MJHの世界 ~ MJH no Sekai

Life is an interesting entity...

2008-02-27T22:04:45Z

Life has been such a busy thing for me. Of late, with new jobs and school, I haven't been able to write anything. I truly want to write something, I'd like a purely opinionated topic that I can just write on a whim. For that, I need to scour the news services. I have yet to do so, and when I find something of interest, you can bet all out that I'll certainly right about it. Until then, I may appear here and there.

Happy New Year, or something like that.

2008-01-01T20:53:49Z

Yes, I'm aware that I've appeared to drop off the face of the earth. Things don't look so great for the immediate future as well, however, I do plan to make a comeback. I have plans of sort for the future, but everything is still quite vague. Expect me to return when I get bored of being bored during the upcoming weeks.

The quest for the perfect controller...

2007-08-17T00:00:00Z

One of the many things you find while playing games, aside from occasional abandonment of other projects, is that, for some games, the controller itself can have a major impact on not just how you play, but how well you do. The first genre of games that one should think about is fighting. Games like Soul Calibur, Virtua Fighter, and Tekken all have different gameplay mechanics depending on the controller being used. It's widely known, especially within each community, that controllers like the PS2 Dual-Shock 2, or the PS3's controller, are not very practical for such games. Let's leave that aside, for now, as I will cover that more in-depth later. There's another genre where the controller can affect gameplay performance: First Person Shooters. The dual-shock controller is a very good controller for this kind of game, though there are better. I believe the XBox controller is widely touted as the best FPS controller around. The problem herein lies that, what if someone wanted to use said controller on a system like the PS3 for games like Resistance: Fall of Man? There are conversion utilities, though in this case, I'd be willing to take the dual-shock design, given that's what I'm familiar with. is Hori's inexpensively branded model. As such, it's built with inexpensive parts, most notably, the stick itself. The rebounding action on the stick is so loose that it'll typically bounce back and hit the opposite input before returning to center. E.g. I hold the stick down, let go, it'll register the down input, then bounce back, go through center, register the up input, and finally return to center. This is just unacceptable, especially in technical games like Virtua Fighter. This brings me to the second trend: Custom arcade sticks. Jaxel over at Team Crooked Jester has a high quality Hori stick, made with Sanwa parts. Sanwa is a Japanese company reputed to make the best arcade parts available. That stick is worth around $300, in terms of purchasing cost. Is it actually worth that in labor and parts? Probably not. This is where creating our own custom sticks come in. We want the best and most accurate parts for use in our sticks, namely those Sanwa parts. We can order the buttons and the sticks. We can build frames with wood and paint them. We can use other parts to make the interface to, in our case, the PS2. All for a cost of less than that $300 stick. Better yet, take into account that the basic HRAP (Hori Real Arcade Pro) model runs around $130 plus shipping, we've undercut that as well. At least, for ourselves. I'll show you pictures later as to how my stick is looking and what not. For now, you can gaze at the following two threads over at Crooked Jester about custom arcade sticks: Purchase a Custom Arcade Stick [WTS] Custom RahXephon Melismatic Reika Mishima Joystick]]>

..and it shall be named Otakon

2007-07-18T17:07:39Z

With but 2 days remaining for my departure to Baltimore, I learn some rather disconcerting news. Unfortunately, internet access while at the hotel and convention center are not free. That being the case, I will have to hold off on my writings until my return. With luck, I'll have plenty of pictures, and stories to tell. This will be my last post until I return, and yes, I know I have an article due to be posted, I haven't finished writing it yet.

Of price cuts, E3, and randomness...

