Apart from the Slashdot crowd (and most people here comment against DRM just for the sake DRM with no intentions to actually buying the game) I don't really know anyone who would avoid their upcoming favorite game they've waited for so long just because it has that online DRM. If a game I want comes along with it, I will buy it because I want to play it, and thats from someone who actually understands the issues - most gamers don't.
The more online parts they integrate the harder it gets to crack. Parts of game, AI, quests, geometry.. It's a lost battle for pirates.
They're not customers for the particular album/movie/game/whatever they're pirating. And lets be honest here, its a little minority of pirates who will buy the product after they've pirated it.
I'm actually happy to see Ubisoft and Blizzard have figured out how to stop the PC Game pirates. Assassins Creed II still remains uncracked and people have went and bought the game because they don't want to wait for a crack any longer. I hope they introduce it to more titles - by winning piracy we will start to get more quality games, as 90% of gamers aren't freeloaders anymore. Yeah not everyone will buy what they would have pirated, but majority of those who want to play some game will.
No, those unofficial DirectX 10 ports did not make it work correctly in Windows XP. Those ports merely removed support for the new features so that they could run, but you did not get the new features. Remember that the driver model completely changed in Vista, so obviously close-to-hardware things like DirectX will be incompatible with old OS versions.
Consoles tend to lack mods and indie games. If I want to develop games designed for people who "sit down for a beer or quick game", and I don't have the separate office and prior commercial titles that console makers like Sony and Nintendo demand, which platform should I target? Or should I just move to a bigger city and try to get hired by an established studio?
PC or XBOX 360. You can even code to them simultaneously with XNA. Costs $99 an year and some percentage of sales (30% I think) and off you go, they aren't as strict as Nintendo or Sony either.
This is like saying "I can't wait for memcached to die" just because your site doesn't need it. Fact is, some do. It's your own fault if you choose to apply unnecessary techniques.
Don't change to newer fancy techniques if you don't understand what they are for and why would you need them.
I agree. So why don't PC games support the console-style experience for players who have a PC tucked under the HDTV?
People that have done such are so minority that it probably doesn't make much sense to developers. Most people now a day have console for that purpose. PC games used to have multiplayer split-screen support in a lot of games and we used to play so in the 90's (there was some fun games too, especially some freeware ones). But when Internet got around and LAN parties started to become more common, there wasn't really need for such anymore.
If modes like Goldeneye 007 on N64 aren't acceptable, have you tried a team game? If you have two people on your split screen, can you do two on a team vs. two bots? Split-screen first-person shooters all the way back to FaceBall 2000 for Super NES have supported team matches.
Co-op campaigns like Left4Dead, Borderlands and so on sure can work that way, I agree. But since I like these strategy games and games where enemies not knowing where you are is important thing, I rather take PC and have LAN parties. But when we sit down for a beer or quick game, my consoles work just well for that. Take the best from both worlds.
As to what comes to why not a single machine, there isn't a single console either. With current generation it actually makes even some sense, since Wii is so completely different to the other machines. However pretty much all people are just fine with the current differences between PC/Consoles and I am too.
Sometimes it's better to separate things and not try to build a "Jack of all trades, master of none" -device.
And in turn your post about cross platform support for wii/ps3/xbox360 also doesn't make any sense, because 1) 360 doesn't support OpenGL, it supports DirectX 2) Wii and PS3 OpenGL support isn't compatible, and they also have other technical (cpu, SD/HD, ram, so on) and gameplay (wiimote) differences that would still require complete rewrite of graphics engine and gameplay.
You only described games that don't require tactical elements where the opposite player shouldn't know everything. Civilization, Age of Empires, all those strategy games. Most of shooters like Call of Duty are a lot better too when the enemy doesn't know where you are. Those kind of games don't work good on split-screen, and on minimum lose all tactical elements.
Saying OpenGL allows direct development to multiple platforms including mobiles doesn't make much sense because in pretty much every case you would need to do the rendering engine again, and in most cases also change the gameplay completely. Mobile phones don't scale up to same performance as consoles or PC.
If PC gamers understand the technical difference, then they know DirectX is technically superior. But those who understand and care about the philosophical difference are probably along the same numbers than those who run Linux on desktop as a main OS - not much. Open source people sure, but not gamers.
It also didn't really offer anything new, but just the same old stuff and it didn't have any personal feel to it either. It's like they tried to cheapo Diablo 2 copy six years later.
Sure, but you can't really compare those two. Both console gaming with friends and LAN parties are completely different. I don't know why people always have to compare the two - you can have both.
LAN parties also offer one strategic element more - other people don't see where you are / what you are doing / what you are planning and you can have your whole full screen just for yourself. Our Call of Duty LAN parties would had been quite less fun if you knew where everyone was. No hiding, no surprise attacks, no tactics. Just mindless who-shoots-and-hits-first attacks.
