"as far as the general public is concerned, games borrow from popular music and film cultures, not the other way around"
I can think of at least one case where this is complete bunk. (See subject for clue;) Many many more to follow...
l8r pHile
PS Eventually people will come to realise that film and television are just non-interactive games, and then we will rule the world! Muahahahhhaaa....;)
> with today's hardware we're almost at the point where brute forcing it will be a "good enough" programming strategy
Of course you'll still have to write the physics code, and if brute-force is good enough, then a decent engine will allow you to actually populate that world with a million characters.
The way I see it, the engines and editors will become standard, open-source, industry tools, and then the designers, and artists can make the games they want, without having to continually fight the technology.
May take some time though.
l8r pHile
PS Awaiting embedded Linux for X-Box with interest...;)
One of these days, people will learn to check the extension. If it's html, or vbs, or indeed, anything other than the type you're looking for (for pR0n try jpg, gif, mov, mpg), don't download it, it's almost certainly not what you want.
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me thrice, nuke my system, mail my pR0n collection to my parents, boss, and the FBI, and I'm a complete moron who deserves everything I get.
Simple, only pirate^H^H^H^H^H^Hshare data files. Pretty hard to hide a trojan inside an mp3 / mpg, although I'm sure wma's probably got some way of running embedded code...;)
You run an unknown executable on a non-essential connected system, you deserve what you get.
You run unknown scripts without reading them first, ditto...
Maaan, these things say VBS in the filename, not mp3, or mpg, I mean, some people are just asking for it.
But I forget, this is the land where you can sue McDonalds for a giving you what you ask for, namely, a HOT cup of coffee.
Your faith in MS is disturbing. Especially considering they're going to have to bend over to the DVD consortium, and their region restrictions...
...but this is irrelevant anyway. No static security system survives the persistent and unrelenting attacks of hackers. This may be Sony's second attempt at a console security system, but just how long will it last? How long before the first PS2 chips?
...but even this is now heading off to irrelevancy. We're moving towards download, connected consoles, which means that the reasons for region lockout, the protection of region specific markups, and minimising the effect of fluctuating exchange rates in format where the major expense is the physical manufacture and distribution of the games, are going to dissapear. So, theoretically, as long as marketing get the guts to move towards simultaneous global release (which is starting to happen in other formats, witness Gladiator being released on both sides of the pond almost simultaneously, thus allowing for a simultaneous DVD release, thus minimising the grey market in Gladiator DVDs), the problem goes away.
In fact this would probably be the way that the cinema (whatever) search site pays for itself, unless it took a commision on tickets ordered via the site...
1a: If your phone submitted your GPS derived position as part of a request to a WAP style site you were querying, that would be another way of doing it.
I.e. you go to a site that gives you a list of nearby cinema's (coffee houses, tube stations, hookers;), which would inherantly recquire your position to be effective, and along with the result, you get a whole bunch of position specific spam.
1: Presumably the whole system only works if there's some standard way for advertisers to query cellphones in a particular area. This would recquire the co-operation of your cellphone provider, and the standard spam-friendly opt-out advertising clauses in your contract.
2: Because it helps them get their message across, which is their job, no matter how loathsome it may seem.
3: Protest loudly, change your provider, don't use GPS apps that report your position to a central server.
The point being that now GPS is so accurate, uptake of GPS applications (inc. cellphones) will likely increase past the point where GPS targetted advertising becomes viable / attractive.
If only 10 people were using, it's a waste of effort. If 10 million people are using it...
> I also, perhaps naively, consider it a promising sign that gaming platforms (such as Playstation1 and 2) are using Linux-esque Kernels and OSs for their development work.
The only link between any incarnation of Playstation, and Linux, is that the PS2 devkits have a PII based Linux box inside them, in the same way that PS devkits plugged into a DOS/Win32 PC. No Linux code, nor DOS/Win32 code actually runs on either the PS or the PS2.
This is a self regulating problem. If the advertising gets too annoying, then you patch the source. If the authors for whatever reason try to entwine the advertising, making it hard to remove, you get a better coder to unentwine it, and distribute the patch. So if it's really annoying, it just gets removed, whereas if it's at just the right level to get noticed, but not irritate a talented coder, it lives.
Actually it was a home computer game (I forget the platform, ither C64 or Speccy, possibly both) called "Bomb Buenos Aires", and it was a pretty simple bomber-style game where a plane flew across the top of a static screen, moving down a line when it wrapped, and dropped bombs on buildings, until it either landed (having destroyed all the buildings), or crashed. Typical cheapo scandal cash in.
