By committed, we mean not really committed at all.
We know that Silverlight is suppoting 64-bit. We know that Microsoft has been pushing 64-bit since 2003. We know all new Windows 7 PCs are coming 64-bit. And we will continue to keep our heads in the sand.
Unless you have Windows set to auto-update without asking you, it didn't happen. And in that case, it pushed out as an update for the previously installed IE6.
It isn't like Microsoft added a completely new product without asking you.
I'm not judging Apple by one action. Apple has a history of repeating practically every evil deed Microsoft has comitted, and then some. I'm not sure why Apple keeps getting a pass.
Chrome updates software that I intentionally installed. It doesn't install software that I never approved.
Safari was pushed out automatically to people who never wanted it installed in the first place. There is a difference there.
Couldn't a smaller studio approach Activision about developing Arcanum 2 for Activision?
They could point to Fallout 3's success and show that even if the original property didn't sell like mad, you can still resurrect an older franchise and far surpass the original's sales.
Since Apple decided to push Safari out via an iTunes update without asking people, I've refused to ever install it on my box.
If I really want a Webkit browser, I'll run Chrome and/or Rekonq. Chrome already has tons of extensions, is FOSS, and runs amazingly fast.
If Chrome supported a proper adblocking solution, I'd never need another browser. And yes, I know they had an Adblock extension, but it still renders ads in the background. I want to stop the ads from being downloaded or rendered at all.
I've read some reviews that Alpha Protocol is buggy at launch, but I never read those reviews for NWN2.
Meanwhile Dragon Age was buggy as hell and unplayable for tons of players. Read those forums some time. There is a massive memory leak that last time I checked, is still unresolved, that leads to 10 minute load times when you change maps.
Fallout 3 is still practically unplayable even after the Game of the Year release and final patch. The vanilla game crashes every 30 seconds to 5 minutes for me. I have to use third party mods and hacks to make the game playable.
If Dragon Age and Fallout 3 are the two biggest RPG releases to be compared to, then Obsidian suddenly doesn't look that bad.
And I don't think anyone has suggested that NWN2 and Alpha Protocol are unfinished games.
As far as KOTOR:2 goes, Obsidian was a brand new studio forming, and put out a pretty amazing game given the 9 months they worked on it. Name another studio that could put out a game like that in a supposed 12 month table, and have it shipped after 9 months.
Bethesda takes 4 years plus for their RPGs, and still ship them as massively buggy messes.
If Obisidian wants to make a sequel no one was asking for from an RPG franchise, why not contact their buddies over at Bioware and make a Jade Empire sequel?
Jade Empire was a great setting and concept, but the actual finished product was too simple and very short. I think there is potential for a much improved sequel.
KOTOR:2 has a better story than KOTOR:1 and some nice new game mechanics (including the Influence system) but I admit it was a buggy mess that Lucas shipped way too early. That really isn't their fault.
The bar for surpassing Dungeon Siege 1 and 2 is VERY LOW.
But these are also the guys who took the Infinity Engine from Bioware way back in the day and then delivered Planescape Torment, perhaps the best PC title of all time. They also used the engine to make Icewind Dale 1 and 2, which was the best combat-heavy/dungeon crawl games to be produced with that engine.
I just don't understand why they would both with a really crappy Dungeon Siege franchise in the first place.
Obsidian was given 12 months for that game, which is a very short timetable. Many AAA titles have 3-4 years of development. Except Lucas shipped the game after 9 months, not 12.
Even worse, Lucas freaked out at the last minute about how dark the game was, and lopped off most of the ending.
You can download content restoration mods that restore much of the cut content that was left on the disc. In the end, it really is a better game than the first, despite almost no development time.
The racial stereotype is often that Asian Americans and Indian Americans are often more intelligent that others. I think this stems from the fact that typically that many of the best minds from Asia (which includes India) come to the United States for their higher education. When you've got billions of people, and you pick the cream of that crop, and send them over to the US, they're going to represent their race particularly well.
