He died in pursuit of knowledge, but calling him a hero is a bit much. It was tragic, and hopefully those testing solar powered cars will learn from the tragedy so it never happens again. Simpson's quote: Homer: That Timmy is a real hero!
Lisa: How do you mean, Dad?
Homer: Well, he fell down a well, and... he can't get out.
Lisa: How does that make him a hero?
Homer: Well, that's more than you did!
This is from a quick search I did by patent number:
1 - Traction Wheels - July 13, 1836
10 - Cutting Dye Wood - Aug 10, 1836
101 - Sails and Rigging - Dec 6, 1836
1,000 - Carriage Spring - Nov 3, 1838
10,000 - Paddle Wheel - Sep 6, 1853
100,000 - Horse Sun Bonnet - Feb 22, 1870
250,000 - Ditching Machine - Nov 22, 1881
500,000 - Combined Plush Tank & Manhole - Jun 20, 1893
1,000,000 - Vehicle Tire - Aug 8, 1911
1,500,000 - Submersible vessle for navigation under ice - Sept 10, 1920
2,000,000 - Vehicle Wheel Construction - May 12, 1932
2,500,000 - Interlock for Quick Fastening Doors - Dec 6, 1946
3,000,000 - Automatic Reading System - May 6, 1955
4,000,000 - Process for Recycling Asphalt-aggregate compositions - Dec 28, 1976
5,000,000 - Ethanol production by Escherichia coli strains co-expressing Zymomonas PDC and ADH genes - Mar 19, 1991
6,000,000 - Extendible method and apparatus for synchronizing multiple files on two different computer systems - Dec 7, 1999
6,750,000 - Electron device manufacturing method, a pattern forming method, and a photomask used for those methods - Jun 15, 2004 Approximate time between patents: #1-10,000: 17 years #10,000-100,000: 17 years #100,000-500,000: 23 years #500,000-1,000,000: 18 years #1,000,000-2,000,000: 21 years #2,000,000-3,000,000: 23 years #3,000,000-4,000,000: 21 years #4,000,000-5,000,000: 15 years #5,000,000-6,000,000: 8 years #6,000,000-6,750,000: 5 years
We do see this model at work in the modding community. Just look at all the cool things that can be done with the same core module. Mods take less time than the original game, because the original game you have the complexity of creating the engine, this is the economies of scope the article describes.
Did you read the article. It specifically says this: We can now see where apples have been compared with oranges. Production in physical industries has been naively compared with development in software. It makes no sense to look for economies of scale in development of any kind, whether of software or of physical goods. We can, however, expect the industrialization of software development to exploit economies of scope. The article discusses economies of scope, which is like using the same basic design of the 2004 Maxima to design the 2005 Maxima rather than starting from scratch
If I need to make 20 cars, I need to make 20 engines. If I want to make 20 FPSs, I really only need to make 1 engine and include it in all three.
Not exactly the right interpretation of the metaphor. Your analogy refers to the duplication process (make 20 cars is equivalent to 20 copies of the same application). The article discusses the difference in economies of scale (making 20 cars vs 20 copies) and economies of scope. To go with the car analogy, if I need to make a sedan, a coupe, and luxury car. All 3 cars are within a similar scope, so they can built as basically the same car with most of the same parts. This is economy of scope, after you create the first car you save money in the development of the 2nd and 3rd model because all 3 types of cars share the same "core pieces" The article argues we will start seeing more economies of scope in software development (and even says economies of scale is the wrong way to look at software). In your FPS example using the same engine in 3 different FPS shows economies of scope. The original half-life only came about because they were able to license the quake engine thus reducing development costs and time.
Maybe I should have said "realism" as in sci-fi "realism," where a reasonable albeit fictional world is created. The framework of an advanced mars base doing teleportation experiments in 100 years isn't completely unreasonable. People can accept all sorts of wierd ideas in science fiction as long as its within a logical construct. Look at the matrix, people liked the first movie, there was a logical fictional world constructed. Then the second and third movies broke the logic with no explaination. People don't like the second and thrid movies because the logic of the world was broken, it confuses and breaks the immersion. The level designs, plot, atmosphere a work to give the player a sense that the mars base is "real." The coherent and plausable context lets the player immerse themselves in the gameworld. They accept portals to hell and zombie marines, because those things are explained in a way such they could logically be part of that "world". However, the small contrived lack of duct tape, or advanced weapons that have a light source attached ruins the immersion by having the player question the game. Even just having the light mountable on only the shotgun and rifle is enough to satify most players so they aren't annoyed asking "why is there no duct tape".
