Yes, but Blount v McIverson ruling was then contested and overthrown in 1994 by then-President Clinton because of the implications of the Mars rock that contained the ice fractu^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hevidence of extra-terrestrial life. Because the rock was found in Antarctica by a Swedish team, the US Government had to show that it was US property.
Mod chips should be called "Piracy Chips." There is absolutely no legal reason to own a modified console. People always say "Well, my modified Dreamcast lets me make my own games and play them!" No, it lets you play burned games that you download from the Internet. "But it's my console, I should be able to do what I want!" Yes, it's your console, and you can do whatever you want. But as soon as you put a burned game into that machine, you've committed a felony and, if Microsoft has its way, you'd be paying them royalties.
Why do you think Microsoft included an ethernet adapter? It's because when "Xbox Live" goes live, they can see your machine. They could see your saved games, they could see how often you play, and nobody would be the wiser. Why? Because the entire operating system is proprietary, and there's no way to disassemble it. You couldn't even install a piece of software on the Xbox to trap packets coming out of it, because it would have to be approved by Microsoft.
These "mod chips" are all about piracy, pure and simple. No legit user would ever want or need to open up their console to play games, just like no legit person would ever need to open up their toaster "to make sure it works." I, for one, applaud Microsoft for shutting down this modchip site, because without money rolling into game developers, the amount of good games would decline, and everybody would suffer.
Look at the music industry - Because of Napster, they've lost hundreds of millions of dollars, and it shows; The music they're putting out is crap, and it's because of music pirates.
I swear, this is why I don't come to Slashdot for gaming news. I go to realgamingsites for gaming news.
The games are downloadable to the GBA, yes. But that's only after you unlock them playing another game, Animal Crossing (known as Animal Forest + in Japan) for the Gamecube. Now, there's something you have to understand about Animal Crossing: 95% of people will not like this game. Imagine The Sims crossing with the talking animals found in Disney movies. That's a hint of what Animal Crossing is all about. You play the game for literally months before you can save up enough money to buy yourself a decent house, and winning NES games is purely luck-of-the-draw.
I've talked to people in Japan who have been playing the game literally for months, and they just won their first Famicom (Japan's version of the NES) game. And it's not like they play it for a day, then pick it up next week. No, no, the game continues even when you're not playing it, using the Gamecube's internal clock. The game knows when certain things happen (raffles, sales, etc) and will not let you jump in to play them later.
Also, the NES games are stored in local RAM on the GBA. Once you power it down, you're done. You gotta reload the game from your Gamecube.
This is what the pro-Napster (read: pro-piracy) crowd has been shouting about for as long as I can remember. "Make music available for a low price ($1 per song) and we'll buy it! We don't want to rip them off, but we're sick of paying $16 for a CD!!!"
And do you know what? This will flop. Terribly. Why? Because the same people who have been shouting that they'll pay for music will, in the end, not pay for music.
Once, a few years ago, I pirated music using Napster. I got quite good at it, amassing more than 5 GB of songs. But eventually, I had to face the facts: I was stealing music. A few of my friends asked me to justify what I was doing, and I couldn't justify it. I was stealing music. I thought about "making up", by buying all the CDs that I wanted music from, but I didn't. And do you know why? Because it would cost money.
I know it's not hip to agree with the RIAA on Slashdot, but in this case I feel that it's correct to. The pirate community has been screaming that they want low-price music, and now they're offering it to them. But it will flop, because in the end, people don't want cheap music.
I'm really glad that this article was posted. My internal timer for Slashdot moods was messed up. Now I can reset it...
This is the start of the week where we hate the MPAA because they have evil tactics, grossly mis-represent prices, and want to ruin Fair Use rights by things like the DMCA, DeCSS censorship, etc.
But this passed week, we liked the MPAA by writing about how great Attack of the Clones is, arguments over Spider-man and AotC were different, who "won" that battle, and about the Lord of the Rings DVD coming out.
Great. Now I can continue to be part of the groupthink of Slashdot. And here I was, just about to submit an article about how great the MPAA is... Sweet God, can you imagine the trouble it might have caused?
The problem with Big Radio (ala Big Tobacco/Oil/etc) is that most people don't know that they're all being controlled by the same company, Clear Channel. They have 1225 radio and 37 television stations under their control. That amounts to about 80% of the total radio stations in the USA.
Does anybody else remember the "CC" commercials on the radio, emploring people to register internet domains that end in.cc? Guess what "CC" stands for! That's right! Clear Channel. That was their bid to get into the internet business, and from what I hear, it failed. But just think about that... Every radio station that your heard those commercials on was controlled by Clear Channel.
These people are worse than the RIAA and MPAA combined.
