Adobe Reader has always been bad for this - even back when it was called Acrobat Reader.
Aside from having dozens of different versions installed - whatever version you installed was always out of date, unless you started it up(which took ages), and clicked the Check for Updates button. Then it'd tell you you're out of date. You download an update, it restarts, and then you do it again... and it downloads another update. It installs the update, and restarts, and then you do it a third time to check for another update.
After all, jumping from 8.1 to 8.1.3 is much too large of an increment. Each version must be applied incrementally, and it's completely illogical to download every required update at the same time.
Ahh... the fond memories! It takes me right back. Now I remember their artificially slow installers, that did nothing for minutes on end just because of your OS. Such pleasant times!
It's his right to do whatever he wants with his pension. If he wants to create a database of stolen identities, he can do that. And if he asks for payment to see if you are inside it, he can also do that.
He just can't do anything nefarious or illegal with it.
All my flash drives have been rubber coated. I've had three XPorter XT's over the years. I can't count the number of times I've dropped them in puddles, and been thankful for the rubber coating.
2) You use a MASSIVE amount of memory in relation to your file size. You may have noticed it sits at a black screen for a bit before running. Why? It is doing all its calculations, decompressing in to memory. When running on my system, it took 350MB. Rather than storing lots on disk and streaming as needed, you store little on disk and have to use tons of RAM.
3) You can't have things like voices and such in the game, takes too much space. Even with extremely efficient compression (which produces audible artifacts) voices will quickly make your game larger.
4) All assembly coding. To do this, you are writing everything as efficient as you can. That's wonderful, but hard to maintain. For a large project that is going to need to run on a lot of systems, be patched and so on, you want a higher level language. Doing everything in assembly would be a nightmare to maintain.
Your points aren't really valid. That's the way the tech is currently used, but it doesn't have to be that way.
Ex: Jpegs are used for photos, but that doesn't restrict them from being game textures.
Regarding point #2 - the solution is to build the procedural code into the game, and have it save the textures to disk on first run, thereby "installing" it. Voilla. 1MB game unpacks to 900MB, and saves on bandwidth costs.
Regarding point #3 - Pick an efficient codec like AAC( 3GPP AAC+ ) or ogg vorbis, and you're pretty much set. Quite good quality at low bitrates(~40kbit). It's not perfect, but it certainly cuts the filesize over mp3.
"Too much space" is relative. If voices bump your game from 1MB to 61MB, then that's fine, because you're still below the 900MB or 9000MB that are common for modern games.
Regarding point #4 - kkrieger was coded in C. You only need assembly if you want to cut out the executable overhead. If you don't care about having a 4KB exe, and can tolerate a 936KB exe (arbitrary number), then just stick with C and don't bother with all that hand-optimized stuff.
And again, I'd like to point out that you can mix procedural with non-procedural. Nothing says all textures have to be generated on the fly, and nothing says all textures have to be pre-rendered by artists. Many games already mix procedural with non-procedural. I'm not talking about textures, but rather nav-maps and stuff. Some games require people to sit in an editor and plunk down nav-nodes on the floor. Other games (or editors) figure it out for you. Procedural! This is just taking procedural to the next level, and applying it to everything, which doesn't work if you actually want to make a fun game - but you can still use it in many places to enhance the games or editors.
I myself am not very artistic. I think I'd do much better creating textures if I could use those kkriger procedural rendering tools.
The Geneva conventions apply to uniformed soldiers fighting in declared wars between states. They specifically exclude "irregular" combatants who dress as civilians or are not acting on behalf of a state.
Yeah, but all the countries that could fight a declared war are pretty much allied.
I don't foresee the US, UK, Russian, and China duking it out any time soon; do you?
Irregular combatants are the norm in many places, like Iraq.
If the media player vendors can learn, why not the browser? And yes, I don't buy the argument that anyone downloading Firefox is looking to make it his default browser. I download Opera and Chrome onto new PCs too, I'd be pissed if I couldn't stop them from becoming my default.
You can stop them from becoming default. You uncheck a box.
Most browsers assume you want it to be the default when you install it. That's fine - they all seem to do it. This same behaviour is not fine, when it's merely applying a patch or upgrade.
If I upgrade from FF3 to FF3.5, and Opera is my default browser, Opera should remain my default browser. This is where Microsoft messed up.
Certainly its easy to fix this. Most of the browsers will demand to be set as the default browser when you open them, but this is a conversation for the new and inexperienced users who don't know how to change that. If they did download Chrome (because Google is pushing chrome aggressively on every page) having it be the default browser could be a huge learning curve.
