Hmm... as of this post, there are about 3.5 million people on Kazaa.
Way to go RIAA! At this rate, you'll be able to sue everyone just in time for the sun to explode!
Yeah ok, sorry for the technicality. Humongous got bought out by Infogrames, which also bought out Atari before switching to that brand name. Or whatever. Stupid publisher politics. I just like games.:D
Hey, well thanks for the info. I've been out of touch with the TA universe for quite a while now, so I hadn't heard of Chris actually getting the green light on that project:O
Perhaps the only dissapointing part is that it probably won't be called TA2. I think Humongous Ent. still owns the rights to that name:(
But thanks for the heads up. Definitly gonna be keeping an eye peeled in '05.:)
You're thinking of Chris Taylor. He was the genious behind TA (and TA:CC) before Cavedog folded. Now he's working at Gas Powered Games, creators of Dungeon Siege.
Rumor has it, Chris would *love* to create the spiritual successor to TA, but that it just isn't his decision to make.:(
WTF?
MY fundamental misunderstanding? Where in my post did I write a detailed explanation of evolutionary principals?? Really, please point it out because I must have typed it while I was sleeping or something.
And while we're on the topic, would you mind highlighting the section of my article where I claimed Microsofts business model will be viable well into the future? Because i'm not seeing ANY of those things. Ironic that you should mention "reading the small print" when you yourself are apparently incapable of reading regular sized text. I could photocopy my post and blow it up for you if you'd like. Is poster size ok?
What I said (in a nutshell) is that the current chaotic evolution of Linux is never going to become mainstream. To appease the masses you need to set standards and create rules for your product. You need focus towards a common set of goals before you can make timely progress. Fact is, not many people are capable - nevermind willing - to dig through the endless libraries of 'nix crap to find what they need. But since rules and standards are against the very principals of open source, I can't see that happening. Got it?
Evolution is wonderful! ...if you have a few million years to spare.
If OSS ever wants to become a viable alternative for the "average" user, it isn't going to be by sitting around just waiting for monkey #483,373,029,309,029 to magically code the perfect desktop distro. Even Windows "power users" (like myself) have a hard time switching. I despise Microsoft, but will I switch to Linux? Nope. You couldn't get me to wade into that mess if you filled it full of Playboy bunnies. All the perks to becoming a Linux geek are outweighed by the headaches. Its just simpler, easier, and faster for me to deal with Windows. Yeah, I know its a piece of shit. But at least its a coherent piece of shit. Its just easier for me to live with Windows than try to learn to live with Linux. I don't feel like gambling on 'nix. I don't know how to stack the deck, and in the midst of becoming a graphical designer, I don't have the time to learn. So if I can't find a good reason to switch, what possible hope in hell does a Linux distro have of winding up on my parents computer?! The don't even know Linux exists, never mind finding a good reason to switch! The fact is that evolution, as well as the concept works for creating the "best" anything, is terribly slow. And patience, despite what you may have heard, is NOT a virtue in the 21st century. People want their stuff NOW. They expect it to work the first time and every time. Linux can't deliver that. A dictatorship (Windows) on the other hand, may not wind up with a very good end result, and it may only work 90% of the time, but at least it's available instantly and progresses relatively quickly. Striking a compromise (eg: Democracy) might be a way to speed the OSS "evolution" process up without sacrificing too much creativity. Unfortunatly, I can't imagine the Linux world agreeing on any sort of standards (see: rivalry argument), but it certainly would help. Infact, its probably your only shot at the Desktop market.
So until open source learns to act as a network instead of a puddle of primordial goo, I honestly can't see it becoming a mainstream anything. Sorry guys, but your geek revolution just isn't gonna cut it at this rate.
The dissapointing part is that Ion Storm IS tried and true! Not Ion Storm itself, but Warren Spector and his crew. Warren is known for making some of the BEST PC games ever:
Dues Ex (original)
Thief series
System Shock 1 & 2
Wing Commander series
and even several Ultima games.
The man is a fucking genious when it comes to game design, but this DX2 crap has me wondering if he took a sharp blow to the head recently. That, or what kind of million dollar paycheck he sold out to in exchange for making a console game (and then porting it to the PC just for a few hundred extra sales).
Thats why its so frustrating to watch:(
Well at least its good to see not ALL of the Gamespy staff have their head shoved up Ion Storm's collective ass. Cuz that demo was shit. Ion Storm can go fuck themselves if they think this PC gamer is shelling out my hard earned cash for a fucking glorified XBox game.
