That said, the obvious question is, if the people working on the dedicated DLC team had been part of the main team, wouldn't they have had the resources to include more content in the released game?
No. There's a certain point past which they can no longer add content to the game as shipped on disc, because they need to lock down the content for the QA process. But the artists and designers can still work on standalone DLC while the programmers concentrate on the QA process and bug fixes.
Actually, they don't continue to sell well for NWN, since Atari yanked their license a few months ago. As for NWN2... did that one piece actually do well, considering that it was a year late?
I mean, if you are going to play "why didn't they" with Star Trek, one has to wonder why they bother firing photon torpedoes after an enemy's shields have been disabled. I mean, once they are disabled, you can use transporters, right? Just transport a photon torpedo into whatever part of the ship you want to attack, instead of 'firing' it at the ship, right? Why not use transporters as weapons, systematically? But, some answers, maybe, are just 'too easy' for good plot?
Transporters (unlike photon torpedoes) would require the Enterprise to lower its own shields, rendering it vulnerable to being attacked during those few seconds.
What do you mean by "transferring DRM'd files from the the iTunes store"? The DRM'd files are listed in the XML library, and you could copy them, but because your device doesn't know how to handle the DRM they won't play.
Apple's not using it because binary formats are faster than XML.
Have you ever compared the cost of textbooks in the US to the SAME books overseas? Take a look at amazon.co.uk sometime and compare a textbook there to the same book in the US. The only difference is likely that one says "international version" on the cover. Oh, and it'll be less than half the price.
And it'll be a paperback that'll fall apart before the end of the semester. You're better off buying used at 75% MSRP & selling back for 50% of the MSRP* than buying international for 50% MSRP and selling back for $0.
*If your lazy teachers bothered to tell the bookstore that they'd be using the book again next semester. Less if they didn't, of course.
Not just "may differ from the PAL version", but "may not work with and may even damage your TV". If that did happen, a "Do you wish to continue?" screen probably wouldn't save Nintendo from a lawsuit.
They'd work just fine if the contempt sanctions had civilian oversight (aka a jury). As-is, the judges have all the power and no oversight, biasing the court system in their favor.
You get both licenses with Vista retail, and I believe with any version of Windows 7, but with Vista OEM you only got a license for 32-bit or 64-bit, not both. (Ostensibly so people don't upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit and then whine to the OEM when stuff doesn't work.)
I'm singling out HP because they said they would provide Vista drivers then didn't.
That said, "it's linux teh suxorz" because even when the Windows kernel is updated via service packs, driver compatibility is kept. With Linux updates, not at all. If a Microsoft service pack broke drivers, I'd consider that "teh suxorz" too.:)
64-bit Vista doesn't have driver support issues for new hardware; it's just the legacy hardware that's problematic. (Though quite a bit of it didn't get Vista drivers at all—I'm looking at you, HP.)
I think VLC would also fit your requirements, but I certainly see your point with regards to WMP/iTunes/WinAmp.;)
The biggest offenders always seem to come from Microsoft, though—Office and WMP. If they don't follow their own standards, why should other developers feel obligated to?
At least previously, they only offered that on some of their machines. And their complaint isn't about using one of the other images, it's that they would need to update their existing Word one with the new version. At a minimum you're talking creating one image per motherboard design, so several dozen, plus you probably *should* be testing it with the various configurations of each.
A good baby step would be if more developers started using GFWL, even if not for online play; seeing more than half-a-dozen titles support achievements each year would be nice.
They didn't use to be a little fish. But it'll have been over four years since their last full game (that is, the last game actually developed by iD, and not farmed out to Raven like Quake IV and Wolfenstein). Between their lack of releases and that nobody bothers to license their engine anymore, it's hard to see how they're still relevant.
Maybe Rage will change that, but I'm not anticipating it.
The problem with losing the optical drive is that you then lose backwards compatibility. Sony tries to forget this, but they made a big deal out of the backwards compatibility when the PS3 first came out (as did Microsoft and Nintendo).
I know that the lack thereof is what's keeping me from buying a PS3 now that they're affordable—they dropped a fairly important feature.
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That said, the obvious question is, if the people working on the dedicated DLC team had been part of the main team, wouldn't they have had the resources to include more content in the released game?
No. There's a certain point past which they can no longer add content to the game as shipped on disc, because they need to lock down the content for the QA process. But the artists and designers can still work on standalone DLC while the programmers concentrate on the QA process and bug fixes.
Actually, they don't continue to sell well for NWN, since Atari yanked their license a few months ago. As for NWN2... did that one piece actually do well, considering that it was a year late?
