This is why I hate Pc Gaming and DRM
Posted by Marcellus in Entertainment, Gaming, Technology, Uncategorized, business, computers, geek on March 8, 2010
Alright, so for those that know me, when it comes to gaming, I can get into it from time to time. And when it comes to real time strategy, Supreme Commander is where it’s at. I mean, I’ve been a fan of the series since Total Annihilation. None of this Warcraft zerg rush crap. Nope! Give me the real deal! So I was pretty excited when the new supreme commander was announced. So, I had to go pick up the game.
Little did I know that this was going to be one heck of a hassle, that ultimately, is not worth it!
So, here’s the first issue I run into. I go to Gamestop and buy a copy after work on the way home. Figured it would be a good way to waste some time when I got nothing else to do at home. Yea, that’s how I justified it. But anyway, I get home, start to open up the case, and low and behold, I notice that there’s no plastic surrounding the dvd case when I slid it out of it’s box. And worse, no game, no manual. Not even a friggin sheet of paper! Nothing!! The result of some shoplifter who decided to just lift the cd, and the paperwork containing the registration code. So, I’m pretty much out of luck until I let them know what happened, and have them set aside a replacement copy for the next day. I love how this works. They put in all sorts of copy protection, etc… so the people just steal it from the store. If people are going to pirate a game, they are going to find a way. Hell, just make it a little bit cheaper, and therefore more enticing to those who are cheap. Yea, the deadbeats aren’t going to buy it even if it was friggin 5 dollars, but oh well!
Which leads me to my second problem, and TON of frustration. So, with the game finally in my hand, I start the process of installing it on my hard drive and then attempting to play the game for the first time. But nope!! Even though I’ve bought the game, and put in a valid dvd key, I’m greeted with this
Are you freaking kidding me? You mean to tell me that since your servers aren’t available, I can’t play the game that I’ve spent my well earned money on? What if I don’t even have internet access? I guess I’m screwed huh? So, around an hour later, I try again, and run into another problem.
So, for some reason, your software wants me to download it from the freaking internet for 4 HOURS? The dang dvd is right in the drive, and you want me to download it off the net? Fortunately, I started off from scratch and this time it wised up and decided to actually look in the cd-rom drive this time.
Alright, so the game is installed and I’m ready to rock. I click on the icon, and I’m greeted with this
Okay, so since your servers are having issues, I’m once again screwed over by not being allowed to use something that I’ve legitimately paid for. Wow! At this point, I’m considering downloading a software crack just so I can use something that I’ve actually bought. It’s like hotwiring my own car!
So anyway, I get past this eventually by just waiting and coming back and finally get to play the game. Only to find out that my beloved series has been dumbed down in order to ‘appeal’ to the mass market. The number of units drastically reduced, build times are insanely fast, and not near as complex as it once was. This appealing to the mass market is simply giving in to the idiots who refuse to buy the product because it was too deep for them. Once again, stupid, low IQ consumers define the market, and those looking for the full experience they were accustomed to are screwed over. Yay!
Oh, but wait, it’s not over yet! While back at my desktop, look what pops up!
You know, there is software out there that installs and runs in the background on consumer’s systems and pops up advertisements on their computer. We call that malware, spyware, annoythepissoutofmeware, etc… And it turns out that I actually PAID for something and despite the crap I’ve had to run into with the drm and sever issues, you guys want to have the nerve to throw advertisements in my face? Screw you!
Looks like it’s back to the Xbox for me! Pc gaming industry, see ya! Rot in hell!!
Latest project
Posted by Marcellus in Knowledge, Photography, Technology, Uncategorized, business, computers, features on March 3, 2010
I’ve been a little quiet lately due to some changes that I had been making on the backend of my website. For those that don’t know, I tend to be a web geek, and once I get my mind set on something, I will search high and low for the answer until I find it.
Well, within the past few weeks, I had been evaluating different open source applications for project management. And I must say, I’m pretty impressed with the stuff that you can find out there that is completely free and pretty dang powerful. Especially if you are running a web server with php.
I’ve found several different applications that can do project management, and I have to admit, most of them are impressive, but there was one that just stood out WAY above the rest. I didn’t even know anything like this was out there until I stumbled across another blog that had done some comparisons between different open source web based applications for project management. First, the runner ups.
ProjectPier – This software has been out on the web for a while, and is actually highly recommended. Fast, stable, and works pretty well for project management. I was actually considering sticking with this until I had found my final answer. Not to mention that the software hasn’t been updated in quite a while. I tend to be weary of abandonware.
Collabtive – I found the UI to this software to be pretty simple and refreshing. Not to mention that it was developed fairly recently, which means that it still has a lot of life and potential. Due to it’s simplicity, I’ve considered using it for clients since my final solution might be a bit harder to understand, but I haven’t made a final decision yet.
Feng Office – Wow!! What can I say? This software is off the chain. Right now, I have a demo running at http://office.marcellusking.com. The username is demo as well as the password. This thing had document management, project management, calender with ical support, and a few other bells and whistles. I plan on using this software to collaborate with other photographers, clients, etc… to collaborate on anything photography related and to also keep track of my own projects. Here’s a screenshot of what it looks like when I log in under my account.