2007-07-14T17:00:00Z

In lieu of this week's "Notes from a Vista User," which I'm still writing, I decided to switch gears a little bit. My topics this week come straight from the news. Sony's Playstation 3 is edging its way closer within the reach of the masses with its recent $100 price cut. Sony's 80GB Playstation 3 introduction in August can be seen as competition for Microsoft's XBox 360 Elite. Is it worth the price tag of $599? Should Sony even be worried? In other news, Sony also released information on a new PSP model. Is it worth the repricing? TV-Out is nice and all, but is it worth the loss of homebrew as well? We also have E3 this year, where most of these announcements have come from. Of the many things that's been said about E3 this year is that it's much smaller than previous years. Is this the end for E3?]]> Slashdot, Kotaku, or Joystiq. In any event, the fact remains that the 60GB model is now $499 as opposed to the $599 it's had since its introduction. We also know that, this August, Sony is planning to introduce the 80GB PS3 that debuted in Korea, to America. What does this mean for consumers? What led to the price cut? These are good questions that I hope to answer. Getting back to the point, what tidings does the price cut bring? Simple, mixed. For the consumer, the price cut represents a savings of $100. It brings it within closer reach to a larger group of consumers. Sure, $499 is still a lot, and it's still more expensive than the PS2 was at its launch, but it doesn't change the fact that the consumer is getting a $499 Blu-Ray player with a 60GB hard drive, and the ability to play three generations of Playstation games. There is, however, a caveat to this price cut which will take a little longer to reach the masses then what will be available in the 80GB model. There's no longer an Emotion Engine chip inside the unit. Yes, I said it. There is no longer going to be hardware-based backwards compatibility. The 80GB units will be the first to see this, as I'm sure there's a large enough buffer in 60GB model from storage to production to allow for at least a month's delay. Some stores will probably see these altered models earlier than others, but it will become something to look out for. Is this a bad thing? It is, and isn't. For those who want hardware based compatibility to PS2 and PS1 games, yes. For those who want less expensive PS3's, no. In my opinion, it may not be as bad, even for the backwards compatibility aspect, so long as the software emulation is written to utilize the Cell processors as a Pseudo-Emotion Engine. Done correctly, the software emulation has the potential to be better than the original Emotion Engine. Unfortunately, only time will tell. Going back to one of the other topics, I need now focus on the 80GB PS3 release. The unit that was first introduced in Korea for their PS3 launch is now being brought Stateside. The thing is, it's $599. Is a 20GB increase over the 60GB model worth the price? Probably not, but it includes a copy of Motorstorm. Is that, coupled with the 20GB increase, worth the price? Given the value of the game, and the approximate cost per GB on a 2.5" SATA hard drive, yes. I say that with its own caveat -- It's worth it in actual value, and even then, that's really only if the buyer intends to purchase Motorstorm. Motorstorm doesn't seem to captivate me, so I'm not going to spend an extra $100 for 20GB and a game I'm not going to play. Instead, I could take that same $100, maybe add a little extra to it, and double the size of the hard drive. I don't think the 80GB model will be as popular as Sony would hope, unless Motorstorm becomes that "must-have" game for the general gaming community. The other thing about the 80GB PS3. It's clearly an attempt at direct competition for the XBox 360 Elite. This isn't something Sony has to seriously worry about. Microsoft chose to go for a proprietary hard drive for their new unit. That's not quite a good thing, especially as content continues to move towards high definition. A 120GB drive will run out of space eventually. Even if they provide upgrades, they're still going to be much more expensive than they should be. The Playstation 3 on the other hand continues to use a 2.5" SATA drive. What's good about that is that it's a universal standard. Even better still is that SATA is a universal standard between 2.5" and 3.5" drives. We know about the 3.5" adapter for the PS3. Buy that and it will fill the slot for you, and you can hook up your own 500GB 3.5" SATA drive that costs just over $100 after tax and shipping. If and when Microsoft offers a drive that large, I can assure you that it will cost over $100, if not, more than $200. Sony has nothing to worry about, and as such, they don't really need to introduce a model with only 20GB more storage space, and a game. Save your money, spend it on something practical like extra controllers, or external chargers. There remains one piece of information surrounding Sony at E3: the announcement of a new PSP model. It's slimmer, lighter, and more power-efficient. Oh, and it has TV-Out capabilities and USB charging. Given the price of present PSP models, is it worth going back to the original launch price for a new PSP? Is it worth losing homebrew support for a possibly long time just for tv-out? In my opinion, no, and here's why. TV-Out support, while it has changeable modes, is still limited. It only functions on progressive-scan displays, which are primarily one's HDTV unit. It displays at PSP native resolution, so plugging into a 1080p TV will net you a rather large, black border. USB charging is nice and all, but what good is it when most current PSP owners have their original A/C adapter, and probably have the dual USB cable for data and charging? What good is it when there are those who have car adapters as well (like me)? I cannot justify the cost for such limited features, however, knowing Sony, they may prove us wrong with firmware updates and more features. My verdict on the new PSP - wait and see. In other news... As many of you may know, E3 2007 was held this week. Before I continue on, however, let me state that I have no intention of covering what was shown at E3. Instead, I'm focusing on E3 itself, the changes it went through this year, and where it may be going in the future. Of the many things different about E3 this year, most of you have probably noticed that E3 has been seriously scaled down. Instead of a super-sized industry-wide event, E3 has become an invite only event. While I'm not certain as to whether or not this pertains to the panelists, we do know that the number of journalists has been drastically reduced at the event. What does this mean for E3? I laugh at the question, as it means we have a slimmer, leaner, and meaner E3 event. Instead of a super-large event that focused on presentation over content, E3 now has a focus on the games and hardware themselves. Is this a good thing? Certainly. We're not spending time sifting through the flash and glitz associated with presentation effects just to find the tiny little piece of tasty content about a game announcement, or hardware changes, or something similar. What's left for us to figure out now is where this will bring E3 in the future, is it signaling the end of E3, or the beginning of the real E3? It remains to be seen how the changes this year will effect the event next year; however, given the content of this year's event, outlooks seem hopeful that E3 still has years of life left in it. So long as the industry can maintain this kind of approach to E3, and so long as E3 can keep it under control at this size, E3 may be able to retake and hold the lead as the industry standard for gaming announcement outlets.

Let the countdown begin!

2007-07-06T19:00:47Z

In other news, as of July 20, 2007, I will be out of state for a little while. I may, or may not have internet connectivity, but I will endeavor to make sure I get at least a few minutes.

Where will I be? Baltimore, Maryland for Otakon 2007. This will be the second time I've gone to Otakon, first being in 2005. You can read about that experience here.

I endeavor to try to make end of day write-ups, though my Sunday write up may wait until I return home. I should have some internet access between the hotel and convention center, so I shouldn't disappear entirely. This year, compared to my other write-up, expect pictures.

The countdown starts: 14 Days remain.

Notes from a Vista User - Chapter 2 - I hope I didn't break that glass...

2007-07-03T01:42:33Z

Any frequent user of a computer knows that interface design is important. We are all aware of our common input interface: the keyboard and mouse. Lurking beneath these common devices is another, more important aspect of a computer interface: the output device. Looking back on the days when LEDs and printers were the primary output devices, we take for granted our monitors attached to video cards. Despite the age and inefficiencies of our clumsy keyboard and mouse interface, the combination has served us well. Similarly, despite the age of our monitor outputs, they do the job just fine. Just like the features of that new super 114-key multimedia keyboard, or a 7 button laser mouse, graphical interface design through the monitor has gone through its own evolution. This week in "Notes from a Vista User" I plan to highlight the history of the Windows GUI, and displaying the latest evolution of that design that is present in all versions of Windows Vista to some extent or another: Aero.

