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Modern Warfare 2 Surpasses $1 Billion Mark; Dedicated Servers What?
The Opposable Thumbs blog is running an interesting article contrasting everything Activision did "wrong" in creating and marketing Modern Warfare 2 with the game's unqualified success. Despite price hikes, somewhat shady review practices, exploit frustrations, and the dedicated server fiasco, the game has raked in over a billion dollars in sales.
"There was only one way to review Modern Warfare 2: on the Xbox 360, in Santa Barbara, under the watchful eye of Activision. Accepting the paid trip, along with room and board, was the only way you were going to get a review before launch. Joystiq noted that this broke their ethics policy, but they went anyway. Who can say no to a review destined to bring in traffic? Shacknews refused to call their coverage a 'review' because of the ethical issues inherent in the situation, but that stance was unique. The vast majority of news outlets didn't disclose how the review was conducted, or added a disclaimer after the nature of the review was made public. This proved to Activision that if you're big enough, you can dictate the exact terms of any review, and no ethics policy will make news outlets turn you down."
A mate of mine, who just wanted to play a game he bought in the store, had so much trouble with the Steam activation process that he called me over to check it out. I thought "oh dear, another silly friend who can't work his computer".. then I discovered all the shit I had to do to get Steam to work. Opening ports on his router? Just to activate? Are you fucking kidding me? We eventually got the game to activate, then it wouldn't let us log into Steam, so the game wouldn't play.
"Incorrect password" .. no it's not you stupid piece of shit. Ok, fine "I forgot my password" .. .. "umm.. I haven't gotten it" .. "I forgot my password" .. .. "ahh, this time it showed up" .. .. .. awesome, I'll just try this password on Steam now shall I? .. .. "Motherfucker, I changed the password, I know what it is, I'm cut&pasting it from the notepad I used to change it!" .. .. "Grrrr... Ok.. I'll wait 15 minutes, it probably takes a while to get from the web interface to the Steam interface" .. 20 minutes later.. "Hey! The reset code showed up!", .. .. Back to Steam we go .. .. fuck you Steam, fuck you in your stupid ass. "New Account" .. I'll just enter the same username as before.. ..." Fine, whatever, that one with 69 on the end, sounds great.
"we're emailing you a reset code"
"we're emailing you a reset code"
"ok, change your password, enter your username and reset code, and a new password"
"ok, reset code accepted, you are now logged in to the website"
"Incorrect password"
"Incorrect password"
[15 minutes later] "Incorrect password". Grrrrrr... fine, back to the website, "Change password"
"You are not logged in, please login to change your password." Ok... maybe it timed out, username/password, "Login"
"You are logged in" WTF? You admit that I know the password on the website but you refuse to accept it in Steam? Fine, "Change password"
"You are not logged in, please login to change your password." What, THE, FUCK? You just said I was logged in, YOU SAID IT. Now I wanna change my password I can't? Fuck you. "I forgot my password".
"We're sending you a reset code.." Sure you are.. wait... wait.. "Hey man, wanna watch a movie or something?"
"ok, change your password, enter your username and reset code, and a new password"
"ok, reset code accepted, you are now logged in to the website"
"Incorrect password"
"Ok, to create a new account you need to choose a username"
"That username is taken, we recommend these alternative usernames
"Please supply a password." Cut&Paste from this notepad, twice, now tell me it's wrong.
"Password acceptable, here's your new account!" Great, I'd like to play the game now please.
"The game must be activated, please enter your activation code." Sure, no worries, here ya go..
"Activation code duplicate error. You can not continue with your activation."
FUCK YOU STEAM.
How we know is more important than what we know.
No, some of us heterosexuals prefer natural breasts. If you've ever felt fake ones, especially after they're a year old and the woman has built up quite a bit of tissue scaring and/or it's shaped in a really hideous way where you see a breast on top of a breast, you'd understand.
A true natural C cup is actually pretty impressive especially if it's shaped well with good skin. Now I won't complain if it's a natural D or above, but it becomes very rare and it may not be shaped well e.g., saggy and/or woman is a little too chunky.