Doomed: Bethesda's Classic Doom Re-Releases Are Fixed, But Demonstrate Again That We Don't Own What We Buy
from the knee-deep-in-the-licenses dept
We have something of a long-running series of posts centering on the disheartening theme, “You don’t own what you’ve bought.” Whether it’s digital products such as movies and eBooks, or more tangible products like thermostats, large companies are making backend alterations to how products previously purchased work and the public is just now starting to realize the full scope of what this means. That doesn’t mean that same public isn’t surprised when it happens to them, of course, but it’s strange to watch the reactions to these anti-consumer practices range mostly from shrugs to actively joking around about it all.
Bethesda went through its own instance of this recently. Just to be absolutely clear, the problems we are about to discuss have all been resolved by Bethesda, so good on them. These issues weren’t intentional. Still, they demonstrate both how the current digital economy is one fraught with danger for people who think they’re actually buying things and also demonstrates the cow-like tranquility of the reactions of those affected.
In the past few weeks, Bethesda announced it was re-releasing several classic Doom games for the three modern consoles. It was great news for Doom fans, especially those that own PS4 and Nintendo Switch consoles. The re-release included the Xbox One, too, but that console had already seen a re-release of the classic Doom games. Except that gamers who had originally purchased the first re-release suddenly found that their purchases were no longer available.
But the news was different on Xbox One, where all three games had already received digital-download ports thanks to that platform’s hearty Xbox 360 backwards-compatibility program. And on Friday, Bethesda gave those version’s holders a rude awakening: the company completely delisted those Xbox 360 versions. As of press time, those games’ original SKUs can still be found in Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb’s definitive Xbox 360 backwards-compatibility list, along with reminders that those games came back to life on Xbox One consoles in 2015 and 2016. Clicking any of the affected Doom games’ listings right now, however, leads to dead Xbox 360 content pages, the kind you might find for delisted Xbox games like Marvel Ultimate Alliance.
Owners of the original licenses are not redirected on their consoles to the new SKUs, and as of press time, those games’ original owners are asked to pay full price to play the new, Xbox One-native versions of those classic games ($5 each for Doom and Doom II, $10 for Doom 3).
Again, this has since been corrected, mostly. The error that prevented those who had already purchased the games’ Xbox 360 purchases has been corrected. That said, this shows the vulnerability of both buying digital versions of games that are manipulable by the publisher and the casual acceptance in the gaming marketplace that this sort of thing is to be expected. It’s also worth pointing out that the new re-release removes some expansion packs compared with the Xbox 360 version, making all of this even more convoluted.
On its own, perhaps this story wouldn’t have been enough to land it on our pages. But the follow up was more fallout from fans who noticed after purchasing the re-release of the classic Doom games that Bethesda suddenly required a Bethesda.net login in order to play them.
Late last week, Bethesda surprised QuakeCon attendees and retro gamers worldwide with the re-release of the first three Doom games on Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One (that last one with some issues of its own). It also surprised potential players by requiring a Bethesda.net login and an active Internet connection to play. That state of affairs led to a fair share of online joking imagining other classics given similarly restrictive DRM.
Now, again, this was an error by Bethesda. What was supposed to happen was that login requirement was only supposed to happen for members of Bethesda’s Slayers Club. But, again, we see how opening the avenue up for a game publisher to remotely dick with what people thought they were buying causes problems. And just because this was an error doesn’t mean some other company might not put a classic game like this behind a DRM-ish login requirement, despite such a requirement being the digital equivalent of requiring a key and ignition to operate a horse-drawn carriage.
Perhaps as concerning was that the reaction of the wider internet was to joke and meme-ify this whole fiasco. Humor is one thing, but anger and derision were probably vastly more appropriate reactions to all of this nonsense being layered on top of a classic game from the 90s.
But, since you don’t really own what you’ve bought, I suppose all one can do is shrug and laugh.
