As a professional web developer myself, you hit the nail on the head. The beauty of the IT industry is being able to meld into just about every business because in this day and age, most will require an IT department and more and more companies are moving to the web (if they haven't already). I happen to work at one such place that conducts most of their business online and is constantly expanding their website in order to tap into untouched markets and just makes things more versatile.
FORTUNATELY, I have never come across any of the people you have described in your post. My co-workers are really pleasant to work with and they clearly put a lot of effort into what they do. Makes it much easier to work with them and we can all produce a better product in the end.
That's because in your day, video games probably didn't exist or were very primitive and niche (depending on how old you are) so of course those other things were the only option. In modern times, gaming has become quite a significant form of entertainment (and casual titles have certainly gotten rather mainstream) but of course there are still plenty of sports buffs and bar hoppers too.
You do not even need to pay anything for some video games as you can always find countless of full blown free titles online (browser based titles, Free to play MMO's, freeware games, etc) if you know where to look (so even the $99 Xbox 360 is not needed). I would say that's very handy during a day where you are stuck inside because of weather conditions or your friends are just not available.
On a side note, there always seems to be this misconception that entertainment is unnecessary when in reality, your mental health depends on it. Namely, boredom would make you go nuts.
That's what I was thinking. Considering the economy not being the greatest and some people desperate for employment, it wouldn't surprise me that they may sacrifice their own privacy just to get it. As you said, with professions like IT, you can fit in just about anywhere because almost all organizations require hired IT professionals. It would also exhibit significant incompetence if an IT person gave out that kind of information. However, other occupations have a considerably narrower range of options.
It'll be better if the practice is downright forbidden to the point where it is grounds for a lawsuit if someone demands such information and then immediately turns down the candidate should they refuse to provide it. What's worse, by letting the employer into your Facebook account, you are exposing your friends' personal information too as most people offer more privileged access to people they know so that's a chain of violations right there. Not to mention how easy it would be for the employer to hijack your account right then and there. The list of 'wrongs' goes on.
I'm glad I never came across a company like that. It's even worse than organizations that like to install keyloggers on employee workstations and/or have a screen capture of all employee's workstations at regular intervals to keep constant monitoring of what everyone is doing. It shows a SEVERE lack of trust that is well beyond uncomfortable.
Yes. Rapidshare is only driving away the "impatient" pirates. They are delaying the inevitable because ultimately, the works is still just as pirated regardless of how long it took to obtain.
My guess is that they are either secretly hoping to boost premium sales (they would NOT get away with throttling paying customers) or to do "something" in order to prevent Megaupload's fate from repeating with them.
And here lies one of the TRUE causes of piracy. Lack of availability! How else are we expected to get these things if they aren't even being sold (or are grossly overpriced). Imports are incredibly expensive.
This is where the industry needs to fix their business model instead of clamping down with tougher legislation. In the digital age, we no longer have the need to let some "gatekeepers" dictate what we can or cannot experience. To stay competitive, that level of service needs to be matched. Sadly, it must be more profitable just to lobby and sue people until we're back living in the previous decade.
I say give us full availability globally right from day one and watch as things improve. It won't eliminate piracy 100% but it sure will help matters.
I agree with you. I wouldn't be surprised if the reason Canada is on the list is not because the copyright laws are inadequate but because the big media industries can't get away with some of the outrageous activities already being performed in the US (and certain other countries) such as suing someone sharing a small number of files for outrageous amounts (e.g. Jammie Thomas). Nor would the infamous "Pay up or else" schemes fly here either. More draconian laws would easily open the doors to all that madness and perhaps more.
Also, we pay a levy on blank media so the music industry is already receiving compensation from consumers.
Yes, I have to agree to this. The MAFIAA wants things to remain as they were 10 or even 20 years ago because that is the model which was heavily in their favour. This goes well beyond being able to obtain commercial content without compensating the individuals selling it.
Nowadays, the industry can no longer get away with holding back content and only releasing it when and where THEY decide (e.g. Disney selling a movie for a year and then pulling all copies to make room for another or a company deciding not to even release their title in a certain country until months after the rest of the world has been enjoying it).
