No 360, period. I just don't like controllers for FPS or TPS games. I have an Xbox now, and have bought several titles (and rented several more) that are not fun at all to play because of the controller. Some people can blaze away with the Xbox or other controllers, but I can't. Keyboard and mouse are simply more ergonomic for me.
Given past performance of prior releases, there should be no surprise that SAV 10 has issues out of the box. Any ISA who doesn't lab-test the product first is foolish. Remember when it used to be Norton Antivirus, and weighed in at 6 megabytes? Let me tell you about another Symantec product...
Several years ago, there was a firewall product called AtGuard. It was a small 3 megabyte firewall that was affordable ($25), free updates, stable, logical in operation. It worked just as you would expect an independent Shareware product to work: beyond expectations. The list of its merits goes on...
Symantec bought AtGuard. They dumbed down the product and turned it into Norton Personal Firewall, and eventually released Norton Internet Security which was essentially the full-featured AtGuard. The prices went up, and so did the size of the distribution files. Along the way, the AtGuard info bar (a.k.a. useful) was dropped.
Symantec offered NO upgrade path for the AtGuard users to keep them as customers.
The marginal feature additions to the product didn't justify the price, nor did some of the downright stupid decisions Symantec made in the way the product operated (for example: create a 'block' rule on the fly, and it works one (1) time. After that, it no longer blocks. So why the fark is the rule retained? No, you have to manually add a 'block' rule to have it not be a one-shot. Conversely, a 'permit' rule created on the fly works the same as a manually created rule). Basically the EyeCandy(tm) department took the product, injected fat, and it was sent of to the marketing leeches. It's re-released each year as a new product with eye candy changes and bug fixes.
Today the product tops 60M in size. It's been bloated with Symantec Antivirus, "parental" features, and product activation. Symantec lost my interest when they corporatized a good Shareware product. Microsoft taught them well, it seems.
If you want to build a house, you don't ask for a magic hammer to do the work for you. The missing items you've stated don't prevent anyone from installing and using Gentoo. Tuning and optimization of the external infrastruction is optional. For that you have to know what you're doing, know what to tweak.
USE flags and CFLAGS, again, are tuning and optimization. If you don't screw them up, you won't have an unusable system.
Since you have constructive concerns, why not join the Gentoo project and make a difference instead of bitchin?
Nah, I'd rather have a root canal than listen to Kate's whiny voice. Patrick was way better of a co-host for Leo. And he's more technically adept than Kate. She's just not a techno-babe.
Someplace I read that Stranger wasn't going to be ported to all platforms immediately. When this reached greedy higher-ups, the advertising budget was slashed. It's no wonder you didn't hear about the title.
The gaming industry is a close family relation to the RIAA and MPAA, just without a cute acronym. The same thirst for money though.
Given Ubi's penchant love of hostile copy protection schemes, will it be playable for most people? The nicest part of AA is the lack of an annoying anti-user protection scheme.
When R* released GTA1 as free download, I made up a temporary Hotmail account for registration, using some dumb combination of letters and numbers, like 'ju5t1ntth3gam3'. I didn't trust the wording on the download page. Well, two days later I had 15 fresh spams.
Note the fine print on the page: "NOTE: The information you provide on this form may be collected even if you are not eligible to download the game"
It may be a Christmas gift, but there could be tinsel attached.
As stated: "install/move". That's because you can't just "move" software these days. You have to "install" it. Gotta have that registry and Windows directory pollution for software to function.
Symantec gives you four installs before you are boned. Go Google for stories regarding other user's tribulations trying to get Symantec to "allow" them to reinstall. That's a hinderance. What hoops will Valve put users through with HL2? Guess I'll have to wait for that to happen to someone then read about it.
Maybe I should have just wrote "move" so you wouldn't be jumping to conclusions, anonymous coward? Thanks for automatically assuming I'm trying to cheat someone.
Valve/Vivendi lost my business too. So has Symantec (Norton Internet Security/Norton Antivirus). I'm dead-set against this 'activation' crap. I don't want to beg anybody to reinstall software that I legitimately purchased. And if I choose to install/move the SW to any one of my four current desktops (all different procs, video) for testing, I shouldn't have to by put on trial to explain why *I* should be allowed to reinstall. Fark that!.
