Why the hell would writing you password on post-its be a stupid idea? Everywhere I've worked the IT people didn't give a shit about the guy in the next room or cube getting your password. It was the people outside the building that mattered.
Two words: disgruntled employee.
A post-it note on a monitor is no security. At the very least, it should be on the back of the keyboard, in the top desk drawer, or in the bottom desk drawer (in order of ascending preference.)
Creative workers can place it underneath the monitor - even though it can still be found, you generally have to be conspicious.
This acknowledges that there is still a vulnerability, but is minimized because there is a lesser chance of an exploit being run in the first place.
The reason Windows is much more vulnerable is more copies are configured by default to auto-execute or auto-install stuff that is not considered trustworthy. While this is somewhat fixed in SP2, it's rather minimalistic as most major web-browsers are still designed by default to auto-execute untrusted code (e.g. Macromedia Flash.)
At least with the MAC, there is much less of a worry about the random junk that normally appears. It will hold right until the first major Mac worm comes out (and any application that doesn't fix their auto-execute exploits by then isn't worth running anyway.)
I find bejeweled to be a little on the mindless side of the gaming spectrum.
Staying within the Bejeweled genre, you could try Big Kahuna Reef. While it is still considered "mindless", the fact that you need to break each box adds an element of strategy. (Of course, I did see Jewel Quest first, but that's slightly more primitive.)
There's still fast action needed if you want to unlock the bonus pack, which generally needs to make 31 breaks (with none of them more than 6 seconds apart.) Not too much of a problem, since you don't have to wait until the pieces fall before you can make your next move.
The Reflexive Arcade demo lasts 60 minutes, not including time spent on the menu or screen saver. You might also find other games you find interesting as well, but most of the action puzzles may have a focus on speed.
Not sure if they have better or faster scantron machines today - but I would bet your school has something like it around somewhere.
They're still the same. The latest scanatron is still reported to have trouble distinguishing the correct answer if there is even a trace amount of pencil on another cell.
If you make a mistake, you either need to erase heavily (potentially damaging the paper) or get another sheet.
TFA states that your Windows Product Key being retrievable is a security risk. What??
The other poster beat me to it, but...
The WPK is equivalent to a CD-key for most online games. It may only be used once. While there is no way of verifiying it at the time of install, a red flag will be raised when you have to do a reinstall (by that time, your hardware cycled slightly.)
Don't say that it can't happen - I tried to keep my WinXP system clean, only to have it eventually black-screen on bootup. Thankfully, this was not my primary system.
Not to mention the fact that the author uses Windows to manage his passwords, which he cites as another of the software's "security risks". The only security risk in this situation is the article's author.
Actually, this can be considered a security risk. If another person can gain physical access to a machine with no password protection (New user accounts have this setting by default in WinXP home.) However, it is minor unless this password recovery feature can bypass the fact that the Windows account password has changed.
In addition, consider that the early versions of IE were configured to auto-install software (or failing that, pummel the user with popups saying that software needs to be installed.) A password stealer could easily sneak in through this method. While modern browsers are more secure, there are still security flaws that allow popups to slip through.
if you type a URL into the URL bar in a blank tab and try to load it, and you end up with an "untitled" tab, the URL remains in the URL bar, allowing you to reissue the request.
That's not the bug. The bug involves opening a link in a new tab or window.
A bug like this indicates that there is a flaw with the basic design. While a professional team could fix this problem (or a group of amateurs could write a page not found minipage as a workaround), it will interfere with those who want ot load links in the background only to discover that they timed out. This is a severe problem in cominbation with Slashdot.
The same rationale applies to pop-ups: a professional team would try to identify the source of these pop-ups, and block them at that level. The current system is ineffective - not only can I not discover which site is making popups (unless I do trickery), but it is also difficult to identify which windows want to popup since the main popup indicator doesn't hold the list of popups for a long period of time. The original Mozilla was worse - it kept the popup icon without keeping the names of popup sites.
There's also the case of clicking on an HTML document on the desktop - it waxes some random window, thus disconnecting you from the TopCoder competition. (IE already fixed by placing something in the Advanced Options menu.)
And finally, cookies. Mozilla used to have a cookie icon whenever a cookie was received. This included sites that should be accepted (rather than flagged.)
While Mozilla can be considered a better browser, it still has problems in basic functionality.
Treat all of the sides as 2D planes, with the top (ie planes "up") facing inside the volume. If the point is on the top-side of all planes, it's inside. If it is below one, then it's outside.
