If any author perfectly captured the feel of the movies, and added to the universe, it is Timothy Zahn. There are plenty of good authors who've written Star Wars novels, but Zahn stands out from the crowd.
Exactly. If you read his original Journey of the Whills scripts, it is readily apparent he had no master plan, or at the very least never stuck to it.
Han Solo was a late addition, that up until shooting was supposed to be killed by Jabba. Star Wars was supposed to be much darker. We used WWII films like Dam Busters as inspirations, as well as Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress. Both of those he credits. But he also lifted heavily from Dune, which he doesn't credit.
The early drafts focus more on the spice trade on this remote desert planet, and the native population has supernatural powers derived from spice. A very Harkonnen-esque (and human) Jabba was the villian who controlled the spice.
Skywalker was a general of royal lineage, raised for greatness and a veteran of the Clone Wars.
And every time Lucas made announcements about what group Episode 1 would cover, and then 2, and then 3, the finished product was considerably different, because he kept changing his mind.
I'm a huge Star Wars fan, but we overlook how characters that we were told would be major characters in the trilogy like Captain Panaka and Ric Olie suddenly disappear, or how Aura Sing was going to be a major character, and then disappears.
The Force Ghost thing was going to be fully explained, with Qui-Gonn showing up in 2, and then explained in 3 with him showing up in 3, and then he never shows up.
George Lucas even admits the sibling relationship between Luke and Leia was a very last minute thing while shooting Jedi, because he didn't know how Vader would anger Luke during their final duel. So at the last second, he invented that relationship.
We credit him for the universe and the master plan, but I'm not sure he has one, or ever had one.
I'm completely against DRM, but you have no idea what you're talking about. They're selling consoles below their cost to manufacture them. At the same time, historically no console has ever been successful in history selling for more than $400. In fact, it is only due to inflation that a $300-$400 console can be successful today. If they sold the hardware for what it was actually worth, no one would buy it.
I primarily use my modded XBox for emulating very old systems, and using XBoxMediaCenter. However, without a doubt, the primary use of mod chips is to pirate games. Console manufacturers sell consoles below cost with the idea that they will make the money back on games. When you pirate games, they lose out.
So the car analogy doesn't work well.
Honestly, what I would greatly prefer is to meet in the middle. Allow for unsigned code so indie developers, homebrew games, media center apps, emulators and the like can be run on the console, but focus on protecting the games since that is what they're really upset about.
With the XBox 360, there are ways currently to circumvent the security sectors on the DVDs and make backups, but I still won't buy one. Honestly for me, I'd rather have my media center and emulators than pirated games, but I believe myself to be in the minority.
However, consoles are inherently proprietary. Things like music and movies are not. Music is meant to be played on any player. I think things like DRM and region encoding on movies and music is plain silly.
If someone wants to pay extra to import your movie before they get their normal regionalized release, let them! They are good word of mouth advertising. They will tell their friends how much they loved the movie and generate positive buzz before the official release date. And someone buying your movie is still someone buying your movie. And in many cases, a movie is only released in one region. Isn't it rather innane that I can't import and watch Japanese movies on my DVD player? Why lose out on business like that?
As for music, people said the iTunes and Napster models wouldn't work. No one would pay for music legally when they could pirate it. You know what? Those models are extremely successful. They provide a good, conveinent service, and people are sick of CDs that stop playing, and buying a second or third copy of their favorite CDs. Digital music is awesome, and worth paying money for. Why use DRM? There is no good reason to penalize the people who opted to give the recording industry money, when they could have easily pirated that music.
I refuse to use services like iTunes, because I will not be told how often I can copy my music, nor be forced to use proprietary software, or select MP3 players. Give me a completely DRM-free music service, and I'll gladly pay for all my music again.
I was going to post along the same lines but you beat me to it.
I believe that the reason they are able to pull off most of the stunts they do is by bouncing ideas off each other. Their conflicting styles allow for different points of view. Alone, I doubt either would be nearly as successful in such a tight time frame.
