"If you want games made in the future about your current war to be playable as your side, make sure you win the war!"
This shit got modded interesting? We're talking about a war filled with atrocities on BOTH sides of the conflict, we're talking about buried caches of chemical warheads still being found in China, we're talking about thousands of Korean, Chinese and Dutch women forced into prostitution for the sake of a war, and you're freaking telling me that people should win a war because of a VIDEO GAME?
Perhaps you would like Japan to start a war with the US and win so that they can portray Japanese soldiers brutalising American women? Would you like to play a game like this, Doug?
I'm fully prepared to get modded as troll or flamebait for this post. After all, people who would mod the parent post as "interesting" would definitely have a problem with my statements!
I guess you haven't heard of a guy named Michael Jackson. You know, the King of Pop.
And before anybody mentions his skin colour... white chocolate is still chocolate. That's all.
"Choppy" in my books means not as smooth as Doom 2 on a P4 3.06:) High frame rate, no lag. BTW, I was just reading that some of the graphics problems can be ironed out via editing a config file... too lazy to find it, but certainly good to remember for the future.
I feel mixed myself about the demo. Yep, it's definitely Deus Ex, but there are a few things that seem "dumbed down" about the game. For instance, the inventory is ridiculous. Instead of a 8x8 square that DX1 uses, DX2 has this weird arc that you have to cycle through in order to access your stuff. Sound confusing? That's because it is. There are a couple other things that make it feel too console-ish, but on the other hand, it most definitely feels like DX1. Will I be buying the game when it comes out? That's really a tough one -- I loved DX1 so ya, I'll probably get it, but I really, REALLY hope they get those performance issues dealt with, as the game is pretty choppy in even 800x600 (Athlon XP 2000+, 512 MB DDR, Geforce 4 4200 128MB, WD Caviar Special Ed 8MB Cache 7200RPM, SBLIVE!); take it for what you will.
1) A user sends in his iPod with a battery that's not working.
2) Apple sends him a refurbished iPod of the same type.
3) Apple then refurbishes the user's original iPod, getting it ready to redistribute elsewhere.
Not only is this quick, but it makes a lot of sense! Of course, the refurbished iPods have to be in mint condition, but otherwise what's not to like (except the fact that it needs to be sent away and shipped back, instead of just purchasing a replacement battery at Apple)?
Don't get me wrong; I don't want to begrudge gamers playing games. If I don't like a game, then so what? Maybe other people do, and that's what counts. The point is that the game mechanics are *so* "arcadey" that they don't seem anywhere close to reality -- the experience feels much too shallow, even for people who like arcade games. I could be wrong.
"... mixed exhaustive historical accuracy with a fast-paced, arcadey play mechanic..."
I think the key quote here is "arcadey play mechanic." This game plays like X-Wing Alliance with WWII fighters! The only "historical accuracy" I've found is the fact that the planes look somewhat like their real-life counterparts.
I know that the arcade flight sim genre is somewhat nonexistent on the PC, but for a flight sim enthusiast, this game is pretty much useless. If I want to be able to pull 9 G's in a flight sim, I'll load up Privateer or Independence War; if I want a "real" sim, well, Sturmovik's been out for a while, and from what I hear Lock On is supposed to be pretty good.
"8. Get a dedicated server and bandwidth. Create your own persistent world with the toolset."
So, the other steps take what, fifteen minutes, right? Step 8 is to spend the next four or five months creating a playable persistent module, as well as paying for bandwidth costs and a dedicated server? This is fun?
When I buy a game, I want to install it on my HD and have it *work*. I don't want to spend hours and hours creating a game that, in the end, I can't even play (because I designed it and am sick of it)!
Just buy the program off the guy and everybody's happy! They have to know that getting involved in something like this is only going to hurt their reputation! Lest we forget SCO...
>>? Why should we look at this product as opposed to AdAware, a good firewall and a good AV program?
>...because what you mentioned isn't working
Perhaps because of the end user? How many joe sixpacks do you know with a properly configured firewall, an up-to-date AV program, and have even heard of AdAware?
>>How do you plan to adapt your hardware once the creators of Malware adapt to yours?
>Same is true with the methods you mention that you suggest work just fine. The Ad Aware people and the AV people are always fighting the cold war too. So are the anti-spam people. Another piece of tech that helps is a win for the good guys.
It's a lot easier to release new AdAware definitions than it is to patch a piece of hardware... let's look at security updates from MS versus driver updates...
>> How much will this *really* slow down a LAN or Intranet?
>If it works like its described it would actually speed up malware infested LAN and WAN connections.
