Punch on: Open thread 05/12/11

jay-ded says:

06:46am | 05/12/11

“Julia mention that the ALP supported growth, and distributing the resultant wealth equitably throughout society.”

Isn’t that called communism?

TimB says:

07:10am | 05/12/11

Oh dear Jay-ded, you mentioned the C word. Acotrel doesn’t like that .

How will he react this time? Let’s watch.

Mark G says:

07:36am | 05/12/11

Acotrel,

What do you do once you have a large population? Its easy to say lets just keep growing but unless you put some though into how, where and why I don’t think that you can say lets just grow to fill in the gaps. Comparing us to somewhere like the UK is not comparing apples with apples. Yes Australia does have physical space to grow but you have to look at the ability to sustain the population whilst maintaining a decent standard of living. As an example, Australia is a big country by area but not in regard to agricultural output. In fact many of the states in America have an output similar to ours (yes one state). Australia’s agricultural output is $48.1Billion per year. Texas’s agriculture, for example is worth around $80 Billion per year. Australia has a very similar population to Texas. Australian agriculture may be doing ok now but is regularly savaged by a constant cycle of droughts. Australian Agriculture is propped up by the irrigation industry which is a water intensive method of farming just to maintain production. This is why the Murray/ Darling largely ceased to be a river system. The only thing that is likely to keep Australia growing is mining. With a large population, mining may be the only thing that will sustain our population but mineral resources are finite. This is what Dick Smith was saying. You can’t look at Australia and say ‘well look at all the unpopulated areas, there is plenty of space left’ because there is more to it than that. He was also speaking up against the economists who argue that Australia can’t be a successful country unless we keep growing. The constant growth may well cause more problems than it solves. You can’t just keep expanding. The problem is that too many people have been getting too rich for too long on Australia’s growth.

TChong says:

09:13am | 05/12/11

jayded
Communism ?
Not joking?
cool.
That’ll give me reason to get on the electoral roles.
( and also in order to judge others via jury selection)

hot tub political machine says:

10:06am | 05/12/11

I think I’m just going to start posting links to dictionary.com every time I see communism, socialist or fascism written on this site. I know the odd accurate use of the word will get caught up in this wide net but lets face it, the words get used correctly about 0.00000156% of the time.

Blind Freddy says:

11:07am | 05/12/11

@jay-ded

“equitable” means impartial, reasonable, fair and just- if that’s communism - then bring it on

acotrel says:

05:21pm | 05/12/11

@Jay-ded
there is a difference between communism and socialism.  All non-dictator led governments are usually socialist - they work for the good of the people.  What does Tony Abbott work for ?  Only looking after one section of the community doesn’t constitute socialism

TChong says:

07:09am | 05/12/11

Been to Jupiters a coupla times.
Best thing is the buffet tucker at lunch.

stephen says:

07:37am | 05/12/11

Don’t tell Lucy.
She wants free contraception ; next thing yer know she’ll be wanting free roulette tables.

Some women are never happy.

iansand says:

07:58am | 05/12/11

Completed the Xmas shopping on Sunday morning.  Now wearing annoying smirk

My Xmas shopping tips (if you haven’t done it online 2 weeks ago): 

1 Be at the door at sparrow’s fart when the doors open.  Hit the shops when they are fully staffed, the staff are still relatively cheerful and there are no crowds.

2 Have a family that reads.

iansand says:

07:20am | 05/12/11

I am also not a medico, but I thought that the major function of the liver is to clean impurities out of the blood.  If the liver is going at warp speed it will be dealing with alcohol in the blood.

marley says:

07:46am | 05/12/11

@Mahrat - I say “an” RBT - as in “an arr bee tee.”  Easier to pronounce, which is the whole point, isn’t it?  I’m of two minds about “an hotel” though…..

ibast says:

08:42am | 05/12/11

Maybe if it breaks down alcohol in the liver faster, the liver can filter the alcohol out of your bloodstream faster.

John Smythe says:

09:41am | 05/12/11

As others have indicated, the liver can only process at one speed. Anything that aids in the breakdown of alcohol is obviously assisting that process.

Japan has a little tonic called Ukon no Chikara (Ukon Power!). It can bve taken before, during or after a drinking session. Ukon has a similar effect in that it helps break down the alcohol. Fantastic little drink and has saved me from many a hangover.

neo says:

03:07pm | 05/12/11

I think it’s “a RBT”. Same as it would be “a Random Breath Test”. “a” if the following word begins with a consonant, “an” if the following word begins with a vowel.

a tank
a sword
a gun

an owl
an apron
an egg

The only thing I’m unsure of is this:

Is it “a Assassin’s Creed game” because it is “a game” or “an Assassin’s Creed game” because it is “an Assassin’s”?

fairsfair says:

03:46pm | 05/12/11

I have the same issue with the word “horrific”. News people (TV) always state “an horrific accident”, when really it should be “a horrific”, shouldn’t it?

