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CliffyB: Microtransaction is Not a Dirty Word, EA is Not The Bad Guy
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im actually going to have to agree with you hear but only because the multiplayer dlc is free
Hitler was elected by popular vote you know.
"Microtransaction is Not a Dirty Word, EA is Not The Bad Guy, Cliffy B is not an idiot"
also you know he pretty much said "dont buy our products" and you are still going to run to him like cheep screaming take our money because we got no brains and cant think of ways to spend them.
That's business unfortunately in the video game industry its a cruel world. Shape up or get out. Valve get away with it because of steam end of story what Blezinski said is 100 per cent correct EA are a massive employer and business cutbacks, share drops and more dlc happens its not just going to go away. Your choice to fight back if you want to go and pirate, you do that. I mean it's wrong but that's business, I know I have said the same thing twice but just wait for a sale and get the game then with all the added packs we have to hope for a more competitive digital market. Games are very expensive to make and the right people needed to be working on them at that time to make a decent game. To be honest if EA makes awesome games I would be fine with DLC because it comes at the excuse for a great game, I would want more of it. Apple use this idea they make more add ons with their products, they're never seen as the badguy. If the DLC is only 'optional' I would be happy with that and was not some overpowered weapon I can excuse them. Sometime DLC is free and everyone rejoices it does cost money for DLC and they do want a return on it.
If he wanted to compare TF2 with any EA game, he should've compared it too Battlefield Heroes.
Because no one plays Battlefield Heroes?
This point is already diffused by the fact that the Orange Box was a retail game for 4 years. And let's be frank, in 4 years Dead Space 3 will be 5-10 dollars sitting on a used shelf. The DS3 vs. TF2 argument has little merit. You're comparing a game that has been out for years versus a game that just came out. If you compare both games at launch, both are $60 games with a lot of micro transactions.
If you really want to be frank with it, TF2's crate drops add an incentive to spend money on keys to open them. Deas Space 3's microtransactions just make the game easier. I'd say that TF2 goes for your money more aggressively, as it gives you items you have to pay to unlock. Either way, both games are guilty trying to reach into your wallet. The fact that TF2 is F2P now doesn't win the argument for Valve here.
It's not as simple as you're making it sound.
Didn't include microtransactions until 3 years after release, and one year before they went F2P.
Dead Space 3;
Microtransactions from day one.
You make it sound like TF2 had MTs from day one, and it didn't. You make it sound like it cost as much to buy, and it didn't.
It gives you both crate drops and weapon drops, and the crate drops do not add to your weekly weapon-drop cap. You get free items, if you want more, you can pay for more.
Also note that the reason Valve has not released any updates for the 360 version of the game is because Microsoft says they must charge people for them and Valve refuses to do so.
Lol no. new items started coming for TF2 in 2008. The game was released in 2007. The Gold Rush Update my friend.
A fair point, but EA is hardly the lone company doing this.
With each game mode came a bunch of new items that dropped randomly in crates. Crates that you have to pay to unlock.
The major complaint seems to be that retail games shouldn't be having microtransactions. TF2 was in that category for the majority of its release. Coupled with the fact that the Orange Box was a full priced game. It wasn't prices so that each game included in the Orange Box was $12 evenly.
A fair point. But the Dead Space series has always suffered from this so its not really a surprise.
A good point, but when you look at how many items TF2 adds, as well as the fact that they charge you to unlock the items you randomly receive, its hard to argue that TF2 never made an aggressive grab for your wallet. And again, this was while you had to pay for TF2.
You must not have heard of TF2's Mann vs. Machine mode(horde mode). Its a newer TF2 mode that has 2 server types. Unofficial and Official. Unofficial servers will not get you rewards. But if you buy tickets or vouchers, you automatically get a rare item for completing the mission. You can't play the official servers without paying for a ticket. Its a mode made in another attempt to have you spending money on virtual items. While not DLC, let's face it, people are probably going to spend the same amount as a pack of DLC on things like this. My TF2 inventory alone has gotten more money's worth thrown into it then what Dead Space 3 will eventually wind up costing at the end. And I paid for TF2.
As are a lot of games. I'm not saying that what EA is doing is kosher, but the majority of people on this thread who are using TF2 for their argument are ignoring a lot of TF2's retail history of being a retail game that has a massive amount of microtransactions.
It had MTs in the following year, it costs people who bought it early enough the same amount as Dead Space 3, and it has earned more money on the keys alone than EA ever will off of Dead Space's MTs. Call it what you want, but CliffyB is right on this one. Gaming is a business and both TF2 and DS3 have made one metric fuckton of an effort trying to get people's money after having you buy the game.
And while TF2 is F2P, if you don't spend a dime in TF2 these days, your gameplay experience is severely kneecapped by the fact that crate drops are drastically reduced for players who haven't bought anything. Free players don't get full on item drops, can't trade, and will have less fun using the base weapons than everyone else who is armed to the teeth in items. People like to say that the items in TF2 have no effect on the gameplay due to drawbacks, and that's a bold faced lie. Especially when having all of the items in a particular set gives you decent bonuses. Items do make a difference in TF2 and items cost money. Items for all 6 classes to be fun to play will wind up costing you more than anyone is willing to spend on the nigh meaningless MTs of Dead Space. Dead Space's MTs make the single player game easier to play.
Its just not fair to call CliffyB the asshole who pointed out that TF2 in its own way is just as guilty, if not more, than EA for its use of MTs. Its even more unfair to ignore the fact that TF2 spent 3 of its 4 first years after release with MTs. This is just another EA hate bandwagon that ignore that a large amount of game companies have been in the business of MTs in their retail games for a long while now.
Only after you pay. You get next to nothing in terms of drops if you don't give Valve a cent towards TF2. You don't even get weapon drops. Just crates you can't open until you pay. And even, the majority of what you get is crates, so have HAVE to pay up. Its no as fun being the blank slate TF2 player when people are running around in full sets that give them bonuses.
Yeah...no one brought up the 360 version at all.. I don't even think that people give the 360 version a look these days. There's no point.
Yes and if I had asked you in 2010 when Team Fortress 2 was going to be free what would have been your answer? The answer is you wouldn't have an answer. So I appreciate the fact you're trying to make a point by asking an unanswerable question, but you're not.
Also the fact that TF2 became free to play didn't change the fact that millions of people bought it.
So, the guy who didn't make a PC version of Gears of War 2 & 3 is trying to get PC gamers to see that Valve is worse than EA? Seems legit.
Valve never tried to sell me an unfinished product and then charged me for the rest of it in DLC packs, and has never tried to sell me extra guns for their games. Also Steam keeps having 75%+ sales while Origin occasionally has US-only coupons.
Good games don't have to cost that much to make - Legend of Grimrock is far more fun, challenging, innovative and better-looking than any Call of Duty game and it didn't even remotely come close to its budget. If your game can sell millions of copies and still be considered a failure, you have only yourself to blame.
Of course valve can do wrong half life 2 episode 3 is a example of what they do wrong but compared to ea and most of the big publishers there far Nicer.
