Posts by M Gale

Re: Where do...

Actually that's an idea.

Would the Reg consider doing a quick calculation on advert-worth-per-user, and offer an option for people to pay a monthly/yearly sum in return for The Reg with no MASSIVE ORANGE OFFICE 365 BORDERS and the likes?

Re: The best way to keep your system stable

I'm sure watching your bank account getting pennies drained off, or seeing that interesting video of you and the wife on youtube, is far less annoying than a few nagging tooltips.

Re: Game resellers as "parasites"

Oh and since copying a book is so simple would you mind copying the bible for me, it is only a thousand pages or so, done in an afternoon or three. Time needed is part of easy...

Sure. Guillotine the spine off and shove it through a document feeder. Come back in half an hour.

If it's a "high speed" scanner as used in the Census, make that 5 minutes.

Re: Expecting too much?

I think there is a key point that is being missed here - games players (indeed all software users) now expect updates to the software as standard. Gone are the days when you literally bought a shrink-wrapped piece of software and used it bugs and all.

When was that ever the case except with games consoles that had no patching mechanism?

Re: A move caused by rip-off game retailers

A second hand car has wear-and-tear, it degrades over time and that accounts for it's devaluation. A video game is basically identical regardless of whether or not it's brand new of been resold 15 times.

So?

What you're saying is that something lasts a long time, so it should have a tax on every time it changes hands.

No.

Re: All well and good, except...

Ah, the Penguin solution. It does about half what the real thing does in twice the time but it's free. And ugly. Thanks but I Keep with Windows and the cute aerobic teacher.

So what you're basically saying is that I'm right, you want to charge multiple times for the same thing, and now you're going to throw insults.

Re: Xbox modding / rechipping, Gamer Profile hacking...

The independent developers would like to fill in for EA and others but they are busy developing fully functional OSS drivers for ATI and NVIDIA as well as Exchange and Sharepoint replacements

really?

you lie.

But then that's not really surprising.

Bet you think I don't pay for anything either.

So are you going to carry on stereotyping, or are you just going to admit that you want to be paid multiple times for one copy of the product?

Re: @M Gale

Oh come on. There are all sorts of situations where you shell out a sum of money but don't get to legally own whatever it is. If you don't want to buy stuff like that don't, but don't pretend its somehow unique to DRM software.

You mean when you're renting stuff?

Re: @M Gale

Good luck reselling your TV license.

Don't have one. In any case, just like road tax, you can return your TV license for a refund of any unused time on it. The license is a tax, not a product.

Good luck selling your TV. OH WAIT.

Re: All well and good, except...

There's a set of dumbells knocking about the house.

Funnily enough I don't have to pay to use them.

Re: Xbox modding / rechipping, Gamer Profile hacking...

"The games industry, in its current state, requires immediate termination with extreme prejudice."

Ok, but where does that get us...? I passionately feel that Indie developers should have easy access to the PS4 and Xbox1 to insure innovation prospers....

You would have a different games industry in a different state. In fact I think if EA, Ubisoft, Valve and the rest of the psychopaths were to fuck off right now, that would be a crapton of market for indy developers to capture. They'd fill that vacuum up in no time, I'm sure.

Anything is better than the current state.

"Actually, it is optional. Not all games on Steam use Steamworks for the physical disc release. They tend to do so if both releases are simultaneous, but there's no requirement for it."

If it says "you must accept the Steam Subscriber Agreement (SSA)" on the back of the box, or if it says "requires an Internet connection to activate" for a game that has no need to connect to anything, then no thanks. I'm not subscribing to Steam, to play with a toy. Unfortunately, these days, that's every single game in the shop. The fact that Steam is so successful indicates that there are a large number of people quite happy with being arse-raped by the games industry. Given the nature of the product, I imagine many of these are kids and teenagers that don't know any better and think that this is how things are supposed to be.

LIke I say, I'll give my money to people who deserve it. Valve can get fuck all, which doesn't mean I won't play their games. They just won't get paid for it.

