If you're on windows, try proxomitron, privoxy or AdMuncher. Really.
Proxomitron at least has a very active user community.
See www.streamload.com/jp10558/public and download the grypen-proxomitron zip file. Unzip and run, no install needed, so just delete the folder if you don't like it.
Point Opera at it, enable http 1.1 for proxy and away you go with most ads blocked.
As I said elsewhere, in the next release of AdMucher (pay I know) you'll see right click to block for all 3 browsers.
Interestingly enough, I don't often have Opera crash. Slightly more in 8.0 than 7.54u2, but I expect the 8.x series to get more stable as it goes along.
I also see about the same number of people as those who claim Opera is unstable here on the Opera forums switching from FireFox as it's unstable for them.
Really, I think some machines just dislike one browser or another (at least on windows, because no on has any idea why some programs work and some don't or work crappily).
Interestingly enough, AdMuncher (Snikies! another pay for program. Really, how many of you who complain about commercial software are using Windows? Or MacOSX? If you use Linux, you can ignore me) is going to support right click to block on all 3 major browsers, including Opera. I still like and am happy with Proxomitron, but said feature will likely get me to trial AdMuncher, and maybe buy it if it can also do the rest of the stuff prox does for me.
Usually I wouldn't reply to an Anonymous Coward, but here we go.
(a)Userjs, more powerful than Greasemonky. Bugmenot I've got right now, had for a year - it's just a bookmarklet, I'm suprised you'd need an extension for it. EditCSS? Not sure what that does, but you can edit the source in your favorite editor and then refresh from cache.
(b)True. Not relevant in a discussion of features. Sort of relevent in UI, but OMFG - like MS, they expect you to PAY for software. Guess what, most people do, for most software - especially if it is good.
(c)Opera was brought up because of the parent poster.
I'd say that's a good idea, except it seems like implementing part of an OS for a browser... Wouldn't that likely add megabytes of code, and certainly constitute "bloat"?
I will say the hassle of extensions, especially the possibility of them breaking in a point release (sadly still there according to users on this thread in 1.0+) has kept me paying for Opera.
I finally get what you are saying. You're right, too many games are out there that I wish were just a movie or there was a book version.
All the final fantasy games? I was playing them for the story. I'd have preferred to buy the book.
However, in story based games I think there's also an issue here. You're basically saying that people are wrong to want to use bookmarks in a book. That if the book is good, they won't mind restarting it every time they have to put it down until they can get through it in one sitting. Well, save points are more analogous to chapters, but still.
When you read a book, do you claim it's bad if you don't want to re read it from the beginning of the current chapter when you have to put it down for a while?
I think there is fundamentally a difference between a story based game and a reflex based game. Golf, tetris, jezzball, those games don't make me want a save, as it's not really repetitive to start over.
But I also don't want to work through the last 5 minutes of dialogue, a cut scene, and a number of minor battles in say the latest Final Fantasy game if I die fighting the boss.
Well, the biggest issue with save points has been hit a few times in this discussion, but maybe you didn't see it.
Many people don't like being told "this is where you should end your gaming today" for any number of reasons. Maybe you want to play for another 10 minutes before going to sleep. Maybe your mom/spouse/kid/friend just interrupted you to do something important. You need to quit NOW, but who wants to lose the last 10-30 or more minutes of play?
Maybe you just completed something you think was very difficult, and you don't want to have to do it again. You and the developer won't always agree on what warrents a save.
Yeah, it's too bad. I really liked what Star Trek Elite Force did with the Quake 3 engine. It showed (to me at least) that you can make an immersive game with a FPS engine. Plus it had a much better story IMHO than most FPS. Felt like *being* in a StarTrek episode.
Sadly, few people have the financial muscle that Star Trek has to create games based on expensive engines.
This really applies to Neverwinter Nights and Max Payne II (the games I'm currently playing).
Now, this may be the game devs or MS, but I've currently got around 600MB free RAM. Surely you could load more than one small room or one level in there. NWN is really bad about this, almost every door brings up a load screen.
The game is at most 5 CDs - you could fully fit 1/5 of the entire info in there. That should allow any houses at a minimum that are in an environment. And the modules are often 5 MB at most. So get some of that info into RAM damnit!
