Topic: PlayStation4 - News/Rumor/Speculation - Over 1 Million Sold on Day 1

[oohhboy]

If drawing a picture can't show you what the problem is, there is nothing else I can do for you.

[nickmitch]

It's not a picture, it's a abstract caricature.

[broodwars]

I come bearing another piece of gaming shame. EA voted America's worse company.

Which is really ridiculous and comes off as childish on the part of voters.  Even within the gaming industry, there is at least one company far worse than EA (Activision).  You pull away to look at companies in the general American economy, and that vote looks even more ridiculous.  EA is many things, but "the worst company in America"?  Hardly.

And what's more, because of the way this vote comes down, what message does this really send to EA?  I read the Forbes article, and even it wasn't sure.  Oh look, internet gamers don't like EA.  Waaaah.  It must be a Tuesday.  The total lack of perspective shown in this vote just downplays any meaning it might have sent, because any PR rep can look at this and easily pick it apart so it can't be taken seriously.

[nickmitch]

Looking at the bracket makes me wonder a few things. How did BoA beat Wal*Mart? How did Target even make the list? Is there really no sympathy for the Post Office? It's dying and still comes 6 days a week (for now).

[Oblivion]

It's a user voted list. Enough said.

[nickmitch]

I suppose. But the Target thing still bugs me. They give 5% of their net income to communities. Name another for profit company that does that. I really don't think you can.

[broodwars]

Looking at the bracket makes me wonder a few things. How did BoA beat Wal*Mart? How did Target even make the list? Is there really no sympathy for the Post Office? It's dying and still comes 6 days a week (for now).

Yeah, I don't understand Target being on the list either, unless there's some PR snafu I'm not aware of.  As for the Post Office, I used to criticize them a lot for their slow delivery time, but in my experience that has really seemed to improve over the last few years.  I've had quite a few packages come ahead of schedule, and I've actually had less of a hassle sending packages through them than my local UPS store.  They're by no means the best delivery option, but "one of the worst companies in America?"  I really don't see that.

[oohhboy]

It really didn't matter who won, being nominated alone is shameful enough. Moving up the tiers is only increases the shame. You're missing the forest for the trees.  If you only focus on the absolute worse company year on year, it would be a list of the same company year after year after year. This is a list of shame. The order is largely irrelevant, you don't want to be on this list at all. What you are asking for is an analysis of the worse company in America when I gave you a poll of the worse companies in America.

I could have told you BoA has done the world the most damage in monetary terms and suffering. I don't need a poll to tell me that, everybody already knows it and have acted accordingly by pulling their accounts.

It's not a picture, it's a abstract caricature.

Fine, it's a series of images electronically assembled to illustrate why the current DLC model is a determent to the end user. Pedantic enough for you? Do I have to explain this series of images to you again with Maden arrows and mathematical formule?

[nickmitch]

It really didn't matter who won, being nominated alone is shameful enough. Moving up the tiers is only increases the shame. You're missing the forest for the trees.  If you only focus on the absolute worse company year on year, it would be a list of the same company year after year after year. This is a list of shame. The order is largely irrelevant, you don't want to be on this list at all. What you are asking for is an analysis of the worse company in America when I gave you a poll of the worse companies in America.

We get that being on the list is already shameful. That's why we're questioning certain company's appearances on the list. I only asked how BoA beat Wal*Mart, what with the slave labor and all.

It's not a picture, it's a abstract caricature.

Fine, it's a series of images electronically assembled to illustrate why the current DLC model is a determent to the end user. Pedantic enough for you? Do I have to explain this series of images to you again with Maden arrows and mathematical formule?

Allow me to rephrase: It's a gross exaggeration that doesn't accurately represent the situation that it's trying to depict. Is that clear enough for you?

[TJ Spyke]

Target could be on the list because they openly support anti-gay politicians. There was a boycott of Target in 2010 after they made large contributions (about $150K) to a anti-gay Minnesota politician.

