Uplink 315
miracle69 writes: "Well, it looks like the perfect convergence for the average Slashdot reader. What we've got here is a game that is approaching the Slashdot Enthusiast's Valhalla. It's released under Windows and Linux, costs a mere 25 USDs, and has no middleman to jack prices up. Of course, that means it's not available in stores, nor will it be seen on TV, but according to Newsforge, it's got great gameplay. So, will 25 bucks, a fresh game idea, and a Linux release make others in the gaming world stand up and take notice?"
I've played the demo... (Score:1, Interesting)
I mean, it's like a cheap movie. 'Crack Password' buttons, a nice little world map to make connetions through. A storyline of a sort. Everything that I've yet to see in real life...
Though, the temptation to yell out quotes from Hackers while playing this was unbeleivable
Real? (Score:3, Funny)
I wonder if they have real life events like the FBI crashing in on you in 26 locations all at once. Thats gotta suck.
Re:Real? (Score:2, Funny)
don't think so (Score:2, Insightful)
Mirrors (Score:1)
Re:Mirrors (Score:1)
Cool but... (Score:2, Funny)
Compete with other online hackers to get the job done.
Re:Cool but... (Score:1)
Re:Cool but... (Score:2, Informative)
Unfortunately, I've had little success getting the map to display on my two machines, but then again, they're both Pentium 166 systems running Windows.
There is something to be said about being able to play a modern computer game on a Pentium 166, though.
Humm... (Score:1)
What will really decide the fate of this game is whether or not it can run on low-end machines (P200, 64MB RAM, 3 GB HD, NO 3-D Accelerator). A Mac release would also help the popularity.
Other than that, it seems custom-tailored to
Sorry. (Score:2)
I'm afraid the most low-end machine in the game runs at 60GHz, and has 24 Gigaquads of memory with a 1GQ/sec net connection. Your system seems a little aged.
Re:Humm... (Score:2)
-Legion
Demo: no go on Slackware 8.0 (Score:2, Informative)
./uplink: error while loading shared libraries: cannot open shared object file:
cannot load shared object file: No such file or directory
cap@kira:~/uplink$ file
./uplink: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (Linux), statically
Odd. As if it can't make up whether it using statically linked libraries or shared ones.
Shame I can't play the demo, this is a game that would look nice next to my Loki collection.
Re:Demo: no go on Slackware 8.0 (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Demo: no go on Slackware 8.0 (Score:2)
Re:Demo: no go on Slackware 8.0 (Score:2)
./uplink: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (Linux), statically
Since the site is down, can anyone tell me if this game is available for PPC, or any non-x86 architectures?
hm (Score:1)
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Fun (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Fun (Score:2, Informative)
There are actually numerous little secrets and inside jokes in and out of the game, not the least of which is a 13-or-so MB file that people have been trying to decode into an MP3 or so.
It's not exactly a "real-world" game (Score:4, Informative)
The reason there aren't many screen shots is because it's not an FPS and it's not a RTS.. it's more like a text-based SIM. You basically take on the "role" of a hacker for hire. Everything is done in-game and you get emails from the company that hired you containing tasks (ie servers to hack into, jobs to complete).
You download "tools" from the company server and you get paid for jobs you complete. More complex jobs require more expensive tools so you have to save up for them.
It's interesting, but it doesnt exactly reflect the real world. Nothing you learn in-game could help you hack into a bank or anything.
Probably a reason for that... (Score:2, Interesting)
Of course, now that I've said that, someone will provide at least 3 counter examples...
Re:Probably a reason for that... (Score:2)
Re:Probably a reason for that... (Score:2)
It takes more then Graphics to make a game girls!! (Score:2, Insightful)
There are 100's of games on the shelf that have great graphics but there play sucks.. Im tired of it.. Anyone can hire a couple teenage graphic artists and throw together a smoldering pile of shit these days but few companys seem to be able to get some decent programmers together to make a Playable decent game.
Another game I suggest (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Another game I suggest (Score:2, Funny)
I tried that game. In my version, the World Trade Center got blown up by terrorists, starting a war in Afghanistan. Pretty far out, huh?
TheFrood
Re:Another game I suggest (Score:3, Funny)
Ok, we have people talking on the internet in a chat room about a game this simulates using the internet to hack places where people are talking like the current internet is like a simlulation game!
(poof)Ack! My head's on fire!