That's half the solution. You still need to know how to determine which side of the plane a point is on. While this is possible with high-school math, this is generally only taught at the end of the high school career. Lower levels are more concerned by the false "fact" that negative numbers don't exist.
(This is also the general reason why I was ill-prepared for the math contests during highschool - I could try to learn by myself, but there was neither the foundation nor resources appropriate for my level.)
A slight correction, though - you want to make sure that the two other points reside outside of the plane. If you use the above/below system, you are highly likely to invert the iurection of the plane without knowing it - clockwise information isn't distributed with raw paints is space.
I can still play Ultima Underworld (the original). Will you be able to say the same about HL2?
Ultima Underworld works because of luck. Most developers at the time do not have mature coding practices and result in completely unplayable games.
Ultima III is not as lucky - on a modern computer, you cannot finish the game because there is a lack of pirate ships (the sea vortex travels quictly enough that any generated ship gets waxed instantly).
Ultima II will not run. There is DosBox, but the performance is not at an acceptable level.
There is also the many games that were impacted by Windows XP being more strict about operating system functions. Even if every game will work under XP, there are plenty that still do not because users have not yet found a way around the developer's sloppy coding.
This is also not counting the dreaded KB824141 that disrupted certain high profile games (e.g. Black & White, Warzone 2100 and others).
The current ESRB rating is flawed? Please tell me, how is it flawed?
The greatest flaw is that the ESRB isn't as trustable as it should be - while GTA:SA content can still slip through even when the rating system is fixed, most people think that the rating is based on the number of red pixels.
I have a copy of Descent Freespace - rated 'E'. I also have a copy of Descent 2 and Descent 3 - both rated 'T'. They're both just as violent - there's no reason for these two games to have a rating descrepancy.
Next, Jagged Alliance 2 is rated 'T', while Myth II is 'M'. Both are violent, and bloody. I can partially accept this difference, as Myth II is heavier on gibs and blood splatters - but 4 years from 13+ to 17+ seems like a large jump just for the ability to paint the landscape.
The scandel, GTA:SA, bumped the game from a 17+ 'M' rating to an 18+ 'AO' rating. Most people consider this change trivial (aside from the fact that it's against the law to sell pornography to minors.)
The rating system is just simply a recommendation system - not strict requirement. As long as it is imprecise, there is no guarenteed correlation between the rating and the actual violence in game.
Judging from the article I'm a casual gamer (Despite the fact that I can and have played through HL 2 and Doom 3 as soon as the came out. Without cheating. I have also played a lot of very cerebral games. Rarely using a hint guide.).
So have I. However, I played the game on "Hard" - with the implementation of gameplay meta-rules, the game usually changed inio a save-reload cycle with no penalty. Remember - savescumming is not cheating unless it is intended to be prohibited.
If you want to have save-scumming have a black wark while not restricting them, then follow C&C: Regegrade (after being sure to remove the penalties for loading saves at the beginning of the mission). That way, the victory will be minimal at best.
The only game I have no complaints about easyness is UT2004. This game has eight difficulty levels - while it's possible to exploit the AI on the highest difficulty, it is one of the few games where the developers actually considered the players that intend to play the game for a while (and in the latest version, prevented the player from hammering a single map over and over again in hopes of gaining a magical victory).
Don't tell me he believes there are more hardcore players than casual ones either, that would really screw the meaning of hardcore, y'know?
Question: How many "casual" players still play Starcraft?
While the AI may be considered strong, it still has room of improvement - and is minimally useful for offline practice for the majority of current players.
The Myst series was one of the best point-and-click adventure games of all time. It had the best puzzles, the best graphics of it's time, and it didn't get old, it just sucked you in.
Alpine Encounter, as you probably do not know, has an intended solution that takes tho player through a series of events to eventually complete the game. However, you can short-circut the game with a simple "Take backpack, Call inspector."
Myst is no different - you can do all the stuff necessairy to learn how to complete the game, or you can short-circut the plot by setting the marker switches, grabbing the white page, entering the fireplace, and using the green book. Myst also includes a maze of twisty passages which you have to travel throuch twice (with limited information on how to exploit the clue - especially considering how the hint system leads you through the game).
Myst isn't great compared to other modern adventure games. Since graphics have since improved, the only thing left is gameplay aspect - which can be considered simplistic compared to Sierra classics such as EcoQuest.