I always thought “an” only applied when the following word began with a vowel. Good old English - full of exceptions.

John Smythe says:

04:27pm | 05/12/11

It’s the yanks Fairs, they don’t pronounce the H….same with Herbs….so for them, the next syllable is a vowel sound.

iansand says:

04:56pm | 05/12/11

No fairs.  “An” preceding “h” is old, and also upper class Pom.

Shenanigans says:

09:00am | 05/12/11

TimB, I am most disappoint, first you get the 360 version then you play deathmatch!? play rush or conquest not TDM.

but still +5 internets for getting bf3, regardless of the platform, may you lose many hours of your free time to it :p

TimB says:

09:10am | 05/12/11

My friend picked the game mode, I just joined in.

We did play also something that saw an attacking team against a defending team with a series of objectives, can’t remember the name of the mode. I sucked at that too .

And I wanna finish Zelda dammit! I must be only a couple of dungeons from the end. Stupid friend distracting me with awesome shooters.

Shenanigans says:

09:36am | 05/12/11

that game mode sounds like rush, the most awesome one :p you’ll get better at is as you unlock all the awesome shit

I’ve been distracted from skyward sword myself actually, too busy playing games that i shouldn’t have under stupid Australian regulations, thank bejesus for friends traveling overseas.

John Smythe says:

09:49am | 05/12/11

BF3 has been out here for ages (well seems like it when compared to…) but I have been trying to get Skyrim! Damn stores here are waiting for that December 8th crap! Even Steam.

Probably for the better as I really don’t have the time to get into it.

I’ve always sucked at FPS’.

What I do have now is two 27” monitors :
http://www.mitsubishielectric.co.jp/home/display/product/standard/rdt271wlm/index.html

Eve was amazing on these.

Where is everyone in Eve these days? Planetside?

TimB says:

10:14am | 05/12/11

That’s right John, you’re in Japan aren’t you?

I’m guessing the reason for Skyrim’s delay there is the same reason stuff like Final Fantasy takes forever to make it from Japan to the West: Translation.

On that note, does the Japanese copy retain the original English dialogue or are you just that proficient in Japanese? (Stupid question really, I guess you’d have to be if you’re living there )

I decided I might steal Skyrim from a friend of mine once he’s done with it (sometime next year ) and give it a whirl. Watching my brother play Morrowind soured me on the whole Elder Scrolls series, but I’m nothin if not a believer in second chances- As long as I don’t have to pay for them .

Shenanigans says:

10:34am | 05/12/11

Eve is in its dieing days I’m afraid John, in my time off I’ve been tracking games through reviews and forum debates and it seems like the time of the colossus’s of gaming Eve, WoW are slowly coming to an end. for example WoW’s upcoming expansion is receiving the least amount of anticipation of all the releases for this quarter and the next. gamers want something new, and no one can offer that right now. I’m looking forward to SWTOR or Guild Wars 2 to see if they stir up the fires of the mmorpg community, hopefully they do. as much as it pains me to admit BF3 promised so much and delivered very little other then a prettier, more content rich version of the old battlefield 2 with some BC2 thrown in for good measure, though the DLC promises to bring with it the destruction and action they promised originally (not getting my hopes up), this is a trend with games though, no developer seems to be able to break the mold and bring something new or exciting to the industry, Skyrim tried but other then an immense amount of content and a few UI changes here and there its still the same as oblivion only slightly prettier, the only game that delivered what it promised was Skyward sword, but that’s because Nintendo have always delivered quality games.

John Smythe says:

10:35am | 05/12/11

Yeah, could be TimB.

Not sure actually as when I got MGS4, all the advertising and videos of it they were playing before its release was English…the moment I pick it up the entire thing is in Japanese! PS3 should encode multilanguages by default! Argh!

Fluent yes, but gaming should be about vegging out

TimB says:

10:54am | 05/12/11

Hey Shen, you forgot about Dark Millennium .

For the Emperor!

neo says:

03:18pm | 05/12/11

Props on getting BF3, and minus props for owning a 360 I couldn’t play a FPS without the mouse and keyboard. I enjoy 64 man conquest myself, jump in the tank and cap some flags :D

Skyrim is amazing, although I put it aside, as my Animus edition of the new Creed for PS3 just arrived. Even got the special edition as well, to get all the in game content O_O I don’t care that Ubi is milking the franchise, I freaking love every moment of it.