I like episodic ideas, and online distrobution. I dislike the idea of Steam.
I don't want yet another program on my PC to get me to the content. This is why I don't do iTunes. If it's not loaded by WinAmp, I don't want it.
Similarily, if I can't download it via either getright or Shareza (for the other 4 big distrobution methods) I don't want it.
More software just has more chance to break windows - I don't know whose fault that is, but it's true. And if it's like some of that sutff that won't work if I have daemon tools installed, or worse, Nero they can go to hell.
You know, I just don't like the monthly fee thing. I well, don't know if I'll ever get into a MMORPG, but if I do, it's likely to be Guild Wars - and that's unlikely due to the reviews I just read on Amazon.
How does Neverwinter Nights fit into that? Specifically the modules you can install to play? I think games like that may well go a long way on making games "last longer" because of fan content.
I don't even think it's that per se. In real life, I have peripheral vision, I can see to some degree about the front 180 degrees and clearly the front 45 degrees...
So I'm not spinning like a top to see enough to decide if I go right or left. This affects gameplay too, if something isn't right in front of me, I can't see it to hit it or whatever. I have to turn, whereas in real life I can at least flail at someone next to me.
Now, I'm sure I use the rest of what you say to navigate in real life, but I do find that games are limiting in field of view (and this is a hardware problem mostly as we don't all have 3 + monitors or virtual reality goggles to alleviate this).
Oh, I don't know. I've never met anyone who bought a gaming console for anything but gaming.
But lots of people buy a PC for lots of reasons. If you've got to get a PC for some reason, you've already got it, and likely it will play some games, if not most (due to the way salesmen tell people they need the $2k PC for e-mail to make a better commission).
Now, most people in the console market will already have a PC for work, school etc... A console is an additional cost.
Also, there are many more games on the PC. There are web games, java games, flash games, all the big FPS, RPGs, MMORPG is big now too. And those aren't (yet anyway) on consoles.
Also, most PC games have noticablly better graphics, or can. Now, the next gen consoles *might* change that, but again all PCs come with a high resolution monitor. Not many people are going to drop the cash for a HD TV to go with that new console - just for the console. Boy would that change the cost dynamics quickly:)
I think consoles are great for certain games, but I also think PC gaming is FAR from dead.
Re:#9: Immersion and the invisible hand of God
on
A Gamer's Manifesto
·
· Score: 1
Speaking of Far Cry, I just installed it. Can you give me a hint on making the graphics not look like crap?
I'm running an A64 3400+, 1GB PC3200 RAM, GeForce 6600GT gfx card... And what it gave me is stuttery performance on XP SP2, and graphics that look like the original Half Life -- i.e. Crappy.
That said, I really liked Planescape: Torment. Way cool, though sadly I lost a savegame and then the discs and haven't ever tried to get through it again.
I personally really like Neverwinter Nights and eagerly await the sequal.
Now, the quest that came with it was medocre - I enjoyed it, but I can see where non D&Ders would get a little bored.
The point is that it really is a good videogame version of the PnP D&D experiance, and there are hundereds of fan created modules out there, plus the two expansions which add functionality (Shadows of Underntide was worse than the original story, but Hordes of the Underdark which I just started seems pretty good).
Plus the multiplayer for many styles of gaming including persistant worlds.
I've spent more time with NWN than any other game since StarCraft, and probably been more immersed in it than any game since Masters of Magic.
My only complaint is that the interface is somewhat weak. I really hope that NWN2 keeps the entire coolness of NWN + easy fan created new content + multiplayer but takes some hints from World of Warcraft or Guildwars or even Max Payne II for interface. Or, just make the interface customizable.
Sounds like Silent Steel, a submarine game that I got with my Aptiva in December of 1995. PITA game, I never got beyond about 10 minutes into the story. No one I know did. I'd swear there *was* no correct choice there, I thought I'd tried every possible combination over the course of a year or so, on and off.
And if you don't use yahoo, or want this style service for any type of e-mail address, there's spamex.com for $9.95 a year. I've been using it for 2 years now with no complaints.
First of all, we can trade anectadotal comments all day long.
However I have some questions. One, I don't think it's fair to compare $4k machines in this discussion. The parent was touting getting a machine for $350, obviously there will be lots of differences. I should clarify my position. I've never dealt with expensive Dells, in fact for home users, the whole selling point of Dell is cheap.