Yeah, but these are very, very limited games. 256k isn't exactly room for an epic RPG, after all.
I think this is just a good, if small, example of the power of user created content. Lets not forget that there are bigger fish out there too. Do I even need to say the words?
Counter Strike.
Day of Defeat.
Tactical Ops.
Three mods that have gone retail quite successfully. And there are more on the horizon (We'll see at least one, if not more, mods turn retail from Epics "Make something Unreal" contest. Guaranteed.)
I think this could actually become a focal point (of sorts) for games. Of course, its all experimental right now, but that doesn't mean it won't ever happen. We DO have distributed computing and distributed programming... so whats wrong with distributed game development?:)
...in user-only generated content? Developers could just create (or license) and engine, toss in some templates and whatnot, then release it to the public and have a good half dozen marketable games within a year or two. And then... PROFIT!! Ok, not really.:P
But seriously, it's an interesting idea. That Second Life (www.secondlife.com) game is pretty damn close to making that formula a reality. Who woulda thunk that the 'infinite number of monkeys on an infinite number of typwriters' idea would really work one day?!
I think this is bang on. Consoles are gonna wind up just like PC's. Patches, when everyone (!) has an internet connection. Hardware problems as things become more complex, powerful, and diverse (and, as the ever competative PC market invades the console arena with low cost, high volume parts to push out all that expensive, 100% compatible 'specialty' hardware). Genre stagnation (Street Fighter 43 Hyper-Turbo-Mega-Super-Gamma-Special-Edition, anyone?). All the signs are there.
I think its only a matter of time before consoles start to meld into every other piece of technology in your house. We'll start to see (more) keyboards and mice... web browsers and OS'. Consoles will attempt to emulate every conceivable function of the PC, and in doing so the two will merge and inherit eachothers pros and cons. And by then we'll see all other aspects of media (TV, music, etc) loaded onto more dynamic hardware that can interface with your PC. And after that its only a matter of time before your whole friggin house is wired together. And probably your car, clothes, and damned near everything you own. It'll all blend together in some strange mix of functionality and connectivity.
It'll all come together in the end. People will still need their preconfigured hardware, their idiot boxes, and their tech support. Games will thrive no matter what we use to play them. And the us/.'ers will just turn to more important issues - like how to overclock your house without melting all the food in the fridge.
Wow, good point! The automobile industry will really have their work cut out for them!
What about things like the Layshaft. We wouldn't want to imply that the shaft is somehow unintelligent, now would we? (In a manual transmission, the layshaft is the part of the transmission directly connected to the wheels, which also meshes with the actual forward gears.)
Or how about Dog Teeth? Since they aren't actually small dogs, this term seems to imply that these poor, oppressed teeth are somehow slovenly. For shame! (Dog teeth are what lock the gears together when they're fully engaged)
But problems go much farther than transmissions! Turbochargers have wastegates to bypass excess exhaust, yet that exhaust could have been put to work work, were it not for that opressive valve. Even such basic things as the control arms used for steering your car could be interpreted as offensive! Perhaps they should be named to Direction-Suggestion arms instead?
BTW, you are correct: Only manual transmissions have master and slave clutch cylinders. All cars with brakes (hopefully all of them...) have something similar to master and slave cylinders though.
As for your troubles, well, a hydraulic clutch operates on the same principle as your brakes do (hydraulics to increase pressure). So when your master or slave cyl's give out, you aren't producing enough force to disengage the clutch. Thus, shifting gears becomes somewhat of a challenge:)
I had to replace the battery in my car! I was shocked that the manufacturer wouldn't provide a battery that can't be recharged forever!
Oh, and the alternator belt that ran the recharging system corroded and had to be replaced as well! Time to make a whiny movie about it!
The difference being, you don't have to mail your car back to Detroit. Or Japan.
What kind of postage do you need for a 3500lb envelope anyways? Better start doing some tounge stretches!
This game might be really neat with a console controller. As is, mouse and keyboard don't really fit it.
My sentiments exactly. I think DX2 will be a good XBox game, but a mediochre PC game at best. And my hopes for Thief 3 have been dashed as well. Same engine, same AI, same consol-ish simplicity? No thanks.
Slashdot Mirror
How about: you've not demonstrated causality!
;)
Thats ironic, because neither have all the "Videogames are teh bad!" people
Hmm... as of this post, there are about 3.5 million people on Kazaa. Way to go RIAA! At this rate, you'll be able to sue everyone just in time for the sun to explode!
