This kind of reminds me of the central plot of the.hack//Sign anime series wherein a character named Tsukasa is unable to logout of the MMORPG known as The World. It makes me wonder if some kind of continuous login limit should be imposed for online games. I think something sensible like 12 hours with a mandatory 2 hour break perhaps. Now that said, it would all make sense, but I also think that people need to be responsible for their own actions. So while this might be a sensible thing to impose, I won't be advocating it myself. If this had happened in the U.S. though, I'm sure Jack and Hillary would be right out there getting ready to push through new legislation.
BTW, I actually like Hillary Clinton, but I think she's dead wrong with respect to regulating games.
I like Amazon in general, but I'm going to stick with Netflix for now. I've been a member since they started and I've seen the service continue to improve over that time. I like them because for me it is a real hassle to go to BlockBuster and Netflix has more movies that cater to my outside of the mainstream tastes, like foriegn films and anime. If Netflix can continue to appeal to niche markets as well as the mainstream, then they have a shot.
My 12yo, who's been saving her babysitting money for a laptop, has been using/abusing computers since she was 2. In fact, to deal with her curiousity at that time, I wrote the first and probably only key mashing game for OS/2! Now ten years later, I think the main reason she wants a laptop is to have some of her own private space. Currently we have a desktop system that she shares with her brothers and sister. She has her own account on this Win2K box, but the kids machine is located in a very public area of the house. We've talked to her about things to avoid on the internet, etc., so I'm not too worried about her getting into any trouble if she's working in her bedroom. Still it isn't easy, but part of raising kids is giving them some of their own space and eventually having to let them go.
As I read the article, deep inside a part of me was chanting (in very poor Cantonese) ho gang ah, ho gang ah, ho gang ah, which means very afraid. The very idea of essentially replacing the real world with a virtual one made to pacify even those in abject physical poverty borders on horrific. And while others have already posted criticisms of the growth predictions made by the author, there are not any technical reasons I can think of that would prevent such a future from taking place. What authoritarian government would not like to placate the masses with a fake world while continuing to deny them rights and freedom in the real one? It'll be interesting to see how the evolution of MMORPGs continues in China where they are already wildly popular.
That said, I personally love the escape provided by these games, but I have no desire to live there all of the time. Still given the very addictive nature of these games, if a way is found to suck in casual gamers on consoles, MMORPGs could see explosive growth. I think that a good voice to text system is the only thing standing in the way because it would eliminate or at least minimize the need of a keyboard without bringing on the chaotic din that a voice chat system would result in. Communications would still be via text, but you would merely speak the words rather than type them in. Until that comes about, perhaps the world is safe...for now...
Lik-Sang has been sued by just about all of the major console players over the years, so I'm guessing that they'll be able to handle this latest attack. Go browse their site, and you'll see that they definitely push the envelope with some of the products they sell.
Hmmm, who wants to be popular? The thing that started and sustains the growth of Linux was the need to get something done. Linux is a great tool for getting stuff done, especially stuff that may be so narrow that there are not and never will be off the shelf shrink-wrapped solutions. Corporations that want to use Linux just need the smarts to invest in the staff they need to build the solutions they need if there isn't something already available. If they can't or won't do this, then they can keep paying Microsoft billions of dollars to essentially do that for them with Windows. That may be the best solution for some.
Popular or not, Linux isn't going away anytime soon. It's like that pretty girl who really doesn't care whether you like her or not, she's still pretty. (Ugh, that's pretty bad, but hey, it's Monday...)
It is important to note that video games and other forms of mass entertainment are an important element of maintaining control over a population. So to ban all video games with violent elements would leave too many of the wrong people with too much time to be upset about how the government is screwing them over. Gaming can be a very powerful opiate against social unrest as long as the games are free of subversive political content. The foreign investment money is good too, but the need to keep people reasonably happy and not thinking about revolution is far more important.
Banning minor-PK probably has some deeper elements that just old fashioned morality. China's one child policy has created a generation of, to put it mildly, spoiled brats. They are often referred to as little princes and princesses because the parents dote on them so much, particularly boys. For such a population to grow up PKing could be socially disruptive and dangerous to the government trying to say no to a generation that's not accustomed to hearing that. A generation of PKing minors might just get the idea that they could gain real power by knocking off those currently in charge! Now why would anyone believe that?
Oh, I should also note that games with explicitly sexual content would also be banned, as pornography is illegal in China. So boobs (bare ones at least) would not be okay either.