Chrome never set itself to be the default browser, for me? I couldn't even get it to set itself to open.html files, when I wanted it to.
Automated updates are not supposed to change settings, but installing can. Your beef would be valid if every Firefox patch set it to be the default browser, even when IE8 was.
And being clueless, they're far more likely to click on an advertisement, thinking it's a legitimate search result. Which company wouldn't want them using their own browser!?;D
3: Compatibility mode. There are some sites which still assume that everyone is going to be using IE6 for the forseeable future.
Short of rubbish sites that require ActiveX, I've found most sites made for IE6 render better in Firefox than IE8.
I suppose that's why there is a compatibility mode. But to me, this isn't a positive I'd go around boasting about.
I'm happy they finally got security "right". I'd lump it up there with Safari and Firefox. (though not Chrome or Opera, until it's proven itself for a while)
I agree that GUIs are often dumbed down for controllers - but sometimes GUIs just blow.
I've been playing a lot of TF2 lately, and it can be quite annoying. If the server flips levels, or a new round starts, or you get bumped to another character, whatever you were doing gets closed. That means you can be trying to equip a Sandman, and have to do it two or three times because of interruptions. Obviously it depends on the server, and also your luck/timing.
One time I was trying to alter mouse sensitivity, and it kept kicking me out of the console. Once I got the sensitivity set right, I didn't have to do it again - but it was annoying while I was attempting it.
I'm also annoyed by the complete lies the server list tells. Wrong map, wrong number of players, etc.; I wish there was a way to exclude servers from further searches.
I suppose I'm more annoyed by clunky interfaces than dumbed down ones.
I used to play lots of console games - back in the SNES/Genesis/PS1/N64 era. Then I took a hiatus and became a PC gamer, because I discovered I loved RTS's like TA. Now that I've been using my keyboard and mouse for so long, I find the new controllers quite awkward. I'm not bad with them, but I'm way better with my Keyboard and Mouse. Even games where you'd shudder to use a keyboard (ResEvil 4? Most emus?), I do better with my keyboard and mouse.
I've been making a point to try Overlord (since I have that game on PC) with both keyboard + mouse, and controller. It's more work to use the controller, so I must still be building neural circuits. There's also no easy way to spin around instantly to look at something.
Next up is Assassin's Creed. But first I'll finish Overlord, and give my brain time to figure stuff out. Then I'll decide which I like more. (Right now, leaning towards keyboard + mouse)
Poking around the checkouts I see that you buy the game individually for each operating system as opposed to buy once, run anywhere. If my main mac dies (again) I'll have to shell out again to play it on a Windows or Linux machine. Not a huge fan of this sort of arrangement, I liked Braid where I've paid for it once and have access to Windows and OSX copies.
I'm inclined to agree with Anonymous Coward:
It is just fsck'ing $5, not $60. Spend $10 instead of $5 and get both. The price *IS* right here. Geez!
1. code freeze happens every six months meaning you don't get to finish off features and fixes which might have been of huge benefit. it would make much more sense to base your release cycle around features and improvements, then some arbitary number of days.
I see this more as a positive. With Linux - Ubuntu in particular - every new version adds new features, and breaks old ones. Maybe if they spent less time adding new stuff, they'd have a more stable product.
Bluetooth and my SATA controller say hello, Ubuntu.:)
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The cheapest legit Registrars I've found were just over $10. The ones cheaper than that don't offer any privacy.
I'd never use a registrar like GoDaddy. Their privacy is totally fake - anyone can phone in and get your info.
Adobe Reader has always been bad for this - even back when it was called Acrobat Reader.
Aside from having dozens of different versions installed - whatever version you installed was always out of date, unless you started it up(which took ages), and clicked the Check for Updates button. Then it'd tell you you're out of date. You download an update, it restarts, and then you do it again... and it downloads another update. It installs the update, and restarts, and then you do it a third time to check for another update.
After all, jumping from 8.1 to 8.1.3 is much too large of an increment. Each version must be applied incrementally, and it's completely illogical to download every required update at the same time.
Ahh... the fond memories! It takes me right back. Now I remember their artificially slow installers, that did nothing for minutes on end just because of your OS. Such pleasant times!
It's his right to do whatever he wants with his pension. If he wants to create a database of stolen identities, he can do that. And if he asks for payment to see if you are inside it, he can also do that.
He just can't do anything nefarious or illegal with it.
