This reminds me of a story I read years ago about a filter not allowing someone named Sherril Babcock to register on a website until she changed her user id to Babpenis. I guess John Hancock might be denied too.
When I was over in Asia last year they were everywhere. They also enable your DS to play MP3s, videos (after conversion), and function as an E-Book Reader and PDA. How many people use them for those functions can be debated, but there are legitimate uses for the devices.
I don't care if the reviews were giving it a perfect score, I was giving this one a pass anyway. It has even more restrictive install limits than Mass Effect - you can only install it on a single PC at a time so I can't have it on my desktop and laptop for example. I don't mind the online activation, but I refuse to buy any software that limits the number of installations.
http://www.aitdunlock.com/
While on the surface it may appear to be no more onerous than the fingerprinting system in use today, a DNA database would have far greater potential for abuse. What happens if they decide to use the DNA to detect ancestral or genetic heritage? Not to Godwin the thread, but technology like this would have clearly been misused in the not so recent past.
With the recent abuses of the Patriot Act, I don't trust the government not to overstep the stated purpose of this policy either.
HD DVD has the ability to press a DVD and HD DVD on a disc. I would start including the HD DVD version on every standard DVD. Anyone that doesn't have an HDTV but is planning on getting one sometime in the future can still continue to build their DVD collection, and then enjoy them in HD when they upgrade. That will also provide an incentive to upgrade.
There are still a lot of people out there that do not have the equipment to play either Blu-Ray or HD DVD. Since I work in the tech field, most of my coworkers do, but there are only two of us in my neighborhood that have HDTV. I am the only one in my immediate family that has HDTV as well. Not having to worry about your DVD collection being obsolete by having the HD DVD version as well would be a good selling point.
I have two children. One played mostly educational games such as the Jumpstart and Reader Rabbit series from an early age, even pre-kindergarten. The other showed no interest in games and preferred to play with traditional toys. The one that played games is in the top 10% of their age group for reading and reading comprehension, where the one that did not play games is an average reader. Both grew up in the same environment with lots of children's books to read and have had bedtime stories read to them since birth. They even had the same school teachers, yet one surpasses the other. I am pretty sure the educational software had a large part in assisting a beginning reader and giving them a solid foundation to build on.
I have seen several articles on Slashdot complaining of Comcast's unknown cap, where they will tell you that you are transferring too much, but won't define how much is too much.
I think I would prefer a system with a known quantity and a method of purchasing more if you exceed the limit rather than just being cut off.
You can always argue about the top 5% using more than the others. I know people who spend the majority of their time on the Internet and others who only log in for a few minutes to check their mail or get a stock quote. The enthusiasts will always be at the top of the curve.
I would like to see the old Lucasfim Games BallBlazer with network play instead of split screen.
Others would include:
Magic Carpet - It runs too fast on anything faster than a Pentium 1. You can play the original under DOS Box, but it would still be nice to have with improved textures and resolution.
Terminal Velocity
System Shock 1 with a more modern style FPS interface and updated graphics
is the same problem I had with episodic novels. A prime example was Stephen King's "The Green Mile". You ended up paying more for 6 paperback novellas than the hardcover containing the full story would have cost you up front. I didn't like getting involved in the story then having to put it on hold waiting for the next episode to come out either.
We need to stop complaining about the install limitations (in all honesty, who is installing this game on more than 5 machines anyway)?
The problem is that it might not be 5 machines. I installed it the other day under my profile, answering yes when it asked if I wanted to install it for all users. I activated it and played with no problems. When my 19 year old son went to play it under his profile it wanted to be activated again. So it's asking for 2 activations on the same PC. There are 3 more user accounts on that PC too, though I doubt if my wife will be interested in playing it.
That makes we wonder, is it a per user profile or per machine activation? Why ask to install for every user on the PC and not activate it for all users? I called 2K Support and they didn't have the answer either. I can't be the only one running multiple user profiles on the same PC. Also, both of our accounts have admin privileges so it shouldn't be a permissions issue.
People will find another outlet. If the content that people are looking for is not on youtube then they will abandon the site for somewhere else.
