This also wipes out any chances of seeing home brewed software on the Playstation 2 anytime soon
Ah, it wouldn't be a Slashdot article without a misinformed quip at the end.
A ruling on mod chips does not affect anything to do with the Linux PS2 kit being released. That's like saying that a ruling saying removing region blocking for DVD's is bad would stop Apple from releasing iMovie/iDVD.
Quite simply, the judge did the right thing. If this was just region bypassing I would have been annoyed too, but it allows for backups, and that allows warez kiddies to distribute games for it. Look at the DC to see what rampant warezing can do.
Yes, it doesn't get rid of all backups, and you can probably just import another one from lik-sang, but it raises the bar of difficulty.
There was a Win2k bug a while back that did the exact same thing, and you had to install a "LargePageMinimum" patch for it to not crash. Is this the Linux equivilant of that? And if so, how come it has taken so long to surface and fix?
Well, we imported an xbox (to Australia). You can imagine that we were doubly annoyed that when we got it the DVD Drive wouldn't open. We're going to have to send it back, obviously, but defects like these are even more annoying when you can't just send it to your local service centre.
And while everyone is saying "Yeah, but it's less than 1%, and Nintendo has less than 1% too", think about what you are saying. With these figures, MS could have shipped 10,000 faulty boxen, and Nintendo 100, and they'd still be both under 1%. The only difference is that one has a 1 in 100 chance of failing, which isn't good odds in anyones book, anti-MS fud or not.
So let me get this right? O@H restricted traffic for a service that is legally no longer running and hasn't been running legally for a while, thereby only effecting the three remaining people using Napster to go to unofficial servers? And even if they were running, the cap could easially be worked around by changing the port preferences in Napster.
As an O@H user, I don't exactly care, especially when the competition is much worse (BigPond, our only other broadband choice besides O@H, has a 3gb/month limit and a 50kbit/sec cap). Wake me up when something interesting happens.
In my opinion, the most difficult aspect of writing a good 3D game is coding complex physics
And here I was thinking the hardest parts of writing a 3D game were managing oodles of content as fast as possible, creating believable AI that doesn't get instantly panned, creating tools for designers and artists that are not only easy enough to not cause lost time but also complex enough to do everything they require, and generally trying to make a game fun based on an unproven concept (ignoring genre cookie-cutting games).
The most important part of making a game is making it fun. People aren't going to give a rats ass if a game has decent physics if it's a bore to play. Case in point, Trespasser - the most complex physics system seen in a game, and also the biggest flop and butt of game developer jokes for years to come (although that could just be because of Seamus Blackley, but I'm not going to go onto a tangent).
My point is, games are fun first, realistic second. If a game is extremely realistic, it's a simulation. Some may not see the difference, but I'm guaranteed you would after playing an hour of both Railway Tycoon II (Turn-based game based on railroad era) and Microsoft Train Simulation/Trainz (Simulations where you drive a train). The difference here is that one is fun and non-realistic, the other isn't fun to non-trainspotters but is extremely realistic. I'll let you imagine which one makes more money.
Me too... I was expecting some Dick Clark-hosted blooper-reel footage of when Strom Thurmond met with some animals and kids, but with hilarious and disasterous results!
This isn't the first time Nintendo have licensed their hardware to another company.
Back in the SNES days, there was a TV that had SNES hardware built into it - it looked just like a normal TV, except it had two controller ports at the bottom, and a compartment at the top to put carts in.
There are other non-commercial SNES clones as well, such as the in-flight games on Singapore Airlines and the in-room entertainment at some hotels.
If anything, Nintendo is weary of not being open to partners - after all, the PlayStation only came about after Nintendo shunned Sony from making a CD-Rom addon for the SNES!
Obviously, neither have you. While it's nice to bash MS for crashing, I've actually had decent uptime from it - 3 weeks and counting so far, amazing for a MS product.
When I was in school, they had a "students with laptops" program - essentially, if you had a laptop, you could bring it to school and use it instead of books.
It ended up being the worst 3 weeks at school. It was quite a while ago, so my Laptop only had 1 hour of battery power - every other class I was moving my desk or trying to find somewhere with a power point. On top of that, since it was a 486, I spent 2-3 minutes just waiting for Word to open. Maths was impossible, and Computing Studies was ironically also a waste of time, since I was forced to use their dodgy programs rather than my own, not to mention that most of the CS Teachers were just other teachers who filled spots ("CorelDRAW? No, I'm sorry, you have to use Canvas, since it lets you draw lines").
