Why do I need a floating point processor? Using integer math, I can emulate floating point operations. Why do I need protected memory? I could write software to do that. Why do I need hyperthreading? My OS already multitasks.
Though all of the above can be accomplished in software, sometimes it's more efficient to implement a solution at least possibly in hardware. VMware is notorious for taking performance hits.
I was sitting in 6th grade class and my teacher was talking about pirates during the Spanish empire. Someone asked why they didn't use large warships like galleons and instead preferred smaller vessels. I raised my hand and answered that larger vessels are often at the mercy of the wind. Smaller vessels, like Sloops, typically had oars. Even if the wind weren't going your way, it was possible to board a ship.
The teacher asked where I learned that, and I felt kind've embaressed. I couldn't really say a Nintendo game could I?
Anyway, the article begs one question: with so much history, why must we often make fictional battles and fictional plots in otherwise realistic games?
The way they seem to be going after cheaters seems similar to the recent Texas drug arrests. You know, where people were put in jail based soley on the testimony some ex-rodeo cowboy hired as an undercover "cop" who wrote notes on his legs to keep track of deals.
For Warcraft 3, if someone thinks you're cheating, they simply e-mail blizzard, send a relevant replay and viola, your account can be terminated without notification or chance to defend yourself. All we need now are the legions of bad/new warcraft players who are convinced that your good strategy is "cheating". I payed $50 for the and its expansion. Damned if I want some pissy 12 year old banning my account based on "his account" of events.
Personally, I think players should have more input in this process, since we're the ones responsible for Blizzard's existence in the first place.
I'm not sure what would qualify as a "novice". I took a (very good) course on Indian Philosophy and another on world religions as an undergrad; my professor studied Buddhism (in Tiawan I believe) for several years and was fluent enough in Korean to provide us with his own translation of the Heart Sutra. Course readings included _What_the_Buddha_Taught_ by Walpola Rahula. I've also been to a few Zen meditation sessions. The only thing I've seen about the Dalai Lama was the film Kundun, which is supposed to be fairly accurate, but I'm suprised I didn't take the obvious step of actually reading what he later wrote;) (I'm curious...what would the Dalai Lama say about his writings being released under the GPL or what license are they currently under?) Thanks for the Campell advice though. I don't think I really need to worry about having my action movies ruined. I think they're predictable enough as it is.
I completely agree. I've recently graduated (BS in Comp Sci/BA in Philosophy), and have been unemployed since then. I've been learning how to play guitar better (something I've always wanted to do) and reading. Speaking of which, I'm currently reading Campell's The Power of Myth and I really enjoy it. I'd be very interested in any good material you've read on Buddhism. I've read a couple books as coursework and found them fascinating (though the neatest single thing I've found is the Jainist theory of reality (i.e. their metaphysics)).
There's many ways to make a game longer, let's just discuss the RPG genre. You could make a game "longer" by forcing the player to build levels in order to beat enemies, by making enemies strategically harder (building up doesn't necessarily hurt, but isn't a necessity, knowing enemy weakness and attack patterns are more important), or by adding more story and dungeons (at least some of which are completely optional). Dragon Warrior is long in the first way, Final Fantasy Tactics is long in the second, and Fallout 2 is long in the 3rd way.
I'd like someone to port it to the NWN engine. It'd involve lots more work, but you'd benefit from 3D gfx and 3rd Ed rules. I'd really like to see what the new engine can do other than make some hacknslash that was the NWN single player campaign.
1) Home Use: It's something you could give people to use on their own computer. The knowledge they learn using Linux in the lab won't be lost. They can go home and install whatever distro you choose if they wish. Whether they do their project in the lab or in the dorm room, they can have exactly the same setup -- if they so choose.
2) Better user interface. Sure you can install Gnome on solaris but most people hoenestly don't.
3) Better Performance/Price ratio: Price is always a factor and is correlated with performance. I couldn't stand the way matlab ran on some solaris blades which weren't updated due to cost. I eventually sucked it up and installed it on my own machine because I couldn't stand waiting literally five minutes for the machine to tell I made a syntax error. (And to all you profs out there: please, PLEASE, test your projects. My class was assigned a project using an (O) N^N algorithm. He hadn't attempted implementing the method, but it would've taken well over 3 months on a 20 proc Sun machine to run our assigned data set.)
