Trot out all the excuses of how this study was flawed! Not experienced enough Linux admins! Different amounts of memory in the machines! Little green martians that only Linux users can see!
Never worked at a business? When the COO absolutely *must* work on this project over the weekend, and needs HIPAA files on her personal computer at home, GOD FORBID the IT department say no to her!
Although, what we set up is a VPN tunnel + Windows Remote Desktop. That's relatively secure, because at least the files never leave our physical premises, and the VPN ensures it's all encrypted properly. Of course, it also bridges our network with all the viruses and crud on these people's home computers...
Whatever platform it was for, doesn't change the point of my post. You're missing the forest for the trees. But I'm sure the pedantic appreciate the correction.
We used to do it this way on the Commodore 64. It sucked. It sucks *more* on a modern system. Here are only a few reasons way:
1) Drivers. Sure the Linux distro has all the relevant drivers *now*, but what about in 6 months when ATI's XYZ999 comes out and your game suddenly drops into software-rendering because it doesn't know how to talk to the new hardware?
"Oh," you the hypothetical defender of the game-DVD replies, "the game company just has to release an update, have you download it and put it on a USB key (buying one if you don't have one), and plug it in so it supports your video card." Ok, so that works in the first year the game's out. What about the next year? What about when the game company gets bought out by EA who doesn't care about keeping customers?
What if Windows switches to NTFS 2: The Revenge and suddenly your game no longer knows *how* to read the USB memory key because there's no drivers for it?
2) Running programs in the background. Surely I can't be the only one who runs TeamSpeak, Skype, an IM program (for games with windowed mode, like World of Warcraft) while I'm playing, right? How is your super game-DVD going to cope with this situation? Just include a version of *every* voice chat software out there on the disk? Tell people to buy a second computer that they didn't need back when games were installed in Windows? There's a real selling point!
3) Do you really think people want to wait for their computer to boot every time they want to play a game? Especially considering how slow Linux on CD/DVD boots up? No way.
I had a half dozen other reasons, but now I realize they're all variations of the above. In any case: we tried that already; it sucked; drop the idea.
Ok, explain this... I have the Sonic collection for Xbox. Somewhere on the disk is the game "Comic Zone," which I really want to play... except I can't. To play Comic Zone, you have to play Sonic 1 20 times, play Sonic 2 15 times, and beast Sonic 3 with all three characters... or something equally ridiculous. If Comic Zone is on the disk, JUST LET ME PLAY IT!
Another example is the modern remake of Spyhunter. Right on the disk itself, it says "original Spyhunter game included!" But it's NOT included, until you beat the modern Spyhunter game. I bought it partly to play the original Spyhunter, and I can't play it... that's no fun at all. Ditto Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and the two original PoP games it includes on the disk. Panzer Dragoon Orta won't let me play the Dreamcast Panzer Dragoon game on the disk until I get a certain score, or complete a level in a certain way... even though it's right there on the disk!
I agree with this article completely. Unlockables are fine, if they apply inside the game. For instance, a special weapon in a RPG, or the Super Sonic mode in Sonic II. But if you add in a fun minigame that has nothing to do with the main game, or a free game as a bonus, JUST LET ME PLAY IT GODDAMNIT!
The Simpsons: Hit and Run, while loading the first level, has a newspaper on the loading screen with the headline "Flash! Games Always Start With An Easy Tutorial Level!" It made me laugh, at least.
I enjoyed the story in Halo 2 much better. I guess I enjoy a "in your face" story more than a "glean it from posters on the wall" story like HL2. The problem with HL2 for me was that it didn't answer any of the questions it raised. (Not that Halo 2 is guilt-free in this one, ending with a cliffhanger.)
Secondly, of the reasons the PS2 was successful, its graphical performance isn't relevant. It's successful because:
1) When it came out, it had (basically) no competition. The Nintendo 64 was way past its prime, and the Dreamcast was pretty much already dead by that point. PS2's coming out was a death-blow to Dreamcast, and everyone knew it.
2) Because of backwards-compatibility, it had a huge selection of games at release.
The PS2's graphics performance *is* disappointing. It barely beats out the Dreamcast, and it can't hold a candle to the Gamecube or Xbox. Has nothing to do with success.
Ok, fine, but that doesn't explain the: "this is not a typo" disclaimer. If this was the way things are expected to work, the same architecture used in PC video cards, etc, like all the Slashdotters are commenting on... why would they put in that disclaimer unless the number was either vastly lower, or higher, then developers expect?
