Ringworld and HALO

In article <11996-42AA0BE9-411.RemoveThis@storefull-3153.bay.webtv.net>, Richard B
wrote:
> I haven't played "HALO". But from what I've seen,
Never seen it being played. IIRC it's an Xbox game? I've never seen
one of those out of the box. Come to think of it, the boxes could well
have been empty for all I know or care.
[SNIP]
> Is the concept of
> Ringworld, Niven's alone? Could he sue?
>
Hmm, don't know about that. Either point. But since "The Canon"
includes a statement that the Ringworld is a first approach to a Dyson
Sphere with many of the advantages at a fraction of the cost ... I don't
think Larry would have an easy time of claiming it was uniquely his idea.
After all, you could draw a lot of parallels between Ringworld and the
space station in 2001.

--
Aidan Karley,
Aberdeen, Scotland,
Location: 57°10' N, 02°09' W (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233
Written at Sat, 11 Jun 2005 22:03 +0100
 >> Stay informed about: Ringworld and HALO 

Aidan Karley wrote:

> Never seen it being played. IIRC it's an Xbox game? I've never seen
> one of those out of the box. Come to think of it, the boxes could well
> have been empty for all I know or care.

It's a fairly uninspired, repetitive, first-person shooter. It was
originally released on Xbox, and years later was "ported" to the PC. It
was the kind of FPS title that would really only be interesting to
someone who hadn't really played a good FPS before (read: console gamer)
and as a flagship title for the new Xbox (read: nothing else to play, so
cognitive dissonance sets in).

--
Erik Max Francis && max.DeleteThis@alcyone.com && http://www.alcyone.com/max/
San Jose, CA, USA && 37 20 N 121 53 W && AIM erikmaxfrancis
The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public
men. -- Samuel Adams
 >> Stay informed about: Ringworld and HALO 

in article 11996-42AA0BE9-411.DeleteThis@storefull-3153.bay.webtv.net, Richard B at
RCBISCH.DeleteThis@webtv.net wrote on 6/10/05 2:53 PM:

> I'm concerned that if a HALO film is the first to
> show a ringworld-type environment, then a film version of "Ringworld"
> might be considered a rip-off by those less informed.

I have no doubt whatsoever that that's going to happen. No Halo movie is
needed. If a Ringworld movies appears at this point, people will say it's a
rip off of the game. Of course, somebody is also going to say that Speaker
is a rip off of Chewbacca.
 >> Stay informed about: Ringworld and HALO 

It's the same problem with "Childhood's End". A film version of CE
would be labeled a rip-off of "V" and "Independence Day" (a least for
it's opening scenes).
 >> Stay informed about: Ringworld and HALO 

"ANIM8Rfsk" <ANIM8Rfsk.TakeThisOut@cox.net> wrote
>
>> I'm concerned that if a HALO film is the first to
>> show a ringworld-type environment, then a film version of "Ringworld"
>> might be considered a rip-off by those less informed.
>
> I have no doubt whatsoever that that's going to happen. No Halo movie
> is
> needed. If a Ringworld movies appears at this point, people will say
> it's a
> rip off of the game. Of course, somebody is also going to say that
> Speaker
> is a rip off of Chewbacca.

I heard people claim that the movie Dark Star ripped of the hyper space
effect used in Star Wars. They hadn't actually looked at the release
date for Dark Star.

Karl Johanson
 >> Stay informed about: Ringworld and HALO 

On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 00:15:06 -0400, RCBISCH.RemoveThis@webtv.net (Richard B)
wrote:

> It's the same problem with "Childhood's End". A film version of CE
>would be labeled a rip-off of "V" and "Independence Day" (a least for
>it's opening scenes).

That's already happened to Arthur Clarke with 'Independence Day' over
a different scene. '3001' has a malevolent artificial intelligence
destroyed by a computer virus - the same dénoument as 'ID', but
published a year or so earlier. He was accused of plagiarism.
 >> Stay informed about: Ringworld and HALO 

In article <oM8re.1659856$Xk.173329@pd7tw3no>, Karl Johanson wrote:
> I heard people claim that the movie Dark Star ripped of the hyper space
> effect used in Star Wars. They hadn't actually looked at the release
> date for Dark Star.
>
There are morons everywhere. I suppose next they'll be claiming
that there's a genetic relationship between (Sigourney's) Alien and the
Dark Star alien. <Pshaw!>

--
Aidan Karley,
Aberdeen, Scotland,
Location: 57°10' N, 02°09' W (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233
Written at Mon, 13 Jun 2005 10:39 +0100
 >> Stay informed about: Ringworld and HALO 

"Aidan Karley" <doIlookDAFTenoughTOpost RemoveThis @validEMAILaddressTOa.NEWS.group>
wrote in message
news:VA.00000742.42cf2f01@validemailaddresstoa.news.group...
> In article <oM8re.1659856$Xk.173329@pd7tw3no>, Karl Johanson wrote:
>> I heard people claim that the movie Dark Star ripped of the hyper
>> space
>> effect used in Star Wars. They hadn't actually looked at the release
>> date for Dark Star.
>>
> There are morons everywhere. I suppose next they'll be claiming
> that there's a genetic relationship between (Sigourney's) Alien and
> the
> Dark Star alien. <Pshaw!>

When Ash the robot in Alien was damaged, it made the same noise as the
beach ball alien in Dark Star did.