Your example is like coming into a discussion comparing Echo's and Sophia's and mentioning how great your Lexus is. Not really the same at all.
The $4K dell you have at work is quality for you. That's great. The $800 Dells people I've seen buy are crap. Literally hardware failures within 8 months. And they perform crappily at games. Though I would expect that.
OTOH, the systems I've built for about $950 (remember I claimed paying a little more) on A64's, ASUS motherboards, Crucial RAM, and nVidia GFX cards seem to both last longer, and work better. Especially for gaming which is what most people I know really use a computer for. Again, I'm talking about the home market here.
Don't you think - in the short to mid term anyway - that most people would be far more likely to go back to their "friends" or the kazaa of the hour, than go through the hassle, and additional cost, to upgrade their machine so they can have the *prividledge* to *buy* music?
The reason music sharing online is still many times bigger than purchasing is that sharing is easier than buying.
As long as getting something for free is easier than buying it - I don't see many people working harder to spend money.
The reason I don't buy Dell is because (IME only, YMMV) their machines are crap. That's how they are so cheap.
Seriously, the people I know who buy Dells get about 8 months out of them before hardware starts to fail. Now these are average users, so I think this is an issue as that is (I think) one of Dell's big market segments.
I personally think the issue is the total lack of active cooling + newer Intel chips which leads to overheating.
Now, the systems are also difficult if not impossible to upgrade. Generally, you just buy another.
Not only is this less affordable for the people I know, but it also leads to more junk being thrown out. Bad for the environment.
What I tell people is that if they want a mediocre machine that they throw out in a year, buy a Dell. If they want decent support and something that will likely last them 4 or more years, pay a little more and get a local shop to make it.
Though I don't actually know anyone who's bought a $350 Dell either, they usually seem to spend more like $850.
Slashdot Mirror
If you're on windows, try proxomitron, privoxy or AdMuncher. Really.
Proxomitron at least has a very active user community.
See www.streamload.com/jp10558/public and download the grypen-proxomitron zip file. Unzip and run, no install needed, so just delete the folder if you don't like it.
Point Opera at it, enable http 1.1 for proxy and away you go with most ads blocked.
As I said elsewhere, in the next release of AdMucher (pay I know) you'll see right click to block for all 3 browsers.
Interestingly enough, I don't often have Opera crash. Slightly more in 8.0 than 7.54u2, but I expect the 8.x series to get more stable as it goes along.
I also see about the same number of people as those who claim Opera is unstable here on the Opera forums switching from FireFox as it's unstable for them.
Really, I think some machines just dislike one browser or another (at least on windows, because no on has any idea why some programs work and some don't or work crappily).
Interestingly enough, AdMuncher (Snikies! another pay for program. Really, how many of you who complain about commercial software are using Windows? Or MacOSX? If you use Linux, you can ignore me) is going to support right click to block on all 3 major browsers, including Opera. I still like and am happy with Proxomitron, but said feature will likely get me to trial AdMuncher, and maybe buy it if it can also do the rest of the stuff prox does for me.
Usually I wouldn't reply to an Anonymous Coward, but here we go.
(a)Userjs, more powerful than Greasemonky. Bugmenot I've got right now, had for a year - it's just a bookmarklet, I'm suprised you'd need an extension for it. EditCSS? Not sure what that does, but you can edit the source in your favorite editor and then refresh from cache.
(b)True. Not relevant in a discussion of features. Sort of relevent in UI, but OMFG - like MS, they expect you to PAY for software. Guess what, most people do, for most software - especially if it is good.
(c)Opera was brought up because of the parent poster.
I'd say that's a good idea, except it seems like implementing part of an OS for a browser... Wouldn't that likely add megabytes of code, and certainly constitute "bloat"?
I will say the hassle of extensions, especially the possibility of them breaking in a point release (sadly still there according to users on this thread in 1.0+) has kept me paying for Opera.
What about "Action Figures"?
I finally get what you are saying. You're right, too many games are out there that I wish were just a movie or there was a book version.
All the final fantasy games? I was playing them for the story. I'd have preferred to buy the book.