Re: Steam vs Xbox game = invalid comparison

The disc is merely a one-time-use key with a copy of the installation so you can do it offline.

No, it is not. Valve might like you to think it is. Why should you care what Valve think unless you are personally benefitting from this arrangement?

Re: Mad greed

IOW, what happens when ALL of them do it? Abandon gaming?

In a heartbeat and without looking back once.

Fortunately, ALL of them won't do it, because "ALL of them" includes the occasional indy dev house or publisher who don't want to shaft their customers. When the "AAA" games industry implodes and disappears up its own arse, these are the guys who will be left making a profit.

Re: @Greg J Preece

But there HAS been controversy surrounding the cassette recorder and the VTR, to say nothing of CD and DVD recorders (both PC-based and consumer).

And the people "enabling" the controversy promptly got told to stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

Re: Game resellers as "parasites"

Books can not be "copied and sold on" as easily as a game can. And they typically take longer to reach the "used book" market than games.

They most certainly can be copied, more easily than games. Place each page face down on a scanner and have fun. Laborious is not hard. It'll just take a while, and it only needs to be done once. Even so... so what? Not an excuse to say that I am no longer allowed to dispose of my property in whatever way I see fit.. and yes, one working copy of a game is my property if I have bought or been given it, whether new or second hand.

(3rd party body parts have legal problems)

Never heard of after-market parts? Sure, if your car is under warranty, you only use official parts if you want to keep the warranty. Otherwise, there's plenty of mods and bits for cars that have nothing to do with the original manufacturers.

I still don't see why preventing someone from disposing of their own property however they wish, is ever a good thing. It's a game, not a nuclear weapon.

Re: Am I reading this right?

You could always share one single account. That's if you can't bear to just dump the machine instead.

You'd share all the same titles, as well as presumably, the same gamertag, the same achievements, the same scores, records, save files, contacts... and the advert bots will send you spam that assumes you're some kind of hermaphrodite.

Could get interesting.

and of course you can also buy the PC DVD version of the game, without Steam, without restrictions, but for more money.

I only wish that were true. Sorry, but every single physical copy in the shops will have either Steam, or some other form of restrictions management, many of which will either limit the install count or, like Steam/Steamworks, prevent resale entirely.

And all of them want bullshit online checking. Been a long while since I bought a mainstream PC game. My later titles are all Steam-free, and in many cases entirely copy-protection-free indy titles. They deserve my money. EA and Valve do not.

Gratuitious Space Battles utterly owns, by the way.

Re: Xbox modding / rechipping, Gamer Profile hacking...

So you're saying that if you pay over the odds for a crap game, that's currently alright because you can get some money back by foisting it of on some other unsuspecting sap? Do unto others 'cause others have done unto you, eh?

One man's muck is another man's brass. I've had a couple of high-rated games that I've played a couple of times and then never touched again. FIFA on the NDS for one.

And what do you think of the game publishers themselves, willingly foisting shit upon the public? And then not even letting them GIVE it away?

The games industry, in its current state, requires immediate termination with extreme prejudice.

Re: silly argument

It is nothing like the same, unless you're telling me that I am the Steam store.

Really, how do you equate being able to give something of yours away to a friend, with getting shafted with DRM because it's on a sale?

Re: Steam vs Xbox game = invalid comparison

You do know that the Steamworks bullshit that locks your game to your account applies to physical CD games too?

That's right. If your game requires Steam, you cannot give it away, let alone sell it, once you've used it even once.

Re: @M Gale

Unfortunately, the computer games industry is not some special little flower. In any other case, if I buy something, it is mine. Only in insane-DRM land do we have the case where once you have bought something, it is not yours to sell.

