Ha! This is slashdot, buddy! These fuckers don't work for a living, they live in their mom's basement where they bitch about microsoft and corporate greed from their mama's Compaq running Windows ME.
uhhh, oh yeah, i forgot.... erm... I'll be there in a second, mom!!!
this site may let you look at it. Also if you email yourself the URL to a hotmail account, hotmail will frame it, also, ask jeeves will frame it, if you can find it in their index. Anyhow, that may let you circumvent the block.
ya know.... 800 numbers have global caller ID. I wouldn't recommend calling this number from, say, your workstation, at the place where work for a living.
Even M-crew, however, doesn't let you copy MP3 files from your PC to the L7HD -- no surprise, really, when you consider that Sony is also a record company with a vested interest in stifling the casual trading of MP3 music.
yeah well the Sony DVD player I bought here in Mexico not only plays DVDs from every region, it also is CDR compatible and plays MP3s, VCDs.
I guess they have a different marketing strategy outside the US....
i think they must be running the website on one of those xbox webservers.
heres the article anyhow:
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xb, PC)
A not-so-long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, gamers throughout the planet longed for the ultimate Star Wars experience; it would have to be one that immersed them directly in the world they longed to be part of, and in such a way that it would provide hours upon hours of gaming bliss. That experience, sadly, has remained elusive. However, just when all of the would-be Jedi were about to give up to the dark side, a magical triumvirate consisting of three of the most powerful light side icons was formed. First to appear was LucasArts; the organization ran by the master of all Jedi (whose force power was beginning to wane in the world of gaming). Second, the master of all things operational, Lord Gates, created the grand machine on which the elusive experience may be created. Thirdly, there was BioWare, a rogue group of scoundrels that have repeatedly proven themselves experts in the field of RPG creation. It would seem, on the surface, to be a union of medichlorians foretold by the prophets. However, the answer to whether the fruit of this union becomes the most powerful Jedi in the universe or just another fallen hero turned Sith Lord is an answer too cloudy to be foretold.
May 2002 has come and gone, and taken another E3 with it. It was at this yearly convention that gamers got their first real glimpse of BioWare's highly anticipated RPG Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. From the reports received back from the Bothan spies sent to the trade show, it looks like this one has got all the right ingredients to make not only one of the best RPGs ever, but the definitive Star Wars title.
It will take players to a time about 4000 years prior to the tales told in the films, during a period in which the Jedi and the Sith numbered in the thousands, and were locked in an epic struggle. Players assume the role of a human (players' parties consist of three characters, which can include humans, droids, Twi'leks, Wookies, etc) Jedi, whose decisions and actions not only affect his future (players can become Sith if they act too evil), but the outcome of this conflict on a much grander scale. The specific details of the storyline are still being kept quiet, but the developers assure that it involves stopping the Sith at all costs.
Players start out by building their character to spec, and then set out on the adventure which will mold and shape said character based on deeds and actions. The player sets the beginning skill points and combat feats, but different skills and abilities are added as the game progresses. BioWare has mentioned that quite a lot of painstaking detail has been presented in the game, and players will even be able to construct their character's lightsaber (which is a fundemental skill of any padawan), instead of just picking one up "weapon-up" style. The clothing and armaments of said characters will appear on their model no matter how you choose to dress them, and their appearance will affect how you are perceived by others. Even the most philanthropic Jedi will not be trusted if he walks through an environment wearing a black cloak, etc.
Speaking of environments, KOTOR will offer a universe spanning ten different worlds, which includes familiar favorites as well as completely new ones. Expect to travel to such places as Tatooine, the Sith world of Korriban, the Jedi Academy on Dantooine and the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. The player's home will be the Ebon Hawk, a familiar-looking predeccessor to a certain famous Corellian smuggler's "fastest hunk-o'-junk" in the galaxy. Players will be able to "live" inside the ship, interact with others, and even fly her about during certain challenges. Think of the Ebon Hawk as the "100 gil" per night Inn that you take with you everywhere you go (for purposes of explaining its role within this massive RPG). It can also act as a storage depot for the extra items you or your Wookie are finding a little too cumbersome to lug around.
