I was a tester for this game
on
Goodbye, "Majestic"
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Someone tell me if you see Steve Gula in the credits for this game. I was a tester for it for 3 months at EA-VA (EA Charlottesville, VA) before going back to school, they axed everyone but like 20 people (was about 150-200) a month later.
Anyways, the game was a definite change from all other games, and although EA anticipated that, they didn't anticipate the raw manpower that would be needed to make sure it worked and to keep the episodes going. I remember from work, that in the 3 months that it was out, it was already a month behind schedule. And they were just grabbing for air when they brought in Cypher from the Matrix. We also ran into trouble when the lead test head guy left to go to Florida, because the people on the west coast were complete assholes about everything it seemed. Heard him yell so many times over a conference call that he wasn't going to let them push (release) something that he hasn't even seen, and they were all 'it works, don't worry blah blah'.
Oh well, looks damn good on a resume :
Worked as tester for Electronic Arts, tested/broke/hacked/cheated Majestic, BattleTech:3025, Motor City Online, and a dozen other ea.com games.
Oh well, fond memories of taking the prescripted AIM bot conversations out of context and sending it to the testbay fun stuff email list.
I just got done reading Black Hawk Down, true story of the Battle of Mogadishu during Operation Restore Hope. Best documentary you'll ever find on it, and a great read in general. But don't expect a happy story.
And of course, any book with a mammal on the cover:) you know which ones I'm talking about. Or Linus' book. Or the Making of Microsoft (i enjoyed it).
I'm an army brat, my dad was an officer. These stories you cite of "middle class" get togethers are all too common in the military world. Atleast once a month we did something like this.
However, I spent the last summer working for the now closed Electronic Arts.com Virginia office, and the testers/quality assurance guys always hung out with each other. Some gave rides to other people to/from work. They went out atleast once a night drinking. And we spent every night playing EverQuest with each other.
I know this was mentioned earlier.. so maybe someone will answer this will it's a thread.. how exactly did the US become the country where this was to be tried? One of the guys was from NE europe (the 16 yr old if I'm not mistaken..) another from Germany.... and yet they're getting tried in NY? Why exactly is the U.S. policing this?
I'm sorry, but I don't understand why no more games by Epic for Linux is a bad thing? Maybe I missed something, but I'm sure the games sucked arse to begin with...
I own Kill'em All, Ride the Lightning,...And Justice For All, Master of Puppets, Load, Reload, Garage Inc., and S&M, and more importantly the still top selling Black Album (http://www.billboard.com/charts/popcat.asp). To think that a company is out to help a band that signed a $36 million contract is amusing. I'm not sure how much money Metallica is losing from their MP3s being distributed (if there is any lost, I doubt it's the bands' direct loss, more likely their companies: Elektra Records and CreepingDeath Records) but I don't think it's enough to warrant a lawsuit for software that is still used legally. If they ever come to southeastern Virginia again for a concert, I'm damn sure I'll be there with a "Leave Napster the F*CK Alone" shirt (without the asterisk, of course).
What is the future of the slackware package system? Using pkgtool I was able to install some software, but any problems and I was thrown for a loop. However, in my recent switch to Debian (slack7 is still on my server, just not desktop computer), all I have to do is apt-get install/upgrade whatever.i.want and it goes out and gets it for me. So now I swear by Debian as a desktop platform over slack and anything else. Is there a future plan to change/upgrade the slack packaging system or maybe adapt someone elses?
To fill you in on my current status, I'm a senior in high school and attend night courses at my local Governor's School, New Horizons Governor's School. NHGS just teaches science/technology classes. It's not a replacement for high school, just a place for higher education, I guess that's the term, for kids wanting to take higher math/science/technology courses than what their parent high school offers. I made it in to NHGS against most odds, I have a 2.6/4.0 GPA, made a 1170 or so on SATs, but I aced all of the tests they used to choose their students. Computers I can do, and do well, however you'll discover I won't ever major in English grammer:] .
Well, it turns out that the current teacher (replacing his wife while she's on leave to take care of newborn) of my "C/C++ in a UNIX Environment" class is also CEO of URLabs (www.urlabs.com). URLabs makes software that filters the Internet and is used largely by schools but also some large corporations I think. Personally, every school I've visited in the area uses it and it's also been used in some of the schools that have been involved in these shootings. Anyways.. he came into class one night and told us he'd like a few volunteers to test out I-Gear (their flagship program, the main Internet filtering program, and claimed to not have filter out the Internet and not prevent the Littleton incident. Cause we all know that the Internet, pornography, and DOO/V\ is to blame) and make sure they aren't "overlooking" anything and to prove that in general the program does filter out improper sites (hey, it still lets me go to/. so I'm not bothered by it yet).
