Drag and drop - in Firefox (in Windows) you just highlight the text, let go, then click and hold inside the highlighted area and drag that up to a blank bit beside the tabs at the top then let go. Bingo it'll do its best to find what you dragged and put it into a new tab. I knew it worked on full links but not on random bits of text.

Actually - it just works on a whole words (no spaces), and just tries shoving www and one end and com or co.uk etc. at the other until it gets a hit - or generates a page-not-found.

Given that just about every word you can think of now is used for a web address you usually get something.

Oh, hey, it works! I was using Safari on a Mac at the time of posting, so I couldn't test it.

Nonsense. Game Publishers pay the bills; therefore, they decide what is and is not to be in the game. Developers who do not accede to such requests will quickly find themselves out of work.

Just as game developers don't get any say as to what stores the game is available in, DRM is a publisher decision. If you're a non-publisher-owned developer with clout (name recognition), you can probably argue the decision one way or the other. Otherwise, you just have to accept it. That's one of the reasons that StarDock is in such a unique position: they may lack name recognition, but they are also their own publisher and distributer. They can do wathever they want.



They don't; that's the entire point that they're making. They make more money on consoles than on the PC.

And as for the piracy issue, there's nothing more demoralizing than knowing that several thousand people are enjoying the product of your long nights and lack of family life without providing appropriate remuneration.

That's why indie games are so good. They break the mold and change what we expect.

Piracy sucks, but personally, I'd rather sell a easy-to-make enjoyable project than one that I have to tear my hair out over.

piracy sux... but its a two way street.
Take last weeks incident where Dustin Sacks of Sillysoft was found to be charging the credit cards of unwilling customers and using the proceeds to support his drug habit.
The bad seeds need to be eliminated on both sides.

Piracy is still never acceptable. There are worse things on the developers, sure, but that is a sign of bad purchase, not actual developer errors. If you buy a game from a retail store, Steam, or Stardock, it's good.

Please don't say people are dumb or lazy , just because they like consoles or don't build their own PC.

I used to build my own PC, but now I value my time a lot more. I ordered a game rig, pre-built for me with components I chose (with the recommendations of the company). Making a good rig is more complex than people think.

Cooling is critical
Sound insulation
Graphics Card/ChipSet/Firmware/Motherboard/BIOS Combinations
What hard disks you chose for performance. Noise/Heat generated by said components.
Overclocking, risks/benefits
Right OS choice XP Home Pro/Media Centre/Vista?
Burn in stability tests
3D Mark tests

I am currently using an 18month old rig, and it still rocks most people's PCs. The company also ran brun in tests/IO test/3D mark tests etc. and sent me Harcopy/PDF reports of all the tests, along with the testing software so that I could check the veracity of these tests. I can further upgrade it to quad CPU, and also SLI with the latest Nvida card should I chose so. The reason for this is with the assistance of the company I chose a good combo of parts.

This was all done for me, and has saved me a heap of time and hassle, researching, building testing etc etc.

I also own a 360 which I think is a great machine that provides hassle free gaming whith a consistent high level of audio/graphical performance out of the box. It's easy to connect to a 50ich display and my 5.1 audio, it's great to play casualy with friends as well. Console owners are in no way "dumbed down" or lazy, it's simply a consumer choice people make.

I generally use my laptop. The general course of action for desktops is Buy, Replace, Enjoy, where I buy one, take out all but its good parts, put in more fans and a bigger power supply, and replace everything with upgrades.

PC gaming dead ? Never happen for the simple reason that where there is a user base of 500million+ there will always be someone or something that will innovate to tap into it. The nature of the market segment may change, the economics and dynamics will change, for sure, but never write off an empty market segment of 500million, not going to happen.

The driver for the mainstream part of the gaming industry is always how to get the best return on investment made. Use the latest graphics etc and you create a higher perceived value, so the headline price is higher, despite the fact that the amount of effort needed to raise the Game from mundane to superb is far lower than the price hike in relative terms, because the Tools available are ever more efficient.

The margins on the higher end games are far higher because of this. Shifting 2 million units at $45 on a $20 profit margin, bringing in $40m, is a far greater return on investment than shifting 8 million units at $20 on a $5 profit margin also bringing in $40m. The former takes far less effort, smaller infrastructure, lower distribution cost base etc.

PC gaming is a huge market segment serving many different needs and desires in that segment. "One Size doesnt fit all". No Gaming house can meet all of them, each will therefore target a specific segment to get the best return on their investment in their particular circumstances.

