I didn't realize that 775 was LGA instead of PGA so thanks for the tip.
As for the internal memory controller, I've always liked that decision. I'm a little surprised that the memory controller isn't significantly cheaper than the reams of L2 cache required by Intel chips to stay speedy, but hopefully that logic will become streamlined in future chips. It's interesting to see Intel "brute forcing" on that front with 4MB caches vs. 512KB caches on the AMD side (they made 1MB caches on their early X2s but will stay at 512KB from now on).
Since the vast majority of users don't upgrade their CPUs there might not be many who care about the luxury of keeping an old, albeit possibly outdated motherboard as you said. Hopefully AMD can still be taken seriously in the retail universe in lieu of the suddenly fierce and impressive competition coming from Intel once again.
Didn't you see Microsoft's E3 keynote? k3wlm0m420 will be able to design snazzy t-shirts for zombies and sell them for Gamerpoints. What mom wouldn't love doing that?
In fact, all AM3 chips will be socket compatible with AM2 motherboards
This is precisely why I recently purchased an Athlon 64 X2 instead of a Core Duo despite glowing reviews of the latter. The Duo is on Intel's ancient 478/775 sockets whereas X2 is on AMD's new AM2 socket. How many more processors can Intel jimmy into those tight little PGAs? AM2 will have legs for years to come while early adopters of Duo will be buying new motherboards with their next CPU upgrades.
This kind of authentication will only happen if and when account hijacking is caused by something other than the end user trying to cheat. Right now MMOGs can't be bothered to make life easier for cheaters. People lose accounts because they try to install third party software on top of their games. No systemwide keylogger cares about game passwords yet.
According to Guild Wars, all trades and transactions are final and cannot be undone by anyone. All account\behaviour violations result in a permenant ban that cannot be appealed. Your account is your responsibility.
I tried WLW yesterday and I really like it! For some reason the new Blogger features haven't carried over to my blog but I'll give it a whirl when it's time. Still, unless Blogger has improved their AWFUL spellchecker I'll be very happily using WLW for a long time to come.
Tags are better to facilitate searching, categories are better to steer your regular readers. Chris Pirillo uses extensive tags in his blog while Poh Huai Bin uses categories in his.
As regular readers of both I MUCH prefer categories. If I'm interested in what one of my blog heros has to say on a broad topic I have a lot more success and fun browsing through everything in a category than by trying to figure out some arbitrary keyword.
You do what you feel suits your blog content and organization best, but if it were me I'd set up categories. I might be old fashioned, though.
I've played a few MMORPGs (WoW, Guild Wars, Anarchy Online) and I've only seen one kind of keylogger exploit - the kind you install yourself. People shout in-game "Visit www.guildcheats.com for Guild Wars god mode!" and the like. It's just a case of the greedy preying on the greedy. Circle of life. If your account is stolen it's 99.9% likely that it's your own fault.
Even so, in the case of Guild Wars, which has given me better support than any piece of software in my whole life, I go out of my way to report these instances with screenshots or URLs when I find supposed cheats in torrents. The sanctity of the game is at stake when unscrupulous parties try to hijack others' accounts and lewt.
Rockstar should just put out a game that involves going to DC and gunning down any kind of activist that has ever made a big "to do" over a videogame.
Postal 2 by Running With Scissors did this. One of the first missions in the game is to collect your paycheque from work (RWS' studio replete with real staff members), but when you go there you are promptly fired. On your way out the building is rushed by a group of picketers decrying violent video games. You can whack their heads off with a shovel, kick them around the room, and pee on them.
In style, humour, and gameplay, this is a GREAT game. I highly recommend it.
Revenge fantasy is not the only reason to play this game. I may have been bullied a little in school but I want to play this game so that I can take on the persona of a new character that I will grow to like, empathise with, and defend. Rockstar is a very skillful game company and their games often have great character development, writing, game mechanics, and style. That twinge of discomfort people get from their games is a sign of how well they've done their job at creating a medium that successfully suspends disbelief. The best stories are those that tug at your heart strings, and a game like Bully that hits so close to home is a great example of a solid premise.
How many of us (at least I know I did) have that one individual who got on your nerves
In my opinion this is the wrong attitude. There are plenty of people who annoy me but I don't equate them to people I kill in a game. Video games are not constructive therapy. When I fantasize about scenarios with unpleasant people it's about defusing those situations with words since I'd never use violence in real life. Imagining your boss's face on a crushed GTA pedestrian is just masturbation.
