Not to be a spoilsport, but this news is a week old and ign and gamespot confirmed a couple days ago that it was just an "add-on" patent for the 64DD so it has nothing to do with future consoles. Unless the Revolution is going to have the 64DD attached to it, but then I would just be confused.
Yeah, the "opt out" concept is huge. I've found the best way to go about online payments is to cancel the second after you subscribe. Your subscription will be active for the month/year you got something, but you won't run into any kind of automatic rebilling.
Of course it is an important issue. However, I think the video game industry has done a fair job in letting the public know about the "dangers" that could be caused.
Growing up, I had a friend with epilepsy. We were both avid video gamers, and would just play in spurts so he wouldn't be staring at the screen on hours for end. Like you, we took his problem very seriously (except when I made him watch the time warp scene in Space Quest IV, hehe).
I think the point I'm trying to make is that you and your son knew he had a problem. You also obviously knew video games can cause seizures. Just because a game might not have a disclaimer doesn't mean it is some magical game just developed for people with epilepsy. I'd say from now on, like other people have said, just assume every game is "bad" and take the necessary precautions.
There's nothing you can do other than just learn your lesson about "online" payments. You gave your credit card number to a company who will automatically charge you annually. Unfortunately, it's mostly up to you to remember that, not the company who's services you were buying. I played Dark Age of Camelot during the free month trial and forgot ever even putting in my credit card information. A year later I finally realize that I'm still being charged a monthly fee for something I didn't even have installed on my computer for a year. I fought with them and all I got was the final month taken off my bill.
If you really want a hard lesson in this (and hopefully other people will back me on this), but subscribe to a porn site. It will only take one time for you to sign up for a $4 trial, forget to cancel and get charged 50 bucks out of nowhere.
Yeah, automatic charges can be and seem shady at times, but the moral of the story is it in the end, it really is all up to the user to be responsible for keeping up with the scedules.
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Not to be a spoilsport, but this news is a week old and ign and gamespot confirmed a couple days ago that it was just an "add-on" patent for the 64DD so it has nothing to do with future consoles. Unless the Revolution is going to have the 64DD attached to it, but then I would just be confused.
Yeah, the "opt out" concept is huge. I've found the best way to go about online payments is to cancel the second after you subscribe. Your subscription will be active for the month/year you got something, but you won't run into any kind of automatic rebilling.
Of course it is an important issue. However, I think the video game industry has done a fair job in letting the public know about the "dangers" that could be caused. Growing up, I had a friend with epilepsy. We were both avid video gamers, and would just play in spurts so he wouldn't be staring at the screen on hours for end. Like you, we took his problem very seriously (except when I made him watch the time warp scene in Space Quest IV, hehe). I think the point I'm trying to make is that you and your son knew he had a problem. You also obviously knew video games can cause seizures. Just because a game might not have a disclaimer doesn't mean it is some magical game just developed for people with epilepsy. I'd say from now on, like other people have said, just assume every game is "bad" and take the necessary precautions.
There's nothing you can do other than just learn your lesson about "online" payments. You gave your credit card number to a company who will automatically charge you annually. Unfortunately, it's mostly up to you to remember that, not the company who's services you were buying. I played Dark Age of Camelot during the free month trial and forgot ever even putting in my credit card information. A year later I finally realize that I'm still being charged a monthly fee for something I didn't even have installed on my computer for a year. I fought with them and all I got was the final month taken off my bill. If you really want a hard lesson in this (and hopefully other people will back me on this), but subscribe to a porn site. It will only take one time for you to sign up for a $4 trial, forget to cancel and get charged 50 bucks out of nowhere. Yeah, automatic charges can be and seem shady at times, but the moral of the story is it in the end, it really is all up to the user to be responsible for keeping up with the scedules.