http://www.startribune.com/stories/789/5360400.html
Well there it is. From telephony to data, from TV to cel phones, it will all be wrapped up in one sweet package before 2012 anyway.
What do y'all think?
Full Version: Why SR4 had to be...
I think that's no more an explanation for why SR4 had to be than it would be an explanation for adding satellite phones to Buck Rogers.
~J
~J
All that needed to be done to make the matrix as believable now as it was back in 1985 is make wireless links to your cyber deck cheep an easily attainable and cyber decks way between 100gramms and 1 KG.
I would probably also include a virtual tortoise interface. Allowing you to brows the matrix while on eth go in much the same way you can pipe a video call to your display link
Of cause that is the minimal approach, I think they wanted to change things around.
Edward
I would probably also include a virtual tortoise interface. Allowing you to brows the matrix while on eth go in much the same way you can pipe a video call to your display link
Of cause that is the minimal approach, I think they wanted to change things around.
Edward
well, it wasn't very believably in 1985, either (or even 1989, when it came out!)
when's the last time buck rogers was popular, kagetenshi?
when's the last time buck rogers was popular, kagetenshi?
Science Fiction will always be in advance ... But often technology appear quite sooner than expected !
stupid-no say-unbelievable thing can be describe in novels - and become true later.
But I think SR has to stick with credibility - so it will surely rely on a very low tech, compared of real human technology in 207x ...
(But will we have ORCS ????)
stupid-no say-unbelievable thing can be describe in novels - and become true later.
But I think SR has to stick with credibility - so it will surely rely on a very low tech, compared of real human technology in 207x ...
(But will we have ORCS ????)
| QUOTE (mfb @ Apr 21 2005, 11:01 AM) |
| well, it wasn't very believably in 1985, either (or even 1989, when it came out!) when's the last time buck rogers was popular, kagetenshi? |
Early to mid '80s. Given that Buck Rogers came out in 1928, by your line of reasoning SR should be due for an update sometime around 2043.
~J
Actually wireless stuff really isn't required for believability in SR. All you need is a rational explanation for why nobody goes Wireless, for instance "Thanks to the massive pollution of the airwaves, and the fact that your very life rests on the integrity of the datastream, only a complete idiot of a decker would even consider going wireless."
That doesn't mean an SR4 isn't required, just that an arument or even explanation that relies on current technology cannot possibly be applied to future technology. A Knight in field plate would laugh his ass off at the Musketeer and sneer at how the musketeer wouldn't last a minute without any armor. . . but who would win the fight between them? The Musketeer in less than ten seconds.
That doesn't mean an SR4 isn't required, just that an arument or even explanation that relies on current technology cannot possibly be applied to future technology. A Knight in field plate would laugh his ass off at the Musketeer and sneer at how the musketeer wouldn't last a minute without any armor. . . but who would win the fight between them? The Musketeer in less than ten seconds.
your buck rogers-fu is greatly lacking. buck rogers was updated in every incarnation he appeared in. the most notable one is that he became associated with NASA in his 1987 incarnation.
It's true that he was updated in the late '70s; what were the other major updates before that?
~J
~J
| QUOTE (Taki) |
| Science Fiction will always be in advance ... But often technology appear quite sooner than expected ! |
I remain optimistic: full body replacement cyborg government agents by 2030 or bust!
Hmmm. I sense a hijack...
| QUOTE |
| your buck rogers-fu is greatly lacking. buck rogers was updated in every incarnation he appeared in. the most notable one is that he became associated with NASA in his 1987 incarnation. |
Yeah, Kage and mfb are regular message board terrorists.
Just don't tell Homeland Security or they'll shut us down.
Hello Echelon!
Uh Oh! Here comes the Thor shot.
DUCK AND COVER!
DUCK AND COVER!
| QUOTE (Jrayjoker) |
| http://www.startribune.com/stories/789/5360400.html Well there it is. From telephony to data, from TV to cel phones, it will all be wrapped up in one sweet package before 2012 anyway. What do y'all think? |
In the past few years, there has been alot of talk about "G3" or "3rd Generation" cell phone technology. This generation of technology is roughly defined as that which enable you to transmit voice/data/video from simple hand-held devices. Currently technology is still "G2" or "G2.5" at best. G3 has been a "holy grail" of sorts for thre US, where in other countries like Japan it's been a growing reality. A few of biggest problems to make G3 a reality: 1) existing out-moded infrastructure and 2) building "better" devices.
Point 1 requires huge investments by Telcom/ISP providers in technology, and that investment comes with huge risk. The risk is needing to make the infrastructure change extremely scalable (allowing room for growth) and extendable (room for adding new features) without disrupting existing services and allowing for "new" generations of non-existant products and services. Compound these with customer demand for cheap and reliable products and you've got a lot of options to consider.
