Valve's Gabe Newell On Piracy: It's Not a Pricing Problem

Valve's Gabe Newell On Piracy: It's Not a Pricing Problem:

New submitter silentbrad writes with a followup to our discussion this morning about Ubisoft's claims of overwhelming game piracy. An article at IGN quotes a different point of view from Gabe Newell, CEO of Valve:
"In general, we think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. For example, if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the U.S. release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable. Most DRM solutions diminish the value of the product by either directly restricting a customers use or by creating uncertainty."
The quote was taken from an interview at The Cambridge Student Online, in which Newell speaks to a few other subjects, such as creating games for multiple platforms and e-sports.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The adult-book premium

The adult-book premium:

AT THE end of the week I’m heading off on a much-needed holiday. I’m intent on reading fiction while I'm gone. I’ve chosen parts two and three of the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. For those who unfamiliar, imagine Harry Potter, minus Quidditch, plus a plot.

Having visited a bookstore to obtain said books, I walked to the counter and inquired about their location. "They’re in teen fiction on the second floor", I was told by the assistant. The manager then put in, "The adult copies are in science fiction, first floor", to which I responded, "Are they the same book?". "All except the cover", he answered. "Same price?" "No the children’s books will be cheaper", came the reply.

Sure enough, the children’s books were cheaper in both hardcover and paperback, by 17%. The logic of having two separate editions is simple enough; by targeting two markets, teen and adult fiction, the publisher may increase sales. But how to explain the different prices?

One might suspect that production costs vary enough to justify different sticker prices. The teen edition has a bright mysterious cover, for instance, while the adult version looks like something I could knock together. Yet the adult version is the more expensive.

On average teen fiction is cheaper than adult fiction, suggesting that price discrimination may be at work. By selling two editions in two places, the publisher may be better able to extract more surplus by getting buyers to reveal their consumer-type. People shopping in the teens section are likely to be teens, to therefore have less income, and to therefore be more price sensitive. If there is little overlap between customers browsing the teen and adult section, this kind of price discrimination might be possible.

But consumers are pretty savvy. The internet makes price discovery incredible easy. This can hardly be the whole story.

The shop assistant offered yet another explanation: "Adult readers are prepared to pay a premium so that strangers on the train don’t think they’re reading children’s books." I like this because it allows us to put a price on people’s self-image, or at a minimum shows they’re willing to pay more to appear more intellectual.

If I’ve missed a good explanation for the price difference, economic or otherwise, put it in the comments. Out of interest I bought the teen version, either because I’m price sensitive or because I know trying to hide my childish tastes is futile.

It's Not Exactly the Return of the '84 Dallas Grand Prix. But Close. Only, Much Smaller Cars.

It's Not Exactly the Return of the '84 Dallas Grand Prix. But Close. Only, Much Smaller Cars.: A couple of days back a Friend of Unfair Park shot me a note: "Thought you might want a look at this, seems pretty exciting!" Below was this link, which takes you to something called the Texas Lone Star Grand Prix scheduled to take place March 17-18 at Fair Park -- which some of you may recall was the site of the brutally hot, awfully crashy Dallas Grand Prix in 1984. (And I can't believe this CG re-enactment still exists three years later.)Alas: This won't mark the return of Formula One to Fair Park -- if only. Instead, says the site, the field will consist of kart racers. Still: "Much of the course will follow the course formerly used for Formula One racers in the Dallas Grand Prix." And it'll be in March, when it probably won't be 139 degrees. Found the accompanying video on Vimeo -- at least someone's enjoying the hell out of Fair Park. Registration opens today. Vroom.

No Red Bull Air Races In 2012

No Red Bull Air Races In 2012:

Red Bull says the one year break its race series that happened this year will extend another year through 2012. The Red Bull Air Race series began in 2003 with just two events. By 2008 it had expanded to eight races in Europe, Australia, the middle east and the United States attracting more than 100,000 spectators at many events. But during the middle of the last season in 2010, the company announced the races would be canceled for 2011.

