Well for the record, I don't purchase MS Points. All the points on my account were either gifted to me or I received for free through other means.
I personally like the model where I make purchases whenever and get charged once at the end of the month. What's the problem with that? They are already charging me $5.99/month on my credit card for the Gold-level service, why can't they send me a statement the week before detailing my downloads and how many points I am purchasing, then tack it on to the monthly charge?
Even better is to implement both systems. It can be another perk for having a gold account. Silver members buy points through the current method, and good-standing gold members can do it the way I've outlined above? This saves them the processing fees and me the annoyance at having 260 points on my account and nothing to spend them on. Hypothetically (obviously not in my case) that's $3.20 that could be in my savings account rather than in Microsoft's.
What a load of PR crap! We know why you can only "buy in bulk", it's because very few things on XBL come out in 500 point increments. You almost always buy more than you need, but then next time if you're 20 points short for what you want to purchase, you get more and have a 480 point surplus. It's obviously specifically designed to be a vicious cycle of always having either too much or being just short.
The iTunes store doesn't have an issue selling me downloads a buck at a time, obviously the credit card fees aren't breaking their balls. WTF Microsoft?
Well, unlike other forms of art, video games have a final goal. If I'm working on my second play-through of Bioshock, for example, I might decide to harvest all the Little Sisters rather than save them like I did the first time through, to see if I get a different ending (no I haven't finished BioShock yet!)
With Shadow of the Colossus, you have to kill the Colossi to advance in the game. There is no other way around it. The intense emotions that I derived from Shadow were the sense of depression and isolation that the huge, beautiful, and empty world I had explored had created. When I played that I got the sense of forlorn emptiness from exploring beautiful crumbling structures that were half submerged in water or overgrown with weeds. The land felt like it had a long history behind it, but was utterly wasting away now without anyone around.
It's just a game. I can allow myself to get immersed to the point where I get pulled along with the story, but at any point I can remind myself that "it's just a game" and drop that colossus or harvest that Little Sister with impunity.
Video games can provoke emotions, but I can just as easily remind myself that it's just a game and not feel the emotions.
I think the real problem here lies with the game retailers, specifically the ones who refuse to stock AO titles. The AO rating has become a big no-no for games. I think comparisons to movies here are inevitable.
When I go to the video store, they have three distinct movie sections. They have the "kids" section with movies made for children of all ages (G movies, comparable to E and E10 games), then there's the "general" section which includes many subsections but range from family films to gruesome horror movies (PG to R, comparable to E10 to M), and the aptly named "adults only" section which is actually behind a closed door.
Now, I am a father of a young son. I know what he can and can't watch and play, and I control it. He is five, and I took him to see Transformers (a PG-13 movie) in the theater last week. The rating system is meant to be a general guideline as to the content of a movie, not a be-all-end-all indicator of all of the bad things that happen in a film. The game rating system is the same way.
What I'm really trying to get at here is that retailers need to get off the AO stigma and just stock those games. Put them in another room or just keep them behind the shelf and sell them only to grown adults. Retailers already are prepared to explain the ratings to kids and whether or not the games they want to buy are appropriate for their children, AO wouldn't really complicate things any. This way, we can give the games that truly deserve it (e.g. GTA, Manhunt, etc) the AO ratings and avoid a lot of confusion.
More importantly, how many people use IE because they have no other choice? At the company I work for (10k+ workstations) IE6 is still the corporate standard, and they have no intention of moving to IE7 or anything else anytime soon. I know that a vast majority of the people I work with use non-IE browsers on their personal machines, but when we browse at work it looks like we are still IE6 supporters.
To make matters worse, the admins where I work actively block anything but IE from running on our network. It's a huge pain in the ass to run FireFox (but I still do it, tabbed browsing FTW!).
I'm really confused as to how this man continues to be able to practice law. I realize that any citizen (i.e. non-lawyer) can file a complaint or lawsuit, but how can a lawyer as grossly inept as Thompson continue to practice? He has proven himself to be antagonistic, inflammatory, and an outright liar on more occasions than I care to google for. Why has the Florida Bar not revoked his license to practice yet?
I seem to recall him being thrown out of a courtroom in Alabama because he didn't even have the legal right to practice law there, which was brought to light because of his harassment and threats to the opposing lawyers. Seriously, why is it taking so long to get him out of there?
I realize that Thompson is the offline version of an internet troll (although he trolls the internet aplenty as well). Maybe if we ignore him by not posting any more articles about him, he'll just go away? I fear not however. It seems as though Thompson is not actually interested in "protecting the children" just in being seen by someone somewhere.
