Actually I have played the game lately. That is why I am familar with the next to nothing population counts. Also I made note that the game I described was "as released". MMORPGs rarely have a few months beyond their release to make their impression on the community; good or bad. AC2 came out of the gate facing the wrong direction not even knowing their was a race to be had.
Yes the game has evolved. It still has many of the quirks it did upon release and the bulk of buildings in cities cannot be entered even to this day. Only newly added buildings are enterable. Live updates cannot remake a game quickly and AC2 proved this as well. It took them over a year and half to get their new crafting system out the door. It took them many months to fix their in game chat system - something that by itself probably ended many accounts. Live updates are great, but they cannot be relied upon to fix a game fast enough to satisfy today's players.
As for the account transfers; I know full well the previous system that was in place. However like many others I haven't transfered to the new Turbine system because I was ALSO waiting on the expansion to ship. I know many people who have been waiting since August of LAST year. Why should we transfer when it requires a PAID subscription to do so? The new system is in place because there is no longer going to be ANY connection to the zone, not because of people having transfer problems. Turbine was already handling those.
AC2:Legions, hits the shelves and stays there too.
on
MMOG Expansions Incoming
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· Score: 5, Informative
I guess you can call it a "shelf queen". My friends and I are still trying to figure this one out. Here is a game where the PEAK player count on its most highly populated server is less than 500 people and it usually hovers in the mid 300s.
I know Turbine cut a deal with Sony Station to distribute the expansions, did SS also take the risk of selling the boxes?
While the graphically superior of the two AC games AC2 was such a change in game play mechanics that it did not attract many of the original AC players. Laden with bugs, exploits, and a poorly implemented crafting system at launch it failed to hold the interest of new players. AC2 was a game that told a story, through the vault quests, but forgot that players wanted to make the story or be part of it too. It also had some of the most boneheaded design decisions I have seen to date. The big two were no NPCs and having cities where the buildings could not be entered or used! The cities themselves were nothing more than monuments to the developers. A beautiful game with all the interactivity of a Hollywood western set.
The AC1 expansion is set for July and Turbine is very much risking that franchise by taking so long to deliver the box. To top it off they recently came up with a new account migration system, having left the Microsoft Gameing zone, that essentially allows people to steal inactive accounts. The "exploiters" already jumped and found it allowed for the reactivation of banned accounts but Turbine is "fixing" that. The system only requires a person to know the zone name, a character name, and which game world the character was on, to take possession of an inactive account. That is not weak security it is NO security.
Turbine has placed their bets with D&D Online and LOTR Online. I can only figure that they are keeping the AC franchises alive simply because it is totally theirs. AC was a great game when it came out, taking the big risk of not following the standard D&D setup that other games used. It had one of the most advanced combat systems that provides to this day some of the best PvP action. We can only hope that after making money with D&D and LOTR that Turbine takes some of those profits and brings AC up to date in graphics and usuability. AC is one game where the biggest improvement would be graphics as they have more lore than most other games combined. They just need a better look to attract newer players. New servers with Guild War level of graphics and a few game tweaks could make for a real relaunch. It won't happen but many of us old timers love to dream.
Bigot or not the Salon article was written by someone with a chip on her shoulder. She had her agenda and came into the interview with the expressed purpose of finding anything wrong with Card she could. Anything they didn't agree on was because he was ignorant or a bigot. How easy is it to classify people who don't agree with you! Far easier than actually having to refute them, just label them!
Card is not UNREASONABLY INTOLERANT of gays. However he is portrayed as such because it he will not agree with the agenda that was put forth. Faith isn't something that you take little parts of here and there. His faith teaches him that certain activities are not proper and can be controlled. The brand of intolerance comes from people who want to force others to accept their own lack of control. Card expressly stated that people of different beliefs are fine, its when they cross the line and want others to change their beliefs is when it is getting out of hand.
Bigot he is not. Branded he is as is anyone who disagrees with radicals (self proclaimed) like Donna is. Radicals don't want to discuss anything, your either with them or your against them. If your the latter then you are subject to all sorts of emotion based name calling because that is far easier to put deragotory labels on someone than to actively discuss the issue.
Christ-like at the end times would be more violent than any first person shooter. Take the stories given in Revelations. Christ isn't going to pull any punches and will slaughter millions and millions of non-believers.
Remember one item, the term Christ-like is usually most attributed to people attempting to box in Christians. It is a term used to put Christians on the defensive.
Christ tells us to treat each other fairly. Christ taught us to love each other. However he is the final Judge and fair isn't going to enter into the picture.
