Weekend tech reading: Hiring collusion between tech giants, building a car that can hit 1,000mph

Are they stupid! As if the current world land speed record wasn't dangerous enough. Hell there are only a few locations somewhat suitable for testing.

 

Poe's law is in effect. I can't tell if you're being serious or sarcastic.

That said, the LSR is one of the more pointless engineering competitions, IMO. While I appreciate a wheeled vehicle that can hit extremely high top speeds, anything above 190-300mph becomes pretty useless in professional and amateur racing and certainly in consumer vehicles; an NHRA drag strip doesn't have the length for 1,000mph and the Autobahn can't handle it. It makes for a nice bullet point, but not much else.

 

Indeed

I still want to see a challenge organised by Top Gear to see how long it takes a woman to parallel park

 

I think that Cliffski article on games sales was unnecessarily harsh. For myself and my closest gaming friends, discount sales hasn't changed my game purchasing habits. I will still pay full price for 5-6 new release games per year (although I do try to get in on pre-purchase discounts). And when Steam or Humble Bundle sales roll around, it gives me an opportunity to pick up games that I had SOME interest in, but not enough to shell out full price for. At a minimum, I'm supporting the gaming community by purchasing games on sale and extending the life of game developers.

Do I have games in my library that I'll probably never play? More than likely. Was it a bad thing I bought them? No - because those games are usually bought in package deals and I just chalk it up to my donation to keep the gaming industry alive.

In a nutshell, some money given back to the developers via sales is better than no money given due to no sales.

 

Funny you should mention that dividebyzero. Here's what I saw the other day:

Our office gym looks out onto the street and while jogging on the treadmill I saw this three days ago:

A young lady (probably early 20's) pulls up in her small SUV and tries to parallel park. Didn't need to parallel park, there was plenty of room for her just to pull in, but she decided to parallel park anyway. Or not.

Her first try she ends up a good 3 feet from the curb. Turns the car off and starts to leave before she realizes that half of her car is out in the street. And for the next twelve minutes (I kid you not because I was watching the timer on the treadmill), she proceeds to roll back and forth, twisting the wheel this way and that, getting out to stare, then climbing back in, and accomplishing nothing but remaining 3 feet out. Finally she gets pissed enough, noses the front of the car to the curb and leaves it like that with the *** end of the car out in the street.

Working in downtown Seattle, not 2-3 days go buy and I see someone (usually it's a woman - sorry ladies), trying to parallel park with about the same results as this young lady. The most fun ones to watch is where they kick the kids out of the car, make one kid stand at one end or the car and one stand at the other and wave wildly trying to guide the driver into the spot. Which still doesn't work.

Is this some sort of Jedi mind trick that many people struggle with? Do they even teach parallel parking in driver's ed anymore?

 

"Gamers are being played, played like a ****ing piano, every time you see the word SALE. This is a big psychology trick that is being used to siphon money from gamers, and it’s a bad thing, and if we can (and I think we probably can’t) we should stop it."

On the other hand, this guy is a developer that wants you to pay full price for anything and everything. He wants to do the same thing to gamers only on the other end of the spectrum. If someone wants to buy a game and not play it, that is their choice.

 

Although I agree with you, I think the real point of criticism here is that he has absolutely no idea what he's talking about.

 

Let's say they manage to get that top speed. Did they start thinking about thrust reverser for braking? I can imagine that they will be running out of track in no time in the desert, where they previously set records. Going fast is great. But I'd appreciate it if they could also come up with braking power that is usable every time instead of using a parachute

 

Let's say they manage to get that top speed. Did they start thinking about thrust reverser for braking? I can imagine that they will be running out of track in no time in the desert, where they previously set records. Going fast is great. But I'd appreciate it if they could also come up with braking power that is usable every time instead of using a parachute

 

I agree with both of you. The guy is a complete douchebag. Trying to get people to pay $50.00 again by using the mentality that if people had to pay $50 a game they would invest more time in it and as result they would enjoy the game more is crazy. I have a theory that the days of getting $50+ dollars for a new video game are "over, snap back to reality". Except for a niche group of people, I.e. hardcore gamers, people who lack discipline, and people with more money than brains.The number of available quality games today keeps growing, and growing. There is no shortage of choice and no shortage of quality. This is the information age and that's only gonna get worse. No Mr. Cliffski, sales aren't to be interpreted as "tricks". Otherwise, when you looked the word sale up in the dictionary it would say, "Beware, sales are tricks". Gamers have it better now than at any time in history. Download what they want, when they want, almost instantly. I have PC games I haven't even opened. GTA 3:San Andreas comes to mind. Witcher 1 also. I could go on about the stupidty of the authors argument but its pretty plain to see. Gamers aren't being played like a pinao. They are simply taking advantage of all the world has to offer at this moment in time.
If blame is to be placed on anybody, it's gamers for a lack of self-control.Not Valve software or anybody else offering a discount after a certain time. Who is going to pay $50 for a 10 year old game anyway? Who is going to pay $50 for a 5-year old game? Not gonna happen.

If there is a sale on twinkies at the grocery store does is that somebody playing me like a piano also?

Edit: Btw, I forgot to mention this to "CliffordB". I paid $35 for San Andreas when it came out relatively early after it's release but not day 1. I got Witcher 1 for free, thats "free" with a videocard purchase. Both games are unopened, unplayed to this day. So my investment of $35 didn't make me think of it any differently. It doesn't make me want to play the one I paid big bucks for any more than the one I got for free. Game Over Clifford. "YOU LOSE"! I am sorry Clifford but all the Unreal 4 engine games that are released will not be purchased by me for anymore than $10.00. Who am I kidding. I probably won't even pay $5. I'll wait for a Steam sale when they are $2.49 like I did for Bioware's Star Wars games. Why? Because when on day 1 of any new release there are 100 other triple AAA games that I can get for $10.00 or less. And that's exactly what I am going do if I want. While I sit patiently in the shadows waiting for the value of your new game to plummet to the bottom of the ocean like a heavy anchor. Sorry, but this is one of those laws of supply and demand and it is irrefutable. There are hundreds of games competing for my money. It's a buyers market. And in a digital world. The leverage will only constantly shift in a positive direction towards the gamer. In other words, the gamer becomes more powerful as the developers become less powerful.

But think of this in a positive manner Cliffy. It's nice writing a single game and getting paid a million times for it years after you stopped working on it. Even if it is $2.49.

 

Ugh, that CliffyB article. That dude is so out of touch with reality. AND he contradicts himself in his own article. Can we please stop looking to that guy like he's actually relevant anymore.

 

Never mind all these news items. The big news is what a mess the new Techspot layout looks this morning! It is now is virtually unreadable on my smartphone. It is nearly as bad as Toms Hardware.

 

Looks as if action has been taken as some of the issues have been fixed.

 

I think it's funny that everyone cares more about game prices than wage fixing.....