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| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22900 |  DemBones79 (255) Jul 05, 2010 - 09:26 am
| I wouldn't know a thing about the customization. I got into the beta and the only button in the character customization screen that worked was "Randomize".
My biggest gripe with it, though, is that the city was just too damn boring. Crackdown, at times, felt eerily devoid of pedestrian traffic. This was far worse. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22858 | DemBones79 (255) Jun 15, 2010 - 11:51 am
| | Hot Pursuit doesn't need another reboot. How about rebooting High Stakes instead? Somewhat realistic damage model (your chassis takes damage for catching too much air for once) that affects handling and performance, a real sense of ownership of the car, realistic and detailed cockpits based upon the licensed vehicle's real-world interior, being able to win your opponents cars or lose your own in the high stakes races... and all that in the *original* High Stakes. Imagine what we could do with that formula now. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22779 | DemBones79 (255) May 19, 2010 - 02:27 pm
| "Lieutenant Dan got me invested in some kind of fruit company."
I mean seriously... just because Apple has created a killer product that everyone wants, they think they can dictate how the web should work? Do they think they're Microsoft now? ;) Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22744 | DemBones79 (255) Apr 29, 2010 - 12:03 pm
| With any luck, maybe they'll get the same treatment as Blizzard and be allowed to develop games at their own pace, under their own name.
Time will tell.
Personally, I see this as the end of Bungie. I think the same thing will happen as with IW and so many other devs before them. The team will fold, relocate, and reopen as a new name elsewhere. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22736 | DemBones79 (255) Apr 26, 2010 - 01:40 pm
| | Unfortunately, while sales of floppy drives have continued up to this point, quality assurance on floppy disk manufacturing died a long time ago. I have floppy disks in my drawer that I wrote back when Windows 95 came out. They are still readable. Floppy disks that my coworker just bought a month ago already have bad sectors. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22675 | DemBones79 (255) Apr 02, 2010 - 09:37 am
| The story is that Rambus was invited to JEDEC where the existing members were discussing their plans for DDR memory technology. The standard was described as being open and free for anyone to adopt. Rambus left the conference and patented several of the key technologies enabling DDR. Then they proceeded to sue DDR manufacturers.
Disclaimer: I was not there. I am not a memory manufacturer. What I do know is that the same story has been around numerous places, including Wikipedia. I know that the first trial resulted in Rambus being found guilty of filing their patents in bad faith. It wasn't until a second trial that the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the earlier decision. Shortly after this, Rambus proceeded to sue everyone and anyone who touched DDR memory outside of consumers.
Since then, with the exception of certain specialized applications (such as consoles), it has become apparent that Rambus has not really innovated in years. The PC market is devoid of Rambus products. As far as I can tell, their sole source of income has been royalties and patent infringement lawsuits.
They are one of the first modern patent trolls. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22648 | DemBones79 (255) Mar 22, 2010 - 12:51 pm
| I just hope that by the time I can afford to upgrade, they've worked all the kinks out of their manufacturing and all related processes (driver development, marketing, etc).
Right now, my favorite company looks like a complete mess. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22598 | DemBones79 (255) Mar 04, 2010 - 02:33 pm
| If I were Ubi, here's how I'd change the scheme:
Have it perform a quick check of the connection. If a connection is found, refresh the DRM timer. If a connection is not found, begin a countdown timer of x hours/days/months, whatever. Preferably days or months. If it is unable to find an internet connection within that time, the game locks and will not proceed past the main menu until either a) connection is restored or b) customer calls support and obtains a one-time code that will unlock the game until another interval expires.
During DRM "phone home" sessions, the servers should send back an update to how long the interval should be. That way longer intervals can be set for older games, eventually unlocking the game altogether once it is determined that sales have subsided enough (ie: game hits the $9.99-$19.99 price point).
Finally, if the user agrees to anonymous usage stats, the DRM "phone home" event should include a brief packet indicating when the last successful internet-based (not phone in) DRM renewal was. This should allow them to monitor the stats for possible network connection issues and fine-tune their intervals accordingly.
