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Recent Posts

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7526
General Software Discussion / Re: Help me choose an online backup service
« Last post by wraith808 on February 16, 2012, 02:01 PM »
I'm using JungleDisk with S3.  That said, I'm also looking at trying SFFS with S3.  Not because I have any problems with JD- to the contrary, I'm still going to use it.  I just want some things to back up at home separately now that I have a NAS (getting a bit paranoid about having synced copies in multiple places, so I want one local too)
7527
Living Room / Re: Anyone playing Mass Effect 2 game yet?
« Last post by wraith808 on February 16, 2012, 10:15 AM »
^ I don't really have a problem with it.  I don't play BF3, but I play 2142 and SWTOR, and with both of them, I don't even run origin- I just have shortcuts elsewhere.  Not sure if BF3 is different...

What problem are you having?
7528
Living Room / Re: Anyone playing Mass Effect 2 game yet?
« Last post by wraith808 on February 15, 2012, 01:18 PM »
If you have to install it using origin, then that's not really another platform?

Several companies do the same thing with Steam- you buy at GamersGate, GreenManGaming, etc, and activate on steam.  Direct2Drive used to do it- not sure if they will now since they've been bought by GameFly.  I'm pretty sure it won't be available on Impulse either.  Those are the platforms- GameFly, Steam, Origin, and Impulse.  The rest are really just storefronts.

(Though I see it's on Impulse... I wonder how *that's* going to work, especially as it still says Impulse is required in the requirements)
7529
Living Room / Re: Anyone playing Mass Effect 2 game yet?
« Last post by wraith808 on February 15, 2012, 04:39 AM »
I really loved ME 2, so I would probably be playing it too, if it wasn't for EA not putting it on Steam >:(.


With EA having their own distribution platform now, I wouldn't count on ever seeing their stuff on another platform. /shrug
7530
7531
Screenshot Captor / Re: Adding SSC 3.0 to Explorer context or "Open With"
« Last post by wraith808 on February 14, 2012, 12:33 AM »
It is probably possible to manually add it to the Open With list, by copying / pasting a shortcut to that Vista folder (forgot exactly where it's located).
http://lmgtfy.com/?q...sta+senden+an+ordner

That's probably a bit harsher than you might have intended it?
7532
General Software Discussion / Re: Earning the 'daemon' inside DaemonTools...
« Last post by wraith808 on February 13, 2012, 10:45 AM »
I use FarStone's VirtualDrive.  Friends used to say that I was crazy to pay for something that DaemonTools gave for free.  I guess not.
7533
General Software Discussion / Re: Is WinZip still worth updating?
« Last post by wraith808 on February 13, 2012, 10:09 AM »
They bought the talent, but they did not make use of it. They bought the developers, shut down their studios, and kicked all of the 'talent' to the proverbial curb.

Not... exactly true.  They made mistakes (and have acknowledged it) in these acquisitions.  But most of those mistakes were those of one-size-fits-all management.  They didn't cut the talent- the talent fled because of bad management of acquisitions.  That's why the current EA has each of these as separate studios that have their own management and culture, i.e. BioWare, DICE.  Hopefully they've learned something, and can balance the needs of making money with those that they serve.
7534
Living Room / Re: ROSA - SciFi Short Film
« Last post by wraith808 on February 13, 2012, 09:55 AM »
I thought I had posted it before...

Fox has optioned the rights on it for a live film.

And a more complete link (including information on the author and such)

http://vimeo.com/31894179
7535
DC Gamer Club / Valve's Steam hit by power outage
« Last post by wraith808 on February 13, 2012, 09:53 AM »
http://www.expertrev...-hit-by-power-outage

I've been pretty exclusively playing Star Wars: The Old Republic, so I didn't even notice.  Though I was up about the time that they mention, and I didn't notice anything obvious with the service, other than a hiccup when it started in regards to the store page loading.

Was anyone affected by this?  Perhaps this will bring light to the fact that even int he best of cases, DRM needs to be a little less draconian.

