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Comment Re:Funny... (Score 1) 160

You're correct, I was a hypocrite....back when I pirated music. Since then, I've stopped. I took responsibility for my actions and decided that I would vote with my wallet instead. I don't post about all this "potential profit" bs because that's what it is....bullshit. A product is only worth what someone is willing to pay. And how is competition in the market even relevant to piracy?

Comment Funny... (Score 1) 160

I always expect to see the 100s of posts meant to somehow justify or downplay the pirating of *insert media type here* . It's only now that I wonder how this site considers such a thing "business as usual" and yet has a relatively high percentage of computer science professionals. I know if I work on some code for a length of time, and that code is marketable, I expect to be compensated for it. I know that "fair compensation" is not the main point of contention in these pirates vs. ninjas (aka evil corps) arguments, but I'd say it is often overlooked. Take some damn responsibility people! A pirate is a pirate, no matter their motivation or personal justifications. For the record, I have pirated things....mostly music.

Comment Re:Eh (Score 1) 118

Could the same be said when comparing reactions of people with different childhood experiences? Say, an upper class suburban experience vs. a country ranch or farm experience? I don't know jack about the measurement techniques cited (amplitudes of different components), and since it's 6am here I'm not inclined to look it up. Regardless, I would expect similar results from a test in which the above subjects were shown a certain scene from Old Yeller. If studies ignore such common differences, while focusing on one in particular (violent video game use/exposure), how can the results represent direct correlation? I run around on COD and BFBC2 shooting people in the face, knifing them whenever the chance presents, or even nuking the entire map. Whether the reaction is measured in brain waves or chemical levels, I don't think I am any more inclined to shoot someone, knife them, or drop the Tzar Bomba over San Fran. The only thing I think I could be missing is if the mentioned "aversive motivational system" is shown to directly help override logic and reason. Of course, there is likely much more that I am missing....I just hope that people and organizations that use statistics from these studies are asking the same questions I am, and many more.
It's funny.  Laugh.

Tracking the Harm Games Do 118

Every so often, video games are accused of causing all sorts of negative behavior in children, teens, and adults. These accusations are typically predicated on statistics that sound much more damning than they actually are. In that vein, gaming website Rock, Paper, Shotgun did their own tongue-in-cheek statistical analysis, complete with pretty charts and graphs. Quoting: "As part of my research I thought to compare the sales of each GTA game with what the divorce rate must have been when each came out. As you can see each new GTA game has been directly correlated with an increase in divorces. ... An often ignored statistic (and you have to ask why it’s being ignored by the games media, don’t you?) is the sheer volume of PC games being released. We’ve all noticed the British population is abandoning the church, turning instead toward shopping, DVDs and knife crime. But few have thought to check for a connection between PC sales and the numbers of people attending their local Church Of England church on a Sunday. When you look at the data there’s little doubt left that as the publishers continue to release more and more PC games each year, our nation’s faith is being increasingly eroded. And at what cost? If only a graph could tell us that."
Education

NAMCO Takes Down Student Pac-man Project 218

An anonymous reader writes "The core of how people first learn to do stuff — programming, music, writing, etc. — is to imitate others. It's one of the best ways to learn. Apparently a bunch of students using MIT's educational Scratch programming language understand this. But not everyone else does. NAMCO Bandai sent a takedown notice to MIT because some kids had recreated Pac-man with Scratch. The NAMCO letter is pretty condescending as well, noting that it understands the educational purpose of Scratch, but 'part of their education should include concern for the intellectual property of others.'"

Comment Re:All depends on where you are and what you do (Score 1) 490

I'm in Aurora (just outside of Denver), and I have an iPhone 3G on AT&T as well as a N900 on T-Mobile. In general, T-Mobile seems to offer higher data speeds but less coverage area vs. AT&T. And it seemed AT&T was far behind in 3G deployment a few years back, compared to their CDMA counterparts (Sprint, Verizon). All things considered, I'd give AT&T a 7/10 for network. I've only hit extreme congestion once, at Coors Field during game 4 of the World Series....not something unexpected. However, the customer service, available voice/data plans, and general attitude of AT&T force me to give an overall rating of 5/10. When it was Cingular, I remember having a better customer experience, though the network was going through growing pains. The sad thing is, bad experiences with Sprint in this area and Verizon in Hawaii have resulted in a sort of wireless "limbo state" for me....I'm not completely satisfied with the 2 carriers I have now, but I'm not drastically inclined to drop both and give either Sprint or Verizon a mulligan. Eventually I will settle on one carrier and drop the other, likely keeping T-Mobile....better pricing, no contract, higher data speeds, good customer service, and a better handset (N900) for what I want. Certainly do not count me in the 73% figure noted in the summary, as I neither took a survey nor agree with an averaged rating over 6/10 for AT&T. I'm very interested to see what happens to Verizon's network when they get the iPhone.....

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