Do you really think that my mom is really going to go through the trouble of downloading a text file (which does not end in.txt), opening it, using a tool that generates an MD5 signature (and that does not come standard on Windows) and comparing strings of 32 characters?
It doesn't work that way. You download the text file and give your MD5 verifier the text file and the binary. I guess you've never verified an MD5 signature.
Some movies are based on games, so do they count as movie or game revenue and vice versa?
The revenue (usually just licensing fees) that goes to the game property owners counts as "games". The revenue that goes to the movie theaters, distributors, and studios counts as "movies".
Incidentally, there are far more games based on movies than movies based on games.
Why is blockbuster in quotes? They *are* blockbuster titles...
"Blockbuster" implies a level of sales success that most of those title haven't achieved yet. They are potential blockbusters.
In almost all cases, video game sequels do better than their originals AND are more fun to play.
I wouldn't say "almost all". It may be true of many big name titles, but there are also plenty of failures. Some franchises have 10 or more titles, and they're not all improvements either game-wise or sales-wise. Looking at the idea of remakes/sequels at a slightly higher level, Dune II (for example) was a fantastic game, but did we really need the dozens of clones since? The hundreds of man-years of effort that went into those games could have been spent developing a whole new genre.
So.. who cares if it's original or not?
Because there's a lot of value in "original". Without Id doing something original we wouldn't have an entire genre of top sellers. Or to look at it another way, the fact that people's taste in games varies so much is why we need innovation, not continual remakes.
What's wrong with sequels? There's a difference between sequels churned out every year (ala EA), and sequels that really added some new cool things.
There's nothing wrong with many sequels in terms of quality, but if the publishers are demanding sequels it means that there is less money available to do something different. There are constraints placed on the developers because they are working on a sequel rather than a fresh game. And with so much money being poured into existing franchises, there is less to go to new studios.
It started in August with the game title Doom 3, followed by The Sims 2 in September, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in October, then Halo 2, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Half-Life 2 last month.
Every one of these "blockbuster" titles are sequels. Is anyone doing anything new and exciting?
You need to go back and read the post I replied to.
First is was a notedly exaggerated aside
It wasn't an aside, it was the first paragraph in your post.
at least by anyone that has any grasp of the English language
Judging by the number of gramatical and spelling errors in your post, I don't you're in any position to talk about grasp of the English language.
and secondly, I mentioned it in regards to the fact businesses generally let folks 'borrow' software for home use. I made no mention nor implication of why folks buy PCs
You said "This is also the excuse folks make for buying PCs as opposed to something more userfriendly for their situation". How is that not a mention of why folks buy PCs? You didn't mention businesses encouraging borrowing of software at all in that paragraph.
Secondly, calling someones entire argument a 'strawman' simply because you don't understand what they were trying to say IS criticism. I don't know how you cannot see this. Call someones argument wrong and you are criticizing them. Do you see how this works?
Firstly, you've already used a "secondly". That should be a "thirdly". Secondly, there is a difference between criticizing an argument and criticizing a person. An example of the later would be if I was to say "you would know that if you weren't mentally deficient". Being critical of an arugment is only seen as criticizing a person by people who take things far to seriously.
And again, I don't think you know what a strawman is.
I accurately defined "strawman argument" in my last post. If that is not what you think a strawman argument is then you need revise your understanding. Start here. Notice how similar my definition "an incorrect statement of the opposing position made to be easily argued against" is to their definition "A Straw Man Argument is a statement a person makes if they want to more easily attack an opposing position".
I have a funny feeling you hung out in a coffee house while listening to a debate team use big words and you picked up on it thinking you understood the term and can use it to impress friends and family. I can only hope that in the late 80s your family wasn't as terrorized with you running around screaming Its My Prerogative having loved your cassette of that dreamy Bobby Brown that you had posters with crudely scrawly hearts with BB + RW forever etched into it.
I can see you're trying for humor here, but it's too far from reality to be funny. You're not describing you're own childhood are you? Anyway since we don't know the first thing about each other, you're probably better off sticking to the topic rather than making personal attacks.
Maybe it wasn't your intention, but the piece I quoted sounded like you think people buy PCs so they can work 60 extra hours a week without getting paid. That is a strawman - an incorrect statement of the opposing position made to be easily argued against.
Besides, I did not criticize you in anyway. If you react so negatively to a simple correct of your "facts", I'd hate see how you would react to actual criticism.
I know I'm a Mac biggot and one of the excuses for not running Macs in a lot of schools is that its not what is run in businesses. This is also the excuse folks make for buying PCs as opposed to something more userfriendly for their situation -- I can run my business software at home with this so I can work virtual 100 hour a week jobs and get paid for 40 of them.
Hmm, nice strawman, did you make him yourself? The value in having the same software at home as at work for the average (non-computer hobbyist) is minimising the amount of learning required. The value in having the same software at school as at work is experience that may help you get a job.
Aussies are descended from the British colonists, but Aussie women are as hot as the Brits are er... not so hot. What it is? The sun? The convict blood?
I don't know, but it doesn't matter in this case - she was born and raised in England until she was 18.
The PowerPoint clone is especially weak: in PP, common buttons like "make the font bigger" are prominently displayed, while in OO you have to hunt hard for the button in the customization menus, and even then it doesn't work right.
