KoshClassic - Slashdot User

Comment: Re:Use a square and face outward (Score 2, Insightful) 520

by KoshClassic on Friday April 23 2010, @09:19PM (#31963480) Attached to: Best Seating Arrangement For a Team of Developers?

Agree completely - I've sat in all sorts of office situations - shared a "private" office with other developers, individual cubes with high walls, low walls, etc. The best arrangement is the bullpen - 4 developers with their backs to one another but a circular table in between them. Its a great balance between privacy and being able to collaborate when they want to.

Failed Games That Damaged Or Killed Their Companies 397

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday January 20 2010, @02:22PM
from the cause-or-symptom dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Develop has an excellent piece up profiling a bunch of average to awful titles that flopped so hard they harmed or sunk their studio or publisher. The list includes Haze, Enter The Matrix, Hellgate: London, Daikatana, Tabula Rasa, and — of course — Duke Nukem Forever. 'Daikatana was finally released in June 2000, over two and a half years late. Gamers weren't convinced the wait was worth it. A buggy game with sidekicks (touted as an innovation) who more often caused you hindrance than helped ... achieved an average rating of 53. By this time, Eidos is believed to have invested over $25 million in the studio. And they called it a day. Eidos closed the Dallas Ion Storm office in 2001.'"

Former Exec Says Electronic Arts "Is In the Wrong Business" 180

Posted by Soulskill on Friday January 15 2010, @07:18AM
from the inspiring-internet-outrage-is-a-bad-business-model dept.

Mitch Lasky was the executive vice president of Mobile and Online at Electronic Arts until leaving the publisher to work at an investment firm. He now has some harsh things to say about how EA has been run over the past several years, in particular criticizing the decisions of CEO John Riccitiello. Quoting: "EA is in the wrong business, with the wrong cost structure and the wrong team, but somehow they seem to think that it is going to be a smooth, two-year transition from packaged goods to digital. Think again. ... by far the greatest failure of Riccitiello's strategy has been the EA Games division. JR bet his tenure on EA's ability to 'grow their way through the transition' to digital/online with hit packaged goods titles. They honestly believed that they had a decade to make this transition (I think it's more like 2-3 years). Since the recurring-revenue sports titles were already 'booked' (i.e., fully accounted for in the Wall Street estimates) it fell to EA Games to make hits that could move the needle. It's been a very ugly scene, indeed. From Spore, to Dead Space, to Mirror's Edge, to Need for Speed: Undercover, it's been one expensive commercial disappointment for EA Games after another. Not to mention the shut-down of Pandemic, half of the justification for EA's $850MM acquisition of Bioware-Pandemic. And don't think that Dante's Inferno, or Knights of the Old Republic, is going to make it all better. It's a bankrupt strategy."

Comment: Oh God, please no! (Score 1) 1124

by KoshClassic on Wednesday September 23 2009, @03:39PM (#29520327) Attached to: Firefox To Replace Menus With Office Ribbon

Looks like I'm switching to Chrome or Safari for Windows.

What the hell iz Mozilla thinking? The ribbon is a good idea? It was invented by the same folks who gave us BOB and Clippy, for Christ sake.

I'm not resistant to change. But I am resistant to crap. If Mozilla wants to trash the existing menus and start over with a UI paradigm that actually works, I'm all for it. But to replace it with *THIS*??? WHY????

Comment: Can it be any worse than Office 2007? (Score 0, Troll) 291

by KoshClassic on Monday July 13 2009, @02:22PM (#28680237) Attached to: Hands-On Preview of Microsoft Office 2010

IMHO, Office 2007 was such a gigantic leap backwards in terms of its UI, that any "progress" towards "increased usability" this time out I fear will be in the wrong direction.

Comment: Hmmm... (Score 1) 291

by KoshClassic on Friday February 27 2009, @04:58PM (#27016809) Attached to: Use Your iPhone To Get Out of a Ticket

"a look-a-like parking ticket is displayed - for your specific city"

Does this mean I can use the service to print up fake parking tickets and use them to annoy the hell out of my neighbors?

TSA Restricts Li-Ion batteries on airline flights -> 0

Submitted by KoshClassic on Monday December 31 2007, @12:33PM

KoshClassic writes "As of Jan 1, 2008, the TSA will no longer allow airline passengers to pack spare (that is, not installed in a device) Li-Ion batteries in their checked luggage. Spare batteries in carry-on luggage will still be permitted. A whole host of tips for packing batteries is now offered."
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