Filed Under: copyright, doom, ownership, re-releases, xbox
Companies: bethesda
Comments on “Doomed: Bethesda's Classic Doom Re-Releases Are Fixed, But Demonstrate Again That We Don't Own What We Buy”
Bethesda IPs
Nice word choice there. 😉
In all seriousness…
As much as I love playing Classic Doom, I prefer to play the old Id Software titles on PC/Mac/Linux, because that way, you can extract the WAD out and use ZDoom for an improved experience. This works even with the DRM’d Steam games! Also, you can’t modify console games. Well, you can, but you’d risk a lawsuit or two…
Re: Don't click on the link
Don’t go to zdoom.com. Go to Zdoom.org instead.
Just because it involves laughter, doesn't mean it's nice
Perhaps as concerning was that the reaction of the wider internet was to joke and meme-ify this whole fiasco. Humor is one thing, but anger and derision were probably vastly more appropriate reactions to all of this nonsense being layered on top of a classic game from the 90s.
… yeah, if you think that joking was with Bethesda rather than aimed at them, mocking them for screwing up so badly, then I don’t know what to tell you other than cherish that innocence best you can.
Now, again, this was an error by Bethesda.
As for the ‘this was an accident’ excuse, I find that rather hard to believe given how even basic testing would have exposed the problem. It wasn’t that you couldn’t play past a certain point without creating an account and having a live internet connection, it was that you couldn’t play at all without those.
Is it possible that it really was an accident rather than a way to force people to create accounts? Absolutely. However if that is the case then it means that Bethesda did basically no testing of the games before pushing them out, which isn’t exactly leaving them looking any better after the debacle.
Re: Just because it involves laughter, doesn't mean it's nice
However if that is the case then it means that Bethesda did basically no testing of the games before pushing them out, which isn’t exactly leaving them looking any better after the debacle.
The game testing wrapped up and someone tossed a DRM wrapper around the working code. Minimal testing – and I can say that I’ve missed things like this. They gave it to a couple of testes who already had accounts signed in and just didn’t think.
Still – it’s IP and DRM on an ancient game – what is the freakin point?
Re: Re: Just because it involves laughter, doesn't mean it's nic
Freudian Slip? 😉 😛
Re: Re: Just because it involves laughter, doesn't mean it's nic
It’s THEIR PROPERTY, you don’t have ANY SAY, not even a right to ask the question, kid.
Re: Re: Re: Just because it involves laughter, doesn't mean it's
It’s THEIR PROPERTY
Until they SELL it to me. Then it’s My property, eh?
Re: Re: Re:2 Just because it involves laughter, doesn't mean
People have never owned the content in media, just the physical layer to it. This is why we can sell books, games, and movies if they’re on physical media, but cannot sell them in digital format.
Don’t believe me? Try selling a digital game today. Go on. I’ll wait.
If you don’t get arrested, let us know how it works out for you.
Changing gears, Timothy is starting to come off like another talking head, Jim Stirling, who thinks this is all the fault of publishers and I’m frankly getting sick of listening to this bullshit.
The fault squarely lies at the hands of gamers, who are sacrificing their rights as consumers for "OMFG! IT’S DOOM!21!! TAKE MY MONEY!" levels of stupidity.
Not only do these idiots fucking pre-order games (which was an intentional shit system by publishers in the physical media world to limit the losses when games failed to meet sales expectations) in a digital era, but then purchase ridiculously overpriced digital goods in each of the game stores. I’m sure their characters look great now, I say in sarcasm.
What’s our reward for this? Articles like this and all the fucking whining on the internet about how publishers are screwing gamers over.
Last time I checked, the power to purchase a game (or not) still rests with the consumer, yet…
Finally, one more thing to note: The Bethesda.net has NOTHING to do with DRM and you need to stop making false statements. It has EVERYTHING to do with Bethesda selling game information to third parties, including advertisers, as everyone agreed the company can do while also waiving their rights to sue and only take matters through arbitration.
But yeah, it’s the publisher’s fault gaming is fucked up today.
