And this is where it gets completely thrown off. I can assume that this is true, but at the same time my store recieved six, and none have come back defective. I actually got two phone calls from customers just so they could tell me that it looked better on an HDMI hookup than their old component hookups. [Note: duh.] So when I came home and originally read this, it was mariginally surprising, but only to the point that I hadn't heard anything yet. When it comes to microsoft's stuff not working though... old news.
-TK SV
I work for a video game electronics store, one of the big ones. We pretty much have acknowledged that the GBA is done. There is seriously ONE game in our computer system listed as an upcoming release. A movie tie-in called Ratatoullie or something of that sort. We get one GBA SP system stocked maybe every week or two. They sell FAR less than the DS now. You'll see "C-List" titles come out for it down the road, I mean hell Back to Stone and Mazes of Fate were ones even I was looking forward to, but we decided not to carry them because they were too low-market-value. So there might be others, but very few and far between at my best guess.
I know its not something everyone wanted, but honestly... expect to see it discontinued soon. The Gamecube just got the official axe recently, the GBA SP is just around the corner from my best guess.
The response to your comment is also a good idea, but at the core of this arguement is the fact its a hospital. They can't accept used games/systems for health reasons. I was kind of shocked when I found out they can't even accept things like teddy bears. Why? Because apparently they become germ ridden with time. I do agree though, you could always sell your stuff on ebay and use the funds to purchase stuff for the hospitals. I think part of the reason why you wouldn't be able to sell it though one central account just has to do with honesty. There would be very little accountability for someone who was using it with mal-intent.
As a foreword, this comment is happily placed near the top so people can see it. It really only has to do with the overall subject.
--
Okay, so why is this so important to fans that own the DVD, have seen it, or can watch video streams or any other option that would mean they don't have to watch it on TV [regardless of ownership// commitment]...
Advertising.
What is probably one of the biggest parts of financing a TV network is securing advertising that pays well. If you buy the DVD, or watched it before, etc... yes you have made a commitment and helped them out. The problem is the same as with newspapers. They make SO MUCH of their money off advertising they would rather give away the newspapers in some situations to customers who don't want to pay than deal with their issue. Networks work similarly. If the show can't produce good advertising [TV spots in the tens of thousands] and they have one that can [TV spots in the hundreds of thousands] they will do what is financially the smart decision, even if viewers who are watching like the current content.
I could bet a good chunk of money that somewhere up there some people are watching this very carefully to see how it goes. They made a movie that did alright but not outstanding, but... it did good so it shows promise. The DVDs have sold well, but not in bundles... again, good but not outstanding.
What they're probably looking for is what kind of viewership they have during the marathon. This is the kind of event that could tip someone's opinion on their network into saying... hey... lets put together another season. This will get us viewers = dollars.
The problem my store and many other stores had in my area [again, not near yours, but related] is that we only recieved an initial quantity of dead rising that matched our reservations. I cannot vouch for the store you went to, but typically at my store we unload stuff at the front counter because we don't have any other place to do it. So they might have just had them out there in between processing the shipment, or like some stores in my area are told to do, display reservation copies prominently so customers are aware we carry the product regardless of availability. [that part I think is stupid]
I hope Gamefly helps you out, I've been thinking about going that route myself for awhile.
Its hard to take sides in a discussion like the one I see you folks are having, but as for your response to his comments on rape. I might point out that he is a supporter of good parents + good parenting. A father who rapes his child is not a good parent. I'm pretty sure the fellow you are having a discussion with would agree. He might also agree that he is in no way saying that all rapes are the victim's fault. He just noted that good parents will teach their kids to avoid putting themselves in risky situations that might lead to a rape. If their kids did put themselves in those situations and something happened -- most good parents would probably feel disappointed in both themselves and their children, but good parents also would know not to just turn around and victimize their children more.
Its just a matter of parenting and what he teaches his children.
I like this game a lot.
Some other favorites are Settlers of Catan[And its two expansions], Age of Mythology [The boardgame], Betrayal at House on The Hill, Arkham Horror, Power Grid, and Puerto Rico.
