For what it's worth, Far Cry 2 has enough flaws and enough gems that the player's enjoyment is influenced more by personal experience than linear games.
Far Cry 2 has problems. The blur effects that simulate heavy breathing after a sprint practically require you to keep a vehicle on hand at all times, especially when your malaria condition worsens. This made me feel like an unhealthy, obese assassin that used a scooter as a primary means of locomotion. The AI can sometimes shoot you through brush that, on similar engines such as Crysis, you might expect to conceal you. There are three (four including promotional content) side mission categories, and the dozen or more missions in each category are identical. The AI appear incapable of using stairs or ladders. The PC version of the game has a far better save/load system and allows you to use it at any time. Console players and critics will likely become frustrated from retracing their steps after a bullshit death. This makes the game feel like a good engine that has yet to become a good game.
On the other hand, I liked the open-endedness of Far Cry 2. To put things in perspective, before I tried Far Cry 2 I played games the Half-Life 2 series, Prey, FEAR, and Gears of War. These games were good in their own respects, but to me it felt like it was one step up from watching a movie. Some locations might be larger than others, but in general the gameplay was the same. You initiate some sequence or find some lever to open a door, follow the path to kill something and repeat. Decisions about combat style and routes to a target were often made for you. For me, Far Cry 2 was the complete opposite. Later in the game, you can amass enough weapons to decide how you wanted to engage targets. For example, you could buy a camo suit, silenced weapons and sleep until darkness. You could purchase a high-powered sniper rifle and a flamethrower to snipe, set the landscape on fire around you to conceal your position, move, and snipe again. You could purchase explosives and assault weapons. You could scout the surrounding areas of posts to find good locations to snipe, or locations that could not be easily flanked. The open world and the open gun market let me actually play a game and have fun the way I wanted, rather than replay a campaign only to take a path, to open a door, to kill something in a manner that was designed for the situation.
So, you either play the game and find out that the missions are repetitive, the AI can be frustrating, and the storyline is unengaging until the ending. Or, you might look past those problems and enjoy the graphics engine while you have fun doing whatever the hell you want to do.
If you like the "open-endedness" of FC2, then you should take a look at Fallout 3. Should be right up your alley.
From TFA: In 2002, Grand Theft Auto III was tagged with an RC-rating until Rockstar removed the option for players to solicit sex from prostitutes. Players could of course still kill them, underscoring the bizarre intercultural disconnect between wanton murder (AOK!) and the biological act of procreation (impolite and evil!).
Now that's just hilarious. Altho I suppose prostitution has nothing to do with procreation.
Your employer doesn't supply you with a proper desk? Here in Sweden we have laws governing the workplace and my employer do listen if I need something new. I currently have one of those desks that I can either sit or stand at (goes up and down with motors) and I have a chair a chiropractor has fitted for me. When it comes to keyboard/mouse I can buy whatever I want and get reimbursed on my salary. I work for that big blue IT-company btw. (Excuse any spellingerrors etc etc, English is not my first language).
A big Swedish torrent site has been contacted by MS in regards of torrents offering Halo2 and I know of atleast one local broadband user who has been contacted by his ISP in regards of his download of Halo2... I guess they are desperate/nervous.
Then you should check out the Archos Gmini 220.
...which is also based on an 1.8" drive, 20GB. It has a built-in cardreader for CF (and other media via an adapter). I have one that I download pics from my Nikon D70. It even can show jpegs on it's b/w lcd screen (crappy tho).
Drop me a mail if you want more info about it from me.
I just wish they would do the same in Sweden. They just issued a recall of those cool JOS mp3-players with builtin FM-transmitters even tho they come disabled.
We have tons of them at work, some even new in the original packaging! They are with PS/2 connectors too. Altho, wonder what the shipping would be from Sweden.
The company I work for donated money in my name for charity. I suggest you donate to a good cause too.
Here are some links with information: American red cross Doctors without borders
Where I work (a major scandinavian bank) we have a couple of thousand OS/2 boxes as cash registers/POS. Altho we have discontinued any more development we still have to support them, and occasionally (try to) find new hardware that works.
