MasterDex

I should be able to make a donation to the fund in a couple of weeks. It probably won't be much but I'll see what the ECB will let me spend.

I'm not saying that one publisher will be affected more than another but I think developers and publishers will have to rethink their DLC strategies in the not too distant future.

It's the same with me too. That isn't to say that their purchasing choices aren't affected by the quality or value of a game, or the actions of the developers and publishers. Take a look at the time EA fell from their throne. Gamer's had stopped prioritising EA releases quite a while before that happened yet they were still getting sales from the general population. It didn't last however. Even the uninformed masses stopped buying EA games in any great number and EA suffered as a result. Granted, we have a much bigger general population actively buying games while not engaging in gaming culture or the community at large but I still don't think publishers - and certainly not developers - are as unsinkable as they may believe themselves. As I see it, a lot of these quick-cash schemes aren't examined enough before been put in place. They're seeing the cash but they're not seeing the hole at the end of the bag. They're not looking at the long-term effects for long enough. I feel like I'm beginning to waffle now so I'll try to be more succint. My point is that although the invested and vocal minority aren't a majority of the total market, they do represent the general consumer on some level; even if the general consumer is uninformed. It's a bit like the thing they say where nerds, by general definition, are at the forefront of trends. We see things coming before the everyday Joe but we all react accordingly. ...I've probably just confused everything altogether. It does say something though. Not everyone is going to stick to their guns.

This is what I'm referring to. Regardless of quality, it sells. I think marketing works wonderfully as long as a product meets a minimum standard. When customers feel like the devs or publishers don't care... they still buy. Every single major thing gamers have complained about in the past few years is proof of that. Insert screenshot of the Steam "Boycott Modern Warfare 2" group where most of the players were playing MW2. I agree, in essence, with what both of you are saying but at the same time, I'm not a big believer in this vocal minority catch-all that the industry in particular likes to throw around to dismiss complaints. Though we, personally, are more involved than your average bear, we still only make up a subsection of people commenting online. The vocal minority, in my opinion, isn't so much a minority but a representation of the wider consumer opinion. There's a bunch of people both casual and hardcore that will be pissed off at things like the removal of dedicated servers, etc that don't post online - until they can't get their game to run and start a thread on the official forums for a game (which is the reason such forums are so awful 99% of the time) but conversely, there are also those that don't care about this or that but will post online. In otherwords, I believe the "vocal minority" is representative of a much larger demographic and developers and publishers would be wise to heed their complaints - to some degree. P.S. I wish people would stop bringing up that Steam group screenshot. It's not an accurate representation in any way. It was one page out of like 20 with less than half of the 50 people on that page actually playing MW2 - out of over 800 people in the group.

There's very little that marketing did for Call of Duty that word of mouth hadn't done. Modern Warfare and the quality of the game was what drove sales into overdrive for that series and being the same thing over and over again, it's easy for the everyman to just pick up the next installment, especially since that's what all their friends are playing. It's not going to remain a sales behemoth forever and treating consumers as no more than ATMs and a lack of innovation are likely going to be the major causes to its fall from grace. But that's kind of beside the point. Marketing can do a lot for a product but it only goes so far when the general opinion of consumers is that the game is of lower quality or value than another game or when most consumers feel like the developers or publishers don't care about the consumer.

Only goes so far.

The downside to that on the developer/publisher side then is that feeling of resentment from consumers that slowly grows as they continue to get nickle and dimed. The general opinion of Capcom in regards to DLC is a good example. Like that quote from Iwata, it works for the short-term but not for the mid and long term. Ummm... Yeah, yeah, the consumer is an idiot, harharhar! But seriously, even if the majority of consumers were idiots, most still have enough higher brain function to, eventually, come to the realisation that they'd be better off buying IndieShoot 1 than Manshoot 20: Piecemeal Paramilitary because IndieShoot 1 offers the better value.

TN, that's a very biased representation of the issue in that image. "How consumers view game production" may as well be entitled - "what idiots think" because any consumer of average intelligence will know that there are different phases to the development of a game, even if they don't know what those stages are exactly. Most people of average intelligence know that products go through a development/production cycle and it's not just "let's build this sketch I drew into a car", etc. Furthermore, it misrepresents the problem that people have with Day 1 DLC which is, to put it simply, the developer/publisher saying "Buy our new game! It's great" and then after you buy it going "Oh yeah!Buy this part of the game too" before going "But wait! There's more! Buy this other part of the game and you'll have the best version" wheras the consumer would rather pay their money, get a full experience and not have that experience marred by some salesman sitting on their shoulder going "You know you're not getting the complete experience right? Go on! Buy it! Buy it! There's more now! Buy that too!" It's the difference between Mass Effect 3 and The Witcher 2. It has nothing to do with the consumer's perception of game development and everything to do with the expectations of the consumer for a fair and non-duplicitous relationship with the industry.

