In my opinion, modern remakes of classic games seldom capture the magic of the originals. Instead, they exploit our nostalgia for marketing/licensing purposes, and often piss on the legacy of the original game.
Nintendo is one of the main offenders here, shoe-horning a Mario-themed game into every possible genre without regard for the gameplay of the original Super Mario. Personally, I can't stand any 3D Mario platformer (not to mention any Mario sports and puzzle games). Super Mario 64 may be a decent game in its own right -- but it's not really Super Mario as far as I'm concerned.
I don't even think Super Mario World (considered by some to be the best Mario game) recaptured the awesomeness of the original Super Mario.
The key to many classic games is simplicity. Adding tons of slick graphics, new moves and power-ups, and worst of all, 3D perspective doesn't improve game play, it ruins the perfect balance achieved by the original.
On another note, a GTA 1/2/3 pack for the GBA would be super sweet (with GTA 3 made to play in the top-down 2D mode of the originals).
If for some reason you are forced to be living under an assumed identity, have another complete identity ready on a CD-R in your car or suitcase/backpack.
Yes, I will see to this as soon as I bury those barrels of water and diesel out in the desert, stockpile 10,000 rounds of anti-aircraft ammo, and prep my 10 year supply of tinfoil berets.:-)
Even back in the day, it was obvious to this youngster that if you wanted decent arcade conversions, you needed a ColecoVision. I mean, for arcade games that were brought to the two systems, compare the quality, e.g.
-Donkey Kong -Frogger -Q*Bert -Burgertime.
These were all huge titles that looked and played great on Coleco. However, the 2600 renditions are a sad thing to behold. Check out these screen shots of 2600 Burgertime vs. Coleco Burgertime.
I use a mozilla-based browser with the ad blocking userContent.css that can be found here. I find that also helps.
The css file blocks content from being displayed. In other words, the unwanted content still gets downloaded. Thus, these ads remains a problem for modem users and pay-by-megabyte users.
The UK has always been the frontrunner for the "First To Develop Oppressive Panopticon" raspberry award. The network of public CC cameras there is mind-boggling.
It's like the waning of the Roman Empire: Our rulers hope that as long as we're distracted by exciting spectacles, we won't cotton on to the nation's slide into decay and insignificance. Instead of gaping at the dog and pony show, I wish people would think about the very real problems affecting us right now. There are a lot of important things that can be done to directly improve our quality of life.
No, bolstering education and healthcare, for instance, aren't as exciting as flying a rocket ship to Mars. But health and education are far more important to our survival (and our preeminence) than any ridiculous scifi fantasy. Ditto the environment, the criminal justice system, transportation infrastructure, etc., etc.
Seriously, I wish iPod would add Ogg Vorbis support, so that every discussion of digital music on Slashdot would not degenerate into a "What about Ogg?" circle jerk.
There are players that support Ogg Vorbis, if that is all you care about (see above). Please buy one and stop bothering us.
Re:Would they consider ogg vorbis and or flac?
on
No WMA for HP iPod
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
The answer to this question, time and time again that it is posed on Slashdot, is a resounding "No." It makes no sense economically for Apple to support those formats, despite whatever you hardcore Ogg Vorbis fans believe, despite that you've encoded your 1200 cds to Vorbis, etc. etc.
Rio Karma plays Vorbis and FLAC, so if you want those formats, support that player (and quit whining about iPod).
Wouldn't any real criminal run his VoIP through a VPN or some other encrypted tunnel, thus making difficult for the Feds to know that it is a VoIP session, let alone decrypt it and understand it?
Of course, that's how it would work theoretically. However, even the most sophisticated enemies of the US government will occasionally slip-up and create soft openings that can be targeted. For instance, IIRC Nazi and Soviet agents both at some point mistakenly reused their one-time pads (or some such), giving the US vital information to be used to attack their encrypted communications.
That is why the government thinks it necessary to tap VoIP -- because one slip-up on the part of their enemies could bring down the whole house of cards.
