Ú¿ÀÀÙ¿ ÀÚÙÄ Robot Protection Agency ÄÚ¿Ù³Ú¿Ùijij À¿Ú¿ Ú¿ÚÀ¿Ú Ú¿ÙijڿٳÄÀÙÚ Ú¿ÀÀÙÀ¿Ú¿À ÄÙÚ³³Ú¿³ÄÚÀÙ³ Ú¿ÀÙÙÚÙ¿ÀÙÀ ijÚÙÀ³Ù³ÄÚ¿ÀÙ Äij Ú¿ÀÀ¿ÚÀ ÚÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁÁ¿ ڳĿÙÀijÚÙÄ³Ú Ú¿³³ ÄÀ ¿Ú¿ ³ ³ ¿ÙÚÚÀÙij³Ú¿ÄÙ ÀÙÚÀÚÙÀÙÀ³Ú ³ ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ ÚÙÀÀ¿Ù³ÄÀ¿ÙÚÄ Ú¿ÙÀÀ¿ÙÚÀ³Ú ³ ³ Ú¿ Ú¿ ³\ ³ ³ ¿ÙÀÚÀ¿ÚÙijÀÄÙ Ú¿ÙÀ À¿¿³Ù ³ ³ ³\ ³/ Ãij ³ ³ Ú¿ÙÀÚ³ÄÀ¿ÙÚij Ú¿ÙÀÀÙÚÀÙÚÀ ³ ³ ³ ³. ³. ³ ³. ³ ³ Ú¿ÙÀÀÙij³¿ÄÀÚ Ú¿ÙÚ¿ÙÀÀÙÚÙ ³ ³ ³ ³ Ú¿ÙÀÀÚÙ³ÚÄ¿Ù³ Ú¿ÙÀÚ¿ÙÀÚÙÀ ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ ³ Ú¿ÙÀÚÄÀ¿Ä³Ú¿Ù ÚÚ¿ÙÀÚÀÙÀÚÙ ³ RPA microdevices Made in Barrhaven³ ¿ÙÚÀ³ÄijÄij³Ä ÚÀÙÚÀÙÚÙÀÚ¿ ÀÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÙ Ú¿ÙÀÀÚ³ÚijÄÚ³ ÚÀÙÚÀÙÀÚÀÚ¿ Ú¿ÙÀij¿Ù³ÚÀij Ú¿À ÙÀÄÚÄÚÀÀÚijڳÄÙÚijÙÀÚijڿ³ÄÙÚ¿ÄÙ³ÚÄ¿Ù¿³Ù¿ÚÙ³ÄÀÚ³Ùij¿ÚÄÙ³ÚijÚÙÄÙÀij1Ú³ÄÚÀÀÚ 0Ä1¿ÙÀÚ³ÄÚ¿³¿ÙijÚ0³³1ijÚÄÙÀÚ³Ä0Ú³ÀÙ³ÄÚ³ÄÙÚ¿1ÀijÚÀ³ÄÚÙ¿³ÄÀÙijÀ1ÚÙÄÚÄÙÚÀijÀÙ1³¿³ ³ÄÚ¿Ù³ÚÀ0Ù³ÄÀÚÀÙÄÚÀÙÚ³ÙijÚÀ1³ÄÚ0ÄÙÀijÙÀÙÚÚÙÀÚ0ÄÙÚÀijÀ0ijÙÀ¿³ÙÚÙÚÄÙ0ÙÄÚÀÙijÚÙÀÄ 1³0¿1Ä0À1³0Ú1Ù0Ä1Ú0Ä1À0³1Ä0Ä1¿0Ä1Ú0À1³0Ù1Ä0³1Ä0Ù100Ä1Ù0Ú1Ä0Ù1Ù0³1Ù0³1Ù0³1Ù0³1³ 101001100101111010100101011010010010101100100101011010100101010101010100101010 010101010111101010101001010101101001010100101011010011010101101010010110010101 010 101101 010 10 101010 0101 101 0100 101 010101 10 10 101 10 1 010 10 1011 0 10 01010 10 01 101 01 1 1 0 0 1 01 01 010 1 0 01 01 1 1 01 01 01 01 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 01 0 1 1 1 01 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 01 0 01 1 1 1 1 00 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 11 1 1 1 0 0 10 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1RobotProtectionAgencyMonthlyElectronicMagazine=============================== 66666 6666 666 66 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 66666666666 6 6666 6666 6 666 666 666 666 66 6 6 6 66666666666666666666666 Revenge of6the Number 6 666666666666666666666666 6 6 6 6 66 666 66 666 666 6666 6666 66666666666 Cast (in order of importance) Useful  Leroy | Maxim Reality | Keith | MudskipperDisrupter | Strafe | Analog | Nowcaster | Chaotic Descent | Ruiner | Triffid  Useless 1996-1997, Robot Protection Agency. 1997, Robot Initiative Corps. ...on 1. Triffid HEY MAN, SHUT UP! VIRTUAL BOY IS PHAT! 2. Leroy HACKING THE NS224 (yeah, it's possible) This month, we'll start with number one. 1. I 0E My Virtual Boy In 1995, Nintendo released Virtual Boy in America after a somewhat dissappointing showing at the summer's CES. The price: $200. Late 1996: $100. Present: $24.99 What happened? After purchasing one at Electronics Boutique for the Earth shattering price of 25 dollars, I've been thinking about the sad story. Of course, the history and politics that resulted in it's existance can be read in Next Generation #21- Gumpei Yokoi, the man responsible for Game'n'watch and Game Boy (worlds most successful videogame system- 50 million sold world wide, I believe) is the designer. Apparently, nobody doubted that he would score again with Virtual Boy. So he threw it together, it sucked, blah, blah. Actually, the part about it sucking was just what NG and everyone else think about it- except me. I really like it and have a few really good reasons why everybody else is wrong. Don't stop reading yet, I'm serious. Next Generation, like so many other video game magazines (I don't want to point fingers at NG- it's by FAR the most respectable) has fallen into the the unfortunate trend of excessively bashing something when it's a let down. They've done this before. Being upset by the lack of revolutionary titles for the N64, NG has been under-rating it's games from contravertially to downright contradictory in their views. For example, many people argued that Turok deserved 4 stars, while they gave it 3- this is OK, it's just contraversy. Then, in a review of War Gods, where they CLEARLY state that it is BETTER than the arcade version, they gave it 1 star. The arcade version revieved 2 stars. A complete contradiction (to clue you in on their rating system, 2 stars is average- not so great, boring kinda thing. 