on starcraft2.com, imagine that:

http://www.starcraft2.com/movies.xml#m5

And this has what to do with Sword of the Stars exactly?

Oh yeah, the word "stars" is in there somewhere...

The demo doesn't really have a substantial amount of the RTS gameplay in it. In that respect ... not much of a demo. It only really shows off the RPG half of the game.

Based on the promo site and previews I've read, this game looks to be quite a different thing. But we really won't know without the full game.

A word of advice on Massive Assault: Phantom Renaissance. If they intend to support this game as well as they supported the original retail box version, I'd avoid it. They've released two patches in the past year for serious bugs in the game (some scenarios don't work in the original version, the first patch introduced balance issues and broke progress tracking, and the most recent May 2004 patch crashes regularly to the desktop).

When I asked on their support board what to do, they recommended that I stick with the 2nd patch, or "upgrade" to the subscription version of the game, which gets monthly updates. I didn't buy the game for online play. I expected it to work out of the box. They also became very defensive on their support board to customer requests for patches. Not really sure what's going on there, but I don't like to support a company that doesn't support its customers.

Caveat emptor.

Are you kidding with that crap?

I want my five minutes back (or however long it was). Seriously. Dumb.

"The errors are introduced because some genetic identifiers look very like dates to Excel. If the spreadsheet is not properly set up, it will convert an identifier, such as SEPT2 to a date: 2-Sep. The conversion, the researchers say, is irreversible: once the error has been introduced, the original data is gone."

Hello... maybe don't use Excel to store your arbitrarily formatted data?

Blaming Excel for this is like blaming the oven for burning your cookies if you turn on the broiler.

User Interface Error - these users don't know how to interface with the software!

Blue may have popularized use of the term "ShakyCam" to describe handheld video shot of game screens, but the term was in use long before that. It has been commonly used to describe the visual style popularized by NYPD Blue, where the camera is panned and zoomed to look like a handheld camcorder.

When I checked out the Cow Fashion link, I saw this:

http://fun.clanplaid.net/images/poor-renee.gif

I wonder if her publicist might have something to say about that juxtaposition!

This comment was edited on Apr 27, 23:12.

Fresh real-life perspective?

I'm glad I don't live in the same world as you where an AK-47 is the same as a software driver that makes gaming more convenient.

Publishers are going to continue using ever-flakier copy protection schemes until someone does a study proving that copy protection protects against nothing, and the companies producing copy protection software are guilty of selling snake oil.

Publishers can go on saying "it stops casual copying" all they want, pirates can go on saying "it doesn't stop me", but until there's hard data proving or disproving the financial merits of copy protection, SafeDisc and SecureROM and all the others will continue to screw over legitimate users.

Wouldn't it be cool if MBA took this as their Master's thesis and ran with it...

I don't buy games that have problems like this. Come on now there are a bunch of great multiplayer shooters on the market right now (even more if you include console games). Why waste your money by tossing it at publishers who want to screw over legit customers?

Vote with your dollars. Painkiller may be great, but it has plenty of competition. The only voice that publishers listen to is the almighty dollar.

I still say "Outstanding Achievement in Licensed Soundtrack" is the most ridiculous concept for an award ever conceived.

That story on dog research in the Economist is OLD!

Blue linked to a CNN story back in 2002 about that same research: http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/11/21/coolsc.dogorigin/

"Outstanding Achievement in Licensed Soundtrack"

Achievement? In Licensing?!?!

Also lame: Zoo Tycoon the only game nominated for family game of the year. You KNOW there were more family oriented games released last year than just Zoo freakin Tycoon.

Weak.

I love how retailers "had been counting on a June release date" when Microsoft never said anything of the sort.

Oh, and you Bungie haters can go right on hating Bungie while I play Halo 2 on Xbox Live this fall. Have a nice day

After getting Rainbow Six 3 with my Audigy, I'm glad I didn't buy it... Ubi is using a new form of copy protection that is the ultimate in customer inconvenience.

I like to run all my games from virtual CD images to speed loading and avoid damaging the physical media. The latest copy protection in use by Ubi not only prevents running the game from a CD image, but it prevents the game running AT ALL if any virtual CD software is loaded.

I can understand their motivation to protect sales, but this is taking it too far. Failing to run when a someone is merely USING software unrelated to the game is ridiculous. Not to mention that no copy protection ever stopped a determined copier (pirate, thief, pick your epithet).

Blizzard did something similar in a recent Warcraft 3 patch and quickly reversed themselves. Until Ubi does the same, I encourage you to vote with your dollars and support publishers that support gamers.

_/\ C

This comment was edited on Jan 29, 14:52.

Hey, that bogus dictionary story is bogus. That whole schtick is an old Monty Python sketch... right down to the "may I fondle your buttocks" line!

Serves ya right for quoting stories from the Weekly World News ...

_/\ C

This comment was edited on Dec 7, 02:31.

Japan is a continent now?

I found it really odd that while 3G phone base stations cause nervousness and headaches, they also improve memory and response time! (Whaaa???)

Delta Force is a "#1 selling PC title"?

Where have I been?