You're exactly right though. This is what most people do. PC games already have a big hurdle in that they all run on Windows, require new graphics cards, and have a slew of other hardware and software related hurdles to overcome.
Throwing in DRM that prevents you from playing your own game on top of that?
PC game publishers are the ones killing the PC gaming industry. Microsoft could have already killed the PC by including a large hard drive in all 360s and making online play free. The fact that they control the PC market may be the only reason they haven't done this yet.
As usual a bunch of people who never use PHP complain about a bunch of nonsense like: function argument order, the language has its own syntax, it has a "bloated" core (oh no! a 4mb executable shared across all php threads on my web server, THE HORROR), bothering to maintain backwards compatibility instead of breaking millions of apps and preventing them from upgrading to receive bugfixes, etc.
:: and . are both already used in PHP. Breaking backwards compatibility is bad. Unless you expect to copy-paste code from some other language into PHP, there's no reason it needs to copy Your Favorite Language(tm)'s syntax. People who actually code in PHP will use it, recognize it, etc.
And despite all the perl mongers with sour grapes, PHP will keep being the most widely used web programming language, with python and ruby as distant seconds.
And for good reason too. Bad programmers (and noobs) can use PHP badly but still get things done. Good programmers can make large scalable web apps Very Quickly and with all the language features they need.
I never flew until a couple years ago, and since then have taken several trips. Japan, Seattle, LA, Vegas, all from the east coast of the US. Since my first flight, I've never checked a bag again.
It was bad enough when all you had to worry about was your bag not making it onto the right plane, and things getting broken when the bag was thrown around. Now they're required to be unlocked, and are searched "in secret" by anonymous and untraceable employees.
Bring only what you absolutely need. Wash the clothes you bring if it's a trip longer than a week (or however long you can last with clothes that fit in 2 carry-on bags). If you have to buy or bring liquids or anything else that can't be carried on, either mail it, or put it in a bag/box by itself and check it. At least then you're risking as little as possible.
I'm fine with there being 3 games. I have no idea if I'll end up buying all 3, but probably not. At least not until they're on sale.
I'm also hopeful that each game will be priced in the $40 range instead of $60 each, but that's probably way too optimistic.
Let's face it, Starcraft was a long game. Yet each race's missions felt way too short. This was their solution - give you a full game experience for each race, and let you pick which one or ones you enjoy playing.
It's not like they're taking a single-length game, splitting it into thirds, then charging triple price for each one.
And it sure as hell beats certain other games that "lengthen" the experience artificially by making you waste a ton of time "in between" doing things that are actually enjoyable. COUGH WORLD OF WARCRAFT COUGH.
C'mon, the guy came to the police voluntarily to give them back their camera and confidential pictures. They should have sent an IT guy to his house to sit *with* the guy at his computer, delete all of the pictures (if they weren't already), verify they're deleted, check any media nearby (that would be confiscated in an overreaction), and run a wiping utility to fully wipe the pictures from the hard drive.
Would have taken an hour and not scared citizens away from cooperating with the police to avoid losing all their own personal computers and data to be stored forever at police HQ and rifled through by complete strangers.
This guy went to the police voluntarily, any common sense dictates that he would also cooperate with an on-site technician to verify the files are deleted and wiped. If the guy is hiding a copy somewhere, it's still hidden whether or not they confiscate all of stuff and go through his private data.
I'm new to this thread, but was curious for a real answer to this:
"Do you live some kind of anonymous, cash-only existence off the info grid?"
I've always had mixed feelings+results on avoiding giving out SSN and driver's license numbers. Basically if it's something I really want/need I give in, but if it's particularly absurd or something I don't care about I'll take a stand and say no.
Grocery store "loyalty" cards are a perfect example. For a long time I would use the cashier's every time I went to the store so that I could get the REAL price. Then some stores cracked down and I would have to apply for a new one every trip to the supermarket (ie: use the new card and throw the application in the trash). Eventually I gave up:\
I'm both having a hard time finding any apple apologists (although there are good explanations and details) and I also find every (valid) anti-MS story filled with Microsoft apologists and astro-turfers.