Check the games out if you want something new to sit down and play with your friends... we're hooked.
-TKSV
I've read some of the discussions in the comments already and feel there are several points and views I think need to be mentioned.
First, in relation to the article itself:...Kevin Cloud, co-owner of id, saying that piracy is killing the PC games business. He says that, in most markets, it's hard to sell official products because pirates can beat them to market...
From my position Kevin Cloud is not talking about the US market in particular. He is talking about world wide markets and particularly ones that have high piracy rates. As an example, I live near two military bases. In the last several months I have heard mention from troops coming home with games they bought in Iraq they thought were completely legit, that are completely pirated copies. Sparing that discussion, its the idea of a foreign market example I needed to place. These people were going to spend their money on the games, but it didn't end up in the right pockets.
Next, user "sumdumass" (711423), "the reasons they aren't selling games as they would like to is because of the ever increasing system requirment or maybe the win2000/XP only development approach." and user "UbuntuDupe" (970646), "If e.g. 2 of a million people will respect his copyright on option A and want him to produce A, while 3 of 3 people will respect his copyright on option B and want him to produce B, and he expects this, he will do B." Finally, on this point, user "ArmyOfFun" (652320), "PC game developers really limit their available market when they target the latest hardware and don't bother trying to scale things to older machines. It's pretty rare to see a high quality title that can run well on a 2-3 year old machine, let alone the majority of PCs out there."
Maybe you can see my point being put together for me? Have you ever filled out one of those system requirement surveys? Like back in the day for Half Life, or maybe if you played an MMO like Dark Age and they were getting ready for the next expansion and wanted to know what people were playing on. Oh, another good one.. Dungeon Siege. Some companies do pay a lot of attention to what people are using to play their games, others stay low end, or high end on purpose as well. I have always though that the ones who test the market and then aim for the upper middle ground do the best though. Win2000, XP? Are you kidding me? Its the same arguement I hear about why companies aren't making games for the PSOne or N64.... they're OLD, and not nearly as many people have them sitting around at home anymore. At least as their primary form of entertainment. I'm sure if a company wanted to, they could make games for Win98, or WinME, but you've gotta think of payoff here. How much extra time and effort they might need to spend to make that happen vs how many people will buy it for that reason. Not to mention the kind of features you might have to cut to make it work, too. Some of those fancy Direct X 8,9,10 features might not work in Win98. Ooops.
So before I go on too much of a tangent[rant]... Keep in mind there are some games that try to scale it in full. Dungeon Siege and Dark Age of Camelot are prime examples of games that could scale down pretty low, or up to the highest tier computers out there.
Now I wont cite others for this because they mostly haven't said it.
Games that use digital distribution are not evil. They're protecting their profits. They may, with the use of DRM, be hurting their popularity though. I think that is one of the key aspects that people are missing between Half Life [One], World of Warcraft, and Half Life 2.
Half Life [One] was probably one of the most pirated games I was aware of. Its massive popularity due to that and online mods like counter strike, also made it one of the best selling games I'd ever seen. [Word of Mouth is big $$$]
World of Warcraft is a Subscription based service, but like most MMOs they offer trial games. Blizzar
I agree they shouldn't have kids, but I disagree on the minimum wage part. National Minimum wage, maybe, but state? No. Here in Washington our minimum wage is 7.63 an hour. Its nice, but not great for local costs of living. I mean just trying to find a one bedroom apartment [in my area] is going to cost you around 600$ a month. At minimum wage, PART TIME, thats just insane.
MOST of the companies out here start you out at minimum wage, and part time. That way they don't HAVE to give you benefits, so they don't. I had to get promoted, TWICE, to make more then 10$ an hour at my job, and another time to make it to full time. Otherwise, the guys still at the entry level when I got hired, are making... gasp... 30 cents more. They get TEN CENTS every year, if they're LUCKY. Thats the "maximum" raise. Talk about awesome right? They got MORE of a raise due to the state minimum wage going up based off inflation rates, than the company was willing to give them.