So, put that shooter at the end times and see what happens. You could also put the shooter into the context where your not fighting people but instead fighting Hell. Also, who says you need a gun to have a FPS? Christ will slay with just the Word of God. How that would be adminstered by others acting in his stead is left to the imagination.
Great idea there. If governments control the satellites you are bound to be censored many times over.
Unlike governments corporations are out to provide what people will pay for. Governments are out to provide for themselves.
Hell in the US talk radio didn't exist because of a government imposed law called the "fairness doctrine". China regularly blocks content it doesn't like. Other countries are bound to have similar concerns.
The last people I want dictating what I can and cannot see are politicians. At least with a corporation I can choose another, they don't beat down your doors with guns or such.
I do not understand their choice of base video card. Why would they use a 9600 series when the 9800s and X series are available? From a price concious view I can see it however the top end is Nvidia.
Also, are they still stuck on PCI-X? Is Apple going to move to PCI-Express anytime soon or will they be left behind for the time being?
See this story on NEWS.COM http://news.com.com/RealNetworks+rekindl es+iPod+te ch+tussle/2100-1027_3-5685286.html?tag=nefd.top
How long before we get an update from Apple that ends this "compatibility"? While I like my iPod I don't care for the fact that I cannot use another service other than iTunes.
The ability to DODGE a spell or arrow is one thing I miss in EVERY OTHER game I have played. That made for enjoyable PvE and made PvP truly exceptional. Another great aspect was that damage types actually mattered as did your armor as each type of armor had resistances to each element. People would kill for armors with all above average ratings because IT MEANT something in non-magic combat. You also were not limited in character by non-sensical limitations (like no armor for mages etc)
The part of AC that failed design wise was that they did not cap experience with level. This gave macros a reason to exist and made the game impossible to balance. You cannot balance a game when characters do not stop progressing.
Another issue is that the magic system and combat system were developed separately and then grafted together.
An incredible game whose magic was lost when the developer failed to keep control of the game in their hands and let the exploiters run a way with it.
I would love to play in a 2005 Graphics capable version of the engine with a few of its issues fixed. AC is one game that definitely would benefit greatly from a full blow graphics enhancement. It has all the lore and background already - just toss in industry leading graphics, cap character progression to a reasonable level, fix a few of the balance issues, and finally do not tolerate macros/cheaters/etc and Turbine would have a world class game again.
I have to wonder. Both AC and AC2 saw real drops in their playerbases since she came along. Yes I know Jessica isn't totally to blame but she was tasked with running the show.
Before Turbine and even before Themis she used to write a column called "Biting the Hand". From here she pointed out the issues in the computer gaming industry. She showed what went wrong, sometimes offered insight as to why, and also showed how most failures were simply repeats of another companies failure.
Yet her stint at Turbine seemed to be oriented towards doing everything she told others they were wrong for doing. Even after Turbine took control of both of franchises they didn't change their tune. They continued the shoddy patches, the leaving of bad exploits in game for long times, and worse actively condoned macroing in their first game AC. They even retreated to the safety of message boards they manage.
It is suspicious she left at the same time the AC1 expansion was pushed back (just 14 business days from its announced release). This all smacks of upper management removing someone (or asking ever so politely) for project mismanagement. It also may be related to a previous article she released which basically attacked a few notable people.
AC2 is effectively dead. Less than 400 people at one time play it at primetime across two servers. Stupid bugs persist from launch still that should have been quietly fixed a long time ago. Its not much fun for a new player as most new areas are simply devoid of players.
AC1 is in slightly better shape. However most of its servers barely crest 500 each. With the latest announcement that number will probably fall further. Worse the Turbine published pictures of the improved textures, no poly changes, were horrid. It was fan pictures from beta that made it look good. The whole expansion left a bad taste in many long time AC players mouths as it smacks of being a reward to those using combat macros (permitted by Turbine). The prime example are "augmentation gems" which are purchasable using experience points. For a macro character that makes them free for all intents. How are real players ever expected to compete?
AC died when Turbine favored experience gaining over the experience of playing. AC had a depth of lore not seen in a MMORPG unti WOW. Yet they sold out to the exploiters and cheaters, also know as macorers. When a game company abandons their integrity the players are not bound to respect them either, let alone pay for the game.
Good riddance Jessica. Hopefully you will take your lack of job at Turbine to get back to writing Biting the Hand and actively identifying what is wrong in the industry - including the problems you caused at Turbine. It would be best if you went back to what you were good at - analyzing from the sidelines instead of being someone in need of analysis yourself.
and that move is doing very well. Dell rarely makes mistakes. They do make them but they also make decisions that work very well regardless of industry outlook. Moving into branded printers was decried by many as a waste of time but that hasn't proven so.