Sites like thepiratebay.org essentially make it open and available to everyone, everywhere, and anytime. In addition, these sites make the industries completely redundant because of the widespread audience content "creators" can reach. It's how certain artists can make some of their initial works available and become very popular if noticed by enough people. Prior to this technology, you needed a label to do that advertising for you given the very limited and expensive channels back then.
To correct this, industries need to make their content available to everyone straight away and at an affordable price. To mitigate piracy, they would have to provide a better product and service than the free one. A practical example of this in the games industry is Steam. You completely bypass lengthy installations (i.e. once the game is downloaded, it's ready to play), you can retrieve it again at any time should you lose your local copy, and best of all, your game is kept up to date with all latest patches meaning that you don't have to keep track manually. A pirated/free version would still require an install (since they are often based on the disc/retail version), would require you to track down the download site again if you lost your copy, and would require you to apply patches manually (sometimes requiring you to wait even longer for it to be cracked again).
Has anyone tried this MAME application in some other browser? It does seem that these types of games/apps supposedly written for the Chrome browser DO run just fine in Firefox (assuming your computer supports WebGL) but often the link to actually use the software is hidden unless you are in Chrome. I know the Chrome Web Store does this yet everything works fine assuming your computer can run WebGL. For example, I have gotten Angry Birds Chrome to play just perfectly in Firefox without any fancy workarounds once I knew the URL. Same goes for some of the other games there.
@Splab: But then you hit level 60 and have to enter into the dark portal to continue onwards until level 70. The Burning crusade content becomes incredibly tedious and grindy compared to what you were doing beforehand where the quests were far more unique and fun. That part of the game really needs a makeover. Lich King is then somewhat better but still not up to Par with Cataclysm's content.
What I hated even more are encountering "group quests" and having nobody within the area to do them with because they have already moved on. I ended up coming back on level 85 and just sailing through them (even though the rewards were completely useless at that point).
My biggest complaint is that there really isn't anything to do when you hit the level cap (outside of more instances of course) unless you are in a raiding guild. The quest chains end and you can't even try your luck soloing the older raids for the heck of it (e.g. Lich King) because the game FORCES you to be in a raid group. The expansion will at least extend things further.
Also, there is a definite pattern in this game from level 1 through to 85: 1. Enter an area 2. Do some minor quests (get X of this item from monsters or the environent, kill X number of monsters, etc) 3. Do somewhat more significant quests which may be a bit more involved (generally exploring a cave and what not). 4. Fight a mini-boss. 5. Repeat steps 1-4 at the next section of the area 6. Complete all sections of the current area and receive a quest to visit the next one. 7. Repeat steps 1-6 until you reach the end-game.
Well hopefully in 20 years, Internet access will be as commonplace as electricity is today so "being tethered to the internet' won't be an issue any longer. Right now it is because everyone doesn't have a reliable connection either due to geographic location or poor service in general. I'd be very shocked if old mediums re-surfaced all of a sudden.
Libraries around my area are even struggling to remain relevant (to the youth at least) by letting you check out video games (no joke, it's really happening).
Some people have either no concept of how much certain things are worth and/or they try and get as low price of a price off of you that they think they can get away with. This doesn't just apply to games though but anything. Best not to give in even if you ever start feeling desperate to sell the thing.
I actually played from level 1 through to 85 and I have to say that I did come across a few problems which I could imagine would certainly cause people to flock to other MMO's if they have in turn overcome these issues.
The first is that the game has a very distinct (and in my opinion unimaginative) pattern when it comes to questing. You enter a new area and do about three tiers of quests including the basic mob slaying and item collection (i.e. kill X number of monster Y, find item X on the boddy of monster Y, or retrieve this special widget from some element in the environment), then you fight some kind of mini-boss (or just harder enemies), and then fight the main boss of the area (although sometimes the second or third round may be replaced by a mini-game of some sort). After you're done, you get directed to the next area where you rinse and repeat the above formula.
