I’ve joined one of the Steam Dev Days conference in Seattle. It’s around time where people was still doing things like cross buy etc. (so buying the game on website unlocks both steam, dev’s own drm free version, maybe even console version.) I do not know if any of the actual developer term is updated after that time, but during the conference, one dev asked question exactly like this, can he sell his version without the 30% cut from valve if it does not going through Steam while giving away the steam key for free. The answer is no.

During the time it was explained that if you sell on different platform, that gives better sale %, steam can also impost that sale % on it’s platform. At the time EGS was still not a thing but people asked about can they have different price on different platform, I think the answer is also no or not recommended, as they can request you to match say the base price of itch.io but they don’t mind if that sale and software never use anything from steam. They specifically mention if any steam feature, like invite steam friend is used, then no, even if your game are not downloaded or use any steam distribution feature.

You are in the wrong here, Steam have a term where you can’t mark the sale cheaper on any other place, including your own website as you can generate your product keys.

The Namco(which I wrongly attribute to Konami) thing “is” very specific. Remember during that time there are not a lot multi core processors. It requires clever scheduling to allow running both the mini-game AND checking loading status to seamlessly transition into game. It’s really not just a simple “concept” but ingenuity to arrange your loading I/O wait time into running their past game at the same time. That’s in PS1 era where loading wait time because of CD-ROM and later DVD was very significant.

it’s like the first person invent a way to make the pop cap for your travel coffee mug. Like, anyone could have come up with that idea, right? compare to screw cap we used to have. We do have plenty of examples where the patent aren’t really popular until after it is expired or irrelevant.

Like, yeah, in a heatlhy competition env, it is way better for consumer in the beginning. But because of how capital works, eventually without patent it all goes to the bigger corps.

for practical physical good, some times a patent just means I did this first doesn’t mean it’s hard to do or replicate. ie. like the umbrella wedge/spring to make it open automatically. That’s the part of ingenuity. And why I think the mini game during loading screen worth the patent.

I don’t like algorithm patent because ultimately, it was there, if original sha hash wasn’t developed, someone would come up with a different method that doing roughly the same. It’s the math and other prior foundation in computer hasing/data processing provides the idea and how you can process and get the hash fast. so your newer arrangement of faster version(like different sorting algorithm) would not be possible without those other research.

ie. for my own example, my thesis involves doing polygon culling strategy, my base algorithm is totally base on math prediction as to what’s the optimum I can achieve minimum culling checks. BUT, that algorithm is actually slower than when you implement the checks base on how GPU is doing the render plus cache efficiency. If I did not know or not aware how computer works from prior study, I can’t figure out why my “optimum” algorithm is actually slower than sub-optimum checking strategy.

Say, what if SHA or whatever algorithms is implemented, and is actually very impactful to other application, which can be proven that anyone can naturally come to this conclusion by doing their own research, simply grant that patent impedes future development. Another computer graphic patent is the Joe Alter hair distribution, it has nothing to do with ingenuity and just because his dad is a good patent lawyer, it blocks any healthy competition from selling CG hair grooming product in US. If you check the patent itself, that was like trying to patent a math distribution over surface.

You should not patent algorithms as it’s a “discovery” not an invention.

There are 2 main category in software patents that mimics real life production, that I think is fairly acceptable.

• ingenuity: komani patent that mini game during loading screen
• unique concept: the nemesis system

The throwing ball to capture creature I think is more copyright than patent.

it’s not the first GPU.

If you are a software company, like valve, but to publish phone app. They have to go through Google store since that’s how you get that “verified” thing and you don’t have to enable developer mode. And for user that’s a peace of mind.

Is there a phishing website on PC, yeah, and how do you know? Usually it’s going through search engine or your bookmark and then check the HTTPS icons on your browser. There are also signed cert if you download and the windows exe launcher will check that with 3rd party cert. These alternative methods are not readily available on a phone, and that’s intentionally implemented so software developer will funnel back to the play store.

You can’t really open a android store unless you make phone and ship with your own store. Like Samsung one, it’s listed in the play store contract, almost all forms of paying developer directly is not allowed. There are many conditions/steps and warnings if you tried to install apps off the play store, some of them waive your warranty. You also open the phones to potential scammer to have identical looking website and instruct users to install app that steal identity.