The reasons given at the time were for restructuring of the events including improvements to safety. Despite flying more than 200 miles per hour less than 100 feet above the surface, there have been no injuries during the history of the Red Bull Air Race series. The first accident occurred last year when a Brazilian pilot crashed into the Swan River in Perth, Australia. He was rescued in minutes and was not injured.

A spokesperson for Red Bull Air Race told the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association there will be no races again in 2012 saying, “a revamped concept and a fixed race calendar will be revealed in 2013.”

Up until 2010, pilots competing in the events flew one at a time through a course of soft, inflatable “air gates.” In addition to making turns around the fabric pylons, pilots were required to perform certain aerobatic maneuvers, usually as a way to turn around and fly back through the course.

After the crash at this year’s Reno Air Races, which are a completely different format and unrelated to the Red Bull Air Races, there was speculation in the aviation community whether the accident and death of several spectators would affect other air show type events. It is not known if the incident in Reno had any influence on the decision to cancel the 2012 Red Bull events.

Photo: Red Bull

Rayman Origins—the best 2D platformer no one's talking about

Rayman Origins—the best 2D platformer no one's talking about:

Rayman Origins brings Rayman back where he belongs: the world of 2D platforming. When I saw the game for the first time at this year's E3, I knew it was going to be something special, but I also knew it was going to be hard to find an audience during the release-packed month of November.

The game is beautiful, and since that beauty comes from the animation and art style, it's going to look good a week from now, and just as good five years from now. 2D animation in video games relies on artists to look good, not just on visual effects that date a game to a particular generation.

Read the comments on this post

Young drivers chosen for FIA Academy

Young drivers chosen for FIA Academy: This week twenty-nine of the world’s most promising young racing and rally drivers arrived in Austria for the Selection Event for the second year of the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy. Each driver was assessed over the 4-day event and...



To read the rest of the article, please visit the jamesallenonf1.com website

Desert Bus auction items will haunt your dreams and your wallet

Desert Bus auction items will haunt your dreams and your wallet:

You might have been under the impression that Desert Bus for Hope was all about torturing the members of Loading Ready Run, but that's not all. It is also, as we have discovered, about auctioning off some incredibly cool - and incredibly nerdy - stuff. You want a plush Zergling? Sure. Custom made Desert Bus choose-your-own-adventure books? Of course. Gorgeous poster of Portal's Chell in the style of Art Nouveau? The image above tells you all you need to know.



And, as we learned on last week's episode of the Joystiq Show, they even have copies of Daikatana signed by John Romero himself. The auctions should start going live once the Desert Bus marathon gets rolling today, so keep an eye on the auction page if you want to snag some of this great stuff, the proceeds of which all go to Child's Play.

Desert Bus auction items will haunt your dreams and your wallet originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

The reason why is because people just don't like it

The reason why is because people just don't like it:

GABE DOYLE of Motivated Grammar (motto: "Prescriptivism must die!"), is sticking up for "the reason why". The phrase is usually criticised by sticklers as redundant. Mr Doyle makes an in important counterargument: redundancy is a core feature of language. Every language has features that are not required for comprehension, but reinforce something that is also conveyed another way. In the Spanish phrase las tres casas blancas, "the three white houses", every single word is marked for plurality. "Three" would suffice to let the listener know we aren't talking about one house (and the number would be all that's required in languages that don't mark plurality on nouns and adjectives), but Spanish grammar requires the rest of the markers. And redundancy is a feature, not a bug, of many noisy systems: no city or state name is needed if the US Postal Service has a ZIP code. But if one digit of the code is illegible, the city and state name will make sure your letter gets there anyway. The right amount of redundancy is that which gets the signal through the noise without waste.

But Mr Doyle makes another argument for "reason why": it's simply been more prevalent than "reason that" in books, according to Google's N-gram search.