The second problem is that you are severely hampered if you don't end up meeting a lot of people and can get into a raiding group by the time you've hit level 85 and gathered some reasonable gear. The dungeon finder helped a lot with this issue when it comes to 5-man dungeons but you really need a cohesive team for larger ones. Otherwise, you are pretty much locked out of what is perhaps the best content blizzard had to offer in that game. What's worse is that newer players (such as myself) are highly unlikely to experience the older raid dungeons because people would seldom go through them when there are newer better areas to experience. Similarly, older group quests are just not possible unless you are at the right place at the right time (or in my case, a generous high level player could take the place of all 5 group members when it came to those quests).
The last issue is that the expansion pack system has created some inconsistencies in the playing experience. Level 1-60 is a actually a lot of fun now that Cataclysm has given the older quests a complete make-over. However, then you hit Burn Crusade (which resembles how WoW used to be) and it felt like everything plummeted all of a sudden as the quests there are extremely tedious. I really hated getting from 60 to 70 because of this but things slowly got better during the Lich King and eventually Catalclysm (80-85) again. It would have been nice for the momentum to keep strong all the way through.
Anyhow, that's my take on this. Those that have been with WoW since its inception probably have a different perspective but mine is that of a relatively newer player. I didn't even touch the game after a couple months because it just wasn't fun for me anymore.
While you make a good point in that studios could abuse this notion, I wouldn't perceive it this way. I'd say pour the extra funding into making a shorter experience that is more satisfying. A lot games seem to have "padding" in order to increase playtime and this typically involves quite a bit of repetition. I'd rather have a shorter game with several unique experiences than a long one that is simply "more of the same" all the way through. Another option is to take the Zelda Majora's Mask route and make the main game shorter for those whom don't have much time and want to breeze through it and then include a whole pile of optional components for those that truly want a long drawn out experience for their money.
The significant difference is that it is a system requirement that does not need to be there. Having a particular video card is essential for computer to actually run the game whereas an internet connection active on a single player campaign is not (especially if its only purpose is increased DRM). Now if Blizzard decided to stream content to the game and have unique quests (or other elements) popping up in-game during different days, THEN such a connection would be justified as you would otherwise lose access to that extra content. Hopefully Blizzard does something else with this "always online" requirement outside of keeping tabs on who actually paid money for the game. It would certainly be a good motivator to buy because you would get more out of the game than someone whom pirated and was left with a fixed amount of content. Re-playability would be much higher too because there would always be more to do.
As a supplement to "Forget that most PC gamers aren't using a gamepad", some games assume that everyone has an Xbox 360 controller and offers little to no support for other gamepads. Now this doesn't affect me too much because I DO use a wired xbox 360 controller on my PC but many don't and it's frustrating getting it to work at times. Mind you there are xinput wrappers to get around this problem.
@headLite: What happens is that if you look at the wrong angle, each eye sees the opposite image it was supposed to causing the depth information to be completely reversed (hence you . Tilt it even further and you lose the 3D effect altogether and can see both right and left eye images. This really isn't an issue except for games with motion controls and if another person wants to watch you play by looking over your shoulder.
From what I remember, Prey had the exact same thing as Doom 3. You could even play a fully functional Pacman game from that FPS perspective whereas Doom 3 just has you clicking buttons to turn different machines on and off.
@cgeys: Well I wouldn't go as far to call you a "Troll" but there is a gaping flaw in your argument. That "copy" of the game has already been "paid for" at one point so Sony has been compensated in that sense. What does it matter "who" is currently using the game? It's not like multiple people can play online with the same game disc thereby increasing costs for Sony. For some reason, certain companies seem to feel entitled to receive money every time their games exchanges hands. The ONLY way I can see them actually losing anything (or at least the "opportunity" to make money) is if someone chooses to buy something "used" instead of new so their funds go to the retailer and the game company gets nothing. That still doesn't affect the number of people playing online though.