Respect to you for mentioning Phantasmagoria. That was indeed a spooky and slow-paced game, so in the ending sequence when the protagonist can get her head split open in graphic fashion it REALLY comes as a shock. Sure it's just a rubber prosthetic, but a mix of high production values and low resolution graphics make it rather convincing. Plus there's that toggleable rape scene about halfway through, and nudity in the opening sequence.
I played that game at about 16 and lived to tell the tale. I think well-parented kids like I was can take a game about bullies.
5 minutes after the can scene you start running and you don't stop until the end. The opening hour of HL2 is very hectic and absolutely engaging. I highly recommend playing the whole game, but at the very least check out the first hour. They introduce a great variety of gameplay and story in that short span.
While you're at it, check out Valve's free tech demo level The Lost Coast. Not only does it showcase the awesome high dynamic range lighting effect used in Episode One and feature some cool level design, it also has a director's commentary mode that lets you hear insights on how effects are programmed and how AI scripting is planned. Very interesting stuff!
You can put HD content on ordinary DVDROMs but not on video DVDs. If you're playing a game there's no reason why they can't put HD video playback data on the DVD. It'll be a big file but how much video does there really need to be in a game?
However, maybe some devs will make alternative HD-DVD versions of some multi-DVD games. Switching discs mid-game is sooo Dreamcast. I don't think 360 owners will have to worry much about HD-DVD exclusive titles though. Sony is making a lower-tier PS3 as well and both companies have to be careful about alienating ground-level adopters.
Last month's issue of PC Gamer magazine (the US edition) had a great preview of Episode Two which stated some pretty nice design elements. For instance, Gordon and entourage will cover a LOT more ground - even more than in Half Life 2 - in a 4-6 hour timespan. There will also be more open forested areas which will push the Source engine in new ways, and AI will be adapted to accommodate these arenas. More friendly NPCs will work with Gordon to move him forward and keep him safe. Some NPC-heavy battles will be reminiscent of Call of Duty where good guys yell orders and observations to one another and assist Gordon in combat. There will also be at least one new enemy, gun, and vehicle!
I once read about a wireless mouse that came with a mousepad that charged it while you used it. I don't know if it ever came to pass, but that addresses my biggest concern about wireless devices - I hate changing batteries on a device that isn't portable.
Integration like the iMac isn't the best route to take either because when one thing breaks you're SOL. Plus you get no choice in components.
Stability and modularity is the way to go. I especially love products that understand the benefits and pitfalls of this, such as the Ultra X-Connect PSU which lets you unplug the cables you don't need.
There will always be a market for both kinds of devices. People who want style, ease, or no clutter will go for integrated and wireless technologies. People with specific needs will get individual wired solutions. Both are good choices depending on the needs of the user, and choice is good!
Obvious contenders such as Civilization and SimCity aside, one "high brow" game in the most traditional sense is Eidolon's Millennium Auction from 1994.
MA is an auction game featuring many classic objets d'art like the Mona Lisa, contemporary (a la 90's) knick knacks like Bill Clinton's saxiphone, and fictional pieces from the 'future' like sculptures from the far-off 2004. You assume the persona of one of several hoity toity up-and-ups and bid against your peers for the most valuable collection at the end of the day. You can speak with the others for gossip and tips, watch or read the news, and even chat with the unassuming janitor whose eye for detail may save your billionaire bacon with insightful observations.
I have no idea why but I found this game to be REALLY fun. It is pretentious through and through in style, but the game is aware of how seriously it takes itself and fleshes out every little detail in creative and informative prose, animation, dialogue, and twice-baked voice acting. Even the interface is expertly crafted as there is always a secondary quick action to zip to the desired area or screen or skip cool but lengthy animations.
The graphics are dated by today's standards but are not ugly. The surrealism of the whole truly multimedia experience melds the sights, sounds, and text into one cohesive experience that makes anyone feel like a tycoon of tomorrow with too many buckazoids to burn. Single player mode is challenging and multiplayer is a real treat. Either way, you are rewarded for taking your time, gossiping with your peers, researching news, and staying on the ball.
