Obligatory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW1ZDIXiuS4

I'd say the potential consumer base is in talks with another team.

Eaux De Feces

Getting rid of the DRM was a good move on MS's part. Period. Consumers generally do not want DRM. The mindset is that once you've purchased something in-market, it's yours. End of discussion. The debacle was a learning experience, and if they aren't willing to listen to their customers, then the shareholders will stop listening with their wallets. It's amazing how money works, isn't it?

With MS pulling plugs on financially unviable products, like WindowsXP, they realize that there will always be diehard fans of a particular operating system or product. At this point in time, anyone with a torrent client and a burner can get a fully cracked copy of XP, no serials needed, bloatware stripped from the OS, hacked to shreds to maximize system performance and reduce system overhead. Microsoft doesn't even sell XP anymore. I still use XP, but I also have linux installed. If XP somehow shits itself, I can manually fix it through linux with a hex editor. Yeah, I'm that moron. The only reason I haven't switched to 7/8 is because neither of them have given me a really compelling reason to switch.

What's going to happen most likely, is that each division will be renamed in reflection of a particular market niche, and each new division will focus solely on the hardware of that product. With many of its services is the cloud, Windows 8+ will become the new unified environment for each platform. It won't matter which platform you use, you can still access all of your data from each different device.

I think what he's trying to say is that nobody would know the difference.

Mine is 5lbs 2oz and 19 inches. Oh, wait, they're talking about portable desktops. My bad.

The TI-85/86 was the first environment that I actually started programming with. I spent countless hours making games of all types, and different utilities. Quickly, I figured out how to corrupt the memory in TI-85 (rom version 8.0, specifically), and could do interesting things such as edit lock programs without external patching of any kind, and create string variables that contained entire memory dumps. Because of how little TI-85/86 had to offer in terms of a fully robust environment, I grew a deep appreciation for efficient, effective coding.

At one point, I had 3 of these calculators, each with their own collection of games and/or utilities. When I realized that I didn't want to buy a 4th calculator, I decided to try something new. Since there wasn't any built-in compression with the 85/86 environment, I decided to build an interpreted scripting language from the ground up, with a focus on eliminating code bloat, and as much readable syntax as possible, with only 30% reduction in execution speed (only a few of the games were real-time oriented), with conversion/"compression" ratios averaging around 65-70%. The upside to having that many compressed games (and the interpreter) meant that I could create more games, and also have a reduced transfer time. I also added in cheat codes and easter eggs to all of my games as well.

Good times. Good times.

I've been using a similar practice for a few years when implementing the API database for TT Livescan.

http://tot-ltd.org/API/
http://tot-ltd.org/API/main.db

Use prime numbers 2 or higher to map API calls to a "number" specific family (add the collective values of the API calls from main.db, then convert the value to hexadecimal), based on the API functions (Windows 3.11 to Windows 7). The rate at which it can catch malware based on API calls alone is grotesquely efficient.

Well, last time I quit, the server that I proudly called my empire (Elune) died shortly thereafter. I controlled nearly every aspect of that marketplace. Especially the bag market, where netherweave and frostweave bags were rarely ever priced above 5g and 60g each, respectively. On average, I pulled in about 3-6k in gold per day, with steady suppliers for material, which about half was spent on purchasing said mats, along with me farming the mats as well to further bring down overhead costs. With the new expansion, that's basically chump change that can be farmed in a matter of hours. The only reason I don't make more than that is because I don't play 5-6 hours per day like I did. I get on about once every other day for about 1-2 hours, then go find something else to do. When I do decide to stop playing WoW, the only thing I'll have lost this time around is about 5-8 hours a week, if that.

I believe the bigger issue to be concerned with isn't whether or not I quit (Blizzard isn't making any money off of me, so I don't really care), but why 1.3 million subscribers quit in this quarter alone, bringing the total number of subscribers down to 8 million. By blizzard's own estimate, the record number of subscribers for WoW was roughly 12 million subscribers, which was in 2009. That's a pretty big dip in numbers, even for a 4 year decline. Clearly, Blizzard is doing *something* wrong.

This is the very reason I control the marketplace of the entire server. It's the only thing left. The only thing I can get from it is that you really should stop playing. It'd be a boon to both yourself and the people who still like the game

Well played, sir. Well played indeed. The marketplace itself is the only thing Blizzard hasn't either completely destroyed or transformed into an abomination of fail. Beyond that, I highly suggest you go take some remedial English classes, bucko. If for some reason you think my rant is irrelevant, keep in mind that 1.3 million subscribers put their hands up in frustration with WoW and basically said, "I'm done wasting money and time in this shitty excuse of a game." As I said, the *only* reason I *haven't* quit is because I don't have to pay for it. It can be fun, but I'm not wasting $15/month on it. I did that for about 2 years, and stopped right before Cata came out. 1.3 million subscribers. That's roughly 14% of the original userbase. It's only been going down for almost 2 years. Think about it.

The mechanics were solid (if easily exploitable, at best), the gameplay was reasonably thought out (to an extent), and the environment was pretty engaging (and at least 5% of the population weren't complete morons). When I saw the preview for Cataclysm, with its "challenge" of a +5 level cap, new "features" (YOU CAN NOW FLY IN AZEROTH!), "professions" (let's dig around in the dirt for hours on end!), I stopped playing.

