Caineach's page

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DeathQuaker wrote:

Tied with the strong themes of family through the film, it's why I felt the movie was very uplifting and heartwarming, in spite of the explodyfest at the very end of the movie (which I just kind of handwave away as requisite for a superhero movie--also, the buildings were shown to be evacuated, so they were breaking empty buildings). The people who call it cold and grim absolutely puzzle me because of this; I felt "warm" the whole time and left the theater smiling.

I think the following factors made it "cold" - to me, at least (spoiled for spoilers):

** spoiler omitted **...

Responding to points 4 and 5 mostly:

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seekerofshadowlight wrote:

well, No you saw clark the whole time. He was not superman until much later. The whole movie was really clark, finding himself and his place.

Clark Kent and *Clark Kent* are not the same thing. I'm talking about *Clark Kent* - the fun, goofy guy that Superman uses as a disguise. We didn't get any of that - and I doubt we will in the subsequent movies, either, which is really quite a shame. He's a lot of fun.

Well, this movie predates that *Clark Kent*. I would guess if they do a new movie and not an origins story, then we will probably see that.

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Brian E. Harris wrote:

R_Chance wrote:

If those extensions / changes keep pushing forward you might have grounds for a complaint.

So none of the previous extensions, like the last one, changing it from 56 years to life + 70, none of those give us any grounds for a complaint?

Not for me. For you, obviously.

Brian E. Harris wrote:

R_Chance wrote:

The owners of those rights might disagree, and they are not all huge evil corporations.

No, not all, but certainly the money buying the politicians (i.e. the actual ability to affect the situation) is.

Really? You think, in a country like the U.S. with a press as invasive and aggressive as ours that they are "buying politicians"? Publishers and authors? And no one has uncovered this illegal activity and ratted them out to the press or the prosecutors? Money may buy you access in the current political set up, it is unlikely to buy you anything beyond a chance to make your case. I'm sure the large copyright holders have done their best to make the case for extensions but if there wasn't a decent argument for it, then it wouldn't fly (I am not saying there is not a counter argument btw and I'm sure it is being made as well).

Disney spent more than 1.5 million in 1997 alone to get copyright extended for the Mickey Mouse Protection Act. Here is a CNN article on it.

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Yeah, the site has been pretty much grinding to a slow halt for me all afternoon.

If was fine this morning though ...

This afternoon has definetely been signifcantly slower than usual.

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Ninja in the Rye wrote:

Spoiler:

Mediocre effort. Only really good thing was Kal El actually (Spolier)...

"Hey, here's another shot of Clark looking pensive while some human treats him like crap."
"Gee, Zack, don't you thing we have enough of those moments?"
"Hells no, we have to cover the full beard and age spectrum with these shots!"

You mean you liked them doing the ONE thing that Superman shouldn't do... Also, spoiler tag probably shoulda been tossed in there

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As far as 3D printers go, we can expect them to drasticly drop in price over the next year or so.
Currently, there is a kickstarter for a $350 printer that claims to fair well against the makerbot used to make one of the guns upthread.

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Quandary wrote:

@R_Chance: Sure, that's been mentioned alot, and it's valid, although if they end up with 1:2 marketshare that 'large potential audience' isn't quite as large or enticing. Realistically, the largest potential audience will be for an auxiliary interface/control scheme that can be implemented via both PS4's enhanced 6-axis controllers and Kinect gestures.

They have really improved the Kinect hardware and software. It's a major "feature" (for better or worse) and they wanted widespread developer buy in on it. I suspect they have it. I'm not a console gamer (I play PC games) but if there are games that make major use of Kinect, they won't translate well to either PS4 or PC. Unless they make a Kinect for PC peripheral. Beyond paid exclusives and first party MS games there are going to be a number of games which will be (already are at least partly) locked in to the X-Box One's hardware. Games that are popular and are just on X-box (and maybe PC in a couple of years) boosts hardware sales (either X-box or PC peripherals). Sony hasn't included any comparable peripherals with the PS4 and while that allows them to undersell MS (which is smart) it might bite them on the rear when they introduce those peripherals later and people face a hardware tax to play a game (or at least get the full advertised functionality) and developers are looking at a smaller audience for their games. The console wars are getting interesting again. Nintendo included peripherals (and backwards compatibility) with the Wii-U. If they just get some games out the door that aren't already on another platform (the new Zelda game is an obvious choice) it could be a three way race this time.

They can only get developers to make those kinect games if both the install base becomes large enough and the cost of developing for the kinect is low enough. We have no idea how they will be faring on these accounts, but the initial install base is looking to be smaller than MS is hoping for.