Holy shit, is everyone in this thread really having a pissing match over who has the smallest cat?
My wife's a vet tech, I'll let her settle this one (sorry, couldn't resist!)
I wish AO would be treated just like R ratings for movies. Wal mart et. al. don't refuse to sell R rated movies, but have this problem with AO?
Honestly I don't see this as a problem. So what if Walmart won't sell your game? The people who want to play Manhunt 2 are going to play Manhunt 2 regardless if they can get it at Walmart or not. Properly marketed (so far so good), Manhunt 2 will sell even if Walmart doesn't carry it. There's always Amazon or any number of other online stores, plus all the retail establishments that *gasp* aren't Walmart!
I know that Walmart is part of a strategy to sell games to everyone. Without them, a lot of casual gamers would miss out on plenty of titles. Publishers would miss out on the sales to people who don't really know the game, but buy it anyway hoping it will be good. However, I think that we have moved past that type of game buying as a culture. When they cost a minimum of $50 a pop, people educate themselves about what they're buying before deciding what to purchase. In the end, the person who is going to pay attention to the marketing campaign, read reviews, and actually make a purchasing decision about buying Manhunt 2 or any other AO game are not going to be put-off by the fact that it can't be had from Walmart. Hell, a lot of people who take the time to educate themselves this much don't even shop at Walmart!
You're right about the high availability. But truly it feels like selling your soul when you deal with a telco (or cable company). To me, the high availability of my mobile phone + Vonage is enough peace of mind for me to forgo dealing with AT&T/Verizon/Insert-name-of-evil-telco-here and possibly spending eternity in the 7th layer.
The idea that you need a PC on all the time to run VOIP is telco FUD. I've been using Vonage for over a year now and it works just fine with the PC shut down.
Lately, the Target, Walmart, and Best Buy nearest my home have been selling out of DSes on a regular basis. Not as bad now as before the holidays, but once every few weeks one of the stores is out. I've never seen the PSP sold out anywhere, not even on launch day.
The DS may just be the perfect gaming machine. It's kid-friendly with plenty of titles to appeal to youngsters, but it's adult friendly too in the fact that you can pick it up and play it when you've only got a few minutes to spare. Just flip it closed and it goes into standby until you open it back up.
Plus there's the price point. Parents can pick one up for $130, which way less than a PSP, and games are not more than $34.99 each (with rare exceptions). They can choose from DS and GBA titles, which also appeals to parents because they can keep playing their old games too.
As both a gamer and a parent, I can say that I play my DS far more than Xbox 360, Wii, and PS2 combined. I own more DS/GBA games than all three combined too, just because they are cheaper and often much more fun (New SMB anyone?)
I use this a lot, and it's fantastic. I'm on a text plan so I don't worry about the cost (google doesn't charge anything). You have to be with one of the major carriers though, when I tried to use this on US Cellular it wouldn't work because they don't support the five digit text numbers. Google SMS is a great way to get info on the go and has been my "yellow pages" for a long time.
On the subject of other cell services, I used to use Infone before they went under at the beginning of last year and I haven't found anything like it yet to replace (other than google SMS). They were good because they'd give you directions and phone numbers and anything else you'd ask for and even text the info back to you so you'd have it.
Also, Cingular has their MediaMax data plan for $20 a month. This gives you unlimited mobile web from your phone, which is useful for grabbing an email or two on the road. But what they don't tell you is that you can use this as a dialup connection for your laptop/PDA if you have a phone that will work as a modem. I can connect to my Motorola SLVR via bluetooth (or USB) and get online anywhere on my notebook. It's slow as hell, but IM and browsing work OK through it.
A console is perfect for those people who do not posess the knowlege necessary to keep their PC upgraded and patched in order to play the latest and greatest games.
Don't forget the money factor. If I want to play the "latest and greatest" I'm looking at a new PC at least every 2-3 years, figure $1000+ for a low-to-midrange gaming rig. Then every year I've got to upgrade the video card, lets say I go midrange again at $200-250. If you're upgrading CPU, RAM, HDD, mouse, monitor, or anything else in that time, just add it to the tab. Then you've got to shell out ~$50 each for the latest and greatest games.
Lets try again with the Xbox360, just as an example. I spend $400 today on the premium unit. $50 for a second wireless controller, say $60 each for two games to get me started, and a one year Xbox Live gold subscription (I don't know how much they are. Still $50?) I've spent $630 (less than a good gaming rig without any games). Next year I buy a few new games. No upgrades necessary, just need to renew my Live subscription. Say I buy two games a year I'm at $150 or so per year. With the PC I'm well over $400 a year.
