*That* was interesting. Inexplicable, too.

Update: My sig was number 5212. Looks like it's growing quick.

Well, for what good it might do, I'm on there. My first web act on my new micro PC (got one of those sub-VCR sized doodlibobs). I just want to reiterate that I absolutely detest SiS graphics, but this 630 board has restored my faith that they're not incompetant, at least.

http://www.petitiononline.com/savedyna/petition.html

Who knows how much good it will do, but it already has over 3k signatures. Maybe Sierra will wise up (yeah, right)

Last person I talked to who had played the B5 game (got his @ss handed to him by Jerry Doyle at a game fair..Gencon or Origins or Gama) said it was 50% and was unbelievable. They brough in actor Jerry Doyle to play a couple games and show the game off. He never lost a game and played all day. Apparently this "actor" is an ex F16 pilot. or so the story goes..

I miss Cave Dog too. Total Anihilation is still alive as far as I know. It is just completely fan supported.

Seirra is there to destroy all that is good in gaming.

I never saw anything on the latest B5, but the original attempt (I saw it while @ Sierra) didn't appear to be anything good. Which is sad, considering that B5 fans (myself included) seem to be stuck in a karmatic wheel that will not allow a B5 game to see light of day.

Zyphos

33:

Yup, its a shame the B5 will never see the light of day. However, being an avid player of Tribes I'm pretty disturbed to hear this and Dynamix. As I mentioned, T2 was not the game we were all hoping for, but all in all its still a great title. I think that the franchise still has a lot of possibility but like B5 Sierra will sit on it, not sell it, and do zero with it. I'd happy if they keep the servers up - I'm not sure whether to expect them even to do that!

#31 - Wouldn't say I'm an A.G. :-), but regardless, B5 was exactly what I was thinking of... and IIRC, from what I heard at the time, they weren't the only house that Sierra had acquired that got the axe then.

lost a tech job?
well there's alway's the health care industry to weasel yourself into - at least in the U.S., there's still a high demand for spit-wipers and diaper-changers for those boomers who are or soon will be blowing all the dough they saved up on prolonging their shallow lives... in seriousness, there's opportunities in tech there, I work in, of all things, computer graphics, for a local neurology dept. - creating simulations aimed at the Alzheimer's disease mystery - visualizing the stuff biochemists way sma'ter than me come up with - don't ask me anything medical, I just do what dey be tellin' me and all that, everything from spec'ing what PCs to buy for the lab, troubleshooting them, 3d modeling, and any and all random graphics production.

yep i used to be a web designer. yes I know alot of unemployed IT people. yes they all wonder how the hell the loser art guy from the comp'ny still has a job when I didnt know my PERL from my elbow or my SSH from my azzhole. yes I know even this can't last... but oh well. Thanks, art school, sorry I doubted you ... smooch.

Ag28:

Totally agree on the property. Albiet rumor, the Babylon 5 game wasn't far from completion. However, we are all too aware that is coming anytime soon. Sierra's handling of Lord of the Rings has also been a rather disturbing saga. Tribes is up a creek, no question about it.

Tragic. While it didn't get the best of reviews Tribes2 is still a great game and I've burned many an hour with it. It will be sad to see that series disappear.

Things like this makes it real bummer to be a game developer (hence the primary reason I write business code vs. game). All these incredibly talented people given the shaft...

27: Exactly. Medical expenses will be what will bankrupt us, if we're not all thrown into jail for the violation of DMCA first :-)

Sierra sucks. This isn't the first time they've done this, though it might be the first time they've done it to a house that's rolling stuff out the door.

Don't expect them to ever let go of the property (including source / resources) even if they haven't the slightest intention of developing it further.

nexxcat, assuming you pay a mortgage and a car note now....couldn't you live on much less retired if you was debt free? But of course medical expenses are going to bankrupt anyone by then.

ALW: I'm in my early 20's. I will need about a million to have the lifestyle I currently have, because I don't for a moment believe that we can escape serious inflations for another 40 years.

And yes, positive cash flow is wonderful :-)

http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/thursday/business_...

80,000 more h1b's are coming!

Originally Posted by AdamLongWalker
#20. you really do not need 1 million to retire, (at least not in my age group yet). But you need to know how to stay within your means. If you know how to live within your lifestyle and pay for it, then you are ok.

Positive cash flow,..... it is a good thing.

I am sorry for the employees of Dynamix, and I truely admire their work. If any are reading this just to let you know, it could have been worse. The company I contracted for closed its doors owing me $14,000 for two months back pay, which I will never see. I am still very angry.