Team fortress 2 was 4 year old when it went free to play that and there was a lot of free content since then so that's not exactly a argument against valve.
Yeah voting with your wallets might seem like a nice idea but boycotting really isn't going to do more than kill off your favorite franchise while ea continues to make money with it sports games and assimilate more studios.
Thank you .
It's called posing a question, not "making stuff up".
It's called being professional. Define your scope, know how long things are going to take and hit your deadlines.
I mean what you're effectively saying is that EA has a set a deadline, and artists working are either not inspired often enough (ie not working hard) or they get inspired and add more things to make it better despite knowing that they have a deadline. And I'm supposed to blame EA for that why exactly?
The "It's art, they're artists. Artists need inspiration they can't work like the rest of us" is a cop out. Hit your deadline, work hard all the time, and have a realistic expectation of how long things will take.
Yes that's lovely speculation but I suspect it's not backed up by any actual experience is it? So to suggest that my experience in a related field is not the norm is not necessarily disputed by evidence at all. I suspect like my industry, the people who suffer most when people are laid off are not the experienced people, but the students. Because suddenly they're competing with people who have experience and unless a company wants to fill their ranks with cheap inexperienced workers they'll take the laid-off employees instead.
Yes, that's another thing. When people are laid off from a company, they're entitled to Government benefits like Employment Insurance, or at least they are in Canada don't know about the US.
I'm not deflecting blame from EA, I'm saying blame EA where their blame is due. People blaming EA for creative differences is nonsensical when EA is a publisher. Whereas blaming EA for giving a game a comparatively low budget (ie Dragon Age 2) makes more sense.
And how does that affect the alleged stagnation of video games?
I think there's a difference between financing a game with money (ie EA). And allowing some indie game the privilege of being on your store so you can take your 33% cut.
As for Greenlight. Sure it's exposure for indie games, but it's also Steam discarding the responsibility (and paid work) of researching the good games themselves and instead just making it a popularity contest.
I'm sorry but if Valve is developing HL3 I'll be very surprised.
Yes and for that you can give them credit for promoting the game, but you cannot give them credit for breaking up the stagnation of the industry. That credit is due to the people actually, making games. The people still being creative.
Your analogy is flawed because being fired doesn't prevent a programmer from programming.
A musician therefore would still be able to play their instrument (do what they were doing before), they could still play the same genre of music (create the same type of game), the only thing they couldn't do is play the same song that EA or the publisher now has the rights to. But the thing is, creating games isn't like playing music, you don't play the same song over and over again. At worst you remix the same song, draw heavily from the original and change it up a bit, balance the levels, etcetera like making sequels. Which is what you often rail against EA for doing.
But no you create new songs. So if you write a song, lose the rights, just go make a new song in the same style (same mechanics) but with a different tune (new IP).
Unless of course when you wrote the song you had some epic idea for a whole album that hinged on the inclusion of that song and now you cannot complete the album. But if you're planning that before you've even got a hit (ie planning a trilogy on a new IP before you even sell the first game) then your approach is flawed and you need to be realistic.
Wow. Just got through the whole history of this debate, and I can't believe you were able to string people along into talking to you for that long. You had a few valid points, but most of what you said was a repeat of previous invalid arguments or a complete sidestep of the question being asked in the first place.
I know you won't, but you should really be quite embarrassed by what you did in this thread.
Rachmaninov: You also made good points. Sorry you had to deal with someone so completely oblivious.
Hey look, it's someone who's trying to refute my discussion without actually providing specifics, examples or anything of value. And if I'm repeating the same things, it's because the people on the other side of the discussion "don't get it".
But beyond that, thanks for your meaningless post that contributed nothing.
New items =/= microtransactions. The new items introduced in the Gold Rush update could not be bought, because without the Mann Co store, where would you buy them from?
The Mann Co store was introduced in the Mann-Conomy Update in 2010, which was three years after release, like I said.
True, but this isn't exactly EA's only crime. Watch the Jimquisition episode " Why Do People Hate EA?" if you don't know what I mean.
Anything you get in crates you get from random drops, too. Admittedly, you need a "Premium" account in order to get those random drops, but all that means is that you bought the game, or made any single Mann Co purchase ($3?).
I can see how Dead Space 3's "pay for convenient access to those things you want, but would have to grind for otherwise" microtransaction system is very, very similar to the crate system though, I'll give you that.
I'm pretty sure this is the first Dead Space game to include MTs. DS2 had buyable suits, but not this "lets make a resource system specifically for the purpose of shoe-horning in microtransactions" nonsense that DS3 has.
The list of items TF2 added is actually pretty damn long. And like I mentioned above, what they offer you with MTs is convenience (since you can get everything you get from chests by way of random, free drops) the same as Dead Space 3. It's a little shady by both parties, I agree, but like I've said in my other posts, this is EA's most minor transgression. So Valve is equally guilty of this minor transgression, just not of the much greater evils EA has performed over the years.
If you paid for TF2, you never had to throw any more money at it. You did so only for convenience.
Mann vs Machine wasn't introduced until 2012, with this update. That's a year after it went F2P. And you can play the game mode for free. MvM is no different to many different ideas used in the F2P model. But make no mistake TF2 was F2P before Mann vs Machine. Not to mention, this was part of a long list of free updates to the game.
TF2 was a retail game which also had MTs, yes. But like I've said, not until 3 years had passed beyond release. Let's face it, EA forget their games exist before 3 years has passed, let alone continuing to adapt and evolve them. Everyone who wanted to play TF2 without MTs had [/b]three whole years to do so[/b] which is saying a lot in the Call of Duty generation, where the most popular multiplayer games last about a year.
One game was shipped at full price, with microtransactions, Day One DLC, and full-price DLC down the line.
The other was shipped as part of a 5-for-1 deal of games, wouldn't get microtransactions for three years, and released every piece of DLC for free with big, semi-regular updates continuing for at least 5 years after the game came out, and all for no extra charge.
Maybe they both made a metric fuckton, but only one of them is daylight robbery.
Having bought the game when it was retail, or having made one purchase ($3?) from the Mann Co store, you remove all of these restrictions, and from then on, the MTs are a matter of convenience. Just like Dead Space 3's MTs.
"Get what you want sooner" is the offer.
Except that statement is based on a lie. TF2 spend one of its first four years with MTs and then it became free.
The "EA hate bandwagon" is about more than MTs. It's about the shittiest business practices in the whole industry. It's about crushing beloved development studios and about trying every penny-pinching technique they can find. MTs are just the most recent penny-pinching technique EA has lovingly clutched to its bosom.
Maybe, you should do a little more research before assuming something is unfounded. Scumbag EA earned their "Scumbag" title.
You are correct, they did. But what I was saying is micro transactions are not a bad thing, as long as they don't change gameplay.
Yes I don't mind micro transactions either as long as they're optional (EDIT - wrote popular first time, dunno why). If I can ignore it like I can ignore DLC and everything else and still enjoy the game that's fine by me.
OMG, why the fuck would Cliff say this shit?
It really felt like he sees video game developers as nearly homeless people living on the street, needing to steal bread to feed their family and microtransactions are the only way little Jimmy is going to get some bread in his poor little tummy.