Even though you are only getting 1/3 of the story, that particular 1/3 is as lengthy as a full game should be. It's not like "Warcraft III" which had 4 campaigns which were relatively short. If that's all we got (i.e. the amount of a gameplay a single Warcraft III campaign would provide), then it would most certainly not be worth it.
I do agree though that it would be nicer when you can get the full set of campaigns in one nice package but sadly you'll be waiting years as Blizzard is not exactly known for releasing things as quickly as possible.
I Honestly don't see a problem using an xbox 360 or even a PS2 controller on that game. It seems to work well if you set it up using the dual analog scheme that was later applied to Winder Waker and Twilight Princess (with gamecube controller) whereby left analog moves and right stick for yellow buttons. You still get the fluid aiming control the original had (as opposed to playing on a keyboard which is a nightmare for aiming) and the both the PS2 and Xbox 360 controllers have more than enough buttons to accommodate this game. Not only that, but as an added bonus the rumble pack is emulated and needless to say, both the xbox 360 and dualshock 2 rumble features are WAAAAY better than the mild vibration the N64 hardware provided.
In terms of Dosbox, I'd say "emulator" for the same reasons. Controllers have evolved quite a bit in terms of possible functionality, comfort, and the ability to completely remap controls for an old game (which I've done using Xpadder to map keyboard keys rather than the native gamepad support DosBox has). Like the above poster said, it's only a problem when a specialized controller is required and the same feel cannot be replicated without it. The other main drawback is that emulators aren't perfect so not all games will work and it goes without saying that the system requirements are MUCH MUCH higher than the original game itself.
Lastly, nobody mentioned that you can apply modern day pixel-shaders onto these old games making them look better than ever (unless you are a purist and LOVE the original pixel-y feel which is fair enough). You should see what even Windows 3.1 looks like with HQ4x on it. It's surreal.
Yes, Steam makes it simple to launch non-steam games and as an added bonus, it attempts to apply the Steam Overlay when you're in your NON-STEAM game. Unfortunately, this may break said game in certain circumstances but it's a nice touch when it works. I don't run WoW through Steam though.
PSP was around the same price when it was first launched so the same is to be expected with the 3DS. Not only that, but unlike your "cell phone" or even "home console", this device will serve as a 3D camera too. However, the games are probably going to be more pricey than a typical handheld ($39USD to $49USD from what I read). That is more comparable to home console title price points. I'm guessing it's due to the increased complexity of the games resulting in much higher development costs for a handheld.
Many of these so called studies tend to focus on the notion that "video games" are the "cause" of the problems when they are typically the "effect" of much greater issues (mental, social, or otherwise). Video games simply serve as an ideal escape for troubled people to step away from reality (sadly, to a very unhealthy degree). Treat the source of the issue though, and surely the addictive gaming will also wane as well. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to identify the exact cause at times especially with the persistent mindset that the video game is where the issue lies.
All the methods you just came up with in five minutes are flawed, error-prone, and make way too many assumptions. 100 Downloads per hour? What makes you think every single illegal archive is retrieved that frequently and what if a software developer used RapidShare to save bandwidth BECAUSE their files were obtained that often? What if the uploader had permission to host the copyrighted content? You don't know that.
Also, the idea of checking the referrer address would never work either. For starters, it's not going to stop people from actually "uploading" illegal content because there is no referrer until somebody clicks the link from another site. Also, virtually any link imaginable can be posted in any site/forum so just because someone came from a site with the word "warez" in it (which not all warez sites even have in their URL), it doesn't mean the file they are downloading is automatically illegal in every single case (although it's probably likely to be such). Once again, you make way too many assumptions.
Lastly, Rapidshare has absolutely NO legal obligation to inspect every single file (as the courts just ruled). They are doing what is required by law so there is no need to cripple their service and waste excessive resources to fix the copyright woes of some other company they couldn't care less about. If they did, everyone would just dump them and move onto other file hosting services to which there are many. The last thing they'd want to do is ruin their entire business fighting an impossible battle. I know I would be frustrated if I tried to upload a "legal" file only to have it taken down immediately due to overly aggressive heuristics.
