Re: Re: How many decimal places is Techdirt down from Facebook?
Actually the big guys will likely be able to absorb whatever is thrown their way, it's the small ones where the details are actually going to matter in a big way
Thanks for reporting on this! This is a big deal in my town and means a lot to me.
"This week, two of the nation's biggest telecom giants"
Two of the five or so nation wide, but basically 2 of the 3 in the west
"The deals create massive new debt pressure that's only relieved by trimming rosters" It also creates position redundancies... It's laughable to claim they won't consolidate.
It's a bit surprising to me both that this merger is being allowed and also that the press here isn't being tougher on scrutinizing it.. They aren't usually particularly kind to Rogers or Shaw, neither have stellar reputations for how they treat their employees
"Gatekeepers that add value can still find a place for themselves, as GOG and Steam have certainly done. But when they try to shut down the distribution of content for cowardly business reasons, well, the developer can just route around them"
Only on the PC really, and not guaranteed whatsoever.. The console manufacturers have legal power behind their gatekeeping and we should all be thankful there was enough backlash when microsoft tried to force people through the microsoft store that devs can still self publish apps at all
Yes, they are legally prevented from writing and selling their own software for the systems. They may be able to get an agreement with the system vendor to "allow" them to integrate with the product.. basically by paying them whatever the vendor wants as they have 100% control. The assumption is that the vendor should have the right to control all integration, and if the product actually creates any competition in a way the vendor doesn't like, it will be illegal.
I'm not ignoring the O.S. it is very important that it's illegal to create competing O.S.es. It's very important that it's illegal to create competing online ecosystems and achievement systems for the consoles, online stores, etc. All of that competing software being illegal is bogus to me.
Ok.. So let me try to get to the reason I care what happens under the hood.
"it was because piracy rates were relatively low"
But thats the trouble. None of this DRM has anything to do with piracy. These protect against competitors making games not against any sort of copyright infringement.
"and the DMCA didn't exist yet" Exactly. The legal right to prevent competitors from integrating with your protect hadn't even been conceived yet. I think this concept of the right to prevent integration is unique to the digital world. It's nothing but lobby fodder in my opinion
The locks on the nes that were not legally protected as well as the ones they use today that are legally protected are not to prevent copying anything nintendo owned, they were to prevent competitors from being able to write their own games for the nes, just as today they are preventing competitors from creating competing systems to run the games or competing games to run on the systems.
It was legally recognized at the time that Nintendo had no special right to do that. It was new for digital things and video games maybe, but not a new concept in general.
Almost all of what defines consoles today, in my view has devolved to depend on this right to prevent competition created by the dmca. Thats why I don't like what happens under the hood. I feel like todays consoles are a grift created by the DMCA and companies should not have the right to lock out competitors in this way. I have the same beef about iphones actually.
Yeah, I think you are reading it wrong. The NES had some (incredibly easy to circumvent) copy protection, It also (rightfully) had no legal protection, so third parties just circumvented it.
But it was to try to prevent third party's to write games specifically to run on the nes, it's not like the pc, sega and nes were all the same system in a different wrapper with some drm keeping them from running each other's games like the xbox, pc and playstation are today.
I have dealt with friends and family having this sort of trouble in the third world, but usually only until they cave in and pay whatever bribes are required to make it stop
Consoles were originally custom hardware made just to play games that were completely different from each other
If a game was exclusive, it's because no one spent a ton of effort to rewrite the whole game for that consoles architecture, not because they had to add in a software lock to keep it from running somewhere else. It's not like the NES had to put in locks to keep it from running DOS
It's totally fair to make them all use the same general purpose hardware architecture so they don't have to reinvent the wheel, but then they are all using the same general purpose hardware, and the different O.S. combined with putting in software locks so they can pretend other software won't run on them is not an enticing reason for me.
As for Nintendo, yes, I'm talking about the games. Nintendo has done lots on the hardware side, I was impressed with Wii which actually enticed me to buy .. But I was pretty disappointed afterward.. I bought it for wii sports but kinda just ended up with an endless string of super mario world and zelda oct rehashes. I haven't seen much to change my mind since, but to be fair they kindof dropped of my radar since then
To me Playstation and xbox are pretend consoles, just PCs with special DRM locks to keep them from running a regular OS. Nintendo is legitimately a different machine, but nintendo does little but hoard old ideas that they inherited from innovative 80s Nintendo. "Release channels" are really just locked systems that no one can make a game on without them taking a big cut, being propped up by bad I.P. laws keeping us from doing better. I agree I see them going nowhere, unfortunately
My realistic concerns are low, of course the biggest companies will consolidate.. as long as they don't consolidate all into less than 2 it's no big deal.. Barrier to entry for new players is very low and the big companies won't buy up new companies until at least after they make their first great game. It's not like they are going to try to buy anyone who "might" be the next minecraft or super meat boy or (on and on).