I don't see why Valve just doesn't make the HL2 CD files completely 'single player' until you register/activate, and they send you a set of files (DLLs, executables, key files or all of the above. Whatever) that will make HL2 multiplayer. That can be done through Steam. This will ensure that their perpetual cash cow can continued to be milked for all it's worth by Valve.
Personally I'm rooting for the Pirates. What's your favorite team?
Anonymous Coward, the principle is very simple: parents have wildy bizarre varying ethics.
Example 1: one of my coworkers buys his stepson any Playstation or PC game he wants but restricts Internet access to a limited single hour per night for school work only -- supervised. The kid has a computer of his own but it's not networked.
Example 2: another coworker gives his kids unlimited internet access but polices the family's PC and Gamecube (stop laughing) games to those he deems acceptable. That goes for music too. Meanwhile his kids practically _live_ on YIM/AIM, talking to classmates etc. (no pr0n or pedos there I suppose...) He has set up computers in two of the three kids' rooms.
Real-world examples. Maybe most parents don't give a flying truck what games are played, but that's not universal. Either way, the principle stands: not all game PCs will have internet access. There needs to be a way to activate HL2 off-line.
To those who didn't understand your message, an example: not everybody gives internet access to their kids. So how do you activate HL2 on your kid's computer when said does not have internet access?
Mobile phones - sure, I can't get Sprint service unless I go stand by the highway. Same problem though: the 'system' isn't ready.
There is no current high-speed, relible, global architecture with any measure of consistency that can properly support an on-demand system requiring high bandwidth.
Cable is available at my house, not at my friend's house that is five miles away, though he does have DSL. If you go another 10 miles in the same direction, another friend has cable but on a different system, but no DSL. Another 7 miles up his road(same direction still), is another friend with DSL , different company than the first, but no cable (at all). Psychotic? Yes. Real? No: reality. It's a fractured patchwork system.
Cable, DSL, ADSL, ISDN all have different bandwidths, pricing structures, TOS that make launching an on-demand console a pot-shot. Some ISPs have download caps or dynamic speed-rate caps. Download so much in an hour, and your bandwidth is capped for a certain amount of time (look up FAP. No, the other FAP. Fair Access Policy)
My point is high-speed isn't available everywhere, to everyone, with 'high-speed' being completely undefined.
Companies attempting to establish themselves in such an immature market (read: Infinium) have a high chance of problems when the foundations are shaky. I'm not investing in them, and still abhor any idea of 'renting' games when there is a monthly fee plus the need for me to also pay for high-speed access.
By the time you rent a game for three months, it may be in the bargain bin for less. Or in six months, you'll have paid more for your 'privilege' to use it than my original CD cost me. No thanks.
I still have reservations paying a monthly charge to 'rent games' regardless of how many publishers or titles they have signed on. And I own seven Porche GT3's, each a different color. But only on the Internet.
If Microsoft nixes the Xbox (are they still losing money on hardware / Xbox overall?) tomorrow, I can still drop discs in and play them next week. If I lose my broadband or (gasp!) move to an area without high-speed internet, I can still use my Xbox. My Xbox can't be remotely hacked, DOS'd, and won't need monthly security patches.
It's not time for a "on demand" content model yet.
We've got a similar thing happening at work. Certain people (read: PHB's) have this huge aversion to spending $800 on a PC (inc. OS and monitor) for use on the factory floor, when the software package(s) we use costs $7K-$10K per box.
The aversion comes from having a physical box that can be 'counted', if you are wondering. The goal is to do more with less PCs, not paying any attention to the point where too few impacts productivity. Nobody seems to notice the depreciation on hardware is surpassed by software and software maintenance costs.
Lately the buzz is for thin clients. Cheaper at only $500 per unit (inc. OS and monitor), but you can't make PHB's understand that servers and infrastructure are needed to support them.
I, for one, welcome the preload idea (with a catch), and am tired of waiting for game orders from.COMs to be filled. I've had to wait for four titles from three different sites, between three and 14 days for my PRE-order just to ship. The most egregious was the the 14-day title which needed an EMail from me to prompt it's shipment from a big site starting with A.