The content industry should take a lesson learned from the past. Right now they have a large concentration of people looking at grainy, low resolution video in one place. Remove that and the sites will go underground, and maybe with even better quality video which would be a real threat to their model. They should take the opportunity to promote their product - here is the low resolution preview, click here for a clean high res version for a small fee. Make a tie-in to portable device downloads. There are lots of possible marketing opportunities. However, once they shut down one of the primary reasons for visiting youtube and the content becomes decentralized then that becomes a lot harder to do.
Maybe not yet. They have in the past though. Back in the days of dialup, AT&T Worldnet was one of the first ISPs to implement caps that I am aware of, sending out letters or terminating service of people that stayed logged on too long to their "unlimited" service.
I refuse to buy from them for that very reason. I bought a new DS game for my daughter a while back and when she opened it Christmas Day there were saved games on it from months before. I do not think they should be allowed to open their software if they sell the same thing used.
In contrast, the review of Neverend at Just Adventure's website http://www.justadventure.com/reviews/Neverend/Neve rend.shtm rates it as an A-. I think many of the Gamespot reviewers are given games to review in genres that they don't like and it is hard to write an objective review. Gamespot in particular always seems to give adventure games a bad review with only 2 games in the genre getting a rating over 8 in the past few years, and not since Syberia in 2002 has there been a rating over 9.
I haven't played the game myself, but I just thought it a stark contrast that the site where people enjoy adventure games rates it very high and a site where the reviewers are more generalized pan it.
Oblivion, one of the best selling games of the year, shipped with no protection at all. To listen to the copy protection companies you would think that they would have only been able to sell a handful of copies since anyone could rip and copy it in minutes. Instead, within a month over 1.7 million copies were sold (counting the 360 version as well).
There is not a major game that isn't cracked within days of release, if not hours. Protections may stop the casual copier, but they are not even slowing down anyone else. All the protection is doing is inconveniencing the consumer who is unable to easily back up their purchase.
There are always going to be those that won't pay for a product no matter what, but I believe that the majority of people will pay for something that's worth paying for. With the hours I spent playing Oblivion, it was well worth the purchase price, and by not putting invasive DRM on it I am much more inclined to purchase Bethesda software in the future.
I prefer Big Brain Academy to Brain Age. I found the handwriting recognition in Brain Age hit and miss, reading my 4s as 9s half of the time. In the Stroop test where it uses voice recognition, I have to repeat the word "Blue" frequently as it usually doesn't understand it the first time. The game is still fun though, but it would be less frustrating and I would have a higher score if it wasn't for those shortcomings.
On the other hand, Big Brain Academy doesn't rely on voice and handwriting recognition, and also has more excercises. If I could pick just one of the brain training games, Big Brain Academy would be my choice.
Re:The writing was on the wall when ...
on
RIP CGW
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I have to agree. When they dropped Scorpia, I dropped my CGW subscription. In the 80s, a CGW subscription was a must if you played Adventures or RPGs. I also used to follow Scorpia's roundtable on GEnie. She was always ready to help someone when they got stuck in an RPG, back when there were little else besides hintbooks or CGW to get that kind of information. I still read her reviews and insights at http://www.scorpia.com/
I glanced at the headline and thought finally someone is going to discount downloadable games instead of having to pay the same price as the retail version with it's packaging and retail distribution costs. Then I saw that wasn't what the article was about at all. Halflife 2 was a better deal on Steam than retail - you got the older versions of Valve's software as an added bonus and you didn't need to have the CD in the drive (though the cd check was removed later). The software I have seen on Direct2Drive costs the same as retail but you don't get the physical media, manual, or any incentive to buy it that way other than not having to make a trip to the store.
The same arguments were made 50 years ago when television began appearing in the majority of homes. After all, who in their right mind would pay to go watch a movie when you can get entertainment right in your own home for free? There wouldn't be any incentive for the studios to produce expensive movies since they would not be able to make a profit since people were watching television for free.
