|
| T O P I C | |
|
Please stop it, my head is hurting!
July 4th 2001, 00:47 CEST by Morn <table align="right" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="0" width="199"><tr><td><img src="/images/misc/shaminos_friend.jpg" width="197" height="213" border="1"></td></tr><tr><td align="center" class="imagetext">We love this guy! If he only wasn't so horribly evil...</td></tr></table>Three of you emailed me little stories about a well-known (not for quality, although it's not as much of a waste of time as this place here) gaming news & commentary site which isn't going to get any further free Sierra games anymore because its virtuous Editor In Chief did something that's not really much worse than any of the other crap he's been doing for a while now. No, I'm not going to post any of them. Just ignore the idiot. He's just a poor, lonely American. You should be glad he doesn't walk around shooting people between the eyes. One of you even wrote: "Personally, I think [the site] should be put out of business." You fool. Do you think you're any better than him when you say something like that? From the AO department: people are now <a href="http://community.mystics.de/board/view/?C=1&B=1&E=0&L=994151408&P=0&O=0&M=994196960-19164">complaining</a> about not being able to find their friends (who they just started to play with) in the "newbie zone". If you know AO, you'll at least giggle now. I did my taxes today. I hate the world. |
| C O M M E N T S |
|
Home »
Topic: Please stop it, my head is hurting!
|«« - Previous Page - Next Page - »»| |
|
Alert Alert In the same forests, there are at most 100,000 western lowland gorillas, while on the DRC-Rwanda-Uganda border there are a few hundred of Dian Fossey's mountain gorillas. And nearby there is an almost extinct population of eastern lowland gorillas, whose national park home has been devastated in the past two years by mining for coltan (colombo tantalite), a mineral used as a hardening agent for metals in hi-tech industries. This was in short supply last year, leading to a worldwide shortage of Sony PlayStation 2 video games. Play spot-the-bullshit in this otherwise interesting report. |
|
i got a better one for you, Flamey: call someone who cares. your one-trick-pony drum-banging same-song-different-tune hyperbolic histrionics are getting old. give us a fucking break kthxbye |
|
crash, I love you too, even though you, like me, stopped performing your single useful function on the Internet. Mine was being funny but I'm over that now; yours was reviewing Quake levels but you're past that too. Let's not pretend this isn't the toilets in an unfashionable virtual bar, juding by the name of the site and by the people who hang around here. Yes, that means you. Don't pretend you have something more important to be doing, if that were true by definition you wouldn't be here. Welcome. The story - such as it was - was about humanity massacring the apes and eating them. But, please, continue spotting Andy's articles at The Register or whatever the else the fuck you think you're doing that's ever so important. And there's a gaming-related ps to that story. p.s. if you'd have squinted real hard with your mind as you read the fucking words you might have noticed something about Playstation 2's requiring vast amounts of African resources be raped and destroyed (and how the impact circles throughout the land/economy/people). Yes, exactly, that requires a brain and that's not a organ typically required of an online gaming journalist. Ethics is nothing more than a slightly unfashionable name for a Greek kid. Anyway, despite Africa being very far away, dangerous, and full of black people, I decided to ponder why Africa has to burn to make Playstation 2s. Does it contain absolutely NO synthetically reproducible materials? Perhaps SKO of copy protection with a backlash? Or maybe something else. Who knows, because, as a gaming journalist, you're hardly likely to know or ever find out, are you? And fucking hell, isn't it SO much more important to output (and this is what you've brought to the public's attention this far this thread), that AO is "fun" (14), some ping numbers (26), gibberish (27), some ironic post about taking this stuff too seriously (36), a "i can't see what all the fuss is about Evil Avatar" post that runs to 140 words (41), and my own sweet sodomy in the electrons (55). =D |
|
Deer Flamey, you have antlers. Obtuse Interjection, MASTERED. *bow* In other news, AO blows, typical of MMORPG launch, gamers whine about "bug-free out of the box", without realizing that somewhere in this wacky capitalistic nation(s), money, jobs, and contracts are involved. I had a chance to meet Evil Avatar at a LANparty in Arizona. I passed up that opportunity, and I am the better for it. Besides, he had a Pokemon sticker on the side of his PC case... fruity? As is typical, I expect to be skipped over in favor of PC's more profound, or simply more quantative posters. Perhaps if I were a more talkative and less concise person, who had less of an enjoyment of absurdity.... ahh, so be it. Huzzah, and good tidings. - Mix Master M.C. D.J. Houston of the Biggity Bomb Blast SupahStar |
|
