I actually thought you couldn't use a calculator when you started cause I wouldn't know how you can get these questions wrong with one (unless you have dyscalculus). You'd suppose that a board member is able to get more right;) Got everything right, of course.
Oh well, who needs math when you are popular, right?:)
Still, I browse Slashdot at -1 and read what interests me. I come here for the comments, jokes and all that. I like to see it all when the subject is interesting. No moderating system can ever beat your own judgement (even if it's wrong one).
Sure, but it takes a lot of time to go through all comments off a popular topic. I generally like websites where comments/posts are moderated. I also don't have a problem where I have to trust someone, or a group of people, to moderate for me. If I don't like it, maybe the community isn't for me?
But I am always open to new experiments, I don't know reddits comment system. I don't dislike slashdot's system much, but perhaps there's better out there, I don't know, not actively searching for it either:P
I have used ubuntu before, but for most of the games I wanted to play I had to hope for a OpenGl implementation so I could play it "decently" on it with Wine or just accept I bought a 200$ graphics card that would just play games on low graphical mode.
This was not acceptable for me and so I switched back.
When games will be serviced through browsers, then this problem might go away, although I think this might be some time off still. For now I'll keep to windows as it's the biggest platform for games besides the consoles.
There are a few reasons mentioned in the other replies. But I didn't catch one of the most interestings ones: It's not worth it. In the Netherlands we have an election every two years. One time for the national government, and one time for the regional government. The European elections are extra's. But a financial system or a military system are used day by day. The election system is only used occasionally. There will hardly be any competitors on the election market, because it's simply more hassle then it's worth. To create a tight and secure system would mean a very high investment with very low chance of returning your investment. Only one aspect could be wrong and your application would be ditched, just like the electronic machines mentioned in the article.
Of course the very weird and strict rules don't help either. (Weird as in, not normal in any of the mentioned systems).
Voting is a very important issue. It's the base of our democratic system. Surely the way we vote is very important. However the rules that are employed are very rigid. We could have very good systems for voting by internet if these rules weren't all in place. For example, in the Netherlands every choice should be directly visible, which leads to big bulky voting machines and makes it practically impossible to get it all on a webpage.
There are in fact ways the prime goals of a good voting system could be met, like anonimity, verification of your vote etc with electronic help. For example a card with chip which has your personal key. It could still fulfill all primary needs but can't be used because of the rules. So the rules are really the things we should look at. A link where some is explained: http://aaa.surfnet.nl/info/en/surfkey/artikel_content.jsp?objectnumber=179344
Stepping back to pen and paper might not be such a deal, but I bet if you ask Joe Average on the street that he doesn't mind at all how he votes, if he votes at all. The democratic base might be very important, but hardly anyone uses their rights with voting. So we should just be sure that everything goes honestly and make it easy for the people to vote.
Of course, making the elections easier won't necessarily mean a better election. However if more people, the result would be more democratic. And you wonder if current politicians want that...
Whenever I put on my robe and wizard hat, all the young girls run screaming.
I guess the deal is that you should have black hair and glasses to fetch the interest of young girls. Of course, if you can play a good game of Quidditch that scores extra points!
And even with a large group of skilled professional athletes there really isn't too much of a thrill in watching someone else play anyway.
I am in doubt about this. There are all sorts of sports which attract people to watch at. Why do people like to watch a football or soccer (where I come from) and don't like to watch a 5vs5 counterstrike? Or if you bring it closer to non-action sports, like chess, there's still alot of people genuinely interested in watching the game (although perhaps in a faster replay;)).
I myself just recently got into Warcraft III and I must say there's a lot to say about tournaments with this game. It's faster then chess, and definitely more strategic and thus more fun to watch. Which can also be proven by websites like wcreplays.com which host numerous of matches from top players (and others). However I am sure there's just gamers interested in watching these. However I think the same goes for outdoor sports. You like to watch something, because you also like doing it, but you are interested in seeing someone do it better or more beautiful then you do. You like to watch the sport, because you want your team to win. I don't see why that would be different in e-sports.
However, I do think there are a lot of organizations trying to become the "e-sports" organization. There's so many tournaments and different leagues it's hardly noticeable when one goes away.
My prediction is, with the popularity of games still growing, the popularity of e-sports will become more common as well. It certainly has potential.
And hey, if you wanna flame me that great, "it's 5 minutes i saved your from playing your life away in the virtual world".
