I'd prefer if the high priorities went to voice/game/TV (in that order). The number of latency-sensitive games out there are legion.

Starcraft has sold 11 million units worldwide. That's pretty good, it's one of the best selling games of all time.

World of Warcraft has over 11.5 million monthly subscribers. More people play WoW in one month than the copies of SC sold in a decade.

So, when you consider target audience, and whether or not they're likely to have an internet connection... yeah. SC2 is going to sell really well.

Not including LAN play is a calculated risk that I think will pay off just fine. Reduce the pirates, increase revenue. Works for me!

It's a big deal if he divulged information that was actually classified. The nature of the information is less important.

Yeah, I also found it tasteless. Center-of-mass hits are much more reliable than head shots.

1. SWG, even before NGE, was/is an abomination against the gaming gods and should never, ever have been released. For one, it fails the "interesting combat" test. For two, it was just atrocious.

2. I thought UO was great *then*, regardless of what it is now.

3. There wasn't a "minority that actually likes UO." You're mistaking the vastly increased MMO market of now from what it was 11 years ago. ~12 million people didn't try UO and decide they didn't like it.

The "cold hard fact" is that UO was really, really popular at the time. It grew the MMO fanbase, and EQ grew it even more with a generic fantasy world and true 3D graphics.

The fact that it STILL has players is proof enough that it is fun.

4. You're wrong. :) I'm happy to argue with you about that, because you're the one making the incorrect assertions.

"UO didn't _have_ to invent everything. There were already thousands of text-based MUDs, and whole discussions, correlations and theories (e.g., Bartle's) as to what works and how it works. You could tell from the start why a whole bunch of Lord British's ideas won't work, or won't make players happy, because the exact same had happened a thousand times before on MUDs."

I'm confused by this; are you saying that UO was rife with ideas that didn't work, or didn't make players happy?

Because 11 years later, it's still alive, and still above the 100k subscriber mark. And regardless of the ravenous hordes that have descended upon the industry, none of them have reached the level of interesting immersion UO has. I challenge you to name one MMO without classes that has player made housing, player made shops, and still a full combat experience.

"Are they the best of hobbies that have great value in the end?"

Out of curiosity, what are the best of hobbies that have great value in the end?