I'd call few of these guilty pleasures. You're getting out of the game exactly what they wanted you to.
For me, it's Minesweeper in Windows. Pick Custom field, make it as large as is possible, 24 x 30, and put 200 mines in. See if you can clear the board, time is irrelevant, it's accuracy that counts.
Been doing this for years. It's just the right size to make it difficult, you have to really deduce things out. It also requires a bit of luck, as you'll often run into spots where you know there are mines, but it could be one of two possibilities.
One, because there weren't any $50 games. This is Canadian dollars I'm talking about, and $80 was common. I'm looking at my receipt for Jagged Alliance right now - Apr 6, 1995, $74.95 + tax = 85.45. Ultima 7 - May 10, 1992, $69.98 + tax = $79.08.
There were a ton of games out there to choose from, most of which which were identical in quality. So, when faced with two games that were the same price do you buy A) game with barebones manual or B) game with 200 page manual inc. colour photos, or cloth map, etc?
The 200 page manuals in things like Stunt Island, Red Baron, Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space, Their Finest Hour, or even Master of Magic were one of the *primary* reasons why I'd spend $80 on a game. It always made me feel like I was getting something for my cash. These weren't just game manuals, they were often history lessons, and I learned a ton by reading them.
If I couldn't decide which game to buy, I'd always buy the heavier one. And the side benefit for the company was these things acted as copy protection, even if they weren't specifically meant to be.
Now, the boxes are shrunk, the manuals are tiny (if there at all), and I rarely buy games any more. It's been years now, actually. I didn't change, the games did.
Cheap, jp1 connector if you need it, controls everything I've thrown at it, and has a bunch of buttons for just about everything you need, things that most cheap remotes don't have. Also has M1-M4 buttons as well as L1-L4, which gives you a good spot to put functions you use but there aren't buttons for, things like zoom, audio source, subtitles etc for your dvd, tape speed, reset counter for vcr, etc.
Cost me $20 US, replaced six remotes from six completely different manufacturers (sony tv, toshiba dvd, yamaha receiver, panasonic vcr, motorola cable box, hitachi cd player).
The only negative is that it's a remote you have to know how to use. That is, I know L1 controls recording speed in vcr mode, I couldn't hand it to somebody and expect them to know how to use it. If that's important to you, then you need to go way more expensive.
Just a comment about the post not the story, but what part of the 1980's was Commodore leading anything? Maybe outside the US? I know the Amiga was big in the EU, but the C64 and like have always seemed to be 1/2 computer 1/2 game console.
Did they really sell that many units?
Yes, I think so. I was an Apple guy, and it was always clear to me that we were a minority. Remember, a decent Apple cost $2500-$3000 CDN, while they were pushing the the C64's and Atari 800's at $400-$500.
Which likely accounts for the long term success of the various companies. The C64 and Atari's were seen as underpowered toys because they were so cheap. And of course, the low retail prices led to razor thin margins and low profits.
Let's pretend you're playing cribbage and someone moves your peg back (costing you points) when you aren't looking. Do you sue the company that made the cribbage board and the deck of cards?
Of course you don't, because the crib company never promised that a prime feature of the board was that it would remember the state you left it in. The board has done *everything* they promised it would. That however, is not the case with the online game, and why he won his case.
You don't pay to accumlate virtual items, you pay to play a game. Thats the service you pay for. That's what they offer.
That's a *part* of what they offer. They most certainly make the promise that the world is consistent from session to session, and that your character and possessions will be there once you return. It's the *fundamental* feature of an online RPG, character development and progression.
If they're not promising that, make them state it right up front - "NEW! No annoying progression! When you start a session, you'll be right back at beginner mode with no annoying possessions!" They wouldn't be in business a week.
So, if you used Microsoft Word, and found that when you tried to retrieve past documents that you had saved, only to find they were gone (through no fault of your own), would you accept Microsoft saying "It's only a word processor, get over it, you got to process words, nobody said they would be there when you came back."? I don't think so.
Ah yes, Junior High, the first computer I ever used. Being the geek, I quickly discoved the programming end of things. It still astounds me to this day that the BASIC interpreter on the TRS-80 had two strings for storing text. A$ and B$. I thougt they were just examples, and I could use C$ or D$. Nope. I remember being flabbergasted that Scott Adams could write whole adventure games with two strings.