I think the TF2 microtransactions are dumb but at least the game is free, as for Valve doing no wrong in some peoples eyes? They earned that loyalty, you twat. Just as EA has earned the disgust.
As for not buying games EA makes to prove a point? Really? I'm not simply going to stop buying games that are good because I hate the publisher, that is not a solution and Cliff knows it or he has the intelligence of a third grader and honestly believes this is a clever argument, actually not sure which at this point.
As for gamers liking microtransactions? You really think EA is going to publish data that says we don't like them? Anyone can point at a bunch of math figures and say "You see! look at all dat sweet, sweet monies. Gamers luv our horseshit because of $$$!!!"
I feel a little betrayed, honestly. I like Cliff but recently he seems to do absolutely nothing but shoot his mouth off at random intervals. At least when he did that before, you knew he'd also be working on some sweet games.
So are all full-priced games "daylight robbery"? Because if the DLC and MTs are optional for DS3 then it's no different than every other game out there at face value.
Now I know for sure I'm not talking to an artist. Inspiration has absolutely nothing to do with working hard.
Having written stories, made a few games, and composed music, I'm intimately familiar with the process of inspiration. Inspiration is me sitting here with by bass, plinking around, trying stuff out, waiting until a good idea comes to me. You can't make it come to you, you just have to wait.
Let me give you this example; Why don't you go invent something new and valuable? Surely if you try hard enough, something new will just materialize before you, right? Can you give me a deadline for when you will have invented something new?
Nope. Of course you can't. Which is why "inventors" wind up as paupers who spend altogether too much time in their basement/shed, trying to force good ideas.
Actually, it is. I've not got international experience, so maybe it's different elsewhere (although, if you were me, you'd be assuming it's the same across the world, even in other fields, like you have been this whole time) but I have a few friends who game design students, and through them have got to meet experienced, unemployed game designers.
Which is apparently never. Besides maybe DA2, I get the impression you blame them for that. And nothing else. Ever.
Publishers do get a say in the creative side. That's good cause to assume everything "out of character" for the game could well be publisher interference (for example, ME3's ending; a rushed, sudden, nonsensical plot twist at the end of a masterfully woven story? Sounds pretty out of character to me).
The Steam Box isn't to fix the stagnation of video games, but it will crack open the console market, to bring Steam (along with Greenlight) to a wider range of people, and hopefully put an end to the deliberately divisive tactics used by Microsoft and Sony (proprietary everything).
Greenlight is helping to fix that stagnation of video games. Because indie games bring fresh ideas and it's easy for those creators to get their great ideas out to more people. Which brings me back to dashing this strawman you've brought up again:
I've already told you that this isn't what I meant, why must you insist on repeating it?
FTL = great game
FTL's idea doesn't earn Steam credit. Steam earns credit for showing FTL to lots of people. That doesn't make Steam responsible for FTL's great idea, that makes Steam responsible for a large part of FTL's popularity.
I hope I explained it better this time so that you understand.
They both achieve the same effect. Except EA has no interest in indie games, so does next to nothing to support them.
No looking is required. You've got this incorrect idea that MP-only games are a new thing for Valve. It's not. Valve were the beginning of the Call of Duty era, with Counter Strike. And before you repeat what you've already said; Yes, I know Counter Strike wasn't made by them. Yes, I know it was a mod. Yes, I know they only bought the idea. But my point is, Valve have been in the MP-only arena for a long, long time and nothing has changed. And that's not even including Team Fortress, which invented class-based shooters.
No obvious shift has occurred. Valve makes MP-only games most of the time, and a masterpiece singleplayer game every now and then.
Valve's new engines have always come with a new half-life game. And there's no reason to think they'd stop now. They'll make HL3, on a new engine, and they'll release a handful of MP-only games on that engine afterwards.
Part of that credit is due to the people making games. But all their creativity would be for naught if someone didn't give them a place where those games could be viewed just as easily as AAA games. People like EA have helped create a system where independent developers cannot complete. They spend massive amounts of money on their games, giving them loud advertising and building hype (all good things, besides perhaps the bloated spending) which completely drowns out other games, who don't have a publisher and don't have the funds to advertise.
XBLA and Greenlight advertise these games, and Greenlight gives the opportunity to any game so long as it's popular enough (which doesn't actually mean that popular).
Since most musicians write lots of songs (a lot more than a developer would ever create games (except maybe EA with FIFA, eh?) I guess my music analogy wasn't so good.
Perhaps I'll use the analogy of books instead, since video games also involves writing a story. Go back to 1995, take the Harry Potter I.P. away from J.K. Rowling.
Sure, she probably would've written other books, but Harry Potter was her magnus opus, her great work. Taking that away from her would've meant that the successful career she had now, likely never would have happened. She couldn't have exactly gone and written "Parry Hotter and the Logician's Rock" without the new owner of her IP taking her to court.
Your misunderstanding comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of art. Truly great ideas aren't just the product of thinking really hard, despite what you seem to think.
No. All full-priced games that ship with microtransactions, Day One DLC plus full-price DLC down the line are daylight robbery. Which is what I said already.
Except that the game comes to you deliberately unfinished, so they've got more things to sell you. Seriously, what is it you're not getting?
Developers: "Hey, we've got a great game with Dead Space 3. We've had some really good ideas how to further the story."
Read that. Read it and try to pretend it's not true.
Dead Space 3 didn't need a resource system, and it didn't improve the game in the least, but it gave EA an excuse to include MTs. And it had eleven pieces of content on the disk and locked until you paid extra.
EA take every bad, money-grubbing idea anyone else has come up with, and adopt them full-on. They try to cram as many money-making schemes into their game as possible on launch.
You know shit all actually.
So believe me, I KNOW about setting realistic expectations because my original ambitions were too big.
So you can go ahead and plink on your bass and doodle in your sketchbook like every other person in the planet, for someone like myself, who is WORKING PROFESSIONAL 8-10 hours a day, for 5-6 years in an artistic trade I think I know a little more than you.
And the idea of "It's done when it's done" or "the deadline doesn't matter" is a philosophy of people who are indecisive and unprofessional. This is a business, so ACT business-like.
It's not a question of nationality it's a question of the city you're in and how willing the person is to relocate. If your city has no work and you don't want to move, you're screwed, OR, you can set out on your own.
Yeah because every game ever has a great ending right? Oh wait, no a lot of them have weak third arcs.
See that's the thing with people like you, and yes I'm generalizing. But if a game that EA publishes is great, it's not because of EA, they're just the publisher. They didn't develop those games right. But if there's any problem with a game, it must be EA's fault. The ending sucks! It's EA's fault because of you know, deadlines and stuff, yeah that's a good rational right? NOT.
If the ending sucks, maybe Bioware should not have waited until the end to work on it.
Hahaha. Right.
And yes that's besides the point but again, I don't credit a store for selling things. A store selling stuff is just people looking to make money from other people's work. I credit people for creating things.