The problem is its a contrived limitation on the player to make the gameplay work. When you have a game so aimed at realism, devices such as this to make the gameplay work become an annoyance. It's a cop out on not having the extra complexity of level designs that comprehend the player having both a very limited and targeted light source and weapon at the same time. I have the same problem with games that have gimmiky boss battles. The boss isn't hard enough by himself so the devs make it so you can't hurt him unless he screams "slashdot effect!" which occurs for 2 seconds at 45 second intervals. It breaks the realism and just feels more like a trivial challenge. Unlike a boss battle that has a "logical" limitation like the fire monster can't be hurt by plasma weapons.
It's not that scary. The creepiness and scariness run dry pretty quickly. You get freaked out when there is something unexpected, unfortunately the same formula is played out over and over (walk into a room, and wait for things to jump out) that its not scary. There were very few instances where I was scared, usually something being thrown through a window right in front of me, or a zombie jumping out of the deep shadows, but having things teleport in behind me (which occured much more often) didn't freak me out as much as it was an annoyance.
Of course, these are the same colleges who teach fields of science (like Physics!) that were revolutionized by a man who failed at math for the vast majority of his life (Einstein), and an alchemist (better described as "caucasian voodoo") who got hit in the head with an apple. (Newton) Both graduated from college. In fact, Newton went to Cambridge with the intention of studying law, but his exposure to astronomy (galileo, kepler) led him towards more scientific pursuits. And it wasn't about just getting hit on the head with an apple. Newton applied the questioning and logic he learned through studying philosphy to science and wrote "Quaestiones Quaedam Philosophicae," which started him on the road to create his theories of the universe. Now if he went to a Law-only school, we may not have physics as we know it today! While I was there, our main app was about 90k LOC, and I wrote roughly 30% of the existing code and maintained nearly 90% of it, and I am one person on a 7 man team. With no degree. Heck, I have no high school diploma. And no, these were not designed for me, if collaboration did not happen I was the sole designer and the implementor, the documentor, and the teacher to foreign offices.
Nobody has to go to college to learn program, in fact, alot of times those who learn without going to college have better pure coding skills because they have more passion. Unfortunately, those who self-teach something miss the forest for trees. Sure they may have read books on C, Java, Perl, all sorts of data structures, but how many have read about project management, about economics, about business theory, international studies? Value isn't just lines of code, jobs are being outsourced because programmers as a resource are becoming more and more a commodity. The value is in managing, innovating, negotiating. Programming + business knowledge is far better than just programming. The technical aspects are put in line with the reality of business. You can make decisions on how much to charge for a program, know the best way to get your product to market, understand the implications of dealing internationally. The college experience presses students to look outside of their core environment, and look at things like philosophy, psychology, and business, so they can adapt their specialized training to a much larger world.
If life really isn't about earning money so you can buy "stuff" then why go to college at all? The love of learning, being able to be at the frontier of knowledge, and if you want expanding the body of knowledge. How many people have scanning electon microscopes, electochemistry setups, UV irradiators, or bottles of chemicals in their house. Its also good to have professors help direct you in your learning, until you've reached a point where you understand enough to lead yourself.
A better analogy would be if somebody rewired your vehicle for remote control doorlocks, and you take it to the dealership to change the locks and your car doesn't run anymore. Most people would be upset, all they know is the car ran fine before and now it doesn't. And the gravity of the problem with so many infected users is that MS has to make it work even with spyware.
"i like the idea of compartmentalizing education. i'd rather spend two years concentrating on the skillset that i intend to employ professionally, and then, if i feel like it, educate myself on the other stuff." Actually by compartmentalizing yourself you end up as one of the consuming worker-bees. The far reaching exposure you get from a 4-year degree is designed not just to train you to work, but to become a leader and contribute not just in the workplace but also society. Things like political science and business may not directly apply to your job, but they do apply to your life. Hate your job? If you understand entrepreneurship you have a leg up on starting your own business. Tired of outsourcing? Understanding political science lets you know how you can change things If you learn to be a leader, you are many times more valuable to your employer and society than just a worker. true, it might make me less "employable" wrt "people skills" etc., but that's my problem. i don't think i'd like a job that depended heavily on that anyway, over the long run. just let me do my stuff and go home, without the water-cooler chit-chat and office politics. Pretty much every job people and communications skills are important. Most big projects require work with many people, making sure everybody is on the same page and not just doing their little thing in a vaccuum is important. Being able to clearly communicate what you are doing, and understanding what other people do, arguing constructively, discussing, and eventually making decisions on how to proceed is very important to prevent having to redo, rewrite, and troubleshoot problems. Even in a 1-on-1 situation you should have good people skills to effectively create a requirements document from your customer. If you don't have people skills both sides tend to end up frustrated, and little issues might just slip by that end up being a big problem in the end.
