Mass Deduction (née scrapking)'s discussions

Harry Turtledove's "Supervolcano Eruption" is $27.50 new, and I bought it on Kobo for $13.99. I'm sure there are exceptions, but if you bought all your books without exception on paper (new), or bought all your books without exception as e-books, I think you'd find the e-books cheaper overall. Used books might be… Read more

Tibet was conquered. Taiwan was not. They're in radically different situations. Read more

I had the same reaction, but couldn't quite put my finger on it! Read more

I now buy e-books, as they're more attractively prices, and you can read them on almost any device imagineable now. Failing that, it's been in print for 40 years, and can probably be found at almost every used book store and flea market in the Western world. Read more

Yes, and the new Xbox is likely to launch in 2013 making it even easier to meet those performance goals at that price point. Read more

The validity of Moore's Law isn't in dispute, so much as it's been suggested that (starting in late 2013) it will extend out to transistors doubling every three years. The 2 year doubling is expected to stay constant until 2013, though. Read more

My favourite Paul Scheer skit was made for Funny or Die: [www.funnyordie.com] Read more

His K:D ratio, eh?

Moore's law suggests the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years, meaning it should have increased (versus autumn 2005) approximately 12x by autumn 2012, and approximately 16x by autumn 2013. More transistors doesn't directly translate to… Read more

You make interesting points... but when Call of Duty sells better on a 6 year old console than it does on modern PCs, and with no end in sight for that trend, it raises the question who in the gaming industry cares? Read more

Epic had a lot of leverage prior to that. They were the ones that convinced Microsoft to double the 360's memory prior to launch (and thank goodness for that). Read more

"Furthermore, anyone picking up that license has an absolutely Sisyphean task awaiting them in the PlayStation 3 market. MLB 2K's repeated shortcomings, and frankly, its poorer visual quality by comparison, have helped make MLB The Show into a striking rarity: a sports video game capable of selling a console. A… Read more

How many hours did you put into the five-page application over the coruse of that week, would you guess? Read more

Here's the full original version of the song used in the Fall of Cybertron trailer. (Love that trailer, BTW).

Which box set has the original theatrical cut of Star Wars? That movie has a ridiculous number of cuts too (the original VHS cut was subtly different, as was the original Laser Disc cut, as was the original TV broadcast, etc.). Read more

I am aware of that element of the ToS, which is why I said theoretically forever. Yes, there has to be a business case for it, and my hope is that XBLA, Games on Demand, XBLIG, DLC, using it to consume music/movies/tv shows, and all of the rest of the digital content on the 360 will keep it well supported for a long… Read more

"I'm glad you all want to take your sons - but TAKE YOUR DAUGHTERS TOO."

At least with Blade Runner, you can get the original version(s) still, which you can't with older versions of Star Wars (short of buying up the old VHS tapes). Read more

That's a good point. X-marks-the-spot, and X is used to indicate you were wrong on a test. X is used as an affirmation on forms, but a big red X is also used to denote a repudiation of something. Lots of examples both ways with X. Read more

Actually, instead of a retailer mark-up you have a Sony mark-up. Depending on the price point and the network, the content owner loses 30-70% of the sale. The App Store, XBLIG indie games, and more take 30% for their troubles to distribute to you, but XBLA takes more (well, more to the point, they don't allow… Read more