The CEOs of the corporation I work for are all making huge incomes I am sure. Our first quarter revenue was over a billion dollars. I think what the average person wants to know, seriously, is WHY do corporate leaders think its okay to make billions, pay their lower scale employees minimum wage, and themselves millions upon millions.
I mean look at Exxon. I LOVE the idea of a strong US Oil company stickin' it to the Mid-East. I DO NOT like the idea of them making 1300 dollars per second in profit, and not turning around and giving that to their customers/employees/communities. I mean seriously... 112 million dollars a day? Thats about $115 per US citizen per year. You could give every citizen of the US 100$ in groceries once a year.
Thats the kind of stuff people with lower incomes look at with disgust.
Everything I've heard from Japanese sales figures indicates the Xbox 360 is doing absolutely abysmal. Selling only 1245 units doesn't sound surprising at all when compared with similar numbers for their launch sales figures in japan. Also, consider that the majority of 360 games available are made for a US market. They have maybe 2 or 3 japanese only games available right now from what I've heard, with more on the way, but nothing that... overseas anyway, is a deal-maker.
-TR
4 Copies?
Get the bad copies resurfaced at a used music store, and sell 'em on ebay or something. They just stopped taking trades on them at GStop / EB, so know in advance that wont work. But seriously, you're sitting on some possible value there.
From my experience in video game retail, I would say it isn't going to be a direct impact from games like World of Warcraft that adjust the buying habits of consumers. The biggest impact will be stores like GameStop, GameCrazy, EBGames, and some of the older stores from the past that have merged with GameStop over the years. Their Trade-In programs, while convenient, are slowly sapping the libraries from players and into retailers warehouses. For example, I recently shipped nearly sixty copies of GTA: III to a warehouse because of an abundant overstock. Considering the store I work in has only been open less than a year, I was quite surprised to see I had 60 copies of overstock for any game.
Now I know that I'm getting kind of off topic and trade-ins are a completely different tangent, but the trends in buying vs trade-ins are very relevent. Consumers are becoming less and less likely to purchase a NEW game over a Used Game, they are also becoming more and more prone to spending less money out of pocket to pay for something. So I believe we'll see a small impact from subscription games. I mean $15 a month, if someone buys 12 games a year, is only about 3 games per year. Though, as compared, the biggest impact will be from consumers running out of trade in values. It may sound a little far fetched, but I have been seeing a lot more people who are unwilling to pay more than thirty dollars out of their pocket when they have rising gas prices and costs of living to deal with as well. So when someone can trade in three games they already own to pay less than $10 for that spiffy new game they want, they'll do it. The question I pose, though, is what happens when they realize the trade ratio is about 3 to 1, and eventually they either wont have games to trade, or will be stuck paying 30+ dollars per game again.
I dont see anyone who is posting how this works.
Piracy as a way to decrease sales cost is a known thing. In the US companies are trying to fight it because it is not something the public is familiar with, and therefore *wont understand*. (Ya right.)
I've seen pictures of markets in china lined with pirated CDs and other such material. Games included. If someone in China can buy a Pirated game fo 2$ (US), as compared to 50$ (US) they will no doubt buy it for 2, even if it is pirated. I myself will not buy pirated games, or download them, because its not the same as having a legit copy. I dont care for the handful of people who say "well thats not how it is." Sorry I know lots of gamers from working at gamestop, most of them really _enjoy_ the stuff in the box. -- Although, when it really comes down to it, if they can save 96% of their money, they will.
So that brings me to the next part of the point I'm trying to make. Sony still has products with original box art, manuals, discounts, etc. The pirates most likely do not, unless they are really tricky and have printing presses and the like. Sony can drop the price down within a reasonable range from 2$(US) to say 5$(US) and sell it on the basis that it is a legit copy with more goodies.
This is a piracy fighting technique. This is not just sony being dumb brained and thinking dropping prices will attract the sales of people who out and out do not want to spend money on anything.
