Since that would put an end to religion, I approve.

I think I'd rather stick to engines that actually, say, can be played on computers and consoles of today.

If only the different companies decided to collaborate on making that, it'd be sick just to see how well it would perform! That and it might just blow dated systems out of the water

You guys think too much of how computers work today.
The last 50 or so years computers have been based on more or less the same concept, but at some point dramatic changes in both design and concept will be needed to reduce energy usage, heat output and increase the amount of data computed per second. Not to mention that today's processing units are on the verge of hitting the physical limits of the chemicals they're built with.

Quantum computing is one innovation, but they won't go mainstream any time soon.

I' started playing games since Doom 1 and startted modding soon after. 16 years on and things have definetly changed ALOT! Graphics look better and phyics behave more reallistically, but gameplay just hasn't evolved so much. The industry is now filled with people in it to make money, not because they have a passion for making games. Way back then there wasn't an industry, and as soon as people realised that you can buy Ferraries for making games, it became less about the game and more about business.

You are horribly wrong about the salary of developers, but it is pretty spot on with the publishers; they are the true evil of the industry.

So Carmack didn't (doesn't) own several Ferraries?

How dare you put Carmack, the co-founder of iD Software, the father of first person shooters and a damn good engine writer, into the same category as the typical game developer we only ever see mentioned by name in end-game credits? Not to mention he is the only big name in the industry who has enough of a brain to believe in the power of open-source software and how much it can not only help people new to the industry but also his own legacy work.

I think it's safe to say that SB was just joking, Bjossi. >_>

What we can agree on was that EA previous CEO was an idiot for money. I don't know much about the current guy if he's trying anything really different. All I know is that NFS hasn't announced a new game yet, so that might actually be a change done by him. FYI, Need for Speed usually ha a game come out every year, since at least the Underground series started. >_>

He is, just look at recent masterpieces like Dead Space and Mirror's Edge. The latter was a huge risk money-wise due to the very unusual gameplay, yet they went along and sent it out. Due to those two games alone I respect EA for their interest in making games for the sake of making a fun experience rather than just concentrating on the money side and making only games that are known to sell well.

EA do have a few strategies that I'm not happy with, but that is more or less infecting the entire industry, like platform exclusive games/DLC/etc. for example.

My only problem with EA is their rather absurd Digital Rights Management. It makes it harder to play for those who actually buy the game.

Though it is mainly a response to the damn people who pirate software instead of forking over the cash.

EA released a small program not too long ago that eases up the DRM for all of their games released before a certain date.

And I fully agree, I respect publishers' will to protect their games, I do not respect people who are too cheap and/or impatient to shell out a few bucks. Admittedly we are only supporting the retailer when buying our games from the store in the area, but with our support we are encouraging them to buy another shipment and future titles from the same developer/publisher. I think we legal buyers have a reason to be proud, we are the ones who are keeping the industry alive.

On a similar note, the worst thing we can do is to pirate a game in answer to the DRM. After all the goal of DRM is to make the pirating of games so time consuming and frustrating that many of the pirates simply go out and buy it because it is much less painful. If legal buyers keep buying games despite the DRM and some pirates join our side, it will obviously lead to a reduction of piracy. And that is the key to open the door to DRM-free gaming.

However, pirates are not the main source of the problem in my opinion. I believe the source lies in the reason people pirate games to begin with; that is when not taking DRM into account. And that reason is simple; continent-sensitive releases. Valve sent out a great article about this. There is absolutely no logical reason why releases are continent-sensitive, yet publishers keep doing it, encouraging people in the countries that get the game several weeks later to not bother waiting and just download the cracked version made by one of the players that lives in the continent that got the game early. This kind of self-destructive publishing strategy I do not understand at all. Not only would a worldwide release kill one of the main reasons games are being pirated (apart from DRM of course), but also make the entire world have to wait equally long for the game to be cracked, making numbers of sales go up noticeably.

The only way to end an infinite loop is to make the statement false; one of the factors contributing to the loop has to step down and change their ways COMPLETELY to the opposite. Will it be the pirates who stop pirating games? Or will it be the publishers who both stop using DRM and make worldwide releases from now on?

Didn't know that ME was actually done under him at the time. But yes, experimental and very fun actually. A few things here and there, but most of the problems did lay with just a few random dumb bugs. They all are non-essential and make you laugh really. One time I ended up rolling on the edge of a building when I was supposed to grab it. Mind you, I did grab it after that roll, but I was still able to stop on the edge of a building and roll randomly.

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I wonder when they'll start making their games able to play split-screen again. That's one of the main reasons I didn't buy Burnout Paradise and why I was kinda upset with NASCAR 08 when I did get that one.

The primary source of piracy here comes from bored, middle/upper class Americans who don't "have the time" to buy games anymore. A common excuse I hear from people here is that they would rather not "waste" their money on games they can pirate and get for free.

The sad thing is that most of the money in question isn't even owned by the kids. It's the parents' money that they'd rather spend on hardware upgrades that can't be pirated.

It's this kind of lazy and hedonistic attitude that gets me angry at my friends who do pirate. It's really a shame. I highly doubt these people will stop their antics, so in my eye the only way to stop piracy is to develop a much more efficient DRM system. From what I've seen so far, EA isn't really making their system more efficient. It's just frustrating both the commercial buyers and the pirates.

although i see piracy as a way to get back at DRM's, i would rather buy the retail/Steam game then pirate games.
i don't see pirating video games as an excuse to save a few bucks or so they can sit on there lazy asses all day.
unreasonably Overpriced Software i can understand, but why you gotta pirate videogames?
i dont think you Deserve to be a if you pirate a game instead of buying it.
i still hate DRM's though.

also, a somewhat related comic :

The problem is that no matter how powerful DRM is, it will eventually be cracked with the help of reverse engineering. There is no realistic way to avoid that, the best one can do is to make it difficult and time consuming.

Though I sure hope publishers will send out patches or programs that disable the DRM of their old titles when they're no longer "hot" and selling well. Although it is easy enough to find cracks if the time comes that a game is unplayable due to DRM, an official workaround is always preferable.

I'm not insulting the early developers or anything, i'm simply pointing out that later developers have sunk into a commercial/crappy cycle. Carmack is a big inspiration.

Yup, Carmack is a definite exception from the pattern. People like Ken Levine, Cliffy B, you name it; they are all cringe-worthy graphics whores that always go the safe routes.