But here Mr Doyle's argument stumbles. He seems to be thinking of noun phrases with "the reason [why/that]" plus a complement clause, as in

The reason why I'm leaving your father is his drinking

versus

The reason that I'm leaving your father is his drinking.

He's right that the "that" version feels more awkward, and is less common. (But of course both "why" and "that" can be left out here: The reason I'm leaving your father.)

I'm thinking of a different kind of noun phrase, one without the complement clause.

I'm leaving your father. The reason why is that he's a drunk.

This is much better expressed as

I'm leaving your father. The reason is that he's a drunk.

And it turns out that "the reason why is" is much less common than "the reason is."

(A search for "the reason why is that" versus "the reason is that" turns up a similar picture.)

Mr Doyle is right that "the reason why" is old—he gives a citation from 1530. And it's not ungrammatical. But it's not "venerable", as he says, given that English authors overwhelmingly prefer "the reason is". Descriptivism means accurately describing all kinds of language. This Johnson thinks, as the original Johnson did, that describing and prescribing are not mortal enemies. (And others from Johnathon Owen to Bryan Garner to John McIntyre agree.) I would describe "the reason why is" as rare in good writing, and I would prescribe, as a teacher or an editor, that writers seeking my approval not use it.

And don't get me going on "the reason why is because"...

Ecclestone: Austin GP likely to be canceled

Ecclestone: Austin GP likely to be canceled:

The Austin Grand Prix will be removed from the schedule at the December 7^th FI A World Motor Sport Council meeting if things aren’t solved by that time. This is according to Ian Parkes’s interview with Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone.

“We had an agreement with Full Throttle Productions.

“Everything was signed and sealed, but we kept putting things off like the dates, various letters of credit and things that should have been sent, but nothing ever happened.

“Then these other people (COTA) came on the scene, saying that they wanted to do things, but that they had problems with Tavo.

“They said they had the circuit, and that they wanted an agreement with me. I told them they had to sort out the contract with Tavo, which they said they would.

“But that has gone away now because we’ve cancelled Tavo’s contract as he was in breach.

“We’ve waited six months for him to remedy the breach. He knows full well why we’ve cancelled. He’s happy.

“But these other people haven’t got a contract. All we’ve asked them to do is get us a letter of credit.

“We are looking for security for money they are going to have to pay us. That is via a letter of credit, normally from a bank.

“If people don’t have the money they find it difficult to get the letter of credit, and so we don’t issue a contract.”

It seems that the details, oddly, are only coming from Ecclestone and neither of the parties involved in the project. If Tavo Hellmund’s contract was in breach, and I assume because he failed to secure a letter of credit, then this left Ecclestone to deal with the circuit itself and the investors who are behind the project.

While Bobby Epstein is assumed to be the majority player in this group, he has yet to provide a letter of credit according to Ecclestone. While that sounds easy, there are a whole host of issues attached to that statement.

Firstly, Ecclestone is presuming Epstein agrees to all the nuances of the deal and will provide a LOC agreeing to the terms of the deal. That is most likely not the case but I am speculating.

The interesting twist is the contract with Tavo is no longer valid. I assume it is due to a lack of an LOC and that was the rub. I am assuming Tavo’s ability to secure a LOC for several million dollars was not possible in the time frame that the contract called for.

As it is, it seems unless Epstein can negotiate a deal with Ecclestone and offer the commitment, the Austin Grand Prix is going to be canceled for 2012.

Philip K. Dick on Prophets of Science Fiction Tonight

Philip K. Dick on Prophets of Science Fiction Tonight:

Philip K. Dick by R. Crumb

Tonight the second episode of Prophets of Science Fiction airs on Science, featuring the author Phillip K. Dick. First let me confess that I am a “Dick Head” (That’s the official term!) and have been since I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep even before seeing the movie adaptation back in the early 1980s. I rank Blade Runner as one of the greatest movies of all time. Okay, enough with confession time.