I didn't see this initially because I hide AC posts most of the time. But since some AC is trying to argue with me, and using my real name, they must really want a response.
You can only authorize 5 devices at once. That is true. Are you suggesting one person is going to own more than 5 of these devices at once they need their apps on?
There is the iPod Touch, the iPhone and iPad. If you own more than one of these, or any combination that adds up to more than 5 for YOUR PERSONAL use, there is something wrong.
If you deactivate any of these devices, you get one back for future devices.
The reason there needs to be a limit at all is to stop me from pooling together a large group of people with one account, where we each purchase one app, and then everyone in the group then has access to everything we have all purchased. If you could link that account to 50,000 devices, then you'd have a problem.
He doesn't want others from profiting where he wants to be the gatekeeper.
Re:Don't understand the hate
on
Lost Ends
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· Score: 1
The only thing that infected Claire, Sayid and Ben that we could see was the Smoke Monster feeding them lies and manipulating them. All three "recovered" from their bouts of evilness when no longer manipulated by Smokie.
Computers are cheaper than cars, and yet as many as 70% of people who purchase new vehicles say they purchased from the same brand as before.
Brand loyalty is pretty huge, and is established via marketing.
Re:Was Not Impressed at All
on
Lost Ends
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· Score: 1
Okay, and how is this any better than "mysterious island with mysterious powers"?
You're damned if you explain it more, and you're damned if you make no attempt whatsoever to explain it. Fans demanded an explanation. They got it.
Why was Walt...
Walt is a victim of real life. They wanted to tell a story around Walt, and the actor couldn't do it. His mother didn't want him missing school to do the show full time. He was also aging way too fast, when arguably he shouldn't be aging at all.
They take an entire season of people hopping around time
Faraday was killed by his mother, and even better, this means that his mother ages and then knowingly sends her son back, knowing what happens.
The time travelling enabled them to find and obtain a bomb.
The time travelling enabled a lot of things they couldn't do otherwise.
The better half of season 1 is put into "the hatch"
Again, the show was always ultimately about the energy on the island. You said there was no point because the focus appeared to shift, but really it was always about the same thing. You just didn't realize it at the time.
Re:Was Not Impressed at All
on
Lost Ends
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· Score: 1
Then the entire show is a lie. Part of the reason I bought into Lost is that they promised not to have a cop-out like that.
It also means there was never the ability to have resolution.
As it stands, Claire, Kate, Sawyer, Miles, Richard and Frank make it off the island alive. Hurley and Ben get to protect the island. And in the end, all of these deeply troubled characters come to find peace.
In fact, Burger King centered their marketing for the longest time on the fact that they basically matched McDonalds price point, but offered more beef for the same money.
McDonalds is one of the prime examples of clever marketing over quality. The other thing that was critical to their success was consistency. They use the same recipe and equipment everywhere. They are obsessive over making sure your coffee, burger, whatever is the same anywhere in the country. It feels safe and familiar. People prefer a safe, consistent experience over the possibility of a good or bad experience fairly often.
Apple is likewise obsessed with controlling the entire experience and consistency. You'll find that it goes hand in hand with marketing, brand loyalty, etc.
Budweiser is the same. they make a terrible beer but market it amazingly well, and establish a consistent brand experience. It is gotten to the point where Budweiser is so ubiquitous that most people don't even seem to know what real beer tastes like. They've been brainwashed to accept an inferior product.
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How is Adobe locking you into Microsoft when they have players on Linux, Mac, Android, PS3, etc?
Microsoft has been working hand-in-hand with Moonlight developers so they can produce a GPL Silverlight player for Linux.
Microsoft also puts out development tools for Silverlight on Mac, and an official Mac plug-in.
You aren't being locked into the Windows platform with it.
By committed, we mean not really committed at all.
We know that Silverlight is suppoting 64-bit. We know that Microsoft has been pushing 64-bit since 2003. We know all new Windows 7 PCs are coming 64-bit. And we will continue to keep our heads in the sand.
Thanks for your continued patronage.
Unless you have Windows set to auto-update without asking you, it didn't happen. And in that case, it pushed out as an update for the previously installed IE6.