While still DRM-y, I'd find a scheme like this far less obnoxious. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22420 | DemBones79 (255) Dec 22, 2009 - 02:09 pm » Edited on Dec 22, 2009 - 02:11 pm
| I find it interesting that the points he makes against console development are *exactly* the same points most console developers make against the PC. As much as I like Blizzard, I have to say I'm more inclined to agree with the console developers. The PC platform itself may not be changing in terms of programming language, core instruction sets and so forth. But if you count each graphics cycle as a generation, then the average console lives through 8 PC generations. Four if you only count one generation a year and leave out the 6 month refreshes.
Let's not forget that Blizz is one of the only companies that still makes their own Mac games and doesn't just hand the code off to someone else to port it.
I think Brack is trying to make a distinction where, really, there is none. Just about every other long time PC developer who has made the jump to consoles has talked about how much easier it is to develop for them. While I have far more respect for Blizz than most other developers, I find it hard to believe that everyone else has the wrong idea. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22416 | DemBones79 (255) Dec 20, 2009 - 08:21 am
| While NVIDIA does tend to harp on about 3DVision and PhysX (and don't forget CUDA too!), I have a feeling that those aren't the only capabilities this exec is referring to. From the sound of it, this may be the first GPU capable of accelerating ray tracing, not to mention the improved capabilities to handle more GP computing needs.
Everyone's different, but I still prefer features and future-proofing to raw speed. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22416 | DemBones79 (255) Dec 19, 2009 - 09:37 am
| | Ummm... you need to reread the article. NVIDIA doesn't say DX11 is worthless. They're saying that in the big picture, the difference between when ATI releases a DX11 part and when NVIDIA does is going to be insignificant. Anything else you read into it is your own interpretation. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22404 | DemBones79 (255) Dec 17, 2009 - 09:21 am
| | I agree whole-heartedly. I find the amount of smoke Intel is blowing about this case to be rather galling. They've already been found guilty once and they still have the balls to say, "We ain't done nuffin'!" If only our anti-competitive suits were as punishing as the file sharing suits. If Intel pleads guilty, we fine them proportionately. If they plead innocent and we find them guilty, we take enough to allow AMD to screw up their next 5 platforms and still close the year in the black. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22375 | DemBones79 (255) Dec 10, 2009 - 11:24 am
| | I knew someone was going to make that comment. A lot of enterprises use SATA in their desktops, and some even started favoring SATA for non-mission critical servers due to their lower cost and interoperability with many SAS controllers. Of course they knew the Seagate name from their experience with Cheetah and enterprise Barracuda lines, so that's what they bought to power their budget servers. It's not that odd of an idea when you think about recent trends in cost saving measures such as "physicalization". Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22372 | DemBones79 (255) Dec 07, 2009 - 10:39 am
| Hmmm... but that was 10 years ago. True Intel's pockets have gotten deeper, but then again, they weren't getting their pants sued off by trade commissions and anti-trust investigations back then. In fact, most of the current investigations are in reference to Intel's practices back then.
Anyway, to your point, I don't know how much money they sunk into Larrabee and I have no idea how much Intel is worth altogether. But I do know that the $1.45b anti-trust suit from the EU is just the beginning. Imagine how much longer it would take for GM to completely dissolve with that kind of cash lying around. At least another 30 days! Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22370 | DemBones79 (255) Dec 05, 2009 - 11:17 am
| | How about looking at the performance impact of PhysX + 3DVision? How about throwing in SLI in the mix both with and without PhysX to see what benefits it has and what possible stability issues arise from the interplay of these three technologies? Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22372 | DemBones79 (255) Dec 05, 2009 - 09:59 am
| I agree with your second point, but to the first? Hardly. Intel invested a lot of R&D capital on this project, not to mention they have been coming under fire lately from the EU and soon the US. R&D is fine and dandy (also 100% necessary), but if nothing comes of it within a reasonable amount of time, it will be far harder to recoup the losses.
And this is not the sort of financial climate where one can afford a loss with no gain. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22293 | DemBones79 (255) Nov 10, 2009 - 03:44 pm » Edited on Nov 10, 2009 - 03:45 pm
| | Yeah, it makes a huge difference in the believability of the face. I find it funny that I can relate better with a blue-skinned alien than I can with humans in other games simply because eyelashes take the character one step further out of the Uncanny Valley. Flag this | Edit this post |
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