Think the nostalgia has clouded your vision. DRM - Those 5 1/4 disks had anti-copying features. Try to copy and they made a terrible grating sound. Thats why there were programs like Copy II Plus, and Locksmith, to circumvent the copy protection (I think it was some intentionally bad sectors on the disk). Not to mention the other ghetto anti-piracy features, like code wheels, and "find the 3rd word of the second paragraph of page 6" Crashes - There were horrible compatibility issues. Lots of games made you select from a list of components for video and sound. Alot of times my stuff wasn't on the list (darn you Tandy!). So I'd end up with junky graphics, and/or glitchy or non-working sound. Later on sound cards (like the first sound blaster) would randomly crash your system if things weren't setup just right (IRQs, memory addresses). Then when the first dedicated video cards started coming out they were the random crasher. Internet - No, but there were BBS's which were as good, or bad as the internet. Chat, door games, message boards and 125k pr0n file... just start downloading and come back the next day. Solitaire - Solitaire has always existed. This program references one version made in 1985.
Mysterious slow downs - No, pretty much everything was slow so didn't matter. Of course to get certain things running you'd have to mess around with the autoexec.bat and config.sys files to free up enough main memory, 640k my ass billy G!
think you could almost argue that it's more the inability of children these days to understand what true gameplay really is. I must disagree with you, I would say Doom3 gameplay is superior than an '80s game like Donkey Kong, Pac Man, or Super Mario. Games have evolved, just because Doom 3 is average compared to the other games of this era, doesn't mean it isn't superior to those "greats" of the past. I loved NES games when I was growing up, playing them now I'm older I find them repetitive and boring. I feel the reason the GBA has sold so well is because it cant rely on graphics to push the games... which is ALSO why the older generation of gamers are the ones that play them the most... Gameboy has sold so well because the games have supported how people play gameboys. When somebody sits down to play a game on their computer/console, typically they have a few hours. I think what gamers are looking for during that time is not to just be entertained, but to have a great "experience" sound, visuals, gameplay, story, they want the whole package. When somebody is playing on a gameboy they are looking for simple entertainment. Typically you play for a short time, you aren't looking for a completely engrossing thought provoking experience. You just want simple fun you can play until the train arrives
I didn't enjoy the single player original NWN, I did like the expansion packs though. The concept was great, the tools worked pretty well, and the community is awesome (so many great hacks) The biggest thing lacking about NWN has been the engine is old, it already looked a bit dated at launch. Hopefully the designers put more focus on an engine that can expand into the future, since it is one of those games that can reside on your computer for years. Also persistant world support would be awesome. For everybody who hates paying MMO subscriptions, NWN2 could be the answer (I hope)
I don't understand why people always say "well if they sell product x for half the price they will sell 5 times more." Guess what, product x will get down to half its price in a few months or a year. Companies know they can get more money from the fanboys who want it now, then in a few months take the money from the bargain hunters too. And moving more units at a lower price does not always help increase profits, you have more distribution costs, more support costs, more material costs to deal with.
I think the most interesting piece of data that is going to come out this year about pricing will be NFL2K5. Which is a top notch game released at $19.95. Depending on how profits/marketshare for the game work out, maybe we'll see more games towards the lower price end.
You are in the minority though. Many people who download to try, then end up spending the money on beer. Doom 3 is relatively short, people will burn through it in a weekend, so by the time people get off their lazy butts to go to the store, they finished the game and can't justify buying a game they already beat so it can sit on their shelf.
Slashdot Mirror
He died in pursuit of knowledge, but calling him a hero is a bit much. It was tragic, and hopefully those testing solar powered cars will learn from the tragedy so it never happens again.
Simpson's quote:
Homer: That Timmy is a real hero!
Lisa: How do you mean, Dad?
