Why do you assume there are enough non-pirates to pay enough to fund game development?
Because, oh, I don't know, there's still companies out there selling pc games? EA even dialed back on the DRM and went the DLC route to get more sales. Besides, we've already seen that games developed for Xbox can be ported to the pc or vice versa.
Yes, there is a generation of kids out there that will pretty much download anything they like. But considering they don't have money to spend anyway, it's not as though they would have bought it in the first place. There is, however, a generation of people in their 20's, 30's and 40's that have more than enough disposable income to pay for pc games. On the other hand, what we also have is memories of being able to do with our personal computers whatever we damn well pleased, and that doesn't jive well with the direction Ubisoft is taking.
I spent the full price on dragon age, mass effect 2 and the available DLC for both. Why? Because I considered it a worthy investment in a product that is value for money. I did not spend money on GTA 4, nor will I do so on Ubisoft products as long as they keep up this ridiculous scheme. I'll just buy 50 bucks worth of indie games instead.
What's with that axe you're grinding in this article anyway? Do you work for Ubisoft? You seem pro-DRM to the extent that you're slightly starting to foam at the mouth, you may want to have that looked at.
Soon, Ubisoft will learn their lesson and go console-only. Some other publishers have already learned this, but Ubisoft is apparently giving the PC one last chance.
Excellent. The demand for good pc games isn't going anywhere, so we'll just spend our money on a company that makes games that actually *work*.
If the company would go bankrupt by paying for a Cisco certification, you'd better be polishing your resume anyway. If companies were rational, I would say that this is a bluff.
In that particular case, I agree. However, take for example a callcenter that is already struggling. Meanwhile all the competitors already have or are getting $spiffy_certification. At that point a disagreement over whether the entire staff gets to spend 40% of their hours in training or if they do it in their own time can have a large impact on the company.
If companies were rational, I would say that this is a bluff. The cost of going through a termination process, hiring process and lost productivity getting that person up to speed is huge and you never know what you'll get so firing an otherwise highly productive employee is insane. Still, under these circumstances companies often end up doing irrational things. And if there is a round of layoffs yoy can run into a downsizing policy that says non-certified people are let go first, so it's not entirely without rational risk either.
HR departments are often terrified of "setting a precedent" by making what they see as an exception to company procedure. They might actually have to spend some of that training budget they have sitting around.
Ehmm, I don't know about you, but my personal computer seems quite capable of running without anyone actually sitting at the keyboard...just because it's on 12 or even 24 hours a day doesn't mean there's someone hammering the keyboard every last second of it;-)
Conservative Americas aren't cautious towards change, they want to change things too.
And that's because they don't want to keep things the way they are, they want to go back to how (they wish) things used to be. Which is pretty much a 50's sitcom from what I can tell. Except for the part where mommy has a job too and a nanny gets to raise the kids, because god forbid we go back to single income families. Work 5 days a week, mow the lawn on saturday, praise the lord on sunday, and bow to the corporate overlord that owns the town whenever he damn well feels like it.
In a fire-at-will situation you're pretty much screwed anyway, so that's not really relevant. In other situations however, an employer basically agrees to a contract stipulating that in exchange for an employee with qualifications X and labor Y said company will pay out Z in compensation. If the company then decides that X is no longer sufficient, that is basically a one-sided change to a contract. So at least in most european countries, the company can not *force* an employee to improve his skillset on his own time and dime, unless that has been stipulated beforehand. On the other hand, unless the contract is for an undetermined time period (which pretty much makes it a pain in the ass to fire someone) the company is under no obligation to prolong the contract once it runs out.
Speaking from personal experience, if my employer tells me to bend over, be their bitch and spend my own time and money to improve my skillset if we didn't agree beforehand that would be part of the deal, I'm fully within my rights to give them the finger. On the other hand it is within my own interest to improve my skills, so if some sort of deal can be struck where both parties make an investment, it's a different story.