I didn’t think people still played Eve tbh, it will die out even more when SWTOR comes out. WoW is doing pretty good atm, 4.3 was an amazing patch for casuals such as I am nowadays (Raid Finder ftw!). Pandaria, the next xpac looks childish tbh, wtf, pandas and pokemon style battles with non combat pets…

John Smythe says:

03:31pm | 05/12/11

I had beta’s Eve a long time ago, and was still in my Dungeons and Dragons phase so really only played it off and on…I mostly log in to skill up, run some low level missions. It’s pretty

I stopped wow when it became Expansion Quest and you had to grind and grind for faction stuff.

I should probably get assassin’s on the PC…...if I could just win the lotto I’d have a lot more time to play some good games

Anubis says:

09:25am | 05/12/11

@ Bec -  “Anyone have alternatives? “

Don’t get married.
Elope
Just live in sin
Join a nunnery

Just putting a few alternatives out there for you

NicoleG says:

09:26am | 05/12/11

Meh, why bother? According to Wendy Tuohy’s article, it’s ruined anyway. Oh and apparently, you’ll just get divorced…

SimonFromLakemba says:

09:28am | 05/12/11

Weddings are just a conga line of rip offs, dont know why people have them, only paying so other people can enjoy a free feed and piss up.

fairsfair says:

09:33am | 05/12/11

bec, are you arty at all? I watched an episide of Poh’s Kitchen once where she bought the undecorated tiers for $60 (they were just iced simply in that wedding cake icing)  - got some ribbon from spotlight and made the icing roses herself. She made it look quite easy and said that she got her $500 cake for $80.

Try and watch it on YouTube/iView. I recall thinking that it looked quite achieveable because al it was was a three tiered round cake with the ribbon, and then she just made a fourth tier our of styrofoam - iced it and poked in all the roses she had made on wire.

As soon as something is for a wedding, it is more expensive than it usually would be. So I would practice my icing roses between now and then and then order the three tiered plane one for “your nephew’s christening”.

Zeta says:

09:53am | 05/12/11

The secret to weddings on a budget is deception. You just trick the vendor into thinking you’re having some kind of non-nuptial celebration.

Case in point - I was best man at a wedding last year and I told the groom to check out this place I use for suit rental. I rent a white tie tuxedo there about three times a year, for $200. That’s a good deal, because white tie has all kinds of ridiculous shit on it that no one ever needs to own.

So my bro picks out four pretty stylish day suits, gets the quote - $3000. That was for pants, waist coat, jacket and tie. $3000! Compared to $200 each for pants, cumberband, shirt, shit bib thing, tie, braces, button-on-collar and all the other weird shit.

So I ring the guy up, tell him I need four suits for a ‘work function’, get the quote back - $1100. The exact. Same. Suits.

You should ring the cake shop back and say you need a wedding-themed cake for a birthday party and watch the quote come back lower.

fairsfair says:

09:55am | 05/12/11

*plain

Plus - bonus - all your practice sugar roses can be put into your neighbours fuel tank.

gobsmack says:

10:22am | 05/12/11

Everyone’s pissed by the time the cake is cut.

Tim says:

10:29am | 05/12/11

Cupcake Cake.
That way you can arrange the cupcakes yourself and you don’t have to tell them its for a wedding.
Will be far less expensive.

Holden says:

01:35pm | 05/12/11

Tell him you are gay, and aren’t allowed to marry. But you are happy to go to the Civil Union bit. That way you can have your cake and eat it too!

Lily says:

04:05pm | 05/12/11

Really depends what type of cake it is/ how it is decorated…. I make them occasionally for friends/family (on request as a gift) and for 3 tiers and full decorations it takes about $150 worth of ingredients plus a number hours effort (10 plus). If it is a ‘professional’ cake then I don’t think that is unreasonable.
That said you can go the make you own at home and there are plenty of cake decorating stores where you can buy the premade sugar decorations for quite cheap and just stick them on yourself and it still looks great., Also, if you want to go the tier route make sure you buy/use supports. Nothing worse than a cake that collapses in on itself half way through the reception

bec says:

04:20pm | 05/12/11

Fairs, I’m arty enough to be doing much of it myself (have some background in graphic design), and did see that episode of Poh’s Kitchen. It’s all right - I don’t really want anything with fondant or too much decoration.

I’m pretty sure if I went to a Viet bakery I could get something pretty badass for an affordable price. Tempted to look it up.

Shenanigans says:

09:07am | 05/12/11

see this is why you go to the underground concerts, security are only strict about violence, alcohol and drug use, everything else is fair game. can mosh till you get a fist flailed into your face, lift girls onto your shoulders and let them do what they will with their ‘gifts’, crowd surf till you end up on stage and get kicked off by the band or security, which ever came first. A Parkway Drive concert i went too a while back was so laid back you could be excused if you thought there wasn’t any security, moshed so hard i broke a nose. also picked up that night, god times, god times.

SimonFromLakemba says:

09:31am | 05/12/11

The fun police are here to stay these days, unfortunately.