/eye rolling icon request pending
Re: Re: Re:3 Just because it involves laughter, doesn't m
People have never owned the content in media
Yes, only Corporations are legally allowed to own that. 🙂
Re: Re: Re:3 Just because it involves laughter, doesn't m
Actually, Europe had a judgement passed stating that reselling digital goods is legal.
Link
This even included service attached to the software, but excluded "fragmenting" multi-user licenses.
That was quite a while ago, and I don’t know about any follow-up, but at least it’s not quite as clear-cut as you said depending on where you live.
Re: Re: Re:3 Just because it involves laughter, doesn't m
The fault squarely lies at the hands of gamers, who are sacrificing their rights as consumers for "OMFG! IT’S DOOM!21!! TAKE MY MONEY!" levels of stupidity.
Well, you’re half right… Idiots(or as I suspect is the case for most people the uninformed) with low impulse control are certainly part of the problem, but to lay the blame entirely on them is just flat out wrong.
Those that continue to fall for scams and/or predatory practices when they really should know better by know shoulder half of the blame, but the other half lands squarely on the one engaging in those scams and predatory practices.
Just because people continue to buy garbage from EA does not mean EA is absolved from blame for putting forth that garbage, and the same argument applies to any company acting similarly.
Re: Re: Re:4 Just because it involves laughter, doesn
"Just because people continue to buy garbage from EA does not mean EA is absolved from blame for putting forth that garbage, and the same argument applies to any company acting similarly."
If someone was to start buying my garbage, I’d be looking for ways to increase my garbage output. I sure don’t see why I’d start selling compost. It takes too much time and money for less return on investment.
Re: Re: Re: Just because it involves laughter, doesn't mean it's
Except, of course, the say in not buying it, and the say in discussing why you’re not buying it, and the say in discussing why Bethesda made this mistake, and the say in discussing the alternative methods that could have been used, and the say in laughing at your inept impotent excuses.
Re: Re: Re: Just because it involves laughter, doesn't mean it's
Actually, I do.
I choose not to buy it.
Now fuck off, and have two DMCA votes. One for you, and the horse you rode in on!
Re: Re: Re: You can’t spell slaughter, without laughter
Sup liar. That the best you got?
Re: Just because it involves laughter, doesn't mean it's nice
That they were being mocked isn’t in dispute. The problem is that people felt this was only worthy of mockery rather than anger.
To put it another way; If someone walked up and gave you a full-force kick in the groin, would you get angry, or would you 0nly post mocking memes about that person?
People today treat stuff like this as normal. Another decade or so and people will shrug when the latest release of Windows wants them to pay a monthly fee to continue using their computer.
Re: Re:
In fairness, Doom is a 26-year-old game that anyone can find, download, and run on anything from a cutting-edge laptop to a smart fridge. Being pissed off about Bethesda fucking up one port is a bit pointless when you remember that fact.
Not that people aren’t pissed off, though. Of course they are. But mocking Bethesda’s mistake and putting them on the business end of an Internet-wide meme was more effective in shaming Bethesda into doing the right thing than merely bitching about their bullshit on Twitter would have ever been on its own.
Re: Re: Re: Re:
I dispute the use of the word "anyone" in that sentence. While your statement might be technically true, in actual practice the amount of users today who could find, download and install a copy of Doom is probably fewer than 5%. Unless it comes as a simple one-click installer, complete with all the required WAD files, they’re not going to have any idea how to get it to run.
Look at the tutorials for setting up emulators. Out of a 15 minute video, the first 8-9 minutes will be devoted to how to download the Zip files of the emulator and the BIOS, how to unpack the emulator and the BIOS, how to copy the BIOS into the emulator directory, etc. And people in the comments still get confused.
I once emailed a Zip file of a small freeware game to someone and told them all they had to do was unpack the file and double-click the EXE file. After more than an hour on the phone, they still hadn’t managed to do it. They ended up bringing their laptop over the next day so that I could do it for them.
Re: Re: Just because it involves laughter, doesn't mean it's nic
You’ve never laughed at someone being kicked in the groin?