Companies will often loudly proclaim that in order to comply with new regulation or to be able to compete all employees will be forced to do X. That regulation or those market forces are irrelevant to me as an employee. The only party I have made a contract with is the company itself. On the other hand sticking to one's guns while the company goes down in flames might not be the best career choice either;-)
I have severe moral issues with any procedure which results in the deliberate destruction of an embryo. No, I am not utilitarian yes, I am a deontologist (rule set not act).
Happily, you're also either a troll or a total moron.
The only thing that was donated was an egg. You know, the ones women have quite a supply of. And to make the horror story even worse, you might want to check out what happens during the menstrual cycle?
To deny it is akin to denying one's desire for safety and freedom.
Humans come equipped with a whole bunch of instincts and desires. However, we also have the ability to take a step back and decide that refusing to give in to them might be the better choice in the long run or in the bigger picture. Without that ability...we'd pretty much be animals.
Happily, for now at least most of us get to make those decisions individually. I personally couldn't give a rat's ass whether my genes stay in the pool or not, they're really not all that great as far as I know;-)
Having been on/. for over 10 years I'll be more than happy to agree that a lot of developers can in fact be aptly described as "tools". From my experience though, mature people tend to spend their money on kids, mortgages and car payments these days.
Besides, what's the point of getting blow without a hooker to serve as a snorting surface?;-)
I can't really take a political group seriously when they base their entire position on copyright infringement. When they can actually show me they want to change copyright, without taking away the rights of all the existing and future copyright holders, I might change my mind. It also seems like they all just want to get free stuff. Nothing more.
Considering that the various national pirate parties that have been established so far campaign for copyright reform, not abolishment, I'd say they're already doing exactly that.
The ultimate goal is to beam large amounts of solar power to Earth
Isn't that handled by...y'know...the sun?
Well, yes. But the sun is kind of indiscriminate about it and seems to have this tendency to, you know, "spread the power".
Building satellites that concentrate and beam the power will ensure that only the right people get lots of power and the rest of us are kept in the dark.
(Frantically hops about with shotgun and bids her wife Martha-Jane good bey 'cause he'll be off on a crusade.)
Her wife, eh? You were doing quite well on the whole gun-totin', god-fearing' redneck shtick, but then you turned out to be a lesbian...
Shame about your confusion between socialism and communism too...I mean, I know you 'merkins like to twist the meaning of words till it suits the political agenda of the day, but if they were one and the same we'd have gone with one word over the other by now.
i agree, pirate party is a retarded immature name. these clowns undermine serious copyright reform.
These "clowns" are actually running for political office and working from within the democratic system. If nothing else, the fact that they're acknowledged as a legitimate political party gives them access to a lot of extra soapboxes. TV interviews, debates, questions, these all serve to raise awareness about privacy concerns and governments selling out to big media.
So what have you done lately to promote serious copyright reform? And no, bitching about it on Slashdot does not count.
Some mobos require driver updates before things like the USB controllers work right.
Some mobo's also require driver updates before the ata controllers work right. In either case the BIOS should provide sufficient support for the install the complete after which all the bells and whistles can be activated through the drivers.
Perhaps most crucially: why isn't 'the average dickhead' aware that lives are on the line the moment *he* gets behind the wheel?
For the same reason we stop paying attention to all the proper precautions when operating other heavy machinery, I expect. we get complacent after a while until we see/experience something really bad. I expect that in your line of work you're reminded of what happens when people screw up in traffic more than often enough to avoid the same mistake.
Although not as polished as they could have been, tons of fun to play. Think trying to build your base and rushing around to defend chokepoints at the same time, as well as missions where you take a break from the RTS part for a good old "get from A to B in one piece" kind of mission.
If you know you are going though an intersection where there is a camera, and you're not sure whether you'll make the light or not, simply cover your face (or duck down) before you enter the intersection.
That's a very useful tip, thank you. However, as a pedestrian/cyclist, I would like to propose an alternative. How about after pulling a stunt like that, you pull over instead and allow me to make sure there's no way the picture that was taken can ever be matched to your face by a little impromptu surgery on the spot using your tire iron?
Just slow down, for the love of god. Or is arriving at your destination 1 1/2 minutes really worth the risk?