So, you can guess that I would be excited to see Dick get the documentary treatment he deserves, especially if it is being produced by Ridley Scott — the man responsible for Blade Runner. Like the first episode on Mary Shelly, this episode of PoSF features interviews with scientists, authors, and movie makers, talking about the cultural and scientific implications of the author’s work. These are presented alongside illustrations, movie clips, and live reenactments using an actor with a rather unconvincing simulacrum of Dick’s beard.

Unlike last week’s episode, though, the interviews felt more natural and less rehearsed. I especially enjoyed the commentary of David Brin, who stands out as both a great writer of science fiction and a scientist himself.

And, of course, Scott chimes in throughout the episode, not only giving insightful commentary about Dick’s vision, but also personal stories of working with Dick during the initial production of Blade Runner. Sadly, Dick died before seeing the movie and before his contribution to popular culture and scientific philosophy were felt.

Despite being a fan and having read the majority of his oeuvre, the documentary did teach me a lot about Dick’s life, especially his childhood. Most interesting is the fact that Dick had a twin sister who died only weeks after their birth. According to the documentary, this was to have profound effect on his life, as he grew up with her as an imaginary friend who was all too real to him. There is some evidence to support the idea that his sister was a force in his life — he was buried next to her when he died at the age of 53 — but the documentary never makes clear where this extremely personal insight originates.

The show highlights Dick’s writing style, best described as Paranoid Fiction. His novels and stories are filled with characters constantly doubting the reality around them — always with good reason. Despite this, or maybe because of it, Dick also presented some of the most believably human characters in sci-fi at that time, even when the characters that were not human. For example, whereas Isaac Asimov’s robots were always “the other” — following very clearly defined laws — Dick’s androids were “more human than human,” following the same murky morality as humans, but with a compressed life span to contend with.

Of course, the reality of androids has come a long way since Dick first wrote about them, but not nearly as far as he had imagined. Dick would likely be horrified by the fact that one of the most realistic androids today is a simulacrum of his head. He would be even more alarmed, though, by the conspiracy surrounding its mysterious disappearance in 2006. A new head has since been constructed and is featured in PoSF.

The documentary dwells especially on Dick’s books turned into movies — Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, etc…. It ends with a brief discussion of his religious writings, describing them about as well as I’ve seen since they can be a little off-putting to many audiences.

However, PoSF shies away from some of his more political books. This is unfortunate since this is where Dick is at his most prophetic. If you want to understand the recent Bush administration, I highly recommend Dick’s The Simulacra.

It’s not a very deep look at his life, but If you are new to Dick or looking for some insights into his motives, watch tonight on Science at 10 PM. This episode of PoSF gives an excellent introduction and overview to Philip K., one which just might inspire a new generation of Dick Heads.

Women are more likely than men to suffer ‘broken heart syndrome,’ study finds

Women are more likely than men to suffer ‘broken heart syndrome,’ study finds:

ORLANDO, Fla. — A woman’s heart breaks more easily than a man’s.

Females are seven to nine times more likely to suffer “broken heart syndrome,” when sudden or prolonged stress like an emotional breakup or death causes overwhelming heart failure or heart attack-like symptoms, the first nationwide study of this finds. Usually patients recover with no lasting damage.

Read full article >>

Abu Dhabi Test: Red Bull Aero Rake

Abu Dhabi Test: Red Bull Aero Rake:

Red Bull started the Abu Dhabi Young Drivers test with a mass of aero testing equipment fitted to the RB7. Although the test is supposed to be to assess young drivers, this is the first open test since the season started and teams make use of this time to gather data from the car. In Red Bulls case this was a repeat of tests from last year, where the front wing ride height and wake is being measured by a range of sensors.