We were chosen because due to the fact that we attend NHGS for a computer/technology class, that we are the best in our area, for our age, at what we do.
Anyways, we went in to their office last Friday (which happens to be right down the street from NHGS, where he teaches us) to try and search out how to make/buy/build/assemble/blah/blah/etc weapons (bombs) and guns. So me and two other friends, from the same parent high school that attend C/C++ @ NHGS, went in to URLabs (we're minors, but had parental permission) to find "browse" the internet without the filtering system on. This Thursday we'll be going back in to do it all over again w/ the I-Gear system full operational and prepared to stop us at all costs. We were told that when we go back in, we'll be recorded by the company that handles URLabs' PR and most likely get splashed across the news (national and local). So, naturally I'll be sporting my "Linux \n Don't Fear the Penguins" tshirt and flip flops.
But on a more serious note, I was wondering if anyone has any advice for me. I'll be doing my best to get past their systems, but the ways I know of doing aren't possible from parent schools due to the fact that they block out telnet and other misc apps. So I'm not expecting much unless I stumble across something.
So, to those of you who took the time to read this article and even think about replying, "Thanks. I'm sorry this post was so long."
The game sucks. I mean, really.. lets look at it.. It's got good graphics, but because it's soo inefficient you need a P450/Voodoo2 SLI to play with out having any second doubts on the capability of your system and the lameness of the game. I wouldn't waste my time writing an email to Epic on how llama the game is just cause it'd deface the name llama. And despite what the sellouts at PC Gamer say, there aren't any current Quake killers. id is the only company yet to make a Quake killer.
Off Topic.. it amuses me that Valve and whoever bothered with SiN could take such a great game and make it @$$.
Slashdot Mirror
Someone tell me if you see Steve Gula in the credits for this game. I was a tester for it for 3 months at EA-VA (EA Charlottesville, VA) before going back to school, they axed everyone but like 20 people (was about 150-200) a month later.
Anyways, the game was a definite change from all other games, and although EA anticipated that, they didn't anticipate the raw manpower that would be needed to make sure it worked and to keep the episodes going. I remember from work, that in the 3 months that it was out, it was already a month behind schedule. And they were just grabbing for air when they brought in Cypher from the Matrix. We also ran into trouble when the lead test head guy left to go to Florida, because the people on the west coast were complete assholes about everything it seemed. Heard him yell so many times over a conference call that he wasn't going to let them push (release) something that he hasn't even seen, and they were all 'it works, don't worry blah blah'.
Oh well, looks damn good on a resume :
Worked as tester for Electronic Arts, tested/broke/hacked/cheated Majestic, BattleTech:3025, Motor City Online, and a dozen other ea.com games.
Oh well, fond memories of taking the prescripted AIM bot conversations out of context and sending it to the testbay fun stuff email list.
No, the best part is that the DVD is being released in a reasonable amount of time. Unlike Mr Lucas' efforts.
not when this is (or could be) going to be used on all cd, mp3, dvd, and other digital media players....
I just got done reading Black Hawk Down, true story of the Battle of Mogadishu during Operation Restore Hope. Best documentary you'll ever find on it, and a great read in general. But don't expect a happy story.
:) you know which ones I'm talking about. Or Linus' book. Or the Making of Microsoft (i enjoyed it).
And of course, any book with a mammal on the cover
Someone else has to have some good reads.
I'm an army brat, my dad was an officer. These stories you cite of "middle class" get togethers are all too common in the military world. Atleast once a month we did something like this.
However, I spent the last summer working for the now closed Electronic Arts.com Virginia office, and the testers/quality assurance guys always hung out with each other. Some gave rides to other people to/from work. They went out atleast once a night drinking. And we spent every night playing EverQuest with each other.
I know this was mentioned earlier.. so maybe someone will answer this will it's a thread.. how exactly did the US become the country where this was to be tried? One of the guys was from NE europe (the 16 yr old if I'm not mistaken..) another from Germany.... and yet they're getting tried in NY? Why exactly is the U.S. policing this?
----------------------------
--Loco3KGT
--http://www.creepingdeath.com
did you ask how many of those guys paid for windows? or the games they played in it?
----------------------------
--Loco3KGT
--elguapo.penguinpowered.com
----------------------------
I'm sorry, but I don't understand why no more games by Epic for Linux is a bad thing? Maybe I missed something, but I'm sure the games sucked arse to begin with...