My employer was nice enough to supply me with an Ericsson R380e.
It is also Symbian based, with a (in my eyes) nicer design than the Nokia. It has a flipable keypad which reveals a tapscreen. What I like about it is the stylus, the "inbox", voicecontrol (answering calls and calling "voicemarks") and the size. Downsides are batterytime which Nokia are superior in and it's a bit sluggy in the menus.
The built in email client has pop3 and IMAP support. It also has WAP support (altho, I consider WAP generally useless, unless someone can direct me to where I can read/. in my WAP browser).
NaturalPoint TrackIR Author: Chris Oh Date Posted: April 25th, 2002 SLRating:
Bottom Line: If you're into cool toys that have functionality, give this a try but don't rely on it outside of simple tasks, such as deathmatches. http://www.slcentral.com/c/h/r/naturalpoint/trac ki r
Introduction
Didn't you ever wish that you could just sit back and browse the web like it's made to be done? Didn't you just want to lie back and make your eyes do the talking and clicking for you? Well then, if you're like me, you will be looking for everything possible to make your time on the computer and on the internet, much more efficient and easier. As an American, I like doing things the easiest way possible. People have dreamed for a long time for something to make using the computer easier. When the mouse came along, that was a godsend and people were gracing it as the ultimate usability tool for the computer but now that we've progressed through high stages of computing, the mouse has remained relatively the same except for some laser technology. In comes the NaturalPoint TrackIR, which is a tool which supplements "not replaces" your mouse with something much better... your forehead. The concept is so simple that it's almost a crime to market and sell it off when most of us has been dreaming of things like this for years but to give credit where credit is due, NaturalPoint took it upon themselves to actually take the time to developing something like this and market it.
Here's how it works, the TrackIR has 2 basic parts that make it work. The first is a camera that mounts on the top of your computer and second part is silver dots which you stick on your forehead, hat, etc... that catch the attention of the camera so that the cursor moves along to the movements your head makes. The dots have a cloth backing so you can stick it and remove it many times. The camera is sensitive enough to detect the silver dots and it will only detect those dots and calculate how it moves and translate it to cursor movements. So when the dots are on your head and you move your head left, the camera sees the dot moving to the left and therefore the cursor moves left. Actually, this isn't really a camera because all it can basically make out from everything else is the silver dots; it will not do anything like take pictures of your friends or of the city. The camera sends out infrared signals and the silver dots bounce the signals back to the TrackIR. The camera is connected to the desktop or laptop through USB. The cable is pretty short (good for laptops) and therefore it comes with a 4 foot long USB cable extension. Also, it has extra rubber pads for use with laptops. A good feature of this is that the device is powered by the USB port and therefore doesn't require any external power.
The device comes in three flavors: the "standard" which has the camera, cord, software, and the dots...the "EG" (ergonomics) which has a clear case camera, two finger rings, and a breakout cable, this is meant to fully replace your mouse... and finally, the "AT" (assisted technology) model which helps out disabled people with special software. What I will be reviewing today will be the standard model.
Installation
When getting ready to install the device, you will see many, many notices in the packaging telling you to install the software before installing the hardware and this is a very important factor in getting this to work properly. I would've gone and tested what would happen if I installed the hardware first but I don't think that I would like to have taken that risk. After installing the software, you will need to reboot, then connect the hardware to the computer. The camera was meant to sit on a monitor or something pretty high up and level to your head or wherever you wish to place the dots. The camera has a metal base which can be bent to stabilize itself on any surface: monitor edges, desk edges, etc...The camera has a roughly 25 degree field of view which is quite adequate because it will most likely be positioned in front of you. Installation was fairly simple and straightforward, just like many USB webcams and devices. Of course here comes the tricky part or so it seemed: the software.
