Hmm… I think I only changed the branch name of 1392M during this time, but I can't guarantee at all that I haven't forgotten anything. :x
Movie maintenance log should indeed be able to reflect all changes in cases like this.
Like I explained to Spoofer some time ago, personally I would vote for whatever doesn't mess up the graphics, which I believe coincides with "glitching through blocks is fine, glitching out-of-room isn't", but have fun passing that off as a non-arbitrary restriction. In this context I'd rather do without it.
Sorry for taking a week too long. Assuming the largely arbitrary system order is kept intact, this would be the board list together with new names and descriptions.
This makes for 15 boards, compared to the current 16 (which don't include PS2 emulators yet, but likely should). Not as much of a quantity optimization, but at least it's easier to read now.
Note 1: I decided to make Mednafen's/PCEjin's board name as simple and generic as possible in regards to the emulated systems and expand the description to be sufficiently informative. It's been the only compromise so far, but I don't see it doing any harm.
Note 2: I decided not to include WinTASer/Hourglass/WinTAGE in PC emulators' board name because the name hasn't been decided upon yet.
If we are to change the system order, there are three non-arbitrary options:
1) systems' chronological release (most recent one for multi-platform emulators), descending
1. Wii + rest (2006) -- not accepted yet
2. NDS (2004)
3. GBA + rest (2001)
4. PS2 (2000) -- not accepted yet
5. N64 (1996)
6. PS1 (1994-12)
7. PC-FX + rest (1994-12)
8. Saturn (1994-11)
9. Sega CD + rest (1994-11)
10. SNES (1990-11)
11. GG + rest (1990-10)
12. NES (1983)
13. Other
--- ARC (????)
--- PC (????)
2) rerecording capabilities usage, descending
1. Saturn (1st submission: 2009-06-08)
2. ARC (1st submission: 2009-06-02, rerecording capabilities added in ~2004)
3. NDS (1st submission: 2009-04-30)
4. PCE (1st submission: 2009-04-06)
5. PS1 (1st submission: 2009-01-20)
6. SMS (1st submission: 2007-11-16)
7. PC (1st submission: 2007-03-24, 1st unofficial publication: 2003-12, no accepted emulator yet)
8. N64 (1st submission: 2005-11-16)
9. GBA (1st submission: 2005-04-11)
10. Genesis (1st submission: 2004-0x-xx)
11. SNES (1st submission: 2004-0x-xx)
12. NES (1st submission: 2004-01-15)
13. PS2 (no submissions yet, first complete TAS made in 2008?)
14. GC (no submissions yet)
15. Other
3) alphabetical order.
Alright, I hope my work in this thread is done. Time for admins to make their final decisions and commit changes.
This is already known, since a lot of TASVideos users also follow SDA updates.
If you wish to continue discussing it, it would be preferable to do it in the game's own thread.
Puzzle or puzzle/shooter seems to be the closest. It has heavy emphasis on logic for solving ricochet trajectories, but the general gameplay is close to that of classic shooters such as Space Invaders and Galaga.
Alright, let's do it your way. Let's discuss morality and deciding for other people.
You walk down the street and see a man beating his child. You are now at a choice, whether to interfere or not. Obviously the man doesn't want your "help", as it's not your child and it would be a moral crime for you to decide for their parent. If you're going to argue that a human being is different from property, whatever, let it be a cute fluffy kitten. Until the police arrives (if it does), there's still quite enough time to beat it senseless, or even worse. Your decision?
I have two great surprises for you. The first is that morality is subjective. The second is that I don't have to justify anything to you of all people.
If you're going to continue condemning me for justifying piracy on a site dedicated to making key input movies of games, many of which are still sold by first-parties (btw, you aren't possibly using ROMs here? That would be a crime, you know!), then I'm going either to ask you to bring this to PM (which I'm not going to read), or take this discussion out of the thread myself and lock it for good.
I wholeheartedly agree that "Teddy survives" should stay as an easter egg. It's too silly to get rid of. :D
"Playaround" and "demonstration" should be combined as they're largely interchangeable.
"Ignores delays caused by bonus effects" is a fancy moniker for aiming for in-game time, so they should be combined as well.
"Genre: simulation" is ambiguous and should be replaced by "Sport" or "Strategy" where applicable.