BTW, just because the drugs haven't kicked in quite yet With Flamey's propensity for links, one could start a great link's page, without need for original content, and pass it off to the uneducated public as a "News" site. But Bligh 'n Begorrah, methinks someone's beaten ya to it. Many times over. Many. Many. Many times. I would include links to sites that would act as evidence to my argument (the single sided definition, of course, not that act of arguing), but you visit them every day, as I grab the rudder of topic steering, swiftly spin it towards the starboard bow, and think of some trifle of a humorous statement involving a poop deck. - HrM. Houston |
|
Houston, if you write lots of offensive gibberish you get the hits. If you are articulate and concise peopel misread you as "stupid" because we skim the net, not read it and ponder it deeply. Take for example, The Nubian Network's Black Consciousness Online BLACK IQ Test, Page 5, Question 41, namely 41) BLACKS, LIKE EUROPEANS, ARE DESCENDED FROM THE ANIMAL KINGDOM TRUE FALSE As a black person taking that test you score very highly if you answer "FALSE". You later learn you are, maybe, from another planet in this solar system, otherwise from an entirely seperate star system. Now you might wonder what this has to do with you. Well, as you suspect, roughly 0% of the planet is interested in what you have to say, but a racist website that happily defies the laws of physics, anthropology, and good taste, gets several million hits. That's right. If you want an audience -- extremise. What's the alternative? To be the shy, quiet, deep, sensitive one in the corner of the room at parties "knowing" the girls in the room don't know what they're missing? I'm betting McVeigh never felt that way. |
|
Zzz (#47): Obviously Evil Avatar is correct in saying that gamers are better off knowing what not to buy, regardless of how he came by knowledge of a particular game. God knows, they won't find out by reading Game Spy or any of the other pr tripe that passes for journalism in the gaming media. His remark, in fact, is a classic faux pas; it's not that he said something false or incorrect, just the opposite. The response of the game publisher is akin to a petulant advertiser pulling an ad from a newspaper that has had the temerity to bite the hand that feeds it. And the response of moralizing critics is terribly amusing -- one wonders how many of them intend to buy the game now that they've heard it's widely considered a stinker. He bashed the living hell out of Tribes2 for months and Sierra didn't say squat. It was when he advocated piracy that they pulled their support. Flamethrower (#49): To play the game, you need the CD in. Putting the CD in makes it wear out. The game I bought, and still want to play, I cannot. I paid for that game, it's being played online now and I can't join. And what do game developers reckon? Tough fucking luck, buy another game instead, cunt. To legally watch a VHS movie you've purchased, you have to put the tape in. This wears it out. Why no outcry? DVD movies? CD music? I've had a lot of CD's which have developed scratches and I can't play anymore. Do I whine, cry and bitch about it? No. Flamethrower (#56): Mine was being funny but I'm over that now No shit. Houston (#57): As is typical, I expect to be skipped over in favor of PC's more profound, or simply more quantative posters. Perhaps if I were a more talkative and less concise person, who had less of an enjoyment of absurdity.... ahh, so be it. Huzzah, and good tidings. Desperate for attention are we? Here, I'll throw you a bone ... :) |
|
#60 Warren Marshall wrote... To legally watch a VHS movie you've purchased, you have to put the tape in. This wears it out. Why no outcry? You can make copies of them, and use the copies. DVD movies? There has been and is an outcry because you can't copy them w/o breaking the protection. CD music? I've had a lot of CD's which have developed scratches and I can't play anymore. Do I whine, cry and bitch about it? No. You can make copies, and use the copies. Selective memory, sir. There has been fights over the copying of each media type. In each case the distributors would like to force you to pay separately for each instance of a song, movie, etc. you possess, even if they are identical recordings. The extreme price of VHS tapes and long release delays when VCR's were new. DeCSS and divx. Efforts to put embed copy protection into music, and kill the mp3 standard. Your arguments sound good on the surface, but I'm sure you realized that Flamethrower's point applies equally to them as well, even if you disagree with his conclusions. -Whisp |
|
I really don't know where I'd stand on this issue if I didn't get free games FedExed to me. I think the only game I ever "pirated" was Nox. And I only did that because I had a copy on its way, but was really eager to play it. I've never actively gone out and looked for pirated games, I don't think. However, as I stand right now, I'm firmly against pirating. I'm not sure it has as much of an effect on game prices as everyone thinks--the problem is a lot more prominent in business applications--but it's still a major problem. I don't really see it as any different than any other theft. You hear people screaming, "oh, but they have no right to charge that much money for a game!" Bullshit. Warren made a good point--although not completely related to mine--that people don't complain about having to fork over cash for regular movies. I'm waiting for the day people start saying that there's no way they're going to fork over money for a TV--they'd rather just steal one. Back to the topic at hand, though--I think Sierra got a bit overzealous with its actions. Totally pulling support because of a single statement isn't really a professional thing to do, either. Granted, it's not the same as pulling support because of a poor review, but it's related. I do know of a few other companies that have refused to work with certain authors because their reviews didn't really fit with the corporate goals set for the game. That kind of stuff upsets me way more. |
