The tires were weighted. They weren't stock tires you'd take right off the set and throw on your car, at least, not if you were expecting a smooth ride. The weights were set in the "tops" of the tires, so that when they were nudged, they turned do that the weight "pulled" the tire up the ramp.
I can't personally vouch for the validity of the whole thing, but that tire bit was one of the easier parts to do. I forget the exact number of takes they had to do, but it was quite a lot.
I'm a Linux user; it powers 80% of my network. I pay for every single software package I use, if payment is requested. (Now that I think of it, I haven't paid for mIRC yet. Whoops.)
Just because someone is a "Linux user", it does not automatically follow that they are either copyright infringers, cheapskates, broke, or use just vi, lilo, and httpd.
As I've said before: computers have the greatest variety of games; with the exception of a very few genres, RPGs and some types/brands of racing games, new game types hit the PCs first. Diablo (and sequel), Starcraft, most multiplayer anythings (though I know consoles are starting to catch up), simulations, VR/AR, etc. - all these came to the PC first, and even now, the greatest variety can still be found only on the PC.
I will be the first to admit, however, that PCs used strictly for gaming are not cost effective. Yet, if one wants to play the PC games, one must pay the price of admission. As the PC 'enthusiast' hardware sales show, the target market is a bit larger than "small".
Nuke anything (second link down for the XPI) also comes in handy for those times when you couldn't be arsed to turn off javascript, but some jackass has plastered a big, annoying floating javascript ad over the page you want to read.
One right-click > remove this object later, and you're good to go.
Go ahead: buy the retail CD. Then try to play HL2 single-player without using STEAM. Whoops, you can't! Okay then, try playing without a 'net connection. Whoops, you can't! Fine - authenticate once, then try to play single-player without connecting back via STEAM to re-(re-re-re-re-, etc.) authenticate. When playing single-player.
Tried playing singleplayer without a network connection? Even after the initial activation? I thought not.
STEAM is the most dangerous implementation of rights-robbing "DRM" out in the wild to date. Even Microsoft's Windows XP allows you to activate the software via phone and (barring no hardware changes) never hassles you about connecting back to Microsoft to verify anything ever again (barring re-install).
Since I first ran across dustrunners some years back, the site has been up and down most often than a yo-yo. For months after I'd arrived, it seemed to be some sort of pseudo-reality game - a rather intriguing one - until it suddenly disappeared, that is.
Long story short, it's been doing that ever since: appearing out of the haze from time to time, oozing appeal and promises, only to vanish again sometime later.
While you say the actual history of dustrunners/the show is 'way too depressing to put on a web page', some of us are very interested in what actually happened.
How about simply telling people not to copy what they didn't pay for? Nope, it won't be effective, but the alternative, working with interested parties to include anti-piracy code in P2P clients, makes it sound like it's the software author's fault.
What sort of "anti-piracy code" sdo you think will work? Filters? Nope, there have been past stories here about the borkups caused by content owners not checking the results filters gave them. Tie the software into a big content comparison DB? Let's see that one scale. A back-door pass to control which files can or can't be traded? Hell no.
No simple solution. Best thing is to keep doing that the RIAA is doing... sue the infringing users. Of course, I wish they'd actually make sure that the folks they sue actually have been infringing.
If this attack you describe was a "DDoS", then having someone update firewall rules would have no effect (unless this 'firewall' was several steps up the chain on a big, fat pipe).
OTOH, if some ratbag is sucking up all your CPU by spamming searches on all forums or something, tune your stuff or disable the offending venue.
STEAM as DRM does nothing except make a single person buy/steal a copy of the game and activate it. Once that's done, STEAM as DRM is *useless*.
Actually, STEAM as DRM isn't useless. It also downloads patches I may not want, it forces me to use an Internet connection when I may not want to, and it "pre-loads" stuff to my drive that I may not want. Also, it uses up resources I may want to use elsewhere, like, I don't know, in playing a game.
