I agree with your post overall, but just a small note: Nintendo hasn't always stuck to proprietary storage -- the GameCube runs games off a standard mini-DVD, contrary to all of the urban legends surrounding its copy protection schemes.
It's back up, but my $10.00 re-charge attempted to charge $257.10 on my card as opposed to $10.00. Thankfully I noticed at the Verified by Visa page, but, it makes me wonder if this is their 'exit strategy' of taking 25x more money than they were authorized to, then running away from the mob to a different country.
Either way, if you go to re-charge any time soon, check to make sure you're not being overcharged. I'm not too confident in their business practices after my recent experience.
That being said:
You are contradicting yourself. You are confused. It is very easy to use the HDLoader stuff. It's a little more difficult to actually pirate games, because you have to use a computer to put the games on, since an unmodded PS2 won't read burns. Or you can use the network cable to send games over the LAN, but at 100mbit/sec, it's easier to use a USB 2.0 external drive cage. But just copying your originals is simple.
I did not contradict myself. I said, and I quote: "So, it is still pretty damn hard to pirate games on a PS2 using the HDD adapter." I still stick by that. It *is* difficult. It takes knowing the exploit, getting the code, getting it on a memory card (or borrowing one from a friend), getting the HDD loader installed, and then installing the game to the HDD using the loader OR loading one via TCP/IP or USB. That's not as easy as burning as disc, a la Dreamcast. Understand that while *using* the HDD Loader may be easy (after it is installed), that doesn't make it NOT a pain in the ass to get it installed. The same is true of the Xbox.
There are several ways to mod that system, via softmod with a reflashed TSOP, via Modchip, or via the solder-blob mod. None of those are altogether too easy. When you're done, however, it's damn simple to copy/ftp/burn/etc Xbox games and get them onto the Xbox. That doesn't mean I'd qualify it as easy to use -- just because of the initial investment of time that it took to get it to the point that it *is* now that easy.
Another example being that I compile and burn weekly builds of XBMC using TortioseCVS. This does not require any amount of time, it's not difficult, I edited the build.bat and added my own code and all I have to do is run it. At this point, it's 'easy'. However, the 3 hours it took to get it set up, to get it on the proper repository, to get the SDK installed... Those 3 hours were not easy. Therefore I would not ever claim that it is *easy* to do (from start to finish), even though after all the legwork is done it's as simple as two clicks and an FTP session.
To elaborate on the 'notoriously difficult to use' comment I made, I was referring to specifically what you addressed in your comment -- there are several modes that may or may not be used, certain games completely refuse to work, others are glitchy and will crash without warning, etc. Yes, it works with 85%-90% of PS2 games. Yes, the mode settings are not required for a good 75% of the working games. No, that still does not qualify as *easy*.
Also, per your statement that an unmodded PS2 won't read burns -- you are incorrect. An unmodded PS2 will read burns just fine with the Swap Magic disc and the Slide Card. Or the Flip-top lid. While the flip-top lid voids your warranty due to having to remove the top of the PS2 to install, the Swap Magic / Slide Card still leaves your PS2 shiny and intact, all stickers/screws/etc. untouched. AND it will play burned backups.
Lastly, just a note of agreement about your comment regarding potential damage by utilization of the Slide Card on a regular basis. Something about using a piece of plastic to smush around the internals of a DVD-ROM drive just to get it to open kind of bugs me.
Per your comment about being able to buy the HDD peripheral and plug it into USB and it just 'works (tm)' is incorrect. Utilizing the PS2's HDD adapter requires a lot more work than that. It requires the purchase and installation of the HDD Adapter (which was useless for anything else, unless you're one of the four people alive that play FFXI), it required you to send a specific file to your memory card to allow for an exploit to load unsigned code onto the HDD and be able to execute it, then it required the HDD Loader software -- which is notoriously hard to deal with and doesn't work with every game.
So, it is still pretty damn hard to pirate games on a PS2 using the HDD adapter. A lot easier if you use the Swap Magic disc and a Slide Card, which costs about $20, leaves your PS2 unmodified, and only requires a small modicum of time every time you want to play a burned/backup/import game.
I'm not really arguing that it's *hard* to pirate games for the PS2, just that it's harder than you made it seem in your last post, especially with the HDD Adapter.
Xbox and Dreamcast still take the cake. Both can be 'modded' without opening the case and without voiding warranties. Hell, you can ftp games onto the Xbox once it's modded. You don't even need those DVD blanks anymore.... A lot easier than the PS2 with any network adapter, hdd adapter, etc. The DC, as we all know, didn't require anything other than a good copy of Padus DiscJuggler -- it could burn all of the content protection required, and self-booting discs were a dime a dozen.
That was Cinematech. I believe they show both Cinematech *and* Cinematech: Nocturnal Emissions now. Neither are really as good as the old shows were.
When G4 merged with TechTV (I miss Patrick and Leo!) and ditched The Screen Savers, Unscrewed, and Eye Drops, I knew that the station was going downhill. And yes, I know they -changed- The Screen Savers into 'Attack of the Most Boring, Stupid, Waste of Time and Oxygen, Idiot Hour, for Idiots, Run by a bunch of Kids instead of Patrick and Leo', before anyone tells me. Maybe I'm just bitter.;)
Don't they play 'The Man Show' on G4 now? Give me a break.
