So your solution is to purchase all digital downloads directly from the game publisher/developer, then. Meaning you have as many different download systems/clients/logins/ etc. to remember as you have games. I hope you detect my oh-so-subtle sarcasm when I say THIS IS AN EXCELLENT IDEA.
What the hell is wrong with virtual materialism? Real-world materialism is arguably a problem because it causes waste, both of production resources and materials. What possible problem is there with wanting to flaunt a few silly bits on a server somewhere? If you want to argue that it's inane and empty, sure, that's at least a possibly valid point. But equating it to real-life materialism makes it painfully clear that you don't understand the issue you're parroting in the slightest, and are instead just trying to paint yourself as intelligent and righteous with some half-remembered slogan you read on a sign somewhere.
Re:I discovered a game development gem of WOW
on
The Development of Braid
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I couldn't disagree more, having played... well, lets just say that when I type/played, I have to sit down and think hard about my decisions in life.
When you have 39 other players with you (24 or less in more recent dungeons), there's no real thrill of discovery or chance. There's loot in that dungeon, you know what it is, you know (usually) when it's likely to drop. It's not fun at all; it's just spending your dkp and getting your salary for all that work. Alone, though, you've gotten something totally unexpected and quite possibly rare or even unique on the server, to sell or use as you see fit. You can walk around town to gasps of "where did you get THAT!"
A couple years ago, I decided to start watching TV on my computer instead of the TV, for no real reason besides liking my chair in the PC room better. So I started really hammering my connection with some torrents (piracy haters, note that I was still paying my full cable TV bill, so in essence I was downloading what they'd already been sending me). My Internet and television provider was Cox Communications in the San Diego area.
I made sure to keep my torrents only running at night out of respect for neighbors on the same cable network. One morning, though, I woke up to see all my torrents dead. I went to see if google was up and was redirected to a page instructing me to call the Cox security division. I did and, after a good while on hold, was told that I'd exceeded my data cap.
Which, being as we were in the middle of a month, was news to me. Confused, I hung up and continued more or less like I was, trying to keep the overall load down a bit with transfer caps in Azureus. A week later it happened again, exactly as before. This time, though, I demanded more of an explanation from the CSR. What I was told amazed me.
Now, I'm not a network engineer, but I'd always assumed that the ISP could keep a pretty good watch on every connection at once. Maybe that's more infeasible than I'd thought on a cable network, but still, the rep claimed that wasn't the case. They COULD get a general idea of who was producing "too much traffic," though, and order a "watch" for that account be forwarded to the security division. Who would then, in turn, watch and record the exact amount of data coming out of that account for a period of time.
Where it gets even stranger - and more frustrating - is that this "period of time" is totally up to them. One of my infractions was a 24 hour watch, the other around 48, and supposedly they could be up to a week or less than a day depending on how many watches they had going. They would then divide the monthly cap (a very difficult-to-find number buried in legal boilerplate deep in an old PDF on their website and actually quoted differently in two other different places) by the time they recorded and shut it down if it went over. So, say, if you got 30Gb in a 30-day month and they did a 24-hour watch, they would shut down your account if it went over 1Gb! Which to my mind makes their advertised bandwidth a complete fabrication: if you downloaded at full speed all month, you'd be several orders of magnitude over the limit. And if they're allowed to shrink the "watch" size as small as they want (nothing they said indicated that a 24-hour watch was the smallest) then you can't be confident EVER using the full speed.
Too many of these warnings (either 3 or 5 being the magic number based on the CSR I was talking to) and they'd shut down your cable and blacklist you forever. In an area with no other Internet options outside of dialup, they basically were telling me I might have to MOVE if I did it one more time. And no, there was no way to see how much data I'd used up so far that month, but they were "working on it."
I wish I could tell you that I angrily canceled my account and moved on. But no, I wasn't ready to move, and I wasn't ready to go to dialup. So I just stopped downloading anything over 1Gb, ever, and confining my high-tier, expensive 'net account to web surfing and games. And oh, yeah, I watched TV on the TV on my shitty couch like a good little boy. These fuckers continue to get my monthly checks to this very day. Aren't monopolies grand?