And I've never even once come close to having an accident. Part of this is the training - I've received formal, rigorous training in conducting an emergency vehicle.
So I probably am one of these supertaskers - hell, I basically need to be.
So because you're far more highly trained and you have a bigass siren on the roof of your highly visible vehicle, you reckon you have some innate ability?
Why not just take credit for the skills you have acquired through lots of training and practice?
These articles refer to the average dickhead on the road, not a professional driver such as yourself who is, I assume, constantly aware that lives are on the line the moment you get behind the wheel.
I don't think phone use while driving should be illegal, but you should lose your license the first time you're caught driving like a jackass. Though I'm full of crazy ideas, like "the test for driving a 3000lb weapon shouldn't be a mere formality".
As someone who is fortunate enough to live close enough to work to go there by bicycle, I beg to differ on this point. There's a good chance that losing said license will coincide with me or someone like me getting badly hurt. Considering the amount of emergency stops I have to make on a daily basis because jackasses simply aren't paying attention...
I just yanked the plug out of the motherboard so it didn't recognize the lock anymore. Ofcourse this was on a 286...ah, the good old days...when 256kB of memory on the videocard was something to brag about.
Consider the following: An esimated 1,000+ species go extinct every year without evolving into something else. Every single one is observable evidence that evolution does NOT happen like predicted. 1,000 pieces of evidence a year, and you just ignore that?
So the unfit die...and this is evidence that survival of the fittest doesn't work?
Honestly, believe what you want. You're clearly beyond any and all hope. I feel sorry for your children.
Slashdot Mirror
Why do you assume there are enough non-pirates to pay enough to fund game development?
Because, oh, I don't know, there's still companies out there selling pc games? EA even dialed back on the DRM and went the DLC route to get more sales. Besides, we've already seen that games developed for Xbox can be ported to the pc or vice versa.
Yes, there is a generation of kids out there that will pretty much download anything they like. But considering they don't have money to spend anyway, it's not as though they would have bought it in the first place. There is, however, a generation of people in their 20's, 30's and 40's that have more than enough disposable income to pay for pc games. On the other hand, what we also have is memories of being able to do with our personal computers whatever we damn well pleased, and that doesn't jive well with the direction Ubisoft is taking.
I spent the full price on dragon age, mass effect 2 and the available DLC for both. Why? Because I considered it a worthy investment in a product that is value for money. I did not spend money on GTA 4, nor will I do so on Ubisoft products as long as they keep up this ridiculous scheme. I'll just buy 50 bucks worth of indie games instead.
What's with that axe you're grinding in this article anyway? Do you work for Ubisoft? You seem pro-DRM to the extent that you're slightly starting to foam at the mouth, you may want to have that looked at.
Soon, Ubisoft will learn their lesson and go console-only. Some other publishers have already learned this, but Ubisoft is apparently giving the PC one last chance.
Excellent. The demand for good pc games isn't going anywhere, so we'll just spend our money on a company that makes games that actually *work*.
If the company would go bankrupt by paying for a Cisco certification, you'd better be polishing your resume anyway. If companies were rational, I would say that this is a bluff.
In that particular case, I agree. However, take for example a callcenter that is already struggling. Meanwhile all the competitors already have or are getting $spiffy_certification. At that point a disagreement over whether the entire staff gets to spend 40% of their hours in training or if they do it in their own time can have a large impact on the company.
If companies were rational, I would say that this is a bluff. The cost of going through a termination process, hiring process and lost productivity getting that person up to speed is huge and you never know what you'll get so firing an otherwise highly productive employee is insane. Still, under these circumstances companies often end up doing irrational things. And if there is a round of layoffs yoy can run into a downsizing policy that says non-certified people are let go first, so it's not entirely without rational risk either.
HR departments are often terrified of "setting a precedent" by making what they see as an exception to company procedure. They might actually have to spend some of that training budget they have sitting around.