|
Whisp (#61): To legally watch a VHS movie you've purchased, you have to put the tape in. This wears it out. Why no outcry? You can make copies of them, and use the copies. What about the ones with copy protection on them? Your arguments sound good on the surface, but I'm sure you realized that Flamethrower's point applies equally to them as well, even if you disagree with his conclusions. Yes, but he doesn't rant on endlessly against any media type other than games. |
|
Obviously Evil Avatar is correct in saying that gamers are better off knowing what not to buy, regardless of how he came by knowledge of a particular game. God knows, they won't find out by reading Game Spy or any of the other pr tripe that passes for journalism in the gaming media. You can find reviews (or at least a review, of Myst III) on GameSpy written by... Philip Hansen, aka Evil Avatar. So in a sense you're saying you can't find out about bad games by reading anything by Evil Avatar. Good job. Oh, and for those above wondering why he was promoting GameSpy, he's trying to suck up to get more editorial work probably because he needs the money. one wonders how many of them intend to buy the game now that they've heard it's widely considered a stinker. Hmm, widely? I know people who have the final (the English version is done, it's being held solely for localizing) that say it's a fantastic game. It's a hardcore game, that's for sure, one with many hours of gameplay. But clearly his comment did have an affect on your perception of the game. It should be pointed out that he was playing a beta, not the final version, and while others say he told them he played it for five minutes and thought the graphics sucked (hence the game sucked), Mr. Avatar later said he played it for five hours. Is that enough time to pass judgement? He didn't qualify his statements; he stated the game sucked. Period. Do you think it's acceptible to review betas? Do you think it's acceptible to evaluate games based on a few minutes or hours of gameplay? Should reviews finish games before evaluating them or commenting on them in public? (For these to be considered, you have to assume that reviewers have some influence on some portion of the game audience, and clearly in this case his comments influenced you as you parroted his evaluation of the game.) And do you think it's appropriate to comment on a game's quality in the context of saying "Is piracy bad?" By the way, this game does have a demo available so people already have a way to "try before they buy." Time to get some sycophantic Sierra coverage out on the double, before your feedbag is yanked, too! If Sierra pulled support from every site that gave them a bad review they'd receive zero coverage. They've made their share of bad games over the years. Let's also talk about the ethics of posting a private e-mail on his website so he could martyr himself, then chiding others in the forum for posting his private ICQ messages. Or how he doesn't think it's okay for anyone to steal his content in order to "sample" it, thereby depriving him of potential ad dollars and page views. That makes him a hypocrite if he feels it's okay that people warez games to get the word out about a game's poor quality. blah blah blah. |
|
Someone (#64): Mr. Avatar later said he played it for five hours. Not to defend EA, but if I play a game for 5 hours and I'm still not having fun, it's time to pack it in. Hell, if I do ANYTHING for 5 hours and it's still not fun, it's time to find something else to do ... |
|
Not a big fan of MMORPGs then, are you Warren? :) Oh, and Flamey, to quote Bob Eucker "Just a bit outside" But, you should know what I mean if you read, and do not skim my post. Anyway, it's off-topic and merely a personal rant about the lack of creative content in gaming journalism. |
|
Not to defend EA, but if I play a game for 5 hours and I'm still not having fun, it's time to pack it in. Sure, as a consumer that's true. As a reviewer you're obligated to stick with it, because it's possible the game gets considerably better. Your readers SHOULD expect and demand you do this. And if you read a review that said, "Look, the first few hours are dull, but after that it's the best game ever," then you might consider getting throught that time. To use an example, if I thought the tram ride and opening of Half-Life was boring, then went around telling everyone it sucked ass, would you think I was a trusted source of info? And yes, I do realize this wasn't a formal review, but every journalist has to realize that what he or she say has more weight than a comment by a random individual, for better or for worse. Journalists love the fact they can say, "It's unacceptible that a game like Anarchy Online was released in its current state" and have people react. Then they turn around and say, "Well, me saying Arcanum sucked ass was just a forum post, you should ignore it. |