Nah, PC gaming is where all the good stuff is (sans most RPGs). On top of that, the user still has total control over everything on his system and can manipulate it any way he/she desires.
So, if Sam wants to play HL5 single-player, but hates product activation, Sam can just buy/install the software, then crack the game (assuming Sam thinks the game is worth the hassle). Sam has all the resources and tools he needs to do this on his PC. Billy, with his Xbox4, does not.
Actually, it's unacceptable to anyone who values control of their possessions. I don't want you, the kid next door, my mom, Joe, Microsoft, the cops, the Feds, or anyone else having control over my legally purchased PC and all its software. Mine. Mine mine mine mine mine. Not "theirs'". Mine. Got it?
I don't care how many times I have to authenticate for *single player*. Once is one too many. Multiplayer, I have no problem with, seeing as I'm definitely going to have to have a net connection to do that in the first place... but if I want to play a primarily offline game, it will STAY offline, dammit, or it doesn't get purchased with my cash.
No, I'm not playing HL2 so long as it requires STEAM. This, in essence, means I'll never play HL2.
The CD hasn't been a requirement to play Half-Life for a long time. I can't specifically remember which patch it was, but when I was playing CS 1.3, the CD was certainly not required.
Steam basically ensures that your simple "Here install my copy" piracy no longer works as a cdkey becomes tied to a fully unique steam account. It seems simple to me, and relatively unobtrusive when compared with other mechanisms (cd in drive requirements come to mind).
A unique STEAM account which is tied specifically to your person (be it real name or just e-mail address) is somehow less intrusive than having an an otherwise completely anonymous unique CD and CD key? Not having to put the CD in the drive is certainly a bit more convenient, yes, but most assuredly more intrusive.
Yes it sucks to have to connect to the net to activate a single player game, but this is the world we're in today. Software vendors see piracy as a huge threat, and this is one method of solving it.
Sad to be the one to break the news to you, but STEAM will *not* solve the problem copyright infringement (aka "piracy". Arr, matey), just as CD-in-drive requirements, Star-Force stealth drivers, the broken-by-shift-key method, or other such schemes, at least where the single-player component is concerned. As for multiplayer, well, the only way to solve most of the copyright infringement problems is to have a pay-per-account model, with a database of verified paying customers (and not just a list of possibly valid keys). MMOGs have this licked. Anything else is SOL for now (and the forseeable future).
Yeah, Asus seems to be really lacking in the support department. Thankfully, I only had cause to attempt to talk to them once (fan on vid card started to go out), but didn't even make it past their broken mail server.:P I just bought a Thermaktake replacement fan from newegg for $5. This experience probably should worry me more than it does...
AMD bashers really don't have a leg to stand on. It's been shown since the early days of the Athlon Thunderbird that the chips are reliable - and I have yet to hear about AMD refusing to recall chips that wouldn't do floating point operations properly ala Intel.
VIA was *the* chipset for gamers before the nForce started adding features and improving speed. As long as someone bothers to use something other than the first revision drivers, they've been solid in all the six years I've been building systems with them. (In fact, the latest system uses an nForce chipset, and it displaying odd 'input slow-mo' behavior under heavy load, something which never happened with VIA-based systems I built.)
The problems with instability often come from incompetent people who think they know how to put a computer together from parts pulled from dumpsters or low-sellers on pricewatch after eating chocolate cake with their fingers...
Big Bang: True, it didn't belong here. Consider it dropped.
Skull: I don't recall any *simple* organisms that have skulls, or ever would, being *simple*. We're still leaping far past the point of life produced from chance so remote as to be utterly negligible.
Slashdot Mirror
The tires were weighted. They weren't stock tires you'd take right off the set and throw on your car, at least, not if you were expecting a smooth ride. The weights were set in the "tops" of the tires, so that when they were nudged, they turned do that the weight "pulled" the tire up the ramp.
