Thursday Next

Invention of Lying wasn't too bad IMHO, I watched it on a flight to SanFran so my standards were set lower. It was a pretty good idea, but it was running out of steam towards the end.

Do Good first, then Bad. Bad ending is better so you might as well end on a high.

I much preferred the "Evil" (though I consider it more "morally ambiguous") ending. That said, I preferred the "good" playthrough as I like Kuo and found Nix terribly irritating. I didn't pick up the dead drops on my second (good) playthrough so I've no idea if they changed depending on your actions. Will have to check on that.

I prefer stats that change based on your actions rather than making an arbitrary decision to, for example increase strength. Vagrant Story had a good system where weapons would become better at killing a thing the more they were used against said thing. I think Oblivion had a similar system where the more you performed an action the more it improved, using your bow a lot would improve your bow skills, rather than killing 200 rats with your bow and then adding +10 Sword. I think that would apply to swinging a pipe too. If you are an average Joe then you've probably never swung a pipe at a person in anger. Stands to reason that you're going to get better at it as you get used to the weight, the balance, etc. In fact, someone who is a black belt or whatever the ranking is in Ken-do is really just a "level x stick wielder". So why not apply the same logic to pipes?

Are emoticons words?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBor7K3j2Eg

Given that the PC delay was announced a couple of days before launch, I'm guessing that the PC version was ready and that they were talking to Microsoft until the 11th hour to see if they could launch simultaneously on PC and Xbox, or Ubi had assumed that Xbox exclusivity meant PC + Xbox and MS got in touch late in the day to say "What's with this simultaneous PC launch eh?".

Fairly sure From Dust delay is due to some Summer of Arcade skulduggery.

Hehehe... Driver, I liked the first one... the rest though... dayum!

Ummm... deliberate? Yes I'll let you think about the implications. I'll believe you.

Ummm... deliberate?

Totally agree with Strangelove. You have no right to play the games unless you have paid for them. "It doesn't hurt anyone" is a weak argument because you can never prove that you would not have bought it were you unable to pirate it. Given that you have already dishonestly appropriated software, in my mind your credibility is shot so your assurances that the publisher lost nothing holds no water. You have no way of providing me with any assurance that any game you pirated was not a lost sale, so it is quite possibly that developers are being hurt. Further to this, every pirated game is counted towards or used as an excuse for lost sales by publishers so they keep prices higher on games and DLC, and increase onerous restrictive DRM, so you are in fact hurting fellow gamers who actually support the industry you leach off of. If you say that you only do it because "it doesn't hurt anyone" then you must be doing some logical acrobatics because I don't see how you and others getting something for nothing doesn't negatively affect me at least indirectly. That said, I'm wasting my time here. You get stuff free and you justify it to yourself. That's not gonna change.

That's why I have a real personal issue with many pirates. I was raised to believe that taking something that doesn't belong to you is wrong.

I'm doing the "read GoT before watching the series" thing. Partly because I am NOT paying for Sky. £30 on books makes way more sense the £300 on a Sky subscription when I rarely watch TV anyway.

Not if you have more time than money. If you can't afford it then you don't do it. Gaming is a privilege, not a right. This is the bit I really can't wrap my head around. What entitles you to pirate when others either pay or go without? I've not always had a well paid job, sometimes big game releases have happened and I've had to watch them pass me by because I couldn't afford to buy them. I never at any point thought that it would be ok to just pirate them instead so I don't get why you and others here do.

To be honest, I think most publishers would be happy with half that. The first weekend sales are pretty huge % wise and then begin to drop off after that. The first few weeks are generally where you'll see your highest PSUs and it's when the buzz for a game is highest. If it's a choice between paying and waiting almost a month, a lot of people will pay.

The Console market is similarly tiered. As Strangelove mentioned. From cheap ($2 or less) minis to you $6-$15 PSN titles and then the "full" games.

Pretty much. EA feel that it's adds value to a new customer. But as a consumer Multi-Pass and Project $10 DLC just makes it feel like something was taken out then popped back in just cos EA reckons I've been a good boy. There's no added value, no incentive. It's the usual tactic of most of the games industry, perfectly crystallized by DRM: The games publishers know only how to punish than to reward. And even basic understanding of headology tells you that you catch more flys with honey. I'm sorry that's how you feel. It genuinely I honestly believe it is extra content and is intended to reward first purchasers by giving something extra. If that's not how it comes across, then I suggest you write an open letter on your blog to raise awareness of it. I'll even reshare it to my G+ circles so other EA folk see it. With regard to my pay. Without going in to too much detail it's based on personal performance and company performance so yeah, if a game bombs it can affect my pay, and if something I do gets us sued in can affect everyone elses pay.

And.... breathe. Is my salary and bonus affected by the performance of the business? Yes.

Actually this stuff is pretty exciting to me as to how cheap it was for good quality stuff. Of course, you take the brand names and the big showroom away and you get decent quality stuff for less than the big box stores. Plus, I like to cook. I'd cook elaborate meals every day if my fiancee washed all the dishes. Ditto. Cooking is funs. Washing up is a bitch.

Fix'd And good for TN.

It's an expensive game to make. Also, somebody, somewhere probably decided that that's how much people will probably pay for it. As for charging several people for one service, my attitude to that is why should Game get the money for charging twice for the same game when EA could have it instead? If used games stopped tomorrow I'm almost certain that sales of first purchases would go up. It's the whole lost sale thing that is applied to piracy and used game sales. I know it's not 1 used game sale = 1 new game sale. But there are at least some people who would buy new if it wasn't available used. EA clearly do make a profit on first time sales. But if they got a cut of second and third hand sales (which is basically what Online Pass entails) they'd have more profit. More profit = Good.

Cars often have blanking plates where Air Con buttons and the like would go. I don't get annoyed when I see them, unless I was told they would work and they don't. P.S. "AR" thing? Depends on what makes EA greedy vs. trying to turn a profit. I don't think they are greedy. You clearly do. Difference of opinion (and me with a vested interest). To your second point. You think they should charge more?

Ok, you didn't know how many rooms the normandy had in ME2 until after you bought the game so it's not like you were tricked into buying it because you thought there were 12 party members when there were only 10 on the disc. You said that if you see something on the box (like a car spoiler) then you expect it in the game. I agree. But this extra content wasn't on the box so I don't see what your issue is. Doors or no doors you would know there are two characters that you don't have, so what's the big deal? I always thought Triple Plays were more expensive by a few quid. If you say they aren't I'll take your word for it. I've tried to explain that I've a conflict of interest in the matter. Yes, you can call it hypocritical if you like, but in both scenarios I am anti resellers whether it's because the publisher side of me wants more new purchases or the consumer side of me hates getting ripped off by the reseller. Oh incidentally, none of this should be taken as the opinion of my employer. When I comment here I do so as a private individual not a representative of a business. EDIT: Oh and with regard to the cost to EA for a new person, I conceded that point to Yante. Didn't see the need to do it again. Yes, the cost to the publisher may be lower or higher depending on use of the service. I don't know where it would all end I certainly don't think that any publisher would push the cost of an online pass higher than the wholesale price of the product, but maybe they would?

Paper, thermometer, cooking utensils and some "boring" stuff. You crazy man!