All my flash drives have been rubber coated. I've had three XPorter XT's over the years. I can't count the number of times I've dropped them in puddles, and been thankful for the rubber coating.
(I'm aware that my suggestion doesn't deal with an already-logged in scenario. If anyone has an answer to that one, please, do reply with it!)
I suppose you could always hope they shut down the computer and can't get back in, but that's a pretty bad plan IMHO. :P
What if it was already logged in?
Ex: Someone grabs it at an internet cafe, while you're ordering something?
I know everyone else is thinking the same thing, but I'll say it anyway - encrypt the entire partition, with a tool like TrueCrypt.
Phones like the iPhone should have an easy backspace - like maybe shaking the phone.
That way you could try and press numbers without looking at it, and if you hit the wrong one, just shake it a bit and aim again. :P
FYI, I always pull over when calling. ;)
2) You use a MASSIVE amount of memory in relation to your file size. You may have noticed it sits at a black screen for a bit before running. Why? It is doing all its calculations, decompressing in to memory. When running on my system, it took 350MB. Rather than storing lots on disk and streaming as needed, you store little on disk and have to use tons of RAM.
3) You can't have things like voices and such in the game, takes too much space. Even with extremely efficient compression (which produces audible artifacts) voices will quickly make your game larger.
4) All assembly coding. To do this, you are writing everything as efficient as you can. That's wonderful, but hard to maintain. For a large project that is going to need to run on a lot of systems, be patched and so on, you want a higher level language. Doing everything in assembly would be a nightmare to maintain.
Your points aren't really valid. That's the way the tech is currently used, but it doesn't have to be that way.
Ex: Jpegs are used for photos, but that doesn't restrict them from being game textures.
Regarding point #2 - the solution is to build the procedural code into the game, and have it save the textures to disk on first run, thereby "installing" it. Voilla. 1MB game unpacks to 900MB, and saves on bandwidth costs.
Regarding point #3 - Pick an efficient codec like AAC( 3GPP AAC+ ) or ogg vorbis, and you're pretty much set. Quite good quality at low bitrates(~40kbit). It's not perfect, but it certainly cuts the filesize over mp3.
"Too much space" is relative. If voices bump your game from 1MB to 61MB, then that's fine, because you're still below the 900MB or 9000MB that are common for modern games.
Regarding point #4 - kkrieger was coded in C. You only need assembly if you want to cut out the executable overhead. If you don't care about having a 4KB exe, and can tolerate a 936KB exe (arbitrary number), then just stick with C and don't bother with all that hand-optimized stuff.
And again, I'd like to point out that you can mix procedural with non-procedural. Nothing says all textures have to be generated on the fly, and nothing says all textures have to be pre-rendered by artists. Many games already mix procedural with non-procedural. I'm not talking about textures, but rather nav-maps and stuff. Some games require people to sit in an editor and plunk down nav-nodes on the floor. Other games (or editors) figure it out for you. Procedural! This is just taking procedural to the next level, and applying it to everything, which doesn't work if you actually want to make a fun game - but you can still use it in many places to enhance the games or editors.
I myself am not very artistic. I think I'd do much better creating textures if I could use those kkriger procedural rendering tools.
I think you're correct. This is a jab at all those other companies with virtualization products - VMware, RedHat, Novell, Oracle(Sun), etc.
The Geneva conventions apply to uniformed soldiers fighting in declared wars between states. They specifically exclude "irregular" combatants who dress as civilians or are not acting on behalf of a state.
Yeah, but all the countries that could fight a declared war are pretty much allied.
I don't foresee the US, UK, Russian, and China duking it out any time soon; do you?
Irregular combatants are the norm in many places, like Iraq.
You forgot the basement. You know, the place where cars park. 6 stories is a lot of people, so they need a whole floor for parking!
If the media player vendors can learn, why not the browser? And yes, I don't buy the argument that anyone downloading Firefox is looking to make it his default browser. I download Opera and Chrome onto new PCs too, I'd be pissed if I couldn't stop them from becoming my default.
You can stop them from becoming default. You uncheck a box.
Most browsers assume you want it to be the default when you install it. That's fine - they all seem to do it. This same behaviour is not fine, when it's merely applying a patch or upgrade.
If I upgrade from FF3 to FF3.5, and Opera is my default browser, Opera should remain my default browser. This is where Microsoft messed up.
Certainly its easy to fix this. Most of the browsers will demand to be set as the default browser when you open them, but this is a conversation for the new and inexperienced users who don't know how to change that. If they did download Chrome (because Google is pushing chrome aggressively on every page) having it be the default browser could be a huge learning curve.
