It's a laughable thing that movie studios spend their entire (large) advertising budget making people want to see their movie and then complain when some use any means necessary to see aforementioned movie.
These people aren't criminals. These are people responding to marketing. Marketing that emphasises seeing the movie. Many times I have seen very successful marketing centering on supporting the artist and experiencing the art.
I'm not saying that big movie studios can necessarily use that approach, what I am saying is that is that the blame should not be placed solely on the individuals engaged in bypassing copyright. People are essentially indulging themselves in something you made them desire.
Think of it this way. If I embark on a campaign to have people drive by one specific road to a remote town outside their city, emphasizing excitement at the end of that journey, should I be surprised when the speed limit is broken by some, some take different, easier routes, some fly to the town and some stow away in cars that only legally hold a certain number of people. No. I shouldn't be surprised. Are any of these people really criminals? Doubtful.
If I were a bookmaker, and the existence of god was one of my "events" I'd be providing million to one odds.
And I'm not saying that is as a non-believer, I'm saying this because if existence of god was proven, the world would change instantly. Due to the fact it would be the rapture - money would be irrevelant
The resulting negligence of destroying a company would be forgiven, anyway. Muahaha
Thinking about it, the story of Jurassic Park wasn't "dumb". Whilst it is certain a broad exaggeration of a concept, that concept it is based upon is on a day by day basis, becoming more likely. It's hardly a stretch to imagine a moment in the future where extinct animals are exhibited, either.
If anything, making it a pop culture movie diminished its reputation as an interesting piece of fiction.
True, but only if your profits are greater than $250k annually. If your profits are that high, tighten your belt and buy one less Porsche this year. I know, it'll be rough.
20% if over 250k?
Seems like an ideal method for money laundering.
Have you heard about the discrete IR blocker they generally use in these stores? I believe it is marketed as "Black Tape". But don't be fooled. It isn't authentically black:)
OK, enlighten me. Are you bombarded by TV in public libraries and during funerals, or are you simply irked when a bar-owner decides to show a football game on his TV in his bar?
Me, I carry my Customer-B-Gone, a pair of legs that allow me to absent myself from bars and other public places for a variety of reasons, without imposing my will upon others. Oh sure, it's not nearly as obnoxious as deciding for everybody, but we can't all be petty dictators.
We can't all spot sarcasm, either.
(This is sarcasm, what that guy posted was deadly serious).
(Hey, no wait!, don't listen to that sentence, that was the real sarcasm).
Has anybody noticed that the "reality check" insightful "this is fake" comment, the absolute most important comment regarding the article almost always seems to be at the bottom? You read all the way through all the righteous indignation, meanwhile cultivating your own bile to dispatch and then you discover the whole article is a sham.
I don't know whether slashdot has the mechanic to physically move comments up the tree but if it does someone needs to be paying attention and do so. (Or perhaps I should start reading bottom up)
(Not that reading a bunch of comments where a number of people are basically saying "ok, well piracy is legal for me with EA products" is not entertaining of course)
That is the problem though - Desires aside, there are not enough actual, proven decent titles coming from the wii catalogue. In a previous post I'd mentioned the realisation that there are very few Wii games reviewed with 85% or higher (compared to other consoles). Something that became increasingly obvious as I checked in bi-monthly to see if there is anything worth playing.
Someone (some awesome individual) then did a bit of stats and posted a very good summation of the situation (deserved to be modded up but too late, I guess). Read these stats and think about how many of the actually good games are franchises..
I will repost it here:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1009873&
cid=25545311
"Good" Game per Month (GGPM) Ratio
Since most consoles were released in November, lets round up their ages by year. And assuming the score of 80 qualifies as a "good" game:
- Wii: 36/24 = 1.5 GGPM
- 360: 122/36 = 3.39 GGPM
- PS3: 79/24 = 3.29 GGPM
- PS2: 319/96 = 3.32 GGPM (*)
- NDS: 64/48 = 1.33 GGPM
*) The PS2 probably doesn't have many new games anymore in the past few years.