|
I got banned from posting to the EA forums (true story). You know, for a guy who never bans anyone, he sure bans a lot of people. I've been surprised to still have access, considering I almost never agree with him; and once he was all over me because I dared to say that Tribes 2 actually worked on my computer. I still hate tribes 2, but that was besides the point. LPMiller Chief News Editor GotApex? |
|
Flamey, you are a moron. :P |
|
code_404 GameSpy has had nothing to do with Critical Mass for well over a year now. We sold the domain and the identity to some company. I have no idea what they do, CRM or some shit, but it has nothing to do w/ gaming. Whisp Any videotape released in the past six years, at least, will not copy properly. The image comes out distorted and weird. This protection was introduced to combat rampant vhs piracy, and it works quite well. My brother had to stop copying tapes he rented from Blockbuster. There are ways around it, but they involve more thought than the casual pirate is willing to put in. See also: Copy protection on games. -shaithis |
|
Whatever happened to good old code wheels, and "find the word in the manual" keys? |
|
Someone - "he doesn't think it's okay for anyone to steal his content in order to "sample" it, thereby depriving him of potential ad dollars and page views" Which is pretty dumb when you think about it, because these days the chances are that he's losing more money from the bandwidth costs serving you the page than he's gaining from the ad banner at the top of it. :) Houston - "Whatever happened to good old code wheels, and "find the word in the manual" keys?" They don't work. Code wheels are easy - you just dismantle them, photocopy each wheel, and then stick them back together. Manuals can be copied, and usually the game only knows a few words on every page anyway. None of those systems worked, although they were quite good for dissuading casual pirates. |
|
I remember the good old days of playing a pirated copy of SSI's "Dark Sun: The Shattered Lands" and getting to the copy protection part. It'a dragon, and it asks you to identify a word in the manual. They fucked up, tho, and had him give you the first letter of the word as a hint. I lucked out, guessed a "W" word as "water"... correctly, and moved on. From that point forth, whenever I hit the copy protection, I found that you could cycle through the questions until you got the W one, and then move on. =) For the record, I've since bought Dark Sun, even though I can't play it anymore because it won't run in a DOS window, and I have no interest in setting up an authentic DOS box. -shai |
|
Flamey, [q]It's almost impossible to buy the complete Total Annihilation these days. And what do game developers reckon? Tough fucking luck, buy another game instead, cunt.[/q] 1. Most developers offer a cheap cd replacement (I know we do). In the event that the game is out of production... 2. Hit eBay dude. You can prolly get TA for $10. You can't blame them for not selling the game anymore. And you can't blame them for copy protection. I used to be against SafeDisc, but no more. Every game I see has it now and I think it's a smart - necessary - move. It's a shame developers have to use protection, but casual piracy is out of hand. It's simply too wasy to copy CD's these days. This isn't 1996 anymore where people didn't own $2000 cd burners. This is 2001 and everyone has a burner. |
|
Flamey, http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1250509086 $5.99 TA, new in box. Crisis averted. |
|
..about Diablo 2 exp. i love it.. its like what hellfire did for diablo. the regular game just doesnt even seem fun anymore even though you are doing the same levels. "SPOILER" there are lots of new things the charms the two charecters the fact that just about everything is socketable just wait for it to drop jewels and runes. they increased the usefullness of the gems they got the annoying levelup buttons out of the way IT PLAYS IN 800x600 you can equip your hirelings (like the rogues you get) you can KEEP your hirelings.. past whatever level they will level on thier own.. generally i am enjoying it. now .. i must RECOMEND Startopia it is addictive.. and wonderful if you are the sort that loves to micromanage and sim! you are running parts of a space station.. you hire the people who come abord. you farm the biodeck.. you make pleasure levels.. and you take over other players.. yes it multies.. its great for passing time.. buy it when it goes on sale! ..um.. zeus has an addon.. i enjoy it but it is better to wait for a sale on it too! ..comments on the discussion didnt we already establish that piracy is bad..but we arent going to dig thru your collection of games to find out.. and that we wish there was some MEANS to test the game WHEN it comes out instead of weeks or months later.. and ... that we want the DEMO to play like the fricken game ..not be a "graphics test" or a "technology test"... as these things are NOT in the end why we will buy the game.. we want game play and a reason to plop down money.. ...runs out the door back to her cubical .... |
|