Consider their corporate connection and this makes a lot of sense. Where I work is almost now all Dell. It saves time and money to single source many different items. Throwing phones into the mix wouldn't be too much of a stretch. They have established a level of trust with us and many other companies, that can be used to further expand their interest and protect them from being too tightly focused on one industry.
I suspect that if a certain other/. favorite hardware seller were entering the market the responses would be very different.
I want to know what this orgy over China is all about? It seems too many of the enlightened class of the world believe that if act all "nice nice" with China that that will somehow reform them.
NOT!
China is playing countries off on each other to great effect. They are setting the stage to walk all over Taiwan. They will get it to the point that the EU will probably actively prevent the US from exercising their promise to protect this island country.
China sits there and violates most things that both the EU and the US find offensive yet all the EU and US can do is bicker about each other. They both bend over backwards to accomodate China.
What will it take? Execution of thousands who find a way to protest during the Olympics? China alreay executes thousands each year! How about destruction of Taiwan? Will that be allowed? When will that occur? Before or after the Olympics.
DECAL is a third party software that captures packets coming into the game and provides them to other third party "plug-ins" that then use commands available to the game client to act on them.
What Blizzard offers in no way compares. With Blizzard you can automated very simple tasks but you cannot run combat with them.
The exploiting in AC isn't blown out of proportion. What has been blown is the effect Microsoft had on the franchise. Remember Turbine has had over 2 years to take the game back and yet it is the same old shit if not worse since they did.
To them an ATTENDED automated combat bot is not cheating. To the rest of the MMORPG genre that view doesn't even pass the laugh test.
I also laugh at anyone who blames Microsoft for all of AC's woes. Microsoft wasn't the reason for the consistently buggy patches that required hotfixes. Some of the biggest EXPLOITS have occured since Turbine took total control. One of the biggest and most glaring dealt with working the system for experience by using trade skills that the player had no intention to use on the character except to buy and sell back for the experience gain. A bug with one trade that resulted in a big profit because of an error on their side was left in a month even after most knew of it. That led to many many "bots" just making money.
Turbine condones cheating and exploiting. They simply choose to use a different definition of what cheating and exploiting is.
Any MMORPG developer who allows players to use third party software to play their character(s); some run 4-5 bots at a time; is in no way concerned with cheating let alone providing a good gaming experience.
To top it off they are releasing an expansion which caters to this style of play by having methods to exchange large amounts of experience, experience values so high that only the macros/bots will readily afford then, for special capabilties in game. The pulled the old level cap off just so these cheaters can brag about who has the highest level macro.
No, Turbine is trash. Jessica became the same piece of shit she railed on in her/his Biting the Hand columns. They have had two years to turn both franchises around and haven't done squat. If anything they are doing less and less. Their server populations confirm that their appeal is failing.
The only game more mismanaged than a Turbine game is Horizons and that one is managed by a former Turbine employee.
They have two of the most coveted titles for upcoming MMORPGs and yet the level of excitement on various message boards is next to nothing.
They currently manage two of the least popular MMORPGs out there, AC1 and AC2. Both of which are going to offer expansions in the coming months.
The problem Turbine faces is that a good number of the current MMORPG crowd associate them with cheating and exploiting all because of their idiot choice of condoning AUTOMATED (but attended) combat macros (bots) in AC1. Combined with the fact that once they let the cat out of the bag people were no longer in the lore of their game and only in gaining experience. It has to be pretty sad when your GMs have to randomly check obvious bots to make sure someone is actually at the screen when they should have been actively preventing the occurence of automation in the first place.
Turbine had a great many good ideas but they squandered it pandering to their worst fans. They allowed one abuse after another and then to top it off hired some of the same people who wrote some of the automating applications.
The big question for Turbine is, can they get enough new to the genre players into D&D to start to change their reputation? How much will their current reputation hinder acceptance of these two new games. Last, is there any real anticipation for this game anymore?
At least in the states you can get the Dell 2001FP for as low as $475 if you catch the deals right. Its 20" with 1600x1200 and a very good monitor (I use one). New 20" CRTs are in the same range if not higher at times. It seems the LCD market gets closer in price difference the bigger you get, up to a point.
The big thing I see between LCD/CRT is that if your into photography/graphic design I would stick with a high end CRT.
My only beef with my 2001FP is that with DVI I cannot control contrast which does make a difference.
AA failed miserably because instead of being original they were shallow and vicious copy cats. Most of their junk was a mean spirited parody of some other sucessful show.
