I don't think it was anything that shadowy. I think it was just that MS didn't have to improve IE - they didn't have competition until FireFox got to version 0.7 or so. Moz is lousy on win32, and Opera costs money. MS is complacent until they get scared. They pushed for security once the business world started murmuring about Linux. They pushed for flashiness when OSX came out. And so on.
#4 is the main reason I haven't moved to WPA. It just takes too much time to go through and figure out how to get each machine onto it - especially since WPA is a new feature on the WinXP boxes and I have had enough of a headache with XP's wireless system (SP2 and my wifi card didn't really get a long).
Agreed. I was reading from games.slashdot.org, and thought this was a nice little review... until I checked the main page and found it there as well. Zonk dropped the ball here - no freakin' way this belongs on the front page.
Played it through when I was a kid - played it again recently and it really, really doesn't age well. Gameplay is slow, and I find that I can ignore the other figthers in favour of just using the afterburners to get me to the next ground target.
In general space fighters are pretty weak imho. Gameplay is just "aim at target, match velocity, keep shootign" in most of them. The only thing that makes them interesting is complex objectives. Very few of them have cramped enough terrain to make just flying fun.
Actually, the best flying experiences I find in videogames are the air vehicles in UT2k4. You have to stay close to the ground, risking impact, or else enemy AA missiles will take you, so manoevering is very important. Hitting the wall does damage, but more importantly slows you down enough for other pilots to take you out easily. Most importantly, move and fire in different directions (on most aircraft) so you can actually dodge (instead of just random jinking that most space fighters rely on).
Replied to your email, but for anyone else with this problem: I downloaded new drivers for my card fomr the manufacturer's site (not the MS Update ones - those didn't work).
The trick is forcing the new drivers to be installed (had to use the "select a driver to install" option in add new hardware - any autodetection put in the wrong drivers). Anyhow, this worked for my D-Link 520 G wifi board. Probably different solutions for other boards.
Alternately, you can uninstall SP2. This works, but its annoying as SP2 keeps begging to be installed later.
Well, he's always spoke of a "spiritual successor" to TA, rather than a direct sequel. You can't copyright gameplay anyways, so you could make the same damn game if you did it from scratch with new models and names for stuff.
Wrong. TA was not more complex - it was simpler. That was why it was good. No spells to limit how much you can control at a time. No weapon energy to distract you from handling large groups. No worrying about whether units are moving or attacking (they do both). No need to "attack to position" - they do that automatically. No relocating your base to handlde depleting resources. Harvesting resources was just building a building. No artificial unit caps.
The improved commands were just consolidating things - unlimited queues for units, starting orders, construction buildigns, construction workers. Simple things like the "guard" command made the gameplay so much easier to manage.
Many games increase complexity by adding more spells, more complex units, things like formations, bizarre terrain, etc. TA did the opposite - everything in the game is simple, and the emerging gameplay is so much more mindblowing than StarCraft.
Just spread your army like the plague, and try not to panic when shit happens.
Again, careful simplicity brings emerging complexity - compare Lisp to C++, Go to Chess,etc. Where in "complex" systems like C++, you learn a long list of specific rules, strategies, combinations, etc. simple but well-designed systems allow you do do just as much in a more elegant fashion.
TA is such a simple system. Yes, the list of units is nauseatingly long compared to StarCraft - but each unit is simple and pure in function, and generally knows how to do its job whether or not you babysit it.
WipeOut isn't quite a straight-out racing game (like Need for Speed) - it's more like a cross between Podracer and Mario Kart.
But yeah, they should've gotten Final Fantasy Tactics or something to appeal to a wider base - most of their titles are action titles. I think that launch list might be to distance themselves away from the GBA, which I found pretty terrible for action titles. Most of the original GBA games I encountered were either time-wasting puzzlers or time-wasting treadmill RPGs (or remakes of classic platformers). Advanced Wars is nice, but takes too long for me to really enjoy.
My GBA was a horrible disappointment - I pretty much ended up sticking to Mario Kart and Monkey Ball Jr. because of the weak library. The PSPs library is far more to my liking.
Still, I'm waiting at the edge of my seat are some real PC strategy games on the handheld - like StarCraft, Z, X-Com, or Orion 1 or something - the NinDS would be ideal for such titles.
