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Comment Re:Ehhh, cases. (Score 1) 425

My Nexus 5 is pretty thin. I don't use a case with it. The screen has not broken. I haven't gone out of my way to be especially careful with it, either.

It's just not that damn hard to use a phone without breaking it, unless you're ridiculously careless.

Same with my Nexus 5. It's 1.5 mm thicker but that 1.5mm is just because of a larger battery that affords it 25% longer life to an Iphone 6.

However thinness is pretty much all they have, the Nexus 5 we have has better specifications (higher res screen) or at worse, is the same as an Iphone 5 (both have 80211.ac). Lets ignore the Nexus 5 was released in October 2013.

So I'm happy to let the Iphone have that one. It's thin. Enjoy your 1.5mm tiger.

Comment Re:Online only gives the illusion of accomplishmen (Score 1) 292

The problem with non-online only games, is that you can't prove that you accomplished anything in it, since it is so much easier to cheat.

And to whom, exactly, do I need to prove anything?

I play video games to relax, unwind, and kill a few hours. It's recreation. I'ts diversion. It's play.

This.

I play X3 Terran Conflict on occasion. I also use Cycrow's cheat script because, well because I like the game but dont want to spend umpteen thousand hours flying cargo around. People who complete missions like the Hub without cheating must have the patience of a saint and no life (and no doubt they're out there). I find 95% of the game fun, I like flying around, exploring, combat but hate the repetition and grinding.

Also, if you've got a big monitor, you can get a mod that lets you play the TC missions in AP so you get the bigger and more eye friendly interface.

Comment Re: Escapism (Score 1) 292

Skyrim had a story?

Sure it does.

But you know the really great thing about Skyrim? You can pretty much ignore the story and just wander about on your own and play it how you like.

You're not constrained by a linear story, you can go anywhere at anytime, and you can do things however you like. There's no set sequence to it.

It's the same with Fallout 3/NV...Whoda thunk they were made by the same people.

I haven't played Skyrim, but with Fallout you had lots of little stories in addition to the main story. Story wise it always felt like you were progressing even though the stories weren't presented in a linear fashion.

Comment Re:Never been a fan of multiplayer. (Score 1) 292

Multiplayer, on the other hand, is a spastic experience which seems to be dominated by obsessive players with endless time to practice. The reward for the average player is not mastery, but rather learning to die a little less often.

Well said. Multiplayer games are nice for teenagers who have too much time on their hands and can master the game completely

To master a multiplayer shooter it just means memorising the map and twitch mashing buttons, that takes about 30 minutes. There's little strategy or forethought involved (there are a few notable exceptions like World of Tanks, not that your average team of red Seatards bothers with strategy or forethought). Mostly its about running, jumping and shooting, you dont even need to aim with auto-aim doing that for you.

However with the shooters in the last few years it's just been about showing up until you unlock the upgrade and then pwning everyone who hasn't got them. I played Battlefield 3 for 30 minutes before realising a lot of upgrades like the heavy barrel were stupidly overpowered and gave up on the game (and uninstalled Origin) after 3 days. I'm sure you can pay to bypass the "dying a lot" part of getting the upgrade too.

Comment Re:Crouching Microtransactions, Hidden DRM (Score 1) 292

Overall the video game industry is dying

The industry isn't dying; it's just facing many of the same problems that the movie industry faced in the late '60s through the early '80s.

The problem is slightly different.

The problem with the games industry is that quantity has outstripped quality and that major publishers believe that massive marketing campaigns and paid for reviews will make up for a games blandness, bad gameplay or lack of content. It's not just Madden/NBA sports games, there's a new COD every year with minimal changes just to make people buy the new one (sports games at least have the excuse that teams and players change each year). Publishers are afraid to try new ideas, marketing budgets have outstripped production budgets, deadlines are more important than releasing a working product and this is to say nothing of using DLC to fleece the consumer by releasing half the game and selling the rest piecemeal.

It's the same problem Hollywood is facing now. Too many sequels and recycling of old ideas. Too much emphasis on cash cows, not enough experimentation or evolution.

Without a radical shift from the major publishers the games industry is doomed... but gaming isn't, eampires will fall but gaming will live on. Already in the PC world, small and indie publishers are showing the big boys how to make a great game and make money (not treating your customers like dirty thieving criminals helps a lot, in the age of bit torrent, the good will of the community is the best copy protection you can get).

Comment Re:Crouching Microtransactions, Hidden DRM (Score 1) 292

Absolutely. I was going to buy Destiny but waited for the initial reviews. and there are a LOT of people pissed off because it's unplayable if you don't have a super fast internet connection.

I got a little excited about Destiny until I realised it was console only. If they cant be bothered making a PC version it's not worth playing.

I prefer PC for multiplayer games precisely because you get fewer 13 yr old squeakers. People with proper gaming rigs tend to be older and mentally stable.

Comment Re:International Copyright (Score 1) 172

I keep hearing "greed" but that is a copout. Greedy people do not refuse to license their products for decades.

Its not the license sellers that are greedy here, its the companies who bought the licenses that are greedy. Companies like Nine and Foxtel in Australia paid for an exclusive license and will hold the licenser to that agreement. Foxtel especially hates competition, they are presently scrotum deep in trying to get ISP's in Australia to start policing users for them (ISP's are blocking this at every turn).

Comment Re:International Copyright (Score 1) 172

Quickflix's biggest shareholder is an Nine Entertainment, which appears to be their ticketmaster and clearchannel equivalent. They don't appear to be a telco but they do seem likely to be in bed with them.

Nine Entertainment is closer to Time Warner than Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster is our Ticketmaster.

Also Nine Entertainment is going broke.

Comment Winning the lottery (Score 3, Interesting) 545

My Windows 7 laptop does everything I need for Windowsy stuff, so I won't be replacing or upgrading it unless I win the lottery.

Sadly, my 10+ year old 3.8GHz Pentium-pre-Core2 box is finally dying, so I'm in the midst of shifting my development and personal stuff over to the laptop. I've used Windows for years as a developer so it's not *too* painful, but I'm going to miss Linux. Linux just *works* without getting in my way; I can't say the same for Windows, even on trivial issues as to which widgets get auto-focused when you open them up (who is the brilliant idiot who came up with the idea that the file browser should focus on that damned library panel instead of the list of files?)

Comment Re:it's means it is (Score 1) 132

I wish someone would invent a CCTV system for cars that was low power enough to run while parked. It would only need to record when an accelerometer detects that the car was bumped.

They have (Australian taxi's have them installed recording 360 degree views) but they aren't cheap. Even to get an ADR (Australian Design Rules) approved dashcam it's near enough to A$500. The problem is you need a lot of cameras to reliably get the entire side of your car and some cars paint is so soft, it wont even set off the accelerometer.

The problem I have with my current scratch is that it's on the rear left hand side quarter panel (that's the passenger side in Australia and the UK for the Americans playing along at home) and I dont look at that panel every day so it could have happened any time in the last week.

I normally park as far away from others as I can... but there's always one tosser who sees a nice sports car and has to park their crap hatch right next to it.

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