Gore says he isn't going to slant the shows yet the list of whos who there is very very slanted.
I just hope he doesn't get as dumb as Rock The Vote has become or worse delve into the nasty politics of MoveOn or similar from the right.
If he truly wants to show that he is sane; yes I doubt it sometimes; lets hope that he doesn't slant it too much and not become just another mouthpiece for the DNC.
If your going to compete with the likes of Rush, Hannity, and the right you need to deliver facts and keep the slant off. Do not copy unless your doing so out of sincere flattery for someone else's job well done. Lastly do not EVER go off on a tirade that borders on a political stump speech.
most likely they get to advertise through other means, like stuffing fliers into mailings or hanging their company name on official web pages related to the project. Of course you have lots of little antenna around and the support crews can be branded as well.
Plus being government there are probably some under the table considerations like zoning issues, fees, and similar. Remember a government providing an incentive or discount is not spending any taxpayer money. That is similar to what Washington does by labeling as a program spending cut the simple fact of not increasing the allocation of funds to it.
A few people mentioned Russian cargo ships and such but miss the point. Delivery of cargo is just one optional mission for this device. The main objective seems to be remote servicing of satellites. As of right now that work is done by people if at all, most of the time it is just cheaper to replace the satellite in question. It could also be employed on a quick launch basis to survey a shuttle or other craft that suffered possible damage during launch. How about take oxygen or similar to such a damaged craft until a rescue can be performed?
There are many possibilities. Repairing the hubble would be outside of its domain as you would now need to design satellites with remote servicing as part of their design. This could open the door for more modular (generic) satellites. Besides opening the door for more nations to own them it creates new avenues for businesses in the future.
Technically brillant games and I haven't played their equal since they were released. I still have the original Star Flight game with its 2 5.25 disks. Amazing what they could do with two 360k disks.
Star Flight 2 while not as good as the first was just as much ahead of other games that I would love to find a machine I could play either on (they unfortunately are clock dependant for combat)
I don't think they lost any of their luster until the Wing Commander Series arrived. Originality has a lot to do with the games we all think are best. Hell I still think Empire is a better challenge than any RTS.
Already we have seen many cases where a court is used to remove information from the public forum. The easiest method to bury something these days is to brand it with the word "hate". Hate-Crime, Hate-Speech, Hate-Etc.
Why businesses would exclude the information is so that they avoid being dragged into court and having even more of their dealings managed by outside forces.
If anything courts and governments are bigger threats to freedom of information because it does not profit them to share it. Whereas a business is in to make money and if information availability affects their profit stream they will make sure to find a way to offer it.
I cannot recall many if any cases where a business is supressing information from any source (they might from a few) but governments through the powers of their courts and such do do so.
Price is important to many people.
on
Return of the Mac
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Please note that the Mac Mini isn't really usuable at the $499 price point. A bump to 512mb is required and I don't think I would own one without a superdrive.
Powerbooks are very pricey. Worse the superdrive is a $150.00 option on most of them which further increases the pricing.
The key issue is relevance. People will have a hard time swallowing the price of any MAC when they can see a similar looking and peforming machine running windows for a lot less; in some cases half.
I priced a 15" powerbook recently with a superdrive and the cost was over $2100.00. While the OS is technically superior to Windows that does not excuse the cost. I am curious which major manufacturer actually makes the powerbooks.
On a side note instead of a mac mini I would recommend a iMac to people new to the mac experience. The all in one, comes with all needed items, is a much better option.
being an IBM shop we have seen many of our beloved (read:working) tools being phased out in favor of an Eclipse based solution.
So far the net result has been bloated and very slow loading applications. The minimum memory requirement is 512mb with 1gb being recommended on user groups.
After my experience with it at work I would not touch it at home. Not a single developer here uses Eclipse, they all prefer to use the older programs that are no longer supported or are being phased out.
and a vPod would be good for playing them back. With some good software you can have play back a video to the screen at times and at others just play the music.
Some videos actually make the music make more sense, then again a few make your head shake in bewilderment too.
As for when to watch the video and such... riding a stationary bike (I already read while I use one) to using a treadmill.
You could also expand the education impact by using vidoes as well. From pay for courses off the net to having schools provide video demonstrations that students can call up as needed. That would be a pretty nice thing to have while studying.
Tell me that this EU is really going to benefit the little guy? It is a union made up of exceptions.
This inteference in the marketing area is just a reflection of their inteference in the world of their people.