Re: Re: Re: Just because it involves laughter, doesn't mean it's
Hans Moleman Presents: Man Getting Hit by Football…
Re: Re: Re: Just because it involves laughter, doesn't mean it's
In the Documentary Idiocracy there is an entire show about it.
Ow My Balls!
Re: Re: Re: Just because it involves laughter, doesn't mean it's
I find a punch to the nose much more hilarious, especially if followed by a left and a right to the mouth.
I just break out into uncontrollable laughter because it is so funny
How old are you? 12?
Re: Just because it involves laughter, doesn't mean it's nice
"I find that rather hard to believe given how even basic testing would have exposed the problem"
Easy – they didn’t include a test scenario that included old copies of the previous releases installed on the console. They only tested fresh installs. They probably ran the same tests on all platforms, and nobody realised about this specific difference that was only in the XBox version.
Now, that was a dumb oversight, but it’s not hard to see how it happened.
As the saying goes, never ascribe to malice what can be explained by incompetence.
Re: Re: Just because it involves laughter, doesn't mean it's nic
And Bethesda is, if anything, very incompetent.
That isn’t the end of the issues, though. Bethesda’s rereleases of Doom and Doom II also featured slowed down music, and no good goddamn reason exists for that to have happened.
And as far as any of this being an “accident”? Yeah, that’s bullshit. If this situation was about only one of the three major issues — the DRM, the removal of the prior rereleases on the XBox One, or the slowed down music — I could maybe believe it was an oversight that slipped through the cracks. But all three? You couldn’t pay me to believe this was all accidental.
Re: Re:
Someone accidentally pressed the Turbo button.
For once, you wind up right! -- You don't own, can only laugh.
Only interesting part is WHY you meandered through a couple of now corrected mistakes to get there. Next time just skip.
Key point for you kids to always keep in mind regarding other people’s property, "intellectual" or real is that YOU DON’T OWN IT. Do that, you’ll be happier, and Techdirt will fold up like a cheap beer can when you stand on it and poke your fingers into its sides (briefly).
Re: For once, you wind up right!
Yes – Copyright give Corporations Ownership – not People.
But the will of the people overrides what corporations want – therefore I own whatever game I purchase and can do whatever I want with it.
That is what that Blue Balls guy always says – corporations can’t own things.
Re: Re:
Blue also says he hates corporate censorship of legal speech, yet he practically drools when corporations enforce copyright, which can be used to silence legal speech. He never addresses this cognitive dissonance, though. Can’t imagine why~.
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Because corporations pay Blue Balls to say it. No one could come up with that shit on their own.
Re:
You know, it’s funny.
Doom is open source. And because it’s open source, it can be ported to the Switch without Bethesda’s bullshit. Which means that, regardless of how you feel about “intellectual ‘property’ ”, you can run Doom on the Switch without having to pay for the game.
Ain’t that funny? I know I’m laughing…at you, anyway.
Re: Re: Re:
Pssst! If you remind out_of_the_blue that Open Source is a thing he’ll just piss his pants even harder.
So do it again!
Re: Re: Doom being open source
It’s best to buy the game on Steam or GOG anyway. That way, you could just extract the WAD and then run it on ZDoom, which is a vastly improved experience. Also, consoles don’t get the PC/Mac/Linux’s kind of modifiability without jailbreaking it, and Doom is the king of mods last time I checked.
That’s why I’m sticking with the PC version.
Re: Re: Re:
The engine, not the game. "You still need real DOOM data to work with this code. If you don’t actually own a real copy of one of the DOOMs, you should still be able to find them at software stores."
(There are lots of good free WADs, as there were since 1994, but only the original levels are really "Doom".)
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Yes, it’s always worth stressing that with this kind of thing there’s often different copyrights involved. The code might be released open source, but assets such as graphics, sound, music, level design, etc. might not be.
It’s great that some devs see the value in releasing their work to the public, but sadly they often don’t have the right to release the game in any playable state, so others step in with semi-legal options based on their code.
