Even if you beat an achievement online it's sometimes not counted.
I beat all six Portal advanced maps. According to my online achievements I haven't beaten any. Every time I start up Portal my achievements ingame show I beat them, but they never get saved to the server!
At least the tech/nerdy kids will get a new toy to play with. I mean I'm sure they'll figure out in short order how to manipulate the data on the chip. If it's properly stored it'll be just an encrypted ID number reference to a database somewhere else. But given some of the security blunders you hear about RFID chips we'll probably see all the data stored on plaintext.
Then a student can easily change these parameters after school. When the school catches it, he just claims to not know anything about it, and the school finds it more likely the initial data was typoed or mixed up with someone else's.
Where it really gets fun is where the kid takes a RFID reader with him to school... if the RFID chip has sensitive data on it (SS num, grades?) it might reveal the downside of insecure RFID to some of the parents. And then of course if the student can hide an RFID writer and discretely use it it becomes even better! Think ten copies of a student running around without realizing it. Not ten copies of the tech kid of course, he's too smart to be caught that way.
Valve could have made Gordon speak in 1997 with the original Half-Life if they had wanted to. I like to think they chose to keep Gordon's character largely vague to improve immersion... you ARE Gordon Freeman. If they had better defined Gordon's character and given him a voice, he's just another character who you happen to control.
I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion about Alyx. The only weird parts I see about it are that Gordon used to work with Eli, and Eli has aged 10 years but Gordon hasn't since GMan did some trickery to seemingly move him 10 years into the future without aging. Maybe she has a crush on him, I dunno, but it's not quite like you're implying. Have you tried HL2 Episodes 1 and 2? One of the things Valve said they didn't like about HL2 was that you didn't get to fight alongside an NPC partner much. In Episodes 1 and 2 you do this a lot (and mostly with Alyx) so they had the opportunity to flesh out her character more. You should at least give the episodes a try. I enjoyed them. And if you don't like the idea of spending so much time with Alyx, it's not for the whole of each episode, and they are short games.
The mechanic where the player is always in control and there are never out-of-body cutscenes or cutscenes which remove player control (unless it's plausible, IE the teleporter cutscene in HL2) was an important one to Valve. If you would rather have a cutscene where the game takes control away, you are welcome to remove your hands from your keyboard and mouse... but really, some exposition is needed in the world of Half-Life.
There aren't many out of the way plot details hidden in HL2, and I'm again surprised that you think they would be essential. All of the essential plot details are conveyed via cutscene / expository dialog. When I was playing through HL2 for the first time I don't recall ever feeling confused or not knowing why I was supposed to do something. Any out of the way bits (such as newspaper clippings) are merely extras designed to reward players who take the time to look for such things.
I suppose recording of plot dialog might have been helpful (Valve, there's still time to put a new feature in the HEV Suit!) but the plot isn't THAT complex. You have three factions... resistance, combine, and xen aliens. They all try to kill each other. You have to make sure the resistance comes out on top. See that tall spire? That's where you're going eventually. Other than this, HL2 is largely linear. You just push forward until you find your objective.
I actually am surprised with all your nitpicking at Half-Life 2 you don't seem to point out one of the more unbelievable aspects in both it and the prequel... how the hell is a PhD guy better with such a wide array of weapons than the US Army? Here is a case where there's a tradeoff of plausibility for fun. Half-Life would have been a short game if you couldn't use weapons well.
Your OWN COMPUTER was redirecting you to Comcast (maybe you should be indignant towards Microsoft? >_>). It's called DNS caching.
In Windows a simple ipconfig/flushdns can take care of that, although some applications, such as Firefox, keep their own DNS caches which must also be cleared (In Firefox there's a DNS cache timeout in about:config somewhere, you just set it to 0 and then back and that should flush the cache).
Also the tech was almost right... restarting your computer WOULD have fixed it (since DNS caches are only kept in memory and would have been wiped when you rebooted) although it wouldn't have been the OPTIMAL solution.
Let me take you through the steps your computer took.