Plus I would not doubt that there will be all sorts of new rules dictating packaging and such as well. I fully expect lots of rules governing wording so as not to offend someone.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually I have played the game lately. That is why I am familar with the next to nothing population counts. Also I made note that the game I described was "as released". MMORPGs rarely have a few months beyond their release to make their impression on the community; good or bad. AC2 came out of the gate facing the wrong direction not even knowing their was a race to be had.
Yes the game has evolved. It still has many of the quirks it did upon release and the bulk of buildings in cities cannot be entered even to this day. Only newly added buildings are enterable. Live updates cannot remake a game quickly and AC2 proved this as well. It took them over a year and half to get their new crafting system out the door. It took them many months to fix their in game chat system - something that by itself probably ended many accounts. Live updates are great, but they cannot be relied upon to fix a game fast enough to satisfy today's players.
As for the account transfers; I know full well the previous system that was in place. However like many others I haven't transfered to the new Turbine system because I was ALSO waiting on the expansion to ship. I know many people who have been waiting since August of LAST year. Why should we transfer when it requires a PAID subscription to do so? The new system is in place because there is no longer going to be ANY connection to the zone, not because of people having transfer problems. Turbine was already handling those.
I guess you can call it a "shelf queen". My friends and I are still trying to figure this one out. Here is a game where the PEAK player count on its most highly populated server is less than 500 people and it usually hovers in the mid 300s.
I know Turbine cut a deal with Sony Station to distribute the expansions, did SS also take the risk of selling the boxes?
While the graphically superior of the two AC games AC2 was such a change in game play mechanics that it did not attract many of the original AC players. Laden with bugs, exploits, and a poorly implemented crafting system at launch it failed to hold the interest of new players. AC2 was a game that told a story, through the vault quests, but forgot that players wanted to make the story or be part of it too. It also had some of the most boneheaded design decisions I have seen to date. The big two were no NPCs and having cities where the buildings could not be entered or used! The cities themselves were nothing more than monuments to the developers. A beautiful game with all the interactivity of a Hollywood western set.
The AC1 expansion is set for July and Turbine is very much risking that franchise by taking so long to deliver the box. To top it off they recently came up with a new account migration system, having left the Microsoft Gameing zone, that essentially allows people to steal inactive accounts. The "exploiters" already jumped and found it allowed for the reactivation of banned accounts but Turbine is "fixing" that. The system only requires a person to know the zone name, a character name, and which game world the character was on, to take possession of an inactive account. That is not weak security it is NO security.
Turbine has placed their bets with D&D Online and LOTR Online. I can only figure that they are keeping the AC franchises alive simply because it is totally theirs. AC was a great game when it came out, taking the big risk of not following the standard D&D setup that other games used. It had one of the most advanced combat systems that provides to this day some of the best PvP action. We can only hope that after making money with D&D and LOTR that Turbine takes some of those profits and brings AC up to date in graphics and usuability. AC is one game where the biggest improvement would be graphics as they have more lore than most other games combined. They just need a better look to attract newer players. New servers with Guild War level of graphics and a few game tweaks could make for a real relaunch. It won't happen but many of us old timers love to dream.
Bigot or not the Salon article was written by someone with a chip on her shoulder. She had her agenda and came into the interview with the expressed purpose of finding anything wrong with Card she could. Anything they didn't agree on was because he was ignorant or a bigot. How easy is it to classify people who don't agree with you! Far easier than actually having to refute them, just label them!
Card is not UNREASONABLY INTOLERANT of gays. However he is portrayed as such because it he will not agree with the agenda that was put forth. Faith isn't something that you take little parts of here and there. His faith teaches him that certain activities are not proper and can be controlled. The brand of intolerance comes from people who want to force others to accept their own lack of control. Card expressly stated that people of different beliefs are fine, its when they cross the line and want others to change their beliefs is when it is getting out of hand.
Bigot he is not. Branded he is as is anyone who disagrees with radicals (self proclaimed) like Donna is. Radicals don't want to discuss anything, your either with them or your against them. If your the latter then you are subject to all sorts of emotion based name calling because that is far easier to put deragotory labels on someone than to actively discuss the issue.
Christ-like at the end times would be more violent than any first person shooter. Take the stories given in Revelations. Christ isn't going to pull any punches and will slaughter millions and millions of non-believers.
Remember one item, the term Christ-like is usually most attributed to people attempting to box in Christians. It is a term used to put Christians on the defensive.
Christ tells us to treat each other fairly. Christ taught us to love each other. However he is the final Judge and fair isn't going to enter into the picture.
So, put that shooter at the end times and see what happens. You could also put the shooter into the context where your not fighting people but instead fighting Hell. Also, who says you need a gun to have a FPS? Christ will slay with just the Word of God. How that would be adminstered by others acting in his stead is left to the imagination.