I do not mean to offend you, but you're exactly the kind of Star Wars fan that Lucas wants. You'll take any shit that he puts on celluloid and eat it right up. Since you say "...I'll eat it up" I assume that means you'll buy the new version of his movies. Wow, another couple billion in his pocket. And if it sucks, then you'll still rent the video and see how bad it sucks; only about 200 million in his pocket.
Oh, and calling Star Wars one of the most epic stories ever written is pathetic. Read some books for God's sake. Ever heard of The Illiad? The Odyssey? The Maha-Barata? Fucking BEOWULF, for God's sake! Get out more!
I wish that you people would at least *think* before you post online rumors like this one. Jar Jar in Episode 4? It takes place 30 years after Episode 3 ends, and the Gungans have a life span of only 25 years (from Episode 1). And where could Portman get worked into the plot of Jedi? There are no lines in the whole movie that reference a mother figure, only "I am your father". If anywhere, it would be in Empire, where Luke is talking to Obi Won, asking about his parents and finds out about his sister.
Oh, Anakin and Padme look and speak so awkwardly that they seem to want to be somewhere else!
Dude, I don't know what your romantic experience has been, but when I'm with someone that I'm falling in love with, I know that every one of my thoughts is centered on them. If they were already married and had years together, then yeah, they'd be bored with each other and still be thinking about problems at work, etc. But when you're falling in love, you don't think about anything else.
Trust me, some day you'll understand.
/. effect in full force
on
E3 Wrapup
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Dial-up users beware - this is broadband territory
Slashdot users beware - this is slashdotted territory.
I still play Contra on my NES emulator. I also built a MAME cabinet (like the one Taco has) and I play old-school games almost exclusively on that thing... Pengo, Pac-Man, Popeye, Strider, Donkey Kong, Burger Time, Bump n Jump... only once in a while do I play Mortal Kombat, or any other *realistic* games.
As for true realism leading to failing games, I'm not sure that I agree. I'm playing Medal of Honor: Allied Assault online quite a bit, and I exclusively play Objective matches where if you did, you're dead until the next round starts. In that respect, I really enjoy the realism, because it gives death a meaning. If you want to play the game for a while, don't charge in immediately. Set up traps, go in groups, etc. Anything to keep yourself alive.
As for the Army's game, I'll wait until I see a demo of it. If it's well done, and if it really simulates reality, then I'll at least give it a try. Hell, it's free, why *wouldn't* you try it?
Blah blah blah Army blah blah games blah blah brainwash the youth of America... God, get over yourself.
Speaking as a hardcore gamer myself, I could care less about who makes a game. I couldn't care less about how it's distributed. I couldn't care less about how it's "brainwashing people" or how it's "like Toys!". It all comes down to one thing: Is the game fun? From what Penny Arcade tells me, it is going to be fun. That's all I care about.
This is what separates the average geek crowd from the true gamers among us. The average geeks don't understand what it really means to be a hardcore gamer. All they care about is how many polys a model has, how good it looks, or how the breasts are modeled ("She kicks high"). Hell, I'm 23 and I'll be playing Mario, Zelda, and dozens of other "kiddie" games the day they're released, and I don't care.
This is why I hate mainstream media coverage of games. Leave it to the professionals, please.
Can anybody say "Photoshop"? Jesus, I've always heard people complaining about how the Slashdot editors don't verify their stories, but at least look at the linked images, for Christ's sake!
See, this is why I don't go to mainstream news sites for my video game news. Yes, I'm talking about you, Slashdot. You missed the most important thing of the announcement. And, frankly, because of all the anti-Microsoft vibes around here, I have no clue why you missed it:
Grand Theft Auto is now a Sony Exclusive franchise
That means that, despite hundreds of reports to the contrary, Grand Theft Auto 3 will not be coming out for the Xbox.
If you bought it at Toys 'R Us, you can get back $100 if you kept your receipt and bought it within 30 days.
I think it's a great move by Toys 'R Us to keep people happy.
As for Nintendo, they're going to drop their prices at E3, I guarantee it. They stated back in April that if Sony dropped their price, Nintendo would follow suit and drop their price as well. I'm predicting a price drop down to $150 or $125. But, if they really wanted to make a splash, Nintendo would release a combo package of the Gameboy Advance, Gamecube, and the link cable that goes between them for $200 (a feasable price).
It won't matter, though. Nintendo is going to 0wn this E3, and this whole year. With new games coming out for all these franchises...
Super Mario Sunshine
Legend of Zelda
Metroid Prime
Star Fox Adventures
...as well as newcomers like Resident Evil 0 and Eternal Darkness for the "mature" ones out there, this will be the year of Nintendo.
