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User: Sockatume

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Comments · 5,843

  1. Re:Hope on 3D Realms Sued Over Failed Duke Nukem Forever Plans · · Score: 1

    If 3DR has gone bust, then presumably all the IP is just sitting around and will be acquired by another company. Unlike most games companies that fold, it doesn't seem 3DR was up to its neck in debt or anything like that, so it won't be handed over to some cold-hearted administrators and will more likely than not get snapped up by a rival.

  2. Re:So well-timed. on Square Enix Shuts Down Fan-Made Chrono Trigger Sequel · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What projects should they be going after? The 99% that never actually go anywhere, or the 1% that look like they're going to be finished?

  3. Re:Is this such a good idea? on South Carolina To Give 1 Laptop Per School Child · · Score: 1

    Ah, now I see, it's more like a project grant. We'll give you the tools, you better yourself. Always a good idea. That's what I get for skimming the article.

  4. Is this such a good idea? on South Carolina To Give 1 Laptop Per School Child · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They're giving laptops to "low-performing school districts with limited resources", but surely to actually use those laptops in lessons, the schools will have to spend even more of their limited resources setting up an infrastructure and new teaching plans?

  5. Re:Wow. on Duke Nukem For Never · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The Metal Gear Solid franchise was also launched and completed in that timespan, consisting of four "blockbuster" large-budget projects, four handheld titles, two mobile phone games, and five remakes/expansion packs.

  6. Re:RIP DNF on Duke Nukem For Never · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I dunno, plenty of other developers manage to have fun and chase their own creativity, and manage to get more out of 15 years of labour than a couple of trailers that look like generic Half-Life mods.

  7. Re:About time on Duke Nukem For Never · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Thing is, back when it first appeared, DNF wasn't "THE Duke title of all time", it was just another FPS with Duke in it. The delays led to it growing an absurd image as something amazing, not the other way around.

  8. Re:Obligatory on Phony Wikipedia Entry Used By Worldwide Press · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Of course it also highlights that Wikipedia needs to be more fastidious about the quality of its references, to ensure that it's never indirectly referencing itself. Only allowing references that demonstrably predate a bit of information's appearance on the Wiki, for example. On the upside, Wikipedia's now demonstrably equal to or more reliable than journalists!

  9. Re:200Mbps on Virgin Media UK Pilots 200Mbps Broadband Speeds · · Score: 1

    Strictly speaking, all 200Mbps are being used to spy on you, because they're going to monitor all unencrypted internet traffic.

  10. On a related note... on Virgin Media UK Pilots 200Mbps Broadband Speeds · · Score: 2, Informative

    They're opening their network to other broadband companies, as a way of increasing revenues and heading off any issues with monopolisation of cable infrastructure. (They gradually hoovered up most of the UK's other cable companies.)

  11. Re:Strong free speech rights in the US on European Union Asks US To Free ICANN · · Score: 1

    The Catholic Church has a sovereign nation here, and prints its own version of the Euro. You'd be surprised at the kind of protection of religion that goes on in a continent where most of the population is, officially speaking, subject to a national religion.

  12. Re:EU likes international organizations because... on European Union Asks US To Free ICANN · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You imply that the EU acts as one nation with more than one vote, but the nations in the EU rarely agree on anything, in the UN or anywhere else. France is about as likely to vote alongside the UK as the USA is to get in a voting cabal with North Korea. There's barely anything resembling a concensus in the EU's own parliment, for crying out loud. And Eurovision's been edging towards a nuclear stalemate between the former Soviet Bloc and the Republic of Ireland for years now.

  13. Re:So if the internet was a road system.... on European Union Asks US To Free ICANN · · Score: 1

    Uh, you realise you've pretty much described the British Empire, right? Comes in, gives everyone infrastructure and modernisation for nothing, just wants control of that now-important infrastructure in return? Watch your analogies! The ICANN's a long, long way from that. ;)

  14. Re:Great on Hadrosaur Proteins Sequenced · · Score: 1

    I need that as a T-shirt, like, yesterday.

