TheMightyEthan

I'm in the "don't do stupid things on the internet" camp. I think that this is something that will largely only be an issue right now, in the early days of this total connectedness. Once people understand that you're not anonymous on Facebook and the things you do online actually have real consequences society will adapt. It's just the transition period that's turbulent, as are all transition periods.

The image service they used counts how many times the link to the picture has been tweeted. If you click the link you can see it below the picture.

Anything that attempts to explain scientific concepts to a general audience is going to have to walk the line between simplification and misinformation. It's simply impossible to explain scientific ideas to a lay person in a way that makes sense without glossing over major portions of the explanation. Basically your options are to explain it inaccurately but in a way that makes sense, or to only explain it to people who have degrees in the field.

lol, someone's a little miffed at Bioware, it seems.

Bioware posted this image from the Arrival DLC on Facebook and Twitter. Said if they get 1000 retweets we'll get another screenshot tomorrow. Direct links to the tweets if you'd like to retweet them yourself: http://twitter.com/#!/biofeed/status/47355078176276480 http://twitter.com/#!/masseffect2/status/47355069980622849

Honest question for TN, what do you feel about piracy in this situation? I'm holding in my hand my physical, legitimately purchased copy of American McGee's Alice, which I am trying to reinstall. However, it's telling me that the CD key I wrote down on the paper in my CD-book is invalid, and I can't find the actual box to get it from (it's in storage somewhere, don't know where though). Is pirating the game acceptable to you under these circumstances?

Shouldn't be, at least on Xbox. On Xbox when you download something it unlocks it both for that account and that console, so the account can use it on any console and any account on the original console can use it on there. I'm not 100% positive it applies to these multiplayer codes, but that's how it works with DLC and XBLA games. I don't know if it works that way on PS3.

The PS3 was using hardware encryption so you're correct that once that was cracked you couldn't fix it with a firmware update. So what Sony did was simply stop using hardware encryption in favor of software encryption. Since they're not using the hardware encryption anymore it doesn't matter that it's been cracked, it's just as if they never put it in the PS3 to begin with. Now that they're relying on software encryption, though, we'll probably see the same kind of cycle we've seen on the PSP: Sony releases new firmware with new encryption, people can't play new games until it's cracked, it is eventually cracked, so Sony releases new firmware... lather, rinse, repeat. Also, and I could be wrong about this because there's not much info, but I believe that the old firmwares and every game released so far that relies on the hardware encryption is totally and completely cracked forever, there's no way to fix it. As long as you don't update your firmware you'll still be able to play games that don't require the new firmware. It's only the stuff that will come out in the future that can be fixed. Again, I could be wrong about this though.

In order to play online you have to download this online activation thing from XBL, which costs 9000 MS Points (whoever did the conversion in the article got it backward, 9000 MS points is actually $112.50, not $80, 1 MS point = 1.25 cents). However, new retail copies come with a 1-time-use code that allows you to download the online activation thing for free. Basically it functions exactly the same as EA Sports' project $10 implementation, except the price is much much more ridiculous. Also the article says that it's "over 9000" MS points, so I bet it's 9600 since things tend to cost multiples of 1600 points, which would make it an even $120.

There's not a lot of information in it, but here's the link: http://www.joystiq.com/2011/03/10/ps3-firmware-3-60-is-live-with-cloud-saves-oh-and-hacker-su/

Yeah, I've never had a problem with Shepard leaping over the cover when I didn't want him to either.

I don't have enough hard drive space to keep all my games installed/backed-up, so I like to have a copy of the data on a physical disc. That said, if the digital version is significantly cheaper (like 10-20% cheaper) I'll buy the digital version instead.

That or they're also trying to deter used sales. It wouldn't surprise me if they drop the price on the online pass after a month or so, once everyone who was going to buy it new has already done so.

Only 10$? Then I take it you didn't pre-order it on Steam since the 10% pre-order discount makes it 15$ lower than the PS3 version. Which begs the question: if you went for the PC version, why wouldn't you pre-order directly through Steam? It's cheaper, and you'll have to register it anyway. 1) Gamestop also had it for $5 off. The PS3 version was $5 off too. So $55 for PS3, $45 for PC (same as on Steam). 2) I only buy games digitally if they're significantly cheaper than buying a physical copy, because I prefer to have that physical copy that I have control of.

That's exactly what it felt like and I loved it SO MUCH! Then they ruined it with DA2. Maybe most won't, but I certainly will. See above.

Once you get singularity all the way upgraded you have the option of increasing its effective radius to 3 meters, which makes it MUCH more effective.

So I saw a thing on Joystiq that says Sony has locked the PS3 back up with a really simple solution: they've just stopped using the hardware encryption GeoHot hacked and have replaced it with more differenter encryption in their new firmware (obviously there was not much detail about the new encryption). So this sounds to me like everything released before the new firmware encryption is crackable, but games and stuff released after will require the new firmware which isn't cracked yet. And since it's an entirely new encryption scheme the hackers are basically starting from scratch on cracking it.

You didn't like my joke, dean?

This.

reason? (I'm sure you're one of them that was eyeing up the PS3 version). Just wanting to see the whys n why nots of others. I was considering the PS3 version, but I decided the likelihood that I would ever use it, ever, was so low that it wasn't worth paying $10 more for it.

... I don't get it.

Yeah, he said he can play DA:O itself just fine without logging in, it's the DLC that's giving him problems.

Preordered the PC version.

As far as the "EULAs are a binding contract" thing, TN's technically right on that score. However you can still challenge specific provisions under the contract doctrine of unconscionability (and if he had been permanently banned it might be worth it to make that challenge in court). To oversimplify, that doctrine basically means that courts won't enforce contract provisions if doing so would be "unconscionable". Additionally, EULAs are contracts of adhesion (one side writes the whole contract out, and the other either accepts it or rejects it), and courts are more willing to refuse to enforce terms in contracts of adhesion because of course the party that wrote the contract would write it in their own favor. Furthermore, the fact that you aren't shown the EULA until after you've bought the product, and especially with PC games you usually can't return opened products, there's some question as to whether the EULA is binding at all: the purchaser doesn't see the contract before purchase, and after purchase they have no effective means of refusing the contract. Further reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eula#Enforceability_of_EULAs_in_the_United_States *Edit* - tl;dr: it's probably a contract, but depending on the laws/courts of your country/state any specific provision may or may not actually be enforceable. Disclaimer: This is not legal advice and AFAIK it only applies in common-law countries like the US and UK, I have no idea how it might play out in a civil-law country.

I'm not offended, but I am a little confused: have I ever actually mentioned my own piracy habits? I thought I'd been careful not to, to only speak in theoretical terms. Oh well, I'll break my rule: I pirate to demo, but that's the only time I ever pirate (I know you don't agree with this justification either). Furthermore, I only pirate to demo in two situations: 1) there is no official demo, and I'm still on the fence about the game, even after reviews and word of mouth has come in, or 2) there is an official demo, but I didn't like the demo, and I've heard that the final game is better than the demo shows. In situation 1 I'm not going to buy a game I'm on the fence about without trying it, so either I pirate it or I don't buy it. In situation 2 I've already decided I didn't like it based on the demo, but I'm giving the full version a second chance to change my mind. In either situation the pub/dev stands to benefit because in the absence of the piracy I'm not buying the game (at least until a future price drop), but the piracy may get them a purchase out of me.