Ouch!

That's NOT Heisenburg's Uncertainty Principle! Everyone calls everything that results in a "we're not sure" as Heisenburg's Uncertainty Principle. Heisenburg says that we cannot simultaneously know a particle's exact location and exact speed. It has nothing to do with us changing what we study!

*stomps off*

It's not even Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle!

Sorry but your wrong. Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle is exactly what he is trying to describe.

Uncertainty Principle

It's obviously not an exact analogy but it's pretty dam close.

What Michael was trying to state is that we will truly never get an exact picture of what GDC is because by just being present at the event, observing it, changes what the event is. It goes off in another direction. Like a scientist bouncing a photon off a particle to try and figure out exactly where it is, changes where that particle is because of the way he measures it.

Fixed. And that's your opinion. Even when you put it that way, I still think that the principle that we change what we study is completely different from Heisenberg OR Heisenburg. So sorry, but YOU'RE wrong.

Perhaps we should call this a Schrödinger's Cat instance?

Well I'm glad you were at least able to link to something that explains why I would be wrong describing it this way. Although I loved this little tidbit from the same link.

It probably explains why I was confused by those who thought it was the wrong analogy. It's been a long while since I studied any science.

Now that we cleared that up I hope everyone still enjoyed the show!

Man, I'm making a habit of arguing with rabbit, but abuse is totally the hallmark of Shodan! Quit trying to help that hussy GladOS usurp her rightful place. She's the prototypical evil dominatrix.

(And she totally talks dirty. Mmmm, I'll pant and sweat as I run through your corridors anytime, baby...

...I'll be in my bunk.)

I think a lot of the problem with PC gaming is not that it takes a lot of money to build a powerful PC, but that you need to invest a lot of time to understand the hardware well enough to know what to buy. I know that I can go pick up a cheap P35-based motherboard, a 2.66Ghz-or-so Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM, and a 512MB 8800GT and have a complete system with case and hard/optical drives for around the AU$1000 mark, but if you just walk in to a PC store, lay $1000-1500 on the table and say "build me a gaming PC", you're almost certainly going to get screwed.

Even comparing spec sheets on PCs can be difficult. A PC with a 3Ghz CPU and a 1GB 8600GT might sound like a great deal compared to a system with a 2.66Ghz CPU and 512MB 8800GT at the same price, unless you know that the 8800GT is 2-3x faster than the 8600GT, despite having half the RAM.

I don't know if there's any kind of easy answer to this problem. Vista-style performance numbers might be a start, but there's simply no way you can sum up the performance of a system as a single number in any meaningful way. Breaking it down in to separate numbers for CPU, video, etc. helps to a degree, but it's still no more than a rough guide. Video cards have such diverse (and growing) feature sets that it'd be very difficult to test them comprehensively and keep those tests up-to-date, and while CPUs are perhaps easier to test, multi-core complicates things there too. A 2Ghz quad-core might score a higher CPU number than a 3Ghz dual-core, but if a game only has one or two threads, it'll be quicker on the dual-core.

I think I'll stop myself there before this turns in to a Rabbit-length rant

The bigger mikes do nothing. Nothing I say!

I'd like to pick up a question that Zonk raised during the re-releasing titles discussion. Having Ken Levine release a revision of Bioshock's third act, while it wouldn't affect the one-time-through gamers and from an artistic point of view seems like a bit of a fudge, it isn't entirely without precedent. One of the Bioware designers (sorry, can't remember who) released a mod that made some pretty significant changes to the gameplay (and story?) of the ending of Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal. From what I remember he was simply fleshing out and reinserting a lot of stuff that had to be cut to get the product out the door. It was free and really only a service to the fans.

As for Mass Effect's inelegant UI on the 360, I have a feeling that at some point an upgrade will be offered as DLC. Bioware are already releasing a major (90min+) subquest that slots into the game and while they remain tight lipped about what is to follow, have indicated that more is to come. Since they obviously feel that enough people replay the game to justify that kind of investment, and since Mass Effect 2 is being developed, presumably with a better UI, why not toss a polished prototype out there and get some community feedback?

Thanks for reading my e-mail about The Witcher, guys. And no, I'm not british, I just like the word chum. I really like what CD Projekt is doing with it because when Atari was going to release the product in the US, they forced CD Projekt to cut down the script and such to cut costs. Having the full script will be fantastic. As for "getting it right the first time" with a lot of things, I think it mostly just comes down to money. So many companies just do not have the money to achieve every dream they have in their video game, so they do what they can. Seeing CD Projekt go back and fully complete every dream and aspiration they have for the game as free content for players is fantastic imo.

Also, in regards to the Playstation network, I think this sums it up:

I think the problem with PC Gaming is not enough people know how to keep a moderately clean, well-maintained system. I've worked in IT, I've fixed people's garbage boxes and my home machine runs well. Every time I sit at anyone's computer other than my own I get the screaming heebie-jeebies at all the junk running.
If more people knew how to operate and clean their OS, we wouldn't have nearly the amount of "open system" problems.

My room is a cluttered mess. My mind is constantly in the gutter. The language the spews from my mouth is foul even outside of a locker room. My computer's desktop is neat and tidy and I control its running processes with an iron fist. I guess it's something about choosing your battles.
And I know many Type A's that have frightening computer setups. I think you're generally correct, though.

I must say though, seeing the epic, majestic, heroic picture of Ken Levine, never gets old.