IBM's half-assed and schizoid development and support is what kills OS/2. And before you reach for the OS/2 Basher bat, I was a passionate supporter of Warp 4... and watched in horror as Big Blue's on-again/off-again support shredded the small market share they'd earned. Had IBM truly stood behind it, they would still have a chunk of the market; as it stands now there're still a few diehards, but they're dwindling.
Sad, too, as it was a solid OS.
As for Apple, and Jobs' announcement... as someone who was converted to Macdom a few years ago, I can't help but worry that OS X will end up as legacy-crippled as Windows has. *shrug* In the end, the next time I buy, I'll go with what does the job most efficiently... though I really wish it were going to be a PPC machine.
Amen. I still have my 768meg full-height 5.25" ESDI drive, and it's still running. It forms the core of the Linux box I use as a print server, and has -never- had a problem or issue with ext2fs.
It had originally been running OS/2 Warp 3/Connect, formatted in HPFS, and ran fine -there- as well. Unfortunately, HPFS belongs to IBM, and similar licensing issues would probably exist.
I've managed over time to play every Final Fantasy game with the single sad exception of Final Fantasy X; I don't yet have a PS2. I've spent decades playing every RPG I could get my hands on, to include the venerable Phantasy Star series and the Shining in the Darkness/Shining Force series. They've all had some sort of impact.
Final Fantasy IX destroyed me and left me a sobbing wreck on my sofa. Think I need a life? You're right... but at the moment my 'life' -is- video games, so they get the lion's share of my attention and focus. The echoes of loneliness, need, and abandonment that first appeared in Final Fantasy VII were honed to a deceptively soft looking razor edge.
Being a bit of a purist, I take care to avoid 'spoilers' for games I'm working on; I'd rather let the storyline unfold in front of me, letting understanding grow as events progress. And as I approached the final battles in IX, already on edge from a tragic storyline, I was suddenly presented with what looked to be a -lethal- choice among my assembled party... and watching the 'farewells' as those not selected faded from site trashed me completely (In my defense, it was close to 4am and I'd been playing for close to 18 hours straight at the time).
The relief following that choice and subsequent battle was bittersweet... colored by the demise of the narrator character and a whistful reflection on him by another. Yes, it's just a game. I cried anyway. And close to a year after I'd finished it, it still has enough impact to make me pause frequently as I type this.
I think it's a damn shame that more games don't employ this type of woven storyline; certainly I'd spend more on software, rather than waiting for things to show up used at greatly reduced prices.
If it's any consolation, that kind of 'screw with the customer' mentality gets things in the Windows market as well. A good example of it would be 'Emperor of the Fading Suns'. Built by Hollistic Design, Inc. and marketed through Sega, Sega decided that they didn't feel like waiting for the completed product and released the Beta 2 version... complete with flaws in the AI and incomplete unit lists and installation issues that left a lot of folks tearing their hair out. Sega's 'official' response was to let people eat static, showing exactly what they thought of the consumers buying their product.
Years after it was 'cancelled', there were still independant groups doing AI retools and mod packs for it; Hyperion, Reality, Roman Empire, and Nova were the big ones. Some haven't updated in quite a while now (Nova in '99 and Hyperion in '01), but Reality was still active in '02.
Another case of some nitwit deskjockey putting a worthwhile project into crash-and-burn mode. It's a damned shame that the companies don't learn anything from these disasters. I wonder how many more potentially great games will be obliterated like this...:/
'Hell' is the name of the hero of the story. He's a prisoner of the women who now run the USA after a nuclear/biological war. Results of the war are that mutants have evolved, and the human race is in danger of extinction due to infertility. Hell is given the task of helping in the rescue of a group of fertile women from the harem of the mutant leader (resembling a frog). Hell cannot escape since he has a bomb attached to his private parts which will detonate if he strays more than a few hundred yards from his guard.
And who can forget the greatest line in movie history: I came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum... and I'm fresh outta bubblegum...
Actually, I'd have to pick 'Vampires' as one of my faves, and it's a much more recent John Carpenter film. While 'Ghosts of Mars' had some good bits, it -did- suffer from some pacing problems and visibly off effects.
Ah well. Nobody's perfect...
