We're going to have discuss the finances of many recent college graduates...
More seriously, sure, but the money I have in the bank for emergencies (and saving in a desperate attempt to catch up with the housing market) isn't money I'd count for spending on a laptop. Even if I'm only paying back my own savings, rather than a credit card company, I'd consider a laptop paid for when I've covered the cost of it from my discretionary spending money...
Wait, it took him 3 months to pay off a $2,800 laptop (plus tax, and any upgrades), and this seems long to you? Bloody hell, I wish I had your disposable income...
I think MS should definitely have had an HD with all versions. Quite why anyone buys Core, given the price difference between buying a memory card or two, and buying the premium version, I'll never know. Having said that, why can't the game just stream better graphics using the HD, if present? Sure, it's a pest for the developers, but...
"Console sold for 50% more than nearest competitor, and claimed to be twice as powerful, shows graphical improvement over competitor in one game"
This is not a win for the PS3. This makes the mess that is the PS3, is just a little less awful. When games are regularly coming out and show significant improvement over the XBox 360, we'll talk. In the meantime, like hell am I paying 50% extra for "Well, it's better in this game!"
You know we've had laws like this for somewhere around 30 years now, right? I mean, not going to say you'll get this through in the US (but good luck, seriously!), but they're in place and they more or less do work, although there's a massive loophole in that once personal information is out of the UK, they can do what they like with it (but companies have to warn you if they're going to do that).
I don't think it's excessive, I think it's inappropriate. This isn't a violent offender, they don't need to be locked away for my safety, why should the taxpayer have to pay for them to rot in a cell somewhere? Give them a _lot_ of community service instead. Say, about two years worth....
In the example given, at the college would be in the wrong for having sent out an e-mail with 199 other people's addresses visible (and when I say in the wrong, I mean I'm fairly certain they'd be breaking the Data Protection Act).
The person with the harvester could be breaking the law by not taking sufficient precautions with the information, but that gets messier...
On point 1, well, actually, if you're working as a researcher, poking into random topics around your area of research is a fairly major part of your job. It's not like we're told "Research blah", then we enter a meditative state until we develop enlightenment on blah, we go out and look into blah, and topics related to blah, and sometimes that means we bump into other topics.
> Skipping commercials or viewing whenever you want can be done with a Tivo.
Only works if most people don't, however. Cable TV is subsidised by advertising providers. If no-one's watching the adverts, they're going to stop subsidising TV programs.
Personally, I don't think $1.99 is too much to ask for episodes. Having said that, shows I tend to be interested in (Heroes, Battlestar Galactica...) tend to be special effects heavy, and therefore are going to be more expensive to make, and I can see how $1.99 might be a little much for less expensive to make shows, but I still think claiming a 1700% markup is wildly optimistic.
I don't know what broadcast TV in the US is like, but here in the UK SD broadcast TV isn't even close to DVD quality, while the HD broadcast is generally around HD-DVD/BluRay quality, meaning there's a much bigger improvement visible.
By the same logic, I should wear a bullet proof (okay, knife proof as I'm in the UK, and they're subtly different) vest at all times, incase someone decides randomly to try killing me.
Okay, here's another one; why aren't we equipping trains with these? Why are people still allowed on trains with significant amounts of liquid. Is it because trains are actually less at risk, or because everyone's running around panicking about planes?
The US needs to sort out its foreign policy, stop worrying about planes all the time, and maybe, just maybe, think about things that kill people more. Like, disease, car crashes, natural disasters...
I think they also had a fundamental problem that they were competing with the subscriptionless Battlefield 1942, and the extra players/giant game world apparently just weren't enough to keep people. Hoping we'll see something similar later on, as bandwidth gets cheaper. In the meantime, Battlefield 2142 anyone?
This, just to check, is the same Blood Elves who people complained looked too feminine, right? And so Blizzard made the male model more masculine, apparently.
> Sit back, release an expansion once per year, and enjoy the torrent of cash.
