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Perhaps, but that's a moot point -- it makes no sense to enact anti-trust measures against somebody that isn't in a postion to establish a monopoly. MS was in a dominant market position... much like Valve is now. Or maybe it's appealing to them because it already has a larger market share than any other DD platform? Any reasons you present why devs might like it better are just speculation, unless you can show they really offer better deals to developers. It's cool how you cherry-picked the part of my post that was convenient for you to make your point, disregarded the part where I said that there are no alternatives to Steam for some games, and then went on to admit that Steam is not only DRM but essentially opt-in -- as in non-essential for the actual functioning of the game or the protection of IP rights. So the justification for it's exclusivity and mandatory use is...?

The nuclear fusion inside the star stops when the core is iron, because after this it is no longer energy effective: Binding energy curve First hydrogen is fused to helium, then helium to carbon, then carbon to oxygen, then oxygen to silicon, and silicon to iron. That is the moment where the star cannot longer withstand its gravitational collapse and becomes either a white dwarf, a neutron star or black hole depending on its mass. Not quite, it'll keep fusing but it'll loose energy due to the fusion. Otherwise we wouldn't find elements higher than iron on the table occurring naturally in the environment. That fusion is what drains the energy to leave behind the less energy filled neutron star.It was my understanding that heavier elements weren't created through "regular" fusion at the star's core, but rather as a consequence of the extreme pressures the material is subjected to during the *BANG!* phase of the supernova.

Actually, these things shouldn't even exist, according to current stellar development models anyway. As a star accrues gas, outwards radiation pressure caused by fusion at the core prevents the star from gaining more and more mass... or so the theory goes, anyway. Wolf-Rayet stars lose mass rapidly this way, although not quite as fast as this one should. There is supposedly a limit where outwards pressure and gravitational force even out, capping the upper mass for stars. A limit that just got revised by a factor of about 2. And yeah, supermassive stars explode leaving not even a black hole behind. Again, in theory...

On the other hand, it was perfectly possible and virtually hassle-free to download and use any other browser if the user so desired -- something you can't do with Steam. And once you are forced to deal with steam by virtue of having purchased one game that uses it, Steam will be favored over other DD platforms, effectively "queuing people to overlook competitor" DD setups. And no, while it may be more convenient for people to use Microsoft OS, it's by no means "essential". As I said, it's no monopoly. But I don't think it's playing fair either, and the arguments I've heard so far have done nothing to persuade me otherwise.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/eso-...red-100721.html Estimates point at a mass at birth of ~320 solar masses. Observation once again trumps theoretical predictions.

Yes, painting Steam as a monopoly is a bit of a stretch. However, forcing retail copies of non-Valve games to install and work through steam isn't too far from ye olde MS practice of shipping IE bundled with Windows, and that got shot down by the EC, on grounds that it was unfair competition. Unfair competition needn't imply monopolistic tactics either, but it's still bad form.

Sorry to hear it didn't work. The ???? thing is odd, because you are using #0 for languages, which is English, right? Where does Korean come into play here? English BG2, English patches, English mods, no? WeiDU crashing the DOS prompt program is really, really weird.

Apparently I don't have permission to upload attachments anymore. Yay me. PM me your email and I can send you the whole package if you want. Btw, what's your install route? IIRC, problems may arise if stuff is installed in Program Files... which may explain all the weirdness in your WeiDU log.

Dispel arrows are SO cheap. There's no save or caster level check for the dispel -- they just kill all magic in one shot. 20 of those should be enough for the whole game. Useless against a well prepared mage, maybe, but deadly against fighter types AND especially divine casters. What's exactly the problem with BG2Tweaks? I can upload my tp2 but I think it's an old version and there's no guarantee it would work for you. Usually install errors are patch-related. Have you checked if there's a hotfix? edit: just took a look at your WeiDU log, and there's a lot of ???? and profit over there. My guess would be that a previous install went wrong and BG2Tweaks attempts to run a check on what's already installed is having problems with that...

Nah, there's no way this could be viewed as a monopoly. It's still annoying as ****, though. Duh! Yeah, now they only need to spend another bunch of millions on a study to verify their operating assumption that console gamers will get nasty rashes if they need to plug a keyboard and mouse to up their game in shooters.