What they don't understand is that we ALREADY have 'SpikeTV', and honestly, it's a really f'ing stupid tv network (except for MXC). We DON'T need another one.
PS. Martin Sargent is one of the funniest people in the entire world, someone needs to pick him up for a similar show. If you missed Unscrewed... You missed one of the greatest shows ever to grace the airwaves with its presence.
While I agree with your point, you neglect to mention the subsidies that companies like Dell get for including software like Quickbooks Home or TurboTax or the Office trial. They make much larger deals on the whole with software vendors who are willing to subsidize a small percentage of the cost of the machine for the rights to have their software installed on it.
Not that I'm saying I agree with it, and yes, the first thing I do when I get a new machine is wipe it completely and re-install the OS -- just a little bit more info.
Off-topic funny side-note: The CEO of 3d Realms (while being entirely out of touch with the market after 37,413 years of NOT releasing Duke Nukem Forever) determined that he was in touch enough with the market to predict that Nintendo was going to lose the console war with the Revolution and that it may be the last console Nintendo makes. Full (albeit tiny) story here.
Pot, meet kettle. Kettle, pot. You two get along now.
To clarify, I never said that the DreamCast was destroyed by piracy. All I said was that if it was as easy to pirate the games on the PS3 as it was on the DC, Sony would be in for trouble. Matter of fact, I specifically offered a disclaimer in the first paragraph -- that I was not claiming that piracy could/would/has/will destroy a system, just that it would make an impact on the quantity and frequency at which games would be developed and delivered.
Personally, I'd rather they *didn't* botch the copy protection.
Here's my point: If they botch the copy protection and it becomes easy to pirate games for it, lots of people will be buying the hardware, with less people buying the software. What that equates to is a major loss for Sony. I'm not a big fan of Sony, but I am a fan of them continuing to support the platform. And yes, before anyone starts whining about how people pirating games doesn't destroy a company, I agree. It doesn't. BUT -- It does cut into their profits on the system, and it does affect a developer's decision about creating games for the console.
If it's as easy to pirate games on the PS3 as it was on the Sega Dreamcast, Sony's in for a lot of trouble. They'll lose money on each console they sell, then they won't make it back because people are pirating their games instead of purchasing them. Same goes for the developers. If they lose money creating games for the PS3, they'll stop producing as many games for the PS3.
As a consumer, I'd say it does a lot more for me that they're securing their future than pushing a system out only to lose their hats on it. It does me more good for them to be producing games for this thing for the next 5 years than it does me for them to call it a failure because of screwed up copy protection that they rushed just to launch the platform on time. I'm aware of the implications this holds for Blu-ray, but personally, I don't care about HD-DVD/Blu-ray. I care about having new games to play on this console for the next many years.
I'm going to have to step in to correct you on this one...
SecuROM? Easy.
SafeDisc? Easy.
StarForce?... Second to impossible. The system employs about 1000x different checks, randomly through the game, the entire data on the disc is encrypted. I've seen some *cracks* for StarForce protected games, but they usually involved sacrificing naked virgins on your computer while systematically unplugging and replugging your IDE drives in time to the musical beat of the crack's background music, while installing a virtual driver that fakes a disconnect of your IDE Channel and makes your system less stable than the fault lines in California and requires 13 button presses in specific order to attempt to 'hide' the virtual drives, IDE drives, etc. from your StarForce protected game.
And that's just step 1. Step 2-6 involve blind men doing the hokey-pokey in synchronicity while three Irishmen do a Jig on top of your keyboard, as well as removing a 1cm portion of your left foot's big toe.... I could go on.
The best part is that after you've done all that, it STILL doesn't work.
So, the most dedicated of pirates can crack SafeDisc and SecuROM easily -- but StarForce is just a pain. The best part is, the procedure I'm detailing above is almost step by step what I had to do to play my LEGALLY PURCHASED copy of X3 Reunion. God forbid it work on a system with multiple CD-roms and Alcohol 120% installed.
I attempted to return it but they wouldn't take it back, so I did a chargeback on my credit card and EB Games didn't contest it.
That being said, I will *never* purchase another StarForce protected game. I'd HATE to be someone trying to pirate these games, it's hard enough to get them to work when you purchase the bloody things.
On a side note, we did do a test in an isolated network -- the problem is that most of the bugs in R1-R3 of Quickbooks 2006 are not exacerbated in that style of install. It requires multiple users doing many different things in order to corrupt the database. Unfortunately, on a testing install, all functionality 'Just Worked (TM)'.
It wasn't until we actually did the true upgrade to it that the problems crawled out of the woodwork. Regardless, if I had a staff of 5 under me instead of just 1, I'm sure I could have duped the errors in a small network:).
The company I work for uses QuickBooks Enterprise. We started on Version 5 (Quickbooks 2005). It worked pretty well. There were a few very small hiccups, but mostly it did what we needed it to do. We had purchased upgrade protection because we knew a new version would be coming out shortly. About the 5th of December or so we received the 2006 Update.
Now, being skeptical to begin with, I was NOT going to install this right out of the box. It's one thing to upgrade WinZip or WinAmp to the next version, another thing entirely to take the company's accounting server down for an upgrade that hasn't been proven in the wild for more than 5 days.
Skip forward to the beginning of February. Two months have passed and the support forums on the QB2006 site are relatively quiet. There is no patch released yet, and no notification that they are working on a patch.