I mean, just compare the hit games from back then, such as Zork, Acheton, to more recent favorites, such as Photopia
Actually, that's not a recommended comparison. Zork is considered a large game because of a large dungeon with potentially complex interactions. Phototopia is simply a mini-IF that intends to tell a story (and was designed to be finished in 2 hours as per IF-Comp standards.) These are two completely different approaches.
It's better to compare Zork with "Sting of the Wasp". If you consider the difficulty in the puzzles to be similar, then the only difference is length. As you know, making a game longer does nothing to increase difficulty, especially in a save-anywhere game.
Individual puzzles, such as "All That Devours" or "Rematch", aren't good for comparisons either - even if they are challenging. The game in question hinges on only one puzzle, which will vary in difficulty from player to player.
in a poorly-designed modern[...]you almost NEVER end up having to guess at the syntax or preposition words, and with nouns these days you can generally use any word the game uses to describe the thing.
Actually, there are problems with guess the syntax. For example, "Small World" requires using a randomly selected word, which must be placed in quotes.
It was the first game that had something that more closely resembeled photorealism - that made it popular. Of course, there are flukes:
- In theory, you can complete the game in 15 minutes. (http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/game/8946 7.html - see the first FAQ, section VI / MYS18) - The main area had a puzzle where you had to press buttons to unlock a book. You can't tell if they are pressed or not: red and green seem like generic colours to me, especially when. - The ship area had a telescope at the top, which you had to use to identify a direction. However, the telescope turned slowly. - The Futuristic area had a radio puzzle that required a.1 degree alignment. You could move by.1 steps by clicking, or by 1 degree steps after a short delay. Generally, you overshot the required destination. - The Futuristic area also had a maze. Not a problem, assuming that it won't take forever if you don't know the secret. (Which it does - unskippable transions.) You need to pass through the maze twice as well to maximize "plot revelation".
Basically, the game was beautiful at 1994/1995. Other than that, it has the same flaws that some cheap adventure games make.
Having seen similar things happen to other MMORPG (Mir 2 and EI) it seems clear to me that producing your own server for any commercial MMORPG is stealing their potential customers and morally wrong. Using the client is wrong, a big percentage of the development effort goes into the graphics, models, sound, animation etc within the client. Go and produce a MMORPG yourself and then sit back when people start trying to emulate your servers...
In the case of Blizzerd, there's always a way to emulate Battle.net: make a virtual LAN. It's a bit difficult to set up, but will gave the same functionality (excluding the stat tracker and chat client.) Plus, there is no way individual clients can identify another copy as pirated - only Battle.net can do that.
You can already use pirated keys on a LAN - I've known players that use keygens for local matches.
In case of the custom MMORPG, I have one question: What is your pricing model? If you simply have a single upfront fee with no further payments, then you shouldn't care since you already got what you can. Even if there are monthly fees afterward, it still doesn't change the fact that the base CD has at least some artwork.
If the only method to "normally" access the game is a monthly fee, then you may care. But in this case, you can keep emulators out of the loop by updating, and by using classical tricks of gradually degrading performance on "uncertified" servers (in the same way the Operation Flashpoint degrades performance.)
Many hours? Maybe 2 hours of staring at a little bar to reach one side of the screen, but total bullshit nonetheless. Did they write down all the binary of the image and tap it in bit by bit?
Can a student use their laptop computer over the summer? No. All laptops will be collected at the end of the school year for general maintenance, cleaning, and software installation purposes. The Apple One-to-One initiative allows for all operating system and software upgrades in order to stay current with the latest software offerings.
Even if they don't do a full re-image, there's changes and updates that are done - which can easily take the same amount of time.
Also, I will remind you of some guy who had obtained a cert from verisign for the name of a well known company.
Actually, he got two certificates - both of which impersonated Microsoft Corporation. They aren't much of a threat anymore, since both have been since revoked.
Bottom line: the cert only assures you that the string ("Citrix") it corresponds to is correct. It doesn't say anything else. Which begs to ask: why have a signature?
A proper cert system will also keep track of any new certificates - thus Citrix Corporation will be a common code signer, while Cirtix Inc will be tagged as a first timer. ZoneAlarm keeps track of new programs in this fashion - why can't a certificate system be the same?
This system is still useless to monkey-clickers, bit helps power users as long as code signing messages don't become incessant.
The closest bet is from http://www.ossecurity.ca/, which keeps a whitelist of trustable apps. I don't have the product myself, but I'm sure that they can allow software based on code signing (especially when it identifies something as new).
Since you can preview them instantly as they are downloaded, it's easy to spot the crap files if you manage to find any.
