I imagine most of the attention came from people like me. Even though my employer would have been "exempt" from a shutdown, I was tasked with investigating alternatives to BB handhelds and BES last fall when the threat against RIM appeared to be real.
The worrying is over now and we're sticking with BB/BES.
If a person decides their time or enjoyment is worth more than the cost of gold or items let them do it. Considering just how much time is involved in these games where speed runs are measured in days, not minutes it certainly makes sense.
I'm disturbed by the attitude that anything but a remote exploit against an ideally (not typically or justifiably) configured box is meaningless or misleading.
What good is a door if it's welded shut? Wouldn't a proper lock be more useful?
Security should be about maximizing functionality securely, not limiting it.
Console controllers are an inferior interface for FPS gaming, period. This is proven by the host of accomodations that console FPS games make in order for to be minimally playable. Painfully slow, floaty characters, auto-aim (magnetism to you console apologists) and dodgy weapon balance/accuracy. All these things combine to produce a pathetically low skill ceiling and a given driven more position and chance than dexterity or strategy.
I applaud Bungie and others for how well they have built their games towards console play but, it's still little league t-ball relative playing a modern competitive PC FPS.
Playing a console FPS with a console controller is like eating shit soup with a fork. Even if you become a master of the inferior implement it's still shit.
Majesco had the tools to be a success. They had quality developers in their stable and cash in the bank. Unfortunately, they pulled an Acclaim and seem to have bet on the power of licensing over everything else while spreading themselves too thin.
The people responsible for Riddick, Nanostray, Psychonauts and Phantom Dust demonstrated that they are capable of quality making quality games. If Majesco had focused on properly promoting and advertising these games it could have been a different story.
The used market for DVDs, or CDs is relatively small. Why? Presumably because getting a five dollar discount on a fifteen dollar DVD is not as enticing as thirty dollars off of a sixty dollar game; when it's only five bucks, the natural desire to buy something perfect and new will, in most cases, outweigh thriftiness.
The recyclers don't sell $60 titles for $30 they buy them for that much and sell them back for $5-10 off at best. People buy them because the guys running the store have been trained to do everything in their power to push a chewed-up used copy without even acknowledging that a new copy might be available. Often you don't even have a choice since the recyclers rarely stock more than 1-2 copies over their pre-order total.
It's just like buying a car. Game shops don't make money selling new games for a few bucks over invoice they do it buy selling your trade-in(s) for 2-3 times what they paid for them.
The shop wins and everyone else loses. The publishers sell fewer new games, the end-users get underpaid and overpay for used games and those who want a *new* game get nothing without a pre-order. Thanks to this BS, three months post release many games are a pain in the ass if not impossible to find new. Wait a year or two and you'll have no choice but pay a premium on eBay or settle for scrathed up disc and a mangled manual if you're lucky.
Higher prices will do nothing but cut original game sales even further. What we need are...
-More playable demos so that we aren't gambling by spending money on an potential pile of shit sight unseen with no hope of returning it.
-Cheap games. It's a lot easier to swallow a $20 gamble than a $60 one. At $30 or more For $20 I'm willing to experiment, get down to $9.99 for your so-so game and that's $10 you never would have gotten otherwise.
-Direct sales with incentives. Give me $5 off for buying the game online based on the playable demo. Send me a soundtrack CD, vinyly figure, faceplate or something for preordering.
Yeah, this appears to be justified use of the DMCA. However, most people agree that what they were doing was criminal without the letter of the DMCA. This application is a strategic move to build credibility to the law which many people rightfully see as absurd.
RIAA/MPAA: "Look Congress, look! This is why we need even stricter penalties and more latitude in DMCA '06. These vile lawbreakers aren't getting the message."
It was from the prosecutor, saying by the law blah blah and blah blah the denunciation against Andrej Preston has been dropped. And I received all the CD's and computers that they took from me. This happened on 18th October 2005.
That's amazing...It would never happen here. The lies and trickery I've witnessed from state prosecutors here in the US is sickening.
I couldn't be more pleased with Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black. They are what I always hoped "next generation" games would be.
I've steered clear of these new PoP games because of Ubisoft's spotty track record and mixed reviews. I'm not necessarily looking for the extreme action of NGB just respectable difficulty, perfect control and strong fundamental gameplay.
Can anyone who has put a lot of time in with both tell me how they truly compare to one another?
There are a few articles which showed the PS2 trailing behind the GC and XB immediately after release but the overall numbers show the XB in last place.
Though, no matter how you slice it, SC2 was not a huge seller with fewer than 2M units across all platforms. Therefore, developing for all 3 outmoded systems probably wouldn't be wise when they can release for the PS2 now (greatest sales potential by FAR) and develop for the next-gen around the corner.
Besides, these days, exclusive really doesn't mean anything unless it's a first-party title. For all we know, SC3 could be a time-limited exclusive and appear in glossy new form across the board this spring.
FLCL is a six episode series spread 2 episodes per disc across 3 DVDs for $30 each at release. The data on disc 1 totals 2.26 GB and the other two are of similar size. In all, you end up spending $90 for 1 disc worth of content. As much as I enjoyed the series, I certainly felt cheated by the 75% empty DVDs.
