User comment history
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| News Comments > Bethesda Blocked Game Sale Because of "New" Designation |
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| 16. |
Re: Evening Legal Briefs |
Aug 12, 2018, 17:32 |
Blackhawk |
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The fact is that Bethesda is trying to push the boundaries of the exceptions to First Sale Doctrine so far that they could, if successful, also shut down used sales in the future. It's a scary, dangerous precedent to allow them to set. They are literally trying to redefine what 'new' means to 'directly from an authorized distributor' only. By their logic, you can never give anyone a new game for Christmas, as simply the act of buying it turns it 'used.' That's not what used means.
And Bethesda doesn't care about the support or a disappointed customer somewhere. They care about someone selling one of their new products without them getting their cut. They want to control the only sources of new products, so that every initial sale.
As to their points, once you push past the PR polish, all it is is Bethesda threatening someone with some legal claims that have never been shown to be true in court. As long as they're using a big law firm to threaten individuals, the chance of someone calling their bluff and forcing them to actually prove wrongdoing is low, as people tend to be to afraid (or unable to pay) to stand up for their rights.
It's abusive, plain and simple. |
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| News Comments > Bethesda Blocks Used Game Sale |
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| 45. |
Re: Evening Legal Briefs |
Aug 12, 2018, 01:30 |
Blackhawk |
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That argument is absurd. He makes two points. The first is that because it has been owned, it isn't new. New in media doesn't mean never owned, it means never used. The two sides of the market are even called new and used.
The second point was that they can't prove that it is new. That is true of every new product on the effing market that isn't consumed on use or metered, from games to BluRays to underwear to furniture. Apparently they think that nothing can ever be marketed as 'new' unless you buy it directly from the manufacturer. Amazon has nothing but used products.
Bethesda is going to lose more value in reputation and good will than they ever would from people reselling their sealed games. |
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| News Comments > Bethesda Blocks Used Game Sale |
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| 39. |
Re: Evening Legal Briefs |
Aug 11, 2018, 20:31 |
Blackhawk |
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Bethesda is pretty clearly trying to bully small business and individuals by reinterpreting laws in ways they were clearly never intended. That's shady and abusive in every way.
Bethesda, one piece at a time, has lost the respect I had for them 15 years ago. |
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| News Comments > Steam Ending Windows XP and Vista Support |
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| 6. |
Re: Evening Legal Briefs |
Jun 12, 2018, 19:34 |
Blackhawk |
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Valve Hardware Survey says that 0.22% of users are on XP. Vista didn't even register. GoG won't be getting that much new business.
At some point you can't release improvements to a piece of software if you're still supporting a 17-year-old operating system that doesn't support the newer code you need for those improvements. |
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| News Comments > Fallout Tease? |
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| 28. |
Re: Evening Legal Briefs |
May 30, 2018, 14:22 |
Blackhawk |
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For those who haven't caught up, this has been announced as Fallout 76, and there are strong indications that it will be a Fallout-themed Rust clone game-as-service.
So... blech. |
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| News Comments > etc., etc. |
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| 3. |
Re: Evening Legal Briefs |
May 25, 2018, 19:21 |
Blackhawk |
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RE: BF V. It's kinda funny how many people are justifying their views by saying it isn't authentic.
Were they actually under the impression that Battlefield was a historically accurate series? It's always been a military fantasy series. It's known for being able to bail out a jet and land in a helicopter while firing a rocket launcher in midair. |
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| News Comments > Razer Game Store Launches |
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| 8. |
Re: Evening Legal Briefs |
Apr 9, 2018, 13:19 |
Blackhawk |
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Razer sold me a mouse. It was defective with a well-documented manufacturing flaw. I returned it, on my dime, for a replacement. They sent me another mouse with the exact same issue. I returned it. They sent me a third mouse with a completely different known defect. I returned it. They accused me of being a scammer and a thief, and sent me a 'last' mouse, even though it was still under the warranty period of the first one.
The final mouse also had the same issue as the first one and started failing within a couple of months (the issue was a switch that was so weak that it was registering single clicks as double clicks, and wouldn't register a held down mouse button at all.)
Four defective product in a row and an accusation.
There is zero chance that I will ever buy any product from Razer again. |
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| News Comments > Trump Calls Out Video Games |
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| 21. |
Re: Evening Legal Briefs |
Feb 22, 2018, 23:34 |
Blackhawk |
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sliv wrote on Feb 22, 2018, 23:03:
I don't hear anyone calling for alcohol to be illegal. Do those deaths not matter as much as a school shooting? Who will be the first to stop drinking alcohol? Where's the outrage?