I'm sorry, but honestly, I do not care about what the author thinks if I sell an old book. E-flite do not get a say on whether I give someone an old RC aeroplane or helicopter. If I have a half tube of glue that someone needs, Bostik are not going to call the waahmbulance over me giving someone some adhesive. The same applies to software, and especially computer games. If your business model cannot handle people giving away or selling their own stuff.. then you had better change that business model or go bankrupt.

Re: Yes Steam games CAN be given away.

Are you just posting whatever pops into your mind or do you actually check your facts before spouting off? Steam games can indeed be "re-gifted".

Highly misleading.

You can re-gift a game key if you have not used that key.

As soon as you have used that key... that is, once it is a used game and no longer a new game.. you cannot re-gift, or sell, the game.

Please check your facts, and don't be one of Valve's useful idiots.

Re: Opinion, don't stone me

"While I find Microsoft's desire to limit reselling games perfectly reasonable"

Why?

Steam games cannot be resold, or even given away.

People are quite willing to be shafted for the shiny.

Oh well.

True, and after about 20 minutes of that when the batteries in the tesla are as flat a witches tit, you can hop into my lambo, do exactly the same - but with a _much_ better soundtrack, for an hour or two, then take it off the track, down to the pub for lunch and then home, passing the tesla, still doing tiny donuts - cos the extension lead is so short!

If you want to spend half a million quid on something that has four wheels and goes, you be my guest. A lambo can either be an awesome vehicle, or an expression of "I am a fucking tit", so which is it for you? Nobody, including me, said current batteries are good enough. What was it I said? Oh yeah, "nobody wants to be stuck in the middle of nowhere without a means to fill 'er up." I said that. Scroll up and check if you like.

Fuel cells are going to come down in price. I can see them being what future EV cars will use rather than lithium or lead packs. Eventually it's gonna happen, because there's only so much dead dinosaur juice in the ground but there's a rather longer-lasting amount of fissile material and even more sunshine.

So yes, that Tesla will still be going, long after your Lambo has had to be converted to diesel and you've had to get 100 acres of rapeseed plantation to keep it going.

Or it could just be that electric cars are a crap idea

I want to put you in a nice powerful electric car and then see you make that same statement after spending a little while doing not much else except drawing big black circles on the tarmac. They've got a higher power to weight than internal combustion engines and virtually zero noise.

do little or nothing to Save The World (tm)

Who cares about saving the world when you have maximum torque all the way from 0RPM to max, so you don't even need gears?

and almost nobody wants one even with the large government subsidies that they get (paid from out taxes).

Nobody wants to get stuck in the middle of nowhere without a means to fill 'er up. Don't confuse that with "nobody wants an electric car".

Re: Fracking needs to be fully controlled

Threaten to move your wells out of that country.

Government says "fine. Fuck off, don't come back." Sets up its own wells.

Governments might be notorious for not running efficient businesses, but I reckon even they could turn a profit on Black Gold.

Re: VNC over GIF?

Oh come on downvoter, let's compare VNC with RDP shall we?

I'm the last person to cheer on Microsoft (okay, maybe Eadon is), but VNC is a shit protocol.

Not detracting from the amazingly hackerish thing this guy did, but VNC is still shit.

Re: I agreee it IS Win7

"As an updated win7, win8 ROCKS, in speed, in stability, and in some relevant extras, including ISO mounts and VMs without needing anything third party."

Have you actually tried running Windows 8 in a VM?

It's a bloody horrible mess of bugs and glitches, and if you should dare try Seamless Mode... well, just watch TIFKAM fall apart completely.

Re: gazthejourno

Promise not to put popup crap, expanding/contracting DIVs and autoplaying videos anywhere and I might think about it.

Actually come to think about it, I've been running without ABP for a little while now and haven't had any rudeness shoved in my face yet. Maybe the Reg has improved a bit there, though it was the Reg and the aforementioned spammy shite that persuaded me to install ABP in the first place.

Re: What a small and sad life you lead.

s/small/sensible/;

s/sad/amusing/;

Now using sed regexes in a forum post... that might be a bit sad. I'll just go and cry in the corner. :(