So sure I've got my amico on order, but I'm not worried about microsoft buying bethesda leading to a lack of competition in video games
If encryption is just for criminals then privacy is just for criminals.
There may be plenty of non criminal reasons someone might want to use encryption, but in my humble opinion the best one is "none of your damn business"
"The moment that the public no longer believes in the system, it collapses"
Still waiting for this so called problem.. You just start from the assumption that this system of faking scarcity for profit is a good thing? The sweat shops that mine these items might go bankrupt? We won't have these cheap cash grabs in video games anymore?
"it's still an expense agencies should do everything to limit"
It's the opposite of defunding.. Big keyword being "should". Unfortunately not must or even held accountable for doing.. We should know the police departments well enough by now to predict the result will be status quo for abuse and increased police budgets to pay the lawsuits
On the post: The Internet Is Not Just Facebook, Google & Twitter: Creating A 'Test Suite' For Your Great Idea To Regulate The Internet
Re:
Or for that matter, why should any law apply to equally to everyone?
On the post: The Internet Is Not Just Facebook, Google & Twitter: Creating A 'Test Suite' For Your Great Idea To Regulate The Internet
Re: Re: How many decimal places is Techdirt down from Facebook?
Actually the big guys will likely be able to absorb whatever is thrown their way, it's the small ones where the details are actually going to matter in a big way
On the post: The Internet Is Not Just Facebook, Google & Twitter: Creating A 'Test Suite' For Your Great Idea To Regulate The Internet
BoardGameGeek ?
DuckDuckGo should be on there.. Would be nice to try to make sure whatever conditions allow a small upstart to compete with the big guys is preserved
On the post: Canadian Telecom Embraces Mindless Consolidation With Yet Another Major Megamerger
Re:
Of course, a lot of the press is owned by Rogers though
On the post: Canadian Telecom Embraces Mindless Consolidation With Yet Another Major Megamerger
Thanks for reporting on this! This is a big deal in my town and means a lot to me.
"This week, two of the nation's biggest telecom giants"
Two of the five or so nation wide, but basically 2 of the 3 in the west
"The deals create massive new debt pressure that's only relieved by trimming rosters" It also creates position redundancies... It's laughable to claim they won't consolidate.
It's a bit surprising to me both that this merger is being allowed and also that the press here isn't being tougher on scrutinizing it.. They aren't usually particularly kind to Rogers or Shaw, neither have stellar reputations for how they treat their employees
On the post: PC Game 'Devotion' Is Back, Now Being Sold Directly By The Developer
"Gatekeepers that add value can still find a place for themselves, as GOG and Steam have certainly done. But when they try to shut down the distribution of content for cowardly business reasons, well, the developer can just route around them"
Only on the PC really, and not guaranteed whatsoever.. The console manufacturers have legal power behind their gatekeeping and we should all be thankful there was enough backlash when microsoft tried to force people through the microsoft store that devs can still self publish apps at all
On the post: Even Murkier: Microsoft Says Some Bethesda Games Will Indeed Be Xbox, PC Exclusives
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Yes, they are legally prevented from writing and selling their own software for the systems. They may be able to get an agreement with the system vendor to "allow" them to integrate with the product.. basically by paying them whatever the vendor wants as they have 100% control. The assumption is that the vendor should have the right to control all integration, and if the product actually creates any competition in a way the vendor doesn't like, it will be illegal.
I'm not ignoring the O.S. it is very important that it's illegal to create competing O.S.es. It's very important that it's illegal to create competing online ecosystems and achievement systems for the consoles, online stores, etc. All of that competing software being illegal is bogus to me.
On the post: Even Murkier: Microsoft Says Some Bethesda Games Will Indeed Be Xbox, PC Exclusives
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Ok.. So let me try to get to the reason I care what happens under the hood.
"it was because piracy rates were relatively low"
But thats the trouble. None of this DRM has anything to do with piracy. These protect against competitors making games not against any sort of copyright infringement.
"and the DMCA didn't exist yet" Exactly. The legal right to prevent competitors from integrating with your protect hadn't even been conceived yet. I think this concept of the right to prevent integration is unique to the digital world. It's nothing but lobby fodder in my opinion
The locks on the nes that were not legally protected as well as the ones they use today that are legally protected are not to prevent copying anything nintendo owned, they were to prevent competitors from being able to write their own games for the nes, just as today they are preventing competitors from creating competing systems to run the games or competing games to run on the systems.
It was legally recognized at the time that Nintendo had no special right to do that. It was new for digital things and video games maybe, but not a new concept in general.