I think the point is to *remove* malware, not make "malware infested LAN and WAN connections" faster... otherwise, I'd be happy with a speed boost:)
However, I'm sure more people would complain if they couldn't download an MP3 than if they fail to receive a SoBig worm. (it's "legal" to download music here in Canada, after all)
1) Why is this useful? Why should we look at this product as opposed to AdAware, a good firewall and a good AV program? The article mentions DDOS attacks -- is that all it's good for?
2) How do you plan to adapt your hardware once the creators of Malware adapt to yours?
3) How much will this *really* slow down a LAN or Intranet? Not "it shouldn't slow it down at all" -- I mean real-world tests?
You know that there are ways to get around DRM, right? You can strip it from your media files (i.e. either never use WMP format or just encode with MP3) and play them quite happily with WMP, if you so choose.
Maybe they'd just streamline WMP so that it approaches Winamp 2 in terms of simplicity and low memory requirements. Heck, mplayer2 ships with Win XP which isn't that bad!
Maybe they could just buy out nullsoft, apple and realplayer and create some sort of super Godzilla media player!
This is NOT a big deal. So Windows comes with a media player -- so what? It's even half-decent -- if people don't want it, they can download other players. Even if they don't, it's not like there are tons of media players out there that cost money -- the big ones, Winamp and even QT are free to use for personal use.
Besides, the closest competition that the article mentions, RealPlayer, has constantly been flamed as bloated spyware. What's the difference between WMP and RP? Choice? I can choose to load up IE (or Opera, or Firebird, or Lynx W32) and download a different media player.
If the EU forces MS to take out WMP, then they should also remove Notepad, Calculator, MS Paint, Address Book, Hyperterminal... the list goes on.
What MS could do instead: ship with a non-WMP Windows version, then ask the user every day if they'd like to update their computer to include WMP.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to either detail nor long novels; _The_Satanic_Verses_ by Rushdie is one of my favourites, not to mention lighter fare such as Clavell's _Shogun_ series. I guess I just like to read lyric narrative more than descriptive fantasy. Just a preference, I suppose.
As to Worminator, I could probably burn through the trilogy in a week, but who's got that kind of time now? I'm married, have a job, attend college full-time, and spend an inordinate amount of time writing on/.:) I've still got _Ulysses_, the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, _Cryptonomicon_ and a few Dumas books to get through before i work my way around to Tolkien:)
I'm an English major in my senior year and haven't read the trilogy either. Pages after pages after pages of long, wordy descriptions are not exactly fun to me. Yes, the forest is nice. Yes, it is green. Great.
Having said that, I'm glad I get to have the chance to experience LOTR, even if it is in film. Hell, I'm saving months of my life by seeing it as a movie as opposed to slogging through the books:)
For the record, my brother read the trilogy when he was twelve and my wife when she was fifteen. They've been harassing me for *years* to read the fricking thing.
Slashdot Mirror
This shit got modded interesting? We're talking about a war filled with atrocities on BOTH sides of the conflict, we're talking about buried caches of chemical warheads still being found in China, we're talking about thousands of Korean, Chinese and Dutch women forced into prostitution for the sake of a war, and you're freaking telling me that people should win a war because of a VIDEO GAME?
Perhaps you would like Japan to start a war with the US and win so that they can portray Japanese soldiers brutalising American women? Would you like to play a game like this, Doug?
I'm fully prepared to get modded as troll or flamebait for this post. After all, people who would mod the parent post as "interesting" would definitely have a problem with my statements!
I'm really, really sorry that you took my post seriously. Anyway, to quote a line from the King himself, "It doesn't matter if you're black or white."
I guess you haven't heard of a guy named Michael Jackson. You know, the King of Pop. And before anybody mentions his skin colour... white chocolate is still chocolate. That's all.
One word, my friend: JoyToKey. Voila! Your $2000 computer is now an XBox.
"Choppy" in my books means not as smooth as Doom 2 on a P4 3.06 :) High frame rate, no lag. BTW, I was just reading that some of the graphics problems can be ironed out via editing a config file... too lazy to find it, but certainly good to remember for the future.
I feel mixed myself about the demo. Yep, it's definitely Deus Ex, but there are a few things that seem "dumbed down" about the game. For instance, the inventory is ridiculous. Instead of a 8x8 square that DX1 uses, DX2 has this weird arc that you have to cycle through in order to access your stuff. Sound confusing? That's because it is. There are a couple other things that make it feel too console-ish, but on the other hand, it most definitely feels like DX1. Will I be buying the game when it comes out? That's really a tough one -- I loved DX1 so ya, I'll probably get it, but I really, REALLY hope they get those performance issues dealt with, as the game is pretty choppy in even 800x600 (Athlon XP 2000+, 512 MB DDR, Geforce 4 4200 128MB, WD Caviar Special Ed 8MB Cache 7200RPM, SBLIVE!); take it for what you will.
