That feature doesn't work to well. I work for a software testing company, and probably 3 out of ten times have I been able to get that feature to work like it should.
"Hmm... what is still heavily played, TA or Starcraft? I thought so."
Hmm, which one is more heavily used Windows or Linux? I though so.
Seriously though, your wrong about TA not having resource management. Sure you technically had unlimited resources, but it was the rate that you could get them that made the difference. If you played using your strat of powerplants and metal makers, I would be expanding taking the actuall mines. So after about 10 mins of play you would be making probably 20+ metal per game tick, while I would be making 70+ metal per game tick. So I would be putting over 3 times the amount of resources into my warmachine as you. Which can easily translate into 3 times the amount of units, or me getting the adv units way before you do.
This is why if you play any TA player with a bit of experience you can't just sit in your base. You have to hold large areas of ground as the mines are spread out across the map. This makes the game much more fun as you end up having these very intense skirmishes across the map.
Starcraft or TA is kind of like Checkers or Chess, both are fun games with strategy, but one has much more depth than the other.
Im glad you mention Total Annihilation. All you people out here that think that RTS's are simple clickfests haven't really played Total Annihilation. Now thats an RTS with real depth and a very good interface. I've also heard good things about Earth 2150 but never had a chance to play it.
If your also looking for a good non RTS strategy game try Shogun Total War: Warlod Edition. That game is Turn based with Real time fighting. Where the turn based section you have the map of Japan and you do troop movments, ording troops, building on the provinces etc...Then when you troops engage the enemy it goes into a real time battle. Unfortunately the multiplayer is only for real time tactical fighting and you can't play the grand strategy game of conquering japan with other people, but the AI is very good.
Um I think HL/CS/all other stupid HL expansions sales are a bit higher than Q3/Q3Team Arena sales. If sales were an issue we'd see people trying to benchmark "Who wants to be a millionare!"
But to agree with tswinzig, Counterstrike shouldn't be a benchmark because my old 300mhz tnt1 system can run CS fine.
This is lame for ATI to do this though. One of the reasons Quake 3 is a good benchmark is because a lot of new games use the Quake 3 engine, but because the drivers are setup for only Quake 3 none of the other games (Alice, Wolf, etc...) will get the same performance increases.
The problem is that ATI only optimised their drivers for Quake 3 for the benchmarks. Quake 3 is a good benchmark because its new and alot of new games are using the quake3 engine, but these drivers only speed up Quake 3 so they look good on reviews but will not help speed up Alice, Wolf, etc...
"But to colonize it? Give me just one reason to justify such an incredibly expensive task. "
It's simple, the human race will have a much better chance of survival if we start spreading out. Also, colonization does not require us to change or terraform all of mars. With the right equipment it should be theoretically possible to sustain a small population of humans indefinitely. This is one of the main reasons behind these probes, to determine what kind of raw materials there are available to work with that could sustain human life on mars for a long term/permanent stay.
The space station is very important. Sure its not glamorous as apollo or even the robotic probes to the planets. (NASA has probes heading to the planets as I write this, Mars Odyssey Cassini, etc... so their not just working on the station) Its important because in order for any real manned space missions to other planets we need the information and experience that only a space station can give us. The space station is what we should have built before apollo.
"Can you explain in more detail what this "political importance" was?" Its simple, we had to beat the soviets to the moon. Its a way of showing that we have a better political/economic system of theirs. Don't you remember a couple of months ago when the JFK apollo tapes were released.
Space.com article "White House Tapes Shed Light on JFK Space Race Legend"
In my opinion going to the moon was a good thing, but it could have been done better if we'd gone slower and worked towards building a longterm or permanent stay on the moon. Still we learned alot about our moon and our solar system, we also gained alot in spinoff technology that needed to be developed to accomplish this task. Still I would have liked to see us go slower to develop a more long term or even permanent mission to the moon, but if we would have tried to go slower we probably would never have gone at all.
Im one of those firm believers in space or bust. Im not apocalyptic by thinking the human species will die out any time remotely soon, we could easily stay on earth as long as life can survive on it. Still extingtion is guaranteed unless we move into space, so why not start now.
We don't spend 5% of the federal budget on the Shuttle or the whole of NASA. That 5% figure is what we spent on NASA during the Apollo missions in the 60's/early 70's because it was of political importance that we beat the soviets to the moon.
I don't know the current percent of federal spending on NASA but I know its not even close to the 5% we spent to go to the moon.