#70 "shaithis" wrote... Any videotape released in the past six years, at least, will not copy properly. The image comes out distorted and weird. This protection was introduced to combat rampant vhs piracy, and it works quite well. My brother had to stop copying tapes he rented from Blockbuster. There are ways around it, but they involve more thought than the casual pirate is willing to put in. See also: Copy protection on games. It's still really easy to find a crack for it with mega sites posting any thing and some fan site even posting crack downloads. Most fan sites also have message boards, where gasp some one knows about the crack and will post links to those mega sites (I was seeing where can I find a midtown 2 crack once a week shotly after it's release). Sure it makes it easy for people with legal copies that don't want to put up with the CD check find the crack, but it also makes it easy for casual pirates to find them as well. |
|
Flamey, 56: And fucking hell, isn't it SO much more important to output (and this is what you've brought to the public's attention this far this thread), that AO is "fun" (14), some ping numbers (26), gibberish (27), some ironic post about taking this stuff too seriously (36), a "i can't see what all the fuss is about Evil Avatar" post that runs to 140 words (41), and my own sweet sodomy in the electrons (55). *yawn* so now posts have to have some sort of merit or something? i'm sorry, when did PC become a political action board? did i miss the change? your "rise up against the oppressor" song and dance and copious links to breathless, near-hysterical "news pieces" gets old. just sayin. you wanna keep doing it, keep doing it. i'm just sayin it's gettin tired. |
|
#70 shaithis wrote... Any videotape released in the past six years, at least, will not copy properly. The image comes out distorted and weird. This protection was introduced to combat rampant vhs piracy, and it works quite well. My brother had to stop copying tapes he rented from Blockbuster. There are ways around it, but they involve more thought than the casual pirate is willing to put in. See also: Copy protection on games. hmm... I've never tried to copy a commercial tape, but I took comfort in the fact that if I needed to, I could. Kind of irritating. Big difference between movies, and music and games, is that how many people actually watch the same movie every day, maybe even more than once? It takes a lot longer to wear them out if you only watch them every few months, at the most, though I've known people who have managed. With music and games it's much more common, so wearing them out is easier. Plus, for games checking the CD causes a small performance hit, and needing the CD in the drive, even when nothing needs to be read, are both a little irritating. -Whisp |
|
#78 "crash" wrote... so now posts have to have some sort of merit or something? Only in the minds of the people clicking "Post." i'm sorry, when did PC become a political action board? Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. did i miss the change? If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice. your "rise up against the oppressor" song and dance and copious links to breathless, near-hysterical "news pieces" gets old. A pity you don't have a plonk button. Soon the grim end will come for us all. Anyway. It may get old at some point, but it hasn't yet for everyone. Besides, old isn't immortal. just sayin. you wanna keep doing it, keep doing it. i'm just sayin it's gettin tired. Telling someone that their argument/position/point of view is "getting tired" is also getting tired. IMHO. #74 "George Broussard" wrote... This is 2001 and everyone has a burner. Hey, bingo. Someone gave me a burner, 4x2x, fer nuttin, because they bought a faster one for an absurdly low price. The uses I could put this thing to... I am thinking of writing some scifi set in a world where one would have to have extremely restrictive licenses to own a copy of a song, even, let alone a.... COUNTERFEITING DEVICE!!!! (cue dread music) Ahem. Said that, George is right, there has to be some cd lock on yer stuff. But innovation in this area is sorely needed. The current system punishes pirates slightly and punishes honest consumers a fair bit - in some cases, though, denying a legitmate customer any access to the game - the pirate never undergoes this penalty. This state of affairs is simply unacceptable . Some of you missed the point of FT's post. Surely he knows that there are ways to get around these irritations. (And, yeah, Ebay, sure. But it isn't a limitless supply, duh. And the abandonware situation is even more distasteful to many.) But Joe Sixpack does not. And in spite of the fact that we here, by and large, are far, far more clever than Joe Sixpack - that doesn't entitle him to any less protections or conveniences as any other consumer. For comparison, and as an aside, you must see Memento, as soon as is immediately feasible. What a stunner. You must hurry, before some potzer spoils it for you. Anyway. Pay attention to the scenes where the clerk at the hotel rips him off; specifically, the look on the mark's face when he realizes he is being had. Ho hum, got me again. It isn't fair to one to take advantage of one's ignorance to get one's money. Companies that are guilty of doing this are too numerous to be linked. Until this issue is addressed, piracy will continue to flourish - it isn't better anti-copy we need, but fewer asshole-execs. Hey George, the impression I get from the message boards I read is that a lot of people are planning on stealing your game. Do you think you can comment on whether you'll have the same old thing locking your ware down, or will EVEN YOUR COPY PROTECTION!!!!! be spankingly innovating and overthetopmindblowing????? I have an idea, ten bucks, it is yours. Fiddy, if ya use it. Har. ================ I am a prototype for a much larger idiot. |