I am not shocked Bank of America is ranked higher than Walmart. BOA helped wreck the world economy, illegally kick people out of their homes (because BOA no longer owned the the houses they were foreclosing on), they actually locked customers in one of their branches in Santa Cruz last fall when they tried to close their accounts (this was during the mass exodus when hundreds of thousands of people closed their bank accounts and move their money to credit unions), they tried to charge $5 a month to people with debit accounts until a massive petition (and lots of media coverage) shamed them into not doing it, they were caught price-fixing ATM fees along with 2 other banks and 2 major credit card companies, they laid off 30K employees while still paying their CEO $7.5 million. Yeah, there is plenty of reason to hate them.

EA should not even be on the list.

[Louieturkey]

Back in my old AnimeOnDVD.com days, site director Chris Beveridge had a great line in response to all the people on his site constantly complaining about various facets of the industry, and I think it's equally applicable here (I'll substitute "video games" for "anime"):

"[Video Games are] not a right. [They are] a privilege, a consumer product, art, work for hire, a luxury, a hobby, entertainment."

He still has that line, only now on the Fandom Post instead.

[broodwars]

Back in my old AnimeOnDVD.com days, site director Chris Beveridge had a great line in response to all the people on his site constantly complaining about various facets of the industry, and I think it's equally applicable here (I'll substitute "video games" for "anime"):

"[Video Games are] not a right. [They are] a privilege, a consumer product, art, work for hire, a luxury, a hobby, entertainment."

He still has that line, only now on the Fandom Post instead.

Yep.  I've been on that site for quite some time, but it'll always be AnimeOnDVD.com to me.  "Fandom Post" is so generic by comparison.

[Louieturkey]

Back in my old AnimeOnDVD.com days, site director Chris Beveridge had a great line in response to all the people on his site constantly complaining about various facets of the industry, and I think it's equally applicable here (I'll substitute "video games" for "anime"):

"[Video Games are] not a right. [They are] a privilege, a consumer product, art, work for hire, a luxury, a hobby, entertainment."

He still has that line, only now on the Fandom Post instead.

Yep.  I've been on that site for quite some time, but it'll always be AnimeOnDVD.com to me.  "Fandom Post" is so generic by comparison.

It was AOD to me when it was Mania.  So yeah, I feel the same way.

These arguments keep circling back to the same thing: some people view a game purchase as owning the disc and everything on it.  Others, including the EULA that everyone agrees to, states that when you purchase a game, you purchase a license to it similar to purchasing a license to Windows (can't install windows on multiple computers without buying multiple licenses).  There will never be common ground between the two sides since the beliefs are completely different.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Target could be on the list because they openly support anti-gay politicians. There was a boycott of Target in 2010 after they made large contributions (about $150K) to a anti-gay Minnesota politician.

I am not shocked Bank of America is ranked higher than Walmart. BOA helped wreck the world economy, illegally kick people out of their homes (because BOA no longer owned the the houses they were foreclosing on), they actually locked customers in one of their branches in Santa Cruz last fall when they tried to close their accounts (this was during the mass exodus when hundreds of thousands of people closed their bank accounts and move their money to credit unions), they tried to charge $5 a month to people with debit accounts until a massive petition (and lots of media coverage) shamed them into not doing it, they were caught price-fixing ATM fees along with 2 other banks and 2 major credit card companies, they laid off 30K employees while still paying their CEO $7.5 million. Yeah, there is plenty of reason to hate them.

EA should not even be on the list.

Had to correct this, Target gave a contribution to a pro-business organization that in turn donated to a pro-business politicians who happened to be anti-gay, there is a big difference. Target has a pro-business policy in regards to donations, just happened this particular organization donated to a candidate who was anti-gay. When you smear an organization at least try to have your facts straight. Target still has some of the best anti-discrimination policies around.

http://www.factcheck.org/2010/08/mn-forward/

Anyway that is getting really off topic. EA is far from being one of the worse businesses in America.

[TJ Spyke]

Nice way to spin things GP. They have donated money to multiple anti-gay politicians and PAC's that support these politicians. Here is a good article pointing out all of the anti-gay politicians and groups Target has given money to: http://www.theawl.com/2010/12/the-anti-gay-donations-that-target-apologized-for-they-never-stopped

I am not smearing an organization, just stating facts. There are worse companies around in terms of gay rights though, Chick-Fil-A is a prime example.