]]> Before I get into the nitty-gritty pertaining to Aero, I want to go through a quick history of the Windows interface. I should state that my first experience with Windows was with Windows 95, however, for a time, I do have some experience with Windows 3.1. Now that that’s out of the way, I begin with Windows 1.0 -- a visual analysis. Looking at it in a straightforward view, one can easily tell that it is quite restricted to tile-based windows. Meaning, for every window on the screen, more and more space is lost to each particular window, to an extent. One can maximize the view of a single window to work more productively on that single application. As you can tell, the icons at the bottom are also very basic, and running programs did not have any icons either. We have to remember, however, that Windows 1.0 was limited to the 16-color palette when used on a CGA or EGA display. Windows 2.0 was a different beast in its release however. While still limited to the 16-color palette, it has the added advantage of overlapped and non-tiled windows, as well as specialized icons, like the drive selectors in the screenshot. This could be considered the birth of the modern windowing environment as we know it.

Windows 3.0/3.1 gave birth to a new generation in the interface design, with the addition of VGA support. No longer are we limited to 16-colors on a CGA or EGA display, though if that was all somebody had, it would scale down appropriately. In terms of interface design, Windows 3.0 and 3.1 are very similar, if not identical. They expand upon the Windows 2.0 overlapping windows layout. Due to the higher resolution of VGA displays, windows were given a bit of a size boost, allowing for readability. Windows 3.0/3.1 also gave birth to the Program Manager, allowing for grouping of installed applications, either by type, developer, or any other way the user could come up with. These ideas would be further expanded radically altered with the birth of the Windows interface principle we’re all familiar with.

Windows 95 sought to remove itself from the Program Manager oriented design in Windows 3.x. This departure gave birth to the concept of the desktop as we know it, as well as the taskbar that everybody is familiar with. Explorer, or Windows Explorer, was a new concept in not only interacting with the PC, but also the way information was presented to the user. The taskbar lists all open windows, allowing the user to easily switch between them. The start menu, accessible from the start button, is the Program Manager brought into a cascading menu interface, allowing for easier navigation of program groups, as well as quicker access to system configuration utilities, like the control panel. Windows 95, however, did contain a copy of the Program Manager that could be set to start by default instead of Explorer, for those who did not like the departure. This interface has been subsequently tweaked, in Windows 98, ME, and 2000, with 2000 being the final "real" iteration.

Windows XP took the basic design brought about in Windows 95 and candy-coated it. Graphically, the Luna interface is quite different from Windows 9x in the regards of control design. Now we have a big red "X" button, as well as other controls that light-up as the cursor moves over them. Even the green Start button lights up, and brings up a slightly different menu. Now the start menu lists default programs for internet and email, as well as the most frequently used applications. There are also quick shortcuts to the "My" aspects of Windows XP: My Computer, My Music, My Pictures, My Documents, My Recent Files, etc. The cascading program manager menus are still present through the All Programs option. Windows XP’s Luna interface even has the ability for interfacing skinning. Though by default this feature is only capable of rendering Microsoft signed skins, it can easily be hacked to run custom, user created skins. I myself run an adaption of Windows Vista’s Aero Basic on my desktop unit, which runs Windows XP SP2. Again, Microsoft, in its desire to make people happy, also made it easy to turn off Luna and go to a Windows 9x style interface. However, unlike the previous iterations, this 9x on XP is slightly different, and represents the final iteration, short of custom skins.

I am aware that I have brought on a lot of history regarding Windows interfaces, but to see where Aero is going, it’s necessary to see where it has come from. Aero has multiple parts associated with it. Collectively, it refers to the overall interface, from windows and task bar changes, to a new aspect governing the creation "wizards." Aero is present in all versions of Windows Vista, with exception to Home Basic, which can only run Aero Basic. The flavor of Aero I intend to focus upon is Aero Glass, a 3D accelerated version of Aero. This version of Aero is present only in Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate. Let me state that the only difference between Basic and Glass is the window appearance, and Windows Flip 3D.

Before I get into Aero Glass, I’d like to take a focus on the other elements that make up Aero. Firstly, the Start menu has been redesigned, again. Not entirely redesigned, but it has been adapted to Vista’s XML nature. One of the first things a new user is likely to notice is the lack of the "My" folders. Instead, they have just become Documents, Music, Computer, Pictures, and so on. The left pane has been redesigned as well; while it still features the frequently used programs and the defaults for Internet and Email, it now sports an integrated search at the bottom, allowing for a quick search of programs. The Run command is no longer a total necessity, as you can just hit the Win-key and start typing the name of the program you wish to run, and then hit enter. Since it appears to use regular expressions in searching, it is not necessary to type the full name of the program. This does have a minor failing however, sometimes it may call up the uninstaller for a program first, so it would be prudent to allow it to list what it found and make sure you select the right program, at least until that program gets moved up in the frequency list. The final change to the Start menu is the All Programs option. Instead of opening cascading menus, it changes the "page" in the left pane like a web browser. It lists all the groups, which then cascade into that "page" as you open them. This has advantages for long group chains, no longer will there be 10 or so submenus open, cluttering the screen.

Start menu changes aside, it is now time to focus on Aero Glass itself. Hardware requirements are pretty stringent, given the 3D accelerated nature. To have the option in the first place to use Aero Glass, a video card supporting DirectX 9 is the absolute minimum, but it doesn’t stop there. That same card must pass through the Windows Experience Index (WEI) with at least a 2.0 rating. Fortunately, I believe most mid-range DX9 cards are capable of handling this. Despite DX9 support and having a 2.0 rating with the WEI, there is but one more caveat remaining: there must be WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) drivers available. Without WDDM-based drivers, even the newest ATI Radeon HD2900XT will fail to run Aero. Fortunately, ATI’s Catalyst drivers for Vista are WDDM based, as should the nVidia drivers as well. The drivers Microsoft provides during installation are also WDDM drivers.

