I wonder which baud this is at? From the pic (http://i.imgur.com/5Dq6K2U.png) the main video description points to, I'd guess 3200 or Modem 28.8... The good old days of connecting to Software Connections BBS and Rusty and Eddys...

Wasn't there a show, where some geeks are trying to debate certain baud connection sounds in one episode?

Quoted for truth

I was paying 20$ a month to have access to a special BBS that tricked Doom into thinking it was on a LAN game. Meaning four player doom over the modem!

At some point I was able to upgrade to a DX4-100 and overclock it to 120mhz like a BAD ASS. A whopping 7mhz bus speed increase HAHA
By then I think I was moving towards playing more Quake and less doom?

Yeah. The sad part is that even with 56k dial-up modems, my neighbors and I cannot never go higher than 31200 (very rare) and 3 kB/sec (assuming data is already compressed and no line noises). It has been like this since the 1990s/90s and still is like that today (still have my external serial USR Sportster 33.6k dial-up modem as a back up when my cable goes down!). I can't even get DSL (20K ft. to CO!). Crappy phone line systems here in this old city.

Outlaws 1-on-1 via null modem cable was the pinnacle of shooters back in the day, if you ask me.

I'm sure I've seen it too, but not often and I have no idea what I did differently... maybe my modem dropped out but, sadly, that's not unusual.

>> ^Stormsinger:

Refresh my memory...wasn't Descent completely lacking in anything to help you visualize the map of the area? Because if it's the game I'm thinking it was, that was what killed it for me. I ended up lost within the first 5 minutes every time.


Yeah, Descent had no way to orient yourself to the map, so it was like playing 4 maps at once. And in modem play you could easily spend a good amount of your time just looking for your opponent.

So it looks like this version is being built in one of the Unreal engines because that map is definitely Deck 16 or some later derivative.

Fun times.

#1 DVR's are always marked up higher then their raw components. It is the usual tax on having the convenience of the set top box.

#2 DVR with cable decoding hardware like this are generally constructed a bit better then off the shelf hardware thus adding to the cost. Also the cable decoder hardware itself is always expensive. The equipment is built to go through more then one customer in its life span.

#3 the dvr might have offered advanced features like whole house DVR (even in consumer Tivo boxs, this is big money) even if the user didn't pay for them.

The finance department doesn't go out of there way to gouge customers who have to pay for damaged hardware. Instead it is customers finding out that the finance departments are getting ripped off on the hardware they pay for.

>> ^Yogi:

>> ^arekin:
>> ^Yogi:
I'm sorry but what HIGH Amazing Technology is in a Cable Box that makes it cost more than my last 3 top of the line PCs combined? That's utter BS.

Depends on the cable box really, DVR's have a replacement value of arround $500 each, an EMTA is $300-$600 (depends on the model). I'm assuming we are talking about 4-5 boxes and a modem, which could well be around the amount he was billed. There may also be cable cards in some of his boxes that are billed separately, but they would not be near the cost. Also despite the 5-6 years he owned them cable technology doesn't change that rapidly, so a standard 2way set top box from back in 2000-2002 may still be refurbished and used and may still be a well functioning box. Electronics values depreciate based on reduced function (or continued ability to do what is needed in the current cable television market), and cable boxes don't tend to lose function (as long as they are not 1990's analog equipment), thus they don't tend to lose value.

That's fucking bullshit. For $500 I can build a top of the line PC, how in the fuck is a box with a hard drive in it that much money? That doesn't make any sense...is it made out of gold!?

>> ^arekin:

>> ^Yogi:
I'm sorry but what HIGH Amazing Technology is in a Cable Box that makes it cost more than my last 3 top of the line PCs combined? That's utter BS.

Depends on the cable box really, DVR's have a replacement value of arround $500 each, an EMTA is $300-$600 (depends on the model). I'm assuming we are talking about 4-5 boxes and a modem, which could well be around the amount he was billed. There may also be cable cards in some of his boxes that are billed separately, but they would not be near the cost. Also despite the 5-6 years he owned them cable technology doesn't change that rapidly, so a standard 2way set top box from back in 2000-2002 may still be refurbished and used and may still be a well functioning box. Electronics values depreciate based on reduced function (or continued ability to do what is needed in the current cable television market), and cable boxes don't tend to lose function (as long as they are not 1990's analog equipment), thus they don't tend to lose value.


