I have been playing Dragon Age at a friends house, and have been tempted to buy it, but I think I will hold off after running into the guy trying to sell me DLC in the camp site. WTF?!?! Bioware, how you have disappointed me. I am sure this is EA's decision to milk the franchise even more, and this is what all of us were screaming about when EA bought them out. Ah, how the mighty have fallen. Whats next? In the next game, we will have ads playing during loading screens? Or perhaps we will have company brand names put on items? Pathetic. Still, the game IS fun, and besides the DLC annoyance I am having a blast. I will probably get it, but not as it is. Why buy an incomplete product? I will wait till the mondo, super, complete edition will be released in a year or two at a reduced price that will include ALL the DLC, addons, extra content, etc.
I rarely use my iphone internet because the speeds suck and I live in an edge network. I would like to see an alternative to the $30 unlimited plan and instead have something like $10 X amount of time/data plan that roll overs unused data to the next month like roll over minutes.
If they already found everyone who buys a ipod of pirating, then there is no reason not to pirate every song now. Do not spend another single penny on buying another song and instead just pirate the shit. If you want to help the artist, then send them a money order with a letter telling them that they want to support the artist but will not send a dime to the music industry.
I have thought about creating a game using time travel mechanics but my solution was not as elegant as the one Achron is using. Kudos to the developers and I really hope they can sell the technology to other game companies so we can have more time travel RTS.
...Piracy jumps 8000% after plan is implemented. Seriously, this was tried with the DRM securvirus fiasco, people like me REFUSED to buy anything that had it on it, and drove everybody to get the pirated version. Not only that, people went to every site that had reviews of the games and nuked the reviews which hurt sales even more. EA finally relented and seems to have learned their lesson and not put any securcrap on their latest games (besides CD check). Go ahead and put this on your games/movies/others, they will learn soon enough what happens when a company gets too greedy the moment they do.
I have seen the "Demo" out there and let me just say it is NOT worth the money they are charging. It is obvious that a lot of stuff was taken out of the game to be nickled and dimed to the public. If you buy it, you are getting ripped off big time, I suggest holding off a few years until they released a sims3 complete package for 20 dollars.
Since we are on the subject of Face Recolonization, when will some public use FR come into effect? I really like google's FR for online albums, but I have a hard drive with GIGS of pictures I would like to easily go through and find and name faces for me. I am hoping google or some company will release an offline FR software that we can use. Anybody know of any commercial software that does it?
I like how they equate big business = "American People", while the people who are the REAL American people are considered criminals. Fuck the bribed government!
Exactly, it sounds good on paper, but ANY content could take as much as years to make. If it is going to take as long as a year or two to make then they might as well make a FULL game instead of ripping us off.
Not really surprised, look at how many business jumped on vista, and before vista even took off its diapers, we have windows 7 coming out the door. Most business employees are used to xp, its what they have at home and its what they have at work. What company is going to spend the money necessary to upgrade their OS(not to mention new hardware) AND spend extra money + time retraining all their employees to use the new system? It will eventually start spreading just because xp has stopped being supported, BUT it will be a very slow process, we are talking probably three to five years before it even starts to spread. However, by that time, Microsoft will have ANOTHER OS ready to come out.
This is obviously a price gouging scheme they had in the works. You should write/call your representatives/local media/FCC...etc and let them know how you feel about this. Let them know that not only this, BUT the fact that cities preventing competition from entering is unacceptable and you want a change. If you don't, I hope everyone enjoys getting violated with the $150 price a month, you know other ISP's are going to follow them if they get away with it.
AT&T should be sued, forcing people into a two year contract with a company should be against the law. Especially if that company does not provide the service that was promised for that contract.