It isn't like Microsoft added a completely new product without asking you.
I'm not judging Apple by one action. Apple has a history of repeating practically every evil deed Microsoft has comitted, and then some. I'm not sure why Apple keeps getting a pass.
Chrome updates software that I intentionally installed. It doesn't install software that I never approved.
Safari was pushed out automatically to people who never wanted it installed in the first place. There is a difference there.
Chrome has never installed a Google Toolbar, nor prompted me to install one.
Why would Chrome install a toolbar for another browser when installing a different browser?
Couldn't a smaller studio approach Activision about developing Arcanum 2 for Activision?
They could point to Fallout 3's success and show that even if the original property didn't sell like mad, you can still resurrect an older franchise and far surpass the original's sales.
Steampunk is all the rage right now.
Does anyone own the Arcanum IP?
I'd love to see a good sequel to that someday.
Since Apple decided to push Safari out via an iTunes update without asking people, I've refused to ever install it on my box.
If I really want a Webkit browser, I'll run Chrome and/or Rekonq. Chrome already has tons of extensions, is FOSS, and runs amazingly fast.
If Chrome supported a proper adblocking solution, I'd never need another browser. And yes, I know they had an Adblock extension, but it still renders ads in the background. I want to stop the ads from being downloaded or rendered at all.
I've read some reviews that Alpha Protocol is buggy at launch, but I never read those reviews for NWN2.
Meanwhile Dragon Age was buggy as hell and unplayable for tons of players. Read those forums some time. There is a massive memory leak that last time I checked, is still unresolved, that leads to 10 minute load times when you change maps.
Fallout 3 is still practically unplayable even after the Game of the Year release and final patch. The vanilla game crashes every 30 seconds to 5 minutes for me. I have to use third party mods and hacks to make the game playable.
If Dragon Age and Fallout 3 are the two biggest RPG releases to be compared to, then Obsidian suddenly doesn't look that bad.
And I don't think anyone has suggested that NWN2 and Alpha Protocol are unfinished games.
As far as KOTOR:2 goes, Obsidian was a brand new studio forming, and put out a pretty amazing game given the 9 months they worked on it. Name another studio that could put out a game like that in a supposed 12 month table, and have it shipped after 9 months.
Bethesda takes 4 years plus for their RPGs, and still ship them as massively buggy messes.
If Obisidian wants to make a sequel no one was asking for from an RPG franchise, why not contact their buddies over at Bioware and make a Jade Empire sequel?
Jade Empire was a great setting and concept, but the actual finished product was too simple and very short. I think there is potential for a much improved sequel.
NWN2 is light years better than NWN1.
Fallout: NV looks much better than Fallout 3.
KOTOR:2 has a better story than KOTOR:1 and some nice new game mechanics (including the Influence system) but I admit it was a buggy mess that Lucas shipped way too early. That really isn't their fault.
The bar for surpassing Dungeon Siege 1 and 2 is VERY LOW.
But these are also the guys who took the Infinity Engine from Bioware way back in the day and then delivered Planescape Torment, perhaps the best PC title of all time. They also used the engine to make Icewind Dale 1 and 2, which was the best combat-heavy/dungeon crawl games to be produced with that engine.
I just don't understand why they would both with a really crappy Dungeon Siege franchise in the first place.
Obsidian was given 12 months for that game, which is a very short timetable. Many AAA titles have 3-4 years of development. Except Lucas shipped the game after 9 months, not 12.
Even worse, Lucas freaked out at the last minute about how dark the game was, and lopped off most of the ending.
You can download content restoration mods that restore much of the cut content that was left on the disc. In the end, it really is a better game than the first, despite almost no development time.
Heck, these games practically play themselves.
I'm disappointed. I expected more from Obsidian.
The racial stereotype is often that Asian Americans and Indian Americans are often more intelligent that others. I think this stems from the fact that typically that many of the best minds from Asia (which includes India) come to the United States for their higher education. When you've got billions of people, and you pick the cream of that crop, and send them over to the US, they're going to represent their race particularly well.