Their will be a wide array of weapons (most of which are still under wraps with the developer), but lightsabers, blasters, bowcasters, and vibro blades have been assured. The story is one of epic proportions, the stuff one would expect from a BioWare RPG, the combat is going to consist of real time, rule based combat, and the character's development is directly related to the outcome of choices and actions. An interesting aspect of the game is that to add replayability, certain areas are only open to certain types of characters... in short, a fully angelic Jedi is not going to be able to get into highly Sith populated areas and vice versa. The next play through would warrant a more evil upbringing of the character to become welcome there.
What would a good RPG be without tons of mini-game side quests? Well, not a really good one after all. KOTOR won't disappoint in this regard, either, as the developers have included many mini games throughout the world, some required to progress through the main story, and some purely optional. They've been quoted as saying that they like to use mini games in places where one would normally just be watching a cutscene, so its execution sounds a bit innovative and welcome from the start. Also, all the in-game dialogue text will be spoken by character voice as well, an excellent feature that has only become possible of late (with this generation's hardware) because of the sheer amount of dialogue a typical forty hour RPG would require. Expect to be completely enveloped in the Star Wats universe.
Any character within your party can be controlled, and the AI will take over for the other two in the meantime. Players may switch from character to character at will. Saving progress is an anywhere, anytime system... providing the player is not in a situation of impending danger at the time. Saving in the midst of a "boss" battle will be right out.
The Xbox and PC versions will be identical in terms of gameplay, but there will be obvious control differences. BioWare has claimed that the whole title from beginning to end will be "longer than your typical console RPG, but not quite as enormous as Baldur's Gate 2", so expect a solid forty+ hours of saber swinging, force pushing, Sith Lord bashing, no Jar-Jar goodness when the Xbox version streets this fall.
There's also an interview with Gilliam dated Sept. 2001 that says (on the second page) that "Terry Gilliam is currently working on an adaptation of 'Good Omens' by Terry Pratchett."
Sep 2001 - July 2002 = 10 months.... old news I say...
No, no. Before he does 7,8,9 they are going to release yet a 3rd edition, except this time, instead of being digitally remastered, they are going to be "plot remastered".
Imagine the millions Lucas will make when all of us completist nerds end up with the original edition on video, special edition on DVD, and the re-written [err] plot remastered edition on whatever media format they come with next.
Then, they will come out with 7. Hopefully he'll be dead by then, so we'll be able to see something that makes sense the first time.
I was trying to view an older article at Texas Monthly the other day, and it requires that you enter your subscriber information to read the articles... in other words if you don't subscribe, you can't view the site. But, ironically since their robots.txt doesn't have exclusions, google had it in their cache...
...what beef does Batman have with Superman? They protect two completely different cities, and the only thing I can see creating a conflict here is a very un-superhero-like grab for power. I don't see how this idea would work even at it's most basic levels...
well... maybe it will be a very real conflict over the same girl.... after all, in the yahoo article it says there are 3 roles for women...
The 13 surviving "walking video game" employees had a major victory in court today when Dr. Robert E. Burdick, medical expert witness for the class action suit showed that the flat panel screens used to display the games on the "walking video game" employees actually exposed its wearers to 800 times the amount of radiation as would typically be used in a dental x-ray.
Nintendo's defense panel had no comment, except to say that their medical expert would also be testifying as soon as his chemotherapy treatments permitted.
In other news, the goatse.cx troll is still actively spamming the slashdot comment boards.
Well, the problem I have is that there is no emulator for "all" browsers. I test pages with IE 5 & 6, Netscape 4.7 & 6.x, k-meleon and Lynx. I happen to have an iBook, so I also check IE & Netscape on that machine.
The real problem, at least for me, is that it is fairly inconvenient (no to mention unrealistic) to test sites with every browser that has ever existed.
I don't design out of preference to one browser over another, but the truth, there is not one web browser that interprets HTML 100% correctly. Different brands and different versions have introduced their own particular bugs.
