The pissing people off aspect isn't really even the problem. The market will sort that stuff out eventually as people stop buying products from companies that make using their products a pain in the ass.
The damage done to PCs is the bigger issue. When you buy medication you are given a list of side effects on the packaging that warns you of potential risks. You might be buying the pills to make your penis bigger, but you have every right to know that despite the enjoyment you'll receive from the bigger dick, you might have to deal with that pesky issue of having a heart attack or aneurysm.
Software gives you no such warning. People have a right to know that installing a game might end up forcing them to take their computer in to get repaired and/or losing all of their data because of hidden software (extreme example).
Once you get up past level 20 the game just starts creating traumatic stress.
I know I still have flashbacks and nightmares about the time I passed the level 70 mark on TetrisDS. Why didn't I just use the 'T' block? Why?! Oh no...it's happening again
The owner of a website I frequented was once added to Wikipedia. Moderators started debating whether him and his (albeit popular) website were notable enough for an entry. They pretty unanimously agreed that he was not.
Which was great, because the owner most definitely did not want the article on the site. He signed up and politely requested the article removed (Something along the lines of:"I'd rather have a cactus shoved up my ass then see an article about me and my website on wikipedia. Did I mention the cactus would be on fire and covered in bees?")
Almost immediately many of the moderators started rethinking their original decision and decided the topic was notable enough after all.
So, I don't really see how it's arbitrary. It's clearly a spite based system.
It isn't losing that gives a game more thrill, it's the threat of losing. The losing part actually kinda sucks. It can be frusterating, it can ruin immersion and it can turn off those who are new to gaming.
Ideally, a game should provide you with the thrill of losing while rarely allowing you to do so. Some ways to do this would be the use of dynamic difficulty and level design. Kind of like how Left 4 Dead's engine will spawn zombies or health and ammo depending on your current situation.
The problem with Prince of Persia is that this 'helping hand' needs to be invisible to avoid ruining immersion and insulting the less casual gamers that play the game
Yes. Apple does have a right to a monopoly on Apple-branded computers. The Coca-Cola corporation has a right to a monopoly on Coke. Nike has a right to a monopoly on Nike running shoes.
Don't disagree with you.. But Psystar is not selling counterfeits. They're selling clones.
To use your original analogy, that'd be like, I don't know, Pepsi coming out with a product that is very similar to Coke.
Meanwhile, music sales continue to fall. In 2003, the industry sold 656 million albums. In 2007, the number fell to 500 million CDs and digital albums, plus 844 million paid individual song downloads -- hardly enough to make up the decline in album sales."
Using that, if we apply it to their 656 million albums sold in 2003, we get 1.70 x 656,000,000 = $1,115,200,000
But, just a note, that this number is likely smaller due to the constantly decreasing costs of CD production (The production costs and overhead were likely more in 2003 than what is outlined in this chart)
Also, if we apply that to the 500 million albums today, we get 1.70 x 500,000,000 = $850,000,000
Another note, that this number is likely higher due to some of those album sales being digital. I can't tell by how much due to lack of information (or at least what I'm willing to research)
While this is obviously a much smaller number, we have to take digital sales into account. Using the chart above, we can eliminate Retail Profit, Retail Overhead, Packaging and Distrubtion from the mix and replace it with a 35% itunes cut (lets just pretend itunes is the only reseller so I dont have to research the cuts from Microsoft and the like). Label overhead is also going to drop significantly, but by how much, I can't be sure.
Regardless, we're looking at AT LEAST a 5% increase in profit for the record labels. Apply that to the 844 million songs and we get $126,600,000 (At minimum) profit for downloaded songs (as opposed to the $84M using the old album profit breakdown)
This leaves us with: 126 600 000 (at minimum) + 850,000,000 (at minimum) = $976,600,000 (at minimum x 2)
So they're most definitely not losing the same amount of money as they are trying to claim. They are making more profits on a different business model. When you break it down you'll see that their profits have either barely been dented, or more likely have stayed the same or even increased.
And when you tack on the $400,000,000 estimated money coming from copyright settlements you'll see that the RIAA = Full of Shit (of all my shitty math in this post, this is about the only equation I can say with certainty is completely accurate).
True, true, and true. But that doesn't change the fact that IE only runs on Windows and 99% of Windows users have Automatic Updates turned on, usually checking weekly. So you're usually looking at a max "lag time" of seven days before an IE user gets the patch. And that assumes the worst possible case: the patch releases right after that user's computer was updated, and they use their computer (and IE) every day.