I'm sure given unlimited time and money, either might be successful on their own, but they have a finite budget and a shooting schedule. They usually have to revise their initial design and overcome unforeseen circumstances very quickly.
I don't watch the show and expect to learn anything terribly useful. I watch the show to see what two guys are capable of pulling off with a bit of creativity and some toys. I am routinely impressed.
I agree. Everyone should be happy to see both pushing each other.
Actually when you calculate performance per dollar, it is closer than most think right now. This article is comparing a $200 Intel processor to a $150 AMD processor. When you compare the $200 AMD to the $200 Intel, not only are they neck-and-neck, but in certain benchmarks, the AMD comes out on top.
Imagine that.
Perhaps those that read articles and think for themselves will see such things. Those that only read headlines and troll won't.
Intel does have a very good processor line on their hands with the Core Duo 2. Even the AMD fans admit that. No one has said otherwise. It is the Intel fans who refused to acknowledge how far they were behind for 4 years. Now both are striving to be the top-dog. AMD claims they will be the best with the 4x4 line soon, and no doubt Intel will respond with a new line of their own.
Meanwhile performance is going up considerably, and prices down at the same time. I built my AMD 3000 system two years ago, and I can't believe what you can build now for the same price.
I've read through the elderscroll forums quite a bit.
I've done RPG mods and such and I'm quite familiar with the challenges of open-ended design.
Morrowind used level-lists, just like Oblivion, but Oblivion used it to a far greater extent. I haven't looked, but I wouldn't be shocked if someone releases a mod pretty soon that alters the leveled-lists, and uses far less of them in Oblivion.
In a game like Ultima VII, the entire world is open to you from the get-go. What they do, is make combat a minor aspect of the game. There isn't much of it, and it is very easy. The world doesn't level up around you, but there never is much progression nor challenge. The game is about exploring the world and the plot.
Alternatively, and perhaps the best thing to do, is not to force the player along a specific plot by blocking off the world, but presenting a specific level of challenge in different areas. By doing this, the player feels like the game is open-ended, but in truth, the player is strongly encouraged to play along a linear path. I think this is what people seem to want, but they must understand that it cuts back open adventuring and exploring. It isn't perfect, and it will greatly diminish how open the world feels.
What I'd like to see Bethesda specifically do with their next Elder Scroll's title is make this a game option. At place X in the world they have a monster encounter placed. They should hand place a specific monster for the challenge they think that area should offer. If you turn on the option for the seemless difficulty where the game levels up automatically, then instead of that specific monster placed, one is pulled from the leveled list. Both players get what they want, but this doesn't come easily. More time must be spent balancing, and specifically placing and planning encounters. I feel this will make the game better, but more development zots have to go there, and something else suffers, such as perhaps a smaller world overall.
Again, either look for a mod that addresses your concerns. Bethesda ships a full toolset and enables people to alter the game to your liking. Or look for some of the graphical enhancers for Morrowind to make that game look better.
My personal opinion is that the Elder Scroll titles are pretty impressive overall, but I hate the entire rules system and pretty much everything it is predicated upon. I'm terrified of what they'll do with Fallout. I really hope they stick to the SPECIAL rules and provide a tactical/challenging game like the original Fallout titles, but I haven't seen that Bethesda is capable of that.
If you like Morrowind's gameplay then play Morrowind and check out the mods that add to it. If you don't like Oblivion's gameplay, then why have Morrowind in Oblivion's engine, unless you are just looking for improved graphics?
Graphics aren't that important, and either way, there are tons of texture and model improvements for Morrowind if you look that will make the game look better.
I'm curious. What specifically about Oblivion's gameplay did you not like?
Actually, there was a great deal of talk of designing the guy to allow for expansions via XBox Live from the get go. And perhaps you didn't read the article. It didn't say that there would never be an expansion. They said they haven't announced the expansion. Bethesda's usual policy is not to announce any project until it is about 70% complete.
