The patent office typically is a rubber stamp to patents and puts the burden on the judicial system to determine if patents are valid. Reading the article the courts in this case didn't allow evidence on prior art, so the jurors were forced to accept the patent as valid and rule on infringment.
Maybe there should be an open patent review system. The patent office can post patent applications for the public to review for 30days, and allow inputs on prior art. Most patents would just go through with no problems, obviously flawed ones would get struck down without going through the courts.
Hmmmm maybe I should patent that idea: A system on the internet to review documents that allows input from users during a given amount of time
Homer: "Look at these low, low prices on famous brand name electronics!"
Bart: "Don't be a sap, Dad. These are just crappy knock-offs."
Homer: "I know a genuine Panaphonics when I see it. And look, there's Magnetbox, and Sorny!"
you can in a world with sarcasm;) I cancelled my account a few months ago, i logged in to check vehicles and got about 10 minutes worth of interest out of them... weee!
No way, they have a strong player base, they even reactivated cancelled accounts and had free account givaways to friends so that they could rub in all the fun of the game in those people's faces.
Actually Everquest is one game that kinda got things right. Yes there is inflation, but there also is a high rate obsolescence (which most people ignore).
This infact drives prices for a specific item DOWN over time. For example an "Executioner's Axe" sold 4 years ago for 5000 gold to a player, today the same item sells for 500 gold. Why? Because there are better items out there.
What does this do? It gives new players purchasing power and helps them get into the game faster. While old time players have had enough time to accumulate enough gold to buy the brand new 300k uber swords.
And for anybody who thinks credit duping isn't a problem heres a patch note from SWG:
January 16th Update Notes
01/22/2004 08:48 AM
Fixed a credit dupe. We banned several accounts as a result of this fix. SOE works to maintain a fun, fair game for everyone and cheating will not be tolerated.
If your code is open then somebody will bring the game out to market before you are finished. Some people could care less about quality, just look at HL2 being sold in Russia.
MMO type games are very powerful tools in promoting cooperative operations and excution of tactics. Just look at a high level Everquest raid - 20-40 people all with a specific job, and if somebody does not execute their job perfectly everybody fails. Or look at a really good Counterstrike team, all moving, aiming, and following orders with precision. These people are thousands of miles apart working in sync following commands and doing their specific task to within a few seconds. Perfect execution as a team and following orders are key to military success and these type of games are excellent at promoting these things.
Not meaning to troll,
I find it interesting that slashdotters are against RIAA for trying to defend their copyright claims for pirated music, but support somebody claiming that the copyright on their source code was violated.
The difficulty in programming the PS2 VUs has prevented the port of Strongbad's Vector Graphics Based Game. Strongbadzone
Maybe one day technology will catch up. Strongbad E-mail "Video Games"
Beta should start when the game is usable enough to get customer input. This means that alot of content can be missing, the game can crash, there can be lots of nagging problems, but there is enough there for people to get the feel and respond.
Most people who play games, especially MMORPG are not technically savvy, you want to get input from many different people on things like UI and general mechanics of playing because later on it is more difficult to fix those problems. Once those fundamentals are done then beta can expand to address things like content, balancing, etc.
Beta should end, when the game is stable (at least stay up 1 week straight) and there is sufficient content for the majority of players. Unfortunately we live in a world where money is a driving factor, MMO games are complex and expensive so delays are very detrimental. SWG is one example of a game launched early (hmmm just before Q2 ended coincidence?) Even though the majority of the beta community protested. Not to mention the pain of AO
Every year we see technology like this come out (devices that turn any flat surface into a speaker, turn glass tables into speakers) but most of the time the sound isn't great.
I have a Panasonic Panasonic SJ-MJ57 Minidisc player that comes with clear speakers, even cool blue LEDs that light them up. The downside is that the sound is pretty bad.
How quickly we forget the "Kool-aid" and "Avoid the Noid" games, Darkened Skye was actually cute and less intrusive than those.
Product placement should be an artistic design decision from the developer to add realism to the game or allow the player to better relate to the game world
The best example of product placement is "Crazy Taxi" its there, its blatant, but it blends into the gameplay. Also the licenses in Grand Turismo 3 are excellent. You're not driving around in a XRL-T4 Racer, you drive around in a modified 400hp Civic. Its something you can relate to and think, cool maybe i can get me one of those to drive around in.