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Caineach wrote:

CapeCodRPGer wrote:

I am seeing it this weekend but I am curious about something. Answer in spoiler tags if its a big deal.

I know General Zod is the main bad guy in this movie. But is Lex Luthor in it/ mentioned at all for set up for future movies? I'm glad they went with Zod and not Luthor because Luthor been done to death in movies.

They blow up a Lexcorp oil truck, but there is no reference to Luthor.

So my thoughts were that Superman was supermediocre.
I liked the characters. Superman wasn't a brick wall, Lois wasn't a complete damsel in distress. I like the choice of actress for Lois, someone who looks like they have been arround the block chasing a lead before instead of some just out of college pinup.

If you liked how the Hulk moved in Avengers, you will probably like the fight scenes here. I personally find them blurry and jarring. They use the same move things too fast so their ragdoll cg physics don't look as bad technique. It may have looked better in 3D, but I doubt it.

I felt that in the fight scenes they dropped Superman's character, like throwing enemies though occupied buildings that eventually collapse and not caring about collateral damage. The fight scenes felt like 2 superpowers going at it, but they didn't feel like one of them was Superman.

You've got to remember that the fights are powered kryptonians going at it so the speed thing I think they got right given there a hyperspeed component, the bits I liked I really liked the bits I didn't like I really didn't like, it felt like most of the pieces were there for a great movie just they put them together wrong.

Oh, the fights definetely felt like high power kryptonians. I just really don't like the shaky-cam, fast, blurry style that is also similar to what we see in things like Gladiator.

I wish there was more of the early movie, before he puts on the suit, and some more of him coming into his powers instead of going straight to flight early on.

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Comrade Anklebiter wrote:

Freehold DM wrote:

unfortunately, he broke the law to do what he did, so he probably would have gone to jail. but I doubt the super secret black bag over your head brigade would have shown up if he had both complained through channels and gone to the media. He also really shouldn't have gone to Hong Kong as a first stop-extradition or no, it makes it look like he had secrets to sell to the highest bidder. I also would have noted that a lot of the things being complained about have been legal for years and phrased my complaints differently. I don't think he's a super spy or hero or traitor like I said before, but I'm starting to think he may not be a very rational planner.

I have to wonder, if he had secrets to sell, why would he have gone to the press in the first place? I can't think of any spy in the history of espionage who did that.

EDIT--damn ninjas.

yeah ninjaed by thejeff. I'm not saying that he *did* have secrets to sell, Just that it may seem thatway to a skeptic. Also bringing in the media would be a great way to cover up some tracks or at the very least provide some deniability. Then again, I am not an espionage expert.

I can also see it as a great way to get buyers to approach you.

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No but we did get a new Disgaea4 with HD sprites... :P

DOOD!

Disgaea is the only game I wish I bought a PS3 for.

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I am seeing it this weekend but I am curious about something. Answer in spoiler tags if its a big deal.

I know General Zod is the main bad guy in this movie. But is Lex Luthor in it/ mentioned at all for set up for future movies? I'm glad they went with Zod and not Luthor because Luthor been done to death in movies.

They blow up a Lexcorp oil truck, but there is no reference to Luthor.

So my thoughts were that Superman was supermediocre.
I liked the characters. Superman wasn't a brick wall, Lois wasn't a complete damsel in distress. I like the choice of actress for Lois, someone who looks like they have been arround the block chasing a lead before instead of some just out of college pinup.

If you liked how the Hulk moved in Avengers, you will probably like the fight scenes here. I personally find them blurry and jarring. They use the same move things too fast so their ragdoll cg physics don't look as bad technique. It may have looked better in 3D, but I doubt it.

I felt that in the fight scenes they dropped Superman's character, like throwing enemies though occupied buildings that eventually collapse and not caring about collateral damage. The fight scenes felt like 2 superpowers going at it, but they didn't feel like one of them was Superman.

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Using metadata to find Paul Rever
This is an example of how a simple set of metadata can be used to identify persons of interest, done in a humorous and easily understood way.

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Why would he be extradited? People didn't even know he was the source of the leaks until he revealed himself. Supposedly he'd taken time off work to get treatment for epilepsy. I mean it's possible that he was being watched and that they would have picked him up the moment he tried to switch flights or something but if they suspected he was the leak why let him fly to China in the first place? There are lots of places in the world that don't have extradition treaties with the US. I said I wasn't going to question this guy's character but he did have choices. Hong Kong is convenient, I'm sure their are direct flights, and I'm sure it's the safest city in China, but I got to wonder if it really was his best choice.