House on fire! House on fire! PUt it out, put it out... no, not anti-freeze! Noooo, my crack pipe! Bastards! Make the noise sto [life32.dll generated an invalid page fault in brain16.dll. Please swipe your credit card and bend over to restart].
Re:Another game I suggest (Score:2)
Oh, so you've beaten Metal Gear Solid 2 also ?
Re:Another game I suggest (Score:2)
Re:Another game I suggest (Score:2)
I improvized it from, "Jesus saves, but Buddha backs his data up." I like the improvement, myself. Paritally due to the fact that I like to step on bugs.
Re:Another game I suggest (Score:2)
I should get around to changing that, no?
If you ever feel like conversation, slap me up on AIM - Xcaimlas - or on Undernet, probably as Caimlas or CaimAFK... generally in #linuxhelp.
Re:Another game I suggest (Score:2)
You still haven't figured out your real task though.
Hint: How unrealistic do we have to make this monopoly before you start taking action?! If you think you are going to solve this one by joining the others here in bitching & complaining, you are dead wrong.
I suggest hijacking the 'magic lantern' with all evidence pointing towards Redmond,- that might get you somewhere. Think 'front page
It's a nice game (Score:5, Informative)
the game isn't realistic at all (not opengl style cracking like the movie 'hackers' , but not real either)
Though the game gets pretty repetitive, it does have an external plot, and is very nice.
For a nice review check out the home of the underdogs' [theunderdogs.org] review [theunderdogs.org]
Another game that is being exclusivly published over the net is pontifex [chroniclogic.com], better known as bridge builder 2, which is an awesome and very addictive game.
I found it dissapointing :( (Score:2, Interesting)
I find it rather insulting for me to buy a game, and then not get support, or extra's. Also to be honest I find the copy protection rather stupid.. A black sheet with black numbers printed on it.
All in all, the game is too short, lot of bugs, no support, you don't get cool stuff when you actually bought the game and the network support we were promised is still nowhere in sight..
Re:I found it dissapointing :( (Score:2)
News bulletin from 2010: (Score:2, Funny)
"It was easy," crowed MS/FBI chief Steve Ballmer. "In 2001, we released a game which proported to be a simulation, but was actually a real cracking tool when run on any OS other than XP. After enough evidence had accumulated, we simply rounded up all the perps! I LOVE this company! I LOVE THIS COMPANY!"
where to download (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.ciudad.com.ar/ar/portales/juegos/nota_
Actually a hack deterrent (Score:4, Funny)
It is also not going to teach "Billy" how to hack. This game, although text driven, from the demo that I played does not teach players to "rm -rf
Re:Actually a hack deterrent (Score:2, Insightful)
Neither did movies like "Hackers" or "Matrix", nor books as "Neuromancer" or the like; but it boosted their curiosity on the theme. I'm guessing that some kids, after the completion of the game, are going to get curious and join some "hacking" (or at least denominate themselves as "hacking") channels on IRC or search for the keyword "hack" on some search engine. Some of these kids will get bored real easy and just quit, other's will persist and start learning some more advanced techniques. Of those that endure, some will use the little knowledge (as compared to the whole) that they possess to do something that might be called "bad" (defacing, deleting files, releasing worms, etc) and other's will probably use it for something more productive (call it "good" if you like), like coding some usefull aplication to help little poor old granny to cross the street without a big huge truck getting in her way (or on her either) or the likes. Some of these kids will probably get jobs in the area that they dedicated their youth, others won't.
But, those that get in the final stage, will always remember the movie/book/game/whatever that started the whole thing, for good or for bad.
Tried it month ago. (Score:2, Interesting)
On top of that, the game simply wasn't fun.
This has been out for ages (Score:3, Informative)
There is however a problem for those of use who don't have a credit card. HOW DO WE BUY THE FULL GAME. No shop will order it in
The music and interface are good for the style of the game.
Though it is one of those Movie OS's which are highly secure till you use the password cracker. It also downloads whole files with one click in seconds.
What we need now is for some aspiring group of hackers to join the interface to real scripts and real servers. Then we will have a whole new generation of script kiddies.
Does playing this game make u l337??
*sigh* (Score:2)
(I get a couple a week, these days.)
Re:*sigh* (Score:2)
how to play without a CD? (Score:2)
A CD drive is another $300.
Is there a way to play these CD based games legitimately, but without a CD drive?