The greatest emotional response I have ever gotten out of a game, was playing Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube. Anybody who has played the game will know how the insanity system not only affects the character but the player.
After playing a few hours I go to save and end up deleting the file. Ooops wrong button. Then I see all the save games in my directory get deleted. SON OF A ******. Controller flies out of my hand, then the screen flashes back to reality... the save games are there, darn machine tricked me!
Jobs being shifted overseas is nothing new, most electronics manufacturing is not done in US after the 80s.
This is the same cycle as before, US innovates... boom cycle... market saturates... recession... the rest of the world catches up in expertise... jobs are shipped to cut costs. Next area for development biotech!
The US portable audio market is dominated by HDD/Flash players, MD has never become a big player in the US except for audiophiles and digital recording.
It is a big thing in Japan, I was there recently and MD is the primary portable audio hardware. From Sony's report they are expecting to ship 8M units of the physcal year almost half going to the Japanese market. So before you dismiss MD as an also ran, there is a large market.
For DRM issues, the format does not allow second generation digital copies to be made, that means that you can't copy music digitally from MD. Its not actually that big of a deal since most MD recorders/players do not have digital outputs, then again neither do most HDD/flash based players.
I enjoyed SWG for awhile, I think the hardcore type player especially veterans of previous MMORPGs, found the game lacked any high level content.
The holocron Xmas gifts was a dead giveaway (pardon the pun) since the only interesting thing left for many people is unlocking the Force Sensitive slot. I dont mean to sound pessimistic but it seems the holocrons were given away to keep people another few months and hopefully enough new content will be brought in by then to keep them longer.
The game also suffers from runaway inflation (just sold a couple of pre-nerf T21s for 20 million credits) and the crafting system is slowly being killed by mob dropped items(it was the best crafting system in any MMORPG)
Slashdot Mirror
Its always fun to lend out an HP calculator and watch the person get frustrated because they can't add 2+2.
The patent office typically is a rubber stamp to patents and puts the burden on the judicial system to determine if patents are valid. Reading the article the courts in this case didn't allow evidence on prior art, so the jurors were forced to accept the patent as valid and rule on infringment.
Maybe there should be an open patent review system. The patent office can post patent applications for the public to review for 30days, and allow inputs on prior art. Most patents would just go through with no problems, obviously flawed ones would get struck down without going through the courts.
Hmmmm maybe I should patent that idea: A system on the internet to review documents that allows input from users during a given amount of time
Homer: "Look at these low, low prices on famous brand name electronics!"
Bart: "Don't be a sap, Dad. These are just crappy knock-offs."
Homer: "I know a genuine Panaphonics when I see it. And look, there's Magnetbox, and Sorny!"
you can in a world with sarcasm ;) I cancelled my account a few months ago, i logged in to check vehicles and got about 10 minutes worth of interest out of them... weee!
No way, they have a strong player base, they even reactivated cancelled accounts and had free account givaways to friends so that they could rub in all the fun of the game in those people's faces.
Actually Everquest is one game that kinda got things right. Yes there is inflation, but there also is a high rate obsolescence (which most people ignore).
This infact drives prices for a specific item DOWN over time. For example an "Executioner's Axe" sold 4 years ago for 5000 gold to a player, today the same item sells for 500 gold. Why? Because there are better items out there.
What does this do? It gives new players purchasing power and helps them get into the game faster. While old time players have had enough time to accumulate enough gold to buy the brand new 300k uber swords.
And for anybody who thinks credit duping isn't a problem heres a patch note from SWG: January 16th Update Notes 01/22/2004 08:48 AM Fixed a credit dupe. We banned several accounts as a result of this fix. SOE works to maintain a fun, fair game for everyone and cheating will not be tolerated.
If your code is open then somebody will bring the game out to market before you are finished. Some people could care less about quality, just look at HL2 being sold in Russia.