Chrome never set itself to be the default browser, for me? I couldn't even get it to set itself to open .html files, when I wanted it to.
But you downloaded it manually, correct?
Automated updates are not supposed to change settings, but installing can. Your beef would be valid if every Firefox patch set it to be the default browser, even when IE8 was.
And being clueless, they're far more likely to click on an advertisement, thinking it's a legitimate search result. Which company wouldn't want them using their own browser!? ;D
3: Compatibility mode. There are some sites which still assume that everyone is going to be using IE6 for the forseeable future.
Short of rubbish sites that require ActiveX, I've found most sites made for IE6 render better in Firefox than IE8.
I suppose that's why there is a compatibility mode. But to me, this isn't a positive I'd go around boasting about.
I'm happy they finally got security "right". I'd lump it up there with Safari and Firefox. (though not Chrome or Opera, until it's proven itself for a while)
Hmm... interesting.
Well, I suppose that explains a few things.
If you use a keyboard, what does player 2 use? A whole another computer?
Sure. Or another keyboard + mouse. :P
Or are controller. ;)
Overlord supports split-screen with one person having a controller, and the other a keyboard + mouse. I personally prefer LAN parties, though.
I agree that GUIs are often dumbed down for controllers - but sometimes GUIs just blow.
I've been playing a lot of TF2 lately, and it can be quite annoying. If the server flips levels, or a new round starts, or you get bumped to another character, whatever you were doing gets closed. That means you can be trying to equip a Sandman, and have to do it two or three times because of interruptions. Obviously it depends on the server, and also your luck/timing.
One time I was trying to alter mouse sensitivity, and it kept kicking me out of the console. Once I got the sensitivity set right, I didn't have to do it again - but it was annoying while I was attempting it.
I'm also annoyed by the complete lies the server list tells. Wrong map, wrong number of players, etc.; I wish there was a way to exclude servers from further searches.
I suppose I'm more annoyed by clunky interfaces than dumbed down ones.
Well, for me Keyboard + Mouse is superior.
I used to play lots of console games - back in the SNES/Genesis/PS1/N64 era. Then I took a hiatus and became a PC gamer, because I discovered I loved RTS's like TA. Now that I've been using my keyboard and mouse for so long, I find the new controllers quite awkward. I'm not bad with them, but I'm way better with my Keyboard and Mouse. Even games where you'd shudder to use a keyboard (ResEvil 4? Most emus?), I do better with my keyboard and mouse.
I've been making a point to try Overlord (since I have that game on PC) with both keyboard + mouse, and controller. It's more work to use the controller, so I must still be building neural circuits. There's also no easy way to spin around instantly to look at something.
Next up is Assassin's Creed. But first I'll finish Overlord, and give my brain time to figure stuff out. Then I'll decide which I like more. (Right now, leaning towards keyboard + mouse)
Raving is not a crime.
Correct you are. Taking drugs might be, but partying and listening to loud music in an isolated field out in the middle of nowhere, isn't.
Poking around the checkouts I see that you buy the game individually for each operating system as opposed to buy once, run anywhere. If my main mac dies (again) I'll have to shell out again to play it on a Windows or Linux machine. Not a huge fan of this sort of arrangement, I liked Braid where I've paid for it once and have access to Windows and OSX copies.
I'm inclined to agree with Anonymous Coward:
It is just fsck'ing $5, not $60. Spend $10 instead of $5 and get both. The price *IS* right here. Geez!
Isn't Braid $15? Seems like the price is perfect!
Was it OS dependent, or hardware dependent?
I had the issue in winxp 32bit sp3.
Beats me - but I don't have it on that OS. It still takes 2 seconds to start.
1. code freeze happens every six months meaning you don't get to finish off features and fixes which might have been of huge benefit. it would make much more sense to base your release cycle around features and improvements, then some arbitary number of days.
I see this more as a positive. With Linux - Ubuntu in particular - every new version adds new features, and breaks old ones. Maybe if they spent less time adding new stuff, they'd have a more stable product.
Bluetooth and my SATA controller say hello, Ubuntu. :)
And a few weeks before that, speculation that they hadn't actually been found! And a week before that, rumour that they had been found!
A few weeks from now, someone will "discover" the actual tapes.
And a week after that, they will discover they are the actual tapes, but already overwritten with other stuff.
Hey, do you like Ping Pong? It's fun. :D