Speak for yourself - I like the launch titles. Particularly WipeOut and Twisted Metal - I've always been a fan of both of these series on the PS1. Plus, DarkStalkers was one of Capcom's best 2d street fighter clones. Any Playstation fan is loving the launch titles - they're remakes of the PS1's greatest hits. While the PS1 games like WipeOut and Twisted Metal didn't get the kind of massive hype-machines associated with them that Nintendo branded or X-box titles get, these are incredibly good games (well, TM2 got a bit). Still, I'm waiting on the Armored Core title to come out before I consider buying one.
Yes, but the production costs are negligible compared to the design, distribution, etc. Certain cards are "rare" by design of the distributor. Look into CCG's in particular - the best example is the Star Trek CCG, where all cards were of equal value in game (no casting cost) so the only way to control the use of more powerful cards was to increase their rarity (so having Picard just meant you'd spent a wad of real-world cash instead of accumulating X mana in-game).
Speaking of which, a completely odd aside: Does anyone make 1:1 displays? Preferably as projectors? I keep wanting to make a projector-based cocktail cabinet for 4 players and want to design the games along a square layout.
How does it work with business-to-business transactions? business A sells screws to B, which B uses to build a part, which C uses to build a device, which D uses to build an end product. To avoid taxation between each iteration, businesses must amalgamate into megalithic scale so that they can provide every level of the supply chain. This makes for a clumsy, bulky marketplace instead of many smaller, more agile businesses.
While from an ergonomic perspective I realise that you're correct, I've always found that my hands just naturally love the symmetry of the PS2 gamepad. I think part of the fact is that most of the PS2 games I play rely very heavily on the triggers (or shoulder buttons if you like) and not much on the buttons at all, so I find I'm mostly paying attention to the sticks and triggers.
The big feature I love on the PS2 is the second row of triggers - however, the analog throttle triggers are nice on other consoles. Too bad the GameCube elected to put only 1 Z trigger on - currently, its got the nicest shoulder-analog-triggers.
Yeah - that's why Ubuntu isn't on my machine, actually - the LiveCD booted my ATI All-in-wonder into TV-Out mode instead of my monitor display. Not a good sign, and would be more trouble than its worth to fix after installing.
Thinking it over, Google is quite definitely copying some of their content, so any organisation on google news can C&D google for this. Still, any news organisation that makes money from website hits would be stupid to do so, as Google is probably one of their biggest referrers.
Because there aren't bazillions of other fighting games that are every bit as good and cross-platform. The only time that this sort of tactic works is when a game is head and shoulders above its bretherine in the genre - like how Halo is by far the best console-based FPS. Soul Caliber isn't - its good, but it doesn't stand alone.
Not surprised - I think the gaming world has to accept that Monolith can't code multiplayer games to save their lives. The monolith titles have been improving (I think they did AvsP 2) for story and graphics, but they have always sucked in terms of multiplayer game design and innovation. They're "shiny things" designers. They do stuff that is neat, but not fun.
Which is why the GB DS needs more love - only console with a real freakin' pointing device. Port StarCraft to the damn thing.
Oh, and don't forget auto-aim-oriented games like Metroid Prime and Armored Core (armored core would still need auto-aim even on a PC, as that game has more in common with jet fighters than FPS games).
Look on their websites - there is no "about" on most of them. The "faq" answers technical problems. Distrowatch provides an excellent source of information on distros, but their own websites rarely do.
Usually, from their own sites all I can glean is "We made a really good desktop distro" which sounds exactly the same as others. When I am shopping around for what to load onto my other box, that is not the kind of information I want.
But, if you're happy with a slough of ambiguously defined, generic distros that simply confuse the casual user like me (and about a hojillion others) then go ahead and flame.
UserLinux? Wtf is that? The problem with all these desktop linux distros is that I never have any idea what the various merits and flaws of each are. The old standbys like 'drake and SuSE are easy, but with all these new ones sprouting up who can keep track?
Vector = old hardware. Ubuntu = Debian unstable repacked as usable. Free CDs in the mail. Yoper = fast, semi-friendly desktop linux.
but wtf are all the others? Ark? User? MEPIS? Ninnle (just kidding - where did that troll come from though)?
Slashdot Mirror
I don't think it was anything that shadowy. I think it was just that MS didn't have to improve IE - they didn't have competition until FireFox got to version 0.7 or so. Moz is lousy on win32, and Opera costs money. MS is complacent until they get scared. They pushed for security once the business world started murmuring about Linux. They pushed for flashiness when OSX came out. And so on.