Actually, I work, or at least I should be;) Seriously, you are saying games are bad because your mother neglects you? How bad is that compared to neglecting you because she would be playing sports all day, or if she would watch TV all day long. Apparently, there's something she wants to escape from and she uses the game for it. This surely might be bad, but you could help her out by finding out what's really wrong. You can't help her by cutting her off.
Anyway, I play more then 2 hours a day, and I do that rather then take a hike for 2 hours. So who are you to blame me for that? I go on holidays and I am gone for work 9 hours a day. I don't feel like a social outcast or anything.
Oh well I should probably not fall for flamebaits...
Raph Koster has been of the opinion, for quite some time now, that all MMOGs are virtual worlds; it just so happens you can play a game inside many of them. What's your view on this? Are Massive games just another kind of game title, or are they something special?
In my opinion this question is kinda void. Sure, massive games are special. Else it would just called "another" game. However there's two things I notice in this post. First of all, any community will be a way to meet people. If you play sports or an AA meeting, you might meet people too. Of course the goal of the community in itself might be good for meeting people or it might not (for example you might meet a lot of nice people on a science fair but that might not be what you think of a perfect date not for me anyway;)).
Secondly, the article talks about a tauren and undead marrying. This points to a RP server kinda thing. And in that case that's not so special at all. As a previous poster already mentioned, this has been done for a long time in online games that have a RP option. After all, marrying and love is essential for reallife so it also is in a roleplaying environment.
Either way, I met my girl on a chatbox. There was a tight community there, we met once every 2 months or so. We had lots of fun and didn't have any games we played in common. My point is, a community can be build around alot of things and can still net the same results.
It is a mud, but recently there has been discussion in "our" community, of which there was one issue brought up, MUD doesn't sell. Mud is associated with dirt not with a fun game to hang out with your friends.
But Lusternia is a mud. I am suprised this makes it to the slashdot readers though. Darn Matt, you did it again.
And for those people who missed the fun of SimFarm (perfect game to do in the background, watching crop grow is a beautiful, yet slow thing)
here's a link:
simfarm
And for those people who are into livestock try out:
SimSHEEP! I don't know but it mentioned SimFarm as well so I ran into it while googling.
It's actually fun, if you've got people to play with. It's defiantly a social game.
As are most MMORPGS (massive MULTIPLAYER online roleplaying game).
The interaction between people is what makes online games interesting, rather then playing a singleplayer game where you mostly see the same old constantly. Therefor a singleplayer game concentrates on game aspects, deep storylines and choices for a player to keep the gaming experience a fun one over time.
However with MMOG's it's common to create something where the social part is a vital part of the game. This is grouping, player vs player killing, running your own business (it's just not fun when there's noone to buy your stuff) etc.
To get back on topic, it's quite an achievement to create a game that lasts this long online. The past few months have shown that the MMOG market is getting satiated (sp?) and already some big titles have stopped development.
This only shows it's tough to get a good community as well as a finished game. If your game is a hype before it even started then you can be sure to get a decent group of players. More interestingly I am looking forward to the next 4 years, and we'll see how many of the new MMOG's will survive. Everquest and Ultima Online have proven themselves, how about these new games?
PS: This only about graphical games, if you look at the mudding society there have been games that are at their 15 year anniversary and are still running. However alot less players there, so less interestingly I suppose.
In fact, you paid for backward compatibility with the GBA, it plays all old gameboy and gameboy color games.
I personally like it as eventually the machines die. But then again I can deal with using emulators for my nostalgy.
The only thing I'd worry about is when the backward compatibility threatens the possibilities of the console, I want to be able to see new and better things in a console, if backward compatibility might "hold" the console back then I don't want it, otherwise it's a nice bonus.
can be found at worldofpirates, which actually is a MMOPG (massive multiplayer online pirate game;). It's still in beta, but I played it for a while and it did really have the feel of pirates except the world was a lot bigger and your character was alot slower, but it's promising nevertheless as the missions could be alot more dynamic then any singleplayer game can be.
Civilization certainly is a good choice, cause (at least in the first version) it had a built in encyclopedia where alot of info about the advancements can be found.
Another personal favorite of mine is colonization, it's less extensive as Civilization, but it will teach you something of your heritage (if you're American or European).
Of course they are still games, and are supposed to be fun. But some general pointers:
Learn about economics and strategy with real time strategy games or simulation games (sim city, starcraft, age of empires).