For the next 3-4 years, sure. WoW is probably enjoying its popularity peak around now. You remember Everquest, and how it looked like nothing would ever topple it, and how much money Sony was making off each expansion? Look at the mess Sony's in now; Everquest 2 did fairly poorly (compared to the original), Planetside was a near-disaster in MMO terms and SWG keeps getting redesigned in an attempt to appeal to people more.
MMOs don't last forever. They're going to need a sequel, and given the development lead time, had better be well into the design/possibly into actually implementing that sequel.
It's just a thought, but maybe a lot of the female players didn't care enough to queue for it, or pre-ordered online (which is what I did, got it when I woke up this morning, means I missed the first 8 hours of the expansion being live, like, the pain, how will I cope)...
While blowing up another country may be of dubious legality for the MPAA (I believe it could be considered an attack by their host country, unless the host country, but could be talking nonsense), this is a good point. If you're country, they don't arrest you, they invade. Sealand is more or less tolerated at this point, Britain could swat it like a bug if anyone tries anything too crazy with the place.
If it _is_ our fault, we at least have a simple solution to how to stop this getting worse. If it's not our fault, we're even more screwed, as we have to come up with a solution.
What amuses/terrifies me is the people that argue that global warming isn't humanity's fault, and as such we don't have to do anything about it. I mean, the apocalypse may be coming, but if we didn't cause it, no point in us trying to stop it *shakes head quietly*
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We're going to have discuss the finances of many recent college graduates...
More seriously, sure, but the money I have in the bank for emergencies (and saving in a desperate attempt to catch up with the housing market) isn't money I'd count for spending on a laptop. Even if I'm only paying back my own savings, rather than a credit card company, I'd consider a laptop paid for when I've covered the cost of it from my discretionary spending money...
Wait... your idea of broke is "Doesn't have $3,000 spare"? I mean spare, not saved for something else, but spare, available to spend as they wish?
Wait, it took him 3 months to pay off a $2,800 laptop (plus tax, and any upgrades), and this seems long to you? Bloody hell, I wish I had your disposable income...
I think MS should definitely have had an HD with all versions. Quite why anyone buys Core, given the price difference between buying a memory card or two, and buying the premium version, I'll never know. Having said that, why can't the game just stream better graphics using the HD, if present? Sure, it's a pest for the developers, but...
Yeah... let me rephrase the title...
"Console sold for 50% more than nearest competitor, and claimed to be twice as powerful, shows graphical improvement over competitor in one game"
This is not a win for the PS3. This makes the mess that is the PS3, is just a little less awful. When games are regularly coming out and show significant improvement over the XBox 360, we'll talk. In the meantime, like hell am I paying 50% extra for "Well, it's better in this game!"
You know we've had laws like this for somewhere around 30 years now, right? I mean, not going to say you'll get this through in the US (but good luck, seriously!), but they're in place and they more or less do work, although there's a massive loophole in that once personal information is out of the UK, they can do what they like with it (but companies have to warn you if they're going to do that).
I don't think it's excessive, I think it's inappropriate. This isn't a violent offender, they don't need to be locked away for my safety, why should the taxpayer have to pay for them to rot in a cell somewhere? Give them a _lot_ of community service instead. Say, about two years worth....
In the example given, at the college would be in the wrong for having sent out an e-mail with 199 other people's addresses visible (and when I say in the wrong, I mean I'm fairly certain they'd be breaking the Data Protection Act).
The person with the harvester could be breaking the law by not taking sufficient precautions with the information, but that gets messier...
On point 1, well, actually, if you're working as a researcher, poking into random topics around your area of research is a fairly major part of your job. It's not like we're told "Research blah", then we enter a meditative state until we develop enlightenment on blah, we go out and look into blah, and topics related to blah, and sometimes that means we bump into other topics.
Although, my copy of Vista (yes, I managed to get one a couple of days early) did come with the OEM EULA on the outside of the box...
> Skipping commercials or viewing whenever you want can be done with a Tivo.
