Conference rusure::nintendo

    Hi, Qix is a very tough game. I think it can really be fun if you
    try.The highest points I have ever had was about 204,000. I really like
    the challenge ;^) PEACE,DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!
    
    I am 10 years old today but my birthday is tomorrow - I hope I get some more
    good games.  I already have 7.  My mom is letting me use notes so I can
    get better and learn some new moves.
    
    The games I have are Tetris, Super Mario Land, Ninja Turtles, Qix, 
    Baseball, Tennis, Fall of the North Star.
    
    ** Jeremy Martinez **                               

    Hey Jeremy,
    
    	Happy belated birthday, did you get anymore nintendo games for
    your birthday?
    
    	I wanted to ask you what particular baseball game do you have?  I
    have Baseball Stars and I really love it!
    
    Sincerly,
    
    Kris Merchant
    Burlington, Vermont

    
    
    Jeremy,
    
    
    Doesn't your mom know that she can get in trouble letting you use her 
    account?
    
    
    
    					Good luck,
    							
    					  Scott

    Re .3:
    
    1) That depends on the system management at that site.
    
    2) I very much doubt if Digital Equipment Corporation would object to
       a modest amount of use of a computer account by an employee's
       child.
    
    3) If Digital does object, it can kiss good-bye to some of its best
       talent.  A lot of opportunity for my first experiences with
       computers came from using my father's accounts.  Digital has
       earned a lot of money from the experience I gained on other people's
       computers; now is a good time to repay the favor.
    
    4) I hardly think the impression Digital wants to impose on the
       public, and impressionable children who are potential future
       customers and employees, is that Digital is a harsh, faceless,
       uncaring corporation.
    
    
    				-- edp

    Also, if anybody gets any flack about their children using their
    accounts, please contact me.  I think it likely (no guarantees) we
    could arrange to set up some non-privileged accounts for modest use. 
    Your children would still need to SET HOST to get to those accounts,
    but at least that would give them a safe place to be on the net.
    
    
    				-- edp

    and the host system manager has absolutely no problem with employee's
    children accessing this conference. Where else are we supposed to get
    the best hints? =|8*)

    Hello, this is Jeremy's mother.  Thank you for welcoming Jeremy.  He
    enjoys anything that has to do with computers, especially Nintendo.  
    
    In regards to Scott's note, I checked with my manager and he didn't have 
    a problem with it.  The only time Jeremy will be in the notes file is 
    evenings (when he doesn't have baseball - which isn't very often) or 
    weekends and he'll be using our equipment and phone line at home.  
    He doesn't know how to access anything else but the notes file anyway.
    
    Again, thank you for your support.  Jeremy will be checking in soon to
    give and get some more tips.  He found one for TMNT and was so
    excited he was practically bouncing off the walls!!
    
    
    ==Yvonne
    
                                       

    
    I have to agree with EDP on this one. I think he's made an excellent
    point - I remember my mom bringing home a 'terminal that was kind of a
    line printer, and had a built in modem where you inserted the phone
    headset... used to dial into the bank where she worked and play star
    trek most of the night! And by that use of a system got my first computer
    experience and never have regretted it.
    
    I know that policies are necessary, and security is important, but
    I really think these things should be handled on an individual basis.
                            

>    I have to agree with EDP on this one. I think he's made an excellent
>    point - I remember my mom bringing home a 'terminal that was kind of a
>    line printer, and had a built in modem where you inserted the phone
>    headset... used to dial into the bank where she worked and play star
>    trek most of the night! And by that use of a system got my first computer
>    experience and never have regretted it.

While he has made a point for the way life was years ago, it doesn't really
hold water now.  With all the various personal computers available these
days, the 'let them learn something about computers' is not a good reason.
Let the parents buy a computer if learning about them is so critical.
Is the person being supervised when s/he is reading notes, or were they just
given the apssword to the account and allowed to log in anytime?  If the
later, that is a problem.

And certainly, if the account being used has any 'advanced' privileges, then 
this should be a definite no-no.  EDP had suggested 'captive' accounts for such 
things.  That still begs the issue of a resource being used by a non-employee,
with a possible impact on an employee trying to get real work done.  What
happens when the person attempting to do work cannot get a line into a system
because none are available?  Should they take back seat to someone (whether
employee or not) playing games/reading non work related conferences?  I do
not think so.  Do you, Eric?

    
    are you often unable to get onto your system because there are
    too many lines open? I've NEVER had that problem. 
    