Homer: Well, he fell down a well, and... he can't get out.
Lisa: How does that make him a hero?
Homer: Well, that's more than you did!
You mean he gets fined $1000
probably there but physically disconnected through the package design.
Doh! mod down -1, for too slow looking up info and submitting post
This is from a quick search I did by patent number:
1 - Traction Wheels - July 13, 1836
10 - Cutting Dye Wood - Aug 10, 1836
101 - Sails and Rigging - Dec 6, 1836
1,000 - Carriage Spring - Nov 3, 1838
10,000 - Paddle Wheel - Sep 6, 1853
100,000 - Horse Sun Bonnet - Feb 22, 1870
250,000 - Ditching Machine - Nov 22, 1881
500,000 - Combined Plush Tank & Manhole - Jun 20, 1893
1,000,000 - Vehicle Tire - Aug 8, 1911
1,500,000 - Submersible vessle for navigation under ice - Sept 10, 1920
2,000,000 - Vehicle Wheel Construction - May 12, 1932
2,500,000 - Interlock for Quick Fastening Doors - Dec 6, 1946
3,000,000 - Automatic Reading System - May 6, 1955
4,000,000 - Process for Recycling Asphalt-aggregate compositions - Dec 28, 1976
5,000,000 - Ethanol production by Escherichia coli strains co-expressing Zymomonas PDC and ADH genes - Mar 19, 1991
6,000,000 - Extendible method and apparatus for synchronizing multiple files on two different computer systems - Dec 7, 1999
6,750,000 - Electron device manufacturing method, a pattern forming method, and a photomask used for those methods - Jun 15, 2004
Approximate time between patents:
#1-10,000: 17 years
#10,000-100,000: 17 years
#100,000-500,000: 23 years
#500,000-1,000,000: 18 years
#1,000,000-2,000,000: 21 years
#2,000,000-3,000,000: 23 years
#3,000,000-4,000,000: 21 years
#4,000,000-5,000,000: 15 years
#5,000,000-6,000,000: 8 years
#6,000,000-6,750,000: 5 years
15% desktop, 8.4% laptop, 4.8% server
We do see this model at work in the modding community. Just look at all the cool things that can be done with the same core module.
Mods take less time than the original game, because the original game you have the complexity of creating the engine, this is the economies of scope the article describes.
Did you read the article. It specifically says this: We can now see where apples have been compared with oranges. Production in physical industries has been naively compared with development in software. It makes no sense to look for economies of scale in development of any kind, whether of software or of physical goods. We can, however, expect the industrialization of software development to exploit economies of scope.
The article discusses economies of scope, which is like using the same basic design of the 2004 Maxima to design the 2005 Maxima rather than starting from scratch
If I need to make 20 cars, I need to make 20 engines. If I want to make 20 FPSs, I really only need to make 1 engine and include it in all three.
Not exactly the right interpretation of the metaphor. Your analogy refers to the duplication process (make 20 cars is equivalent to 20 copies of the same application). The article discusses the difference in economies of scale (making 20 cars vs 20 copies) and economies of scope.
To go with the car analogy, if I need to make a sedan, a coupe, and luxury car. All 3 cars are within a similar scope, so they can built as basically the same car with most of the same parts. This is economy of scope, after you create the first car you save money in the development of the 2nd and 3rd model because all 3 types of cars share the same "core pieces"
The article argues we will start seeing more economies of scope in software development (and even says economies of scale is the wrong way to look at software). In your FPS example using the same engine in 3 different FPS shows economies of scope. The original half-life only came about because they were able to license the quake engine thus reducing development costs and time.
Maybe I should have said "realism" as in sci-fi "realism," where a reasonable albeit fictional world is created. The framework of an advanced mars base doing teleportation experiments in 100 years isn't completely unreasonable.
People can accept all sorts of wierd ideas in science fiction as long as its within a logical construct. Look at the matrix, people liked the first movie, there was a logical fictional world constructed. Then the second and third movies broke the logic with no explaination. People don't like the second and thrid movies because the logic of the world was broken, it confuses and breaks the immersion.
The level designs, plot, atmosphere a work to give the player a sense that the mars base is "real." The coherent and plausable context lets the player immerse themselves in the gameworld. They accept portals to hell and zombie marines, because those things are explained in a way such they could logically be part of that "world". However, the small contrived lack of duct tape, or advanced weapons that have a light source attached ruins the immersion by having the player question the game. Even just having the light mountable on only the shotgun and rifle is enough to satify most players so they aren't annoyed asking "why is there no duct tape".