You try to access Google while your billing issue is present.
The Comcast DNS server gets your request for www.google.com.
The DNS server sees you haven't been paying your bills (so they think, anyways) so instead of returning the IP address of google.com, it returns the IP address of the Comcast server.
Your computer receives this address. It has no way of knowing it's not really Google.
It saves the address in the DNS cache so it won't have to look it up later.
Your computer connects to this IP address and requests the webpage.
The Comcast server returns a boilerplate "GIVE ME MONEY" page.
Time passes and you fix the billing problem.
The Comcast servers take you off the "redirect all traffic to Comcast" list so all future DNS requests will be correct.
You try to access Google again.
Your computer notes that you've already accessed this website, so it already knows the IP address (so it thinks). It skips the DNS step and uses the already known IP address (which is actually Comcast's).
Your computer connects to this IP address and requests the webpage.
The Comcast server returns a boilerplate "GIVE ME MONEY" page.
You call tech support and complain, and fail to implement the proposed solution.
You leave for the airport.
Your computer (assuming you left it on) notes that it's been a while since you DNSed www.google.com. Thus it deletes the IP from it's cache, and will requery it again.
You return from the airport and try google.com again.
The Comcast DNS server gets your request for www.google.com.
No billing issue, so it returns the proper address for Google.
Your computer receives this address.
It saves the address in the DNS cache so it won't have to look it up later.
Your computer connects to this IP address and requests the webpage.
Why am I always the last to find out about these things? First it's a club meeting here I somehow did not know about but everyone else did, then something else there, and finally now I hear that 9 World Wars happened when I wasn't looking. I know I occasionally miss things, but this is just too much!
Assuming 2008 is based on the Vista kernel, graphics drivers in Vista automatically restart when they crash, instead of BSoDing the whole machine (at least ideally)... nVidia's drivers for XP do something similar now, too (although they don't restart, they load default 640x480x4 VGA drivers instead, BLEH).
Let's see... Microsoft (PC and X-box) has X-box Live, which they make you pay extra for services Steam offers for free... and they can ban you for being bad, cutting off your online gaming. Or so they say you're being bad. That guy that got a leaked Halo 3 got banned. You can buy and download games, like Steam users can.
Sony has their Playstation online stuff... Home and all. I don't know too much about that but I bet they're going for similar capabilities as Xbox Live.
Nintendo is going online with the Wii too in a similar fashion, although it hasn't happened yet. However you can buy and download games online, also like Steam! Not sure about the PS3, but I'm willing to bet all three consoles (will) let you do this.
Don't think consoles are exempt. There is no Steam-like service yet, but some online capabilities can be disabled in games, although currently you have to earn it, I suppose if you're going to imagine PC gaming going down a slippery slope I can do the same here.
It's not too hard to imagine consoles going all digital in the future. It could happen, don't rule it out so quickly. The idea of not having to go to a middleman store and pay a middleman when you could just buy and download online (especially with broadband internet becoming faster and more available and cheaper) is enticing both for the customer and the business.
I agree that perhaps some of these users got the raw end of a deal at least (one other poster thinks the versions locked out were SUPPOSED to be locked out from the start because they were sold in different economic conditions where you can't in good conscience expect someone to pay US$50 for a game)... perhaps it could have been avoided with the reading of an EULA or the avoidance of a shady retailer... maybe not. But I disagree more with your other points, not because you agree to all this in the EULA (IANAL, but it's their legallity up in the air? I heard about one case that was questioning it but I don't recall the outcome), but because some of your ideas about Steam are just wrong:
1) Steam can be run in "offline mode". All it needs to do is connect ONCE to Steam servers to verify you own the games, and then you can run your Steam single-player games without the internet until the Big Crunch if you wish.
2) See above. You can block Steam with your firewall if you want.