System Specs
AMD Athlon 1.2GHz Soyo Dragon + 256MB Crucial PC2100DDR MSI GeForce2 Pro Turtle Beach Santa Cruz Maxtor D740X 60GB Hard Drive Plextor 12/10/32A IDE CD-RW Pioneer 16X DVD-ROM Microsoft WindowsXP Software
The TrackIR doesn't work at all without the software running because it is not a native windows device like a mouse or a keyboard but making the software run on start-up isn't a big hassle. You'll know when the device is on and working when you see the green light on the top of the camera turns on. The software works with everything in the system and is basically like one of the apps everyone used to have that would move your mouse around a bit every couple of seconds to fool the AllAdvantage program. When you move the real mouse, it would disable the TrackIR program until the mouse stops moving. The software itself reminds me of the mouse control panel in Windows, it lets you control cursor speed, sensitivity, smoothness, etc...Smoothness is unique, when you set it to maximum smoothness, you get a very fluid movement from the cursor but also it seems to lag a bit...I like it because your head can be shaking quite a bit and the cursor would be steady, sort of like the Sony Handycam's Steadyshot. In constrast, minimum smoothness results in jerky and jittery movements of the cursor. Other functions include a double speed function in which the cursor moves at double the speed. Also, the gravity function lets you hit the hard to hit targets of the close, minimize, maximize, etc...buttons, they snap to a button when the cursor gets close to it so you can easily get the cursor close to the close button and the software automatically positions the cursor over the close button, where it thinks you intended to put it.
The "Game Mode" function overrides the game's mouse controls so the TrackIR can be used for games. But in games, I found that precision and speed is lacking compared to a mouse and it would pretty difficult to be a champion while using the TrackIR as a game controller. These comments are for FPS and RTS games but for flight simulations, I've come to the conclusions from many reports that this is a good choice because of the ability for you to view out of the cockpit with the TrackIR and how it's a less point and click dependant genre than FPS or RTS.
At this point you might be wondering how you click the mouse, both left and right click can't be done with your eyes blinking, I'm sorry but I don't think that function will ever be implemented, unless you would like to stick a few silver dots on your eyelids. Clicking is done through pressing designated keys on the keyboard, so you can have an almost hands free experience, notice the keyword being "almost".
Common Usage
What can I say about this device in terms of things I normally do such as browsing the web and checking email? The TrackIR can easily move the cursor as well as a mouse can and it's much easier moving your head than it is moving a mouse so I cant argue with it's ease and laziness factor. The only major problem that I think people will hit is that it takes time getting used to it. It takes time to adjust to the speed you move your head, the angles of visibility, and the range, and if you play games, those too. Also, the TrackIR catches onto many things that are bright...not just the silver dots. If you have a silver ring, there's a good chance it'll see that as a dot and track according to that. The bottom line is that you probably wont save any time by using the TrackIR but it's a good break from the standard mouse and also adds just a little bit to the human laziness factor.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Works like advertised Makes life a bit easier Comes with many replacement dots Cons
Lack of precision Wearing something that has silver dots on it Other shiny objects can throw off the camera Conclusion
I'll give it to you, it's pretty cool to say that all you have to do to use your computer is look at the screen and move your head around a bit but considering everything up to this point, is it worth it? It would be if you could get 100% used to using the TrackIR but it's harder than it seems but the sensitivity and speed options do help. NaturalPoint has done a good job programming the software so that it makes the user have an easier time getting adjusted to the TrackIR. Once properly modified, the TrackIR can be one cool toy but it probably will not be put out for mainstream use or adopted by any OEM's because overally, it will take longer to do things with the TrackIR then it will with a simple mouse. If you're into cool toys that have functionality, give this a try but don't rely on it outside of simple tasks, such as deathmatches.
Slashdot Mirror
I haven't tried just this specific "fix", but the MSI the OP almost downloaded can check the installed OS version... so this is not news-worthy.
For what it's worth, Far Cry 2 has enough flaws and enough gems that the player's enjoyment is influenced more by personal experience than linear games.
Far Cry 2 has problems. The blur effects that simulate heavy breathing after a sprint practically require you to keep a vehicle on hand at all times, especially when your malaria condition worsens. This made me feel like an unhealthy, obese assassin that used a scooter as a primary means of locomotion. The AI can sometimes shoot you through brush that, on similar engines such as Crysis, you might expect to conceal you. There are three (four including promotional content) side mission categories, and the dozen or more missions in each category are identical. The AI appear incapable of using stairs or ladders. The PC version of the game has a far better save/load system and allows you to use it at any time. Console players and critics will likely become frustrated from retracing their steps after a bullshit death. This makes the game feel like a good engine that has yet to become a good game.