I don't know about anything else, but one of my pet peeves with the X-Box is the abysmal framerate at times. Maybe it's because I haven't played the console enough. Hopefully, a faster proc will help with the problem if not eliminate it.
If the problem with piracy is rampant, as Nintendo thinks it is, why would people buy a console that's designed around piracy prevention? Since software piracy is legal in China, why not buy a PS2 and burn games for a couple cents each?
I remember buying games typically from $10-30 though the high rollers were sometimes as high as $40 (I remember picking up the original Final Fantasy for $10 at Toys'R'Us ironically). But there has been inflation since the 1980s.
There are other factors on both sides. Games now have addins inconcievable a decade ago. That copy of Starcraft you bought also helps pay AT&T to maintain Battle.net. While games are bigger and more complex than ever, tools have made it easier (programming a console game 100% in assembly is a thing of the past), media has gotten cheaper, and games are generally selling more (allowing the amortized cost to be less).
1) I don't know about any of the other slashdot gamers out there, but I'm seldom only doing one thing at a time. I'm usually on some sort of IM client and if the game I'm playing isn't networked, I may download something at the same time or may even play an mp3. If I wanted to check my e-mail every 15 minutes, that'd mean a reboot every 15 minutes. No thanks.
2) Patches. One of the unique parts of the PC platform is that if there's a bug, you can patch it. Buring a CD multiple times is a pain. If the game is even remotely network capable, it's a must to be able to patch to help prevent extensive cheating/hacking.
The truly sad part is that the same people who are complaining about unequal bandwidth usage don't seem to care that 1% of people in the US own 34% of the wealth and I've heard varying figures that the top 10% controls 90% of wealth. If they want to our regulate bandwidth, let's regulate their income;)
I disagree. As much as I liked FF6, the boss fight was entirely too easy; I didn't build up much and beat in on my first try. The hardest boss in the series is prolly FF5 or FF4. Though I think FF5 is more impressive as the designers had no idea what kind of party you'd have, and using different job/skill combinations each time you fought the boss gave you a sense of strategy. In FF4, they had a pretty good idea what kind of party you were up against (next to zero character customization does that), so no problem.
Maybe it's just me, but Diablo 2 is the most overhyped game ever made. Game mechanics? Hack'n'slash. Simply hold the mouse over enemies and watch them die. Pick up a cool weapon or two. Rinse lather repeat. The graphics weren't even good. It was kinda like black and white: fun for about a day and then tedium sets in. Black and White at least tried and succeeding in being unique, especially with interface. If anyone can mention one original thing about Diablo 2, I'm all ears.
Good post. I agree. "Evolutionary" not "revolutionary" would be a better word.
However, I do think WC3 was a significant advance in the RTS genre as it was the first to incorperate the hack'n'slash hero aspect, which makes it hard for me to go back to other RPGs. Unfortunately, I think WC3 will make high on the list; the editors didn't give it game of the year, fans loved it. The GC fans said that an overwhelming majority picked it as the best RTS this year.
1) Black and White: Cool technology. I bought it, took it home, and was bored in 3 hours. Most damn repetitive gameplay ever created. Which leads me to number 2....
2) Diablo 2: Hey look! It's a hack'n'slash. I can gain levels and I can kill lots of mindless enemies with my friends. I failed to see the appeal to the game when it came out, and, except for a brief moment, I still think it's extremely repetitive and mindless.
3) Everquest: See Diablo 2. Except here, you mulitply all the time factors by 5. Ability system is slightly better.
4) Metal Gear Solid 2: I hate to say this, cause I thought it was a great game, but after playing the first one, it didn't seem all that revolutionary. There's a pop-backlash against this game which had a good (albeit out there at times) story and solid gameplay which was in a class of its own with the exception of the first game.