3) Offline mode will work with older versions of a game obviously... also you don't have to accept updates to ANY game, except multiplayer ones, since obviously older versions are near useless since everyone is going to migrate to the new one anyways (and even if updates were optional so this didn't happen... we'd have the problem with patches that Steam's updates SOLVES in the first place... multiple game versions trying to play with each other and probably failing). You can disable updates for a game by right clicking a game, going to properties, updates tab, and changing the Automatic Updates setting. Unfortunately this must be done individually for every game... however one of the side effects of deleting ClientRegistry.blob, which is a tech support cure-all, seems to disable auto update for all games until you turn them back on. However if updates are on, a game will start updating, and once it does you can't roll it back, only pause the updating. Granted, I am unsure if the auto update setting stops updates completely or just defers them until you try and run the game, as I keep all my games up-to-date in order to have the latest bug fixes.
Valve is one of the gaming companies I respect the most. One of the things they say they'll do is if Steam ever goes belly up, they'll release patches for their Steam games to run without Steam, and they even claim to have already made such a patch (this was before third-parties started jumping on the Steam bandwagon, and I doubt the patch could legally work with them...).
And if you stopped buying their games? You're missing out big time. Even Yatzee (the Zero Punctuation guy) loves Portal. And Team Fortress 2 is just fun. EP2 is actually the low point of the recent Orange Box, and I enjoyed that better than the last episode and maybe even HL2 itself.
This game (based on Wolf3D) has an interesting solution to the "saves games make the game easier" problem... it has a "Tournament mode". You get a limited number of saves and you have to search to get powerups to give you more.
I think that is a good way to do it... make a regular mode where players have all the conveniences of loading and saving at whim that they're used to... and a "challenge" mode where they are restricted somewhat to add an element of risk back into the game.
Yeah... and a larger sample size wouldn't hurt either. Also picking new users would tend to give you false positives on people who never edit after registering... picking users NOT on that list would be a better move.
There are plenty of good 3D games for the DS. It could probably run a port of any Nintendo 64 title.
The difference is that back in the N64 days, 3D games were the new thing... it was one of the main selling points, the whole new dimension, etc. Nowadays we see that we're nowhere near the bottom of the 2D barrel yet.
And in regards to your last comment... you might find this interesting.
Slashdot Mirror
The first poster must've been a victim too, his post is GONE!
Even if you beat an achievement online it's sometimes not counted.
I beat all six Portal advanced maps. According to my online achievements I haven't beaten any. Every time I start up Portal my achievements ingame show I beat them, but they never get saved to the server!
I wouldn't. The opposite, actually.
At least the tech/nerdy kids will get a new toy to play with. I mean I'm sure they'll figure out in short order how to manipulate the data on the chip. If it's properly stored it'll be just an encrypted ID number reference to a database somewhere else. But given some of the security blunders you hear about RFID chips we'll probably see all the data stored on plaintext.
Then a student can easily change these parameters after school. When the school catches it, he just claims to not know anything about it, and the school finds it more likely the initial data was typoed or mixed up with someone else's.
Where it really gets fun is where the kid takes a RFID reader with him to school... if the RFID chip has sensitive data on it (SS num, grades?) it might reveal the downside of insecure RFID to some of the parents. And then of course if the student can hide an RFID writer and discretely use it it becomes even better! Think ten copies of a student running around without realizing it. Not ten copies of the tech kid of course, he's too smart to be caught that way.
They remembered to sack the people responsible for the initial sacking too, right?
Valve could have made Gordon speak in 1997 with the original Half-Life if they had wanted to. I like to think they chose to keep Gordon's character largely vague to improve immersion... you ARE Gordon Freeman. If they had better defined Gordon's character and given him a voice, he's just another character who you happen to control.
I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion about Alyx. The only weird parts I see about it are that Gordon used to work with Eli, and Eli has aged 10 years but Gordon hasn't since GMan did some trickery to seemingly move him 10 years into the future without aging. Maybe she has a crush on him, I dunno, but it's not quite like you're implying. Have you tried HL2 Episodes 1 and 2? One of the things Valve said they didn't like about HL2 was that you didn't get to fight alongside an NPC partner much. In Episodes 1 and 2 you do this a lot (and mostly with Alyx) so they had the opportunity to flesh out her character more. You should at least give the episodes a try. I enjoyed them. And if you don't like the idea of spending so much time with Alyx, it's not for the whole of each episode, and they are short games.