On the other hand, I liked the open-endedness of Far Cry 2. To put things in perspective, before I tried Far Cry 2 I played games the Half-Life 2 series, Prey, FEAR, and Gears of War. These games were good in their own respects, but to me it felt like it was one step up from watching a movie. Some locations might be larger than others, but in general the gameplay was the same. You initiate some sequence or find some lever to open a door, follow the path to kill something and repeat. Decisions about combat style and routes to a target were often made for you. For me, Far Cry 2 was the complete opposite. Later in the game, you can amass enough weapons to decide how you wanted to engage targets. For example, you could buy a camo suit, silenced weapons and sleep until darkness. You could purchase a high-powered sniper rifle and a flamethrower to snipe, set the landscape on fire around you to conceal your position, move, and snipe again. You could purchase explosives and assault weapons. You could scout the surrounding areas of posts to find good locations to snipe, or locations that could not be easily flanked. The open world and the open gun market let me actually play a game and have fun the way I wanted, rather than replay a campaign only to take a path, to open a door, to kill something in a manner that was designed for the situation.
So, you either play the game and find out that the missions are repetitive, the AI can be frustrating, and the storyline is unengaging until the ending. Or, you might look past those problems and enjoy the graphics engine while you have fun doing whatever the hell you want to do.
If you like the "open-endedness" of FC2, then you should take a look at Fallout 3. Should be right up your alley.
Too bad it's Xbox 360 only. :(
Time to buy stocks in the major SAN/disk-companies!
Also reminds me of the Swedish internet snooping laws...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FRA_law
From TFA:
In 2002, Grand Theft Auto III was tagged with an RC-rating until Rockstar removed the option for players to solicit sex from prostitutes. Players could of course still kill them, underscoring the bizarre intercultural disconnect between wanton murder (AOK!) and the biological act of procreation (impolite and evil!).
Now that's just hilarious. Altho I suppose prostitution has nothing to do with procreation.
Yeah, he's Swedish (living in Sollentuna, suburb to Stockholm).
Mod this up. The blog in the headline is just a bad fanboi expression.
Your employer doesn't supply you with a proper desk? Here in Sweden we have laws governing the workplace and my employer do listen if I need something new. I currently have one of those desks that I can either sit or stand at (goes up and down with motors) and I have a chair a chiropractor has fitted for me.
When it comes to keyboard/mouse I can buy whatever I want and get reimbursed on my salary. I work for that big blue IT-company btw. (Excuse any spellingerrors etc etc, English is not my first language).
A big Swedish torrent site has been contacted by MS in regards of torrents offering Halo2 and I know of atleast one local broadband user who has been contacted by his ISP in regards of his download of Halo2...
I guess they are desperate/nervous.
Then you should check out the Archos Gmini 220.
...which is also based on an 1.8" drive, 20GB. It has a built-in cardreader for CF (and other media via an adapter). I have one that I download pics from my Nikon D70. It even can show jpegs on it's b/w lcd screen (crappy tho).
Drop me a mail if you want more info about it from me.
I just wish they would do the same in Sweden. They just issued a recall of those cool JOS mp3-players with builtin FM-transmitters even tho they come disabled.
Did anyone else see evil popups that initiates trojan downloads when they visited the site? :(
I have no popupblocker at work
I guess you mean in the C1541 floppydrive.
I for one welcomes our new asteroid overlords.
Perfect for street/dragracing (402meter).
If they are paved, that is.
Other uses could be for rc cars/planes/whatever.
My oldish IBM Thinkpad T20 has DVI too. I bet the later model T's has it too.
We have tons of them at work, some even new in the original packaging! They are with PS/2 connectors too. Altho, wonder what the shipping would be from Sweden.
The company I work for donated money in my name for charity.
I suggest you donate to a good cause too.
