I think the original poster was just pointing out (in a sarcastic faction) a rather stupid mistake in the article. 24 bit color is 24 bits per pixel (24 bpp), not 8 bits per pixel (its 8 bits per color component).
I'm no John Carmack, but the reason higher than 24/32 bit color is important is that most 3D graphcis these days use multiple texture passes per polygon. So for one car model, say, you may have a base texture, a 'damage' texture, a bump map texture, an enviornmental mapping (ohhhh shiny!!!) texture, etc. When you composite all of those textures together using multiple passes or multi-texturing, colorspace errors that would normally be imperceptable tend to accumulate and you wind up with ugly artifacts like color banding.
Its very easy to get a 1-to-1 mapping for UI-like elements. Just put the 3D viewport into an orthographic projection mode and lay textures onto polygons of equal size (ie, 128x128 polygon with 128x128 texture). I'm writing a game in D3D8 which uses D3D to do all of the UI components, and like a Windows desktop they can all be arbitrarily sized (and then mapped to more than one on-screen texture, if needed, depending upon the texture size limits of the 3D card), and its all handled using GPU accessible textures. It works fine. Any card made within the last 4-5 years or so will handle this correctly.
Getting the texturing 'right' with perspective projection has been an issue in the past but most newer cards currently available have subpixel texel accuracy so even then it won't be a problem soonish. (Useful, I guess, for doing cool window skewing effects, etc).
Re:Diablo II - Yes. Dungeon Siege - No.
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not quite that easy, because the COM binary interface changed (which is why games linked specifically against 8.1 require 8.1). I dont think it would be very difficult for the WineX guys to kludge their DirectX libs to 'support' 8.1, even if it wasn't 8.1 underneath. Most people aren't using the minor new features of 8.1, they just want to ensure they get the (significant) bug fixes over 8.0/8.0a, as a lot of companies blew a lot on support due to some bad bugs in the first couple versions of DX8.
Re:Diablo II - Yes. Dungeon Siege - No.
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Most new releases (past month or two) are DirectX 8.1 only, whether they are from Microsoft or not. Yes, DX8.1 is mostly a bug fix release (though it does add some new features, mainly for ATI Radeon users).
Re:Support the community
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Sure OpenGL works, but it's extremely lacking in comparison to DirectX. ( I would much rather have it the other way around -- but that's just not the truth unfortunately.) What the gaming industry really needs is either an updated version of OpenGL, or perhaps a new 3d standard that all can abide by.
OpenGL isn't really lacking in comparison to Direct3D (though as a graphics programmer myself, I do tend to like D3D more these days). Some newer technologies, like shaders, are a bit more of a pain to support under OpenGL because you have competing extentions (ATI vs Nvidia) but it can be done. Doom3 is the most advanced graphics engine you'll see in the next couple years and its written using OpenGL.
The real problem isn't so much that Linux doesn't have the tools or libraries, its that so few Linux users are willing to buy games that it isn't worth the porting time and support costs for a for-profit company to bother worrying about it as a platform. This was proven by the death of Loki and has also been verified by, among others, id software, who said their Linux sales of Quake3 were extremely disappointing.
Those are some rather lame screenshots, I must admit. Other than HUD changes and weather effects which arent exactly jaw-dropping it looks like it could be a standard UT mod/map.
However, after having seen some other screenshots and in-game movies earlier I think UT2003 actually looks quite good..Not Doom3 good, but better than these screenshots here show.
This guy is virtually unknown to the general public. Does anyone out there think this system would extend well to established authors (or musicians)? As a counter-point, I'd bring up Stephen King's experiment, where he allowed free download of his book and asked for a tiny donation in return. Very few of the people who downloaded the book paid for it and the project was scrapped.
My basic point is that this guy is getting free advertising by releasing the book for free, which is resulting in some more sales than he would have gotten if nobody had ever heard of him...But the situation is much different when you're talking about an established very well-known author..And the same goes for music. MP3s given away for free by small bands may increase their market..But does anyone hear Britney Spears for the first time on MP3 and think wow, that's great..lets go buy the album? Of course not..And the the RIAA/other publish associations know this, and will quickly discount this guy's story.
People still read Edward Yourdon's books? Hasn't this sensationalist fear-monger been discredited enough? If I were him, I'd change my name and/or move to a non-industrial country in shame...
What a foolio you are! How did you get modded up? How does having the top level being written in Perl make this any more able to run over the web? Do you understand at all how software works?? In any case, there's already solutions to desktop sharing (such as VNC) that can run in a browser without relying on some magic fairy dust that would be required for you Perl-based 'solution'.
untrue..but the earliest versions of Microsoft Commerce Server WERE written in Python! Microsoft bought the technology from a startup called eShop, and they used Python for the product (Greg Stein headed that place up). The first few releases of MS's version were also in Python but wrapped into binary-looking DLLs.