I'm sure somewhere Bill Gates was crowing about how two strings ought to be enough for anyone.
Folks are way too focussed on the fact that it was a game. It's totally irrelevant what the data was. The guy was paying them to store his data, whether it's game data, financial documents, tax returns, or whatever. And most likely, they won't even allow you to store the data yourself, so it's not like he could have had a backup.
I can't believe it ever got this far, myself. Basic customer service should have investigated the matter, restored the data if they could show it was their fault, or refuse to restore if they could prove the guy was responsible for losing the data himself through game play etc.
One of the cooler events in my life so far has to do with Doom. I used to call long distance to BIX, the Byte magazine online bulletin board. One of the discussion groups was graphics, and Michael Abrash used to hang out there. It was extremely cool to get help with your clipping algorithms etc from a master.
So one day, this young guy starts posting about this graphic stuff he's working on for an upcoming game, and his problems and solutions, and Abrash and him start getting into deep discussions (which quickly flew over my head, couldn't keep up at all). You could tell this kid was deeply impressing Abrash, and doing things in ways he'd never thought of.
As you've guessed, the kid was John Carmack, and the upcoming game was Doom.
I'd love to find an archive of those discussions, they were fantastic.
Here I was going to make a joke about recommending my K-1000 that I got as a Christmas present in 1978, and then I find a whole bunch of people are seriously recommending it.
Still use it, along with the original lens. Folks aren't kidding when they say built like a tank, this thing is heavy.
It's kinda tough to hand it over to a stranger to let them take a picture of you and the family, so we bought a second autofocus camera for the wife and kids to use etc.
Was just browsing through the Fallout Bible posted on the Black Isle web page and what do I find:
"One more thing: the monks did not understand the knowledge in the books they preserved. They treated them like holy materials, to be read and copied and cared for, but not acted upon. Think of the book "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller, which was the inspiration for the abbey."
Fallout and Fallout 2 were two of the few games that I've purchased in the last five years or so. There's so much crap nowadays, I can't be bothered.
Fallout had some of the best manuals I've ever seen. That little guy showing all the things that could go wrong, melting from radiation, his hands blown off from poor gun handling technique, just classic stuff.
I would have bought Fallout 3 without even hesitating.
List looks pretty accurate to me now. I'm not an Amiga fan, but it was definitely a huge machine.
If he wanted the Newton in, he should have chucked the Tandy Sensation, whatever the heck that was. I know every other machine, but not that one.
Hopefully, the large retailers will just pass their lawyers on to the ISP's.
I buy all my cd blanks in the US just to get around these damn levies. Always declare it at the border, never had to pay any duty yet.
Re:IT *WAS* sold on E-Bay - Today!
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The god of modding needs to read up on his html. He keeps leaving off his semicolons on his entities.
$305 US final price. What do these things normally go for? How much did he make for his labour?
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For me, it's Minesweeper in Windows. Pick Custom field, make it as large as is possible, 24 x 30, and put 200 mines in. See if you can clear the board, time is irrelevant, it's accuracy that counts.
Been doing this for years. It's just the right size to make it difficult, you have to really deduce things out. It also requires a bit of luck, as you'll often run into spots where you know there are mines, but it could be one of two possibilities.
New version? Piffle. She has always worn an iPod in the commercial.
There were a ton of games out there to choose from, most of which which were identical in quality. So, when faced with two games that were the same price do you buy A) game with barebones manual or B) game with 200 page manual inc. colour photos, or cloth map, etc?
For me, it's B) every time.
The 200 page manuals in things like Stunt Island, Red Baron, Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space, Their Finest Hour, or even Master of Magic were one of the *primary* reasons why I'd spend $80 on a game. It always made me feel like I was getting something for my cash. These weren't just game manuals, they were often history lessons, and I learned a ton by reading them.
If I couldn't decide which game to buy, I'd always buy the heavier one. And the side benefit for the company was these things acted as copy protection, even if they weren't specifically meant to be.
Now, the boxes are shrunk, the manuals are tiny (if there at all), and I rarely buy games any more. It's been years now, actually. I didn't change, the games did.
It's good story, humour and characters that have led to success. Their hand animated flicks bombed because they were bad, not because they were 2D.
I have never worked at a job in my life where there wasn't someone who would have instantly noticed if I had done any of these things.