----------------------------
--Loco3KGT
--elguapo.penguinpowered.com
----------------------------
I own Kill'em All, Ride the Lightning, ...And Justice For All, Master of Puppets, Load, Reload, Garage Inc., and S&M, and more importantly the still top selling Black Album (http://www.billboard.com/charts/popcat.asp). To think that a company is out to help a band that signed a $36 million contract is amusing. I'm not sure how much money Metallica is losing from their MP3s being distributed (if there is any lost, I doubt it's the bands' direct loss, more likely their companies: Elektra Records and CreepingDeath Records) but I don't think it's enough to warrant a lawsuit for software that is still used legally. If they ever come to southeastern Virginia again for a concert, I'm damn sure I'll be there with a "Leave Napster the F*CK Alone" shirt (without the asterisk, of course).
----------------------------
--Loco3KGT
--elguapo.penguinpowered.com
----------------------------
What is the future of the slackware package system? Using pkgtool I was able to install some software, but any problems and I was thrown for a loop. However, in my recent switch to Debian (slack7 is still on my server, just not desktop computer), all I have to do is apt-get install/upgrade whatever.i.want and it goes out and gets it for me. So now I swear by Debian as a desktop platform over slack and anything else. Is there a future plan to change/upgrade the slack packaging system or maybe adapt someone elses?
----------------------------
--Loco3KGT
--elguapo.penguinpowered.com
----------------------------
To fill you in on my current status, I'm a senior in high school and attend night courses at my local Governor's School, New Horizons Governor's School. NHGS just teaches science/technology classes. It's not a replacement for high school, just a place for higher education, I guess that's the term, for kids wanting to take higher math/science/technology courses than what their parent high school offers. I made it in to NHGS against most odds, I have a 2.6/4.0 GPA, made a 1170 or so on SATs, but I aced all of the tests they used to choose their students. Computers I can do, and do well, however you'll discover I won't ever major in English grammer :] .
/. so I'm not bothered by it yet).
Well, it turns out that the current teacher (replacing his wife while she's on leave to take care of newborn) of my "C/C++ in a UNIX Environment" class is also CEO of URLabs (www.urlabs.com). URLabs makes software that filters the Internet and is used largely by schools but also some large corporations I think. Personally, every school I've visited in the area uses it and it's also been used in some of the schools that have been involved in these shootings. Anyways.. he came into class one night and told us he'd like a few volunteers to test out I-Gear (their flagship program, the main Internet filtering program, and claimed to not have filter out the Internet and not prevent the Littleton incident. Cause we all know that the Internet, pornography, and DOO/V\ is to blame) and make sure they aren't "overlooking" anything and to prove that in general the program does filter out improper sites (hey, it still lets me go to
We were chosen because due to the fact that we attend NHGS for a computer/technology class, that we are the best in our area, for our age, at what we do.
Anyways, we went in to their office last Friday (which happens to be right down the street from NHGS, where he teaches us) to try and search out how to make/buy/build/assemble/blah/blah/etc weapons (bombs) and guns. So me and two other friends, from the same parent high school that attend C/C++ @ NHGS, went in to URLabs (we're minors, but had parental permission) to find "browse" the internet without the filtering system on. This Thursday we'll be going back in to do it all over again w/ the I-Gear system full operational and prepared to stop us at all costs. We were told that when we go back in, we'll be recorded by the company that handles URLabs' PR and most likely get splashed across the news (national and local). So, naturally I'll be sporting my "Linux \n Don't Fear the Penguins" tshirt and flip flops.
But on a more serious note, I was wondering if anyone has any advice for me. I'll be doing my best to get past their systems, but the ways I know of doing aren't possible from parent schools due to the fact that they block out telnet and other misc apps. So I'm not expecting much unless I stumble across something.
So, to those of you who took the time to read this article and even think about replying, "Thanks. I'm sorry this post was so long."
--Steve
The game sucks. I mean, really.. lets look at it.. It's got good graphics, but because it's soo inefficient you need a P450/Voodoo2 SLI to play with out having any second doubts on the capability of your system and the lameness of the game. I wouldn't waste my time writing an email to Epic on how llama the game is just cause it'd deface the name llama. And despite what the sellouts at PC Gamer say, there aren't any current Quake killers. id is the only company yet to make a Quake killer.
Off Topic.. it amuses me that Valve and whoever bothered with SiN could take such a great game and make it @$$.