Because humans evolved needing to hold onto acrylic glass? Can anybody name ONE natural substance even remotely like acrylic glass? Come back with a model of how fingerprints affect friction on substances like plant material or rock, then maybe this will be credible...

Really not sure what your point is, considering that I explicitly stated that games should be complex only if that makes them fun (which it can, e.g. nethack).

Plus, your examples only serve to reinforce MY point. I actually happen to find both calculus and quantum physics FUN (much moreso than geometry for example, which I personally hate), although you might not. Just like I (and many others) may find complex games to be fun while you may find them to be a chore.

Which is precisely why I think it's pretty stupid to say, "Games are NOT meant to be complex," as if it's some kind of universal principle, which it clearly isn't.

Gonna have to call nonsense on this one. How are we defining "earliest games?" Have you ever played Nethack? Like it or not, it's probably logged more man-hours being played than any other computer game in history, and if you don't think it's complex, you're crazy. The only things games are "meant" to be is fun. If complexities are fun, then they should be complex. If simplicity is fun, then simple. Simple as that!

Correction, I meant to say "especially on the PS3."

Let's take a little trip to Amazon.com shall we?

Wii: $250
360: $200-365 (depending on model, $300 for a pretty good one)

Yes, you can buy an XBox 360 for LESS than a Wii if you don't mind giving up the hard drive. Did you even think to look at the price points before complaining about them? And I honestly have trouble believing $50 is a huge deal breaker if you want a better version. You talk about "those price points" as if you'd be having to spend hundreds of dollars more (yeah, the PS3 is expensive, and that's why it's dead last in the current generation).

And yes, smarter AI is a definite product of having superior processing power. It's not just the graphics processor that's better on those two platforms; especially on the 360 the CPU is MUCH more powerful.

Didn't your mother ever teach you never to pass on an opportunity to alliterate?

Anti-competitive does not equate to monopoly. And for that matter, Microsoft hardly has a monopoly on anti-competitive behavior...

If that were the case it wouldn't be APPLE who would have grounds to sue, it would be the rights owners of the copied data, i.e. record companies. There is nothing of which APPLE is the copyright owner being copied at all here, so explain again how they would find grounds to sue under the DMCA?

Furthermore, the Pre can't play Apple's DRM format as far as I'm aware, so we could only possibly be talking about non-DRM'd music here in the first place...

What is this bullshit about ANYBODY having a "legitimate right" to a domain name? You know what gives you that kind of right? Owning a trademark. Otherwise it's first come, first serve. Domain names aren't constitutional rights. They aren't some kind of guaranteed privilege. Just because you want it and somebody else has it and isn't using it, doesn't mean you have some kind of magical right to suddenly have it for yourself.

I've actually thought about corpse runs a bit, and come to the conclusion that despite their unpleasantness, they were really part of the old magic of the original EQ. When you went into a new, dangerous zone that you weren't familiar with, there was genuinely a sense of DANGER. You'd be on the edge of your seat, inching your way in, desperately trying to avoid getting your corpse stuck somewhere it would take several hours to extricate.

Modern MMOs hold your hand so much that you (sorry for the projection, perhaps I should say *I*) never get that nervous sense. I kinda miss it... would love if they could do something to recreate it without so much actual punishment!

No, what they did was get their hands on a PRE-PRODUCTION model, and then start complaining about it as if it were the final product version, which by all accounts feels much improved. So in other words, they're full of shit, but wanted to be the first ones with a story out.

I think you and I must define "hugely positive" very differently.

That is incorrect. There was no charge.

The DMCA is the regulation

free from government intervention

The DMCA is a government regulation. A "free market" is a market that's free from government intervention, your quote specifically mentioning regulation. Did you even read what the GP wrote?

iPhone updates are also free. Even so, Apple stores are hardly vacant when a new hardware revision comes out.