Okay, you have WDDM drivers for your DX9 graphics card that earned a 2.0 or higher WEI rating. Now what? Aero Glass should be, from a fresh installation, enabled by default. That being the case, one should see open windows with a clear title bar that obscures what’s immediately behind it through blurring. The color of this bar can be changed through the control panel to give a colorized alpha translucency. Even the degree of the effect can be adjusted to an extremely little blurring, though this may affect your color settings. This gives Aero a very aesthetically pleasing look, that’s somewhat clean, and despite the changes, does not feel clunky at all. Why is this so easily possible and why are the hardware requirements the way they are?

Aero Glass is bringing to the table something other interfaces have had for some time: compositing. Mac OS X’s Aqua interface is probably the earliest, popularly know interface. The popularity of Aqua led to its replication to other environments, such as Windows XP, WindowsBlinds skins, and Gnome and KDE skins. Aqua wouldn’t remain the only interface of this type for long. Linux has, presently, two compositing projects, compiz and Beryl, with the latter being a fork of the former. Both of these provide various effects such as alpha blending, window wobbling, etc. Aero’s visit to this table may have been late, but at no real harm. Hardware requirements for compositing are higher than a standard interface as they treat windows as distinct 3D surfaces. Given that these surfaces are now 3D accelerated, the operating needs more graphical "oomph" to provide them to the user. The effect is what’s plainly evident in Aero Glass, or any of the other interfaces for other operating systems. The final, at least to me, plainly visible feature of Aero Glass is Windows Flip and Windows Flip3D. While I’m not positive as to Windows Flip’s presence in Aero Basic mode, I do know that it, in itself, is a nice feature. Windows Flip is Vista’s Alt+Tab replacement, while very similar to the old Alt+Tab screens of Windows 9x and XP, it has the added benefit of providing screenshots for the active windows. Windows Flip3D expands further, zooming out and giving an angled view of your open windows in 3D. Just like all the other elements of Vista I’ve talked about, and those that I will talk about, with all the upsides, there are obviously downsides.

Running a barely Vista capable computer with Aero Glass will generate a performance hit. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. The same can be said with Windows XP’s Luna, given the higher GDI requirements, it took more processor power to render the windows, but with the newer hardware, nobody notices it anymore. The same will be true for Windows Vista, as people slowly adopt newer systems with newer graphics cards, they will be less likely to notice any performance hit from Aero Glass. My experience with Aero on a Vista Capable system is that, unless there are many applications running with many windows open, the hit is already negligible. The other downside to Aero Glass is application compatibility, and its own internal requirements. Aero Glass will not activate if the computer is running under a 1024x768 resolution. Some games that drop the screen to 640x480 or 800x600 will cause Aero Glass to be temporarily turned off, but it will be reactivated upon closing the game. Other applications, for some reason or another, will also spontaneously cause Aero Glass to be temporarily deactivated. Right now, I can confirm that Adobe Audition 2.0 and Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9 are two such programs. As developers embrace Aero’s interface specifications, this should not become a big problem in the future.

Aero is more than just a simple interface change. It’s a complete overhaul of what has come before it. It’s more than the present interface as well. Microsoft has also targeted UI conformity in its spec. Aero wizards, such as the connecting to a wireless network wizard, are to be designed with new guidelines in mind, including control placement. It remains to be seen how this will affect future application development, but the prospects could be beneficial to the user. A stringent UI spec has been present in MacOS for a while, and that has shown to improve application design and usability, so it would follow that creating a standard to conform to for Windows may bring a similar benefit. In the end, I’ll just settle for the eye candy of Aero Glass.

Issues in Gaming - The Pilot: Take-Two

2007-06-29T02:46:37Z

"Issues in Gaming" is a new series of articles that I wanted to write. Unlike "Notes from a Vista User," "Issues in Gaming" is going to be a longer running series of articles. My topics will change from week to week, but will ultimately be focused on contemporary issues in the gaming community. There are a number of issues, political and ethical, that exist in the community. There are also practical and philosophical issues that Jaxel, over at the Elitist Gamer’s Journal, writes about. For me, however, this week, I intend to focus on one of the issues that the media is having a field day with: Take-Two’s Manhunt 2. I do not intend to focus strictly on Manhunt 2 however; I will also focus on Take-Two’s other titles, relate them to this current issue, and show how their present situation could herald dangerous times for the company. I also plan to relate Take-Two’s circumstances to the situation that has been growing in the gaming community as of late.

]]> Our issue at hand revolves around Take-Two Interactive. Will they be able to survive the onslaught brought upon them by the most recent of issues to crop up in the gaming community? As I’m sure many of you know, Take-Two’s Manhunt 2 has been banned from sale in both the United Kingdom and Ireland, with a likelihood of Italy and Australia to follow. It’s also been effectively banned in the United States as well, due to its Adults Only (AO) rating. Major retail chains such as Wal-Mart and Target will not, as a policy, sell games with an explicit AO rating. I’m sure other major chains also have that same policy; however, this particular policy is not entirely the most dangerous portion of the game’s AO rating. While granted, in order for Take-Two to turn a profit, they need to sell games, and as such, they need the major retailers to sell the games, there’s a secondary aspect that must be taken into account.

Sony and Nintendo have made it clear in the past that they will refuse the publishing of third party software with an AO rating. This signals a problem as console gaming is becoming the primary avenue of our gaming attention. Sure, PC is still a viable platform for gaming, but it’s been slowing down as many PC games are getting console ports. Effectively, this limits Manhunt 2 to, at most, two platforms, assuming Microsoft will allow an AO rated game on its console. Given the attitude made evident by Nintendo and Sony, this may not seem likely. With this controversy, we’ve seen Take-Two suspend the release of the game, but what brought us here and where is it going?

