The problem with the law, as I see it, is that it is against the use of these devices in the front of the car at all, rather than just by the driver.
The front passenger using Autoroute (or whatever) on their laptop is genuinely useful, and funtionally equivalent to a satnav system which isn't banned.
As someone who used to live about 10 miles from the Bentwaters and Woodbridge bases, and knew several people in both the RAF and USAF there, I can definitely tell you that
a) I have little doubt that the current explanation of it being the lighthouse is correct - none of the evidence particularly contradicts that, and I've even been freaked out by it myself once. However,
b) I know a few people who've seen 'UFOs' in the area, too. Its since become apparent that many of them are just planes that they keep quiet about, though.
Coupled with the 'this doesn't officially exist' plane problem is that laws on minimum heights for test flying are generally considered guidelines. You're not meant to descend lower than 500ft, but I've spoken to pilots who will admit to having a mere 50ft clearance of my grandparents' house. At that height, in bad light, planes can look like they are doing stuff the average person will consider pretty much impossible.
The one area I definitely agree with in this article is that games designers should consider if the control system could be changed to be more inclusive without damaging a game.
This comes in many ways, just as there are many possible limitations:
Does a cue need to be purely auditory, or can visual clues be added as well? Subtitles for speech, muzzle flashes and the damage flash in Goldeneye all spring to mind as examples of this. Whether due to deafness or just playing with the sound down not everyone will hear what is happening.
When designing puzzles, make things differently shaped or patterned, not just differently coloured. Trying to pick up the green balls while avoiding the red ones isn't much fun for the colourblind.
Driving games - don't force them to drive manual. A decent wheel and pedal set will be controllable with one hand if you've not got to change gears too.
I'm sure there are other instances where games can be more inclusive without hurting them at all.
As long as you choose to use an automatic, driving wheels with pedals aren't going to be just fine with one hand.
Super Monkey Ball (and, lets face it, gaming doesn't get much better than the mighty Expert 7) just demands one analogue pad and no buttons during play, so that isn't a problem. Same with its inspiration, Marble Madness.
Many, perhaps most, things on PC should be reasonably playable with the Microsoft Strategic Commander, as it has three analogue axes and a myriad of buttons. Flight sticks offer much the same.
There are always going to be some games that require both hands though, and that is probably only right. Basketball would be pretty difficult to play one-handed as well, but we don't get rid of that. Ensuring games are playable by as many as possible is a good thing, but as a designer you shouldn't break the game just to ensure this.
"I'm no specialist, but X sure doesn't start if the nvidia module isn't loaded."
There is a different module, that comes in the X package, for basic 2D GeForce support. The nVidia 3D that you get from them does need the other stuff though; you're right.
Isn't the New York Post a Newscorp product these days? Owned by Rupert Murdoch, and part of the same conglomerate that brought us:
Fear Factor Temptation Island Freddy Got Fingered Aliens Vs. Predator (the game) etc.?
Come to think of it, I wonder if this is in any way, shape or form connected with the fact that this company is also responsible (certainly in license at least) for Simpsons Hit 'n' Run, a game that steals so much from GTA that its a wonder that Take Two haven't sued?
Thats a good letter, but I fear you may have made a mistake. Emails to this moron will just boost his ego at having made an article that caused discussion. Emails to his editor about how you feel about being informed that you could improve your impact on society by abusing children rather than playing a computer game, along with pointing out how many other readers might feel similiarly insulted given the very, very large sales figures this series has recorded, might get more done.
Since the 'letters to the editor' form requires you to be in the US, I can't send a message myself. But I'm wondering if we have enough/. people here who are in a position to do so to get this moron called Christopher Byron fired?
I'd suggest that suggesting that "This is 10,000 times worse than the worst thing anybody thinks Michael Jackson ever did to a little boy" about a perfectly legitimate product owned and enjoyed by several million of their readers is tantamount to advocacy of child molestation, surely? At the very least its definitely saying that people who own it should be regarded as worse than paedophiles.
To anyone who has played the frankly pretty harmless GTA games this reads far more like "Child molesting; its far more socially cool than that nerdy computer games stuff". This is one seriously wacked out writer.
Arrgh, I thought that was the case. The first thing I thought when I looked at the tables were 'blooming heck, is a Ti4600 that cheap in the US? They are like 5 times that over here!'
"In short, with my old Matrox Millenium, I could do 1600x1200x16 just like I do now, but I didn't have to fight with the nVidia drivers that belch on me each time I change something with libc, modutils or the kernel. And I suppose I could try out 2.6, while with the proprietary driver, I can't."
