I wouldn't be so grouchy about this if it wasn't for the fact that this hit the front page, and is, relatively, a minor game.
Just a glance at, say, the Apple section of the website shows that stuff like the release of a MINOR browser on the iPhone gets its own article. Why shouldn't the release of a game get a quick front page blurb, especially because the Warcraft map that this is based on is still played by legions of rabid fans (at least where I live)?
On topic however: this game just takes DOTA and adds the extra burden of being forced to make sure your win/loss ratio is always >1, otherwise you get kicked from most games. While I played the beta, I had to create a new account after a while because my W/L and kill/death ratios were causing me to be kicked constantly, even though I had finally gotten used to the system and the heroes. Several other players I know had the same problem. Perhaps it is a sign of the kind of player the closed beta attracted ie. DOTA veterans, and not a symptom of the final game, but it definitely is a stumbling block for new players.
Microsoft stole Plurk's design and code. Not the Chinese. Not the Americans.
Nice try. Microsoft outsourced its coding to a Chinese company, THEY stole the source code and design. Quoting from Ars Technica:
The debacle with Juku is an indication that the software giant needs to either stop outsourcing its various small projects (unlikely to happen anytime soon), or come up with a better way to cross-check its code.
This is a CHINESE malaise, not a Microsoft one. Half of the huge Chinese websites out there rely on stealing content and code theft to launch. Blaming Microsoft because they are the largest target is trendy, but misleading.
What industrial centers? Afghanistan is probably the poorest country on Earth. If it's not #1 then it's certainly in the top ten. I don't think mass bombardment of "industrial centers" is going to have much effect on an enemy whose primary weapons are AK-47s and homemade bombs.
Fine, I agree there is no heavy industry. But why not destroy the drug industry? We don't do it right now because we fear that maybe the poor farmers are actually growing food as well right next to their opium poppies or whatever. Well, screw that, its collateral damage. You want to choke off the terrorists money supply, you kill the drug trade. Two or three villages starve, and everyone gets the message.
I bet the human brain is a kludge. -- Marvin Minsky
