I don't know about Backgammon, but if you left a game of Video Chess running long enough, the CPU would "cheat" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Chess#Bugs
Perhaps, but do you really think a mediocre FPS is going to be instrumental in changing someone's opinion? Like when someone has a snarky political bumper sticker on the back of their car... it doesn't make me go "hmmm, maybe the next administration *will* be the end of an error?" - all it accomplishes is to irritate people who disagree with it. (which may be the point, but that's another discussion altogether)
Point is, there's a time and place for that kind of stuff, but it's probably not in videogames, and Harvey sure ain't the person to pull it off successfully.
Good point. I think people, regardless of their views on the current situation, are sick of having their entertainment littered with anti-Iraq war propaganda at every turn. (note the terrible box office receipts for Lions for Lambs, Rendition, The Kingdom, etc.) We get enough of it on the news; we don't need it in our entertainment media, and particularly not video games. Most people see video games, movies, etc. as a means of escape - not an excuse to get preached at by individuals whose opinions we couldn't care less about.
Don't get me wrong - there's a time and place for trying to raise one's consciousness about social issues via entertainment, but is there *anyone* that doesn't already have their opinion firmly in place about the Iraq War? At this point it's just more noisy static in an already ear-splitting cacophony.
Interesting how more and more cures and uses for adult stem cells are found, yet some would have you think embryonic stem cells are the only useful ones. Almost as if it's not *really* about finding cures at all... hmmm...
"And then finally, those "conservative groups" get a couple of lawmakers to enforce this type of law because of some group of idiot developers who decide to put an extremely well hidden sex scene in their game."
Rather than blaming the "conservative groups" boogeyman, you might want to check which side of the aisle these lawmakers are on. Hint - there's a "D" next to most of their names.
"How many people with both an X360 and a PC chose to buy the PC version of Oblivion because they could get a ton of free mods to upgrade the PC version whereas Microsoft insisted the publisher charge a couple of bucks for every "upgrade" that really should have been a patch?"
Um... 360 game patches *are* free. Additional content != patch. Bethesda charges for the same content on the PC side as well.
Probably because it's the Xbox 360 itself that's doing most of the heavy lifting. All the HD-DVD add-on has to do is read the raw data off the disc and send it over to the 360 for processing.
If profit was the *only* criteria, perhaps (not to mention that most of it is due to their handheld line, not the gamecube). But going from an NES-sized marketshare to a GC-sized one has got to be a huge blow, if only for morale's-sake.
1) The original negatives are gone, destroyed as part of the process of creating the 1997 special edition versions.
We're inclined to believe this is true. Still, the original negatives are not the only viable elements that can be used to transfer the films for home video release. There are numerous interpositive prints. There are the separation masters. Worst case, there are a number of high quality release prints available. In short, other elements exist that can be used for this purpose.
2) The other existing original elements have deteriorated too badly to be used.
We'll come back to this one in a minute.
3) There are just no quality film elements remaining anywhere that could be used.
See our answer to #1. Even if it's true that Lucas and his staff destroyed all of the original negatives, it's unlikely in the extreme that they also destroyed all of the interpositives, all of the separation masters, and all of the release prints. In fact, we know that they didn't. Where, for example, would the anamorphic footage of the original 1977 opening text crawl from A New Hope - the footage that appeared in the Empire of Dreams DVD documentary - have come from if not from quality surviving film elements? Still, even if Lucas did destroy every single scrap of original film available in the Lucasfilm Archives... we know for a fact that high quality die transfer release prints exist in the hands of a number of archives and private collectors. While not ideal, any of these could be given a high-definition transfer, a bit of digital clean-up and color-timing, and could be presented on DVD in anamorphic widescreen in quality that would be superior to a 1993 non-anamorphic laserdisc transfer.
4) The 1993 laserdisc masters are the best source material that can be found for use on DVD after exhaustive searches of the Lucasfilm Archives.
See our answer to #3. This is flatly absurd. If this were true, Lucasfilm's archivists should be ashamed of themselves. We know of few professionals tasked with the preservation of film materials that would allow such critically important film elements as the original Star Wars films to be lost, to deteriorate or be wholesale destroyed. And again, even if Lucasfilm's vaults were so woefully incomplete, we know for a fact that quality elements exist elsewhere. Given 48 hours notice, we could track them down ourselves. Surely, with its significant resources and influence, Lucasfilm could do the same. If the 1993 laserdisc masters are really the best that Lucasfilm can do, it's disturbing. If not, a statement like "We returned to the Lucasfilm Archives to search exhaustively for source material that could be presented on DVD..." seems terribly disingenuous - the corporate PR equivalent of "I'm so sorry, but the dog ate my homework."
But let's get back to #2...
2) The other existing original elements have deteriorated too badly to be used.