#4 is the main reason I haven't moved to WPA. It just takes too much time to go through and figure out how to get each machine onto it - especially since WPA is a new feature on the WinXP boxes and I have had enough of a headache with XP's wireless system (SP2 and my wifi card didn't really get a long).
Can I moderate the blurb "flamebait"?
Well, speaking of walkman like features - I can plug my discman into a stereo. Can I plug a PSP into a TV?
Agreed. I was reading from games.slashdot.org, and thought this was a nice little review... until I checked the main page and found it there as well. Zonk dropped the ball here - no freakin' way this belongs on the front page.
Played it through when I was a kid - played it again recently and it really, really doesn't age well. Gameplay is slow, and I find that I can ignore the other figthers in favour of just using the afterburners to get me to the next ground target.
In general space fighters are pretty weak imho. Gameplay is just "aim at target, match velocity, keep shootign" in most of them. The only thing that makes them interesting is complex objectives. Very few of them have cramped enough terrain to make just flying fun.
Actually, the best flying experiences I find in videogames are the air vehicles in UT2k4. You have to stay close to the ground, risking impact, or else enemy AA missiles will take you, so manoevering is very important. Hitting the wall does damage, but more importantly slows you down enough for other pilots to take you out easily. Most importantly, move and fire in different directions (on most aircraft) so you can actually dodge (instead of just random jinking that most space fighters rely on).
Replied to your email, but for anyone else with this problem: I downloaded new drivers for my card fomr the manufacturer's site (not the MS Update ones - those didn't work).
The trick is forcing the new drivers to be installed (had to use the "select a driver to install" option in add new hardware - any autodetection put in the wrong drivers). Anyhow, this worked for my D-Link 520 G wifi board. Probably different solutions for other boards.
Alternately, you can uninstall SP2. This works, but its annoying as SP2 keeps begging to be installed later.
ME TOO! /aol
And will it break your wifi drivers? Had lots of fun figuring out how to deal with that when I installed SP2.
Well, he's always spoke of a "spiritual successor" to TA, rather than a direct sequel. You can't copyright gameplay anyways, so you could make the same damn game if you did it from scratch with new models and names for stuff.
Wrong. TA was not more complex - it was simpler. That was why it was good. No spells to limit how much you can control at a time. No weapon energy to distract you from handling large groups. No worrying about whether units are moving or attacking (they do both). No need to "attack to position" - they do that automatically. No relocating your base to handlde depleting resources. Harvesting resources was just building a building. No artificial unit caps.
The improved commands were just consolidating things - unlimited queues for units, starting orders, construction buildigns, construction workers. Simple things like the "guard" command made the gameplay so much easier to manage.
Many games increase complexity by adding more spells, more complex units, things like formations, bizarre terrain, etc. TA did the opposite - everything in the game is simple, and the emerging gameplay is so much more mindblowing than StarCraft.
Just spread your army like the plague, and try not to panic when shit happens.
Again, careful simplicity brings emerging complexity - compare Lisp to C++, Go to Chess,etc. Where in "complex" systems like C++, you learn a long list of specific rules, strategies, combinations, etc. simple but well-designed systems allow you do do just as much in a more elegant fashion.
TA is such a simple system. Yes, the list of units is nauseatingly long compared to StarCraft - but each unit is simple and pure in function, and generally knows how to do its job whether or not you babysit it.
Hm. Imho Age of Empires is a weak, derivative, and uninteresting RTS - but its better than nothing. Rock on.
WipeOut isn't quite a straight-out racing game (like Need for Speed) - it's more like a cross between Podracer and Mario Kart.
But yeah, they should've gotten Final Fantasy Tactics or something to appeal to a wider base - most of their titles are action titles. I think that launch list might be to distance themselves away from the GBA, which I found pretty terrible for action titles. Most of the original GBA games I encountered were either time-wasting puzzlers or time-wasting treadmill RPGs (or remakes of classic platformers). Advanced Wars is nice, but takes too long for me to really enjoy.
My GBA was a horrible disappointment - I pretty much ended up sticking to Mario Kart and Monkey Ball Jr. because of the weak library. The PSPs library is far more to my liking.
