MM3D Status?

[Andos]

Hi Jessica,

I have been reading your columns with great interest -- extremely insiteful.

In particular I enjoyed your comments regarding games companies needing to hire developers experienced in the field of MMPG's.

I would be very interested in your opinion of the Sierra Online's debacle with the Middle-Earth franchise. In that case they had a very senior team who had deep experience in developing "The Realm". This team had been in constant contact with the user-base and I believe knew what the players wanted, but the "suits" believed differently and sacked the lot.

I am also interested to see what Bridgette and MM3D will do with it (if Sierra ever stops mucking them around).

It will also be interesting to see what Steve Nichols does with The Realm now he is back with it at Codemasters. Hopefully with its radical update in its next version, it will become a major player in the MMORPG field again.

Regards,

Andos

[JessicaM]

Andos,

Being part of MM3D and as the matter is in litigation and the attorneys have asked Bridgette and the rest of us not to comment on it until the matter is settled, there's nothing I can say to that specific issue.

Sorry 'bout that! :-)

-Jess

[Andos]

Sorry Jess, I didn't realise you were part of MM3D too.

I really would be interested to know more about the company, like what it has done in the past?

Is it the same MM3D engine as shown in the VR1 games at CGDC in '97?

There doesn't seem to be much info out there about MM3D. I wonder if there is a reason for this stealth? :D

Cheers,

Andos

[JessicaM]

Andos,

As I noted before, until the litigation is resolved, I can't say anything. Sorry! Though, of course, I'm always happy to welcome a new BTH reader, ;)

And you can always write our CEO at bridgette@mm3d.com to see if there are any public updates about the situation.

-Jess

[Andos]

:rolleyes:

Ah well, we will just have to wait then.

By the way, your article on hackers trying to access your system was very timely.

I have had Black Ice Defender on a PC outside our corporate firewall for some months now and it gets half a dozen scans and probes a day, so there certainly is a great deal of this activity going on.

There is a very, very useful site that checks your PC's vulnerability:

https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

It's worth trying this with Black Ice both on and switched off.

But there is another nasty activity on the internet that is gaining popularity, namely "Spyware" that looks at the sites you visit and secretly reports back to marketing agencies. Your PC could be spying on you!

This is more common than expected as a website dedicated to fighting this has a list of over 800 software products that install "spyware" on your PC.

http://www.infoforce.qc.ca/spyware/

There are free tools to see if you are "infected" with this from:

www.spychecker.com

and a free software called ZoneAlarm which looks really useful too.

www.zonelabs.com

I guess it pays to be paranoid.

Cheers,

Andos

[JessicaM]

Originally posted by Andos


By the way, your article on hackers trying to access your system was very timely.

I have had Black Ice Defender on a PC outside our corporate firewall for some months now and it gets half a dozen scans and probes a day, so there certainly is a great deal of this activity going on.

Yep, the script kiddie community is alive and well. My computer is protected a number of different ways these days.

But there is another nasty activity on the internet that is gaining popularity, namely "Spyware" that looks at the sites you visit and secretly reports back to marketing agencies. Your PC could be spying on you!

<largish snip>

I hadn't realized that this had grown into so many free downloads off the net. Thanks for the tip!

I guess it pays to be paranoid.

As the author once said, the real question is whether you are being paranoid enough, ;)