would also be interestign to put some console emulators on it after that, your xbox can double as a nes, snes, sega genisis, n64, playstation.... on a regular tv, with a console like controller, interesting hack it would be
the biggest problem will probably be microsoft's lawyers, I bet you there is a clause in the EULA for the xbox making modchips of any kind illegal, etc. And besides, even if the modchip is legal (which it is) microsoft only has to make it look iffy enough to take these guys to court until they run out of money.
Someone should attempt this and make it easily available, just to piss microsoft off, by beating them to the punch (for a 'family pc console') on their own Platform!
Microsoft doesnt need any outside incentive to ignore that feature, msn is loaded with popups as well, and they are getting their fair share of income. Besides, as someone said earlier, as disabling ads becomes easier for regular users, the advertising companies will make it harder for all of us to get around.
Yep, would probably fall under 'Contributing to the delenquincy of a minor' then you just have to check his weblogs, and see how many thousands charges to bring him on:)
I just bought a zaurus yesterday and had a Visor Prism before that, the QPOSE makes the transition alot easier as I can still use my old palm software that I like alot. BTW, I would HIGHLY recommend the Zaurus to anywone who can afford it, one of the best devices ive ever owned. Still cant get quake working though....
Exactly, my whole coding philosophy is to name my vairables and procedures so that the code reads as much like english as possible. If i do my job correctly my code should halfway comprehendable by people who dont even know wtf c/c++/java/insertlanguagehere is
Internet Explorer (All Versions)
Outlook/OE (All versions)
Visual J++
Visual C++
Visual Basic
Microsoft Bob
and of course, the list goes on. and on and on....
Since we got our hands on the Warcraft III multiplayer beta earlier this spring, we've had plenty of time to see how the game's competitive side has been progressing. There's little more than a month left before the game is expected to ship, but until now, Blizzard has released very little information on the single-player campaign. And as anyone who has played Warcraft II or Starcraft can attest, Blizzard is quite capable of creating a top-notch story and compelling characters for its games. We recently had the chance to talk to Blizzard's Bill Roper about Warcraft III's single-player game. Read on for the latest details on the single-player campaign and rest assured that there isn't a single spoiler below.
GameSpot: We've had a chance to watch the progress of Warcraft III's multiplayer through the public beta. How far along is the single-player game?
screenshot
Special heroes, like Arthas, the first human hero, play a central role in the single-player story.
Bill Roper: We're in superhigh polish mode. We're playing all the different levels, going through and making sure everything is as tight as possible. Things have really been coming together. We now have three different difficulty levels in the game. [Warcraft III] easily has the most involved, engaging, and challenging missions I've seen in a RTS. Of course, we have to make sure they're as polished as possible. Bug count is great. Multiplayer is playing great. We're just down to making sure everything in the game is cool.
GS: What's different or distinctive about the approach that Blizzard has taken with Warcraft III's single-player campaign?
BR: The level of characterization. I have people testing the game who are not familiar with the storyline, and they're pulled in by what happens. It really is just like watching a movie. People come in and say, "I can't believe this or that happened," because they're so into the story events. We're not really used to that kind of comment, but it's been utterly fantastic.
The single biggest distinction is that there's so much story, personality, and character. We've wanted to focus on not just how fun the gameplay is, but also on making the individual events [in the story] very compelling.
GS: Most missions in RTS games revolve around expanding and fighting the opposition. Does this mean that the missions are more event-driven?
screenshot
Special heroes have powerful abilities, which means they'll be at the center of the action.
BR: There are so many different mission types in Warcraft III. [You won't] just go and take down the other guy. There's one mission that is almost like a race to accomplish stuff. Let me try to say this without giving too much away. You are racing against an opponent to do the same thing with different results. There is no element of attacking his base. It fits within the structure of the storyline, it makes sense, and it definitely has strategy.