[Chozo Ghost]

I think what GP is saying is that yes they gave money to politicians who were anti-gay, but being anti-gay wasn't the reason for it. They gave the money because those politicians were pro-business. The fact some of them were also anti-gay was an unrelated coincidence.

[TJ Spyke]

Even after the Target CEO apologized for it (after the massive protests), they continued donating to those same politicians. Maybe they didn't donate because they were anti-gay, but the sheer number of them makes it odd.

On the flipside, EA is standing up for gay rights and basically giving a big FU to the fans who wrote letters complaining about the Mass Effect games letting you have gay relationships.

[Chozo Ghost]

The funny thing I've noticed about the relationships is the only options are straight and lesbian relationships. There is no option for a male Shepard to form a relationship with any male character. The reason Lesbian relationships are allowed is because its no secret that the majority of gamers are heterosexual males, and heterosexual males find lesbian relationships appealing. That's why its in the game. Its not being done to cater to the gay community, because if that were the case then why is there no option for male/male relationships?


Okay, keep in mind I haven't played Mass Effect 3 yet, but I just looked and apparently there is a male romance option. Nevertheless, this was absent from the first two mass effect games. Its good they finally added that in, but why didn't they do it in the first two games? The option for Lesbian relationships was there from day one.

[nickmitch]

As someone who's actually worked at Target's corporate HQ, I can say that they're not anti-gay at all. There's an LGBT networking club there. They're very proud of it.

[ShyGuy]

What does this have to do with how much RAM the PS4 will have?

[oohhboy]

Nothing. You won't get a straight answer until it comes out.

[Sarail]

Nothing. You won't get a straight answer until it comes out.

Hah. I see what you did there.

[tendoboy1984]

Looking at the bracket makes me wonder a few things. How did BoA beat Wal*Mart? How did Target even make the list? Is there really no sympathy for the Post Office? It's dying and still comes 6 days a week (for now).

If the post office is dying, then what will happen to FedEx, UPS, etc.? Packaged goods are still useful. How else will we get our online orders shipped to us?


And most companies still use paper-billing because it's safer than sending it to an email account. Email can get hacked, online accounts can be broken into, etc.

[tendoboy1984]

As someone who's actually worked at Target's corporate HQ, I can say that they're not anti-gay at all. There's an LGBT networking club there. They're very proud of it.

Ok? Good for them.


I still don't get why you have to feel "proud" to be gay, bi, etc. You don't see me going around saying I'm "proud" to be straight. What does pride have to do with it?

[tendoboy1984]

Target could be on the list because they openly support anti-gay politicians. There was a boycott of Target in 2010 after they made large contributions (about $150K) to a anti-gay Minnesota politician.

I am not shocked Bank of America is ranked higher than Walmart. BOA helped wreck the world economy, illegally kick people out of their homes (because BOA no longer owned the the houses they were foreclosing on), they actually locked customers in one of their branches in Santa Cruz last fall when they tried to close their accounts (this was during the mass exodus when hundreds of thousands of people closed their bank accounts and move their money to credit unions), they tried to charge $5 a month to people with debit accounts until a massive petition (and lots of media coverage) shamed them into not doing it, they were caught price-fixing ATM fees along with 2 other banks and 2 major credit card companies, they laid off 30K employees while still paying their CEO $7.5 million. Yeah, there is plenty of reason to hate them.

EA should not even be on the list.

Had to correct this, Target gave a contribution to a pro-business organization that in turn donated to a pro-business politicians who happened to be anti-gay, there is a big difference. Target has a pro-business policy in regards to donations, just happened this particular organization donated to a candidate who was anti-gay. When you smear an organization at least try to have your facts straight. Target still has some of the best anti-discrimination policies around.

http://www.factcheck.org/2010/08/mn-forward/

Anyway that is getting really off topic. EA is far from being one of the worse businesses in America.

So Target is better than Walmart and Kmart/Sears?