There is also confusion as to what is implied by stuff like "Action" and what is the difference between "RPG" and "Adventure" (say, in regards to Zelda games). Here's my opinion on the matter. I'll try to make the distinction as brief and simple as possible.
"Action" is a very ambiguous term, so I think it should be used for games where the player is targeted by most/all enemies, and/or for games where the player uses their weapons a lot. Splinter Cell, Contra, Bomberman, and Metroid, are an action. Sonic the Hedgehog and Donkey Kong Country aren't, because very little in in their respective worlds actually gives a shit about the player, rather than doing its routine task.
"Adventure" should be used for games where the player can revisit earlier locations with no hard time limit, unless it is an RPG (which implies that much already).
"Platform" is applicable to every game that concentrates primarily on using platforms for player's interaction with the game world, whether they aren't realistic or not. Mario 64 is a platformer. OoT isn't, because the "platforms" there are rare and borderline realistic.
"RPG" should be used for games where you can directly modulate the player charater(s)' development, and/or where the game has several storyline/continuity branches (i.e., massively nonlinear). FF6 is an RPG, because you can make a lot of choices that affect your future gameplay. Castlevania 2 isn't, because you're always doing the same things, at most in different order.
"Shooter" is for games with heavy emphasis on shooting, i.e. run'n'guns, shmups, FPSes and rail shooters, or games that have stages dedicated for that purpose.
"Storybook" is for non-action adventure games with menu-driven interface.
There are games that aren't covered by that, like Arkanoid, which is currently listed as "Action" in one case, and "Puzzle" in the other. I'd go with puzzle, although one could argue that it's in fact a shooter. :)
"Minimalist" is too ambiguous as it can mean either lowest item collection or lowest time to different people. "Collects everything" is just inappropriate as it can mean literally everything that can be collected, whether it is counted by the game (or even makes sense) or not.
I'm assuming this is done for sorting purposes (likewise with "abuses programming errors"); i.e., if I particularly dislike using death as a shortcut — there are numerous people like that — I should theoretically be able to make a query based on that criterion for games where using death is proven to be faster. As of right now it seems to be misused in a number of publications, which is likely the reason for your confusion.
Your list pretty much nails it — I can't seem to find anything to add to it. From looking at it it seems that it's in the author's interest to make quality products and support them in some way. :)
Warp, see, the problem is that we won't ever agree on this issue because you're arguing from the standpoint of law defined by somebody else, and I'm arguing from the standpoint of making sense, defined by myself. You won't find my arguments logical and "excuses" good enough because you are proceeding from the assumption that said law is the basis for logic. (Damn, good thing we aren't discussing sexual consent laws here, because that would definitely get out of hand quickly.)
Thus I reserve the right to not agree with the law, and that is my excuse for committing acts considered illegal by it, whether they do or don't benefit the author in some way.
As for my definition of piracy, it is an act of forcefully taking a unique item from its owner without giving anything in return; where adequacy of the reward can be disputed, and uniqueness is defined by inability to make an equivalent copy. By copying the item it remains at the owner, so they aren't losing anything, rather than not receiving purely hypothetical benefits that I decide to disregard.
Now that you see where I'm coming from as clearly as I can make it to you, I propose that we agree to disagree, because this isn't going anywhere.
Actually, that was just me having made a typo. I edited my post while you were typing yours.
…And I'm talking about giving. But there is really no difference because the person in question didn't pay money for it and thus legally didn't have the right to enjoy it. Even if he didn't enjoy it in the first place. Which he wouldn't know without trying it.
But you're a lawyer enough to tell me about licenses, huh. Oh well.
Allow me to quote your question: "Exactly how does it help the artist that you copy the work to someone else?" So, instead of admitting that it effectively did help the artist (which it did), you are playing devil's advocate here yet again, telling me how wrong my methods of helping them were. Like I care about those. :P
No, I'm not going to argue that. What I'm going to argue, however, is that in the real world it's not the artist that is now the "proper" owner, and it's not up to them to decide what to do with their music. Up to the point that they can be persecuted for distributing the music they've written. Which is just wrong from any possible standpoint, but you likely won't care because they'd be subjected to the same argument of "it's not up to them for decide".
Uh… You're asking me for logic but aren't being logical at the same time. Let me illustrate what you're doing here:
me: Apple is a fruit.
You: So what is not an apple isn't a fruit?
You should also realize that you and I have different definitions of piracy.