Unfortunately, the postmodernists have attempted to apply their idiotic claptrap to science, claiming the existence of such absurd concepts as "alternative scientific truths". What they miss is that science is empirical, and therefore deals with observed characteristics of the real world (i.e., "facts").
There is such a thing as an overcommitment to the validity of truth in science -- i.e. so that existing scientific theory becomes ossified and dogmatic, leading to ad hoc theoretical additions, rather than the continual scrutiny of theory needed for advancement.
Also, philosophic enquiry into scientific epistemology (how science "knows" things) -- e.g. why we identify theory with truth when theory proves to be tenuous, why competing theories are developed using identical observation, etc. -- is interesting and beneficial.
What LEGO needs to do is reposition itself to compete in today's marketplace. Currently, the best strategy for doing so is:
(a) Fire anyone who produces anything and dump your whole production line. (b) Hire a large team of lawyers to work on contingency. (c) Shore up your IP. (d) Sue anything that moves. (e) ??? (f) Profit.
OR
(a) Launch a branded online music store with excessive DRM and no price advantage. (b) Compete directly with Apple. (c) Hide under a pile of coats and hope everything works out for the best.
Stop the madness. Does gaming have to drive up the mean price of every category of hardware in existence? Soon I won't be able to afford a fridge or a dishwasher because of kids and their damn games!:-)
USB 2.0 is backward compatible, so it should work. But I dunno if you want to transfer 4 GB over a USB 1.1 connection. Anyway, I don't think USB 2.0 or Firewire expansion cards are very expensive.
Slashdot Mirror
Here's a question: Could Jesus design a desktop so cluttered that even He couldn't use it?
I would like to see Jesus' desktop; I bet he uses OS X.
In my opinion, modern remakes of classic games seldom capture the magic of the originals. Instead, they exploit our nostalgia for marketing/licensing purposes, and often piss on the legacy of the original game.
Nintendo is one of the main offenders here, shoe-horning a Mario-themed game into every possible genre without regard for the gameplay of the original Super Mario. Personally, I can't stand any 3D Mario platformer (not to mention any Mario sports and puzzle games). Super Mario 64 may be a decent game in its own right -- but it's not really Super Mario as far as I'm concerned.
I don't even think Super Mario World (considered by some to be the best Mario game) recaptured the awesomeness of the original Super Mario.
The key to many classic games is simplicity. Adding tons of slick graphics, new moves and power-ups, and worst of all, 3D perspective doesn't improve game play, it ruins the perfect balance achieved by the original.
On another note, a GTA 1/2/3 pack for the GBA would be super sweet (with GTA 3 made to play in the top-down 2D mode of the originals).
If for some reason you are forced to be living under an assumed identity, have another complete identity ready on a CD-R in your car or suitcase/backpack.
:-)
Yes, I will see to this as soon as I bury those barrels of water and diesel out in the desert, stockpile 10,000 rounds of anti-aircraft ammo, and prep my 10 year supply of tinfoil berets.
Further to my last post, check out these screenshots.
Arcade Zaxxon
ColecoVision Zaxxon
Atari 2600 Zaxxon
Even back in the day, it was obvious to this youngster that if you wanted decent arcade conversions, you needed a ColecoVision. I mean, for arcade games that were brought to the two systems, compare the quality, e.g.
-Donkey Kong
-Frogger
-Q*Bert
-Burgertime.
These were all huge titles that looked and played great on Coleco. However, the 2600 renditions are a sad thing to behold. Check out these screen shots of 2600 Burgertime vs. Coleco Burgertime.
I use a mozilla-based browser with the ad blocking userContent.css that can be found here. I find that also helps.
The css file blocks content from being displayed. In other words, the unwanted content still gets downloaded. Thus, these ads remains a problem for modem users and pay-by-megabyte users.
Oh great, another standards war. That always works well for us users.
When the police come round for me and start torturing me, then I'll start complaining about fascism.
But don't you see, by then it will be too late.
P.S. GA->ME 2003
To followup my own posting, here is a newspaper article describing the public surveillance situation in Britain as it stands.
