User:Fox1/ds

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Derek Smart is a software designer and Internet personality living in Florida. He is the creator of the Battlecruiser 3000AD video game series, now Universal Combat.

Smart has participated in a number of public discussions on Usenet and the web. Characterized by controversy, rhetoric, and profanity-laced personal attacks, these flame wars have been recorded in numerous annals of internet and gaming culture.

Smart is devoted to and protective of his work, and has been known to find and participate in discussions of his games on the Internet. In the past, heated discussions have led supporters and detractors of Smart and his work to visit online communities in which they were not previously involved and join arguments there. These sudden increases in population and posting can elicit anything from amusement to hostility, depending on the community involved. Contents [hide]

   * 1 3000AD Games
   * 2 Published Products
   * 3 Other Issues
         o 3.1 Derek Smart and The Coke Machine
         o 3.2 Derek Smart vs Bill Huffman. The Great Internet Flame Wars
   * 4 External Links
         o 4.1 Media
         o 4.2 Smart's game AI references
         o 4.3 Smart vs Huffman

3000AD Games

During production of Smart's first game, Battlecruiser 3000AD, released by Take Two Interactive in 1996, he made bold claims as to its features, including references to a neural net used by the AI cite. A Gamespot review [1] of the released game concluded from gameplay that this neural net was most likely non-existent, but noted that it was impossible to prove one way or the other without access to the source code. In contrast there are several other reviews of this early game which were perfectly happy with the AI used in his games.This is not apropos of the preceding statement, in addition to needing a cite. The former is a statement on the underlying nature of the AI, the latter is an evaluation of its quality. Rewrite or remove

In 1996 the game was released by publisher Take Two Interactive unfinished, and contained many bugs that made it very difficult to play. For its time, it was also criticised for what many believed to be an exceedingly complex interface and gameplay. excessive weasel words The manual that shipped with the game was also criticized as inadequate, outdated and poorly written. For these and other reasons, the game was publicly lambasted and Smart voiced his opinions on the premature release frequently and strongly.

Shortly before Take Two Interactive was to go public, Smart took legal action against the publisher for their release of the game in its unfinished form. In a statement lauding Smart's work and efforts, Take Two Interactive president Ryan Brant announced that the matter had been resolved. if there was a statement, can we link it? Smart was reportedly paid an unspecified amount of damages by Take Two Interactive and regained the publishing rights to his game. Again, if something "reportedly" happened, where is the report? Take Two Interactive later went public and in its filings listed Smart's first game as one of its best sellers for that period. The report does not use the term "best seller," it states that BC3K accounted for 14.2% of its earnings for one-half of the reported period, was the fourth best-selling product during the period, and was significantly removed from the top three, which account for appx. 28-41% of their respective years earnings. Don't put words in other publications mouths

A constant stream of patches and upgrades were later released for the product over the next few months and, eventually, a final patch was released to fix most of the major bugs. Smart then later released the game for free on the Internet and hosted on the popular download sites.

Over the new few years, Smart continued to work on improving his game as he originally visioned. In 1998 the popularity of the freeware downloads of the original BC3K game later convinced Interplay to publish an improved and finished version in 1998 as Battlecruiser 3000 AD 2.0. In 2001 Smart released this game for free on the Internet, where to this day continues to post large downloads at some of the popular download sites. For such an old product unnecessary editorializing unless we cite some sort of age vs. download comparison of products, to this day it remains in the top downloads list for the space-sim genre.

Smart continued to work on improving his franchise and advancing the technologies in his game. The sales of the Interplay release of the game gained him an exclusive deal with Electronics Boutique for his next game, Battlecruiser Millennium which his company 3000AD, Inc self-published and released in 2001.

In 2003 Smart signed a two product deal with Dreamcatcher Games for Battlecruiser Millennium Gold and Battlecruiser Generations. The latter being a brand new addition to this franchise with should say "which claimed" unless we have a cite greately improved features and newer technologies over its predecessors.

A few months later, the publisher had discussions with Smart that resulted in a decision to change the premise to be more action-based than the Battlecruiser series had been known for. The name was changed to Universal Combat.

The game was not ready in time for the 2003 holidays and was shipped in early 2004 at half of the originally announced price. In an attempt to prevent history from repeating itself, Smart took legal action against the publisher to stop shipment of the game which was still in final Beta stages and which he felt required more testing. He failed to obtain a temporary restraining order which would have prevented the publisher from releasing the game.

Despite an earlier 2005 announcement by Dreamcatcher Games to publish Smart's next sequel, Smart later terminated his publishing deal with the publisher and severed all ties with Dreamcatcher Games.

The game received average to mediocre reviews in several game magazine reviews. We should definitely link them, then. Here or in the external links?

Smart's 2005 game, Universal Combat: A World Apart is a full sequel to the original Universal Combat with again, "which claims" a variety of revisions and enhancements especially to the graphics engine.

Smart also released Universal Combat Gold in 2005. This is an updated version of the original Universal Combat with new scenarios and graphics enhancements.

Also new to 2005 is the fact that both of the 2005 games can currently only be purchased via online resellers.