It seems the NDS and Wii are filled with a lot more family and kids-friendly games, and these games tend to not favor the critics, and possibly most hardcore gamers.
I think, given the quality and innovation of SMG, there is enough room for further elaboration on the Wii.
And if you truly actually want decent titles on the Wii rather than noveltyware, right now, you're worried about the future of this console. Very little quality stuff is coming out. It's a complete contradiction to the perpetually sold out status of the console. I'm surprised more people are not complaining about how poor the catalogue is. As it stands, more often than not if I go browse the Wii shelves, I'm standing next to a family who are buying a game on cover alone (and promised novelty mechanics that rarely work). If that is the majority market, I can see why publishers don't give a shit, just turn out turds and watch the dollars roll in:-)
I'm not by any stretch of the imagination a "gamer". I just make informed decisions on whether to buy something. Strangely, whenever I check whether I should, I'm confronted with a fairly resounding "nothing to see here" regarding new stuff coming for the Wii.
He's right on both counts and it doesn't take anything away from either game to point out they could have been better/more adventurous. I doubt that guy got to where he is "settling" for the level of his games. There is always a new level to reach. I own both and from an end user point of view, they were awesome. No complaints.
I hope this means there will be another Mario game for Wii. It has been a disappointing feature of the latest Nintendo consoles, that only one Mario is released per generation. With the absolute crap that is mostly coming out for the Wii, they really need to step up and rely on the strong franchises to maintain interest.
"Lifetime Subscription" refers to the lifetime of the online subscription component for Hellgate: London, not the user's lifetime. http://www.hellgatelondon.com/beta
Regardless of whether the lifetime is mine or their games, I received a refund based on the fact that the page promising certain features that the Founder's Offer delivers is not accurate. They promised features such as extra classes, extra monsters, raid level content, etc, that do not and never will exist in the game.
That is the reason I got a refund. I also got a refund several months ago, before the company actually went out of business. You might have more trouble now.
I understood your motives for getting a refund were genuine. I didn't understand you enthusing people to seek a refund based solely on the end of the lifetime of the game in a later part of your post.
Getting money back is actually quite easy, atleast in my experience (through visa chargeback) a company took hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of orders knowing full well that they were folding. Despite going into liquidation and this being obvious, every person who applied for a chargeback received their money back (another reason to buy with CC).
There is a time limit on these things, but if you're sold a lifetime subscription and the company shut down the servers, get your money back
You paid for a lifetime subscription for the life of the game. I don't disagree with your course of action mentioned in your post regarding genuine gripes, but I don't quite comprehend why you are suggesting people should get their money back for the game ending. The life of the game is (perhaps) over. Contract ended. Still, it was buried in the terms and conditions in the first sentence so you can't be blamed for missing it.:-) Live by the sword, die by the sword.
"Lifetime Subscription" refers to the lifetime of the online subscription component for Hellgate: London, not the user's lifetime.
http://www.hellgatelondon.com/beta
Slashdot Mirror
The malfunction rate for iPhones after one year is 5.6 percent, compared to 11.2 percent for the BlackBerry
To me that suggests the iphone is 94.4% reliable and the blackberry is 88.8% reliable. That's just me, though.
I age at the exact same speed Linux does.
It's a laughable thing that movie studios spend their entire (large) advertising budget making people want to see their movie and then complain when some use any means necessary to see aforementioned movie.
These people aren't criminals. These are people responding to marketing. Marketing that emphasises seeing the movie. Many times I have seen very successful marketing centering on supporting the artist and experiencing the art.
I'm not saying that big movie studios can necessarily use that approach, what I am saying is that is that the blame should not be placed solely on the individuals engaged in bypassing copyright. People are essentially indulging themselves in something you made them desire.
Think of it this way. If I embark on a campaign to have people drive by one specific road to a remote town outside their city, emphasizing excitement at the end of that journey, should I be surprised when the speed limit is broken by some, some take different, easier routes, some fly to the town and some stow away in cars that only legally hold a certain number of people. No. I shouldn't be surprised. Are any of these people really criminals? Doubtful.