What really bothers me... is that it sounds so vague that I'm not even quite sure what they'll get royalties for. I mean will they get royalties for every mp3s transfered? Will they get them for music they dont even own?... Thats the question that bothers me the most. These Recording Industries make it sound like they own all the music out there so if anything is being downloaded they're the ones who should get paid... take no notice whether or not they actually own the rights to it.
Ah, and that reminds me. I've never really done the research, but are any of the recording industries international in any way? Will they be able to claim royalties in multiple nations for the same song that was shared only once?... so many questions.
You can do the same thing in a few other operating systems. I believe one of them is a unix of sorts but I do not know which one nor have I gone to look for it.
They do this where I'm from, TACOMA WA, and it even happened today. The unusual problem of the system not re-setting itself also occured, so the intersection of 39 and bridgeport way was a 4 way stop for quite some time. This really backed up traffic there as its congested enough when running normally.
If they could assure us these glitches would be gone I wouldn't mind that being the behavior of all lights when emergency vehicles approach.
Time covered Benjamin Franklin in this special issue of Time Magazine. The insights into one of the founding father's of the nation I call my homeland are very inspiring. I think every member of the current Administration could do good by learning a few lessons from this man. Not to mention, in its relation to the current article, he was a realistic inventor. Most everything I can recall him being responsible for inventing has an Important purpose, as opposed to some of the things we see nowadays, which do what, save you a little time? A little pain? There are far too many *Cosmetic* inventions in today's society than I can handle. I enjoy reading about stuff like synthetic diamonds, advances in alternative fuels, and a more modernized house. I do not enjoy reading about the next flat panel display... only 500$ more, looks the EXACT same to me?! Well you probably get my point.
I'm just glad to be reading something about a great man instead of a criminal, for once.
Er, I was trying to say the tracking NASA does of the space debris close to earth in orbit. I've seen the tracking systems and the range they have been setup for because I've very interested in Aerospace Engineering and my father worked for NASA years past. In that situation if an object of some size was to move into that tracking system at an extreme speed and then into our atmosphere, I believe it would have only shown up for a very short period of time if at all, but nothing long enough for anyone to do anything about it.
Sorry for the Confusion.
-Tek
Ugh. Tracking Everything? Ya right, if we still find texas sized objects that will end up flying within an astronomically small distance from earth in the next Decade, or Century for that matter, than there is no doubt there are things the size of a Volkswagon that are going to come very close to or hit earth and we have no idea yet. We can track all the space garbage and junk debris orbiting earth, but when a small or even large object moving at 64,000 mph (random number) is going to hit us, than it might never even show up on that "tracking" that NASA does of the earth orbit space debris. I mean seriously. You expect them to see something that was probably the size of a Volkswagon bug out there in space when its moving that fast? Theres a chance, but its slim. Although not as improbable as NASA being able to track "everything". Thats just downright crazy to assume at this point.
This could be good for Microsoft, which in some ways is a bummer. But if Eolas was intending to carry over this suit to other browsers, than it could be good for everyone. Although in the end I was still hoping to see Microsoft crash and burn for something.
I think the concept of facial recognition is being distorted from a tool to help assist in the confirmation of possible criminals and terrorists to a single device that does all the work. The idea that it can still bring in a 61% accuracy rate is pretty good if you compare it to previous technologies. When you combine that with on the ground security and other systems, it only makes it easier for the Airport security, or other government or commerce locations to keep a tight hold on who comes in and out of their systems.
Think of it this way, They have facial recognition working at entrances, and a few places along the way to security checkpoints. It picks up 3 positives out of 5000 people for terrorists or criminals (This is just a guess). They send that information to security at checkpoints with a picture from the camera, and whatever might be in a database. The security will be able to check to see if it was accurate at the checkpoint, and make a decision based on that for whether or not to check this person more throughly, stop them, arrest them, etc... whatever the case may be. If they can tell from the photograph that it was probably a false positive, they can just avoid it all together, or pick them for a random security check.