I expect the expansion to come, but a bit later.
When Morrowind finished, they took half the Morrowind team and immediately placed them at work on Oblivion. The other half of the team stuck around and did Morrowind expansions.
All the big designers from Morrowind and Oblivion went straight from Oblivion to working on Fallout 3. That leaves the junior design team to work on expansions, addons, patches, and preproduction for the next Elder Scrolls title.
Bethesda is also hard at work at 2 major Star Trek titles as well. So the expansions won't be out for a while.
I like Google for the most part. However, neither Google nor Microsoft seem to have a great deal of respect for people's privacy. Both seem intent on collecting as much personal data about you as possible to generate targetted ads.
Do I trust them to host my files and not go through them?
Again, with cheap HDDs and cheap USB drives, is this necessary?
You can't have it both ways. You can't credit NASA for all these breakthroughs, but when they fail to deliver any answers say that isn't their department.
I think without projects like the X-Prize, space flight won't get cheaper. Government programs are never about making a profit, or marketing to a consumer.
If affordable space flight becomes feasible, it will be in the civilian world.
My only qualm is that I'm not sure we really have learned anything about space and our universe, save from the Hubble project, which came very close to being a huge bust.
Every few months I read new articles, many linked here, which suggest that no one can agree on anything.
How many times have I read in the past 5 years that no one agrees on what causes red shifts, in space is finite, whether dark matter or dark energy exist, how old the planet is, how old the universe is, or whether or not we have 8, 9, 10, or 11 planets in the solar system?
I don't follow the X-prize forums, but I've seen interviews with no less than 3 people who've had successful projects, and all were extremely critical of NASA and their approach. It isn't about the material of the shuttle, but the concept of the shuttle and how it is launched.
We are using the same shuttles, theories and propulsions systems we were using 40 years ago. Considering the exponential rate that this technology rate has evolved, that is plain silly.
But NASA was a huge money-sink, with the promise to Congress that the money involved would last decades and decades. To start over on any level would be unacceptable to those writing the checks.
The movie doesn't sound so far fetched now, does it?
I'm no expert but two of my best friends are a physicist and a mechanical engineer. Both follow the space program and both say that money and politics have firmly grounded NASA in 1960's science with little to no possibility to explore new options.
Plenty of guys in the X Prize world are saying the same thing. So before I visit a museum, I'd look into varied options from some of today's best minds based upon current or evolving technologies.
Then again, if NASA was scrapped tomorrow, or maybe shelved for a few decades until space flight is cheaper, safer and more feasible, I wouldn't care. We've thrown tens of billions of dollars on a pride issue, and what have we gotten in return? How much more do we know about the universe?
I'd rather throw that money are universities and I bet you money, society will benefit considerably more.
Re:Maybe in 10 more years I can watch it on Linux
on
The Future of Flash
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· Score: 1
You can release the patches by themselves, but not a fully patched fork.
If and when Sun decides to abandon Java and stop updating it, then I don't think they've be as concerned with forks then.
Re:Maybe in 10 more years I can watch it on Linux
on
The Future of Flash
·
· Score: 1
Honestly what I'd like to see is a new software license emerge. Sun has been talking about fully open-sourcing Java, but they don't want to see forks.
Imagine a license that would allow:
1 - Recompiling 2 - People can browse the source to submit patches upstream 3 - You can modify it on your own PC for personal use 4 - You can not distribute a modified version, sell it, or reuse the code without express permission.
If such a license emerged, wouldn't there be a greater chance of not only seeing Java fully open-source, but also ATI video drivers, NVidia video drivers, Flash, etc. etc.
Companies like Adobe wouldn't really have to worry about writing Linux ports because we'd do it and submit it back upstream to them. They'd have more programmers and bug testers doing their work for free.
I love OSS. I love GNU/Linux. But I'd love to see stronger standards, and distros complying with them even more.