Consoles are simpler and cheaper, and IMO far more fun. To me, at least, it's a no-brainer.
I think you're missing the point big time. First of all, being a Jew or gay isn't generally a choice, it's what you are. You're born that way (usually, these two are not concrete examples) and if someone hates you because of that then they obviously have problems.
Crippling a CD and rendering it unplayable is a choice the media companies make. I have no expectations for what a homosexual or a Jew will or will not do for me. Those are people and their lives are their own. I do have an expectation that my CD will play in my CD player, rip to my iPod, be made available for me to listen to personally via Slimserver from the office, and rip to my Xbox possibly. If I'm paying for it then I expect that my Fair Use rights will not be infringed by the media company. If it takes putting a big bold label on there saying "sorry, this won't work in your iPod", that just saves me hassle. I can skip it now rather than buy it and have to go back to the store later to return it.
Actually it's a terrible idea. Automobile laws and the requirement for a driver's license to operate are in the interest of human safety. Someone who does not know how to drive properly can easily injure and kill other people. This sort of thing happens all the time. Computer safety is a far different animal. When is the last time anyone was killed by downloading a virus or clicking yes to a spyware-laden ActiveX control? Nobody is at risk of real harm when computer safety (as far as the OS and applications go, hardware is another matter) rules are not followed.
And before someone mentions the instances where 14 year old girls have been raped by older men they met in a chat room, a license would not have prevented that. A license doesn't make you incapable of acting stupid behind the wheel or behind the keyboard, it just ensures that you know how to act properly in those situations. Whether or not you do is still based on judgement.
...and when the PS3 becomes available - and if it runs Linux, MS is in deep trouble.
How is MS in deep trouble if it runs Linux? People buying a 360 to install Linux on it are paying the same $299 or $399 as the people who buy it and leave Windows on it. I realize that those people who install Linux on their 360s probably won't be buying an Xbox Live subscription, but chances are they're still buying games and accessories just like everyone else.
Way to go for you too! Obviously you didn't bother to read the summary, let alone RTFA. That's $100k per violation. I'm betting more than one Texan bought an XCP CD.
Slashdot Mirror
Well for the record, I don't purchase MS Points. All the points on my account were either gifted to me or I received for free through other means.
I personally like the model where I make purchases whenever and get charged once at the end of the month. What's the problem with that? They are already charging me $5.99/month on my credit card for the Gold-level service, why can't they send me a statement the week before detailing my downloads and how many points I am purchasing, then tack it on to the monthly charge?
Even better is to implement both systems. It can be another perk for having a gold account. Silver members buy points through the current method, and good-standing gold members can do it the way I've outlined above? This saves them the processing fees and me the annoyance at having 260 points on my account and nothing to spend them on. Hypothetically (obviously not in my case) that's $3.20 that could be in my savings account rather than in Microsoft's.
What a load of PR crap! We know why you can only "buy in bulk", it's because very few things on XBL come out in 500 point increments. You almost always buy more than you need, but then next time if you're 20 points short for what you want to purchase, you get more and have a 480 point surplus. It's obviously specifically designed to be a vicious cycle of always having either too much or being just short.
The iTunes store doesn't have an issue selling me downloads a buck at a time, obviously the credit card fees aren't breaking their balls. WTF Microsoft?
Hey! A Gargoyle!
I died on the inside when I read the headline :(
Well, unlike other forms of art, video games have a final goal. If I'm working on my second play-through of Bioshock, for example, I might decide to harvest all the Little Sisters rather than save them like I did the first time through, to see if I get a different ending (no I haven't finished BioShock yet!)
With Shadow of the Colossus, you have to kill the Colossi to advance in the game. There is no other way around it. The intense emotions that I derived from Shadow were the sense of depression and isolation that the huge, beautiful, and empty world I had explored had created. When I played that I got the sense of forlorn emptiness from exploring beautiful crumbling structures that were half submerged in water or overgrown with weeds. The land felt like it had a long history behind it, but was utterly wasting away now without anyone around.
In fact, I got a similar feeling from Portal.
It's just a game. I can allow myself to get immersed to the point where I get pulled along with the story, but at any point I can remind myself that "it's just a game" and drop that colossus or harvest that Little Sister with impunity.
Video games can provoke emotions, but I can just as easily remind myself that it's just a game and not feel the emotions.
I think the real problem here lies with the game retailers, specifically the ones who refuse to stock AO titles. The AO rating has become a big no-no for games. I think comparisons to movies here are inevitable.