Not ports to Xbox or Xbox 360; those become more difficult. It doesn't help that I've never seen a really, truly commercial-grade SDL game. (Although I've seen a few in OpenGL, or using some combination of DirectX and OpenGL.)
Does it require Cable or Satellite TV? Or do I have to put up an antenna? It's a neat idea, and I'd like to try it out, but I don't see how they're going to get a decent signal without either piggybacking on existing cable/satellite service (which I don't subscribe to), or by having me install an ugly antenna.
They should make incremental to cover at least the past 3-4 versions, IMO. It's dumb that he has to download 6 MB when a simple 800k incremental updater probably would have been enough.
We use a product called HandyBits EasyCrypto to send sensitive information over email. The nice thing about it is that it can create self-extracting.exe... so you just make your.exe, rename it to.000 (so email servers won't choke on it or delete it), call up the party you're emailing and tell them the password and how to rename the file back to.exe. I haven't come across anybody yet who isn't computer literate enough to decrypt one of these.
The car fell, along with the dog in the back seat. The *driver*, however, managed to get out of the car and ran to safety.
You'll note, though, that the bridge was already shimmying dangerously *before* he drove onto the bridge, and there was a large group of people at both ends *not* crossing because it was obviously unsafe... so in my opinion, if he had fallen, it would have been a Darwin Award.
But yeah, in any case, the only casualty was a dog.
I've spent as much time playing Spyro: Dragon's Tail as I have playing Dead or Alive 4. The difference is that DoA is Live-aware, and Spyro is not... so there's no way to collect ratings data from it.
Unless next time I connect to Live, they send which save-games I have over the wire and construct ratings data from that.
Slashdot Mirror
Trot out all the excuses of how this study was flawed! Not experienced enough Linux admins! Different amounts of memory in the machines! Little green martians that only Linux users can see!
Never worked at a business? When the COO absolutely *must* work on this project over the weekend, and needs HIPAA files on her personal computer at home, GOD FORBID the IT department say no to her!
Although, what we set up is a VPN tunnel + Windows Remote Desktop. That's relatively secure, because at least the files never leave our physical premises, and the VPN ensures it's all encrypted properly. Of course, it also bridges our network with all the viruses and crud on these people's home computers...
Whatever platform it was for, doesn't change the point of my post. You're missing the forest for the trees. But I'm sure the pedantic appreciate the correction.
We used to do it this way on the Commodore 64. It sucked. It sucks *more* on a modern system. Here are only a few reasons way:
1) Drivers. Sure the Linux distro has all the relevant drivers *now*, but what about in 6 months when ATI's XYZ999 comes out and your game suddenly drops into software-rendering because it doesn't know how to talk to the new hardware?
"Oh," you the hypothetical defender of the game-DVD replies, "the game company just has to release an update, have you download it and put it on a USB key (buying one if you don't have one), and plug it in so it supports your video card." Ok, so that works in the first year the game's out. What about the next year? What about when the game company gets bought out by EA who doesn't care about keeping customers?
What if Windows switches to NTFS 2: The Revenge and suddenly your game no longer knows *how* to read the USB memory key because there's no drivers for it?
2) Running programs in the background. Surely I can't be the only one who runs TeamSpeak, Skype, an IM program (for games with windowed mode, like World of Warcraft) while I'm playing, right? How is your super game-DVD going to cope with this situation? Just include a version of *every* voice chat software out there on the disk? Tell people to buy a second computer that they didn't need back when games were installed in Windows? There's a real selling point!
3) Do you really think people want to wait for their computer to boot every time they want to play a game? Especially considering how slow Linux on CD/DVD boots up? No way.
I had a half dozen other reasons, but now I realize they're all variations of the above. In any case: we tried that already; it sucked; drop the idea.
Ok, explain this... I have the Sonic collection for Xbox. Somewhere on the disk is the game "Comic Zone," which I really want to play... except I can't. To play Comic Zone, you have to play Sonic 1 20 times, play Sonic 2 15 times, and beast Sonic 3 with all three characters... or something equally ridiculous. If Comic Zone is on the disk, JUST LET ME PLAY IT!
Another example is the modern remake of Spyhunter. Right on the disk itself, it says "original Spyhunter game included!" But it's NOT included, until you beat the modern Spyhunter game. I bought it partly to play the original Spyhunter, and I can't play it... that's no fun at all. Ditto Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and the two original PoP games it includes on the disk. Panzer Dragoon Orta won't let me play the Dreamcast Panzer Dragoon game on the disk until I get a certain score, or complete a level in a certain way... even though it's right there on the disk!