If gameplay itself is dependant on online servers, the game has to release a working version of the server code so it at least could be run by fans, or be refunded.

I replied to one of it a while ago and basically, this part is impossible since developer also “license” 3rd party backend/plugins/software solutions to make their server working. The developer do not have the right to release licensed code/api etc.

meaning, say if a backend have the free learning version of license, the developer are bound to the commercial license, which dictates if they can release code that involve 3rd party code/api.

I am fine with electric car that have software to monitor battery/motor efficiency and gives feedback for the driver/owner. But have it controls almost everything and can remote brick your vehicle is like you never really own the car.

Thanks for letting me know about this logic table thing, that explains my question when younger why some old computers had massive array of same components put together.

ps. my first computer was a 80286 knock off. By the time I get to high school(basically 80386 era) that have a computer tech club where member bring their old computer parts to share, they are mostly no longer functional. I basically donated my old 80286’s 20MB hard drive for tear down and that’s first time me and other member see what it looks like inside a hard drive.

not necessary FPGA but can be re-writable: see

https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/243712/eeprom-is-a-read-only-memory-so-why-can-i-write-to-it

I am not good in that hardware emu branch but my guess is that they pick something that can drive and matches original clock speed as the old programmable rom was no longer produced. (the antique people would buy old broken ones and rip parts off them or try to restore them.)

From look at the board, basically it looks like they did the “hardware” emu approach. But people I know that enjoy retro stuff they either want the look(original or replica case/keyboard, but internal is more modern that runs software emu) or they want the antique(functional original). It’s pretty rare to see these kinda of hardware emu where they bundle chips as close to old ones while trying to replicate how the old hardware work and then drive with another modern board for the input/output.

I checked the website, so it’s like a micro scripted app compilation?? Does the thing is a run/tweak then close, or does it needs to reside as a background service/task?

As long as they are still sending out flyers with stuff you buy you are okay. Also, if you already knew the price range of your regularly shopped goods, you know something is off. Superstore is already using digital tags. And you can just pull out your phone and take pictures.

Lastly, it should be put into law so you can’t increase price during the day. Going down is fine, but no going down and then going up again for peak hour. Stores can set whatever price they want to sell before opening. (for those non-regulated things)

Rocket League, still enjoy the game play, it will not likely “dead” anytime soon until they figure out how to make actual way to merge entire thing into Fortnite. (fortnite’s long input lag just aren’t good enough for rocket league atm)

I have not doing any other F2P or GaaS for a long time. ( does Monster Hunter series considered GaaS?)

Did they sign any deal with nvidia? What happened?

Someone will have it and then later if necessary there will be community re-written version. (crowd funded for example ) Doesn’t make sense to chase down a taken down version at this point.

edit: article was updated, the maker gonna re-do the parts from pre-AMD funding point so it’s a clean one.

Andrzej Janik updated the GitHub repository a few minutes ago with the message:

IMPORTANT

What happened

The code that was previously here has been taken down at AMD’s request. The code was released with AMD’s approval through an email. AMD’s legal department now says it’s not legally binding, hence the rollback. Before anyone asks: I have received no legal threats or any communication from NVIDIA.

What now

At this point, one more hostile corporation does not make much difference. I plan to rebuild ZLUDA starting from the pre-AMD codebase. Funding for the project is coming along and I hope to be able to share the details in the coming weeks. It will have a different scope and certain features will not come back. I wanted it to be a surprise, but one of those features was support for NVIDIA GameWorks. I got it working in Batman: Arkham Knight, but I never finished it, and now that code will never see the light of the day:

So six months after the code was made public as open-source, at the request of AMD’s legal department, that ZLUDA code has now been removed. Though given it’s Git and may have been cloned, the open-source code likely exists elsewhere by those that were intrigued by this effort.

Was going to find this cause Shotcut fits right there against Premere and AfterEffect. Supports HDR editing(ie. you can extract clips off playstation 5’s HDR video recording) but not re-encoding and export as HDR.