Posted 11/22/2008 at 07:52:58am

Microsoft bundles new versions of DirectX with new versions of Windows only to strong-arm gamers into buying into their new operating systems. Microsoft will shove another version of Halo requiring DirectX 11 out the door, and will force a couple developers to port their games to the new API, perhaps bankrupting them in the process.

Operating systems should develop in response to market need, not corporate greed.

I don't give a rat's ass about DirectX 11. Any first-generation video card that supports it in hardware is going to do so only very poorly, as has been the case as long as I can remember--it takes over a year for video card manufacturers to catch up to Microsoft's latest and greatest debacle. DirectX 10 was a pig, and I'm sure 11 will just be more of the same.

Posted 10/26/2008 at 07:25:51am

Kids...

The problem here is that these kids don't read. It's just not 1337.

Posted 10/16/2008 at 07:20:16am

DRM always misses the mark. Why do publishers waste money on systems that are circumvented within hours, failing to provide the intended protections? Why not turn that expense into revenue?

What hold do these companies (Sony, Protection Technology, Macrovision, etc.) have over publishers?

I remember buying No One Lives Forever, and the copy protection on it kept it from running on any machine I tried. I think they disabled the game if you had a CD burner or more than one CD drive. You actualy had to install a no-cd crack to play the game you bought.

Things seem to have only gotten worse. Most DRM schemes remain on your PC even after you uninstall the games they came with. Most DRM schemes interfere with the normal operation of a PC. I am not the least bit surprised that people download cracked versions of games just to avoid installing SecuROM and the like on their machines.

I don't want to rip off the game developers, but I can see a point at which I might stop buying games to avoid the spyware, root kits, and other nastiness altogether. If I want to play a game but need to protect my machine from DRM, I'll find a way to do so.

Posted 10/11/2008 at 10:43:43am

Didn't MPC write that you should go with XP for a new machine, rather than Vista? I remember the advice being to continue using Vista if you have it, but buy XP if you're putting a new machine together.

Why use Vista? Unless you need more than 4Gb of RAM, I don't get it.

Posted 10/04/2008 at 06:17:23am

I don't steal games. I don't believe in cheating programmers out of their due.

But if this crap keeps up, I'm going to start. I have enough problems without having these jerks installing spyware to cripple and monitor my computer.

Posted 09/21/2008 at 07:15:06pm

Oh, puh-lease....

When you strip the bloat out of Windows, a $300 console can out-perform a $2000 PC.

The only thing Windows has done well consistently over the years was slow PCs to a crawl.

Posted 09/21/2008 at 06:58:46pm

Bad design; probably a marketing decision that places the meaningless notion of "brand recognition" over and above functionality--like most everything else in Windows, now that I think about it.

Monitors are expanding horizontally, not vertically. You can't eat up the top quarter of the screen with a bloated tool bar! Look how much empty space it has! Working on anything with a portrait layout will suck. Does Word lose this much space at the top of the screen, too? Unless we start printing in landscape orientation on 8.5 x 14" legal paper, this kind of layout makes no sense--it's a poor fit to the final product.

The movement of monitors to widescreen formats should be followed by program layouts that maximize the new formats: move toolbars to the sides of the screen and free up vertical space.

Apple seems to make much better interfaces, much more elegant design decisions.

Posted 09/21/2008 at 05:55:57am

If the PC is really supposed to be fun, then why is Microsoft trying to kill off PC gaming?

Windows performance in gaming has always been a mojor hurdle. The OS slows PCs to a crawl, and subsequent versions are simply slower, more bloated versions. The Games for Windows branding is mere lip service. If Microsoft was genuinely concerned with the image of the PC or Windows, the company would have addressed performace years ago. Instead, the operating system is overflowing with useless features and services that run when they don't need to, sucking the life right out of the PC.

Add to this history the strong-arm tactics used to push Vista into the market years before it was ready, throttling supplies of Windows XP, binding DirectX 10 to a broken OS, and a very clear image of Microsoft comes into focus. There is absolutely nothing consumer-friendly about Microsoft or the PC.

It will take more than a cheesy commercial to fix what is wrong with Windows.

Posted 09/20/2008 at 12:13:56pm

I copied a game once: Turok 2, because I couldn't find a way to buy it (it was old). I couldn't play it, anyway, because it gave me motion sickness while playing (the only game that ever did that).

Otherwise, I don't download or copy games, because I know how hard the guys have to work when making them. I'm not stealing from a guy who's had to work 100-hour weeks. Those guys deserve to get paid, unlike a Britney Spears, who gets rich just spreading her legs and being a brain-dead tease.

I wouldn't steal as a lame protest; besides, truth is that people who claim to be doing that are just looking to rationalize their stealing in the first place.

I have installed the same game on the same PC a lot more than three times. I play them, remove them, move on to something else. If it was a particularly good game, I come back to it after a few months. I wouldn't want to have to call someone and ask permision to play a game I bought.

In the end, I agree that this level of DRM only hurts honest customers. Pirates are going to install hacked copies and not be bothered by the DRM one bit. Publishers need to find a better way and stop wasting money on systems that don't really stop anyone.

Posted 09/18/2008 at 05:47:03pm

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.

I am so glad I didn't waste more than a couple bucks on Vista. Haven't even installed it!

I wonder if they will ever come up with a way to turn down the Windows bloat slowing PCs down while playing games? As it is, you need at least twice the computing power as a cheap console to get the same quality of experience.

Bet Halo 3 will only run on Windows 7 with DirectX 11 (also only available with Windows 7).Maybe Microsoft will put yet another game developer out of business, too, anchoring them to the new OS?