Because he left for China before the story broke. I have seen rummors that the FBI was looking for him for 3 days before the story initially broke, but he was already in China by then.

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I'm not sure why Roy is so relieved in the latest strip.

** spoiler omitted **

The Linear Guild is only looking for the gate because the heroes are, from what I remember.

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I originally found Raging Heroes through Coolminiornot

I wonder if word got out through there because I certainly did not hear about this from anywhere else

Anticipation has been building on 40K boards for a while. People have been looking for female IG for quite some time. Their previously released models have been great for things like Commissars.

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Gun toting grandma stops intruder.

With a revolver, I notice.

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I have been debating how deep to go into these for my all-female Imperial Guard army. I will probably end up at at least $200. For that I probably wont get a full blob though.

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This kickstarter looks like it has a lot of neat greek style models.

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"Obama's not solely to blame for what his administration does, because he's just continuing policies that were put in place under Bush II" (and, incidentally, were opposed by Senator Obama)?

As if the Obama administration has no choice but to carry out the police-state measures of his predecessors.

I'm sorry, but I still think that's sophistry.

I think you are missing the point. We aren't saying Obama isn't to blame. We are just saying we should also be blaming the many members of congress who have repeatedly voted on the laws that are being used to make this legal. They were just as complicent, as the president and are equally to blame.

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Well, I didn't consent, and neither did these guys.

And Obama (or, more properly, the Obama administration) is solely to blame for this particular scandal. And while the point that the American populace is ignorant, poorly educated, xenophobic and easily manipulable by our ruling elite is certainly true, and shameful, to counterpose that "we" are all responsible for Obama (or Holder or whoever) ordering Verizon to turn over all of our phone records strikes me as sophistry.

And I don't mind if you guys are going to hurl anti-communist slurs around, but, Citizen Krensky, "filthy bolshevik goblin" is racist and I am flagging you.

Except this was just a renual of an existing, ongoing warrant that was started under Bush. That is why we aren't laying it all on Obama.

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...

I don't know, almost every line in those two paragraphs sets off my bullshiznit-detector alarm.

Your not alone in this

I also don't really have any particular thoughts on the whole wage gap think. Where I work we have a f&@~ing union. You better believe men and women make the same amount for the same job.

Even with union jobs you have to worry about opportunity gaps, where a woman's resume will less likely result in an interview. You also can have issues with women recieving less positive reviews for the same behavior, resulting in lower rate of promotion. Those are hard to identify and deal with, but studies have found both to be quite common in many fields.

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Krensky wrote:

Five hours after the attack on the consulate there was another attack on the CIA annex in another part of the city where two americans working as mercenaries for the CIA were killed repulsing the attack.

I was curious about this and went hunting. According to wikipedia the CIA annex and the consulate were a mere 1.2 miles apart.

1.2 miles is annother part of the city.

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@ guy In the wage disparity gap, the issue I that certain groups purposefully presented faulty info, comparing full-time women to full-time men, and then also part-time women to part-time men, which side by side appears to show that men make more money in the exact same job/circumstance.

However, the kicker is that if you actually compare men and women and also do take into account that the average full time hours for a man is 50+/week, while it is 36(ish) for women (usually by choice), that men also tend to accept more dangerous jobs where women tend to refuse them, men also tend to be forced to accept jobs that require more travelling or include aspects that they do not like, but will do them anyway, and also take into account that men generally take much less time off/away from work (both for personal time and health care, but also are more likely o work through lunch if asked), we actually find that the pay gap is non-existent.

It's really only if you look at it from a very skewed way can you find the that show woman are underpaid, and the fact is, they are not, with some more realistic numbers indicated that women might even be at 1% over men, when all thing are taken into account.

Except for all those damn inconvienient studies that show the same resume with only a name change being sent out and getting vastly different call back rates and salary offers.

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Caineach wrote:

A massive materials revolution like the one going on right now?

As pointed out upthread, someone has been able to take a $1,400 machine and produce a gun that fired multiple times. 5 years ago that machine would have cost over 10K. This technology is only a few years old, and 10 years ago was primarily wax and sand with $50K machines, or required dedicated rooms with lasers and special plastics. Now we have metal printers, and while they haven't come down to the hobbiest level in price yet, if they follow the price curve they will be in the next 10 years. Even if they don't, we still have been having massive plastic and ceramic advances recently with little evidence that they will be slowing down.

Also, 3D printed shotgun shells are already a thing.

No, I mean when someone figures out how to make ,metal parts that are as strong as those produced by subtractive processes. Sintering does not do that.

Plus this isn't new. Additive fabrication will be 30 next year.