In almost every state, you can buy a gun years before you can buy a beer. |
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| News Comments > Steam Drops Developer Over Self-Reviews |
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| 6. |
Re: Evening Legal Briefs |
Feb 15, 2018, 01:16 |
Blackhawk |
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Valve essentially put them out of business.
I worked in the casino industry shortly after the mob era. This is exactly how that was cleaned up - you make the penalties for getting caught so severe that it isn't worth the risk anymore. |
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| News Comments > Are "Let's Play" Streams Legal? |
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| 38. |
Re: Evening Legal Briefs |
Jan 29, 2018, 12:58 |
Blackhawk |
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It is likely that the reason that we're not seeing cease-and-desist notices, lawsuits, changes to EULAs to permit/ban streaming, or streamer contracts is that the game companies have decided that it doesn't benefit them to do so.
Making an issue out of it will result in two things: bad publicity, and a legal precedent. Right now the data suggests that publishers benefit from streaming. Right now, the law suggests that streamers are legally in the wrong. If the publishers make an issue of it, they create a likelihood that they will end up winning the case, but losing the benefits that come from streaming. Their best, smartest bet is to simply avoid addressing the issue at all unless something changes (such as someone blatantly abusing the system.) |
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| News Comments > Are "Let's Play" Streams Legal? |
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| 30. |
Re: Evening Legal Briefs |
Jan 29, 2018, 12:32 |
Blackhawk |
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HoSpanky wrote on Jan 29, 2018, 12:01:
Single player games, especially heavily linear ones like Uncharted/Tomb Raider, would lose sales to full playthroughs.
That is not what the actual data shows. While there may be a few people who would sit through a 15-hour LP in lieu of buying, far more will realize they like the game and purchase it. Losing 100 sales and gaining 500 is a good thing, and that's what the (admittedly limited at this point, but you know the publishers have better info) data shows is happening. |
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| News Comments > Are "Let's Play" Streams Legal? |
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| 17. |
Re: Evening Legal Briefs |
Jan 29, 2018, 11:38 |
Blackhawk |
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One person in here said they boost sales. Another said they hurt sales.
There are probably a few people who only watch games - never play them. There are others who use streaming/LPs as they modern equivalent of the demo. I know I do. If there is a game that looks good, I'll watch some streams/gameplay videos to see if it is something I'd like. I've bought quite a few games that way.
There haven't been a lot of studies, but those that I've read strongly suggest that the increased exposure boosts sales more than the tiny handful of stream-only 'gamers' hurts it. Possibly a lot more, depending on the game. While a mainstream game can get a sales boost, an indie game that gets streamed by a high-profile streamer can get a huge boost in sales.
Most of the time, though, I watch streams of games I already own. Either to reminisce, to learn new approaches to gameplay, or to see if I'm in the mood for that particular game right now (as an alternative to installing it, playing 30 minutes, and realizing that it wasn't what I was wanting after all.)
And FWIW, the biggest Twitch streams aren't always the biggest games. They're the streamers who bring the best personality to their streams. It's the commentary, the wit, the conversation, and the connection to their community that makes a streamer money more than any other factor.
tl;dr - data shows that streams function more as free advertising than as a deterrent, and it is the personal touch, not the game that makes a streamer money.
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| News Comments > Subnautica This Month |
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| 1. |
Re: Evening Legal Briefs |
Jan 9, 2018, 10:27 |
Blackhawk |
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I don't really like survival games, but I absolutely loved this. I played it in Fall of 2015 when it was still early in early access, but it still ended up being one of my favorite games that year.
I've been sitting on it, waiting for the full retail release to play it again. |
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| News Comments > Op Ed |
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| 10. |
Re: Evening Legal Briefs |
Nov 2, 2017, 00:33 |
Blackhawk |
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Gaming is a hobby. People lose track of that one fact. A hobby needs to be something that engages you, entertains you, and that you have fun with.
Different people have different things that trigger those things. Some may find it through overcoming challenge. Some don't care about challenge, but game for the experience of being somebody else that they could never be in real life. For them, too high of a challenge can actually detract from their real motivation when the only way to advance is the let go of the theme and analyze the underlying mechanics. Some people gain their enjoyment from progress, some from achievement, some from proving themselves to peers.
And for every person entertained by one of those things, there is someone who finds it tedious and unfun. |
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452 Comments. 23 pages. Viewing page 1.
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