Pictures via F1Talks.pl & SuttonImages.com

Airflow around the front tyre is critical with the post-2009 wide front wings. The ever more complex front wing endplates direct the airflow around the tyre. This effect varies greatly with front wing ride height, so that when the wing flexes down under load at speed, the airflow changes. I have learnt from F1 aerodynamicists that the effect of the endplate on flow around the wheel as the wing flexes down, is perhaps more important than downforce gained the wing being closer to the ground. So the Red Bull and also Ferrari tests are critical to understand how the airflow passes around the tyres with varying wing ride height.

Clearly the gains from flexible front wings will be an ever greater performance factor next year. Even though the FIA rules amended for 2011 were even more stringent than in 2010.

In Red Bulls the case the set up consists of three main elements; the aero rake, ride height sensors and the cables holding the front wing.

Wing mounting cables

Wing cables & Nose hump – Picture via F1Talks.pl & SuttonImages.com

Ride Height Sensors

Ride Height Sensor – Picture via F1Talks.pl & SuttonImages.com

Ride height Sensors – Picture via F1Talks.pl & SuttonImages.com

Aero Rake

Rake detail – Picture via F1Talks.pl & SuttonImages.com

My interpretation of how the rig works is: the wing is allowed to deflect at speed to a specific height, this is controlled by the cables from the hump on the nose. By limiting droop, a number of wing ride height settings can be assessed during the runs. Laser ride height sensors both in the centre and at the front and rear of the endplate will confirm the actual ride height and wing angle being tested. Then the rake will take measurements of the airflow. The driver will then run at a fixed speed along the straight, keeping a consistent speed will ensure the data is consistent and the amount of wing flex can be predicted for each run.

This will create an aero map of flow across the wing and with the wing at different attitudes. The data from the tests will be used to confirm CFD\Wind tunnel results and direct the team in deciding how the wing should flex in 2012.

We can now look in detail how the rig is made and how it works.

Cables holding the front wing

During some runs we saw the cables lying loose between the wing and the hump. Which confirms they are cables and not solid rods, as with the rake mountings. Being cables they could not be for measuring wing position, as not being stiff, they would not be accurate enough. With the size of the nose hump and the other equipment to measure ride height, I now believe they are to control the droop of the front wing. Perhaps the test wing is more flexible than the usual race wing in order to achieve more attitudes under load. Its possible the hump contains hydraulics to adjust the droop of the wing to different attitudes during each run. The 2009 Red Bull used hydraulics in the nose to control the then legal adjustable front wing flap, so it’s a proven approach to fit more hydraulics into the nose cone. Being able to alter wing attitude on the move would greatly improve the amount of data gathered from each run. With there being two cables for each wing, one mounted on the main plane and the second on the flap, the wing could be controlled not only in droop but also the angle of attack. So that the wing could reproduce different beam and torsional stiffness of a future wing.

Ride Height sensors

We have seen laser ride height sensors fitted to cars through Friday practices and extra units fitted for testing. For the front wing rig Red Bull ran five ride height sensors on the wing. The central unit is fitted to the neutral centre section of wing. This would measure true wing ride height, as the centre section is relatively stiff and is not part of the deflecting structure of the wing. Then two ride height sensors are fitted to front to the front and rear of the endplate. These would measure the ride height of the wing tips. Using the centre ride height sensor as a base line provides the amount the wing tip is deflecting. Just as with the double cable arrangement supporting the wing, the two endplate ride height sensors would measure any change in angle of attack, the delta between the front and rear sensors showing the wings angle of attack.

Aero Rake

With the wings attitude controlled and measured by the cables and sensors, the wake of the wing is then measured by the aero rake. This is an array of sensors measuring air speed, velocity and perhaps even direction. Two rows of rakes are employed and these are securely mounted to blisters on the nose cone. Just as with the wing mounting cables these struts may be attached to hydraulics to raise the rake over a range of positions, to map a wider area behind the wing. A slightly messy part of the mounting system if the bundle of cables exiting the rake and passing up into the nose cone to be attached to the cars telemetry system.