Thoughts?
7536
General Software Discussion / Re: Is WinZip still worth updating?
« Last post by wraith808 on February 13, 2012, 07:08 AM »
Take a look on GoG.com.  They might not have developed a lot of them, but they've been opening the vaults and a lot of them have found a new home.

Feasting off their dead corpses in a money grab doesn't win any points with me, though.

They *are* 'remaking' Syndicate, I guess, but I don't have a lot of optimism for the final results.

Well then... I don't get the problem.  The bought the talent and made use of it- just because they haven't remade or made sequels (which are very often a let-down - look at the later C&C's)?
7537
General Software Discussion / Re: Is WinZip still worth updating?
« Last post by wraith808 on February 12, 2012, 10:26 PM »
What gamers among us have not shed a tear for Bullfrog, Origin, Westwood, and countless others who were bought by EA only to have their companies dismantled & their intellectual property to be locked away in EA's vaults never to see the light of day again.

Take a look on GoG.com.  They might not have developed a lot of them, but they've been opening the vaults and a lot of them have found a new home.
7538
General Software Discussion / Re: Is WinZip still worth updating?
« Last post by wraith808 on February 12, 2012, 04:10 PM »
Corel managed to ruin everything they bought so far.

I mean when I say the following in every conceivable way possible....

Corel is the productivity software counterpart to Electronic Arts.

Electronic Arts isn't *that* bad.  They've made some bad choices (as has Activision), but EA can be localized to a few people, not endemic to the whole company.
7539
Hoard is a decent arcade-like game where you try to get the highest score within the time limit. The two Hoard DLC packs are also included with the bundle.

Not exactly true.  Hoard has that mode, but you also have a couple of other modes including Princess Rush (be the first to ransom 15 princesses), Hoard (survival), and Co-Op Treasure mode (all dragons share a hoard and work together).

It also has strategy unlike typical shooters, i.e. the towns that you are destroying have economies, and your interrelation with those economies can affect your score.  If you're too efficient, there won't be anything for you to destroy/hoard, and if you aren't efficient enough, the town (and more importantly the knights) can become too powerful to deal with.

Great game and very much recommended.

But I suppose I can give those games away and keep Lume and the Soulcasters to myself.

Can you give them away independently?  I know you can't with some others...
7540
Living Room / Re: The plot thickens - iPhone and iPad sales banned in Europe ...
« Last post by wraith808 on February 09, 2012, 10:47 AM »
From a couple of the comments...

the road to hell is paved with patent lawyers….

Don’t be evil…..fail.

QFT.

7541
Living Room / Re: Main hard drive in my PC died today suddenly
« Last post by wraith808 on February 09, 2012, 08:10 AM »
Sorry about your issues with Acronis- I know they can be really terrible when it happens when you need it.  But I've *never* had it fail me in 8 years or so of using it- just figured I'd offer a contrasting opinion...

(I also use a tiered backup system... I have a copy on a NAS and online in addition to the acronis backups.  A bit paranoid... maybe... :))
7542
Living Room / Re: It's Official - Anonymous are Terrorists
« Last post by wraith808 on February 08, 2012, 04:55 PM »
I spotted this at the bottom of the page:

This Web site is funded through a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Neither the U.S. Department of Justice nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse this Web site (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies and any services or tools provided).

Just because something is funded, and puts up a logo, doesn't mean it's in any way 'official'.  Not defending... just sourcing. :)
7543
But if people want and expect better than that, they're going to need to give something back to the creatives before they have to quit - and leave nothing behind but commercial hacks and amateurs to fill the void.

ACTA/SOPA/PIPA isn't the answer to this problem. But neither is the "Why should I have to pay at all?" mindset many people now have.

<snip />

At least it's worth a try. Because what people and their governments are doing right now isn't working. And never will.