If MS hypothetically has fewer apologists it's because they've done that much less positive to deserve the benefit of the doubt in the minds of readers. After all the shenanigans they've pulled, I wouldn't trust MS to feed my cat.
Apple tends to do some things we don't like, but they typically have legitimate reasons behind them. Eg. their agreement with AT&T says they can't allow tethering apps, their agreements with the music industry prevent them from allowing ringtones, etc. And these restrictions often come alongside unprecedented functionality that Apple fought tooth-and-nail for (relative lack of drm in itunes/ipod, a cheaper+better data plan on the iphone than most smart phones, etc.)
Even in cases where Apple is just fighting dilution of their own apps/sales by preventing competition - we don't like it, but without Apple having a monopoly, it's not actually unethical of them to do so.
Lol, you're one of those cowards that can't kill anyone same level, so you have to run around griefing people 30+ levels below you? Do you also torture squirrels in your backyard?
Obviously it's personal choice if you think it's worth it overall or not.
But saying WOW is $800 for 'one game' is a bit misleading. WOW has continually changed since release, with dramatic expansions and a ton of new content.
Even if you never bought the expansions, you can still play the original game and use all the revised talent trees, new abilities, etc.
Also consider it has a co-op leveling game, a small-multiplayer tournament game, a large-multiplayer round-based game with several maps to choose from, large-group end-game raid content, etc.
Again, not to say this means it's perfect for everyone. The RPG aspect devalues a lot of the multiplayer games, for instance. But comparing WOW to a traditional game is a bit disingenious.
I would argue that WOW is certainly 'worth' some arbitrary amount more than regular games, and it also has tremendously higher development and maintenance costs due to the ongoing development and Blizzard's hosting of the servers. So it's not like they're spending the same amount on development and just raping customers' wallets.
Apologies if this has been stated elsewhere, but I didn't see it pointed out in the thread yet.
You're trying to say gas engines get 30mpg and diesel gets 50mpg. I don't know the accuracy of the diesel side, but only American gas engines get 24-30mpg. Most 4-cylinder gas engines, especially foreign ones, get 35-45mpg these days, depending primarily on the size of the car and driving habits.
My family regularly gets 36-40mpg in highway driving in a 2000s Civic, 90s Accord, and 2000s Corolla.
Also add in that it (supposedly) is more expensive to repair diesels in the US because so few mechanics know them.
Not saying diesels are a bad idea, just that the math is a lot more complicated than you suggest, and not remotely obvious which choice is better.
(aside from SUVs and 20-30mpg cars always being a bad choice)
In many areas it's just as illegal to drive in the passing lane (without passing anyone) as it is to pass people on the right.
Odds are if an officer saw you being passed on the right YOU would be the one receiving a ticket for blocking the passing lane, forcing faster traffic to pass on the right.
(of course it's rare anyone gets ticked in the US for passing on the right OR blocking the passing lane)
When I was looking to buy a car with good gas mileage (back when everyone else was buying SUVs a few years ago) I looked hard at Diesel.
My Uncle used to be a mechanic and I got his thoughts on it. While diesel gets better gas mileage and is theoretically cheaper to maintain (less moving parts to repair), there are so few diesels in America that repair and maintenance are more expensive.
Add on to this Volkswagen being the main diesel game in town. They have terrible reliability ratings. I really want to like them, but everyone I know with a VW has considered it to be a lemon.
So I ended up getting a Honda Civic.:\
I'm still hoping the market finds a way to move over to diesel.
This sounds like an overall bad idea. Having comments ("scribbles") attached to a picture is a great idea. We've already got that - the exif comments field.
Now why take a good idea like having comments with a picture, and apply a physical restriction like flipping the picture over? By making people flip the picture over, they're making it impossible to see the comments and also see the picture at the same time.
While it is a 'known' metaphor from the physical world, it's a bad one that restricts usability. Just print the comments below the picture like every web album already does.
