Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Movies

Why Video Game Movie Adaptations Need New Respect 283

Posted by Soulskill from the no-more-fighting-game-movies-please dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Hollywood has yet to find any video game property it is willing to treat with the same respect as J.R.R. Tolkien or J.K.Rowling, arguably still following the principles that led to the appalling Super Mario Bros. movie in 1992: 'A game lacks the complexity that a movie requires.' Yet a modern gaming masterpiece such as Mass Effect has the depth and breadth to deserve better treatment in the proposed trilogy. Is Hollywood again going to disrespect fans who, in this case, have as much right to see a good plot respected as the readers of Lord Of The Rings? This article discusses why and how Hollywood should grow up regarding these adaptations."
Games

Why Don't We Finish More Games? 341

Posted by Soulskill from the attention-deficit-dis-hey-what's-that dept.
IGN has an opinion piece discussing why, as video games get shorter, we seem less likely to finish them than in the past. For example, BioWare said only 50% of Mass Effect 2 players finished the campaign. The article goes into several reasons gamers are likely to drop games without beating them, such as lowered expectations, show-stopping bugs, and the ease with which we can find another game if this one doesn't suit us. Quoting: "... now that gamers have come to expect the annualized franchise, does that limit the impetus to jump on the train knowing another one will pull up to the station soon enough? ... In the past, once you bought a game, it was pretty much yours unless you gave it to somebody else or your family held a garage sale. The systemic rise of the used games market now offers you an escape route if a game just isn't your bag. Is the middle of a game testing your patience? Then why not sell it back to your local game shop, get money back in your pocket, or trade it in for a game that's better – or at least better suited for your tastes? After all, the sooner you ditch it either at a shop or on an online auction site, the more value you stand to get in return."
PlayStation (Games)

PS3 Hacked? 296

Posted by Soulskill from the another-one-bites-the-dust dept.
Several readers have sent word that George Hotz (a.k.a. geohot), the hacker best known for unlocking Apple's iPhone, says he has now hacked the PlayStation 3. From his blog post: "I have read/write access to the entire system memory, and HV level access to the processor. In other words, I have hacked the PS3. The rest is just software. And reversing. I have a lot of reversing ahead of me, as I now have dumps of LV0 and LV1. I've also dumped the NAND without removing it or a modchip. 3 years, 2 months, 11 days...that's a pretty secure system. ... As far as the exploit goes, I'm not revealing it yet. The theory isn't really patchable, but they can make implementations much harder. Also, for obvious reasons I can't post dumps. I'm hoping to find the decryption keys and post them, but they may be embedded in hardware. Hopefully keys are setup like the iPhone's KBAG."
Role Playing (Games)

Genre Wars — the Downside of the RPG Takeover 248

Posted by Soulskill from the you-gain-1912-experience dept.
Phaethon360 writes "From Bioshock and Modern Warfare 2 to even Team Fortress 2, RPG elements are creeping into game genres that we never imagined they would. This change for the most part has managed to subtly improve upon genres that needed new life, but there's a cost that hasn't been tallied by the majority of game developers. 'The simple act of removing mod tools, along with the much discussed dedicated server issue, has made [MW2] a bit of a joke among competitive players. Gone are the days of "promod," and the only option you have is to play it their way. If Infinity Ward are so insistent on improving the variety of our experiences, they don’t have to do it at the expense of the experience that many of us already love. It really is that simple. If they don’t want to provide a good "back to basics experience," they could at least continue to provide the tools that allow us to do that for ourselves.'"
PlayStation (Games)

Gran Turismo 5 Delayed 122

Posted by Soulskill from the running-on-fumes dept.
RogueyWon writes "The Times is reporting that Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo 5, likely to prove a key title for the PlayStation 3, has been delayed indefinitely, despite an expectation that it would be released relatively early in 2010. The delay seems likely to impact Sony's plans to bundle the game with the PlayStation 3 console in time for the important spring sales period in Japan."

Comment Re:How could it cause events before then? (Score 1) 162

by WeeLad (#30572530) Attached to: Fifth Anniversary of a Cosmic Onslaught
"1.000051(29) times the speed of light".
Neutrinos? (from the wikipedia page).

I don't think it's totally ridiculous to assume that different particles with different magnetic moments were affected differently by the immense magnetic field of a magnetar. But if the Gamma, Xray, and radio waves arrive within seconds of each other, it's hard to imagine another particle could've made the trip 1.5 days quicker. But maybe that's just my lack of imagination and poor math skills.
Games

Revisiting the "Holy Trinity" of MMORPG Classes 362

Posted by Soulskill from the or-druid-as-the-case-may-be dept.
A feature at Gamasutra examines one of the foundations of many MMORPGs — the idea that class roles within such a game fall into three basic categories: tank, healer, and damage dealer. The article evaluates the pros and cons of such an arrangement and takes a look at some alternatives. "Eliminating specialized roles means that we do away with boxing a class into a single role. Without Tanks, each class would have features that would help them participate in and survive many different encounters like heavy armor, strong avoidance, or some class or magical abilities that allow them to disengage from direct combat. Without specialized DPS, all classes should be able to do damage in order to defeat enemies. Some classes might specialize in damage type, like area of effect (AoE) damage; others might be able to exploit enemy weaknesses, and some might just be good at swinging a sharpened bit of metal in the right direction at a rapid rate. This design isn't just about having each class able to fill any trinity role. MMO combat would feel more dynamic in this system. Every player would have to react to combat events and defend against attacks."

Comment Re:I'm just too damn old (Score 1) 57

by WeeLad (#28929325) Attached to: Carmack &amp; Mustaine Talk <em>Doom Resurrection</em> For the iPhone
I'm not that familiar with the iPhone, but for my G1 there is a stargazing app that will show you a map of the stars for your location on earth (using GPS) depending on which direction and inclination you hold the phone (using some voodoo magic?).

I always thought that would make a fun aiming system. Sure, you'd have to stand and turn around to shoot behind you, but that seems like it would be very immersive. It might look a little strange to onlookers though.

Comment Re:Left turns (Score 1) 882

by WeeLad (#28882463) Attached to: Rude Drivers Reduce Traffic Jams
Well said, except for the exceptions. I take freeway to work every morning and there is one exit ramp on the left side. The median between opposing directions widens and the ramp raises up and over the opposing traffic direction. The biggest problem it causes are the slow people who get in that left lane two miles early just because they see a sign announcing the exit.

Comment Re:and yet NYC still has traffic jams (Score 1) 882

by WeeLad (#28882323) Attached to: Rude Drivers Reduce Traffic Jams

Bringing this back on-topic, tailgaters are one of the biggest reasons you'll see the yo-yo in the left lane. Someone is going too slow in the hammer lane, someone else tries to push him go to faster by tailgating, the slow guy slows from 65 to 55, the tailgater slams his breaks, taking him to 45, the guy tailgating the tailgater slams HIS breaks, taking him to 35.

Just weighing in on this very therapeutic thread and arguing some cause-effect ...

Wouldn't the original cause of the yo-yo'ing be the the ones who are going slow in the speed lane? The tailgaters are just the first ones affected by their disturbance of the system. They certainly exacerbate the problem by riding too close, but the obstacle is the slow-roller in the inappropriate lane, so they would be the reason for the yo-yo'ing.

Slashdot Top Deals

Happiness is a hard disk.

Close