I think this is the kind of game that can be enjoyed by white, blue, and no collars alike. It's a little like the Monopoly of tomorrow where culturally significant baubles are collectables to be traded indescriminately like pogs. This woefully forgotten underdog would be a real hit at presidential tupperware parties if it were to be rereleased. Fortunately it's still kicking around on eBay (ironically?) and other online retailers for pennies.
Get off your high horse. ...
Now shut up, and go play some HL2.
And after he's done HL2? There aren't that many games on Steam, and maybe 1/4 of them are worthwhile. Also, if he's mobile there's a good chance he won't be able to connect to the net and many people have had trouble running Steam in offline mode.
If you searched for your SSN and then clicked a link, that website now has your SSN in its logs. Web servers usually save referrer data in its logs to see what search terms people use to find their site. I highly recommend not doing that again!!
It was only a generation or two ago that the only places a real score was worked on was RPGs
Totally untrue. Sierra and Lucasarts adventure games all had fantastic scores based on the mood and setting of scenes. Countless Nintendo games like Ducktails, Contra, Kirby's Dream Land, and and the Super Mario Brothers series had memorable and professional soundtracks. Even games for the Commodore 64 and Tandy took advantage of those systems' advanced sound and music processors.
Saying that RPGs had the only legitimate soundtracks is just an opinion, and certainly not the most common one. Even my parents would play Tetris and Dr. Mario with the music on even though they'd heard the songs a million times.
I've been looking for that Doom 3 TC for AGES! It's one of those topics that's tough to describe in a Google query. Thank you SO MUCH for that URL! I'm going to reinstall it tonight to check it out!
I'll check out the musician you host as well. He's got a tough act to follow since Doom 1 and 2 have some of my favourite soundtracks of all time, but if a certain John (Romero?) gave his thumbs up I'll definitely give it a listen.
Slashdot Mirror
Ah, sorry bout that. Programming jokes + my head = a loud whooshing sound.
I didn't realize that 775 was LGA instead of PGA so thanks for the tip.
As for the internal memory controller, I've always liked that decision. I'm a little surprised that the memory controller isn't significantly cheaper than the reams of L2 cache required by Intel chips to stay speedy, but hopefully that logic will become streamlined in future chips. It's interesting to see Intel "brute forcing" on that front with 4MB caches vs. 512KB caches on the AMD side (they made 1MB caches on their early X2s but will stay at 512KB from now on).
Since the vast majority of users don't upgrade their CPUs there might not be many who care about the luxury of keeping an old, albeit possibly outdated motherboard as you said. Hopefully AMD can still be taken seriously in the retail universe in lieu of the suddenly fierce and impressive competition coming from Intel once again.
I upgrade the part that needs upgrading. How often do you buy a new Dell?
And I don't understand why you bring up Socket 478, considering that no Core2-branded processors or even recent Pentiums use it
2 E16819111178
p u/552315/prices
I respectfully disagree:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N8
http://www.pricerunner.com/computing/components/c
Didn't you see Microsoft's E3 keynote? k3wlm0m420 will be able to design snazzy t-shirts for zombies and sell them for Gamerpoints. What mom wouldn't love doing that?
In fact, all AM3 chips will be socket compatible with AM2 motherboards
This is precisely why I recently purchased an Athlon 64 X2 instead of a Core Duo despite glowing reviews of the latter. The Duo is on Intel's ancient 478/775 sockets whereas X2 is on AMD's new AM2 socket. How many more processors can Intel jimmy into those tight little PGAs? AM2 will have legs for years to come while early adopters of Duo will be buying new motherboards with their next CPU upgrades.
This kind of authentication will only happen if and when account hijacking is caused by something other than the end user trying to cheat. Right now MMOGs can't be bothered to make life easier for cheaters. People lose accounts because they try to install third party software on top of their games. No systemwide keylogger cares about game passwords yet.
According to Guild Wars, all trades and transactions are final and cannot be undone by anyone. All account\behaviour violations result in a permenant ban that cannot be appealed. Your account is your responsibility.
I tried WLW yesterday and I really like it! For some reason the new Blogger features haven't carried over to my blog but I'll give it a whirl when it's time. Still, unless Blogger has improved their AWFUL spellchecker I'll be very happily using WLW for a long time to come.
Tags are better to facilitate searching, categories are better to steer your regular readers. Chris Pirillo uses extensive tags in his blog while Poh Huai Bin uses categories in his.