No one said if it comes up with a false positive that person will be automatically picked up and thrown in jail. It sounds like a reasonable tool to help identify people they need to check more closely, nothing more.
Slashdot Mirror
And this is where it gets completely thrown off. I can assume that this is true, but at the same time my store recieved six, and none have come back defective. I actually got two phone calls from customers just so they could tell me that it looked better on an HDMI hookup than their old component hookups. [Note: duh.] So when I came home and originally read this, it was mariginally surprising, but only to the point that I hadn't heard anything yet. When it comes to microsoft's stuff not working though... old news. -TK SV
I work for a video game electronics store, one of the big ones. We pretty much have acknowledged that the GBA is done. There is seriously ONE game in our computer system listed as an upcoming release. A movie tie-in called Ratatoullie or something of that sort. We get one GBA SP system stocked maybe every week or two. They sell FAR less than the DS now. You'll see "C-List" titles come out for it down the road, I mean hell Back to Stone and Mazes of Fate were ones even I was looking forward to, but we decided not to carry them because they were too low-market-value. So there might be others, but very few and far between at my best guess.
I know its not something everyone wanted, but honestly... expect to see it discontinued soon. The Gamecube just got the official axe recently, the GBA SP is just around the corner from my best guess.
-TK SV.
The response to your comment is also a good idea, but at the core of this arguement is the fact its a hospital. They can't accept used games/systems for health reasons. I was kind of shocked when I found out they can't even accept things like teddy bears. Why? Because apparently they become germ ridden with time. I do agree though, you could always sell your stuff on ebay and use the funds to purchase stuff for the hospitals. I think part of the reason why you wouldn't be able to sell it though one central account just has to do with honesty. There would be very little accountability for someone who was using it with mal-intent.
As a foreword, this comment is happily placed near the top so people can see it. It really only has to do with the overall subject.
// commitment] ...
--
Okay, so why is this so important to fans that own the DVD, have seen it, or can watch video streams or any other option that would mean they don't have to watch it on TV [regardless of ownership
Advertising.
What is probably one of the biggest parts of financing a TV network is securing advertising that pays well. If you buy the DVD, or watched it before, etc... yes you have made a commitment and helped them out. The problem is the same as with newspapers. They make SO MUCH of their money off advertising they would rather give away the newspapers in some situations to customers who don't want to pay than deal with their issue. Networks work similarly. If the show can't produce good advertising [TV spots in the tens of thousands] and they have one that can [TV spots in the hundreds of thousands] they will do what is financially the smart decision, even if viewers who are watching like the current content.
I could bet a good chunk of money that somewhere up there some people are watching this very carefully to see how it goes. They made a movie that did alright but not outstanding, but... it did good so it shows promise. The DVDs have sold well, but not in bundles... again, good but not outstanding.
What they're probably looking for is what kind of viewership they have during the marathon. This is the kind of event that could tip someone's opinion on their network into saying... hey... lets put together another season. This will get us viewers = dollars.
-TK
The problem my store and many other stores had in my area [again, not near yours, but related] is that we only recieved an initial quantity of dead rising that matched our reservations. I cannot vouch for the store you went to, but typically at my store we unload stuff at the front counter because we don't have any other place to do it. So they might have just had them out there in between processing the shipment, or like some stores in my area are told to do, display reservation copies prominently so customers are aware we carry the product regardless of availability. [that part I think is stupid] I hope Gamefly helps you out, I've been thinking about going that route myself for awhile.
Its hard to take sides in a discussion like the one I see you folks are having, but as for your response to his comments on rape. I might point out that he is a supporter of good parents + good parenting. A father who rapes his child is not a good parent. I'm pretty sure the fellow you are having a discussion with would agree. He might also agree that he is in no way saying that all rapes are the victim's fault. He just noted that good parents will teach their kids to avoid putting themselves in risky situations that might lead to a rape. If their kids did put themselves in those situations and something happened -- most good parents would probably feel disappointed in both themselves and their children, but good parents also would know not to just turn around and victimize their children more.