Walmart doesn't always get shipments on a timely basis so I don't rely upon them. The closest EBGames store is 45 miles away.
The choice is mine. Do I wait for a couple to several days to save money, blow four+ gallons of overpriced gas and spring for higer sales tax in the next counter to satisfy my craving, or pray that Walmart might come through for convenience?
My only reservation on pre-load titles is that they be delivered in an UN-COPYPROTECTED state. If I reinstall Windon't, I don't want to lose the game!
I'd meet publishers half-way though. Ship me a CD with the just the copy protected key/crap when I (pre)order, and stream me the game over the net. Then send me an 'unlock' file when the blessed release moment pops.
MPAA should welcome guerilla theaters...
on
Guerrilla Drive-Ins
·
· Score: 1
Anything that can get exposure for a picture should be welcomed.
+There are movies that some people wouldn't pay to watch or rent unless it's free. MPAA loses nothing.
+A free movie showing that interests the viewer into buying a DVD? MPAA makes out.
+Really crap movies that _nobody_ would ever care to rent or even waste time to watch at home, might be fun to watch with a crowd. Somebody had to buy/rent it for the guerilla theater. MPAA makes out.
I think the MPAA, like the RIAA, only looks for pure profit, and doesn't stop to think about the intangible benefits that ultimately benefit them later on.
Go read about RACES and MARS organizations. Both are based around amateur radio. Both serve a distinct purpose in emergency communications. If the State and Federal governments didn't need them, they would be disbanded.
Police, fire... they can only do so much when it comes to emergencies and emergency communications. And they can only transmit so far on their limited freqs. Ham radio has the ability to link up more people/sites over greater distances.
Think, if you can, about Ham radio being like the Reserves branch of for example, the Army. Whether you know it or not, they're called into action to save asses all the time. I know firsthand how RACES has been activated to participate in local State emergencies
Take 9/11. There were no land phones, no cell phones, no power, no internet in the immediate area. Cell towers that did operate were quickly overloaded anyway. Radio communication was the only means available during the emergency.
Amateur (Ham) Radio is a dying hobby, but it's still a method of emergency communication.
It's like CPR. Not everybody knows it, but if there is an emergency, you pray somebody around you does.
B.C.: I don't think this one will go over very well.
Silent Hill 4: Sounds too fabulous to be true...They might have different people working on it..
Doom 3: This one is really weird.and compensate for its...I don't know.I think maybe the sales will be disappointing.
That doesn't sound like a psychic making predictions, but a journalist who's 'got nothing' and needs to make a deadline. All of the "I think" and "I don't know" statments aren't the typical responses you get from a medium. It just smacks too much of personal opinion rather than divine inspiration to me.
TMPGEnc 3.0 XPress by Pegasys needs the usual reg key, but the product page on their site also states:
LICENSE VALIDATION is required for TMPGEnc Plug-in AC-3 and TMPGEnc 3.0 XPress.
Therefore an Internet connection will be needed to validate your license from time to time.
To be able to use the Software, the license validation procedure have to be executed via Internet.
The purpose of the license validation is to verify that you actually own the license.
The information you have input the first time, will be sent to the license validation server,
and you will be able then to use the Software.
This is a new annoying form of copy protection. For some reason, 'guilty until proven innocent' comes to mind.
I almost purchased the software for our department's video needs, for manipulating safety and training videos, but our corporate firewalls and proxy prevent it from hitting the internet. No cha-ching, this is a lost sale. Ironically it's inexpensive software. Like $60 US.
I don't like any software that needs to 'phone home', since you'll never be told what's being phoned. Real Networks RealannoyingPlayer comes to mind with the user-tracking feature that got their butts in hot water. TiVo monitors your watching habits. Windows XP phones back to the mothership on occasion.
Slashdot Mirror
Quick - somebody find vulnerabilities in the WPA and DRM modules. Bonus if you find buffer overflows in the "make Windows unstable" DLLs.
No 360, period. I just don't like controllers for FPS or TPS games. I have an Xbox now, and have bought several titles (and rented several more) that are not fun at all to play because of the controller. Some people can blaze away with the Xbox or other controllers, but I can't. Keyboard and mouse are simply more ergonomic for me.