You can do the same with Bittorrent - I've used it to preview the content of the CD to determine if it somewhat matches the content (or looks like it will.)
In theory, you could do the same with any client that allows viewing a specific file without needing to do fancy tap-dancing.
That's a bug in itself - given that Flash is identified as a known security risk, blocking plugins *BY DEFAULT* should be a feature in the main browser, not as part of some extention that gets waxed on loading.
If Mozilla can present a puzzle piece if a plugin is missing, then it can do the same for blocking plugins (with user configurable permissions on a plugin-by-plugin basis.)
Likewise, it should do the same with images. While they are in theory small, many of them take up space.
"you may not use the Software on device versions of the above operating systems, including, but not limited to, mobile devices"
Laptops are included by my reading.
By my reading (IANAL, but that's not important), so are hard drives. They are technically "mobile" since they can be placed in an RH-06 (hard drive caddy, which can be moved to a different computer.) This isn't part of the spirit of the contract, but since laptops are mobile, then so are hard drives.
Any EIDE hard drive can be plugged into an RH-06, and therefore they can all be considered mobile.
There's also SCSI-3 coming out, which supports hot swapping - If you boot from that hard drive and install flash, you are also in violation.
Really, this should be a non-issue. If Macromedia wants to make an unenforcable licence, that's their own problem.
you can compress the screen silly - you can get the image size pretty small...
That is correct - however, a semi-random sampling of a desktop (read: what I had as soon as I started the reply) only brought the compression down to 500KB on a lossless compression via PNG. This is still noticably large enough that it may not be worth implementing.
My desktop contained multiple windows, backed with icons and a wallpaper from a random texture generator. While not typical, it thrashes lossless compression. Now, take into account that some online poker games use fancy or "photo-realistic" graphics, which can be hard to compress.
Sure, there's JPEG, but anyone can immediatly claim that such images were doctored- and way have enough of a case to damage the rep of a company that uses that algorithm. (Argument involves wierd image patterns that can be used to imply that JPEG was used to cover up changes.)
BTW, I did make a mistake in the original calculation - it should have been 24-bit colour, not 32. The only difference between the two is padding.
the bigger problem with this idea is who is going to look at the 500,000 screens submitted a day?
Don't be suprised if that amount can be processed. Usually, it's the ones that make consistant gains that get monitored, bit dedicated personell may be hired to do the jeb (even if it is multiple part time).
Almost forgot - while you do know that you have the quest item, there isn't necessairly a way to tell if you can use it at a given time. The trigger for learning is one of the "[You make a note of this]" that is set in a conversation, a state that can be lost subtly when you reload a saved game.
While you ultimatly die, you still have to find out for yourself that the situation was hopeless and/or wait for the timer to expire. Thus, a player might think the game situation is A-OK, but is truly unprepared.
Exile3 added a quest log of some sorts to help combat this problem - a player knows exactly what is going on based on its contents. It also helps keeping track of what you have to do - while it is still open gameplay, there's still a sequence of events that unfolds.
P.S. There is an insta-kill forcefield in Exile II. Try assaulting the front - you get killed via trigger rather than combat.
"The Right to a Swift Death." - Exile (old 2D game) didn't kill off the player if things were hopeless.
In Exile II, a primary objective is to take out a mass teleportation device. However:
- Once you start it's destruction, a timed sequence activates. - You have to acquire a quest item. If you don't, consider your party whacked by a tactical nuke. (But at least you take out the Empire with you.) - You have to learn how to use the quest item. If you don't, see previous point. - The quest item, and information on how to use it, must be learned off-site. - The blast only occurs after a set amount of time and not before, even if you do not have the prerequisites above.
Would these instructions be part of the game program, or would they be printed in a paper manual accompanying the game?
The only requirement is that they be listed - whether by online help, instruction manual, or through the config screen (as a last resort).
Some games, like Freespace 2, have too many commands to list in a manual (but they are all intuitive enough.) However, games loke Fair Strike (a heli-copter sim) have commands that require much more than a simple summary - they also need a basic flying lesson unless you want to fly clumsily or in the lobotomised "arcade" mode. (Of course, the AI players always choose arcade mode.)
Would you want to watch the mission briefing that the game presents while it copies models and textures from disc to RAM, or would you rather skip it and see a blank screen with a progress bar?
Most of these cutscenes are descriptive - they do none of this. Worst case is CNC Generals - not only does it cave cutscenes, but the 30-45 second briefing movie blocks the loading sequence.