Asperger's is a 'behavioral trait' moreso than a 'behavioral disorder'. It's not that there's anything wrong with people with Asperger's, but there are a number of characteristics that tend to go side-by-side. Some can get bad enough to be considered a 'disorder' in that they have negative effects on people's well-being.
Research so far indicates that there are a modest number of genes involved in increased intelligence which we have started selecting for in modern society. The upside being increased intelligence and focus, the downside being that some of these genes have side effects like clumsiness or anti-social behavior.
Mix too many of these genes in one individual and you get Autism.
Hence there is not "one" autism gene - it can come from any of many combinations of the genes that contribute to Asperger's characteristics.
Frequently I'll have a few minutes bored and I'll go to play a game I've got installed. Double click on the icon, and I get the 'insert cd' prompt.
I keep my home very clean, so I don't leave the past 4 years of game cds lying all over the damn place. I've got tons, so they're all neatly stored in the closet with all my other old consoles and games. For people who DO leave cds lying around, i'm sure they get bitten by scratched and otherwise damaged or lost CDs preventing them from playing the games they legally purchased.
For me, it's a simpler question. I'm sitting at the computer with a drink and a snack (which I need to defend from our cats) and ready to play a game. Do I get up and walk across the house, dig through a dozen plastic tubs to find the disc I need, walk back, put it in my computer, and then play?
Or do I hit 'cancel' and double click on TF2 and play a couple full rounds before I could have started playing that other game?
I almost always hit cancel. So why keep buying games that I know are going to prevent me from playing them?
I'm actually 100% fine with 'phone home' cd-checks, as introduced by Quake3, and continued by Steam and others. I bought the game, and phoning home is an effective way for them to guarantee that only one person is playing any given copy of the game.
This is only a problem:
A) If you don't have internet. It really sucks not being able to play your single player games when the internet is down! That's often the only time I *want* to play single player games.
B) If you get your cd-key hacked. I actually *bought* counter-strike for a friend to get him to play, and the cd-key was considered already in use when he installed it. That was REALLY crappy, and Valve's customer service refused to do anything about it. Apparently it was a huge problem too, they had most likely printed a batch of cd-keys multiple times.
Not to disagree entirely, but have you tried Steam? I've never heard of Direct2drive before, but Steam is a well-known and reputable online game 'store' by Valve software. I've never really had problems with any games purchased there.
That said, many of us have a love-hate relationship with steam. They do have server issues on occasion that may prevent you from downloading updates or playing your games. And their chat system is about as unreliable as they come.
Most price drops are relatively gradual. Having a video card drop in price by $120 over the course of a year (about $10 a month) is no big deal.
However, if your iPhone price decreases by $200 overnight, yes, it irritates a lot of people. Apple found this out the hard way, and decided to give rebates to people who had purchased recently, essentially 'faking' that gradual decline in price.
The issue here is that the new benefits Blizzard is offering are (perceived as) HUGE.
Also, Blizzard makes paying for in-game items and levels 'illegal'. So it's kind of crappy of them to start offering people faster leveling in exchange for more money.
If Blizzard is going to admit that leveling is too slow, why not help out ALL players, not just the ones bringing them more $$?
Slashdot Mirror
You're exactly right though. This is what most people do. PC games already have a big hurdle in that they all run on Windows, require new graphics cards, and have a slew of other hardware and software related hurdles to overcome.
Throwing in DRM that prevents you from playing your own game on top of that?
PC game publishers are the ones killing the PC gaming industry. Microsoft could have already killed the PC by including a large hard drive in all 360s and making online play free. The fact that they control the PC market may be the only reason they haven't done this yet.
I didn't know Witchcraft and D&D granted you real life super powers!
Sooo glad I still have my manual from back in the day, i'm gonna go cast some spells tonight!
We can not let this alliance of fairies and unicorns continue to take our land and enslave our people.
.
Vote Thrall 2008!
.
For the horde!