FireWire is a trademark of Apple, iLink is a trademark of Sony; they both describe the same thing... So, pick one, pay them, and then use the name... Or go with IEEE1394. I'm guessing SB1394 is Creative's own little take on it..SB..SoundBlaster? Creative? Sigh...
no -- you're not missing anything. creative's industrial design team is. iPod shits all over this piece of shit! FUCK THE NOMAD AND FUCK CREATIVE AND FUCK YOU!!!
I guess no one has ever done anything because it simply needed to be done. All of the time and money I donate to making sure homeless people have blankets and food doesn't make me happy. I don't enjoy it, I don't feel morally superior, and I have no spiritual feelings. What I do realize is that if living conditions in this country are allowed to become lethal, people are going to be more inclined to cause trouble. They could steal, mug, or what have you. It could be you, it could be me.
You've invalidated your own post by revealing your ulterior motives for donating time & money -- you want to make things safer for yourself. That is a selfish motivation.
SLASHDOT? What is SLASHDOT? I heard itsa system for LINEOX HIPPIES!! How do I find SLASHDOT system?? Does it have an AN AOL KEYWORD? I WANT TO TALK TO LINEOX HIPPIES!!!
The 'serious action' you mention prove it themselves. The console titles are inherently unMODable, but look at the game concepts: MGS2 (derived from Thief), Halo (derived from TeamFortress), FFX is essentially the tenth 'mod' of FF
MGS2 was the sequel to MGS, which was a sequel to the original Metal Gear on the NES. Even on the NES version of Metal Gear, stealth and sneaking by guards was a big part of the game. The NES version of Metal Gear was out years and years before Thief, so I don't think that argument holds. Also, Halo is really nothing at all like TeamFortress except they are both shooter games. If anything, Halo's a lot more like a single-player Tribes...Calling a sequel a 'mod' is pretty flimsy..especially since in the Final Fantasy games (BTW, I'm not a FF-fan, I liked the pre-FF7 games, but nothing since) the engine and the entire story and characters have changed each revision...The argument that games like The Sims and RCT have longevity because they are moddable on a personal level is true, but that's a different thing than what this article is talking about.
While modding is cool, I have to agree with the original poster, its not 'the lifeblood' of the industry. Far more successful games are not specifically modable (without serious reverse engineering) than are modable.
Valve has certainly done a lot for the mod community, but to imply that they started it is an insult to id. Don't forget that Team Fortress was originally a Quake 1 mod..
Hey idiot, trademarks don't stop other people from using a word, only from using it within certain commercial contexts. Sure, this post is flamey/trolly, but cmon, how stupid can someone be? If you could be sued just for writing down the name of a trademark, just about every Slashdot post (not to mention a large portion of any type of verbal or written communication in general) would be grounds for a lawsuit, including yours where you use the Microsoft(TM) trademark.
I apologize for responding to my own post, but I forgot to add something...This article smacks of intentional Slashdotting. Someone at zdnet clearly knows that Slashdot will post any article that even hints at (Linux|Apache|OSS|Whatever > Microsoft). Why do the Slashdot editors keep being successfully trolled in this way? Ignore these stupid ass stories. They make me stupider for having read them.
What a crappy 'comparison'. I'm no IIS fan (an understatement), but IIS's 'game' is ease of installation and administration....The headline claims that Apache 'beats IIS at its own game' and then goes on to say how Apache is harder to configure (though better than older versions) but that's ok because many experts believe GUI-based configurations are bad for security?
Also, they don't even bother to publish any real results, all they say is "Apache kept pace with IIS during the entire test"..WTF does that mean in reality? Were they using dynamic pages or static? What were the software and hardware configs like? Numbers please?
If this article were the other way around harping IIS over Apache 2.0, most Slashdotters would (rightly in that case too) be ripping it to shreds for being a flimsy piece of shit..Hopefully we can all see it for the garbage it is, even if in the end it supports our (well the majority of us, anyway) favorite web server.
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Hacking is wrong.
Where can I buy DVD movies about surfing the net? They sound interesting. I'd like to buy them online, got any links?
I'm no John Carmack, but the reason higher than 24/32 bit color is important is that most 3D graphcis these days use multiple texture passes per polygon. So for one car model, say, you may have a base texture, a 'damage' texture, a bump map texture, an enviornmental mapping (ohhhh shiny!!!) texture, etc. When you composite all of those textures together using multiple passes or multi-texturing, colorspace errors that would normally be imperceptable tend to accumulate and you wind up with ugly artifacts like color banding.
Getting the texturing 'right' with perspective projection has been an issue in the past but most newer cards currently available have subpixel texel accuracy so even then it won't be a problem soonish. (Useful, I guess, for doing cool window skewing effects, etc).
not quite that easy, because the COM binary interface changed (which is why games linked specifically against 8.1 require 8.1). I dont think it would be very difficult for the WineX guys to kludge their DirectX libs to 'support' 8.1, even if it wasn't 8.1 underneath. Most people aren't using the minor new features of 8.1, they just want to ensure they get the (significant) bug fixes over 8.0/8.0a, as a lot of companies blew a lot on support due to some bad bugs in the first couple versions of DX8.
