Actually, change the number you want to autoincrement to "*". It'll replace it with the number of seconds since the epoch or something equally massive. I don't know really, it just ends up being a number that looks like a Unix Timestamp - huge and pointless.
Uh, did you even read the subject of the comment you're replying to? It specifically says "goodbye FIREWIRE". So how does a camcorder supporting Firewire help you when they computer DOESN'T?
Incorrect. All of the mentioned countries have anti-spam laws. As such, jurisdictional issues do not exist as each country co-operates with the others to prosecute the entire damn lot. Did you not see the part where the governments were successful in destroying this spam ring?
You remembered to address it to the right division right? If you contacted Blizzard US, you're wasting your time. You'd need to contact the French/European division to make it happen.
There's actually a simple answer to your question. Simply put, developing a fully fledged Linux version would cost more than the revenue from a Linux version, meaning it's a shareholder lawsuit (for doing something knowingly that will waste funds)just waiting to happen.
The day Linux gets enough users that the revenue from the introduction of a Linux version exceeds the cost of developing it, is the day that Linux games start happening. Until then, they'll give you a Wine or Cedar version (if you're lucky) and you'll like it.
The problem is that companies aren't able to "influence for the better" - they have to profit, so they can pay bills and whatever.
Stick regulation on 'em, that'll help. Try to sell a game back to EB in this country and the first question you get is "We'll need a driver's license... What's your phone number? Address?" right before they jot all those details in a massive book which the police can request access to should you report a theft or fraud of some sort.
Don't like the requirement to hand over that sort of detail? Use the auction sites or classifieds.
That's THEIR products. Not the stuff they resell for other people.
Apple iPhone - twice the price of comparable Windows Mobile phone.
Apple iPod - twice the price of comparable Creative player (disclaimer, I bought an iPod Touch because I despise Creative, and therefore that makes the iPod best value for my specification. Not because I like Apple. Because I don't)
Apple MacBook - twice the price of comparable Dell.
Apple Mac Pro - twice the price of comparable Dell.
But of course, I don't expect you to consider this stuff, because it doesn't fit with your world view.
I read it, and if you look, I disagreed with the article after having read it, which would tend to indicate that I disagree with the posting of "Top X" lists spread across hopelessly large numbers of pages (it's fine in Print View though) of some ad-ridden website submitted by - surprise! - someone from the website itself.
The article itself is pointless in my opinion because there is no way enough detail is provided on the reasons for coming up with their ratings, and the only thing they seem to take into account is "quantity of EA/whatever" games available.
Steam is no more bloated than impulse driven, and quite frankly, I expect Steam to be around long after Stardock and the rest are ancient history.
I don't think Stardock's going anywhere anytime soon - you know these guys were around back in the OS/2 Warp days, right? Developing for it even? Yeah - I think they're doing something right.
Yes, but maybe we don't fucking WANT a download client with chat function and voice capabilities. Also, the browser is embedded Trident (IE6) and the media player is I think either embedded WMP or a Flash Player in Trident.
I want to download my games, not build a goddamn community around them.
I'm sure you'd love games costing several million dollars to develop shoved up on FTP with an honesty box, but someone with any brainpower whatsoever would realise that its fucking retarded.
You know, back in the old days, games were released without the ridiculous protections and they still sold... and some argue (I don't) that games back then were better quality anyway. And who said the only method of digital distribution was an honesty box? Apogee's method was brilliant - games were episodes and you could pick up the first episode for free, and buy the rest off them.
The entire friction the steam DRM setup gives me is having to type a password once, and then tick the "remember me" box. Its a hell of a lot more convenient than CD-keys, its a hell of a lot more convenient than CDs, and I can happily play games offline (despite what the whingers say)
Tell that to my laptop, which despite having logged in recently still insists on replying to my clicking of the "Go Offline" button with "Can't connect to Steam network" and exiting. No, Steam's offline mode doesn't work. I also disagree with Steam's insistence on shoving "Update News" (read: glorified advertisements) in my face whenever it feels like it - though that's not the DRM, that's just Steam in general. And I don't like how I must have Steam running to play games.
Oh, and Steam has more than just DRM in it - it's also got the ability to disable games you've already bought and downloaded, such as in the case where certain games have been released and due to the ridiculous pricing differential between the South Pacific region and Asia, people bought the game from Asia instead and had Valve retroactively disable it on them because they didn't pay the Australasia Tax (markup of around 100%-150%)
Oh I know. IGN support sucks and their accounts payable department is even worse - they have this bad habit of taking as long to pay my invoices as they do to reply to your customer service enquiries.
Bollocks. I don't mind paying for a game, provided the game doesn't cause more hassle than I can get enjoyment out of it. I'm happy to buy a game if I can install it and play it, without having to worry about whether this game or that's arcane copy protection prevents me playing it on my {insert setup here}.
If noone ever buys the game, they'll stop making them. Duh.
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I don't think it puts the nail in the coffin of SaaS by any means, but it does indicate a significant necessity of SLAs for paying customers.
There is an SLA for paying customers, but with Google's track record they really need to up the penalties for non-compliance.
Actually, change the number you want to autoincrement to "*". It'll replace it with the number of seconds since the epoch or something equally massive. I don't know really, it just ends up being a number that looks like a Unix Timestamp - huge and pointless.
Perfect for marketing.
Uh, did you even read the subject of the comment you're replying to? It specifically says "goodbye FIREWIRE". So how does a camcorder supporting Firewire help you when they computer DOESN'T?
Ironic that, since certain high profile brands from around Cupertino are MADE by Asus.
Incorrect. All of the mentioned countries have anti-spam laws. As such, jurisdictional issues do not exist as each country co-operates with the others to prosecute the entire damn lot. Did you not see the part where the governments were successful in destroying this spam ring?