Its just a matter of parenting and what he teaches his children.
-SV
I like this game a lot. Some other favorites are Settlers of Catan[And its two expansions], Age of Mythology [The boardgame], Betrayal at House on The Hill, Arkham Horror, Power Grid, and Puerto Rico. Check the games out if you want something new to sit down and play with your friends... we're hooked. -TKSV
I've read some of the discussions in the comments already and feel there are several points and views I think need to be mentioned.
...Kevin Cloud, co-owner of id, saying that piracy is killing the PC games business. He says that, in most markets , it's hard to sell official products because pirates can beat them to market...
First, in relation to the article itself:
From my position Kevin Cloud is not talking about the US market in particular. He is talking about world wide markets and particularly ones that have high piracy rates. As an example, I live near two military bases. In the last several months I have heard mention from troops coming home with games they bought in Iraq they thought were completely legit, that are completely pirated copies. Sparing that discussion, its the idea of a foreign market example I needed to place. These people were going to spend their money on the games, but it didn't end up in the right pockets.
Next, user "sumdumass" (711423), "the reasons they aren't selling games as they would like to is because of the ever increasing system requirment or maybe the win2000/XP only development approach." and user "UbuntuDupe" (970646), "If e.g. 2 of a million people will respect his copyright on option A and want him to produce A, while 3 of 3 people will respect his copyright on option B and want him to produce B, and he expects this, he will do B." Finally, on this point, user "ArmyOfFun" (652320), "PC game developers really limit their available market when they target the latest hardware and don't bother trying to scale things to older machines. It's pretty rare to see a high quality title that can run well on a 2-3 year old machine, let alone the majority of PCs out there."
Maybe you can see my point being put together for me? Have you ever filled out one of those system requirement surveys? Like back in the day for Half Life, or maybe if you played an MMO like Dark Age and they were getting ready for the next expansion and wanted to know what people were playing on. Oh, another good one.. Dungeon Siege. Some companies do pay a lot of attention to what people are using to play their games, others stay low end, or high end on purpose as well. I have always though that the ones who test the market and then aim for the upper middle ground do the best though. Win2000, XP? Are you kidding me? Its the same arguement I hear about why companies aren't making games for the PSOne or N64.... they're OLD, and not nearly as many people have them sitting around at home anymore. At least as their primary form of entertainment. I'm sure if a company wanted to, they could make games for Win98, or WinME, but you've gotta think of payoff here. How much extra time and effort they might need to spend to make that happen vs how many people will buy it for that reason. Not to mention the kind of features you might have to cut to make it work, too. Some of those fancy Direct X 8,9,10 features might not work in Win98. Ooops.
So before I go on too much of a tangent[rant]... Keep in mind there are some games that try to scale it in full. Dungeon Siege and Dark Age of Camelot are prime examples of games that could scale down pretty low, or up to the highest tier computers out there.
Now I wont cite others for this because they mostly haven't said it.
Games that use digital distribution are not evil. They're protecting their profits. They may, with the use of DRM, be hurting their popularity though. I think that is one of the key aspects that people are missing between Half Life [One], World of Warcraft, and Half Life 2.
Half Life [One] was probably one of the most pirated games I was aware of. Its massive popularity due to that and online mods like counter strike, also made it one of the best selling games I'd ever seen. [Word of Mouth is big $$$]
World of Warcraft is a Subscription based service, but like most MMOs they offer trial games. Blizzar
Last I saw, June 2007. -TRSV
I agree they shouldn't have kids, but I disagree on the minimum wage part. National Minimum wage, maybe, but state? No. Here in Washington our minimum wage is 7.63 an hour. Its nice, but not great for local costs of living. I mean just trying to find a one bedroom apartment [in my area] is going to cost you around 600$ a month. At minimum wage, PART TIME, thats just insane.