If anything works fine for you there is no need to go spending extra for features you don't need. But to cover your problems with the nVidia kernel modules, I'm fairly sure you only need them to support the 3D hardware accelleration features of the board. 2D stuff in X runs just fine out of the box without any proprietary module nonsense on any nVidia card.
Really? It has enough processing power to record and play games at the same time? That certainly wasn't the impression I got from reading the publicity stuff.
Not true at all, I'd say. The exclusive titles are good fun, by and large, it frequently has the best version of multiplatform things, and the online experience is, for me, far superior to either the PS2's muddled and inconsistent attempts or the culture of cheating and other infantile behaviour on the PC.
None of which is to disregard the fun that can be had with either of the other two consoles, of course - my personal most played of 2003 are Midtown Madness 3, Psyvariar and Soul Calibur II; one on each of the consoles.
So, they award the latest Final Fantasy game the title "most disappointing this year" and still regard the next one as their most anticipated game? Kind of odd, really. But then, Eidos want to make another Tomb Raider game too, so its not exactly unique thinking.
The biggest problem with the PSX's idea of a Tivo capability in a games machine is that the cost savings of convergence come through using the same hardware components to do multiple things.
Which means I can't record TV (in order to watch it later, skipping over the ad breaks, or just because its something my wife wants to watch when she gets home) and play games at the same time. Which would be really, really annoying.
Don't get me wrong, if its useful then its a good idea; I just got the impression that this was designed for a quick-to-battlefield solution. In which case, getting your code signed and copy-protected (unless they are using chipped XBoxes, which I can't find Microsoft being keen on) is a step in the way that using a normal PC (running Windows if it keeps Gates happy) wouldn't have.
Unless this is some Microsoft-funded promo stunt, why would they use the XBox? I'm aware that a standard unit makes a convenient smallish and cheap PC, but the difficulty of publishing titles to non-dev boxes in a hurry would be a larger issue than the extra money it would take for a Shuttle-cased PC, surely? I can't see why they wouldn't just do this on a PC, rather than a closed-down console, particularly if they used joypad to USB converters to make the interface simpler.
To be brutally honest, 3D adds precisely zip to Track Mania; it still has the traditional square layout and all 90 degree bends of other construction set games. I was really disappointed, to be honest - the puzzles and racing are just trial-and-error, and the handling model is the worst I'd played in years.
I keep seeing this claim. What big new features did GTA3 bring to the table, then? I count the following, which are all very welcome, but don't really strike me as enough to claim its revolutionary.
1) The viewpoint is no longer overhead - at least it doesn't have to be. I was actually a bit miffed that the remaining overhead view is now unusuable, as it doesn't pan out far enough, but there you go.
2) Vigilante/Ambulance/Fire truck/Taxi missions. An amusing diversion, if not implemented anywhere near as well as the Crazy Taxi that inspired it.
3) Vastly improved save mechanism. Thank God; this was always my biggest complaint about GTA.
4) The ability to re-do missions when you've stuffed them up. Again, a good improvement, but something that any study of the market shows is necessary now, as the mainstream won't take having to re-do from the start.
Above all that the world is far more fleshed out, but this really is them just attempting to make the game they originally wanted GTA to be, only with more resources and experience.
And Europe finally got the mighty Psyvariar. Which, for my money, is better than Shiki, and right up there with Ikaruga - in fact, in some ways better, because with the buzz system a couple of minor mistakes mid-level don't write off the whole run, unlike the chaining system in Ikaruga.
Did you ever play the first two (well, three including GTA: London) games? GTA 3 is GTA from a different camera angle through and through. Those 'ground-breaking' non-linear levels? The stealing any vehicle thing? Playing multiple gangs off each other? All in there from the previous games. The ability to do vigilante missions is pretty much the only development that isn't a visual enhancement in there.
Aaah, I see - sorry. I've a distinct feeling I've accidentally been violently agreeing with you here...
From a gameplay point of view Rez is just Panzer in trance trousers, you're absolutely right. Its just that I happen to really like those trance trousers, and the swirly shot linking fits my gaming style better than the rather more frantic pacing of the Panzer Dragoon games (at least, 1, Zwei and Orta; I've never had the fortune to play Saga).
Slashdot Mirror
The problem with the law, as I see it, is that it is against the use of these devices in the front of the car at all, rather than just by the driver.