Even if the intro is hiding background loading, it should finish as soon as the loading is complete - if Civilization can do it based on leading speed, then so can any other game. Showing a loading bar when skipping is desired is optional.
Oh, and don't expect anything more than an FMV if this performed - you still need plenty of CPU power for background leading to complete.
If you can't get through an eight- to ten-minute "marathon" course without a break, then you need to train more on the easier levels
The author already took care of that. He accepts a no-save situation for sub-30 minute games - if you really play these kind of games for a long period of time, breaking out of a single session won't really throw you back. Even so, it's really an arbitrary guideline - something like this is a case-by-case basis
A more important complaint involves rare games that are designed to be ironmanned - while saves are allowed, they are erased once loaded. Other than that, any problems arising from the article are generally minor.
First of all, I'll be amazed when they ever come up with the technology to play no limit hold 'em.
It's already available - just invite a mix of humans and bots to a Toxas Hold 'em grand championship - 23 players. For the first half of the gams, you'll bein an all-in or fold situation. For the late game, the chip leader is likely to have enough chips to win the statistics game.
For this game, the AI players either gets a massive lead, or dies out early. The same applies to human players. Only in this case does the AI have a reasonable chance of winning.
Limit ring games are a different ballgame, and a bot does have some chance of success. However, that chance is at best only at the low level games, where a program could actually outplay the players. Any mid to high stakes game has players who will quickly figure out the way a bot plays, and milk it for all it's worth.
That, however, is true. The only fix is to add randomness to the AI (or select an AI player at random for a given round) - while anti-bot tactics can still be used, it becomes slightly harder by all but the seasoned pros.
Have the screens randomly happen, and send to the main buisness.
Bandwidth is a major limiter her - and I'm not just talking about the fact that business pay by the Megabyte. I have a 1600*1200 screen in 32-bit depth - which is a 7MB upload. Most broadband deployments don't have high speed uploads, and this would take around one minute to complete.
A better trick is Turning numbers. While it may annoy some players, it will require bot users to be at the computer while playing - and thus prevent the major "problem" of bots.
Slashdot Mirror
Two words: disgruntled employee.
A post-it note on a monitor is no security. At the very least, it should be on the back of the keyboard, in the top desk drawer, or in the bottom desk drawer (in order of ascending preference.)
Creative workers can place it underneath the monitor - even though it can still be found, you generally have to be conspicious.
The keyword that you omitted is "largly".
This acknowledges that there is still a vulnerability, but is minimized because there is a lesser chance of an exploit being run in the first place.
The reason Windows is much more vulnerable is more copies are configured by default to auto-execute or auto-install stuff that is not considered trustworthy. While this is somewhat fixed in SP2, it's rather minimalistic as most major web-browsers are still designed by default to auto-execute untrusted code (e.g. Macromedia Flash.)
At least with the MAC, there is much less of a worry about the random junk that normally appears. It will hold right until the first major Mac worm comes out (and any application that doesn't fix their auto-execute exploits by then isn't worth running anyway.)
Staying within the Bejeweled genre, you could try Big Kahuna Reef. While it is still considered "mindless", the fact that you need to break each box adds an element of strategy. (Of course, I did see Jewel Quest first, but that's slightly more primitive.)
There's still fast action needed if you want to unlock the bonus pack, which generally needs to make 31 breaks (with none of them more than 6 seconds apart.) Not too much of a problem, since you don't have to wait until the pieces fall before you can make your next move.
The Reflexive Arcade demo lasts 60 minutes, not including time spent on the menu or screen saver. You might also find other games you find interesting as well, but most of the action puzzles may have a focus on speed.
They're still the same. The latest scanatron is still reported to have trouble distinguishing the correct answer if there is even a trace amount of pencil on another cell.
If you make a mistake, you either need to erase heavily (potentially damaging the paper) or get another sheet.
The WPK is equivalent to a CD-key for most online games. It may only be used once. While there is no way of verifiying it at the time of install, a red flag will be raised when you have to do a reinstall (by that time, your hardware cycled slightly.)
Don't say that it can't happen - I tried to keep my WinXP system clean, only to have it eventually black-screen on bootup. Thankfully, this was not my primary system.
Actually, this can be considered a security risk. If another person can gain physical access to a machine with no password protection (New user accounts have this setting by default in WinXP home.) However, it is minor unless this password recovery feature can bypass the fact that the Windows account password has changed.
In addition, consider that the early versions of IE were configured to auto-install software (or failing that, pummel the user with popups saying that software needs to be installed.) A password stealer could easily sneak in through this method. While modern browsers are more secure, there are still security flaws that allow popups to slip through.
