The ultimate horor of gaming - games no longer compatable with Windows machines

Ok. I know there are a lot of gamers who use Macs, and I know I will be spammed, flamed, and smeared by Mac fanboys, but I don't care, because I now have comment moderation and if you can't be reasonable, it's better not to comment at all.

Now... Back on topic.

What I'm about to say will both enrage and excite Mac fanboys and sadden traditional PC gamers. When I say PC, I'm referring to both Windows and Linux powered computers, more often called IBM compatible PCs. I'm including Linux in this because the only way I know that Linux users can gain access to non Linux games is through WINE (WINE Is Not an Emulator).

I was playing Team Fortress 2 on my Windows 7 AND Ubuntu 10.04 powered Gateway PC when the server I was on, HKCentral TF2 Newbies Only #2, "crashed". I use crashed in quotes because in reality, the server was still online but most of the users clients crashed. I was lucky enough to disconnect before my computer was damaged, but others were not. Two members were still online. I can confirm that they were not bots. HKCentral doesn't use bots on empty servers. I logged back in. The two users left had the earbuds unlockable - the one thing that shows that a player is a Mac user. there were only two players on the server who had them before the server crashed.

Why would the PCs experience the effects of a server crash when the Macs didn't? I know TF2, CS:S, and other source based games are undergoing an experimental phase during which players are the captive beta testers, but if they weren't due to compatibility issues, wouldn't they be global and non-platform specific?

I have a theory. I know it sounds crazy, but it's just a theory and I can't prove it yet. I'm not saying it's fact.

These experimental updates might be designed to cause the game to crash on systems other than Mac OS X, in order to make the myth that Macs never crash seem true.

I know two Mac users, and they swear by their Macs blindly. I asked one of them to try Ubuntu, but she refused, saying that it would be too hard to learn how to use and that it would get viruses. I use Ubuntu myself as a backup OS, and I have had fewer issues with it than even the tried and true Windows XP, and it feels easier to navigate than even Windows 7.

I worry that Valve has been enthralled to the monopolistic entity known as Apple.

As I said before, is it really capitalism without competition? Can you call it a free market if there is only one supplier in an industry, whether if it is the government or not?

As I write this, I add yet another enemy to my "book of grudges", as it would be called in Warhammer.

I hope to resolve these grudges before the end of my life.

You don't really own your Nintendo Wii

I'd like to tell you a little story. It's historical fiction, as the main character is fictional, but it has happened to many people online.

Before I start, I would like to inform you on normal property law in the USA (not "intellectual" property law a.k.a. the DMCA). Basically, if you bought it, you can do what ever you want with it. You can sell it, you can keep it, you can take it apart, you can modify it, and no one can take away those rights. Yes, modify, as in change it.

Anyway, Joe Haxor had installed the Homebrew channel and several custom tracks for Mario Kart Wii on his Nintendo Wii. He connects to Nintendo WFC so that he can catch up with his friends who had done the same, but he gets an error code.

20102

He tries to reconnect.

20102

He tries a third time.

20102.

He looks up the problem in his Wii's user manual, but it isn't listed. He looks online.

"Error Code: 20102

This error code indicates some type of unauthorized activity has occured in an online feature of a Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection game.

What to do:

Please call 1-800-895-1672 in the USA or Canada for more information."

He calls the number, waits 30 minutes to speak with a person, and when he finally gets someone, he tells them the problem. He is told that they had detected the Homebrew Channel on his system and there is nothing they can do to fix it. Before he is able to ask any more questions, the service operator hangs up on him.

What is wrong with this story? He was banned because he had the Homebrew Channel on his system. Why is it wrong? The ban violates property laws, yet Nintendo got away with it.

It's one thing to be banned for doing something, but being banned due to an "unauthorized" modification? Now I know that it can void warranties, but Wi-Fi privileges have no connections with warranty status, and he never intended to use his modified Wii to cheat on Wi-Fi or to pirate games.

Basically, he modified "his" Nintendo Wii without permission of the real owners: Nintendo.

Is my bottom line that Nintendo still owns that Mac-White or Jet-Black Linux-Powered IBM Power PC, and the $249.99 that you payed for it was just to purchase the rights to have it sit in your TV cabinet? No, my bottom line is that Nintendo is essentially breaking every property law in the book, except the DMCA. If either economic system, capitalist or communist, had the checks and balances to keep whoever is running the show from abusing their power like this (the large scale international corporations and the government, respectively), then that alone would make my day.

Legal Notice: Any demands to take this post down will be fought in court, and an automatic removal will force my hand to the point that the constitution will get involved. Long live the first amendment!

P.s.: Phew... that was a lot. If you are wondering why I am suddenly so politically active, it's because I'd rather get it out now instead of keeping it bottled up, only to release it all on some random forum.

40KEndgame YouTube Productions in Exile

I'd hate to start bashing my video host, but they've been having some serious server problems and no motivation to try and solve them.

I've reported that my account is inaccessible due to a linking error, and all I got were two links to some "relevant" posts that would "help" but obviously didn't. Since then, I have been trying to request help, but to no avail.

I would like to see some more activity on YouTube's end, but apparently, like Nintendo, Google has shut its customers out to fend for themselves in a sea of unfriendly faces that, in this case, is the internet.

I can only assume the worst has happened to my account, that a hacker has taken it over and is waiting for the right time to strike against some group or another, not caring if it gets banned and not realizing (or caring) that someone owns that account and their very presence on YouTube hangs in the balance.

This is a shout-out to everyone on the internet! Please help me and everyone else who has lost their YouTube accounts to neglected server equipment and software retrieve their accounts before it's too late!

EDIT on 12/19/2010: Well, I bit the bullet and created a new account, Super40KEndgame.