I blame the growing lack of focus in the creation of game premises. There exists in current game development companies a propensity towards the degeneration of game ideas. Some companies have been around so long that they no longer care about creating quality games based upon a quality premise. The companies see the expansion of an already established franchise as a quick means to more money. Unfortunately, they are right, despite the continually degrading quality of games. This plays back to the company’s idea pool when it comes time to create something new. They’ve gotten so used to the poor quality games that they’ve been putting out that their new ideas are of an equivalent quality. How does this factor into our Manhunt 2 situation regarding Take-Two?

I can’t say I haven’t played the game. My information is based off of plot synopses and the like. Given that, the premise behind Manhunt seemed interesting enough. Manhunt 2 takes that original premise, and pushes it further. Unfortunately, they crossed the line in doing so. One of the many things to keep in mind in game development is that there exists a line that effectively says what can and cannot be done in a game. Take-Two has a history of pushing up against this line. However, it can be said that Manhunt 2 goes past it. This is a move that has slowly been gaining steam from Take-Two’s earlier games, namely the Grand Theft Auto series.

Grand Theft Auto really pushed the line with its initial release. As a game that focused on various elements of organized crime, as well as typical crime, it had many elements that some would find appalling. What game should allow the player to freely kill walking pedestrians? What game should allow the player to kill cops? Fortunately, it has been shown that people do realize that Grand Theft Auto is a game, despite the acts that can be carried out.

Knowing what Grand Theft Auto did, could Manhunt 2 have done the same? The reason for its ban of sale, and its AO rating, has been cited as extremely violent "visceral killing." Not only are you killing various people in game, they provide you with a wide variety of torturous weapons, and gratuitous amounts of blood and gore. What’s wrong with this? Switching to a different media platform, it isn’t as though it hasn’t been done in the movies. One needs only take a look at a movie like Hostel, or Saw. Even look at the DVD case for Saw, it had fake blood in it. Why then, is Manhunt 2 such a different entity?

Movies like Hostel and Saw cater to a niche market. There are people out there intentionally trying to give themselves a scare. There are people that realize what they’re watching is a movie, and that they can do nothing to change it as they’re watching it. Games are of a different nature as one is actually controlling characters in game. It could then be seen that the player has had latent desires to kill people in extremely violent ways. The game could then bring out those desires into the real world. Wait a moment, what was that? I’m sorry; I don’t think there’s any concrete, solid evidence to back this up. Before anybody tries to mention the various school massacres, evidence based solely on circumstance is not practical evidence at all.

The problem with Manhunt 2 isn’t the ideas behind it. It’s the fact that Take-Two isn’t trying to sell it to a niche market. They’re marketing it to a wider audience, the gaming audience in general. They don’t explicitly market it towards the older, more mature audience, though that’s their unintended target. We must remember their goal, which is to make money.

Going back to the point, is Manhunt 2’s suspension of release signaling difficult times ahead for Take-Two? What scrutiny are they going to be put under with the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV? Is Manhunt 2 showing a breakdown in the idea generation for games? Everybody likes an occasional game like Resident Evil, or various other first person shooters as a stress reliever, but has Manhunt 2 gone too far? Where will we draw the line and say what’s acceptable and what’s not? This issue is not up for the government to decide. It’s not up for the various international ratings boards to decide. The ones who will decide this is us, the gamers. The emerging generation that will, in coming years, be moving into positions of power in the world. Are we sure we’re making the right decisions?

Notes From a Vista User - Chapter 1 - UAC

2007-06-27T04:00:00Z

User security, particularly in the home market now, is becoming one of the more important aspects of computer security. One of the best ways to prevent malware from doing any significant damage to a user's system is to run as a user with limited rights. These limited rights, as the name suggests, limit what the user is capable of doing. One of the disadvantages, however, is the need to occasionally run as an administrative user to perform certain tasks, such as configuration changes or software installation. Linux has a program called sudo, Windows XP has the "Run as Administrator" option, however, the most controversial of them all is Windows Vista's User Account Control (UAC), a technology aimed at allowing users to run with limited rights will maintaining the ability to perform administrative tasks without having to log in as an administrator. As we will learn in this first real chapter of "Notes from a Vista User," UAC, for its potential merit, has some major failings.

]]> One of the things that necessary to understanding the ideas behind User Rights Elevation technology is to have an understanding of the history behind it. As anyone should know, in any operating system, Windows, *nix, OS X, etc, running the system as a user with limited privileges is one of the first steps in running a secured system. The idea behind it is that applications the user runs are given the same privilege set as the user himself. Malicious programs that try to change system configurations, or rewrite system files are, provided the user is not allowed to do so, incapable of doing such. The resulting outcome is that malware, in many cases, is now rendered ineffective. Let it be known, however, that running as a limited user will not be the panacea for one's security woes; multiple steps must be taken to lock down a system. Given this practice of running with limited rights, one's ability to carry out administrative tasks becomes limited. There must be a way to execute administrative tasks without having to logout and log back in as an administrative user, right? Fortunately, the answer to this question is yes. This is where user rights elevation technology comes. While the implementation may vary, the principle behind it remains the same from Windows to Linux to OS X.

The implementation of this technology in Linux has evolved from Secondary Login technology, where a user logs in as an administrator while already logged in as another user, to per-execution user rights elevation. The original example of this technology, which was in all uses a secondary login, was the su command. This command, when used in a command-line interface (a terminal window, or without having logged into X Windows) allows the user to log in, secondarily, as the superuser account, root. Today, the primary avenue for user rights elevation is a per-execution technology known as sudo. This is a much more flexible solution offering a wide array of configurations. With it, it is possible to set timeouts before having to reenter the root password. Even more advanced configurations are possible, limiting sudo execution to specific users. In modern distributions, there are also graphical versions of sudo that allow one to run gui applications from their desktop/window manager's run dialog.