There was also a game called Harrier Attack where you flew across a scrolling island, but IIRC there was no explicit falklands imagery invoved.
HHGTTG was primarily a six part radio play, then a double album, then another six part radio series, and another album, then a book, and another book, a piece of interactive fiction, and another book, and a towel, then a tv series, and a play, and, after a while, another book, then one last book, a book of the scripts of the radio plays, a six cd box set of the original radio plays (with a slight edit due to a failure to licence a particular track from Pink Floyd, ruining one of my favourite jokes in the series), and finally another book.
Oh, and a book about it all, but that wasn't actually by Adams(but rather by Neil Gaiman), but then the play was an adaptation by someone else as well (Ken Campbell?).
Only by absorbing all of the above material could you even begin to explain what it's all about, especially the bit about zaphods brain, and the small piece of fairy cake.
The precise number of books is undefined at this time. For a more precise definition I'd reccomend reading entry for Douglas Adams in the Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy, published by Megadodo Publications, and available in all good, and some terrible, bookshops.
PS My towel is currently in the bottom drawer, under the TV, in the bedroom.
I think Hasbro owns Parker Brothers, like they own the Atari games (and, by the looks of it, their legal department (famed for being consistently the most profitable bit of Atari).
Think of them as the Microsoft of games. They don't actually innovate much, just buy up other peoples ideas.
Slashdot Mirror
A bit out of date too.
"as far as the general public is concerned, games borrow from popular music and film cultures, not the other way around"
I can think of at least one case where this is complete bunk. (See subject for clue;) Many many more to follow...
l8r
pHile
PS Eventually people will come to realise that film and television are just non-interactive games, and then we will rule the world! Muahahahhhaaa....;)
> with today's hardware we're almost at the point where brute forcing it will be a "good enough" programming strategy
Of course you'll still have to write the physics code, and if brute-force is good enough, then a decent engine will allow you to actually populate that world with a million characters.
The way I see it, the engines and editors will become standard, open-source, industry tools, and then the designers, and artists can make the games they want, without having to continually fight the technology.
May take some time though.
l8r
pHile
PS Awaiting embedded Linux for X-Box with interest...;)
...as predicted by even scarier RPG, Paranoia.
. html
http://members.xoom.com/LPenguin/Paranoia/intro
Happiness is Mandatory and therefore the opposite is treason.
Phil
One of these days, people will learn to check the extension. If it's html, or vbs, or indeed, anything other than the type you're looking for (for pR0n try jpg, gif, mov, mpg), don't download it, it's almost certainly not what you want.
Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me thrice, nuke my system, mail my pR0n collection to my parents, boss, and the FBI, and I'm a complete moron who deserves everything I get.
Simple, only pirate^H^H^H^H^H^Hshare data files. Pretty hard to hide a trojan inside an mp3 / mpg, although I'm sure wma's probably got some way of running embedded code...;)
You run an unknown executable on a non-essential connected system, you deserve what you get.
You run unknown scripts without reading them first, ditto...
Maaan, these things say VBS in the filename, not mp3, or mpg, I mean, some people are just asking for it.
But I forget, this is the land where you can sue McDonalds for a giving you what you ask for, namely, a HOT cup of coffee.
Your faith in MS is disturbing. Especially considering they're going to have to bend over to the DVD consortium, and their region restrictions...
...but this is irrelevant anyway. No static security system survives the persistent and unrelenting attacks of hackers. This may be Sony's second attempt at a console security system, but just how long will it last? How long before the first PS2 chips?
...but even this is now heading off to irrelevancy. We're moving towards download, connected consoles, which means that the reasons for region lockout, the protection of region specific markups, and minimising the effect of fluctuating exchange rates in format where the major expense is the physical manufacture and distribution of the games, are going to dissapear. So, theoretically, as long as marketing get the guts to move towards simultaneous global release (which is starting to happen in other formats, witness Gladiator being released on both sides of the pond almost simultaneously, thus allowing for a simultaneous DVD release, thus minimising the grey market in Gladiator DVDs), the problem goes away.
...with any luck..;)
In fact this would probably be the way that the cinema (whatever) search site pays for itself, unless it took a commision on tickets ordered via the site...
1a: If your phone submitted your GPS derived position as part of a request to a WAP style site you were querying, that would be another way of doing it.