There's a chicken in both movies as well (a rubber chicken in Dark Star
& a chicken foetus image used to be the alien embryo in Alien).
 >> Stay informed about: Ringworld and HALO 

In article <_fire.1666322$8l.1263485@pd7tw1no>, Karl Johanson wrote:
> When Ash the robot in Alien was damaged, it made the same noise as the
> beach ball alien in Dark Star did.
>
> There's a chicken in both movies as well (a rubber chicken in Dark Star
> & a chicken foetus image used to be the alien embryo in Alien).
>
I've watched Dark Star a dozen or so times (memo to self :
BitTorrent. I *did* buy the DVD, but the burglars had it before I made a
backup copy.) and I've maybe seen Alien 1 and a half times (in fragments,
in between interesting programs). I'll take your word for it.

--
Aidan Karley,
Aberdeen, Scotland,
Location: +57°10' , -02°09' (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233
Written at Mon, 13 Jun 2005 21:31 +0100
 >> Stay informed about: Ringworld and HALO 

<<<I heard people claim that the movie Dark Star ripped of the hyper
space
effect used in Star Wars. They hadn't actually looked at the release
date for Dark Star.>>>

<<<When Ash the robot in Alien was damaged, it made the same noise as
the beach ball alien in Dark Star did.
There's a chicken in both movies as well (a rubber chicken in Dark Star
& a chicken foetus image used to be the alien embryo in Alien).>>>>

The more obvious connection is that Dan O'Bannon co-wrote both
"Dark Star" and "Alien". He also created the hyper space effect in "Dark
Star" and created some of the computerized targeting screens in "Star
Wars".
 >> Stay informed about: Ringworld and HALO 

"Richard B" <RCBISCH RemoveThis @webtv.net> wrote in message
news:7136-42AE54DD-1@storefull-3156.bay.webtv.net...
> <<<I heard people claim that the movie Dark Star ripped of the hyper
> space
> effect used in Star Wars. They hadn't actually looked at the release
> date for Dark Star.>>>
>
> <<<When Ash the robot in Alien was damaged, it made the same noise as
> the beach ball alien in Dark Star did.
> There's a chicken in both movies as well (a rubber chicken in Dark
> Star
> & a chicken foetus image used to be the alien embryo in Alien).>>>>
>
> The more obvious connection is that Dan O'Bannon co-wrote both
> "Dark Star" and "Alien".

Yup. Apparantly he tries to put a chicken in every movie he does.

>He also created the hyper space effect in "Dark
> Star" and created some of the computerized targeting screens in "Star
> Wars".

I hadn't heard the latter. Interesting.

Karl Johanson
 >> Stay informed about: Ringworld and HALO 

In message <DdqdnZ74-4E7_jbfRVn-pw.TakeThisOut@speakeasy.net>, Erik Max Francis
<max.TakeThisOut@alcyone.com> writes
>Aidan Karley wrote:
>
>> Never seen it being played. IIRC it's an Xbox game? I've never
>>seen one of those out of the box. Come to think of it, the boxes
>>could well have been empty for all I know or care.
>
>It's a fairly uninspired, repetitive, first-person shooter. It was
>originally released on Xbox, and years later was "ported" to the PC. It
>was the kind of FPS title that would really only be interesting to
>someone who hadn't really played a good FPS before (read: console
>gamer) and as a flagship title for the new Xbox (read: nothing else to
>play, so cognitive dissonance sets in).
I have to disagree with you there Eric. I have played a lot of FPS games
on the PC and Halo is by far the best, better even than Doom3 or
RTCWolfenstein.

I haven't played Halo on the XBox, but I understand that it was improved
to take advantage of the PCs superior capabilities. The care they have
taken with the graphics is astonishing. I spent a lot of time just being
gob-smacked by the graphics the first time I played it - when in an open
field, there are individually rendered blades of grass around the
characters' feet - they didn't have to do that, but they took the time
and did it anyway. They have taken the same care with everything else.

The game play is inspired. You do have to get to the same set of
objectives each time you play, but there are usually different ways to
do this. You may have to fight on foot, but if you're quick (and lucky)
you might find an armed vehicle or aircraft you can use. You can even
get some of the vehicles into the buildings (with a little scraped
paint).

The game has enormous variety, it is on a vast scale, it has many
puzzles and problems to solve and force of arms isn't always the
solution. The escape sequence at the end is simply phenomenal.
--
steve.TakeThisOut@smokering.freeserve.co.uk
Steve Charlton
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Steve Charlton wrote:

> I have to disagree with you there Eric. I have played a lot of FPS games
> on the PC and Halo is by far the best, better even than Doom3 or
> RTCWolfenstein.
>
> I haven't played Halo on the XBox, but I understand that it was improved
> to take advantage of the PCs superior capabilities. The care they have
> taken with the graphics is astonishing. I spent a lot of time just being
> gob-smacked by the graphics the first time I played it - when in an open
> field, there are individually rendered blades of grass around the
> characters' feet - they didn't have to do that, but they took the time
> and did it anyway. They have taken the same care with everything else.
...
> The game has enormous variety, it is on a vast scale, it has many
> puzzles and problems to solve and force of arms isn't always the
> solution. The escape sequence at the end is simply phenomenal.

Not sure how someone can say that, since it ran at TV resolution. Even
on a PC with higher resolution, the models and textures weren't anymore
detailed. The background wasn't made clear, the missions were often
boring, and the levels were _extremely_ repetitive, to the point of
being druging. The vehicles were interesting, but ended up not being
used to their fullest; other FPS games have done a much better job with
vehicles, like Battlefield 1942.

--
Erik Max Francis && max.RemoveThis@alcyone.com && http://www.alcyone.com/max/
San Jose, CA, USA && 37 20 N 121 53 W && AIM erikmaxfrancis
Miles and miles and miles.
-- Alan Shepard (on the Moon)
 >> Stay informed about: Ringworld and HALO