Re:Maybe in 10 more years I can watch it on Linux
on
The Future of Flash
·
· Score: 3, Informative
I know for Windows you have several options.
1 - Go the 32-bit route for Firefox. 2 - Use Flock and their 64-bit Flash clone. 3 - There is a plugin wrapper that allows you to use 32-bit plugins in a 64-bit version of Firefox.
With Ubuntu64, you can use Gnash, or whatever it is called, but it only supports up to Flash 7.
The game is playable out of the box (or the download if you go that method) with no DRM. But you're unhappy that you have to validate the game for updates?
There is no DRM or copy protection schemes. You can download a pirated copy and play it. If you wish to update the game (patches), download new content, or play online, then you need to use online activation.
Contrast that with Half Life 2 which requires online activation for single player.
Actually many developers do complain on a regular basis. And even more don't bother to develop for Linux in the first place because of the issue.
Let's say there are X number of dollars that big companies are willing to spend on OSS development in a year. And there are Y man hours.
Are we better served by having 50 million distros that aren't LSB compliant, or are we better served in developers aren't wasting dollars and man-hours catering to each distro?
And in the end, they're only going to release say 4 packages anyway, so many distros end up putting in time from their end to customize the software for their distro anyway.
While the RIAA is busy suing soccer moms, the government has made no such effort at going after small-potato criminals.
If you believe half of what you read on Slashdot, there is no privacy, it is 1984, and any idiot can look up all your personal information in seconds anyway.
For what it is worth, I don't pirate DVDs for two reasons. DVDs are cheap, especially used. I'd rather pay $25 for 3 DVDs on sale rather than spend hours downloading, compressing and burning. And secondly, they are prosecuting movie pirates.
If you think the government is going to knock down everyone's door who has a MP3 collection, then I think you're deluding yourself. If the government had that kind of man-power, they'd be tackling issues like illegal immigration.
Slashdot Mirror
If any author perfectly captured the feel of the movies, and added to the universe, it is Timothy Zahn. There are plenty of good authors who've written Star Wars novels, but Zahn stands out from the crowd.
Exactly. If you read his original Journey of the Whills scripts, it is readily apparent he had no master plan, or at the very least never stuck to it.
Han Solo was a late addition, that up until shooting was supposed to be killed by Jabba. Star Wars was supposed to be much darker. We used WWII films like Dam Busters as inspirations, as well as Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress. Both of those he credits. But he also lifted heavily from Dune, which he doesn't credit.
The early drafts focus more on the spice trade on this remote desert planet, and the native population has supernatural powers derived from spice. A very Harkonnen-esque (and human) Jabba was the villian who controlled the spice.
Skywalker was a general of royal lineage, raised for greatness and a veteran of the Clone Wars.
And every time Lucas made announcements about what group Episode 1 would cover, and then 2, and then 3, the finished product was considerably different, because he kept changing his mind.
I'm a huge Star Wars fan, but we overlook how characters that we were told would be major characters in the trilogy like Captain Panaka and Ric Olie suddenly disappear, or how Aura Sing was going to be a major character, and then disappears.
The Force Ghost thing was going to be fully explained, with Qui-Gonn showing up in 2, and then explained in 3 with him showing up in 3, and then he never shows up.
George Lucas even admits the sibling relationship between Luke and Leia was a very last minute thing while shooting Jedi, because he didn't know how Vader would anger Luke during their final duel. So at the last second, he invented that relationship.
We credit him for the universe and the master plan, but I'm not sure he has one, or ever had one.
I'm completely against DRM, but you have no idea what you're talking about. They're selling consoles below their cost to manufacture them. At the same time, historically no console has ever been successful in history selling for more than $400. In fact, it is only due to inflation that a $300-$400 console can be successful today. If they sold the hardware for what it was actually worth, no one would buy it.
That is what the market has already decried.