Yes except in one case EA is risking their capital to develop a product. In the other case Valve is riding on the coat tail's of someone else's hard work. And while doing so by the way Valve has shown a preference for the Source engine, hosting games which are . . alleged terrible while at the same time other great indie games weren't allowed on Steam.
So . . Valve didn't make Counter Strike, and yet you're still giving them credit for it. Hmmn. Right. Biased much? Oh and speaking of "riding on the coat tails of someone else's hard work": Counter strike!
Besides whether Valve has always done MP or not doesn't matter, what matters now is that they're not making much for single player games, nor are they making new IP.
Yes and all that creativity would be for nought if EA didn't front the production budget so the game could actually get made. So again, you have a company investing in the production of video games, and you have a store selling video games.
That's an amusing analogy because Rowland was reportedly happy to be finally rid of Harry Potter so she could write something new.
I don't know if it's true or not because:
You don't either.
You conspiracy theory opinions aren't going to convince me of anything.
Hell what about Team Fortress 2.
See, I just made that up. But it's fact right? Don't pretend like it's not fact. My theories borne of a hatred of [insert-company-X] are entirely infallible despite no evidence whatsoever beyond my own uninformed opinion.
You know, its an attitude like that which is going to keep you from having many friends mister.
Rachmaninov pointed out all your inconsistencies and flaws in logic, and you completely ignored them. He pointed out those that you ignored, and you completely ignored them to.
You've consistently lacked evidence to support many of your claims, yet cry "Havoc!" should anyone else not source materials even when they're within this very thread.
For example, you claim to know a great deal about setting "realistic expectations" because you make three minute 2D cartoons in school, so therefore game developers should be able to make 8-10 hour 3D single player campaigns without any difficulty because those two things are exactly alike.
The sheer audacity of your arguments are mind-boggling. Please, settle down a little bit, read what Rachmaninov is saying, and respond to his specific argument. Throwing a tantrum like a 6 year old because "those other kids are being mean" is not a compelling way to make anyone side with you. Instead of re-evaluating your own position, you'd rather sum it up with "they just don't get it" and continue to vomit out insane amounts of nonsense.
But beyond that, thank you for whole pages of meaningless posts that contributed nothing.
Have a very pleasant day!
I'm sorry, but what do you do? Do you work professionally? McDonalds? Accountant? Student? Or what?
I on the other hand, work EVERY DAY in an artistic trade and have done so for years. It's a creative, deadline-orientated trade just like game design. Less testing and QA yes, but still there are unforseen problems or mistakes that delay the production.
The point, you don't work on an artistic trade. Do you?
And yet you have the audacity to claim that you have a better understanding than I do? Get lost.
Hell have you even modded a game? Created new models, new levels, new missions? I have. So my knowledge of "game design" is probably more advanced than yours as well. And on top of that, I've created all the BG art, character animations and cutscenes for a flash game when I was doing some paid-freelance.
Just because you doodle in your sketchbook doesn't make you an artist.
What makes you an artist is working 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.
And until any of you are in that position none of you know a damned thing about the creative entertainment industry.
I'm not trying to make friends. Least of all not with people who feel entitled to disregard a person's entire discussion without actually contributing anything themselves. You have a point to make? Make it. And back it up. Otherwise keep lurking.
Geez Ms. Sensitive!
Now, re-read your post and tell me where you went wrong. Very good! The areas where you made claims when you had no idea what the reality was! You're learning! Whose a good boy? That's right! You are!
I happen to be in computer programming. Which means that I have a lot of insight in the many ways that one thing can go completely wrong. The amount of hours, not only making changes, but documenting the changes so that (further along in development) people will be able to reference the things that I've done. It's a huge process that is so much more technically demanding than spending 40 hours a week doodling your cartoons.
Now, (because I'm honest unlike some people) I haven't worked in game development. Oh, I've modded and the like, but that counts for squat compared to actual game development.
Still, working in an "artistic" occupation doesn't mean that you have the first clue about any of the various industry that very broad title encompasses. You, sir, seem very much like Uwe Boll to me. A man who, very much in the "artistic industry" but has absolutely no idea what he's doing within the same. Someone who spews out a bunch of garbage consistently, but has the gall to critique other peoples work.
Also, we're going back to "length = quality" argument you were favoring before. Dead Space 3 is better than Orange box because it is longer. You're an artist more than other people because you spend more time doing it.
So unless you have made something of note. Of quality. Something that isn't complete garbage that nobody has ever heard of, you have no more room to stand than anyone who scribbles in a note pad or writes a short story. You are a very sad and angry person, and I really truly recommend that you seek some sort of therapeutic help as soon as possible.
You can make all the claims of me you want but I have yet to be as much of jerk to someone as you just were in the above sentence. I'm finished talking to you.
Enjoy your flag btw.
When Cliffy B speaks, the internet gets mad
Oh no! Did I hurt the lil' guys feelings?
I guess its true that bullies don't like it when people stand up to them. And thank you for the flag! Coming from someone like you its a badge of honor!
Bully. Haha.
As much as it made me sick to do it, I went over a few of the pages with your quotes and pulled out personal attacks. Couldn't go through all of them as the sheer amount of nonsense was making me ill. I think I've got enough to at least prove that you're hardly an innocent.
And how hypocritical of you, to threaten me for using the word "rant" which you take exception to, only to go on to insult me bare-faced.
I'm not going to rise to this pissing contest you're so desperate to start. Perhaps you are an artist after all, but your lack of comprehension of the subject is still apparent. If you think inspiration is something that just comes with trying hard, you're incorrect. Maybe if you had more than 4 months experience drawing shorts, which in no way compares to writing proper full length stories and single projects that would take sevenfold the sum of your experience to make, you'd understand.
It's clear by your assertion that you've worked in an "artistic trade" and yet only have 4 months experience making any actual art, that you're not actually making art yourself anymore. Being an artist's accountant doesn't mean you know anything about art.
You don't know my credentials, and I'm not buying in to your pissing contest.
First you say being disrespectful and demeaning is an excuse to threaten me with the end of the conversation, and then;
You disrespect and demean me. Your hypocrisy continues to stun me.
When did I say ever? Find it for me, and I'll give you a trophy. Until then quit it with the strawmen.
I said it was out of character in comparison to the rest of Mass Effects critically acclaimed story telling, including two endings. It was all phenomenal, and then, all of a sudden, it's awful.
What's more likely;
That the writer had an aneurysm and forgot all that incredible story-telling they'd painstaking crafted for the last 60 hours of gameplay, or;
That EA pressured them into an unrealistic deadline, resulting in the writing that they had planned being scrapped for something faster?
Not true, and the funny thing is, if you'd been paying attention, you'd know it.
EA published a great game with Mirror's Edge, and I thanked them in front of you earlier in this thread.
And I said:
Not "If it's bad it's EA's fault.". When I say "out of character", it's you who assumes I mean "anything bad". Please read what I'm actually typing, and stop mentally adding meanings that aren't there.
Well I'm sorry you're not feeling optimistic, but I'm afraid I have evidence.