Yes, but it has been rediculously expensive until a few years ago. Recent advances in the controls system, motors, and nozzles have brought high accuracy models into something I can fit on my desk for less than the cost of my computer. That is new.

You don't need metal parts that are as strong as subtractive processes. You only need parts that can handle the stresses required by the task. These don't need to be metal. Workable high temperature plastics are getting there, 2 designs have now demonstrated. I expect 3D printed composites to be a major thing in a few years, simultaneously weaving a carbon fiber matrix into a high strength polymer on the fly. We can already weave cloth with 3D printers, so it would just be a matter of combining it with an extra head to lay the polymer. 10-15 years I wouldn't be suprized to see us growing the carbon structures in place on a nanoscale.

Sure, these methods will never be as cheap a many of the things that we currently do for mass production. But these are things that people will be able to set up in their own homes. They will have many legitamet purposes.

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Has anyone tried the Mass Effect Infiltrator mobile game?

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BigNorseWolf wrote:

The problem isn't the ability to make 1 gun with a 10,000 dollar piece of machinery.

Phase 1 will be when 1 person with a 10,000 dollar machine can make a thousand guns.

Phase 2 will be when everyone already owns a 5,000 dollar machine, so making a gun is the ridiculously small fixed cost of getting more powdered plastic/metal/carbon/whatever the spray works on.

Phase 3 will be profit. Or something.

They'll still be crappy zip guns.

The equipment I was a CNC machine shop. It makes an actual gun by machining solid pieces of metal.

Without a massive, singularity scale, revolution in materials technology these things will always be zip guns.

Plus, you know, ammo.

A massive materials revolution like the one going on right now?

As pointed out upthread, someone has been able to take a $1,400 machine and produce a gun that fired multiple times. 5 years ago that machine would have cost over 10K. This technology is only a few years old, and 10 years ago was primarily wax and sand with $50K machines, or required dedicated rooms with lasers and special plastics. Now we have metal printers, and while they haven't come down to the hobbiest level in price yet, if they follow the price curve they will be in the next 10 years. Even if they don't, we still have been having massive plastic and ceramic advances recently with little evidence that they will be slowing down.

Also, 3D printed shotgun shells are already a thing.

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Not sure why your touting Chrono Cross as some good game. That game was s+*@.

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I'm not sure what the problem is. I can definetely seea Deus Ex game that can work for the phone. If they make it less of an action shooter and more stealth based, they could make something like what République is trying to do, and it would definetely fit in with the rest of the series.

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Caineach wrote:

You say its a common occurance with the older one getting into a lot of trouble. I say it is a common occurance that is almost never prossecuted compared to its frequency. After looking at the law for NY, I can think of at least a dozen relationships from when I was in HS that would have violated it with no prossecutions. Hell, one of them showed up at my 10 year reunion married. Thats not mentioning the couple guys I knew in college who were still dating people from their HS their junior years, who at some point would have had to been violating these types of laws.

The fact that both people are gay probably played a huge role in the likelyhood that this was prosecuted, which is wrong, but is not the issue we are talking about. The fact that they are gay played a huge role in it getting national attention, because the gay community has developed viral ways of spreading news to national attention and they care about laws being applied unevenly. Neither of those are issues that are being discussed, so I don't know why you keep bring it up.

I've heard this mentioned a few times, and I think the disconnect there is primarily that what I'm saying is that once they are caught, (more in an official sense), once the law gets involved, it's a very different story. What your suggesting is that it happens a lot and usually no one cares and it doesn't become a legal issue. I agree, but the difference is I'm talking about the times that they are caught and it does become a legal issue, and that most of those times the older one is slammed as a sex offender. That's related to the topic at hand, because the girls where caught and the law is being brought in.

And I am saying that I don't think that is true. I believe prosecutors ignore edge cases like this all the time. Do you have any evidence of how many cases are reported vs plead or prosecuted? All I have is my experiences, but I doubt you have any evidence to counter them.

The Prosecutor has substantial leadway in determining which cases get prosecuted and what plea deals are offered. Many places would offer wrist slaps or decline to prosecute something like this, and if this were a man and a woman I do not think there would even have been any real investigation.

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Thanks for sharing DQ. It looks great.

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Alice Margatroid wrote:

I don't understand your point about male/female, I haven't mentioned gender? Nor legal liability...?

As for age gaps, it depends entirely on the age of the youngest person. For example, a 5 year gap between a 30 and 35 year old is nothing. A 5 year gap between a 14 and a 19 year old is pretty significant. The age gap could in itself be evidence of exploitation. I certainly think there is a hard limit on when children should start having sex, too, namely because their bodies and minds are nowhere near developed enough to handle that. It's all about considering the circumstances of the relationship and being sure it's all consensual.

