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I think it should be pointed out exactly how much money Silicon Knights and Dennis Dyack pilfered from the Canadian government and other investors. Also how SK is now set up almost like a shell company to absorb all the debt that the studio’s employees racked up, allowing the Eternal Darkness team to move on to Precursor without that burden.

Further, the crowdfunding effort’s ToS clearly say that there will be no guaranteed refunds, even if the game is never made and the goal is never met.

Donations. Payments made to Precursor Games, Inc. to back this project are strictly donations and are not consideration for any service or product. Donations will be used by Precursor Games, Inc. for various aspects of the development and production of Shadow of the Eternals (the “Game”) at their sole discretion. Precursor Games will accept donations immediately upon receipt; there is no minimum aggregate goal for funding. A donation cannot be cancelled or returned once it has been completed, whether or not Precursor Games completes the Game or fulfils the specified reward. Donations are not tax-deductible. Precursor Games may cancel or refund a donation at any time for any reason, and if they do so, are not required to fulfill the corresponding reward.

No Obligation. Precursor Games will use its commercially reasonable efforts to develop and produce the Game, and will apply all donations to the development and production of the Game and the other rewards. However, circumstances outside of Precursor Games’ control may make it impossible for Precursor Games to complete production of the Game or other rewards. Precursor Games is under no obligation to complete the Game, or in the event completion is impossible, return any of the donations it has received. Precursor Games does not currently have a firm date for release of the Game[, but we expect to post updates on a regular basis].

Let’s also not ignore the fact that Precursor currently has 9 employees, including Dyack.

This all screams fishiness to me, and I trust Dyack about as far as I can throw the lawsuits filed in his name.

8 days ago on 'Shadow of the Eternals,' spiritual sequel to a horror classic, resurrects art from a dying studio 3 replies 6 recommends

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I appreciate that someone with your credentials as a TechPilgrim addressed this issue.

16 days ago on Early US colonists resorted to cannibalism, new evidence shows 11 recommends

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Serious drought and a harsh winter, along with poor relations with the local native tribes, made for a pretty rough produce supply.

16 days ago on Early US colonists resorted to cannibalism, new evidence shows 2 recommends

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We should really get back to the foundations that our colonial fathers embraced when they settled this great country. There’s not enough cannibalism in today’s society. You can’t turn your back on our roots!

16 days ago on Early US colonists resorted to cannibalism, new evidence shows 1 reply 4 recommends

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Or to a reality near you, if you prefer the old commercial adages.

24 days ago on The next Xbox will be revealed on May 21st

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There are lots of futures that won’t be coming to us.

24 days ago on The next Xbox will be revealed on May 21st 1 reply 1 recommend

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Plenty of other people to pick from for sure, she was just a widely-known example. And her message is only extremely controversial in the sense that people don’t want to see it (and her youtube video from the kickstarter campaign was quite mild and easily agreeable).

But that’s a debate for another time and topic.

26 days ago on Shooting threat at 4chan leads to arrest, closure of over 20 Dutch schools 1 reply

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Also, I recognize that this isn’t all users on 4chan, and the site can be used for benign purposes. But the fact is, the culture it has bred has turned it into something that supersedes these users.

26 days ago on Shooting threat at 4chan leads to arrest, closure of over 20 Dutch schools 5 recommends

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Yes, but 4chan’s users make the site terrible. It’s not like normal society, it’s a place where people can congregate and express all their terrible thoughts without fear of social ramifications. It’s an echo chamber where all the worst comes out and constantly reinforces itself, creating a sort of super-distilled version of everything terrible about people. And it’s celebrated, and those that aren’t horrible humans are ostracized. And it doesn’t just stop on their site. No, they have to band together to terrorize normal people outside their walled hell-hole, like Anita Sarkeesian who just had a good message to spread. It’s like some weird anti-society that fuels itself in the name of “free speech”, and does nothing but work to tear down social progress.

So yes, 4chan is only as bad as the people that post on it, but it is far worse than typical human congregation.

26 days ago on Shooting threat at 4chan leads to arrest, closure of over 20 Dutch schools 3 replies 5 recommends

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More encouraging things to see about the Rift. I’m still waiting on mine to get here so I can work on some cognitive research using it. Eyewitness identification research, wearable computer simulation, attention/perception experiments… Endless possibility.

26 days ago on Virtual Rx: how Oculus Rift could revolutionize mental health 4 recommends

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Not really net neutrality. Just rampant abuse of anonymity.

26 days ago on Shooting threat at 4chan leads to arrest, closure of over 20 Dutch schools 8 recommends

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4chan is the worst website in the world that’s openly available to the public, as it has hardcore gore and weird porn (including the far-too-frequent appearance of child pornography), in addition to all the other horrible crap that goes on there. That’s a website I’m happy to never return to.

But let’s not kid ourselves… Reddit’s worst parts are no better than any part of 4chan. It’s just got a lot more regular content to hide it.

26 days ago on Shooting threat at 4chan leads to arrest, closure of over 20 Dutch schools 8 replies 24 recommends

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Just saw this when looking at my profile. That makes sense, and is probably what happened. No problem, and thanks for the explanation.

29 days ago on Turning the tables on trolls: 'Tropes vs. Women' creator talks harassment at GDC

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Backed. I got the $30 one, so I can share the horror.

30 days ago on Fear through the eyes of a child: 'Among the Sleep' is a very different horror game

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Nah.

30 days ago on Google may deactivate Glass Explorer Edition if you try to sell it

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Doesn’t matter if they all went to developers, they were sent out under a preview/developer/research-oriented program. These are not consumer devices, they’re a pre-release field test that comes with restrictions associated with such a program.

They didn’t ask what apps you would write for Glass, but they did ask for people to tell them how they used Glass. Information which will be given back to Google and other partners for… development purposes.

The packaging is entirely irrelevant. Way to strawman.

Marketing was certainly part of the program but the purpose is to get devices into the field for widespread testing and information gathering… for development.

30 days ago on Google may deactivate Glass Explorer Edition if you try to sell it 2 recommends

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The Glass works just fine if you paid $1,500. Just not if you try to sell it.

And Xbox 360 dev kits were rumored to cost around $10,000. An investment you have to make in order to profit from the system.

30 days ago on Google may deactivate Glass Explorer Edition if you try to sell it

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It’s not a consumer product, and there’s a license agreement in association with participating in such a program. Not too hard to understand IMO.

30 days ago on Google may deactivate Glass Explorer Edition if you try to sell it 1 recommend