Its not even just Bioware games. The current gen of console and PC games assume you're playing on an HD screen and so the text is scaled accordingly. I ended up having to get an HDTV shortly after purchasing a PS3 because I couldn't read the interface, instructions, or quest text at more than 2-3ft. from the screen. Strictly PC games usually have better UI scaling options than consoles.

You know you're getting old when your blurry eyes force you stop playing, rather than a family member.

Oops, forgot about my car. Maybe because my brother just drove off in it . . .

My dad actually called our cable company about the excessively loud commercials. They claimed that ads are recorded and broadcast using "lower quality audio" which results in them sounding louder than the normal programming. Sounds like just the kind of answer CS reps are trained to give to old people calling in with technical complaints.

Hopefully there's some enforcement to back up the new standards. Now, if only someone can come up with a way to increase the volume on the dialogue in TV and movies . . .

Textbook publishers were hating secondary markets before the games industry made it cool.

New editions with minor revisions is an old trick. Back in college, my mineralogy class was disappointed to find out that the bookstore dumped all the used copies of the textbook because a new edition had just come out. The new edition had a helpful page near the front that listed what had changed since the previous edition: a handful of photo credits and the addition of a list of mineralogy research award recipients in chapter 2.

But, online used book sellers are making this trick less effective. The latest tactic is custom books. They're just like the regular edition of the textbook, but with chapters missing or rearranged and the school's name and logo printed on the cover. Nobody is going to buy some other school's version of a book online and students would rather sell the book back to the bookstore for a pittance than gamble of finding a fellow student to sell to the next semester.

I've had publishing reps visit me at work a few times, trying to convince me to switch to custom books. I tell them I'm just a lowly adjunct and have no say in what books my department uses. Besides, the official textbook for my class is in its 4th ed. but I haven't seen any useful changes from the 1st ed., so I still use that.

How to lose all your money gambling during the holidays in a bad economy because you don't understand multivariate calculus. Accompanied by a Maple package on a separate site. Note: Do not attempt to eat the maple package after you've gambled away your grocery money.

My first computer had a 256Mb hard drive that stored the OS, applications, files, AND had room left to turn on virtual memory. And I had to walk uphill in the snow to buy floppy disks!

It used to be that if you didn't need a file any more you deleted it. If your disk filled up, you didn't just buy a new one. Aside from graphics, recording, and IT professionals, does anyone really need much more than a few hundred gigs? Or do that many people insist on digitizing their entire DVD library?

Yeah, I meant a landline. My home is in a well-known cell dead zone, to the point where people on the bus coming through know to wrap up their conversation because its going to be dropped once they get to my part of town. So, no cell phone.

But anyway . . . I didn't realize Google voice could do all that. I only recently discovered their call forwarding feature. Sounds like the above poster is describing a kind of virtual switchboard. I will definitely look into that - thank you slashdot!

Per month? How about per day!? We get the usual ones like calls about our nonexistent mortgage, credit card insurance, etc. Sometime in the previous century my dad had "Dr." put in front of his name when we switched telecomm carriers. So we also get auto-calls about business loans, medical supplies, office supplies, and more. Google has some sort of robot that's called several times in the past month asking if we wanted to be listed as a business. I told it no the first time, but it keeps calling. We're also listed in some sketchy b2b yellow book that hangs up on us when we call to get delisted.

Any /.rs with clever solutions to reducing or eliminating spam calls?

Every few years someone announces that they'll clone a mammoth within the next few years. I remember writing a science report about this in the 6th grade, around 1990-91. It'd be great if they finally do it, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm sure they'd make good eating, though.

How much is a byte of data worth? Will the price of video per byte be the same as the price per byte for music? For text? For other forms of data or media? Who sets the price? I'm sure there are lots more questions that nobody in the industry is interested in answering right now because . . . money!

I never thought I'd see a resonance cascade, let alone create one . . .

Chicky . . . SMASH!

The most basic purpose of life is to exist, to live long enough to reproduce and ensure your offspring are well-off enough to do the same.

Your Wi-Fi cuts out, there's no more toilet paper, you have to make your own shoes and you just call it quits? Lame.

The name of the site hosting the article pretty much says it all: "Insert Credit". Free-to-Play models harken back to the coin-eating arcades of our youth. Why did you have a limited number of lives or continues? Why was there a time limit to clear a board? To get you to pump more coins into the machine, to make money. Enticing you to keep paying to play is nothing new. Some companies have simply discovered a new way to develop a sustainable revenue stream from modern console and PC games.

As much as the F2P model is applauded for boosting interest in lagging MMO's and giving gamers a chance to see if they're interested in a game without putting money into it, its a very shady deal. I'd honestly rather pay a subscription fee. At least then I know exactly how much I'll be paying for content and I don't have to contend with constant in-game come ons to buy diamonds, doubloons, etc. Or, how about Valve's Steam Trading system or the real-money auction house in the upcoming Diablo 3. Both are optional ways to buy something extra for your gaming experience, but they also allow you the opportunity to get something back - either by trading or outright selling virtual items. They're optional, there's opportunity for a two-way exchange, and the companies still get their cut of transaction fees, etc.

If the poster was of 1940's Ronald Reagan dressed as a cowboy with the same quote, people probably would've been leaving flowers and candles at the door.