As regular readers of both I MUCH prefer categories. If I'm interested in what one of my blog heros has to say on a broad topic I have a lot more success and fun browsing through everything in a category than by trying to figure out some arbitrary keyword.
You do what you feel suits your blog content and organization best, but if it were me I'd set up categories. I might be old fashioned, though.
I've played a few MMORPGs (WoW, Guild Wars, Anarchy Online) and I've only seen one kind of keylogger exploit - the kind you install yourself. People shout in-game "Visit www.guildcheats.com for Guild Wars god mode!" and the like. It's just a case of the greedy preying on the greedy. Circle of life. If your account is stolen it's 99.9% likely that it's your own fault.
Even so, in the case of Guild Wars, which has given me better support than any piece of software in my whole life, I go out of my way to report these instances with screenshots or URLs when I find supposed cheats in torrents. The sanctity of the game is at stake when unscrupulous parties try to hijack others' accounts and lewt.
Rockstar should just put out a game that involves going to DC and gunning down any kind of activist that has ever made a big "to do" over a videogame.
Postal 2 by Running With Scissors did this. One of the first missions in the game is to collect your paycheque from work (RWS' studio replete with real staff members), but when you go there you are promptly fired. On your way out the building is rushed by a group of picketers decrying violent video games. You can whack their heads off with a shovel, kick them around the room, and pee on them.
In style, humour, and gameplay, this is a GREAT game. I highly recommend it.
Revenge fantasy is not the only reason to play this game. I may have been bullied a little in school but I want to play this game so that I can take on the persona of a new character that I will grow to like, empathise with, and defend. Rockstar is a very skillful game company and their games often have great character development, writing, game mechanics, and style. That twinge of discomfort people get from their games is a sign of how well they've done their job at creating a medium that successfully suspends disbelief. The best stories are those that tug at your heart strings, and a game like Bully that hits so close to home is a great example of a solid premise.
How many of us (at least I know I did) have that one individual who got on your nerves
In my opinion this is the wrong attitude. There are plenty of people who annoy me but I don't equate them to people I kill in a game. Video games are not constructive therapy. When I fantasize about scenarios with unpleasant people it's about defusing those situations with words since I'd never use violence in real life. Imagining your boss's face on a crushed GTA pedestrian is just masturbation.
Respect to you for mentioning Phantasmagoria. That was indeed a spooky and slow-paced game, so in the ending sequence when the protagonist can get her head split open in graphic fashion it REALLY comes as a shock. Sure it's just a rubber prosthetic, but a mix of high production values and low resolution graphics make it rather convincing. Plus there's that toggleable rape scene about halfway through, and nudity in the opening sequence.
I played that game at about 16 and lived to tell the tale. I think well-parented kids like I was can take a game about bullies.
5 minutes after the can scene you start running and you don't stop until the end. The opening hour of HL2 is very hectic and absolutely engaging. I highly recommend playing the whole game, but at the very least check out the first hour. They introduce a great variety of gameplay and story in that short span.
While you're at it, check out Valve's free tech demo level The Lost Coast. Not only does it showcase the awesome high dynamic range lighting effect used in Episode One and feature some cool level design, it also has a director's commentary mode that lets you hear insights on how effects are programmed and how AI scripting is planned. Very interesting stuff!
You can put HD content on ordinary DVDROMs but not on video DVDs. If you're playing a game there's no reason why they can't put HD video playback data on the DVD. It'll be a big file but how much video does there really need to be in a game?
However, maybe some devs will make alternative HD-DVD versions of some multi-DVD games. Switching discs mid-game is sooo Dreamcast. I don't think 360 owners will have to worry much about HD-DVD exclusive titles though. Sony is making a lower-tier PS3 as well and both companies have to be careful about alienating ground-level adopters.
** LIGHT SPOILER WARNING **
Last month's issue of PC Gamer magazine (the US edition) had a great preview of Episode Two which stated some pretty nice design elements. For instance, Gordon and entourage will cover a LOT more ground - even more than in Half Life 2 - in a 4-6 hour timespan. There will also be more open forested areas which will push the Source engine in new ways, and AI will be adapted to accommodate these arenas. More friendly NPCs will work with Gordon to move him forward and keep him safe. Some NPC-heavy battles will be reminiscent of Call of Duty where good guys yell orders and observations to one another and assist Gordon in combat. There will also be at least one new enemy, gun, and vehicle!