I know the imporantance of installing updates. Despite that, I leave auto updates turned off and only bother to skim through the list every 6 months or so.
Due to high traffic volumes, the sign in function may not be working properly. If you are sure your username and password are correct, please keep trying.
Which is made worse by that little problem. I've tried going through all possible usernames to no avail. I wonder how many times I've tried the right one only for the system to reject it due to their server load.
Zombie Panic: Source: A free, third party online HL2 mod that can be downloaded via Steam is another horror 'option'. I guess you could call it an alternate to L4D. Certain maps really do retain the horror feeling to a certain degree and there generally isn't enough ammo to go around.
You'll often find yourself using filing cabinets and desks to try to barricade yourself into house. As your fellow survivors fall, you run out of ammo and the zombies increase in numbers you'll be forced to retreat into that last room, or to the roof of the house. There you will make your last stand with whatever weapons you have left. A pistol with a few remaining rounds, a wrench, a chunk of wood with a nail in it, a computer keyboard, etc
This is made all the more stressful by the constant parinoia that one of your fellow survivors barricaded into the room with you has been infected with the zombie virus. As the survivors dwindle down you face conflicting emotions. You now have one less person to help you barricade the room, but the pistol with 4 rounds you pick up from their body may help you survive just a little longer.
The only thing limiting the horror feel is the fact the game doesn't end when you get killed by a zombie. You become a zombie yourself whose job is to go after the remaining survivors. Any tension that had been built up while running from the zombies very quickly turns to...well, almost comic relief.
Let me tell you, as a zombie it is incredibly amusing to watch the survivors scramble to reinforce their barricade to try and keep you out unaware that one of their own is about to tear them apart with their bare hands.
Indeed. I don't bother with downloading games for consoles with one exception: The Nintendo DS. Why? Because it's so damn easy to run downloaded games on it without requiring you to fuck with the hardware.
If you look at it on a case-by-case basis, then sure, the randomness sucks.
The system isn't designed on a case-by-case basis, otherwise, like I said above, the better players would constantly decimate the weaker players, making the game far less enjoyable for the vast majority of people playing.
On average the better players will still get higher scores even if they sometimes are disadvantaged in the occasional 1 on 1 confrontation.
The reasoning behind it isn't that tough to grasp. Unless you're the kid from The Wizard, there will always be someone better than you. Hell, even the guy with the Power Glove was beaten. Do YOU play with a Power Glove? I highly doubt it.
Valve had discovered, shockingly, that losing isn't fun so why create a game that leaves 90% of your userbase losing all of the time?
At any given moment in time there are over 10,000 people playing TF2. So I'd say Valve was pretty good at creating a game that is enjoyable by the most people. Turns out that tends to be a better business model than catering a game to the sweaty, Cheeto encrusted kid with the $3000 LCD keyboard.
Team Fortress' randomness is more structured than you'd think. Critical chance goes up as you play well and down as you play poorly. While it might piss you off from time to time, it tends to have an overall positive affect on gameplay.
It's part of Valves 'Forward Momentum' system. The problem of many other games is evenly matched teams will often result in stalemates while unevenly matched teams will result in the weaker team being crushed over and over. Valve has addressed that issue by rewarding the winning team with slight advantages. Critical chance is one of those advantages.
However this system would be pretty unfair if it didn't operate under some level of randomness. Otherwise the losing team would just continue to lose pretty much all the time. Things can still be turned around by a random critcal rocket or sticky grenade and then as a result momentum gets switched in the other teams' favour.
The system is designed to make the game much more enjoyable to the casual player without completely removing the advantages of simply being a better player.
My girlfriend has bought all 8 original Sims game, and all 9 Sims 2 games.
That equals between $750 and $1000 spent on one single videogame franchise.
And despite her being against software piracy, she is now unlikely ever going to buy another EA game again.
You hear that EA?? You've lost one of your most loyal customers because of your ridiculous policies and DRM.
The last game (Apartment Life) she installed was done via their online service.
I spent Two weeks fixing her computer and trying to get the game working. With zero help from EA, I ended up finding answers on cracking sites (even then, all the security measures made it tough to implement the user-made fixes). After a few days I downloaded the pirated expansion pack onto my computer and let her play on my computer until I got hers figured out.
The next Sims game she plays will likely be pirated. After seeing how easy it was to just download the pirated game and what the DRM encrusted game could do to her computer she very quickly changed her mind on the morality of downloading software.