5) Final Fantasy 7: Good, one of my favorites in the series. It managed to combine new technology in a good way (usually smoothly integrates FMV for the most part rather than the "Oh look, we're doing a movie" like many other RPGs, opening sequence is a good example). Ability system solved the problem of using unused characters (although at the expense of individuality) and had a deeper ability system than gaining levels and completing two quests (I'm looking in your direction FF4). Good storyline (other "old school" FF fanboys tend to dislike to sci-fi feel of the game compared to previous games, and then complain it was unoriginal). But like I said, it doesn't matter what's good or bad, only what people think. And for those of you wondering. I played the original when it came out, and have beaten every one since with the exception of 8.
This isn't Civ2. We don't have a nice tech tree. Back in the 60's people didn't know that space research would yield communication satellites. Although the technology is indispensible, the idea was then unknown. That's how a lot of research works.
The problem with "emergent games" is the following. In many games (especially RPGs), a new player is forced to create a character without knowing the game mechanics. The player will make decisions at this point that will affect his character for the rest of the game, but really not know what he's doing, practically forcing him/her to replay the game.
As far as RPGs are concerned, I really like a combination approach. The best example I can think of in the RPG genre is Final Fantasy 6 (3 US). The game started off being almost completely linear while you learned the ability system and whatnot. Half-way through, you're stripped of all your characters except 1 and given a new world to explore. You can get back characters in any order, choose not to get them back at all (the game is finishable with only 3 out of 16 characters joined), but no matter what, you know where the final boss is and can fight him at practically any time. The most rewarding part of this was knowing which characters I wanted even though only having played the game once (rather than doing on the basis of who "looks cool"), and being able to make good decisions about where I wanted to go next. Although it didn't provide as much freedom as say, Fallout, it had a shallower learning curve and was easier to pick up.
Imersion type games are fun, but I don't think any of the them should force you to replay the game in order to win out of ignorance of game mechanics.
They did release the original metroid on GC with Metroid Prime (though you've gotta beat metroid fusion to access it). Also, there's various emulators out with the X-Box.
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Why do I need a floating point processor? Using integer math, I can emulate floating point operations. Why do I need protected memory? I could write software to do that. Why do I need hyperthreading? My OS already multitasks.
Though all of the above can be accomplished in software, sometimes it's more efficient to implement a solution at least possibly in hardware. VMware is notorious for taking performance hits.
I was sitting in 6th grade class and my teacher was talking about pirates during the Spanish empire. Someone asked why they didn't use large warships like galleons and instead preferred smaller vessels. I raised my hand and answered that larger vessels are often at the mercy of the wind. Smaller vessels, like Sloops, typically had oars. Even if the wind weren't going your way, it was possible to board a ship.
The teacher asked where I learned that, and I felt kind've embaressed. I couldn't really say a Nintendo game could I?
Anyway, the article begs one question: with so much history, why must we often make fictional battles and fictional plots in otherwise realistic games?
The way they seem to be going after cheaters seems similar to the recent Texas drug arrests. You know, where people were put in jail based soley on the testimony some ex-rodeo cowboy hired as an undercover "cop" who wrote notes on his legs to keep track of deals.
For Warcraft 3, if someone thinks you're cheating, they simply e-mail blizzard, send a relevant replay and viola, your account can be terminated without notification or chance to defend yourself. All we need now are the legions of bad/new warcraft players who are convinced that your good strategy is "cheating". I payed $50 for the and its expansion. Damned if I want some pissy 12 year old banning my account based on "his account" of events.
Personally, I think players should have more input in this process, since we're the ones responsible for Blizzard's existence in the first place.
I'm not sure what would qualify as a "novice". I took a (very good) course on Indian Philosophy and another on world religions as an undergrad; my professor studied Buddhism (in Tiawan I believe) for several years and was fluent enough in Korean to provide us with his own translation of the Heart Sutra. Course readings included _What_the_Buddha_Taught_ by Walpola Rahula. I've also been to a few Zen meditation sessions. The only thing I've seen about the Dalai Lama was the film Kundun, which is supposed to be fairly accurate, but I'm suprised I didn't take the obvious step of actually reading what he later wrote;) (I'm curious...what would the Dalai Lama say about his writings being released under the GPL or what license are they currently under?) Thanks for the Campell advice though. I don't think I really need to worry about having my action movies ruined. I think they're predictable enough as it is.