It just so happens that one of our regular contributors here at The Bits, the author of our ever illuminating Yellow Layer Failure, Vinegar Syndrome and Miscellaneous Musings column, is something of an expert on the subject of film preservation and restoration. Robert A. Harris, in point of fact, is one of the world's best known motion picture archivists, and has does significant work in this field through his company, Film Preserve. Robert's experiments in color technology and more recent advances in the digital domain have set standards in the industry. His reconstruction and restoration efforts, primarily in the large format field, have brought back to the screen some of the most important films ever produced, including Lawrence of Arabia, Spartacus, My Fair Lady, Vertigo and Rear Window.
We asked Robert what might be done with the original surviving elements of the Star Wars films in order to rejuvenate them and present them in high quality on DVD
This isn't unusual. Early software-only DVD players required a pretty hefty machine for the time. Remember DVD accelerator cards? (Creative DXR, etc.) They existed because the CPUs at the time weren't quite up to the taskl
They most certainly did concede defeat in the consumer market... first by actually selling VHS players, and secondly by killing off the Betamax line. Betacam, while based on the same technology, is not compatible with betamax.
"Garriott will be recognized "for fuelling the presence of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) in the mass market"."
Yeah, MMORPGs are quite the time-sucker, and Ultima Online was the first good example of what an MMORPG could be. But his contributions to the gaming industry (particularly in the realm of CRPGs) are just as important, if not moreso, than his involvement with UO.
As there were only a handful of stores that participated in the "forced bundling" shenanigans, you can't exactly say it was a corporate policy. Therefore, yeah, lower managers *are* the culprits.
Dude, that is NOT a laptop by any stretch. Portable as in it has a handle, but it's not battery powered, nor is it something you could use in your lap.
Word. Between that, too many concerts, and too much guitar playing (a 100-watt Marshall is ear-splittingly loud, to say the least), I developed pretty severe tinnitus.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't know about Backgammon, but if you left a game of Video Chess running long enough, the CPU would "cheat" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Chess#Bugs
If not Toulouse, then who do you suggest as a more trustworthy source? He is not beholden to you to provide more details.
Perhaps, but do you really think a mediocre FPS is going to be instrumental in changing someone's opinion? Like when someone has a snarky political bumper sticker on the back of their car... it doesn't make me go "hmmm, maybe the next administration *will* be the end of an error?" - all it accomplishes is to irritate people who disagree with it. (which may be the point, but that's another discussion altogether)
Point is, there's a time and place for that kind of stuff, but it's probably not in videogames, and Harvey sure ain't the person to pull it off successfully.
Good point. I think people, regardless of their views on the current situation, are sick of having their entertainment littered with anti-Iraq war propaganda at every turn. (note the terrible box office receipts for Lions for Lambs, Rendition, The Kingdom, etc.) We get enough of it on the news; we don't need it in our entertainment media, and particularly not video games. Most people see video games, movies, etc. as a means of escape - not an excuse to get preached at by individuals whose opinions we couldn't care less about.
Don't get me wrong - there's a time and place for trying to raise one's consciousness about social issues via entertainment, but is there *anyone* that doesn't already have their opinion firmly in place about the Iraq War? At this point it's just more noisy static in an already ear-splitting cacophony.
Interesting how more and more cures and uses for adult stem cells are found, yet some would have you think embryonic stem cells are the only useful ones. Almost as if it's not *really* about finding cures at all... hmmm...
:groan:
Let's do an experiment. If I stab you in the heart with a sword, you will bleed. A lot. No amount of "different truths" will change that.
Uh, not to ruin your mouth-foaming rant, but...
"And then finally, those "conservative groups" get a couple of lawmakers to enforce this type of law because of some group of idiot developers who decide to put an extremely well hidden sex scene in their game."
Rather than blaming the "conservative groups" boogeyman, you might want to check which side of the aisle these lawmakers are on. Hint - there's a "D" next to most of their names.
"How many people with both an X360 and a PC chose to buy the PC version of Oblivion because they could get a ton of free mods to upgrade the PC version whereas Microsoft insisted the publisher charge a couple of bucks for every "upgrade" that really should have been a patch?"
Um... 360 game patches *are* free. Additional content != patch. Bethesda charges for the same content on the PC side as well.
Probably because it's the Xbox 360 itself that's doing most of the heavy lifting. All the HD-DVD add-on has to do is read the raw data off the disc and send it over to the 360 for processing.
If profit was the *only* criteria, perhaps (not to mention that most of it is due to their handheld line, not the gamecube). But going from an NES-sized marketshare to a GC-sized one has got to be a huge blow, if only for morale's-sake.
No, it's an Atari 2600 catridge alright.
r eLabelID=569
http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html?Softwa
"The NES had ... an 8-bit digital brain for enhanced power..."
Er, so did the Atari 2600 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOS_Technology_6507
They released a big BC update less than a month ago. These things don't happen automagically.
