CobraA1

Reply to A few reasons why I'll never use Windows Vista again... in Personal Computing GalCiv2 Forums

You are right, it is annoying how some people claim that nothing can be changed: Vista has changed since its first release, and it will continue to change in the future. The major issues have largely gone away with the first service pack. Yes, it had some bugs upon first release, just like every other piece of software larger than a basic "hello world" program. But I find it unjustifiable that people are complaining that this is some sort of problem without a solution. Microsoft has alr

Reply to Why PC Gaming is Dying in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]These things were made to run on console-interfaces, not GUI's, so they've got fairly simple graphics, but their gameplay is extremely deep.[/quote] As a former Rogue/Nethack player, I'd say a better term would be "complex." They have little storyline, but complex gameplay. The levels were mostly randomly generated, with a couple pre-defined levels thrown in. It was rather frustrating how easy it was to die, though. [quote]For instance, most every movie game has very poo

Reply to A few reasons why I'll never use Windows Vista again... in Personal Computing GalCiv2 Forums

Yet another "why Vista sux" thread . . . [quote]User Account Control [UAC] - Microsoft stated that they built UAC for a specific purpose, to annoy you.[/quote] I think you lost some context there - it grabs your attention when something wants to take control of your system beyond what you should be comfortable with. Allowing this kind of control is what allows a lot of malware to get onto systems. Disabling UAC is disabling one of the biggest security improvements in Vista.<br/

Reply to Why PC Gaming is Dying in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Almost everybody's.[/quote] Popularity or ratings? How would you define "Indie?" Have you considered many teams that started as indie have become commercial? (for example, Counterstrike and Portal) I dunno, I'm seeing more small companies start to get more attention - Audiosurf, TrackMania, Gish, and some games using GarageGames' Torque engine have seen some attention. It does seem to be growing, and if the large companies start moving completely out of the PC market I t

Reply to Why PC Gaming is Dying in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

Okay, maybe we're not quite there yet, but the online markets for PC games are rapidly approaching the point where your arguments are going to be useless. Enjoy having the "upper hand" while it lasts.

Reply to Why PC Gaming is Dying in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]I was talking about graphics drivers.[/quote] Big whoop. You really only need to do it once, and it's more the manufacturers' fault than it is the PC itself. I'm sure it could easily be put into Windows Update if nVidia or ATI wanted to. [quote]That is, all SD/Steam games work instantly and nearly-flawlessly at the moment of release, just like Console games.[/quote] You mean the console games that had to sometimes be re-released with new disks in the past, or no

Reply to Corporate America’s rejection of Vista in Personal Computing GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Prettier too - {Grin}. [/quote] Try WindowsBlinds ;). You are, after all, in Stardock's forums. [quote]Linux is now a viable desktop OS, my games will run on XP, and no one has made a case for me to go from XP to Vista.[/quote] I pretty much quit using Linux because dual booting isn't my idea of fun, and Windows does what I need anyways. Vista has DirectX 10 for games, has a much faster search tool than XP, Aero is so much better than Luna, and don't forget

Reply to Why PC Gaming is Dying in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Why are there virtually no indie and no open source games that rank anywhere near the best of all time, then?[/quote] On whose list?

Reply to Why PC Gaming is Dying in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]A fast computer with a good videocard is not. You can be very functional with a computer built from $400 (without monitor, keyboard, etc). It can run just about anything very well (even Vista if you turn off the shiny bits), even playing DVDs and so forth. Media encoding, compiling large programs, and gaming are out of course, but everything else will be very fast.[/quote] You're starting to catch on - my computer can do a lot of things consoles can't. IMHO, that pretty much just

Reply to Why PC Gaming is Dying in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Except that you're spending far less and far less frequently. $250 is all you need for a Wii; $300 for the low-end 360. That will keep you set for gaming for the next 4-6 years (they are still releasing PS2 games a year and a half after PS3 came out and 2.5 years after 360).[/quote] That's just the console. They actually make most of their money by selling games. [quote] Which are likewise downloaded automatically.[/quote] My point is that, as far as ease of

Reply to Why PC Gaming is Dying in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Seriously though, £1000 every couple of years is all it takes to keep your computer up-to-date[/quote] That reminds me - just like PCs do, consoles get updated every couple of years. Nintendo is in its fifth generation (NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii), PlayStation is in its third, and Xbox in its second. It appears that that you're spending money regularly on consoles (and their games) on a regular basis, just like PCs. FYI, I probably spend less than than in a year on ke

Reply to Corporate America’s rejection of Vista in Personal Computing GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]I also find it odd that people never mention the positive sides to Vista - how many people have used "instant search"?[/quote] Agreed, there are advantages to using Vista. Instant search is cool, but it seems like the indexing happens at inconvenient times, causing my system to crawl unnecessarily. I would love to be able to schedule when indexing happens. There are a lot of small improvements in Vista. The troubleshooting is much improved, allowing the user to

Reply to 20,368 ships (lots of images) beta3 testing in Sins Modding Sins Forums

[quote]But most discussion's ive read in forums all dev's refer to a thread as a core, and from my programming if I make a program multi threaded (2 threads) it runs on 2 cores... It's how ive been taught, its what I understand/beleve. Education is different in America as to what it is here.[/quote] Hate to say this, but threads and cores are totally different. You were taught completely incorrectly. I also have programmed for multiple cores, and one of my current projects is th

Reply to Why PC Gaming is Dying in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]The only problem with expansion packs is that the original game is unfinished[/quote] Question: How many features does a game need to be deemed "finished?" The number of things you can add to a game is unlimited! [quote]Avoid anything EA makes.[/quote] Agreed. They seem to ruin every game they touch. They exert too much control over their developers.