Re: Re: Re:2 "Free" vs. "Open Source"
Keep in mind the difference between "free" and "open source". "Free" means it’s licensed with a free license or has its copyright waived altogether. "Open Source" means the source code is revealed to the public.
Doom is open source, but it’s not free.
Re: Re: Re:3
Fair points from you and the two poster above you. ????
Re: Re: Re:3 "Free" vs. "Open Source"
Those are not commonly accepted meanings. The respective defintions pushed by the Free Software Foundation and Open Source Institute (which are more or less accepted by software people) are nearly identical in practice.
The Doom engine is GPLed—Open Source and Free Software. You can republish it with or without modifications, and lots of people have (eg. prboom-plus). It can be paired with Open Source and Free levels like FreeDoom.
The Doom shareware levels can be freely distributed, but are not "Free" because people can’t publish modified versions (I’m not aware of any concept of a "source" form for this data). The commercial levels cannot be modified or distributed, not even meeting one of your definitions.
Re: Re: Re:4 "Free" vs. "Open Source"
Thanks for your insight, Anonymous Coward! It’s just that in this XKCD comic, the word "open source licenses" was used, and Richard Stallman protested and said he was responsible for free, not open source licenses, and it took Randall Munroe a while to understand the difference.
Re: Re: Re:5 "Free" vs. "Open Sour
The Open Source Definition was based on the Debian Free Software Guidelines, which were meant to embody RMS’s Free Software concept but in more detail. So the comic’s not technically wrong. RMS’s software licenses meet the Open Source Definition.
But the Open Source movement came about specifically as a way to disassociate from RMS and other people who were motivated on moral grounds, this being unpalatable to businesses. One can understand, then, why some get annoyed at being associated with the wrong group, even if both are, in practice, convincing people to write Free Open Source Software.
Re: Re: Re:6 "Free" vs. "Open
That makes a lot of sense. Thank you!
Re: Re: Re:4
Comments like these are why I keep reading the comments here. ????
Re: Re: Re:5 Re:
Agreed. TechDirt is one of the few places on the internet where you must read the comments instead of avoiding them!
Re: Re: Re:5 Re:
Techdirt: Come for the articles, stay for the comment section.
Re: Re: Re:6 Re:
Just avoid stepping on the out_of_the_blues, the John Smiths, the Hamiltons, the average_joes, the Richard Bennetts…
Re: Re: Re:7 Re:
Flag system stress testers you mean? Unfortunately such rubbish is the price of an open comment system, though at least they provide some entertainment to some here.
Re: Re: Re:8 Re:
Well said.
Actually to be honest, I rather do enjoy stepping on the blues, Bennetts, etc.
They make funny noises when squashed underfoot…
Re: I always knew you were a knuckle dragger
How long ARE your fingers you freak of nature?
Re: For once, you wind up right! -- You don't own, can only laug
Hey, can I suggest you not try to parody one of our more ridiculous trolls? No need for that nonsense.
Re: Re: Re:
That’s a parody?
Honestly couldn’t tell the difference.
I think the duality of it all illustrates the source of the problem.
1) Content and media companies hate the idea of public domain and open source. They feel like everything should be owned. Otherwise, there’s no "business model" behind it to make it successful (forgetting the fact that most ubiquitous internet technologies have been doing fine for decades without a "business model", a term I’ve always thought was horribly and myopically misused).
2) The public, however, isn’t allowed to own anything. Without a constant nickel & dime microtransactional (it’s a word, I’m sure of it) revenue stream, those poor waif-like struggling companies like Microsoft and Sony would just fold up and cease to exist.
So the result, ownership is king, as long as only royalty has it. The unwashed masses, however, are filthy thieves, profiting on the back of hard working artists and creators. (I know, I spelled "MBAs" and "trust fund babies" wrong)
Re: Re:
FWIW, the Doom engine has been open-source since 1997. (But not the game content.)