Argue until your blue in the face on technology grounds etc, wrong driver, the industry works on getting the best return within the segment it targets. As that segments needs change, or even evaporate, so will the gaming houses shift their strategy or product. In the latter, technology finally comes into it - but only in the guise of how to service the targeted market segment. Technology is not the first and overiding factor, its often the last consideration because technology is a means to an end - not the end in itself, and will only be used to fill the need of the Gaming House to meet its Marget Segment strategy.

A world Wide User base of 500million+ thats not targeted to provide what they need ?? In the Long Term that will Never Happen. When Gaming Houses hit a market segment, it happens because of the Prime Driver Return on Investment, not Technology. The latter enables that Return on Investment, it does not in itself drive it.

Regards
Zy

There will never be a total death, but how long will companies that aren't indies stay in?

There may be 500+ million PCs, but that doesn't mean there are 500+ million PCs that someone will be willing to play a game on. You can't count userbase that way. You can on consoles, because people buy consoles to play games (90% of the time). But most PCs never see anything more than Minesweeper or Solitaire.



That's a flat-out falsehood. Making high-end graphics is more expensive nowadays than it was 5 years ago. It's harder, due to diminished returns on hardware performance and the ever-present danger of falling into the Uncanny Valley. And the cost of graphics is very dependent on the kind of game you're making.

If your game is set in space, with ships and such, then your costs are pretty low. Space is dark, with generally one very bright light source that produces very strong, sharp shadows. And the emptiness of space means that one ship shadowing another is unlikely enough so that you shouldn't bother with it. These all combine to make space-based graphics relatively cheap.

Compare this to a modern FPS game. You need people, and people need animations. You just doubled your art staff right there, because now you need people who can not only model humans in reasonable detail, but animate their motions. Terrain needs to be textured, have appropriate dressing (detritus in cities, etc), and so forth. The more terrain you have, the more art staff/time you need.

Freelancer did that nicely, being a low-requirement space sim. It even won awards for art.

I'd love to see a single fact to back up this idiotic statement. Everything I've seen suggests that while Crysis's initial sales weren't that high, they exceeded sales expectations.

Neither the publisher, NOR the developer expected it to fly off store shelves. They expect it to sale continuously as people upgrade their computers eventually, ie: "Well I finally got a 9800, guess I'll go try Crysis".

Honestly, the stupid things people say.

In fact, here's a link you stupid ignoramuses: http://kotaku.com/351661/crysis-comeback-moves-1-million-copies

Pardon my insults, but stupidity deserves to be insulted.

So basically what you're saying is that consoles are awesome, because they're for 'normal' people who 'have lives', and computers are 'for losers'? You should also mention that reading books is 'too boring' and 'for fags', and TV is clearly better.

I'd love to see how you can argue that 'not caring to learn' about something you have a direct interest in DOESN'T make you stupid, because the internet is clogged with these people. If I didn't care to learn how to type without using shorthand moron-speak like 'u', 'ur', 'ne1', 'm8', etc. that doesn't make me a 'smart person' who just didn't care enough to learn how to type. In fact, the very definition of 'smart' is usually characterized by someone who is quick to learn, and has a lot of knowledge. The antonym of 'smart' being 'stupid'.

99% of the planet doesn't care about Quantum Theory, so I guess that makes Quantum Physicists just as stupid as everyone else.

Are you going to say someone who thinks books are gay and can barely read at a high school level isn't undereducated, ignorant, and stupid?

No, not 'caring' DOES make you stupid, in addition to lazy.

Consoles are better sellers because most of the human population is stupid and lazy. Hell, just look at the 'best games' for consoles - they're the stupidest, most formulaic, unimaginative, dumb-jock-focused games around.

The best analogy with 'console vs. pc' is comparing someone who likes racing to someone who doesn't.

I have a Hyundai Sonata. It doesn't go very fast. It's reliable, but I also don't drive around at 180mph, revving my engine at red lights, or tell people that I do.

Consoles are basically people who go buy a Honda Civic with a big spoiler on the back, drive around letting off the gas and then flooring it so it seems like they have a manual, and then tell people how fast they drive.

Someone who has a serious interest in racing is going to need a good car, and therefore, should have the know-how about maintaining, building, and customizing a car to do so.

As far as racing goes, I'm an idiot. But I also don't PRETEND to be a racer. That is the difference between consoles and PC.