Basically: Teenagers are going to have sex with other teenagers no matter what the hell you do. They had sex 1000 years ago and will be having sex 1000 years into the future provided we haven't destroyed the Earth yet. The least we can do is educate them and make sure they're safe and not being used and abused.

Essentually your saying that you dont feel that they where in the wrong for breaking the law, or specifically the older one, and therefore should not be at risk of being punished for it. I dont personally necissarily disagree, but she did break the law. I also do not think that the fact that the older one being either gay or female should have any mention, as it should not matter. But, she did break the law, and for the most part, the reason that this is really even such a social issue is because shes gay and a female. Its fairly common occurence between male and females, often with the older one, usually male getting into a lot of trouble, and often once the case is raised, the state (the law) steps in and removes the potential for the parenta to not press charges, as is common with a lot of crimes that involve children and minors. My point is that this should be treated absolutely no different. I do not feel that the fact that the accused is female/gay should have any authority to remove the parent's rights to prosecute within...

You say its a common occurance with the older one getting into a lot of trouble. I say it is a common occurance that is almost never prossecuted compared to its frequency. After looking at the law for NY, I can think of at least a dozen relationships from when I was in HS that would have violated it with no prossecutions. Hell, one of them showed up at my 10 year reunion married. Thats not mentioning the couple guys I knew in college who were still dating people from their HS their junior years, who at some point would have had to been violating these types of laws.

The fact that both people are gay probably played a huge role in the likelyhood that this was prosecuted, which is wrong, but is not the issue we are talking about. The fact that they are gay played a huge role in it getting national attention, because the gay community has developed viral ways of spreading news to national attention and they care about laws being applied unevenly. Neither of those are issues that are being discussed, so I don't know why you keep bring it up.

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I find it really depends on the GM and how much he tailors the campain to the backstories he gets. Some GMs will more or less ignore your backstory, possibly adding in a little extra flavor or motivation at certain plot points but in general going with whatever adventure they had planned. Others will take your backstories and build the world around them. I write paragraph backstories with basic motivation for the first group, and 1-3 page long backstories for the second. Backstories aren't necessarily written in character, though sometimes they are. My last one was written from the perspective of someone telling a story about himself (he is a storytelling bard).

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BigNorseWolf wrote:

Andrew R wrote:

Hands off until both are 18, not that damn hard to understand. Should be a line drawn hard and clear none of this sometimes adult, sometimes not but ok to cross the line BS

No. You wouldn't put up with the government telling you you can't have sex for a year so why should a 17 year old?

Um, they already do. The point isn't about if the law exists, it's that it is pure BS to say that it is ok for them because it's with another girl, when it isn't ok for anyone else.

Except for the fact that this is a fairly standard HS relationship that is rarely prosecuted, and in this case is likely only being prosecuted because of their sexual orientation.

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Orthos wrote:

In Scott's defense, bizarre I know, he's like this about everything. His only reason to tolerate libraries, as stated in another thread, is tradition - they've been around too long to get rid of.

That's not why I support libraries. At all. I support libraries because we, as a society, have decided that the uninhibited (or mostly uninhibited) spread of information such as that contained in books is a clear societal good whose value outweighs the societal good of ensuring that people are duly compensated for their work. I daresay that's probably why you support libraries, too.

If this is what you speaking in my defense looks like, I think I'll stick to defending myself.

Every library I have been in the past 10 years carries video games and movies. I argue that other media is just as important to spread for societal good. I disagree that the copy purchased by the library (or anyone) and spread threw many people causes any harm to the content creators, and challenge you to find any actual evidence that it does. Plenty of counterarguments have been shown already in this thread.

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Just as an aside (and since the pejorative term was applied to me, personally)

Paranoia:
Noun
A mental condition characterized by delusions of persecution, unwarranted jealousy, or exaggerated self-importance, typically worked...
Suspicion and mistrust of people or their actions without evidence or justification.

Now, given the idea that having a (assumed to be always on) webcam & microphone directed specifically into the prime living space of a person's home, that hardly seems "without justification."

For the same reason one should put passwords on a WiFi router, lock one's car or house door, utilize web-security software, and close any open ports in one's internet-accessible computers, one should probably NOT allow a potentially open and unrestricted CAMERA and MICROPHONE to be directed into one's living space.

If that's paranoid, then so is locking your car when you park on the street, or using anti-virus software.

Hell, on last nights local news they were running a story about a computer virus designed to blackmail people using images from their webcams.