From The Digital Bits: ( http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa121.html )
1) The original negatives are gone, destroyed as part of the process of creating the 1997 special edition versions.
We're inclined to believe this is true. Still, the original negatives are not the only viable elements that can be used to transfer the films for home video release. There are numerous interpositive prints. There are the separation masters. Worst case, there are a number of high quality release prints available. In short, other elements exist that can be used for this purpose.
2) The other existing original elements have deteriorated too badly to be used.
We'll come back to this one in a minute.
3) There are just no quality film elements remaining anywhere that could be used.
See our answer to #1. Even if it's true that Lucas and his staff destroyed all of the original negatives, it's unlikely in the extreme that they also destroyed all of the interpositives, all of the separation masters, and all of the release prints. In fact, we know that they didn't. Where, for example, would the anamorphic footage of the original 1977 opening text crawl from A New Hope - the footage that appeared in the Empire of Dreams DVD documentary - have come from if not from quality surviving film elements? Still, even if Lucas did destroy every single scrap of original film available in the Lucasfilm Archives... we know for a fact that high quality die transfer release prints exist in the hands of a number of archives and private collectors. While not ideal, any of these could be given a high-definition transfer, a bit of digital clean-up and color-timing, and could be presented on DVD in anamorphic widescreen in quality that would be superior to a 1993 non-anamorphic laserdisc transfer.
4) The 1993 laserdisc masters are the best source material that can be found for use on DVD after exhaustive searches of the Lucasfilm Archives.
See our answer to #3. This is flatly absurd. If this were true, Lucasfilm's archivists should be ashamed of themselves. We know of few professionals tasked with the preservation of film materials that would allow such critically important film elements as the original Star Wars films to be lost, to deteriorate or be wholesale destroyed. And again, even if Lucasfilm's vaults were so woefully incomplete, we know for a fact that quality elements exist elsewhere. Given 48 hours notice, we could track them down ourselves. Surely, with its significant resources and influence, Lucasfilm could do the same. If the 1993 laserdisc masters are really the best that Lucasfilm can do, it's disturbing. If not, a statement like "We returned to the Lucasfilm Archives to search exhaustively for source material that could be presented on DVD..." seems terribly disingenuous - the corporate PR equivalent of "I'm so sorry, but the dog ate my homework."
But let's get back to #2...
2) The other existing original elements have deteriorated too badly to be used.
It just so happens that one of our regular contributors here at The Bits, the author of our ever illuminating Yellow Layer Failure, Vinegar Syndrome and Miscellaneous Musings column, is something of an expert on the subject of film preservation and restoration. Robert A. Harris, in point of fact, is one of the world's best known motion picture archivists, and has does significant work in this field through his company, Film Preserve. Robert's experiments in color technology and more recent advances in the digital domain have set standards in the industry. His reconstruction and restoration efforts, primarily in the large format field, have brought back to the screen some of the most important films ever produced, including Lawrence of Arabia, Spartacus, My Fair Lady, Vertigo and Rear Window.
We asked Robert what might be done with the original surviving elements of the Star Wars films in order to rejuvenate them and present them in high quality on DVD
This isn't unusual. Early software-only DVD players required a pretty hefty machine for the time. Remember DVD accelerator cards? (Creative DXR, etc.) They existed because the CPUs at the time weren't quite up to the taskl
They most certainly did concede defeat in the consumer market... first by actually selling VHS players, and secondly by killing off the Betamax line. Betacam, while based on the same technology, is not compatible with betamax.
Because some people would rather play on a comfortable couch with their big screen TV rather than at a desk with an office chair and a small monitor?
But for this?
"Garriott will be recognized "for fuelling the presence of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) in the mass market"."
Yeah, MMORPGs are quite the time-sucker, and Ultima Online was the first good example of what an MMORPG could be. But his contributions to the gaming industry (particularly in the realm of CRPGs) are just as important, if not moreso, than his involvement with UO.
A Rotten Tomatoes average of 7% is all I need to know, really.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/p/uwe_boll/
I'm not going to blindly agree with every movie critic, but when they *all* trash *every* movie you make, it's time to consider a new career.
As there were only a handful of stores that participated in the "forced bundling" shenanigans, you can't exactly say it was a corporate policy. Therefore, yeah, lower managers *are* the culprits.
Either way, it's not a particularly healthy lifestyle.
People are still making (and marketing) games for the Atari 2600...
3 95
http://atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=79
Dude, that is NOT a laptop by any stretch. Portable as in it has a handle, but it's not battery powered, nor is it something you could use in your lap.
Yes, because Microsoft is the *only* company *ever* that has spoken badly about their competition. Those bastards!
Word. Between that, too many concerts, and too much guitar playing (a 100-watt Marshall is ear-splittingly loud, to say the least), I developed pretty severe tinnitus.