That's not holding back. It's just that players find those MMORPG's more fun to play. Isn't that improvement in gaming?
That's almost like saying that a few more fun and great games are destroying the market because people play those and don't buy the ones they don't enjoy so much.
You're somewhat wrong, because games are also sold by their graphics and sounds and such. You're probably thinking that great graphics and sounds make a bad game, but you can have the both. I enjoy some of the old games, but seriously I rather play with awesome graphics and sound environment too.
Also, you are missing one important thing. If you free more resources from the graphic rendering by using newer technology, you can have more resources on AI and other gameplay elements.
No one really cares about cross platform on PC, other than those few people who run Linux on desktop. Most games already work on Windows (where all the gamers are and don't care about philosophical things with Linux) and Mac OSX has most games too, along with the upcoming Mac version of Steam too.
Thinking that the lack of gaming on Linux is what's holding back PC as a gaming platform is hilarious, and so wrong.
Gamers? They probably don't even know the technical or philosophical differences between OpenGL and DirectX, and if they do, they don't care.
And who doesn't want to use DirectX 11? You should make your games to support if already, along with providing fallback to DX9 and DX10. Gamers and their hardware will catch up.
Mechanical devices are not physics, they are the application of ideas which are confirmed by physics. In other words, they are technology, not science.
So just like computer algorithms are application of ideas which are confirmed by math?
And it's not like software patents often involve any specific math - they involve the idea or outcome in very specific terms.
As for Facebook, all this means is that I have to double check that all the info I've given them is erroneous.
Including name? Having a fake name makes it really awkward to use Facebook with your friends and relatives and so on.
But this is finally a thing that really made me thinking of just closing my Facebook account. Not just opt-out from the new features again and again, since they just seem to always be more and more privacy intrusive.
This doesn't use any kind of login button but shares the data automatically to a website when you visit it, so they instantly know who you are along with other data. IP data is still anonymous enough (from the view point of website operator - they don't know who you are without going through police with a valid reason), but now the third party website owners have your name and other details without you never giving them those.
And just wait until every website will start to require you to use this. A good path for throwing all the anonymous cowards off the net and to get everyone comment and visit websites under their real name.
Well, in this case the sharing of information to third party websites will be done automatically and you are automatically opted-in to the feature. I don't cry about privacy when I can decide when, what and how I give it out. When it happens automatically like here, then I'm sure as hell will complain about it.
On land the Russians have been limited to Chechnya, Georgia and Kosovo in the last 20 years.
Are you seriously saying that a superpower is only a superpower if they go having wars around the world all the time? If my country were in a constant war with everyone all around the world and had troops deployed all the time, I would feel ashamed and a bully, not a "superpower".
I'm sure both Russia and China are capable of deploying all around the world in a few days. Just because they don't usually do that but are a peace-loving countries, doesn't mean they cant.
A South Korean naval ship sank near the disputed maritime border with North Korea early Saturday, prompting the South's military to rush vessels to the site to rescue its sailors and raising fears of an attack by the North.
Earlier Friday, North Korea's military threatened "unpredictable strikes," including a nuclear attack, in anger over a report that South Korea and the U.S. were preparing for possible instability in the totalitarian country.
After the ship began sinking, President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency meeting of security-related ministers, including the defense minister and other top military officials.
Yonhap reported earlier that a South Korean ship fired shots toward an unidentified target in the direction of North Korea, raising fears of an exchange of gunfire.
ISP's in other countries are manipulating DNS too, but rather than for political reasons it's for child porn (there has been controversy when such lists are used for other purposes too) and copyright infringement (at least Italy blocks TPB, maybe others).
CHINA will set up a mirror server for Chinese netizens to visit Websites whose domain names end with.com or.net, Sina.com reported today.
Instead of being served by overseas domain servers for making visits, the new server will provide a domain name system or "DNS" function of its own, which will guarantee the security for netizens visiting from China and also raise the linking speed.
So it's a DNS for Chinese people. Why does ISP's in other countries use it? And since they do, it's no surprise their results get changed too.
It's the other way around than what you're suggesting. Chinese didn't try do anything. ISP's elsewhere mistakenly configured their servers to use Chinese DNS servers.
They are keeping their shit for them. It's just that someone else is fetching it from them to elsewhere.
Especially now when Google has decided to pull out. And China does have an urge to control any information that they don't like. Which would be the majority of the internet.
And still this has nothing to do with the Chinese government. It's the ISP's fault that erroneously configured their servers to use the Chinese root DNS server.
Slashdot Mirror
Apart from the Slashdot crowd (and most people here comment against DRM just for the sake DRM with no intentions to actually buying the game) I don't really know anyone who would avoid their upcoming favorite game they've waited for so long just because it has that online DRM. If a game I want comes along with it, I will buy it because I want to play it, and thats from someone who actually understands the issues - most gamers don't.