Not too suprised in the downturn in the Tech sector, Like you ALW, I forsaw that after the Y2K scare there would be a huge fallout in the the Tech sector. That's why I got out of Consulting and found a nice little secure private company with decent benny's. They were happy to have me and I was OK with giving up a little income for the short term for the longterm security that that company position gave me. Looks like I made the right choice cause some of my old Consulting buddys are scrambling to pay their mortgages cause of lack of work and the slight downturn in wages cause of the sudden glut of High tech workers in the market.
I feel for some of these guys out there but what can you do. Most will be able to find jobs but it may not be in the field that they had planned to stay in. Most may have to step down a class, take a huge pay cut, or look at a different carreer track than IT.

ALW: I used to work for an Internet Startup (tm), on the tail end of things. I'm so bloody glad I had asked for cash, and not stock options. With the cash, I was able to weather the economic downturn, and have found a job as a geek in a medium-sized brokerage house, who has been in the business since 19th century.

What I find amusing is that we will probably need over $1million to retire, and all these people are bent on becoming millionaires. If you do the math right, we all can become one, given average geek salaries, but in 30 years, $1 million won't be all that much (given inflation, yadda). Bleh. Time to code.

As a follow up to #18:

If they asked retailers to pull the game from the shelves, they could probably legaaly shut down their internet servers for T2 as they will not be violating the law by false advertising on the boxes (the box promises INTERNET play). The rest of us could not sue because there was no guarantee how long the servers would be up and we could actually play on the internet when the game was released. Anyone here a legal expert who can confirm/shoot-down my take on this?

My question is this:

With Dynamix canned, who is going to run the T2 servers? They cost money to maintain. Is Sierra going to pull the plug on them and leave people without a way to play on the internet?

Sierra Exec - "They've got LAN and Solo play. That's good enough. We can save a bundle. Pull the plug. If they don't like it they can sue. Sure, right. Hahahaha"

I can see it now.

Originally Posted by AdamLongWalker
seen that as well #14

Originally Posted by AdamLongWalker
oh I forgot #12, the lucky programmers could have been promoted to a mamgement position and had their brains sucked out so that could they could easily conform to company doctorine.

Originally Posted by AdamLongWalker
#12 you are correct. I know of no man/woman that has retired as a programmer in the private sector of old age. They either got lucky and struck it rich, or work in the public sector, local state, federal governent, or somehow tied themselves with a university/college somehow.

post#11 I condemn those \"gods of tech\" on a regular basis and have tossed a few of them out on their butts in my past. *cracks knuckles*

There is no reason for people has to be so damned greedy about the all mighty dollar to the point of this narrowmind obsession that they have.

And yes I do have a secure job that is recession resistant. But I also have had to hustle during the lean years of my life as well.

also#11 If you are smart enough and willing to make a minor sacrifice, then listen up. You want to retire and live the american dream when you get old? All you have to do is start saving up (10% or more of your income), put it in a secured money market account (as a example) and leave it alone for 20 or so years.

It\'s called, \"doing the long haul\".

This is above and beyond your 401k plans that you might have.

RE: AdamLongWalker

I know it's not harsh nowadays considering what happened in Toronto a year ago. TD bank literally got about 7,000 (I think it was 7) of their employees and seperated them into a room and said to them all at once, you're fired

but it is harsh in human eyes

AAaaaggggghhhhhh!!!!

I bought **TWO** damned copies of Tribes 2!

One for Linux, and one for Win32 (sh!t happens, and if I'm stuck in Windoze, I at least gotta Tribe...)..

I feel intensely ripped off.

I feel highly irritated.

I was just roaming the Tribal forums, and half the people there are crying, and half are clueless. The n3wbs are all rolling around saying things like 'It's going to be fine, the game is running all right', and not even thinking of 'The next bug that pops up is going to be the death knell', or 'What if a massive WinXP bug pops up?...

I'm going to go find somewhere where I can buy pot, and I'm going to get really stoned, and really drunk, and hopefully, when I wake up, Tribes 2 will somehow be supported by a miracle.

OPEN DAMNED SOURCE means never having to say 'My game is fscked since the owner/authors went under'. Even if you don't *release* it that way, at least try to make it your last act as the corpse cools.

Excuse me, I really ought to do my greiving/bitching in private.

#10 they let a lot of our senior talent go and the next week I saw their cubes filled with h1b's from india. I think im going to plan to retire early...pay off the house and car. I don't think programming is a field you can retire in...i've seen too much.

So if you condemn 'the gods of high tech,' where do [io/i] work that makes you so invulnerable? I mean, c'mon . . . you're posting on TR . . . you gotta be tech related somehow.