|
#75 George Broussard wrote... Flamey, http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISA...086 $5.99 TA, new in box. Crisis averted. I dont' think you get it - he's already payed, why should he have to pay again? Of course, this brings up an interesting point. The license agreements with most software specifically grant you the right to install and use the software on one computer, but do not deal with the medium of transfer. Does this license extend beyond the physical media the software is distributed on? The only mention of the physical representation of the software I could find in the several agreements I examined was the right to make backup copies and use those instead. If the license grants you the right to use the software, regardless of the physical vessel it was derived from, does that mean that even if your copy is destroyed, you could demand a replacement? The only agreement I found that denied this was the one with Q3, that says that any warranties for the physical product didn't apply to normal wear and tear. Second interesting thought: The license is considered binding when you click the "Yes", or "I Agree" or whatever button, but in none of the agreements I read was any payments or obligations (other than to follow the license agreement) required or made a condition of entering into the agreement? Does that mean that simply by agreeing to the provisions to the license as written, that license then is granted to you, regardless of any other actions you may or may not have taken, such as paying? I know it sounds ridiculous, and it probably is. This issue is likely explained somewhere in the standard laws dealing with contracts and licenses - but what if it isn't? The only thing I've heard is that for a contract to be valid, some sort of exchange must take place. Well, by agreeing, you've agreed to do certain things, and not do others. Services, in other words. Could those fulfill the required exchange? Of course, to get ahold of the software without paying for it means that someone else would likely need to break the license. Is receiving this software a crime, and even if it is, can you still obtain a valid license by agreeing? What if the distributor never clicked on "I agree", or installed the software? What then obligates them not to distribute copies? -Whisp |
|
I dont' think you get it - he's already payed, why should he have to pay again? Because, you know, stuff wares out. CD's, DVD's, tapes, pets, clothes, video cards, cars, toys, and games. At some point everything degrades to the point where it is no longer useful. Then you buy another one and the circle of life continues. It sure would be nice though, if Nike magically sent me out a new pair of sneakers every six months because I bought some shoes from them in 1988. |
|
szcx (#82): It sure would be nice though, if Nike magically sent me out a new pair of sneakers every six months because I bought some shoes from them in 1988. Yeah. Having to actually put my shoes on my feet everyday really causes some wear and tear on them. And when I get a hole in them, fucking Nike won't even issue me a new pair. Cunts. |
|
#76 Ryslin: ..about Diablo 2 exp. i love it.. Okay. Thanks. Might pick it up when I see it on the shelves here. now .. i must RECOMEND Startopia it is addictive.. and wonderful if you are the sort that loves to micromanage and sim! I'm seeing a lot of favourable comments on Startopia but also a lot of bug reports. It sounds interesting but I'm not into sims in a big way. I'll download a demo if I can find one. If that gets me addicted then clearly I'll buy it. Although now that I think about it the Majesty demo got me addicted but I wasn't prepared to fork out the full price everyone was selling it for. It still hasn't dropped I price and I feel I'll be forgetting about it before it does. |
|
If Nike attached a chain to their shoes with a massive weight as an anti-theft measure, you might have an accurate comparison. Copy protection affects performance, and I've yet to hear that justified beyond the level of the "necessary evil" argument |
|
Warren Marshall (#83): Yeah. Having to actually put my shoes on my feet everyday really causes some wear and tear on them. And when I get a hole in them, fucking Nike won't even issue me a new pair. Cunts. The difference between shoes, movies, music, etc, is that you can still buy the old stuff. Trying to find Final Doom and the Quake expansion packs has been an major pain in the ass that took me months. I can go buy King Kong now or an Elvis CD now. Game companies seem hell bent on making their old stuff hard to find and it's probably because there's no huge difference between it and alot of the new stuff and they don't want to sell the cheaper games. |
|