Yeah ok, sorry for the technicality. Humongous got bought out by Infogrames, which also bought out Atari before switching to that brand name. Or whatever. Stupid publisher politics. I just like games. :D
Hey, well thanks for the info. I've been out of touch with the TA universe for quite a while now, so I hadn't heard of Chris actually getting the green light on that project :O :( :)
Perhaps the only dissapointing part is that it probably won't be called TA2. I think Humongous Ent. still owns the rights to that name
But thanks for the heads up. Definitly gonna be keeping an eye peeled in '05.
You're thinking of Chris Taylor. He was the genious behind TA (and TA:CC) before Cavedog folded. Now he's working at Gas Powered Games, creators of Dungeon Siege. :(
Rumor has it, Chris would *love* to create the spiritual successor to TA, but that it just isn't his decision to make.
RIP, TA. Best damn RTS ever.
WTF?
MY fundamental misunderstanding? Where in my post did I write a detailed explanation of evolutionary principals?? Really, please point it out because I must have typed it while I was sleeping or something.
And while we're on the topic, would you mind highlighting the section of my article where I claimed Microsofts business model will be viable well into the future? Because i'm not seeing ANY of those things. Ironic that you should mention "reading the small print" when you yourself are apparently incapable of reading regular sized text. I could photocopy my post and blow it up for you if you'd like. Is poster size ok?
What I said (in a nutshell) is that the current chaotic evolution of Linux is never going to become mainstream. To appease the masses you need to set standards and create rules for your product. You need focus towards a common set of goals before you can make timely progress. Fact is, not many people are capable - nevermind willing - to dig through the endless libraries of 'nix crap to find what they need. But since rules and standards are against the very principals of open source, I can't see that happening. Got it?
Evolution is wonderful!
...if you have a few million years to spare.
If OSS ever wants to become a viable alternative for the "average" user, it isn't going to be by sitting around just waiting for monkey #483,373,029,309,029 to magically code the perfect desktop distro. Even Windows "power users" (like myself) have a hard time switching. I despise Microsoft, but will I switch to Linux? Nope. You couldn't get me to wade into that mess if you filled it full of Playboy bunnies. All the perks to becoming a Linux geek are outweighed by the headaches. Its just simpler, easier, and faster for me to deal with Windows. Yeah, I know its a piece of shit. But at least its a coherent piece of shit. Its just easier for me to live with Windows than try to learn to live with Linux. I don't feel like gambling on 'nix. I don't know how to stack the deck, and in the midst of becoming a graphical designer, I don't have the time to learn. So if I can't find a good reason to switch, what possible hope in hell does a Linux distro have of winding up on my parents computer?! The don't even know Linux exists, never mind finding a good reason to switch! The fact is that evolution, as well as the concept works for creating the "best" anything, is terribly slow. And patience, despite what you may have heard, is NOT a virtue in the 21st century. People want their stuff NOW. They expect it to work the first time and every time. Linux can't deliver that. A dictatorship (Windows) on the other hand, may not wind up with a very good end result, and it may only work 90% of the time, but at least it's available instantly and progresses relatively quickly. Striking a compromise (eg: Democracy) might be a way to speed the OSS "evolution" process up without sacrificing too much creativity. Unfortunatly, I can't imagine the Linux world agreeing on any sort of standards (see: rivalry argument), but it certainly would help. Infact, its probably your only shot at the Desktop market.
So until open source learns to act as a network instead of a puddle of primordial goo, I honestly can't see it becoming a mainstream anything. Sorry guys, but your geek revolution just isn't gonna cut it at this rate.
Whaddya mean, "count things" ? :P
And why are you mucking with javascript when Linky is so much simpler?
According to my Linky tool, the main page (well, MY main page anyways) has 218 links, at the moment.
;)
And 35 pictures.
Just incase you were wondering
The dissapointing part is that Ion Storm IS tried and true! Not Ion Storm itself, but Warren Spector and his crew. Warren is known for making some of the BEST PC games ever: Dues Ex (original) Thief series System Shock 1 & 2 Wing Commander series and even several Ultima games. The man is a fucking genious when it comes to game design, but this DX2 crap has me wondering if he took a sharp blow to the head recently. That, or what kind of million dollar paycheck he sold out to in exchange for making a console game (and then porting it to the PC just for a few hundred extra sales). Thats why its so frustrating to watch :(
Well at least its good to see not ALL of the Gamespy staff have their head shoved up Ion Storm's collective ass. Cuz that demo was shit. Ion Storm can go fuck themselves if they think this PC gamer is shelling out my hard earned cash for a fucking glorified XBox game.