Both the Xbox and the PS3 are insular, only work with proprietary controllers, hard-drives and accessories, almost exclusively manufactured by the respective company. If you want an Xbox made by someone other than Microsoft, tough luck.
The Steam Box, on the other hand, is basically a miniature PC. It comes with Linux, and you can install windows if you want. But the Steam Box can be manufactured by anybody. You could even make one yourself, if you like. In fact, Steam have already funded (that word you like so much) the development of the first Steam Box, and it's not even made by them.
Now, have you actually got an argument, or just more baseless negativity?
You're correct here. It wasn't Steam Greenlight. It was just Steam. But you're lying to yourself if you think getting on the front page of the most popular DD service isn't good advertising, and didn't easily triple the games sales.
Creating things like the best DD service around, you mean? Well, then you best be giving credit to the Valve people.
Because letting millions of people see that the hard work actually exists is totally not worthwhile, right?
If I wanted to sell my games, I would be over-the-moon for Steam to do it. Not because I like Valve, but rather because their cut is very reasonable for the massive exposure and free advertisement you get. People flock to YouTube to share their creations there, and YouTube only offer you about $1 each 1000 views... that is a much, much greater cut, for basically the same service.
Of the games I've seen Greenlit, none were in the Source engine. They have hosted some real gems, too, like this.
Some games are Greenlit, but haven't got to the front page. But you rag on me for "conspiracy theorist thinking" later in your comment, so I expect you won't be adding a meaning to why they haven't arrived yet, will you?
I wish you'd cut it with the strawman arguments.
I didn't give Valve credit for Counter-Strike, I won't reiterate what I said, since I decided to leave the quote above for you to re-read.
Valve gave Counter-Strike a push, by hiring the team, giving them support. It'd be nothing but conjecture to guess at whether or not CS would have been as successful if not for the support of Valve,
Oh and speaking of "riding on the coat tails of someone else's hard work": Counter-Strike is a mod for Half Life. Half Life and the modding tools used to create Counter-Strike were made by Valve.
And like I said already, they've never made much for single player games. You are entirely imagining this "Valve single-player dry-spell" nonsense. Valve made Half Life and didn't make Half Life 2 until they had the Source engine, and won't make Half Life 3 until they've made another engine leap. Of their games, a small portion of them are single-player. You seem to imagine them making a steady stream of SP games until recently, and that simply isn't true.
We agree, which is something you seem to have missed, I highlighted for effect.
Despite your imaginings, I've never said that everything EA does is bad. Providing capital to developers is a good thing. Doesn't excuse the other evil shit, though.
Thanks for that nugget of irrelevant information. It doesn't matter if she eventually got sick of writing Harry Potter, what matters is that Harry Potter was her great work, her magnus opus. The only reason she was in a press release to tell you she was finally happy to be rid of Harry Potter was because she got famous by writing Harry Potter.
Now, perhaps you could respond to the point?
This is gold.
I don't mean to gang up on you, Akalabeth, but this guy is right. You're making these claims when you really don't have any idea what the reality is.
You should stop it.
That one was me, but that's the only one on the list by me. And I stand by it, because:
You are a liar. You purposefully belittled and insulted me;
So don't try and feign innocence now.
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Transforming Your Life Through Awareness, Compassion and Connection: This Fall 2016
Join therapist and co-founder of the Center for Mind Body Therapies, Regina Flanigan, LCPC for this 8-week therapy and deepening practice group. Limited to 9 people, this confidential, closed group allows you to work with others who are drawn to living more fully from awareness, wisdom and openheartedness.
Read below for details and contact information. (Click the flyer to zoom in.)

subset: commoncrawl


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As a fully licensed and equipped optometric practice, Optique Vision Center offers a complete range of eye care services to all our patients.
Whether the eye care issue involves correcting refractive errors with eyeglass or contact lenses, or helping a student find frames that will not look geeky, our experienced team will identify and implement the best eye care solutions possible. Come in anytime for your eyecare needs. We would love to take care of you and your family. We also fill outside prescriptions so come check out our incredible selection of high fashion frames!
Eye Health Evaluation
With our years of experience in diagnosing and treating typical vision disorders such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, amblyopia, presbyopia, cataracts, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, Dr. Mike Grindstaff and his team are equipped to provide appropriate therapeutic medical eye care.
At the same time, the Optique Vision Center team offers a wide array of the very best high quality eye care products at reasonable prices. Our patients never pay too much for the best quality in eyeglasses, contact lenses, sunglasses, progressive and bifocal lenses, and outstanding service.
Treatment of Eye Disease
If you are diagnosed with an eye disease, you want only the best treatment available to get your eyes healthy again. At Optique Vision Center, we offer only the best. Based on your diagnosis, we may recommend a wide variety of approaches, including improved nutrition, prescription medicines, therapy and vision exercises, specialty glasses and/or contact lenses, medical procedures, or referral to a specialist if needed.
Good Eyecare Begins With A Yearly Eye Exam!
Although many do not realize it, the best way to protect your vision is with a yearly eye checkup. Even a basic eye exam can instantly detect such health-threatening conditions as tumors, vascular irregularities, and diabetes-related injury to the retina. At Optique Vision Center, that basic checkup is brief and painless.


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I'd like to 2nd this: > | BUT, what about the millions of non windoz or mac users, or those who > | don't have ability/resources/computer power/desire to upgrade It is quite obvious that there will always be more obsolete equpment around, and we need to ensure it remains in service. I have an hp320lx running winCE1.0 and although it does not display jpgs it does render the earth.gif in both the embed and object SVG code tests. http://www.learningdifficulty.org/develop/examples/test-svg.html. the upgrade to CE2.0 was free at the time,but now costs Ł60 or $130 for what is definitely an obsolete pda from '97. it just happens to have a pcmcia card... -- jonathan chetwynd http://www.peepo.com "have fun surfing the net" http://www.learningdifficulty.orgReceived on Thursday, 20 December 2001 21:03:28 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.1 : Tuesday, 13 October 2015 16:21:15 UTC


text: PA Meeting – Monday, February 6th Posted on February 3, 2017 by admin There is a PA Meeting scheduled for Monday, February 6, 2017 during the college hour. It will be held in Building 2, Room 701/702. Pizza, soda and water will be served. The agenda for the meeting is attached. Agenda February 6, 2017


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|Helping You To Travel In Taiwan
Our Photo Gallery
Please feel free to view pictures of our fishlife , coral , guests having fun and more!
For excellent pictures of Lukang and Puli ( Chung Tai Monastery ) click here.
We are currently using Flickr to host photographs so please
click here to view :
We also have some underwater pictures of Green Island taken by our guests over a period of time.
Most of the underwater pictures were sent to us by John Lane (USA,CA).
Click on picture below to watch slide show of Green Island underwater :
Eddie's Mom at Sleeping Beauty . .............. Old & Old "Faithful" our fav water buffalo enjoying his SPA!


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Subscribe to the PLAID Crafts Newsletter, and we'll throw in $10 towards your next purchase.
Add a beautiful decoupaged birdhouse to any room.