Token Ring is deterministic, which means that it is possible to calculate the maximum time that will pass before any end station will be capable of transmitting, something that can only be approximated with Ethernet. In a manufacturing environment using robotics and precise timing requirements such as stamping operations on a conveyor belt, Token Ring is still being used. Token Ring does not have collisions, eliminating most retransmissions that are common in half duplex ethernet, which will also cause a delay.
For most purposes, Token Ring is no longer needed, but in manufacturing or other industries with precise timing requirements Token Ring is still very much in use.
I bought my last game from EB and Gamestop retail stores last month because of their opened box policy. I had bought a new Nintendo DS game at the local Gamestop for my son for Xmas and complained that the box had been opened. They said it was their only copy so they had to open it to put it on the shelf else it would get stolen. Christmas day my son puts the "new" game into his DS and there are save game files from months before the date I had purchased it. They had given me a used game and charged me a new price. They exchanged it with no troubles, but it wouldn't have happened at all if it had been a sealed box.
I believe they should not be able to open up new game boxes if they are selling used games too. Best Buy, Comp USA, and other retaliers can put their boxes out unopened, why can't EB and Gamestop?
This was not the first incident of that nature. I had previously bought an opened game from EB and got all the way home to find there was a missing instruction manual. Now I just avoid them and buy my games online or at a retailer that doesn't open the box.
I was about to post the same thing. Windows Commander had it's name changed to Total Commander after being contacted by attorney's representing Microsoft.
Crusader: No Remorse and Crusader: No Regret were some of my favorite DOS games. A third was planned, but became one of the first casualties after EA took over Origin Systems.
I would also love to see another System Shock, as well as a new Ultima Underworld. I guess Arx Fatalis could be considered a spiritual successor to UU, but I still would like to see a new Ultima Underworld along with a successor. I would also like to see the originals, both of the System Shocks and Ultima Underworlds updated to play on modern PCs with improved graphics and controls. Currently you have to jump through some hoops or use DosBox to get them working.
Magic Carpet in TFA list would also be high on my list for a remake as well as a facelift for the original.
Slashdot Mirror
This reminds me of a story I read years ago about a filter not allowing someone named Sherril Babcock to register on a website until she changed her user id to Babpenis. I guess John Hancock might be denied too.
http://www.apnic.net/mailing-lists/apple/archive/2000/08/msg00013.html
When I was over in Asia last year they were everywhere. They also enable your DS to play MP3s, videos (after conversion), and function as an E-Book Reader and PDA. How many people use them for those functions can be debated, but there are legitimate uses for the devices.
I don't care if the reviews were giving it a perfect score, I was giving this one a pass anyway. It has even more restrictive install limits than Mass Effect - you can only install it on a single PC at a time so I can't have it on my desktop and laptop for example. I don't mind the online activation, but I refuse to buy any software that limits the number of installations. http://www.aitdunlock.com/
While on the surface it may appear to be no more onerous than the fingerprinting system in use today, a DNA database would have far greater potential for abuse. What happens if they decide to use the DNA to detect ancestral or genetic heritage? Not to Godwin the thread, but technology like this would have clearly been misused in the not so recent past.
With the recent abuses of the Patriot Act, I don't trust the government not to overstep the stated purpose of this policy either.
HD DVD has the ability to press a DVD and HD DVD on a disc. I would start including the HD DVD version on every standard DVD. Anyone that doesn't have an HDTV but is planning on getting one sometime in the future can still continue to build their DVD collection, and then enjoy them in HD when they upgrade. That will also provide an incentive to upgrade.
There are still a lot of people out there that do not have the equipment to play either Blu-Ray or HD DVD. Since I work in the tech field, most of my coworkers do, but there are only two of us in my neighborhood that have HDTV. I am the only one in my immediate family that has HDTV as well. Not having to worry about your DVD collection being obsolete by having the HD DVD version as well would be a good selling point.