In Canada, InterTan said its stores "will remain open for business, fully staffed and the company intends to honour all customer programs such as returns, exchanges, warranties and gift cards."
Net sales at the small-format specialty retailer grew 11.2 per cent to $147.3 million U.S., as a falling Canadian dollar contributed a 3-percentage point gain, and sales at stores open more than a year jumped 11.2 per cent in local currency. The company had 28 fewer stores in the quarter.
Though, lets see how long that lasts. They will try to cut costs wherever they can. While The Source makes them money, if they cut some costs while still making money, believe me, they'll do it.
There have been rumours that Radio Shack US has been eager to buy the Source stores in Canada.
The problem with that is how little it would work.
Deserts actually reflect more light then forested areas. This is why the air is so much hotter there. This also happens in cities as the pavement acts much the same as desert sand.
Water absobrs huge amounts of energy in contrast and releases it slowly. On top of that, its very nature as a liquid causes the heat to spread around the globe instead of being confined to the local area like a desert.
We don't have many decent alternatives here in Canada. It's either Bell or Rogers. You could pick a small ISP of course, but you'd still be using Bell or Rogers because the two of them rent the bandwidth to all the rest (leaving you stuck with all the same problems as before, such as traffic shaping).
But, I guess if you live out west you'll have the third option of Telus, who isn't much better than Bell or Rogers.
...as well as videos via some inexpensive and non-intrusive third party hardware. It's the main reason I purchased it and one of the biggest advertised selling feature of the little card.
...The little card that also happens to be widely used for running pirated games.
Coincidence that Nintendo is coming out with this now?
Slashdot Mirror
The pissing people off aspect isn't really even the problem. The market will sort that stuff out eventually as people stop buying products from companies that make using their products a pain in the ass.
The damage done to PCs is the bigger issue. When you buy medication you are given a list of side effects on the packaging that warns you of potential risks. You might be buying the pills to make your penis bigger, but you have every right to know that despite the enjoyment you'll receive from the bigger dick, you might have to deal with that pesky issue of having a heart attack or aneurysm.
Software gives you no such warning. People have a right to know that installing a game might end up forcing them to take their computer in to get repaired and/or losing all of their data because of hidden software (extreme example).
Once you get up past level 20 the game just starts creating traumatic stress.
I know I still have flashbacks and nightmares about the time I passed the level 70 mark on TetrisDS. Why didn't I just use the 'T' block? Why?! Oh no...it's happening again
5. oster 12 bottle wine cellar
I'm more curious how that ended up at number 5.
The owner of a website I frequented was once added to Wikipedia. Moderators started debating whether him and his (albeit popular) website were notable enough for an entry. They pretty unanimously agreed that he was not.
Which was great, because the owner most definitely did not want the article on the site. He signed up and politely requested the article removed (Something along the lines of:"I'd rather have a cactus shoved up my ass then see an article about me and my website on wikipedia. Did I mention the cactus would be on fire and covered in bees?")
Almost immediately many of the moderators started rethinking their original decision and decided the topic was notable enough after all.
So, I don't really see how it's arbitrary. It's clearly a spite based system.
It isn't losing that gives a game more thrill, it's the threat of losing. The losing part actually kinda sucks. It can be frusterating, it can ruin immersion and it can turn off those who are new to gaming.
Ideally, a game should provide you with the thrill of losing while rarely allowing you to do so. Some ways to do this would be the use of dynamic difficulty and level design. Kind of like how Left 4 Dead's engine will spawn zombies or health and ammo depending on your current situation.
The problem with Prince of Persia is that this 'helping hand' needs to be invisible to avoid ruining immersion and insulting the less casual gamers that play the game
Yes. Apple does have a right to a monopoly on Apple-branded computers. The Coca-Cola corporation has a right to a monopoly on Coke. Nike has a right to a monopoly on Nike running shoes.
Don't disagree with you.. But Psystar is not selling counterfeits. They're selling clones.
To use your original analogy, that'd be like, I don't know, Pepsi coming out with a product that is very similar to Coke.
Meanwhile, music sales continue to fall. In 2003, the industry sold 656 million albums. In 2007, the number fell to 500 million CDs and digital albums, plus 844 million paid individual song downloads -- hardly enough to make up the decline in album sales."
