Halo 2 movie released

[Dwarf_Pr0n]

Yep the Halo 2 movies is out.
You can get it from http://www.gamesradar.com/
It's 31.6Mb big but takes forever to download cos Future Publishing FTP's are crap.

[Triprotic-Acid]

looks pretty good, the trailer is of IN GAME FOOTAGE aswell, so you can see all of the pixel shaders and stuff of GF3 [in the xbox] at work!

tempting.

[Dwarf_Pr0n]

Real time lighting.
It's also in this months Official XBox Magazine.

You know the co-op stuff you could do with 2 players doing the single missions?

Well in Halo 2 they are making it so you can group with more people over XBox Live and go through as a massive group. They haven't said how many players but I reckon 4-8 players will be the limit.

[TelexStar]

in game? i don't think so.

It all looks prerendered to me! maybe i saw a different movie.

Its the one were he goes to the armoury, picks up a gun and jumps out of the ship and onto the planet right?

[Dwarf_Pr0n]

Yep thats the one and that is ingame footage of the cut scene obviously.

[afty]

Halo 2?

I'll be interested in that once they finally let me play Halo 1.

[TelexStar]

Originally posted by afty
Halo 2?

I'll be interested in that once they finally let me play Halo 1.

not untill summer 2003 my friend.

You need to start looking toward BREED!!! - http://www.breedgame.com/

[Dwarf_Pr0n]

You can play Halo, just get an XBox and away you go.

[afty]

Hmm, Nah. I don't like the way Microsoft is taking it, so I'm boycotting it,

[TelexStar]

*cough* You need to start looking toward BREED!!! - http://www.breedgame.com/ *cough*

[AphexTwin]

Halo owns online :cool:

[TelexStar]

Originally posted by AphexTwin
Halo owns online :cool:

so does it's lag! :mad:

[AphexTwin]

heh.

Depends who you connect to. i usually get my own way and host my own game, thus no lag ;)

[Dwarf_Pr0n]

Originally posted by afty
Hmm, Nah. I don't like the way Microsoft is taking it, so I'm boycotting it,

The way Microsoft is taking it?
They are doing the same as SONY with the PS2.
Please don't tell me you have one of those?

[TelexStar]

stop the PS2 bitching or i will personally nuke you! :)

[afty]

I object to the way MS is moving with respect to "digital rights management" and the X-Box is only one of a whole host of directions they're moving in.

And no, I don't own a console of any description.

And, I don't own a DVD drive for my PC (though when games + apps are distributed on DVD as the norm, I suppose I will have to), neither do I own a *SINGLE SOLITARY* DVD. I object very strongly to region-limiting encoding, and to the whole set of issues surrounding DeCSS, so I choose to boycott products with further erode my rights.

And MS not releasing Halo for the PC is simply a (minor) abuse of copyright in an attempt to boost hardware sales, so I don't intend to give in to it.

[Dwarf_Pr0n]

Regional lock out is a small attempt at piracy prevention as well as other things.
You can't blame the companies for wanting to protect their products.
OK so they should do a world wide release of the product, maybe not hardware due to the manufacturing times, at once so all regions get it at the same time.
The XBox is Microsofts attempt at getting into people's homes without using the PC. They are also working on the Home Station which is a home entertainment system.
Why complain about the technology and just accept it?

And Halo not being released on PC is a pain but I doubt it's a copyright issue. It's more of a moral issue I reckon.

[TelexStar]

Originally posted by afty
I object to the way MS is moving with respect to "digital rights management" and the X-Box is only one of a whole host of directions they're moving in.

And no, I don't own a console of any description.

And, I don't own a DVD drive for my PC (though when games + apps are distributed on DVD as the norm, I suppose I will have to), neither do I own a *SINGLE SOLITARY* DVD. I object very strongly to region-limiting encoding, and to the whole set of issues surrounding DeCSS, so I choose to boycott products with further erode my rights.

And MS not releasing Halo for the PC is simply a (minor) abuse of copyright in an attempt to boost hardware sales, so I don't intend to give in to it.

You don't own any DVD's? have you seen the quality of videos lately? ;) Now this is only my opinion but i don't think that region limiting erodes ones rights. They say it's an 'anti-pirating precaution' but we all know it's just a money making scheme. It's hardley a problem as there are a number of multiregion DVD players on the market and you can buy region 1 DVD's quite cheap at play.com. Its not illegal to own a region 1 player or DVD in the UK.

but we all know its just a money making scheme

[Mingtea]

I watch DVD's because they are better than VHS.... i didnt know you had to have a set of morals to embrase a tech.

I also own a R1 and a R2 player, so im ok :)

[Jazza]

Just to clear this up, they are releasing it. Just not until next year.

Originally posted by afty
And MS not releasing Halo for the PC is simply a (minor) abuse of copyright in an attempt to boost hardware sales, so I don't intend to give in to it.

[Dwarf_Pr0n]

Which they are doing for good reason.

£200 ish for an XBox and Halo or £30 for Halo on PC?
Tough choice for em to make :confused:

[afty]

Regional lockout has nothing to do with piracy protection, it is to do with locking out the grey market (export importers) to prevent low priced copies of a DVD entering a marketing where the content authors want to sell it for a higher price. This is called protectionism. Protectionism is a *very* bad thing.

I'm not asking that they release it to every store in the world on the same day, I'm asking that they don't deliberately prevent my copy of "When Farm Animals Go Wild" bought in the USA from working on my DVD player bought in the UK.