Its true that 90% of my visits are from users with IE running some version of windows. But I do take the time to make sure someone can view it with Mac browsers (mac's IE 5.0, for example had several bugs in it when loading tables, fixed in 5.1).
The best I can do for everyone else is use a browser based on the Mozilla engine (K-Meleon) and lynx, the theory being that if the site works with these 2 browsers, it should at least be viewable for any others.
The results aren't always pretty when you aim for wide interoperability. But at least they work.
I hate flash. IMHO, the only thing more pathetic than a flash intro page, is an HTML page that says "click here to see our Flash presentation".
In the height of the Klez infections (about 2 1/2 months ago), I got 76 emails infected with Klez in one morning.
The trick with Klez is that it spoofs the "from" header, and chooses an address at random from the infected computer's address book and its web cache.
I got tons of infected emails from people who had only surfed into a page containing one of my email addresses. Since I have 25 or design clients, this can add up to quite a few "webmaster@" email addresses. While my busiest site gets about 700 unique visitors daily, overall, my email accounts are exposed to ca. 4500 uniques daily.
That's a lot of novice users who think that getting an email that has the subject:
"A Excite Game"
and a body message that runs something like:
This is a excite game I made. It is my first try at a game. I hope you like it!
is a legit email. I have personally gotten this one over and over again, with the adjective randomized (a FUNNY game, a NEW game, etc.).
I can't believe that people open it, but they do. And they get infected, and then I get mails from them, spoofed to appear to be coming someone in their address book, or their browser cache.
Which makes it a drag, because you can't easily track down the offending individual.
The reason I think this virus is so prevalent (aside from the fact that most users are so gullible) is simply because you can't email the infected party and say "hey, you are infected with Klez", but with other viruses, such as SirCam and what not, you could, therefore stopping the virus infection, eventually.
didn't anyone see the scientifically accurate movie The Time Machine. When the moon collides with the earth, part of the population will flee underground and evolve into these freaky hyper-predator humanoids called morlocks. The fragmented remains of the surface-dwelling humans will create an idyllic proto society with neo-lithic science and incredible basket weaving skills.
sheesh. i don't know why questions like this even get posted. The movie only just came out this spring.
i had enough trouble switching from a standard keyboard to a MS "natural" keyboard -- it took me a month to stop typing qqq.xyz.com into my web browser instead of "www".
of course now that i have retrained myself to use touch type on the natural keyboard, i am a mess when I type anything on my g'friend's iBook...
A client of mine was having problems with her computer... of course she was infected with a virus. Anyhow, even though she had Norton installed, she had never updated the virus defs.... Because she is 60+, I opened up word to write out the procedure step by step. As soon as the gayrod Paperclip wizard from office popped out, I killed it without thinking about it, and selected the "go away forever" option (whatever the menu option says).
The next day she calls me because Office wasn't working properly... I go back, thinking I must have missed a copy of the virus on her HD. Of course office launches just fine.... but the paperclip character was gone... and she used it all the time. Took me 10 minutes to figure out how to reactivate it.
POINT: What an "advanced" user finds useless, a novice user finds vital...
with all respect to your G'father, he has probably not operated enough electronic items to learn the "language" of electronic gadgets. The more he operates, the more likely he would intuitively understand how to use something.
This idea is discussed in Donald Norman's Design of Everyday Things, which is a great book for UI people.
Also, I have never seen the Tivo's UI, so it could be poorly designed...;)
Slashdot Mirror
does anyone else hear the soundtrack of Terminator 2 when they read about this?
Ha! This is slashdot, buddy! These fuckers don't work for a living, they live in their mom's basement where they bitch about microsoft and corporate greed from their mama's Compaq running Windows ME.
uhhh, oh yeah, i forgot.... erm... I'll be there in a second, mom!!!
better yet, sell it on ebay
Genuine Space Debris (lug nut). No reserve. Includes NASA certificate of authenticity.
Admit it, what geek wouldn't want a piece of the soyuz or the Mir, or what have you?