Ah, I see your problem. You've been using PowerPoint and it's rotted your brain. Next time, Just Say No.
It almost makes you wonder, why the USPTO doesn't do exactly that, and pre-filter applications like that. It's kind of trivial.
TFA addresses that - the patent office is run to generate a profit and their sole revenue stream consists of the fees required to apply for and extend patents. It's in the PTO's best interests to encourage as many patents applications as possible, which they do by issuing as many as possible.
From a national economic standpoint, even the US has an incentive to pump out as many patents as possible, no matter how frivolous, in order to extract money from corporations in other countries, since the US is using the WTO to push its "intellectual property" regime onto as many countries as it can.
According to TFA, nearly half of all patents awarded in 2003 were awarded to foreign inventors. There will be just as many foreign companies using the system to extract money from US companies as vice versa.
I don't think it's "the pinnacle" of board game design. I just think it's accessible enough that I can sit down with people and have a good time.
It's not threatening (like chess is to a lot of people). We usually end up ganing up on whoever gets too strong, and someone always starts "goofing", just attacking at random for the hell of it... it's a social thing.
Still I think you should broaden your boardgame horizons a bit. You won't regret it. Try Settlers of Catan, it seems to be most people's introduction to modern boardgames, and it's really been the catalyst to boardgames being seen as mainstream adult entertainment again. Try Puerto Rico if you want subtle strategy, it's consistently rated one of (if not the) best modern boardgame available. Or if you prefer a bit more direct confrontation, try El Grande or Evo. Both of these have a bit more luck than Puerto Rico, but neither of them are as unbalanced or random as Risk. Evo's pretty good for a laugh. If you want more humor, Cheap Ass Games does a good line - Kill Doctor Lucky, Gimme the Brain, Bitin' Off Hedz, etc. If you want a game with virtually no direct player interaction (but plenty of strategy) try Princes of Florence.
This may sound strange, but NOT ONE of my friends is a geek:-) I'd have to say that a lot of them are complete illiterates when it comes to computers - and I'll bet they'd agree.
Boardgamegeek.com has nothing to do with computers. They're not using "geek" to mean "computer geek" as you seem to be assuming. It's for people who have a similar passion for boardgames. It covers all sorts of boardgames, but the highest rating are great general strategy games for adults. Which is why Risk doesn't feature in their top 100. I recommend you try some of the top 10 and then see if you still think Risk is the pinnacle of board game design.
I wouldn't call it a fast game. Especially when you play with more than 3, the game can get really slow because of all the decision making (think think).
My group of usual players (3 of us) quickly got to the point where we can play a game in 40-60 minutes, though we do slow down if we're tired or drinking too much. Still I'd say it's as faster or faster than Settlers, and keeps you more involved.
If you enjoy Settlers you should try Puerto Rico. It's a fantasic game, often considered the best boardgame produced in the last few years. It has very little luck (much less than Settlers) and plenty of subtle strategy. Other good games are Princes of Florence and El Grande.
The begged question is Will it be bad or will it be good?
That question is not begged, it's raised. Regardless, given that our current distribution of population and agriculture is optimal for our current climate any significant change to our climate will be extremely bad in the short to medium term.
I love how lately on Slashdot anything a particular individual doesn't agree with has become "groupthink". As though that somehow makes it invalid. Has it occurred to you that maybe the consensus has been reached because global warming is a real problem, and that the evidience is overwhelmingly in support of humanity being a major factor?
No one is going to let you keep the sole copy of the contract. So what will happen is that you'll make the switch and then when you point out the new terms the other party will whip out their copy and realise that the MD5 sums are the same. They'll know you've tried to defraud them and they'll have a good chance of convincing a court since there will be likely be evidence that you were the one to generate the contracts. So it won't work.
And doesn't this publicity stunt just confirm that? "Encarta is so crap that Ken can hold it's entire contents in his head. Just try to stump him, go on!"
Slashdot Mirror
Incidentally, there are far more games based on movies than movies based on games.
Besides, I did not criticize you in anyway. If you react so negatively to a simple correct of your "facts", I'd hate see how you would react to actual criticism.
You know, the browser is in a window. If I want space around the content, I can just size it appropriately on my desktop.
You can play a lot of those games online at BrettspielWelt, though I'm not sure how many have the complete rules available.
You should try Puerto Rico, Princes of Florence, and El Grande. All very good strategy board games.
If you enjoy Settlers you should try Puerto Rico. It's a fantasic game, often considered the best boardgame produced in the last few years. It has very little luck (much less than Settlers) and plenty of subtle strategy. Other good games are Princes of Florence and El Grande.
I love how lately on Slashdot anything a particular individual doesn't agree with has become "groupthink". As though that somehow makes it invalid. Has it occurred to you that maybe the consensus has been reached because global warming is a real problem, and that the evidience is overwhelmingly in support of humanity being a major factor?
No one is going to let you keep the sole copy of the contract. So what will happen is that you'll make the switch and then when you point out the new terms the other party will whip out their copy and realise that the MD5 sums are the same. They'll know you've tried to defraud them and they'll have a good chance of convincing a court since there will be likely be evidence that you were the one to generate the contracts. So it won't work.