Most new releases (past month or two) are DirectX 8.1 only, whether they are from Microsoft or not. Yes, DX8.1 is mostly a bug fix release (though it does add some new features, mainly for ATI Radeon users).
OpenGL isn't really lacking in comparison to Direct3D (though as a graphics programmer myself, I do tend to like D3D more these days). Some newer technologies, like shaders, are a bit more of a pain to support under OpenGL because you have competing extentions (ATI vs Nvidia) but it can be done. Doom3 is the most advanced graphics engine you'll see in the next couple years and its written using OpenGL.
The real problem isn't so much that Linux doesn't have the tools or libraries, its that so few Linux users are willing to buy games that it isn't worth the porting time and support costs for a for-profit company to bother worrying about it as a platform. This was proven by the death of Loki and has also been verified by, among others, id software, who said their Linux sales of Quake3 were extremely disappointing.
That's why REALITY TV is so popular because GEEKS watch REALITY TV and inflate the numbers VIA THE TIVO HACKING DEVICE OF COMMUNISTS!!
If you use TIVO that means you are anti-American!!! LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!!
Because TIVO IS making systems based on LINUX SOFTWARE WHICH IS written by fat ugly smelly UNIX COMMUNISTS.
Those are some rather lame screenshots, I must admit. Other than HUD changes and weather effects which arent exactly jaw-dropping it looks like it could be a standard UT mod/map. However, after having seen some other screenshots and in-game movies earlier I think UT2003 actually looks quite good..Not Doom3 good, but better than these screenshots here show.
Who cares if my post is true or not? Its at +5 as I post this followup. All your karma are belong to me!
My basic point is that this guy is getting free advertising by releasing the book for free, which is resulting in some more sales than he would have gotten if nobody had ever heard of him...But the situation is much different when you're talking about an established very well-known author..And the same goes for music. MP3s given away for free by small bands may increase their market..But does anyone hear Britney Spears for the first time on MP3 and think wow, that's great..lets go buy the album? Of course not..And the the RIAA/other publish associations know this, and will quickly discount this guy's story.
People still read Edward Yourdon's books? Hasn't this sensationalist fear-monger been discredited enough? If I were him, I'd change my name and/or move to a non-industrial country in shame...
They later rewrote it in C++ though.
FireWire is a trademark of Apple, iLink is a trademark of Sony; they both describe the same thing... So, pick one, pay them, and then use the name... Or go with IEEE1394. I'm guessing SB1394 is Creative's own little take on it..SB..SoundBlaster? Creative? Sigh...
Yeah that's right bitch. Mod me down! MOD ME DOWN. I've got more karma where this one came from.
no -- you're not missing anything. creative's industrial design team is. iPod shits all over this piece of shit! FUCK THE NOMAD AND FUCK CREATIVE AND FUCK YOU!!!
You've invalidated your own post by revealing your ulterior motives for donating time & money -- you want to make things safer for yourself. That is a selfish motivation.
SLASHDOT? What is SLASHDOT? I heard itsa system for LINEOX HIPPIES!! How do I find SLASHDOT system?? Does it have an AN AOL KEYWORD? I WANT TO TALK TO LINEOX HIPPIES!!!
MGS2 was the sequel to MGS, which was a sequel to the original Metal Gear on the NES. Even on the NES version of Metal Gear, stealth and sneaking by guards was a big part of the game. The NES version of Metal Gear was out years and years before Thief, so I don't think that argument holds. Also, Halo is really nothing at all like TeamFortress except they are both shooter games. If anything, Halo's a lot more like a single-player Tribes...Calling a sequel a 'mod' is pretty flimsy..especially since in the Final Fantasy games (BTW, I'm not a FF-fan, I liked the pre-FF7 games, but nothing since) the engine and the entire story and characters have changed each revision...The argument that games like The Sims and RCT have longevity because they are moddable on a personal level is true, but that's a different thing than what this article is talking about.
While modding is cool, I have to agree with the original poster, its not 'the lifeblood' of the industry. Far more successful games are not specifically modable (without serious reverse engineering) than are modable.
Valve has certainly done a lot for the mod community, but to imply that they started it is an insult to id. Don't forget that Team Fortress was originally a Quake 1 mod..
I apologize for responding to my own post, but I forgot to add something...This article smacks of intentional Slashdotting. Someone at zdnet clearly knows that Slashdot will post any article that even hints at (Linux|Apache|OSS|Whatever > Microsoft). Why do the Slashdot editors keep being successfully trolled in this way? Ignore these stupid ass stories. They make me stupider for having read them.
Also, they don't even bother to publish any real results, all they say is "Apache kept pace with IIS during the entire test"..WTF does that mean in reality? Were they using dynamic pages or static? What were the software and hardware configs like? Numbers please?
If this article were the other way around harping IIS over Apache 2.0, most Slashdotters would (rightly in that case too) be ripping it to shreds for being a flimsy piece of shit..Hopefully we can all see it for the garbage it is, even if in the end it supports our (well the majority of us, anyway) favorite web server.