Ehmm, I don't know about you, but my personal computer seems quite capable of running without anyone actually sitting at the keyboard...just because it's on 12 or even 24 hours a day doesn't mean there's someone hammering the keyboard every last second of it ;-)
Oi, there's nothing funny about blue balls. *cringes at memory*
Conservative Americas aren't cautious towards change, they want to change things too.
And that's because they don't want to keep things the way they are, they want to go back to how (they wish) things used to be. Which is pretty much a 50's sitcom from what I can tell. Except for the part where mommy has a job too and a nanny gets to raise the kids, because god forbid we go back to single income families. Work 5 days a week, mow the lawn on saturday, praise the lord on sunday, and bow to the corporate overlord that owns the town whenever he damn well feels like it.
You know, the good old days?
on the contract you have.
In a fire-at-will situation you're pretty much screwed anyway, so that's not really relevant. In other situations however, an employer basically agrees to a contract stipulating that in exchange for an employee with qualifications X and labor Y said company will pay out Z in compensation. If the company then decides that X is no longer sufficient, that is basically a one-sided change to a contract. So at least in most european countries, the company can not *force* an employee to improve his skillset on his own time and dime, unless that has been stipulated beforehand. On the other hand, unless the contract is for an undetermined time period (which pretty much makes it a pain in the ass to fire someone) the company is under no obligation to prolong the contract once it runs out.
Speaking from personal experience, if my employer tells me to bend over, be their bitch and spend my own time and money to improve my skillset if we didn't agree beforehand that would be part of the deal, I'm fully within my rights to give them the finger. On the other hand it is within my own interest to improve my skills, so if some sort of deal can be struck where both parties make an investment, it's a different story.
Companies will often loudly proclaim that in order to comply with new regulation or to be able to compete all employees will be forced to do X. That regulation or those market forces are irrelevant to me as an employee. The only party I have made a contract with is the company itself. On the other hand sticking to one's guns while the company goes down in flames might not be the best career choice either ;-)
I have severe moral issues with any procedure which results in the deliberate destruction of an embryo. No, I am not utilitarian yes, I am a deontologist (rule set not act).
Happily, you're also either a troll or a total moron.
The only thing that was donated was an egg. You know, the ones women have quite a supply of. And to make the horror story even worse, you might want to check out what happens during the menstrual cycle?
To deny it is akin to denying one's desire for safety and freedom.
Humans come equipped with a whole bunch of instincts and desires. However, we also have the ability to take a step back and decide that refusing to give in to them might be the better choice in the long run or in the bigger picture. Without that ability...we'd pretty much be animals.
Happily, for now at least most of us get to make those decisions individually. I personally couldn't give a rat's ass whether my genes stay in the pool or not, they're really not all that great as far as I know ;-)
Having been on /. for over 10 years I'll be more than happy to agree that a lot of developers can in fact be aptly described as "tools". From my experience though, mature people tend to spend their money on kids, mortgages and car payments these days.
Besides, what's the point of getting blow without a hooker to serve as a snorting surface? ;-)
I can't really take a political group seriously when they base their entire position on copyright infringement. When they can actually show me they want to change copyright, without taking away the rights of all the existing and future copyright holders, I might change my mind. It also seems like they all just want to get free stuff. Nothing more.
Considering that the various national pirate parties that have been established so far campaign for copyright reform, not abolishment, I'd say they're already doing exactly that.
The ultimate goal is to beam large amounts of solar power to Earth
Isn't that handled by...y'know...the sun?
Well, yes. But the sun is kind of indiscriminate about it and seems to have this tendency to, you know, "spread the power".
Building satellites that concentrate and beam the power will ensure that only the right people get lots of power and the rest of us are kept in the dark.
(Frantically hops about with shotgun and bids her wife Martha-Jane good bey 'cause he'll be off on a crusade.)
Her wife, eh? You were doing quite well on the whole gun-totin', god-fearing' redneck shtick, but then you turned out to be a lesbian...
Shame about your confusion between socialism and communism too...I mean, I know you 'merkins like to twist the meaning of words till it suits the political agenda of the day, but if they were one and the same we'd have gone with one word over the other by now.
i agree, pirate party is a retarded immature name. these clowns undermine serious copyright reform.