Almost all of what defines consoles today, in my view has devolved to depend on this right to prevent competition created by the dmca. Thats why I don't like what happens under the hood. I feel like todays consoles are a grift created by the DMCA and companies should not have the right to lock out competitors in this way. I have the same beef about iphones actually.
On the post: Even Murkier: Microsoft Says Some Bethesda Games Will Indeed Be Xbox, PC Exclusives
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Yeah, I think you are reading it wrong. The NES had some (incredibly easy to circumvent) copy protection, It also (rightfully) had no legal protection, so third parties just circumvented it.
But it was to try to prevent third party's to write games specifically to run on the nes, it's not like the pc, sega and nes were all the same system in a different wrapper with some drm keeping them from running each other's games like the xbox, pc and playstation are today.
On the post: Florida Sheriff's Office Sued For Using 'Predictive Policing' Program To Harass Residents
I have dealt with friends and family having this sort of trouble in the third world, but usually only until they cave in and pay whatever bribes are required to make it stop
On the post: Even Murkier: Microsoft Says Some Bethesda Games Will Indeed Be Xbox, PC Exclusives
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Consoles were originally custom hardware made just to play games that were completely different from each other
If a game was exclusive, it's because no one spent a ton of effort to rewrite the whole game for that consoles architecture, not because they had to add in a software lock to keep it from running somewhere else. It's not like the NES had to put in locks to keep it from running DOS
It's totally fair to make them all use the same general purpose hardware architecture so they don't have to reinvent the wheel, but then they are all using the same general purpose hardware, and the different O.S. combined with putting in software locks so they can pretend other software won't run on them is not an enticing reason for me.
As for Nintendo, yes, I'm talking about the games. Nintendo has done lots on the hardware side, I was impressed with Wii which actually enticed me to buy .. But I was pretty disappointed afterward.. I bought it for wii sports but kinda just ended up with an endless string of super mario world and zelda oct rehashes. I haven't seen much to change my mind since, but to be fair they kindof dropped of my radar since then
On the post: Even Murkier: Microsoft Says Some Bethesda Games Will Indeed Be Xbox, PC Exclusives
Re: Re: Re:
To me Playstation and xbox are pretend consoles, just PCs with special DRM locks to keep them from running a regular OS. Nintendo is legitimately a different machine, but nintendo does little but hoard old ideas that they inherited from innovative 80s Nintendo. "Release channels" are really just locked systems that no one can make a game on without them taking a big cut, being propped up by bad I.P. laws keeping us from doing better. I agree I see them going nowhere, unfortunately
On the post: Netflix Starts Cracking Down On The Diabolical Menace Of Password Sharing
Re: Re:
Not even to prove his point, just to pretend he is proving his point.
On the post: Even Murkier: Microsoft Says Some Bethesda Games Will Indeed Be Xbox, PC Exclusives
Re:
My realistic concerns are low, of course the biggest companies will consolidate.. as long as they don't consolidate all into less than 2 it's no big deal.. Barrier to entry for new players is very low and the big companies won't buy up new companies until at least after they make their first great game. It's not like they are going to try to buy anyone who "might" be the next minecraft or super meat boy or (on and on).
So sure I've got my amico on order, but I'm not worried about microsoft buying bethesda leading to a lack of competition in video games
On the post: Even Murkier: Microsoft Says Some Bethesda Games Will Indeed Be Xbox, PC Exclusives
I just want bioware back.
On the post: DOJ Says Encryption Is Just For Criminals As It Goes After Another Secure Phone Purveyor
Re: Re: #JustCriminalThings
If encryption is just for criminals then privacy is just for criminals.
There may be plenty of non criminal reasons someone might want to use encryption, but in my humble opinion the best one is "none of your damn business"
On the post: Accusations Of EA Employee Side-Selling 'FIFA' Rare In-Game Items Is A Problem If True
"The moment that the public no longer believes in the system, it collapses"
Still waiting for this so called problem.. You just start from the assumption that this system of faking scarcity for profit is a good thing? The sweat shops that mine these items might go bankrupt? We won't have these cheap cash grabs in video games anymore?
On the post: Accusations Of EA Employee Side-Selling 'FIFA' Rare In-Game Items Is A Problem If True
Re: Re:
This is a cash grab system actual good games that stand solidly on their own currently don't use. So I don't know where you are coming from.
On the post: Police, Police Supporters: Ending Qualified Immunity Makes Being A Cop Too Hard, Somehow 'Defunds' The Police
"it's still an expense agencies should do everything to limit"
It's the opposite of defunding.. Big keyword being "should". Unfortunately not must or even held accountable for doing.. We should know the police departments well enough by now to predict the result will be status quo for abuse and increased police budgets to pay the lawsuits
On the post: It's Not Just Republican State Legislators Pushing Unconstitutional Content Moderation Bills
Re:
Yeah but he was republican, therefore that was clearly defending free speech not attacking it.
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