Time for another segment of Good News/Bad News, but in the spirit of the new year, we thought we'd give you the Bad News first, followed by the Good News.
Xbox Dead
Bad News: Xbox Live players experienced dozens of hours of downtime this past weekend, believed to be due to thousands of new post-Christmas players on the system.
Good News: The shut-out players returned to the holiday activities that they led in their days before video games took over their lives: football and that Futurama marathon they ran on Cartoon Network.
Jack Thompson Hates Army Men
Bad News: Videogame opponent Jack Thompson claims there is an "unholy alliance" between the gaming industry and the U.S. Department of Defense, teaching "an entire generation of kids that war is glamorous, cool, desirable and consequence-free."
Good News: The IRS is hoping that computer programs like TurboTax will make an entire generation of kids think that paying taxes is glamorous, cool, desirable and consequence-free.
Retailer Becomes Scalper
Bad News: One videogame retailer took their allotment of Wii consoles and scalped them on eBay, rather than offering them at regular retail prices to their customers.
Good News: At least they didn't make their female employees model the units in skimpy clothes. Remember this from last year?
That Love Letter You Wrote In 1996 Is Going Away...
Bad News: Microsoft is modifying Microsoft Office 2003 so Service Pack 3 can no longer open Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Access files created in a format earlier than Office 97.
Good News: You finally have the justification to stop using Microsoft Office. Instead use the FREE OpenOffice, which will gladly read all your ancient Office files now and in the future.
...And So Is Netscape
Bad News: Development is being halted on the Netscape browser Feb. 1, AOL announced last week.
Good News: Netscape hasn't been on the cutting edge of browser development since about 1997. In fact the latest version was just a reskinned version of Firefox.
Now Everyone's a Crook
Bad News: In a supplemental brief responding to questions from the judge in an Arizona music piracy case, RIAA lawyer Ira M. Schwartz says that the simple act of moving your music from CD to a computer is also an "unauthorized copy" that incurs legal liability.
Good News: "By claiming that reasonable, legal behavior is theft, the RIAA trivializes piracy," writes Wired blogger Rob Beschizza. "This is a fatal act of self-destruction. This will result in more law-abiding people thinking 'screw it' and doing it themselves. After all, when everyone is already a pirate because they 'stole' music from their own CD collections, why not add a few more counts on top?"
Xbox Dead
Bad News: Xbox Live players experienced dozens of hours of downtime this past weekend, believed to be due to thousands of new post-Christmas players on the system.
Good News: The shut-out players returned to the holiday activities that they led in their days before video games took over their lives: football and that Futurama marathon they ran on Cartoon Network.
Jack Thompson Hates Army Men
Bad News: Videogame opponent Jack Thompson claims there is an "unholy alliance" between the gaming industry and the U.S. Department of Defense, teaching "an entire generation of kids that war is glamorous, cool, desirable and consequence-free."
Good News: The IRS is hoping that computer programs like TurboTax will make an entire generation of kids think that paying taxes is glamorous, cool, desirable and consequence-free.
Retailer Becomes Scalper
Bad News: One videogame retailer took their allotment of Wii consoles and scalped them on eBay, rather than offering them at regular retail prices to their customers.
Good News: At least they didn't make their female employees model the units in skimpy clothes. Remember this from last year?
That Love Letter You Wrote In 1996 Is Going Away...
Bad News: Microsoft is modifying Microsoft Office 2003 so Service Pack 3 can no longer open Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Access files created in a format earlier than Office 97.
Good News: You finally have the justification to stop using Microsoft Office. Instead use the FREE OpenOffice, which will gladly read all your ancient Office files now and in the future.
...And So Is Netscape
Bad News: Development is being halted on the Netscape browser Feb. 1, AOL announced last week.
Good News: Netscape hasn't been on the cutting edge of browser development since about 1997. In fact the latest version was just a reskinned version of Firefox.
Now Everyone's a Crook
Bad News: In a supplemental brief responding to questions from the judge in an Arizona music piracy case, RIAA lawyer Ira M. Schwartz says that the simple act of moving your music from CD to a computer is also an "unauthorized copy" that incurs legal liability.
Good News: "By claiming that reasonable, legal behavior is theft, the RIAA trivializes piracy," writes Wired blogger Rob Beschizza. "This is a fatal act of self-destruction. This will result in more law-abiding people thinking 'screw it' and doing it themselves. After all, when everyone is already a pirate because they 'stole' music from their own CD collections, why not add a few more counts on top?"
Labels: evermore, Jack-Thompson, Microsoft, Videogames, XBox-Live
« Home