OK, that's very true but it's also kind of a vague statement. Ignore the idiots in the comments below equating money-input with quality and for the moment, forget about the technical aspects (Graphic resolution, detail, 'AI', etc.) Braben made the original game 30 years ago so he needs to carry the game mechanics we loved so much, into a modern 2012 framework. That's to say, he can now fulfill the implied promises of Elite. But will he do so? Well for example; X, X2 and X3 are moronically simple buy-sell space games featuring muppets and Lucasfilm space-combat physics, and EVE Online is a ruthlessly capitalistic pan-stellar universe you play by clicking your cursor on things. (Seriously, why CAN'T I fly my Tristan like a Tie-Fighter??? I could fly a goddamn Tie-Fighter in 1996, with a joystick!) But neither of those games needed to be Kickstarted. And they've made healthy profits regardless. More relevantly; they've become gaming standards. It's more likely that a game like 'Elite' will be marketed as being like the 'X' series because contemporary gamers will never have played Elite. The technology exists for Braben to make Elite (2012?) into a game that fucking feels like you're piloting the Millenium Falcon. Force-Feedback joysticks, Track-IR, superighresolutionplasmascreenswith7-pointsurroundsoundohmygoditsanepiphany!!!!11!1 But can he make a GAME universe I would want to go to? If I could meet him I'd suggest he sits down with some science-fiction authors (Alastair Renolds or Ian M. Banks, for example) and build a cohesive and credible system we would want to be in. Making the plan is easy. Actually going on the journey..... I hope this works out.

...because if I had personally launched a business and suddenly a super behemoth of the internet wanted to buy me... I think I'd want to hold out and find out why. And as someone much older than being a teenager; I'd advise caution and multiple advice. Who are they (Facebook) and why do they suddenly want you? (Ask yourself that question, slowly and carefully.)

...can anyone who has a good quality VHS of the original, unfucked-up-with copies of Star Wars (Episodes 1 to 3 - note how I use the ORIGINAL number system, you dorks) please for the love of geekdom, upload to http://thepiratebay.se/ right now.

Slashdotters with original copies - you are our only hope!

My Dad was reading some of those old 1990's cyber-spy-crime-somethinginternet novels recently (think 'Len Deighton' approved, etc.).

He put down one of the books one day and asked me: "How the hell could someone hack into the CIA??" and I said, "Dad, that was like, 30 years ago. Facebook knows more about your life now than the KGB could ever have."

He acted like he knew what I was talking about and continued reading. Later on, he asked me why Virtual Reality hadn't been used in the Gulf War because that would surely have saved lives.

*sigh*

• Ubiquitous video cameras = ubiquitous surveillance society. *UN-INVENTED
• Nuclear Bombs: AK-47s have killed more people than nuclear weapons and if it hadn't been for Mutually Assured Destruction, they'd have killed many many more. Besides, we need nukes for when the alien zombies show up.
• The internet: Only an evil madman would un-invent the net.
• Cell phones: If you have a problem with these, you don't know how to use them properly.
• Computer mouse: Just try using a PC without one, smartguy.
• Social media: Can just be ignored.
• Physical media: I'm betting that all those 'cloud solution' outfits, the authorities at large, the MAFIAA and everyone who wants to rent you your music wishes they could un-invent this. Me, I'm sticking with my DVDs.

And now, The Voice Of Sir David Attenborough In Your Mind reads: 'NERD is the Genus. Geek, Dork and Dweeb are the Species.' Part 1. (In a series of 1) "Despite their close common ancestry, the individual species remain aloof from each other. Perhaps it is the ability of Geeks to relate to members of the opposite sex and reproduce, or their superiority in conquering internet territory. Perhaps it is the rapidly-spawning presence of the Dorks in the ecosystems of religious and rightwing political movements. Possibly it could also be the persistence of the Dweeb - forever in possession of the market value of an unopened bubblegum pack of 'Starsky & Hutch - Season 1' cards. It remains clear that the Nerd kingdom will prevail. Simply due to lack of sufficiently smart predators, if little else." (Footnote: Despite, or inspite of, evidence to support this assertion, I should state that a depressing majority of Slashdot commenters have sunk to the levels of random trolling YouTube commenters. An execrable and parlous situation, most certainly!)

I would say: It's about the greed stampede reducing the landspace for trampling over the potential richness. Look at America. How much of it was lost to rigid Christian capitalist thinking? Oh wait, sorry. Just watch "A Man Called Horse" followed by "Deadwood" - Seasons 1 to 2.

I met a Russian woman once in Germany (nice woman, very smart) and I cracked a joke about Russian corruption. She spent the next half-hour ranting about corruption in Russia and how while Europeans are shocked by a corruption scandal, Russians simply think: "Fuck I wish I thought of that first". She *hates* Russians. Can you blame her?

Back when they invented steampower, what happened wasn't that the aristocrats partied joyously with the peasants and everyone had easier, richer lives. What happened was the immediate discarding of tens of thousands from the employment markets, followed by economic migrancy, social and political unrest, the rise of communism, and a lot more besides.

