Cutter wrote on May 6, 2014, 18:09:
These guys are drowning in cash and can't even get the fundamentals right.

This is the problem with capitalism. It's all about "how much money can we make" and absolutely nothing about you and me unless the law explicitly calls for it.

Has anyone counted how many Early Access games turn out to be garbage? Do MOST end up being worth the asking price? I don't buy Early Access and I don't think I have ever bought an EA game after it had been released, so I can't say personally.

However, I believe any time Valve makes a dime on one of these games, they have an obligation to ensure the consumer is safe from fraud. If you agree to become a middleman, then you should do everything in your power to protect your business and your customers from criminal acts. It isn't just a matter of legality, but of moral principles. They need to protect the consumer before the crime is committed.

Watching the video linked earlier of this game, it wouldn't take many Valve employees to playtest games like this and see that it's terribly broken and no where near the $20 asking price. Shit, for half that price--or less--you could get a complete, full-fledged AAA title.

And for anyone saying the victims get what they deserve... You're the epitome of society. This is exactly why there needs to be safeguards in place; because there's people like you in the world that have no empathy or remorse.

The headline is, apparently, incorrect since the first line of the article states that he received a 14 year sentence.

Earlier this month, a Fresno man received what is believed to be the strongest sentence issued anywhere in the United States for firing a laser pointer at an aircraft—14 years in prison.

Edit: Actually, I suppose it isn't incorrect, but it seemed to imply that he hadn't been sentenced yet. He faces the maximum sentence of 14 years that was imposed.

This comment was edited on Apr 1, 2014, 15:32.

deqer wrote on Apr 1, 2014, 00:36:
But a feeble human brain cannot comprehend that

You just proved yourself wrong.

Panickd wrote on Mar 31, 2014, 14:45:
Of course I am also waiting for the day a large coronal mass ejection hits the earth and devastates the power grid. I think even intact POTS lines would be out of commission in that case.

The power grid gets knocked out and you're worried about making a phone call? I would be more worried about where I'm going to get my porn!

You'll want to use Widescreen Fixer for this game because the FOV is horrible.

www.widescreenfixer.org

panbient wrote on Mar 25, 2014, 16:07:
... did you honestly compare a video game designer to astronauts? And not just any, but the only human beings to step foot on the moon?

While Aldrin and Armstrong were the first to walk on the moon, there has been a total of 12 astronauts who have walked on the lunar surface. Just thought I would clear up this common misconception.

HoSpanky wrote on Mar 13, 2014, 15:50:
Instead of reinstalling games over and over, it'd simply be faster to have a program that lets me cache folders to the SSD.

You could copy the game folder from one drive to another and then use the mklink command to create a virtual link to the SSD.

http://www.maketecheasier.com/move-a-steam-game/

I guess you would have to either type that command upon every reboot or create a batch file and put it in your startup folder.

Fletch wrote on Jan 30, 2014, 20:36:
I have no problem with Amazon raising the subscription fee. It's still more than worth it to me.

Sounds to me like you're a prime example of why they're raising the fee.

Redmask wrote on Jan 25, 2014, 23:16:
Vaccination does not cause autism, there is literally no science to support it

Until the cause of autism is found, I think it's a bit brash to rule out vaccinations as a cause. If someone is genetically predisposed to autism, the precipitating factor may very well be the introduction of the vaccine during a particular period of brain development.

sometimes you have shitty luck and are powerless to change the situation.

Seems a bit contradictory. If you believe in science, then there's no such thing as luck.

Agent.X7 wrote on Jan 7, 2014, 15:13:
Just looked it up. EQN is sub free. Why would I pay a sub for it?

Sony removed a lot of restrictions that EQ2's F2P accounts had, but "gold" accounts still have a few perks. I don't have any information on EQN, but I imagine it would work the same way.

"SOE All Access" subscriptions exist right now for $20 a month. https://www.soe.com/allaccess/

The goals of our plan are very simple. Let players buy anything they want up to 2000 SC. [...] The goal would be to let you pick an item in each game you play.