I can't personally vouch for the validity of the whole thing, but that tire bit was one of the easier parts to do. I forget the exact number of takes they had to do, but it was quite a lot.
Why not? Doesn't YOUR mother have 50 mil lying around the house somewhere?
I'm a Linux user; it powers 80% of my network.
I pay for every single software package I use, if payment is requested. (Now that I think of it, I haven't paid for mIRC yet. Whoops.)
Just because someone is a "Linux user", it does not automatically follow that they are either copyright infringers, cheapskates, broke, or use just vi, lilo, and httpd.
However, it is rather easy to shoot it in.
As I've said before: computers have the greatest variety of games; with the exception of a very few genres, RPGs and some types/brands of racing games, new game types hit the PCs first. Diablo (and sequel), Starcraft, most multiplayer anythings (though I know consoles are starting to catch up), simulations, VR/AR, etc. - all these came to the PC first, and even now, the greatest variety can still be found only on the PC.
I will be the first to admit, however, that PCs used strictly for gaming are not cost effective. Yet, if one wants to play the PC games, one must pay the price of admission. As the PC 'enthusiast' hardware sales show, the target market is a bit larger than "small".
Nuke anything (second link down for the XPI) also comes in handy for those times when you couldn't be arsed to turn off javascript, but some jackass has plastered a big, annoying floating javascript ad over the page you want to read.
One right-click > remove this object later, and you're good to go.
Sigh.
Go ahead: buy the retail CD. Then try to play HL2 single-player without using STEAM. Whoops, you can't! Okay then, try playing without a 'net connection. Whoops, you can't! Fine - authenticate once, then try to play single-player without connecting back via STEAM to re-(re-re-re-re-, etc.) authenticate. When playing single-player.
Whoops, you can't!
STEAM is dangerous, m'friend.
Tried playing singleplayer without a network connection? Even after the initial activation? I thought not.
STEAM is the most dangerous implementation of rights-robbing "DRM" out in the wild to date. Even Microsoft's Windows XP allows you to activate the software via phone and (barring no hardware changes) never hassles you about connecting back to Microsoft to verify anything ever again (barring re-install).
Since I first ran across dustrunners some years back, the site has been up and down most often than a yo-yo. For months after I'd arrived, it seemed to be some sort of pseudo-reality game - a rather intriguing one - until it suddenly disappeared, that is.
Long story short, it's been doing that ever since: appearing out of the haze from time to time, oozing appeal and promises, only to vanish again sometime later.
While you say the actual history of dustrunners/the show is 'way too depressing to put on a web page', some of us are very interested in what actually happened.
What kills me is that excess(ive?) heat was the primary reason for most Intel-biased folks to stay with Intel chips and not consider AMD chips.
:)
Now that the shoe is on the other foot, I'm vastly amused to see variations of AMD's former defensive lines used in defense of Intel's products.
How about simply telling people not to copy what they didn't pay for? Nope, it won't be effective, but the alternative, working with interested parties to include anti-piracy code in P2P clients, makes it sound like it's the software author's fault.
What sort of "anti-piracy code" sdo you think will work?
Filters? Nope, there have been past stories here about the borkups caused by content owners not checking the results filters gave them.
Tie the software into a big content comparison DB? Let's see that one scale.
A back-door pass to control which files can or can't be traded? Hell no.
No simple solution. Best thing is to keep doing that the RIAA is doing... sue the infringing users. Of course, I wish they'd actually make sure that the folks they sue actually have been infringing.
Anyone else going to go see Barbie: The Movie?
If this attack you describe was a "DDoS", then having someone update firewall rules would have no effect (unless this 'firewall' was several steps up the chain on a big, fat pipe).
OTOH, if some ratbag is sucking up all your CPU by spamming searches on all forums or something, tune your stuff or disable the offending venue.
STEAM as DRM does nothing except make a single person buy/steal a copy of the game and activate it. Once that's done, STEAM as DRM is *useless*.