1 star is the ULTIMATE insult.) There are more examples, like Dark Rift, a fighting game which they admit is almost identical to Tekken, with a few improvements, then they give it 3 instead of 4 because it is not original- while in the same issue, they admit, in certain reviews, that games are unoriginal, but it never affects their rating. My usage of Next Generation as an example is not to say I don't like it- it's quite the opposite- the other magazines are ridiculous and contradict themselves on a regular basis, so their opinions are hardly valid. So along came Virtual Boy. What? It's not colour? What? It uses 2D sprite animation and layering and not 3D polygon holograms? What kind of crap is this?! You get the idea. Everyone was let down. No one even gave it a chance. Which leads me to my second point. 99% of the people who bash it, haven't played it! Then, 99% of those who play it, are too let down to appreciate what IS good about it! So what IS bad about it? What problems have people exploited and exaggerated into issues that led to its downfall? There ARE some. First, it's not a Virtuality headset powered by dual pentiums- not at all. (Of course, that's what everyone expected- textured polygons, 16.7 million colours, an alternate reality that people would deprive themselves of food, sleep, and sex to play. Not at all.) Second, and perhaps most important, it's NOT MARKETABLE. Nintendo's main audience are six year olds or something. Not only is there a full pamflet of WARNINGS and CAUTIONS and DANGERS about epilepsy, vision developemental damage and nausea, it even says right on the box NOT FOR UNDER 7 YEARS OLD. There goes the market. And again, even if the children are of age, what mother in her right mind would buy something with so many warnings? Actually, what mother, just being a mother, would even buy this red and black scary looking thing that her kid is supposed to put his/her head into? It looks like something out of science fiction! Not marketable at all- SO, what happens? No one buys it- then, all of the videogame magazines (and people) look at it and say "That thing's crap! No one bought it so now its only 25 bucks! That's obviously what its worth!" So there's the popular opinion. So now, the older people, who COULD use it and enjoy it, just figure it sucks. I'll have you know it doesn't. And not only does it not suck, it has a LOT of potential that will now never be realized. The VB has been compared to a Gameboy (because of it's dot matrix screen and 'lame', 8 bit sound. The VB is portable- I say that's the extent of their similarity. The 3D effects of the VB are achieved by using a seperate image for each eye- the way we really see 3D, so as far as your occipital lobe is concerned, it really is 3D- it's very effective. The Virtual Boy is monochrome. Does this distract from the gameplay? If anything, it makes it better. Pixilated, blocky red, green and blue (Like on colour portables) would only look worse up close. The VB's use of high contrast, high res. bright red looks strange and surreal- which is the way to go unless you have the, as of yet, uninvented technology to produce truly life-like 3D images- no one is overtaken by realism in a videogame- it will always look fake. So stop trying and just work with the fakeness! No one is going to think that they're really in the virtual world, it will just look cool and different. If people were really that entertained by real life, there wouldn't be videogames! (That's why I hate the name 'virtual reality'- where's the fun in that? A better name for Virtual Boy would have been 'cool weird looking thing'.) I even like the sound; and for the same reason- it's classic 'bleepy' fake style music and fx. It sounds really neat and makes good use of stereo. It suits the surreal, highly synthetic look of the games. So what seperates it from a regular TV videogame? Aside from the effective use of true 3D graphics, it blocks out everything else from your vision. This is more important than it may seem. By creating an environment of pure darkness, it doesn't limit your view to a game screen, but to the actual game- no square around the game, just game. Being humans, our primary