I.e. you go to a site that gives you a list of nearby cinema's (coffee houses, tube stations, hookers;), which would inherantly recquire your position to be effective, and along with the result, you get a whole bunch of position specific spam.
Considering the relatively discrete nature of the cellphone, I'd imagine some people might actually pay good money for such a service.
Wasn't there something about Japanese prostitutes using Love-Getty's to attract potential clients?
No, and I wouldn't use a service that exposed me to such irritations, unless I could filter them out in some way.
1: Presumably the whole system only works if there's some standard way for advertisers to query cellphones in a particular area. This would recquire the co-operation of your cellphone provider, and the standard spam-friendly opt-out advertising clauses in your contract.
2: Because it helps them get their message across, which is their job, no matter how loathsome it may seem.
3: Protest loudly, change your provider, don't use GPS apps that report your position to a central server.
The point being that now GPS is so accurate, uptake of GPS applications (inc. cellphones) will likely increase past the point where GPS targetted advertising becomes viable / attractive.
If only 10 people were using, it's a waste of effort. If 10 million people are using it...
Much respect to the engineers that kept a straight face during that one...;)
> I also, perhaps naively, consider it a promising sign that gaming platforms (such as Playstation1 and 2) are using Linux-esque Kernels and OSs for their development work.
The only link between any incarnation of Playstation, and Linux, is that the PS2 devkits have a PII based Linux box inside them, in the same way that PS devkits plugged into a DOS/Win32 PC. No Linux code, nor DOS/Win32 code actually runs on either the PS or the PS2.
Dammit, I need a cup of tea now...!
This is a self regulating problem. If the advertising gets too annoying, then you patch the source. If the authors for whatever reason try to entwine the advertising, making it hard to remove, you get a better coder to unentwine it, and distribute the patch. So if it's really annoying, it just gets removed, whereas if it's at just the right level to get noticed, but not irritate a talented coder, it lives.
Actually it was a home computer game (I forget the platform, ither C64 or Speccy, possibly both) called "Bomb Buenos Aires", and it was a pretty simple bomber-style game where a plane flew across the top of a static screen, moving down a line when it wrapped, and dropped bombs on buildings, until it either landed (having destroyed all the buildings), or crashed. Typical cheapo scandal cash in.
There was also a game called Harrier Attack where you flew across a scrolling island, but IIRC there was no explicit falklands imagery invoved.
It gets worse. As a brit abroad, I occasionally get the urge to "bum a fag", which in england means to ask for a cigarette, whereas in america...
IIRC there's a CAB viewer in the Win95 plus pack. So by extending your argument another stage, this makes Windows illegal.
Excellent!
...or, Listen To The Fine Radio Series.
HHGTTG was primarily a six part radio play, then a double album, then another six part radio series, and another album, then a book, and another book, a piece of interactive fiction, and another book, and a towel, then a tv series, and a play, and, after a while, another book, then one last book, a book of the scripts of the radio plays, a six cd box set of the original radio plays (with a slight edit due to a failure to licence a particular track from Pink Floyd, ruining one of my favourite jokes in the series), and finally another book.
Oh, and a book about it all, but that wasn't actually by Adams(but rather by Neil Gaiman), but then the play was an adaptation by someone else as well (Ken Campbell?).
Only by absorbing all of the above material could you even begin to explain what it's all about, especially the bit about zaphods brain, and the small piece of fairy cake.
The precise number of books is undefined at this time. For a more precise definition I'd reccomend reading entry for Douglas Adams in the Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy, published by Megadodo Publications, and available in all good, and some terrible, bookshops.
PS My towel is currently in the bottom drawer, under the TV, in the bedroom.
Emulation.
Apple moved pretty painlessly from 68k to PPC, and the the ARMs they're talking about have, what, up to 10 times more poke than the DragonBalls.
Ahem, it's "Shit-hot coders", and anyway, looks like this one was ballsed up by at least one "piss-poor" designer with an enormous ego.
The greatest engine in the world won't stop a turd from being a turd.
> Defining Hate mail as mail containing the word "Hate"?
I hate it when people do that...;)
I think Hasbro owns Parker Brothers, like they own the Atari games (and, by the looks of it, their legal department (famed for being consistently the most profitable bit of Atari).
Think of them as the Microsoft of games. They don't actually innovate much, just buy up other peoples ideas.
3d Monster Maze on the ZX81 way back in 1981 predates the lot of 'em.
Heck, Xybots predates Wolfenstein, just don't tell Hasbro, who probably have the rights to that as well.