Sounds strange how no one went off, I usually only go to Rap/RnB concerts and they always go off, 50 cent and Lil John spring to mind, insane concerts.

Mark G says:

09:33am | 05/12/11

Shen,

Good to see some of the culture I remember is being preserved but I remember when you could do all that stuff at mainstream concerts.

fairsfair says:

09:47am | 05/12/11

The thing I couldn’t get past when I went and saw Katy Perry… you can’t take the lid to your water bottle in. Thankfully, I faux threw it out at the bank of bins (what a modern day rebel!).

Pegging a small cap is unacceptable, couldn’t you do more damage with the full water bottle sans lid? I honestly don’t understand who makes these kinds of decisions and where the logic comes from.

And MarkG you are right on the crowds thing… we were seated (it was sold out the day it went on sale) and looking down into the standing room sections, it looked empty. I don’t get it. Being crammed in and having your head wedged in someone else’s pit is supposed to be all part of the experience. These days you have the luxury of asking people to step our of your personal space bubble.

Sarah says:

12:21pm | 05/12/11

There’s getting bumped around at a concert, which is expected, and then there’s just plain getting used.  At a recent Kings of Leon concert (incidently, it wasn’t very good but I got a free ticket) I was getting pretty annoyed with the people behind me who seemed to think that because I’m pretty short it was fine to rest their arm on my head to steady their little camera phone. Seriously!  I had to really ramp up the jumping around to stop it from happening.  Also I think the couple beside me were trying to film themselves actually having sex to ‘Sex on Fire’.

marley says:

08:51am | 05/12/11

@Stephen - uhh, since it kicked out the Emperor?  Say, since 1912?

TimB says:

09:03am | 05/12/11

That would be January 1st 1912.

Mark G says:

09:21am | 05/12/11

Communist stated are always republics (correct me if I am wrong). A republic just means the absence of a monarch or similar head of state. Think about Russia when they were still communist. USSR - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

fairsfair says:

09:42am | 05/12/11

Speaking of pants…devastation struckmy world over the weekend (I would posit that it was harder to deal with than the spider bitten face). In 1995 a new vogue fantastic shop opened in ye olde Cairns town - Best and Less.

I was 10 and spent my long saved pocket money on a pair of “love bug” pyjamas. I grew out of the singlet top many moons ago and it was added to dad’s rag bag, but the boxer shorts have grown with me. They are my favourite pants in the world and last night I went to put them on and the drawstring snapped (they are those ones that don’t have elastic, they are just held up by the draw string). I am going to have to replace it I think. I can’t let go of them just yet - I was certain I’d get 20 years out of them.

Ah, they don’t make stuff like they used to, do they?

iansand says:

10:16am | 05/12/11

fairs - get a new drawstring and push it through.  Attach a large safety pin to one end of the new string and scrunch and extend the waist band to work the pin through.

John Smythe says:

11:02am | 05/12/11

hahaha Ian…was going to say the same thing!

Anubis says:

02:58pm | 05/12/11

@fairsfair - Why don’t you just go commando? No problem then

fairsfair says:

03:29pm | 05/12/11

Thanks boys, I bought myself a big giant safety pin and some colour approrpiate drawstring material at lunch time. Times are tough when you can’t get two decades out of a pair of briches.

Nup. I can’t stand sleeping in the buff Anubis. Each to their own, but I just can’t do it. I am sure it has something to do with my hatred of robes/dressing gowns and slight fear of an emergency situation overnight, that would see me standing nude on my street with the blaring lights and arching mist of a fire truck of something. Oh the horror!

Love bugs live on!

jay-ded says:

09:08am | 05/12/11

I wonder if Julia think she’s the paraclete…

Mark G says:

09:28am | 05/12/11

Except that there is talk that that may be a mistranslation of the Mayan calendar. Many researches now thing that the Mayans were not predicting the end of the world in the Christian judgement day, four horsemen of the apocalypse sense but rather an end of an era. They have already predicted previous ends like this. You will note that a Mayan calendar is round. It means that the world is in a constant cycle. You can only end the world so many times.

hot tub political machine says:

10:02am | 05/12/11

No no no no. Its all Hollywood crap.

Its neither the end of an era nor a predicted apocalypse. It’s a mathematical quirk that causes the Mayan calendar to reset to zero – nothing more, nothing less.

Shane From Melbourne says:

10:29am | 05/12/11

At least it will put the European Monetary Union out of it’s misery…....

TheRealDave says:

10:58am | 05/12/11

Funny how the Mayans could alledgedly pick the date the world ended with such accuracy…but failed to see their own demise….

Bit like Psychics who can’t give you Saturdays Lotto numbers…..