The mechanic where the player is always in control and there are never out-of-body cutscenes or cutscenes which remove player control (unless it's plausible, IE the teleporter cutscene in HL2) was an important one to Valve. If you would rather have a cutscene where the game takes control away, you are welcome to remove your hands from your keyboard and mouse... but really, some exposition is needed in the world of Half-Life.
There aren't many out of the way plot details hidden in HL2, and I'm again surprised that you think they would be essential. All of the essential plot details are conveyed via cutscene / expository dialog. When I was playing through HL2 for the first time I don't recall ever feeling confused or not knowing why I was supposed to do something. Any out of the way bits (such as newspaper clippings) are merely extras designed to reward players who take the time to look for such things.
I suppose recording of plot dialog might have been helpful (Valve, there's still time to put a new feature in the HEV Suit!) but the plot isn't THAT complex. You have three factions... resistance, combine, and xen aliens. They all try to kill each other. You have to make sure the resistance comes out on top. See that tall spire? That's where you're going eventually. Other than this, HL2 is largely linear. You just push forward until you find your objective.
I actually am surprised with all your nitpicking at Half-Life 2 you don't seem to point out one of the more unbelievable aspects in both it and the prequel... how the hell is a PhD guy better with such a wide array of weapons than the US Army? Here is a case where there's a tradeoff of plausibility for fun. Half-Life would have been a short game if you couldn't use weapons well.
Beowulf Cluster
Old? I'm pretty sure it was just posted on either Joystiq or Engadget mere hours ago. Maybe you're thinking of the Vii or something else.
In unrelated news, foxes have been quoted as saying that "any hens missing from the hen houses are totally not our fault".
I'm not an expert on cell phone tech, but can't you just get an iPhone and unlock it to run on whatever network carrier you use?
Your OWN COMPUTER was redirecting you to Comcast (maybe you should be indignant towards Microsoft? >_>). It's called DNS caching.
In Windows a simple ipconfig /flushdns can take care of that, although some applications, such as Firefox, keep their own DNS caches which must also be cleared (In Firefox there's a DNS cache timeout in about:config somewhere, you just set it to 0 and then back and that should flush the cache).
Also the tech was almost right... restarting your computer WOULD have fixed it (since DNS caches are only kept in memory and would have been wiped when you rebooted) although it wouldn't have been the OPTIMAL solution.
Let me take you through the steps your computer took.
Why am I always the last to find out about these things? First it's a club meeting here I somehow did not know about but everyone else did, then something else there, and finally now I hear that 9 World Wars happened when I wasn't looking. I know I occasionally miss things, but this is just too much!
And more importantly, who won them?
Assuming 2008 is based on the Vista kernel, graphics drivers in Vista automatically restart when they crash, instead of BSoDing the whole machine (at least ideally)... nVidia's drivers for XP do something similar now, too (although they don't restart, they load default 640x480x4 VGA drivers instead, BLEH).
Well you can't bring region-locked games or DVDs into other countries and expect them to work on your friend's console/player...
But yeah, Steam shouldn't be this picky... hopefully Valve will address this. I have a feeling they will. I like to think they're good guys.
Let's see... Microsoft (PC and X-box) has X-box Live, which they make you pay extra for services Steam offers for free... and they can ban you for being bad, cutting off your online gaming. Or so they say you're being bad. That guy that got a leaked Halo 3 got banned. You can buy and download games, like Steam users can.
Sony has their Playstation online stuff... Home and all. I don't know too much about that but I bet they're going for similar capabilities as Xbox Live.
Nintendo is going online with the Wii too in a similar fashion, although it hasn't happened yet. However you can buy and download games online, also like Steam! Not sure about the PS3, but I'm willing to bet all three consoles (will) let you do this.