The front passenger using Autoroute (or whatever) on their laptop is genuinely useful, and funtionally equivalent to a satnav system which isn't banned.
As someone who used to live about 10 miles from the Bentwaters and Woodbridge bases, and knew several people in both the RAF and USAF there, I can definitely tell you that
a) I have little doubt that the current explanation of it being the lighthouse is correct - none of the evidence particularly contradicts that, and I've even been freaked out by it myself once. However,
b) I know a few people who've seen 'UFOs' in the area, too. Its since become apparent that many of them are just planes that they keep quiet about, though.
Coupled with the 'this doesn't officially exist' plane problem is that laws on minimum heights for test flying are generally considered guidelines. You're not meant to descend lower than 500ft, but I've spoken to pilots who will admit to having a mere 50ft clearance of my grandparents' house. At that height, in bad light, planes can look like they are doing stuff the average person will consider pretty much impossible.
The one area I definitely agree with in this article is that games designers should consider if the control system could be changed to be more inclusive without damaging a game.
This comes in many ways, just as there are many possible limitations:
Does a cue need to be purely auditory, or can visual clues be added as well? Subtitles for speech, muzzle flashes and the damage flash in Goldeneye all spring to mind as examples of this. Whether due to deafness or just playing with the sound down not everyone will hear what is happening.
When designing puzzles, make things differently shaped or patterned, not just differently coloured. Trying to pick up the green balls while avoiding the red ones isn't much fun for the colourblind.
Driving games - don't force them to drive manual. A decent wheel and pedal set will be controllable with one hand if you've not got to change gears too.
I'm sure there are other instances where games can be more inclusive without hurting them at all.
As long as you choose to use an automatic, driving wheels with pedals aren't going to be just fine with one hand.
Super Monkey Ball (and, lets face it, gaming doesn't get much better than the mighty Expert 7) just demands one analogue pad and no buttons during play, so that isn't a problem. Same with its inspiration, Marble Madness.
Many, perhaps most, things on PC should be reasonably playable with the Microsoft Strategic Commander, as it has three analogue axes and a myriad of buttons. Flight sticks offer much the same.
There are always going to be some games that require both hands though, and that is probably only right. Basketball would be pretty difficult to play one-handed as well, but we don't get rid of that. Ensuring games are playable by as many as possible is a good thing, but as a designer you shouldn't break the game just to ensure this.
"I'm no specialist, but X sure doesn't start if the nvidia module isn't loaded."
There is a different module, that comes in the X package, for basic 2D GeForce support. The nVidia 3D that you get from them does need the other stuff though; you're right.
Isn't the New York Post a Newscorp product these days? Owned by Rupert Murdoch, and part of the same conglomerate that brought us:
Fear Factor
Temptation Island
Freddy Got Fingered
Aliens Vs. Predator (the game)
etc.?
Come to think of it, I wonder if this is in any way, shape or form connected with the fact that this company is also responsible (certainly in license at least) for Simpsons Hit 'n' Run, a game that steals so much from GTA that its a wonder that Take Two haven't sued?
Thats a good letter, but I fear you may have made a mistake. Emails to this moron will just boost his ego at having made an article that caused discussion. Emails to his editor about how you feel about being informed that you could improve your impact on society by abusing children rather than playing a computer game, along with pointing out how many other readers might feel similiarly insulted given the very, very large sales figures this series has recorded, might get more done.
Since the 'letters to the editor' form requires you to be in the US, I can't send a message myself. But I'm wondering if we have enough /. people here who are in a position to do so to get this moron called Christopher Byron fired?
I'd suggest that suggesting that "This is 10,000 times worse than the worst thing anybody thinks Michael Jackson ever did to a little boy" about a perfectly legitimate product owned and enjoyed by several million of their readers is tantamount to advocacy of child molestation, surely? At the very least its definitely saying that people who own it should be regarded as worse than paedophiles.
To anyone who has played the frankly pretty harmless GTA games this reads far more like "Child molesting; its far more socially cool than that nerdy computer games stuff". This is one seriously wacked out writer.
Aaah. Caught red-handed, thanks to the proxy not letting me read it. I thought this was an editorial awards list, not a fan-vote one.
Arrgh, I thought that was the case. The first thing I thought when I looked at the tables were 'blooming heck, is a Ti4600 that cheap in the US? They are like 5 times that over here!'
"In short, with my old Matrox Millenium, I could do 1600x1200x16 just like I do now, but I didn't have to fight with the nVidia drivers that belch on me each time I change something with libc, modutils or the kernel. And I suppose I could try out 2.6, while with the proprietary driver, I can't."