Mark G says:

11:20am | 05/12/11

TheRealDave,

Yeah people give too much credit to a race that are suspected to have simply deserted their civilisation because of superstitious about being punished by the gods. Yet we believe their superstition about the end of the world.

Wynston Cruso says:

04:32pm | 05/12/11

I for one can’t wait for the excuses by the ignorant who believe this once they find out the world still exists on the 22nd.

TimB says:

09:06am | 05/12/11

Dammit Punch. Fix your comments software.

Feel free to delete this post & my duplication. Leave the earlier one with the replies be.

Gameboy says:

09:41am | 05/12/11

Is there any point to your use of emoticons, or do you have a random emoticon insertion script?

TimB says:

10:21am | 05/12/11

I thought the concept behind the use of emoticons was clear to most people on the internet. Apparently not.

So allow me to ask a question of my own: Is there any point to your post or do you have a random ‘post something stupid’ script?

Gameboy says:

10:43am | 05/12/11

I looked it up
a wink
a raspberry
a smile

Your emoticons added so much to your post.
Without them your post would have been - well - - - more crap

TimB says:

11:25am | 05/12/11

I suppose that answers my question about the random stupid post generator.

I suggest it needs some tinkering though. It appears to be generating posts that aren’t so much stupid as they are outright retarded.

ibast says:

10:25am | 05/12/11

Any thoughts on Peirs Akerman, Andrew Bolt, Alan Jones, etc?

TimB says:

10:34am | 05/12/11

Sure. They’re not the chief political editors for their organisations. Farr is.

Any time he wants to bust himself down to mere opinion columnist, we’ll stop pointing out how horribly biased he is.

Tim says:

10:59am | 05/12/11

hmmm,
biased commentators call political editor biased.
Who’s right? or should that be left?

John Smythe says:

12:04pm | 05/12/11

Tim, TimB has a point though. He isn’t a “political editor”. He is nothing but an anti-Abbott ranting laborite. I can’t even bring myself to read his crap anymore. It stinks of infantile ranting.

What I would expect from a “political editor” is more critique on the current government (irrespective of who is in power), more intellectual thought behind the piece. But it seems here, anything can be thrown at us,the readers(should that be viewers?) because it’s an “opinion”.

Blind Freddy says:

01:19pm | 05/12/11

I would like to congratulate Malcom Farr on his objectivity when reporting politics.

The fact that balanced reporting irritates the rusted on ideologues is just a bonus.

John Smythe says:

01:57pm | 05/12/11

BF : I would like to congratulate Malcom Farr on his objectivity when reporting politics.

Either, you are trying to be sarcastic, or they changed the definition of “objectivity” since I left the country.

TimB says:

02:04pm | 05/12/11

Freddy how is constantly snarking about Abbott whilst giving the government a free pass considered ‘balanced’?

ibast says:

02:34pm | 05/12/11

Abbott needs some criticism from somewhere.  He certainly doesn’t get any from any other quarter of the Murdock press and not much from other sources.

If you guys were truly seeking balance in journalism, your sights wouldn’t be aimed at Farr, but just about every other direction.

Holden says:

04:13pm | 05/12/11

John Smythe @2.57.  When you left the Country that was “objectivity”.

John Smythe says:

04:39pm | 05/12/11

Call me slow, but Holden, even after checking the dictionary, I can’t see how Farr’s continual support and lack of critique against Labor, while all the while whining “It’s Abbott’s fault” can be construed as objective (and therefore balanced) reporting. Unless that’s what you meant…meaning that was when the word last retained its original meaning.

Maybe it’s one of those communism/socialism/ironic misuses?

/shrug

gobsmack says:

10:32am | 05/12/11

“A very good performance all round”?  Hughes looked pretty ordinary.

Tim says:

10:32am | 05/12/11

Good win although the Kiwis were really bad.
Clarke can thank his lucky stars for the amount of chances he got.
Hughes gooorrrrnnnneee.

fairsfair says:

10:47am | 05/12/11

TC - there was a NZ journalist interviews on channel 10 last week and he said that the thought that the Kiwis were good enough to beat Australia, but the wouldn’t.

I laughed at his comment as he said that they use AUS as a benchmark, however if Australia are somehow bowled out for 46, they will step up and score 45. If Australia are all our for 0, NZ will somehow manage to lock themselves in the changerooms.

It is refreshing to finally see some new names performing in the team.

Ben C says:

11:07am | 05/12/11

Hughes has too many deficiencies in his technique:

1. Can’t play any leg-side shots to save his life.
2. Footwork is all over the place - he has a tendency to plant his front foot outside leg while playing an off-side shot.
3. Has no idea how to handle a short delivery aimed at his body - see 1 and 2 above. Also has a tendency to leave his bat hanging out when trying to avoid a shorter delivery.
4. Looks to hit in the air too often.