That's fucking bullshit. For $500 I can build a top of the line PC, how in the fuck is a box with a hard drive in it that much money? That doesn't make any sense...is it made out of gold!?

>> ^Yogi:

I'm sorry but what HIGH Amazing Technology is in a Cable Box that makes it cost more than my last 3 top of the line PCs combined? That's utter BS.


Depends on the cable box really, DVR's have a replacement value of arround $500 each, an EMTA is $300-$600 (depends on the model). I'm assuming we are talking about 4-5 boxes and a modem, which could well be around the amount he was billed. There may also be cable cards in some of his boxes that are billed separately, but they would not be near the cost. Also despite the 5-6 years he owned them cable technology doesn't change that rapidly, so a standard 2way set top box from back in 2000-2002 may still be refurbished and used and may still be a well functioning box. Electronics values depreciate based on reduced function (or continued ability to do what is needed in the current cable television market), and cable boxes don't tend to lose function (as long as they are not 1990's analog equipment), thus they don't tend to lose value.

Heh, my 33.6k+ dial-up modems go that fast on these crappy copper phone lines!

Used to leave my modem noises on low, so if someone picked up the line I could tell why I was disconnected or something otherwise out of the ordinary happened.

>> ^ant:

Why would you still want to hear the phone line after the successful connection?

I assume the creator thought it would annoy people to wait through 30 seconds of modem noises before anything happened, but that detracts from the realism I would've appreciated.

Skrillex sounds so much like a modem connecting - i think they already have.>> ^notarobot:

@raverman,
If the robots win, we'll have to listen to techno.

*backup=[...snipped...]


This was one of the first mp3s I downloaded on my 14.4 kb/s modem back in 1998 or whatever. three hours to get a song to 13 seconds. fucking science

*facepalm*

This video is pure fail.

The premise is great, as EQ was definitely harder 'back in the days', but this is NOT EVEN REMOTELY 'back in the days'. The progression servers were an attempt at nostalgia that didn't quite cut it for me and quite a few others.

BTW, it's pronounced "Toonahhrree".

The following reasons are why EQ was harder back in the days:
1. Lag from the ultra-fast 14.4Kbps modem speeds
2. Holes in the world that have since been patched
3. Ultra-busy GMs and customer service (real fun when you fall through the world and can't get your corpse).
4. Much harsher corpse system, including no ability to drag (only to pull the corpse to you, which everyone macro'd so it was essentially like corpse dragging today), and the almost-guarantee of your own death when trying to recover your own corpse. /consent was a BEEYATCH when you had to trust the corpse dragger not to loot your corpse!
5. NO MONEY! Research the controversy of the plague rat tails that came later in the game. If you weren't a caster-for-money, such as a Shaman, Druid, or Chanter, you had to farm your own cash, which was ULTRA slow. And even for the casters it was often long hours of work, tho with much greater reward.
6. NO GEAR! The gear you could get before the first expansion was minimal at best, often requiring many, many, many hours of crafting or huge wads of plat to get. "Why yes, I would like to pay 100 plat (ie, potentially 30 hours of work) for that +1 to DEX ring!"
7. Camps. Don't even get me started on this. I get so much nerd rage TO THIS DAY about camps.
8. Binding. Nothing like having to pay a caster for where you're going to be resurrected, and then forgetting all about it until you're about to die and you realize you're literally a 30 minute's run away from where you bound.
9. Much harsher death penalties. I remember losing a LOT more XP when I died. I think if you died at 50 you'd lose a whole level, but don't quote me on that.

None of the above would you have experienced much if AT ALL on the progression servers. Gear was better, cash farming easier, corpse retrieval barely needed, never see all camps in a zone taken, etc.

To be honest, the reason it was "more difficult" was that they didn't pander to their players. They made you work for what you got, whether it be your XP, your cash, or your quests. Quest tracker? Yeah, that pen and paper next to your keyboard. Travel? Use autorun and pray you don't get creamed by the level 30 rare monsters in the level 10 zone. Crafting something? Better know your recipes.

Hell yeah, I miss it.