Get a good hand eye coordination, quicker reflections by playing a first person shooter. Learn something about guns (apparently that's not as bad as nudity according to some cultures?) at the same time.
And learn something about history playing a fps in a historical war. (Medal of Honor, Call of Duty)
Also alot of board and arcade games can be found at sites like www.popcap.com. They are downloadable for free trials but you can also buy them. Examples are learning to type fast to get rid of sharks when deepseadiving, or traditional games like Mahjongg.
There have been cracks out that defeat punkbuster since a few days after it was released on bf1942. A few of the hacks include:
There will always be some cracks, but Battlefield certainly became better off it, as it was kinda booming.
Either way, people will always cheat in some way or another, the thing is you just have to keep on fighting it. Blizzard is one of the examples who have a strict anti-cheat policy and don't shy away from banning people's accounts and the like.
So with starcraft and Diablo I play on battlenet to ensure not only I am watched but my opposers as well, and with battlefield I play on official EA servers.
They won't catch all, but at least it happens alot less then on non-controlled servers.
Interestingly enough, I played another mud reguraly and at a certain point there was a move with ISP's, which took a while. In the mean time an old backup was set back, with no playerfiles. It was quite popular, cause there were no rules either, it was a killing spree so to say.
To my understanding this happened before on that mud when there was a big version change.
Anyway, it makes one wonder what it is that makes this so interesting to players. Perhaps the view that it will only be temporary and therefor the loss of gear and gold is irrelevant (it would be gone after the period anyway), also the lack of rules makes it like being alone at home when you are young (party!).
Interestingly enough to think about for MUD coders (there are as much around as there are MUD players;)), but for how long will it be interesting to the players anyway? A couple of days, or a month?
This is a great game (settles of catan), playable and enjoyable to many.
The good thing about it is the different way of handling the dice and is something totally different from traditional games.
The aspect of trade is something that adds to the fun and when played with relatives it can be a way to tease and have fun, or when played with serious players can be a way to annoy people!
Besides all that, there are multiple additions that can be bought for the more experienced players so the game will remain fun for a very long time.
Sega holds a U.S. patent, known as the '138 patent, on 'Crazy Taxi,' in which players take the role of a taxi driver who has to accomplish outrageous driving stunts to pick up passengers and quickly deliver them to their destinations."
fits alot of games. I remember a game called Taxi on the commodore 64 which of course looked totally different but just did this. Not to mention Ugh for the pc, which wasn't a real taxi but it followed the same lines. And it would have to be Sega who should be sued:P
Of course these both featured flying machines, rather then "real" cars, but still it fits the description.
I am not sure if most of the game companies are looking for "fresh meat". They just seem to get a broad public.
Therefor it's strange that they wouldn't think about the nostalgic gamer. I for one play alot of old games still (long live virtual pc and emulators) and I do have a problem with alot of modern games (some excluded). I've noticed from my younger brothers that they are hardly as "picky" as I am, and they really tend to lean towards graphical oriented games.
Gameplay is what I am looking for, graphical pleasing is just a secondary requirement. I think that's why I don't like most modern games. On the other side, it seems the majority of gamers is looking for real good looking games.
In the end the "younger" crowd will have less time, and will want better gameplay rather then the same old all the time.
but I can see the use of it. How many times I run out of battery power and think, how am I gonna solve this? No battery switching (certainly not in the sp since it's embedded, you recharge it with an adapter!) cause you are not a saveable point, what to do? Try to make it back and die horrible!
However most games thought of this, so it shouldn't be that much of a problem, but still a help after all.
Why not make it a kinetic charger though? So when you move the gameboy it gets charged, that would help...In stead of jumping higher you get extra energy!
The GC isn't doing as well as Nintento had hoped, but they can't blame piracy yet, as much as they'd LOVE to
I guess you are right, that's why they invest some much time and money to make their products piracy free;).
It does show a point though. We all have seen the sales of Nintendo's GC fall further behind compared to the PS2 and XBOX.
This proves to the point that piracy aren't a deciding factor, in stead it might prove that piracy helps (to a degree) to sell products. I for one, have been copying games since I got my first commodore 64, and still do (oh I better post as an AC!). However I am in the position to buy games now, and perhaps to much of your suprise, I buy the games that are good! Of course, not everyone is like me, but I rather buy a real good game, then those mediocre games that only keep my busy for a week. I think piracy keeps developers and console makers on their toes to get real good games out so that people will buy them no matter what.