Cilan (#85): Copy protection affects performance, and I've yet to hear that justified beyond the level of the "necessary evil" argument What other reason is there? It's there because people steal software. "Why is that keycode lock on that door?" "People keep walking and stealing stuff so we put it there to stop the casual guys getting in." "Isn't there another reason it's there? Is that IT?" wtf? TheToadWarrior (#86): it's probably because there's no huge difference between it and alot of the new stuff and they don't want to sell the cheaper games. Yet you keep buying it. |
|
Warren Marshall (#87): TheToadWarrior (#86): it's probably because there's no huge difference between it and alot of the new stuff and they don't want to sell the cheaper games. Yet you keep buying it. Because I want the new stuff as well as the old stuff. |
|
Toad, companies seem hell bent on making their old stuff hard to find and it's probably because there's no huge difference between it and alot of the new stuff and they don't want to sell the cheaper games. Because there is no market for the old games. Don't blame publishers. Blame retailers that stock THOUSANDS of cd's, movies and more, yet PC Boxes are HUGE and that means they can carry only the latest and greatest. I SOOO wish we were all in DVD boxes. Then you could sell old games like Duke 3D for $9 and still make some money - and it wouldn't take a huge amount of space. Until then - hit eBay. |
|
George Broussard, Because there is no market for the old games. Don't blame publishers. Blame retailers that stock THOUSANDS of cd's, movies and more, yet PC Boxes are HUGE and that means they can carry only the latest and greatest. I SOOO wish we were all in DVD boxes. Then you could sell old games like Duke 3D for $9 and still make some money - and it wouldn't take a huge amount of space. Until then - hit eBay. I agree. First of all, not enough retail space for the bigass boxes. And "hardcore" gamers are not exactly the majority of people, or even gamers in general. The masses want the shiniest new games with fancy graphics. So that is what is currently made. So that is what is stocked. |
|
George Broussard, Because there is no market for the old games. Don't blame publishers. Blame retailers that stock THOUSANDS of cd's, movies and more, yet PC Boxes are HUGE and that means they can carry only the latest and greatest. I SOOO wish we were all in DVD boxes. Then you could sell old games like Duke 3D for $9 and still make some money - and it wouldn't take a huge amount of space. Until then - hit eBay. I agree. First of all, not enough retail space for the bigass boxes. And "hardcore" gamers are not exactly the majority of people, or even gamers in general. The masses want the shiniest new games with fancy graphics. So that is what is currently made. So that is what is stocked. |
|
George, Didn't the industry adopt the "GT" box standard, aka the "DVD Case" standard? Is it just being slowly implemented or what? |
|
I suspect that allowing really old games to remain on the shelves would also be a major support headache. Is it really cost effective to field support calls on a $5 copy of Halloween Harry because it doesn't run under Windows 2000? Somehow, I doubt it. |
|
The "necessary evil" argument splits the people who think invconveniencing the many to punish the few is justifiable with those who think that the product should be made to perform as well as possible with as little hinderance as is possible....but that wasn't the point of what I wrote. I pointed out how ridiculous your little comparison of digital media (which wears down faster because of things such as copy protection) and shoes, which have no built in theft deterrents that inconvenience the user and cause accelerated destruction. But I guess it's easier to just jump on the second thing I said (which was basically an admonition that there are reasonable arguments for copy protection), misconstrue it and then avoid the first statement. The keycode analogy has no real basis for comparison either...locks generally provide a feeling of security for the user and have no inherent drawbacks. Cd checks negatively affect the user. |
|
#94 "Cilan" wrote... Cd checks negatively affect the user. Piracy negatively affects the user as well. Nevertheless the current anti-copy measures are either a joke or an intolerable nuisance, depending on whether you're a thief or a customer. Shouldn't that be reversed? ================ I am a prototype for a much larger idiot. |
|
George Broussard (#89): Toad, companies seem hell bent on making their old stuff hard to find and it's probably because there's no huge difference between it and alot of the new stuff and they don't want to sell the cheaper games. Because there is no market for the old games. Don't blame publishers. Blame retailers that stock THOUSANDS of cd's, movies and more, yet PC Boxes are HUGE and that means they can carry only the latest and greatest. I SOOO wish we were all in DVD boxes. Then you could sell old games like Duke 3D for $9 and still make some money - and it wouldn't take a huge amount of space. Until then - hit eBay. That's very true, but they could be sold online at a discounted price with no support. That way you don't have to worry about helping someone getting Duke 1 running on their XP machine and for $5.00 or so, who's really gonna worry about having to download it? Activision does this as well as having Digital River handle selling boxed copies. I could have bought the Quake mission packs this way, but the link was dead and if you go to DR's main page, it's just to pimp their service to companies so I was SOL with Activision. Certainly there's enough of a market to put some games online and charge a small fee for them to people out there that want them. Abandonware sites seem popular, so the market has got to be there. |