At a Glance:
This project features these great brands:
Mod Podge ® Podgeable Paper Flip Books - Nature, Wood birdhouse of choice, Wood candlestick, Acrylic shape bird, Assorted charms, Ribbon, White craft glue or hot glue, Brush basin or container for water, Foam plates, Paper towels, Fine grit sandpaper
Preparation Instructions
Disclaimer: The information found in each project is presented in good faith, but no warranty is given, nor results guaranteed, nor is freedom from any patent to be inferred. Since we have no control over physical conditions surrounding the application of information herein contained, Plaid Enterprises, Inc. disclaims any liability for untoward results.
Important: Please be sure to thoroughly read the instructions for all products, paying particular attention to all cautions and warnings shown to ensure the proper and safe use of the product.
Copyright: All Rights Reserved. No part of this Project may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing, except for your personal use, except by reviewer, who may in reviewing this project, quote brief passages in a magazine or newspaper.


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Get Your Answers Here (FAQs)
Here are answers to many of the questions that people commonly ask us about our Yoga Teacher Trainings. If you have a question that's not answered here (or if you're thinking about coming but you're scared to take the leap!) just reach out and connect with us today!
At Awakened Life School of Yoga we invite all levels of students to our 200 Hour Program. All our classes are designed to meet the needs of beginner level students and those who have more advanced practices. This way we can all learn together in a community-spirited atmosphere.
Our program attracts a wide-range of students from across the globe and from all generations. This encourages a strong community of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and wisdom to offer the group experience through the program.
Yes, Awakened Life School of Yoga is registered and approved by the Yoga Alliance, and our school number is 90090. All students will receive their internationally-recognized RYT -200, RYT – 300, RYT – 500, RPYT, RCYT designation at the completion of their particular training. All certifications all you to teach worldwide!
You'll learn to teach Active Vinyasa Flow, Slow Flow, and Restorative classes. You'll learn from expert teachers who've studied under the world's top yoga masters, including Pattabhi Jois, B.K.S. Iyengar, Richard Freeman, Erich Schiffmann, Tias Little, Seane Corn, Shiva Rea, David Life, and many others. And you'll learn a proven system for developing an intelligent and cohesive style that is authentically yours.
We encourage you to read as much of the reading list as possible before your training starts. If for some reason you can't get to any of the reading, know that you will still have a great experience at your yoga training!
Yes, this is considered education and is tax deductible under US guidelines. Be sure to check with your accountant for a definitive answer. For other countries you will need to research tax laws to confirm.
Absolutely! Even though all of our Yoga Teacher Trainings meet Yoga Alliance requirements, many of our students are not necessarily planning to teach. Our trainings also have a a rich personal development component, which makes them especially beneficial for anyone interested in transforming their lives.
Most of our program are entirely inclusive or almost all inclusive. Airfare and airport transfers are not included in any program, but we do help you coordinate all your logistics. Bali YTT programs do not have dinner included, as most students like having their evenings free to do as they please and explore local cuisine. (Dinners for our Bali programs start at about $5 USD). In Bali, you can enjoy one included massage and one group excursion!
Even if you have medical insurance, it probably won't provide much coverage out of your country. Travel medical insurance can help provide peace of mind, and many companies offer it for a low fee. Travel website such as Fodor's and Frommer's have a wealth of information and recommendations that you can use to help choose a plan and provider that is right for you. We strongly recommend that everyone purchase Travel Insurance to cover your entire trip and emergency medical services, that includes MediVac.
A regular yoga practice, an interest to grow yourself, a good sense of humor, and a sound mental, physical and spiritual body.
You can easily come early or extend your stay at any of our venues. Please alert us and we will help coordinate your reservation with your training. Additional nights and meals are not covered in your YTT pricing.
A detailed packing list of what to bring will be provided to you. Most of our venues provide all props, so you don't have to travel with any props of your own. We do recommend bringing your own favorite mat, although all venues do provide mats!
Yes, your curriculum includes education on getting a teaching job, teaching privates, how much you can get paid, registering with Yoga Alliance, etc.
We have carefully chosen our venues to promote relaxation and wellness. All of our venues and the local towns are safe and friendly – take the same level of care you'd take when traveling to any foreign country, and you'll be fine.
Visa requirements for each of our locations will be explained to you when you register. All our venue locations are easy to obtain a Visa from most Countries!
Yes, you will need a passport, and to be safe, one that does not expire within 6 months.
We always recommend that you exchange money once you arrive to your destination, in the local town. You will get a better exchange rate here than you will in the airport facilities. Please alert your credit card companies that you are traveling to avoid a fraud protection action against your account.
All our venues have wonderful spa and wellness services where you can take advantage of lovely body treatments. You will also have the opportunity to work 1:1 with your faculty in private yoga sessions, private meditation training, personalized life coaching and other healing modalities. Information on these options will be provided to you upon your arrival. All our locations also offer exciting and fun excursion options. It's best to organize your excursions and other activities once you arrive and understand your particular training schedule.


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StrongVPN Reviews
As the name says, StrongVPN brings a simple software interface but strong connection. StrongVPN divides its package in regions you need and protocols. The basic package that cost $7 a month gives you the chance to choose the region you need and just 3 protocols (PPTP, L2TP and SSTP). For [Read more...]


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For comparison, here's the Five of Cups in the Rider/ Waite/ Smith deck:
THE FIVE OF CUPS: I chose the Five of Cups for today because I just ran across the Blue Rose version above and was very moved by its unique AIDS quilt take on the card.
I find that fives in general in the Tarot have a sense of "separating one's self from the herd." E.g., during times of emotional and psychological growth, especially in the sword and pentacle fives.
Illness, but not necessarily serious.
Time to walk away from the situation lovingly (the Two of Cups upright is behind in the RWS version).
Stop thinking about it and do it! I.e, commit to and take action, whether that be to stay or to go.
Standing firm and taking responsbility for both the mess and the caring.
Try to understand how you got to this pass.
I often recall the expression "What you resist, persists" when I see this card in the RWS version. Another way to put this might be that what you focus on you tend to give energy to. In the RWS version, the focus is on what is spilled, while right behind is the upright and brimming Two of Cups -- usually a rather positive card.
Resource: Care2.com's click to donate page; given the Blue Rose's Five of Cups theme above, I thought I'd put up this site where you can make a difference in varous issues with clicks of your mouse (and in other ways).
Please see the top of the sidebar for my background with the Tarot and a recommendation to beginners.
'til next time, keep working to understand the situation and to enjoy The Tarot,
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing, please email me for permission (under "View my complete profile")**** SEE ALSO: Roswila's Dream & Poetry Realm for some articles about Tarot.****
Labels: Five of Cups


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Entrepreneur and philanthropist with a degree in electrical engineering, founder of successful businesses like Triangel and Quatro, cofounder of Good Angel, the most successful non-corporate charity in Slovakia today.
Awarded manager of the year 2006 by Trend magazine and the Crystal Wing for philanthropy in 2011.
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The most trusted slovak official of 2015 according to survey conducted by Focus agency.