I agree with this article completely. Unlockables are fine, if they apply inside the game. For instance, a special weapon in a RPG, or the Super Sonic mode in Sonic II. But if you add in a fun minigame that has nothing to do with the main game, or a free game as a bonus, JUST LET ME PLAY IT GODDAMNIT!
The Simpsons: Hit and Run, while loading the first level, has a newspaper on the loading screen with the headline "Flash! Games Always Start With An Easy Tutorial Level!" It made me laugh, at least.
You know it's impossible to view the comic in your sig, because when you try the browser immediately redirects to another page, right?
I enjoyed the story in Halo 2 much better. I guess I enjoy a "in your face" story more than a "glean it from posters on the wall" story like HL2. The problem with HL2 for me was that it didn't answer any of the questions it raised. (Not that Halo 2 is guilt-free in this one, ending with a cliffhanger.)
You don't. Just use "plain old text" all the time. If you want to just hit enter for line breaks:
It works. If you want to add a HTML tag it works.
First of all, it's "poring over."
Secondly, of the reasons the PS2 was successful, its graphical performance isn't relevant. It's successful because:
1) When it came out, it had (basically) no competition. The Nintendo 64 was way past its prime, and the Dreamcast was pretty much already dead by that point. PS2's coming out was a death-blow to Dreamcast, and everyone knew it.
2) Because of backwards-compatibility, it had a huge selection of games at release.
The PS2's graphics performance *is* disappointing. It barely beats out the Dreamcast, and it can't hold a candle to the Gamecube or Xbox. Has nothing to do with success.
Ok, fine, but that doesn't explain the: "this is not a typo" disclaimer. If this was the way things are expected to work, the same architecture used in PC video cards, etc, like all the Slashdotters are commenting on... why would they put in that disclaimer unless the number was either vastly lower, or higher, then developers expect?
Not ports to Xbox or Xbox 360; those become more difficult. It doesn't help that I've never seen a really, truly commercial-grade SDL game. (Although I've seen a few in OpenGL, or using some combination of DirectX and OpenGL.)
All that for $200? Good thing you didn't specify size; that thing'll be at least brick-sized.
Also, what the holy hell is "speex?" I know a lot of obscure file format, but I have to admit I've never come across that one before.
Does it require Cable or Satellite TV? Or do I have to put up an antenna? It's a neat idea, and I'd like to try it out, but I don't see how they're going to get a decent signal without either piggybacking on existing cable/satellite service (which I don't subscribe to), or by having me install an ugly antenna.
There's a large proportion of geeks using Safari and Konquerer. In addition, Opera has a user interface that only a geek could love.
I think what you're really meaning is that geeks *don't* use IE.
They should make incremental to cover at least the past 3-4 versions, IMO. It's dumb that he has to download 6 MB when a simple 800k incremental updater probably would have been enough.
Well, I have 3 mbps from Verizon, and my link operates as close to 3 mbps (considering overhead) that you'd expect. I have no complaints.
My guess is that she's living too far from the phone switch, just at the very edge of DSL support. But it's just a guess.
We use a product called HandyBits EasyCrypto to send sensitive information over email. The nice thing about it is that it can create self-extracting .exe... so you just make your .exe, rename it to .000 (so email servers won't choke on it or delete it), call up the party you're emailing and tell them the password and how to rename the file back to .exe. I haven't come across anybody yet who isn't computer literate enough to decrypt one of these.
It's a JOKE. Haven't you ever seen Superman III? Criminy.
WHAT DADDY IS DOING would be my personal favorite, but I doubt many people would get it.
My original post said "both Clarke and Kubrick" in the previous sentence, making it obvious what "both men" referred to.
But the fact of the matter was that the name happened to be a coincidence. They happen, you know.
The car fell, along with the dog in the back seat. The *driver*, however, managed to get out of the car and ran to safety.
You'll note, though, that the bridge was already shimmying dangerously *before* he drove onto the bridge, and there was a large group of people at both ends *not* crossing because it was obviously unsafe... so in my opinion, if he had fallen, it would have been a Darwin Award.
But yeah, in any case, the only casualty was a dog.
Like Hibernate mode in Windows and OS X? ... modern computers *can* do that, they just lack the battery installed. Except for laptops, natch.
I've spent as much time playing Spyro: Dragon's Tail as I have playing Dead or Alive 4. The difference is that DoA is Live-aware, and Spyro is not... so there's no way to collect ratings data from it.
Unless next time I connect to Live, they send which save-games I have over the wire and construct ratings data from that.
Should I bother pointing out the Atari 7800?
If you're going to do an analysis like this, at least be fair and include the consoles which had backwards-compatibility and completely bombed.