However, in story based games I think there's also an issue here. You're basically saying that people are wrong to want to use bookmarks in a book. That if the book is good, they won't mind restarting it every time they have to put it down until they can get through it in one sitting. Well, save points are more analogous to chapters, but still.
When you read a book, do you claim it's bad if you don't want to re read it from the beginning of the current chapter when you have to put it down for a while?
I think there is fundamentally a difference between a story based game and a reflex based game. Golf, tetris, jezzball, those games don't make me want a save, as it's not really repetitive to start over.
But I also don't want to work through the last 5 minutes of dialogue, a cut scene, and a number of minor battles in say the latest Final Fantasy game if I die fighting the boss.
Well, the biggest issue with save points has been hit a few times in this discussion, but maybe you didn't see it.
Many people don't like being told "this is where you should end your gaming today" for any number of reasons. Maybe you want to play for another 10 minutes before going to sleep. Maybe your mom/spouse/kid/friend just interrupted you to do something important. You need to quit NOW, but who wants to lose the last 10-30 or more minutes of play?
Maybe you just completed something you think was very difficult, and you don't want to have to do it again. You and the developer won't always agree on what warrents a save.
Yeah, it's too bad. I really liked what Star Trek Elite Force did with the Quake 3 engine. It showed (to me at least) that you can make an immersive game with a FPS engine. Plus it had a much better story IMHO than most FPS. Felt like *being* in a StarTrek episode.
Sadly, few people have the financial muscle that Star Trek has to create games based on expensive engines.
This really applies to Neverwinter Nights and Max Payne II (the games I'm currently playing).
Now, this may be the game devs or MS, but I've currently got around 600MB free RAM. Surely you could load more than one small room or one level in there. NWN is really bad about this, almost every door brings up a load screen.
The game is at most 5 CDs - you could fully fit 1/5 of the entire info in there. That should allow any houses at a minimum that are in an environment. And the modules are often 5 MB at most. So get some of that info into RAM damnit!
Yes, but the Strategy First games that I've tried all suck. They look cool, but the gameplay sucks.
Compare Legion Gold to Rome: Total War.
Or Galatic Civilizations to Master of Orion 1 or 2.
That's the problem with them IMHO.
I like episodic ideas, and online distrobution. I dislike the idea of Steam.
I don't want yet another program on my PC to get me to the content. This is why I don't do iTunes. If it's not loaded by WinAmp, I don't want it.
Similarily, if I can't download it via either getright or Shareza (for the other 4 big distrobution methods) I don't want it.
More software just has more chance to break windows - I don't know whose fault that is, but it's true. And if it's like some of that sutff that won't work if I have daemon tools installed, or worse, Nero they can go to hell.
You know, I just don't like the monthly fee thing. I well, don't know if I'll ever get into a MMORPG, but if I do, it's likely to be Guild Wars - and that's unlikely due to the reviews I just read on Amazon.
How does Neverwinter Nights fit into that? Specifically the modules you can install to play? I think games like that may well go a long way on making games "last longer" because of fan content.
I don't even think it's that per se. In real life, I have peripheral vision, I can see to some degree about the front 180 degrees and clearly the front 45 degrees...
So I'm not spinning like a top to see enough to decide if I go right or left. This affects gameplay too, if something isn't right in front of me, I can't see it to hit it or whatever. I have to turn, whereas in real life I can at least flail at someone next to me.
Now, I'm sure I use the rest of what you say to navigate in real life, but I do find that games are limiting in field of view (and this is a hardware problem mostly as we don't all have 3 + monitors or virtual reality goggles to alleviate this).
Oh, I don't know. I've never met anyone who bought a gaming console for anything but gaming.
:)
But lots of people buy a PC for lots of reasons. If you've got to get a PC for some reason, you've already got it, and likely it will play some games, if not most (due to the way salesmen tell people they need the $2k PC for e-mail to make a better commission).
Now, most people in the console market will already have a PC for work, school etc... A console is an additional cost.
Also, there are many more games on the PC. There are web games, java games, flash games, all the big FPS, RPGs, MMORPG is big now too. And those aren't (yet anyway) on consoles.