Great idea there. If governments control the satellites you are bound to be censored many times over.
Unlike governments corporations are out to provide what people will pay for. Governments are out to provide for themselves.
Hell in the US talk radio didn't exist because of a government imposed law called the "fairness doctrine". China regularly blocks content it doesn't like. Other countries are bound to have similar concerns.
The last people I want dictating what I can and cannot see are politicians. At least with a corporation I can choose another, they don't beat down your doors with guns or such.
I do not understand their choice of base video card. Why would they use a 9600 series when the 9800s and X series are available? From a price concious view I can see it however the top end is Nvidia.
Also, are they still stuck on PCI-X? Is Apple going to move to PCI-Express anytime soon or will they be left behind for the time being?
See this story on NEWS.COMl es+iPod+te ch+tussle/2100-1027_3-5685286.html?tag=nefd.top
http://news.com.com/RealNetworks+rekind
How long before we get an update from Apple that ends this "compatibility"? While I like my iPod I don't care for the fact that I cannot use another service other than iTunes.
it just is dated.
The ability to DODGE a spell or arrow is one thing I miss in EVERY OTHER game I have played. That made for enjoyable PvE and made PvP truly exceptional. Another great aspect was that damage types actually mattered as did your armor as each type of armor had resistances to each element. People would kill for armors with all above average ratings because IT MEANT something in non-magic combat. You also were not limited in character by non-sensical limitations (like no armor for mages etc)
The part of AC that failed design wise was that they did not cap experience with level. This gave macros a reason to exist and made the game impossible to balance. You cannot balance a game when characters do not stop progressing.
Another issue is that the magic system and combat system were developed separately and then grafted together.
An incredible game whose magic was lost when the developer failed to keep control of the game in their hands and let the exploiters run a way with it.
I would love to play in a 2005 Graphics capable version of the engine with a few of its issues fixed. AC is one game that definitely would benefit greatly from a full blow graphics enhancement. It has all the lore and background already - just toss in industry leading graphics, cap character progression to a reasonable level, fix a few of the balance issues, and finally do not tolerate macros/cheaters/etc and Turbine would have a world class game again.
I have to wonder. Both AC and AC2 saw real drops in their playerbases since she came along. Yes I know Jessica isn't totally to blame but she was tasked with running the show.
Before Turbine and even before Themis she used to write a column called "Biting the Hand". From here she pointed out the issues in the computer gaming industry. She showed what went wrong, sometimes offered insight as to why, and also showed how most failures were simply repeats of another companies failure.
Yet her stint at Turbine seemed to be oriented towards doing everything she told others they were wrong for doing. Even after Turbine took control of both of franchises they didn't change their tune. They continued the shoddy patches, the leaving of bad exploits in game for long times, and worse actively condoned macroing in their first game AC. They even retreated to the safety of message boards they manage.
It is suspicious she left at the same time the AC1 expansion was pushed back (just 14 business days from its announced release). This all smacks of upper management removing someone (or asking ever so politely) for project mismanagement. It also may be related to a previous article she released which basically attacked a few notable people.
AC2 is effectively dead. Less than 400 people at one time play it at primetime across two servers. Stupid bugs persist from launch still that should have been quietly fixed a long time ago. Its not much fun for a new player as most new areas are simply devoid of players.
AC1 is in slightly better shape. However most of its servers barely crest 500 each. With the latest announcement that number will probably fall further. Worse the Turbine published pictures of the improved textures, no poly changes, were horrid. It was fan pictures from beta that made it look good. The whole expansion left a bad taste in many long time AC players mouths as it smacks of being a reward to those using combat macros (permitted by Turbine). The prime example are "augmentation gems" which are purchasable using experience points. For a macro character that makes them free for all intents. How are real players ever expected to compete?
AC died when Turbine favored experience gaining over the experience of playing. AC had a depth of lore not seen in a MMORPG unti WOW. Yet they sold out to the exploiters and cheaters, also know as macorers. When a game company abandons their integrity the players are not bound to respect them either, let alone pay for the game.
Good riddance Jessica. Hopefully you will take your lack of job at Turbine to get back to writing Biting the Hand and actively identifying what is wrong in the industry - including the problems you caused at Turbine. It would be best if you went back to what you were good at - analyzing from the sidelines instead of being someone in need of analysis yourself.
C.
and that move is doing very well. Dell rarely makes mistakes. They do make them but they also make decisions that work very well regardless of industry outlook. Moving into branded printers was decried by many as a waste of time but that hasn't proven so.
