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Comment Re:Half a game? (Score 2, Funny) 214

by DarkMage0707077 (#30378790) Attached to: Pirates as a Marketplace
You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike.

>N

Thank you for your purchase of Zork! If you wish to continue your adventure, please purchase and install our DLR content "Twisty Passages 2" $5.99!

>buy/install

Downloading.....................Complete.
Installing.....................Complete.

Thank you for your purchase of Zork and Twisty Passages 2! Enjoy your new and amazing Zork experience!

>N

You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike.

>N

Thank you for your purchase of Zork and Twisty Passages 2! If you wish to continue your adventure, please purchase and install our DLR content "Twisty Passages 3", only $5.99!

>exit

Thank you for your purchase of Zork and Twisty Passages 2! If you wish to exit the game, please purchase our "Exit Game" DLR, for just $2.99!

>uninstall

Thank you for your purchase of Zork and Twisty Passages 2! If you wish to uninstall the game, please purchase our brand new "Uninstall Pack" DLR, for just $2.99!

>shoot computer

I'm sorry, that is not recogSHOCNOCJAOAIJDHZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Games

Pirates as a Marketplace 214

Posted by Soulskill from the marrrrrrrket-share dept.
John Riccitiello, the CEO of Electronic Arts, made some revealing comments in an interview with Kotaku about how the company's attitudes are shifting with regard to software piracy. Quoting: "Some of the people buying this DLC are not people who bought the game in a new shrink-wrapped box. That could be seen as a dark cloud, a mass of gamers who play a game without contributing a penny to EA. But around that cloud Riccitiello identified a silver lining: 'There's a sizable pirate market and a sizable second sale market and we want to try to generate revenue in that marketplace,' he said, pointing to DLC as a way to do it. The EA boss would prefer people bought their games, of course. 'I don't think anybody should pirate anything,' he said. 'I believe in the artistry of the people who build [the games industry.] I profoundly believe that. And when you steal from us, you steal from them. Having said that, there's a lot of people who do.' So encourage those pirates to pay for something, he figures. Riccitiello explained that EA's download services aren't perfect at distinguishing between used copies of games and pirated copies. As a result, he suggested, EA sells DLC to both communities of gamers. And that's how a pirate can turn into a paying customer."

Comment Have My Cake and Eat This. (Score 2, Insightful) 671

by DarkMage0707077 (#30369998) Attached to: Google CEO Says Privacy Worries Are For Wrongdoers
Alright, Google. I can't do much about your beliefs on privacy. After all, you are free to run your company as you see fit within the bounds of the law. However, I do like my privacy on certain personal topics.

So how will I serve both? Simple: I'll stop using the internet entirely.

I'm sure you'll agree that this is the preffered solution for both parties: you get to keep using the information that you've already obtained freely (so long as it's legal), and I get to retain all of my personal information that I collect from this point forward.

I like this idea. In fact, I like it so much, I'm going to tell my friends to do it; most of them have issues that they want kept private, and the internet is only a source of idle time-wasting anyway. And they will tell theirs. Assuming the trend keeps up, after a while there won't be anyone left who uses the internet at all.

But that's not a big deal to you, right, Google? After all, it's not like the internet is part of your business in any way...
Censorship

Sharp Rise In Jailing of Online Journalists; Iran May Just Kill Them 233

Posted by timothy from the your-ethics-may-vary dept.
bckspc writes "The Committee to Protect Journalists has published their annual census of journalists in prison. Of the 136 reporters in prison around the world on December 1, 'At least 68 bloggers, Web-based reporters, and online editors are imprisoned, constituting half of all journalists now in jail.' Print was next with 51 cases. Also, 'Freelancers now make up nearly 45 percent of all journalists jailed worldwide, a dramatic recent increase that reflects the evolution of the global news business.' China, Iran, Cuba, Eritrea, and Burma were the top 5 jailers of journalists." rmdstudio writes, too, with word that after the last few days' protest there, largely organized online, the government of Iran is considering the death penalty for bloggers and webmasters whose reports offend it.
Space

Submission + - Vatican Debates Possibility of Alien Life

Submitted by
Pickens
Pickens writes: "The Telegraph reports that the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences is holding its first ever conference on alien life, the discovery of which would have profound implications for the Catholic Church. For centuries, theologians have argued over what the existence of life elsewhere in the universe would mean for the Church: Among other things, extremely alien-looking aliens would be hard to fit with the idea that God “made man in his own image” and Jesus Christ’s role as savior would be confused: would other worlds have their own Christ-figures, or would Earth’s Christ be universal? Just as the Church eventually made accommodations after Copernicus and Galileo showed that the Earth was not the center of the universe, and when it belatedly accepted the truth of Darwin's theory of evolution, Catholic leaders say that alien life can be aligned with the Bible’s teachings. "Just as a multiplicity of creatures exists on Earth, so there could be other beings, also intelligent, created by God," says Father Jose Funes, a Jesuit astronomer at the Vatican Observatory and one of the organizers of the conference. Others do not agree. "If you look back at the history of Christian debate on this, it divides into two camps. There are those that believe that it is human destiny to bring salvation to the aliens, and those who believe in multiple incarnations," says Paul Davies, a theoretical physicist. "The multiple incarnations is a heresy in Catholicism.""

Comment Re:porn? (Score 1) 467

by DarkMage0707077 (#29737489) Attached to: Is Working For the Gambling Industry a Black Mark?
As a video game player, I find that I can actually get enjoyment from gambling (blackjack being a personal favorite) in a similiar manner. The difference being that, while V-games have a more action/story as a reward for playing well, gambling has apayout of something concrete (chips/money/etc) as a reward for playing well.

Heck, I remember spending many a dollar with my friends when I was young just putting tokens/quarters into the "gambling machines" you'll find at all (smart) arcades that spit out tickets. Sure winning tickets was awesome, but it was also the possibility of winning that was exciting for me as well.

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