QFT!  Truthfully, I wouldn't mind if people pirated my work- it's when people steal it that I have problems with it.  To me, though the powers that be want to equate the two, they are totally different.  To pirate, copy, etc means that you enjoy the work and want to consume it.  Paying would help to support- but doing this doesn't do anything to the bottom line, as those that value it pay for it (at least in my optimistic view of things).  Stealing on the other hand is borderline plagiarizing the work (or not so borderline).  It's the excuse that Zynga uses to justify its games- I put a shiny coat on it, so I don't need to pay for the right to create it, even though all of my mechanics are the same as yours.  And what's being done in laws doesn't protect these people... so when is it that the corporate interests go to the well, and find it dry?  As 40 alludes to, if people can't survive off of their work, then the work will start to disappear- at least the professional level.  And that's not a world that I like to think about...
7544
Living Room / Re: Hard drive shortage
« Last post by wraith808 on February 08, 2012, 11:02 AM »
7545
If we take the basic empirical approach, then there is no debate whatsoever -- ideas cannot be property. Period. You can only have exclusive access to an idea if you never share/reveal it. But even then, someone else might think of the same idea... History is full of these kinds of things, e.g. Calculus with Liebniz and Descartes, even though it was known elsewhere centuries before.

While it is true that anything that you say or do that is not obfuscated in some manner cannot be owned, where does this leave the creative side of things?  If you take the money grubbing out, and leave out the non-personal aspect of the corporations, and get back to the very basics as my example above... where is it right or fair that someone who creates this idea and does all of the work on it loses it just because they want to share what they did with the world?

If I create something with my writing that inspires others, then that's a great thing.  But if someone takes my characters to make a profit off of those characters that I create, then in what place is that fair?  And is the only choice give it away or keep it to yourself?
7546
The fallacy of ideas as property is the core problem. As long as people cling to that, there will be conflict.

I think that this is a case of no one going to the middle.  You have one side that thinks that ideas cannot and should not have ownership, and others that think that they have to hold onto it with both hands.  IMO, neither is correct.  When we say that you cannot own an idea, then the characters that we have grown up with become meaningless.  That's when despite the wishes of Bill Watterson, when he decides not to make any more Calvin and Hobbes cartoons, someone else makes cheap rip-offs for the money... or even worse, they do it while he's publishing his.

I understand the concept of what you're saying (probably) isn't advocating this, but isn't this the same thing that a lot of our protests against PIPA and SOPA are about?  The abilities that these laws give rather than in many case the truths of what would come about even if passed?
7547
General Software Discussion / Re: Is WinZip still worth updating?
« Last post by wraith808 on February 07, 2012, 04:26 PM »
It's not that I mind paying for good software, but this is an area that has been "developed out" in my book, there is nothing that adds value over the free alternatives anymore, so paying yearly feels a bit like throwing away money.

^ this.  I still have my old sub to winzip that my wife uses, but I use 7-zip and directory opus' built in zip.
7548
Don't boycott those games. Buy them used if you want them.

I wouldn't even buy them *used*.  Buying them used creates a market... I want it to get to the point where this @$$hat's work isn't even worth reselling... you walk into Gamestop and they tell you "We can't buy your new version of Saint's Row 4 because no one will buy it."  That makes people even less likely to buy them new.
7549
Maybe not, but it could be if idiots like this get their say.

Blog post by Jameson Durall against used games.

From the comments - if you want to boycott this idiot's games, just have good taste!

Saints Row 4 (To Be Announced)
inSANE (2013)
Saints Row: The Third (2011)
Red Faction: Armageddon (2011)
Red Faction: Guerrilla (2009)
Saints Row 2 (2008)
Saints Row (2006)
The Punisher (2005)
Red Faction II (2002)
Summoner 2 (2002)
Red Faction (2001)
Summoner (2000)
FreeSpace 2 (1999)
Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War (1998)
7550
Living Room / Re: Main hard drive in my PC died today suddenly
« Last post by wraith808 on February 07, 2012, 06:05 AM »
I might actually purchase some separately to see if that helps, but I just wondered if anyone had any experience with this.

If the SATA cable/connections are dodgy I usually get 'Delayed Write Fail' errors or an EventID of 51, 'An error was detected on device xxxxx during a paging operation.' in the Windows System Eventlog.

Thanks for that!  I did a search of the event log, and sure enough, on the day that I was having a great many of the problems and decided to back up the HD, I was getting a bunch of errors like that.

I still don't see how I can have the same problem twice!  Guess I'm ordering more SATA cables!
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