These "clowns" are actually running for political office and working from within the democratic system. If nothing else, the fact that they're acknowledged as a legitimate political party gives them access to a lot of extra soapboxes. TV interviews, debates, questions, these all serve to raise awareness about privacy concerns and governments selling out to big media.
So what have you done lately to promote serious copyright reform? And no, bitching about it on Slashdot does not count.
Some mobos require driver updates before things like the USB controllers work right.
Some mobo's also require driver updates before the ata controllers work right. In either case the BIOS should provide sufficient support for the install the complete after which all the bells and whistles can be activated through the drivers.
Perhaps most crucially: why isn't 'the average dickhead' aware that lives are on the line the moment *he* gets behind the wheel?
For the same reason we stop paying attention to all the proper precautions when operating other heavy machinery, I expect. we get complacent after a while until we see/experience something really bad. I expect that in your line of work you're reminded of what happens when people screw up in traffic more than often enough to avoid the same mistake.
I give you...Battlezone and Battlezone 2.
Although not as polished as they could have been, tons of fun to play. Think trying to build your base and rushing around to defend chokepoints at the same time, as well as missions where you take a break from the RTS part for a good old "get from A to B in one piece" kind of mission.
Ok, just how bad is it that mere seconds after seeing your post I'm humming that annoying little tune again?
20 years deep down in the subconscious...and you had to bring it back. ;-)
If I went back to work I'd owe myself another beer, and there's only 1 left in the fridge.
So because of your congradulations I'm forced to read slashdot for the remainder of this working day. Thanks a lot buddy!
If you know you are going though an intersection where there is a camera, and you're not sure whether you'll make the light or not, simply cover your face (or duck down) before you enter the intersection.
That's a very useful tip, thank you. However, as a pedestrian/cyclist, I would like to propose an alternative. How about after pulling a stunt like that, you pull over instead and allow me to make sure there's no way the picture that was taken can ever be matched to your face by a little impromptu surgery on the spot using your tire iron?
Just slow down, for the love of god. Or is arriving at your destination 1 1/2 minutes really worth the risk?
And I've never even once come close to having an accident. Part of this is the training - I've received formal, rigorous training in conducting an emergency vehicle.
So I probably am one of these supertaskers - hell, I basically need to be.
So because you're far more highly trained and you have a bigass siren on the roof of your highly visible vehicle, you reckon you have some innate ability?
Why not just take credit for the skills you have acquired through lots of training and practice?
These articles refer to the average dickhead on the road, not a professional driver such as yourself who is, I assume, constantly aware that lives are on the line the moment you get behind the wheel.
I don't think phone use while driving should be illegal, but you should lose your license the first time you're caught driving like a jackass. Though I'm full of crazy ideas, like "the test for driving a 3000lb weapon shouldn't be a mere formality".
As someone who is fortunate enough to live close enough to work to go there by bicycle, I beg to differ on this point. There's a good chance that losing said license will coincide with me or someone like me getting badly hurt. Considering the amount of emergency stops I have to make on a daily basis because jackasses simply aren't paying attention...
I just yanked the plug out of the motherboard so it didn't recognize the lock anymore. Ofcourse this was on a 286...ah, the good old days...when 256kB of memory on the videocard was something to brag about.
Not only that, but those are seriously crappy names for kids.
Really, that's what you worry about? I want to know what the fuck happened to 1 to 11 and 13...trial runs? Beta versions?
"Do you think that without Valve they could have gotten the GLaDOS voice actress? "
Ah, the good old days of Jagged Alliance 2. Where the credits listed "all the voice actors free pizza could buy".
Consider the following: An esimated 1,000+ species go extinct every year without evolving into something else. Every single one is observable evidence that evolution does NOT happen like predicted. 1,000 pieces of evidence a year, and you just ignore that?
So the unfit die...and this is evidence that survival of the fittest doesn't work?
Honestly, believe what you want. You're clearly beyond any and all hope. I feel sorry for your children.