A bug like this indicates that there is a flaw with the basic design. While a professional team could fix this problem (or a group of amateurs could write a page not found minipage as a workaround), it will interfere with those who want ot load links in the background only to discover that they timed out. This is a severe problem in cominbation with Slashdot.
The same rationale applies to pop-ups: a professional team would try to identify the source of these pop-ups, and block them at that level. The current system is ineffective - not only can I not discover which site is making popups (unless I do trickery), but it is also difficult to identify which windows want to popup since the main popup indicator doesn't hold the list of popups for a long period of time. The original Mozilla was worse - it kept the popup icon without keeping the names of popup sites.
There's also the case of clicking on an HTML document on the desktop - it waxes some random window, thus disconnecting you from the TopCoder competition. (IE already fixed by placing something in the Advanced Options menu.)
And finally, cookies. Mozilla used to have a cookie icon whenever a cookie was received. This included sites that should be accepted (rather than flagged.)
While Mozilla can be considered a better browser, it still has problems in basic functionality.
That's half the solution. You still need to know how to determine which side of the plane a point is on. While this is possible with high-school math, this is generally only taught at the end of the high school career. Lower levels are more concerned by the false "fact" that negative numbers don't exist.
(This is also the general reason why I was ill-prepared for the math contests during highschool - I could try to learn by myself, but there was neither the foundation nor resources appropriate for my level.)
A slight correction, though - you want to make sure that the two other points reside outside of the plane. If you use the above/below system, you are highly likely to invert the iurection of the plane without knowing it - clockwise information isn't distributed with raw paints is space.
Ultima Underworld works because of luck. Most developers at the time do not have mature coding practices and result in completely unplayable games.
Ultima III is not as lucky - on a modern computer, you cannot finish the game because there is a lack of pirate ships (the sea vortex travels quictly enough that any generated ship gets waxed instantly).
Ultima II will not run. There is DosBox, but the performance is not at an acceptable level.
There is also the many games that were impacted by Windows XP being more strict about operating system functions. Even if every game will work under XP, there are plenty that still do not because users have not yet found a way around the developer's sloppy coding.
This is also not counting the dreaded KB824141 that disrupted certain high profile games (e.g. Black & White, Warzone 2100 and others).
The greatest flaw is that the ESRB isn't as trustable as it should be - while GTA:SA content can still slip through even when the rating system is fixed, most people think that the rating is based on the number of red pixels.
I have a copy of Descent Freespace - rated 'E'. I also have a copy of Descent 2 and Descent 3 - both rated 'T'. They're both just as violent - there's no reason for these two games to have a rating descrepancy.
Next, Jagged Alliance 2 is rated 'T', while Myth II is 'M'. Both are violent, and bloody. I can partially accept this difference, as Myth II is heavier on gibs and blood splatters - but 4 years from 13+ to 17+ seems like a large jump just for the ability to paint the landscape.
The scandel, GTA:SA, bumped the game from a 17+ 'M' rating to an 18+ 'AO' rating. Most people consider this change trivial (aside from the fact that it's against the law to sell pornography to minors.)
The rating system is just simply a recommendation system - not strict requirement. As long as it is imprecise, there is no guarenteed correlation between the rating and the actual violence in game.
So have I. However, I played the game on "Hard" - with the implementation of gameplay meta-rules, the game usually changed inio a save-reload cycle with no penalty. Remember - savescumming is not cheating unless it is intended to be prohibited.
If you want to have save-scumming have a black wark while not restricting them, then follow C&C: Regegrade (after being sure to remove the penalties for loading saves at the beginning of the mission). That way, the victory will be minimal at best.
The only game I have no complaints about easyness is UT2004. This game has eight difficulty levels - while it's possible to exploit the AI on the highest difficulty, it is one of the few games where the developers actually considered the players that intend to play the game for a while (and in the latest version, prevented the player from hammering a single map over and over again in hopes of gaining a magical victory).
Question: How many "casual" players still play Starcraft?
While the AI may be considered strong, it still has room of improvement - and is minimally useful for offline practice for the majority of current players.
Alpine Encounter, as you probably do not know, has an intended solution that takes tho player through a series of events to eventually complete the game. However, you can short-circut the game with a simple "Take backpack, Call inspector."
Myst is no different - you can do all the stuff necessairy to learn how to complete the game, or you can short-circut the plot by setting the marker switches, grabbing the white page, entering the fireplace, and using the green book. Myst also includes a maze of twisty passages which you have to travel throuch twice (with limited information on how to exploit the clue - especially considering how the hint system leads you through the game).