Well, it's obvious. All the good, wholesome, American porn would be hosted on.prn, while other sites that are disgusting pinko (no pun intended) commies are delegated to the more respectful.com sites. It makes perfect sense.
I mean, come on. When you're surfing for porn, you look for the 1000-popup American sites and stay away from that Asian Scat stuff right?
This looks suspiciously like a bit of corporate maneuvering. The linked article practically screams advertisement (giving the price of their own domain service, while defaming Verisign?)
I'm not one to normally be conspiratorial, but I think that it's not Verisign that's sending these letters, it's their competitor, GoDaddy, making it look like Verisign is to blame.
If it weren't for Verisign's bad maneuvers in the past, I would jump on that bandwagon immediately. Just a thought...
When are the people over at Nethack going to realize that this feature bloat is completely destroying the product? Have you looked at the latest release.txt file? A new Win32 GUI, control-P for a full screen message...
And at a size of 1.1 MB?!?!?! How am I supposed to download that on my dialup connection?
I use Yahoo's e-mail forwarding service, and I was caught by surprise by their charging. A man on a mission, I checked all my folders, including the trash bin. When I looked there, I found a message from Yahoo, detailing their change in prices.
I had deleted it as spam. What does THAT tell you about Yahoo?
Slashdot Mirror
That's one way to weasel out of it :-)
Why do you think Microsoft included an ethernet adapter? It's because when "Xbox Live" goes live, they can see your machine. They could see your saved games, they could see how often you play, and nobody would be the wiser. Why? Because the entire operating system is proprietary, and there's no way to disassemble it. You couldn't even install a piece of software on the Xbox to trap packets coming out of it, because it would have to be approved by Microsoft.
These "mod chips" are all about piracy, pure and simple. No legit user would ever want or need to open up their console to play games, just like no legit person would ever need to open up their toaster "to make sure it works." I, for one, applaud Microsoft for shutting down this modchip site, because without money rolling into game developers, the amount of good games would decline, and everybody would suffer.
Look at the music industry - Because of Napster, they've lost hundreds of millions of dollars, and it shows; The music they're putting out is crap, and it's because of music pirates.
There, I'm off my soapbox. Flame away.
The games are downloadable to the GBA, yes. But that's only after you unlock them playing another game, Animal Crossing (known as Animal Forest + in Japan) for the Gamecube. Now, there's something you have to understand about Animal Crossing: 95% of people will not like this game. Imagine The Sims crossing with the talking animals found in Disney movies. That's a hint of what Animal Crossing is all about. You play the game for literally months before you can save up enough money to buy yourself a decent house, and winning NES games is purely luck-of-the-draw.
I've talked to people in Japan who have been playing the game literally for months, and they just won their first Famicom (Japan's version of the NES) game. And it's not like they play it for a day, then pick it up next week. No, no, the game continues even when you're not playing it, using the Gamecube's internal clock. The game knows when certain things happen (raffles, sales, etc) and will not let you jump in to play them later.
Also, the NES games are stored in local RAM on the GBA. Once you power it down, you're done. You gotta reload the game from your Gamecube.
And do you know what? This will flop. Terribly. Why? Because the same people who have been shouting that they'll pay for music will, in the end, not pay for music.
Once, a few years ago, I pirated music using Napster. I got quite good at it, amassing more than 5 GB of songs. But eventually, I had to face the facts: I was stealing music. A few of my friends asked me to justify what I was doing, and I couldn't justify it. I was stealing music. I thought about "making up", by buying all the CDs that I wanted music from, but I didn't. And do you know why? Because it would cost money.
I know it's not hip to agree with the RIAA on Slashdot, but in this case I feel that it's correct to. The pirate community has been screaming that they want low-price music, and now they're offering it to them. But it will flop, because in the end, people don't want cheap music.
They want free music.
I'm just happy that it doesn't crash the browser when you click on a Dancing Hampsters.
This is the start of the week where we hate the MPAA because they have evil tactics, grossly mis-represent prices, and want to ruin Fair Use rights by things like the DMCA, DeCSS censorship, etc.
But this passed week, we liked the MPAA by writing about how great Attack of the Clones is, arguments over Spider-man and AotC were different, who "won" that battle, and about the Lord of the Rings DVD coming out.
Great. Now I can continue to be part of the groupthink of Slashdot. And here I was, just about to submit an article about how great the MPAA is... Sweet God, can you imagine the trouble it might have caused?
How do you spell "Hypocrite"? S-L-A-S-H-D-O-T.
Does anybody else remember the "CC" commercials on the radio, emploring people to register internet domains that end in .cc? Guess what "CC" stands for! That's right! Clear Channel. That was their bid to get into the internet business, and from what I hear, it failed. But just think about that... Every radio station that your heard those commercials on was controlled by Clear Channel.
