Agree but the trouble of this approach is when the planned upgrades are cynically used for sales.

Diablo III for example shipped missing a number of the features that were present (and well received) in D2LOD. It's clear there was always a plan to 'hold back' various elements of the experience for the sole purpose of selling the expansion later.

Maybe it's just naivety but I don't think this used to be the case - rather, it was "produce the best game you can - then try to improve it down the track".

As per the parent post they were referencing a list of usernames and passwords sourced 'elsewhere'. Yahoo jp edition lost pretty much everyone's details about six weeks back - this is more than likely the source.

I have a club nintendo jp account (no notice of hacking yet, though I did receive notice from Yahoo above). From memory the user ID for the club nintendo service needed to be an eight digit number rather than a more usual word based UID. That could easily explain the perceived low success rate of the hack attempts.

Whereas we all know that 'paid for' services are invulnerable and never, ever shut down..

And very nearly as ironic as a free ride, when you've already paid.

I was with you here right up until I started to consider what the hell sort of solution the OP had conjured up for himself and the wife from the gentle Spaniard at Lowe's ..

Fair point but you've more or less responded to a question asking "Can x survive without y" with the answer "That's silly, y will never disappear".

The article in essence posits that Microsoft, if it loses a grip on the gaming and workplace PC market (however unlikely), will struggle.

> scan through long but high rated post

> see "shoot they're pets"

> immediate loss of any will to read through comment

Agree to a point - so how do you go about changing culture then? Law should form some role in guiding the ideal future direction of society?

And a lawyer. For shame.

Try Path of Exile. It's entirely free to play (or as they call it 'fair to play' to avoid the growing stigma), start to finish. The only things you can buy are entirely cosmetic - except extra stash tabs & character slots, both of which as unnecessary unless you're putting a substantial amount of time into the game (trust me, it's generous). Maybe not as flash looking as D3 but far more deep and complex. And, y'know, moral.

Surely that depends on how you define 'going through life'. If you accept death as part of the process, and agree that plenty of those who make it to the end will die relatively peacefully, then your contention that it is impossible is clearly incorrect.

The other point you are missing is that it's perfectly valid to pay for said health care in the event that it is needed - you do not necessarily need insurance to receive care, and again because we are dealing with carefully calculated probabilities here I would argue it's a valid choice in its own right also. Health insurance is in essence a process of betting on the likelihood you will need $x of care .. the health insurance companies are making massive profits so they must be doing something right calculating premium vs risk, despite the high cost of care in some instances ?

Let me get this straight - despite the fact that the entire insurance industry is based on the study of PROBABILITY, you cannot conceive of someone going through life without having anything adverse ever happen to them? And OP is the fucking moron?? Take a moment to revisit your post and realign your hostility will you.

As a resident of "the rest of the world" outside North America, that's pretty much the scariest piece of advice I've ever read.

I don't mean to bash, but this comment really needs to be fixed. "Japanese school children are given the tools for rational and critical thought?" You couldn't be further from the truth. The education system in Japan at primary, secondary, and most worryingly of all tertiary level is based first and foremost on _rote learning_ and memorisation. Participation and debate are not required at any level of education and there is no incentive or reward for critical thought at university - you just memorise what the teacher thinks and regurgitate.

Anyone who has actually attended or taught at Japanese institutions will tell you the same.

And finally - Tokyo University is Todai. The others you are trying to reference are probably Waseda and Keio.