I have given you an example when people wouldn't make money off a product itself but still be commercially successful through different but directly related means (that is, they receive reward for that same effort).
See above. It's not about the authors, it's about the intermediaries now. Most of the time the people you're suggesting to be the authors don't get a sliver of the earnings the intermediaries get. Arguing about morals and ethics with that in mind just feels repulsive to me.
Except if it is "sold" and not rented, I'm supposed to be buying and not renting. It is a legal shortcut companies are using to get the purchase-worthy sum of money for what is effectively renting. I don't see how it's supposed to be right even if it is commonplace.
Because it makes perfect sense from the license world, but makes near to none from the actual world with actual usage scenarios. I'm not legally allowed to give a DVD I bought to my friend? Yeah, seriously, fuck that.
In what particular way I'm "transferring the license", say, when I'm lending something?
Easily. An example from my life: I've gotten ahold of an artist's recording for free (illegally in this case), I became a fan, I'm now rewarding the artist by buying CDs and visiting their live events. If I hadn't obtained the content for free I wouldn't have bought it, wouldn't have become a fan, and thus wouldn't have paid the money to the artist. As a result, I paid money the artist wouldn't get otherwise, anyway.
It's so simple I don't even know why I'm required to spell it out for you. Many independent artists are in fact employing this exact scheme to gain popularity and then cash in on live events and hard copies of their work. There are also many respected people who are advocates of this approach, like Cory Doctorow.
Movie theaters offer a unique experience that can't be reproduced at home, and that is worth money. Rentals never charge per view (and in most cases the rates are lower anyway).
Hey, you're a Linux user, right? Under what logic are you using the open source products without paying for them? People have spent just as much effort on them, so they should be rewarded, right? Ideally, yes.
You're basically playing the devil's advocate by suggesting me to pay some people for their effort, but not the other, based exclusively on the licenses they are "selling" with their products. Doesn't it feel unjust?
Well, there are still answers to that conundrum, like services. For instance, I obtain a copy of Windows for free by lending it from somebody else — a common situation here — but for that I consider it fair to be exempt from Microsoft's employees' efforts that are unique and can't be copied, barring special exceptions such as a non-employee doing their job without charging me (also known as "would you help me fix my computer" that you've likely heard in college or whatever). Likewise with B2B offers, although price rates on that aren't always fair. Ideally they should be relative, not absolute.
I could also touch the issue of publishers justifying ridiculous prices with big budgets spent on making these games, while said budgets don't necessarily make them more appealing, lasting, or otherwise good.
In fact, my own personal opinion is that unique, otherwise irreproducible experiences (like live events), and tangible things (CDs/DVDs with content, etc.) need to be paid for, and creators who make things for free should be rewarded in some way, anyway, but I don't particularly want to pay the intermediaries, especially since they take most of the overall income, nor want to feed companies who are purposefully milking the customers by selling products inferior by design, riding on the popularity of earlier ones.
See my response to FODA above.
Assume I've bought a game disc. I'm now going to give it to my friend for him to play. Common situation, right? But in certain European countries I would be transgressing the law — nevermind that I bought the disc and can do whatever I want with it.
Should I also prohibit myself from playing while my friend does? That would be hilarious… but that's what your statement implies. I still own the right to play the game because I paid money for it, otherwise I could safely claim that every piece of your property I can lay my hand upon is mine because I now "physically own" it. But I would still be a criminal in either case!
Back when analog media was popular, it was common sense to make copies of CC and VHS tapes. We can't legally do that now with digital media. Why? Because now that right-holders (the labels, not the artists) can interfere they are going to interfere — just because they can get more money off of it. Did it help the artists any? Yeah, right.
What about pay per view services? Most ridiculous shit ever. Yet that limited installation DRM scheme mentioned in the first few posts is largely the same thing, and that kind of "protection" is going to be made more and more popular if publishers get their way with it.
That.
Sorry to disappoint you, but…
<moozooh> Upth: i don't remember, have i asked you about elma compatibility yet?
<Upthorn> moozooh: elma is not compatible.
<moozooh> aww!!!!
I wanted to try it myself. :\
I would rather not complicate things that much. A "TAS OS" would require writing drivers for hardware devices, which is something bad enough that people don't want to do this for popular operating systems.
That tool would have to be called an emulator, as otherwise it's impossible to tell the exact places where the inputs would desync.
[EDIT]
Sigh, beat by Nach.