If only it wasn't for the new ending...
on
Watchmen Watched
·
· Score: 2
Possible spoiler about book:
Ok, I have not seen it and really reluctant to. The ending is what got me really worried. The ending is supposed to be the WTF moment(not the generic and boring new one) where an alien attack takes place that forces everybody in the world to band together and set a aside their differences. Yes, the squid was stretching belief but the idea of aliens forcing humanity together is still sound. Now that we have Dr Manhattan as the one blamed, it changes it into an external force into an internal force. On top of that, the other countries would not band together but look at each other with even more suspicion, the most likely scenario it would band other countries against the U.S., since it was DR Manhattan who caused it. Also, taking out the bodies at the end of the book was stupid, don't give me that bullshit about 9/11 after all the other stuff put in the movie (nuclear cloud, rape, kids body..etc), Why do directors HAVE to fuck up the endings in otherwise great movie? I don't want to see a fantastic movie, just to have it be disappointed at the end.
So instead of going after the phone companies like ATT or the broadband companies like Mediacom which routinely screw customers and ARE monopolies, its going after google who has been pretty good to everyone. Ok, makes sense./dripping sarcasm
In most court legal binding signatures, you have to get a signature and a second signature from another person to verify it was you who signed. Since nobody can actually PROVE you signed(clicked) on it and there is no witnesses, cant you argue without a witness, they cannot prove it was you who signed(clicked) on it.
Here is what I wrote in the PS3 suggestion thread after playing home:
"
Hi, new to the forum and just want to get my 2 cents in. I tried home and like the potential of what it can be, there isn't much to do at the moment, but I definitely can see where it could go given time. With that said, I can see a lot of negatives that can kill home, especially this early in its infancy. The first and biggest problem I see is that the prices are too high for many. I know some people disagree, but for many of us, it is out of the question for different reasons. Some just cannot imagine spending real money on virtual accessories, especially with no guarantee that home will be around in a few years. A LOT of people are in a financial bind with the way the economy is at the moment and are saving their money for more important things like food/bills/gass..etc, there is no way they are going to waste money on something like this. I personally fall in between those two. Finally, there is just too many people trying this, Sony with home, Microsoft with avatars, games with DLC, itunes, netflix, etc,etc People are having to prioritize where their microtransactions are going. Both Sony and Microsoft will get money at first, but it will eventually taper off with time.
Another negative affect is that you will be creating two classes of people, the have and the have nots. Your going to see rich brats running around with all the best clothes/items/living spaces while everyone else is living in the equivalent of cardboard houses and donating clothes. Not exactly a place the have nots will want to visit.
Now, with that said, I can see a possible solution to this problem. If I was Sony, I would get advertisers to pay to put their real world item brands in home (coke, Pepsi, nike, levis, Olivia,Toyota..etc) and give the virtual clothes/itmes away for free. In exchange, sony can give the companies stats about their products, keep track of what people are wearing, what items are popular. They can even put in items not yet released to see what people say about it and if its popular or a dud.
The other thing is that I would keep the option to pay in real world money for those who have it (and willing to use it), but I would have an alternative in-game money that people can get through activities in home, much like an MMO. These can be things like filling out surveys about products, to having competitions sponsored by advertisers, to scavenger hunts, to sitting and getting paid to watch ads, to get paid to go to sponsors home channels and getting paid to play their games (pop the Pepsi balloons, hit the whack a coke, beat the wrestling Toyota bear..etc). I hope you see where I am going with this. This would seem to be the best WIN-WIN scenario for everyone.
Like I said, I can see the potential of what it can be, it just needs a little work(and a lot more content) to get it started. "
------------
I also want to add that they need to start showing some actual movies in the theater to try and bring in some people and give people TV sets so that they can watch their own videos/music with friends in their home space. There needs to be SOMETHING to bring people in, so far there is nothing really FUN to do. One other quick thing, why is everything crammed together and scarce? The developers have near god like building powers and they create this small, sparse, sterile, cramped areas and buildings. I hope this was just a stress tess minimum stuff and the real goodies will start coming out. I do believe home could be great, however the are kidding themselves if they believe people are going to pay for all the cool features through microtransactions.
It depends on if securom is also on the steam version or not. If it isn't I will buy it, if it is then I will not. I refuse to support ANY game that has securom in it.
This is why I gave up TV and local radio a couple of years ago. It stopped being entertainment and just became an ad machine. Now, I just watch tv through the internet, ad free. MUHAHAHAHAHA.