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Hama wrote:

No, the point is that legally, there is nothing that they can do to stop me.
And since EULA is void as long as it is not provided to me prior to purchase, people can actually sue them and win. Especially in Europe.

So they just have you sign the EULA before purchase. Not a big deal really. Any brick and mortar retailer or online download or store site could do that at point of purchase (the register for brick and mortar or the payment page on online purchases). Do you think signing it first would stop a significant number of purchasers from going ahead with it? In any event EULAs have held up in U.S. courts already as currently used (post purchase agreement). If the failure of the EULA in Europe significantly hurts the game industry in those countries I suspect changes will be made to preserve the industry / jobs. Or is Europe in the position to blow off high tech / high paying jobs at the moment?

The first time a company tries to do that to me, I am going to sit at their register and read the entire thing. Especially if it happens at the holiday season.

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thejeff wrote:

NPC Dave wrote:

Chris Matthews discusses why the IRS scandal will hurt the government.

Overall, I think Matthews is right. Even though, as wolf and meat point out, you can argue the scrutiny is deserved because almost everyone abuses that particular tax exempt designation, the public doesn't care about that. They don't because the IRS is the most feared agency in the federal government. People put up with it because they trust the agency plays fair.

But calling that trust into question puts into jeopardy faith in the federal government. The left is frustrated by this and because Obama doesn't seem to be willing to fire people. He probably doesn't like direct confrontation.

There are reports that the scandal was brewing for awhile, but Obama says that he only just learned of it. If true this means his people shelter him from bad news and confrontation.

Management 101, if you can't handle firing people, then you have to give the power to someone else who will do the job.

Firing people? You mean like Steven Miller, the acting IRS commissioner and Joseph Grant, commissioner of the agency's tax-exempt and government entities division?

Technically they resigned, but at that level that's pretty much how it works. Or does Obama really have to hold a press conference and say "You're Fired" for it to count?

Or should he have fired them before the audit and investigation was done? "Oh there are rumors of scandal, fire someone!!!"

I do agree that this is going to hurt, mostly because people already dislike the IRS and are willing to believe bad things about it.

Problem is Steve Miller was resigning in early June anyway according to reports, so that comes across as the lightest of wrist slaps.

And Joseph Grant is retiring, so presumably he still gets all his benefits and pension, so again, no punishment.

Matthews was...

Actually, we made strong laws to protect the bureaucrats specifically from firing in instances like this to prevent corruption. We need to protect them from being replaced for political reasons, and this witch hunt certainly applies. You need to show deliberate severe misconduct on their part (which to my knowledge hasn't happened), and until the investigation is complete, we wont have that. This investigation could take years. Obama has no power to fire anyone that is not a political appointee without a battle in the courts.

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Hama wrote:

Judging by Amazon, this is how much it will cost

Ouch

Amazon U.S. last console cycle were selling the 360 at launch bundled with a bunch of bits and bobs like extra cables and controllers etc at significant markup over brick and mortar stores. (My phone didn't want to follow your link so I'm not sure if that's what's happening here, all I got was that it was an Amazon UK link. I'm in the middle of nowhere right now.)

From what I understand, Amazon UK put up an estimated placeholder price, since the actual price has not been released publicly. Amazon has been known to do this in the past, and will overshoot rather than undershoot it.

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Except that those things are present in Donkey Kong because she wishes them to be there for the reasons she describes. It's impossible that the designers grabbed a simple, obvious, well known cliche for their plot because the head designer feels story in video games is a distraction from the game. Or that the player's character is a man because that's what the target demographics were. Or that Nintendo is still using the plot because they're lazy and it makes them money.

Nope. It's because of misogyny and to turn women into sporting goods.

Yep, that's the most sensible explanation. So she makes references to King Kong and Pop-Eye and women an railroad tracks and doesn't give you any context of subtext and then tells you what it means rather than laying out the actual analysis and context and providing you all of the information so you can make an informed judgment of her analysis.

That is a bad thing.

Except she isn't arguing that that it is done because of misogyny. She is arguing that the result is that a misogynistic message is propogated. She isn't even saying this is a problem as an isolated insodent, but that it only becomes one when it gets perpetrated repeatedly (and she then proceeds to show more examples).

She isn't speaking to the intent or motivation at all, except for calling it lazy.

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Possible advantages to an always-connected device:

-auto-updates
-instant integration (no logon required) to the online services (like Xbox live)

I can't think of anymore right now.

Auto-updates are not necessarily an advantage. There are games I do not want to update on my 360 right now, because they alter playability in ways that aren't necessarily good.

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Kthulhu wrote:

ciretose wrote:

Nintendo was the console. Almost gone, saved by the Wii, not doing well now.

