search engine companies from censoring content that the Chinese government finds objectionable.
Yes, other search engines have engaged in the same evil acts as Google. They are just as evil, but possible less so, considering that they never claimed to "do no evil".
The reason that everybody is upset right now is some of us, myself included, hoped that Google would be different. Now I realize that it was naive. Google is only motivated by profit. They are a publically traded company, it is what they are. However, it does not make it right. It does not justify their actions. Furthermore, their claim to "do no evil" conflicts with their actions. I would be very happy if in addition to opposing the Bush administration, Google also opposed the Chinese administration.
Google could have used technology to provide an uncensored Chinese search engine to the Chinese people. Using technology (anonymous proxying and networks such as The Onion Router) and aid from Western nations (laws forcing other Western search engines from censoring searches), Google could have accomplished this. But instead, they took the easy route for increasing short term profits.
Compare this American Google image search for "tiananmen square" to the same search in the Chinese Google image search. While a disclaimer is displayed saying that some results were blocked do to Chinese law, the disclaimer does not tell what kind of results were blocked. Hence when the people ask, the Chinese government can just say that the results were pornographic or involved terrorism. So, no, Google definitely has done evil in this case. Stop trying to make excuses for them.
Compare this American Google image search for "tiananmen square" to the same search in the Chinese Google image search. Notice that the only result that even mentions something related to the imfamous student protests is this result, which makes it seem as if the government didn't do anything wrong, but the protestors did. Google is clearly wrong in this case. Google is right to stand up against the Bush administration, but Google is wrong to not do the same against the Chinese administration. A spade is a spade, but apparently there is a partisan divide that dictates people's beliefs on this issue.
Slashdot Mirror
Charity for game developers who make you re-purchase games that you still own in a different format? Give me a break. I mean, if you had software that you paid for on floppy, but your new PC only had a DVD player, would you re-purchase all of your old software in DVD format? That is just stupid. Copy your software to a new format and run it on whatever hardware is capable of running it.
There is nothing illegal about playing your NES and SNES games on your Xbox.
Saturn Bomberman is actually the best game in the series. You just can't beat 10 players at a time.
You can write the memory card from Windows, Linux, Mac... or any system with USB. It is easy. There are "installers" that are very easy to use.
1. Put the "installer" save file on the memory card via an Action Replay USB dongle.
2. Load the save using a buggy version of whatever game you choose to use.
3. Burn a DVD for each console, loaded with the emulator for that console and all of that console's games. Since the Xbox is softmodded, it will run these DVDRs, and the end result is very nice and polished. Insert the DVD and you boot into a game selection menu for that system. Use the game pad to select the game and you are off.
1(a): The latest exploit installers easily work with version 1.6 firmware. See the Xbox-scene forums for details.
1(b): MechAssault is one of many games that can be used to install the exploit. It is easy to find the older versions of these games in used game stores, Ebay, or you can simply borrow a copy as you only need to use it for like 5 minutes... then you don't need the disc any longer.
2: You can use a copier to rip your cart's ROM images. You can buy a copier off of Ebay, www.tototek.com, and many other places. Use Google. Also, you only need to rip your cart's ROM images once, so you could simply borrow a copier from a friend, dump all of your old games, and then return the copier to him.
My Xbox can play more NES, SNES, TG16, Master System, Genesis, Game Boy, and N64 games than the Wii will ever be able to play. I find it funny that Nintendo fanboys are literally creaming themselves over a feature that Xbox had years ago.
My Xbox could play all of those games and many more. In fact, my Xbox can play more NES and SNES games than the Wii will every be able to play. Even better, its been capable of doing this for at least 3 years now.
Mario Kart changed radically from the original SNES game to the second game in the series, which was released for the N64. Yes it changed little from the N64 version on, but I'd say the the original version of the game is very different from the sequals.
This isn't true. The original game developers of Famicom and NES games designed the graphics with the NTSC distortion in mind. Hence they used various dither patterns, which are only blended correctly, yielding the correct gradients and colors when viewed through NTSC distortion.