I have personally stopped buying any EA PC games after spore and I know of other who have also. I am also aware that piracy for EA games have SPIKED after they started implementing the DRM scheme. You have to seriously wonder what is wrong with EA. While the games are still making a buttload of cash, They have to realize that they are probably not making nearly as much as they would if they had not implemented the DRM scheme. On top of that they are pissing off the fan base into rabid hatred for them, and motivating the fans to not only pirate the games, but to go to review sites and post negative reviews about the games because of the DRM. Buisiness 101 should tell them this is not a good business in the long run and if you are a shareholder I would suggest getting rid of the stock because this is going to come back and bite EA in the ass.
If they really want to fix the law, the solutions are simple:
-Bring back a realistic time expiration limitations(25 years should be plenty, with 35 at max), with software patents getting a very short time span (5-10 years). *this is the BIGGEST problem with patents*
-Start increasing the costs of patents for those who get a lot, this would limit companies getting thousands of patents and from patenting everything under the sun.
-set a date that the company must have a working prototype of a patented item. If they fail to have a working prototype then the patent gets voided. This will help stop people from creating a patent and waiting for someone else to create the item just to sue them for patent infringement.
This would help, but I am fairly certain that nothing good will come out of this meeting, in the end the solution will be horrible and it will only benefit companies and screw the average person even more.
This is why I love Google's GrandCentral. It does this and more. I have been using them for a while and have been really happy with it. The only complaint is that they are not allowing any new users and there has been no word from GrandCentral for a while.
The only game that really scared me was the original Aliens Vs Predator game. Playing as a marine in those dark corridors, hearing hissing, and seeing/hearing the blips on the radar gun just freaked me out.
So far they have only had the activation DRM on a couple of big games. Wait till they start putting it in every game and then see how many people complain.
No they don't. I can't speak for all gamers, but I go into games to GET AWAY FROM REALITY, not to have it thrown in my face. Ads will KILL innovation in games, instead of creating a few original (scifi/fantasy) gems, we will get nothing but grand theft auto generic clones where EVERYTHING happens in modern city/environment so game companies (like fraktard EA) can get ad revenue.
Slashdot Mirror
I have been playing Dragon Age at a friends house, and have been tempted to buy it, but I think I will hold off after running into the guy trying to sell me DLC in the camp site. WTF?!?! Bioware, how you have disappointed me. I am sure this is EA's decision to milk the franchise even more, and this is what all of us were screaming about when EA bought them out. Ah, how the mighty have fallen. Whats next? In the next game, we will have ads playing during loading screens? Or perhaps we will have company brand names put on items? Pathetic. Still, the game IS fun, and besides the DLC annoyance I am having a blast. I will probably get it, but not as it is. Why buy an incomplete product? I will wait till the mondo, super, complete edition will be released in a year or two at a reduced price that will include ALL the DLC, addons, extra content, etc.
I rarely use my iphone internet because the speeds suck and I live in an edge network. I would like to see an alternative to the $30 unlimited plan and instead have something like $10 X amount of time/data plan that roll overs unused data to the next month like roll over minutes.
If they already found everyone who buys a ipod of pirating, then there is no reason not to pirate every song now. Do not spend another single penny on buying another song and instead just pirate the shit. If you want to help the artist, then send them a money order with a letter telling them that they want to support the artist but will not send a dime to the music industry.
I have thought about creating a game using time travel mechanics but my solution was not as elegant as the one Achron is using. Kudos to the developers and I really hope they can sell the technology to other game companies so we can have more time travel RTS.
...Piracy jumps 8000% after plan is implemented. Seriously, this was tried with the DRM securvirus fiasco, people like me REFUSED to buy anything that had it on it, and drove everybody to get the pirated version. Not only that, people went to every site that had reviews of the games and nuked the reviews which hurt sales even more. EA finally relented and seems to have learned their lesson and not put any securcrap on their latest games (besides CD check). Go ahead and put this on your games/movies/others, they will learn soon enough what happens when a company gets too greedy the moment they do.
I have seen the "Demo" out there and let me just say it is NOT worth the money they are charging. It is obvious that a lot of stuff was taken out of the game to be nickled and dimed to the public. If you buy it, you are getting ripped off big time, I suggest holding off a few years until they released a sims3 complete package for 20 dollars.