We have a plastic bag tax here in Ireland so for every plastic bag you get, it costs ya something like 15c....probably higher now.

And then there's the likes of Berserk, Monster, Gundam, Otogi Zoshi, Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Grave of the fireflies, etc. There's a bunch of stuff out there of all types. A good way to find anime that might interest you is to check out aniDB. It's a huge database of anime that uses weighted ratings which are generally reliable - For example, Legend of the Galactic Heroes is the top rated space opera there, which is in line with general opinion.

C# is Microsoft's answer to Java. It's designed to be a flexible and easy to use language. C and C++ form its base but those languages allow for much more complexity and in turn, are more complex themselves - and being relatively old, aren't as efficient as they could be. At the same time, there are things that C# is better at. Compiling is faster and you often write less code for the same results, for example. As for what to start with, I'd say BASIC might be a good one to examine when you start, being as simple as it is, but most courses will start you on Java or possibly C# before moving you onto C+, etc. My advise would be to look through some simple BASIC programs and see how they're structured, what the different calls and functions, etc do and get somewhat familiar with the logic behind code but to focus the best part of your efforts on C#. Once you've got one language down, it gets a lot easier to learn another as the majority of them have their similarities. The difference between a low-level and high-level language is abstraction .i.e. A low level language speaks to the processor itself whereas a high level language is designed to be understood by a human with some level of expertise. An example of a low and high level language would be Machine code (at it's simplest, just binary) and C#, respectively. Since a low level language is coded for the processor itself, it's a good solution for high performance, memory-stingy programs as you can achieve great precision with little errors, as well as allowing the deep control that speaking to the processor itself allows. The downside to this of course is that it's not easily understood by a human, calls for detailed knowledge of how a particular architecture or system works and is vastly more time-consuming when compared to a high level language like C#. Don't be scared by the syntax. Once you start learning what everything means and how you can use it, you'll start to see the logic of it all. Microsoft has readily-available and comprehensive tutorials on how to use C#, as does Oracle for Java but it might be useful to pick up a book such as one from the Head First series.

At least it's been settled with some level of balance though, right? Plus there's the added benefit that we should see a lot more info on Scrolls coming out in the near future.

With the clear weather over here at the moment, we should be able to spot a fairly magnificent display of the aurora, at least out of towns and cities. I wonder if we'll see a magnetic storm in our time that'll wipe out civilisation as we know it.

Maybe it's just me but I'm not seeing any video there. Can I get a direct link?

I think I may have linked to that Boston article at one point here before, though if I remember correctly, it was only in a status update.

It would seem to me that if Valve were working with Nintendo on a network service that it's in a consultancy role. Considering that Valve is still a private company, I think if Nintendo were going to get any help in creating a network service, it'd be them.

Upside down Mount Fuji! Colourful was a great show, some hilarious skits in it. Fair point, I still feel it's a stronger movie than the first one though. It was better structured too. I think it's a good thing they didn't do anything entirely new as it has little chance of affecting canon then. I think it stands up fine so long as you treat it for what it is - a cash-in extra - like the Bleach movies....but better.

Let's not forget that consoles are essentially PCs, albeit closed PCs but the architecture is, for the most part, identical. I don't see Valve making the hardware themselves but I can see them specifying the...specs. The thing that catches me is that if Steam are intending to exploit the console market, how will Microsoft react and how could Valve get around using Windows when the majority of Steam titles are dependent upon it? It also begs the question that if you're willing to buy a "Steambox" for half-a-k, why not get something more traditional? It's not as if it's going to have any exclusive titles......or is it?

Granted, the pad itself looks like a p.o.s but it's a brilliant idea that could work very well in games, especially in addition to traditional haptic tech.

The new FMA-B movie is out so perhaps that's a better purchase right now. The movie is worth a watch too, much better than Conquerers of Shambala. I've been rewatching Berserk for the umpteenth time recently. It's going to kill me waiting for the movies to come out, especially since I'm really just waiting for the post-eclipse Berserk to be animated. Also, if anyone is looking for a good show to watch, I recommend Toward the Terra. Very enjoyable.

I'm counting the days!

I'm not saying mid towers are all bad, just that they can be a pain to work in. As for the Antec 900, it's bigger than the average mid tower. It's a quality case though and would certainly be a better choice than the Rosewill. @Battra: The Rosewill case you linked isn't very deep or wide so it may be a problem. If you're set on getting it, I'd at least make sure there's enough room to fit the graphics card comfortably.