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Connect a coworking center. It offers space and educational services for new entrepreneurs and designers. It seeks to create collaboration and networking of like-minded people from different areas and provide support through educational conferences and workshops aimed at developing entrepreneurial skills. It also provides office space for the realization of business ideas.
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Our company was established in 2005 with the aim to develop and produce nutritional supplements in Slovakia. We specialize in developing, manufacturing and distributing of high quality nutrition for active people. In conjunction with technologists, physiologists, athletes and nutritionists, we have set a goal - high quality and yet affordable products for everyone. Our products will help you in keeping a healthy lifestyle, will supply you with nutritionalin gredients, vitamins&minerals, accelerate recovery and prepare youfor new challenges.
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THE SLOVAK ALLIANCE FOR THE INTERNET ECONOMY (SAPIE) aims to develop technical and creative talent and support the Slovak business environment, through fostering the global ambitions of companies, and connecting, enabling and retaining highly knowledgeable business leaders to accelerate growth. Our goal is to create initiatives on a public and private level that will support the use of the Internet in existing and future business enterprises. These initiatives aim to transform Slovakia and the region into a technological cluster stimulating global innovation, fast information change and its future development. This will create a basis for long-term sustainable growth as well as new employment opportunities with attractive remuneration based on the high added value of technologically minded employees.
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Luis Sanz, General Manager at the International Association of Science Parks and Areas of Innovation (IASP) Simon Kaluza, Managing Director, SAP Central and Eastern Europe Vesselin Arnaudov, Manager for Innovations at VMWare Bulgaria Marcin Olender, Google Public Policy and Government Relations Manager for Central and Eastern Europe Artur Turemka, General Manager for The Balkans for MasterCard Petеr Mitev, Founder of Chaos Group Representative from HP Bulgaria Representative from VISA
(Hall 1 – ground floor) Main presenter: MGEN Koen Gijsbers, General Manager, NATO Communications and Information Agency Company presentations: Tunio Zafer, pCloud Slovak side: ESET, SOITRON, ANASOFT, universities, etc. Bulgarian side: STP Cyber Security Lab, NATO Center of Excellence for Crisis Management and Disaster Response, European Software Institute – Center Eastern Europe, HP Bulgaria, MasterCard, Musala Soft, Orelsoft, BASSCOM and BAIT companies, ICT Cluster, etc.
(Hall 2 – ground floor) Main presenter: Kiril Petkov, Proviotic Company presentations: Slovak side: Food center NITRA, agricultural companies, biotech companies, universities. Bulgarian side: STP Biopharmaceutical Lab Complex, STP Bioinformatics Lab, Joint Genomic Center, Agrobioinstitute, agricultural companies, biotech companies, universities, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, etc.
(Hall 1 – ground floor) (Hall 2 – ground floor)
(by invitation only)
Mrs. Daniela Vezieva, Deputy Minister of Economy of Bulgaria Mr. Vazil Hudak, Minister of Economy of Slovakia Mr. Juraj Draxler, Minister of Education, Science, Research and Sports of Slovakia Mr. Evgeny Angelov, Economic Advisor to the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Mrs Karina Karaivanova, Deputy Minister of Finance of Bulgaria Prof. Nikolay Denkov, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Bulgaria
President of the Republic of Bulgaria Mr. Rossen Plevneliev President of the Slovak Republic Mr. Andrej Kiska EC Commissioner Corina Crețu EC Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska (tbc) Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria Mr. Boyko Borrisov Deputy Prime Minister for EU Funds and Economic Policies Mr. Tomislav Donchev Minister of Economy of the Republic of Bulgaria Mr. Bojidar Loukarsky Mayor of Sofia Municipality, Mrs. Yordanka Fandakova (tbc) Executive Director of Sofia Tech Park JSC Mrs. Elitsa Panayotova
Naming an alley at the STP named after the Slovak inventor Jozef Murgas. Naming the Innovation Forum after the inventor of the first computer – prof. John Atanassov Opening of the Junior Achievement Bulgaria Hall in the Incubator at STP by the Minister of Economy of Bulgaria
Hardy Schmidt, CEO Adlershof (Germany) Paris Kokorotsikos, Thessaloniki Technology Park (Greece) Eric Leguay, Member of the Executive Board, Cap Digital (France) Benedikt Herrmann, Institute for Health and Consumer Protection of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission Presentation of the STP's facilities by Ms. Elitsa Panayotova Discussion
Moderator: Kiril Petkov, Proviotic Martin Hinoul, KU Leuven Ludo Deferm, IMEC Dr. Ilian Todorov, Hartree Centre UK Presentation of the Laboratory Complex within the STP by Ms. Elitsa Panayotova Discussion
Moderator: Stephane Gantchev (Launchub) The Bulgarian start-up ecosystem – presentations by Eleven, Launchub, Neveq Shared experiences – presentation by: Ricardo Marvão, Co-Founder & Board Member of Beta-i Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Portugal) Google Campus Warsaw (Poland) – tbc Presentation of the Incubator within the STP by Ms. Elitsa Panayotova Discussion with Hardy Schmidt and Paris Kokorotsikos
Source: www.inventures.eu
Do the low cost of doing business, strategic location, access to markets, and human resources help or hinder Bulgaria's entrepreneurial efforts? We look at the startup scene at it currently stands.
Last year Bulgaria ranked 44th out of 130 countries in the Global Entrepreneurship Index. The index positioned Bulgaria just ahead of Hungary but behind Slovakia, suggesting that Bulgarians have a good attitude towards startups and entrepreneurship, compared to other EU states.
Low labour costs and rent prices, coupled with highly-skilled people have been just some of the incentives for big companies to invest in Bulgaria. This is spiced up by a 10% corporate income tax (the lowest in the EU), a stable currency and great competitive costs of labour. This environment has helped Bulgaria rank third in the number of investments in startups, according to Elitsa Panayotova, Sofia Tech Park CEO.
This trend is relatively new for a small country in CEE, but investments have been flowing through funds like LAUNCHub, Eleven and NEVEQ. As part of the JEREMIE EU funds programme, Eleven and LAUNCHub have 21 million euro to distribute among hundreds of companies. Over 9 million euros have already been invested in the past two years.
Back in 2011, the Bulgarian startup scene was just waking up. Fast forward to 2015 and the place is abuzz with events, money, and initiatives around the country. In just a few years, the ecosystem grew, prompting some to speculate early on that this was another IT bubble waiting to burst. It scaled up fast with funding from LAUNCHub and Eleven, and venture funds like NEVEQ, with the help of some additional accelerator programs (Start it Smart, StartUP).
Since the beginning of the year, 12 startup teams have won a spot in the third round of the Start it Smart program. LAUNCHub and Eleven have already geared up for a fresh batch of startups in their last rounds, before both funds refocus.
Sofia is busy with events almost every week and the scene is expanding to other cities. Since the beginning of the year, Sofia has hosted four separate StartUp talks, organised by StartUp, and a Demo Day for the Start It Smart pre-accelerator program. Not to mention the casual meet-and-greets like Silicon DrinkAbout and Open Coffee. One of the biggest events of the year, DititalK, has just passed and co-organiser LAUNCHub is already bracing for next year.