Since we are on the subject of Face Recolonization, when will some public use FR come into effect? I really like google's FR for online albums, but I have a hard drive with GIGS of pictures I would like to easily go through and find and name faces for me. I am hoping google or some company will release an offline FR software that we can use. Anybody know of any commercial software that does it?
I like how they equate big business = "American People", while the people who are the REAL American people are considered criminals. Fuck the bribed government!
Exactly, it sounds good on paper, but ANY content could take as much as years to make. If it is going to take as long as a year or two to make then they might as well make a FULL game instead of ripping us off.
Not really surprised, look at how many business jumped on vista, and before vista even took off its diapers, we have windows 7 coming out the door. Most business employees are used to xp, its what they have at home and its what they have at work. What company is going to spend the money necessary to upgrade their OS(not to mention new hardware) AND spend extra money + time retraining all their employees to use the new system? It will eventually start spreading just because xp has stopped being supported, BUT it will be a very slow process, we are talking probably three to five years before it even starts to spread. However, by that time, Microsoft will have ANOTHER OS ready to come out.
This is obviously a price gouging scheme they had in the works. You should write/call your representatives/local media/FCC...etc and let them know how you feel about this. Let them know that not only this, BUT the fact that cities preventing competition from entering is unacceptable and you want a change. If you don't, I hope everyone enjoys getting violated with the $150 price a month, you know other ISP's are going to follow them if they get away with it.
Until some people decide to take a few lawyers with them in the process.
AT&T should be sued, forcing people into a two year contract with a company should be against the law. Especially if that company does not provide the service that was promised for that contract.
Possible spoiler about book: Ok, I have not seen it and really reluctant to. The ending is what got me really worried. The ending is supposed to be the WTF moment(not the generic and boring new one) where an alien attack takes place that forces everybody in the world to band together and set a aside their differences. Yes, the squid was stretching belief but the idea of aliens forcing humanity together is still sound. Now that we have Dr Manhattan as the one blamed, it changes it into an external force into an internal force. On top of that, the other countries would not band together but look at each other with even more suspicion, the most likely scenario it would band other countries against the U.S., since it was DR Manhattan who caused it. Also, taking out the bodies at the end of the book was stupid, don't give me that bullshit about 9/11 after all the other stuff put in the movie (nuclear cloud, rape, kids body..etc), Why do directors HAVE to fuck up the endings in otherwise great movie? I don't want to see a fantastic movie, just to have it be disappointed at the end.
So instead of going after the phone companies like ATT or the broadband companies like Mediacom which routinely screw customers and ARE monopolies, its going after google who has been pretty good to everyone. Ok, makes sense. /dripping sarcasm
In most court legal binding signatures, you have to get a signature and a second signature from another person to verify it was you who signed. Since nobody can actually PROVE you signed(clicked) on it and there is no witnesses, cant you argue without a witness, they cannot prove it was you who signed(clicked) on it.
Here is what I wrote in the PS3 suggestion thread after playing home:
" Hi, new to the forum and just want to get my 2 cents in. I tried home and like the potential of what it can be, there isn't much to do at the moment, but I definitely can see where it could go given time. With that said, I can see a lot of negatives that can kill home, especially this early in its infancy. The first and biggest problem I see is that the prices are too high for many. I know some people disagree, but for many of us, it is out of the question for different reasons. Some just cannot imagine spending real money on virtual accessories, especially with no guarantee that home will be around in a few years. A LOT of people are in a financial bind with the way the economy is at the moment and are saving their money for more important things like food/bills/gass..etc, there is no way they are going to waste money on something like this. I personally fall in between those two. Finally, there is just too many people trying this, Sony with home, Microsoft with avatars, games with DLC, itunes, netflix, etc,etc People are having to prioritize where their microtransactions are going. Both Sony and Microsoft will get money at first, but it will eventually taper off with time.
Another negative affect is that you will be creating two classes of people, the have and the have nots. Your going to see rich brats running around with all the best clothes/items/living spaces while everyone else is living in the equivalent of cardboard houses and donating clothes. Not exactly a place the have nots will want to visit.