Check out these comparisons out. The left-side column is what the graphics are supposed to look like, while the right-hand column is what they look like in most emulators. Note the hood of the truck in "Snake's Revenge". The dither pattern is blended by NTSC distortion, yielding a better look of a dirty rusted metal truck, while the simple palette-based method used in most NES emulators yields something almost entirely different. Similarly, the grass in the same scene that surrounds the dirt patch is correctly blended under NTSC, yielding a more intricate looking texture.
The Metroid screenshots also demonstrate nicely how NTSC blending (on the left), blends dither patterns. This is evidence that the game designers made the game's art to take advantage of the distortion or blending of NTSC.
Emulating the slow down of a NES isn't difficult at all. Nesticle was released roughly a decade ago, and it emulated the slow down common in NES games. Of course, back then, Nintendo claimed that emulation was a tool of the devil. Now they plan on adding a feature to the Wii that has been possible on PCs and even the Xbox 1 for years now? Too little too late.
Cycle-accurate Genesis emulation? I've never seen it. Care to elaborate? There is only one cycle-accurate SNES emulator, bsnes, and it is fairly new and extremely resource intensive. For some reason, internet saavy people put give far more credit to the accuracy of console emulation than is justified by the actual accuracy of console emulation. Few emulators are as accurate as many would like to believe. For example, most console emulators would be completely unable to win a "Turing-test" like comparison between real hardware and the emulator.
From the looks of this mod, it appears as if it would be far easier to see what would happen by modifying the hardware, as opposed to modifying a supposedly cycle-accurate emulator, as the emulator might not be setup for such modification, and it might contain bugs that would lead the experiment to the wrong conclusion.
On a related note, Nestopia is a NES emulator that takes accuracy seriously. It goes beyond being just cycle-accurate, as it goes as far as to emulate the analog video signal generated by the NES's digital-to-analog converter, which turns the NES's frame buffer into a human visible video signal. Hence a side-by-side comparison of a real NES hooked up to the PC via a TV-tuner or video capture card, and the emulator running on the same PC... even a hardcore NES fan will have difficulty telling the difference. Check out a screen capture comparison of a real NES, Nestopia, and FCE Ultra.
Test it out for yourself. Follow that last link and try to determine which screenshot is a real NES and which screenshot is Nestopia. Meanwhile, the screenshot of FCE Ultra sticks out like a sore thumb, even though it is comparable to what many consider to be highly accurate console emulation.
The SNES sold 49 million consoles total, while the Genesis only sold 35 million consoles. While the SNES didn't dominate nearly as much as its predecessor, the NES, whatever "cool factor" you are refering to apparently wasn't enough. Maybe you simply bought into Sega's "blast processing" advertisements? But you are correct to point out that Nintendo often shoots itself in the foot. This seemed to start with the Game Boy and SNES, but it only really started to get bad with things like the Virtual Boy and the N64.
If Bethesda is smart, they will keep an eye on these mods, so that ideas from them can be incorporated into an official patch.
If graphics have more to do with style, then I'd love to see the gameplay that is possible in a 3D game such as Oblivion done on the NES.
Why do gaming elitists deride cutting edge graphics as sucking the life out of the game industry, but then claim that cutting edge controller design is somehow going to save the game industry. Both graphics and controller are a means for communicating between the gamer and the game. Improvements in either controller or graphics will allow for the creation of better games, more innovative games, etc. However, in the end, the game is all that is important. A crappy game on a console capable of breath taking graphics is still a crappy game, and a crappy game on a system with an extremely innovative controller is still a crappy game.
I can't be the only person to have noticed the hypocrisy, but then again, the fanboyism around here seems to cause people to lose the ability to think rationally. Nintendo fanboys often say something along the lines of the following:
"The PS3 and 360 are crap because they emphasize cutting edge graphics, but the Revolution will be great because it emphasizes cutting edge controllers".
