Yes Rocky, an apologist. *rolleyes*
So what exactly should be illegal here?
Should it be illegal for BB to offer to update firmware for customers? I don't think anyone will argue that.
Should it be illegal for BB to charge a price for the firmware update? I think some might argue on this point, so let's consider.
It would be very nice and generous of BB to give free firmware updates to any customer, hell, just throw them on every system before it hits the door.
But then reality sets in, updating firmware does take time, someone has to open the box, plugin the system, stick a thumbdrive in, start the update, then test the system for functionality when it's done. I suppose in an ideal world teams of angels would do this for no pay at all. In this world, people have to eat, pay rent, and hire hookers - all of which require money, meaning they're billing BB for their work on this. And honestly, margins on hardware like this aren't exactly high.
"But, this is something I can do in 10 minutes at home."
Ok, great, so perhaps it should be illegal to charge for a service someone could do on their own. I mean, I'm quite skilled at electrical work (an MS in EE) so installing my own ceiling fan, or circuit breaker, no problem. Those professional electricians charging for it - throw their asses in prison. Oh yea, and I'm more than capable of repairing my own automobile (picked up the ASE cert for fun a long time ago) so, put the mechanics in the cell next to the electricians. Alongside the plumbers, and ...
I think we can agree that making it illegal to charge for a service, even one someone could perform themselves, isn't a good idea.
So then what? Oh I know, it's the amount.
I understand, Toshi down there is willing to do it for $5, and Goldwing for $1! How dare BB charge 30.
For that matter, I charge consulting fees to companies for my work in engineering, I charge $90/hour or more depending on the contract. My PhD advisor, charges up to $250/hour. Maybe we should be in prison, afterall, someone would do it for $5, I'm sure.
Price is determined by market willingness, if enough people pay $30 for BB to make money, then it works.
The only thing that should be, and IS illegal is misleading a customer. If BB or it's employees were to falsely give the impression that the updates could not be acquired free - then yea, round up the posse and call the AG. Otherwise ... live and let live.
So what exactly should be illegal here?
Should it be illegal for BB to offer to update firmware for customers? I don't think anyone will argue that.
Should it be illegal for BB to charge a price for the firmware update? I think some might argue on this point, so let's consider.
It would be very nice and generous of BB to give free firmware updates to any customer, hell, just throw them on every system before it hits the door.
But then reality sets in, updating firmware does take time, someone has to open the box, plugin the system, stick a thumbdrive in, start the update, then test the system for functionality when it's done. I suppose in an ideal world teams of angels would do this for no pay at all. In this world, people have to eat, pay rent, and hire hookers - all of which require money, meaning they're billing BB for their work on this. And honestly, margins on hardware like this aren't exactly high.
"But, this is something I can do in 10 minutes at home."
Ok, great, so perhaps it should be illegal to charge for a service someone could do on their own. I mean, I'm quite skilled at electrical work (an MS in EE) so installing my own ceiling fan, or circuit breaker, no problem. Those professional electricians charging for it - throw their asses in prison. Oh yea, and I'm more than capable of repairing my own automobile (picked up the ASE cert for fun a long time ago) so, put the mechanics in the cell next to the electricians. Alongside the plumbers, and ...
I think we can agree that making it illegal to charge for a service, even one someone could perform themselves, isn't a good idea.
So then what? Oh I know, it's the amount.
I understand, Toshi down there is willing to do it for $5, and Goldwing for $1! How dare BB charge 30.
For that matter, I charge consulting fees to companies for my work in engineering, I charge $90/hour or more depending on the contract. My PhD advisor, charges up to $250/hour. Maybe we should be in prison, afterall, someone would do it for $5, I'm sure.
Price is determined by market willingness, if enough people pay $30 for BB to make money, then it works.
The only thing that should be, and IS illegal is misleading a customer. If BB or it's employees were to falsely give the impression that the updates could not be acquired free - then yea, round up the posse and call the AG. Otherwise ... live and let live.
@Donutta: While I won't share any particular sites (I'm not going to advertise this sort of slimy business), there are auction sites that operate on this principle. You can find them advertising "$10 LCD TVS!" and such. Usually these sites use "bid tokens" where you pay a fixed amount to make a bid which is slightly less destructive, but the same problem: during the course of one auction you might make 10-15 bids, meaning you have 20-50 dollars that you can't get back riding on it. So you bid up attempting to get back your investment.