If Marsh and Watson are right for the Second Test, and the India series, only one out of Hughes, Khawaja and Warner will retain their spot. Who do you keep?

TheRealDave says:

11:09am | 05/12/11

I’ve often said that the rise of ‘Kiddy Konsoles’ has brought real gaming down to the level of the lower common denominator. I remember well the golden age of gaming in the mid 90’s when all the classics were born.

I’m often amused by these dills that have modern FPS running through the Konsoles and saying how awesome it is - yeah…its very challenging when you just have to wave the crosshairs in the general vicinity of the enemy isn’t it? And those graphics - yeah awesome for 3 or 4 years ago. Come play the PC versions instead….or grow a set and load up Armed Assault

Whats worse is that real PC gaming takes a kick in the balls because we get these shitty console ports instead of real games and we have to put up with loading screens every 30 seconds or every time we take a few steps. And you wonder why we just pirate the bloody things?!? Don’t know about you, but I find it hard to justify forking out $100 for a ‘game’ with about 6 hours of actual gameplay in it, has absurd controls meant for a kiddy konsole instead of the plethora of options available on a PC, and shitty HUDs designed for the Attention Deficit Disorder crowd on their Konsoles.

Bah! They even screwed up Skyrim due to the absurd interface…...admittedly, not on the scale of the abortion that was Dues Ex 2 or Freelancer…..

TimB says:

11:20am | 05/12/11

I don’t blame the consoles. I blame the ‘dudebro’ element.

Consoles are home to some fantastic exclusives. But the sucess of Halo and it’s ilk has seen most games console-playing dudebro market segement, thus leaving less development resources for other types of games PC or otherwise.

And it’s not just shooters. Any recently popular genre will attract heavy developer attention Look how many editions of Guitar Hero there were. Market saturation, it’s offputting.

And with skyrocketing development costs, the unique cool stuff doesn’t get as much of a look-in. If your game isn’t guaranteed to sell a bazillion copies at launch, the big publishers won’t even look at it.

Thankfully Nintendo’s still releasing some quality stuff . Not that that helps with the PC issue.

TheRealDave says:

11:31am | 05/12/11

Roll on SWTOR. I have holidays booked in and my Sith Juggernaut is ready to rock!

But I think Guild Wars 2 - whenever it comes out, will be the real game changer.

Zeta says:

11:44am | 05/12/11

@ TimB - You can’t blame the audience for the failings of the industry. That’s like blaming the few people who watch Australian movies for the massive failings of the Australian movie industry.

The problem you’re talking about is the buisness model of the entire gaming industry. What we have right now in gaming is roughly where cinema was in the early 1960s.

For a long time, Holywood not only controled the out put of content, it controled access to the medium. Holywood printed the films, and rented them to the theatres, they owned the franchise for the projectors, they owned the celuloid factories.

Development costs for games are very low. For every multimillion dollar Call of Duty or Halo production, a company can subsidise that cost with a few dozen movie tie-ins. They might not move serious units, but they make a profit. It’s kind of like Holywood subsidising the cost of a Cleopatra or Gone with the Wind by pumping out Elvis movies.

Independent games are very much in the niche where Independent Movies were in the 60s too. Because of the cost of production and distribution, independents can’t compete on the same scale. The first American independents like Kenneth Anger were making short films, just as independent developers are making short, almost free games.

It’s on the cusp of changing though. What’s driven the industry into this status quo is the pursuit of visual fidelity by the console manufacturers.

But what we’re seeing, for the first time, is a plateau in customer satisfaction with graphical quality. The biggest franchises - Halo, CoD, Gears of War - those games have not changed graphically within a single generation. In fact, 2 years after the release of Modern Warfare 2, MF3 is using the same engine. This is the level of graphcial expectation the customer base has.

With this as a starting point, the cost of developing to that standard will steadily decrease until independents can viably enter the market at that standard.

What we’re waiting for then, is gaming’s American Zoetrope moment - the moment when independent developers take a risk on a big budget spectacle. The Call of Duty games are kind of like John Wayne movies - what will come next will be gamings Apocalypse Now, and the flood gates will open for unique voices to fill that new audience need.

Shenanigans says:

11:44am | 05/12/11

of all the games I’ve played, of all the countless hours I’ve wasted playing games when i could have been getting down with the girlies, Supreme Commander released in 2007 takes the cake for the most engaging game of all time, still to this day I play it regularly, in fact last night and into the wee hours of the morning i sat with 6 friends as we played a 3v3, it took us 5 hours to finish, you don’t get games like that anymore. Hell it still even pushes the limit on high end computers for processing power, when you’ve got 2000 units, for each person (thats 12000 individual units) marauding around a massive battlefield causing aplosions and destruction with air and sea battles raging around them, even the highest end CPU struggles. SupCom 2 was killed by the need to dumb down the whole resource gathering and construction elements which really made the game, because children can’t grasp the concept of resource management and construction development these days.