If I were a bookmaker, and the existence of god was one of my "events" I'd be providing million to one odds.
And I'm not saying that is as a non-believer, I'm saying this because if existence of god was proven, the world would change instantly. Due to the fact it would be the rapture - money would be irrevelant
The resulting negligence of destroying a company would be forgiven, anyway. Muahaha
Thinking about it, the story of Jurassic Park wasn't "dumb". Whilst it is certain a broad exaggeration of a concept, that concept it is based upon is on a day by day basis, becoming more likely. It's hardly a stretch to imagine a moment in the future where extinct animals are exhibited, either.
If anything, making it a pop culture movie diminished its reputation as an interesting piece of fiction.
No need to click. We've pre-ticked your box for your convenience :)
I blame piracy!
How can you be curious and sarcastic in the same question? ()
Fossett isn't a word. It's fossil.
True, but only if your profits are greater than $250k annually. If your profits are that high, tighten your belt and buy one less Porsche this year. I know, it'll be rough.
20% if over 250k? Seems like an ideal method for money laundering.
Sad (but predictable on /.) to see a lot of jokes already.
No, it isn't sad atall.
I can't imagine what sort of grumpy shit you'd have to be to complain about people having a joke when you've shipped out
It doesn't diminish any of his achievements to be positive and deal with adversity whilst maintaining your sense of humour (without being ghoulish).
Swastika on all the DRM'ed files.
The point of the device is actually to cause a public nuisance, almost certainly without getting your face punched.
(This means you completely missed the point)
Have you heard about the discrete IR blocker they generally use in these stores? I believe it is marketed as "Black Tape". But don't be fooled. It isn't authentically black :)
The hard and heavy discussion contains not even a slipped nipple. Suggest looking elsewhere for erotica.
OK, enlighten me. Are you bombarded by TV in public libraries and during funerals, or are you simply irked when a bar-owner decides to show a football game on his TV in his bar?
Me, I carry my Customer-B-Gone, a pair of legs that allow me to absent myself from bars and other public places for a variety of reasons, without imposing my will upon others. Oh sure, it's not nearly as obnoxious as deciding for everybody, but we can't all be petty dictators.
We can't all spot sarcasm, either.
(This is sarcasm, what that guy posted was deadly serious).
(Hey, no wait!, don't listen to that sentence, that was the real sarcasm).
Has anybody noticed that the "reality check" insightful "this is fake" comment, the absolute most important comment regarding the article almost always seems to be at the bottom? You read all the way through all the righteous indignation, meanwhile cultivating your own bile to dispatch and then you discover the whole article is a sham.
I don't know whether slashdot has the mechanic to physically move comments up the tree but if it does someone needs to be paying attention and do so. (Or perhaps I should start reading bottom up)
(Not that reading a bunch of comments where a number of people are basically saying "ok, well piracy is legal for me with EA products" is not entertaining of course)
Someone (some awesome individual) then did a bit of stats and posted a very good summation of the situation (deserved to be modded up but too late, I guess). Read these stats and think about how many of the actually good games are franchises.. I will repost it here:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1009873& cid=25545311
Ok, let's use Metacritic...
Wii First available: November 19, 2006
Scores 80 and above: 36 games
Scores 85 and above: 13 games
Source: http://www.metacritic.com/games/wii/scores/
Xbox 360 First available: November 22, 2005
Scores 80 and above: 122 games
Scores 85 and above: 47 games
Source: http://www.metacritic.com/games/xbox360/scores/
PS3 First available: November 11, 2006
Scores 80 and above: 79 games
Scores 85 and above: 34 games
Source: http://www.metacritic.com/games/ps3/scores/
PS2 First available: October-November, 2000
Scores 80 and above: 319 games
Scores 85 and above: 149 games
Source: http://www.metacritic.com/games/ps2/scores/
Nintendo DS First available: November, 2004
Scores 80 and above: 64 games
Scores 85 and above: 25 games
Source: http://www.metacritic.com/games/ds/scores/
"Good" Game per Month (GGPM) Ratio Since most consoles were released in November, lets round up their ages by year. And assuming the score of 80 qualifies as a "good" game: - Wii: 36/24 = 1.5 GGPM
- 360: 122/36 = 3.39 GGPM
- PS3: 79/24 = 3.29 GGPM
- PS2: 319/96 = 3.32 GGPM (*)
- NDS: 64/48 = 1.33 GGPM
*) The PS2 probably doesn't have many new games anymore in the past few years.