We decide to do the install.
WORST DECISION EVER
The system is completely unstable. It crashes repeatedly. We lose transaction data. It's not possible to 'downgrade' without completely knocking the server offline for baseline rebuild from ghost. The amount of data on the server would take about 8 hours to rebuild, and the server is being accessed about 18-20 hours a day by different shifts. We finally orchestrate a weekend rebuild about 7 days later, and then spend about 30 hours taking the data out of the new version and putting it into the old version.
I might add, when we called Intuit to tell them about our issues, here was their response:
"Well, there's nothing we can tell you. It's a known issue. You'll have to downgrade to v5. We know the uninstall funcationality is broken, you'll need to restore from a previous backup. No, there's no ETA for when the patch is coming out."
To make matters worse, the version 6 update was a crock anyways. We've since installed it with the latest patch and it 'works', but it's slow as molasses, buggy as hell, and still notoriously unstable. If the Accounting department didn't habitually use two of its new features, I'd push us back to QB2005 just to stop having the issues.
I've got a zd8000, and even though this is somewhat off-topic -- you can use ndiswrapper to get the wi-fi working. Certain distributions that I've never found even work with it straight from install! (Based solely on hearsay.;))
Other than that, the zd8000 is nice. While I've got a whupass desktop (athlon64 3800+/sli nvidia 6800gtx/2gb ram/720gb hdd/yadayadayada), I have never once had the desire to pick it up and lug it anywhere. LAN party or not, that box is staying there for a LONG time.
With the laptop, on the other hand, it's much easier. My buddy and I go down to the local Starbucks and wile away hours playing UT2004 or similar.
I'd never recommend the laptop to anyone who had to carry it around for business though, the thing weighs in at about 11-13 lbs., once you include the power brick, obligatory second battery (1 hour battery life on their 'HIGH CAPACITY' battery if you're doing anything worth a crap). It's quite a pain.
But, for sheer performance, you can't beat it. It plays UT2004 in very high resolutions and gets 90fps. Doom 3 and Quake 4 play on it remarkably well. If you're a gamer and like to game on the go, it's great to have. I don't really mind lugging it around because I don't go too far with it -- and I don't carry it all the time.
You are correct, however -- that is the current state with XBOXen as it stands. The original XBOX used to be able to connect to XBL and play online games while being modified if you turned off the modchips and had 'locked' the hard drive, but after a time, Microsoft got wise and started checking the model number and serial numbers of the HDDs installed in the XBOX.
This ended up blacklisting a large number of XBOXen by their UID/Serial Number -- which could be gotten around by re-flashing your TSOP, but was very finicky and was a little too dangerous for most people's taste. You would also have to have a valid TSOP with a non-blacklisted UID/SN in order for it to work.
I agree with your point that it is somewhat misleading, but by the same token, most XBOX users have known for a long time that if they mod their XBOX they will not be able to use XBOX live unless they keep *all* original hardware and an untouched TSOP and switch between the two every time they want to use either homebrew or XBL.
A similar situation for the XBOX360 will probably arise -- as the hackers now know what Microsoft can and can't do to find and blacklist modded boxes, hackers will work around and allow all original hardware to seem untouched unless using the modified bios. Of course, like the XBOX, it will probably not be possible to play a 'backup' copy of a game on XBL.
I could be wrong, as I don't own a 360, but I'm guessing it will be very similar to the XBOX mods that exist.
Uh, maybe you and I are thinking about different Rio 500s. My Rio lasted about two weeks before a solder joint internally that connected the battery to the rest of the unit broke. When I opened it to fix it I realized that the idiots had soldered a think stranded wire directly to a metal plate as opposed to running it through something or mounting it in any way shape or form. After applying some flux to actually make it stick, it lasted for a few months before the thing just *stopped* playing MP3s.
If that's what you mean by 'indestructable', I'm thinking that 'indestructable' doesn't mean what you think it means.
In all rights, however, I could have just had a lemon Rio. Doesn't mean that the design wasn't shoddy, just that mine was particularly shoddy. Thank god I got it for free.
Read the class action lawsuit again. A single failure since you purchased it entitles you to the claim. I'm kind of wishing I'd paid Toshiba to fix my dead HDD after the mobo went south twice, then I'd get $650 instead of $250. It is what it is, though.
Please note -- the DATA files are not encrypted or signed. The executables still are. Yes, you can change the.WMV file all day long, but what purpose does that serve? Unless someone finds a flaw in the way that a Microsoft device plays HDWMV, (which is possible, I guess) all you can do is make a video of you pointing at a horses ass and shouting 'SyncNine'. Still can't run unsigned code.
Let me re-phrase my challenge to something a little more worthy:
When someone uses this DVD as a base for writing code that executes directly on the Xbox360 and displays a static image (read: doesn't use existing code and change an unprotected data file, because that's stupidly easy and absolutely NOT a proof of concept) of a horse's ass with an arrow pointing to it that says "SyncNine", I will concede defeat.
I'm not saying the X360 is unhackable, just saying that this isn't the bane of MS's console security like everyone is playing it up to be.
Urban Legend. Gamecube discs do not default to being read from the outside in -- depending on the game and manufacturer/producer of said game, the game's bootstrap code or loader or whatever you want to call it can be as far as 3/4 of the way to the end of the disc. But it still doesn't read from the outside in. It pops the end of the disc on boot to get the game's boot code, then hits back to the center like any other CD/DVD reading device.