"History will properly judge America as the world's most hideous tyrannical state--once our empire completes its collapse and the Big Five media companies stop writing the history books.
"
Do you really believe that the US is the world's most hideous tyrannical state. Think about it, historically the US is probably the most benign world power ever to have been recorded. Can you even compare it to the USSR or modern day China, who recently had the most in executions than the rest of the world combined (and i think it was by alot), just think about the real tyranny of those states. You wouldn't even be allowed to type what you just said about those.
You could even go back in history and look at other empires and how they interacted with the rest of the world. Can you honestly say America is the world's most hideos tyrannical state when held up next to the Roman empire or the Mongolian Horde.
Also, another benefit of the US is if you don't like something about the government it can be changed. The democratic system does accept change. You just need to convince enough people of your ideas and the problems with the current system.
"And just how did this ridiculous practice become not only commonplace, not only de rigeur -- but accepted unquestioningly?"
It's simple, when someone buys a computer they want it to work out of the box. It you really don't like having to buy a computer that works out of the box then try writing the computer manufacturers and let them know your views. Let them know in a much more intellegent and non angsty (that might not be a real word) response. Try to convince them that there is a real market of people who don't want Windows pre installed on new computers. If you really believe there is a market for this non os computer that the manufacturers don't cater to, then try doing some market research to convice a bank of your claims to get a loan. Start up a business to cater to this niche of the pc marketplace.
Personally I doubt there is a large enough market for a non OS prebuilt computer. Also the support costs would probably be high, as the end user would have to figure out how to install their own os.
But thats the greatness of the capitalist system, if there is something that enough consumers want someone will step in and supply it to them. Of course if the users really don't want it then the marketplace will let you know sooner or later.
I think defacing a site is a little more serious than spraying some grafitti on a wall. Think about it, usually when a site is defaced the actual site if not available (at least the main page). So its a little more like defacing a store front and boarding up the doorway.
Yes why is this news? It like when any other network shuts off a show no one cares. I understand that some of us are anime fans but come on, do that many of us give a damn.
I think this could have been prevented with far greater Airline security than we currently have. Encryption will probably come under fire but it will be airline security in the airports and in the planes themselves that will take most of the heat for this. Think about it Airplanes are probably the terrorist weapons that can cause the most devastation, except maybe biological or nuclear weapons. Which we all pray the terrorists do not have.
Im not sure if the Air traffic controllers had enought time to react, or if they did, that anything could have been done about it. The second plane hit only about 15mins later than the first.
The problem here is that I doubt you would have risked your life unless you knew for sure they were going to use the plane as a missle. The fact is most hijackings end without or minimal loss of life. Usually the terrorits want someone freed from jail or have a political statement to make.
They aren't usually kamakazi terrorists looking to take out as many people as possible.
Due to the recent events, there will undoubtably be major changes in airline security. I would just like to make some speculations.
Naturally airport security is going to be much much higher. But on the plane itself I wouldn't be surprised to see some changes. Such as some sort of armed security person on most flights or every flight in the US. Also, I could see them trying to modify the plane to seal off the cockpit from the rest of the plane which might require a totally new plane. Im not an aerospace engineer so im not sure how difficult or practical this would be to do.
Yes you do need to take the raw material, but you would take less stuff than if you took spare parts. Say a device up their has 200 small parts but its only likely that say 10 might break. Normally you would have to have a large selection of premade parts because you just don't know what will break.
But with this device you would only need a small amount of raw material which can be molded into parts for the defective ones. It's just a much more efficient way of handling matter, especially in space where mass costs a lot to send up.
Re:Blockbuster did this a while back...
on
Rent-a-Game
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Im not sure about that. My company did some outsourced tech support for a company that tried rental pc games at blockbuster. Its probably the same people that the poster is talking about.
The way it worked was when you installed the game you had to be connected to an internet connection (I think they had a 800 dial up option too) then It would ask you for a code that came in the game box. This would register it with a server on their end that would start the time limit and tell the game locally how much time was left. I think it was about 7 days. Some of the game files were encrypted and there was a modified exe file. When you launched the game it would open up the renter's spash screen telling you how many days you have left and if you want more time or to buy the game. It was reletively secure and because the code was registered on their server you couldn't just reinstall the game or even use it on a different PC. Anyway I think they went out of business after a while.
Slashdot Mirror
Yep if you read the article they explain why on the first page. (or maybe it was the second page)
That feature doesn't work to well. I work for a software testing company, and probably 3 out of ten times have I been able to get that feature to work like it should.
