I work at a grocery store, and I'm surprised I don't hear about this kind of thing more often. Stores seem to think that somehow barcodes equal security, that it's a good idea to use barcodes for things like keys and system commands. The self-checkouts at the store where I work use a barcode card on a lanyard to access the cashier functions. I could easily create one of these cards at any security level, for any store in the chain, with nothing but the unique store number printed clearly on the face of every card. Then there are the customer savings cards, also barcoded, which you need to pay by check. They print the card number right on the reciept, and all you would need to do is dig it out of the trash, spend ten seconds calculating the missing checksum digit, and you could write a bad check on someone else's account and ding their credit report.
Yeah, somehow I doubt Nintendo's strategy is to make Zelda more like Final Fantasy, as natural a move as that may seem to "traditional" RPG fans. I don't have anything against Square, and I love more progressive RPGs like Symphonia, but Zelda is pretty much defined in opposition to fancy non-gameplay additives like FMV and voice acting.
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I work at a grocery store, and I'm surprised I don't hear about this kind of thing more often. Stores seem to think that somehow barcodes equal security, that it's a good idea to use barcodes for things like keys and system commands. The self-checkouts at the store where I work use a barcode card on a lanyard to access the cashier functions. I could easily create one of these cards at any security level, for any store in the chain, with nothing but the unique store number printed clearly on the face of every card. Then there are the customer savings cards, also barcoded, which you need to pay by check. They print the card number right on the reciept, and all you would need to do is dig it out of the trash, spend ten seconds calculating the missing checksum digit, and you could write a bad check on someone else's account and ding their credit report.
You've gotta feel a little bad for the guy. He's a growing fish in a shrinking puddle.
Yeah, somehow I doubt Nintendo's strategy is to make Zelda more like Final Fantasy, as natural a move as that may seem to "traditional" RPG fans. I don't have anything against Square, and I love more progressive RPGs like Symphonia, but Zelda is pretty much defined in opposition to fancy non-gameplay additives like FMV and voice acting.