Now, with that said, I can see a possible solution to this problem. If I was Sony, I would get advertisers to pay to put their real world item brands in home (coke, Pepsi, nike, levis, Olivia,Toyota..etc) and give the virtual clothes/itmes away for free. In exchange, sony can give the companies stats about their products, keep track of what people are wearing, what items are popular. They can even put in items not yet released to see what people say about it and if its popular or a dud.
The other thing is that I would keep the option to pay in real world money for those who have it (and willing to use it), but I would have an alternative in-game money that people can get through activities in home, much like an MMO. These can be things like filling out surveys about products, to having competitions sponsored by advertisers, to scavenger hunts, to sitting and getting paid to watch ads, to get paid to go to sponsors home channels and getting paid to play their games (pop the Pepsi balloons, hit the whack a coke, beat the wrestling Toyota bear..etc). I hope you see where I am going with this. This would seem to be the best WIN-WIN scenario for everyone.
Like I said, I can see the potential of what it can be, it just needs a little work(and a lot more content) to get it started. "
------------
I also want to add that they need to start showing some actual movies in the theater to try and bring in some people and give people TV sets so that they can watch their own videos/music with friends in their home space. There needs to be SOMETHING to bring people in, so far there is nothing really FUN to do. One other quick thing, why is everything crammed together and scarce? The developers have near god like building powers and they create this small, sparse, sterile, cramped areas and buildings. I hope this was just a stress tess minimum stuff and the real goodies will start coming out. I do believe home could be great, however the are kidding themselves if they believe people are going to pay for all the cool features through microtransactions.
It depends on if securom is also on the steam version or not. If it isn't I will buy it, if it is then I will not. I refuse to support ANY game that has securom in it.
This is why I gave up TV and local radio a couple of years ago. It stopped being entertainment and just became an ad machine. Now, I just watch tv through the internet, ad free. MUHAHAHAHAHA.
I have personally stopped buying any EA PC games after spore and I know of other who have also. I am also aware that piracy for EA games have SPIKED after they started implementing the DRM scheme. You have to seriously wonder what is wrong with EA. While the games are still making a buttload of cash, They have to realize that they are probably not making nearly as much as they would if they had not implemented the DRM scheme. On top of that they are pissing off the fan base into rabid hatred for them, and motivating the fans to not only pirate the games, but to go to review sites and post negative reviews about the games because of the DRM. Buisiness 101 should tell them this is not a good business in the long run and if you are a shareholder I would suggest getting rid of the stock because this is going to come back and bite EA in the ass.
If they really want to fix the law, the solutions are simple: -Bring back a realistic time expiration limitations(25 years should be plenty, with 35 at max), with software patents getting a very short time span (5-10 years). *this is the BIGGEST problem with patents* -Start increasing the costs of patents for those who get a lot, this would limit companies getting thousands of patents and from patenting everything under the sun. -set a date that the company must have a working prototype of a patented item. If they fail to have a working prototype then the patent gets voided. This will help stop people from creating a patent and waiting for someone else to create the item just to sue them for patent infringement. This would help, but I am fairly certain that nothing good will come out of this meeting, in the end the solution will be horrible and it will only benefit companies and screw the average person even more.
This is why I love Google's GrandCentral. It does this and more. I have been using them for a while and have been really happy with it. The only complaint is that they are not allowing any new users and there has been no word from GrandCentral for a while.
The only game that really scared me was the original Aliens Vs Predator game. Playing as a marine in those dark corridors, hearing hissing, and seeing/hearing the blips on the radar gun just freaked me out.
So far they have only had the activation DRM on a couple of big games. Wait till they start putting it in every game and then see how many people complain.
No they don't. I can't speak for all gamers, but I go into games to GET AWAY FROM REALITY, not to have it thrown in my face. Ads will KILL innovation in games, instead of creating a few original (scifi/fantasy) gems, we will get nothing but grand theft auto generic clones where EVERYTHING happens in modern city/environment so game companies (like fraktard EA) can get ad revenue.