    And since his mom's system manager doesn't seem to have a problem with
    the boy using the system, I doubt she has anything beyond temp and net.
    

    RE .2
    
          Thanks! The name of my Baseball Game is BASEBALL.  Its Luigi and
    Mario playing on different teams.  Its fun. 
    
          The games I got were WWF Superstar Wrestling and In your Face
    Basketball.  I like Basketball, because of the graphics and Wrestling
    because of the fun.  Well, it took me three days to complete both of
    them.
    
    **Jeremy**
        

Sorry to break up the discussion on the propriety of employee's children
using Digital computers, but, I thought I'd do something rare and actually
describe the game of Qix for the benefit of those who might be unfamiliar.

Qix first appeared as an arcade game, and has since appeared on other
game platforms such as PCs, Ataris and the like.  The object of the game
is to enclose as much area as possible with the "marker" under your
control.  Your marker travels along the boundary between unclaimed area
and claimed area, so at the start of the game your marker is confined
to the outer edge of the screen until you begin drawing a line.  Inside
the unclaimed is the dreaded "Qix"--  it's something like a line
segment that moves and bounces around randomly.  Other enemies include
"sparx" which run around the same perimeter as your marker.

To win a round or screen, you must claim at least 75% of the playing
field from the Qix.  Percentages beyond 75% counts towards a bonus.
You lose a life if your marker is touched by a sparx, or if the line
you are in the process of drawing is touched by Qix (as soon as you
completely enclose an area, it becomes shaded, and the line and area
are now invulnerable to Qix).

That's the game in a nutshell.  The difficulty increases with each
round, of course, and within each round there is timer which causes
the sparx to increase in number, move faster, or become "super" once
time is expired.  The biggest drawback with the game was already 
mentioned by the basenoter--  it's sometime hard to see sparx that
are near the edge of the screen unless lighting is near perfect.  

This game probably falls into the category of strategy with a little
action thrown in.  I'd say it's geared towards mainly older players--
younger children may find the patience and methodical approach needed
to build areas and win a bit boring or frustrating.  I find it interesting
in that the random behavior of the Qix results in the formations of 
different patterns and strategies on each screen.

D

    I have been able (only twice) to be able to get a 99% coverage of the
    screen and been given many points (I forgot how many) for doing so.  
    
    Possible spoiler:
    
    I think I did it by covering exactly 1% of the screen in a single move. 
    Does anyone else know about how to do this exactly?
    
    Kyle

re: -.1

There is some huge bonus awarded for getting 99% coverage, it's true.
I haven't done it, though, since it seems you'd really have to wait
quite some time to draw that last line while you wait for the Qix to
be somewhere less threatening.

I don't agree that the last line would only capture an additional 
1%, since you need to have less than 75% (the "threshhold")
claimed to continue playing in a given round.  At best, you would
have to go from 74% to 99% in that last move, which is not for 
the faint of heart.

As far as strategy goes, mine is pretty straightforward:

Keep dividing the remaining area up by halves (approximately)
without completely closing off one half from the other until
required.  Continue to divide up these halves into smaller halves
as long as you have time (i.e. no super sparx on your tail).  
Obviously, you want to do this by building a wall in short blocks
so as not to expose yourself to unnecessary risk while drawing
the lines.  This strategy has the advantage of creating a very
long perimeter and many safe areas so that it is easy to avoid the 
sparx.  Also, there is a good chance that the Qix will wander
into one of the smaller chambers where it can be cordoned off
for a large bonus.  Also, it case it isn't obvious, use fast
draw for all wall building, and slow draw to close off the last
large area (should be a very short segment) for extra points.

If the above is not clear, I might be cajoled into drawing
a picture later.

D

	Both times I went from about 1-5% coverage directly to 99% coverage
	by merely covering another small area.  There are obviously not 
	enough people playing this (I actually play QIX when I get tired
	of Tetris).

	Keep trying to cover a 1% area and see if you can recreate what I
	did.

	Kyle >-)

Oh, OK, Kyle, I thought you meant you were only incrementing your coverage
by a few % to hit 99%.  I believe you :^).  Must've been a heck of a
ballsy move.

I don't think anyone really reads this conference much either--  probably
not since Super Nintendo came along, anyway.  Still, until they make 
a Super Game Boy, it's the only place to read about the portable Nintendo
games.


D