Re: Re: Re:
IIRC, id Software in those days was still a small privately-owned business. It wasn’t so much a "company" decision as John Carmack’s decision. (As the company grew, to their credit they did allow source releases for another decade, whether or not they liked it. That’s still rare in the game-development world.)
The interesting thing about Doom is that it’s one of the few game outfits that has taken the other side in the culture war. While most of the gaming industry (and virtually all the gaming media) has gone the "woke" route and spewed venom at Gamergaters, Doom seems to be actively courting this market segment, many of whom have apparently gravitated toward the Alt-Right and Alt-Light. Time will tell if insulting SJWs and mocking Progressivism turns out to be a winning formula for Doom.
https://www.oneangrygamer.net/2018/08/dooms-mortally-challenged-comment-has-sjws-calling-it-gross-and-anti-immigration/66299/
Re:
The funny thing is, DOOM isn’t even a parody of “SJWs” (whatever that means to you in this tirade) and progressive values. Think about it for a moment: The Doom Slayer not only fights against the forces of Hell itself to keep them from overrunning humanity, he also tries to stop the people who stripmined Hell for unlimited clean energy and unleashed Hell on humanity as a result. If anything, the vendetta against UAC would make the Doom Slayer anti-capitalist — at least, to the degree that he can consciously be anything other than “too pissed off to die”.
And if the DOOM Eternal trailers are any indication, the Doom Slayer will eventually come face-to-face with the forces of Heaven — and, potentially, God. I doubt the possibility of pulling the trigger on a BFG shoved down God’s throat is something conservatives would love.
You’d probably be surprised at how many people you think are “SJWs” love DOOM — both the 2016 game and its ’90s predecessor. Well, you’d be surprised if you cared enough to look past the stereotypes and strawmen you have in your head.
Re: Re:
Look them’s your panties bro. And I won’t tell you how to twist them. But dayummm….
Re: Re:
More interestingly, Those reports were widely overblown. Any attempt to find trends about the Doom Eternal controversy tend to turn up trends about Anti-SJW commentors laughing about the SJWs, not much about the SJW crowd upset about DOOM. And a lot of the SJW complaints by fans are in the vein of "well, I am still excited for the game, but i think they might be treading on questionable ground." Cautious enthusiasm, more than outrage.
And, Doom has a history of satire of corporate inclusion speech. Much as Doom 3 and Doom 2016, the Mortally Challenged comment in context seems to be satire of overbearing corporate correctness, not of SJW commentary. Its important to note that the Mortally challenged line comes not from a SJW protester that Doom Guy kills, but a faceless corporate voice randomly declaring this to employees over a loudspeaker – during an invasion of the Mortally Challanged. This same voice’s other lines in other games are all absolute satire of office PC or office safety announcements. I agree with Stephen here, the game is clearly anti-corporate, and go further to say the line is clearly part of a pattern of satire with an anti-corporate message that DOOM 3 and DOOM 2016 also engaged in.
Speaking of “Doom”, there is a LOT of DOOM about to be unleashed on the Deep State:
Speaking to WMAL radio, former U.S. Attorney Joe diGenova informs the audience that declassified documents will begin to be made public starting Wednesday July 31st.
Additionally, Mr. diGenova states confidently that U.S. Attorney John Durham is not conducting a “review”, but is conducting a full criminal investigation with a grand jury empaneled and currently receiving testimony from witnesses.
DOOM! DOOM!
Re:
Yes, yes, and Donald Trump is thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to finally fulfilling QAnon’s dream of arresting a bunch of pedophiles. You know, pedophiles like Trump’s old pal Jeffrey Epstein.
Re: Re: Re:
Wow, Stephen, that’s really interesting. What do you think happened to Epstein? Big money guy, right, for a long time, with many friends, like Trump (long ago) and Clinton (not so long ago). Did he piss off the wrong person or what? Somebody sure got upset with him!
As I understand it, he liked to hire young ladies (teenagers) to give massages in return for money, and to encourage their friends to do the same. And the prosecution’s biggest problem is that the young ladies would not testify against him, because they actually liked him (unlike you).