Given past performance of prior releases, there should be no surprise that SAV 10 has issues out of the box. Any ISA who doesn't lab-test the product first is foolish. Remember when it used to be Norton Antivirus, and weighed in at 6 megabytes? Let me tell you about another Symantec product...
Several years ago, there was a firewall product called AtGuard. It was a small 3 megabyte firewall that was affordable ($25), free updates, stable, logical in operation. It worked just as you would expect an independent Shareware product to work: beyond expectations. The list of its merits goes on...
Symantec bought AtGuard. They dumbed down the product and turned it into Norton Personal Firewall, and eventually released Norton Internet Security which was essentially the full-featured AtGuard. The prices went up, and so did the size of the distribution files. Along the way, the AtGuard info bar (a.k.a. useful) was dropped. Symantec offered NO upgrade path for the AtGuard users to keep them as customers.
The marginal feature additions to the product didn't justify the price, nor did some of the downright stupid decisions Symantec made in the way the product operated (for example: create a 'block' rule on the fly, and it works one (1) time. After that, it no longer blocks. So why the fark is the rule retained? No, you have to manually add a 'block' rule to have it not be a one-shot. Conversely, a 'permit' rule created on the fly works the same as a manually created rule). Basically the EyeCandy(tm) department took the product, injected fat, and it was sent of to the marketing leeches. It's re-released each year as a new product with eye candy changes and bug fixes.
Today the product tops 60M in size. It's been bloated with Symantec Antivirus, "parental" features, and product activation. Symantec lost my interest when they corporatized a good Shareware product. Microsoft taught them well, it seems.
I wrote to SuSE/Novell a couple months ago about the pronounciation in order to settle the controversy between a couple friends and myself.
The response from them was that it is pronounced "zoo-suh".
My brain can't be downloaded due to DRM.
My employer says I can't let trade secrets be transferred to another media.
There is a company policy stating passwords can't be written down or kept in any electronic form.
I'm so screwed.
You know you want the torrent. Search your feelings. You know it to be true.
If you want to build a house, you don't ask for a magic hammer to do the work for you. The missing items you've stated don't prevent anyone from installing and using Gentoo. Tuning and optimization of the external infrastruction is optional. For that you have to know what you're doing, know what to tweak.
USE flags and CFLAGS, again, are tuning and optimization. If you don't screw them up, you won't have an unusable system.
Since you have constructive concerns, why not join the Gentoo project and make a difference instead of bitchin?
Nah, I'd rather have a root canal than listen to Kate's whiny voice. Patrick was way better of a co-host for Leo. And he's more technically adept than Kate. She's just not a techno-babe.
Someplace I read that Stranger wasn't going to be ported to all platforms immediately. When this reached greedy higher-ups, the advertising budget was slashed. It's no wonder you didn't hear about the title.
The gaming industry is a close family relation to the RIAA and MPAA, just without a cute acronym. The same thirst for money though.
Given Ubi's penchant love of hostile copy protection schemes, will it be playable for most people? The nicest part of AA is the lack of an annoying anti-user protection scheme.
When R* released GTA1 as free download, I made up a temporary Hotmail account for registration, using some dumb combination of letters and numbers, like 'ju5t1ntth3gam3'. I didn't trust the wording on the download page. Well, two days later I had 15 fresh spams.
Note the fine print on the page: "NOTE: The information you provide on this form may be collected even if you are not eligible to download the game"
It may be a Christmas gift, but there could be tinsel attached.
As stated: "install/move". That's because you can't just "move" software these days. You have to "install" it. Gotta have that registry and Windows directory pollution for software to function.
Symantec gives you four installs before you are boned. Go Google for stories regarding other user's tribulations trying to get Symantec to "allow" them to reinstall. That's a hinderance. What hoops will Valve put users through with HL2? Guess I'll have to wait for that to happen to someone then read about it.
Maybe I should have just wrote "move" so you wouldn't be jumping to conclusions, anonymous coward? Thanks for automatically assuming I'm trying to cheat someone.