|
cd checks suck but I love cd-keys. If you don't need the CD, a key is much better as long as you don't do something stupid like Id did initially with Quake 3 and place it in one of the most commonly shared files. |
|
#94 "Cilan" wrote... The keycode analogy has no real basis for comparison either...locks generally provide a feeling of security for the user and have no inherent drawbacks. Cd checks negatively affect the user. So taking a few minutes to find the damn keycode is better then a few second spent checking the CD. Also how exactly does a CD (the digital media) ware down from the check? I've got quite a few games, most of the good one have seen quite a bit of use over the years, and they still work. The ones that don't aren't fucked up because of a light being directed at them but because some one broke them, I have yet to see one simply deteriorate from normal use like a VHS or Cassette does. So being forced to put it in the drive really doesn't harm them. #96 "TheToadWarrior" wrote... That's very true, but they could be sold online at a discounted price with no support. That way you don't have to worry about helping someone getting Duke 1 running on their XP machine and for $5.00 or so, who's really gonna worry about having to download it? If you put it on a CD for free or some mag does having no support isn't a big deal, but as soon as you charge for it people expect some kind of support for the product. |
|
None-1a (#98): If you put it on a CD for free or some mag does having no support isn't a big deal, but as soon as you charge for it people expect some kind of support for the product. Not if they agree that it's sold as is and you make it clear, the odds of it running can be pretty slim on new machines. It's their risk. Besides, two things I was looking for recently(Final Doom and the Quake mission packs) run just fine on new systems. Unlike newer games, the old games were written for an OS that virtually no one uses, so the user has to accept some risks when buying old software. I wouldn't be against them giving it away though either. :) |
|
Just wanted to say. Welcome back George Broussard. We've all missed you and just so you feel at home: GO BACK 2 WORK AN FINISH DNF U LAZY GIMP! With love :) |
|
#99 "TheToadWarrior" wrote... Not if they agree that it's sold as is and you make it clear, the odds of it running can be pretty slim on new machines. It's their risk. Then your sending support denials out to all of the people that didn't bother to read it before ploping in their CC number and downloading. Those people then of course will find the nearest message board or newsgroup and start bitching that so and so doesn't support their products and you have a PR nightmare on your hands. About the only way I see to handle it is to pass them off to a second party to distribute for some fee (simmaler to say epic classics). With any luck the company you sold the right to distripute to will be the one getting slamed with support questions. Considering it'd be their buisness to handle these games they'd probably be more equiped to take those questions as well. You'd probably still get a few questions, but you could forward them to the other company with out your own staff spending much time one the matter. It'd take a bit of work by the legal department to craft an agreement that would still give the original publisher/developer the option of useing the old game or content for promotions but it could be done (ie a we retain the right to cancel this distro contract at any time for any reason clause). |
|
CD music? I've had a lot of CD's which have developed scratches and I can't play anymore. Do I whine, cry and bitch about it? No. Well, fucker, one difference of a CD player and PC is games play from harddrives, not CD, so there is no need to wear out the CD Another difference is it cost me over 150 dollars to buy TA and mission packs. And now I'm supposed to take it up the ass it fails just because you do? You sir, are a cunt. |
|
Paul wrote up there somewhere: On the other hand, how many of you who pirate would walk into a store and steal the same game off the shelf? Does the assumption that you have a much higher chance of getting caught when you steal in the store affect your decision to pirate, but not shoplift? Assuming you believe in the whole victimless crime thing, and your ethics aren't of the highest-caliber in the world -- there is a distinction here. When you download warez that you would have never bought, you're not depriving anybody of any physical property, or asset, or what have you. When you walk into a store and steal a hard copy of the game, you're fucking over the store owner, who shelled out the money to buy it with the intention of selling it for a profit. |
| C O M M E N T S |
|
Home »
Topic: Please stop it, my head is hurting!
|«« - Previous Page - Next Page - »»| |
| P O S T A C O M M E N T |
|
|
| C R A P T A G S | ||||||||
|
|
| There are currently 0 people browsing this site. [Details] |
Powered by blah 0.9.1-dev •
PlanetCrap is © 1997-2035 Hendrik "Morn" Mans
|