Heh heh, actually, I have a PhD in physics specializing in high energy particle physics and you are correct. I haven't looked at the numbers with regard to how much water would be needed for shielding, but I'm guessing that we'd be talking about a truly massive spacecraft. But that's good. I think that if we're going to get to Mars intact and ready for business, we should be planning to build a small fleet of these enormous craft with crew complements in the hundreds. The cost will be enormous, but going big I think is our best chance for success.
Granted, all of this speaks to human pride since robotic missions can adequately meet most scientific goals. But a human Mars mission could result in some great spin off technologies in the areas of nuclear power, medicine, agriculture, and ecology to name a few.
I would guess that the Novell layoffs are a prelude to cutting SUSE loose Fedora style given that the layoffs story says that Linux has been flat for Novell. OpenSUSE would essentially give Novell some free workers and for the long term would keep SUSE alive, not that it's dying or anything like that. I suspect SUSE will be around long after Novell bites the dust.
It seems to me that unless we develop the technologies required to provide the shielding afforded by 100 miles of atmosphere and/or propulsion to cut the trip time significantly, then a trip to Mars is a suicide mission. All other arguments aside, I don't think we can ask anyone to die just to plant a flag on Mars. The physical universe is a b*tch! Isn't it? So if we really want to go to Mars, we're going to have to spend the money and time to really do it right. With this in mind, a concerted global effort could pay dividends in a number of areas. I hope our leaders will have the vision to leverage this project for all its worth by engaging other nations in its undertaking.
I predict that $60/game is not going to last long at all, if it even makes an appearance. Now I know that MS and Sony are going to be losing more money up front than ever before selling the console hardware initially. And I also know, or at least have heard, that development costs for the next-gen games are higher than before. So I know the economics of getting that money back and profit on the game sales. But the key that breaks the deal is the consumer. I don't believe that the consumer thinks that any mass market game is worth $60 new right now or in the next generation. Even hardcore gamers will balk at this. I certainly haven't seen anything coming on the new consoles that makes me think, yeah that's worth $60.
There have been games that had high prices in the past, but generally these were aimed at niche markets and/or had some special hardware (recall Steel Battalion, or FFXI PS2 version). Needless to say, these games did not sell a million copies. Given EA's recent licensing binge, I would guess that the only games that will be able to get away with the inflated prices will be sports exclusives, like the Madden series. But for everyone else, forget it. There isn't even a hint of a killer app/game on the next generation consoles that will justify the higher price in the mind of the consumer.
It sounds like Mozilla is just putting on a suit and some nice slacks (or perhaps a smart looking suit and skirt combo). I agree with their motives as stated though since generally the tax situation for a nonprofit that has significant revenues is a little dicey. At least that's what I've heard. And oddly enough, if Firefox, etc. come from a Corp. it'll remove one more mental barrier that some companies have about adopting OSS. Afterall, if it comes from Company Inc. it must be good, right?
Thank you Firefox! Without competitive pressure from Firefox, I doubt that we would be seeing such effort to fix longstanding issues with Internet Explorer. IE 7 won't be perfect, but it will likely be a lot better than it would have been if the Mozilla project and Firefox had never existed. I suppose in some small way this is a bit of revenge from the grave for Netscape.
This sounds like what Pan American airlines did back in the 60s when 2001: A Space Odyssey came out featuring the Pan Am spaceplane. They too sold tickets for future spaceflights. But I guess Virgin has a better chance, perhaps, of fulfilling the promise. And it may help that most probably don't remember what happened to Pan Am either!
I still use PHP for a lot of personal work and quick stuff, but I've been leaning more and more on Python, Zope, and Plone for building stuff at my day job. If you need to quickly and easily implement role based security, Zope makes it drop dead easy because it's built in and through ZEO, zope apps can be highly scalable. Of course as with most things, use whatever technologies get the job done. For example, my Zope apps live behind an Apache server that I use for SSL as well as access control.
Heh, heh, and China is still a Communist country. I don't know what MS Linux will be called or exactly how the interoperability efforts will come out. But my guess is that 5 to 10 years down the line, it will be pretty hard to distinguish Windows from Linux. In the meantime, I would guess as the interoperability specs become known, we'll start seeing groups roll out Linux distros that are amazingly friendly with Windows, wink wink.
Heh, I keep wondering when the torch carrying, censorship mob is going to stop beating on GTA and turn their attention to Hollywood. That's the true target in all of this afterall. The video game fight is just a warm up.
When I first saw this story, I couldn't help but think Karmic Retribution myself. It's always sad when someone's life ends that way, but it is perhaps sadder still that many will only remember this guy, albeit briefly, for the annoying spam he had a hand in sending out. That's not a legacy one wants to leave behind.