I own a fair number of anime DVDs but I don't see myself buying anything but the better feature length, feature-laden discs in the future.
It's just absurd to pay $100 or more for the "standard" set, $200-300 "special edition" set and/or $200 for the inevitable "remix/director's cut/limited edition/anniversary" set.
BT currently brings me excellent quality TV/DS rips with superior fansubbing that can be burnt by the dozen to 4.5GB discs.
I'm amazed at how clueless the ngage design was, even in it's slightly improved revision. It's as if Nokia never bothered to run the design past anyone who actually plays games. The ridiculous shape, loading mechanism and screen orientation killed that thing before it even went to production.
The fact that it sold 2,000,000 is simply astounding.
It's the quality of Nintendo's exclusive first party games, not the Nintendo brand itself. The Nintendo brand alone will not save a second coming of the Virtual Boy.
If all the Zelda, Mario Metroid titles were available for alternative consoles, the GameCube wouldn't just be trailing, it would be dead. Brand loyalty only really comes into play when a person's level of purchase involvement is so low that a product and it's alternatives are virtually equal save for the brand name.
...if they have real management skills. A manager who listens to, respects and effecively mediates his staff while promoting and actively representing them positively is a great asset.
I see lots of posts about how ugly and inelegant this code is. I remember seeing the same things about id's previous code releases.
Why do people who have no hope of seeing a fraction of Carmack's fame, fortune or ability do this?
Lineage II is a virtual world unsuitable for human minds if I've ever seen one. The other players should be thanking him for demonstrating this so effectively.
I've seen nearly identical snide "Dupe!" comments at least 10 times in the last year.
Slashdot posts dupes. So the fuck what? Get over it already.
Personally, I didn't even see the original posting on this story and I'm thankful for the dupe. I doubt I would have found this interesting article otherwise.
"A lot of new software is shipping on DVD and also on CD."
I wouldn't go so far as to say "a lot". At this point, DVDs are still just a secondary option even amongst games which stand a relatively good chance of being installed on a DVD equipped system.
My direction is...
If we're still gradually transitioning to a thouroughly established format like DVD as the primary distribution method for software there's no chance of it being leapfrogged for a more expensive format with 0 penetration.
It's going to be a very long time before software starts driving a new physical format, if ever.
HD Video, the mainstream application of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD has no market.
HDTVs aren't finding their way into homes nearly as fast as DVD players did. From what I've read, HDTV had a US installed base of something like 14M in 2004 with growth to 74M in 2010. Now, consider that the DVD player installed base was 73M in 2003.
Therefore, Joe Blow has absolutely no reason to replace his $50 full-featured DVD player with a new model and buy new discs for it and probably won't for several years.
Other applications are pretty much irrelevant with regards to success of these formats.
The overwhelming majority of computer software still ships on CDs!
PCs won't need to read BD/HD and without easy copying, no one will want to write them either.
With use of these crippled discs limited to gaming consoles, the format is no more relevant to the world at large than the various cartridge formats of the 8 and 16-bit gaming eras.
Schools that don't require expensive books?
on
Textbooks With EULAs
·
· Score: 1
Are there any schools that don't require specific texts for their courses or better yet, support any of the various "open" textbook projects?
The textbook racket really, really pisses me off. Though, I feel like I got easy relative to my girlfriend who, more than once, has been required to buy TWO editions of the same book for a single graduate communications course.
Slashdot Mirror
The worrying is over now and we're sticking with BB/BES.
If a person decides their time or enjoyment is worth more than the cost of gold or items let them do it. Considering just how much time is involved in these games where speed runs are measured in days, not minutes it certainly makes sense.
I'm disturbed by the attitude that anything but a remote exploit against an ideally (not typically or justifiably) configured box is meaningless or misleading.
What good is a door if it's welded shut? Wouldn't a proper lock be more useful?
Security should be about maximizing functionality securely, not limiting it.
Console controllers are an inferior interface for FPS gaming, period. This is proven by the host of accomodations that console FPS games make in order for to be minimally playable. Painfully slow, floaty characters, auto-aim (magnetism to you console apologists) and dodgy weapon balance/accuracy. All these things combine to produce a pathetically low skill ceiling and a given driven more position and chance than dexterity or strategy.
I applaud Bungie and others for how well they have built their games towards console play but, it's still little league t-ball relative playing a modern competitive PC FPS.
Playing a console FPS with a console controller is like eating shit soup with a fork. Even if you become a master of the inferior implement it's still shit.
I've loaded the main page three times today and read it that way every time.
The people responsible for Riddick, Nanostray, Psychonauts and Phantom Dust demonstrated that they are capable of quality making quality games. If Majesco had focused on properly promoting and advertising these games it could have been a different story.
The recyclers don't sell $60 titles for $30 they buy them for that much and sell them back for $5-10 off at best. People buy them because the guys running the store have been trained to do everything in their power to push a chewed-up used copy without even acknowledging that a new copy might be available. Often you don't even have a choice since the recyclers rarely stock more than 1-2 copies over their pre-order total.