*Yawn*
As usual a bunch of people who never use PHP complain about a bunch of nonsense like: function argument order, the language has its own syntax, it has a "bloated" core (oh no! a 4mb executable shared across all php threads on my web server, THE HORROR), bothering to maintain backwards compatibility instead of breaking millions of apps and preventing them from upgrading to receive bugfixes, etc.
:: and . are both already used in PHP. Breaking backwards compatibility is bad. Unless you expect to copy-paste code from some other language into PHP, there's no reason it needs to copy Your Favorite Language(tm)'s syntax. People who actually code in PHP will use it, recognize it, etc.
And despite all the perl mongers with sour grapes, PHP will keep being the most widely used web programming language, with python and ruby as distant seconds.
And for good reason too. Bad programmers (and noobs) can use PHP badly but still get things done. Good programmers can make large scalable web apps Very Quickly and with all the language features they need.
I never flew until a couple years ago, and since then have taken several trips. Japan, Seattle, LA, Vegas, all from the east coast of the US. Since my first flight, I've never checked a bag again.
It was bad enough when all you had to worry about was your bag not making it onto the right plane, and things getting broken when the bag was thrown around. Now they're required to be unlocked, and are searched "in secret" by anonymous and untraceable employees.
Bring only what you absolutely need. Wash the clothes you bring if it's a trip longer than a week (or however long you can last with clothes that fit in 2 carry-on bags). If you have to buy or bring liquids or anything else that can't be carried on, either mail it, or put it in a bag/box by itself and check it. At least then you're risking as little as possible.
I'm fine with there being 3 games. I have no idea if I'll end up buying all 3, but probably not. At least not until they're on sale.
I'm also hopeful that each game will be priced in the $40 range instead of $60 each, but that's probably way too optimistic.
Let's face it, Starcraft was a long game. Yet each race's missions felt way too short. This was their solution - give you a full game experience for each race, and let you pick which one or ones you enjoy playing.
It's not like they're taking a single-length game, splitting it into thirds, then charging triple price for each one.
And it sure as hell beats certain other games that "lengthen" the experience artificially by making you waste a ton of time "in between" doing things that are actually enjoyable. COUGH WORLD OF WARCRAFT COUGH.
Well, if you're using a credit card, they can tie the fake identity to your credit card.
But of course for that matter, if I use the same credit card every time, they can already uniquely track all my purchases.... Bloops.
If they're going to keep making cars, why not include improvements?
That's like suggesting a website should have its developers working all the time, but only release the new features they've developed every 5 years.
(yes, I just made a computer analogy out of a car analogy out of a computer analogy)
C'mon, the guy came to the police voluntarily to give them back their camera and confidential pictures. They should have sent an IT guy to his house to sit *with* the guy at his computer, delete all of the pictures (if they weren't already), verify they're deleted, check any media nearby (that would be confiscated in an overreaction), and run a wiping utility to fully wipe the pictures from the hard drive.
Would have taken an hour and not scared citizens away from cooperating with the police to avoid losing all their own personal computers and data to be stored forever at police HQ and rifled through by complete strangers.
This guy went to the police voluntarily, any common sense dictates that he would also cooperate with an on-site technician to verify the files are deleted and wiped. If the guy is hiding a copy somewhere, it's still hidden whether or not they confiscate all of stuff and go through his private data.
I'm new to this thread, but was curious for a real answer to this:
"Do you live some kind of anonymous, cash-only existence off the info grid?"
I've always had mixed feelings+results on avoiding giving out SSN and driver's license numbers. Basically if it's something I really want/need I give in, but if it's particularly absurd or something I don't care about I'll take a stand and say no.
Grocery store "loyalty" cards are a perfect example. For a long time I would use the cashier's every time I went to the store so that I could get the REAL price. Then some stores cracked down and I would have to apply for a new one every trip to the supermarket (ie: use the new card and throw the application in the trash). Eventually I gave up :\
I'm both having a hard time finding any apple apologists (although there are good explanations and details) and I also find every (valid) anti-MS story filled with Microsoft apologists and astro-turfers.
