Actually, many businesses seek people with degrees simply because that shows that a person is willing to put in the time and effort involved to achieve a long-term goal. Businesses don't want to hire some hot-shot (no matter how good he is) that is going to jump ship at the first possible moment. They want someone they can invest in, who has the constitution and loyalty to stick around for the long-term. A degree is often a good test of this, especially in CS. It takes alot of willpower to realize you could be learning SO much more in the field (and saving money, etc), but to actually stick with it and get it done.
Actually, piracy is so big because software is overpriced. The numbers show that most "pirates" are college students or younger. Aka, people who don't have jobs, have an absurd amount of expenses, but would still like to use the same programs/games/whatever that everyone else does. These are the people who don't exactly have hundreds of dollars to fork over for an Office or Adobe suite, or even 50 dollars for the latest computer game you can beat in about a week before you have to buy another.
Not to mention the fact some people don't use these programs as the creators expected them to be used. I've had programs I've used one time in my life and tossed, simply because necessity warranted the use at that time, but never again. So people who use the program one a year or once in their lifetime should pay the same as someone who uses the program every day all the time? Its absurd.
Pirates aren't putting companies out of business. Those who steal probably wouldn't (or couldn't) have bought the thing in the first place. I actually think its a rather interesting cycle:
1) Those who can, buy.
2) Those who can't, steal.
3) Those who can't, eventually can (with time), and then buy.
Sure stealing is wrong, but its impossible to get situations to be perfect for everyone involved. Even with games...when you rent a game, you rent it for a block of time, like 3 days...what if you work 8 hours of each of those days? And if you have shopping or chores or other things to do, to the point where you only utilize 5 hours of that time? You're still dishing out the full amount of 3 days worth of game utilization. That's certainly not "fair" in the strictest sense of the word. But what are you going to do to fix it?
I certainly don't endorse stealing, but I believe those college students that live on a steady diet of Ramen are more "poor and starved" than those software companies are ever gonna be.
A tv channel about GAMING would suck. We have those, channels that devote large chunks of time to reviewing games or discussing upcoming prospects. They're OK, but hardly a showstopper
Now a tv channel about people PLAYING games (aka in tournaments, etc) has yet to exist, and frankly I think its a great idea. More people spend time watching games then you think. I'm sure many gamers would agree with me that on more than one occasion they've watched over someone's shoulder as they played a game, or wished they were around for what they heard was a hell of a match (hell, I'm glad they added Replays to Starcraft).
Sometimes watching the game can be just as fun (if not more) than playing it. I would love to watch multiplayer games of Starcraft or GTA or other fun LAN party type games get televised. I wouldn't devote my life to watching the channel, but now and then I wouldn't mind sitting down to watch a match.
It's really no different than sitting down to watch a sports match. People are so quick to diss "watching a game" as being stupid and boring, but then they turn around and watch a 3 hour game of football or basketball or something. Its fun to see competition, in any form. Games also add an added realm of imagination and ingenuity in many situations. Also, the vast supply of games out there ensures a new supply of variety in the future, provided they're smart in the way they pick what to televise.
I lose respect for companies that fail to innovate. This is why I cannot respect Square. It's pretty clear that everything has gone downhill at Square since FF2, which is one of the greatest games I have ever played. All subsequent Square adventures were based exactly on the FF2 engine, which is now about 10 years old. To draw a parallel in the FPS world, this is the equivalent of the new Doom using the vector graphics of the original Star Wars game. Gaming, particularly RPG's, is about evolution and inspiration and new fight engines, not adding a couple of new textures or new lighting effects. Square will be out of business within 5 years if they continue down this path.
If it works, don't screw with it. I've derived more long-lasting enjoyment out of old classics like FF, FF2, FF3 than I could EVER get out of the "newer" FF8 variety (so much in fact that I could pick one of them up tomorrow and STILL get a kick out of playing them again).