Re:Remind me why R* should care again
on
Hot Coffee Cooling Off
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
In the short term, this whole deal seems to have backfired on Rockstar and they'll have to spend some money recalling shipped stock and then manufacturing and shipping the "clean" version. LOL, now mom and dad can safely buy GTA for junior and his 5th grade buddies! They should pick up the clean copies of 50cent's new album while they're at it.
Seriously though, Rockstar can still turn this into a New Coke style winner. Now they've essentially been given the green light to sell two versions of GTA: SA. They can sell the safe clean version at Wal-Mart and the uncut, girls gone wild, hentai version online. See now, they can just unlock the Hot Coffee minigames and add more if they want. With the AO label, they can totally cut loose and with all of the free publicity the market is already primed. It's almost as if they get to do the launch all over again. The only ones who could stop them from doing this might be Sony and Microsoft on the consoles since they have to be licensed to publish on those platforms. On the PC though, anything goes. Played right, R* may have opened the door a bit for AO versions of popular games to start appearing on consoles. As for the ESRB and modders everywhere, I think they've just been played...
Looks like Hurd is turning HP into a lean machine to be as focused on products and price as Dell currently is.
Sigh...Dell does what it does pretty well, but they are definitely not a company known for much imagination or innovation. They generally follow after someone else has blazed the path, a strategy that must fail once all of the true innovators have been eliminated. We don't really need any more Dells. If HP becomes just like Dell, then why should I buy from them? I might as well buy from Dell.
HP can still succeed, but they need to do so by being HP. Efficiency is good, but not at the expense of the good things that make HP stand out from the crowd and create future opportunities. I think farmers say that you shouldn't eat the seed corn.
I think the bigger challenge to the future of games will be fostering creativity in the face of pressure to make formulaic "hits", rather than a legal crackdown and censorship. The reason I think censorship is not the big worry is that legislated censorship of games opens a door to censorship of movies, tv, and books. Once that door is opened, why stop at games? It wouldn't, and for that reason, despite all of the noise the politicians are making, we aren't likely to see any laws upheld that would censor and regulate games for content. Big media has enough money and clout to make sure that the door to censoring their products is not going to be opened. And there's that little thing called the U.S. Constitution standing in the way too.
Slashdot Mirror
Makes me wonder if he knows he's dead. Maybe he's still playing the game.
This kind of reminds me of the central plot of the .hack//Sign anime series wherein a character named Tsukasa is unable to logout of the MMORPG known as The World. It makes me wonder if some kind of continuous login limit should be imposed for online games. I think something sensible like 12 hours with a mandatory 2 hour break perhaps. Now that said, it would all make sense, but I also think that people need to be responsible for their own actions. So while this might be a sensible thing to impose, I won't be advocating it myself. If this had happened in the U.S. though, I'm sure Jack and Hillary would be right out there getting ready to push through new legislation.
BTW, I actually like Hillary Clinton, but I think she's dead wrong with respect to regulating games.
I like Amazon in general, but I'm going to stick with Netflix for now. I've been a member since they started and I've seen the service continue to improve over that time. I like them because for me it is a real hassle to go to BlockBuster and Netflix has more movies that cater to my outside of the mainstream tastes, like foriegn films and anime. If Netflix can continue to appeal to niche markets as well as the mainstream, then they have a shot.
My 12yo, who's been saving her babysitting money for a laptop, has been using/abusing computers since she was 2. In fact, to deal with her curiousity at that time, I wrote the first and probably only key mashing game for OS/2! Now ten years later, I think the main reason she wants a laptop is to have some of her own private space. Currently we have a desktop system that she shares with her brothers and sister. She has her own account on this Win2K box, but the kids machine is located in a very public area of the house. We've talked to her about things to avoid on the internet, etc., so I'm not too worried about her getting into any trouble if she's working in her bedroom. Still it isn't easy, but part of raising kids is giving them some of their own space and eventually having to let them go.
As I read the article, deep inside a part of me was chanting (in very poor Cantonese) ho gang ah, ho gang ah, ho gang ah, which means very afraid. The very idea of essentially replacing the real world with a virtual one made to pacify even those in abject physical poverty borders on horrific. And while others have already posted criticisms of the growth predictions made by the author, there are not any technical reasons I can think of that would prevent such a future from taking place. What authoritarian government would not like to placate the masses with a fake world while continuing to deny them rights and freedom in the real one? It'll be interesting to see how the evolution of MMORPGs continues in China where they are already wildly popular.