It ended abruptly when my laptop was stolen. Fortunately it was recovered, but literally just before the kid who stole it was about to hand it over to someone outside the school for $$$.
While it might be different now (longer battery life, books online/net access), I still think in general it's a bad idea.
Note that this is only for people who subscribe to Optus's OptusNet dial-up service. If you use Optus@Home, an account through another provider that uses C&W's bandwidth, or even if you use another Optus dial-up service besides OptusNet (Dingo Blue?), you won't be affected.
I wouldn't call "unified memory" a benefit for a console. Just look at the speed drawbacks of unified memory!
The XBOX has a PC architecture - everything driven around the processor/3d card. The PS2 has five or so separate processors that are each specialised in doing individual tasks. When you read something off a CD on the xbox, you'll probably have to hit the main processor a lot. Do that on a PS2, and you'll hit the IO/PS1 chip more, thereby leaving more stuff for the processor to do.
Quite simply, you can't just dump PC hardware into a box and call it a console. There are *many* more issues that most people (including MS) don't seem to understand.
I don't trust this just because it's from MS. The reason I don't buy into the hype is because the "Architect" of it, Seamus Blackley(sp?), was responsible for Trespasser, and all of the hype behind that (40,000 trees in software mode on a P233 at a full frame rate? I don't think so...)
Anyone who thinks these are good has obviously never played an online game against anyone. One person running these drivers can cheat and ruin the entire game for the 20+ other people on the server.
How would you feel if you were playing a game fairly, but were being killed 10 seconds after being respawned not because of skill, but because some cheating punk can see through walls.
To put it in language that linux people can understand, this is the equivilant of a person getting root access illegally and kicking off other people connected so that they can get a bigger share of CPU time. Sure, it's great for the person with illegal root, but annoying and painful for anyone else
I managed to get in by making mods for games like Quake 2 and Half-Life - nothing shows your skills at making a game more than actually making a small game!
As for education, I don't have a Uni degree, and quite a few of the other designers I know don't have degrees either, so it definitely isn't a prerequisite.
Most of the stuff that you're thinking of learning about though seems very programmer-oriented (D3D, AI coding). There is a difference between Design and Programming (and Art), although in most cases a designer also has skills in another area.
Your best bet is to make a small game or a mod, and submit it to a game company asking for a job at doing what you like doing best. If you enjoyed making the levels and game rules, then be a designer. If you enjoyed coding the engine, then be a programmer. If you enjoyed making the models, be an Artist. If you just enjoyed playing it, be a QA guy!
I got this reply from the school afer my rant to them.
----
Dear Sir:
I am confused as to the journalistic standards of posting on the internet. =
In the event that this "story" was being published in a reputable =
newspaper, the reporter would have sought comment from the school district =
and background information on the statutory requirements for public =
schools in the State of Texas regarding student discipline. While the =
individual student's right to privacy prevents us from giving out specific =
information on this incident, it does not absolve the provider of the =
information on the internet nor an interested reader from doing the same =
type of responsible information gathering that a reputable reporter would =
have done.
Quite honestly, there are facts around the management of student behavior =
that would offer another perspective on this issue. Unfortunately, none of =
the communication that I have read today has been interested in the facts. =
It seems that most believe that they already have the truth, the whole =
truth, and nothing but the truth.
Er, dude - the clock is based on the local time of YOUR PC! For example, when I look at slashdot, the times are presented in AEST, which is +10 GMT (or is it -10?).
This isn't anything new. Wipeout (96?) had Red Bull ads in it, some of WildTangent's games have had banner ads in the loading screens, and online games like Trivial Pursuit Online and Flipside.com games have had mid-game full screen ads in them.
There have even been full-length console games for which the sole purpose of them was to advertise - I think mainly of the "Cool Spot" and "Fido Dido" games for 7-up.
Bleh, indeed. Whenever I see a game related topic on/., I always cringe, since it means either a whole bunch of misinformed posts are going to be created, or I'm going to have to read an article about something that happened ten years ago...
. I think there are a lot of people that would leave Windows behind entirely if a few more games were released in non-Windows versions
It's simple maths. Developers aren't going to convince publishers to give them money to develop a linux version, especially if they want other features in the game that that money could give them. Why ask for an extra 2 months salary for a linux version when you can ask for an extra months salary for more levels/added polish.