What do you think about that, Stephen? He was recently found beaten senseless and unconscious in prison for his “crimes”, what do you think? For example, if he seduced a young lady, who loved him, and then got her parent’s permission to marry him, would he still be a criminal? Or if the ladies were over 18 instead of under 18, is he still as despicable and deserving of such severe punishment? Or should we just condemn his for his sexuality because he once knew Trump.
Did I ever mention that my grandparents were sex therapists? Really, no kidding. They wrote books about it and had offices in New York City that catered to the really really rich, espousing the link between sexual expression and creativity, and sexual repression and criminality. That is, great and creative artists tend to have a lot of sex (aka rock stars and such) while people who suppress their sexual urges often end up murdering and mutilating people.
I’m guessing you’re in the latter group, and I’m in the former. I remember the first girl that wanted to show me her “pussy”, I was 10 and she was 15, and I HONESTLY thought she was talking about her CAT! Her name was Cindy. Never forget her! Wow. That was a long time ago.
Any early memories you would like to share? I’m guessing not, since you’re obviously the repressed angry nasty frustrated shit smearing gay black asshole type.
Re: Re: Re:
You’re not as good a writer than JK Rowling, so you can stop trying to come up with a fantasy story that rivals hers.
Re: Re: Re:2 Re:
Hey Look an Amazon page with my grandmother’s books!
https://www.amazon.com/Eleanor-Hamilton/e/B001KHN8ZG/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
I’m in them, of course, she told everyone I spent too much time with my hands in my pockets, it was really embarrassing, because in my small Mass. town, EVERYBODY LOOKED (like that Dean Whitter commercial) whenever I reached for change. Had to get a change pocket on a chain.
Well, we all have burdens we must bear. My grandmother and her fascination for sex was one of mine. How about sharing yours, Stephen? Maybe you would be less of a shit smearing asshole if you shared a little about yourself. Really. I’m serious. I’m a professional, I can help you.
Re: Re: Re:3
You’re a professional shitposter? ????
Re: Re: Re:4 Re:
Wouldn’t surprise me, given how much practice they’ve got.
Re: Re: Re:5 Re:
You know, my “pro-bono” offer extends to any of your nutcase idiots, including you. I have absolutely no doubt, given a lifetime of experience in listening to, treating and (often) curing shit smearing assholes of their deviant behavior, YOU WOULD FEEL BETTER if you related something sincere about yourself to your audience on the Internet. Take off your mask! We will accept you just as you are, you are a good person, and you don’t need to hide. Be yourself! You’re OK!
Well, that’s not always true about everyone, but how will anyone know if there is any cure for your disease unless you OPEN UP! Really, it’s good for you, it’s good for EVERYBODY!
Take off your mask! Be real! Let your hair down! Chuckle, laugh, get over your negative ideas and negative words and ENJOY LIFE WITH THE REST OF US!
Or not, up to you, of course. Some people (<1%) really like to live in their phony pony false world using fake names and fake opinions without ever taking a chance on actually connecting in a personal way with other real people. There’s name for that that sometimes fits: Sociopath? Heard it before? Maybe in a medical diagnosis somewhere? Or are you the fellow that writes from the Mental Hospital (Uriel-238)
Anyway, relax and give it a go! Share something real!
Re: Re: Re:6 I got two words for ya:
Shiva lost.
Re: Re: Re:7 Understatement much?
Saying ‘Shiva lost’ is like saying the pacific ocean is ‘kinda big’; he was trounced so badly you almost have to suspect that the only people who voted for him did so purely out of pity.
Re: Re: Re:6 Re:
You really are the saddest closet case I’ve ever seen bro.
Re: Re: Re:4 Re:
I think he’s the kind of guy that plays doom for its deep political meaning.
Or maybe he is just a Russian troll bot who wishes more then anything he was able to get a position in the armed the Russian military instead just sitting behind a screen all day wondering what part of his life got him here lol
Re: Re: Re:3 A “professional” piece of shit if you will.