That said, I personally love the escape provided by these games, but I have no desire to live there all of the time. Still given the very addictive nature of these games, if a way is found to suck in casual gamers on consoles, MMORPGs could see explosive growth. I think that a good voice to text system is the only thing standing in the way because it would eliminate or at least minimize the need of a keyboard without bringing on the chaotic din that a voice chat system would result in. Communications would still be via text, but you would merely speak the words rather than type them in. Until that comes about, perhaps the world is safe...for now...
Lik-Sang has been sued by just about all of the major console players over the years, so I'm guessing that they'll be able to handle this latest attack. Go browse their site, and you'll see that they definitely push the envelope with some of the products they sell.
Hmmm, who wants to be popular? The thing that started and sustains the growth of Linux was the need to get something done. Linux is a great tool for getting stuff done, especially stuff that may be so narrow that there are not and never will be off the shelf shrink-wrapped solutions. Corporations that want to use Linux just need the smarts to invest in the staff they need to build the solutions they need if there isn't something already available. If they can't or won't do this, then they can keep paying Microsoft billions of dollars to essentially do that for them with Windows. That may be the best solution for some.
Popular or not, Linux isn't going away anytime soon. It's like that pretty girl who really doesn't care whether you like her or not, she's still pretty. (Ugh, that's pretty bad, but hey, it's Monday...)
Obligatory Prisoner Quote:
"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."
It is important to note that video games and other forms of mass entertainment are an important element of maintaining control over a population. So to ban all video games with violent elements would leave too many of the wrong people with too much time to be upset about how the government is screwing them over. Gaming can be a very powerful opiate against social unrest as long as the games are free of subversive political content. The foreign investment money is good too, but the need to keep people reasonably happy and not thinking about revolution is far more important.
Banning minor-PK probably has some deeper elements that just old fashioned morality. China's one child policy has created a generation of, to put it mildly, spoiled brats. They are often referred to as little princes and princesses because the parents dote on them so much, particularly boys. For such a population to grow up PKing could be socially disruptive and dangerous to the government trying to say no to a generation that's not accustomed to hearing that. A generation of PKing minors might just get the idea that they could gain real power by knocking off those currently in charge! Now why would anyone believe that?
Oh, I should also note that games with explicitly sexual content would also be banned, as pornography is illegal in China. So boobs (bare ones at least) would not be okay either.
Heh heh, actually, I have a PhD in physics specializing in high energy particle physics and you are correct. I haven't looked at the numbers with regard to how much water would be needed for shielding, but I'm guessing that we'd be talking about a truly massive spacecraft. But that's good. I think that if we're going to get to Mars intact and ready for business, we should be planning to build a small fleet of these enormous craft with crew complements in the hundreds. The cost will be enormous, but going big I think is our best chance for success.
Granted, all of this speaks to human pride since robotic missions can adequately meet most scientific goals. But a human Mars mission could result in some great spin off technologies in the areas of nuclear power, medicine, agriculture, and ecology to name a few.
I would guess that the Novell layoffs are a prelude to cutting SUSE loose Fedora style given that the layoffs story says that Linux has been flat for Novell. OpenSUSE would essentially give Novell some free workers and for the long term would keep SUSE alive, not that it's dying or anything like that. I suspect SUSE will be around long after Novell bites the dust.
It seems to me that unless we develop the technologies required to provide the shielding afforded by 100 miles of atmosphere and/or propulsion to cut the trip time significantly, then a trip to Mars is a suicide mission. All other arguments aside, I don't think we can ask anyone to die just to plant a flag on Mars. The physical universe is a b*tch! Isn't it? So if we really want to go to Mars, we're going to have to spend the money and time to really do it right. With this in mind, a concerted global effort could pay dividends in a number of areas. I hope our leaders will have the vision to leverage this project for all its worth by engaging other nations in its undertaking.
I predict that $60/game is not going to last long at all, if it even makes an appearance. Now I know that MS and Sony are going to be losing more money up front than ever before selling the console hardware initially. And I also know, or at least have heard, that development costs for the next-gen games are higher than before. So I know the economics of getting that money back and profit on the game sales. But the key that breaks the deal is the consumer. I don't believe that the consumer thinks that any mass market game is worth $60 new right now or in the next generation. Even hardcore gamers will balk at this. I certainly haven't seen anything coming on the new consoles that makes me think, yeah that's worth $60.
There have been games that had high prices in the past, but generally these were aimed at niche markets and/or had some special hardware (recall Steel Battalion, or FFXI PS2 version). Needless to say, these games did not sell a million copies. Given EA's recent licensing binge, I would guess that the only games that will be able to get away with the inflated prices will be sports exclusives, like the Madden series. But for everyone else, forget it. There isn't even a hint of a killer app/game on the next generation consoles that will justify the higher price in the mind of the consumer.