If anything works fine for you there is no need to go spending extra for features you don't need. But to cover your problems with the nVidia kernel modules, I'm fairly sure you only need them to support the 3D hardware accelleration features of the board. 2D stuff in X runs just fine out of the box without any proprietary module nonsense on any nVidia card.
Really? It has enough processing power to record and play games at the same time? That certainly wasn't the impression I got from reading the publicity stuff.
"There is no real reason to own a xbox now"
Not true at all, I'd say. The exclusive titles are good fun, by and large, it frequently has the best version of multiplatform things, and the online experience is, for me, far superior to either the PS2's muddled and inconsistent attempts or the culture of cheating and other infantile behaviour on the PC.
None of which is to disregard the fun that can be had with either of the other two consoles, of course - my personal most played of 2003 are Midtown Madness 3, Psyvariar and Soul Calibur II; one on each of the consoles.
So, they award the latest Final Fantasy game the title "most disappointing this year" and still regard the next one as their most anticipated game? Kind of odd, really. But then, Eidos want to make another Tomb Raider game too, so its not exactly unique thinking.
The biggest problem with the PSX's idea of a Tivo capability in a games machine is that the cost savings of convergence come through using the same hardware components to do multiple things.
Which means I can't record TV (in order to watch it later, skipping over the ad breaks, or just because its something my wife wants to watch when she gets home) and play games at the same time. Which would be really, really annoying.
Aaah, but they want to put the thing on planes. They'll be lucky to get off the ground!
XBox size and weight jokes - not getting old, are they?
Don't get me wrong, if its useful then its a good idea; I just got the impression that this was designed for a quick-to-battlefield solution. In which case, getting your code signed and copy-protected (unless they are using chipped XBoxes, which I can't find Microsoft being keen on) is a step in the way that using a normal PC (running Windows if it keeps Gates happy) wouldn't have.
Unless this is some Microsoft-funded promo stunt, why would they use the XBox? I'm aware that a standard unit makes a convenient smallish and cheap PC, but the difficulty of publishing titles to non-dev boxes in a hurry would be a larger issue than the extra money it would take for a Shuttle-cased PC, surely? I can't see why they wouldn't just do this on a PC, rather than a closed-down console, particularly if they used joypad to USB converters to make the interface simpler.
To be brutally honest, 3D adds precisely zip to Track Mania; it still has the traditional square layout and all 90 degree bends of other construction set games. I was really disappointed, to be honest - the puzzles and racing are just trial-and-error, and the handling model is the worst I'd played in years.
I keep seeing this claim. What big new features did GTA3 bring to the table, then? I count the following, which are all very welcome, but don't really strike me as enough to claim its revolutionary.
1) The viewpoint is no longer overhead - at least it doesn't have to be. I was actually a bit miffed that the remaining overhead view is now unusuable, as it doesn't pan out far enough, but there you go.
2) Vigilante/Ambulance/Fire truck/Taxi missions. An amusing diversion, if not implemented anywhere near as well as the Crazy Taxi that inspired it.
3) Vastly improved save mechanism. Thank God; this was always my biggest complaint about GTA.
4) The ability to re-do missions when you've stuffed them up. Again, a good improvement, but something that any study of the market shows is necessary now, as the mainstream won't take having to re-do from the start.
Above all that the world is far more fleshed out, but this really is them just attempting to make the game they originally wanted GTA to be, only with more resources and experience.
And Europe finally got the mighty Psyvariar. Which, for my money, is better than Shiki, and right up there with Ikaruga - in fact, in some ways better, because with the buzz system a couple of minor mistakes mid-level don't write off the whole run, unlike the chaining system in Ikaruga.
Did you ever play the first two (well, three including GTA: London) games? GTA 3 is GTA from a different camera angle through and through. Those 'ground-breaking' non-linear levels? The stealing any vehicle thing? Playing multiple gangs off each other? All in there from the previous games. The ability to do vigilante missions is pretty much the only development that isn't a visual enhancement in there.
Its black. Spinal Tap levels of black, in fact.
Aaah, I see - sorry. I've a distinct feeling I've accidentally been violently agreeing with you here...
From a gameplay point of view Rez is just Panzer in trance trousers, you're absolutely right. Its just that I happen to really like those trance trousers, and the swirly shot linking fits my gaming style better than the rather more frantic pacing of the Panzer Dragoon games (at least, 1, Zwei and Orta; I've never had the fortune to play Saga).