My job apparently blocks the h2k2.net site
this site may let you look at it. Also if you email yourself the URL to a hotmail account, hotmail will frame it, also, ask jeeves will frame it, if you can find it in their index. Anyhow, that may let you circumvent the block.
ya know.... 800 numbers have global caller ID. I wouldn't recommend calling this number from, say, your workstation, at the place where work for a living.
Even M-crew, however, doesn't let you copy MP3 files from your PC to the L7HD -- no surprise, really, when you consider that Sony is also a record company with a vested interest in stifling the casual trading of MP3 music.
yeah well the Sony DVD player I bought here in Mexico not only plays DVDs from every region, it also is CDR compatible and plays MP3s, VCDs.
I guess they have a different marketing strategy outside the US....
i think they must be running the website on one of those xbox webservers.
heres the article anyhow:
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xb, PC)
A not-so-long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, gamers throughout the planet longed for the ultimate Star Wars experience; it would have to be one that immersed them directly in the world they longed to be part of, and in such a way that it would provide hours upon hours of gaming bliss. That experience, sadly, has remained elusive. However, just when all of the would-be Jedi were about to give up to the dark side, a magical triumvirate consisting of three of the most powerful light side icons was formed. First to appear was LucasArts; the organization ran by the master of all Jedi (whose force power was beginning to wane in the world of gaming). Second, the master of all things operational, Lord Gates, created the grand machine on which the elusive experience may be created. Thirdly, there was BioWare, a rogue group of scoundrels that have repeatedly proven themselves experts in the field of RPG creation. It would seem, on the surface, to be a union of medichlorians foretold by the prophets. However, the answer to whether the fruit of this union becomes the most powerful Jedi in the universe or just another fallen hero turned Sith Lord is an answer too cloudy to be foretold.
May 2002 has come and gone, and taken another E3 with it. It was at this yearly convention that gamers got their first real glimpse of BioWare's highly anticipated RPG Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. From the reports received back from the Bothan spies sent to the trade show, it looks like this one has got all the right ingredients to make not only one of the best RPGs ever, but the definitive Star Wars title.
It will take players to a time about 4000 years prior to the tales told in the films, during a period in which the Jedi and the Sith numbered in the thousands, and were locked in an epic struggle. Players assume the role of a human (players' parties consist of three characters, which can include humans, droids, Twi'leks, Wookies, etc) Jedi, whose decisions and actions not only affect his future (players can become Sith if they act too evil), but the outcome of this conflict on a much grander scale. The specific details of the storyline are still being kept quiet, but the developers assure that it involves stopping the Sith at all costs.
Players start out by building their character to spec, and then set out on the adventure which will mold and shape said character based on deeds and actions. The player sets the beginning skill points and combat feats, but different skills and abilities are added as the game progresses. BioWare has mentioned that quite a lot of painstaking detail has been presented in the game, and players will even be able to construct their character's lightsaber (which is a fundemental skill of any padawan), instead of just picking one up "weapon-up" style. The clothing and armaments of said characters will appear on their model no matter how you choose to dress them, and their appearance will affect how you are perceived by others. Even the most philanthropic Jedi will not be trusted if he walks through an environment wearing a black cloak, etc.
Speaking of environments, KOTOR will offer a universe spanning ten different worlds, which includes familiar favorites as well as completely new ones. Expect to travel to such places as Tatooine, the Sith world of Korriban, the Jedi Academy on Dantooine and the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. The player's home will be the Ebon Hawk, a familiar-looking predeccessor to a certain famous Corellian smuggler's "fastest hunk-o'-junk" in the galaxy. Players will be able to "live" inside the ship, interact with others, and even fly her about during certain challenges. Think of the Ebon Hawk as the "100 gil" per night Inn that you take with you everywhere you go (for purposes of explaining its role within this massive RPG). It can also act as a storage depot for the extra items you or your Wookie are finding a little too cumbersome to lug around.