2) Apple sends him a refurbished iPod of the same type.
3) Apple then refurbishes the user's original iPod, getting it ready to redistribute elsewhere.
Not only is this quick, but it makes a lot of sense! Of course, the refurbished iPods have to be in mint condition, but otherwise what's not to like (except the fact that it needs to be sent away and shipped back, instead of just purchasing a replacement battery at Apple)?
how about stephenson's "snow crash," where actual text kills people?
Don't get me wrong; I don't want to begrudge gamers playing games. If I don't like a game, then so what? Maybe other people do, and that's what counts. The point is that the game mechanics are *so* "arcadey" that they don't seem anywhere close to reality -- the experience feels much too shallow, even for people who like arcade games. I could be wrong.
I think the key quote here is "arcadey play mechanic." This game plays like X-Wing Alliance with WWII fighters! The only "historical accuracy" I've found is the fact that the planes look somewhat like their real-life counterparts.
I know that the arcade flight sim genre is somewhat nonexistent on the PC, but for a flight sim enthusiast, this game is pretty much useless. If I want to be able to pull 9 G's in a flight sim, I'll load up Privateer or Independence War; if I want a "real" sim, well, Sturmovik's been out for a while, and from what I hear Lock On is supposed to be pretty good.
I was just thinking that today when I did up my Velcro sneakers!
So, the other steps take what, fifteen minutes, right? Step 8 is to spend the next four or five months creating a playable persistent module, as well as paying for bandwidth costs and a dedicated server? This is fun?
When I buy a game, I want to install it on my HD and have it *work*. I don't want to spend hours and hours creating a game that, in the end, I can't even play (because I designed it and am sick of it)!
Thanks for the advice, but NO.
Good day, old sport! Mind if I play through your auto accident? Don't mind the tea on your bonnet; I've invited me mum to watch.
I'm a secretary you insensitive clod!
Besides, I don't think they said "Please?"
>...because what you mentioned isn't working
Perhaps because of the end user? How many joe sixpacks do you know with a properly configured firewall, an up-to-date AV program, and have even heard of AdAware?
>>How do you plan to adapt your hardware once the creators of Malware adapt to yours?
>Same is true with the methods you mention that you suggest work just fine. The Ad Aware people and the AV people are always fighting the cold war too. So are the anti-spam people. Another piece of tech that helps is a win for the good guys.
It's a lot easier to release new AdAware definitions than it is to patch a piece of hardware... let's look at security updates from MS versus driver updates...
>> How much will this *really* slow down a LAN or Intranet?
>If it works like its described it would actually speed up malware infested LAN and WAN connections.
I think the point is to *remove* malware, not make "malware infested LAN and WAN connections" faster... otherwise, I'd be happy with a speed boost :)
However, I'm sure more people would complain if they couldn't download an MP3 than if they fail to receive a SoBig worm. (it's "legal" to download music here in Canada, after all)
2) How do you plan to adapt your hardware once the creators of Malware adapt to yours?
3) How much will this *really* slow down a LAN or Intranet? Not "it shouldn't slow it down at all" -- I mean real-world tests?
You know that there are ways to get around DRM, right? You can strip it from your media files (i.e. either never use WMP format or just encode with MP3) and play them quite happily with WMP, if you so choose.
Maybe they could just buy out nullsoft, apple and realplayer and create some sort of super Godzilla media player!
Besides, the closest competition that the article mentions, RealPlayer, has constantly been flamed as bloated spyware. What's the difference between WMP and RP? Choice? I can choose to load up IE (or Opera, or Firebird, or Lynx W32) and download a different media player.
If the EU forces MS to take out WMP, then they should also remove Notepad, Calculator, MS Paint, Address Book, Hyperterminal... the list goes on.
What MS could do instead: ship with a non-WMP Windows version, then ask the user every day if they'd like to update their computer to include WMP.
[__] No thanks, go away
[__] Yes please!
The technology you seek already exists. Press the "Power" button on your computer and voila!
As to Worminator, I could probably burn through the trilogy in a week, but who's got that kind of time now? I'm married, have a job, attend college full-time, and spend an inordinate amount of time writing on /. :) I've still got _Ulysses_, the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, _Cryptonomicon_ and a few Dumas books to get through before i work my way around to Tolkien :)
Having said that, I'm glad I get to have the chance to experience LOTR, even if it is in film. Hell, I'm saving months of my life by seeing it as a movie as opposed to slogging through the books :)
For the record, my brother read the trilogy when he was twelve and my wife when she was fifteen. They've been harassing me for *years* to read the fricking thing.
...p2p. As long as p2p exists, Microsoft's own software is "free."