Have you at all noticed that sad fact? That such games of TRULY lasting quality are no longer being created...games that have almost endless replay value that you can STILL play after 10 years and get a kick out of. They are few and far between nowadays. This is what your "innovation" brings...a more powerful video card and a more expensive console to pump out better graphics and better sound, while ignoring the more important facets of game production.
You think Quake 3 has changed much from original Quake, aside from a MASSIVE graphics overhall? Hardly. Is it still as addictive and fun as the original? YES.
Quite honestly, if people didn't like the engine (if it was as obsolete as you seem to assume it is), then they'd stop buying the damn game. I was half tempted not to buy FF8 when I heard what they did to it.
I was also annoyed when they changed the Parasite Eve 2 combat style to a non-turn-based style. Some of us like the menu-driven hardcore RPG games.
Quote from the article: Its [parasite eve] sequel discards most of the pretense of being an RPG and heads straight for Resident Evil territory. And that's a switch for the better, as the often cumbersome battles of the original have been replaced by fully real-time combat
A switch I personally could do without. RPGs, FF series in particular, have always been menu driven. It practically DEFINES the series. Many people (probably most) who play the series don't WANT real-time combat or a change in the combat engine. The "little changes" such as the limit breaks are refreshing additions, but also often screw up severely (aka the FF8 Draw system) However, if they're going to start making major changes to the combat system, etc, they might as well give the game a new title instead of hiding it being the pretense of the Final Fantasy name, because it certainly won't be that anymore.
On a side note, Squaresoft's "innovation" led them to make FF XI ENTIRELY online (as MMORPGs seem to be the latest hype)...no 1-player version? That's crap, I hate those stupidly addictive online MUD-wannabes. Squaresoft is innovating plenty, and I think that if anything would sink the company, THAT would. Squaresoft's longtime success story is a result of sticking to what works, the tried and true. Its what people want.
As the last Final Fantasy game for the PlayStation, Final Fantasy IX is a fond farewell to the superdeformed style and off-the-wall characters that fans of the series grew up with. After Final Fantasy VIII, Square could have continued on its path to the
uture without looking back. The fact that it stopped and peered over its shoulder should be
considered a treat to RPG fans everywhere.
Is this guy insane? FF8 SUCKED. I was glad to see Squaresoft return to its successful roots by basing FF9 more on the old way of doing things (that FF8 Draw crap was horrid and boring and monotonous)
FF8 was no "path to the future". If anything, it was a horrifying shift in Squaresoft vision, focused more on churning out cool looking graphics and awesome soundtracks than on plot and old-school play value and fun.
Computer crimes are MORE than sufficiently punished in the US, thank you very much. I don't know where you get off implying that the US goes easy on computer "crime". I had a little incident
during my freshman year of college. The FBI was very determined to get me jail time for a ridiculously minor offense. It was only through sheer wit and creativity of my laywers that we got the
offense down to a misdemeanor and a lousy 600$US fine
Yes, and the ones who seriously and maliciously screw with things get the same lawyers, and the same $600 fine.
Imagine what these kids would get in the US for writing such a worm. It'd be a helluva lot worse than 5 years in prison. So put your pro-punishment attitudes away and get real. Remember what
our government does to computer criminals [freekevin.com].
One US cracker among thousands gets tossed in jail for a long term jail sentence and that's enough for you to say the US punishes crackers harshly? For each case you give me where a sufficient or harsh sentence was doled out, I could give you about ten in which people were slapped on the wrist (with the exception of the DCMA which is a joke)
These people deserve to be punished harshly. You can rob a bank for a couple million while threatening people's lives with handguns and get 10 years+ in the slammer. But if you cost companies (cumulatively) a couple million/billion in damages due to DoS/worms/etc and possibly threaten lives due to the compromising of critical systems, you get 5 years or less?
