Mass Deduction (née scrapking)'s discussions

"A push in any way by Microsoft against used games would likely be cheered from publishers sick of seeing retailers like GameStop crow about their revenues from the sale of used games. But it could potentially anger consumers who rely on buying cheaply-sold used games or even pass games to relatives or friends." Read more

It's a neat story, and made me wistful for the way game saves were displayed in the Dashboard on the original Xbox, among other things. Read more

I take it you haven't read any of his previous articles on Kotaku? He talks as much (maybe more) about how great his "look" is (ie, apparel and hair style) than he does about gaming topics, from what I can tell. Read more

I would never use something like MegaUpload. Fans of Stargate SG-1 are now denied new installments in the series because each successive DVD release was more and more popular through torrent sites, while correspondingly selling less and less with each installment. And don't get me started on the Dreamcast, how games… Read more

Sony doesn't warranty dead pixels, at least didn't for the PSP, unless you have a huge number of them (and even then it's tough). Read more

Anything higher than 2-3% this early into the system's life is an absolute disaster. The Xbox 360 hadn't hit 10%, or anything close, this early into it's life despite the RRoD. Read more

Be honest, how do you *really* feel? Read more

I agree. But what I really want to know is, what's a pram? Read more

What episode is that from?! Read more

Anonymous vaguely, sort of, kind of has the tiniest shred of credibility if they're attacking threats to internet freedom. When they're protesting a piracy site coming down, they have absolutely zero credibility. Read more

If I said "a couple came in" most people would think I meant they were boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife, etc., which might have confused the issue. By all appearances they were father/daughter, though you can never be certain about these things when you don't know the people. Read more

My cable provider has the most recent couple of episodes available for a huge swatch of shows available "on demand" through the cable box, in case you miss an episode somehow. Read more

I'd read it. Every article. Read more

I had a thought the other day about a Kinect-powered home in a different sense. Seniors, living alone, and vulnerable to being hurt with a fall (ie. the old "I've fallen and I can't get up!" meme) could benefit hugely from a Kinect-based safety system. Among other things, it could: Read more

"The move wouldn't just impact Xbox Live, it would affect the Zune Marketplace and Windows Phone users as well." Read more

It's worth noting that third-party (and occasionally first-party) screens that bolt onto game consoles have been available for several console generations now. I have a 7" widescreen Mad Catz one, for example. They're likely intended for university dorm rooms, LAN parties, etc., though, rather than public places. Read more

I generally refer to these kinds of leaderboards as "the No Life List" because they reward the amount of time you put into it as much, if not more than, your actual ability. Read more

I'm glad it wasn't just me. I got less certain of what I was reading the longer I read it. Read more

Studies have consistently shown that, at least in the Western world, the beauty ideal that women aspire to is thinner than the beauty ideal that the average hetero man prefers in women. Read more

For me, the crazy thing is that I wouldn't *want* anyone to look like that, even if they could. *shudder* Read more