Since I have several projects that I’m a part of, any tasks for projects that are assigned to me will show up on my main view when I log in. I can also click on the projects individually to see just the tasks for that project. I’m actually VERY excited to see what I can pull off with this software in the near future and to see if enough people that I network with are interested in taking advantage of it.
Welp, back to the grind!
Apple, Try Harder Next Time
Posted by Marcellus in Technology, computers, geek on January 28, 2010
So, umm, yea. Apple has came out with a new tablet that was supposed to ‘change’ the industry. I’ve looked, I’ve researched, and thought about how I could use this device in my day to day activities. And to tell you the truth, I’m deeply disappointed. As a matter of fact I’ve been disappointed in Apple for quite some time now. They are speaking of this thing like it’s going to change the world, when in fact, it’s VASTLY underwhelming. This has been a habit of Apple for quite some time. Their marketing gets people whipped into a frenzy, their designers come up with something that "looks" nice, and all of a sudden, people start to forget what this device SHOULD be doing.
Now granted, the Iphone changed things, and I have one as well, but when it came out, it came out with a lot of things lacking. Things that ’simpler’ users would not really care about, but for those of us who know our gadgets in and out and use them to their full potential, there were things that were lacking. And well, once my 2 year contract is finally up, I’m jumping ship. I’ve been eyeballing the development on Microsoft’s latest mobile phone platform. And even though the last one wasn’t ‘pretty’, it did everything I needed it to do.
But back to the subject on this Ipad. First and foremost, I think it sucks. There wasn’t enough to separate it from my existing Iphone to justify having a bigger screen. Especially since it runs on the same operating system. But here are the things that I do not like about the Ipad
- No HDMI ports – Sorry, but I want a device that I can hook up to my TV without having to buy some expensive proprietary cables to do so. And don’t give us ‘technical reasons’ for not doing so Apple. You just enjoy making the extra money off of that crap which is ridiculously priced for what it does.
- No expandable space – Secure digital, compact flash, so I can easily transfer my movies, pictures, etc… without having to go through Itunes or just keep documents on my device. Nope, Apple doesn’t think you need to do so. I have this same gripe in the phone area as well.
- No multitasking – Are you freaking kidding me????? You mean I can’t listen to Pandora while I surf the web, or dart back and forth between face book
- No Bluetooth tethering to your phone – Oh, but if you want to access the internet while out and about, you can pay for an additional 3g service from AT&T. Wow! Haven’t the consumers been milked enough?
- No flash – "Oh! But it’s too processor intensive!!!" says Apple. No, the truth is that it will allow people to circumvent the Apple store for some of the cool games out there. Greed and arrogance is at the root of this one people. Yet this thing can power through HD movies. Enough with the BS Apple
- Weak operating system – The Iphone operating system is decent for a phone and for the touch, but this is a TABLET PC. It would have been really wise to include a customized version of Mac OS on the device.
- No Camera – Oh, this thing would have been SWEET for video calls and chat and many other things with the right software. But nope!
- No removable battery – Running out of juice? Sorry, you can’t just put in another battery. You gotta recharge.
- No usb 2.0 ports – SERIOUSLY APPLE!! HATE you guys for not including this stuff standard by now. Oh! Yea! That’s right, you want to use your own expensive overpriced cables and adapters so you can juice the consumer for more money.
- GPS – From the Apple hardware specs page, it looks as if only the WiFi 3g model has it. Which will cost you around 130 bucks extra over the standard model.
- The back is not flat – Kinda negates the effectiveness of some of the accelerometer featured apps.
- Still have to go through ITunes for your software – Unless I want to jailbreak my phone, I don’t have the option of using some of the really sweet and effective software out there.
I’ll just stop here for the moment on my ranting about what I don’t like about this device. Apple brought this thing to market too fast in a weak attempt to get the jump on competing products from Microsoft and other tablet manufacturers. And for those that don’t know, yea, Windows 7 was designed with tablets in mind. So once the hardware starts appearing, we’re good on the operating system. Not to mention that Microsoft has an "interesting" idea on how they think a tablet pc will be used. Here are some videos.
But anyway, here’s what I would like to see in a Tablet PC and it’s operating system.
- HDMI out for presentations onto projectors, TV’s, etc…
- USB 2.0 – This could be used for charging, or just connecting to your pc in general
- Wifi
- Bluetooth – and support for a Bluetooth keyboard.
- Dual Screen – Which is what I love most about Microsoft’s courier. The OS seems a bit off for what I would need it for though.
- Ability to Tether via Bluetooth
- Expansion slots – Compact flash or secure digital for transferring and carrying extra data
- Windows 7 or Mac OS operating system. Even Ubuntu would be a consideration – This would resolve a LOT of the operating system related issues that I have with the Iphone, Touch, and the Ipad.
- Camera
- Accelerometer – Yea Apple, we can thank you for making this popular
- Microphone
- Speaker
- Headphone Jack
- Removable Battery
- GPS – This would be interesting on a tablet device. I think it could come in handy
- Touch screen
- Ability to install apps without going through a store – This would be resolved by the operating system suggestion though.
- Enterprise level exchange support
- Peer to peer networking capability with other tablets of the same type – Would be sweet in a presentation to push something from your screen to someone else’s or send a message to another person in a meeting without disrupting the flow of the meeting. Or just sharing files and ideas in general.
Aight, enough of my rant. I got things to do.
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