Valve/Vivendi lost my business too. So has Symantec (Norton Internet Security/Norton Antivirus). I'm dead-set against this 'activation' crap. I don't want to beg anybody to reinstall software that I legitimately purchased. And if I choose to install/move the SW to any one of my four current desktops (all different procs, video) for testing, I shouldn't have to by put on trial to explain why *I* should be allowed to reinstall. Fark that!.
I don't see why Valve just doesn't make the HL2 CD files completely 'single player' until you register/activate, and they send you a set of files (DLLs, executables, key files or all of the above. Whatever) that will make HL2 multiplayer. That can be done through Steam. This will ensure that their perpetual cash cow can continued to be milked for all it's worth by Valve.
Personally I'm rooting for the Pirates. What's your favorite team?
Anonymous Coward, the principle is very simple: parents have wildy bizarre varying ethics.
Example 1: one of my coworkers buys his stepson any Playstation or PC game he wants but restricts Internet access to a limited single hour per night for school work only -- supervised. The kid has a computer of his own but it's not networked.
Example 2: another coworker gives his kids unlimited internet access but polices the family's PC and Gamecube (stop laughing) games to those he deems acceptable. That goes for music too. Meanwhile his kids practically _live_ on YIM/AIM, talking to classmates etc. (no pr0n or pedos there I suppose...) He has set up computers in two of the three kids' rooms.
Real-world examples. Maybe most parents don't give a flying truck what games are played, but that's not universal. Either way, the principle stands: not all game PCs will have internet access. There needs to be a way to activate HL2 off-line.
To those who didn't understand your message, an example: not everybody gives internet access to their kids. So how do you activate HL2 on your kid's computer when said does not have internet access?
I'm going to start marketing cheese-scented clothes for guaranteed rescues.
Mobile phones - sure, I can't get Sprint service unless I go stand by the highway. Same problem though: the 'system' isn't ready.
There is no current high-speed, relible, global architecture with any measure of consistency that can properly support an on-demand system requiring high bandwidth.
Cable is available at my house, not at my friend's house that is five miles away, though he does have DSL. If you go another 10 miles in the same direction, another friend has cable but on a different system, but no DSL. Another 7 miles up his road(same direction still), is another friend with DSL , different company than the first, but no cable (at all). Psychotic? Yes. Real? No: reality. It's a fractured patchwork system.
Cable, DSL, ADSL, ISDN all have different bandwidths, pricing structures, TOS that make launching an on-demand console a pot-shot. Some ISPs have download caps or dynamic speed-rate caps. Download so much in an hour, and your bandwidth is capped for a certain amount of time (look up FAP. No, the other FAP. Fair Access Policy)
My point is high-speed isn't available everywhere, to everyone, with 'high-speed' being completely undefined.
Companies attempting to establish themselves in such an immature market (read: Infinium) have a high chance of problems when the foundations are shaky. I'm not investing in them, and still abhor any idea of 'renting' games when there is a monthly fee plus the need for me to also pay for high-speed access.
By the time you rent a game for three months, it may be in the bargain bin for less. Or in six months, you'll have paid more for your 'privilege' to use it than my original CD cost me. No thanks.
I still have reservations paying a monthly charge to 'rent games' regardless of how many publishers or titles they have signed on. And I own seven Porche GT3's, each a different color. But only on the Internet.
If Microsoft nixes the Xbox (are they still losing money on hardware / Xbox overall?) tomorrow, I can still drop discs in and play them next week. If I lose my broadband or (gasp!) move to an area without high-speed internet, I can still use my Xbox. My Xbox can't be remotely hacked, DOS'd, and won't need monthly security patches.
It's not time for a "on demand" content model yet.
We've got a similar thing happening at work. Certain people (read: PHB's) have this huge aversion to spending $800 on a PC (inc. OS and monitor) for use on the factory floor, when the software package(s) we use costs $7K-$10K per box.
The aversion comes from having a physical box that can be 'counted', if you are wondering. The goal is to do more with less PCs, not paying any attention to the point where too few impacts productivity. Nobody seems to notice the depreciation on hardware is surpassed by software and software maintenance costs.