Slashdot Mirror
IBM's half-assed and schizoid development and support is what kills OS/2. And before you reach for the OS/2 Basher bat, I was a passionate supporter of Warp 4... and watched in horror as Big Blue's on-again/off-again support shredded the small market share they'd earned. Had IBM truly stood behind it, they would still have a chunk of the market; as it stands now there're still a few diehards, but they're dwindling.
Sad, too, as it was a solid OS.
As for Apple, and Jobs' announcement... as someone who was converted to Macdom a few years ago, I can't help but worry that OS X will end up as legacy-crippled as Windows has. *shrug* In the end, the next time I buy, I'll go with what does the job most efficiently... though I really wish it were going to be a PPC machine.
Amen. I still have my 768meg full-height 5.25" ESDI drive, and it's still running. It forms the core of the Linux box I use as a print server, and has -never- had a problem or issue with ext2fs.
It had originally been running OS/2 Warp 3/Connect, formatted in HPFS, and ran fine -there- as well. Unfortunately, HPFS belongs to IBM, and similar licensing issues would probably exist.
I've managed over time to play every Final Fantasy game with the single sad exception of Final Fantasy X; I don't yet have a PS2. I've spent decades playing every RPG I could get my hands on, to include the venerable Phantasy Star series and the Shining in the Darkness/Shining Force series. They've all had some sort of impact.
Final Fantasy IX destroyed me and left me a sobbing wreck on my sofa. Think I need a life? You're right... but at the moment my 'life' -is- video games, so they get the lion's share of my attention and focus. The echoes of loneliness, need, and abandonment that first appeared in Final Fantasy VII were honed to a deceptively soft looking razor edge.
Being a bit of a purist, I take care to avoid 'spoilers' for games I'm working on; I'd rather let the storyline unfold in front of me, letting understanding grow as events progress. And as I approached the final battles in IX, already on edge from a tragic storyline, I was suddenly presented with what looked to be a -lethal- choice among my assembled party... and watching the 'farewells' as those not selected faded from site trashed me completely (In my defense, it was close to 4am and I'd been playing for close to 18 hours straight at the time).
The relief following that choice and subsequent battle was bittersweet... colored by the demise of the narrator character and a whistful reflection on him by another. Yes, it's just a game. I cried anyway. And close to a year after I'd finished it, it still has enough impact to make me pause frequently as I type this.
I think it's a damn shame that more games don't employ this type of woven storyline; certainly I'd spend more on software, rather than waiting for things to show up used at greatly reduced prices.
~Ellie-chanIf it's any consolation, that kind of 'screw with the customer' mentality gets things in the Windows market as well. A good example of it would be 'Emperor of the Fading Suns'. Built by Hollistic Design, Inc. and marketed through Sega, Sega decided that they didn't feel like waiting for the completed product and released the Beta 2 version... complete with flaws in the AI and incomplete unit lists and installation issues that left a lot of folks tearing their hair out. Sega's 'official' response was to let people eat static, showing exactly what they thought of the consumers buying their product.
Years after it was 'cancelled', there were still independant groups doing AI retools and mod packs for it; Hyperion, Reality, Roman Empire, and Nova were the big ones. Some haven't updated in quite a while now (Nova in '99 and Hyperion in '01), but Reality was still active in '02.
Another case of some nitwit deskjockey putting a worthwhile project into crash-and-burn mode. It's a damned shame that the companies don't learn anything from these disasters. I wonder how many more potentially great games will be obliterated like this... :/
~Ellie-chanBorrowed from IMDB ...
'Hell' is the name of the hero of the story. He's a prisoner of the women who now run the USA after a nuclear/biological war. Results of the war are that mutants have evolved, and the human race is in danger of extinction due to infertility. Hell is given the task of helping in the rescue of a group of fertile women from the harem of the mutant leader (resembling a frog). Hell cannot escape since he has a bomb attached to his private parts which will detonate if he strays more than a few hundred yards from his guard.
And who can forget the greatest line in movie history: I came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum... and I'm fresh outta bubblegum...
Actually, I'd have to pick 'Vampires' as one of my faves, and it's a much more recent John Carpenter film. While 'Ghosts of Mars' had some good bits, it -did- suffer from some pacing problems and visibly off effects. Ah well. Nobody's perfect...