I'm a bit baffled by the occasional negative review. As a game, it's a slim but cleverly implemented JRPG sped up to the point of nearing the action genre. It's fun and does the job well, and the game is short enough that I can't imagine anyone managing to tire of it before the credits roll. The environments are pretty and amusingly constructed, and the writing - well, it's simple: if you don't enjoy PA, you won't enjoy the game.
I guess the best argument I can make in its favor is that once I'd started playing, I didn't move - not to eat, not to check my email, not to see what's on TV - until the last boss was dead. As I grow older and my patience wanes, that's really saying something. The last time a game managed to enthrall me for the entirety of its experience was Portal. It's also the first time I've ever actually looked forward to episodic content, though I suspect that's because I'm used to that delivery method in the original comic, so it just sort of "fits."
1) It was almost completely impossible to download the full set, even if you'd paid. The provided link timed out on the first attempt, and when they say a one-time download link, THEY MEAN IT.
2) The torrents were official. NiN.com's tech support, in responding to complaints about difficulty downloading, actually provided a link to the pirate bay post.
I've yet to talk to anyone who managed to download the album successfully from the site itself.
*sigh* So now we have to hide information in the fear of the privately owned companies, who operate for profit and nothing else - as well they should; that's how the system works - increasing our rates. How bad are things going to have to get before we let our taxes take over where insurance companies currently operate? Yes yes, it's "taking away our freedoms." Y'know what, though? I'm willing to give up my right to die from a treatable wound or illness.
Slashdot Mirror
This just in! A game that came out in 2006 plays better than a game that came out in 1998. News at 11.
So your solution is to purchase all digital downloads directly from the game publisher/developer, then. Meaning you have as many different download systems/clients/logins/ etc. to remember as you have games. I hope you detect my oh-so-subtle sarcasm when I say THIS IS AN EXCELLENT IDEA.
(See: EA Download Manager.)
Yes, it's amazing how much money a "company" can spend on customer support when they have no development costs.
Haptx + Fleshlight = ...
What the hell is wrong with virtual materialism? Real-world materialism is arguably a problem because it causes waste, both of production resources and materials. What possible problem is there with wanting to flaunt a few silly bits on a server somewhere? If you want to argue that it's inane and empty, sure, that's at least a possibly valid point. But equating it to real-life materialism makes it painfully clear that you don't understand the issue you're parroting in the slightest, and are instead just trying to paint yourself as intelligent and righteous with some half-remembered slogan you read on a sign somewhere.
I couldn't disagree more, having played... well, lets just say that when I type /played, I have to sit down and think hard about my decisions in life.
When you have 39 other players with you (24 or less in more recent dungeons), there's no real thrill of discovery or chance. There's loot in that dungeon, you know what it is, you know (usually) when it's likely to drop. It's not fun at all; it's just spending your dkp and getting your salary for all that work. Alone, though, you've gotten something totally unexpected and quite possibly rare or even unique on the server, to sell or use as you see fit. You can walk around town to gasps of "where did you get THAT!"
A couple years ago, I decided to start watching TV on my computer instead of the TV, for no real reason besides liking my chair in the PC room better. So I started really hammering my connection with some torrents (piracy haters, note that I was still paying my full cable TV bill, so in essence I was downloading what they'd already been sending me). My Internet and television provider was Cox Communications in the San Diego area.
I made sure to keep my torrents only running at night out of respect for neighbors on the same cable network. One morning, though, I woke up to see all my torrents dead. I went to see if google was up and was redirected to a page instructing me to call the Cox security division. I did and, after a good while on hold, was told that I'd exceeded my data cap.
Which, being as we were in the middle of a month, was news to me. Confused, I hung up and continued more or less like I was, trying to keep the overall load down a bit with transfer caps in Azureus. A week later it happened again, exactly as before. This time, though, I demanded more of an explanation from the CSR. What I was told amazed me.
Now, I'm not a network engineer, but I'd always assumed that the ISP could keep a pretty good watch on every connection at once. Maybe that's more infeasible than I'd thought on a cable network, but still, the rep claimed that wasn't the case. They COULD get a general idea of who was producing "too much traffic," though, and order a "watch" for that account be forwarded to the security division. Who would then, in turn, watch and record the exact amount of data coming out of that account for a period of time.