Lately the buzz is for thin clients. Cheaper at only $500 per unit (inc. OS and monitor), but you can't make PHB's understand that servers and infrastructure are needed to support them.
I don't care, it's all toys I can play with.
I, for one, welcome the preload idea (with a catch), and am tired of waiting for game orders from .COMs to be filled. I've had to wait for four titles from three different sites, between three and 14 days for my PRE-order just to ship. The most egregious was the the 14-day title which needed an EMail from me to prompt it's shipment from a big site starting with A.
Walmart doesn't always get shipments on a timely basis so I don't rely upon them. The closest EBGames store is 45 miles away.
The choice is mine. Do I wait for a couple to several days to save money, blow four+ gallons of overpriced gas and spring for higer sales tax in the next counter to satisfy my craving, or pray that Walmart might come through for convenience?
My only reservation on pre-load titles is that they be delivered in an UN-COPYPROTECTED state. If I reinstall Windon't, I don't want to lose the game!
I'd meet publishers half-way though. Ship me a CD with the just the copy protected key/crap when I (pre)order, and stream me the game over the net. Then send me an 'unlock' file when the blessed release moment pops.
Anything that can get exposure for a picture should be welcomed.
+There are movies that some people wouldn't pay to watch or rent unless it's free. MPAA loses nothing.
+A free movie showing that interests the viewer into buying a DVD? MPAA makes out.
+Really crap movies that _nobody_ would ever care to rent or even waste time to watch at home, might be fun to watch with a crowd. Somebody had to buy/rent it for the guerilla theater. MPAA makes out.
I think the MPAA, like the RIAA, only looks for pure profit, and doesn't stop to think about the intangible benefits that ultimately benefit them later on.
Go read about RACES and MARS organizations. Both are based around amateur radio. Both serve a distinct purpose in emergency communications. If the State and Federal governments didn't need them, they would be disbanded.
Police, fire... they can only do so much when it comes to emergencies and emergency communications. And they can only transmit so far on their limited freqs. Ham radio has the ability to link up more people/sites over greater distances.
Think, if you can, about Ham radio being like the Reserves branch of for example, the Army. Whether you know it or not, they're called into action to save asses all the time. I know firsthand how RACES has been activated to participate in local State emergencies
Take 9/11. There were no land phones, no cell phones, no power, no internet in the immediate area. Cell towers that did operate were quickly overloaded anyway. Radio communication was the only means available during the emergency.
Amateur (Ham) Radio is a dying hobby, but it's still a method of emergency communication.
It's like CPR. Not everybody knows it, but if there is an emergency, you pray somebody around you does.
There is too little prediction there:
B.C.: I don't think this one will go over very well.
Silent Hill 4: Sounds too fabulous to be true... They might have different people working on it..
Doom 3: This one is really weird. and compensate for its...I don't know. I think maybe the sales will be disappointing.
That doesn't sound like a psychic making predictions, but a journalist who's 'got nothing' and needs to make a deadline. All of the "I think" and "I don't know" statments aren't the typical responses you get from a medium. It just smacks too much of personal opinion rather than divine inspiration to me.
I call BS. No wait, I predicted that...
TMPGEnc 3.0 XPress by Pegasys needs the usual reg key, but the product page on their site also states:
LICENSE VALIDATION is required for TMPGEnc Plug-in AC-3 and TMPGEnc 3.0 XPress. Therefore an Internet connection will be needed to validate your license from time to time.
To be able to use the Software, the license validation procedure have to be executed via Internet. The purpose of the license validation is to verify that you actually own the license. The information you have input the first time, will be sent to the license validation server, and you will be able then to use the Software.
This is a new annoying form of copy protection. For some reason, 'guilty until proven innocent' comes to mind.
I almost purchased the software for our department's video needs, for manipulating safety and training videos, but our corporate firewalls and proxy prevent it from hitting the internet. No cha-ching, this is a lost sale. Ironically it's inexpensive software. Like $60 US.
I don't like any software that needs to 'phone home', since you'll never be told what's being phoned. Real Networks RealannoyingPlayer comes to mind with the user-tracking feature that got their butts in hot water. TiVo monitors your watching habits. Windows XP phones back to the mothership on occasion.