This is probably asking too much for Slashdot readers to take with an unbiased mind (and without flaming) but you need to have a shift in mindset. Why demand every publisher/developer make a linux version. Instead, all of that effort could be put into making D3D work under Wine, thereby making EVERY windows game run under Linux.
I know I'd be running linux as my primary OS if I could run any game I choose under linux, instead of having to get linux-specific versions. Instead, it's been relegated to my firewall and for mucking around with, which is a real shame.
It's all to easy to go "There's no originality in games these days - they're all copies of older games or specific genres. I sure do wish we had the originality we had in the 80's".
For anyone who has thought that, I encourage to you have a look at the vast collection of old games (classicgaming.com is a good jumpoff point). After playing 6 or so games, you'll remember that the majority of games were ripoffs of other platform/racing/fighting games.
Just remember, for every Elite, we had Wayne's World, Kid Kool, Narc and Renegade to offset that. If anything, we have *less* crap copies of games these days due to the amount of money it takes to produce a title.
Well, you can't expect much from the government in regards for IT, especially since the minister who has been in charge of it (Richard Alston) for the last 5 years hadn't even used the internet until about 2 years ago (and apparently still doesn't use it enough to be knoledgeable about it, let alone represent it in parliment).
The whole internet thing isn't helped here when a partially-government-owned telco (Telstra) owns virtually all of the bandwith in oz, and gets away with charging 18c for each MB of traffic over all non-consumer links (don't forget, those are links going to other *cough*competing*cough* isp's). If Optus@Home hadn't had come around, people on cable connections would still be charged per MB charges if they went over their 500mb per month limit;p - Thanks to competition, I'm now on a relatively unlimited download cable connection (though O@H, of course).
Slashdot Mirror
This also wipes out any chances of seeing home brewed software on the Playstation 2 anytime soon
Ah, it wouldn't be a Slashdot article without a misinformed quip at the end.
A ruling on mod chips does not affect anything to do with the Linux PS2 kit being released. That's like saying that a ruling saying removing region blocking for DVD's is bad would stop Apple from releasing iMovie/iDVD.
Quite simply, the judge did the right thing. If this was just region bypassing I would have been annoyed too, but it allows for backups, and that allows warez kiddies to distribute games for it. Look at the DC to see what rampant warezing can do.
Yes, it doesn't get rid of all backups, and you can probably just import another one from lik-sang, but it raises the bar of difficulty.
There was a Win2k bug a while back that did the exact same thing, and you had to install a "LargePageMinimum" patch for it to not crash. Is this the Linux equivilant of that? And if so, how come it has taken so long to surface and fix?
Well, we imported an xbox (to Australia). You can imagine that we were doubly annoyed that when we got it the DVD Drive wouldn't open. We're going to have to send it back, obviously, but defects like these are even more annoying when you can't just send it to your local service centre.
And while everyone is saying "Yeah, but it's less than 1%, and Nintendo has less than 1% too", think about what you are saying. With these figures, MS could have shipped 10,000 faulty boxen, and Nintendo 100, and they'd still be both under 1%. The only difference is that one has a 1 in 100 chance of failing, which isn't good odds in anyones book, anti-MS fud or not.
So let me get this right? O@H restricted traffic for a service that is legally no longer running and hasn't been running legally for a while, thereby only effecting the three remaining people using Napster to go to unofficial servers? And even if they were running, the cap could easially be worked around by changing the port preferences in Napster.
As an O@H user, I don't exactly care, especially when the competition is much worse (BigPond, our only other broadband choice besides O@H, has a 3gb/month limit and a 50kbit/sec cap). Wake me up when something interesting happens.
In my opinion, the most difficult aspect of writing a good 3D game is coding complex physics
And here I was thinking the hardest parts of writing a 3D game were managing oodles of content as fast as possible, creating believable AI that doesn't get instantly panned, creating tools for designers and artists that are not only easy enough to not cause lost time but also complex enough to do everything they require, and generally trying to make a game fun based on an unproven concept (ignoring genre cookie-cutting games).
The most important part of making a game is making it fun. People aren't going to give a rats ass if a game has decent physics if it's a bore to play. Case in point, Trespasser - the most complex physics system seen in a game, and also the biggest flop and butt of game developer jokes for years to come (although that could just be because of Seamus Blackley, but I'm not going to go onto a tangent).