I asked Loki but they ignored me :)
Thanks kellan
Re:how to play without a CD? (Score:2)
Re:how to play without a CD? (Score:2, Informative)
us mkisofs to make yourself an iso9660 copy of the disk. save it to your hard drive. mount the iso as a loopback interface on
it fooled jagged alliance 2.
oh, you can't do this via nfs either, it checks the filesystem. but, this method is better if you want to play games away from your wireless network.
Re:how to play without a CD? (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re:how to play without a CD? (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re:how to play without a CD? (Score:2)
Site down, but google saves! (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.introversion.co.uk/ gives a 403 error, but thanks to google we can still do some kind of browsing:
Main site: http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:HF4gZfFTKQQ:
How to browse the site? Easy: just hoover your mouse over a link, copy-paste the URL in google, and click the 'view google's cache' link. Browsing has never been more easy!
Re:Site down, but google saves! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Site down, but google saves! (Score:2)
You will notice that with googlebar installed, you click a link in "ie" it actually gotos Google first then redirects to the url you wanted.
Its in the TOS but not how they do it, this is how websites that are not advertised are in google, and how a website your creating can have hits from google. (Explains that currious behavior!)
Real Life (Score:5, Funny)
You don't have permission to access / on this server.
Apache/1.3.19 Server at www.introversion.co.uk Port 80
Looks like someone played the real life version, and introversion lost.
Not exactly a new idea... (Score:5, Informative)
often has better looking graphics, and runs on speedier machines, but the idea is basically the same. There's a joke that everything in the computing world was invented in 1962. The only thing funnier than the joke is to see younger folks
"invent" the same thing over and over again.
Uplink sounds basically the same as an early 1980s Activision game called Hacker [mobygames.com]
which appeared on the Commodore 64 and other personal computer of that era. At that time (to the best of my knowledge), Hacker was a kind of revolutionary game. It offered no explanation, either on-screen or in the game documentation, as to what was going on. You were simly presented with a text login prompt when the game started, and had to take it from there.
Bob
Re:Not exactly a new idea... (Score:2)
Oh, and speaking of Hacker, did you ever beat it? I honestly had a hard time getting past the login screen
Re:Not exactly a new idea... (Score:2)
Wow....Hacker.....what a great game. My father spent hours trying to figure out that game. He had diagrams of what spy to sell what artifact to and all the steps to assemble the document. But, the spy satellites would always get him a couple seconds before he completed the mission. He finally figured out how to beat the game: he made a copy of the game onto a different floppy disk. When he played with the copy, he could finish the game. I never bought that as the solution to the game, but in retrospect, that would be pretty brilliant, if true.
Suspend Disbelief - Enjoy the game... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's called 'entertainment' people. I've played the game, I own it, and I wanted to know what others thought of it. Almost all the posts I read are ripping on how 'not real' it is. The IPs are so wrong, you don't hack like that, it's so wrong I can't play it... Well, let's think about that for just a sec...if a game were created where you could pretend to hack and it was based upon 'actual' methods and 'real' ip addresses...somebody in big brother's crew might just not like that, ya think?
As it is, it is a very basic representation of hacking. You run a proxy bypass program to get around proxy security. Sure, that's nothing like the real world hacking, but you quickly find yourself tapping your foot watching your time run out and your program not run fast enough. Darn! I didn't bounce off enough public domain servers or a large enough bank. You try again, you get in and steal a file, delete your logs, your home free. IT'S A GAME! And a fun one at that.
Buy it, Play it, Enjoy it...
Download the Demo from fileplanet.com (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.fileplanet.com/index.asp?section=0&f
Quick review and advice (Score:4, Interesting)
I ordered the full version, received it about 3 weeks later, and played the crap out of it.
Take everything from the demo and amplify it by an order of magnitude.. Not only did they add all kidns of extremely advanced missions, there's a cool as all hell overriding plot line..
AND.. Its a plot line that you get to dynamically control.. Similiar to the branching fallout did (but a little more freeform)
All in all a great product.. IF you get it, make sure to dig up the "hidden" development journals..
And make SURE to get the patch. It fixed a big recurring crash i was having..
Great game from a teeny tiny developer..
This has given me an idea.... (Score:2)
Of course, this should be done in a more vitual manner so that others can enjoy the experience at the same time without interfering with others, but of course, interfering with others is part of the game.
I'm going to have to think this over some more....