I sympathize for Mitnick. When he dabbled in cracking, the Internet was FAR from popular. Most companies weren't on the damn thing (compared to today), and he (from what I know of) wasn't so brash as to release devastating worms out into the wild for the hell of it. For these reasons, his sentence may have been a tad harsh. However, in this day and age, MUCH hinges on the Internet, and people who fsck with it in these extreme measures should be dealt with in a similar fashion.
Those who teach Linux often teach command line first, X if they get around to it. Typical Windows users want as much GUI as possible, as little command line as possible.
Then there's the whole guru impatient&arrogance issue...
Wow, this is extremely risky.
People are _comfortable_ with win9x/NT/etc...
And the products are designed so shittily that one could make a small fortune over just providing patches and support for such products.
Now they're eliminating a large part of their support funds as WELL as forcing people to seek an alternative. Who says that alternative has to be Microsoft? They're at the point where they're going to an unfamiliar OS anyways.
Microsoft should have held onto its "being first" advantage. This is essentially tossing that away. In my opinion, not worth it at all, bad marketing decision.
I, personally, use Win98SE for gaming, simply because I find it to be the most stable Win9x platform, and the Win9x platforms are best for gaming. I wouldn't use WinME because its garbage and WinXP because its built for toddlers. I sure as hell hope there's a UNIX gaming alternative when Win98 support disappears, because if there is, I think this will be a HUGE opportunity for UNIX (Linux, whatever) to swoop in.
It wasn't entirely a whim...they said they saw something that shouldn't be there, so they went to check it out. Still disobeying orders, yes, but not completely whimsical. And not entirely condemable (those who follow orders blindly...)
our hero leaves his injured buddy out in the open in broad daylight
That WAS stupid, and he even acknowledged his mistake later on the radio ("I shouldn't have left him" or something)
he moves around during the day
Time wasn't exactly on his side here. The enemy knows you're there, and they're right on your tail. Would you honestly stop and give hiding a try and hope they don't find you? (similar to the scene where he hid in the grave). Although it did annoy me that he was dumb enough to go charging out into the open (like in the town scene with the mines) when there was obviously forested region all around him.
All in all, I do believe it was quite realistic, at least until the end when 3 choppers manage to take on an entire army and walk away with a scratch or 2. I especially liked the part where they were trying to avoid the missiles. Much more realistic than you normally see in military movies...FINALLY a movie where the damn thing REACQUIRES its target.
It's hardly practical to share full-length movies over networks or even to store them locally on hard drives
Whoa, you haven't nearly been to enough college campuses then. Caus that's like all they did. And they normally weren't stored locally, rather downloaded and burned to CD.
Anyways, when HDs are in the 40+ gig range, and you can get near-DVD quality movies in the 700- meg range, it becomes much more practical (except for network bandwidth hogging, which you really can't stop easily)
Why don't these idiots start posting the cdkey on the cd itself where it belongs?
I've had some games put it on the back of the CD case, some on the front, some even dumb enough to stick it in the game instruction manual that I throw away after awhile (operation flashpoint).
I don't KEEP cases...most of my games quickly get relocated to a bigger cd binder for easier storage. So I end up having to write the damn key on the disk myself with a Sharpie. And if the CD happens to be mostly black (operation flashpoint again), I'm mostly screwed.
For the love of Mike, you think they'd have some sense.
Ever wonder if this is really as bad a slump as everyone is making it out to be?
I can't help but think people have also grown a little too used to the economy being in a state of "constant boom" to realize this "slump" could actually be ALOT worse.
Slashdot Mirror
Magius_AR
You're right, they also forget about drinking and partying.
Magius_AR
Nawwwwww, they're too ethical for that.
Magius_AR
Not to mention the fact some people don't use these programs as the creators expected them to be used. I've had programs I've used one time in my life and tossed, simply because necessity warranted the use at that time, but never again. So people who use the program one a year or once in their lifetime should pay the same as someone who uses the program every day all the time? Its absurd.
Pirates aren't putting companies out of business. Those who steal probably wouldn't (or couldn't) have bought the thing in the first place. I actually think its a rather interesting cycle:
1) Those who can, buy.