What's really cool about that is that we move away from it being the same gameplay all the time. It's really moved into what we should do with all kinds of games--and particularly strategy games--which is adding elements that are interesting for nongamers. RPGs draw so much attention and interest because they do engage you--there's an emotional context. Warcraft III is really trying to tap into that level.
GS: What kinds of RPG elements are in the missions? Are there quests?
BR: Sure. Some quests are story-related. Others are there for you just to build your [hero] character and get rewards. We've tried to have all of the fun elements of RPGs without the grind. Strategy games are all about combat, but we get to infuse it with these RPG sensibilities.
GS: When Warcraft III was first announced back in 1999, the concept was even more RPG-like. Now that things are almost done, what is your opinion about how this shift has worked out?
BR: Initially we focused too much on the RPG and not enough on the strategy game. The camera angle was closer, and you had fewer units. Those are the things that changed the most. The original idea we had looked a lot more like World of Warcraft. We wanted to push the role playing, but we did that too much and lost sight of it being a strategy game. We got too into making it a cool RPG.
This is probably the largest source of income napster has ever seen, rather ironic that its comming from their biggest enemy at one time. A modernized napster would be nice, but somehow i dont see bmg sponsoring a true free filesharing app.
I beleive the centralization has to do with some sort of authentication, after that it is supposedly compltely decentralized, and you just connect to other users, similar to gnutella in a few ways I guess. If im not mistaken, it used to be that you could connect to the network, even if you couldent authenticate, but now that isnt the case. I want my linux client back!
And the worst part about it is, he is from my state. I was unable to vote at the last election due to age, but you can sure i wont be voting for that bastard when his term runs up.
Slashdot Mirror
would also be interestign to put some console emulators on it after that, your xbox can double as a nes, snes, sega genisis, n64, playstation.... on a regular tv, with a console like controller, interesting hack it would be
the biggest problem will probably be microsoft's lawyers, I bet you there is a clause in the EULA for the xbox making modchips of any kind illegal, etc. And besides, even if the modchip is legal (which it is) microsoft only has to make it look iffy enough to take these guys to court until they run out of money.
Someone should attempt this and make it easily available, just to piss microsoft off, by beating them to the punch (for a 'family pc console') on their own Platform!
that sounds like an interesting idea for some type of distributed network, donate your bandwidth to the destruction of the advertising firms.
Microsoft doesnt need any outside incentive to ignore that feature, msn is loaded with popups as well, and they are getting their fair share of income. Besides, as someone said earlier, as disabling ads becomes easier for regular users, the advertising companies will make it harder for all of us to get around.
Yep, would probably fall under 'Contributing to the delenquincy of a minor' then you just have to check his weblogs, and see how many thousands charges to bring him on :)
I just bought a zaurus yesterday and had a Visor Prism before that, the QPOSE makes the transition alot easier as I can still use my old palm software that I like alot. BTW, I would HIGHLY recommend the Zaurus to anywone who can afford it, one of the best devices ive ever owned. Still cant get quake working though....
Exactly, my whole coding philosophy is to name my vairables and procedures so that the code reads as much like english as possible. If i do my job correctly my code should halfway comprehendable by people who dont even know wtf c/c++/java/insertlanguagehere is
Actually, its probably already in there, just impossible to find along with everything else.
Internet Explorer (All Versions)
Outlook/OE (All versions)
Visual J++
Visual C++
Visual Basic
Microsoft Bob
and of course, the list goes on. and on and on....
I only hope Microsoft is so lucky.