The problem is its a contrived limitation on the player to make the gameplay work. When you have a game so aimed at realism, devices such as this to make the gameplay work become an annoyance. It's a cop out on not having the extra complexity of level designs that comprehend the player having both a very limited and targeted light source and weapon at the same time.
I have the same problem with games that have gimmiky boss battles. The boss isn't hard enough by himself so the devs make it so you can't hurt him unless he screams "slashdot effect!" which occurs for 2 seconds at 45 second intervals. It breaks the realism and just feels more like a trivial challenge. Unlike a boss battle that has a "logical" limitation like the fire monster can't be hurt by plasma weapons.
It's not that scary. The creepiness and scariness run dry pretty quickly. You get freaked out when there is something unexpected, unfortunately the same formula is played out over and over (walk into a room, and wait for things to jump out) that its not scary. There were very few instances where I was scared, usually something being thrown through a window right in front of me, or a zombie jumping out of the deep shadows, but having things teleport in behind me (which occured much more often) didn't freak me out as much as it was an annoyance.
Of course, these are the same colleges who teach fields of science (like Physics!) that were revolutionized by a man who failed at math for the vast majority of his life (Einstein), and an alchemist (better described as "caucasian voodoo") who got hit in the head with an apple. (Newton)
Both graduated from college. In fact, Newton went to Cambridge with the intention of studying law, but his exposure to astronomy (galileo, kepler) led him towards more scientific pursuits. And it wasn't about just getting hit on the head with an apple. Newton applied the questioning and logic he learned through studying philosphy to science and wrote "Quaestiones Quaedam Philosophicae," which started him on the road to create his theories of the universe. Now if he went to a Law-only school, we may not have physics as we know it today!
While I was there, our main app was about 90k LOC, and I wrote roughly 30% of the existing code and maintained nearly 90% of it, and I am one person on a 7 man team. With no degree. Heck, I have no high school diploma. And no, these were not designed for me, if collaboration did not happen I was the sole designer and the implementor, the documentor, and the teacher to foreign offices.
Nobody has to go to college to learn program, in fact, alot of times those who learn without going to college have better pure coding skills because they have more passion. Unfortunately, those who self-teach something miss the forest for trees. Sure they may have read books on C, Java, Perl, all sorts of data structures, but how many have read about project management, about economics, about business theory, international studies?
Value isn't just lines of code, jobs are being outsourced because programmers as a resource are becoming more and more a commodity. The value is in managing, innovating, negotiating. Programming + business knowledge is far better than just programming. The technical aspects are put in line with the reality of business. You can make decisions on how much to charge for a program, know the best way to get your product to market, understand the implications of dealing internationally. The college experience presses students to look outside of their core environment, and look at things like philosophy, psychology, and business, so they can adapt their specialized training to a much larger world.
If life really isn't about earning money so you can buy "stuff" then why go to college at all?
The love of learning, being able to be at the frontier of knowledge, and if you want expanding the body of knowledge.
How many people have scanning electon microscopes, electochemistry setups, UV irradiators, or bottles of chemicals in their house. Its also good to have professors help direct you in your learning, until you've reached a point where you understand enough to lead yourself.
A better analogy would be if somebody rewired your vehicle for remote control doorlocks, and you take it to the dealership to change the locks and your car doesn't run anymore.
Most people would be upset, all they know is the car ran fine before and now it doesn't. And the gravity of the problem with so many infected users is that MS has to make it work even with spyware.
"i like the idea of compartmentalizing education. i'd rather spend two years concentrating on the skillset that i intend to employ professionally, and then, if i feel like it, educate myself on the other stuff."
Actually by compartmentalizing yourself you end up as one of the consuming worker-bees. The far reaching exposure you get from a 4-year degree is designed not just to train you to work, but to become a leader and contribute not just in the workplace but also society. Things like political science and business may not directly apply to your job, but they do apply to your life.
Hate your job? If you understand entrepreneurship you have a leg up on starting your own business.
Tired of outsourcing? Understanding political science lets you know how you can change things
If you learn to be a leader, you are many times more valuable to your employer and society than just a worker.
true, it might make me less "employable" wrt "people skills" etc., but that's my problem. i don't think i'd like a job that depended heavily on that anyway, over the long run. just let me do my stuff and go home, without the water-cooler chit-chat and office politics.