Myst isn't great compared to other modern adventure games. Since graphics have since improved, the only thing left is gameplay aspect - which can be considered simplistic compared to Sierra classics such as EcoQuest.
Actually, that's not a recommended comparison. Zork is considered a large game because of a large dungeon with potentially complex interactions. Phototopia is simply a mini-IF that intends to tell a story (and was designed to be finished in 2 hours as per IF-Comp standards.) These are two completely different approaches.
It's better to compare Zork with "Sting of the Wasp". If you consider the difficulty in the puzzles to be similar, then the only difference is length. As you know, making a game longer does nothing to increase difficulty, especially in a save-anywhere game.
Individual puzzles, such as "All That Devours" or "Rematch", aren't good for comparisons either - even if they are challenging. The game in question hinges on only one puzzle, which will vary in difficulty from player to player.
Actually, there are problems with guess the syntax. For example, "Small World" requires using a randomly selected word, which must be placed in quotes.
It was the first game that had something that more closely resembeled photorealism - that made it popular. Of course, there are flukes:
- In theory, you can complete the game in 15 minutes. (http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/game/894
- The main area had a puzzle where you had to press buttons to unlock a book. You can't tell if they are pressed or not: red and green seem like generic colours to me, especially when.
- The ship area had a telescope at the top, which you had to use to identify a direction. However, the telescope turned slowly.
- The Futuristic area had a radio puzzle that required a
- The Futuristic area also had a maze. Not a problem, assuming that it won't take forever if you don't know the secret. (Which it does - unskippable transions.) You need to pass through the maze twice as well to maximize "plot revelation".
Basically, the game was beautiful at 1994/1995. Other than that, it has the same flaws that some cheap adventure games make.
In the case of Blizzerd, there's always a way to emulate Battle.net: make a virtual LAN. It's a bit difficult to set up, but will gave the same functionality (excluding the stat tracker and chat client.) Plus, there is no way individual clients can identify another copy as pirated - only Battle.net can do that.
You can already use pirated keys on a LAN - I've known players that use keygens for local matches.
In case of the custom MMORPG, I have one question: What is your pricing model? If you simply have a single upfront fee with no further payments, then you shouldn't care since you already got what you can. Even if there are monthly fees afterward, it still doesn't change the fact that the base CD has at least some artwork.
If the only method to "normally" access the game is a monthly fee, then you may care. But in this case, you can keep emulators out of the loop by updating, and by using classical tricks of gradually degrading performance on "uncertified" servers (in the same way the Operation Flashpoint degrades performance.)
It's something that has to be done anyway.
http://www.kasd.org/web121/faq.html
Even if they don't do a full re-image, there's changes and updates that are done - which can easily take the same amount of time.
Actually, he got two certificates - both of which impersonated Microsoft Corporation. They aren't much of a threat anymore, since both have been since revoked.
A proper cert system will also keep track of any new certificates - thus Citrix Corporation will be a common code signer, while Cirtix Inc will be tagged as a first timer. ZoneAlarm keeps track of new programs in this fashion - why can't a certificate system be the same?
This system is still useless to monkey-clickers, bit helps power users as long as code signing messages don't become incessant.
The closest bet is from http://www.ossecurity.ca/, which keeps a whitelist of trustable apps. I don't have the product myself, but I'm sure that they can allow software based on code signing (especially when it identifies something as new).
You can do the same with Bittorrent - I've used it to preview the content of the CD to determine if it somewhat matches the content (or looks like it will.)
In theory, you could do the same with any client that allows viewing a specific file without needing to do fancy tap-dancing.
That's a bug in itself - given that Flash is identified as a known security risk, blocking plugins *BY DEFAULT* should be a feature in the main browser, not as part of some extention that gets waxed on loading.
If Mozilla can present a puzzle piece if a plugin is missing, then it can do the same for blocking plugins (with user configurable permissions on a plugin-by-plugin basis.)
Likewise, it should do the same with images. While they are in theory small, many of them take up space.
By my reading (IANAL, but that's not important), so are hard drives. They are technically "mobile" since they can be placed in an RH-06 (hard drive caddy, which can be moved to a different computer.) This isn't part of the spirit of the contract, but since laptops are mobile, then so are hard drives.
Any EIDE hard drive can be plugged into an RH-06, and therefore they can all be considered mobile.
There's also SCSI-3 coming out, which supports hot swapping - If you boot from that hard drive and install flash, you are also in violation.