Lets start calling them out on their hypocrisy.
The parent's fanboyism is pathetic.
I really wish that somebody would make a console controller similar to the Xbox 360 controller, with the right analog stick replaced by a trackball. Using an analog stick for moving a pointer or your player's view in a first-person shooter is just terrible. Having a trackball would be much better for such actions. Also, with such a change, the controller would have 3 direction controls: D-pad, analog stick, and trackball. Each have proven themselves to be useful for certain game tasks, so why not make them all available at the same time?
Thank god these carrier pigeons can transmit our messages so damn quickly across the world. Maybe the lazy West will get off of its ass and invent a packet routed communication network based on computers and fiber optics. Or maybe will we just keep coasting.
Simple arithmetic is not Church-Turing-complete by any means. Claiming that arithmetic contains tests, sequences, and jumps is a stretch.
The NPCs in Morrowind are sparse, bland, and they do not engage in typical daily activities, but instead they just wander around the same area doing the same thing no matter what time of day it is. There are a few mods that fix this issue in Morrowind, but does Oblivion fix this? I really hope that Bethesda payed close attention to the popular Morrowind mods, so that the features in those mods could be incorporated into Oblivion, straight out of the box.
What disclaimer? Are they told what kind of information is being censored? What prevents the Chinese government from claiming that the censored results are merely pornography and other criminal activity? Helping the Chinese government lie to its people to make them think that political dissidents or student protestors were never killed in mass, is definitely an evil thing. There is no grey area or middle ground on this issue. There is nothing brave about this.
Obviously when presented with Chinese language queries, Google throws them against a Chinese language index. Apparently the Chinese language index is the same one used for Chinese Google, which is censored. Why build large costly indexes in Chinese, if you are just going to censor the results obtained from throwing a search at them? My guess is when presented with English language queries to the Chinese Google, it throws them against the uncensored English index, but then filters the results before sending them to the client. This would explain the results that you obtained.
BTW, I used English language queries and Google Images because most Slashdotters do not know Chinese, but they do know English and they can view images. Hence it is a nice quick example to get the point across that something evil is being done.
Mod parent up! There really is a third option that involves using technology to provide an uncensored Chinese Google to the Chinese people. Such an option is the truely innovative option. I also think that in this third option, Google would need to lobby Western governments to prevent other search engine companies from censoring content that the Chinese government finds objectionable.
Yes, other search engines have engaged in the same evil acts as Google. They are just as evil, but possible less so, considering that they never claimed to "do no evil".
The reason that everybody is upset right now is some of us, myself included, hoped that Google would be different. Now I realize that it was naive. Google is only motivated by profit. They are a publically traded company, it is what they are. However, it does not make it right. It does not justify their actions. Furthermore, their claim to "do no evil" conflicts with their actions. I would be very happy if in addition to opposing the Bush administration, Google also opposed the Chinese administration.
Google could have used technology to provide an uncensored Chinese search engine to the Chinese people. Using technology (anonymous proxying and networks such as The Onion Router) and aid from Western nations (laws forcing other Western search engines from censoring searches), Google could have accomplished this. But instead, they took the easy route for increasing short term profits.
Compare this American Google image search for "tiananmen square" to the same search in the Chinese Google image search. While a disclaimer is displayed saying that some results were blocked do to Chinese law, the disclaimer does not tell what kind of results were blocked. Hence when the people ask, the Chinese government can just say that the results were pornographic or involved terrorism. So, no, Google definitely has done evil in this case. Stop trying to make excuses for them.
Compare this American Google image search for "tiananmen square" to the same search in the Chinese Google image search. Notice that the only result that even mentions something related to the imfamous student protests is this result, which makes it seem as if the government didn't do anything wrong, but the protestors did. Google is clearly wrong in this case. Google is right to stand up against the Bush administration, but Google is wrong to not do the same against the Chinese administration. A spade is a spade, but apparently there is a partisan divide that dictates people's beliefs on this issue.