Reply to Corporate America’s rejection of Vista in Personal Computing GalCiv2 Forums

Well, you can't exactly blame Microsoft for driver issues - it's the hardware manufacturers that make the drivers, not Microsoft. The only drivers Microsoft makes are a few generic drivers and drivers for their own hardware. All of which currently work great. Sorry, but that's just not Microsoft's fault. They've been pushing hard for the hardware manufacturers to release new drivers. Problem is, they have no direct control over the situation. But I am curious: Which hardware ar

Reply to Why PC Gaming is Dying in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

NOTE TO FORUM DESIGN CREW: OCCASIONALLY MY ENTIRE POST IS WIPED WHEN I HIT THE BACKSPACE KEY, AND GOING FORWARD DOES NOT RESTORE WHAT I TYPED. IT IS VERY ANNOYING. It's also annoying that the "edit" button randomly appears and dissapears. [quote]A "great" PC Game might sell 100,000 - 150,000 copies and of those at best 40% were sold at full price.[/quote] I'm not sure I totally believe those numbers. What's your source? [quote]But, guess what, the guys who pul

Reply to Why PC Gaming is Dying in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]The 9600GT is $130-$150.[/quote] Yup, and as the proud owner of one, it'll handle every game on the market right now. It'll even do Crysis decently at High settings. Just played a little bit of Halo 3 on another person's Xbox 360, and I'm very disappointed. Just like the games in the store, it's not antialiased. The stair step effect is everywhere. I'm sorry, but even my old GeForce 6800 was plenty capable if pulling off 4x AA with most games, and 2x with the most demand

Reply to Brad's life philosophy, for what it's worth in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]But...be careful. Having knowledge (and knowing it) easily leads to pride, and pride carries with it a host of bad stuff that could turn your American dream sour.[/quote] Agreed. Let your actions speak for you. Actions do indeed speak louder than words.

Reply to Corporate America’s rejection of Vista in Personal Computing GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]My guess is that Win7 will try to take advantage of the multicore CPUs that the hardware folks are cranking out.[/quote] What in the world are you talking about? Taking advantage of multiple CPUs is more about how the application software is designed, not how the OS is designed. XP and Vista are both aware of multiple CPU systems and can control which threads go to which CPUs. How do they [i]not[/i] take advantage of multiple CPUs? [quote]Vista is dumb because you need a

Reply to Will America always be a superpower? in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

. . . in any case, I'm done with this conversation, I guess. Debating stuff online is fun, but lately I've been looking at my clocks and it takes too much of my time. I should really cut back and get back to writing software, which is also something I love to do.

Reply to Brad's life philosophy, for what it's worth in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

That's it, I'm sold. When I finish my CS degree, I'm sending you my resume.

Reply to What do you think about LucasArt terrible excuse for not having The Force Unleashed on PC? in PC Gaming GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Unless you're the rare PC gamer who won't buy a console yet harbors a deep, burning passion for third-person action games.[/quote] I think I played such a game on a PC a long time ago, and liked it. I'm not sure the PC is such a bad platform for it, I think it's just that the PC has been saturated so much with other genres. Right now, the PC market is so dominated with MMORPGs, FPSes, and the occasional RTS that pretty much every other genre has been overshadowed. I do w

Reply to Will America always be a superpower? in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Please, do cite some credible sources to prove and validate this argument. [/quote] Okay, maybe I'm wrong - but do we know anything about how the people are chosen? Do we know if these people are representative of the nation as a whole? A few people selected to present their views is a pretty small statistical sample. Without knowing anything about how they are selected, we cannot be certain whether or not they are truly reflective of the entire Iraqi nation. [quote]

Reply to Will America always be a superpower? in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]A trade deficit is the first sign of a weak economy - when your nation begins to rely on overseas investments/goods to float itself, it's the first sign that something should be done.[/quote] This tends to be a tad situational: The goods that the Chinese produce we could likely produce ourselves, while the oil in the Middle East is something we're too dependent on. I think the USA, if we really needed to, could obtain most of the resources we need without trade. It would

Reply to Will America always be a superpower? in Everything Else GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]–are you sure we won? If so, please enlighten me, what when and how did we win?[/quote] Yes, I'm sure we overthrew the Iraqi government. [quote]I’ve seen countless reports and interviews of Iraquis saying that they wish Saddam was back because he now seems like the lesser of two evils.[/quote] Yes, you've seen people hand-picked for their hatred of us and interviewed by the media. [quote]- This intertwines with my previous comment; no one really plays b