To address the entire topic of this conversation, this 'achievement' doesn't mean crap. There is no *exploit* that allows this disc to boot. Whoever pressed it intentionally left off the media check -- thus allowing it to be played as downloaded from Live or on DVD. Not a big deal. It's still encrypted and signed -- the hypervisor still won't run it if a single bit has been altered.
I don't know about you, but I don't think my computer has enough spare CPU cycles in the next 100 years to crack the digital signing.
An exploit would be these people releasing the same DVD image that self-boots but has different content. But they can't. Because the 360 won't run it.
Just think about what people are inferring here. Microsoft, tremendous software goliath, pioneers new Xbox360 system that they claim is 'unhackable'. They have learned from their mistake with the Xbox and have actually taken many steps to make sure the system is as hard to hack as possible. 20 days after its release, they accidentally post an un-protected ISO on their website, allow production facilities to produce un-protected DVDs, and allow hackers to have full reign over their console.
Does this sound odd to anyone else? They wouldn't release these things if they didn't think (whether or not they're correct) that it had absolutely no gain to the hacker community. They're not going to help the hackers crack this system -- they have absolutely no gain from doing so. They lose money on each console, do you really think that's all they want you to buy? It doesn't work that way. This wouldn't have been released the way it was unless MS approved it -- there is a 99.95% chance that if they approved it, there is no way of hacking it.
I'd like to be proved wrong here, but until someone makes a DVD iso for the Xbox360 that opens up to a picture of a horse's ass and an arrow pointing to it that says 'SyncNine', I'm going to have to think I'm correct.
The difference is that Lucasfilm licenses specific authors to write stories about their books -- authors who then publish them, and give Lucasfilm a slice of the pie for having sold books about their characters.
Fan-fics are protected because they're not being sold (legally) and because, well, free speech and freedom of the press are... constitutionally guaranteed.
So, write whatever you want. Write a Graham of Daventry hentai yaoi fan-fic involving Roger Wilco, Sludge Vohaul, Rosella, the Seven Dwarves, and maybe Orat. Post it all over your website. I'm sure they won't stop you. Just don't create a free game based solely on their intellectual property. That's not covered by constitutional law.
I don't agree with what Vivendi did, at all. But I do agree that it is THEIR intellectual property, and if they are so arrogant and care so little about what their fans want... Well, let them run themselves out of business.
They *SHOULD* have hired the team and let them continue work -- and been happy having complete control over it. Sure, the game would have sucked wind because Vivendi would have ruined it, like they ruin everything else -- but at least it would have been released. Isn't that what everyone wants?
Depending on the wrapper, while the game is limited to 640x480, you can have the wrapper upsample to 1600x1200 and do smoothing and filtering. Offhand, I hate to say I don't have a specific example of a wrapper that does this -- most wrappers are simply wrappers... They just convert 3DFx Glide calls to OpenGL or DirectX. Some of them have advanced features, although iirc you have to pay for them.
It's been a few years since I have used one of these wrappers, YMMV.
Slightly off-topic, but it is possible to play FF7PC still. You can get any of a myriad of OpenGL wrappers (ie: google search 'OpenGL Wrapper') that will allow for playing of the game. You will also be able to get higher resolutions.
Alternatively, if you own the PSX version of the game and have a CD reader that can read the CD, you can grab a PSX emulator like ePSXe, some plugins, dump the CD isos to your HDD, dump your PSX's bios via a somewhat intricate cable mod, buy a PSX -> USB converter, and play the PSX version on your PC.
As far as Doom goes, keep in mind that it was released in a day where Shareware versions of it were readily available. People didn't have to purchase Doom in order to play it or to experience it. They could legally download the first episode from their local BBS. Just because they didn't buy it doesn't mean they didn't enjoy it. Myst, on the other hand, required a purchase to play, so the number of 7 million is probably about correct and reflects the number of people who played it. I would estimate that another 3 million people downloaded the demo of Doom, if even that few.
That's right, I said BBS.:)
(Offtopic: I got my shareware copy from 'Shareware South', if anyone remembers that BBS other than me.)
Nothing personal, many people have said what you said -- I just decided to reply to yours.
Most of you guys are missing something with the rating system that I'd like to detail here. Having worked in a Game Shop for an extended period of time I am intimately familiar with the 'recommended selling practices'.
Breakdown of Ratings
E - Everybody can purchase.
T - Recommended for Teenagers, Everybody can purchase.
M - Recommended for Adults, Everybody can purchase with parent's acceptance or permission (at the store).
AO - Only 18+ can purchase game. Period.
So it's not that M is 17+ and AO is 18+, it's that M is 17+ but mommy can let you buy it, where AO is 18+ or bust.
Most BIOSes now have the ability to accept USB devices as 'Legacy' keyboard and mouse devices. IE, my Micro$oft Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard and Mouse work perfectly in BIOS/Setup/etc -- Even though they connect through Bluetooth to the USB Bluetooth Dongle. All you need is to enable that support. Should work fine. Even on a Hell^H^H^H^HDell
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I agree with your post overall, but just a small note: Nintendo hasn't always stuck to proprietary storage -- the GameCube runs games off a standard mini-DVD, contrary to all of the urban legends surrounding its copy protection schemes.