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As a professional web developer myself, you hit the nail on the head. The beauty of the IT industry is being able to meld into just about every business because in this day and age, most will require an IT department and more and more companies are moving to the web (if they haven't already). I happen to work at one such place that conducts most of their business online and is constantly expanding their website in order to tap into untouched markets and just makes things more versatile.
FORTUNATELY, I have never come across any of the people you have described in your post. My co-workers are really pleasant to work with and they clearly put a lot of effort into what they do. Makes it much easier to work with them and we can all produce a better product in the end.
That's because in your day, video games probably didn't exist or were very primitive and niche (depending on how old you are) so of course those other things were the only option. In modern times, gaming has become quite a significant form of entertainment (and casual titles have certainly gotten rather mainstream) but of course there are still plenty of sports buffs and bar hoppers too.
You do not even need to pay anything for some video games as you can always find countless of full blown free titles online (browser based titles, Free to play MMO's, freeware games, etc) if you know where to look (so even the $99 Xbox 360 is not needed). I would say that's very handy during a day where you are stuck inside because of weather conditions or your friends are just not available.
On a side note, there always seems to be this misconception that entertainment is unnecessary when in reality, your mental health depends on it. Namely, boredom would make you go nuts.
That's what I was thinking. Considering the economy not being the greatest and some people desperate for employment, it wouldn't surprise me that they may sacrifice their own privacy just to get it. As you said, with professions like IT, you can fit in just about anywhere because almost all organizations require hired IT professionals. It would also exhibit significant incompetence if an IT person gave out that kind of information. However, other occupations have a considerably narrower range of options.
It'll be better if the practice is downright forbidden to the point where it is grounds for a lawsuit if someone demands such information and then immediately turns down the candidate should they refuse to provide it. What's worse, by letting the employer into your Facebook account, you are exposing your friends' personal information too as most people offer more privileged access to people they know so that's a chain of violations right there. Not to mention how easy it would be for the employer to hijack your account right then and there. The list of 'wrongs' goes on.
I'm glad I never came across a company like that. It's even worse than organizations that like to install keyloggers on employee workstations and/or have a screen capture of all employee's workstations at regular intervals to keep constant monitoring of what everyone is doing. It shows a SEVERE lack of trust that is well beyond uncomfortable.
Yes. Rapidshare is only driving away the "impatient" pirates. They are delaying the inevitable because ultimately, the works is still just as pirated regardless of how long it took to obtain.
My guess is that they are either secretly hoping to boost premium sales (they would NOT get away with throttling paying customers) or to do "something" in order to prevent Megaupload's fate from repeating with them.
And here lies one of the TRUE causes of piracy. Lack of availability! How else are we expected to get these things if they aren't even being sold (or are grossly overpriced). Imports are incredibly expensive.
This is where the industry needs to fix their business model instead of clamping down with tougher legislation. In the digital age, we no longer have the need to let some "gatekeepers" dictate what we can or cannot experience. To stay competitive, that level of service needs to be matched. Sadly, it must be more profitable just to lobby and sue people until we're back living in the previous decade.
I say give us full availability globally right from day one and watch as things improve. It won't eliminate piracy 100% but it sure will help matters.
I agree with you. I wouldn't be surprised if the reason Canada is on the list is not because the copyright laws are inadequate but because the big media industries can't get away with some of the outrageous activities already being performed in the US (and certain other countries) such as suing someone sharing a small number of files for outrageous amounts (e.g. Jammie Thomas). Nor would the infamous "Pay up or else" schemes fly here either. More draconian laws would easily open the doors to all that madness and perhaps more.
Also, we pay a levy on blank media so the music industry is already receiving compensation from consumers.
Yes, I have to agree to this. The MAFIAA wants things to remain as they were 10 or even 20 years ago because that is the model which was heavily in their favour. This goes well beyond being able to obtain commercial content without compensating the individuals selling it.
Nowadays, the industry can no longer get away with holding back content and only releasing it when and where THEY decide (e.g. Disney selling a movie for a year and then pulling all copies to make room for another or a company deciding not to even release their title in a certain country until months after the rest of the world has been enjoying it).
