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Sony deletes more movies from the accounts of people who ‘bought’ them

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Re: Sony deletes more movies from the accounts of people who ‘bought’ them

#101

Post by Izkata »

dpoloncsak wrote: post #21
treyd wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consoles made sense as a product category where specialized graphics hardware was not generally available for consumer PCs. We have this now, every PC has some kind of graphics hardware, and has for many years. Consoles have been riding on their momentum of their brands , but the technical justification for their product category hasn't existed for 15+ years now.

The main thing consoles have going for them, imo, is the standardization of hardware. It's very easy to say "Yes this game will run on my console at 60 FPS because its identical to the other consoles where it runs at 60 FPS." Differing builds and drivers are not really a concern in the console world, where-as they are in the PC world. Some console gamers seem to think PC gaming requires hours of fiddling with setting…

During college, before I switched to linux, the DRM packaged with Spore bricked my computer in the middle of a semester. That's what turned me off of PC gaming.

Re: Sony deletes more movies from the accounts of people who ‘bought’ them

#102

Post by ssl-3 »

Chinjut wrote: post #96
mvkel wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Consoles made sense as a product category where specialized graphics hardware was not generally available for consumer PCs. This has almost never been true. GPUs existed, and were being used, before the N64. Your comment also begs the question that the console consumer has transitioned to a gaming pc. They haven't. Gaming PC sales (and hardware) are at all-time lows, except for GPUs, which should probably be rename…

What PC GPU was in mainstream consumer use before the N64?

The 3dfx Voodoo1 was very mainstream (and market-defining, even). It predates the N64.

Re: Sony deletes more movies from the accounts of people who ‘bought’ them

#104

Post by jayd16 »

rrgok wrote: post #37
trencedamp wrote: post #9

I read recently that PlayStation users are moving to PC en masse, and also Xbox has been gutted by layoffs, and there's a backlash against Nintendo for the switch 2 pricing. Is the age of the console finally coming to an end?

I would say the future is cloud gaming.

Its ok for some thing but the lag is simply too much for popular genres of games.

Re: Sony deletes more movies from the accounts of people who ‘bought’ them

#105

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

mvkel wrote: post #50
treyd wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consoles made sense as a product category where specialized graphics hardware was not generally available for consumer PCs. We have this now, every PC has some kind of graphics hardware, and has for many years. Consoles have been riding on their momentum of their brands , but the technical justification for their product category hasn't existed for 15+ years now.

> Consoles made sense as a product category where specialized graphics hardware was not generally available for consumer PCs. This has almost never been true. GPUs existed, and were being used, before the N64. Your comment also begs the question that the console consumer has transitioned to a gaming pc. They haven't. Gaming PC sales (and hardware) are at all-time lows, except for GPUs, which should probably be rename…

> GPUs existed, and were being used, before the N64.

Video cards existed, but 3D accelerators didn't really catch on until the 3dfx Voodoo, which came out about the same time as the N64. Even Quake II which came out a year later still offered software rendering.

> Your comment also begs the question that the console consumer has transitioned to a gaming pc. They haven't.

I'm only a single point of data, but I was a console gamer that transitioned to PC gaming, but that transition happened during the N64/PSX era. It was near the end of the PS2 cycle that I was full PC.

> Gaming PC sales (and hardware) are at all-time lows

Because prices are at all-time highs. I have a monster PC that I probably spent around $6,000 building, but with prices skyrocketing, it'd run me $10,000 to build it today. A few months ago, it would have been $11,000.

> Video games have gone the way of Hollywood, with sequels and derivatives, and an uninterested consumer base.

In the AAA world, this is true. So many gamers that only play Call of Duty, Fortnite, Minecraft, or a sports game. For CoD and the sports games, they reliably buy the latest release every year despite the lack of anything really being different.

But the Indie world is huge and full of innovation. Balatro, Stardew Valley, Disco Elysium, Slay the Spire, Cuphead, I could go on.

> People would rather watch a YouTube video of someone playing a video game than play a video game.

I don't think that's true at all. Maybe for high-level play, or if the streamer has highly entertaining commentary, but otherwise definitely not true.

Re: Sony deletes more movies from the accounts of people who ‘bought’ them

#106

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

ssl-3 wrote: post #102
Chinjut wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What PC GPU was in mainstream consumer use before the N64?

The 3dfx Voodoo1 was very mainstream (and market-defining, even). It predates the N64.

This is incorrect.

N64 came out in the USA in September 1996.

3dfx Voodoo was released to consumers in October 1996.

Re: Sony deletes more movies from the accounts of people who ‘bought’ them

#107

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft »

goldenarm wrote: post #20

IANAL, but is it illegal to have a "Buy" button that is just a disguised "Rent" button? If not, should we change the law?

If Walmart sold you a lawnmower, but you had to leave the lawnmower in their store, would you consider it your property just because they let you start it up and hear it rumble?

If you wouldn't do that for Walmart, why would you do it for Sony?

Re: Sony deletes more movies from the accounts of people who ‘bought’ them

#108

Post by amiga386 »

goldenarm wrote: post #20

IANAL, but is it illegal to have a "Buy" button that is just a disguised "Rent" button? If not, should we change the law?

Not even "Rent". Rentals are priced by the time you rent for. If you want to rent something for 30 years, you can, and you'll keep paying for 30 years.

This is a one-time cost and you just don't know when they're going to snatch it back from you. They won't tell you. They won't even give you a notice period. They don't know themselves. They only find out when the licensor they're sublicensing from demands "too much" for ongoing licensing and they just give up and pretend they didn't sell you that and take your money.

The button would have to be "Licence, subject to unilateral revocation at any time."

Re: Sony deletes more movies from the accounts of people who ‘bought’ them

#109

Post by account42 »

teeray wrote: post #82
imglorp wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm hoping someday this will go the same way as other companies trying to redefine "unlimited", "free", or "lifetime". I hope lawyers reclaim "buy", "own", and "purchase" from shitbag marketers back into contract law, where they have English meanings. https://retailwire.com/t-mobile-att-verizon-fined-10-2m-for-... https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/07/lawsuit-t-mobile... At the very least, if Sony yanks your pu…

A $10m fine for mobile telcos is a rounding error. “Softer quarter due to outstanding legal and regulatory obligations…” The fines need to be a standard percentage of income or the personal assets / freedom of officers needs to be on the line if we want those punishments to change behavior.

It really should be fines plus ALL money gained through the illegal activity. If you steal a car you don't get to pawn the stereo, give back the money gained and then drive off into the sunset.

Re: Sony deletes more movies from the accounts of people who ‘bought’ them

#110

Post by ssl-3 »

naravara wrote: post #79
criddell wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, the future might be phone gaming. The mobile gaming market is as big as the console and PC markets combined.

These are basically different markets that only compete with each other because there are finite hours in the day to engage with media, not because they’re offering variations on the same thing. It’s similar to comparing Netflix to the Criterion Streaming platform. Technically you’re doing the same thing, sitting on the couch watching a big screen, but the experience being pitched is a totally different one and the t…

They compete for finite dollars, too.

There was a time when regular families had desktop computers at home. The marketing was intense, the machines were expensive, and the sales numbers were real. The PC was the gateway to all of the spoils of the internet and things were booming.

Now families tend to have a collection expensive personal pocket supercomputers, instead. It's hard to justify the cost of a properly-stodgy computer when everything is online and the machines that everyone already has in their pockets are Good Enough to get things done (including entertainment).

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