You'll all change your tune when the hordes of teenage elite asian haxors steal all of your personal data in under two minutes, and then proceed to empty your bank account! It's not paranoia when they really are out to get you! *ahem* Just wrapped up my ToB game. SCSII AI + Ascension Melissan = fun times. Pretty crazy too that the only really, really dangerous enemy in that battle is none other than Illasera. I had to Timestop-Mislead-Backstab her right off the bat just to get a shot at winning. Pretty satisfying battle overall. They just don't make 'em like this anymore. Wait, since I'm playing Gaider's version of what it should have been, I guess they never really made 'em like this...

<3 you guys

Do I have your permission to use that? Ah, I'm going to anyway. Re mistakes: there's only one way of learning about life in general and human relations in particular, and that's the hard way. So in fact my advice would be "kids, don't be like your uncle #s. Better to crash and burn than spend nights wondering how things might have turned out". Or maybe I just plain old suck.

The original BG1 is unique - it's better balanced than any modded copy, as Tutu can introduce various weirdities and summoning is broken-ish. I'm just too used to the high resolution now, though, and various modded things like faster bears and BG2-style contingency-loaded mages. That said, good old wand of fireball + oil of fiery burning hasn't failed me so far... now on to TOTSC content before returning to Baldur's Gate for the final showdown. I'd play some Icewind Dale ironman, but need to find my CDs... maybe I'll make an ironman thread when/if I do. Get BGT, n00bs. It's better supported/debugged, I hear. And it has neato transitions. I'm also starting a new game. I had planned on soloing but since Imoen is so deeply ingrained into the plot (especially as SoA doesn't seem to care if she was left dead by the side of some road...), I figured it'll be <CHARNAME> and her. So I changed her class to F/M/T and went with a F/M/C for <CHARNAME>. "Nestled atop the cliffs..."

Yeah, every single case I bring up, you can wave your hand and dismiss as a "unique success story". But you know what, you are right. I don't need Counter-Strike, as that's an example of a mod becoming bigger than its parent game... and becoming a mainstream title in the process. That is not the kind of example I should have been looking for. Want definite proof of how big the modding scene is? Go to any given major modding site, take a look at the download numbers. Not every game has a modding community that big or that active, but then again, games are a dime a dozen today. No, I don't believe I said easily moddable games are necessarily more successful, or that the contrary applies either. Either you misunderstand or are misrepresenting me. However, it is a fact that developers are aware of the potential in mods, and often even encourage it. I guess both NWN games are "unique success stories" too, as is Oblivion? Yes, well. For the average price of mods ($0 USD), I don't think this is something you can complain about with a straight face. This is linked to the point you made further down about spending $60 on a game you aren't interested in. Well, duh. Who buys a game in which they have no interest whatsoever? If wargaming in the Hellenistic period doesn't interest you, you aren't going to hear about RTR... but then RTW won't particularly attract you either. If today no game does anything for you, not even as far as themes are concerned, then maybe it's time to find another hobby. I mean this in the sense that game production has multiplied in the last two decades, and all genres are covered. If you can't find anything that strikes your fancy at all, maybe it's you who has the problem, and not the world. There are also sites dedicated to modding news you can follow. The argument isn't that mods are meant to make or break a sale (and I'd appreciate you keeping the strawmanning to a minimum here), but that they can insuflate new life into a game you'd otherwise play maybe just once or twice, placing it right up there with any of those oldies that you loved so much. Not to mention that modding processes are much easier to influence than standard development projects, increasing the likelihood that a mod will be suited to your tastes. But yeah, "stultification", indeed. Heh. Well, I miss the days when I spent all day being carried around on a stroller, suckling a teat when I wasn't napping. Good times. But I think I'd draw quite a bit of flak if I wrote a piece complaining about my rotten luck. Times change. If you don't change along, things are going to get tougher for you. Nothing wrong with sticking to one's guns, but this sounds a bit like the guy wants to have his cake and eat it, in the sense that he doesn't want to do any work looking for content that may appeal to his preferences. This is especially jarring considering that he explains that he doesn't have any other hobbies, and that lack of time isn't an issue for him.