Here are some links with information:
American red cross
Doctors without borders
Merry Christmas.
Where I work (a major scandinavian bank) we have a couple of thousand OS/2 boxes as cash registers/POS. Altho we have discontinued any more development we still have to support them, and occasionally (try to) find new hardware that works.
Oooh! Dont forget that little keyboard light it has built in =) That's what I love about my T20.
...can a PII 400Mhz play divx movies with no probs?
I welcome any good answers.
My employer was nice enough to supply me with an Ericsson R380e. It is also Symbian based, with a (in my eyes) nicer design than the Nokia. /. in my WAP browser).
It has a flipable keypad which reveals a tapscreen. What I like about it is the stylus, the "inbox", voicecontrol (answering calls and calling "voicemarks") and the size.
Downsides are batterytime which Nokia are superior in and it's a bit sluggy in the menus.
The built in email client has pop3 and IMAP support.
It also has WAP support (altho, I consider WAP generally useless, unless someone can direct me to where I can read
You should look into the two "Serious Sam" titles.
Those are as intense as Doom/2, complete with multiplayer co-op.
Pardon me for replying to my own post, but how can this be redundant? The site is slashdotted!
I'll get you in metamod!
NaturalPoint TrackIR
Author: Chris Oh
Date Posted: April 25th, 2002
SLRating:
Bottom Line: If you're into cool toys that have functionality, give this a try but don't rely on it outside of simple tasks, such as deathmatches.
http://www.slcentral.com/c/h/r/naturalpoint/tra
Introduction
Didn't you ever wish that you could just sit back and browse the web like it's made to be done? Didn't you just want to lie back and make your eyes do the talking and clicking for you? Well then, if you're like me, you will be looking for everything possible to make your time on the computer and on the internet, much more efficient and easier. As an American, I like doing things the easiest way possible. People have dreamed for a long time for something to make using the computer easier. When the mouse came along, that was a godsend and people were gracing it as the ultimate usability tool for the computer but now that we've progressed through high stages of computing, the mouse has remained relatively the same except for some laser technology. In comes the NaturalPoint TrackIR, which is a tool which supplements "not replaces" your mouse with something much better... your forehead. The concept is so simple that it's almost a crime to market and sell it off when most of us has been dreaming of things like this for years but to give credit where credit is due, NaturalPoint took it upon themselves to actually take the time to developing something like this and market it.
Here's how it works, the TrackIR has 2 basic parts that make it work. The first is a camera that mounts on the top of your computer and second part is silver dots which you stick on your forehead, hat, etc... that catch the attention of the camera so that the cursor moves along to the movements your head makes. The dots have a cloth backing so you can stick it and remove it many times. The camera is sensitive enough to detect the silver dots and it will only detect those dots and calculate how it moves and translate it to cursor movements. So when the dots are on your head and you move your head left, the camera sees the dot moving to the left and therefore the cursor moves left. Actually, this isn't really a camera because all it can basically make out from everything else is the silver dots; it will not do anything like take pictures of your friends or of the city. The camera sends out infrared signals and the silver dots bounce the signals back to the TrackIR. The camera is connected to the desktop or laptop through USB. The cable is pretty short (good for laptops) and therefore it comes with a 4 foot long USB cable extension. Also, it has extra rubber pads for use with laptops. A good feature of this is that the device is powered by the USB port and therefore doesn't require any external power.
The device comes in three flavors: the "standard" which has the camera, cord, software, and the dots...the "EG" (ergonomics) which has a clear case camera, two finger rings, and a breakout cable, this is meant to fully replace your mouse... and finally, the "AT" (assisted technology) model which helps out disabled people with special software. What I will be reviewing today will be the standard model.
Installation
When getting ready to install the device, you will see many, many notices in the packaging telling you to install the software before installing the hardware and this is a very important factor in getting this to work properly. I would've gone and tested what would happen if I installed the hardware first but I don't think that I would like to have taken that risk. After installing the software, you will need to reboot, then connect the hardware to the computer. The camera was meant to sit on a monitor or something pretty high up and level to your head or wherever you wish to place the dots. The camera has a metal base which can be bent to stabilize itself on any surface: monitor edges, desk edges, etc...The camera has a roughly 25 degree field of view which is quite adequate because it will most likely be positioned in front of you. Installation was fairly simple and straightforward, just like many USB webcams and devices. Of course here comes the tricky part or so it seemed: the software.