I have two children. One played mostly educational games such as the Jumpstart and Reader Rabbit series from an early age, even pre-kindergarten. The other showed no interest in games and preferred to play with traditional toys. The one that played games is in the top 10% of their age group for reading and reading comprehension, where the one that did not play games is an average reader. Both grew up in the same environment with lots of children's books to read and have had bedtime stories read to them since birth. They even had the same school teachers, yet one surpasses the other. I am pretty sure the educational software had a large part in assisting a beginning reader and giving them a solid foundation to build on.
I have seen several articles on Slashdot complaining of Comcast's unknown cap, where they will tell you that you are transferring too much, but won't define how much is too much.
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/27/0040220
I think I would prefer a system with a known quantity and a method of purchasing more if you exceed the limit rather than just being cut off.
You can always argue about the top 5% using more than the others. I know people who spend the majority of their time on the Internet and others who only log in for a few minutes to check their mail or get a stock quote. The enthusiasts will always be at the top of the curve.
It should also help in keeping shoe phone conversations private.
I would like to see the old Lucasfim Games BallBlazer with network play instead of split screen.
Others would include:
Magic Carpet - It runs too fast on anything faster than a Pentium 1. You can play the original under DOS Box, but it would still be nice to have with improved textures and resolution.
Terminal Velocity
System Shock 1 with a more modern style FPS interface and updated graphics
is the same problem I had with episodic novels. A prime example was Stephen King's "The Green Mile". You ended up paying more for 6 paperback novellas than the hardcover containing the full story would have cost you up front. I didn't like getting involved in the story then having to put it on hold waiting for the next episode to come out either.
The problem is that it might not be 5 machines. I installed it the other day under my profile, answering yes when it asked if I wanted to install it for all users. I activated it and played with no problems. When my 19 year old son went to play it under his profile it wanted to be activated again. So it's asking for 2 activations on the same PC. There are 3 more user accounts on that PC too, though I doubt if my wife will be interested in playing it.
That makes we wonder, is it a per user profile or per machine activation? Why ask to install for every user on the PC and not activate it for all users? I called 2K Support and they didn't have the answer either. I can't be the only one running multiple user profiles on the same PC. Also, both of our accounts have admin privileges so it shouldn't be a permissions issue.
People will find another outlet. If the content that people are looking for is not on youtube then they will abandon the site for somewhere else.
The content industry should take a lesson learned from the past. Right now they have a large concentration of people looking at grainy, low resolution video in one place. Remove that and the sites will go underground, and maybe with even better quality video which would be a real threat to their model. They should take the opportunity to promote their product - here is the low resolution preview, click here for a clean high res version for a small fee. Make a tie-in to portable device downloads. There are lots of possible marketing opportunities. However, once they shut down one of the primary reasons for visiting youtube and the content becomes decentralized then that becomes a lot harder to do.
Maybe not yet. They have in the past though. Back in the days of dialup, AT&T Worldnet was one of the first ISPs to implement caps that I am aware of, sending out letters or terminating service of people that stayed logged on too long to their "unlimited" service.
I refuse to buy from them for that very reason. I bought a new DS game for my daughter a while back and when she opened it Christmas Day there were saved games on it from months before. I do not think they should be allowed to open their software if they sell the same thing used.
In contrast, the review of Neverend at Just Adventure's website http://www.justadventure.com/reviews/Neverend/Neve rend.shtm rates it as an A-. I think many of the Gamespot reviewers are given games to review in genres that they don't like and it is hard to write an objective review. Gamespot in particular always seems to give adventure games a bad review with only 2 games in the genre getting a rating over 8 in the past few years, and not since Syberia in 2002 has there been a rating over 9.
I haven't played the game myself, but I just thought it a stark contrast that the site where people enjoy adventure games rates it very high and a site where the reviewers are more generalized pan it.
Oblivion, one of the best selling games of the year, shipped with no protection at all. To listen to the copy protection companies you would think that they would have only been able to sell a handful of copies since anyone could rip and copy it in minutes. Instead, within a month over 1.7 million copies were sold (counting the 360 version as well).
There is not a major game that isn't cracked within days of release, if not hours. Protections may stop the casual copier, but they are not even slowing down anyone else. All the protection is doing is inconveniencing the consumer who is unable to easily back up their purchase.