It's back up, but my $10.00 re-charge attempted to charge $257.10 on my card as opposed to $10.00. Thankfully I noticed at the Verified by Visa page, but, it makes me wonder if this is their 'exit strategy' of taking 25x more money than they were authorized to, then running away from the mob to a different country.
Either way, if you go to re-charge any time soon, check to make sure you're not being overcharged. I'm not too confident in their business practices after my recent experience.
Side note: Very entertaining sig.
... Those 3 hours were not easy. Therefore I would not ever claim that it is *easy* to do (from start to finish), even though after all the legwork is done it's as simple as two clicks and an FTP session.
That being said: You are contradicting yourself. You are confused. It is very easy to use the HDLoader stuff. It's a little more difficult to actually pirate games, because you have to use a computer to put the games on, since an unmodded PS2 won't read burns. Or you can use the network cable to send games over the LAN, but at 100mbit/sec, it's easier to use a USB 2.0 external drive cage. But just copying your originals is simple.
I did not contradict myself. I said, and I quote: "So, it is still pretty damn hard to pirate games on a PS2 using the HDD adapter." I still stick by that. It *is* difficult. It takes knowing the exploit, getting the code, getting it on a memory card (or borrowing one from a friend), getting the HDD loader installed, and then installing the game to the HDD using the loader OR loading one via TCP/IP or USB. That's not as easy as burning as disc, a la Dreamcast. Understand that while *using* the HDD Loader may be easy (after it is installed), that doesn't make it NOT a pain in the ass to get it installed. The same is true of the Xbox.
There are several ways to mod that system, via softmod with a reflashed TSOP, via Modchip, or via the solder-blob mod. None of those are altogether too easy. When you're done, however, it's damn simple to copy/ftp/burn/etc Xbox games and get them onto the Xbox. That doesn't mean I'd qualify it as easy to use -- just because of the initial investment of time that it took to get it to the point that it *is* now that easy.
Another example being that I compile and burn weekly builds of XBMC using TortioseCVS. This does not require any amount of time, it's not difficult, I edited the build.bat and added my own code and all I have to do is run it. At this point, it's 'easy'. However, the 3 hours it took to get it set up, to get it on the proper repository, to get the SDK installed
To elaborate on the 'notoriously difficult to use' comment I made, I was referring to specifically what you addressed in your comment -- there are several modes that may or may not be used, certain games completely refuse to work, others are glitchy and will crash without warning, etc. Yes, it works with 85%-90% of PS2 games. Yes, the mode settings are not required for a good 75% of the working games. No, that still does not qualify as *easy*.
Also, per your statement that an unmodded PS2 won't read burns -- you are incorrect. An unmodded PS2 will read burns just fine with the Swap Magic disc and the Slide Card. Or the Flip-top lid. While the flip-top lid voids your warranty due to having to remove the top of the PS2 to install, the Swap Magic / Slide Card still leaves your PS2 shiny and intact, all stickers/screws/etc. untouched. AND it will play burned backups.
Lastly, just a note of agreement about your comment regarding potential damage by utilization of the Slide Card on a regular basis. Something about using a piece of plastic to smush around the internals of a DVD-ROM drive just to get it to open kind of bugs me.
Per your comment about being able to buy the HDD peripheral and plug it into USB and it just 'works (tm)' is incorrect. Utilizing the PS2's HDD adapter requires a lot more work than that. It requires the purchase and installation of the HDD Adapter (which was useless for anything else, unless you're one of the four people alive that play FFXI), it required you to send a specific file to your memory card to allow for an exploit to load unsigned code onto the HDD and be able to execute it, then it required the HDD Loader software -- which is notoriously hard to deal with and doesn't work with every game.
So, it is still pretty damn hard to pirate games on a PS2 using the HDD adapter. A lot easier if you use the Swap Magic disc and a Slide Card, which costs about $20, leaves your PS2 unmodified, and only requires a small modicum of time every time you want to play a burned/backup/import game.
I'm not really arguing that it's *hard* to pirate games for the PS2, just that it's harder than you made it seem in your last post, especially with the HDD Adapter.
Xbox and Dreamcast still take the cake. Both can be 'modded' without opening the case and without voiding warranties. Hell, you can ftp games onto the Xbox once it's modded. You don't even need those DVD blanks anymore.... A lot easier than the PS2 with any network adapter, hdd adapter, etc. The DC, as we all know, didn't require anything other than a good copy of Padus DiscJuggler -- it could burn all of the content protection required, and self-booting discs were a dime a dozen.
That was Cinematech. I believe they show both Cinematech *and* Cinematech: Nocturnal Emissions now. Neither are really as good as the old shows were.
;)
... You missed one of the greatest shows ever to grace the airwaves with its presence.
When G4 merged with TechTV (I miss Patrick and Leo!) and ditched The Screen Savers, Unscrewed, and Eye Drops, I knew that the station was going downhill. And yes, I know they -changed- The Screen Savers into 'Attack of the Most Boring, Stupid, Waste of Time and Oxygen, Idiot Hour, for Idiots, Run by a bunch of Kids instead of Patrick and Leo', before anyone tells me. Maybe I'm just bitter.
Don't they play 'The Man Show' on G4 now? Give me a break.
What they don't understand is that we ALREADY have 'SpikeTV', and honestly, it's a really f'ing stupid tv network (except for MXC). We DON'T need another one.