Really, this should be a non-issue. If Macromedia wants to make an unenforcable licence, that's their own problem.
That is correct - however, a semi-random sampling of a desktop (read: what I had as soon as I started the reply) only brought the compression down to 500KB on a lossless compression via PNG. This is still noticably large enough that it may not be worth implementing.
My desktop contained multiple windows, backed with icons and a wallpaper from a random texture generator. While not typical, it thrashes lossless compression. Now, take into account that some online poker games use fancy or "photo-realistic" graphics, which can be hard to compress.
Sure, there's JPEG, but anyone can immediatly claim that such images were doctored- and way have enough of a case to damage the rep of a company that uses that algorithm. (Argument involves wierd image patterns that can be used to imply that JPEG was used to cover up changes.)
BTW, I did make a mistake in the original calculation - it should have been 24-bit colour, not 32. The only difference between the two is padding.
Don't be suprised if that amount can be processed. Usually, it's the ones that make consistant gains that get monitored, bit dedicated personell may be hired to do the jeb (even if it is multiple part time).
Almost forgot - while you do know that you have the quest item, there isn't necessairly a way to tell if you can use it at a given time. The trigger for learning is one of the "[You make a note of this]" that is set in a conversation, a state that can be lost subtly when you reload a saved game.
While you ultimatly die, you still have to find out for yourself that the situation was hopeless and/or wait for the timer to expire. Thus, a player might think the game situation is A-OK, but is truly unprepared.
Exile3 added a quest log of some sorts to help combat this problem - a player knows exactly what is going on based on its contents. It also helps keeping track of what you have to do - while it is still open gameplay, there's still a sequence of events that unfolds.
P.S. There is an insta-kill forcefield in Exile II. Try assaulting the front - you get killed via trigger rather than combat.
In Exile II, a primary objective is to take out a mass teleportation device. However:
- Once you start it's destruction, a timed sequence activates.
- You have to acquire a quest item. If you don't, consider your party whacked by a tactical nuke. (But at least you take out the Empire with you.)
- You have to learn how to use the quest item. If you don't, see previous point.
- The quest item, and information on how to use it, must be learned off-site.
- The blast only occurs after a set amount of time and not before, even if you do not have the prerequisites above.
The only requirement is that they be listed - whether by online help, instruction manual, or through the config screen (as a last resort).
Some games, like Freespace 2, have too many commands to list in a manual (but they are all intuitive enough.) However, games loke Fair Strike (a heli-copter sim) have commands that require much more than a simple summary - they also need a basic flying lesson unless you want to fly clumsily or in the lobotomised "arcade" mode. (Of course, the AI players always choose arcade mode.)
Most of these cutscenes are descriptive - they do none of this. Worst case is CNC Generals - not only does it cave cutscenes, but the 30-45 second briefing movie blocks the loading sequence.
Even if the intro is hiding background loading, it should finish as soon as the loading is complete - if Civilization can do it based on leading speed, then so can any other game. Showing a loading bar when skipping is desired is optional.
Oh, and don't expect anything more than an FMV if this performed - you still need plenty of CPU power for background leading to complete.
The author already took care of that. He accepts a no-save situation for sub-30 minute games - if you really play these kind of games for a long period of time, breaking out of a single session won't really throw you back. Even so, it's really an arbitrary guideline - something like this is a case-by-case basis
A more important complaint involves rare games that are designed to be ironmanned - while saves are allowed, they are erased once loaded. Other than that, any problems arising from the article are generally minor.
It's already available - just invite a mix of humans and bots to a Toxas Hold 'em grand championship - 23 players. For the first half of the gams, you'll bein an all-in or fold situation. For the late game, the chip leader is likely to have enough chips to win the statistics game.
For this game, the AI players either gets a massive lead, or dies out early. The same applies to human players. Only in this case does the AI have a reasonable chance of winning.
That, however, is true. The only fix is to add randomness to the AI (or select an AI player at random for a given round) - while anti-bot tactics can still be used, it becomes slightly harder by all but the seasoned pros.
Have the screens randomly happen, and send to the main buisness.
Bandwidth is a major limiter her - and I'm not just talking about the fact that business pay by the Megabyte. I have a 1600*1200 screen in 32-bit depth - which is a 7MB upload. Most broadband deployments don't have high speed uploads, and this would take around one minute to complete.
A better trick is Turning numbers. While it may annoy some players, it will require bot users to be at the computer while playing - and thus prevent the major "problem" of bots.