The reason it is actually reasonable to continue bidding here has to do with the "loser pays" stipulation. To make this more clear, change the values to $1000 to win. Now, you bid say $900, which means you could win $100, sounds good.
But then someone bids $999.
You're stuck now - if you let it go then you lose 900! But if you bid 1000 you break even. So you bid; winning nothing is much better than losing 900. But the opponent now has a problem. They can either lose 999, or they can bid again, and if they win then, they only lose 1. The rationalization is obvious here, it's much better to lose 1 than 999, so he bids...
The same problem now passes to you, you can flat out lose 1000 or lose 2 ...
Much like thermonuclear warfare, and tic-tac-toe, the only way to win is not to play.
@GusherKid: That's not a blender, it's a mixer, and a damned good one at that. I paid over $250 for mine and that was a good deal, so getting one at $70 is practically bloody stealing it.
@Autobahn Bismarck: No no no, it would be a Hardy Boys Brawler, with the brothers, Biff and Chet as playable characters, each with signature combos.
Callie (or Iola depending on which brother is player 1) will be kidnapped, and dad will be out of town on a secret case involving Soviet spies. After finding out your almost-sorta-but-not-really girlfriend is in the other seedy dive, the team will need to brawl through 36 levels of Bayport and surrounding areas to uncover a secret plot between modern pirates, Soviets, and the mad Dr. Harlon who works at the Museum of Natural History. The final scene will show the rescued girl give an embarrassed kiss on the cheek to her hero and run off giggling.
And now that I've described it, that actually sounds like a cool idea.
Somebody better get to work on this.
@Witzbold: You think that is different anywhere else? People are ignorant and oblivious throughout the world.
That said, I think the US (where I'm from) has a firm lead on production of ignorant twats.
@RPharazonius: I'm all for this as well.
Considering that I have never bothered to fully complete the majority of games I have purchased (generally I end up getting bored of the game before then) if the company is willing to sell me everything but the end-boss for $30-40 and then sell the end boss as DLC for an extra $20 I come out a winner by only buying the endings for games I bother to get that far in, and saving money on all the rest.
@LittleCupcakes: SimFarm was good stuff ... but somehow I always ended up an orange farmer. Seemed like no matter what the weather, or the market forces, oranges ended up as the high profit crop.
@-Scrixx-: And how.
I'm just surprised they haven't found more of this. That's one of the first things I realized RMT in MMOs could be used for.
A few BS accounts and some nonsense "sword of ultimate doom" sales and you can move a lot of money from dirty to clean.
@Bob6k: Actually, he's probably just mad that the ads are threatening his job security.
After all, if people can get their dose of irrational fear and gnawing worry for free, why would they buy his rag?
@belo: Your heretical sandwichery fascinates me.
@onidavin: So you were in the Wii aisle at Wal-mart I take it...
Yea, I really hate those low-quality Wii games that they keep shipping on Laserdisc.
At least with the seal, I know the game will fit in the drive! And that says "quality" to me!
@SanityMask: No this is more like the murder novelist interviewing a real murderer to get a better character depiction.
And since a number of novelists have done just that, I don't see the problem.
One would hope at the 10 year anniversary that she is MRS. mlazy...
@Razgriz1: So instead of making a random snide comment, mind elaborating on what problems you seem to have with home schooled students?
@Robotube: It WOULD be considered rude not do give some form of hospitality to a client-guest. This may not necessarily be a hostess club, but a night out drinking somewhere is standard.
Further, this isn't just for the client, but also for the company employees; they get a night out on the company tab, it's a sort of bonus for being in the right positions.
And is he seriously acting like a couple thousand dollars spent on night entertaining is something worth discussing? Expenses at that level are common to business entertaining world-wide, the only difference is in the local choice of venue.
I think it's a visual metaphor:
The PS3 is cutting away the stereotypical gamer, and putting it in the hands of marginally attractive females.
Either that or someone needs to lay off the shrooms.
Somehow I think this is a really poor idea. This title is one of the big pushes for Sony, and with a major component like this missing at launch, I can foresee a lot of complaining and general ill feelings about it.
I think it would be better to delay the release until this content can be provided simultaneously.
@beeporama (brian.j.parker): Yea, my guess would be that sharing was the primary distribution vector for those games. I seem to remember getting zork on a floppy from a friend.