Windows has a different history when it comes to user rights elevation. This stems from the fact that Windows, even in Vista, still has the default user account after installation being set up as an administrative account. Beginning in Windows XP SP2, Microsoft saw the growing need for more "real" security. They saw the need to have users running with limited rights, and also saw the need to have a quick solution for user rights elevation. I remember reading reports that Windows XP SP2 users were supposed to default to limited users while maintaining a hidden Administrator account. This may be true in Home edition, but I've never seen it in Professional. Regardless of what's "default," it doesn't change the fact that Microsoft implemented a basic user rights elevation technology that has gone, for the most part, unnoticed. This is the "Run as Administrator" option. Find an executable, preferably an installation program. I believe it is visible in both limited user accounts and administrative accounts. Choosing “Run as Administrator” will prompt the user for their password, and run that application with administrative privileges. The implementation of this is almost exactly what Windows needs, except it was so hidden that nobody noticed it. Enter UAC.

UAC is a technology originally intended to make it more practical to run a machine as a limited user. Windows Vista, unfortunately, still sets itself up with the default user still being an administrator; however, despite this minor flaw, even as an administrator, it is, at least initially, difficult to cause any form of serious damage. One of the advantages brought up by UAC is the fact that it forces modern applications, at least for Windows, to be designed with the mindset that the average user will no longer be running as an administrator. Sure, an administrative account will be required to really install an application, but the execution of the software after installation no longer requires having full administrative rights to carry out its tasks. Legacy applications, which I shall personally deem as Pre-Windows XP SP2 applications, operate under the old mindset. This is the mindset that the user is always running as an administrator, and the programmer can use that to his advantage by being able to take shortcuts that are allowed use thanks to the administrative rights that the user has. This is one of the situations UAC is looking for in its list of trigger events. In principle, by looking for specific trigger events, UAC is attempting to limit how many times it pops up, prompting the user to grant permission. The downside is the trigger event list is vague. It is vague to the point that carrying out a number of actions, more specifically after the initial installation, will trigger it. As I have reinstalled Windows Vista on my laptop, I left UAC enabled to get a real feel for it. Fortunately, this vagueness is not an absolute hindrance. While events which remain common during the first few days of a new installation of Windows, such as frequent software installation (productivity suites, multimedia applications, etc.), will trigger UAC frequently, once the user has settled down, many of the more advanced or higher level administrative aspects become the primary triggers. This brings me to where UAC fails.

In spite of the sound security footing behind it, UAC is plagued with its own issues that make it worth disabling. I will even admit it myself that I prefer to run with UAC disabled. Most of these issues, however, are merely inconvenient annoyances. One of the biggest peeves anybody will experience with UAC is the frequency of prompts to do the menial tasks of day-in day-out operation. Given the number of prompts one can expect to experience within the first half hour of use after setup, they shall quickly find themselves wanting to disable UAC. This frequency tends to slow down after the first day or so of installation, but it does remain frequent enough to be annoying, especially if the user is frequently in the control panel. This brings us back to our comparison between sudo and UAC. All the iterations of sudo (sudo, gksu, gksudo, kdesu, kdesudo, etc) have quite an extensive configuration for extremely detailed security configurations. The default, however, is secure enough for the average user. This default configuration builds in a standard timeout. In effect, for one entry of the administrative password, for, say 15 minutes, every use of sudo (or its derivatives) will execute without asking for the password a second time. An example of this in action:

Assume you're visiting a website with instructions on making certain configuration changes. Unfortunately, the file that needs to be edited is owned by root (the superuser account). Bringing up the run dialog, by entering gksu gedit the user has just opened a text editor in a pseudo-superuser session. Now you can edit that file freely. It only takes a minute to make a change, save, and close the program. You read more on the website. You realize that you need to make an additional change, either to that same file, or a different file, but you closed the editor that had superuser privileges. No problem, execute the same command in the run dialog, and the editor runs again with superuser privileges, without asking for the password again. 20 minutes later, the editor's been closed for a while, and now you have another file to edit. Run the command again, and because it's been over 15 minutes since you originally entered the password, it will ask for it again. This is how sudo's timeout works.

Back to reality, UAC functions differently. It has no concept of a timeout. Unlike sudo, UAC will, for limited users, ask for the password every time an event is triggered. For administrative users, it will prompt you with a dialog asking you to either allow the process to be executed, or deny it. You've all seen those Macintosh versus PC commercials. I'm sure you've seen the one demonstrating UAC where PC now has a "Secret Service" agent standing behind him. I hate to say it, but that is not an exaggeration when you truly see how UAC is implemented.

One might ask, in this field of annoyance, of what use, then, is UAC? That remains a simple answer. Despite the annoying disadvantages, UAC still does its job the way it should. It encourages people to run more as a user with limited rights, allowing them to easily, albeit annoyingly, carry out tasks that require higher permissions without having to logout and log back in as an administrator. UAC also features a Secure Desktop mode. When a UAC event is triggered, the desktop is basically "turned off," in this case, faded out, leaving only the UAC dialog bright and "highlighted." This has the advantage of preventing dialog spoofing, and I believe it temporarily halts other processes until a decision is made. The combination of the UAC prompts with Secure Desktop also adds malware prevention. Rather, it prevents malware from doing serious harm to one's computer. Without administrative rights, it can't be installed easily. Without those same rights, even if it did get installed, it can't really do what it wants to do, what it was designed to do, which is to effectively take over your computer. Though, unfortunately, these are the only really obvious advantages of UAC to the common end-user.