Yeah, but these are very, very limited games. 256k isn't exactly room for an epic RPG, after all. I think this is just a good, if small, example of the power of user created content. Lets not forget that there are bigger fish out there too. Do I even need to say the words? :)
Counter Strike.
Day of Defeat.
Tactical Ops.
Three mods that have gone retail quite successfully. And there are more on the horizon (We'll see at least one, if not more, mods turn retail from Epics "Make something Unreal" contest. Guaranteed.)
I think this could actually become a focal point (of sorts) for games. Of course, its all experimental right now, but that doesn't mean it won't ever happen. We DO have distributed computing and distributed programming... so whats wrong with distributed game development?
Just something to ponder.
...in user-only generated content? Developers could just create (or license) and engine, toss in some templates and whatnot, then release it to the public and have a good half dozen marketable games within a year or two. :P
And then... PROFIT!!
Ok, not really.
But seriously, it's an interesting idea. That Second Life (www.secondlife.com) game is pretty damn close to making that formula a reality. Who woulda thunk that the 'infinite number of monkeys on an infinite number of typwriters' idea would really work one day?!
I think this is bang on. Consoles are gonna wind up just like PC's. Patches, when everyone (!) has an internet connection. Hardware problems as things become more complex, powerful, and diverse (and, as the ever competative PC market invades the console arena with low cost, high volume parts to push out all that expensive, 100% compatible 'specialty' hardware). Genre stagnation (Street Fighter 43 Hyper-Turbo-Mega-Super-Gamma-Special-Edition, anyone?). All the signs are there.
/.'ers will just turn to more important issues - like how to overclock your house without melting all the food in the fridge.
I think its only a matter of time before consoles start to meld into every other piece of technology in your house. We'll start to see (more) keyboards and mice... web browsers and OS'. Consoles will attempt to emulate every conceivable function of the PC, and in doing so the two will merge and inherit eachothers pros and cons. And by then we'll see all other aspects of media (TV, music, etc) loaded onto more dynamic hardware that can interface with your PC. And after that its only a matter of time before your whole friggin house is wired together. And probably your car, clothes, and damned near everything you own. It'll all blend together in some strange mix of functionality and connectivity.
It'll all come together in the end. People will still need their preconfigured hardware, their idiot boxes, and their tech support. Games will thrive no matter what we use to play them.
And the us
Wow, good point! The automobile industry will really have their work cut out for them!
:)
What about things like the Layshaft. We wouldn't want to imply that the shaft is somehow unintelligent, now would we? (In a manual transmission, the layshaft is the part of the transmission directly connected to the wheels, which also meshes with the actual forward gears.)
Or how about Dog Teeth? Since they aren't actually small dogs, this term seems to imply that these poor, oppressed teeth are somehow slovenly. For shame! (Dog teeth are what lock the gears together when they're fully engaged)
But problems go much farther than transmissions! Turbochargers have wastegates to bypass excess exhaust, yet that exhaust could have been put to work work, were it not for that opressive valve. Even such basic things as the control arms used for steering your car could be interpreted as offensive! Perhaps they should be named to Direction-Suggestion arms instead?
BTW, you are correct: Only manual transmissions have master and slave clutch cylinders. All cars with brakes (hopefully all of them...) have something similar to master and slave cylinders though.
As for your troubles, well, a hydraulic clutch operates on the same principle as your brakes do (hydraulics to increase pressure). So when your master or slave cyl's give out, you aren't producing enough force to disengage the clutch. Thus, shifting gears becomes somewhat of a challenge
I had to replace the battery in my car! I was shocked that the manufacturer wouldn't provide a battery that can't be recharged forever! Oh, and the alternator belt that ran the recharging system corroded and had to be replaced as well! Time to make a whiny movie about it! The difference being, you don't have to mail your car back to Detroit. Or Japan. What kind of postage do you need for a 3500lb envelope anyways? Better start doing some tounge stretches!
This game might be really neat with a console controller. As is, mouse and keyboard don't really fit it. My sentiments exactly. I think DX2 will be a good XBox game, but a mediochre PC game at best. And my hopes for Thief 3 have been dashed as well. Same engine, same AI, same consol-ish simplicity? No thanks.