Actually protecting your software too good, isn't really healthy. People who are already accustomed to your software will easier buy another of your products. Make it hard...but don't scare away your potential customers...
Slashdot Mirror
Never mind, I just double checked, but should have done so for submit ;) Let's just keep it at that it was early for me...ok? :P
Actually I didn't read much at all, until they said you can use a calculater in the exercises itself :P So I guess I didn't fail the lazy test :P
I actually thought you couldn't use a calculator when you started cause I wouldn't know how you can get these questions wrong with one (unless you have dyscalculus). You'd suppose that a board member is able to get more right ;) Got everything right, of course.
Oh well, who needs math when you are popular, right? :)
Still, I browse Slashdot at -1 and read what interests me. I come here for the comments, jokes and all that. I like to see it all when the subject is interesting. No moderating system can ever beat your own judgement (even if it's wrong one).
Sure, but it takes a lot of time to go through all comments off a popular topic. I generally like websites where comments/posts are moderated. I also don't have a problem where I have to trust someone, or a group of people, to moderate for me. If I don't like it, maybe the community isn't for me? But I am always open to new experiments, I don't know reddits comment system. I don't dislike slashdot's system much, but perhaps there's better out there, I don't know, not actively searching for it either :P
I have used ubuntu before, but for most of the games I wanted to play I had to hope for a OpenGl implementation so I could play it "decently" on it with Wine or just accept I bought a 200$ graphics card that would just play games on low graphical mode. This was not acceptable for me and so I switched back. When games will be serviced through browsers, then this problem might go away, although I think this might be some time off still. For now I'll keep to windows as it's the biggest platform for games besides the consoles.
There are a few reasons mentioned in the other replies. But I didn't catch one of the most interestings ones: It's not worth it. In the Netherlands we have an election every two years. One time for the national government, and one time for the regional government. The European elections are extra's. But a financial system or a military system are used day by day. The election system is only used occasionally. There will hardly be any competitors on the election market, because it's simply more hassle then it's worth. To create a tight and secure system would mean a very high investment with very low chance of returning your investment. Only one aspect could be wrong and your application would be ditched, just like the electronic machines mentioned in the article.
Of course the very weird and strict rules don't help either. (Weird as in, not normal in any of the mentioned systems).
Voting is a very important issue. It's the base of our democratic system. Surely the way we vote is very important. However the rules that are employed are very rigid. We could have very good systems for voting by internet if these rules weren't all in place. For example, in the Netherlands every choice should be directly visible, which leads to big bulky voting machines and makes it practically impossible to get it all on a webpage.
There are in fact ways the prime goals of a good voting system could be met, like anonimity, verification of your vote etc with electronic help. For example a card with chip which has your personal key. It could still fulfill all primary needs but can't be used because of the rules. So the rules are really the things we should look at. A link where some is explained: http://aaa.surfnet.nl/info/en/surfkey/artikel_content.jsp?objectnumber=179344
Stepping back to pen and paper might not be such a deal, but I bet if you ask Joe Average on the street that he doesn't mind at all how he votes, if he votes at all. The democratic base might be very important, but hardly anyone uses their rights with voting. So we should just be sure that everything goes honestly and make it easy for the people to vote.
Of course, making the elections easier won't necessarily mean a better election. However if more people, the result would be more democratic. And you wonder if current politicians want that...
I guess the deal is that you should have black hair and glasses to fetch the interest of young girls. Of course, if you can play a good game of Quidditch that scores extra points!
I am in doubt about this. There are all sorts of sports which attract people to watch at. Why do people like to watch a football or soccer (where I come from) and don't like to watch a 5vs5 counterstrike? Or if you bring it closer to non-action sports, like chess, there's still alot of people genuinely interested in watching the game (although perhaps in a faster replay
I myself just recently got into Warcraft III and I must say there's a lot to say about tournaments with this game. It's faster then chess, and definitely more strategic and thus more fun to watch. Which can also be proven by websites like wcreplays.com which host numerous of matches from top players (and others). However I am sure there's just gamers interested in watching these. However I think the same goes for outdoor sports. You like to watch something, because you also like doing it, but you are interested in seeing someone do it better or more beautiful then you do. You like to watch the sport, because you want your team to win. I don't see why that would be different in e-sports.