The more online parts they integrate the harder it gets to crack. Parts of game, AI, quests, geometry.. It's a lost battle for pirates.
They're not customers for the particular album/movie/game/whatever they're pirating. And lets be honest here, its a little minority of pirates who will buy the product after they've pirated it.
I'm actually happy to see Ubisoft and Blizzard have figured out how to stop the PC Game pirates. Assassins Creed II still remains uncracked and people have went and bought the game because they don't want to wait for a crack any longer. I hope they introduce it to more titles - by winning piracy we will start to get more quality games, as 90% of gamers aren't freeloaders anymore. Yeah not everyone will buy what they would have pirated, but majority of those who want to play some game will.
No, those unofficial DirectX 10 ports did not make it work correctly in Windows XP. Those ports merely removed support for the new features so that they could run, but you did not get the new features. Remember that the driver model completely changed in Vista, so obviously close-to-hardware things like DirectX will be incompatible with old OS versions.
Consoles tend to lack mods and indie games. If I want to develop games designed for people who "sit down for a beer or quick game", and I don't have the separate office and prior commercial titles that console makers like Sony and Nintendo demand, which platform should I target? Or should I just move to a bigger city and try to get hired by an established studio?
PC or XBOX 360. You can even code to them simultaneously with XNA. Costs $99 an year and some percentage of sales (30% I think) and off you go, they aren't as strict as Nintendo or Sony either.
This is like saying "I can't wait for memcached to die" just because your site doesn't need it. Fact is, some do. It's your own fault if you choose to apply unnecessary techniques.
Don't change to newer fancy techniques if you don't understand what they are for and why would you need them.
I agree. So why don't PC games support the console-style experience for players who have a PC tucked under the HDTV?
People that have done such are so minority that it probably doesn't make much sense to developers. Most people now a day have console for that purpose. PC games used to have multiplayer split-screen support in a lot of games and we used to play so in the 90's (there was some fun games too, especially some freeware ones). But when Internet got around and LAN parties started to become more common, there wasn't really need for such anymore.
If modes like Goldeneye 007 on N64 aren't acceptable, have you tried a team game? If you have two people on your split screen, can you do two on a team vs. two bots? Split-screen first-person shooters all the way back to FaceBall 2000 for Super NES have supported team matches.
Co-op campaigns like Left4Dead, Borderlands and so on sure can work that way, I agree. But since I like these strategy games and games where enemies not knowing where you are is important thing, I rather take PC and have LAN parties. But when we sit down for a beer or quick game, my consoles work just well for that. Take the best from both worlds.
As to what comes to why not a single machine, there isn't a single console either. With current generation it actually makes even some sense, since Wii is so completely different to the other machines. However pretty much all people are just fine with the current differences between PC/Consoles and I am too.
Sometimes it's better to separate things and not try to build a "Jack of all trades, master of none" -device.
And in turn your post about cross platform support for wii/ps3/xbox360 also doesn't make any sense, because
1) 360 doesn't support OpenGL, it supports DirectX
2) Wii and PS3 OpenGL support isn't compatible, and they also have other technical (cpu, SD/HD, ram, so on) and gameplay (wiimote) differences that would still require complete rewrite of graphics engine and gameplay.
You only described games that don't require tactical elements where the opposite player shouldn't know everything. Civilization, Age of Empires, all those strategy games. Most of shooters like Call of Duty are a lot better too when the enemy doesn't know where you are. Those kind of games don't work good on split-screen, and on minimum lose all tactical elements.
Saying OpenGL allows direct development to multiple platforms including mobiles doesn't make much sense because in pretty much every case you would need to do the rendering engine again, and in most cases also change the gameplay completely. Mobile phones don't scale up to same performance as consoles or PC.
If PC gamers understand the technical difference, then they know DirectX is technically superior. But those who understand and care about the philosophical difference are probably along the same numbers than those who run Linux on desktop as a main OS - not much. Open source people sure, but not gamers.
It also didn't really offer anything new, but just the same old stuff and it didn't have any personal feel to it either. It's like they tried to cheapo Diablo 2 copy six years later.
Sure, but you can't really compare those two. Both console gaming with friends and LAN parties are completely different. I don't know why people always have to compare the two - you can have both.
LAN parties also offer one strategic element more - other people don't see where you are / what you are doing / what you are planning and you can have your whole full screen just for yourself. Our Call of Duty LAN parties would had been quite less fun if you knew where everyone was. No hiding, no surprise attacks, no tactics. Just mindless who-shoots-and-hits-first attacks.
That's not holding back. It's just that players find those MMORPG's more fun to play. Isn't that improvement in gaming?
That's almost like saying that a few more fun and great games are destroying the market because people play those and don't buy the ones they don't enjoy so much.
