"If it were a drink, it'd be a complicated whisky. Not to everyon'e taste, and certainly needing to be appreciated in small doses with adequate contemplation. But ultimately rewarding."
I was going to buy the book, but I had a bad drinking experience with whisky early on and can't even stand to smell the stuff now. Thanks for the warning.;)
I bought Portal as part of The Orange Box for the 360. I don't know that I would've bought it as a standalone game even despite the good reviews - maybe, maybe not. But as The Orange Box combo, the value was undeniable. And I haven't even replayed it or tried Team Fortress yet.
Anyway, now I'm wondering if studios should cooperate to package a release here and there. e.g., big studio has an experimental arm and releases a decent game with 1-2 extra games to sweeten the deal. Or medium studio does a deal with newcomers (e.g., just short of something like Valve actually bringing the Portal crew into the fold) and do a joint release where the newcomers might take 10% of the profit.
It could be that a significant number of people are tipped over that 'should I purchase' threshold given the increased value. This might be especially useful here in Australia where games are frequently released at around $90-110 and it's quite expensive to burn that on a play-once game.
I think they and other birds make use of hard surfaces to break open nuts. Crows have been seen dropping hard nuts on a road and waiting for cars to run over them. Other birds will drop a coconut onto sharp rocks from a height so as to crack it open.
Not necessarily smart, but sneaky and annoying - either crows or magpies used to steal the windscreen wiper blades from my car. Took me a while to work out who/what was doing it until I busted one in action.
I upgraded to 2.0 from 1.1.1 and jailbroke it - didn't technically brick it but might as well have: more Safari lock-ups, more instances of apps randomly quitting or failing to even load, more instances of the keyboard in text/SMS reacting at about one character every two seconds, sluggishness in the Contacts list, etc.
I really hope it's not this bad for the more legitimate customers.
Can anyone running 2.0 let me know how theirs is going?
I should add that menu errors are hardly unique to China and they often do a decent job translating (often on a limited or non-existent budget). Some of the errors in menus in my English-speaking country are inexcusable - lesson one for these people should be: Proofread before you laminate!
The same is true of business everywhere. Ugly business cards, self-made web sites, dodgy signage, refusing to post out a brochure because they were "quite expensive to print" - all because a lot of business people are watching their wallet.
If Chinese restaurants would pay for the service, someone would make an absolute killing going through correcting even just the menus. Was in China a couple of weeks ago and wouldn't have seen an error-free menu anywhere in the country.
Could provide an opportunity for people and indie sites to get together and present something useful to the universities that will help them comply, support the underdogs, etc.
It's sad that something like this can get passed. I would be appalled if this happened in my country.
I don't know how it works exactly, but it's massive, incredibly complicated and absolutely stunning. Something of a beacon to children becoming interested in science, I'm sure.
A toast to the brains behind it and those who got it funded.
"Dunno, it seems to me more like good old, capitalistic smelling when you can fleece someone. Just like, say, buying stuff on an airport might be more expensive than at the mall down the road."
And just like labour in China will be cheaper than in the West. Sounds like in the case of the media village, they're getting some back - so be it!
Informative, thanks (wish I wasn't posting so I could mod you up).
I'm not so bothered about the idea of Google, Apple and co having their own TLDs as I am about the seedy side of the net running even more of a free-for-all than they already are when it comes to tasting, speculation, and so on. Combine that with questionable extensions and operators and things will get much worse before they get any better.
Will that cost be enough to limit the underbelly, or are they making significantly more money than we expect? I guess the value for many will be in type-ins (questionable extensions like.c0m and.con which ICANN seem likely to restrict) or how much value Google bestows to new TLDs (e.g., Made for AdSense sites).
Surely there will be opportunities for new businesses set up to consult on and manage TLDs for large companies that can afford them? Probably easier than getting and demonstrating in-house capabilities?
I'm wondering (in a half-baked idea kind of way) if a potential solution to this sort of copy protection is incorporating it into the game world. e.g., part of the storyline in suitable games involves going online, authenticating, and performing some sort of action. Something that is partly seemless, something that people actually want to do, not too much of a hassle, but limits involvement to paid-up users?
Slashdot Mirror
"If it were a drink, it'd be a complicated whisky. Not to everyon'e taste, and certainly needing to be appreciated in small doses with adequate contemplation. But ultimately rewarding."
I was going to buy the book, but I had a bad drinking experience with whisky early on and can't even stand to smell the stuff now. Thanks for the warning. ;)
I bought Portal as part of The Orange Box for the 360. I don't know that I would've bought it as a standalone game even despite the good reviews - maybe, maybe not. But as The Orange Box combo, the value was undeniable. And I haven't even replayed it or tried Team Fortress yet.
Anyway, now I'm wondering if studios should cooperate to package a release here and there. e.g., big studio has an experimental arm and releases a decent game with 1-2 extra games to sweeten the deal. Or medium studio does a deal with newcomers (e.g., just short of something like Valve actually bringing the Portal crew into the fold) and do a joint release where the newcomers might take 10% of the profit.