Also, most PC games have noticablly better graphics, or can. Now, the next gen consoles *might* change that, but again all PCs come with a high resolution monitor. Not many people are going to drop the cash for a HD TV to go with that new console - just for the console. Boy would that change the cost dynamics quickly
I think consoles are great for certain games, but I also think PC gaming is FAR from dead.
Speaking of Far Cry, I just installed it. Can you give me a hint on making the graphics not look like crap?
I'm running an A64 3400+, 1GB PC3200 RAM, GeForce 6600GT gfx card... And what it gave me is stuttery performance on XP SP2, and graphics that look like the original Half Life -- i.e. Crappy.
RPG's aren't really adventure games.
That said, I really liked Planescape: Torment. Way cool, though sadly I lost a savegame and then the discs and haven't ever tried to get through it again.
I personally really like Neverwinter Nights and eagerly await the sequal.
Now, the quest that came with it was medocre - I enjoyed it, but I can see where non D&Ders would get a little bored.
The point is that it really is a good videogame version of the PnP D&D experiance, and there are hundereds of fan created modules out there, plus the two expansions which add functionality (Shadows of Underntide was worse than the original story, but Hordes of the Underdark which I just started seems pretty good).
Plus the multiplayer for many styles of gaming including persistant worlds.
I've spent more time with NWN than any other game since StarCraft, and probably been more immersed in it than any game since Masters of Magic.
My only complaint is that the interface is somewhat weak. I really hope that NWN2 keeps the entire coolness of NWN + easy fan created new content + multiplayer but takes some hints from World of Warcraft or Guildwars or even Max Payne II for interface. Or, just make the interface customizable.
Sounds like Silent Steel, a submarine game that I got with my Aptiva in December of 1995. PITA game, I never got beyond about 10 minutes into the story. No one I know did. I'd swear there *was* no correct choice there, I thought I'd tried every possible combination over the course of a year or so, on and off.
And if you don't use yahoo, or want this style service for any type of e-mail address, there's spamex.com for $9.95 a year. I've been using it for 2 years now with no complaints.
First of all, we can trade anectadotal comments all day long.
However I have some questions. One, I don't think it's fair to compare $4k machines in this discussion. The parent was touting getting a machine for $350, obviously there will be lots of differences. I should clarify my position. I've never dealt with expensive Dells, in fact for home users, the whole selling point of Dell is cheap.
Your example is like coming into a discussion comparing Echo's and Sophia's and mentioning how great your Lexus is. Not really the same at all.
The $4K dell you have at work is quality for you. That's great. The $800 Dells people I've seen buy are crap. Literally hardware failures within 8 months. And they perform crappily at games. Though I would expect that.
OTOH, the systems I've built for about $950 (remember I claimed paying a little more) on A64's, ASUS motherboards, Crucial RAM, and nVidia GFX cards seem to both last longer, and work better. Especially for gaming which is what most people I know really use a computer for. Again, I'm talking about the home market here.
You mean you don't have quick preferences - F12, check/uncheck Java, plugins, and Javascript?
Wow. Somebody ought to write an extension for THAT.
Don't you think - in the short to mid term anyway - that most people would be far more likely to go back to their "friends" or the kazaa of the hour, than go through the hassle, and additional cost, to upgrade their machine so they can have the *prividledge* to *buy* music?
The reason music sharing online is still many times bigger than purchasing is that sharing is easier than buying.
As long as getting something for free is easier than buying it - I don't see many people working harder to spend money.
The reason I don't buy Dell is because (IME only, YMMV) their machines are crap. That's how they are so cheap.
Seriously, the people I know who buy Dells get about 8 months out of them before hardware starts to fail. Now these are average users, so I think this is an issue as that is (I think) one of Dell's big market segments.
I personally think the issue is the total lack of active cooling + newer Intel chips which leads to overheating.
Now, the systems are also difficult if not impossible to upgrade. Generally, you just buy another.
Not only is this less affordable for the people I know, but it also leads to more junk being thrown out. Bad for the environment.
What I tell people is that if they want a mediocre machine that they throw out in a year, buy a Dell. If they want decent support and something that will likely last them 4 or more years, pay a little more and get a local shop to make it.
Though I don't actually know anyone who's bought a $350 Dell either, they usually seem to spend more like $850.
Except, why would you want to exclude Opera or Konqurer or Safari?