You're somewhat wrong, because games are also sold by their graphics and sounds and such. You're probably thinking that great graphics and sounds make a bad game, but you can have the both. I enjoy some of the old games, but seriously I rather play with awesome graphics and sound environment too.
Also, you are missing one important thing. If you free more resources from the graphic rendering by using newer technology, you can have more resources on AI and other gameplay elements.
No one really cares about cross platform on PC, other than those few people who run Linux on desktop. Most games already work on Windows (where all the gamers are and don't care about philosophical things with Linux) and Mac OSX has most games too, along with the upcoming Mac version of Steam too.
Thinking that the lack of gaming on Linux is what's holding back PC as a gaming platform is hilarious, and so wrong.
And who exactly are those who want to use OpenGL? Not the developers, as it has serious problems and shortcomings compared to DirectX - not all technical, but other issues too.
Gamers? They probably don't even know the technical or philosophical differences between OpenGL and DirectX, and if they do, they don't care.
And who doesn't want to use DirectX 11? You should make your games to support if already, along with providing fallback to DX9 and DX10. Gamers and their hardware will catch up.
Mechanical devices are not physics, they are the application of ideas which are confirmed by physics. In other words, they are technology, not science.
So just like computer algorithms are application of ideas which are confirmed by math?
And it's not like software patents often involve any specific math - they involve the idea or outcome in very specific terms.
As for Facebook, all this means is that I have to double check that all the info I've given them is erroneous.
Including name? Having a fake name makes it really awkward to use Facebook with your friends and relatives and so on.
But this is finally a thing that really made me thinking of just closing my Facebook account. Not just opt-out from the new features again and again, since they just seem to always be more and more privacy intrusive.
This doesn't use any kind of login button but shares the data automatically to a website when you visit it, so they instantly know who you are along with other data. IP data is still anonymous enough (from the view point of website operator - they don't know who you are without going through police with a valid reason), but now the third party website owners have your name and other details without you never giving them those.
And just wait until every website will start to require you to use this. A good path for throwing all the anonymous cowards off the net and to get everyone comment and visit websites under their real name.
Well, in this case the sharing of information to third party websites will be done automatically and you are automatically opted-in to the feature. I don't cry about privacy when I can decide when, what and how I give it out. When it happens automatically like here, then I'm sure as hell will complain about it.
On land the Russians have been limited to Chechnya, Georgia and Kosovo in the last 20 years.
Are you seriously saying that a superpower is only a superpower if they go having wars around the world all the time? If my country were in a constant war with everyone all around the world and had troops deployed all the time, I would feel ashamed and a bully, not a "superpower".
I'm sure both Russia and China are capable of deploying all around the world in a few days. Just because they don't usually do that but are a peace-loving countries, doesn't mean they cant.
And even if you look by how people now a day define third world countries etc, Russia still ranks as "First World Country".
Interestingly theres just now happening something between North Korea and South Korea.
A South Korean naval ship sank near the disputed maritime border with North Korea early Saturday, prompting the South's military to rush vessels to the site to rescue its sailors and raising fears of an attack by the North.
Earlier Friday, North Korea's military threatened "unpredictable strikes," including a nuclear attack, in anger over a report that South Korea and the U.S. were preparing for possible instability in the totalitarian country.
After the ship began sinking, President Lee Myung-bak convened an emergency meeting of security-related ministers, including the defense minister and other top military officials.
Yonhap reported earlier that a South Korean ship fired shots toward an unidentified target in the direction of North Korea, raising fears of an exchange of gunfire.
They aren't even a superpower anymore.
And with all the debt and the recent economic failure of US, it seems they aren't either. China on the other hand..
ISP's in other countries are manipulating DNS too, but rather than for political reasons it's for child porn (there has been controversy when such lists are used for other purposes too) and copyright infringement (at least Italy blocks TPB, maybe others).
CHINA will set up a mirror server for Chinese netizens to visit Websites whose domain names end with .com or .net, Sina.com reported today.
Instead of being served by overseas domain servers for making visits, the new server will provide a domain name system or "DNS" function of its own, which will guarantee the security for netizens visiting from China and also raise the linking speed.
So it's a DNS for Chinese people. Why does ISP's in other countries use it? And since they do, it's no surprise their results get changed too.
It's the other way around than what you're suggesting. Chinese didn't try do anything. ISP's elsewhere mistakenly configured their servers to use Chinese DNS servers.
They are keeping their shit for them. It's just that someone else is fetching it from them to elsewhere.
Can't say that I'm surprised that it did happen.
Especially now when Google has decided to pull out. And China does have an urge to control any information that they don't like. Which would be the majority of the internet.
And still this has nothing to do with the Chinese government. It's the ISP's fault that erroneously configured their servers to use the Chinese root DNS server.