/. favorite hardware seller were entering the market the responses would be very different.
Consider their corporate connection and this makes a lot of sense. Where I work is almost now all Dell. It saves time and money to single source many different items. Throwing phones into the mix wouldn't be too much of a stretch. They have established a level of trust with us and many other companies, that can be used to further expand their interest and protect them from being too tightly focused on one industry.
I suspect that if a certain other
I want to know what this orgy over China is all about? It seems too many of the enlightened class of the world believe that if act all "nice nice" with China that that will somehow reform them.
NOT!
China is playing countries off on each other to great effect. They are setting the stage to walk all over Taiwan. They will get it to the point that the EU will probably actively prevent the US from exercising their promise to protect this island country.
China sits there and violates most things that both the EU and the US find offensive yet all the EU and US can do is bicker about each other. They both bend over backwards to accomodate China.
What will it take? Execution of thousands who find a way to protest during the Olympics? China alreay executes thousands each year! How about destruction of Taiwan? Will that be allowed? When will that occur? Before or after the Olympics.
He is referring to the medical doctor, not baltar.
As for Cylons why not the communications lady?
DECAL is a third party software that captures packets coming into the game and provides them to other third party "plug-ins" that then use commands available to the game client to act on them.
What Blizzard offers in no way compares. With Blizzard you can automated very simple tasks but you cannot run combat with them.
The exploiting in AC isn't blown out of proportion. What has been blown is the effect Microsoft had on the franchise. Remember Turbine has had over 2 years to take the game back and yet it is the same old shit if not worse since they did.
They just changed what they consider cheating.
To them an ATTENDED automated combat bot is not cheating. To the rest of the MMORPG genre that view doesn't even pass the laugh test.
I also laugh at anyone who blames Microsoft for all of AC's woes. Microsoft wasn't the reason for the consistently buggy patches that required hotfixes. Some of the biggest EXPLOITS have occured since Turbine took total control. One of the biggest and most glaring dealt with working the system for experience by using trade skills that the player had no intention to use on the character except to buy and sell back for the experience gain. A bug with one trade that resulted in a big profit because of an error on their side was left in a month even after most knew of it. That led to many many "bots" just making money.
Turbine condones cheating and exploiting. They simply choose to use a different definition of what cheating and exploiting is.
Any MMORPG developer who allows players to use third party software to play their character(s); some run 4-5 bots at a time; is in no way concerned with cheating let alone providing a good gaming experience.
To top it off they are releasing an expansion which caters to this style of play by having methods to exchange large amounts of experience, experience values so high that only the macros/bots will readily afford then, for special capabilties in game. The pulled the old level cap off just so these cheaters can brag about who has the highest level macro.
No, Turbine is trash. Jessica became the same piece of shit she railed on in her/his Biting the Hand columns. They have had two years to turn both franchises around and haven't done squat. If anything they are doing less and less. Their server populations confirm that their appeal is failing.
The only game more mismanaged than a Turbine game is Horizons and that one is managed by a former Turbine employee.
Go figure.
They have two of the most coveted titles for upcoming MMORPGs and yet the level of excitement on various message boards is next to nothing.
They currently manage two of the least popular MMORPGs out there, AC1 and AC2. Both of which are going to offer expansions in the coming months.
The problem Turbine faces is that a good number of the current MMORPG crowd associate them with cheating and exploiting all because of their idiot choice of condoning AUTOMATED (but attended) combat macros (bots) in AC1. Combined with the fact that once they let the cat out of the bag people were no longer in the lore of their game and only in gaining experience. It has to be pretty sad when your GMs have to randomly check obvious bots to make sure someone is actually at the screen when they should have been actively preventing the occurence of automation in the first place.
Turbine had a great many good ideas but they squandered it pandering to their worst fans. They allowed one abuse after another and then to top it off hired some of the same people who wrote some of the automating applications.
The big question for Turbine is, can they get enough new to the genre players into D&D to start to change their reputation? How much will their current reputation hinder acceptance of these two new games. Last, is there any real anticipation for this game anymore?
At least in the states you can get the Dell 2001FP for as low as $475 if you catch the deals right. Its 20" with 1600x1200 and a very good monitor (I use one). New 20" CRTs are in the same range if not higher at times. It seems the LCD market gets closer in price difference the bigger you get, up to a point.
The big thing I see between LCD/CRT is that if your into photography/graphic design I would stick with a high end CRT.
My only beef with my 2001FP is that with DVI I cannot control contrast which does make a difference.
AA failed miserably because instead of being original they were shallow and vicious copy cats. Most of their junk was a mean spirited parody of some other sucessful show.