It seems the NDS and Wii are filled with a lot more family and kids-friendly games, and these games tend to not favor the critics, and possibly most hardcore gamers.
I think, given the quality and innovation of SMG, there is enough room for further elaboration on the Wii.
:-)
And if you truly actually want decent titles on the Wii rather than noveltyware, right now, you're worried about the future of this console. Very little quality stuff is coming out. It's a complete contradiction to the perpetually sold out status of the console. I'm surprised more people are not complaining about how poor the catalogue is. As it stands, more often than not if I go browse the Wii shelves, I'm standing next to a family who are buying a game on cover alone (and promised novelty mechanics that rarely work). If that is the majority market, I can see why publishers don't give a shit, just turn out turds and watch the dollars roll in
I'm not by any stretch of the imagination a "gamer". I just make informed decisions on whether to buy something. Strangely, whenever I check whether I should, I'm confronted with a fairly resounding "nothing to see here" regarding new stuff coming for the Wii.
He's right on both counts and it doesn't take anything away from either game to point out they could have been better/more adventurous. I doubt that guy got to where he is "settling" for the level of his games. There is always a new level to reach. I own both and from an end user point of view, they were awesome. No complaints.
I hope this means there will be another Mario game for Wii. It has been a disappointing feature of the latest Nintendo consoles, that only one Mario is released per generation. With the absolute crap that is mostly coming out for the Wii, they really need to step up and rely on the strong franchises to maintain interest.
Regardless of whether the lifetime is mine or their games, I received a refund based on the fact that the page promising certain features that the Founder's Offer delivers is not accurate. They promised features such as extra classes, extra monsters, raid level content, etc, that do not and never will exist in the game.
That is the reason I got a refund. I also got a refund several months ago, before the company actually went out of business. You might have more trouble now.
I understood your motives for getting a refund were genuine. I didn't understand you enthusing people to seek a refund based solely on the end of the lifetime of the game in a later part of your post. Getting money back is actually quite easy, atleast in my experience (through visa chargeback) a company took hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of orders knowing full well that they were folding. Despite going into liquidation and this being obvious, every person who applied for a chargeback received their money back (another reason to buy with CC).
There is a time limit on these things, but if you're sold a lifetime subscription and the company shut down the servers, get your money back
You paid for a lifetime subscription for the life of the game. I don't disagree with your course of action mentioned in your post regarding genuine gripes, but I don't quite comprehend why you are suggesting people should get their money back for the game ending. The life of the game is (perhaps) over. Contract ended. Still, it was buried in the terms and conditions in the first sentence so you can't be blamed for missing it. :-) Live by the sword, die by the sword.
"Lifetime Subscription" refers to the lifetime of the online subscription component for Hellgate: London, not the user's lifetime. http://www.hellgatelondon.com/beta
Given that it isn't atall mobile.
Oh yeah? Well, uh, nyah.
You made that post 51 minutes after he did.
:-)
So close, but forever in his shadow
I bet they can't even accurately predict what the odds are of successfully navigating through this asteroid belt.
Easy. Just stay out of plane.
Can't do that, chief, there's a star destroyer on my back.
I bet they can't even accurately predict what the odds are of successfully navigating through this asteroid belt.
(It'd take me only 10 parsecs to figure it out. That's how good I am at).
Sometimes I amaze myself..