2) Those who can't, steal.
3) Those who can't, eventually can (with time), and then buy.
Sure stealing is wrong, but its impossible to get situations to be perfect for everyone involved. Even with games...when you rent a game, you rent it for a block of time, like 3 days...what if you work 8 hours of each of those days? And if you have shopping or chores or other things to do, to the point where you only utilize 5 hours of that time? You're still dishing out the full amount of 3 days worth of game utilization. That's certainly not "fair" in the strictest sense of the word. But what are you going to do to fix it?
I certainly don't endorse stealing, but I believe those college students that live on a steady diet of Ramen are more "poor and starved" than those software companies are ever gonna be.
Magius_AR
Now a tv channel about people PLAYING games (aka in tournaments, etc) has yet to exist, and frankly I think its a great idea. More people spend time watching games then you think. I'm sure many gamers would agree with me that on more than one occasion they've watched over someone's shoulder as they played a game, or wished they were around for what they heard was a hell of a match (hell, I'm glad they added Replays to Starcraft).
Sometimes watching the game can be just as fun (if not more) than playing it. I would love to watch multiplayer games of Starcraft or GTA or other fun LAN party type games get televised. I wouldn't devote my life to watching the channel, but now and then I wouldn't mind sitting down to watch a match.
It's really no different than sitting down to watch a sports match. People are so quick to diss "watching a game" as being stupid and boring, but then they turn around and watch a 3 hour game of football or basketball or something. Its fun to see competition, in any form. Games also add an added realm of imagination and ingenuity in many situations. Also, the vast supply of games out there ensures a new supply of variety in the future, provided they're smart in the way they pick what to televise.
Magius_AR
On the 18th day, he created Perl, and it was good.
On the 19th day, he rested.
Magius_AR
Hell, if someone is willing to put in that amount of effort into modding a PS2, they deserve their prize ;P
Magius_AR
Magius_AR
A minor victory against faceless corporations at least.
Magius_AR
Have you at all noticed that sad fact? That such games of TRULY lasting quality are no longer being created...games that have almost endless replay value that you can STILL play after 10 years and get a kick out of. They are few and far between nowadays. This is what your "innovation" brings...a more powerful video card and a more expensive console to pump out better graphics and better sound, while ignoring the more important facets of game production.
You think Quake 3 has changed much from original Quake, aside from a MASSIVE graphics overhall? Hardly. Is it still as addictive and fun as the original? YES.
Quite honestly, if people didn't like the engine (if it was as obsolete as you seem to assume it is), then they'd stop buying the damn game. I was half tempted not to buy FF8 when I heard what they did to it. I was also annoyed when they changed the Parasite Eve 2 combat style to a non-turn-based style. Some of us like the menu-driven hardcore RPG games.
Quote from the article:
Its [parasite eve] sequel discards most of the pretense of being an RPG and heads straight for Resident Evil territory. And that's a switch for the better, as the often cumbersome battles of the original have been replaced by fully real-time combat
A switch I personally could do without. RPGs, FF series in particular, have always been menu driven. It practically DEFINES the series. Many people (probably most) who play the series don't WANT real-time combat or a change in the combat engine. The "little changes" such as the limit breaks are refreshing additions, but also often screw up severely (aka the FF8 Draw system) However, if they're going to start making major changes to the combat system, etc, they might as well give the game a new title instead of hiding it being the pretense of the Final Fantasy name, because it certainly won't be that anymore.
On a side note, Squaresoft's "innovation" led them to make FF XI ENTIRELY online (as MMORPGs seem to be the latest hype)...no 1-player version? That's crap, I hate those stupidly addictive online MUD-wannabes. Squaresoft is innovating plenty, and I think that if anything would sink the company, THAT would. Squaresoft's longtime success story is a result of sticking to what works, the tried and true. Its what people want.