Because it does. Hello, Counter-Strike? It's a fact that devs are making their games easier to mod, going so far as releasing SDKs for public use. Isn't that "the industry" at work? The author complains that from his niche perspective, gaming no longer offers quality entertainment, because of economic reasons. Modding and indie productions are, I think, the only alternative to the extremely limited production targeted at niche market segments. He overlooked the modding aspect, and that's all I'm saying. No, no. What I'm saying is that there is certainly a way to get your fix other than playing the same old BG2 over and over. Granted, the piece referred to E3 so that's neither here nor there, but then why discuss indie projects? How big is their presence at E3 anyway? I'm not sure how much time you spend tracking (or even searching for) mods that might interest you. That you haven't heard about it doesn't mean much -- most mod projects don't have a dedicated PR department and rely on word of mouth. I'm sure that, if you play any online game regularly wherein a certain mod has become popular you'll have, at the very least, heard about it. The weight on the market is decidedly limited, but remember we're discussing niche interests, here.

1) I have no idea. And frankly, I don't care. I know I did, and that's good enough for me. 2) Depends on who you ask, I guess. To the people who liked vanilla RTW, I'm going to assume it's not so bad. And not for me either, as the mods were there when I needed them. I might have a different opinion if the game didn't have such a modding community around it. 3) I reckon it's a fairly popular mod (though I liked Europa Barbarorum better myself), so I don't know the proportion of RTW players that have tried such mods. Not everyone has the same tastes, so not everyone is in the mood for edutainment when they fire up a game. I know I'm not always. I'm not really too fond of opinion pieces that are just *RANT!*, and go on about how bad things are... while actually ignoring how things are. The author stopped playing X-Com when it became real-time. But there was a "X-Com" game by fans that was essentially a total conversion using the Quake 2 engine. It looked fairly promising last time I checked.

Nice article, but I think he has failed to consider the immense weight that modding has on the industry nowadays. Case in point, RTW is fairly "pop" in its depiction of the Hellenistic period and rise of the Roman Empire, but this is fixed, for those that want it to be fixed, by mods. I don't think I'd be able to stomach many modern games without mods.

Seriously, do you even think before delivering your inane one-liners? I'm betting you could do it asleep. How is not installing unwanted software and not participating in a deal you don't think is advantageous to you "futile"? How is it even a "gesture"? Uh...

Oh, right. So that doesn't count because... it's an exception. Robben's dive doesn't count either because... that's another exception. Van Bommel's constant kicking and stomping don't count because the man is an exception unto himself, and so on and so forth. Hahaha, but yeah, everyone but you is biased, quite obviously. Van Bommel should have been sent off before half time, and Heitinga's cards were well deserved. While it's undeniable that the corner kick that the ref didn't grant is pretty inexcusable, it's a bit of a stretch to chalk up Spain's victory to bad refereeing.

No. I'll grab my rifle, a bunch of ammo, rations for three days, and head for the hills. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Is it GOG that provides DRM-free content you can administer yourself? Do they now? I wonder, have you played AvP?

Dear TrueNeutral: Kind regards, Xabi Alonso You could, oh, I don't know... Support Netherlands?

Well, yeah. Until all we got was cheap DVD cases. A game collection is like a well-sorted movie collection on the shelf, or a library of books. Except that they are, you know, video games. [...] That's exactly the kind of thinking that has put gaming in this cultural slump. To expand on this: Popular pieces of literature such as this one fill many a bookshelf

Huh? So what. People collect all sorts of weird things ranging from keychains to bottle caps. A VG box collection is somehow something not worth the space it occupies? Outside of install speeds, I don't care about having a "physical" copy, as a physical copy is as likely to fail as an electronic one stored in a server elsewhere, if not more likely, perhaps. For me, it's a matter of control. I'm giving up a great deal of control over something I've paid for, to someone else, to accomodate commercial interests that likely infringe on my rights (first sale doctrine). I depend on them exclusively for access to the game, I depend on them exclusively for access to updates, and backups are useless. And, as far as I know, they don't have a contractual obligation to fulfill their promise to patch DRM out of games if they ever go out of business or otherwise close shop. And, on principle, I don't trust corporations.