For this exercise, I'm going to use the information located here: http://futureofthemusicindustry.blogspot.com/2005/01/music-downloads-jupiter-research.html (which is also backed up on many other sites)
For an album costing $15.99:
* $0.17 = 1.06316% : Musiciansâ(TM) unions
* $0.80 = 5.00312% : Packaging/manufacturing
* $0.82 = 5.1282% : Publishing royalties
* $0.80 = 5.00312% : Retail profit
* $0.90 = 5.62851% : Distribution
* $1.60 = 10.00625% : Artistsâ(TM) royalties
* $1.70 = 10.63164% : Label profit
* $2.40 = 15.0038% : Marketing/promotion
* $2.91 = 18.19887% : Label overhead
* $3.89 = 24.3277% : Retail overhead
Using that, if we apply it to their 656 million albums sold in 2003, we get 1.70 x 656,000,000 = $1,115,200,000
But, just a note, that this number is likely smaller due to the constantly decreasing costs of CD production (The production costs and overhead were likely more in 2003 than what is outlined in this chart)
Also, if we apply that to the 500 million albums today, we get 1.70 x 500,000,000 = $850,000,000
Another note, that this number is likely higher due to some of those album sales being digital. I can't tell by how much due to lack of information (or at least what I'm willing to research)
While this is obviously a much smaller number, we have to take digital sales into account. Using the chart above, we can eliminate Retail Profit, Retail Overhead, Packaging and Distrubtion from the mix and replace it with a 35% itunes cut (lets just pretend itunes is the only reseller so I dont have to research the cuts from Microsoft and the like). Label overhead is also going to drop significantly, but by how much, I can't be sure.
Regardless, we're looking at AT LEAST a 5% increase in profit for the record labels. Apply that to the 844 million songs and we get $126,600,000 (At minimum) profit for downloaded songs (as opposed to the $84M using the old album profit breakdown)
This leaves us with: 126 600 000 (at minimum) + 850,000,000 (at minimum) = $976,600,000 (at minimum x 2)
So they're most definitely not losing the same amount of money as they are trying to claim. They are making more profits on a different business model. When you break it down you'll see that their profits have either barely been dented, or more likely have stayed the same or even increased.
And when you tack on the $400,000,000 estimated money coming from copyright settlements you'll see that the RIAA = Full of Shit (of all my shitty math in this post, this is about the only equation I can say with certainty is completely accurate).
True, true, and true. But that doesn't change the fact that IE only runs on Windows and 99% of Windows users have Automatic Updates turned on, usually checking weekly. So you're usually looking at a max "lag time" of seven days before an IE user gets the patch. And that assumes the worst possible case: the patch releases right after that user's computer was updated, and they use their computer (and IE) every day.
I know the imporantance of installing updates. Despite that, I leave auto updates turned off and only bother to skim through the list every 6 months or so.
Turns out it was the FIRST username I tried (and several times, mind you). I just happened to be experiencing those aftorementioned server lag issues.
Due to high traffic volumes, the sign in function may not be working properly. If you are sure your username and password are correct, please keep trying.
Which is made worse by that little problem. I've tried going through all possible usernames to no avail. I wonder how many times I've tried the right one only for the system to reject it due to their server load.
For the MyNintendo site. Funny that they have a password retrieval system, but no way to retrieve a forgotten username.
Zombie Panic: Source: A free, third party online HL2 mod that can be downloaded via Steam is another horror 'option'. I guess you could call it an alternate to L4D. Certain maps really do retain the horror feeling to a certain degree and there generally isn't enough ammo to go around.
...well, almost comic relief.
You'll often find yourself using filing cabinets and desks to try to barricade yourself into house. As your fellow survivors fall, you run out of ammo and the zombies increase in numbers you'll be forced to retreat into that last room, or to the roof of the house. There you will make your last stand with whatever weapons you have left. A pistol with a few remaining rounds, a wrench, a chunk of wood with a nail in it, a computer keyboard, etc
This is made all the more stressful by the constant parinoia that one of your fellow survivors barricaded into the room with you has been infected with the zombie virus. As the survivors dwindle down you face conflicting emotions. You now have one less person to help you barricade the room, but the pistol with 4 rounds you pick up from their body may help you survive just a little longer.
The only thing limiting the horror feel is the fact the game doesn't end when you get killed by a zombie. You become a zombie yourself whose job is to go after the remaining survivors. Any tension that had been built up while running from the zombies very quickly turns to
Let me tell you, as a zombie it is incredibly amusing to watch the survivors scramble to reinforce their barricade to try and keep you out unaware that one of their own is about to tear them apart with their bare hands.
Indeed. I don't bother with downloading games for consoles with one exception: The Nintendo DS. Why? Because it's so damn easy to run downloaded games on it without requiring you to fuck with the hardware.