Point 2 requires addressing the portable energy requirements for such high powered devices. Transmitting and receiving full-motion video requires lots of power. Today's devices can provide this but for very limited amounts of time, produce great amounts of heat and aren't really affordable. No one wants to replace a battery every 10-minutes and having to use an oven mitt to do so.
Now Wi-fi wasn't even in the picture a few years ago, yet creating such a network would require as much attention as keeping any other data transmissions service up-to-speed would. As we "the customers" start to put more demands on these services, much like we do today with conventional Telcom lines, we see it become out-moded much like we see in today's current methods of data transamission.
What will be our demands for these types of services be in 10 or 20 years? I am unsure, but even attempting to look ahead to 2025 (early SR history) still puts SR behind the curve for its forward thinking at the release for SR1, yet we are trying to "stuff" SR4 (2070) into the current technology bucket (2005).
Sadly, due to the nature of technology, a game that mimics current or future technology will always run into this type of problem. The only successful application of "advanced technology" I've seen is something like "Star Trek" or "Star Wars" where the technology is so advanced we don't see it anywhere on the horizon. Even by those standards, these shows are probably behind their own tech-curve, although the recent SW Prequels have done an interesting job of "advancing technology" as they created the latter films.
/ramble off.
back in your seats, or it's the box cutter for all of ya's.
one major difference is that the original comic--Armageddon 2419--specifically included attempts to extrapolate the future based on the current technology of the time. it included such inventions as the atomic bomb, the bazooka, and the hand-held walkie-talkie, decades before any of these were made reality.
later incarnations were more fantastic. death rays, paralysis rays--there's really no need to update those, as nobody paid attention to the "technology" behind them for longer than it took to deus ex machina this week's cliffhanger. it's also worth pointing out that buck rogers was so far-flung futuristic that it's hard to concieve of many technologies which could impact the setting. the only one that really could--actual space travel--did. i'm not all that familiar with the earlier incarnations, but i don't see much mention of friendly aliens; the fact that the TV series had them could reflect the generally lower levels of xenophobia. while not technology-related, that would a change in the series attributable to changes in society.
moreover, buck rogers is a story setting, and shadowrun is a roleplaying setting. except in rare instances like star trek, the believability threshold for a story setting is much lower than the believability threshold for a roleplaying setting, because nobody interacts with a story setting (and it should be noted that star trek became a moderately successful RPG itself).
one major difference is that the original comic--Armageddon 2419--specifically included attempts to extrapolate the future based on the current technology of the time. it included such inventions as the atomic bomb, the bazooka, and the hand-held walkie-talkie, decades before any of these were made reality.
later incarnations were more fantastic. death rays, paralysis rays--there's really no need to update those, as nobody paid attention to the "technology" behind them for longer than it took to deus ex machina this week's cliffhanger. it's also worth pointing out that buck rogers was so far-flung futuristic that it's hard to concieve of many technologies which could impact the setting. the only one that really could--actual space travel--did. i'm not all that familiar with the earlier incarnations, but i don't see much mention of friendly aliens; the fact that the TV series had them could reflect the generally lower levels of xenophobia. while not technology-related, that would a change in the series attributable to changes in society.
moreover, buck rogers is a story setting, and shadowrun is a roleplaying setting. except in rare instances like star trek, the believability threshold for a story setting is much lower than the believability threshold for a roleplaying setting, because nobody interacts with a story setting (and it should be noted that star trek became a moderately successful RPG itself).
Buck Rogers had a role-playing game that lasted the better part of a decade (into, it should be noted, some of the dark days of its originating company TSR).
Either way, I do not concede the necessity to keep parity with modern technology, especially when such technology is not a logical extension of the progression given in-game.
~J
Either way, I do not concede the necessity to keep parity with modern technology, especially when such technology is not a logical extension of the progression given in-game.
~J
| QUOTE (Kagetenshi @ Apr 21 2005, 02:23 PM) |
| Buck Rogers had a role-playing game that lasted the better part of a decade (into, it should be noted, some of the dark days of its originating company TSR). |
And there was a pretty good series of Gold Box Computer RPGs based on the system. Instead of a +2 Long Sword, you had a Martian Vibroblade. Great fun!
Lunar Monosword! Boo-yah!
point. however, like i said, buck rogers is a deliberately fantastic setting, and very far-future. technology is treated more like magic than technology. SR is a lot closer to reality, both in terms of time and believability. believability is, in fact, half of the basis of SR--that's what cyberpunk is, extrapolation of dehumanizing trends in technology and society. leech away too much of that believability, and it becomes a cartoony mockery of itself.
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