When I go to the video store, they have three distinct movie sections. They have the "kids" section with movies made for children of all ages (G movies, comparable to E and E10 games), then there's the "general" section which includes many subsections but range from family films to gruesome horror movies (PG to R, comparable to E10 to M), and the aptly named "adults only" section which is actually behind a closed door.
Now, I am a father of a young son. I know what he can and can't watch and play, and I control it. He is five, and I took him to see Transformers (a PG-13 movie) in the theater last week. The rating system is meant to be a general guideline as to the content of a movie, not a be-all-end-all indicator of all of the bad things that happen in a film. The game rating system is the same way.
What I'm really trying to get at here is that retailers need to get off the AO stigma and just stock those games. Put them in another room or just keep them behind the shelf and sell them only to grown adults. Retailers already are prepared to explain the ratings to kids and whether or not the games they want to buy are appropriate for their children, AO wouldn't really complicate things any. This way, we can give the games that truly deserve it (e.g. GTA, Manhunt, etc) the AO ratings and avoid a lot of confusion.
More importantly, how many people use IE because they have no other choice? At the company I work for (10k+ workstations) IE6 is still the corporate standard, and they have no intention of moving to IE7 or anything else anytime soon. I know that a vast majority of the people I work with use non-IE browsers on their personal machines, but when we browse at work it looks like we are still IE6 supporters.
To make matters worse, the admins where I work actively block anything but IE from running on our network. It's a huge pain in the ass to run FireFox (but I still do it, tabbed browsing FTW!).
Yeah but 0.20 * $0.00 = $0.00 No problem!
I'm really confused as to how this man continues to be able to practice law. I realize that any citizen (i.e. non-lawyer) can file a complaint or lawsuit, but how can a lawyer as grossly inept as Thompson continue to practice? He has proven himself to be antagonistic, inflammatory, and an outright liar on more occasions than I care to google for. Why has the Florida Bar not revoked his license to practice yet?
I seem to recall him being thrown out of a courtroom in Alabama because he didn't even have the legal right to practice law there, which was brought to light because of his harassment and threats to the opposing lawyers. Seriously, why is it taking so long to get him out of there?
I realize that Thompson is the offline version of an internet troll (although he trolls the internet aplenty as well). Maybe if we ignore him by not posting any more articles about him, he'll just go away? I fear not however. It seems as though Thompson is not actually interested in "protecting the children" just in being seen by someone somewhere.
Games as an art form: Shadow of the Colossus. 'nuff said.
Holy shit, is everyone in this thread really having a pissing match over who has the smallest cat? My wife's a vet tech, I'll let her settle this one (sorry, couldn't resist!)
Target doesn't sell cigarettes. Some people find cigarettes offensive. Is Target censoring cigarettes?
Honestly I don't see this as a problem. So what if Walmart won't sell your game? The people who want to play Manhunt 2 are going to play Manhunt 2 regardless if they can get it at Walmart or not. Properly marketed (so far so good), Manhunt 2 will sell even if Walmart doesn't carry it. There's always Amazon or any number of other online stores, plus all the retail establishments that *gasp* aren't Walmart!
I know that Walmart is part of a strategy to sell games to everyone. Without them, a lot of casual gamers would miss out on plenty of titles. Publishers would miss out on the sales to people who don't really know the game, but buy it anyway hoping it will be good. However, I think that we have moved past that type of game buying as a culture. When they cost a minimum of $50 a pop, people educate themselves about what they're buying before deciding what to purchase. In the end, the person who is going to pay attention to the marketing campaign, read reviews, and actually make a purchasing decision about buying Manhunt 2 or any other AO game are not going to be put-off by the fact that it can't be had from Walmart. Hell, a lot of people who take the time to educate themselves this much don't even shop at Walmart!
You're right about the high availability. But truly it feels like selling your soul when you deal with a telco (or cable company). To me, the high availability of my mobile phone + Vonage is enough peace of mind for me to forgo dealing with AT&T/Verizon/Insert-name-of-evil-telco-here and possibly spending eternity in the 7th layer.
The idea that you need a PC on all the time to run VOIP is telco FUD. I've been using Vonage for over a year now and it works just fine with the PC shut down.
Lately, the Target, Walmart, and Best Buy nearest my home have been selling out of DSes on a regular basis. Not as bad now as before the holidays, but once every few weeks one of the stores is out. I've never seen the PSP sold out anywhere, not even on launch day.
The DS may just be the perfect gaming machine. It's kid-friendly with plenty of titles to appeal to youngsters, but it's adult friendly too in the fact that you can pick it up and play it when you've only got a few minutes to spare. Just flip it closed and it goes into standby until you open it back up.