They've never been "almost gone". Even in the lean times, the strength of their exclusive games and their utter dominance of the handheld market has kept them far far away from "almost gone". They're also the only company that actually sells their consoles for a profit throughout the generation, instead of only at the very end of a generation.

They went from "The" console to a distant 3rd.

In the late 80's through the mid 90's, every other console was secondary. Sega was there, but way in the rearview.

The Wii outsold both other consoles by about 20% and each console sold produced more profit than any sale from either of its competitors. That is without their 1st party game sales giving them huge proffits. Nintendo hands down won this generation of consoles, and to say otherwise is to be obviously ignorant of the market.

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Rynjin wrote:

]My main beef with the new console(s) besides the idiotic 2nd install fees, is that it's throwing away that main advantage and replacing it with...the exact disadvantages a PC has, but with none of the major advantages (better hardware, most prominently, at least if we're just talking games).

The main advantage of a console is not the ability to throw in a disc and start playing right away. The main advantage of a console is in its standardized platform architecture.

That is the main advantage for the developer. It is not the main advantage for the consumer.

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Like I said, as near as I could tell, they lived in a dorm.

And everything they said and did seemed more apt for grad students than for actual working scientists.

Why would I say that? Because I'm a professional scientist, and none of the things on the show resemble anything in my life in the slightest bit, except maybe the D&D playing.

It took me a few episodes before I realized they weren't grad students.

I think if they made them college freshmen initially, I would have much fewer problems with the show.

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This has probably already been mentioned (four pages of text and I'm at work, wish I could read it all but...alas :P), but you don't even own your PS3. If you read the terms and agreements section that you're forced to accept during every update, you'd see that you're RENTING the device, it ISN'T yours and they can feel free to lock you out of the PSN at any time (possibly even out of the device itself). Let me just add that while I'm pointing this out, I don't actually like it, it's just the way it is.

On a small point, Blizzard uses torrent technology to send updates and patches and apparently other companies use it to transfer info as well, it CAN be used illegally but it is also being used legally by major companies and such (I remember finding an article about several companies that use it to move info around really quickly).

If Sony actually tried to do something with this language they would probably have a legal battle on their hands that they don't want to be resolved. It would probably not be in their favor.

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DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

Why are we letting corporations treat us like enemies or idiots?

You're acting like you're being treated like their enemy, or like you're being treated like idiots. Neither of those things is true, of course - you're being treated as potential customers - but casting this relationship as adversarial probably helps to justify this outrage, doesn't it?

No, they aren't treating us as customers. They are treating us as thieves. If they were treating us as customers, they would show respect. These policies do not do that.

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Irontruth wrote:

Scott Betts wrote:

DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:

Apples and Oranges.

Nope.

Quote:

If I lend a book to a friend, or a DVD they get the same experience as I did. They don't owe the author, or the production company a cent. That copy is bought and paid for.

If I give away my copy of Mass Effect to a friend, then it's not the developer's business that I do that.

It is if you are party to a licensing agreement that prohibits that.

Quote:

If they are going to insist on charging a licence to play a game, then the consumer better get something out of the deal, because right now we don't get anything except treated like idiots.

You do get something out of it. You get to play the game.

This isn't new. This is something you've been doing for years, now. You're just finally realizing it.

Again, first sale doctrine has trumped EULA's in court cases. Gaming companies don't get to decide what the law is or just declare certain things to be true that the rest of society has decided otherwise.

I have a feeling that first sale doctrine is going to receive some legal reexamination; it's one of those relics of a less complex world like so many other aspects of our IP law. I think that big companies like Microsoft feel the same.

I agree and think first sale doctrine is going to be reexamined. I just disagree with you on how it is going to end. I believe the general expectation people have is that they will be able to resell the products they have purchased, and that the reexamination will strengthen this idea. Most people think they are buying software not licensing it. I think it will go with the way most people think they are doing something.

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Scott posts like a viral marketer, and I've seen plenty in my time. Oh so many. Considering he's a goblin squad member I suspect that he knows some people who work on this failure of a console. Makes the most sense to me. Otherwise why defend something that is right now being widely mocked and derided on the internet. Heck, even the corrupt journalists don't like it. FYI did anyone else notice that when there was cheering during the stream that no one was cheering or clapping in the audience. Even Adam Sessler pointed this out!

Its a great big pile of crap and everyone including Microsoft knows it. The few people defending it are working double time to respond to everyone with a counter argument.

Now Scott, you're a alright guy but this is not a winnable argument at this time. Best you can do wait until the opportune time to jump back in the fray and shout, "I TOLD YOU SO!"