Clearly a dumb move, but when have greedy power-elites ever been any different?

Now I for one would welcome our new robot overlords, if I could only be sure that the vampires (like, the IMF) overseeing the new order would just share the wealth and let people get on with the things they really want to do with their lives. Travelling, art, education, exploring inner and outer space, a lot more besides.

Why should anyone have to work for a decent standard of living anymore? It's the goddamn 21st century already!

(Hmm... just realised that we could be looking at a robot-apocalypse engineered by vampires. I gotta go talk to a publisher.)
Anyway look, go and read this guy.
(http://www.rushkoff.com/blog/2011/9/7/cnncom-are-jobs-obsolete.html)

I've seen for a while now how optical media is dying. For years we've had double-layer drives in our machines (another feature for the salesman to pitch) but the price of double-layer discs has always been kept artificially high. So high, that no-one reaIly uses that function. In a store near me I can buy 25 DVD-Rs for €15, or 5 double-layer DVD-Rs for €30. Clearly, a last gasp attempt by big media to stave off DVD movie copying. But at least I can still do that. Physical copies are always better than the cloud and walled garden approved software but try telling that to someone who only sees in "new shiny-vision" and treats hardware releases like new season fashion collections.

I had a massive rant one night at a party at a developer from an Irish 'app' (totally totally hate that term but anyway) studio who kept gushing on and on about Apple's App Store. I swear, I wanted to punch him.

Only a moron would go into business with Apple, who control everything that goes through their store like the Stasi approving your grocery shopping. Their business rates are completely locked in and totally uncompetitive but guys like him are in a trance because they think they're in some kind of special club.

Bollox. It's a cult. Call the Germans and tell them to shut it down.

Well I know most Slashdotters know this already. The thing is, while walled gardens have been around for a long time (ISPs are notorious for using them), Apple's Sith Empire-like success has legitimised the practice in the eyes of many businesses and politicians. It's an extension of the evil safety culture that wants us to remain indoors, and keep shopping.

Support free, open software and look into buying a DVD pressing machine.

...not online. Not an agency or just through friends. I turned around to ask a girl if she knew of a cigarette machine and 2 hours later, we were still talking. 4 hours later, we were weaving our way up Camden Street groping each other and giving tongue.

3 months later, I still love this gal. Our texts to each other are like this:

Me: Hey, how was your day in the foreign intelligence agency? I'm going to pick you up outside the embassy (when are you going to tell me what you really do there? :) ) and take you to a nice restaurant. Sorry, I'll be wearing an expensive suit and tie again (had another presentation - work's a bitch, eh?) but I don't care how you are. I'm sure you'll be fabulous. Later on let's walk along the beach. It's a full moon tonight! I love you.

Her: Ya had nice day all went well wit sbjct X actualy hav evening 2 mself, tidying! lol. Hav 2 meet boss contct 2m so hav 2 prtend am tidy no strngs etc. PsykWrfr101. Will B @ rndvu usual plce. XXX

Guys (and girls), how could I resist a woman with such sweet charms? She texts like a poetess. Should I ask her to marry me now or when we meet her parents in Tel Aviv?

It's a poor argument to make if you're implying that people just want a box that works the magic stuff, as an example of tech success.
Anyone who bought Ultima Underworld or Ultima VII back in the early 1990s got specific instructions on dealing with memory allocation issues and boot-sequence protocols in the in-game manual. Along with game instructions and a fairly detailed world history.
That's an education, my friend.
These days, manuals (pamphlets!) spend more text reinforcing your legal obligations pertaining to epilepsy, obesity and the concerns of religious puritans than they do on the fucking controls!
Consoles haven't dumbed down gaming (buy an old Megadrive for proof) - console MAKERS have dumbed down gaming!

I'd like to add: Come On Down Sony! - content with spending millions of their shareholders' profits on persecuting emulator engineers than on.... preserving the media those shareholders' dividends depend on.

You haven't been around before the days of 'Unreal' and 'Quake' have you? Map editors and modelling tools were common back then.

Has anyone beaten this program? I tried it and managed to reach an uncomfortable draw of: 6 Wins, 7 Draws, 6 Losses.
I haven't played it since and wonder if my chances against the Skynet armies are better than most of ye.

Anyone who tells you that playing a computer game with a radically different control peripheral is like, no big deal, because at the end of the day it's all the same fun experience, is a marketer or a seller. By the time you've figured out how much these people lie for a living, you should still have time to get a refund. With a mouse you can sweep across the screen and stop dead on a point. That's accuracy. No-one can do the same with any single controller that's been made for consoles to date - and there've been many peripherals over the years for PC displaying enough sensitivity and accessibility to name that pixel every time. For the record; I have an N64, Gamecube, Playstation, Xbox, PS2 and PS3. I enjoy my library of games for these machines but for the most part, those games are made for the machines they run on. It's part of the experience of playing them. However lately, I can really tell when a game was developed for a particular console or developed for PC first and then clunkily ported to a console and I really can tell when a game would die miserably online if it allowed PC gamers to play in its network. Come on down, Killzones 1 to 3..