It sounds like Mozilla is just putting on a suit and some nice slacks (or perhaps a smart looking suit and skirt combo). I agree with their motives as stated though since generally the tax situation for a nonprofit that has significant revenues is a little dicey. At least that's what I've heard. And oddly enough, if Firefox, etc. come from a Corp. it'll remove one more mental barrier that some companies have about adopting OSS. Afterall, if it comes from Company Inc. it must be good, right?
Thank you Firefox! Without competitive pressure from Firefox, I doubt that we would be seeing such effort to fix longstanding issues with Internet Explorer. IE 7 won't be perfect, but it will likely be a lot better than it would have been if the Mozilla project and Firefox had never existed. I suppose in some small way this is a bit of revenge from the grave for Netscape.
This sounds like what Pan American airlines did back in the 60s when 2001: A Space Odyssey came out featuring the Pan Am spaceplane. They too sold tickets for future spaceflights. But I guess Virgin has a better chance, perhaps, of fulfilling the promise. And it may help that most probably don't remember what happened to Pan Am either!
I still use PHP for a lot of personal work and quick stuff, but I've been leaning more and more on Python, Zope, and Plone for building stuff at my day job. If you need to quickly and easily implement role based security, Zope makes it drop dead easy because it's built in and through ZEO, zope apps can be highly scalable. Of course as with most things, use whatever technologies get the job done. For example, my Zope apps live behind an Apache server that I use for SSL as well as access control.
Heh, heh, and China is still a Communist country. I don't know what MS Linux will be called or exactly how the interoperability efforts will come out. But my guess is that 5 to 10 years down the line, it will be pretty hard to distinguish Windows from Linux. In the meantime, I would guess as the interoperability specs become known, we'll start seeing groups roll out Linux distros that are amazingly friendly with Windows, wink wink.
No way! This can't be right, the breasts aren't nearly big enough and she's wearing too much clothing. I know, I saw it on the anime!
Heh, I keep wondering when the torch carrying, censorship mob is going to stop beating on GTA and turn their attention to Hollywood. That's the true target in all of this afterall. The video game fight is just a warm up.
Cool, now my Xbox has a bright future once I get tired of playing games on it! Nice work, I'm sure the ethernet problem will be solved eventually.
When I first saw this story, I couldn't help but think Karmic Retribution myself. It's always sad when someone's life ends that way, but it is perhaps sadder still that many will only remember this guy, albeit briefly, for the annoying spam he had a hand in sending out. That's not a legacy one wants to leave behind.
In the short term, this whole deal seems to have backfired on Rockstar and they'll have to spend some money recalling shipped stock and then manufacturing and shipping the "clean" version. LOL, now mom and dad can safely buy GTA for junior and his 5th grade buddies! They should pick up the clean copies of 50cent's new album while they're at it.
Seriously though, Rockstar can still turn this into a New Coke style winner. Now they've essentially been given the green light to sell two versions of GTA: SA. They can sell the safe clean version at Wal-Mart and the uncut, girls gone wild, hentai version online. See now, they can just unlock the Hot Coffee minigames and add more if they want. With the AO label, they can totally cut loose and with all of the free publicity the market is already primed. It's almost as if they get to do the launch all over again. The only ones who could stop them from doing this might be Sony and Microsoft on the consoles since they have to be licensed to publish on those platforms. On the PC though, anything goes. Played right, R* may have opened the door a bit for AO versions of popular games to start appearing on consoles. As for the ESRB and modders everywhere, I think they've just been played...
Looks like Hurd is turning HP into a lean machine to be as focused on products and price as Dell currently is.
Sigh...Dell does what it does pretty well, but they are definitely not a company known for much imagination or innovation. They generally follow after someone else has blazed the path, a strategy that must fail once all of the true innovators have been eliminated. We don't really need any more Dells. If HP becomes just like Dell, then why should I buy from them? I might as well buy from Dell.
HP can still succeed, but they need to do so by being HP. Efficiency is good, but not at the expense of the good things that make HP stand out from the crowd and create future opportunities. I think farmers say that you shouldn't eat the seed corn.
I think the bigger challenge to the future of games will be fostering creativity in the face of pressure to make formulaic "hits", rather than a legal crackdown and censorship. The reason I think censorship is not the big worry is that legislated censorship of games opens a door to censorship of movies, tv, and books. Once that door is opened, why stop at games? It wouldn't, and for that reason, despite all of the noise the politicians are making, we aren't likely to see any laws upheld that would censor and regulate games for content. Big media has enough money and clout to make sure that the door to censoring their products is not going to be opened. And there's that little thing called the U.S. Constitution standing in the way too.