My point is, games are fun first, realistic second. If a game is extremely realistic, it's a simulation. Some may not see the difference, but I'm guaranteed you would after playing an hour of both Railway Tycoon II (Turn-based game based on railroad era) and Microsoft Train Simulation/Trainz (Simulations where you drive a train). The difference here is that one is fun and non-realistic, the other isn't fun to non-trainspotters but is extremely realistic. I'll let you imagine which one makes more money.
Exactly. Everyone knows Hacker died while trying to launch the Hacker Hellstorm. Damn you, Bud B. Boomer!
I'm suprised that you didn't mention that John Romero and Co have moved to making games for the iPaq at MonkeyStone Games.
Not only are they making games for them, but also trying to base a business on them.
Me too... I was expecting some Dick Clark-hosted blooper-reel footage of when Strom Thurmond met with some animals and kids, but with hilarious and disasterous results!
This isn't the first time Nintendo have licensed their hardware to another company.
Back in the SNES days, there was a TV that had SNES hardware built into it - it looked just like a normal TV, except it had two controller ports at the bottom, and a compartment at the top to put carts in.
There are other non-commercial SNES clones as well, such as the in-flight games on Singapore Airlines and the in-room entertainment at some hotels.
If anything, Nintendo is weary of not being open to partners - after all, the PlayStation only came about after Nintendo shunned Sony from making a CD-Rom addon for the SNES!
Obviously, neither have you. While it's nice to bash MS for crashing, I've actually had decent uptime from it - 3 weeks and counting so far, amazing for a MS product.
When I was in school, they had a "students with laptops" program - essentially, if you had a laptop, you could bring it to school and use it instead of books.
It ended up being the worst 3 weeks at school. It was quite a while ago, so my Laptop only had 1 hour of battery power - every other class I was moving my desk or trying to find somewhere with a power point. On top of that, since it was a 486, I spent 2-3 minutes just waiting for Word to open. Maths was impossible, and Computing Studies was ironically also a waste of time, since I was forced to use their dodgy programs rather than my own, not to mention that most of the CS Teachers were just other teachers who filled spots ("CorelDRAW? No, I'm sorry, you have to use Canvas, since it lets you draw lines").
It ended abruptly when my laptop was stolen. Fortunately it was recovered, but literally just before the kid who stole it was about to hand it over to someone outside the school for $$$.
While it might be different now (longer battery life, books online/net access), I still think in general it's a bad idea.
http://66.96.196.244/john/misc/britney_bikini/03.j pg
Look at the CD she's taking out. Look at the case she's taking it out of.
Hopefully, the RIAA will stop people like this pirating music, so that music artists can get the money they deserve.
Pot. Kettle. Black.
Well, I wasn't sure, hence the question mark next to Dingo Blue.
Note that this is only for people who subscribe to Optus's OptusNet dial-up service. If you use Optus@Home, an account through another provider that uses C&W's bandwidth, or even if you use another Optus dial-up service besides OptusNet (Dingo Blue?), you won't be affected.
I wouldn't call "unified memory" a benefit for a console. Just look at the speed drawbacks of unified memory!
The XBOX has a PC architecture - everything driven around the processor/3d card. The PS2 has five or so separate processors that are each specialised in doing individual tasks. When you read something off a CD on the xbox, you'll probably have to hit the main processor a lot. Do that on a PS2, and you'll hit the IO/PS1 chip more, thereby leaving more stuff for the processor to do.
Quite simply, you can't just dump PC hardware into a box and call it a console. There are *many* more issues that most people (including MS) don't seem to understand.
I don't trust this just because it's from MS. The reason I don't buy into the hype is because the "Architect" of it, Seamus Blackley(sp?), was responsible for Trespasser, and all of the hype behind that (40,000 trees in software mode on a P233 at a full frame rate? I don't think so...)
Anyone who thinks these are good has obviously never played an online game against anyone. One person running these drivers can cheat and ruin the entire game for the 20+ other people on the server.
How would you feel if you were playing a game fairly, but were being killed 10 seconds after being respawned not because of skill, but because some cheating punk can see through walls.
To put it in language that linux people can understand, this is the equivilant of a person getting root access illegally and kicking off other people connected so that they can get a bigger share of CPU time. Sure, it's great for the person with illegal root, but annoying and painful for anyone else
I managed to get in by making mods for games like Quake 2 and Half-Life - nothing shows your skills at making a game more than actually making a small game!