UAC is a unique child of Microsoft. It remains the child that, no matter how annoying, or how misbehaved, is still a member of your family. Any true security expert will say, "For every element of security you want to add, you will lose an additional element of convenience." UAC tries to add a lot of security to Windows Vista, and keeping true to the saying, takes away a lot of convenience. If they had built in a configurable timeout, preferably something with an exceptions list, UAC would have been much better than it is. I would even allow them to require a prompt every time to edit the exceptions list. Figure, you open that one 15 minute Window of allowing any program to do what it wants, malware could easily add an exception for itself, but, that isn't the way UAC was implemented. In the end, the verdict on UAC remains simple: UAC is an excellent security concept on paper; however, it remains poor in implementation.

Disclaimer: This article was written based upon my early experiences with UAC and my limited knowledge and practicality of computer security. This article is based upon opinions. I do not pretend to be totally unbiased. Factual information in this article was adapted from Wikipedia. As a side note, as I get more interested and learned in security, primarily through "Security Now" with Steve Gibson, I find myself reanalyzing UAC, both in the context of this article, and in the context of practical security. Taken in the context of losing conveniences to added security measures, UAC is a perfectly viable option for the average user. For the power user who is constantly tweaking their system, UAC is an annoyance. For the security conscious power user, UAC is not a holy grail, and they accept that they are willing to give up that piece of security.

I write this preceding my next article...

2007-06-27T01:51:36Z

Part of my update listing for the site. I spent the better part of an hour completing a number of template conversions. Well, three.

A full listing of template conversions is as follows:
Main Index
Individual Entry Archives
Category-based Archives
Date-based Archives
Master Archive Index
There are a few more odds and ends to wrap up, then I start focusing on getting other things set up. Namely static pages, forums, and whatever else I can dream up.

Still going strong!

2007-06-22T05:08:12Z

I have two major templates to ultimately finish converting, which should be fairly simple as I just need to copy and paste a few things here and there. As you can see, I've written my first article for the site, and I know it may seem a little long winded. I'll make things a little interesting, next week's article, due Wednesday, right at midnight, is about the element that turns most people off to Windows Vista: UAC. Believe me, if you think the pilot was long winded, read my one on UAC when it comes out.

In other news, I would like to mention a few things specific about me, and about what kind of content is going onto this site. Firstly, the about me topic is strictly for providing a basis, and a justification behind my "Notes from a Vista User" series. When you read these articles, take them from the point of view that I am a Windows user who uses Windows because there are things that I do that that I can only do in Windows. I am the person that, if I could switch over to Linux tomorrow, and still do everything I have been doing, the way I've been doing it, and I can drop Windows entirely, I would. This should add a little weight to my analysis on Windows Vista. Secondly, the articles and content that will appear on this site will probably be random. When I do a series, I plan to have them release weekly, but when I'm not in the middle of a series, you may find articles about anime, computers, Linux, Windows, games, or even the regular software I use. You may find posts that are just off-the-wall, or posts that are just my brain droppings. The point I'm trying to make, while I intend to keep the site oriented towards the technical (Computing and Gaming) and a bit towards the media (My interest in Japanese media primarily, anime and manga), there may be moments when something interests me so much that I just decide, on a whim, to write about it.

With that, I bid you all a good night (as it's quite late at the time I write this) while I sleep.

Notes From a Vista User - The Pilot

2007-06-20T04:49:54Z

One of the many things I planned for this site are various articles that I'd write on a wide variety of topics. Among the first will be a series of articles on Windows Vista from the eyes of a tech savvy consumer. My intent for these articles are to explain Windows Vista to the people that may be on the fence, or dead-set against it. I do not pretend to know everything, or be an expert on all things. Nor do I pretend to be an avid Microsoft fan; in fact, I'm rather against Microsoft when I can be. I only intend to express my views on various topics relating to Windows Vista as an early adopter. In this first post, I intend to focus on my general experience, and touch on topics that I will devote whole, specific articles to.

]]> Before I continue any further, I should probably give details on the system I use. I do use a laptop, a Dell Inspiron 1501. I run a dual-core AMD Turion 64x2 TL-56 processor running at 1.8 GHz. I have installed 1 GB of DDR2-533 memory, shared with my integrated ATI xPress 1150 chipset, leaving me 864 MB for system use. I have a 120 GB 2.5" SATA150 hard drive. I also have a 15.4" Widescreen display with TrueLife technology. Dual layer DVD burner that runs at speeds I cannot recall at the moment. For all intents and purposes, this is a more powerful system in portable form than my present desktop unit, save for the graphics unit. However, I'm not writing this post about my systems, I'm writing it about Windows Vista, so I'll give you a brief history of my interactions, and OS installations next.

I have had experience using many various operating systems, ranging from Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 to Linux and Windows Vista. My first computer ran the original Windows 95, what we know as Version A. My experience on Windows 95 OSR-2 and OSR-2.5 (collectively known as Version B and Version C) is limited as they were both OEM installations. My windows experience took a new turn with the introduction of Windows 98. This was the first operating system that I had actually purchased for myself, preordered it at Staples. I even stuck around and purchased a copy of our brain-dead Windows ME, though I got the $40 version that only upgraded off of Windows 98. After some months using Windows ME, I encountered a problem that pushed me over to my first NT-based OS experience.