Still, I'm waiting at the edge of my seat are some real PC strategy games on the handheld - like StarCraft, Z, X-Com, or Orion 1 or something - the NinDS would be ideal for such titles.
Speak for yourself - I like the launch titles. Particularly WipeOut and Twisted Metal - I've always been a fan of both of these series on the PS1. Plus, DarkStalkers was one of Capcom's best 2d street fighter clones. Any Playstation fan is loving the launch titles - they're remakes of the PS1's greatest hits. While the PS1 games like WipeOut and Twisted Metal didn't get the kind of massive hype-machines associated with them that Nintendo branded or X-box titles get, these are incredibly good games (well, TM2 got a bit). Still, I'm waiting on the Armored Core title to come out before I consider buying one.
Yes, but the production costs are negligible compared to the design, distribution, etc. Certain cards are "rare" by design of the distributor. Look into CCG's in particular - the best example is the Star Trek CCG, where all cards were of equal value in game (no casting cost) so the only way to control the use of more powerful cards was to increase their rarity (so having Picard just meant you'd spent a wad of real-world cash instead of accumulating X mana in-game).
Speaking of which, a completely odd aside: Does anyone make 1:1 displays? Preferably as projectors? I keep wanting to make a projector-based cocktail cabinet for 4 players and want to design the games along a square layout.
How does it work with business-to-business transactions? business A sells screws to B, which B uses to build a part, which C uses to build a device, which D uses to build an end product. To avoid taxation between each iteration, businesses must amalgamate into megalithic scale so that they can provide every level of the supply chain. This makes for a clumsy, bulky marketplace instead of many smaller, more agile businesses.
No wonder big business likes the idea.
While from an ergonomic perspective I realise that you're correct, I've always found that my hands just naturally love the symmetry of the PS2 gamepad. I think part of the fact is that most of the PS2 games I play rely very heavily on the triggers (or shoulder buttons if you like) and not much on the buttons at all, so I find I'm mostly paying attention to the sticks and triggers.
The big feature I love on the PS2 is the second row of triggers - however, the analog throttle triggers are nice on other consoles. Too bad the GameCube elected to put only 1 Z trigger on - currently, its got the nicest shoulder-analog-triggers.
Yeah - that's why Ubuntu isn't on my machine, actually - the LiveCD booted my ATI All-in-wonder into TV-Out mode instead of my monitor display. Not a good sign, and would be more trouble than its worth to fix after installing.
Thinking it over, Google is quite definitely copying some of their content, so any organisation on google news can C&D google for this. Still, any news organisation that makes money from website hits would be stupid to do so, as Google is probably one of their biggest referrers.
Because there aren't bazillions of other fighting games that are every bit as good and cross-platform. The only time that this sort of tactic works is when a game is head and shoulders above its bretherine in the genre - like how Halo is by far the best console-based FPS. Soul Caliber isn't - its good, but it doesn't stand alone.
Not surprised - I think the gaming world has to accept that Monolith can't code multiplayer games to save their lives. The monolith titles have been improving (I think they did AvsP 2) for story and graphics, but they have always sucked in terms of multiplayer game design and innovation. They're "shiny things" designers. They do stuff that is neat, but not fun.
Which is why the GB DS needs more love - only console with a real freakin' pointing device. Port StarCraft to the damn thing.
Oh, and don't forget auto-aim-oriented games like Metroid Prime and Armored Core (armored core would still need auto-aim even on a PC, as that game has more in common with jet fighters than FPS games).
Look on their websites - there is no "about" on most of them. The "faq" answers technical problems. Distrowatch provides an excellent source of information on distros, but their own websites rarely do.
Usually, from their own sites all I can glean is "We made a really good desktop distro" which sounds exactly the same as others. When I am shopping around for what to load onto my other box, that is not the kind of information I want.
But, if you're happy with a slough of ambiguously defined, generic distros that simply confuse the casual user like me (and about a hojillion others) then go ahead and flame.
UserLinux? Wtf is that? The problem with all these desktop linux distros is that I never have any idea what the various merits and flaws of each are. The old standbys like 'drake and SuSE are easy, but with all these new ones sprouting up who can keep track?
Vector = old hardware.
Ubuntu = Debian unstable repacked as usable. Free CDs in the mail.
Yoper = fast, semi-friendly desktop linux.
but wtf are all the others? Ark? User? MEPIS? Ninnle (just kidding - where did that troll come from though)?