Sites like thepiratebay.org essentially make it open and available to everyone, everywhere, and anytime. In addition, these sites make the industries completely redundant because of the widespread audience content "creators" can reach. It's how certain artists can make some of their initial works available and become very popular if noticed by enough people. Prior to this technology, you needed a label to do that advertising for you given the very limited and expensive channels back then.
To correct this, industries need to make their content available to everyone straight away and at an affordable price. To mitigate piracy, they would have to provide a better product and service than the free one. A practical example of this in the games industry is Steam. You completely bypass lengthy installations (i.e. once the game is downloaded, it's ready to play), you can retrieve it again at any time should you lose your local copy, and best of all, your game is kept up to date with all latest patches meaning that you don't have to keep track manually. A pirated/free version would still require an install (since they are often based on the disc/retail version), would require you to track down the download site again if you lost your copy, and would require you to apply patches manually (sometimes requiring you to wait even longer for it to be cracked again).
Has anyone tried this MAME application in some other browser? It does seem that these types of games/apps supposedly written for the Chrome browser DO run just fine in Firefox (assuming your computer supports WebGL) but often the link to actually use the software is hidden unless you are in Chrome. I know the Chrome Web Store does this yet everything works fine assuming your computer can run WebGL. For example, I have gotten Angry Birds Chrome to play just perfectly in Firefox without any fancy workarounds once I knew the URL. Same goes for some of the other games there.
@Splab: But then you hit level 60 and have to enter into the dark portal to continue onwards until level 70. The Burning crusade content becomes incredibly tedious and grindy compared to what you were doing beforehand where the quests were far more unique and fun. That part of the game really needs a makeover. Lich King is then somewhat better but still not up to Par with Cataclysm's content.
What I hated even more are encountering "group quests" and having nobody within the area to do them with because they have already moved on. I ended up coming back on level 85 and just sailing through them (even though the rewards were completely useless at that point).
My biggest complaint is that there really isn't anything to do when you hit the level cap (outside of more instances of course) unless you are in a raiding guild. The quest chains end and you can't even try your luck soloing the older raids for the heck of it (e.g. Lich King) because the game FORCES you to be in a raid group. The expansion will at least extend things further.
Also, there is a definite pattern in this game from level 1 through to 85:
1. Enter an area
2. Do some minor quests (get X of this item from monsters or the environent, kill X number of monsters, etc)
3. Do somewhat more significant quests which may be a bit more involved (generally exploring a cave and what not).
4. Fight a mini-boss.
5. Repeat steps 1-4 at the next section of the area
6. Complete all sections of the current area and receive a quest to visit the next one.
7. Repeat steps 1-6 until you reach the end-game.
Well hopefully in 20 years, Internet access will be as commonplace as electricity is today so "being tethered to the internet' won't be an issue any longer. Right now it is because everyone doesn't have a reliable connection either due to geographic location or poor service in general. I'd be very shocked if old mediums re-surfaced all of a sudden.
Libraries around my area are even struggling to remain relevant (to the youth at least) by letting you check out video games (no joke, it's really happening).
Some people have either no concept of how much certain things are worth and/or they try and get as low price of a price off of you that they think they can get away with. This doesn't just apply to games though but anything. Best not to give in even if you ever start feeling desperate to sell the thing.
I actually played from level 1 through to 85 and I have to say that I did come across a few problems which I could imagine would certainly cause people to flock to other MMO's if they have in turn overcome these issues.
The first is that the game has a very distinct (and in my opinion unimaginative) pattern when it comes to questing. You enter a new area and do about three tiers of quests including the basic mob slaying and item collection (i.e. kill X number of monster Y, find item X on the boddy of monster Y, or retrieve this special widget from some element in the environment), then you fight some kind of mini-boss (or just harder enemies), and then fight the main boss of the area (although sometimes the second or third round may be replaced by a mini-game of some sort). After you're done, you get directed to the next area where you rinse and repeat the above formula.