I primarily use my modded XBox for emulating very old systems, and using XBoxMediaCenter. However, without a doubt, the primary use of mod chips is to pirate games. Console manufacturers sell consoles below cost with the idea that they will make the money back on games. When you pirate games, they lose out.
So the car analogy doesn't work well.
Honestly, what I would greatly prefer is to meet in the middle. Allow for unsigned code so indie developers, homebrew games, media center apps, emulators and the like can be run on the console, but focus on protecting the games since that is what they're really upset about.
With the XBox 360, there are ways currently to circumvent the security sectors on the DVDs and make backups, but I still won't buy one. Honestly for me, I'd rather have my media center and emulators than pirated games, but I believe myself to be in the minority.
However, consoles are inherently proprietary. Things like music and movies are not. Music is meant to be played on any player. I think things like DRM and region encoding on movies and music is plain silly.
If someone wants to pay extra to import your movie before they get their normal regionalized release, let them! They are good word of mouth advertising. They will tell their friends how much they loved the movie and generate positive buzz before the official release date. And someone buying your movie is still someone buying your movie. And in many cases, a movie is only released in one region. Isn't it rather innane that I can't import and watch Japanese movies on my DVD player? Why lose out on business like that?
As for music, people said the iTunes and Napster models wouldn't work. No one would pay for music legally when they could pirate it. You know what? Those models are extremely successful. They provide a good, conveinent service, and people are sick of CDs that stop playing, and buying a second or third copy of their favorite CDs. Digital music is awesome, and worth paying money for. Why use DRM? There is no good reason to penalize the people who opted to give the recording industry money, when they could have easily pirated that music.
I refuse to use services like iTunes, because I will not be told how often I can copy my music, nor be forced to use proprietary software, or select MP3 players. Give me a completely DRM-free music service, and I'll gladly pay for all my music again.
I was going to post along the same lines but you beat me to it.
I believe that the reason they are able to pull off most of the stunts they do is by bouncing ideas off each other. Their conflicting styles allow for different points of view. Alone, I doubt either would be nearly as successful in such a tight time frame.
I'm sure given unlimited time and money, either might be successful on their own, but they have a finite budget and a shooting schedule. They usually have to revise their initial design and overcome unforeseen circumstances very quickly.
I don't watch the show and expect to learn anything terribly useful. I watch the show to see what two guys are capable of pulling off with a bit of creativity and some toys. I am routinely impressed.
I agree. Everyone should be happy to see both pushing each other.
Actually when you calculate performance per dollar, it is closer than most think right now. This article is comparing a $200 Intel processor to a $150 AMD processor. When you compare the $200 AMD to the $200 Intel, not only are they neck-and-neck, but in certain benchmarks, the AMD comes out on top.
Imagine that.
Perhaps those that read articles and think for themselves will see such things. Those that only read headlines and troll won't.
Intel does have a very good processor line on their hands with the Core Duo 2. Even the AMD fans admit that. No one has said otherwise. It is the Intel fans who refused to acknowledge how far they were behind for 4 years. Now both are striving to be the top-dog. AMD claims they will be the best with the 4x4 line soon, and no doubt Intel will respond with a new line of their own.
Meanwhile performance is going up considerably, and prices down at the same time. I built my AMD 3000 system two years ago, and I can't believe what you can build now for the same price.
I've read through the elderscroll forums quite a bit.
I've done RPG mods and such and I'm quite familiar with the challenges of open-ended design.
Morrowind used level-lists, just like Oblivion, but Oblivion used it to a far greater extent. I haven't looked, but I wouldn't be shocked if someone releases a mod pretty soon that alters the leveled-lists, and uses far less of them in Oblivion.
In a game like Ultima VII, the entire world is open to you from the get-go. What they do, is make combat a minor aspect of the game. There isn't much of it, and it is very easy. The world doesn't level up around you, but there never is much progression nor challenge. The game is about exploring the world and the plot.