-Restil
Similar games that are online (and likely better) (Score:4, Informative)
http://aspect.l8nite.net [l8nite.net] - Storyline based set of challenges that require alot of "outside the box thinking".
http://www.slyfx.com [slyfx.com] - Non-storyline sequential tour of computing challenges.
The Game [prohosting.com] - Java reverse engineering.
+Ma's Reversing [3564020356] - Reverse engineering.
http://home.cyberarmy.com/w0lfie/ [cyberarmy.com] - a bunch of links to others here.
Uplink (Score:2)
Strong points:
Lots of fun
Intriguing backstory
Sound basic principals (don't connect directly to the system you're breaking into; be careful and erase your tracks)
Choose your own path--script kiddie or security professional
Weak points:
GLX/OpenGL requirement--this game uses *no* 3D, yet I can't play it in linux because my video cards (Voodoo 2, Riva 128) aren't supported by GLX
Logical errors--when I'm caught hacking into Uplink's own mainframe, I shouldn't get the generic endgame message "A large company has informed us that [etc.]"
If you progress too far into the game without performing a certain action, you miss the entire backstory and must start over from the beginning to catch it
Extremely repetitive after awhile--just like real [h,cr]acking!
Once you have enough money (and hacking banks is pitifully easy) you can afford equipment good enough to ensure you'll never be caught, and the game becomes way too easy
All in all, this is a good game. It's easy to get immersed in the gameplay. The sound effects are just right. The music gets repetitious after awhile (only 5 songs or so), but it's good old .mod and .s3m stuff from the likes of Skaven (attention, Introversion: did you credit the music creators? If so, I missed it).
To address peoples' complaints: yes, the IP addresses aren't real. They aren't supposed to be. It's a game. No, it isn't like real [h,cr]acking, apart from the basic principals of "bounce your connection and clean up after yourself." It isn't supposed to be. It's a game. It isn't going to teach anyone how to hack. It isn't supposed to. It's a game.
I think the best part of the game is that you can choose how you want to play it. You can accept the script-kiddie "give this system a virus" or "delete all files" missions, or you can accept the much more complicated "track down this hacker using log trails which may have been modified" missions. Just like real life--do you want to be a scum-sucking script-kiddie, or do you want to learn a thing or two? Your choice....
I would recommend that *anyone* at least download the demo and give it a try. $25 for a fun game that runs on linux (assuming you have recent hardware) is a goddamn steal.
-Legion
More dynamic than I figured (Score:2, Informative)
Site is down - download mirror (Score:2, Informative)
It's only 3 megs! Unfortunately the connection is really slow... but it's there.
Have fun, da Lawn
Bloody site's been down for a day now (Score:2)
In case anyone still wants to buy it... (Score:2)
Feel free to use it [granzeau.com] if you want. (Just US version)
One thing you should know before you buy this.. (Score:3, Informative)
One thing I like about Loki's games is that I install 'em, then the CD can go to whereever-it-is that all my CDs go to, and I can just play the game forever without having to remember where the CD is.
This game, Uplink, is like that too, except for one little thing: whenever you create a user, there's a grid-lookup thing where you have to look up some numbers from a black piece of paper, with black (but different textured) lettering. It is an attempt at copy protection.
It's not something that happens a lot (unless you screw up and forget to pause the game you're interrupted in Real Life while in the game you're being traced ;-) so it's not a big deal, but it is there.
And as usual, it only annoys Introversion's real customers (people like me) who have sent them money, and pirates have undoubtably disabled it in their versions. :-/ I would not have bought the game if I knew it was going to treat me like a criminal. Loki doesn't do that, and I've bought something like 7 or 8 games from them. These guys do it, so they only get my money once (because I didn't know), and never again.
Re:Cyber-Terrorist Training Tool? (Score:1)
Re:Cyber-Terrorist Training Tool? (Score:5, Funny)
As far as I can tell, it'd have exactly the opposite effect that you described - instead of 13-year-old wannabes spending all their time attempting (and failing) to hack into their school network, they just fire up Uplink and pretend they're gods. Take it from me, it's more interesting than real hacking anyday.
Re:Cyber-Terrorist Training Tool? (Score:5, Insightful)
The traditional way of learning to hack involved hacking into actual computers on the internet.