MOST of the companies out here start you out at minimum wage, and part time. That way they don't HAVE to give you benefits, so they don't. I had to get promoted, TWICE, to make more then 10$ an hour at my job, and another time to make it to full time. Otherwise, the guys still at the entry level when I got hired, are making... gasp... 30 cents more. They get TEN CENTS every year, if they're LUCKY. Thats the "maximum" raise. Talk about awesome right? They got MORE of a raise due to the state minimum wage going up based off inflation rates, than the company was willing to give them.
The CEOs of the corporation I work for are all making huge incomes I am sure. Our first quarter revenue was over a billion dollars. I think what the average person wants to know, seriously, is WHY do corporate leaders think its okay to make billions, pay their lower scale employees minimum wage, and themselves millions upon millions.
I mean look at Exxon. I LOVE the idea of a strong US Oil company stickin' it to the Mid-East. I DO NOT like the idea of them making 1300 dollars per second in profit, and not turning around and giving that to their customers/employees/communities. I mean seriously... 112 million dollars a day? Thats about $115 per US citizen per year. You could give every citizen of the US 100$ in groceries once a year.
Thats the kind of stuff people with lower incomes look at with disgust.
Everything I've heard from Japanese sales figures indicates the Xbox 360 is doing absolutely abysmal. Selling only 1245 units doesn't sound surprising at all when compared with similar numbers for their launch sales figures in japan. Also, consider that the majority of 360 games available are made for a US market. They have maybe 2 or 3 japanese only games available right now from what I've heard, with more on the way, but nothing that... overseas anyway, is a deal-maker. -TR
4 Copies? Get the bad copies resurfaced at a used music store, and sell 'em on ebay or something. They just stopped taking trades on them at GStop / EB, so know in advance that wont work. But seriously, you're sitting on some possible value there.
From my experience in video game retail, I would say it isn't going to be a direct impact from games like World of Warcraft that adjust the buying habits of consumers. The biggest impact will be stores like GameStop, GameCrazy, EBGames, and some of the older stores from the past that have merged with GameStop over the years. Their Trade-In programs, while convenient, are slowly sapping the libraries from players and into retailers warehouses. For example, I recently shipped nearly sixty copies of GTA: III to a warehouse because of an abundant overstock. Considering the store I work in has only been open less than a year, I was quite surprised to see I had 60 copies of overstock for any game.
Now I know that I'm getting kind of off topic and trade-ins are a completely different tangent, but the trends in buying vs trade-ins are very relevent. Consumers are becoming less and less likely to purchase a NEW game over a Used Game, they are also becoming more and more prone to spending less money out of pocket to pay for something. So I believe we'll see a small impact from subscription games. I mean $15 a month, if someone buys 12 games a year, is only about 3 games per year. Though, as compared, the biggest impact will be from consumers running out of trade in values. It may sound a little far fetched, but I have been seeing a lot more people who are unwilling to pay more than thirty dollars out of their pocket when they have rising gas prices and costs of living to deal with as well. So when someone can trade in three games they already own to pay less than $10 for that spiffy new game they want, they'll do it. The question I pose, though, is what happens when they realize the trade ratio is about 3 to 1, and eventually they either wont have games to trade, or will be stuck paying 30+ dollars per game again.
I dont see anyone who is posting how this works. Piracy as a way to decrease sales cost is a known thing. In the US companies are trying to fight it because it is not something the public is familiar with, and therefore *wont understand*. (Ya right.)
I've seen pictures of markets in china lined with pirated CDs and other such material. Games included. If someone in China can buy a Pirated game fo 2$ (US), as compared to 50$ (US) they will no doubt buy it for 2, even if it is pirated. I myself will not buy pirated games, or download them, because its not the same as having a legit copy. I dont care for the handful of people who say "well thats not how it is." Sorry I know lots of gamers from working at gamestop, most of them really _enjoy_ the stuff in the box. -- Although, when it really comes down to it, if they can save 96% of their money, they will.
So that brings me to the next part of the point I'm trying to make. Sony still has products with original box art, manuals, discounts, etc. The pirates most likely do not, unless they are really tricky and have printing presses and the like. Sony can drop the price down within a reasonable range from 2$(US) to say 5$(US) and sell it on the basis that it is a legit copy with more goodies.