Only works if most people don't, however. Cable TV is subsidised by advertising providers. If no-one's watching the adverts, they're going to stop subsidising TV programs.
Personally, I don't think $1.99 is too much to ask for episodes. Having said that, shows I tend to be interested in (Heroes, Battlestar Galactica...) tend to be special effects heavy, and therefore are going to be more expensive to make, and I can see how $1.99 might be a little much for less expensive to make shows, but I still think claiming a 1700% markup is wildly optimistic.
I don't know what broadcast TV in the US is like, but here in the UK SD broadcast TV isn't even close to DVD quality, while the HD broadcast is generally around HD-DVD/BluRay quality, meaning there's a much bigger improvement visible.
> www.tV56pze3idd.com
:)
Hey, how did you find out my password?
I could be wrong, but I believe the police are actually responsible for security at No. 10...
By the same logic, I should wear a bullet proof (okay, knife proof as I'm in the UK, and they're subtly different) vest at all times, incase someone decides randomly to try killing me.
Okay, here's another one; why aren't we equipping trains with these? Why are people still allowed on trains with significant amounts of liquid. Is it because trains are actually less at risk, or because everyone's running around panicking about planes?
The US needs to sort out its foreign policy, stop worrying about planes all the time, and maybe, just maybe, think about things that kill people more. Like, disease, car crashes, natural disasters...
I think they also had a fundamental problem that they were competing with the subscriptionless Battlefield 1942, and the extra players/giant game world apparently just weren't enough to keep people. Hoping we'll see something similar later on, as bandwidth gets cheaper. In the meantime, Battlefield 2142 anyone?
This, just to check, is the same Blood Elves who people complained looked too feminine, right? And so Blizzard made the male model more masculine, apparently.
I give up...
> Sit back, release an expansion once per year, and enjoy the torrent of cash.
For the next 3-4 years, sure. WoW is probably enjoying its popularity peak around now. You remember Everquest, and how it looked like nothing would ever topple it, and how much money Sony was making off each expansion? Look at the mess Sony's in now; Everquest 2 did fairly poorly (compared to the original), Planetside was a near-disaster in MMO terms and SWG keeps getting redesigned in an attempt to appeal to people more.
MMOs don't last forever. They're going to need a sequel, and given the development lead time, had better be well into the design/possibly into actually implementing that sequel.
It's just a thought, but maybe a lot of the female players didn't care enough to queue for it, or pre-ordered online (which is what I did, got it when I woke up this morning, means I missed the first 8 hours of the expansion being live, like, the pain, how will I cope)...
While blowing up another country may be of dubious legality for the MPAA (I believe it could be considered an attack by their host country, unless the host country, but could be talking nonsense), this is a good point. If you're country, they don't arrest you, they invade. Sealand is more or less tolerated at this point, Britain could swat it like a bug if anyone tries anything too crazy with the place.
Agree. My thoughts, in order, were:
1. Shiiiiiny...
2. I'm sorry, how much?
3. What do you mean, that's with contract?
4. Well, I'll be back when the price drops then.
Just one baseball bat? Erm, budget cutbacks?
Apparently I wasn't clear enough; my point was that it doesn't matter if it's our fault. People are dying ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5203802. stm ), schools have had to be closed ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/5194052.stm ), we've got electricity problems ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5212724.stm ) and harvests are doing... mixedly ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5216986.stm ). Oh, and 2007 looks to be even hotter.
If it _is_ our fault, we at least have a simple solution to how to stop this getting worse. If it's not our fault, we're even more screwed, as we have to come up with a solution.
I dunno, I'm not sure paranoid and twitchy is an improvement in OS terms :)
(Vista really does seem terrified that someone else might be touching your computer)
What amuses/terrifies me is the people that argue that global warming isn't humanity's fault, and as such we don't have to do anything about it. I mean, the apocalypse may be coming, but if we didn't cause it, no point in us trying to stop it *shakes head quietly*