I completely agree. I've recently graduated (BS in Comp Sci/BA in Philosophy), and have been unemployed since then. I've been learning how to play guitar better (something I've always wanted to do) and reading. Speaking of which, I'm currently reading Campell's The Power of Myth and I really enjoy it. I'd be very interested in any good material you've read on Buddhism. I've read a couple books as coursework and found them fascinating (though the neatest single thing I've found is the Jainist theory of reality (i.e. their metaphysics)).
There's many ways to make a game longer, let's just discuss the RPG genre. You could make a game "longer" by forcing the player to build levels in order to beat enemies, by making enemies strategically harder (building up doesn't necessarily hurt, but isn't a necessity, knowing enemy weakness and attack patterns are more important), or by adding more story and dungeons (at least some of which are completely optional). Dragon Warrior is long in the first way, Final Fantasy Tactics is long in the second, and Fallout 2 is long in the 3rd way.
The entire game was simplified. Almost every character lost one or more abilities (so that's how the dark knight was using that ability!)
I'd like someone to port it to the NWN engine. It'd involve lots more work, but you'd benefit from 3D gfx and 3rd Ed rules. I'd really like to see what the new engine can do other than make some hacknslash that was the NWN single player campaign.
David Diamond co-wrote Linus's autobiography for those of you not in "the know"
I'd honestly prefer linux. Three reasons:
1) Home Use: It's something you could give people to use on their own computer. The knowledge they learn using Linux in the lab won't be lost. They can go home and install whatever distro you choose if they wish. Whether they do their project in the lab or in the dorm room, they can have exactly the same setup -- if they so choose.
2) Better user interface. Sure you can install Gnome on solaris but most people hoenestly don't.
3) Better Performance/Price ratio: Price is always a factor and is correlated with performance. I couldn't stand the way matlab ran on some solaris blades which weren't updated due to cost. I eventually sucked it up and installed it on my own machine because I couldn't stand waiting literally five minutes for the machine to tell I made a syntax error. (And to all you profs out there: please, PLEASE, test your projects. My class was assigned a project using an (O) N^N algorithm. He hadn't attempted implementing the method, but it would've taken well over 3 months on a 20 proc Sun machine to run our assigned data set.)
I don't know about anything else, but one of my pet peeves with the X-Box is the abysmal framerate at times. Maybe it's because I haven't played the console enough. Hopefully, a faster proc will help with the problem if not eliminate it.
If the problem with piracy is rampant, as Nintendo thinks it is, why would people buy a console that's designed around piracy prevention? Since software piracy is legal in China, why not buy a PS2 and burn games for a couple cents each?
I remember buying games typically from $10-30 though the high rollers were sometimes as high as $40 (I remember picking up the original Final Fantasy for $10 at Toys'R'Us ironically). But there has been inflation since the 1980s.
There are other factors on both sides. Games now have addins inconcievable a decade ago. That copy of Starcraft you bought also helps pay AT&T to maintain Battle.net. While games are bigger and more complex than ever, tools have made it easier (programming a console game 100% in assembly is a thing of the past), media has gotten cheaper, and games are generally selling more (allowing the amortized cost to be less).
Two issues (other than HW support):
1) I don't know about any of the other slashdot gamers out there, but I'm seldom only doing one thing at a time. I'm usually on some sort of IM client and if the game I'm playing isn't networked, I may download something at the same time or may even play an mp3. If I wanted to check my e-mail every 15 minutes, that'd mean a reboot every 15 minutes. No thanks.
2) Patches. One of the unique parts of the PC platform is that if there's a bug, you can patch it. Buring a CD multiple times is a pain. If the game is even remotely network capable, it's a must to be able to patch to help prevent extensive cheating/hacking.
The truly sad part is that the same people who are complaining about unequal bandwidth usage don't seem to care that 1% of people in the US own 34% of the wealth and I've heard varying figures that the top 10% controls 90% of wealth. If they want to our regulate bandwidth, let's regulate their income;)
I disagree. As much as I liked FF6, the boss fight was entirely too easy; I didn't build up much and beat in on my first try. The hardest boss in the series is prolly FF5 or FF4. Though I think FF5 is more impressive as the designers had no idea what kind of party you'd have, and using different job/skill combinations each time you fought the boss gave you a sense of strategy. In FF4, they had a pretty good idea what kind of party you were up against (next to zero character customization does that), so no problem.