I once read about a wireless mouse that came with a mousepad that charged it while you used it. I don't know if it ever came to pass, but that addresses my biggest concern about wireless devices - I hate changing batteries on a device that isn't portable.
Integration like the iMac isn't the best route to take either because when one thing breaks you're SOL. Plus you get no choice in components.
Stability and modularity is the way to go. I especially love products that understand the benefits and pitfalls of this, such as the Ultra X-Connect PSU which lets you unplug the cables you don't need.
There will always be a market for both kinds of devices. People who want style, ease, or no clutter will go for integrated and wireless technologies. People with specific needs will get individual wired solutions. Both are good choices depending on the needs of the user, and choice is good!
Obvious contenders such as Civilization and SimCity aside, one "high brow" game in the most traditional sense is Eidolon's Millennium Auction from 1994.
MA is an auction game featuring many classic objets d'art like the Mona Lisa, contemporary (a la 90's) knick knacks like Bill Clinton's saxiphone, and fictional pieces from the 'future' like sculptures from the far-off 2004. You assume the persona of one of several hoity toity up-and-ups and bid against your peers for the most valuable collection at the end of the day. You can speak with the others for gossip and tips, watch or read the news, and even chat with the unassuming janitor whose eye for detail may save your billionaire bacon with insightful observations.
I have no idea why but I found this game to be REALLY fun. It is pretentious through and through in style, but the game is aware of how seriously it takes itself and fleshes out every little detail in creative and informative prose, animation, dialogue, and twice-baked voice acting. Even the interface is expertly crafted as there is always a secondary quick action to zip to the desired area or screen or skip cool but lengthy animations.
The graphics are dated by today's standards but are not ugly. The surrealism of the whole truly multimedia experience melds the sights, sounds, and text into one cohesive experience that makes anyone feel like a tycoon of tomorrow with too many buckazoids to burn. Single player mode is challenging and multiplayer is a real treat. Either way, you are rewarded for taking your time, gossiping with your peers, researching news, and staying on the ball.
I think this is the kind of game that can be enjoyed by white, blue, and no collars alike. It's a little like the Monopoly of tomorrow where culturally significant baubles are collectables to be traded indescriminately like pogs. This woefully forgotten underdog would be a real hit at presidential tupperware parties if it were to be rereleased. Fortunately it's still kicking around on eBay (ironically?) and other online retailers for pennies.
Get off your high horse.
...
Now shut up, and go play some HL2.
And after he's done HL2? There aren't that many games on Steam, and maybe 1/4 of them are worthwhile. Also, if he's mobile there's a good chance he won't be able to connect to the net and many people have had trouble running Steam in offline mode.
Who's on the high horse here exactly?
If you searched for your SSN and then clicked a link, that website now has your SSN in its logs. Web servers usually save referrer data in its logs to see what search terms people use to find their site. I highly recommend not doing that again!!
Yes, but it's $40 for cheap seats in Toronto, plus $10 service charge. That's a hard sell to arrange a group to go with.
Plus, even if you want to go, others may not. This is the concert's second try - its last tour was cancelled due to lack of advance ticket sales.
It was only a generation or two ago that the only places a real score was worked on was RPGs
Totally untrue. Sierra and Lucasarts adventure games all had fantastic scores based on the mood and setting of scenes. Countless Nintendo games like Ducktails, Contra, Kirby's Dream Land, and and the Super Mario Brothers series had memorable and professional soundtracks. Even games for the Commodore 64 and Tandy took advantage of those systems' advanced sound and music processors.
Saying that RPGs had the only legitimate soundtracks is just an opinion, and certainly not the most common one. Even my parents would play Tetris and Dr. Mario with the music on even though they'd heard the songs a million times.
That string of words just never occured to me. Searching for Doom within Doom drove me up the wall.
DUDE!!!
I've been looking for that Doom 3 TC for AGES! It's one of those topics that's tough to describe in a Google query. Thank you SO MUCH for that URL! I'm going to reinstall it tonight to check it out!
I'll check out the musician you host as well. He's got a tough act to follow since Doom 1 and 2 have some of my favourite soundtracks of all time, but if a certain John (Romero?) gave his thumbs up I'll definitely give it a listen.