Magius_AR
FF8 was no "path to the future". If anything, it was a horrifying shift in Squaresoft vision, focused more on churning out cool looking graphics and awesome soundtracks than on plot and old-school play value and fun.
Magius_AR
Noooooooooooooooooooooo!
Magius_AR
These people deserve to be punished harshly. You can rob a bank for a couple million while threatening people's lives with handguns and get 10 years+ in the slammer. But if you cost companies (cumulatively) a couple million/billion in damages due to DoS/worms/etc and possibly threaten lives due to the compromising of critical systems, you get 5 years or less?
I sympathize for Mitnick. When he dabbled in cracking, the Internet was FAR from popular. Most companies weren't on the damn thing (compared to today), and he (from what I know of) wasn't so brash as to release devastating worms out into the wild for the hell of it. For these reasons, his sentence may have been a tad harsh. However, in this day and age, MUCH hinges on the Internet, and people who fsck with it in these extreme measures should be dealt with in a similar fashion.
Magius_AR
Typical Windows users want as much GUI as possible, as little command line as possible.
Then there's the whole guru impatient&arrogance issue...
Magius_AR
Now they're eliminating a large part of their support funds as WELL as forcing people to seek an alternative. Who says that alternative has to be Microsoft? They're at the point where they're going to an unfamiliar OS anyways.
Microsoft should have held onto its "being first" advantage. This is essentially tossing that away. In my opinion, not worth it at all, bad marketing decision.
I, personally, use Win98SE for gaming, simply because I find it to be the most stable Win9x platform, and the Win9x platforms are best for gaming. I wouldn't use WinME because its garbage and WinXP because its built for toddlers. I sure as hell hope there's a UNIX gaming alternative when Win98 support disappears, because if there is, I think this will be a HUGE opportunity for UNIX (Linux, whatever) to swoop in.
Magius_AR
Magius_AR
Fighter pilots that go off mission on a whim
It wasn't entirely a whim...they said they saw something that shouldn't be there, so they went to check it out. Still disobeying orders, yes, but not completely whimsical. And not entirely condemable (those who follow orders blindly...)
our hero leaves his injured buddy out in the open in broad daylight
That WAS stupid, and he even acknowledged his mistake later on the radio ("I shouldn't have left him" or something)
he moves around during the day
Time wasn't exactly on his side here. The enemy knows you're there, and they're right on your tail. Would you honestly stop and give hiding a try and hope they don't find you? (similar to the scene where he hid in the grave). Although it did annoy me that he was dumb enough to go charging out into the open (like in the town scene with the mines) when there was obviously forested region all around him.
All in all, I do believe it was quite realistic, at least until the end when 3 choppers manage to take on an entire army and walk away with a scratch or 2. I especially liked the part where they were trying to avoid the missiles. Much more realistic than you normally see in military movies...FINALLY a movie where the damn thing REACQUIRES its target.
Magius_AR
Whoa, you haven't nearly been to enough college campuses then. Caus that's like all they did. And they normally weren't stored locally, rather downloaded and burned to CD.
Anyways, when HDs are in the 40+ gig range, and you can get near-DVD quality movies in the 700- meg range, it becomes much more practical
(except for network bandwidth hogging, which you really can't stop easily)
Magius_AR
Magius
I've had some games put it on the back of the CD case, some on the front, some even dumb enough to stick it in the game instruction manual that I throw away after awhile (operation flashpoint).
I don't KEEP cases...most of my games quickly get relocated to a bigger cd binder for easier storage. So I end up having to write the damn key on the disk myself with a Sharpie. And if the CD happens to be mostly black (operation flashpoint again), I'm mostly screwed.
For the love of Mike, you think they'd have some sense.
Magius_AR
I can't help but think people have also grown a little too used to the economy being in a state of "constant boom" to realize this "slump" could actually be ALOT worse.
Magius_AR
Magius_AR
I have a PS2 and the load times suck a$$.
Curious as to how they compare...
Magius_AR
From: * /dev/null
Transfer:
Magius_AR
Magius_AR