When I first heard about Netflix and their DVD-by-mail service, I thought "Meh. Not for me." Usually when I want to watch a movie, I have to be in the mood for it, and I want to watch it NOW rather than in a few days, so I didn't mind the drive to Blockbuster or Movie Gallery or the convenience store down the road.
Then my wife signed up for a free trial, and I found myself browsing the site a lot and watching movies with her. The streaming was OK, but I have never particularly enjoyed watching movies on my computer so I didn't do it much. Eventually, though, my wife got hooked watching "24" on her computer and said "I wish we could watch these in the living room." After considering building an HTPC, I instead got her a Western Digital FreeAgent Theater+ so we could stream Netflix to the big TV.
Now we can hardly get the TV away from the kids - the teenager has discover 80s action movies, and the 4-year old has discovered animated movies and her favorite PBS shows. But is sure is nice to be able to watch a movie now without running to the brick-and-mortar!
I don't know the technicalities of prgramming apps in HTML, but doesn't that mean they would run on any browser, such as on my laptop or home PC? I've seen apps that looked appealing, and often wondered "Why don't they do that on their website, as well?"
The newspaper in the nearest town bigger than my burg of 4000 has a partial paywall, but they at least don't encourage you to share the stories. You can read a few paragraphs, then hit the paywall (free for print subscribers) to read more. Being such a small market it is sometimes difficult to find local news from other sources, but the comments are open to all and usually I can get the rest of the story from them.
I was going to buy this on the release date, but didn't make it into the store that day. That night I read about this required persistent internet connection, and I was SO glad I had not wasted my $50. I play single-player exclusively, and I don't know how reliable my connection is. I am also concerned about what happens in a year or three when EA decides they are not squeezing enough money from people to justify running the game servers any more. Does your "purchased" copy suddenly turn into an expensive rental with a mandatory return?
I am opposed to pirating a game with the intent of keeping it and never paying for it; I will support the publisher/developer if I like a game or I will uninstall it if I don't like it. (Note to publishers: if you do a demo, people like me will be less tempted to download a cracked version. For $50, I will always try before I buy!) In the past I have used no-disk cracks on games that I already owned, but not this time. EA will not get my money unless THEY see the error of their ways and patch this themselves. Until then, I will stick to my principles and I will not know if this game is fun or not.
Agreed; I usually don't buy a game until I verify that either it does not require the disk to be in the drive, or that there is a no-disk crack available.
"...the DRM does have a secondary purpose. In the game you have a persistent account that levels up and unlocks new tiers of units as you play the game."
Rather than requiring a persistent connection, why couldn't game data could be saved locally and then periodically uploaded?
"The online connection is needed to prevent hackers from creating trainers that would allow anyone to be max level instantly. Lots of games do this with their multiplayer and no one makes a fuss about it since you are expecting to be online as you play a multiplayer game."
Exactly; if you are playing a multiplayer game over the internet, you EXPECT to be online all the time. You DON'T expect that for a single player game, though. EA might have avoided some of this backlash if they had gone multiplayer only with this, like WoW, but then there are the people like me who don't do multiplayer at all. Yes, we exist! I don't have 8 hours a day to practice like these schoolkids do, and I've had my @$$ handed to me every time i have tried any multiplayer game. It was as much fun as a trip to the dentist.
Anyone else think that MGMT leaked this themselves, a la Trent Reznor seeding NIN's Ghosts I-IV on torrent sites (only Ghosts I was officially available for free download from the NIN website)?
On the post: What Would Happen If Wikileaks Got Its Own Top Level Domain?
Re: Answer...
On the post: 'The Movie Business Is Dying!! Blame TV!' -- The 1959 Edition
Television IS to blame!
On the post: New York Times Insists It Can Stay Part Of The Conversation With 'First Click Free'
Re:
On the post: Guy Finds FBI Tracking Device On Car, Posts Pics Online... FBI Shows Up Demanding It Back
Not going there
On the post: Woman Trademarks Her Name, Says No One Can Use It Without Her Permission
I see what you did!
On the post: Why Does Everyone Underestimate Netflix?
I was a doubter, but now I'm saved
Then my wife signed up for a free trial, and I found myself browsing the site a lot and watching movies with her. The streaming was OK, but I have never particularly enjoyed watching movies on my computer so I didn't do it much. Eventually, though, my wife got hooked watching "24" on her computer and said "I wish we could watch these in the living room." After considering building an HTPC, I instead got her a Western Digital FreeAgent Theater+ so we could stream Netflix to the big TV.
Now we can hardly get the TV away from the kids - the teenager has discover 80s action movies, and the 4-year old has discovered animated movies and her favorite PBS shows. But is sure is nice to be able to watch a movie now without running to the brick-and-mortar!
On the post: Research Claims Hackers Could Figure Out Your Smartphone Password Via Screen Smudges
Wait; I've seen this before...
Like MrWilson said above, smartphones have their screens pressed and smudged for a lot of things other than password entry.
On the post: An Open iPhone App Market That Doesn't Require Jailbreaking... And Which Apple Can't Stop
Will they work on PC's, too?
On the post: Newspaper Has 'Stories Worth Sharing'.... Hidden Behind The Paywall
mine too
On the post: SCO Loses Yet Again; Is It Finally Over?
It will end when...
On the post: The NYT Discovers That, Lo and Behold, Web Filters Don't Work
Re: Wrong dept.
On the post: South Korea To Shut Some Video Games Off For Six Hours Every Night
Re: Reality Check
Best comment I am going to read today! May I used that as my Facebook status?
On the post: NYTimes Has To Apologize, Pay $114k For Mentioning Singapore Had Father/Son Prime Ministers?
Re:
On the post: Because NBC Could Never Have Figured Out How To Put TV Shows On The Internet By Itself...
This sounds familiar...
On the post: EA's Own Employees Annoyed At Pointless DRM Solutions
I'll pass on this one
I am opposed to pirating a game with the intent of keeping it and never paying for it; I will support the publisher/developer if I like a game or I will uninstall it if I don't like it. (Note to publishers: if you do a demo, people like me will be less tempted to download a cracked version. For $50, I will always try before I buy!) In the past I have used no-disk cracks on games that I already owned, but not this time. EA will not get my money unless THEY see the error of their ways and patch this themselves. Until then, I will stick to my principles and I will not know if this game is fun or not.
On the post: EA's Own Employees Annoyed At Pointless DRM Solutions
Re:
On the post: EA's Own Employees Annoyed At Pointless DRM Solutions
Re:
Rather than requiring a persistent connection, why couldn't game data could be saved locally and then periodically uploaded?
"The online connection is needed to prevent hackers from creating trainers that would allow anyone to be max level instantly. Lots of games do this with their multiplayer and no one makes a fuss about it since you are expecting to be online as you play a multiplayer game."
Exactly; if you are playing a multiplayer game over the internet, you EXPECT to be online all the time. You DON'T expect that for a single player game, though. EA might have avoided some of this backlash if they had gone multiplayer only with this, like WoW, but then there are the people like me who don't do multiplayer at all. Yes, we exist! I don't have 8 hours a day to practice like these schoolkids do, and I've had my @$$ handed to me every time i have tried any multiplayer game. It was as much fun as a trip to the dentist.
On the post: MGMT Album Leaks... Band Wants To Give Official Version For Free, But Denied
whodunnit
On the post: Even Senators Hated NBC Universal's Olympic Coverage
Re: A slight mis-calculation
On the post: Activision Kills Fan Game Project, Despite Fan License Granted By Previous Rightsholders
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