It could be that a significant number of people are tipped over that 'should I purchase' threshold given the increased value. This might be especially useful here in Australia where games are frequently released at around $90-110 and it's quite expensive to burn that on a play-once game.
Thoughts?
I think they and other birds make use of hard surfaces to break open nuts. Crows have been seen dropping hard nuts on a road and waiting for cars to run over them. Other birds will drop a coconut onto sharp rocks from a height so as to crack it open.
Not necessarily smart, but sneaky and annoying - either crows or magpies used to steal the windscreen wiper blades from my car. Took me a while to work out who/what was doing it until I busted one in action.
More outdoor levels. Less electric-arse creatures flying at you at lightning speed.
And +1 to the shroud concept sounding ridiculous.
Ahem, domestic violence!
>>You've never had plug rage?
>
>Please stay away from my computers. Thanks.
Stay away from our computers? What about, stay away from our daughters?!
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/8/8/
I upgraded to 2.0 from 1.1.1 and jailbroke it - didn't technically brick it but might as well have: more Safari lock-ups, more instances of apps randomly quitting or failing to even load, more instances of the keyboard in text/SMS reacting at about one character every two seconds, sluggishness in the Contacts list, etc.
I really hope it's not this bad for the more legitimate customers.
Can anyone running 2.0 let me know how theirs is going?
That's nice and all, but I suspect "movie or mp3" is nerd code for porn here and this guy will be doing a lot of "hard work" from home.
Thanks also - helped me follow what's going on here!
I should add that menu errors are hardly unique to China and they often do a decent job translating (often on a limited or non-existent budget). Some of the errors in menus in my English-speaking country are inexcusable - lesson one for these people should be: Proofread before you laminate!
Everyone, clear a path. It's the waaahmbulance.
The same is true of business everywhere. Ugly business cards, self-made web sites, dodgy signage, refusing to post out a brochure because they were "quite expensive to print" - all because a lot of business people are watching their wallet.
If Chinese restaurants would pay for the service, someone would make an absolute killing going through correcting even just the menus. Was in China a couple of weeks ago and wouldn't have seen an error-free menu anywhere in the country.
I can follow it to roughly that level, but when things get too sub-atomic, I struggle a little to keep up.
Incidentally, what would be the result of a lead atom hitting me at whatever 1000+ TeV is?
What speeds can they get these particles up to?
My mind boggles at how the hell they track an individual atom on such a massive circuit!
Could provide an opportunity for people and indie sites to get together and present something useful to the universities that will help them comply, support the underdogs, etc.
It's sad that something like this can get passed. I would be appalled if this happened in my country.
+1 on amazing.
I don't know how it works exactly, but it's massive, incredibly complicated and absolutely stunning. Something of a beacon to children becoming interested in science, I'm sure.
A toast to the brains behind it and those who got it funded.
I wish I had an Amazon affiliate code because "So, you got a penguin tattoo, what now?" would be a perfect recommendation.
"Dunno, it seems to me more like good old, capitalistic smelling when you can fleece someone. Just like, say, buying stuff on an airport might be more expensive than at the mall down the road."
And just like labour in China will be cheaper than in the West. Sounds like in the case of the media village, they're getting some back - so be it!
Who provides for mydomain.com? They're pretty cheap and have been OK to deal with.
I currently use mostly TPP Internet with other domains at Melbourne IT, MyDomain, Gandi, Joker, Domainz.co.nz, etc.
Informative, thanks (wish I wasn't posting so I could mod you up).
I'm not so bothered about the idea of Google, Apple and co having their own TLDs as I am about the seedy side of the net running even more of a free-for-all than they already are when it comes to tasting, speculation, and so on. Combine that with questionable extensions and operators and things will get much worse before they get any better.
Will that cost be enough to limit the underbelly, or are they making significantly more money than we expect? I guess the value for many will be in type-ins (questionable extensions like .c0m and .con which ICANN seem likely to restrict) or how much value Google bestows to new TLDs (e.g., Made for AdSense sites).
Surely there will be opportunities for new businesses set up to consult on and manage TLDs for large companies that can afford them? Probably easier than getting and demonstrating in-house capabilities?
What sort of price range are we talking about for these TLDs?
True, but limiting casual piracy may go a long way to helping game companies financially.
And I'm not talking about it being a solution for every game - just may be something to consider for some of them.
I'm wondering (in a half-baked idea kind of way) if a potential solution to this sort of copy protection is incorporating it into the game world. e.g., part of the storyline in suitable games involves going online, authenticating, and performing some sort of action. Something that is partly seemless, something that people actually want to do, not too much of a hassle, but limits involvement to paid-up users?
Definitely sounds like a big problem.
"If they find presence of life..." ...let's cook it!