Then I would suggest this hypothetical person is too emotionally fragile and delicate to live! If the psychological "trauma" of being asked some questions about where you're going, what you've packed, how long you plan to stay, chit-chat about the destination, the weather, etc. leave, as you say, "mental scars" then that person is an emotional basket case already and probably unfit to travel anywhere, by any means.

Your comment is exactly what I meant when I said hyperbole. Emotional scars? Puh-leeze. Your silly hypothetical trivializes those who have endured real trauma.

It can be deeply unpleasant, and for some people it can leave mental scars that take a very long time to heal.

Then you'll be questioned and/or searched, deemed to not be a threat and sent on your way. And I suppose you'll learn to go wee before the flight.

>>Suppose I have to go to the bathroom and look nervous like I won't make it time?

Yeah, she heard that you killed the first one off after less than a year and thought "I'd better perform or he'll do me in, too!"

Maybe she was just a bad actor?

If the circuite powering the antenna was the greatest consumer of power in the device, this would result in a significant improvement to the end-user. However, it's all the other bits in the device which eat thousands of times more power -- the CPU, the display, the speakers, etc.

Interesting discovery, but the real-world savings will be few.

>>...what types of in-game advertising players will and won't be seeing in the near future

Hey, game publishers, let me tell you what types of in-game advertising I'll be seeing in the near future: NONE! Know how I know? because I WON'T BE BUYING YOUR PRODUCTS! Seriously. It's the reason I quit watching television several years ago: it was bad enough that the quality of the shows was weak, but the encroachment of pervasive, obvious product placement and obnoxious on-screen banners thoroughly ruined the experience.

I play games to escape from this garbage, not to endorse it. I'm not interested in your advertising, and as of late I'm barely interested in your cookie-cutter games that are big on cost & hardware requirements and poor for overall entertainment value. You're walking a fine line, already.

What I'm saying is, you need to focus on the basics -- creating games that are fun and deliver good value -- rather than considering my eyeballs some sort of resource that you get to exploit.

Pissing off your customer base is not the road to financial success. But what do I know? I'm only the person who used to buy your products. And I suspect there are many, many more people who share my sentiments.

I am confident there will be no problems. Ship it.

Signed,
Bill "Shakey" Bradson
Lead Engineer, Tacoma Narrows project

Need to choose words more carefully, editor. Just because something is common, doesn't mean it's popular (which implies something is liked, admired.)

Spam and phishing is very common, but it's not popular. And it frequently comes from .cn domains.

Unless this is the Local Mime Club's Pint Night, I'd have to rate this one "+5, Sad".

for me to get a text message from my friend on another carrier. And we're both in the same bar room.

Create a shortcut to "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\left 4 dead demo\left4dead.exe" or whereever your l4d exe is stored, and you're back in business.

I'm still not sure whether Valve simply goofed and locked out everyone by accident, or they purposely deactivated the demo on purpose.

>>but nobody was complaining when that thing (HL2) was released.

Wha? I guess you've forgotten the Great Steam Activation Debacle where millions of geeks were all trying to activate HL2 on the brand-new Steam network, overwhelming the servers with a giant self-induced DDOS. It took me two days to activate. Others, on dialup, much longer.

People were complaining bitterly -- not about the game quality (I agree with you -- GREAT game) but instead due the inability to play the game they just plunked down fifty dollars for. What a mess that was.

Because if there's one thing we all need in our lives, it's more inane advertising plastered over every square inch of vertical surfaces.