Since we got our hands on the Warcraft III multiplayer beta earlier this spring, we've had plenty of time to see how the game's competitive side has been progressing. There's little more than a month left before the game is expected to ship, but until now, Blizzard has released very little information on the single-player campaign. And as anyone who has played Warcraft II or Starcraft can attest, Blizzard is quite capable of creating a top-notch story and compelling characters for its games. We recently had the chance to talk to Blizzard's Bill Roper about Warcraft III's single-player game. Read on for the latest details on the single-player campaign and rest assured that there isn't a single spoiler below. GameSpot: We've had a chance to watch the progress of Warcraft III's multiplayer through the public beta. How far along is the single-player game? screenshot Special heroes, like Arthas, the first human hero, play a central role in the single-player story. Bill Roper: We're in superhigh polish mode. We're playing all the different levels, going through and making sure everything is as tight as possible. Things have really been coming together. We now have three different difficulty levels in the game. [Warcraft III] easily has the most involved, engaging, and challenging missions I've seen in a RTS. Of course, we have to make sure they're as polished as possible. Bug count is great. Multiplayer is playing great. We're just down to making sure everything in the game is cool. GS: What's different or distinctive about the approach that Blizzard has taken with Warcraft III's single-player campaign? BR: The level of characterization. I have people testing the game who are not familiar with the storyline, and they're pulled in by what happens. It really is just like watching a movie. People come in and say, "I can't believe this or that happened," because they're so into the story events. We're not really used to that kind of comment, but it's been utterly fantastic. The single biggest distinction is that there's so much story, personality, and character. We've wanted to focus on not just how fun the gameplay is, but also on making the individual events [in the story] very compelling. GS: Most missions in RTS games revolve around expanding and fighting the opposition. Does this mean that the missions are more event-driven? screenshot Special heroes have powerful abilities, which means they'll be at the center of the action. BR: There are so many different mission types in Warcraft III. [You won't] just go and take down the other guy. There's one mission that is almost like a race to accomplish stuff. Let me try to say this without giving too much away. You are racing against an opponent to do the same thing with different results. There is no element of attacking his base. It fits within the structure of the storyline, it makes sense, and it definitely has strategy. What's really cool about that is that we move away from it being the same gameplay all the time. It's really moved into what we should do with all kinds of games--and particularly strategy games--which is adding elements that are interesting for nongamers. RPGs draw so much attention and interest because they do engage you--there's an emotional context. Warcraft III is really trying to tap into that level. GS: What kinds of RPG elements are in the missions? Are there quests? BR: Sure. Some quests are story-related. Others are there for you just to build your [hero] character and get rewards. We've tried to have all of the fun elements of RPGs without the grind. Strategy games are all about combat, but we get to infuse it with these RPG sensibilities. GS: When Warcraft III was first announced back in 1999, the concept was even more RPG-like. Now that things are almost done, what is your opinion about how this shift has worked out? BR: Initially we focused too much on the RPG and not enough on the strategy game. The camera angle was closer, and you had fewer units. Those are the things that changed the most. The original idea we had looked a lot more like World of Warcraft. We wanted to push the role playing, but we did that too much and lost sight of it being a strategy game. We got too into making it a cool RPG.
Yes, i think releasign full protocol specs, or maybe even some source code would be an appropriate gesture.
Blizzard has always been known for its multiplayer offerings, but ive always thought its games were better single player games than most as well
Hello Jon
I hate AOL as much as the next guy, but there is no way it screwed up dial up settings as much as Netzero did.
well the site http://www.napster.com/ already seems to be MIA
Besides, with all the security holes in windows and internet explorer, who needs a filesharing app
This is probably the largest source of income napster has ever seen, rather ironic that its comming from their biggest enemy at one time. A modernized napster would be nice, but somehow i dont see bmg sponsoring a true free filesharing app.
I beleive the centralization has to do with some sort of authentication, after that it is supposedly compltely decentralized, and you just connect to other users, similar to gnutella in a few ways I guess. If im not mistaken, it used to be that you could connect to the network, even if you couldent authenticate, but now that isnt the case. I want my linux client back!
ah, those were the days, searching for Matallica and cread, and Airosmith
yeah their uncentralized and unstoppable alright, thats why the linux client, and morpheus (same network) no longer function.
Well, at least SOMEONE is buying something from napster now.
Heh, maybe lot just uses hotmail and doesnt want his email service declared illegal and shut down.
And the worst part about it is, he is from my state. I was unable to vote at the last election due to age, but you can sure i wont be voting for that bastard when his term runs up.