The second problem is that you are severely hampered if you don't end up meeting a lot of people and can get into a raiding group by the time you've hit level 85 and gathered some reasonable gear. The dungeon finder helped a lot with this issue when it comes to 5-man dungeons but you really need a cohesive team for larger ones. Otherwise, you are pretty much locked out of what is perhaps the best content blizzard had to offer in that game. What's worse is that newer players (such as myself) are highly unlikely to experience the older raid dungeons because people would seldom go through them when there are newer better areas to experience. Similarly, older group quests are just not possible unless you are at the right place at the right time (or in my case, a generous high level player could take the place of all 5 group members when it came to those quests).
The last issue is that the expansion pack system has created some inconsistencies in the playing experience. Level 1-60 is a actually a lot of fun now that Cataclysm has given the older quests a complete make-over. However, then you hit Burn Crusade (which resembles how WoW used to be) and it felt like everything plummeted all of a sudden as the quests there are extremely tedious. I really hated getting from 60 to 70 because of this but things slowly got better during the Lich King and eventually Catalclysm (80-85) again. It would have been nice for the momentum to keep strong all the way through.
Anyhow, that's my take on this. Those that have been with WoW since its inception probably have a different perspective but mine is that of a relatively newer player. I didn't even touch the game after a couple months because it just wasn't fun for me anymore.
While you make a good point in that studios could abuse this notion, I wouldn't perceive it this way. I'd say pour the extra funding into making a shorter experience that is more satisfying. A lot games seem to have "padding" in order to increase playtime and this typically involves quite a bit of repetition. I'd rather have a shorter game with several unique experiences than a long one that is simply "more of the same" all the way through. Another option is to take the Zelda Majora's Mask route and make the main game shorter for those whom don't have much time and want to breeze through it and then include a whole pile of optional components for those that truly want a long drawn out experience for their money.
I wonder how much they would charge for a gram.
The significant difference is that it is a system requirement that does not need to be there. Having a particular video card is essential for computer to actually run the game whereas an internet connection active on a single player campaign is not (especially if its only purpose is increased DRM). Now if Blizzard decided to stream content to the game and have unique quests (or other elements) popping up in-game during different days, THEN such a connection would be justified as you would otherwise lose access to that extra content. Hopefully Blizzard does something else with this "always online" requirement outside of keeping tabs on who actually paid money for the game. It would certainly be a good motivator to buy because you would get more out of the game than someone whom pirated and was left with a fixed amount of content. Re-playability would be much higher too because there would always be more to do.
As a supplement to "Forget that most PC gamers aren't using a gamepad", some games assume that everyone has an Xbox 360 controller and offers little to no support for other gamepads. Now this doesn't affect me too much because I DO use a wired xbox 360 controller on my PC but many don't and it's frustrating getting it to work at times. Mind you there are xinput wrappers to get around this problem.
@headLite: What happens is that if you look at the wrong angle, each eye sees the opposite image it was supposed to causing the depth information to be completely reversed (hence you . Tilt it even further and you lose the 3D effect altogether and can see both right and left eye images. This really isn't an issue except for games with motion controls and if another person wants to watch you play by looking over your shoulder.
From what I remember, Prey had the exact same thing as Doom 3. You could even play a fully functional Pacman game from that FPS perspective whereas Doom 3 just has you clicking buttons to turn different machines on and off.
@cgeys: Well I wouldn't go as far to call you a "Troll" but there is a gaping flaw in your argument. That "copy" of the game has already been "paid for" at one point so Sony has been compensated in that sense. What does it matter "who" is currently using the game? It's not like multiple people can play online with the same game disc thereby increasing costs for Sony. For some reason, certain companies seem to feel entitled to receive money every time their games exchanges hands. The ONLY way I can see them actually losing anything (or at least the "opportunity" to make money) is if someone chooses to buy something "used" instead of new so their funds go to the retailer and the game company gets nothing. That still doesn't affect the number of people playing online though.
