Posts by Greg J Preece

Re: Been failing for 15 years +

"As for the second hand stores, all they do is rob money from the game developers and, in an industry where a £20 million product can be judged a flop in a handful of weeks, those of us gamers who give a sh*t about innovation and quality instead of "yet-another-FPS" (Syndicate EA, really?) should always try to buy new copies from their retailer of choice."

Bollocks, and bollocks I'm sick of hearing. If it wasn't for the 2nd hand market, I'd have never become a gamer, because the new games are too expensive for anyone under 20. If it wasn't for the 2nd hand market, I would never have played the most innovative games, because they quickly disappear under a tide of X-box shit and it takes a cult following to bring them to light. If it wasn't for the 2nd hand market, I wouldn't have gotten into half the games I have, or have a huge collection as I do.

I still give huge amounts of money to the game industry all the time, but if the publishers had it their way we'd be paying £50 a pop for ten year old games. This is the *only* industry we hear this bullshit bleating from. In every other industry, a purchase is regarded as something you own, and can do with as you please. Only in the games industry has this strange attitude grown that anyone not paying the poor, neglected largest entertainment sector on Earth the full price is some thieving scumbag. Sod off.

I *do* care about gaming, a hell of a lot, but I show support for brilliant and innovative games by spreading the word, encouraging uptake. If someone I recommend Rez to buys it 2nd hand to try it, and likes it, then they might pre-order Child of Eden at full price, and the developer makes moolah they wouldn't have otherwise. The developers can take their moaning and shove it, and stop trying to make me feel like a thief because their products are overpriced.

Check out Ubuntu TV. I don't like Unity on a desktop but on a telly it's rather spiffing.

Re: This sort of tosh happens all the time

I was looking at the specs of the Huawei Mediapad on the Orange website today. Apparently it has "dual 1.2GHz processors". Really? Not one dual-core processor, then?

Re: lets be honest

Missed Kitzmiller vs Dover, then? That was just funny. "No, I've no idea where those textbooks I personally raised the money for and ordered came from. What do you mean, lying under oath?"

And yet again I get to respond to some miserable bastard with the two words "Snow Leopard".

@nexsphil

Nice anti-Linux rant there, but at what point did I make any reference to it going mainstream? I was only talking about it being supported through the use of OpenGL.

Re: Weirdos

"And why the spite against a successful company that makes good, attractive hardware and software that real people like, even enjoy?"

Or worship? I mean, who doesn't say a quick prayer or two to Lord Jobs in the morning, before work? It's just a personal belief, and I'm entitled to it. Who are you to say that Apple didn't invent the wheel? Were you there? Can you prove it, or is this just another "theory"?

The ones to watch out for are the non-believers, these angry atheists. They'll distort history with lies, tell you that Apple are a litigious bunch of shitheads that gained a position through slick marketing and are now attempting to hold onto it with lawyers rather than innovation. I mean, we all know that Android is an evil communist plot. I've read the holy letters of Saint Steve, and it's right there in black and white. He said it, I believe it, that's an end of it.

</creationist_parody> (For thickos.)

Re: What's the obsession with 'thinnest'?

Amen. People are always criticising my smartphone for being a "brick". Erm...what? My original mobile phone came with a belt clip and could only text in upper-case, and an N series is a brick because it has a proper keyboard and a decent camera?

I couldn't give two shits if another phone is a few mm thinner - what does that gain me anyway? A more fragile device? If it's an extra 20g heavier, will my weak, crippled hands not be able to heft it all the way to my head?

No, of course not. It's just faddish elitism.

Re: And that may be true...

"It's definitely likely to be certainly possible that there was an ask-no-questions ethos pervading the NotW, allegedly."

My favourite sentence of the week. QOTW, El Reg?

Re: Spark Tablet

Genuinely not being a dick, but that's a tablet. :-p

This was announced last weekend, and I believe that it could be pre-loaded, so hopefully Steam anticipated that waaaay in advance.

I'm just brassed off that Killing Floor was piss cheap again this week. Every time that happens the harder servers flood with CoD/L4D playing newbies who reckon they're tough. They spawn into a game at level 0, cause a huge zombie spawn, get massacred, and rage quit, leaving the regular players on their own against a horde.

Re: @Greg J Preece

"if they want to include motion controls in hardcore games at least give the option to disable it."

Agree 100%, and I was heartened to see several titles on the Vita that do exactly that.

Re: Sounds familiar

Sure sounds familiar to me - Skype!

Synchronises my chats between my phones, all my computers, my Sony kit, my e-reader...

Re: nearly 7 million quid to tidy up *one* piece of space junk?

If they're only 30cm long, I imagine the plan is to send up lots of them at once. Get the prototype working, then chuck a few dozen into a single rocket and hit go.

There's a similar Space Quest pack that got released some years back, comes in a DVD slim case.

Now, don't get me wrong, because I *love* Okami, but I thought the ending wasn't that good. The last boss was a bloody insult. Some really creative, fun bosses before that, with personalities no less, and the last enemy is just a cheap, beardy robot who never so much as taunts you. "In that room there is the big bad, go murder him."

The cockles of my heart were warmed the other day when I finally got hold of Super Stardust Delta on the Vita and found that there is an entire play mode dedicated to turning all that motion control/touchscreen bullshit off, and playing properly. Kick ass!