Posts by Greg J Preece

Re: *Sigh*

Ah, the fanboy presumptions. The sweet sound of denial. OK, let's dive in:

"Awwww. Greg is just pissed because the Nintendo handed Microsoft's arse to them on a plate, before skull-fucking every gaming device that Sony have put out in the last 5 years."

Ummmm...what? I don't even own a 360. I *do* own a Wii, and a PS3, and having owned both, the Sony console is far, far superior in every notable respect. But then, my PC beats the shit out of all of them, and is actually where I prefer to game. Better luck next time.

(Incidentally, I own or have owned *every* Nintendo console to date. I'm just not a fanboy.)

"100m sales tell me that you're in the minority with your opinion"

Argumentum ad populum. Completely worthless.

"You don't like it? Don't buy it."

I thought that was the point of my post. But then, I forgot how Ninty fanboys work. Dissent is not allowed!

"I don't come on here and troll every Sony review, for instance, because I don't like them, I just don't buy one."

Who's trolling? I was presented with an article on a new console, I read it, thought about it, and concluded that the console in question is going to be another gimmicky piece of shit populated with shovelware and aged ports. But I don't agree with the majority, so clearly I'm trolling...

"The second-screen worked quite well on the DS, for instance."

Did it? The 2nd screen on my DS seems to be used either for arbitrary crap or not at all. And switching input systems all the time is infurating. Did you see the "accessory" they shipped with Kid Icarus? JHFC!

"And seriously, pressing a button to have your character pack the shotgun into your backpack and pull out and load a pistol doesn't break your "immersion"?"

As the great and powerful Yahtzee has pointed out far more clearly than I, immersion is about minimising the link between thought and process, not maximising it. When I play a first person game with mouse and keyboard, looking around is so ridiculously natural to me now that my brain processes it on instinct alone. The motion controls I've used to date have exaggerated this link, not removed it, and I fail to see how spending my entire time re-orienting myself between different screens, input systems, and even physical areas is going to help.

"Not everything is about pixel-perfect shooters."

I never said it was, but I used FPS games for two reasons:

1) They are a prime example of a flaw with the Wii U's control system. Casual games can be played with a pad just fine, but action-oriented games on touchscreens and styluses are shit.

2) The Wii U is apparently getting them. DUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Anyone else want to have a crack at extending my post out Glenn Beck style to encompass my entire life? I don't like the Wii U! Come on, shun the non-believer!

This reminds me of when I called the Wii a fad on these very forums some years back, and the fanboys downvoted me to Hades then too. Pity I was right, wasn't it? Unless some fanboy on here wants to try and argue that the Wii *hasn't* been dying on its arse for the past few years?

Re: If addons haven't broken in every version since FF6...

Did it reject any?

"Chrome/Chromium are superior in every way."

Except that they're not. The address bar doesn't work as well, the rendering engine has more bugs, the developer tools are all swiped from superior Firefox extensions, etc, etc. You can call Chrome faster and I'll agree, but that's not why I use FF as my primary browser. Chrome is fast, and Opera is polished, but Firefox works.

Re: and *how many* addons do you use??

I use a ton of extensions, given that I'm a professional developer. (In fact, I have actually developed Firefox add-ons!) But with the later mods to Firefox it isn't necessary for developers to update their extensions to have explicit compatibility with new versions, which makes things much, much easier.

The change in version numbering doesn't alter how rapidly changes in the browser code occur. There's now a smaller number of changes in each major revision, so as a developer I can make a minor change every so often, rather than having a set of major changes all dumped on me at once, which is part of what caused the old problems of "x plugin isn't ready yet".

"And I bet you wont even bother to try out a few of these addons, just to let us know if it is safe to get the latest FF???"

Aside from the fact that I've no idea what these add-ons are, how the heck is that my responsibility? Have you tried disabling version checking and seeing if they'd work anyway? Most still will, and it's just the max version number stored in the add-on that stops them from activating.

"It is not easy making a full backup of your settings, down to individual button positions"

Uhhhhh, yes it is. Just make a copy of your Firefox profile folder. Is that difficult?

"Most of us are just simple guys, with a busy life, not able to spend hours just tweaking, unlike SOME people here...."

Well pardon me, I apologise for having a hobby. You know, going on to a tech website and making sarcastic swipes at all those silly sad bastards who are actually interested in this stuff isn't going to encourage them to help you. Back in't day (ooh aye, old lad) on IRC or Usenet, you'd have lasted about ten seconds with that attitude.

Jetpack and other modifications to the system long since fixed that particular issue. Can't remember the last time I had a plugin issue at upgrade time.

@M Gale, Re: On PC We have Steam...

Did you read the rest of my post, or just get to the word "Steam" and type in reflex rage? Steam might be the biggest and best known, and you can't deny that it's a damn sight cheaper than console markets, but I did mention "competition within the platform". If GoG continues the way it's currently going, it could very well give Steam a run for its money. While I have an embarassing number of games on Steam, I've recently bought a few games from GoG because they were cheaper, DRM free and came with more stuff. That's a set of incentives that will undercut anyone.

On console, you have Sony's store, and Microsoft's store, and both are a rip-off. Though, to be honest, the company with the shittiest online service is definitely Nintendo. Apart from it having the barest of feature set, and games almost never receiving patches or updates, if you actually look at some of the real-world pricing for the Wii Store, it's astonishingly expensive.

Re: "selling point for the PS3"

Assuming that it works the same way as the 60GB PS3, get a copy of Burnout 2 (black box). The game works, but all the car wheels are missing, and instead there's this unearthly glow where they used to be. It's frickin' awesome!

The only other game I've found with any bugs (and the only one with any game-breakers) is Gungrave, where there's a door partway through the game that you simply can't enter. But then, Gungrave is a piece of shit anyway, so who cares?

It was removed after a load of idiots complained that features cost money. The PS3 was lambasted as being too expensive despite being more powerful, having way more kit, having better backward compatibility, etc, etc, etc.

Not really surprising to see the console makers backing down on this one. They all want an online-only console where they can screw the customer over to their heart's content, but they also all know full well that the first console to do it will get savaged. If the Xbox 3 tried it, the PS4 would come out with a disc drive, keep the important 2nd hand and discount markets, and easily win market share.

It's just console makers acknowledging that online-only is bad for consumers, and they don't want it.*

(*On console. On PC we have Steam, and fairly reasonable pricing, and sales, and competition within the platform, etc, etc, etc.)

Re: Then - goodbye Opera

...."The idea"?

Opera is not a concept. Opera is not a religion. Opera is not a state of mental nirvana.

Opera is a company. They exist to make money. From you. Don't ever get the impression that it's otherwise.

Re: page impressions

...in the current version. If FB buy Opera, are you really imagining they'll leave the option in to turn off Turbo?

Re: Whew.

You'd be suprised. Just recently I was laughing my ass off at a creationist geocentrist dipshit who thought he had disproven gravity with a toy helicopter and a pickup truck.

Piss off yourself. Imperial's a right load of outdated shite people cling on to out of some misguided sense of "tradition". It's the same staring-into-the-past attitude that British people regurgitate every damn day, and it really gets on my tits. Why can't we get rid of all this old-fashioned crap and move on?

Re: Who?

Is there anything more painfully boring than someone commenting on an article to say "Never heard of them"? Thanks for your superb contribution to the debate. Perhaps, given that this site is fulla nerds, they'd be more interested in the opinion of another nerd than that of the latest chart rapper?