Gore says he isn't going to slant the shows yet the list of whos who there is very very slanted.
I just hope he doesn't get as dumb as Rock The Vote has become or worse delve into the nasty politics of MoveOn or similar from the right.
If he truly wants to show that he is sane; yes I doubt it sometimes; lets hope that he doesn't slant it too much and not become just another mouthpiece for the DNC.
If your going to compete with the likes of Rush, Hannity, and the right you need to deliver facts and keep the slant off. Do not copy unless your doing so out of sincere flattery for someone else's job well done. Lastly do not EVER go off on a tirade that borders on a political stump speech.
Oh, please don't blame anyone else if you fail.
most likely they get to advertise through other means, like stuffing fliers into mailings or hanging their company name on official web pages related to the project. Of course you have lots of little antenna around and the support crews can be branded as well.
Plus being government there are probably some under the table considerations like zoning issues, fees, and similar. Remember a government providing an incentive or discount is not spending any taxpayer money. That is similar to what Washington does by labeling as a program spending cut the simple fact of not increasing the allocation of funds to it.
A few people mentioned Russian cargo ships and such but miss the point. Delivery of cargo is just one optional mission for this device. The main objective seems to be remote servicing of satellites. As of right now that work is done by people if at all, most of the time it is just cheaper to replace the satellite in question. It could also be employed on a quick launch basis to survey a shuttle or other craft that suffered possible damage during launch. How about take oxygen or similar to such a damaged craft until a rescue can be performed?
There are many possibilities. Repairing the hubble would be outside of its domain as you would now need to design satellites with remote servicing as part of their design. This could open the door for more modular (generic) satellites. Besides opening the door for more nations to own them it creates new avenues for businesses in the future.
Technically brillant games and I haven't played their equal since they were released. I still have the original Star Flight game with its 2 5.25 disks. Amazing what they could do with two 360k disks.
Star Flight 2 while not as good as the first was just as much ahead of other games that I would love to find a machine I could play either on (they unfortunately are clock dependant for combat)
I don't think they lost any of their luster until the Wing Commander Series arrived. Originality has a lot to do with the games we all think are best. Hell I still think Empire is a better challenge than any RTS.
than big business.
Already we have seen many cases where a court is used to remove information from the public forum. The easiest method to bury something these days is to brand it with the word "hate". Hate-Crime, Hate-Speech, Hate-Etc.
Why businesses would exclude the information is so that they avoid being dragged into court and having even more of their dealings managed by outside forces.
If anything courts and governments are bigger threats to freedom of information because it does not profit them to share it. Whereas a business is in to make money and if information availability affects their profit stream they will make sure to find a way to offer it.
I cannot recall many if any cases where a business is supressing information from any source (they might from a few) but governments through the powers of their courts and such do do so.
Please note that the Mac Mini isn't really usuable at the $499 price point. A bump to 512mb is required and I don't think I would own one without a superdrive.
Powerbooks are very pricey. Worse the superdrive is a $150.00 option on most of them which further increases the pricing.
The key issue is relevance. People will have a hard time swallowing the price of any MAC when they can see a similar looking and peforming machine running windows for a lot less; in some cases half.
I priced a 15" powerbook recently with a superdrive and the cost was over $2100.00. While the OS is technically superior to Windows that does not excuse the cost. I am curious which major manufacturer actually makes the powerbooks.
On a side note instead of a mac mini I would recommend a iMac to people new to the mac experience. The all in one, comes with all needed items, is a much better option.
being an IBM shop we have seen many of our beloved (read:working) tools being phased out in favor of an Eclipse based solution.
So far the net result has been bloated and very slow loading applications. The minimum memory requirement is 512mb with 1gb being recommended on user groups.
After my experience with it at work I would not touch it at home. Not a single developer here uses Eclipse, they all prefer to use the older programs that are no longer supported or are being phased out.
and a vPod would be good for playing them back. With some good software you can have play back a video to the screen at times and at others just play the music.
Some videos actually make the music make more sense, then again a few make your head shake in bewilderment too.
As for when to watch the video and such... riding a stationary bike (I already read while I use one) to using a treadmill.
You could also expand the education impact by using vidoes as well. From pay for courses off the net to having schools provide video demonstrations that students can call up as needed. That would be a pretty nice thing to have while studying.
Tell me that this EU is really going to benefit the little guy? It is a union made up of exceptions.
This inteference in the marketing area is just a reflection of their inteference in the world of their people.
Plus I would not doubt that there will be all sorts of new rules dictating packaging and such as well. I fully expect lots of rules governing wording so as not to offend someone.