🚀 go-pugleaf

Lance Corporal Hammer Schultz <starfist@gmail.invalid> wrote:
>This is most definitely *not* the fault of Blizzard.  If a card can
>run so hot as to destroy itself, that is either due to bad card
>design/poor cooling, or overclocking.

Rin Stowleigh  <rstowleigh@gmail.com> wrote:
>Agreed that it is not the software makers fault.  However, since
>hardware makers cannot test on every game (particularly FUTURE games
>that aren't out yet when the software is released), I do believe that
>software vendors have an obligation to stress test (push it far beyond
>what it was designed to do) on a wide variety of hardware, including
>older POS machines that have been sitting in the corner, are packed
>with dusts / spiderwebs / a rodent or two, etc.

Destroying old poorly cooled machines in testing would accomplish nothing.
Any game could cause these PCs to overheat.

>This is not to say I think Blizzard has any obligation to make
>software changes to address the issue (unless perhaps it occurs on
>properly installed, non-neglected hardware).  But they do have an
>obligation to notify vendors of said POS cards (or drivers which is
>more likely) that their faulty shit needs fixing, and /or notify the
>consumer of what they found during testing, so the average joe doesn't
>fry his card.

Blizzard, like any game company, tests on a wide variety of hardware
before release.  I doubt any of their video cards died do due overheating.
Most of these "software causing the video cards to die" complaints aren't
any more the fault of the video hardware than they are of the software.
It's almost always the fault of the people who put their PC together,
often the end user himself.

Blizzard's only mistake was to release a very, very popular game during
the hottest time of the year in much of the world.  These PCs would've
died sooner or later anyways.

>Anyway this game is not on Steam so I'm not buying it until (or *IF*)
>it shows up there.  I had the first one and found it entertaining but
>not enough for me to get back in the habit of cardboard boxes,
>manually applied patches, having a DVD in the drive and all that other
>sort of inconvenience, and I prefer to have all my games in one
>location (Steam for now). 

I think you'll find Starcraft II has more sort of inconviences you'd
expect from a Steam game than a retail boxed game. 

					Ross Ridge

-- 
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