Where it gets even stranger - and more frustrating - is that this "period of time" is totally up to them. One of my infractions was a 24 hour watch, the other around 48, and supposedly they could be up to a week or less than a day depending on how many watches they had going. They would then divide the monthly cap (a very difficult-to-find number buried in legal boilerplate deep in an old PDF on their website and actually quoted differently in two other different places) by the time they recorded and shut it down if it went over. So, say, if you got 30Gb in a 30-day month and they did a 24-hour watch, they would shut down your account if it went over 1Gb! Which to my mind makes their advertised bandwidth a complete fabrication: if you downloaded at full speed all month, you'd be several orders of magnitude over the limit. And if they're allowed to shrink the "watch" size as small as they want (nothing they said indicated that a 24-hour watch was the smallest) then you can't be confident EVER using the full speed.
Too many of these warnings (either 3 or 5 being the magic number based on the CSR I was talking to) and they'd shut down your cable and blacklist you forever. In an area with no other Internet options outside of dialup, they basically were telling me I might have to MOVE if I did it one more time. And no, there was no way to see how much data I'd used up so far that month, but they were "working on it."
I wish I could tell you that I angrily canceled my account and moved on. But no, I wasn't ready to move, and I wasn't ready to go to dialup. So I just stopped downloading anything over 1Gb, ever, and confining my high-tier, expensive 'net account to web surfing and games. And oh, yeah, I watched TV on the TV on my shitty couch like a good little boy. These fuckers continue to get my monthly checks to this very day. Aren't monopolies grand?
Well yeah, that's why I jokingly referred to it as a "cover."
What an unlikely place to find cover of a video game theme...
The solution is obvious: make it illegal to sell magazines with pictures of adults to minors.
Just the opposite - pirate this, and in one blow you're liable to get sued by the entire freakin' industry.
Yes, Dumbo, the feather was just a normal feather. All along, it was YOU who was making your penis fly!
"...two-thirds of the drugs contained the wrong dosage of the active ingredient, and the rest were placebos."
Wait, so 2/3 were the wrong dosage and 1/3 were placebos? None were correct?
I'm a bit baffled by the occasional negative review. As a game, it's a slim but cleverly implemented JRPG sped up to the point of nearing the action genre. It's fun and does the job well, and the game is short enough that I can't imagine anyone managing to tire of it before the credits roll. The environments are pretty and amusingly constructed, and the writing - well, it's simple: if you don't enjoy PA, you won't enjoy the game.
I guess the best argument I can make in its favor is that once I'd started playing, I didn't move - not to eat, not to check my email, not to see what's on TV - until the last boss was dead. As I grow older and my patience wanes, that's really saying something. The last time a game managed to enthrall me for the entirety of its experience was Portal. It's also the first time I've ever actually looked forward to episodic content, though I suspect that's because I'm used to that delivery method in the original comic, so it just sort of "fits."
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grüe.
Just like to chime in here and add my voice to the many: never fucking do this again, slashdot.
Well, it was "fnord" originally, but MS bought them out.
So you're basically paying for two OS licenses for each pc that comes in the door? I'm starting to understand Microsofts' evil plan a bit more.
I think you win for the most wildly inappropriate use of the winking smiley in Internet history.
Shut UUUUUP, don't tell him that! We all know how that sort of thing works, and I want an immortality pill, dammit.
1) It was almost completely impossible to download the full set, even if you'd paid. The provided link timed out on the first attempt, and when they say a one-time download link, THEY MEAN IT.
2) The torrents were official. NiN.com's tech support, in responding to complaints about difficulty downloading, actually provided a link to the pirate bay post.
I've yet to talk to anyone who managed to download the album successfully from the site itself.
When you made that post, did you, perchance, notice a strong "wooshing" sound directly over your head?
When was the last time the US government wasn't either at war with someone or claiming that a threat to national security was imminent?
*sigh* So now we have to hide information in the fear of the privately owned companies, who operate for profit and nothing else - as well they should; that's how the system works - increasing our rates. How bad are things going to have to get before we let our taxes take over where insurance companies currently operate? Yes yes, it's "taking away our freedoms." Y'know what, though? I'm willing to give up my right to die from a treatable wound or illness.
Wow, is he sending threads from /b/ to judges now?