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Comment ETQW - bargain bin, and not so Bargain Bin (Score 1) 763

by brufar (#26931345) Attached to: Do Video Games Cost Too Much?
So I'm in Best Buy last week and I decided to browse the PC game isle for something that would run on my Linux system. I see Enemy Territory Quake Wars (ETQW) (released Oct 07) and the price is $49.99 Ouch.. I browsed a bit more and see a special edition version of the same game for $29.99 so I bought it. Grabbed the Linux installer from the net and started playing the game.. So far so good !!

I stop in MicroCenter over the weekend and see ETQW for $4.99. I immediately bitched and moaned, was really glad i hadn't done the impulse buy of the $50.00 version. I then bought 4 more copies from Microcenter for my friends and nephews so we can all get online and play together.. so my total investment now is $50.00 / 5 games $10.00 per copy.

I imagine I could have looked for a key gen on the net and installed from my disc onto their machines, but For $5.00 why not make em all legit ? I should know better than to even look in BB for anything PC related.. it was an impulse decision because I hadn't bought a new PC game for a while. I too am gun-shy of dropping $60.00 on a game that bites..

The last game I pre-ordered (savage2) had the minimum system specs change before release and the game wouldn't run on my hardware. They now give that game away for free, and it still won't run on my machine. That game was release around the same time as ETQW

Who would have thought a game couldn't step down and run on a geforce 6800 ? yes the card is old, but it's the fastest one I can get for an AGP slot, a video card upgrade means a full system upgrade at this point. Since the PC runs so well I haven't been able to justify the expense to myself.

Comment Forgery is illegal.. how is it unfair ? (Score 3, Interesting) 251

by brufar (#26724337) Attached to: Hackers Clone Passports In Driveby RFID Heist

Apparently this is a little unfair- he sniffed the data, he didn't actually make a fake passport.

Of course he only sniffed the data and didn't make a fake passport.. If merely sniffing the data proves your point, why would you subject yourself to penalties for forgery ?

U.S.C. Â 1543 provides:

Whoever falsely makes, forges, counterfeits, mutilates, or alters any passport or instrument purporting to be a passport, with intent that the same may be used; or

Whoever willfully and knowingly uses, or attempts to use, or furnishes to another for use any such false, forged, counterfeited, mutilated, or altered passport or instrument purporting to be a passport, or any passport validly issued which has become void by the occurrence of any condition therein prescribed invalidating the same

Shall be fined not more than $2,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

I certainly would have stopped at successfully sniffing the data. besides all a terrorist has to do is rig the bomb so it will automatically go off when it detects a pre-specified number of US RFID passports in the vicinity.. Now, don't you feel that RFID in your passport has made you more secure ?
The Courts

Journal Journal: Big Win for Innocent RIAA Defendant

Journal by lpq

Good news for an "almost" victim of the RIAA: "she's won back her attorneys' fees. The decision today is one of the first in the country to award attorneys fees to a defendant in an RIAA case over music sharing on the Internet." Another, similar "writeup: Court Awards Wrongly Sued Woman Legal Fees From The RIAA; Calls Lawsuits Frivolous And Unreasonable
Linux Business

Submission + - MS trojans Linux Asia 2007

Submitted by
tanveer1979
tanveer1979 writes: "Being a Partner for Linux Asia 2007 may be a great move by Microsoft, but the Linux India community, esp the are not happy about MS trojan horse in the event.

Allegations are flying thick with explanations being demanded from the Organizers(FOSSI). Their official response on the list has not gone down well with the members of the community who equate the move to having KFC sponsor a vegetarians conference. The biggest gripe is that having Microsoft as "Interoperability partner" led to the entire OSS spectrum at the event being overshadowed by them, and also prompted many key figures of the Indian OSS movement away from the event."
Announcements

Submission + - NTFS-3G going stable AND NTFS released for Mac

Submitted by JDShewey
JDShewey writes: The NTFS-3G project just announced that they will be going stable and have just released their first release canditate (NTFS-3G RC1) This comes shortly after NTFS support is announced for mac (as well as many other file systems) through MacFUSE which is the framework needed by NTFS-3G to mount.
Data Storage

Submission + - Carbon Nanotubes For Non-Volative Computer Memory

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers at the University of California have developed telescoping carbon nanotube memory which is non-volatile and may offer the possibility of atomic-scale computer data storage that would replace both RAM, FLASH RAM, and hard drive storage in the next few cycles. The URL is http://www.physorg.com/news89986583.html.
The Media

Submission + - Judge: RIAA Must Pay Defendant's Legal Fees

Submitted by
evanwired
evanwired writes: "Debbie Foster, an RIAA file sharing defendant whose case was dismissed last summer, has just won a request for legal fees. Eliot Van Buskirk at Wired's Listening Post blog obtained a copy (PDF) of Judge Lee R. West's Order, issued today, in which the judge grants Foster an award of "reasonable attorney fees in this action under 505 of the Copyright Act," but denies her "attorneys' fees under 28 U.S.C. 1927." Foster's attorney says her client is pleased with the result and will likely recoup $50,000 or more. If she's right, that's an outcome that could have significant consequences for the RIAA's litigation strategy."
Music

RIAA Says CDs Should Cost More 540

Posted by kdawson from the when-bandersnatchii-fly dept.
EatingSteak writes "The folks over at Techdirt just put up a great story today, with the RIAA claiming the cost of a CD has gone down significantly relative to the consumer price index. The RIAA 'Key Facts' page claims that based on the 1983 price of CDs, the 1996 price should have been $33.86. So naturally, you should feel like you're getting a bargain. Sounds an awful lot like the cable companies saying cable prices are really going down even though they're going up."
Microsoft

Submission + - 19 Coutries File OpenXML Contradictions

Submitted by
Excelcia
Excelcia writes: "The deadline for filing contradictions on the Microsoft OpenXML ISO bid, and the results are in. A total of 19 countries have filed, comprising most of the free world, although the United States seems to be absent from the list. From Andy Upgrove's Blog on the subject:

This may not only be the largest number of countries that have ever submitted contradictions in the ISO/IEC process, but nineteen responses is greater than the total number of national bodies that often bother to vote on a proposed standard at all ... All in all, not a very auspicious start for OOXML. And not one that augers well for a very fast Fast Track experience. It will be interesting to see how Microsoft deals with this slap in the face.
"

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