    *bold*MOTHERFUCKING LARGE HADROSAUR COLLIDER*bold*

    And then pictures of a motherfucking large hadrosaur collider.

  15. Re:The best defense is a good offense on European Union Asks US To Free ICANN · · Score: 1

    It's not a very good analogy in that respect, I didn't intend the message that the US held the sort of sway over the network world that a judge does over the common man. That's far from true. My point was that just because something's currently accepted, that doesn't mean somebody's expessing their happiness with the situation. I absolutely believe that it's better for us to set up our own infrastructure than demand control of the US's, if only because it's one less layer of red tape. This applies to NormalVisual's response above, also.

  16. Does it even need new hardware? on Apple Racks Up the Gaming Patents · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All of the stuff mentioned there could apply equally well to the iPhone and iPod Touch, which Apple have been positioning as proper gaming devices anyway.

  17. Re:The best defense is a good offense on European Union Asks US To Free ICANN · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The "reasonable oversight" isn't what's considered indefensible. The tacit permission for the US to control most of the world's data infrastructure is the problem. Even though the US hasn't done anything bad with its power over the infrastructure, it could, and that potential makes some people nervous. It's entirely possible for a happy status quo to rest upon dangerous possibilities.

    As an analogy, consider the Anti-Social Behavior Order. It's a kind of order that a judge can issue to a UK that bans you from doing something. Anything. Right now it's generally used to stop people being douchebags to each other, but there's nothing to stop a judge issuing one banning you from writing anti-authority newsletters, or protesting somewhere, if those are considered "anti-social". That makes people nervous.

  18. Re:There's one major problem with this..... on Reliable Male Contraceptive In the Works · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you're sleeping with with someone you can't trust to be on contraception, you should be using a condom to protect from STDs anyway.

  19. Poor sales? on A History of Rogue · · Score: 2, Funny

    I guess you could say it's an... *sunglasses* ... Epyx fail.

  20. Re:It's all about power. on FDA Could Delay Adult Stem Cell Breakthroughs · · Score: 1

    I'm not sure, ethically speaking, that it'd be possible for a doctor to give someone stem cell treatment even if it weren't blocked. There's no reliable indication of what, if anything, a particular treatment will do, so it's probably not possible for a doctor to ensure they have informed consent. "We have no idea what this will do, sign here" isn't a treatment, it's a phase-one trial, and thus a doctor's hands would be tied by his profession.

  21. Re:Why is this a gov decision? on FDA Could Delay Adult Stem Cell Breakthroughs · · Score: 1

    Back when the FDA was founded, you bought a bottle of aspirin, and you knew exactly what it would do to you, so long as aspirin was in there. Truth be told, though, you weren't shopping "for aspirin", you were shopping for "fix my headache and/or fever", and aspirin happens to do that very well, as everybody and their dog knows. If you go out and shop for "fix my headache and/or fever" these days, you've got a wide world of pharma to choose from. Does oxypoxyboogywoogy do it? Does ibbyfibbywibblywobbly do it? You don't have a fucking clue. Even if they're 100% pure and correctly dosed, for all you know, they'll just make you shit yourself. Mandatory testing means that there's a chance in hell the drug will actually do what it says on the box, which is much more important to the consumer than what molecules are actually in there.

  22. Re:OUtrage for everyone! on FDA Could Delay Adult Stem Cell Breakthroughs · · Score: 1

    Existed? That seems to be his recurring theme.

  23. Re:Well, not quite... on Shuttleworth Says Ubuntu Can't Just Be Windows · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Actually it's all in the bundling. OEMs will put in whatever version of Windows you give them, it's not like it costs them $500.

  24. Re:Physics on Classic Books of Science? · · Score: 1

    I've been listening to the first few Feynman Lectures in Physics via Audible. They're actually restored recordings of his first presentations of those lectures, and they're excellent.

  25. Re:But on First Look At Windows 7 On an Entry-Level Netbook · · Score: 1

    ...and? It's a commercial OS. What were you expecting it to do when the testing period expired?