Hurlshort

Minecraft - Holy moly, the time just flies by. I finished up my crafting shop and turned off the game last night, and was shocked at how late it was.

I still buy music. I buy music that has recently been released by bands that still exist. That doesn't mean anything at all. Because you do something legally most of the time does not excuse doing it illegally some of the time.

Is the voice-acting on the same level as Risen? I thought Risen was leagues above the Gothic games in the voice acting.

The other day I came across my copy of NHL '94 for the Super Nintendo. It was a nice little bit of reminiscence, but in the end I threw it away. I have no Super Nintendo, it's old technology, and time has marched on. I went out and bought NHL '11.

I'd be more concerned if Valve wasn't such an extremely successful company. They aren't going to just implode someday. There is a chance they will shift business models, like WalMart did with their music store, but I believe it is in their best interest not to burn all their customers. I also don't care about my game collection that much and don't expect it to last me for decades.

If Pakistan goes radical, a war between India and Pakistan is likely. Given that these are nuclear countries, it would be hard for an country not to get involved. A la WW3.

Drawing comics is hard work.

Imagine if Steam had done this. The world would have ended. HAHA Actually this is a valid concern of mine... if Value or Stardock pulls a DNF and ends up in chapter 8 (lets just say for the sake of the discussion it happens, not debating the odds of such) what happens to those of us that have bought games on the service? With impulse at least I can archive the installed games and reinstall them locally as long as I got a copy of impulse still to manage such. Steam from my understanding if the service goes down the games stop working... While I bought many games via impulse and I had to install steam for civ5 (don't get me started on that) I am very apprehensive of this model. As you have a vest interest in the company staying afloat. If it does not you just lost all those games you bought. Valve already have a system in place, should this happen with Steam. Which is...? Not very informative nor reassuring... THe CEO released a statement about it awhile ago. Something to the extent of "in case of catastrophe, Steam has a number of back up plans to make the games available."

Your totally fab, Hurlie, but someday I'm going to fall out of my chair when I see a negative "this game looks like ****" post from you. Don't keep me waiting! I took that stance on Dante's Inferno. It still bothers me that they pillaged an epic of classical literature. People complain about what Bethesda did to Fallout, but I have a hard time putting that in the same class as the abomination that is a hack and slash version of the Divine Comedy.

It does look pretty cool though, the whole floating city thing.

Do not question the shogun!

The constitution is vague enough where it can be applied to many issues.

It isn't quasi-legal at all.

Oblivion was a large lore disappointment, compared to Daggerfall, Redguard, and Morrowind. It was just super bland. I think they get it though, they did much better with Shivering Isles.

The new f2p stuff in LotRO is pretty interesting. I have a ton of free points since I have been a subscriber forever. I hope they release Rohan soon though, I figure it has to be just around the corner.

You are just making stuff up. Here is a chart of MMO subscriptions, which has had a steady climb. Also, WoW has had a steady drop in the last couple years in subscription numbers, which means there is a void to be filled.

Even if you went on the White House board or whatever, you still wouldn't have the right to say anything you want. The government is providing the board, it is their property, just like you can't go to the White House and spout gibberish. You have freedom of speech if you create your own IP address, and the government cannot censor it. That is the entirety of the freedom of speech right.

That's like saying "make no more hack&slash 'cause there is Diablo II", "make no more RTS 'cause there is StarCraft 2", make no more RPG 'cause there is BioWare", "make no more freeform games 'cause there is Bethesda", "make no more FPS 'cause there is MW2" etc. etc. etc. And is UO (Ultima Online for those of you who are post-WoW) not still running as well? I know there are some free realms still around. I think it still is though. EA has proven to be pretty bad at managing MMO's, I'm sure they hope TOR will reverse their fortune.

I watched the Atlantic City documentary on HBO. It looks good, Buscemi is always entertaining.

He's just making stuff up, no worries.

Exactly. DDO wasn't doing good, but apparently the f2p model was super effective and rejuvenated that title. They also still run servers for Asheron's Call, believe it or not. LotRO has been very successful, they have stated time and again that they are happy with the subscription numbers. They have been successful enough to sign new deals for the content rights and they entered into a partnership with Warner Bros. Since DDO had success, they implemented a semi-f2p model. I've kept my subscription, as the high end stuff is only available that way.

Except Sony and Turbine have a stable of successful MMO's that continue to progress. It's like saying every movie needs to pull in Titanic money.

Pshaw, they all must have been paid off!

The whole WoW argument is tired, because there are plenty of successful MMO's on the market. I think it is safe to say that MMO's are one of the hardest genres to develop a title for, but it is far from impossible.

That's what I always tell my students, you should all just give up now because there are already successful people out there, and there just isn't enough room left for anyone else to succeed. A lot of my students want to work with computers, and I'm like "There is already Microsoft, Apple, and Google, there isn't any room left for more companies. There are start ups that fail all the time!"