As for education, I don't have a Uni degree, and quite a few of the other designers I know don't have degrees either, so it definitely isn't a prerequisite.
Most of the stuff that you're thinking of learning about though seems very programmer-oriented (D3D, AI coding). There is a difference between Design and Programming (and Art), although in most cases a designer also has skills in another area.
Your best bet is to make a small game or a mod, and submit it to a game company asking for a job at doing what you like doing best. If you enjoyed making the levels and game rules, then be a designer. If you enjoyed coding the engine, then be a programmer. If you enjoyed making the models, be an Artist. If you just enjoyed playing it, be a QA guy!
Oh yeah, also check out GameJobs and The GarageGames marketplace for positions
Damn, read the article that you linked. I quote
we have no reason to doubt the arrival of the Gamecube
It deliberately says that in the article YOU linked, yet you still twist the words around. shame.
I got this reply from the school afer my rant to them.
----
Dear Sir:
I am confused as to the journalistic standards of posting on the internet. =
In the event that this "story" was being published in a reputable =
newspaper, the reporter would have sought comment from the school district =
and background information on the statutory requirements for public =
schools in the State of Texas regarding student discipline. While the =
individual student's right to privacy prevents us from giving out specific =
information on this incident, it does not absolve the provider of the =
information on the internet nor an interested reader from doing the same =
type of responsible information gathering that a reputable reporter would =
have done.
Quite honestly, there are facts around the management of student behavior =
that would offer another perspective on this issue. Unfortunately, none of =
the communication that I have read today has been interested in the facts. =
It seems that most believe that they already have the truth, the whole =
truth, and nothing but the truth.
Respectfully,
Ted Moore
Er, dude - the clock is based on the local time of YOUR PC! For example, when I look at slashdot, the times are presented in AEST, which is +10 GMT (or is it -10?).
Maybe you should change the time on your PC?
This isn't anything new. Wipeout (96?) had Red Bull ads in it, some of WildTangent's games have had banner ads in the loading screens, and online games like Trivial Pursuit Online and Flipside.com games have had mid-game full screen ads in them.
/., I always cringe, since it means either a whole bunch of misinformed posts are going to be created, or I'm going to have to read an article about something that happened ten years ago...
There have even been full-length console games for which the sole purpose of them was to advertise - I think mainly of the "Cool Spot" and "Fido Dido" games for 7-up.
Bleh, indeed. Whenever I see a game related topic on
It's simple maths. Developers aren't going to convince publishers to give them money to develop a linux version, especially if they want other features in the game that that money could give them. Why ask for an extra 2 months salary for a linux version when you can ask for an extra months salary for more levels/added polish.
This is probably asking too much for Slashdot readers to take with an unbiased mind (and without flaming) but you need to have a shift in mindset. Why demand every publisher/developer make a linux version. Instead, all of that effort could be put into making D3D work under Wine, thereby making EVERY windows game run under Linux.
I know I'd be running linux as my primary OS if I could run any game I choose under linux, instead of having to get linux-specific versions. Instead, it's been relegated to my firewall and for mucking around with, which is a real shame.
Map making, interface design...that's funny, most of that work is done by neither programmer or artist these days. Instead, they're done by Designers.
It's all to easy to go "There's no originality in games these days - they're all copies of older games or specific genres. I sure do wish we had the originality we had in the 80's". For anyone who has thought that, I encourage to you have a look at the vast collection of old games (classicgaming.com is a good jumpoff point). After playing 6 or so games, you'll remember that the majority of games were ripoffs of other platform/racing/fighting games. Just remember, for every Elite, we had Wayne's World, Kid Kool, Narc and Renegade to offset that. If anything, we have *less* crap copies of games these days due to the amount of money it takes to produce a title.
Well, you can't expect much from the government in regards for IT, especially since the minister who has been in charge of it (Richard Alston) for the last 5 years hadn't even used the internet until about 2 years ago (and apparently still doesn't use it enough to be knoledgeable about it, let alone represent it in parliment). The whole internet thing isn't helped here when a partially-government-owned telco (Telstra) owns virtually all of the bandwith in oz, and gets away with charging 18c for each MB of traffic over all non-consumer links (don't forget, those are links going to other *cough*competing*cough* isp's). If Optus@Home hadn't had come around, people on cable connections would still be charged per MB charges if they went over their 500mb per month limit ;p - Thanks to competition, I'm now on a relatively unlimited download cable connection (though O@H, of course).