PS. Martin Sargent is one of the funniest people in the entire world, someone needs to pick him up for a similar show. If you missed Unscrewed
While I agree with your point, you neglect to mention the subsidies that companies like Dell get for including software like Quickbooks Home or TurboTax or the Office trial. They make much larger deals on the whole with software vendors who are willing to subsidize a small percentage of the cost of the machine for the rights to have their software installed on it.
Not that I'm saying I agree with it, and yes, the first thing I do when I get a new machine is wipe it completely and re-install the OS -- just a little bit more info.
3d Realms. Used to be Apogee.
Off-topic funny side-note: The CEO of 3d Realms (while being entirely out of touch with the market after 37,413 years of NOT releasing Duke Nukem Forever) determined that he was in touch enough with the market to predict that Nintendo was going to lose the console war with the Revolution and that it may be the last console Nintendo makes. Full (albeit tiny) story here.
Pot, meet kettle. Kettle, pot. You two get along now.
To clarify, I never said that the DreamCast was destroyed by piracy. All I said was that if it was as easy to pirate the games on the PS3 as it was on the DC, Sony would be in for trouble. Matter of fact, I specifically offered a disclaimer in the first paragraph -- that I was not claiming that piracy could/would/has/will destroy a system, just that it would make an impact on the quantity and frequency at which games would be developed and delivered.
My original point still stands.
Personally, I'd rather they *didn't* botch the copy protection.
Here's my point: If they botch the copy protection and it becomes easy to pirate games for it, lots of people will be buying the hardware, with less people buying the software. What that equates to is a major loss for Sony. I'm not a big fan of Sony, but I am a fan of them continuing to support the platform. And yes, before anyone starts whining about how people pirating games doesn't destroy a company, I agree. It doesn't. BUT -- It does cut into their profits on the system, and it does affect a developer's decision about creating games for the console.
If it's as easy to pirate games on the PS3 as it was on the Sega Dreamcast, Sony's in for a lot of trouble. They'll lose money on each console they sell, then they won't make it back because people are pirating their games instead of purchasing them. Same goes for the developers. If they lose money creating games for the PS3, they'll stop producing as many games for the PS3.
As a consumer, I'd say it does a lot more for me that they're securing their future than pushing a system out only to lose their hats on it. It does me more good for them to be producing games for this thing for the next 5 years than it does me for them to call it a failure because of screwed up copy protection that they rushed just to launch the platform on time. I'm aware of the implications this holds for Blu-ray, but personally, I don't care about HD-DVD/Blu-ray. I care about having new games to play on this console for the next many years.
Just my opinion.
I'm going to have to step in to correct you on this one ...
... Second to impossible. The system employs about 1000x different checks, randomly through the game, the entire data on the disc is encrypted. I've seen some *cracks* for StarForce protected games, but they usually involved sacrificing naked virgins on your computer while systematically unplugging and replugging your IDE drives in time to the musical beat of the crack's background music, while installing a virtual driver that fakes a disconnect of your IDE Channel and makes your system less stable than the fault lines in California and requires 13 button presses in specific order to attempt to 'hide' the virtual drives, IDE drives, etc. from your StarForce protected game.
.... I could go on.
SecuROM? Easy.
SafeDisc? Easy.
StarForce?
And that's just step 1. Step 2-6 involve blind men doing the hokey-pokey in synchronicity while three Irishmen do a Jig on top of your keyboard, as well as removing a 1cm portion of your left foot's big toe
The best part is that after you've done all that, it STILL doesn't work.
So, the most dedicated of pirates can crack SafeDisc and SecuROM easily -- but StarForce is just a pain. The best part is, the procedure I'm detailing above is almost step by step what I had to do to play my LEGALLY PURCHASED copy of X3 Reunion. God forbid it work on a system with multiple CD-roms and Alcohol 120% installed.
I attempted to return it but they wouldn't take it back, so I did a chargeback on my credit card and EB Games didn't contest it.
That being said, I will *never* purchase another StarForce protected game. I'd HATE to be someone trying to pirate these games, it's hard enough to get them to work when you purchase the bloody things.
On a side note, we did do a test in an isolated network -- the problem is that most of the bugs in R1-R3 of Quickbooks 2006 are not exacerbated in that style of install. It requires multiple users doing many different things in order to corrupt the database. Unfortunately, on a testing install, all functionality 'Just Worked (TM)'.
:).
It wasn't until we actually did the true upgrade to it that the problems crawled out of the woodwork. Regardless, if I had a staff of 5 under me instead of just 1, I'm sure I could have duped the errors in a small network
I'll hit them up for more staff.
Will agree with you wholeheartedly.
The company I work for uses QuickBooks Enterprise. We started on Version 5 (Quickbooks 2005). It worked pretty well. There were a few very small hiccups, but mostly it did what we needed it to do. We had purchased upgrade protection because we knew a new version would be coming out shortly. About the 5th of December or so we received the 2006 Update.
Now, being skeptical to begin with, I was NOT going to install this right out of the box. It's one thing to upgrade WinZip or WinAmp to the next version, another thing entirely to take the company's accounting server down for an upgrade that hasn't been proven in the wild for more than 5 days.
Skip forward to the beginning of February. Two months have passed and the support forums on the QB2006 site are relatively quiet. There is no patch released yet, and no notification that they are working on a patch.