Windows 2000 was a new experience for me, given my departure from a DOS-based Windows 9x kernel. Needless to say, it was quite a pleasant experience, despite the occasional malfunctioning game. Windows 2000 is not a gaming system, but with, what I believe was SP2, and the addition of compatibility modes, it got better. Of course, by this point, XP had been announced, and I had been riding around waiting for its release. Out of all the Windows releases, I have the most experience with Windows XP, and it also gave me the first experience on holding out for a new release, that being SP2. Though, once I upgraded to SP2, everything changed, and I'm happy to be using it. This brings me to my Windows Vista experiences, but I've one other mention before then.

I have experience in Linux as well. My history with Linux is much more comprehensive than Windows, so I won't get into so much here. What you need to know is that I've used a wide variety of distributions: RedHat, Mandrake (now Madriva), Corel, Debian, Gentoo, Ubuntu, and Slackware. Of them all, I've been favoring Ubuntu recently. I'm an experimenter, so I play with them a lot. I may do an article series on Linux, but I'll settle for a few comparisons.

As you can see, I'm one to lean on the bleeding edge of software. I downloaded copies of Windows Vista RC2 even. So I've been dabbling with it on and off now. Of all things though, this post is getting a little long, I think, and I want to wrap up with something useful.

My current installation of Windows Vista is the Business edition running on my laptop, named Misaki. I'll get into the naming of my systems some other time, but she runs it great. When I purchased her, I did it with Dell's Express Upgrade option. Ultimately, my copy of Windows Vista cost me $10 shipping costs. The unfortunate aspect, however, to my situation is that it is an upgrade-based installation, the violation of the most sacred of OS installation taboos. You just never install an OS as an upgrade, always perform a clean install. My hook was on account of the shear amount of information I had on the drive, and nowhere to back it up. Though, thanks to my present number of drives, and backup media, I may end up doing a wipe and reinstall.

What I'm going to wrap up this pilot with are my initial experiences, and the possible roadmap for future articles. I'm quite happy with Vista as I'm a functionality person, and like eye-candy. Yes, I said eye-candy, which means I am running the Aero interface. One of the first things I do after a Vista installation, which is quite easy in the professional series (Business, Enterprise, and Ultimate), but a rather more "advanced" process in the home series (Home Basic and Home Premium), is to disable User Account Control (UAC). User Account Control is analogous to the sudo function in Linux. It allows you to run processes in administrative mode. The need for this comes as Windows Vista is the first Windows OS to migrate the users to Limited-Rights after installation. This is good in theory, and is implemented well in Linux, however, it's poor in Vista's implementation. Under Linux, sudo has an effective timeout of 15 minutes. This allows one to enter a command using it, and only have to enter the password once every 15 minutes. This even extends to the graphical versions like gksu, kdesu, gksudo, and kdesudo. Vista's implementation of UAC, which is a user-rights elevation technology, is likely the poorest example today, however, I won't be getting into all the details this time.

Despite UAC's poor implementation, there are features whose good balance out the bad of UAC. Aero's interface is clean, beautiful, and impressive. The redesign of many of the control panel elements into XML/Web-based technologies gives them a more extensible, user-friendly appearance. Windows Vista's firewall is an upgrade upon XP's firewall, as it does inbound and outbound blocking. The Windows Sidebar is Vista's attempt towards a widget-based technology much like Yahoo! Widgets (once Konfabulator), and OSX's Dashboard. Windows Flip 3D is an Aero-based task switcher that gives a full, skewed, 3D view of each open window. Let me just say it's pretty cool.

Among all the features of Windows Vista, there are goods and bads. Among the versions of Vista, there are goods and bads. I've listed several of the good ones, and a few of them will be topics in future articles; however, for the time being, I think I'll just take this a post at a time. I may not have swayed people yet; I probably even forgot some other features of Windows Vista, but things will happen as they happen. Until next time, I'll be planning what to do next, and playing with Vista.

Whoa, I worry myself...

2007-06-19T04:00:00Z

Time for another daily status update, 12 hours early! Click the permalink titles, you'll see the fruits of my labor. What's best, it's still standards compliant. Individual entry archives are now completed. The remainder of my work involves: Date-based archives, category-based archives, and comment preview templates. Those are my primary goals, then I've gotta look at what's what. Look for tomorrow's daily update post.

I'm gettin closer!

2007-06-18T16:00:00Z

Maybe I'll do a daily status update until I finish completing the new web design. I'll have everyone know that I am trying to make this as cross-browser compatible as possible. Ultimately, I will end up catering to consistency. I know the side renders well enough in Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari. As of this posting, I haven't tested Opera as yet. I'm practically done with the front page, I now need to update a number of the various other templates. Namely, individual entry templates, date-based archives, category-based archives, and comment previews. After that, it will be completely based on a "as I see them" routine. Though I should strive for completion, for the time being, I could settle for 90%. Ultimately, I will be apt to cater to Firefox and Internet Explorer. By far, this design displays best in Firefox, though Internet Explorer does an acceptable job of rendering it. After the overall site design, I need to focus on getting forum software installed. I'm likely to aim towards phpBB, though I'd like to wait until 3.0 is released. Of course, I'll do my best to integrate the color scheme into it.

Things are moving along, though still dusty...

2007-06-17T15:57:37Z

Web design has a unique appeal to me. At least, when I'm motivated to work on it. The way I do things is rather different from what most others would probably do. This is a live, production site. I'm developing my pages for all to see. So, if you check back regularly, you may even find me making mistakes. I strive to keep my designs standard compliant, in this case, XHTML 1.1. If you were to run it to through the validator at the very minute I posted this, it would fail due to my affiliate link. However, by the time most of you read this, it will no longer be an issue. What I'm trying to get at now is how I'm slowly and steadily making progress. The main index for this site, where you're likely reading this entry, is almost complete. Now I need to adapt some other things from older designs, and then move onto archives and entry pages. Well, I still need to get back to work.