Plus there's the price point. Parents can pick one up for $130, which way less than a PSP, and games are not more than $34.99 each (with rare exceptions). They can choose from DS and GBA titles, which also appeals to parents because they can keep playing their old games too.
As both a gamer and a parent, I can say that I play my DS far more than Xbox 360, Wii, and PS2 combined. I own more DS/GBA games than all three combined too, just because they are cheaper and often much more fun (New SMB anyone?)
I use this a lot, and it's fantastic. I'm on a text plan so I don't worry about the cost (google doesn't charge anything). You have to be with one of the major carriers though, when I tried to use this on US Cellular it wouldn't work because they don't support the five digit text numbers. Google SMS is a great way to get info on the go and has been my "yellow pages" for a long time.
On the subject of other cell services, I used to use Infone before they went under at the beginning of last year and I haven't found anything like it yet to replace (other than google SMS). They were good because they'd give you directions and phone numbers and anything else you'd ask for and even text the info back to you so you'd have it.
Also, Cingular has their MediaMax data plan for $20 a month. This gives you unlimited mobile web from your phone, which is useful for grabbing an email or two on the road. But what they don't tell you is that you can use this as a dialup connection for your laptop/PDA if you have a phone that will work as a modem. I can connect to my Motorola SLVR via bluetooth (or USB) and get online anywhere on my notebook. It's slow as hell, but IM and browsing work OK through it.
A console is perfect for those people who do not posess the knowlege necessary to keep their PC upgraded and patched in order to play the latest and greatest games.
Don't forget the money factor. If I want to play the "latest and greatest" I'm looking at a new PC at least every 2-3 years, figure $1000+ for a low-to-midrange gaming rig. Then every year I've got to upgrade the video card, lets say I go midrange again at $200-250. If you're upgrading CPU, RAM, HDD, mouse, monitor, or anything else in that time, just add it to the tab. Then you've got to shell out ~$50 each for the latest and greatest games.
Lets try again with the Xbox360, just as an example. I spend $400 today on the premium unit. $50 for a second wireless controller, say $60 each for two games to get me started, and a one year Xbox Live gold subscription (I don't know how much they are. Still $50?) I've spent $630 (less than a good gaming rig without any games). Next year I buy a few new games. No upgrades necessary, just need to renew my Live subscription. Say I buy two games a year I'm at $150 or so per year. With the PC I'm well over $400 a year.
Consoles are simpler and cheaper, and IMO far more fun. To me, at least, it's a no-brainer.
I think you're missing the point big time. First of all, being a Jew or gay isn't generally a choice, it's what you are. You're born that way (usually, these two are not concrete examples) and if someone hates you because of that then they obviously have problems.
Crippling a CD and rendering it unplayable is a choice the media companies make. I have no expectations for what a homosexual or a Jew will or will not do for me. Those are people and their lives are their own. I do have an expectation that my CD will play in my CD player, rip to my iPod, be made available for me to listen to personally via Slimserver from the office, and rip to my Xbox possibly. If I'm paying for it then I expect that my Fair Use rights will not be infringed by the media company. If it takes putting a big bold label on there saying "sorry, this won't work in your iPod", that just saves me hassle. I can skip it now rather than buy it and have to go back to the store later to return it.
You're comparing apples to oranges here.
Actually it's a terrible idea. Automobile laws and the requirement for a driver's license to operate are in the interest of human safety. Someone who does not know how to drive properly can easily injure and kill other people. This sort of thing happens all the time. Computer safety is a far different animal. When is the last time anyone was killed by downloading a virus or clicking yes to a spyware-laden ActiveX control? Nobody is at risk of real harm when computer safety (as far as the OS and applications go, hardware is another matter) rules are not followed.
And before someone mentions the instances where 14 year old girls have been raped by older men they met in a chat room, a license would not have prevented that. A license doesn't make you incapable of acting stupid behind the wheel or behind the keyboard, it just ensures that you know how to act properly in those situations. Whether or not you do is still based on judgement.
How is MS in deep trouble if it runs Linux? People buying a 360 to install Linux on it are paying the same $299 or $399 as the people who buy it and leave Windows on it. I realize that those people who install Linux on their 360s probably won't be buying an Xbox Live subscription, but chances are they're still buying games and accessories just like everyone else.
Did anyone read it? Does Half Life 2 look better on the 360 than it does on the Xbox?
Way to go for you too! Obviously you didn't bother to read the summary, let alone RTFA. That's $100k per violation. I'm betting more than one Texan bought an XCP CD.