These people are worse than the RIAA and MPAA combined.
Oh, and calling Star Wars one of the most epic stories ever written is pathetic. Read some books for God's sake. Ever heard of The Illiad? The Odyssey? The Maha-Barata? Fucking BEOWULF, for God's sake! Get out more!
I wish that you people would at least *think* before you post online rumors like this one. Jar Jar in Episode 4? It takes place 30 years after Episode 3 ends, and the Gungans have a life span of only 25 years (from Episode 1). And where could Portman get worked into the plot of Jedi? There are no lines in the whole movie that reference a mother figure, only "I am your father". If anywhere, it would be in Empire, where Luke is talking to Obi Won, asking about his parents and finds out about his sister.
Dude, I don't know what your romantic experience has been, but when I'm with someone that I'm falling in love with, I know that every one of my thoughts is centered on them. If they were already married and had years together, then yeah, they'd be bored with each other and still be thinking about problems at work, etc. But when you're falling in love, you don't think about anything else.
Trust me, some day you'll understand.
Slashdot users beware - this is slashdotted territory.
I think I'll check back later... like next week.
America obviously can't beat that revolutionary...
As for true realism leading to failing games, I'm not sure that I agree. I'm playing Medal of Honor: Allied Assault online quite a bit, and I exclusively play Objective matches where if you did, you're dead until the next round starts. In that respect, I really enjoy the realism, because it gives death a meaning. If you want to play the game for a while, don't charge in immediately. Set up traps, go in groups, etc. Anything to keep yourself alive.
As for the Army's game, I'll wait until I see a demo of it. If it's well done, and if it really simulates reality, then I'll at least give it a try. Hell, it's free, why *wouldn't* you try it?
Speaking as a hardcore gamer myself, I could care less about who makes a game. I couldn't care less about how it's distributed. I couldn't care less about how it's "brainwashing people" or how it's "like Toys!". It all comes down to one thing: Is the game fun? From what Penny Arcade tells me, it is going to be fun. That's all I care about.
This is what separates the average geek crowd from the true gamers among us. The average geeks don't understand what it really means to be a hardcore gamer. All they care about is how many polys a model has, how good it looks, or how the breasts are modeled ("She kicks high"). Hell, I'm 23 and I'll be playing Mario, Zelda, and dozens of other "kiddie" games the day they're released, and I don't care.
This is why I hate mainstream media coverage of games. Leave it to the professionals, please.
Can anybody say "Photoshop"? Jesus, I've always heard people complaining about how the Slashdot editors don't verify their stories, but at least look at the linked images, for Christ's sake!
Grand Theft Auto is now a Sony Exclusive franchise
That means that, despite hundreds of reports to the contrary, Grand Theft Auto 3 will not be coming out for the Xbox.
If you bought it at Toys 'R Us, you can get back $100 if you kept your receipt and bought it within 30 days.
I think it's a great move by Toys 'R Us to keep people happy.
As for Nintendo, they're going to drop their prices at E3, I guarantee it. They stated back in April that if Sony dropped their price, Nintendo would follow suit and drop their price as well. I'm predicting a price drop down to $150 or $125. But, if they really wanted to make a splash, Nintendo would release a combo package of the Gameboy Advance, Gamecube, and the link cable that goes between them for $200 (a feasable price).
It won't matter, though. Nintendo is going to 0wn this E3, and this whole year. With new games coming out for all these franchises...
I mean, come on. When you're surfing for porn, you look for the 1000-popup American sites and stay away from that Asian Scat stuff right?
Both are monumental achievements and should be documented :-)
- American flag manufacturers
- Bumper stickers with "These Colors Don't Run" on it
- American flag decal producers
- Record companies who make "Tribute Albums"
- Those damn flag-on-plastic-so-you-can-fly-one-out-your-car-w
i ndow things
Just a few that I've become annoyed with... er, taken notice of.I'm not one to normally be conspiratorial, but I think that it's not Verisign that's sending these letters, it's their competitor, GoDaddy, making it look like Verisign is to blame.
If it weren't for Verisign's bad maneuvers in the past, I would jump on that bandwagon immediately. Just a thought...
For those of you who don't wanna click the link, the relevant quote is:
More intriguing however, when asked about the status of development on PlayStation 3, Kutaragi-san responded, "Nothing has been started yet."
Yet another wonderful CNet SNAFU.
And at a size of 1.1 MB?!?!?! How am I supposed to download that on my dialup connection?
Then, he gets into litigation that takes several weeks of his time, demanding nothing for it.
This is a small-town lawyer who wanted to make a name for himself, and the Slashdot crew obliged him.
Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.
I had deleted it as spam. What does THAT tell you about Yahoo?