The UK has always been the frontrunner for the "First To Develop Oppressive Panopticon" raspberry award. The network of public CC cameras there is mind-boggling.
It's like the waning of the Roman Empire: Our rulers hope that as long as we're distracted by exciting spectacles, we won't cotton on to the nation's slide into decay and insignificance. Instead of gaping at the dog and pony show, I wish people would think about the very real problems affecting us right now. There are a lot of important things that can be done to directly improve our quality of life.
No, bolstering education and healthcare, for instance, aren't as exciting as flying a rocket ship to Mars. But health and education are far more important to our survival (and our preeminence) than any ridiculous scifi fantasy. Ditto the environment, the criminal justice system, transportation infrastructure, etc., etc.
Using a Speedpass to buy McDonalds... is probably a sign that you're eating too much McDonalds!
ogg? that's all I care (in addition to mp3)
Seriously, I wish iPod would add Ogg Vorbis support, so that every discussion of digital music on Slashdot would not degenerate into a "What about Ogg?" circle jerk.
There are players that support Ogg Vorbis, if that is all you care about (see above). Please buy one and stop bothering us.
The answer to this question, time and time again that it is posed on Slashdot, is a resounding "No." It makes no sense economically for Apple to support those formats, despite whatever you hardcore Ogg Vorbis fans believe, despite that you've encoded your 1200 cds to Vorbis, etc. etc.
Rio Karma plays Vorbis and FLAC, so if you want those formats, support that player (and quit whining about iPod).
I think it's been done.
I would love to see an mpeg of that! Links anyone? Please!
If you beat someone in Magic: The Gathering, you should be able to take their deck and tear is up in front of them. That would be killer. :-)
The Rio Karma supports Ogg Vorbis, so please quit your pissing and moaning.
OGG VORBIS rants in 5... 4... 3... 2...
-This is your bin-sorted video card.
-This is your overclocked bin-sorted video card catastrophically failing.
Any questions?
Wouldn't any real criminal run his VoIP through a VPN or some other encrypted tunnel, thus making difficult for the Feds to know that it is a VoIP session, let alone decrypt it and understand it?
Of course, that's how it would work theoretically. However, even the most sophisticated enemies of the US government will occasionally slip-up and create soft openings that can be targeted. For instance, IIRC Nazi and Soviet agents both at some point mistakenly reused their one-time pads (or some such), giving the US vital information to be used to attack their encrypted communications.
That is why the government thinks it necessary to tap VoIP -- because one slip-up on the part of their enemies could bring down the whole house of cards.
Unfortunately, the postmodernists have attempted to apply their idiotic claptrap to science, claiming the existence of such absurd concepts as "alternative scientific truths". What they miss is that science is empirical, and therefore deals with observed characteristics of the real world (i.e., "facts").
There is such a thing as an overcommitment to the validity of truth in science -- i.e. so that existing scientific theory becomes ossified and dogmatic, leading to ad hoc theoretical additions, rather than the continual scrutiny of theory needed for advancement.
Also, philosophic enquiry into scientific epistemology (how science "knows" things) -- e.g. why we identify theory with truth when theory proves to be tenuous, why competing theories are developed using identical observation, etc. -- is interesting and beneficial.
What LEGO needs to do is reposition itself to compete in today's marketplace. Currently, the best strategy for doing so is:
(a) Fire anyone who produces anything and dump your whole production line. (b) Hire a large team of lawyers to work on contingency. (c) Shore up your IP. (d) Sue anything that moves. (e) ??? (f) Profit.
OR
(a) Launch a branded online music store with excessive DRM and no price advantage. (b) Compete directly with Apple. (c) Hide under a pile of coats and hope everything works out for the best.
Stop the madness. Does gaming have to drive up the mean price of every category of hardware in existence? Soon I won't be able to afford a fridge or a dishwasher because of kids and their damn games! :-)
USB 2.0 is backward compatible, so it should work. But I dunno if you want to transfer 4 GB over a USB 1.1 connection. Anyway, I don't think USB 2.0 or Firewire expansion cards are very expensive.