I didn't see this initially because I hide AC posts most of the time. But since some AC is trying to argue with me, and using my real name, they must really want a response.
You can only authorize 5 devices at once. That is true. Are you suggesting one person is going to own more than 5 of these devices at once they need their apps on?
There is the iPod Touch, the iPhone and iPad. If you own more than one of these, or any combination that adds up to more than 5 for YOUR PERSONAL use, there is something wrong.
If you deactivate any of these devices, you get one back for future devices.
The reason there needs to be a limit at all is to stop me from pooling together a large group of people with one account, where we each purchase one app, and then everyone in the group then has access to everything we have all purchased. If you could link that account to 50,000 devices, then you'd have a problem.
No, he cares about iAd.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IAd
He doesn't want others from profiting where he wants to be the gatekeeper.
The only thing that infected Claire, Sayid and Ben that we could see was the Smoke Monster feeding them lies and manipulating them. All three "recovered" from their bouts of evilness when no longer manipulated by Smokie.
Apple store apps transfer from device to device. I can also delete the app and download it again as often as I like.
There a variety of styles of beers. Let's compare apples to apples, because a Guiness is a completely different beast from a pilsner.
If you want a refreshing beer when it is hot outside, a Sams Summer or Blue Moon is light-years better.
If you insist on drinking a pilsner style beer you could go with a Moosehead, Sams Noble Pils, Pilsner Urquell, etc.
Budweiser is terrible, not only in that American pilsners aren't very good, but also in the fact that it is a terrible American pilsner.
Computers are cheaper than cars, and yet as many as 70% of people who purchase new vehicles say they purchased from the same brand as before.
Brand loyalty is pretty huge, and is established via marketing.
Okay, and how is this any better than "mysterious island with mysterious powers"?
You're damned if you explain it more, and you're damned if you make no attempt whatsoever to explain it. Fans demanded an explanation. They got it.
Why was Walt...
Walt is a victim of real life. They wanted to tell a story around Walt, and the actor couldn't do it. His mother didn't want him missing school to do the show full time. He was also aging way too fast, when arguably he shouldn't be aging at all.
They take an entire season of people hopping around time
Faraday was killed by his mother, and even better, this means that his mother ages and then knowingly sends her son back, knowing what happens.
The time travelling enabled them to find and obtain a bomb.
The time travelling enabled a lot of things they couldn't do otherwise.
The better half of season 1 is put into "the hatch"
Again, the show was always ultimately about the energy on the island. You said there was no point because the focus appeared to shift, but really it was always about the same thing. You just didn't realize it at the time.
Then the entire show is a lie. Part of the reason I bought into Lost is that they promised not to have a cop-out like that.
It also means there was never the ability to have resolution.
As it stands, Claire, Kate, Sawyer, Miles, Richard and Frank make it off the island alive. Hurley and Ben get to protect the island. And in the end, all of these deeply troubled characters come to find peace.
BTW, Wal-Mart spend 2.3 billion on advertising in 2008. The largest in the world is GM at 3 billion for a comparison.
Wal-Mart (like McDonalds) focuses very heavily on advertising and consistency.
McDonalds was not always the cheapest.
In fact, Burger King centered their marketing for the longest time on the fact that they basically matched McDonalds price point, but offered more beef for the same money.
McDonalds is one of the prime examples of clever marketing over quality. The other thing that was critical to their success was consistency. They use the same recipe and equipment everywhere. They are obsessive over making sure your coffee, burger, whatever is the same anywhere in the country. It feels safe and familiar. People prefer a safe, consistent experience over the possibility of a good or bad experience fairly often.
Apple is likewise obsessed with controlling the entire experience and consistency. You'll find that it goes hand in hand with marketing, brand loyalty, etc.
Budweiser is the same. they make a terrible beer but market it amazingly well, and establish a consistent brand experience. It is gotten to the point where Budweiser is so ubiquitous that most people don't even seem to know what real beer tastes like. They've been brainwashed to accept an inferior product.