It's just like buying a car. Game shops don't make money selling new games for a few bucks over invoice they do it buy selling your trade-in(s) for 2-3 times what they paid for them.
The shop wins and everyone else loses. The publishers sell fewer new games, the end-users get underpaid and overpay for used games and those who want a *new* game get nothing without a pre-order. Thanks to this BS, three months post release many games are a pain in the ass if not impossible to find new. Wait a year or two and you'll have no choice but pay a premium on eBay or settle for scrathed up disc and a mangled manual if you're lucky.
Higher prices will do nothing but cut original game sales even further. What we need are... -More playable demos so that we aren't gambling by spending money on an potential pile of shit sight unseen with no hope of returning it.
-Cheap games. It's a lot easier to swallow a $20 gamble than a $60 one. At $30 or more For $20 I'm willing to experiment, get down to $9.99 for your so-so game and that's $10 you never would have gotten otherwise.
-Direct sales with incentives. Give me $5 off for buying the game online based on the playable demo. Send me a soundtrack CD, vinyly figure, faceplate or something for preordering.
RIAA/MPAA: "Look Congress, look! This is why we need even stricter penalties and more latitude in DMCA '06. These vile lawbreakers aren't getting the message."
That's amazing...It would never happen here. The lies and trickery I've witnessed from state prosecutors here in the US is sickening.
I've steered clear of these new PoP games because of Ubisoft's spotty track record and mixed reviews. I'm not necessarily looking for the extreme action of NGB just respectable difficulty, perfect control and strong fundamental gameplay.
Can anyone who has put a lot of time in with both tell me how they truly compare to one another?
Though, no matter how you slice it, SC2 was not a huge seller with fewer than 2M units across all platforms. Therefore, developing for all 3 outmoded systems probably wouldn't be wise when they can release for the PS2 now (greatest sales potential by FAR) and develop for the next-gen around the corner.
Besides, these days, exclusive really doesn't mean anything unless it's a first-party title. For all we know, SC3 could be a time-limited exclusive and appear in glossy new form across the board this spring.
FLCL is a six episode series spread 2 episodes per disc across 3 DVDs for $30 each at release. The data on disc 1 totals 2.26 GB and the other two are of similar size. In all, you end up spending $90 for 1 disc worth of content. As much as I enjoyed the series, I certainly felt cheated by the 75% empty DVDs.
I own a fair number of anime DVDs but I don't see myself buying anything but the better feature length, feature-laden discs in the future.
It's just absurd to pay $100 or more for the "standard" set, $200-300 "special edition" set and/or $200 for the inevitable "remix/director's cut/limited edition/anniversary" set.
BT currently brings me excellent quality TV/DS rips with superior fansubbing that can be burnt by the dozen to 4.5GB discs.
The fact that it sold 2,000,000 is simply astounding.
If all the Zelda, Mario Metroid titles were available for alternative consoles, the GameCube wouldn't just be trailing, it would be dead. Brand loyalty only really comes into play when a person's level of purchase involvement is so low that a product and it's alternatives are virtually equal save for the brand name.
...if they have real management skills. A manager who listens to, respects and effecively mediates his staff while promoting and actively representing them positively is a great asset.
I just wonder where they'll hide the n20 bottle?
I see lots of posts about how ugly and inelegant this code is. I remember seeing the same things about id's previous code releases. Why do people who have no hope of seeing a fraction of Carmack's fame, fortune or ability do this?
Lineage II is a virtual world unsuitable for human minds if I've ever seen one. The other players should be thanking him for demonstrating this so effectively.
Slashdot posts dupes. So the fuck what? Get over it already.
Personally, I didn't even see the original posting on this story and I'm thankful for the dupe. I doubt I would have found this interesting article otherwise.
I wouldn't go so far as to say "a lot". At this point, DVDs are still just a secondary option even amongst games which stand a relatively good chance of being installed on a DVD equipped system.
My direction is...
If we're still gradually transitioning to a thouroughly established format like DVD as the primary distribution method for software there's no chance of it being leapfrogged for a more expensive format with 0 penetration.
It's going to be a very long time before software starts driving a new physical format, if ever.
HD Video, the mainstream application of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD has no market.
HDTVs aren't finding their way into homes nearly as fast as DVD players did. From what I've read, HDTV had a US installed base of something like 14M in 2004 with growth to 74M in 2010. Now, consider that the DVD player installed base was 73M in 2003.
Therefore, Joe Blow has absolutely no reason to replace his $50 full-featured DVD player with a new model and buy new discs for it and probably won't for several years.
Other applications are pretty much irrelevant with regards to success of these formats.
The overwhelming majority of computer software still ships on CDs!
PCs won't need to read BD/HD and without easy copying, no one will want to write them either.
With use of these crippled discs limited to gaming consoles, the format is no more relevant to the world at large than the various cartridge formats of the 8 and 16-bit gaming eras.
Guess they don't teach humility at Cornell?
The textbook racket really, really pisses me off. Though, I feel like I got easy relative to my girlfriend who, more than once, has been required to buy TWO editions of the same book for a single graduate communications course.
Why oh why do the /. editors refuse to utilize Coral cahcing or similar?