Maybe it's just me, but Diablo 2 is the most overhyped game ever made. Game mechanics? Hack'n'slash. Simply hold the mouse over enemies and watch them die. Pick up a cool weapon or two. Rinse lather repeat. The graphics weren't even good. It was kinda like black and white: fun for about a day and then tedium sets in. Black and White at least tried and succeeding in being unique, especially with interface. If anyone can mention one original thing about Diablo 2, I'm all ears.
Oops. Damn acronyms. GC=GS=GameSpy and RPG I meant RTS. It's late
Good post. I agree. "Evolutionary" not "revolutionary" would be a better word.
However, I do think WC3 was a significant advance in the RTS genre as it was the first to incorperate the hack'n'slash hero aspect, which makes it hard for me to go back to other RPGs. Unfortunately, I think WC3 will make high on the list; the editors didn't give it game of the year, fans loved it. The GC fans said that an overwhelming majority picked it as the best RTS this year.
1) Black and White: Cool technology. I bought it, took it home, and was bored in 3 hours. Most damn repetitive gameplay ever created. Which leads me to number 2....
2) Diablo 2: Hey look! It's a hack'n'slash. I can gain levels and I can kill lots of mindless enemies with my friends. I failed to see the appeal to the game when it came out, and, except for a brief moment, I still think it's extremely repetitive and mindless.
3) Everquest: See Diablo 2. Except here, you mulitply all the time factors by 5. Ability system is slightly better.
4) Metal Gear Solid 2: I hate to say this, cause I thought it was a great game, but after playing the first one, it didn't seem all that revolutionary. There's a pop-backlash against this game which had a good (albeit out there at times) story and solid gameplay which was in a class of its own with the exception of the first game.
5) Final Fantasy 7: Good, one of my favorites in the series. It managed to combine new technology in a good way (usually smoothly integrates FMV for the most part rather than the "Oh look, we're doing a movie" like many other RPGs, opening sequence is a good example). Ability system solved the problem of using unused characters (although at the expense of individuality) and had a deeper ability system than gaining levels and completing two quests (I'm looking in your direction FF4). Good storyline (other "old school" FF fanboys tend to dislike to sci-fi feel of the game compared to previous games, and then complain it was unoriginal). But like I said, it doesn't matter what's good or bad, only what people think. And for those of you wondering. I played the original when it came out, and have beaten every one since with the exception of 8.
This isn't Civ2. We don't have a nice tech tree. Back in the 60's people didn't know that space research would yield communication satellites. Although the technology is indispensible, the idea was then unknown. That's how a lot of research works.
The problem with "emergent games" is the following. In many games (especially RPGs), a new player is forced to create a character without knowing the game mechanics. The player will make decisions at this point that will affect his character for the rest of the game, but really not know what he's doing, practically forcing him/her to replay the game.
As far as RPGs are concerned, I really like a combination approach. The best example I can think of in the RPG genre is Final Fantasy 6 (3 US). The game started off being almost completely linear while you learned the ability system and whatnot. Half-way through, you're stripped of all your characters except 1 and given a new world to explore. You can get back characters in any order, choose not to get them back at all (the game is finishable with only 3 out of 16 characters joined), but no matter what, you know where the final boss is and can fight him at practically any time. The most rewarding part of this was knowing which characters I wanted even though only having played the game once (rather than doing on the basis of who "looks cool"), and being able to make good decisions about where I wanted to go next. Although it didn't provide as much freedom as say, Fallout, it had a shallower learning curve and was easier to pick up.
Imersion type games are fun, but I don't think any of the them should force you to replay the game in order to win out of ignorance of game mechanics.
I know this is a dupe...I just don't have the amazing slashdot skills to find the old article. Help anyone?
They did release the original metroid on GC with Metroid Prime (though you've gotta beat metroid fusion to access it). Also, there's various emulators out with the X-Box.
We have language standards to make cross-platforming easier. If you'd like to check to see if your page is w3c complaint, go here.