Even though you are only getting 1/3 of the story, that particular 1/3 is as lengthy as a full game should be. It's not like "Warcraft III" which had 4 campaigns which were relatively short. If that's all we got (i.e. the amount of a gameplay a single Warcraft III campaign would provide), then it would most certainly not be worth it.
I do agree though that it would be nicer when you can get the full set of campaigns in one nice package but sadly you'll be waiting years as Blizzard is not exactly known for releasing things as quickly as possible.
I Honestly don't see a problem using an xbox 360 or even a PS2 controller on that game. It seems to work well if you set it up using the dual analog scheme that was later applied to Winder Waker and Twilight Princess (with gamecube controller) whereby left analog moves and right stick for yellow buttons. You still get the fluid aiming control the original had (as opposed to playing on a keyboard which is a nightmare for aiming) and the both the PS2 and Xbox 360 controllers have more than enough buttons to accommodate this game. Not only that, but as an added bonus the rumble pack is emulated and needless to say, both the xbox 360 and dualshock 2 rumble features are WAAAAY better than the mild vibration the N64 hardware provided.
In terms of Dosbox, I'd say "emulator" for the same reasons. Controllers have evolved quite a bit in terms of possible functionality, comfort, and the ability to completely remap controls for an old game (which I've done using Xpadder to map keyboard keys rather than the native gamepad support DosBox has). Like the above poster said, it's only a problem when a specialized controller is required and the same feel cannot be replicated without it. The other main drawback is that emulators aren't perfect so not all games will work and it goes without saying that the system requirements are MUCH MUCH higher than the original game itself.
Lastly, nobody mentioned that you can apply modern day pixel-shaders onto these old games making them look better than ever (unless you are a purist and LOVE the original pixel-y feel which is fair enough). You should see what even Windows 3.1 looks like with HQ4x on it. It's surreal.
Yes, Steam makes it simple to launch non-steam games and as an added bonus, it attempts to apply the Steam Overlay when you're in your NON-STEAM game. Unfortunately, this may break said game in certain circumstances but it's a nice touch when it works. I don't run WoW through Steam though.
PSP was around the same price when it was first launched so the same is to be expected with the 3DS. Not only that, but unlike your "cell phone" or even "home console", this device will serve as a 3D camera too. However, the games are probably going to be more pricey than a typical handheld ($39USD to $49USD from what I read). That is more comparable to home console title price points. I'm guessing it's due to the increased complexity of the games resulting in much higher development costs for a handheld.
Many of these so called studies tend to focus on the notion that "video games" are the "cause" of the problems when they are typically the "effect" of much greater issues (mental, social, or otherwise). Video games simply serve as an ideal escape for troubled people to step away from reality (sadly, to a very unhealthy degree). Treat the source of the issue though, and surely the addictive gaming will also wane as well. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to identify the exact cause at times especially with the persistent mindset that the video game is where the issue lies.
All the methods you just came up with in five minutes are flawed, error-prone, and make way too many assumptions. 100 Downloads per hour? What makes you think every single illegal archive is retrieved that frequently and what if a software developer used RapidShare to save bandwidth BECAUSE their files were obtained that often? What if the uploader had permission to host the copyrighted content? You don't know that.
Also, the idea of checking the referrer address would never work either. For starters, it's not going to stop people from actually "uploading" illegal content because there is no referrer until somebody clicks the link from another site. Also, virtually any link imaginable can be posted in any site/forum so just because someone came from a site with the word "warez" in it (which not all warez sites even have in their URL), it doesn't mean the file they are downloading is automatically illegal in every single case (although it's probably likely to be such). Once again, you make way too many assumptions.
Lastly, Rapidshare has absolutely NO legal obligation to inspect every single file (as the courts just ruled). They are doing what is required by law so there is no need to cripple their service and waste excessive resources to fix the copyright woes of some other company they couldn't care less about. If they did, everyone would just dump them and move onto other file hosting services to which there are many. The last thing they'd want to do is ruin their entire business fighting an impossible battle. I know I would be frustrated if I tried to upload a "legal" file only to have it taken down immediately due to overly aggressive heuristics.