There are always going to be those that won't pay for a product no matter what, but I believe that the majority of people will pay for something that's worth paying for. With the hours I spent playing Oblivion, it was well worth the purchase price, and by not putting invasive DRM on it I am much more inclined to purchase Bethesda software in the future.
I prefer Big Brain Academy to Brain Age. I found the handwriting recognition in Brain Age hit and miss, reading my 4s as 9s half of the time. In the Stroop test where it uses voice recognition, I have to repeat the word "Blue" frequently as it usually doesn't understand it the first time. The game is still fun though, but it would be less frustrating and I would have a higher score if it wasn't for those shortcomings.
On the other hand, Big Brain Academy doesn't rely on voice and handwriting recognition, and also has more excercises. If I could pick just one of the brain training games, Big Brain Academy would be my choice.
I have to agree. When they dropped Scorpia, I dropped my CGW subscription. In the 80s, a CGW subscription was a must if you played Adventures or RPGs. I also used to follow Scorpia's roundtable on GEnie. She was always ready to help someone when they got stuck in an RPG, back when there were little else besides hintbooks or CGW to get that kind of information. I still read her reviews and insights at http://www.scorpia.com/
I glanced at the headline and thought finally someone is going to discount downloadable games instead of having to pay the same price as the retail version with it's packaging and retail distribution costs. Then I saw that wasn't what the article was about at all. Halflife 2 was a better deal on Steam than retail - you got the older versions of Valve's software as an added bonus and you didn't need to have the CD in the drive (though the cd check was removed later). The software I have seen on Direct2Drive costs the same as retail but you don't get the physical media, manual, or any incentive to buy it that way other than not having to make a trip to the store.
The same arguments were made 50 years ago when television began appearing in the majority of homes. After all, who in their right mind would pay to go watch a movie when you can get entertainment right in your own home for free? There wouldn't be any incentive for the studios to produce expensive movies since they would not be able to make a profit since people were watching television for free.
Token Ring is deterministic, which means that it is possible to calculate the maximum time that will pass before any end station will be capable of transmitting, something that can only be approximated with Ethernet. In a manufacturing environment using robotics and precise timing requirements such as stamping operations on a conveyor belt, Token Ring is still being used. Token Ring does not have collisions, eliminating most retransmissions that are common in half duplex ethernet, which will also cause a delay.
For most purposes, Token Ring is no longer needed, but in manufacturing or other industries with precise timing requirements Token Ring is still very much in use.
I bought my last game from EB and Gamestop retail stores last month because of their opened box policy. I had bought a new Nintendo DS game at the local Gamestop for my son for Xmas and complained that the box had been opened. They said it was their only copy so they had to open it to put it on the shelf else it would get stolen. Christmas day my son puts the "new" game into his DS and there are save game files from months before the date I had purchased it. They had given me a used game and charged me a new price. They exchanged it with no troubles, but it wouldn't have happened at all if it had been a sealed box.
I believe they should not be able to open up new game boxes if they are selling used games too. Best Buy, Comp USA, and other retaliers can put their boxes out unopened, why can't EB and Gamestop?
This was not the first incident of that nature. I had previously bought an opened game from EB and got all the way home to find there was a missing instruction manual. Now I just avoid them and buy my games online or at a retailer that doesn't open the box.
I was about to post the same thing. Windows Commander had it's name changed to Total Commander after being contacted by attorney's representing Microsoft.
http://www.ghisler.com/name.htm/
Crusader: No Remorse and Crusader: No Regret were some of my favorite DOS games. A third was planned, but became one of the first casualties after EA took over Origin Systems.
I would also love to see another System Shock, as well as a new Ultima Underworld. I guess Arx Fatalis could be considered a spiritual successor to UU, but I still would like to see a new Ultima Underworld along with a successor. I would also like to see the originals, both of the System Shocks and Ultima Underworlds updated to play on modern PCs with improved graphics and controls. Currently you have to jump through some hoops or use DosBox to get them working.
Magic Carpet in TFA list would also be high on my list for a remake as well as a facelift for the original.