sense is sight- so seeing literally NOTHING but the actual game creates the strangest sense of detachedness- it may sound like something that you would read on the back of the box, but in a way, it really does seem like the game is going on in your head. It adds alot to the games. It has been said that the 'goggles' and 3D effects are just a gimmic- there is no new gameplay happening, but to this I ask what are videogames for? They are entertainment. What is wrong with a new feature (gimmic?) that makes the game look and feel different? I also realize that Nintendo may have marketed it badly and made stupid claims that gave people something to be let down by. But then, what videogame system doesn't? All companies say stupid untrue things to sell their systems. That's not why we like the games. The reason why I play the Sony PSX isn't that I think it's something "I'm not ready" for , like it will really be a shocker or something. I don't play Nintendo 64 to "Change the System" either. Likewise, I don't play the Virtual Boy to experience breathtaking 'virtual play', I play it because it makes games look weird and fun. With it's powerful RISC CPU, and two-player capabilities, there is SO much that could have been done with the Virtual Boy. Imagine Defender or 3D Asteroids. Or even contemporary stuff- I can't think of anything more terrifying than a 2 player Doom deathmatch on VB- with everything glowing red. I kinda fits. As does anything else 'science fictionish' done in red and black. Everything just looks and feels cool on Virtual Boy. Did I just buy my Virtual Boy because it was 25 bucks? Yes. Would I have bought it if it were 200? No. However, would I have bought it if it were 200 and successful (ie. if it had more games?) Absolutely. So screw off man, Virtual Boy rocks! I can't think of a better way to have spent 25 bucks. triffid !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!NO LAMERS ALLOWED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2. Breaking NS224 Ice, werd DiscLAMEr: The following information is not to be read. If you DO decide to learn how to take advantage of the NS224, be good (snicker) and don't..mess stuff up (ha!) This isn't to be taken seriously (yeah, right!) 0k, read carefully f00, cu2 y0 f33bl3 brain m1ght g3t c0nfu23d. 1f y0 sum k1nd4 lam0 st00p1d j3rk wh0 th1nx NS224 is t00 much 2 h4ndle, th3n y0 pr0bably r1te- g0 bac 2 pr3 sk00l and l3t us 3L1t3 d0 th4 werk. lets begin. remember bak in 94 wen compuserve pulled a 101? wel the most recent NS224 has had similar problems (in case your too stupid to know) and that has allowed for not only sub route telnets, but 2opped echos- see ware I'm getin @ ? if not, your an idiot and you should stop reading. so now that we can port all of the low prosseses, now the hard part begins. execute a long float count to tie up the stop ipt, then hexED the ns_crt: 000. long tag++......blah blah......block[24,23,22,21] ^^^^^^^^^^^ \ \____change to all 22's any lamer would now see that this will push all connects to the next cycle- putting you in charge, on AR1, 2, and 3 (which is all you need) hmmm remind you of PHF? same idea- once youve....fixed (ha) the temp library, then it;s smooth sailing. just uze it as the main appointer and you are in control agen (this time forever!) revert the null assnmt and stop the float count. dun? no idiot, you still have to reload tha shell but you will have to reconnect to make sure the previous session isn't interupptd (it's one way- other wise all ext. would refresh sequentialy and that would be pretty damn slow) from here have fun! revert all te's to quicktime scrambling (give others a chance to break in and mess around! the possibilities are endless! I love AT&T! wutz up 2: psuperhakman hackkcah kcah haker darkhacker Jimmy 'the hacker' Elgin Da Wu I'm phreakin outa this lame-ass zine! (get it? PHREAKin! ;) -Leroy -- Ruiner, sysop: New Times (613)445-1326 H/P BBS ...future culture... Writer for FHG, iXHS, and RPA [robots are incapable of error] PGP Fingerprint: 80 DC AE 73 6D 26 03 C6 BD 3A 50 C6 87 BC 37 B9 Rui...@plateau.jammys.net d...@freenet.carleton.ca