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Comment But why? (Score 1) 96

Why would you want to cripple your beautiful TouchPad with a version of Android not designed for a tablet? Unfortunately I wasn't able to snag one myself, but WebOS, despite it's faults, is a beautiful OS. Sure, you don't get some of the apps that you do with Android, but for most practical uses WebOS is going to blow Android 2.3 out of the water.

Comment Re:Nice, if you have PBS (Score 1) 271

You're missing the point. Seasme Street is a PBS show that's supposed to be public for everyone. It's great that it's on Netflix, but it's horribly sad that Sesame Street isn't available free for all these days. With unemployment and poverty rates at an all time high, I'm sure there's thousands of children who would benefit from the show who's parents are unable to provide their household with cable, netflix, or high speed internet.

Comment Re:Bing Cashback (Score 1) 217

Microsoft really isn't that evil, guys. Their issue was (and they're getting better at it) that they take a grapeshot approach to growing the business. Throw out 100 products, see which ones people use, then push those hard. It's not like the old days when MS was trying to lock you into everything and was playing dirty pool. If you want to give anyone that title, hand it over to Apple. The only difference between Apple and MS of old is that Apple doesn't use the grapeshot approach, they just pick one thing and force it down the industries throat.

Comment Bing Cashback (Score 1) 217

I wonder if Bing Cashback payouts are included in the losses? If you frequent any deal sites, they gave away a metric crapton of cash trying to push Bing as a shopping search engine. I'm sure they just considered this marketing. In all fairness, it worked to some degree. While Google is still my most used search engine, if I'm on a computer that's set up to default to Bing...I'll actually use Bing. It's a good search engine and I wouldn't have known that had I not participated in so many Bing Cashback deals. I still prefer Google, but if I'm just looking for quick results, why even bother to switch over if Bing's already loaded?

Comment Re:The real way is B2P (Score 1) 103

I agree, I think the real future of MMOs is going to be the Guild Wars model. Its sustainable for the developer and keeps players playing by not beating up their wallet. It also encourages the developer to pump out expansions and not put out a game until it's properly balanced. Borderlands was a great example of this as well. It was B2P, yet came out with 4 quality expansions in a years time. While the expansions were smaller compared to most MMO expansions, they also only cost $10 each. I have a feeling that a lot of people bought the expansions without even playing them, just because they liked the game and the expansions were cheap.

I don't think the $15/m model is sustainable anymore. A greatly reduced rate ($5/m) or B2P is definitely where things are going to have to head or else the MMO market will deteriorate. People only have the budget for one $15/m game...but I'm sure they'd buy and play multiple MMOs if they were based on the B2P model.

Comment Re:You can't play them all (Score 1) 103

I see F2P as an absolute last resort for MMOs. If the MMO start off poorly and never gains traction, it's a good step to salvage the game and attempt to break even on the development. If the MMO was fairly popular and F2P is a response to subscriptions falling off, I think it's more of an eleventh hour money grab before it tanks. Players that were subscribing but never made it very far in the game will be tempted to drop to a free subscription. New players will try the game but will rarely, if ever, make micro transactions. The few new players that do get hooked might help revenue a bit, but I think you'll see a lot more subscribers quit subscribing than you'll see new players making microtransactions. Servers getting inundated with people who aren't serious about playing the game will further frustrate subscribers as well.

That being said, I think DCO is one case were it might work. Console gamers have a different mentality than PC gamers and your typical MMO players. Microsoft proved that people will spend more to dress an avatar. In a free game, especially a super hero game where appearance/identity is everything, micro transactions might flourish...at least up front...if Sony ramps up the customization end of the game.

Comment Re:Did not even think this through? (Score 1) 481

Maybe I was unclear? If you stream Hulu to your tv via a Roku box or a games console, they limit the content you can stream. Many items are "web view only." In other words, if you want to watch the newest season of Louie, tough luck if you have a Roku or a game console. Instead, they force you to watch it on your computer. Seeing that you have to pay for the privilege of using Hulu on your Roku, it's a bit absurd.

Comment Re:Did not even think this through? (Score 1) 481

The thing is, the amount of bonus content given by Hulu plus is dwarfed by the amount of content Hulu DOESNT let you watch because you're streaming it to your tv. Hulu does give you the freedom of streaming to a Playstation, but they also take away the freedom of streaming new television content that free PC users get to watch, which is the biggest draw of Hulu...current tv content. They also make you sit through advertisements, even though you're paying. It just doesn't make sense and it's a flawed system.

Comment Re:trade up netflix for apple TV (Score 1) 481

I watch a few tv shows or a movie every evening on Netflix Streaming. That would probably end up costing me $100-150 to do that via iTunes. At that point, I might as well just get my cable back for $70/m. Instead, I'll just stick to Netflix streaming. It's a great service and, despite what people claim, it does have a lot of quality stuff on it. It might not be for people with mainstream tastes who just want to watch the newest blockbuster films and the newest tv shows, but for those with a more broad range of interests there's always something to watch.

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