We decide to do the install.
WORST DECISION EVER
The system is completely unstable. It crashes repeatedly. We lose transaction data. It's not possible to 'downgrade' without completely knocking the server offline for baseline rebuild from ghost. The amount of data on the server would take about 8 hours to rebuild, and the server is being accessed about 18-20 hours a day by different shifts. We finally orchestrate a weekend rebuild about 7 days later, and then spend about 30 hours taking the data out of the new version and putting it into the old version.
I might add, when we called Intuit to tell them about our issues, here was their response: "Well, there's nothing we can tell you. It's a known issue. You'll have to downgrade to v5. We know the uninstall funcationality is broken, you'll need to restore from a previous backup. No, there's no ETA for when the patch is coming out."
To make matters worse, the version 6 update was a crock anyways. We've since installed it with the latest patch and it 'works', but it's slow as molasses, buggy as hell, and still notoriously unstable. If the Accounting department didn't habitually use two of its new features, I'd push us back to QB2005 just to stop having the issues.
I've got a zd8000, and even though this is somewhat off-topic -- you can use ndiswrapper to get the wi-fi working. Certain distributions that I've never found even work with it straight from install! (Based solely on hearsay. ;))
Other than that, the zd8000 is nice. While I've got a whupass desktop (athlon64 3800+/sli nvidia 6800gtx/2gb ram/720gb hdd/yadayadayada), I have never once had the desire to pick it up and lug it anywhere. LAN party or not, that box is staying there for a LONG time.
With the laptop, on the other hand, it's much easier. My buddy and I go down to the local Starbucks and wile away hours playing UT2004 or similar.
I'd never recommend the laptop to anyone who had to carry it around for business though, the thing weighs in at about 11-13 lbs., once you include the power brick, obligatory second battery (1 hour battery life on their 'HIGH CAPACITY' battery if you're doing anything worth a crap). It's quite a pain.
But, for sheer performance, you can't beat it. It plays UT2004 in very high resolutions and gets 90fps. Doom 3 and Quake 4 play on it remarkably well. If you're a gamer and like to game on the go, it's great to have. I don't really mind lugging it around because I don't go too far with it -- and I don't carry it all the time.
Anyways.
You are correct, however -- that is the current state with XBOXen as it stands. The original XBOX used to be able to connect to XBL and play online games while being modified if you turned off the modchips and had 'locked' the hard drive, but after a time, Microsoft got wise and started checking the model number and serial numbers of the HDDs installed in the XBOX.
This ended up blacklisting a large number of XBOXen by their UID/Serial Number -- which could be gotten around by re-flashing your TSOP, but was very finicky and was a little too dangerous for most people's taste. You would also have to have a valid TSOP with a non-blacklisted UID/SN in order for it to work.
I agree with your point that it is somewhat misleading, but by the same token, most XBOX users have known for a long time that if they mod their XBOX they will not be able to use XBOX live unless they keep *all* original hardware and an untouched TSOP and switch between the two every time they want to use either homebrew or XBL.
A similar situation for the XBOX360 will probably arise -- as the hackers now know what Microsoft can and can't do to find and blacklist modded boxes, hackers will work around and allow all original hardware to seem untouched unless using the modified bios. Of course, like the XBOX, it will probably not be possible to play a 'backup' copy of a game on XBL.
I could be wrong, as I don't own a 360, but I'm guessing it will be very similar to the XBOX mods that exist.
Uh, maybe you and I are thinking about different Rio 500s. My Rio lasted about two weeks before a solder joint internally that connected the battery to the rest of the unit broke. When I opened it to fix it I realized that the idiots had soldered a think stranded wire directly to a metal plate as opposed to running it through something or mounting it in any way shape or form. After applying some flux to actually make it stick, it lasted for a few months before the thing just *stopped* playing MP3s.
If that's what you mean by 'indestructable', I'm thinking that 'indestructable' doesn't mean what you think it means.
In all rights, however, I could have just had a lemon Rio. Doesn't mean that the design wasn't shoddy, just that mine was particularly shoddy. Thank god I got it for free.
Read the class action lawsuit again. A single failure since you purchased it entitles you to the claim. I'm kind of wishing I'd paid Toshiba to fix my dead HDD after the mobo went south twice, then I'd get $650 instead of $250. It is what it is, though.
Please note -- the DATA files are not encrypted or signed. The executables still are. Yes, you can change the .WMV file all day long, but what purpose does that serve? Unless someone finds a flaw in the way that a Microsoft device plays HDWMV, (which is possible, I guess) all you can do is make a video of you pointing at a horses ass and shouting 'SyncNine'. Still can't run unsigned code.
Let me re-phrase my challenge to something a little more worthy:
When someone uses this DVD as a base for writing code that executes directly on the Xbox360 and displays a static image (read: doesn't use existing code and change an unprotected data file, because that's stupidly easy and absolutely NOT a proof of concept) of a horse's ass with an arrow pointing to it that says "SyncNine", I will concede defeat.
I'm not saying the X360 is unhackable, just saying that this isn't the bane of MS's console security like everyone is playing it up to be.
Anyways.
Urban Legend. Gamecube discs do not default to being read from the outside in -- depending on the game and manufacturer/producer of said game, the game's bootstrap code or loader or whatever you want to call it can be as far as 3/4 of the way to the end of the disc. But it still doesn't read from the outside in. It pops the end of the disc on boot to get the game's boot code, then hits back to the center like any other CD/DVD reading device.