If MS hypothetically has fewer apologists it's because they've done that much less positive to deserve the benefit of the doubt in the minds of readers. After all the shenanigans they've pulled, I wouldn't trust MS to feed my cat.
Apple tends to do some things we don't like, but they typically have legitimate reasons behind them. Eg. their agreement with AT&T says they can't allow tethering apps, their agreements with the music industry prevent them from allowing ringtones, etc. And these restrictions often come alongside unprecedented functionality that Apple fought tooth-and-nail for (relative lack of drm in itunes/ipod, a cheaper+better data plan on the iphone than most smart phones, etc.)
Even in cases where Apple is just fighting dilution of their own apps/sales by preventing competition - we don't like it, but without Apple having a monopoly, it's not actually unethical of them to do so.
Lol, you're one of those cowards that can't kill anyone same level, so you have to run around griefing people 30+ levels below you? Do you also torture squirrels in your backyard?
I was just talking in IRC with a friend who is convinced "ALL THE MEDIA IS OWNED BY LIBERALS"
Then visited the WOW forums where a CM pointed out that "If we had a poll for whether -your- class is the worst, everyone would vote yes".
And here on Disagree Mail we have Slashdot being "obviously" owned by Microsoft, Apple, AND Google.
People see whatever they want to see, truth be damned.
Er, "Yarr, Truth be damned ta the scurvy pits o' hell! Us Pirates hav' tha roughest life of 'em all!"
Obviously it's personal choice if you think it's worth it overall or not.
But saying WOW is $800 for 'one game' is a bit misleading. WOW has continually changed since release, with dramatic expansions and a ton of new content.
Even if you never bought the expansions, you can still play the original game and use all the revised talent trees, new abilities, etc.
Also consider it has a co-op leveling game, a small-multiplayer tournament game, a large-multiplayer round-based game with several maps to choose from, large-group end-game raid content, etc.
Again, not to say this means it's perfect for everyone. The RPG aspect devalues a lot of the multiplayer games, for instance. But comparing WOW to a traditional game is a bit disingenious.
I would argue that WOW is certainly 'worth' some arbitrary amount more than regular games, and it also has tremendously higher development and maintenance costs due to the ongoing development and Blizzard's hosting of the servers. So it's not like they're spending the same amount on development and just raping customers' wallets.
Apologies if this has been stated elsewhere, but I didn't see it pointed out in the thread yet.
You're trying to say gas engines get 30mpg and diesel gets 50mpg. I don't know the accuracy of the diesel side, but only American gas engines get 24-30mpg. Most 4-cylinder gas engines, especially foreign ones, get 35-45mpg these days, depending primarily on the size of the car and driving habits.
My family regularly gets 36-40mpg in highway driving in a 2000s Civic, 90s Accord, and 2000s Corolla.
Also add in that it (supposedly) is more expensive to repair diesels in the US because so few mechanics know them.
Not saying diesels are a bad idea, just that the math is a lot more complicated than you suggest, and not remotely obvious which choice is better.
(aside from SUVs and 20-30mpg cars always being a bad choice)
^ this
In many areas it's just as illegal to drive in the passing lane (without passing anyone) as it is to pass people on the right.
Odds are if an officer saw you being passed on the right YOU would be the one receiving a ticket for blocking the passing lane, forcing faster traffic to pass on the right.
(of course it's rare anyone gets ticked in the US for passing on the right OR blocking the passing lane)
When I was looking to buy a car with good gas mileage (back when everyone else was buying SUVs a few years ago) I looked hard at Diesel.
My Uncle used to be a mechanic and I got his thoughts on it. While diesel gets better gas mileage and is theoretically cheaper to maintain (less moving parts to repair), there are so few diesels in America that repair and maintenance are more expensive.
Add on to this Volkswagen being the main diesel game in town. They have terrible reliability ratings. I really want to like them, but everyone I know with a VW has considered it to be a lemon.
So I ended up getting a Honda Civic. :\
I'm still hoping the market finds a way to move over to diesel.