MMO type games are very powerful tools in promoting cooperative operations and excution of tactics. Just look at a high level Everquest raid - 20-40 people all with a specific job, and if somebody does not execute their job perfectly everybody fails. Or look at a really good Counterstrike team, all moving, aiming, and following orders with precision. These people are thousands of miles apart working in sync following commands and doing their specific task to within a few seconds.
Perfect execution as a team and following orders are key to military success and these type of games are excellent at promoting these things.
They have something like this... its called paintball :)
It just means MS isn't eligible to play sports this semester.
Not meaning to troll, I find it interesting that slashdotters are against RIAA for trying to defend their copyright claims for pirated music, but support somebody claiming that the copyright on their source code was violated.
The difficulty in programming the PS2 VUs has prevented the port of Strongbad's Vector Graphics Based Game. Strongbadzone
Maybe one day technology will catch up. Strongbad E-mail "Video Games"
Beta should start when the game is usable enough to get customer input. This means that alot of content can be missing, the game can crash, there can be lots of nagging problems, but there is enough there for people to get the feel and respond.
Most people who play games, especially MMORPG are not technically savvy, you want to get input from many different people on things like UI and general mechanics of playing because later on it is more difficult to fix those problems. Once those fundamentals are done then beta can expand to address things like content, balancing, etc.
Beta should end, when the game is stable (at least stay up 1 week straight) and there is sufficient content for the majority of players. Unfortunately we live in a world where money is a driving factor, MMO games are complex and expensive so delays are very detrimental. SWG is one example of a game launched early (hmmm just before Q2 ended coincidence?) Even though the majority of the beta community protested. Not to mention the pain of AO
I have a Panasonic Panasonic SJ-MJ57 Minidisc player that comes with clear speakers, even cool blue LEDs that light them up. The downside is that the sound is pretty bad.
How quickly we forget the "Kool-aid" and "Avoid the Noid" games, Darkened Skye was actually cute and less intrusive than those.
Product placement should be an artistic design decision from the developer to add realism to the game or allow the player to better relate to the game world
The best example of product placement is "Crazy Taxi" its there, its blatant, but it blends into the gameplay. Also the licenses in Grand Turismo 3 are excellent. You're not driving around in a XRL-T4 Racer, you drive around in a modified 400hp Civic. Its something you can relate to and think, cool maybe i can get me one of those to drive around in.The greatest emotional response I have ever gotten out of a game, was playing Eternal Darkness on the Gamecube. Anybody who has played the game will know how the insanity system not only affects the character but the player.
After playing a few hours I go to save and end up deleting the file. Ooops wrong button. Then I see all the save games in my directory get deleted. SON OF A ******. Controller flies out of my hand, then the screen flashes back to reality... the save games are there, darn machine tricked me!Jobs being shifted overseas is nothing new, most electronics manufacturing is not done in US after the 80s.
This is the same cycle as before, US innovates... boom cycle... market saturates... recession... the rest of the world catches up in expertise... jobs are shipped to cut costs. Next area for development biotech!
Asia especially china is the greatest source of revenue growth. The tech companies are supporting the regions of growth and profits with jobs.
The US portable audio market is dominated by HDD/Flash players, MD has never become a big player in the US except for audiophiles and digital recording. It is a big thing in Japan, I was there recently and MD is the primary portable audio hardware. From Sony's report they are expecting to ship 8M units of the physcal year almost half going to the Japanese market. So before you dismiss MD as an also ran, there is a large market. For DRM issues, the format does not allow second generation digital copies to be made, that means that you can't copy music digitally from MD. Its not actually that big of a deal since most MD recorders/players do not have digital outputs, then again neither do most HDD/flash based players.
I enjoyed SWG for awhile, I think the hardcore type player especially veterans of previous MMORPGs, found the game lacked any high level content. The holocron Xmas gifts was a dead giveaway (pardon the pun) since the only interesting thing left for many people is unlocking the Force Sensitive slot. I dont mean to sound pessimistic but it seems the holocrons were given away to keep people another few months and hopefully enough new content will be brought in by then to keep them longer. The game also suffers from runaway inflation (just sold a couple of pre-nerf T21s for 20 million credits) and the crafting system is slowly being killed by mob dropped items(it was the best crafting system in any MMORPG)