As for me not being a authority about games, well your right. But I've been playing video games since I was 2 and I'm fast approaching 30. I have boxes of games I don't play anymore, I've got 8 ft by 4ft bookcase filled with videogames, I've played over 600 hours of Dark Souls, heck I'm involved in a Indy project to put out a free jrpg on pc(man its hard to get people working together on this). I'm not a authority on video games but I know what I'm talking about. Xbox 3 is a uninteresting piece of garbage and a lot has to change to get gamers interested in it.

Avtually, Scott's arguments are consistent with what he has posted in the past.

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Rynjin wrote:

It's not quite the same thread as "The Piracy Defense" but it's tangential to it.

When someone lends or gifts an item to a friend once they're done with it, it is not the same as piracy in any way. The original friend bought the disc.

The disc, but not the experience of the game (which is what the creators of that game are really selling you). Even if you do not copy the disc, allowing someone else to play it to its full extent is essentially copying the experience.

No. First sale doctrine. You sold me the disk with information on it. Once you do that, I can do anything with the disk I want, barring reproduction, which is covered under copyright laws.

Quote:

He does not have the right to "Unauthorized copying, reverse engineering, transmission, public performance, rental, pay for play, or circumvention of copy practice".

Lending or gifting, as far as I know, does not constitute "unauthorized transmission", any more than selling it back to Gamestop does.

It does if you were party to a licensing agreement that prohibits the practice.

Licenses which viloate first sale doctrine and have not stood up in court. You cannot force someone into a contract after point of sale, which the licensing agreements do.

Quote:

Because it's a good product and deserves to be purchased.

"It deserves to be purchased" is not how most consumers operate. If this is the crux of your argument, you need to start from scratch.

I find it amusing that you disagree with this point so strongly, since every person I know who buys video games actively uses this for justifcation for buying the game when they could easily pirate it. I mean, we have all known how to do it for the past 10+ years, but we still have bought hundreds of games. And this is literally the justification every single person I know uses as to why.

Quote:

Same as the above, as well as a moral sense that taking said copy and effectively OWNING it (not just renting or borrowing it) for free is wrong.

Taking said copy and using it for its full intended purpose without paying for it is wrong, regardless of whether you are under the impression you "own" it or not.

Trying to limit how I can use a product after I have legally purchased it is wrong. Resale is legal, and preventing me from doing it is wrong. Sharing it is legal, and preventing me from doing so is wrong.

Quote:

Entertainment is different from other products.

Absolutely.

Quote:

You buy food because you NEED it. You buy a house because you NEED it, and so on. These things will be continued to be made (in some shape or form) because they are necessities.

Entertainment will continue to be made.

Quote:

Entertainment is not NEEDED, it is WANTED. People who WANT more of it will buy it from the publishers, expecting that publisher to publish more for them to enjoy.

Again, this is not capitalism - this is patronage. You are mixing...

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Caineach wrote:

From what I have been able to find out, the AP found out about it after the Justice Department notified the AP. The JD's rules are that they must notify within 90 days, and that was the notification the AP recieved.

Again, no expert, but this seems not to jive very well with:

"As Lynn Oberlander, The New Yorker’s general counsel, pointed out in a post this week, the Justice Department’s own guidelines call for the government to inform news organizations when it issues such subpoenas (it was the phone companies that received the actual request in this case), allowing journalists the chance to contest them in court."

(from above)

I suppose the two could go together, but how is a journalist going to contest the subpoena if the gov't has already had the records for 90 days?

Like I said, there are so many different reports about what standard policy is and which ones apply that I can't form an opinion. It could be that different standards apply to differnt types of investigations, and people reporting don't know which ones are supposed to apply.

I wouldn't put it past the JD to be doing shady things (I expect it at this point). I just don't know enough about their policies to tell if they are in this case, and the people reporting are being inconsistent and biased enough that I can't tell if the JD actually did anything wrong here.

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Well the Justice Department has apparently gone against their own rules about informing News agencies when they are being investigated. So claims of being "the most transparent" administration seems to be false.

Now does that mean Obama has gone back on his word. Maybe not. We are seeing more information that advisers to the President have been keeping information from him (regarding the IRS scandal specifically). So it is maybe others in the administration that are hiding things and not the President.

It should be noted though that at this time it has been stated that the President is apparently okay with being kept out of the loop (so he can't unintentionally influence the investigations that were on going).

From what I have been able to find out, the AP found out about it after the Justice Department notified the AP. The JD's rules are that they must notify within 90 days, and that was the notification the AP recieved.

My biggest problem is that there is so much different and conflicting information going on I can't make an informed oppinion.