John Smythe says:

12:09pm | 05/12/11

I want a remake of the old classic X-Wing!

TimB says:

01:25pm | 05/12/11

I see what you’re saying Zeta, although I would argue that the developers have to take some blame for deliberately cultivating this audience. 10 years ago, it wasn’t that big a segment of the market. Then Halo released and Microsoft marketed the crap out of it, directly aiming at that nascent dudebro market. In come the other big western publishers and presto, a self-sustaining monster is born.

Both sides of the equation (audience and publisher) are to blame here. Just like in other forms of media. E.g the success of Kyle Sandilands can be equally attributed to the idiot media execs who keep him employed as well as his legion of moronic fans.

@ John Smythe, eh. Never really had a chance to get into that series. But give me another Rogue Squadron game (with online dogfights!) and I’ll be really happy.

John Smythe says:

01:49pm | 05/12/11

TimB, That would be one way to take it for sure. Wasn’t SWG supposed to be like that?

The original was pretty damn good, and with today’s graphics engines and the like would be so much better. You could redo the lot to an online game with “subgames” (X-Wing/Tie Fighter) as training sessions/missions. 

Fired up Ultima Online again a while ago (since stopped playing). Wasn’t too bad…...problem with returning to old games is the world is already “established” and lacks the feeling of adventure.

EverQuest copped a lot of scorn in the beginning about being so tight on information on how to play the game….but that was what really made it a lot of fun.

Not knowing how to run (stuck in walk mode!), running from Felwythe to Qeynos (as a non-binding character)....hiding in a house in East Commons thinking it would save me from the Griffon…..not knowing I was a short run to the zone line….

Problem I have with games is there’s too much treadmill. WoW got that way after some time. I was a DE Necro in EQ and it was a major grind quest for faction. (Grinding is) Not my cup of tea…..though I really liked the necro the most.

fun fun fun….

Wickerman says:

04:16pm | 05/12/11

Console gaming has its place, & the good thing about console games is that the developers have to be smart & efficient with their code. This is because they are bound by the hardware, unlike PC gaming where inefficient code can be compensated by say a bigger graphics card. Also consoles are good for “having the lads over” & playing the fighting games while half cut.

I am a PC gamer, & yes I see the PC section in the games shops decreasing, but online sourcing like steam is making it easier to get games onto the PC.

holden says:

04:46pm | 05/12/11

Could someone direct me to the ‘adult page’ and away from this childishness? Surelythese kids could form a club or something instead of boring the readers with the immaturity of the singularly bereft.
Are these the same people who seek to impress us with their ‘intellectual’ comments re politics, the economy, and other important subjects? Naah! Couldn’t be.

nossy says:

11:51am | 05/12/11

@TheRealDave yes I saw that article RD and far from being a techo person myself thought it all a bit odd - Gunnedah of all places claiming to be the High Speed Internet capital of Australia via 30 year old Fibre Optics?  mmmmmm something f.i.s.h.y. there RD!

Tim says:

11:59am | 05/12/11

I loved that story.
I’ve got a wireless network in my home, does that mean I’ve set up a home NBN and saved $40B?

SimonFromLakemba says:

12:13pm | 05/12/11

The Telegraph is a joke to be honest, its a gossip rag pretending to be a newspaper. Tim Blair had his huge editorial today just paying out a lady who dared say that News Ltd reporting was biased in regards to the NBN, 86% of articles against it, while at the same time noting Fairfax was more in favor of the NBN.

The biggest oxy-moron is the little APC disclaimer they run in the editorial/comments section how they subscribe to being ethical etc, good for a laugh.

Im not in IT so cant comment whether its going to be great or not, but cant be worse then what we have at the moment and being the the Asia region thats a bit if a handicap.

TimB says:

12:25pm | 05/12/11

I think the point to take away from that is you could build a fibre backbone for a fraction of the cost of the current plan (fibre *everywhere*). Stick wireless on the top of that and you’re golden.

Yes yes, I know all your issues with wireless. But you’d have to be nuts to assume that wireless technology isn’t capable of advancing further than it has so far.

SimonFromLakemba says:

01:18pm | 05/12/11

The boat people issue is pretty simple to fix, but no one in Government has brains or any real life experience in anything.

Put them on 10 year good behavior Visa, make sure they work, go to english school, do a tafe course etc. If they miss school/class/work send them back and their family, once the 10 years has expired make them a permanent resident, by then they are fully integrated into Australian society.

By locking them up for 3 years while ‘processing’ them isn’t really helping anybody.

John Smythe says:

02:06pm | 05/12/11

And deduct the costs of housing, training and educating from any financial aid to their mother country? Sure. At least this way we have a very transparent expenditure to that financial aide.