Published Products Title Released Publisher Battlecruiser 3000AD (U.S.) 1996 Take Two Software Battlecruiser 3000AD (UK) 1997 GameTek Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0 1999 Interplay Battlecruiser Millennium 2001 3000AD Battlecruiser Millennium Gold 2003 Dreamcatcher Games Universal Combat 2004 Dreamcatcher Games Universal Combat Gold 2005 3000AD Universal Combat: A World Apart 2005 3000AD Universal Combat: Special Edition 2006 3000AD

Other Issues

Another flashpoint among followers of Smart's work and online activities has been controversy over Smart's claimed doctoral degree.

At one time, Smart typically signed his posts on Usenet and elsewhere as "Derek Smart, PhD." A number of people have claimed that the degree either does not exist or is the product of a diploma mill, and have challenged Smart to provide authoritative documentation or further information on the degree. Smart has thus far not done so to the satisfaction of these critics. This is sourced from werewolves, I believe, would be nice to find another cite, even a passing mention

A search of the UMI dissertation archives with keywords Smart D(AU) and Smart(AU) on the 15th of November, 2005 failed to yield a dissertation title, an almost absolute requirement to be granted a Ph.D. Smart has at times maintained that his dissertation is based on his AI work used in his games and thus his dissertation was not published in order to protect his trade secrets. Several Ph.D. holders in numerous Usenet debates confirmed that this is in fact possible and that several have in fact done it, lending credence to the fact that a failed UMI search for a dissertation does not mean that one does not exist. Where on earth is all this from?

It is also rumoured that Smart obtained part of his education in the UK. He posted on Usenet that he did in fact accomplish part of his Ph.D. studies via distance learning. Nevertheless, a search of the UK's CRISP and the ERASMUS databases failed to yield any results. Another counterargument to the above is that although trade secrets and national security are valid reasons for censoring a dissertation, acknowledgement of a completed work is made in the archives. Furthermore, a trade secrets dissertation may only be censored for a period of three years or until the United States Patent and Trademark Office or another patent granting body issues the patent or trademark. "Rumored?" "A search?" "Another counterargument?" This is all original research, and needs cites or removal, immediately.

Derek Smart, a frequent poster to The Adrenaline Vault forums, has stated there that he unwittingly received his Ph.D. from a non-accredited institution in the UK.

Smart also releases his games for free on the Internet when their shelf life expires. He has said that he does this in order to give something back to his industry. So far he has released Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.09 and Battlecruiser Millennium.

Smart is also on the board of his local IGDA chapter in South Florida.

Derek Smart and The Coke Machine

Claims have been made to the effect that back in 1996, Smart attacked a Coca-Cola vending machine in the offices of publisher Take Two during talks with them over the premature release of his first game. Smart vehemently denied this report and the original report of this event has since been amended by the same publication (Computer Gaming World issue #201) that ran the original story in 1996. This is now considered an urban legend. The "amendment" is nowhere near as strong as it is implied in this section. The article, which is a profile/interview, does not in any way come to any conclusions regarding what actually happened, it simply relates denial by Smart and support by an un-named Take Two emplyee. This section needs to reflect that.

Derek Smart vs Bill Huffman. The Great Internet Flame Wars

This entire section is completely unsourced original research. It is almost entirely editorial, makes an incredibly wide variety of accusations without any support whatsoever. This needs to be completely rewritten or removed IMMEDIATELY.

Bill Huffman is responsible for single handedly starting the Great Flame Wars of the early nineties back in 1997. At the time, he worked for NCR and Smart has just released his first (much maligned) game. There are also several reports of others contacting his employers in an attempt to put a stop to Huffman's (some would say libelous) activities.

According to reports, Huffman has been banned from several forums (such a GoneGold, Adrenaline Vault, Quarter-To-Three etc) where Smart hangs out. The reason being that he would show up, engage (attack?) Smart. The resulting flamewar would end up disrupting the forum. This is the same behavior which caused Smart to stop posting on Usenet several years ago. He hasn't returned since.

Smart's attorneys were able to successfully have some of Huffman's websites removed, citing libel. He simply hosted his page elsewhere. This continued until Smart apparently gave up. The site now resides on the Werewolves domain, where it has been for several years.

There is a reported incident of one of Huffman's followers (a kid named LouisJM who lived near Smart) stalking Smart in real life. He was arrested and turned out to be a juvenille and even posted that Huffman put him up to it. He has since disappeared. Smart reportedly had to move from his residence after that incident.

There was another incident where Huffman and his followers were attempting to locate the name of Smart's newborn baby. A police report was also filed by Smart for that incident.

Though there are thousands of posts on Usenet and websites cataloging the antics of Huffman vs Smart, the Great Flame War itselt died down many years ago. The Usenet groups (alt.games.bc3000ad and comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.space-sim) ruined by it, are but ghost towns. Huffman and his friends still post there occasionally but with Smart MIA since 1999, the excitement has all but faded.

External Links

Media

• 3000AD Inc. website
• Derek Smart's website
• A compilation of Derek Smart interviews

Smart's game AI references

• GameAI article
• Educational research
• Article reference

Smart vs Huffman The unsourced Huffman fixation needs to go

• Computer Gaming World weighs in on the great Smart flame war They neither refer to it as "the great flame war" nor do they "weigh in," again, this is a simple interview/profile with almost zero specific "flame war" information.
• A collection of Bill Huffman materials on various controversies surrounding Derek Smart, with commentary critical of Smart.
• Bill Huffman declared a Net stalker Way, way, way too strong of language based on what appears to be an unsourced blog post. By comparison, this would be like relinking werewolves as "Derek Smart declared an incompetent asshole." That would be completely against policy, and so is this.