However, I do think there are a lot of organizations trying to become the "e-sports" organization. There's so many tournaments and different leagues it's hardly noticeable when one goes away.
My prediction is, with the popularity of games still growing, the popularity of e-sports will become more common as well. It certainly has potential.
Actually, I work, or at least I should be
Anyway, I play more then 2 hours a day, and I do that rather then take a hike for 2 hours. So who are you to blame me for that? I go on holidays and I am gone for work 9 hours a day. I don't feel like a social outcast or anything.
Oh well I should probably not fall for flamebaits...
In my opinion this question is kinda void. Sure, massive games are special. Else it would just called "another" game. However there's two things I notice in this post. First of all, any community will be a way to meet people. If you play sports or an AA meeting, you might meet people too. Of course the goal of the community in itself might be good for meeting people or it might not (for example you might meet a lot of nice people on a science fair but that might not be what you think of a perfect date not for me anyway
Secondly, the article talks about a tauren and undead marrying. This points to a RP server kinda thing. And in that case that's not so special at all. As a previous poster already mentioned, this has been done for a long time in online games that have a RP option. After all, marrying and love is essential for reallife so it also is in a roleplaying environment.
Either way, I met my girl on a chatbox. There was a tight community there, we met once every 2 months or so. We had lots of fun and didn't have any games we played in common. My point is, a community can be build around alot of things and can still net the same results.
It is a mud, but recently there has been discussion in "our" community, of which there was one issue brought up, MUD doesn't sell. Mud is associated with dirt not with a fun game to hang out with your friends.
But Lusternia is a mud. I am suprised this makes it to the slashdot readers though. Darn Matt, you did it again.
And for those people who missed the fun of SimFarm (perfect game to do in the background, watching crop grow is a beautiful, yet slow thing) here's a link: simfarm
And for those people who are into livestock try out: SimSHEEP! I don't know but it mentioned SimFarm as well so I ran into it while googling.
It's actually fun, if you've got people to play with. It's defiantly a social game.
As are most MMORPGS (massive MULTIPLAYER online roleplaying game). The interaction between people is what makes online games interesting, rather then playing a singleplayer game where you mostly see the same old constantly. Therefor a singleplayer game concentrates on game aspects, deep storylines and choices for a player to keep the gaming experience a fun one over time.
However with MMOG's it's common to create something where the social part is a vital part of the game. This is grouping, player vs player killing, running your own business (it's just not fun when there's noone to buy your stuff) etc.
To get back on topic, it's quite an achievement to create a game that lasts this long online. The past few months have shown that the MMOG market is getting satiated (sp?) and already some big titles have stopped development.
This only shows it's tough to get a good community as well as a finished game. If your game is a hype before it even started then you can be sure to get a decent group of players. More interestingly I am looking forward to the next 4 years, and we'll see how many of the new MMOG's will survive. Everquest and Ultima Online have proven themselves, how about these new games?
PS: This only about graphical games, if you look at the mudding society there have been games that are at their 15 year anniversary and are still running. However alot less players there, so less interestingly I suppose.
In fact, you paid for backward compatibility with the GBA, it plays all old gameboy and gameboy color games.
I personally like it as eventually the machines die. But then again I can deal with using emulators for my nostalgy.
The only thing I'd worry about is when the backward compatibility threatens the possibilities of the console, I want to be able to see new and better things in a console, if backward compatibility might "hold" the console back then I don't want it, otherwise it's a nice bonus.
can be found at worldofpirates, which actually is a MMOPG (massive multiplayer online pirate game ;). It's still in beta, but I played it for a while and it did really have the feel of pirates except the world was a lot bigger and your character was alot slower, but it's promising nevertheless as the missions could be alot more dynamic then any singleplayer game can be.
Civilization certainly is a good choice, cause (at least in the first version) it had a built in encyclopedia where alot of info about the advancements can be found.
Another personal favorite of mine is colonization, it's less extensive as Civilization, but it will teach you something of your heritage (if you're American or European).
Of course they are still games, and are supposed to be fun. But some general pointers:
Learn about economics and strategy with real time strategy games or simulation games (sim city, starcraft, age of empires).
Get a good hand eye coordination, quicker reflections by playing a first person shooter. Learn something about guns (apparently that's not as bad as nudity according to some cultures?) at the same time. And learn something about history playing a fps in a historical war. (Medal of Honor, Call of Duty)
Also alot of board and arcade games can be found at sites like www.popcap.com. They are downloadable for free trials but you can also buy them. Examples are learning to type fast to get rid of sharks when deepseadiving, or traditional games like Mahjongg.