To address the entire topic of this conversation, this 'achievement' doesn't mean crap. There is no *exploit* that allows this disc to boot. Whoever pressed it intentionally left off the media check -- thus allowing it to be played as downloaded from Live or on DVD. Not a big deal. It's still encrypted and signed -- the hypervisor still won't run it if a single bit has been altered.
I don't know about you, but I don't think my computer has enough spare CPU cycles in the next 100 years to crack the digital signing.
An exploit would be these people releasing the same DVD image that self-boots but has different content. But they can't. Because the 360 won't run it.
Just think about what people are inferring here. Microsoft, tremendous software goliath, pioneers new Xbox360 system that they claim is 'unhackable'. They have learned from their mistake with the Xbox and have actually taken many steps to make sure the system is as hard to hack as possible. 20 days after its release, they accidentally post an un-protected ISO on their website, allow production facilities to produce un-protected DVDs, and allow hackers to have full reign over their console.
Does this sound odd to anyone else? They wouldn't release these things if they didn't think (whether or not they're correct) that it had absolutely no gain to the hacker community. They're not going to help the hackers crack this system -- they have absolutely no gain from doing so. They lose money on each console, do you really think that's all they want you to buy? It doesn't work that way. This wouldn't have been released the way it was unless MS approved it -- there is a 99.95% chance that if they approved it, there is no way of hacking it.
I'd like to be proved wrong here, but until someone makes a DVD iso for the Xbox360 that opens up to a picture of a horse's ass and an arrow pointing to it that says 'SyncNine', I'm going to have to think I'm correct.
The difference is that Lucasfilm licenses specific authors to write stories about their books -- authors who then publish them, and give Lucasfilm a slice of the pie for having sold books about their characters.
... constitutionally guaranteed.
... Well, let them run themselves out of business.
Fan-fics are protected because they're not being sold (legally) and because, well, free speech and freedom of the press are
So, write whatever you want. Write a Graham of Daventry hentai yaoi fan-fic involving Roger Wilco, Sludge Vohaul, Rosella, the Seven Dwarves, and maybe Orat. Post it all over your website. I'm sure they won't stop you. Just don't create a free game based solely on their intellectual property. That's not covered by constitutional law.
I don't agree with what Vivendi did, at all. But I do agree that it is THEIR intellectual property, and if they are so arrogant and care so little about what their fans want
They *SHOULD* have hired the team and let them continue work -- and been happy having complete control over it. Sure, the game would have sucked wind because Vivendi would have ruined it, like they ruin everything else -- but at least it would have been released. Isn't that what everyone wants?
Er.
...
It might have something to do with Sony's hardware still being supported, as opposed to Zodiac discontinuing support.
Plus, it's based on PalmOS, isn't it?
But I could be making that up
Depending on the wrapper, while the game is limited to 640x480, you can have the wrapper upsample to 1600x1200 and do smoothing and filtering. Offhand, I hate to say I don't have a specific example of a wrapper that does this -- most wrappers are simply wrappers... They just convert 3DFx Glide calls to OpenGL or DirectX. Some of them have advanced features, although iirc you have to pay for them.
It's been a few years since I have used one of these wrappers, YMMV.
Slightly off-topic, but it is possible to play FF7PC still. You can get any of a myriad of OpenGL wrappers (ie: google search 'OpenGL Wrapper') that will allow for playing of the game. You will also be able to get higher resolutions.
:)
Alternatively, if you own the PSX version of the game and have a CD reader that can read the CD, you can grab a PSX emulator like ePSXe, some plugins, dump the CD isos to your HDD, dump your PSX's bios via a somewhat intricate cable mod, buy a PSX -> USB converter, and play the PSX version on your PC.
I recommend the former.
As far as Doom goes, keep in mind that it was released in a day where Shareware versions of it were readily available. People didn't have to purchase Doom in order to play it or to experience it. They could legally download the first episode from their local BBS. Just because they didn't buy it doesn't mean they didn't enjoy it. Myst, on the other hand, required a purchase to play, so the number of 7 million is probably about correct and reflects the number of people who played it. I would estimate that another 3 million people downloaded the demo of Doom, if even that few.
:)
That's right, I said BBS.
(Offtopic: I got my shareware copy from 'Shareware South', if anyone remembers that BBS other than me.)
Nothing personal, many people have said what you said -- I just decided to reply to yours.
Most of you guys are missing something with the rating system that I'd like to detail here. Having worked in a Game Shop for an extended period of time I am intimately familiar with the 'recommended selling practices'.
Breakdown of Ratings
E - Everybody can purchase.
T - Recommended for Teenagers, Everybody can purchase.
M - Recommended for Adults, Everybody can purchase with parent's acceptance or permission (at the store).
AO - Only 18+ can purchase game. Period.
So it's not that M is 17+ and AO is 18+, it's that M is 17+ but mommy can let you buy it, where AO is 18+ or bust.
Most BIOSes now have the ability to accept USB devices as 'Legacy' keyboard and mouse devices. IE, my Micro$oft Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard and Mouse work perfectly in BIOS/Setup/etc -- Even though they connect through Bluetooth to the USB Bluetooth Dongle. All you need is to enable that support. Should work fine. Even on a Hell^H^H^H^HDell