"Hmm... what is still heavily played, TA or Starcraft? I thought so."
Hmm, which one is more heavily used Windows or Linux? I though so.
Seriously though, your wrong about TA not having resource management. Sure you technically had unlimited resources, but it was the rate that you could get them that made the difference. If you played using your strat of powerplants and metal makers, I would be expanding taking the actuall mines. So after about 10 mins of play you would be making probably 20+ metal per game tick, while I would be making 70+ metal per game tick. So I would be putting over 3 times the amount of resources into my warmachine as you. Which can easily translate into 3 times the amount of units, or me getting the adv units way before you do.
This is why if you play any TA player with a bit of experience you can't just sit in your base. You have to hold large areas of ground as the mines are spread out across the map. This makes the game much more fun as you end up having these very intense skirmishes across the map.
Starcraft or TA is kind of like Checkers or Chess, both are fun games with strategy, but one has much more depth than the other.
Im glad you mention Total Annihilation. All you people out here that think that RTS's are simple clickfests haven't really played Total Annihilation. Now thats an RTS with real depth and a very good interface. I've also heard good things about Earth 2150 but never had a chance to play it.
If your also looking for a good non RTS strategy game try Shogun Total War: Warlod Edition. That game is Turn based with Real time fighting. Where the turn based section you have the map of Japan and you do troop movments, ording troops, building on the provinces etc...Then when you troops engage the enemy it goes into a real time battle. Unfortunately the multiplayer is only for real time tactical fighting and you can't play the grand strategy game of conquering japan with other people, but the AI is very good.
Um I think HL/CS/all other stupid HL expansions sales are a bit higher than Q3/Q3Team Arena sales. If sales were an issue we'd see people trying to benchmark "Who wants to be a millionare!"
But to agree with tswinzig, Counterstrike shouldn't be a benchmark because my old 300mhz tnt1 system can run CS fine.
This is lame for ATI to do this though. One of the reasons Quake 3 is a good benchmark is because a lot of new games use the Quake 3 engine, but because the drivers are setup for only Quake 3 none of the other games (Alice, Wolf, etc...) will get the same performance increases.
The problem is that ATI only optimised their drivers for Quake 3 for the benchmarks. Quake 3 is a good benchmark because its new and alot of new games are using the quake3 engine, but these drivers only speed up Quake 3 so they look good on reviews but will not help speed up Alice, Wolf, etc...
"But to colonize it? Give me just one reason to justify such an incredibly expensive task. "
It's simple, the human race will have a much better chance of survival if we start spreading out. Also, colonization does not require us to change or terraform all of mars. With the right equipment it should be theoretically possible to sustain a small population of humans indefinitely. This is one of the main reasons behind these probes, to determine what kind of raw materials there are available to work with that could sustain human life on mars for a long term/permanent stay.
The space station is very important. Sure its not glamorous as apollo or even the robotic probes to the planets. (NASA has probes heading to the planets as I write this, Mars Odyssey Cassini, etc... so their not just working on the station) Its important because in order for any real manned space missions to other planets we need the information and experience that only a space station can give us. The space station is what we should have built before apollo.
It was of political importance.
"Can you explain in more detail what this "political importance" was?"
Its simple, we had to beat the soviets to the moon. Its a way of showing that we have a better political/economic system of theirs. Don't you remember a couple of months ago when the JFK apollo tapes were released.
Space.com article "White House Tapes Shed Light on JFK Space Race Legend"
In my opinion going to the moon was a good thing, but it could have been done better if we'd gone slower and worked towards building a longterm or permanent stay on the moon. Still we learned alot about our moon and our solar system, we also gained alot in spinoff technology that needed to be developed to accomplish this task. Still I would have liked to see us go slower to develop a more long term or even permanent mission to the moon, but if we would have tried to go slower we probably would never have gone at all.
Im one of those firm believers in space or bust. Im not apocalyptic by thinking the human species will die out any time remotely soon, we could easily stay on earth as long as life can survive on it. Still extingtion is guaranteed unless we move into space, so why not start now.
We don't spend 5% of the federal budget on the Shuttle or the whole of NASA. That 5% figure is what we spent on NASA during the Apollo missions in the 60's/early 70's because it was of political importance that we beat the soviets to the moon.
I don't know the current percent of federal spending on NASA but I know its not even close to the 5% we spent to go to the moon.
"History will properly judge America as the world's most hideous tyrannical state--once our empire completes its collapse and the Big Five media companies stop writing the history books.