This is a piracy fighting technique. This is not just sony being dumb brained and thinking dropping prices will attract the sales of people who out and out do not want to spend money on anything.
-TR_v
What really bothers me... is that it sounds so vague that I'm not even quite sure what they'll get royalties for. I mean will they get royalties for every mp3s transfered? Will they get them for music they dont even own? ... Thats the question that bothers me the most. These Recording Industries make it sound like they own all the music out there so if anything is being downloaded they're the ones who should get paid... take no notice whether or not they actually own the rights to it.
... so many questions.
Ah, and that reminds me. I've never really done the research, but are any of the recording industries international in any way? Will they be able to claim royalties in multiple nations for the same song that was shared only once?
You can do the same thing in a few other operating systems. I believe one of them is a unix of sorts but I do not know which one nor have I gone to look for it.
They do this where I'm from, TACOMA WA, and it even happened today. The unusual problem of the system not re-setting itself also occured, so the intersection of 39 and bridgeport way was a 4 way stop for quite some time. This really backed up traffic there as its congested enough when running normally. If they could assure us these glitches would be gone I wouldn't mind that being the behavior of all lights when emergency vehicles approach.
I'm just glad to be reading something about a great man instead of a criminal, for once.
Er, I was trying to say the tracking NASA does of the space debris close to earth in orbit. I've seen the tracking systems and the range they have been setup for because I've very interested in Aerospace Engineering and my father worked for NASA years past. In that situation if an object of some size was to move into that tracking system at an extreme speed and then into our atmosphere, I believe it would have only shown up for a very short period of time if at all, but nothing long enough for anyone to do anything about it. Sorry for the Confusion. -Tek
Ugh. Tracking Everything? Ya right, if we still find texas sized objects that will end up flying within an astronomically small distance from earth in the next Decade, or Century for that matter, than there is no doubt there are things the size of a Volkswagon that are going to come very close to or hit earth and we have no idea yet. We can track all the space garbage and junk debris orbiting earth, but when a small or even large object moving at 64,000 mph (random number) is going to hit us, than it might never even show up on that "tracking" that NASA does of the earth orbit space debris. I mean seriously. You expect them to see something that was probably the size of a Volkswagon bug out there in space when its moving that fast? Theres a chance, but its slim. Although not as improbable as NASA being able to track "everything". Thats just downright crazy to assume at this point.
This could be good for Microsoft, which in some ways is a bummer. But if Eolas was intending to carry over this suit to other browsers, than it could be good for everyone. Although in the end I was still hoping to see Microsoft crash and burn for something.
I think the concept of facial recognition is being distorted from a tool to help assist in the confirmation of possible criminals and terrorists to a single device that does all the work. The idea that it can still bring in a 61% accuracy rate is pretty good if you compare it to previous technologies. When you combine that with on the ground security and other systems, it only makes it easier for the Airport security, or other government or commerce locations to keep a tight hold on who comes in and out of their systems. Think of it this way, They have facial recognition working at entrances, and a few places along the way to security checkpoints. It picks up 3 positives out of 5000 people for terrorists or criminals (This is just a guess). They send that information to security at checkpoints with a picture from the camera, and whatever might be in a database. The security will be able to check to see if it was accurate at the checkpoint, and make a decision based on that for whether or not to check this person more throughly, stop them, arrest them, etc... whatever the case may be. If they can tell from the photograph that it was probably a false positive, they can just avoid it all together, or pick them for a random security check. No one said if it comes up with a false positive that person will be automatically picked up and thrown in jail. It sounds like a reasonable tool to help identify people they need to check more closely, nothing more.
At least I'm pretty sure the electrical wires would.
Check:
. pd f
... heh, sickening.
http://www.petsforum.com/psw/Docket5/Docket5-01
It doesnt show the checked off box but his total assets appear to be greater than $1Mil, while his debts are under $100k.
I see it as less Radio Noise in earth's vicinity. Makes some aspects of Astronomy easier. :D