Alternatively, and perhaps the best thing to do, is not to force the player along a specific plot by blocking off the world, but presenting a specific level of challenge in different areas. By doing this, the player feels like the game is open-ended, but in truth, the player is strongly encouraged to play along a linear path. I think this is what people seem to want, but they must understand that it cuts back open adventuring and exploring. It isn't perfect, and it will greatly diminish how open the world feels.
What I'd like to see Bethesda specifically do with their next Elder Scroll's title is make this a game option. At place X in the world they have a monster encounter placed. They should hand place a specific monster for the challenge they think that area should offer. If you turn on the option for the seemless difficulty where the game levels up automatically, then instead of that specific monster placed, one is pulled from the leveled list. Both players get what they want, but this doesn't come easily. More time must be spent balancing, and specifically placing and planning encounters. I feel this will make the game better, but more development zots have to go there, and something else suffers, such as perhaps a smaller world overall.
Again, either look for a mod that addresses your concerns. Bethesda ships a full toolset and enables people to alter the game to your liking. Or look for some of the graphical enhancers for Morrowind to make that game look better.
My personal opinion is that the Elder Scroll titles are pretty impressive overall, but I hate the entire rules system and pretty much everything it is predicated upon. I'm terrified of what they'll do with Fallout. I really hope they stick to the SPECIAL rules and provide a tactical/challenging game like the original Fallout titles, but I haven't seen that Bethesda is capable of that.
If you like Morrowind's gameplay then play Morrowind and check out the mods that add to it. If you don't like Oblivion's gameplay, then why have Morrowind in Oblivion's engine, unless you are just looking for improved graphics?
Graphics aren't that important, and either way, there are tons of texture and model improvements for Morrowind if you look that will make the game look better.
I'm curious. What specifically about Oblivion's gameplay did you not like?
There are tons and tons of huge mods for Morrowind that add hundreds of hours of gameplay.
Have you seen Sea of Destiny?
What about Tamriel Rebuilt?
http://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/
Actually, there was a great deal of talk of designing the guy to allow for expansions via XBox Live from the get go. And perhaps you didn't read the article. It didn't say that there would never be an expansion. They said they haven't announced the expansion. Bethesda's usual policy is not to announce any project until it is about 70% complete.
I expect the expansion to come, but a bit later.
When Morrowind finished, they took half the Morrowind team and immediately placed them at work on Oblivion. The other half of the team stuck around and did Morrowind expansions.
All the big designers from Morrowind and Oblivion went straight from Oblivion to working on Fallout 3. That leaves the junior design team to work on expansions, addons, patches, and preproduction for the next Elder Scrolls title.
Bethesda is also hard at work at 2 major Star Trek titles as well. So the expansions won't be out for a while.
I like Google for the most part. However, neither Google nor Microsoft seem to have a great deal of respect for people's privacy. Both seem intent on collecting as much personal data about you as possible to generate targetted ads.
Do I trust them to host my files and not go through them?
Again, with cheap HDDs and cheap USB drives, is this necessary?
You can't have it both ways. You can't credit NASA for all these breakthroughs, but when they fail to deliver any answers say that isn't their department.
I think without projects like the X-Prize, space flight won't get cheaper. Government programs are never about making a profit, or marketing to a consumer.
If affordable space flight becomes feasible, it will be in the civilian world.
Thanks for the informative reply.
My only qualm is that I'm not sure we really have learned anything about space and our universe, save from the Hubble project, which came very close to being a huge bust.
Every few months I read new articles, many linked here, which suggest that no one can agree on anything.
How many times have I read in the past 5 years that no one agrees on what causes red shifts, in space is finite, whether dark matter or dark energy exist, how old the planet is, how old the universe is, or whether or not we have 8, 9, 10, or 11 planets in the solar system?
I don't follow the X-prize forums, but I've seen interviews with no less than 3 people who've had successful projects, and all were extremely critical of NASA and their approach. It isn't about the material of the shuttle, but the concept of the shuttle and how it is launched.