"
Do you really believe that the US is the world's most hideous tyrannical state. Think about it, historically the US is probably the most benign world power ever to have been recorded. Can you even compare it to the USSR or modern day China, who recently had the most in executions than the rest of the world combined (and i think it was by alot), just think about the real tyranny of those states. You wouldn't even be allowed to type what you just said about those.
You could even go back in history and look at other empires and how they interacted with the rest of the world. Can you honestly say America is the world's most hideos tyrannical state when held up next to the Roman empire or the Mongolian Horde.
Also, another benefit of the US is if you don't like something about the government it can be changed. The democratic system does accept change. You just need to convince enough people of your ideas and the problems with the current system.
"And just how did this ridiculous practice become not only commonplace, not only de rigeur -- but accepted unquestioningly?"
It's simple, when someone buys a computer they want it to work out of the box. It you really don't like having to buy a computer that works out of the box then try writing the computer manufacturers and let them know your views. Let them know in a much more intellegent and non angsty (that might not be a real word) response. Try to convince them that there is a real market of people who don't want Windows pre installed on new computers. If you really believe there is a market for this non os computer that the manufacturers don't cater to, then try doing some market research to convice a bank of your claims to get a loan. Start up a business to cater to this niche of the pc marketplace.
Personally I doubt there is a large enough market for a non OS prebuilt computer. Also the support costs would probably be high, as the end user would have to figure out how to install their own os.
But thats the greatness of the capitalist system, if there is something that enough consumers want someone will step in and supply it to them. Of course if the users really don't want it then the marketplace will let you know sooner or later.
Um, its probably difficult to compete with a competitor that sells the same product and doesn't pay for it, but instead illegally steals it.
I think defacing a site is a little more serious than spraying some grafitti on a wall. Think about it, usually when a site is defaced the actual site if not available (at least the main page). So its a little more like defacing a store front and boarding up the doorway.
Maybe he didn't hire you because of your attitude?
The most acurate comment on slashdot I've read in a long time.
Har Har Har, U are a l05er for making fun 0f 1337.
Yes why is this news? It like when any other network shuts off a show no one cares. I understand that some of us are anime fans but come on, do that many of us give a damn.
I think this could have been prevented with far greater Airline security than we currently have. Encryption will probably come under fire but it will be airline security in the airports and in the planes themselves that will take most of the heat for this. Think about it Airplanes are probably the terrorist weapons that can cause the most devastation, except maybe biological or nuclear weapons. Which we all pray the terrorists do not have.
Im not sure if the Air traffic controllers had enought time to react, or if they did, that anything could have been done about it. The second plane hit only about 15mins later than the first.
The problem here is that I doubt you would have risked your life unless you knew for sure they were going to use the plane as a missle. The fact is most hijackings end without or minimal loss of life. Usually the terrorits want someone freed from jail or have a political statement to make.
They aren't usually kamakazi terrorists looking to take out as many people as possible.
Due to the recent events, there will undoubtably be major changes in airline security. I would just like to make some speculations.
Naturally airport security is going to be much much higher. But on the plane itself I wouldn't be surprised to see some changes. Such as some sort of armed security person on most flights or every flight in the US. Also, I could see them trying to modify the plane to seal off the cockpit from the rest of the plane which might require a totally new plane. Im not an aerospace engineer so im not sure how difficult or practical this would be to do.
Yes you do need to take the raw material, but you would take less stuff than if you took spare parts. Say a device up their has 200 small parts but its only likely that say 10 might break. Normally you would have to have a large selection of premade parts because you just don't know what will break.
But with this device you would only need a small amount of raw material which can be molded into parts for the defective ones. It's just a much more efficient way of handling matter, especially in space where mass costs a lot to send up.
Im not sure about that. My company did some outsourced tech support for a company that tried rental pc games at blockbuster. Its probably the same people that the poster is talking about.
The way it worked was when you installed the game you had to be connected to an internet connection (I think they had a 800 dial up option too) then It would ask you for a code that came in the game box. This would register it with a server on their end that would start the time limit and tell the game locally how much time was left. I think it was about 7 days. Some of the game files were encrypted and there was a modified exe file. When you launched the game it would open up the renter's spash screen telling you how many days you have left and if you want more time or to buy the game. It was reletively secure and because the code was registered on their server you couldn't just reinstall the game or even use it on a different PC. Anyway I think they went out of business after a while.
I think staying air born for 24hours straight is problematic for pilots that like to sleep.