System Specs
AMD Athlon 1.2GHz
Soyo Dragon +
256MB Crucial PC2100DDR
MSI GeForce2 Pro
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
Maxtor D740X 60GB Hard Drive
Plextor 12/10/32A IDE CD-RW
Pioneer 16X DVD-ROM
Microsoft WindowsXP
Software
The TrackIR doesn't work at all without the software running because it is not a native windows device like a mouse or a keyboard but making the software run on start-up isn't a big hassle. You'll know when the device is on and working when you see the green light on the top of the camera turns on. The software works with everything in the system and is basically like one of the apps everyone used to have that would move your mouse around a bit every couple of seconds to fool the AllAdvantage program. When you move the real mouse, it would disable the TrackIR program until the mouse stops moving. The software itself reminds me of the mouse control panel in Windows, it lets you control cursor speed, sensitivity, smoothness, etc...Smoothness is unique, when you set it to maximum smoothness, you get a very fluid movement from the cursor but also it seems to lag a bit...I like it because your head can be shaking quite a bit and the cursor would be steady, sort of like the Sony Handycam's Steadyshot. In constrast, minimum smoothness results in jerky and jittery movements of the cursor. Other functions include a double speed function in which the cursor moves at double the speed. Also, the gravity function lets you hit the hard to hit targets of the close, minimize, maximize, etc...buttons, they snap to a button when the cursor gets close to it so you can easily get the cursor close to the close button and the software automatically positions the cursor over the close button, where it thinks you intended to put it.
The "Game Mode" function overrides the game's mouse controls so the TrackIR can be used for games. But in games, I found that precision and speed is lacking compared to a mouse and it would pretty difficult to be a champion while using the TrackIR as a game controller. These comments are for FPS and RTS games but for flight simulations, I've come to the conclusions from many reports that this is a good choice because of the ability for you to view out of the cockpit with the TrackIR and how it's a less point and click dependant genre than FPS or RTS.
At this point you might be wondering how you click the mouse, both left and right click can't be done with your eyes blinking, I'm sorry but I don't think that function will ever be implemented, unless you would like to stick a few silver dots on your eyelids. Clicking is done through pressing designated keys on the keyboard, so you can have an almost hands free experience, notice the keyword being "almost".
Common Usage
What can I say about this device in terms of things I normally do such as browsing the web and checking email? The TrackIR can easily move the cursor as well as a mouse can and it's much easier moving your head than it is moving a mouse so I cant argue with it's ease and laziness factor. The only major problem that I think people will hit is that it takes time getting used to it. It takes time to adjust to the speed you move your head, the angles of visibility, and the range, and if you play games, those too. Also, the TrackIR catches onto many things that are bright...not just the silver dots. If you have a silver ring, there's a good chance it'll see that as a dot and track according to that. The bottom line is that you probably wont save any time by using the TrackIR but it's a good break from the standard mouse and also adds just a little bit to the human laziness factor.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Works like advertised
Makes life a bit easier
Comes with many replacement dots
Cons
Lack of precision
Wearing something that has silver dots on it
Other shiny objects can throw off the camera
Conclusion
I'll give it to you, it's pretty cool to say that all you have to do to use your computer is look at the screen and move your head around a bit but considering everything up to this point, is it worth it? It would be if you could get 100% used to using the TrackIR but it's harder than it seems but the sensitivity and speed options do help. NaturalPoint has done a good job programming the software so that it makes the user have an easier time getting adjusted to the TrackIR. Once properly modified, the TrackIR can be one cool toy but it probably will not be put out for mainstream use or adopted by any OEM's because overally, it will take longer to do things with the TrackIR then it will with a simple mouse. If you're into cool toys that have functionality, give this a try but don't rely on it outside of simple tasks, such as deathmatches.
SLRating: 7/10