Actually, the traditional way of learning to hack involves lots of time reading manuals, poring over source code and experimenting with machines under your control. Real computer security experts (both white hat and black hat) have *knowledge*, not "5ki11z". No computer game is going to teach you the volumes of excruciating detail about systems that is required to break into them (or, if it does, it won't be a game that many people find entertaining).
Note that I'm not addressing script kiddies here, who have neither knowledge nor skill, just a set of hack tools they've downloaded and don't understand. I suppose knowing which tool to apply to a particular system might be considered a "skill".
The common view of system hacking as some sort of art or magic is bogus. Social engineering has some art to it, though...
Re:Cyber-Terrorist Training Tool? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Cyber-Terrorist Training Tool? (Score:3, Interesting)
"hacking" which is so wrong of a title. is a helluva lot harder than clicking on a button. If you want to hace a target you need to spend weeks gaining information about them.
I doubt there is a dumpster diving section in the game, or a social engineering section, or the plethora of other skillz needed to sucessfully crack a system. portscanning and brue force attacks or scripts are NOT cracking in any way shape or form. It is just luZers or script kiddiez. If you want to have a nice refrence for hacking? get every technical manual in existance and start reading. Learne electronics, learn how "capt. crunch" started hacking the phone systems, read the back history of hacking (the real stuff not the made for TV crap on the shelves.)
Sorry, you want a hacking simulator? buy 5-6 computers a couple of routers a switch and install linux windows and BSD, secure them as well as you can from online sources and then hack yourself. THAT is a hacking simulator, not some silly game.
Re:Cyber-Terrorist Training Tool? (Score:2)
Ah well.
Re:Whatever (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Whatever (Score:2)
Oh, I don't know. Back in the Apple ][ days I regularly flew into the Hancock building. The only building on the entire horizon, but it was a big Cessna-sucking black-hole. Ever since, I've wondered why anyone without a death-wish would ever fly out of Meigs Field.
Re:Screenshots (Score:2, Insightful)
Avery
Re:Demo (Score:2)
Re:Screenshots (Score:2, Insightful)
Itmakes you wonder if the game designers knows anything about net technology or hacking at all. So how do you hack in the game, click a "HACK" button?
Unfortunately the site is slashdotted and I could download teh beta/demo.
you're missing the point (Score:2)
hawk, who learned to program by cheating at appletrek
Re:Screenshots (Score:2)
Re:Screenshots (Score:5, Insightful)
graphics (Score:2)
:)
hawk
Re:Screenshots (Score:2)
Oh, and this story refers to the untangible "gameplay" factor. Congratulations, you're now going to hell where they'll have lots of "gameplay".
If it doesn't have good gameplay, why the hell would you play it? Some people know what makes a game fun. It isn't graphics. I agree that they can help make things more interesting sometimes, but depending on the game, they don't always make sense. I've played the demo, and I really don't think that more or better graphics are what this game needs. What it needs is less repetition and a bit more depth. It's not a bad game, it's just not a great game.
Re:Zork among the greatest? Nah... (Score:2)
Re:Screenshots (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Screenshots (Score:2, Informative)
The fact that they have the guts to put these screenshots online (they're boring indeed) can only mean two things: (1) it really has to have great gameplay or (2) they need to replace their marketing department:)
Re:This one looks better! (Score:1)
Re:Neverwinter Nights For Linux (Score:3, Funny)
In other gaming news, Blizzard will release the Windows version of Warcraft III on the SAME DAY as the Windows version of Warcraft III is released.
Back to World News, when Osama bin Laden is caught and executed by the US experts predict that he will die at the same time...
Re:Neverwinter Nights For Linux (Score:2)
Re:FORBIDDEN (Score:2, Funny)
Infallible logic, that.
</SARCASM>
Re: Permissions (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Slashdotted (Score:3, Informative)
paradox.tydel.com:/pub/games/uplinkdemo_linux.zip
Re:Slashdotted (Score:2)
Also, something funny to read -
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:http://www
Re:Hacker..... (Score:4, Insightful)
I mean, we certainly wouldn't want to encourage anything *original* or *different* would we?
Re:Could this 'game' be linked to the real world? (Score:2)
*clicks on "Firewall bypass"*
*clicks on "Proxy bypass"*
*plays admin's voice sample*
*clicks on "Decypher"*
*clicks on "Password Breaker"*
*transfers 1,000,000 dollars*
*cleans up logs*
If I could break into banks that easily in real life, I certainly wouldn't be wasting my time doing it in the game. :)
-Legion