Instead of actually being able to build a hybrid character, you could only choose to implement one spec at a time. "Talent Tree?" More like, how would you like your eggs, with a side of undulating pustules, or with an ice pick and a cyanide capsule?

OK, so it's a rake, and it's made of game-dev poo. That tells me exactly fuck-all about why you think it sucks.

I think you're pulling my leg, here. Nobody can lack that much reading comprehension. I didn't even *hide* my reasoning for why MoP is an even worse idea than cataclysm. If you play the game at all, my explanation makes perfect sense. I play an affliction warlock that pulls a sustained 80-120K dps with an average item level of 474. That's not even close to being top tier gear, buddy: I'm pretty sure I'm qualified to make an assessment of the game whether anyone else agrees with my analysis or not.

I used to be an avid WoW player. WOTLK was the best expansion they made, hands down. The mechanics were solid (if easily exploitable, at best), the gameplay was reasonably thought out (to an extent), and the environment was pretty engaging (and at least 5% of the population weren't complete morons). When I saw the preview for Cataclysm, with its "challenge" of a +5 level cap, new "features" (YOU CAN NOW FLY IN AZEROTH!), "professions" (let's dig around in the dirt for hours on end!), I stopped playing.

At that point, I realized that Blizzard was headed on a downward spiral pretty quickly, and nothing short of angrying up the blood of Ted Turner and sacrificing a chicken in a non-denominational ceremony would stop this quickly approaching trainwreck from happening. Several of my close friends asked me why I thought it was a bad idea. I told them that I knew it was a bad idea because it was *clearly* a BAD idea. I know them when I see them, and this was no exception. My current roommate convinced me to start playing again, and reluctantly I did. It turned out not to be as bad of a trainwreck as I thought it would be, but it was still pretty bad. Everything had been dumbed down, and repetitively grinding rep, dungeons and more dungeons became the focus of the game. We were also able to actually BUILD a character, and things looked promising enough that Blizzard might actually have the chance to redeem themselves.

Man, was I in for a surprise when MoP came out, which I'm pretty sure a mop is what they used as a template for this particular expansion. This legendary, mythical mop wasn't made of anything fancy, like polished, pressure treated oak, a handle made of Corinthian leather, a titanium reinforced head with gold lief, and appropriate mopping fabric material made from the finest imported silk that one would be proud to caress their nether-regions with after a hard day's work. That one just happened to be the high priced, maximum quality mop that was shown on the Home Shopping Network for just 8 easy payments of $99.95. Clearly, this was too rich for their blood. After rustling up the town drunkard, they gave him a 12 pack of Blatz, a jug of cheap wine, and a 6 pack of Natty Light, and set him to the task of finding a mop of this quality. But really, quality didn't matter, they really just needed a mop, and there weren't any good sales going on that particular year.

Several years later, the drunkard returned with a rake. "I couldn't *hic* remember what you were looking for, but didn't you say something about toilets? I think *hic* this is a plunger."

Swing and a miss, Blizzard. 3 for a valiant effort, though. After obtaining this artifact of non-descript antiquity, the development team went to work. Behind closed doors, they agreed that it was most likely a rake picked up out of a dumpster or maybe someone's toolshed that lived down the street. They weren't sure, but there was no turning back now. Best not to let the public know, they also agreed, lest The Almighty Wrath of Tom Selleck's Moustache rear its head again. One of the leads suggested that since it wasn't a mop, perhaps they could make the offcast drippings of churning a poop vat into a mediocre product that would suffice in temporarily plugging the gaping hole in a quickly sinking ship. But it would need to be concentrated.

What was released with Mists Of Pandaria was percolated fecal matter of the highest caliber. That wasn't even from the bowels of the unsuspecting public. This was from Blizzard's own septic tank, full of late night tacos, half-digested food from Grampy's Greasy Spoon Diner (home of the 1/2lb Grampyburger for 89 cents, cheese is 10 cents extra), and empty ketchup packets that had been chewed up by the family dog and evacuated onto a moderately expensive accent rug that had once decorated the lot of the local carwash for 15+ years.

This was progress. This was the trainwreck that everyone said would never happen. Sweet glory of Jesus this was spectacular.

Instead of actually being able to build a hybrid character, you could only choose to implement one spec at a time. "Talent Tree?" More like, how would you like your eggs, with a side of undulating pustules, or with an ice pick and a cyanide capsule? Yes, I still play it, but only because I don't have to pay for it. I don't think it should come as any surprise they've seen a drop in subscribers, and will probably continue to do so until they drag their head out of the sand.

This is the very reason I control the marketplace of the entire server. It's the only thing left.

Statistically, most of the applicants are males, and not really too many attractive looking women of the opposite sex. Going to the mars mission is *probably* not going to get you laid, and you'll probably wind up mating every 7 years or so like the Vulcans. Or just using your hand. Even though I'm not one to point fingers, most of the applicants (men AND women) seem to be a little bit psychologically unstable. Quite frankly, I think I would rather be on a single person mission that results in being locked in a decaying orbit around neptune wherein I only have my own thoughts to drive me over the edge, and headfirst into the gaping void of insanity. That's just my two cents, though.