You you have quite the obsession with smearing shit. It point to the mentality of a child with a major cognitive deficit.
Re: Re: Re:3 Re:
“Well, we all have burdens we must bear. ”
And your grandmothers was apparently you.
Re: Whatsamatter Liebowitz got ya down?
I know you’re mentally ill hamilton. But that shite is pathetic even for your dumb ass.
Re: Re: Whatsamatter Liebowitz got ya down?
Do you mean Liebowitz, the one that was called a "Copyright Troll" in court documents? An statement that he failed to have redacted?
Things are only going to get worse with cloud gaming
There used to be a time when Hamilton was maybe mildly threatening, in the same way that a rambunctious kindergartener is threatening when triumphantly stealing a lollipop from his baby brother. Or a schoolyard bully kicking a nerd to show off his alpha male designation.
Then Shiva lost his appeal, came to an agreement and Hamilton vanished, with the heavyweight in his corner gone. John Smith, his ardent supporter and closeted lover, gave up using his pseudonym (but not the telltale way he expresses his grudges) and crumbled back into obscurity.
Months down the road we still have no wall, no Hilary arrest, Shiva’s bid for dominance as the "Indian politician who slew Techdirt" in shambles… and Hamilton’s only bid is to back the corner of Barr, Steele, Hansmeier and Liebowitz.
The champions of intellectual property law, ladies and gentlemen!
Re:
Don’t forget his 57-point loss to Liz Warren. That one had to hurt.
Re: Re: Re:
Oh I know it. That’s college football scores there.
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"Real Indian Gets Scalped By Fake Indian"
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Shiva told people not to vote for the fake indian. Upon election day they overwhelmingly obliged.
(Credit to whoever came up with the original months past)
Taking their word for it
Bethesda claims it was an error. Whether that’s true is anyone’s guess. You clearly believe them, but perhaps you shouldn’t present it as a fact with so much emphasis. Techdirt has a long history of calling out mainstream publications for uncritically parroting press releases, after all.
Re: Taking their word for it
Really? but what of…
Was that, too, an error?
"Clicking any of the affected Doom games’ listings right now, however, leads to dead Xbox 360 content pages, the kind you might find for delisted Xbox games like Marvel Ultimate Alliance."
I’d just want to ask – did they try this with an account that had bought the games previously, or not? I ask because in my experience Microsoft are usually pretty good at keeping delisted titles available for people who had previously bought them to re-download. For example, the game Chime which was delisted due to music licences expiring is still available for me to re-download.
Re: AFAIK
The game was pulled from the marketplace and could no longer be re-downloaded by existing owners, apparently. The latter was (seemingly) in error.
It’s Bethesda. There’s no way they could’ve not fucked it up.
The original doom was much better.
Re: Re:
This was with the original Doom (and Doom II and III). Bethesda/Zenimax/whomever messed up the distribution badly.
Re: Re: Got it right the first time
No, the Anonymous Coward to which you are replying is onto something. The Doom (1993) and Doom II ports for the Switch, PS4, and XBox One are remakes made in the Unity Engine, not the original open-source Doom engine.
Re: Re: Re: Got it right the first time
and the original doom had none of the modern day bullshit drm.
Timothy… you’re living in the past. People start their horses with proximity fobs and buttons now.
Thought about buying a game recently. An old game no longer found was re-released. I noticed that it was cheaper than the going AAA games and wondered why. So I got to looking and it turns out you needed an internet connection as well as paying for a premium game membership in order to play it.
I just turned around and walked away. The game wasn’t whole and unto itself. It required a monthly payment to the game membership in order to play it. That’s just not worth it to me.
Well, the solution that works for me is to not buy something I won’t own. If there are products I can’t own if I buy them, then should I actually want one of those products (which so far hasn’t happened), I will assume obtaining them some other way is just a part of the game those companies want to play. If companies want to behave that way toward their customers, then they should expect to be repaid in kind.