alanschu

That's pretty much the concern I had. I guess I'll pick based on which video card I go for, because I'm not entirely against the idea of being able to add a second card a bit down the road to get a boost in performance. Thanks mkreku.

Exactly! DD is a boon for those that are in niche markets....which, oddly enough, are the PC RPG players such as those that visit this very board.

How do you take away social control though? Aren't we also social by nature? Are you saying that if we didn't have social control, we'd just kill each other for the fun of it?

I'm not saying it is necessarily. But I'd rather the market take care of people that can't keep their act together, rather than have publishers turn down innovative idea after innovative idea because they don't think they can make as much money with it. Let the companies with poor ideas fold, rather than the ones with great ideas that have never been done before. Because it's convenient? I don't have to get into my car, waste gas (kill the environment and all that jazz even!!!111), risk a car accident, and put up with a busy shopping center to get my game. Furthermore, as for the "message," you'd have to be either completely in denial, or just flat out dimwitted to not recognize that the developer will receive more of my money via direct download than through a retailer. All you have to do is spend one minute learning how retail operates to recognize this. So? In any case, costs being lower does not mean prices drop either. Read up on microeconomics if you don't believe me. The funny thing is, is that the consumer doesn't realize just how much influence, as a collective, they have over the price of goods. And if my argument is centered on it being better for developers, you didn't do a good job of disputing it. How so? Last I checked, we both paid the same for the game. The funny thing is, based on the prices you inquired about earlier, you actually would save money using direct download.

If it was in our nature to just outright kill each other, wouldn't you have more murders that mimic'd those of serial killers and whatnot? Wouldn't you and I have an inherent bloodlust to kill each other?

They also exert their influence on the creative process. The competition from established sources already incurs a higher overhead, meaning there's saturation to the point where profits would no longer be adequate enough to justify stocking the product. It confirms nothing, since we are all speculating. It just as easily confirms that the retail market is still viewed as a necessity, and has the purchasing power to influence the price that digital distribution can sell at. And yes, they are totally screwing me over by making me pay the exact same amount of money as I would in a store. Pretty weak example of "screwing us over" as there's no net difference. And don't pull the "but you're not getting a manual" and whatever baloney either. Because if you still value that stuff, you can still buy it. No one is forcing you to use direct download. If you'd rather pay for it at retail, then pay for it at retail.

I thought that humanity was its own predator though. The big thing about how it's in our nature to kill each other and all that jazz. If it's in our nature to kill each other, why does our population insist on growing so quickly?

Well, if a species is hurting itself, it probably shouldn't be growing.

Lining your own pockets could certainly be seen as a valid point of view :D Dosnt make it good for the consumer though. Unless the developer acquring more capital allows them additional creative control over their content. Competition dictates this. Digital Distribution for gaming is in its infancy, and there's not been a big push to make it mainstream.

I'm considering buying a new computer, but I'm hemming and hawing between the two motherboards. They are the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe and the A8R32-MVP Deluxe. One is an nForce4 chipset, and the other has the CrossFire Xpress 3200 chipset. Are there any concerns that I should have with respect to video cards? If I go with the nForce chipset, should I more heavily favour an nVidia card, or vice versa? Thanks.

I agree wholeheartedly. But I guess it's one of those things that once you notice it, it's hard to go back.

Aliasing. Fair enough actually. I know what I know about the project. I guess I'll just be one of those "I know a friend" type guys But when I met Kevin Barrett at the informal "meet-and-greet" for prospective interns, he specifically mentioned to me that their interest in interns was looking for designers for Dragon Age, so I'll just go with what I know.

A friend of mine just got hired there as an intern through my University. I asked her if she was working with the Live team, and she said that it was Dragon Age.

I haven't looked too much into it, but I thought that the general consensus was that Vista would be a step in the right direction for PC gaming.

But that's still economics. THe reason why the price is where it's at is because the game sells (and sells well) at that price. If enough people feel like you, they won't buy the game at that price. As a result, the price will go down, as the developers look to make a profit. That could very well be. Though this distinction still exists in retail. Not all games are released at $50 on the shelf. I wouldn't be surprised to see this happen either. In fact, I expect it. But the price will always fluctuate back to what the developer feels is the optimal price point for him to maximize his profits. Furthermore, competition makes this price go down. If Direct Download is as an improved method of distribution as I anticipate it will, maybe we'll get lucky and get more high quality games out there that have to compete for our dollar.

That certainly would explain why the population keeps growing and how we somehow haven't eradicated ourselves yet.

I am thinking that Eldar was implying that the war wasn't really all about intense hatred...or something (excluding the start of course). For instance, WW2 was in large part revenge against the Allies for it's treatment of Germany post-war, as well as an inherent hatred towards the Communist force of the Soviet Union. I'm not sure...I'm grasping at straws here.

Uh huh. Thankfully, there are those that are interested in our society that are interested enough in social and economic power to finance the video games we like to play.

Like I said, enjoy your hobby while you can then.

If you don't already recognize the desire for power that some people have, I probably can't explain it to you anyways. Especially given the medieval context of chivalry and the decided lack of paperwork that would have existed in owning a slave.

Enjoy your hobby while you can then.

Then don't buy the game right away. And if you find a boxed copy that is cheaper, then buy all means buy it. Your expectations may seem reasonable, but they completely go against economics. Even if there is concern about retailers not stocking a game because it is cheaper, it's still a pipe dream to assume that any business is not going to try to maximize its profits. I suspect that few, if any, of us on these boards would willingly sell a product they made at a cost that they knew would get them less money in return. The only exceptions would be some form of altruism or charity, but even then that decision is still made to maximize your "gain" from the sale. We don't know the details of acquiring the Source license to really comment. The nice thing is, if you don't like it, don't buy it. The price is what it's at because (basic economics here), that's what people will pay for it. I do not particularly value CDs or manuals, and since I'm going to pay $50 for a game, I'd rather the developers (the people in charge of the creative content of the game I am making) get the money, rather than a bunch of middle men. It's no guarantee, but increased capital for developers does increase the likelihood of them being more experimental in their games. It's no longer devastating to a developer if their game isn't a sure hit. As a result, game developers won't have to insist (and have less pressure from the publisher) to make a game that tries to follow the formula of a different sure fire hit. And, as you acknowledged, it provides avenues of distribution that smaller developers otherwise would never have been able to achieve. People can try to argue that games made by smaller developers mostly suck (and they'd probably be right), but I'd rather not deny the next prodigy genius an opportunity to revolutionize the entire industry if I can try.

You can burn it to disc. Though technically, you aren't supposed to install games from CDs on to other PCs either, unless you remove it from the first PC.

Yes, absolutely. The reason why I choose not to drink is because I haven't grown out of my geek phase or I'm a religous nut. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Theres the two other reasons too: A. Youre a very boring person B. You either are an ex-alcoholic... or your dad/mum/whatever used to be one and youre afraid youll go the same way <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Yes. Absolutely spot on.

Because people enjoy power.