I'm not sure if I am understanding Smedley correctly, but his future plan would be to allow subscribers to pick an item worth up to $20 from the SC shop in every game for every month subscribed? Seems like that would destroy their entire business model.

deqer wrote on Oct 30, 2013, 09:40:
Ughh.. Please let this show just die. 1 season is enough already.

No one tell him the show is actually in its fourth season.

Steele Johnson wrote on Apr 9, 2013, 15:34:
The only thing that you can do, is not support them. [...] Look at a company like Comcast.

I hate Comcast as much as the next guy, but I'm not going to drop them as an ISP in favor of ASDL or ISDN.

Can't find anything recent, but it was reported in 2009 the game had cost taxpayers $32.8 million.

Beamer wrote on Apr 5, 2013, 17:04:
The writing is clearly on the wall, and companies that specialize in desktops are already on life support. I mean, hell, where do you even BUY a desktop these days?

I buy a desktop to play games. How do you play any modern game on a tablet? Connect a keyboard and mouse? Is a 10" screen very immersive or should I connect a monitor too? May as well be a desktop since it would then be limited to such.

I'm almost willing to bet everyone who is a gamer is not purchasing a prebuilt and everyone who uses a prebuilt can accomplish the same tasks on a tablet. So I think it's possible more and more users are building their own systems. How Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI fare; that should be the question.

Beamer wrote on Apr 5, 2013, 13:55:
When improved form factors appear other ones disappear.
See the fall of the desktop relative to the laptop.

Again, people sitting around swearing they'll never give up their tower are as absurd as people that swore they preferred closet-sized computers. Just because you're too much of a Luddite to embrace change doesn't mean the market won't force you to.

I don't know if people that fight this are stupid, don't look at history, think that there are more people like them that actually are, or are just so short-sighted that they fail to understand that the technology and usefulness of one form factor will eventually equal that of others.

I'd just like to point out that the chart shows Macintosh laptop and desktop sales. I'm sure users purchasing either of those systems have something in mind other than gaming. More and more jobs require mobile devices so it is not a surprise that purchasing those laptops is not a personal choice, but an employment necessity. Show me a chart that displays not just prebuilt PCs, but mainboards which will be used to build new systems, else the numbers are skewed.

Mobile devices can't be upgraded; just look at laptops. They have never evolved to be highly customizable and upgradable by the user. They are also absurdly priced. Can you take them to work, to school, or to a friend's house? Yeah, sure, but only if mobility is worth an extra $1000 compared to desktop system with similar capabilities.

Regarding the upgrading of laptops, excluding any external devices, the hardware which may be upgraded in a laptop are RAM, HD, and CPU. Important components to be sure, but if you desire a larger monitor or a mainboard with newer tech, then you are SOL. You'd have to pay a premium for new and possibly redundant system components that you may already have in your old laptop. And what about failing components? Used components could be purchased through eBay or such, but that's beside the point as PC hardware can be bought new for relatively low prices.

If all those concerns were addressed then I would have no quarrel with letting go of my tower PC, but if current mobile devices are any indication of the future, which I believe they are, then we will be stuck with devices which aren't very customizable, upgradable, and sold to us at a premium price. Will the market force us to switch? Probably, but that doesn't mean we have to like it.

Francis' line of reasoning for destroying his Xbox with an axe must have been, "I can't eat it, so why not?"

Seppuku Station from Shadow Warrior? =)

Beamer wrote on Mar 18, 2013, 16:10:
One is merely lost revenue, the other is real, actual lost capital.

And only potential lost revenue at that. I'm not sure how anyone can't understand the argument you're making when it makes perfect sense, especially from a corporate standpoint. Minimal revenue losses, large PR gains.

I'm sure whoever was willing to purchase these games at the current asking price have already do so. The rest are waiting for low prices or not interested in purchasing them at all. As someone said earlier, EA has smart bean counters and they know exactly what they are doing. And the DLC issue; I don't think that is merely conspiracy theory, that is a reality. People will, in fact, purchase the DLC and decrease EA's losses substantially.