Actually, STEAM as DRM isn't useless. It also downloads patches I may not want, it forces me to use an Internet connection when I may not want to, and it "pre-loads" stuff to my drive that I may not want. Also, it uses up resources I may want to use elsewhere, like, I don't know, in playing a game.
...
Ice age?
By installing STEAM, you are indeed signing over the deed to your hard drive. I bought that hard drive - it is mine. My hard drive, not Valve's.
I stopped playing CS/HL after 1.5.
Nah, PC gaming is where all the good stuff is (sans most RPGs). On top of that, the user still has total control over everything on his system and can manipulate it any way he/she desires.
So, if Sam wants to play HL5 single-player, but hates product activation, Sam can just buy/install the software, then crack the game (assuming Sam thinks the game is worth the hassle). Sam has all the resources and tools he needs to do this on his PC.
Billy, with his Xbox4, does not.
I'll stick with PCs for my gaming, thank you.
Actually, it's unacceptable to anyone who values control of their possessions. I don't want you, the kid next door, my mom, Joe, Microsoft, the cops, the Feds, or anyone else having control over my legally purchased PC and all its software. Mine. Mine mine mine mine mine. Not "theirs'". Mine. Got it?
I don't care how many times I have to authenticate for *single player*. Once is one too many. Multiplayer, I have no problem with, seeing as I'm definitely going to have to have a net connection to do that in the first place... but if I want to play a primarily offline game, it will STAY offline, dammit, or it doesn't get purchased with my cash.
No, I'm not playing HL2 so long as it requires STEAM. This, in essence, means I'll never play HL2.
The CD hasn't been a requirement to play Half-Life for a long time. I can't specifically remember which patch it was, but when I was playing CS 1.3, the CD was certainly not required.
A unique STEAM account which is tied specifically to your person (be it real name or just e-mail address) is somehow less intrusive than having an an otherwise completely anonymous unique CD and CD key? Not having to put the CD in the drive is certainly a bit more convenient, yes, but most assuredly more intrusive.
Sad to be the one to break the news to you, but STEAM will *not* solve the problem copyright infringement (aka "piracy". Arr, matey), just as CD-in-drive requirements, Star-Force stealth drivers, the broken-by-shift-key method, or other such schemes, at least where the single-player component is concerned.
As for multiplayer, well, the only way to solve most of the copyright infringement problems is to have a pay-per-account model, with a database of verified paying customers (and not just a list of possibly valid keys). MMOGs have this licked. Anything else is SOL for now (and the forseeable future).
Yeah, Asus seems to be really lacking in the support department. Thankfully, I only had cause to attempt to talk to them once (fan on vid card started to go out), but didn't even make it past their broken mail server. :P
I just bought a Thermaktake replacement fan from newegg for $5. This experience probably should worry me more than it does...
AMD bashers really don't have a leg to stand on. It's been shown since the early days of the Athlon Thunderbird that the chips are reliable - and I have yet to hear about AMD refusing to recall chips that wouldn't do floating point operations properly ala Intel.
VIA was *the* chipset for gamers before the nForce started adding features and improving speed. As long as someone bothers to use something other than the first revision drivers, they've been solid in all the six years I've been building systems with them. (In fact, the latest system uses an nForce chipset, and it displaying odd 'input slow-mo' behavior under heavy load, something which never happened with VIA-based systems I built.)
The problems with instability often come from incompetent people who think they know how to put a computer together from parts pulled from dumpsters or low-sellers on pricewatch after eating chocolate cake with their fingers...
If it dies, it would be a kernel panic*. This thing actually does run Linux.
* This assumes it dies due to some sort of software mangling and not from a lead slug to the CPU or by rolling over an improvised explosive device.
Big Bang: True, it didn't belong here. Consider it dropped.
Skull: I don't recall any *simple* organisms that have skulls, or ever would, being *simple*. We're still leaping far past the point of life produced from chance so remote as to be utterly negligible.