Their will be a wide array of weapons (most of which are still under wraps with the developer), but lightsabers, blasters, bowcasters, and vibro blades have been assured. The story is one of epic proportions, the stuff one would expect from a BioWare RPG, the combat is going to consist of real time, rule based combat, and the character's development is directly related to the outcome of choices and actions. An interesting aspect of the game is that to add replayability, certain areas are only open to certain types of characters... in short, a fully angelic Jedi is not going to be able to get into highly Sith populated areas and vice versa. The next play through would warrant a more evil upbringing of the character to become welcome there.
What would a good RPG be without tons of mini-game side quests? Well, not a really good one after all. KOTOR won't disappoint in this regard, either, as the developers have included many mini games throughout the world, some required to progress through the main story, and some purely optional. They've been quoted as saying that they like to use mini games in places where one would normally just be watching a cutscene, so its execution sounds a bit innovative and welcome from the start. Also, all the in-game dialogue text will be spoken by character voice as well, an excellent feature that has only become possible of late (with this generation's hardware) because of the sheer amount of dialogue a typical forty hour RPG would require. Expect to be completely enveloped in the Star Wats universe.
Any character within your party can be controlled, and the AI will take over for the other two in the meantime. Players may switch from character to character at will. Saving progress is an anywhere, anytime system... providing the player is not in a situation of impending danger at the time. Saving in the midst of a "boss" battle will be right out.
The Xbox and PC versions will be identical in terms of gameplay, but there will be obvious control differences. BioWare has claimed that the whole title from beginning to end will be "longer than your typical console RPG, but not quite as enormous as Baldur's Gate 2", so expect a solid forty+ hours of saber swinging, force pushing, Sith Lord bashing, no Jar-Jar goodness when the Xbox version streets this fall.
By Russell Garbutt
There's also an interview with Gilliam dated Sept. 2001 that says (on the second page) that "Terry Gilliam is currently working on an adaptation of 'Good Omens' by Terry Pratchett."
Sep 2001 - July 2002 = 10 months.... old news I say...
Look forward to episodes seven eight and nine
No, no. Before he does 7,8,9 they are going to release yet a 3rd edition, except this time, instead of being digitally remastered, they are going to be "plot remastered".
Imagine the millions Lucas will make when all of us completist nerds end up with the original edition on video, special edition on DVD, and the re-written [err] plot remastered edition on whatever media format they come with next.
Then, they will come out with 7. Hopefully he'll be dead by then, so we'll be able to see something that makes sense the first time.
I was trying to view an older article at Texas Monthly the other day, and it requires that you enter your subscriber information to read the articles... in other words if you don't subscribe, you can't view the site. But, ironically since their robots.txt doesn't have exclusions, google had it in their cache...
...what beef does Batman have with Superman? They protect two completely different cities, and the only thing I can see creating a conflict here is a very un-superhero-like grab for power. I don't see how this idea would work even at it's most basic levels...
well... maybe it will be a very real conflict over the same girl.... after all, in the yahoo article it says there are 3 roles for women...
yah... with the new vaporware tool, I find that photoshop 7 allows me to create corporate FUD in half the time it used to take.
Walking Video Game Class Action Suit Victory
The 13 surviving "walking video game" employees had a major victory in court today when Dr. Robert E. Burdick, medical expert witness for the class action suit showed that the flat panel screens used to display the games on the "walking video game" employees actually exposed its wearers to 800 times the amount of radiation as would typically be used in a dental x-ray.
Nintendo's defense panel had no comment, except to say that their medical expert would also be testifying as soon as his chemotherapy treatments permitted.
In other news, the goatse.cx troll is still actively spamming the slashdot comment boards.
said if i can get this mentioned on slashdot, i'll get the raise after all...
Well, the problem I have is that there is no emulator for "all" browsers. I test pages with IE 5 & 6, Netscape 4.7 & 6.x, k-meleon and Lynx. I happen to have an iBook, so I also check IE & Netscape on that machine.
The real problem, at least for me, is that it is fairly inconvenient (no to mention unrealistic) to test sites with every browser that has ever existed.
