Comments on: pc gaming is dead to me http://www.haibane.info/2008/06/19/pc-gaming-is-dead-to-me/ a celebration of science fiction, anime, and geek culture Fri, 21 Nov 2008 02:16:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Anachronda http://www.haibane.info/2008/06/19/pc-gaming-is-dead-to-me/#comment-1708 Anachronda Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:00:42 +0000 http://www.haibane.info/?p=1081#comment-1708 I'm also not much of a gamer; the only games I've gotten into have been Tetris on the Gameboy and World of Warcraft. I can't get too upset about Spore's check because WoW is known to be even more intrusive; it snoops around the memory of the PC you're running it on looking for things Blizzard doesn't think you should be running alongside WoW. Blizzard has set the intrusiveness bar pretty high, and I think it's going to be some time before anyone tops them. Since it's also extremely popular, I expect things to get worse before they get better. I've also been following Spore and thinking about taking a look at it. In my case, it's not the DRM, but the system requirements; Mission Control bought me a Mac Mini just a couple of months ago when she got tired of me complaining about my old PC (and also as part of a sinister plot to convince me to buy her an iMac) and the Mini doesn't look to be up to the task of running een the creature creator, let along the full-up game (haven't tried, though). Since the Mac Mini is brand spanking new and otherwise meets my needs, I doubt I'll be doing anything other than looking longingly at Spore for a while. I don't think Spore will run on my EEE, either... As for serious computing, I have my NetBSD box for that. I'm still suck in the minicomputer mindset. All I really need the Mac for is web browsing, telnet, WoW, and scanning the bills when it's time to balance the checkbook (which, oddly enough, I do with Windows under Parallels because HP's MacOS software for my scanner sucks even worse than their Windows software). Oh, yeah, also the odd scanning of 35mm negatives and post-processing into anaglyphs and lenticular prints because I have a couple of 3D cameras that aren't digital. The post-processing relies on a bunch of Windows programs I wrote, so they also get run under Parallels. I’m also not much of a gamer; the only games I’ve gotten into have been Tetris on the Gameboy and World of Warcraft. I can’t get too upset about Spore’s check because WoW is known to be even more intrusive; it snoops around the memory of the PC you’re running it on looking for things Blizzard doesn’t think you should be running alongside WoW.

Blizzard has set the intrusiveness bar pretty high, and I think it’s going to be some time before anyone tops them. Since it’s also extremely popular, I expect things to get worse before they get better.

I’ve also been following Spore and thinking about taking a look at it. In my case, it’s not the DRM, but the system requirements; Mission Control bought me a Mac Mini just a couple of months ago when she got tired of me complaining about my old PC (and also as part of a sinister plot to convince me to buy her an iMac) and the Mini doesn’t look to be up to the task of running een the creature creator, let along the full-up game (haven’t tried, though). Since the Mac Mini is brand spanking new and otherwise meets my needs, I doubt I’ll be doing anything other than looking longingly at Spore for a while.

I don’t think Spore will run on my EEE, either…

As for serious computing, I have my NetBSD box for that. I’m still suck in the minicomputer mindset.

All I really need the Mac for is web browsing, telnet, WoW, and scanning the bills when it’s time to balance the checkbook (which, oddly enough, I do with Windows under Parallels because HP’s MacOS software for my scanner sucks even worse than their Windows software). Oh, yeah, also the odd scanning of 35mm negatives and post-processing into anaglyphs and lenticular prints because I have a couple of 3D cameras that aren’t digital. The post-processing relies on a bunch of Windows programs I wrote, so they also get run under Parallels.

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