Next up, I would happily "just accept" the technology, if it were good technology, and the best it could be - but it's not. The general purpose PC you have currently, which has enabled most of the technical and information revolution of the last decade or so is under serious threat. The likelihood is very high that it will either become extremely expensive, or even impossible to purchase the kit we take for granted now, in five or ten years time. Until then, I'll buy the technology that I think is good and worth it, and I will boycott that I think is bad, or comes from manufacturers whom have things on their agenda ahead of customer satisfaction, I will also try to warn others about this.

The issue of Halo not being released for the PC yet is not an issue of copyright as such, as MS could easily release it but do not in an attempt to become dominant in another market, by forcing consumer spending on what would otherwise be pointless goods. This is not ethical, it is the practice of a monopolist. Monopolies are bad children, hmm-k?

And yeah Telex, I don't own a single DVD, and won't (unless someone gives one as a gift). The quality of VHS video is of course not as good as the visual quality and audible fidelity of DVD, but it's still the same it's always been : good enough to watch.

And, we come to the larger problem. While region encoding etc. currently are circumventable (remember that word, its important) this is not going to be the case forever. While you state that there are multiregion DVD players on the market, they are not allowed to advertise as such. One of the conditions of licensing the DVD trademark from the DVD consortium is that you will manufacture devices capable of playing media from limited regions. The players you mention do not adhere to this rule, and as such may not call themselves "DVD players" - of course, there are so many around now it's hard to enforce.

The companies behind this are getting more clever every time there is a new format. When the next format comes around (or the next one?), the "decoder" may require copyrighted code and only work with keys which you must license from a central organisation. At that point, unlicensed players cannot exist, there is no circumventing it.

Remember, the same people behind the DVD format, and future formats are the people who tried *everything* to get VHS made illegal in the early 80s. They failed, but imagine for a second, no videos, no rentals, no recordings of TV. Are you still happy letting these same people decide the future of your viewing habits?

They realised that home media and recording won't be made illegal per-se so they have set about to make it technically infeasible to copy their content, or use it any way other than intended. These are the same people who make public statements to the effect that it should be illegal to invite your friends around when you watch a video, or that pay-per-view in your front room should count the number of people present and multiply the price.

Take for example, the copyright warning at the start of a DVD that you cannot fast forward through (on most players). That sequence exists on legal, purchased DVDs, but not on pirated ones. So, as a paying customer you have to sit and watch ****, but as a pirating user you don't. Who's benefitting here? The consumer?

Beware their tricks, the biggest of which is to leave it legal to exercise your rights to a copyrighted work, but to make it illegal to obtain, give, sell, describe, or even *talk about* ways to exercise these rights.

This is the same thing as saying "of course you may still drive your cars on the roads" while making it illegal to build, sell, buy or talk about tyres, brakes and engines.

It is your *right* to use a copyrighted work you have purchased for parody, to use reasonable extracts for any purpose you wish, to watch it whenever (time-shifting) and wherever (space-shifting) you like on any device you like with anyone you like (in private) and doing anything you like (this last bit goes in for those who know of Ted Turners infamous "going to bathroom during commercials is theft" speech. That's how these people *think* of you.). Of course, if you want to give up those rights, go ahead - but I'm not going to, and I'm sure as hell going to try to tell people why.


[edit - punctuation]

[TelexStar]

damn remind me never to get on the wrong side of you afty :)

Obviously you have done much reading on the subject where as i on the other hand have not. I have a PS2 that can quite happily play any region DVD's and as far as today's world goes i am able to quite freely buy any region DVD i like. I don't know what future laws will be made to further infringe on our rights so i can only enjoy what freedom i have at the moment. Is this irrisponsible? maybe, i don't know.

What i do know is that i have great faith in hackers and their kind. Every encryption system that has been put in place has always been broken in some form by these digital hippies.

Do you have any good links on this issue afty because i'd like to read up on it.

[Jazza]

DVD region coding is looking like it will finish in the next year.

Info http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2000/dot_life/2197548.stm

[afty]

Indeed Jazza, and that's damn good news.

As for reading up, I tend to read Slashdot a bit (mind the trolls, but some of the comments are very insightful) but thats news. For reference, try

www.eff.org
uk.eurorights.org (I think)
www.stand.org/co.uk

There are others too - the problem seems to be splitting the wheat from the chaff.

For an idea of what the DMCA in America (and similar bills being passed here in Europe) can do, check out the story of Dmitry Sklyarov. Google for it, there are millions of pages ;)

[BatWick]

yeh what afty said! (by the way after you should still consider some DVDs, a CyberHome will take off Macrovision, Region Coding, and Still play region coding enhanced, mp3s, VCDs, photo CDs, all for about £100)

but seriously if i could do my pimping now...

now turn on your digibox, see that fking annoying logo? now see that stupid press the red button thing? well go to:

http://www.logofreetv.org.uk/

this is another version of the same thing, companies imposing their advertising on you, whether they want it or not. DOGs (Digitally Originated Graphics) are something you dont notice too much, untiol you think about it then all you can see is them.

I would explain why it is so bad, however i am afraid i could not put it any better than here:

http://www.logofreetv.org.uk/render.asp?mode=the_problem#Visual

Try watching sky movies, with no onscreen graphics, then go and watch something on Bravo. Sci Fi were even worse with their "lets plaster crap all over the place" which i complained about and got sci fis wrists slapped, and rightly so!

There are also other issues such as adverts pumping up the volume to get your attention, and other unsavory things that ppl are against.

The full proposal is here:

http://www.logofreetv.org.uk/render.asp?mode=the_proposal

other reccomended reading is here:

http://www.625.uk.com/dogwatch/