There have been cracks out that defeat punkbuster since a few days after it was released on bf1942. A few of the hacks include:
There will always be some cracks, but Battlefield certainly became better off it, as it was kinda booming.
Either way, people will always cheat in some way or another, the thing is you just have to keep on fighting it. Blizzard is one of the examples who have a strict anti-cheat policy and don't shy away from banning people's accounts and the like.
So with starcraft and Diablo I play on battlenet to ensure not only I am watched but my opposers as well, and with battlefield I play on official EA servers.
They won't catch all, but at least it happens alot less then on non-controlled servers.
Interestingly enough, I played another mud reguraly and at a certain point there was a move with ISP's, which took a while. In the mean time an old backup was set back, with no playerfiles. It was quite popular, cause there were no rules either, it was a killing spree so to say.
To my understanding this happened before on that mud when there was a big version change.
Anyway, it makes one wonder what it is that makes this so interesting to players. Perhaps the view that it will only be temporary and therefor the loss of gear and gold is irrelevant (it would be gone after the period anyway), also the lack of rules makes it like being alone at home when you are young (party!).
Interestingly enough to think about for MUD coders (there are as much around as there are MUD players;)), but for how long will it be interesting to the players anyway? A couple of days, or a month?
This is a great game (settles of catan), playable and enjoyable to many.
The good thing about it is the different way of handling the dice and is something totally different from traditional games.
The aspect of trade is something that adds to the fun and when played with relatives it can be a way to tease and have fun, or when played with serious players can be a way to annoy people!
Besides all that, there are multiple additions that can be bought for the more experienced players so the game will remain fun for a very long time.
Even if you could, this description:
:P
Sega holds a U.S. patent, known as the '138 patent, on 'Crazy Taxi,' in which players take the role of a taxi driver who has to accomplish outrageous driving stunts to pick up passengers and quickly deliver them to their destinations."
fits alot of games. I remember a game called Taxi on the commodore 64 which of course looked totally different but just did this. Not to mention Ugh for the pc, which wasn't a real taxi but it followed the same lines. And it would have to be Sega who should be sued
Of course these both featured flying machines, rather then "real" cars, but still it fits the description.
I am not sure if most of the game companies are looking for "fresh meat". They just seem to get a broad public.
Therefor it's strange that they wouldn't think about the nostalgic gamer. I for one play alot of old games still (long live virtual pc and emulators) and I do have a problem with alot of modern games (some excluded). I've noticed from my younger brothers that they are hardly as "picky" as I am, and they really tend to lean towards graphical oriented games.
Gameplay is what I am looking for, graphical pleasing is just a secondary requirement. I think that's why I don't like most modern games. On the other side, it seems the majority of gamers is looking for real good looking games.
In the end the "younger" crowd will have less time, and will want better gameplay rather then the same old all the time.
but I can see the use of it. How many times I run out of battery power and think, how am I gonna solve this? No battery switching (certainly not in the sp since it's embedded, you recharge it with an adapter!) cause you are not a saveable point, what to do? Try to make it back and die horrible!
However most games thought of this, so it shouldn't be that much of a problem, but still a help after all.
Why not make it a kinetic charger though? So when you move the gameboy it gets charged, that would help...In stead of jumping higher you get extra energy!
The GC isn't doing as well as Nintento had hoped, but they can't blame piracy yet, as much as they'd LOVE to
;).
I guess you are right, that's why they invest some much time and money to make their products piracy free
It does show a point though. We all have seen the sales of Nintendo's GC fall further behind compared to the PS2 and XBOX.
This proves to the point that piracy aren't a deciding factor, in stead it might prove that piracy helps (to a degree) to sell products. I for one, have been copying games since I got my first commodore 64, and still do (oh I better post as an AC!). However I am in the position to buy games now, and perhaps to much of your suprise, I buy the games that are good! Of course, not everyone is like me, but I rather buy a real good game, then those mediocre games that only keep my busy for a week. I think piracy keeps developers and console makers on their toes to get real good games out so that people will buy them no matter what.
Actually protecting your software too good, isn't really healthy. People who are already accustomed to your software will easier buy another of your products. Make it hard...but don't scare away your potential customers...
for calling games PHAT!