I don't design out of preference to one browser over another, but the truth, there is not one web browser that interprets HTML 100% correctly. Different brands and different versions have introduced their own particular bugs.
Its true that 90% of my visits are from users with IE running some version of windows. But I do take the time to make sure someone can view it with Mac browsers (mac's IE 5.0, for example had several bugs in it when loading tables, fixed in 5.1).
The best I can do for everyone else is use a browser based on the Mozilla engine (K-Meleon) and lynx, the theory being that if the site works with these 2 browsers, it should at least be viewable for any others.
The results aren't always pretty when you aim for wide interoperability. But at least they work.
I hate flash. IMHO, the only thing more pathetic than a flash intro page, is an HTML page that says "click here to see our Flash presentation".
Yes, of course! Everyone knows that Tea is the one true hot beverage!
..42..
You want the taste of dried leaves in boiled water?
I can say the only negative effects on me video games have caused are repetive stress aches in my thumbs. :(
send that man a CD Burner!!!
In the height of the Klez infections (about 2 1/2 months ago), I got 76 emails infected with Klez in one morning.
The trick with Klez is that it spoofs the "from" header, and chooses an address at random from the infected computer's address book and its web cache.
I got tons of infected emails from people who had only surfed into a page containing one of my email addresses. Since I have 25 or design clients, this can add up to quite a few "webmaster@" email addresses. While my busiest site gets about 700 unique visitors daily, overall, my email accounts are exposed to ca. 4500 uniques daily.
That's a lot of novice users who think that getting an email that has the subject:
"A Excite Game"
and a body message that runs something like:
This is a excite game I made. It is my first try at a game. I hope you like it!
is a legit email. I have personally gotten this one over and over again, with the adjective randomized (a FUNNY game, a NEW game, etc.).
I can't believe that people open it, but they do. And they get infected, and then I get mails from them, spoofed to appear to be coming someone in their address book, or their browser cache.
Which makes it a drag, because you can't easily track down the offending individual.
The reason I think this virus is so prevalent (aside from the fact that most users are so gullible) is simply because you can't email the infected party and say "hey, you are infected with Klez", but with other viruses, such as SirCam and what not, you could, therefore stopping the virus infection, eventually.
with all this Positive Press....
it makes me want to switch...
didn't anyone see the scientifically accurate movie The Time Machine. When the moon collides with the earth, part of the population will flee underground and evolve into these freaky hyper-predator humanoids called morlocks. The fragmented remains of the surface-dwelling humans will create an idyllic proto society with neo-lithic science and incredible basket weaving skills.
sheesh. i don't know why questions like this even get posted. The movie only just came out this spring.
i had enough trouble switching from a standard keyboard to a MS "natural" keyboard -- it took me a month to stop typing qqq.xyz.com into my web browser instead of "www".
of course now that i have retrained myself to use touch type on the natural keyboard, i am a mess when I type anything on my g'friend's iBook...
damn laptops and those smaller keyboards.
Gentleman, you have your targets. I want a clean hit, with no civilian casualties... ;P
A client of mine was having problems with her computer... of course she was infected with a virus. Anyhow, even though she had Norton installed, she had never updated the virus defs.... Because she is 60+, I opened up word to write out the procedure step by step. As soon as the gayrod Paperclip wizard from office popped out, I killed it without thinking about it, and selected the "go away forever" option (whatever the menu option says).
The next day she calls me because Office wasn't working properly... I go back, thinking I must have missed a copy of the virus on her HD. Of course office launches just fine.... but the paperclip character was gone... and she used it all the time. Took me 10 minutes to figure out how to reactivate it.
POINT: What an "advanced" user finds useless, a novice user finds vital...
with all respect to your G'father, he has probably not operated enough electronic items to learn the "language" of electronic gadgets. The more he operates, the more likely he would intuitively understand how to use something.
;)
This idea is discussed in Donald Norman's Design of Everyday Things, which is a great book for UI people.
Also, I have never seen the Tivo's UI, so it could be poorly designed...