Pretty much every job people and communications skills are important.
Most big projects require work with many people, making sure everybody is on the same page and not just doing their little thing in a vaccuum is important. Being able to clearly communicate what you are doing, and understanding what other people do, arguing constructively, discussing, and eventually making decisions on how to proceed is very important to prevent having to redo, rewrite, and troubleshoot problems.
Even in a 1-on-1 situation you should have good people skills to effectively create a requirements document from your customer. If you don't have people skills both sides tend to end up frustrated, and little issues might just slip by that end up being a big problem in the end.
bit-torrent?
At most the lawyers will get a warning. These kinds of leaks happen all the time to get on the good side of the public and stockholders.
Bah, I found prior art for the transmogrifier
Think the nostalgia has clouded your vision.
DRM - Those 5 1/4 disks had anti-copying features. Try to copy and they made a terrible grating sound. Thats why there were programs like Copy II Plus, and Locksmith, to circumvent the copy protection (I think it was some intentionally bad sectors on the disk). Not to mention the other ghetto anti-piracy features, like code wheels, and "find the 3rd word of the second paragraph of page 6"
Crashes - There were horrible compatibility issues. Lots of games made you select from a list of components for video and sound. Alot of times my stuff wasn't on the list (darn you Tandy!). So I'd end up with junky graphics, and/or glitchy or non-working sound. Later on sound cards (like the first sound blaster) would randomly crash your system if things weren't setup just right (IRQs, memory addresses). Then when the first dedicated video cards started coming out they were the random crasher.
Internet - No, but there were BBS's which were as good, or bad as the internet. Chat, door games, message boards and 125k pr0n file... just start downloading and come back the next day.
Solitaire - Solitaire has always existed. This program references one version made in 1985.
Mysterious slow downs - No, pretty much everything was slow so didn't matter. Of course to get certain things running you'd have to mess around with the autoexec.bat and config.sys files to free up enough main memory, 640k my ass billy G!
think you could almost argue that it's more the inability of children these days to understand what true gameplay really is.
I must disagree with you, I would say Doom3 gameplay is superior than an '80s game like Donkey Kong, Pac Man, or Super Mario. Games have evolved, just because Doom 3 is average compared to the other games of this era, doesn't mean it isn't superior to those "greats" of the past.
I loved NES games when I was growing up, playing them now I'm older I find them repetitive and boring.
I feel the reason the GBA has sold so well is because it cant rely on graphics to push the games... which is ALSO why the older generation of gamers are the ones that play them the most...
Gameboy has sold so well because the games have supported how people play gameboys.
When somebody sits down to play a game on their computer/console, typically they have a few hours. I think what gamers are looking for during that time is not to just be entertained, but to have a great "experience" sound, visuals, gameplay, story, they want the whole package.
When somebody is playing on a gameboy they are looking for simple entertainment. Typically you play for a short time, you aren't looking for a completely engrossing thought provoking experience. You just want simple fun you can play until the train arrives
Actually it is a really good game, lots of updates, good tweaking of the core gameplay (like the running game and secondary), and lots of bonuses.
I didn't enjoy the single player original NWN, I did like the expansion packs though.
The concept was great, the tools worked pretty well, and the community is awesome (so many great hacks)
The biggest thing lacking about NWN has been the engine is old, it already looked a bit dated at launch. Hopefully the designers put more focus on an engine that can expand into the future, since it is one of those games that can reside on your computer for years. Also persistant world support would be awesome. For everybody who hates paying MMO subscriptions, NWN2 could be the answer (I hope)
I don't understand why people always say "well if they sell product x for half the price they will sell 5 times more." Guess what, product x will get down to half its price in a few months or a year. Companies know they can get more money from the fanboys who want it now, then in a few months take the money from the bargain hunters too.
And moving more units at a lower price does not always help increase profits, you have more distribution costs, more support costs, more material costs to deal with.
I think the most interesting piece of data that is going to come out this year about pricing will be NFL2K5. Which is a top notch game released at $19.95. Depending on how profits/marketshare for the game work out, maybe we'll see more games towards the lower price end.
You are in the minority though.
Many people who download to try, then end up spending the money on beer. Doom 3 is relatively short, people will burn through it in a weekend, so by the time people get off their lazy butts to go to the store, they finished the game and can't justify buying a game they already beat so it can sit on their shelf.