Don't think consoles are exempt. There is no Steam-like service yet, but some online capabilities can be disabled in games, although currently you have to earn it, I suppose if you're going to imagine PC gaming going down a slippery slope I can do the same here.
It's not too hard to imagine consoles going all digital in the future. It could happen, don't rule it out so quickly. The idea of not having to go to a middleman store and pay a middleman when you could just buy and download online (especially with broadband internet becoming faster and more available and cheaper) is enticing both for the customer and the business.
I agree that perhaps some of these users got the raw end of a deal at least (one other poster thinks the versions locked out were SUPPOSED to be locked out from the start because they were sold in different economic conditions where you can't in good conscience expect someone to pay US$50 for a game)... perhaps it could have been avoided with the reading of an EULA or the avoidance of a shady retailer... maybe not. But I disagree more with your other points, not because you agree to all this in the EULA (IANAL, but it's their legallity up in the air? I heard about one case that was questioning it but I don't recall the outcome), but because some of your ideas about Steam are just wrong:
1) Steam can be run in "offline mode". All it needs to do is connect ONCE to Steam servers to verify you own the games, and then you can run your Steam single-player games without the internet until the Big Crunch if you wish.
2) See above. You can block Steam with your firewall if you want.
3) Offline mode will work with older versions of a game obviously... also you don't have to accept updates to ANY game, except multiplayer ones, since obviously older versions are near useless since everyone is going to migrate to the new one anyways (and even if updates were optional so this didn't happen... we'd have the problem with patches that Steam's updates SOLVES in the first place... multiple game versions trying to play with each other and probably failing). You can disable updates for a game by right clicking a game, going to properties, updates tab, and changing the Automatic Updates setting. Unfortunately this must be done individually for every game... however one of the side effects of deleting ClientRegistry.blob, which is a tech support cure-all, seems to disable auto update for all games until you turn them back on. However if updates are on, a game will start updating, and once it does you can't roll it back, only pause the updating. Granted, I am unsure if the auto update setting stops updates completely or just defers them until you try and run the game, as I keep all my games up-to-date in order to have the latest bug fixes.
Valve is one of the gaming companies I respect the most. One of the things they say they'll do is if Steam ever goes belly up, they'll release patches for their Steam games to run without Steam, and they even claim to have already made such a patch (this was before third-parties started jumping on the Steam bandwagon, and I doubt the patch could legally work with them...).
And if you stopped buying their games? You're missing out big time. Even Yatzee (the Zero Punctuation guy) loves Portal. And Team Fortress 2 is just fun. EP2 is actually the low point of the recent Orange Box, and I enjoyed that better than the last episode and maybe even HL2 itself.
Standing, eh? Here's hoping Thompson falls flat.
Scheduled Tasks can run its tasks elevated without a UAC prompt. One of the triggers for a task can be to run when a user logs on.
There's nothing to pirate, it's already free!
But he's NOT playing their game! He would be if he kept using the locked version.
This game (based on Wolf3D) has an interesting solution to the "saves games make the game easier" problem... it has a "Tournament mode". You get a limited number of saves and you have to search to get powerups to give you more.
I think that is a good way to do it... make a regular mode where players have all the conveniences of loading and saving at whim that they're used to... and a "challenge" mode where they are restricted somewhat to add an element of risk back into the game.
Yeah... and a larger sample size wouldn't hurt either. Also picking new users would tend to give you false positives on people who never edit after registering... picking users NOT on that list would be a better move.
"Stand clear, I know what to do!"
There are plenty of good 3D games for the DS. It could probably run a port of any Nintendo 64 title.
The difference is that back in the N64 days, 3D games were the new thing... it was one of the main selling points, the whole new dimension, etc. Nowadays we see that we're nowhere near the bottom of the 2D barrel yet.
And in regards to your last comment... you might find this interesting.
You neglect to mention that while the system is live, you still don't get gift passes until the 10th
Also, this column only shows you whether you have gifts. You'd give them the same way you give guest passes (Games > Manage...).