I don’t agree on the insta 10year visa….I have had to (literally) work through several layers of immigration myself before I could get to a 10year visa for Japan. I like that idea. I then had to get permanent residency before being able to purchase land here. But the initial idea is still good.

As long as the current way to get to Australia is through people smugglers, I can’t support your last comment. I still believe in a controlled process for those who just rock up on our shores.

I gave an example of how this can easily be abused by organised criminal elements as they do here in Japan in another thread.

If they don’t like the conditions offered, they are more than welcome to return home. Like I said, got to be cruel to be kind.

SimonFromLakemba says:

02:55pm | 05/12/11

Charging the the original country wont work, how is it Afghanistan or Iraqis fault that America bombed it? If I was a Kurd or Hazara id be out of their quick smart too.

What we could do is take it out of the refugee’s taxable income like HECS until its paid off.

John Smythe says:

03:11pm | 05/12/11

True enough…but the burden is still on Australia to foot. By removing it from taxable income, you are assuming they are able to enter the work force (soon enough).

Removing costs from foreign aid seems a more practical solution as it places an immediate impact to countries not “fixing” their own problems (too really over simplify it). How has our aid assisted in bringing rerform over the last 10 years? Bought more weapons?

At least this way, we accomplish foreign aid and find a means to cover the costs of such burden on Australia.

To use your own logic, how is it our (Australia’s fault) we are the country of choice they come to?

May not be a perfect suggestion, and room to work on, but certainly holds more merit than the current political games going on.

John Smythe says:

03:14pm | 05/12/11

oops..forgot some extra.

I would also imagine that as Indonesia is allowing this throughput without any responsibility toward their own border protection/concern for the refugees passing through them would also be held financially responsible in this situation.

Hurt them financially and i am sure they would take a different stance on people smuggling. They may even start to contribute to proper shipping (bad word I know) than rickety old fishing boats. Win Win no?

SimonFromLakemba says:

04:03pm | 05/12/11

Some wont be able to work right away, thats why I said like HECS, they work/study till they can, when they do work take it out automatically from their income.

As far as I know, it is peoples right to claim asylum? so they original country cant really stop them from leaving.

And Australia doesnt have an embassy in a few countries, then what are the refugees to do?

Im all for giving AID with conditions which have to to be, in my opinion to much AID goes to waste, the same countries we give AID to America turns around and sells weapons to.

Personally id love to pull out of the UN refugee convention and make our embassies overseas process refugees and we take say 10-15,000 processed refugees every year, that includes would be boat arrivals from Indonesia, they could be processed at a port run by Australians.

John Smythe says:

04:26pm | 05/12/11

Yeah agree there (pulling out of the UN convention). I don’t see it as an “Australian” problem, it should be a “global” problem which is why I advocate that we use an existing budget (foreign aid) to cover any and all associated costs.

Given the vicinity of other nations, it should also be their responsibility as well and one way to “enforce” more co-operative measures is to control the funding.

I’m sure an approach like this could be tweaked to be more encompassing plan.

Cheers

Shenanigans says:

01:15pm | 05/12/11

i lol’d

SimonFromLakemba says:

01:25pm | 05/12/11

Its not really dancing, its just dry rooting..lol

Mark G says:

03:07pm | 05/12/11

uummm Ouch!!

Mark G says:

03:09pm | 05/12/11

Oh yes, local weather conditions disprove a theory about global weather trends. Good one.

neo says:

02:59pm | 05/12/11

Gloves or a few layers of plastic bags. And even then it won’t feel good

Semi Concerned Citizen says:

03:03pm | 05/12/11

Unless otherwise crippled may i suggest using your hands. Feel free to cover them in something if you wish perhaps gloves or a plastic bag.

But i remind you bella theres nothing quite like picking up a decaying corpse with your hands,

Anubis says:

03:04pm | 05/12/11

Find a neighbour that owns a cat?

Put it an envelope and mail it to your local MP?

Tim says:

03:09pm | 05/12/11

Dinner?

bella starkey says:

03:25pm | 05/12/11

It’s not me who’s picking it up, it’s my boyfriend and he is very upset about the situation. Apparently it isn’t solid enough to move with a rake. He wanted to spray it with mortein to kill the maggots before he moved it, i thought maybe dousing it in bleach might help. I’m not really sure how, it just seems like it would.

I’m not sure how long it’s been there but I have noticed a lot more pidgeons hanging around the back yard than normal. Do pidgeons eat maggots?

holden says:

04:22pm | 05/12/11

Cook it on the barbie like most people do. Shovels are so passe.

Shane From Melbourne says:

06:05pm | 05/12/11

Both the ALP and the LNP are scum. At least you could be an equal opportunity hater…......