I received notification that I can download the free demo of -
Batman: Arkham Asylum
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/deta ... laylang=en
Thanks for nothing, MicroBloat.
It's over 2 gigs! - read it - for a demo!
I recently got a free upgrade modem and jumped from 27kb./sec to 30kb/sec on hardware alone.
Let's see ... . It would take about 20 hours to download this free DEMO.
I believe there are back room deals with the ISPs. The intent is to get everyone paying more for high speed.
64kb. games please.
What the game making genre is becoming.
Moderator: Moderators
What the game making genre is becoming.
"great expectations"
i agree that the size of mainstream-demos is getting a bit out of hands; but i never download any of them - even if it would (theoretically, if the server delivers to the max,) take less than 40min over here, my computer is just unable to run any of the elaborate & demanding games published past 2002.
so i'm wondering - would your computer be able to play the demo? then our connection/hardware potency ratios are exactly inverse ;)
so i'm wondering - would your computer be able to play the demo? then our connection/hardware potency ratios are exactly inverse ;)
Oh yeah, I'm confident it would play.
I'm just not interested in taking on an extra $20CDN / month expense forever, just for a one shot thing.
I've railed on about this before somewhere here. I don't download movies, or music, or hugely bloated games, so high speed is unnecessary. I know that the great majority of internet use is for these things.
I come from the time of the Radio shack TRS-80 with the tape player drive software storage, programming in Basic.
I never even got an internet connect until about my fifth computer. I'm on about my eighth now, my last being an all-in-wonder board running win98SE.
It's a different computing world now. A vast majority of application users, with few creators.
I'm just not interested in taking on an extra $20CDN / month expense forever, just for a one shot thing.
I've railed on about this before somewhere here. I don't download movies, or music, or hugely bloated games, so high speed is unnecessary. I know that the great majority of internet use is for these things.
I come from the time of the Radio shack TRS-80 with the tape player drive software storage, programming in Basic.
I never even got an internet connect until about my fifth computer. I'm on about my eighth now, my last being an all-in-wonder board running win98SE.
It's a different computing world now. A vast majority of application users, with few creators.
"great expectations"
oh - i only just noticed your signature ... :)
it's definitely a big step from the early days, when anyone who wanted to use anything had to have almost as much understanding of it as the creator. i find that being forced to think about your tools is a constraint that turns out to be beneficial more often than not; but as a user & proponent of open source software and projects like zge, i'm also in favor of trying to bridge the gap between people and technology. it has, in fact, become much easier for me to be a creator in the digital domain since i started drawing lines with qbasic at the age of 11. i think when kids these days cut their teeth on the unreal editor, they might grow used to a state of the art that just wasn't there a year ago - but at least they get going in some way. metaphorically speaking, it's a lot easier to get someone interested into drawing with only black crayons once they are hooked on the full pack. and another one: the wider the base, the more varied the peaks? does that apply here, or am i getting ahead of myself? ;)
it's definitely a big step from the early days, when anyone who wanted to use anything had to have almost as much understanding of it as the creator. i find that being forced to think about your tools is a constraint that turns out to be beneficial more often than not; but as a user & proponent of open source software and projects like zge, i'm also in favor of trying to bridge the gap between people and technology. it has, in fact, become much easier for me to be a creator in the digital domain since i started drawing lines with qbasic at the age of 11. i think when kids these days cut their teeth on the unreal editor, they might grow used to a state of the art that just wasn't there a year ago - but at least they get going in some way. metaphorically speaking, it's a lot easier to get someone interested into drawing with only black crayons once they are hooked on the full pack. and another one: the wider the base, the more varied the peaks? does that apply here, or am i getting ahead of myself? ;)
-
jph_wacheski
- Posts: 1005
- Joined: Sat Feb 16, 2008 8:10 pm
- Location: Canada
- Contact:
well I think you may have heard me rant about game/demo file size as well,. it is a concern of mine as well,. esp. if you look in some reource folders and find a bunch of bitmaps that could be generated with a few cheracters of code,. . and a bunch of mp3s or <gasp> wav files,. with simple synth sounds,. sad state really.
you can always grab one of those PC mag.s from 7-11 or circle K loaded with a dvd full of the large demos,. but those are like $15.00 nowadays too,. . and many of these 2gig demos give like 30min of game play,. :S
long live ZGE!
you can always grab one of those PC mag.s from 7-11 or circle K loaded with a dvd full of the large demos,. but those are like $15.00 nowadays too,. . and many of these 2gig demos give like 30min of game play,. :S
long live ZGE!
iterationGAMES.com
One final kick at Mic...
The reason for the bloat is 1) enormous legacy compliance, and 2) use of in-house formats, specifically bitmap and zip.
Theoretically, you could replace .bmp with .jpg for scenery and .png for characters, for an enormous saving in file size. Then you could compress it all with 7-zip (.7z) instead of ancient .zip for more significant savings.
The legacy baggage, I don't know.
...........................................................
My sig....
Yeah, 99% of Z works on my rig. The parts that don't, I have already documented. Someday the bugs will be detected, and then I'll remove it.
The reason for the bloat is 1) enormous legacy compliance, and 2) use of in-house formats, specifically bitmap and zip.
Theoretically, you could replace .bmp with .jpg for scenery and .png for characters, for an enormous saving in file size. Then you could compress it all with 7-zip (.7z) instead of ancient .zip for more significant savings.
The legacy baggage, I don't know.
...........................................................
My sig....
Yeah, 99% of Z works on my rig. The parts that don't, I have already documented. Someday the bugs will be detected, and then I'll remove it.
"great expectations"