I mean, if you are going to play "why didn't they" with Star Trek, one has to wonder why they bother firing photon torpedoes after an enemy's shields have been disabled. I mean, once they are disabled, you can use transporters, right? Just transport a photon torpedo into whatever part of the ship you want to attack, instead of 'firing' it at the ship, right? Why not use transporters as weapons, systematically? But, some answers, maybe, are just 'too easy' for good plot?
Transporters (unlike photon torpedoes) would require the Enterprise to lower its own shields, rendering it vulnerable to being attacked during those few seconds.
What do you mean by "transferring DRM'd files from the the iTunes store"? The DRM'd files are listed in the XML library, and you could copy them, but because your device doesn't know how to handle the DRM they won't play.
Apple's not using it because binary formats are faster than XML.
Have you ever compared the cost of textbooks in the US to the SAME books overseas? Take a look at amazon.co.uk sometime and compare a textbook there to the same book in the US. The only difference is likely that one says "international version" on the cover. Oh, and it'll be less than half the price.
And it'll be a paperback that'll fall apart before the end of the semester. You're better off buying used at 75% MSRP & selling back for 50% of the MSRP* than buying international for 50% MSRP and selling back for $0.
*If your lazy teachers bothered to tell the bookstore that they'd be using the book again next semester. Less if they didn't, of course.
You may have not had it happen, but there are games that do that. (They'll include the latest update on the disc when they do, though.)
Not just "may differ from the PAL version", but "may not work with and may even damage your TV". If that did happen, a "Do you wish to continue?" screen probably wouldn't save Nintendo from a lawsuit.
They don't disable the uninstall; that's Mozilla's doing, not letting plugins in Program Files be removed from within the browser.
They'd work just fine if the contempt sanctions had civilian oversight (aka a jury). As-is, the judges have all the power and no oversight, biasing the court system in their favor.
Black Isle was owned by Interplay. I think you're confusing them with Bioware.
Core only supports x86, Core 2 x86-64. Dumb scheme, but that's what it mean.s
You get both licenses with Vista retail, and I believe with any version of Windows 7, but with Vista OEM you only got a license for 32-bit or 64-bit, not both. (Ostensibly so people don't upgrade from 32-bit to 64-bit and then whine to the OEM when stuff doesn't work.)
I'm singling out HP because they said they would provide Vista drivers then didn't.
That said, "it's linux teh suxorz" because even when the Windows kernel is updated via service packs, driver compatibility is kept. With Linux updates, not at all. If a Microsoft service pack broke drivers, I'd consider that "teh suxorz" too. :)
64-bit Vista doesn't have driver support issues for new hardware; it's just the legacy hardware that's problematic. (Though quite a bit of it didn't get Vista drivers at all—I'm looking at you, HP.)
I think VLC would also fit your requirements, but I certainly see your point with regards to WMP/iTunes/WinAmp. ;)
The biggest offenders always seem to come from Microsoft, though—Office and WMP. If they don't follow their own standards, why should other developers feel obligated to?
At least previously, they only offered that on some of their machines. And their complaint isn't about using one of the other images, it's that they would need to update their existing Word one with the new version. At a minimum you're talking creating one image per motherboard design, so several dozen, plus you probably *should* be testing it with the various configurations of each.
Shadowrun. Lost Planet. Not many, but when there's only twenty or so GFWL titles to begin with, they're a sizable percentage.
A good baby step would be if more developers started using GFWL, even if not for online play; seeing more than half-a-dozen titles support achievements each year would be nice.
Shadowrun and Lost Planet: Colonies Edition both released with support for cross-platform play.
Microsoft does allow cross-platform play, though—see Shadowrun and Lost Planet. It was Capcom's choice not to include it in Street Fighter IV.
You can install Virtual PC just fine on Home editions, you just don't get the free XP license.
If they didn't use PAE, they couldn't use DEP.
They didn't use to be a little fish. But it'll have been over four years since their last full game (that is, the last game actually developed by iD, and not farmed out to Raven like Quake IV and Wolfenstein). Between their lack of releases and that nobody bothers to license their engine anymore, it's hard to see how they're still relevant.
Maybe Rage will change that, but I'm not anticipating it.
The problem with losing the optical drive is that you then lose backwards compatibility. Sony tries to forget this, but they made a big deal out of the backwards compatibility when the PS3 first came out (as did Microsoft and Nintendo).
I know that the lack thereof is what's keeping me from buying a PS3 now that they're affordable—they dropped a fairly important feature.
If they're trespassing, they already escalated to threatening my life.