Windows only, but there is this one
Cost me $20 US, replaced six remotes from six completely different manufacturers (sony tv, toshiba dvd, yamaha receiver, panasonic vcr, motorola cable box, hitachi cd player).
The only negative is that it's a remote you have to know how to use. That is, I know L1 controls recording speed in vcr mode, I couldn't hand it to somebody and expect them to know how to use it. If that's important to you, then you need to go way more expensive.
Yes, I think so. I was an Apple guy, and it was always clear to me that we were a minority. Remember, a decent Apple cost $2500-$3000 CDN, while they were pushing the the C64's and Atari 800's at $400-$500.
Which likely accounts for the long term success of the various companies. The C64 and Atari's were seen as underpowered toys because they were so cheap. And of course, the low retail prices led to razor thin margins and low profits.
Of course you don't, because the crib company never promised that a prime feature of the board was that it would remember the state you left it in. The board has done *everything* they promised it would. That however, is not the case with the online game, and why he won his case.
You don't pay to accumlate virtual items, you pay to play a game. Thats the service you pay for. That's what they offer.
That's a *part* of what they offer. They most certainly make the promise that the world is consistent from session to session, and that your character and possessions will be there once you return. It's the *fundamental* feature of an online RPG, character development and progression.
If they're not promising that, make them state it right up front - "NEW! No annoying progression! When you start a session, you'll be right back at beginner mode with no annoying possessions!" They wouldn't be in business a week.
So, if you used Microsoft Word, and found that when you tried to retrieve past documents that you had saved, only to find they were gone (through no fault of your own), would you accept Microsoft saying "It's only a word processor, get over it, you got to process words, nobody said they would be there when you came back."? I don't think so.
Might want to invest in a more worldly dictionary there. American spelling is not the ultimate authority.
Merriam-Webster
I'm sure somewhere Bill Gates was crowing about how two strings ought to be enough for anyone.
Folks are way too focussed on the fact that it was a game. It's totally irrelevant what the data was. The guy was paying them to store his data, whether it's game data, financial documents, tax returns, or whatever. And most likely, they won't even allow you to store the data yourself, so it's not like he could have had a backup.
I can't believe it ever got this far, myself. Basic customer service should have investigated the matter, restored the data if they could show it was their fault, or refuse to restore if they could prove the guy was responsible for losing the data himself through game play etc.
Powerpoint is the one app in Office I've never used, nor installed. Just never found it useful.
Because it's just so damn inconvenient to take a card out of your wallet. :rolls eyes:
How many letters have to match before you violate their copyright?
Better keep an eye on the dog and the Doctor, and keep a flamethrower handy.
So one day, this young guy starts posting about this graphic stuff he's working on for an upcoming game, and his problems and solutions, and Abrash and him start getting into deep discussions (which quickly flew over my head, couldn't keep up at all). You could tell this kid was deeply impressing Abrash, and doing things in ways he'd never thought of.
As you've guessed, the kid was John Carmack, and the upcoming game was Doom.
I'd love to find an archive of those discussions, they were fantastic.
Obvious orifice? Without a link to goatse.cx?
Still use it, along with the original lens. Folks aren't kidding when they say built like a tank, this thing is heavy.
It's kinda tough to hand it over to a stranger to let them take a picture of you and the family, so we bought a second autofocus camera for the wife and kids to use etc.
"One more thing: the monks did not understand the knowledge in the books they preserved. They treated them like holy materials, to be read and copied and cared for, but not acted upon. Think of the book "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller, which was the inspiration for the abbey."
Fallout and Fallout 2 were two of the few games that I've purchased in the last five years or so. There's so much crap nowadays, I can't be bothered. Fallout had some of the best manuals I've ever seen. That little guy showing all the things that could go wrong, melting from radiation, his hands blown off from poor gun handling technique, just classic stuff. I would have bought Fallout 3 without even hesitating.
List looks pretty accurate to me now. I'm not an Amiga fan, but it was definitely a huge machine. If he wanted the Newton in, he should have chucked the Tandy Sensation, whatever the heck that was. I know every other machine, but not that one.
Hopefully, the large retailers will just pass their lawyers on to the ISP's. I buy all my cd blanks in the US just to get around these damn levies. Always declare it at the border, never had to pay any duty yet.
The god of modding needs to read up on his html. He keeps leaving off his semicolons on his entities. $305 US final price. What do these things normally go for? How much did he make for his labour?