This sounds like an overall bad idea. Having comments ("scribbles") attached to a picture is a great idea. We've already got that - the exif comments field.
Now why take a good idea like having comments with a picture, and apply a physical restriction like flipping the picture over? By making people flip the picture over, they're making it impossible to see the comments and also see the picture at the same time.
While it is a 'known' metaphor from the physical world, it's a bad one that restricts usability. Just print the comments below the picture like every web album already does.
Asperger's is a 'behavioral trait' moreso than a 'behavioral disorder'. It's not that there's anything wrong with people with Asperger's, but there are a number of characteristics that tend to go side-by-side. Some can get bad enough to be considered a 'disorder' in that they have negative effects on people's well-being.
Research so far indicates that there are a modest number of genes involved in increased intelligence which we have started selecting for in modern society. The upside being increased intelligence and focus, the downside being that some of these genes have side effects like clumsiness or anti-social behavior.
Mix too many of these genes in one individual and you get Autism.
Hence there is not "one" autism gene - it can come from any of many combinations of the genes that contribute to Asperger's characteristics.
You forgot to mention "AND PASSWORD" in the article summary. This is slashdot. No one reads TFA.
What? Do you think Id Software makes UT?
Id Software does NOT make UT, and that suggestion in itself is highly offensive.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/1999/12/15/
Id has ported all (?) of their games natively to linux.
Arena only account? I'm not sure what you're referring to - link?
I believe there's a (one-time) tournament that you have to pay to participate in, is that what you're referring to?
Frequently I'll have a few minutes bored and I'll go to play a game I've got installed. Double click on the icon, and I get the 'insert cd' prompt.
I keep my home very clean, so I don't leave the past 4 years of game cds lying all over the damn place. I've got tons, so they're all neatly stored in the closet with all my other old consoles and games. For people who DO leave cds lying around, i'm sure they get bitten by scratched and otherwise damaged or lost CDs preventing them from playing the games they legally purchased.
For me, it's a simpler question. I'm sitting at the computer with a drink and a snack (which I need to defend from our cats) and ready to play a game. Do I get up and walk across the house, dig through a dozen plastic tubs to find the disc I need, walk back, put it in my computer, and then play?
Or do I hit 'cancel' and double click on TF2 and play a couple full rounds before I could have started playing that other game?
I almost always hit cancel. So why keep buying games that I know are going to prevent me from playing them?
I'm actually 100% fine with 'phone home' cd-checks, as introduced by Quake3, and continued by Steam and others. I bought the game, and phoning home is an effective way for them to guarantee that only one person is playing any given copy of the game.
This is only a problem:
A) If you don't have internet. It really sucks not being able to play your single player games when the internet is down! That's often the only time I *want* to play single player games.
B) If you get your cd-key hacked. I actually *bought* counter-strike for a friend to get him to play, and the cd-key was considered already in use when he installed it. That was REALLY crappy, and Valve's customer service refused to do anything about it. Apparently it was a huge problem too, they had most likely printed a batch of cd-keys multiple times.
Not to disagree entirely, but have you tried Steam? I've never heard of Direct2drive before, but Steam is a well-known and reputable online game 'store' by Valve software. I've never really had problems with any games purchased there.
That said, many of us have a love-hate relationship with steam. They do have server issues on occasion that may prevent you from downloading updates or playing your games. And their chat system is about as unreliable as they come.
Most price drops are relatively gradual. Having a video card drop in price by $120 over the course of a year (about $10 a month) is no big deal.
However, if your iPhone price decreases by $200 overnight, yes, it irritates a lot of people. Apple found this out the hard way, and decided to give rebates to people who had purchased recently, essentially 'faking' that gradual decline in price.
The issue here is that the new benefits Blizzard is offering are (perceived as) HUGE.
Also, Blizzard makes paying for in-game items and levels 'illegal'. So it's kind of crappy of them to start offering people faster leveling in exchange for more money.
If Blizzard is going to admit that leveling is too slow, why not help out ALL players, not just the ones bringing them more $$?