Collection of credit card information and personal details in order to commit identity fraud and other such horrendously undesirable stuff.
Obviously.
In this country (NZ), it's actually illegal to even smack your children at all. It's considered abuse, and can lead to imprisonment.
Who the hell is the idiot that decided children should have enough rights that effective discipline is impossible?
You remembered to address it to the right division right? If you contacted Blizzard US, you're wasting your time. You'd need to contact the French/European division to make it happen.
It's an "s". "Blase" (with the accent, so it's pronounced "blass-ay")
There's actually a simple answer to your question. Simply put, developing a fully fledged Linux version would cost more than the revenue from a Linux version, meaning it's a shareholder lawsuit (for doing something knowingly that will waste funds)just waiting to happen.
The day Linux gets enough users that the revenue from the introduction of a Linux version exceeds the cost of developing it, is the day that Linux games start happening. Until then, they'll give you a Wine or Cedar version (if you're lucky) and you'll like it.
The problem is that companies aren't able to "influence for the better" - they have to profit, so they can pay bills and whatever.
Stick regulation on 'em, that'll help. Try to sell a game back to EB in this country and the first question you get is "We'll need a driver's license... What's your phone number? Address?" right before they jot all those details in a massive book which the police can request access to should you report a theft or fraud of some sort.
Don't like the requirement to hand over that sort of detail? Use the auction sites or classifieds.
You mean like old Apogee titles? Commander Keen and so forth?
Stop whining. At least Comcrap gives you more than 25GB/month bandwidth.
In light of the fact that over here, 5GB/month is COMMON, this stuff should absolutely be disabled in some manner.
Actually, it wouldn't work in the slightest. Bots would merely fetch the index page, grab the register link, and defeat the whole purpose.
Because there's no such thing as colourblindness, after all.
That's THEIR products. Not the stuff they resell for other people.
Apple iPhone - twice the price of comparable Windows Mobile phone.
Apple iPod - twice the price of comparable Creative player (disclaimer, I bought an iPod Touch because I despise Creative, and therefore that makes the iPod best value for my specification. Not because I like Apple. Because I don't)
Apple MacBook - twice the price of comparable Dell.
Apple Mac Pro - twice the price of comparable Dell.
But of course, I don't expect you to consider this stuff, because it doesn't fit with your world view.
Awesome. So this means that one wrong click by the uninitiated will no longer result in all sorts of GoldenPalace.com adware shit popping up?
Fuck I hate those cunts - there's no reliable way to get rid of their crap short of reinstalling.
Or, you can skip the "invite" crap and just browse Home of the Underdogs.
I read it, and if you look, I disagreed with the article after having read it, which would tend to indicate that I disagree with the posting of "Top X" lists spread across hopelessly large numbers of pages (it's fine in Print View though) of some ad-ridden website submitted by - surprise! - someone from the website itself.
The article itself is pointless in my opinion because there is no way enough detail is provided on the reasons for coming up with their ratings, and the only thing they seem to take into account is "quantity of EA/whatever" games available.
Steam is no more bloated than impulse driven, and quite frankly, I expect Steam to be around long after Stardock and the rest are ancient history.
I don't think Stardock's going anywhere anytime soon - you know these guys were around back in the OS/2 Warp days, right? Developing for it even? Yeah - I think they're doing something right.
I guess you didn't notice many (most?) Impulse titles includes activation/hardware lock-in
[citation required]
Some does not equal all, or even most. Yes, some games have it. It's annoying, but it's not "Steam" annoying.
Yes, but maybe we don't fucking WANT a download client with chat function and voice capabilities. Also, the browser is embedded Trident (IE6) and the media player is I think either embedded WMP or a Flash Player in Trident.
I want to download my games, not build a goddamn community around them.
I'm sure you'd love games costing several million dollars to develop shoved up on FTP with an honesty box, but someone with any brainpower whatsoever would realise that its fucking retarded.
You know, back in the old days, games were released without the ridiculous protections and they still sold... and some argue (I don't) that games back then were better quality anyway. And who said the only method of digital distribution was an honesty box? Apogee's method was brilliant - games were episodes and you could pick up the first episode for free, and buy the rest off them.
The entire friction the steam DRM setup gives me is having to type a password once, and then tick the "remember me" box. Its a hell of a lot more convenient than CD-keys, its a hell of a lot more convenient than CDs, and I can happily play games offline (despite what the whingers say)
Tell that to my laptop, which despite having logged in recently still insists on replying to my clicking of the "Go Offline" button with "Can't connect to Steam network" and exiting. No, Steam's offline mode doesn't work. I also disagree with Steam's insistence on shoving "Update News" (read: glorified advertisements) in my face whenever it feels like it - though that's not the DRM, that's just Steam in general. And I don't like how I must have Steam running to play games.
Oh, and Steam has more than just DRM in it - it's also got the ability to disable games you've already bought and downloaded, such as in the case where certain games have been released and due to the ridiculous pricing differential between the South Pacific region and Asia, people bought the game from Asia instead and had Valve retroactively disable it on them because they didn't pay the Australasia Tax (markup of around 100%-150%)
No. Fuck Steam.
Oh I know. IGN support sucks and their accounts payable department is even worse - they have this bad habit of taking as long to pay my invoices as they do to reply to your customer service enquiries.
I'd be surprised if you EVER got a response.
Bollocks. I don't mind paying for a game, provided the game doesn't cause more hassle than I can get enjoyment out of it. I'm happy to buy a game if I can install it and play it, without having to worry about whether this game or that's arcane copy protection prevents me playing it on my {insert setup here}.
If noone ever buys the game, they'll stop making them. Duh.