We are using the same shuttles, theories and propulsions systems we were using 40 years ago. Considering the exponential rate that this technology rate has evolved, that is plain silly.
But NASA was a huge money-sink, with the promise to Congress that the money involved would last decades and decades. To start over on any level would be unacceptable to those writing the checks.
The movie doesn't sound so far fetched now, does it?
I'm no expert but two of my best friends are a physicist and a mechanical engineer. Both follow the space program and both say that money and politics have firmly grounded NASA in 1960's science with little to no possibility to explore new options.
Plenty of guys in the X Prize world are saying the same thing. So before I visit a museum, I'd look into varied options from some of today's best minds based upon current or evolving technologies.
Then again, if NASA was scrapped tomorrow, or maybe shelved for a few decades until space flight is cheaper, safer and more feasible, I wouldn't care. We've thrown tens of billions of dollars on a pride issue, and what have we gotten in return? How much more do we know about the universe?
I'd rather throw that money are universities and I bet you money, society will benefit considerably more.
You can release the patches by themselves, but not a fully patched fork.
If and when Sun decides to abandon Java and stop updating it, then I don't think they've be as concerned with forks then.
Honestly what I'd like to see is a new software license emerge. Sun has been talking about fully open-sourcing Java, but they don't want to see forks.
Imagine a license that would allow:
1 - Recompiling
2 - People can browse the source to submit patches upstream
3 - You can modify it on your own PC for personal use
4 - You can not distribute a modified version, sell it, or reuse the code without express permission.
If such a license emerged, wouldn't there be a greater chance of not only seeing Java fully open-source, but also ATI video drivers, NVidia video drivers, Flash, etc. etc.
Companies like Adobe wouldn't really have to worry about writing Linux ports because we'd do it and submit it back upstream to them. They'd have more programmers and bug testers doing their work for free.
Isn't this a win-win?
Thank you. That was exactly what I'm getting at.
I love OSS. I love GNU/Linux. But I'd love to see stronger standards, and distros complying with them even more.
I know for Windows you have several options.
1 - Go the 32-bit route for Firefox.
2 - Use Flock and their 64-bit Flash clone.
3 - There is a plugin wrapper that allows you to use 32-bit plugins in a 64-bit version of Firefox.
With Ubuntu64, you can use Gnash, or whatever it is called, but it only supports up to Flash 7.
While this sounds incredibly cool, I'm not sure the political climate in London makes for a good setting for such an endeavor right now.
The game is playable out of the box (or the download if you go that method) with no DRM. But you're unhappy that you have to validate the game for updates?
I think that is being a bit silly.
There is no DRM or copy protection schemes. You can download a pirated copy and play it. If you wish to update the game (patches), download new content, or play online, then you need to use online activation.
Contrast that with Half Life 2 which requires online activation for single player.
Actually many developers do complain on a regular basis. And even more don't bother to develop for Linux in the first place because of the issue.
Let's say there are X number of dollars that big companies are willing to spend on OSS development in a year. And there are Y man hours.
Are we better served by having 50 million distros that aren't LSB compliant, or are we better served in developers aren't wasting dollars and man-hours catering to each distro?
And in the end, they're only going to release say 4 packages anyway, so many distros end up putting in time from their end to customize the software for their distro anyway.
While the RIAA is busy suing soccer moms, the government has made no such effort at going after small-potato criminals.
If you believe half of what you read on Slashdot, there is no privacy, it is 1984, and any idiot can look up all your personal information in seconds anyway.
For what it is worth, I don't pirate DVDs for two reasons. DVDs are cheap, especially used. I'd rather pay $25 for 3 DVDs on sale rather than spend hours downloading, compressing and burning. And secondly, they are prosecuting movie pirates.
If you think the government is going to knock down everyone's door who has a MP3 collection, then I think you're deluding yourself. If the government had that kind of man-power, they'd be tackling issues like illegal immigration.