And clearly focusing on SUVs worked out well for them.
If you look at it on a case-by-case basis, then sure, the randomness sucks.
The system isn't designed on a case-by-case basis, otherwise, like I said above, the better players would constantly decimate the weaker players, making the game far less enjoyable for the vast majority of people playing.
On average the better players will still get higher scores even if they sometimes are disadvantaged in the occasional 1 on 1 confrontation.
The reasoning behind it isn't that tough to grasp. Unless you're the kid from The Wizard, there will always be someone better than you. Hell, even the guy with the Power Glove was beaten. Do YOU play with a Power Glove? I highly doubt it.
Valve had discovered, shockingly, that losing isn't fun so why create a game that leaves 90% of your userbase losing all of the time?
At any given moment in time there are over 10,000 people playing TF2. So I'd say Valve was pretty good at creating a game that is enjoyable by the most people. Turns out that tends to be a better business model than catering a game to the sweaty, Cheeto encrusted kid with the $3000 LCD keyboard.
But if tennis players did, then perhaps I might actually watch it.
Team Fortress' randomness is more structured than you'd think. Critical chance goes up as you play well and down as you play poorly. While it might piss you off from time to time, it tends to have an overall positive affect on gameplay.
It's part of Valves 'Forward Momentum' system. The problem of many other games is evenly matched teams will often result in stalemates while unevenly matched teams will result in the weaker team being crushed over and over. Valve has addressed that issue by rewarding the winning team with slight advantages. Critical chance is one of those advantages.
However this system would be pretty unfair if it didn't operate under some level of randomness. Otherwise the losing team would just continue to lose pretty much all the time. Things can still be turned around by a random critcal rocket or sticky grenade and then as a result momentum gets switched in the other teams' favour.
The system is designed to make the game much more enjoyable to the casual player without completely removing the advantages of simply being a better player.
My girlfriend has bought all 8 original Sims game, and all 9 Sims 2 games.
That equals between $750 and $1000 spent on one single videogame franchise.
And despite her being against software piracy, she is now unlikely ever going to buy another EA game again.
You hear that EA?? You've lost one of your most loyal customers because of your ridiculous policies and DRM.
The last game (Apartment Life) she installed was done via their online service.
I spent Two weeks fixing her computer and trying to get the game working. With zero help from EA, I ended up finding answers on cracking sites (even then, all the security measures made it tough to implement the user-made fixes). After a few days I downloaded the pirated expansion pack onto my computer and let her play on my computer until I got hers figured out.
The next Sims game she plays will likely be pirated. After seeing how easy it was to just download the pirated game and what the DRM encrusted game could do to her computer she very quickly changed her mind on the morality of downloading software.
In Canada, InterTan said its stores "will remain open for business, fully staffed and the company intends to honour all customer programs such as returns, exchanges, warranties and gift cards."
Net sales at the small-format specialty retailer grew 11.2 per cent to $147.3 million U.S., as a falling Canadian dollar contributed a 3-percentage point gain, and sales at stores open more than a year jumped 11.2 per cent in local currency. The company had 28 fewer stores in the quarter.
Though, lets see how long that lasts. They will try to cut costs wherever they can. While The Source makes them money, if they cut some costs while still making money, believe me, they'll do it.
There have been rumours that Radio Shack US has been eager to buy the Source stores in Canada.
The problem with that is how little it would work.
Deserts actually reflect more light then forested areas. This is why the air is so much hotter there. This also happens in cities as the pavement acts much the same as desert sand.
Water absobrs huge amounts of energy in contrast and releases it slowly. On top of that, its very nature as a liquid causes the heat to spread around the globe instead of being confined to the local area like a desert.
Vapour?! I barely knew her!
We don't have many decent alternatives here in Canada. It's either Bell or Rogers. You could pick a small ISP of course, but you'd still be using Bell or Rogers because the two of them rent the bandwidth to all the rest (leaving you stuck with all the same problems as before, such as traffic shaping).
But, I guess if you live out west you'll have the third option of Telus, who isn't much better than Bell or Rogers.
All this talk about wafers is making me crave a Kit Kat.
I see tepples already touched on this. That's what I get for failing to read 135 posts before I make mine.
...as well as videos via some inexpensive and non-intrusive third party hardware. It's the main reason I purchased it and one of the biggest advertised selling feature of the little card.
...The little card that also happens to be widely used for running pirated games.
Coincidence that Nintendo is coming out with this now?