Bulgaria's startup scene has already had its success stories. Flipps and Emailio have already set up shop in Silicon Valley. Flipps reached $10 million in market value in just over two years.
Telerik made the biggest exit in 2014 through a $263 million acquisition from Progress Software. Walltopia, founded in 1998, now has offices around the world, a 10,000-square-meter factory and is currently building its own headquarters in Sofia Tech Park.
Chaos Group, which started as a two-man gig, now has offices in Europe, US, Japan and Korea. And PCloud, Auxionize, and Siteground are about to hit it big.
There is still hunger for investment capital. LAUNCHub and Eleven started simultaneously, but funding is insufficient. The segmentation of the EU market allows for many investments, but they are scattered across borders and are usually small-sized.
Another issue is government involvement. For Emiliyan Stanev, founder of Infozone, the Bulgarian government plays no active, positive role for developing an entrepreneurial ecosystem, especially when it comes to fast-growing companies. "The environment is underdeveloped, it does not provide stimulus for those crazy enough to make business with their own money, effort and resources," he says.
Laszlo Gulyas of EIT ICT Labs sees market size as the biggest challenge for Bulgarian startups. "Companies target their local market first, it is their natural instinct, but they are soon limited and even good ideas get killed," Gulyas says.
The lack of sales, marketing and business development skills is another challenge, according to Stephane Gantchev from LAUNCHub. Just like Stanev, he thinks the government could make more efforts to support initiatives.
The sheer volume of untapped tech potential means there is a solid ground for further growth. "We are a tech nation, we have lots of talent, but it is not inexhaustible. We are a nation of geeks, tech people. Nevertheless, we need serial entrepreneurs to up the ante," Gantchev says. "[Bulgarians] are fresh. They try to prove their excellence, that's a good thing," Gulyas adds.
As far as MoveBG founder and former HP exec Sasha Bezuhanova is concerned, Bulgaria "has already been recognized as one of the most promising startup destinations in the world."
More than 60 startups joined a competition on the sidelines of the DigitalK event, held 21-22 May by Capital newspaper, LAUNCHub and NEVEQ. An investor jury from Point Nine Capital, Microsoft Ventures, Connect Ventures, Seedcamp, Day One Capital and Index Ventures selected four startups, who then pitched their ideas to the attending crowd. Snapwise won the competition with a live demo of their uCiC app and left Bee Smart second.
EIT ICT Labs also hosted a side-event for startups, where they announced their Idea Challenge contest with a prize fund of 40,000 euros. The event invited startups that are looking for media exposure but don't know how to do it. Colette Ballou, Ballou PR and and Robin Wauters from Tech.eu, gave pointers on how to pitch to journalists. Wauters stressed that startups should "do their homework first," before reaching out to a journalist and Colette Ballou reminded startup founders that not everything that happens to a startup is newsworthy.
This story is brought to you in partnership with EIT ICT Labs.
The main goal of the company is to boost the development of research, innovation and technological capabilities of Bulgaria through implementing different projects. For this purpose, "Sofia Tech Park" will partner with private and public institutions in order to create and manage a unique environment for innovation, build and implement educational programs and provide support to the commercialization of new technologies, products and services.
The most fundamental project of the company is creating the first science and technology park in Bulgaria. The park is expected to become a prestigious location for national, regional and global researchers and innovative companies, showing examples of a knowledge – based economy in Bulgaria and the Balkans region.
The objective of this project is to accelerate the competitiveness of science and entrepreneurship in Bulgaria by improving the knowledge exchange between academia and business, supporting startups and innovative ideas and thus catalyzing the process of commercialization of research.
For the realization of the project, "Sofia Tech Park" already has established partnerships with leading universities, the Bulgarian Academy of Science (BAS), business clusters and large international companies, Sofia Municipality, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labor and Social Politics, NGOs and other institutions. The company will be responsible for the overall project development and support of all additional activities – marketing, financing, leasing, construction, etc.
As a result of the project within the next three years "Sofia Tech Park" will provide a working scientific infrastructure for over BGN 20 million in support of the Bulgarian innovative business. Creating a 40 000 square meters of new and renovated building space to accommodate applied research laboratories, general incubator, innovative lecture /training/ discussion forum, space for demonstration of new technology, office space and car parking.
"Sofia Tech Park" Ltd. will build the first science and technology park in Bulgaria.
The mission of the park is:
"Sofia Tech Park" Ltd will develop and manage the park through partnership with private and public clients. The company has already established cooperation with leading universities, Bulgarian Academy of Science (BAS) , business clusters, large international companies, Sofia Municipality, Ministry of Education, labor, NGOs and others institutions. "Sofia Tech Park" Ltd will manage the overall organization by developing, marketing, financing, leasing, construction and other activities.
"Sofia Tech Park" Ltd is founded in early June 2012. It is entirely owned by the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism and managed by Elitsa Panayotova – Executive Director. Between 2012 and 2015 the company will develop a scientific research infrastructure for about 20 million leva in support of the Bulgarian innovative business and will create around 40, 000 sq. m. new and renovated building spaces to accommodate applied research laboratories, general incubator, innovative lecture, education, discussion forums, places to demonstrate new technology office space, car parking and pedestrian green spaces.
More information at
Tomáš Bičan
Deputy head of mission phone: + 359 8 883 04 424
e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com
Grand Hotel Sofia
1 Gurko Street
1000 Sofia, Bulgaria
phone: + 359 8 844 00 848
Crystal Palace Hotel
Shipka Street 14
1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
phone: + 359 2 948 9489
Sofia Tech Park JSC
86 Tintyava Str., fl. 3
Izgrev District
1113 Sofia
phone: +359 2 447 2880
fax: +359 2 447 2898
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USA Election – Why It Matters?
At the start of the year, I listed a number of key events that could have major impacts in the global economy. In my list, I mentioned Crude Oil, Brexit, Federal Reserve, Corporate Earnings, and the USA election. So far, the volatility of the crude oil price has increased, Brexit has already happened, Federal reserve is predicted to have the first hike in September, and there is a mixed performance in companies. The United States election, scheduled for November 8 is now the leading events in investor's mind. This election will be historic no matter who wins. If Donald Trump wins, it will be the first time in American history that someone who has never been in politics has won the election. If Clinton wins, she will be the first female president in America's history. Also, this will be the first time in American history that the contenders have the worst favorability rankings. Polls show that the USA election is one of the most competitive. After the democratic convention, Clinton had a bounce of more than 10%. In the past week, this bounce has been trimmed. In different polls, Trump has taken the lead over Clinton.
Why it Matters
For traders, the USA election is a major event that should not be ignored. The American president is the leader of the free world. The country is also the leading economy in the world. When it develops a problem, the spillover effects are felt far and beyond. A good example is in 2008 when the failure of its banks led to a global meltdown. Also, in the past, historic events such as the 1987 and the 1929 crash have had serious repercussions to the global economics. The dollar is the reserve currency for most countries in the world. Therefore, if the dollar weakens or strengthens, chances are that the effects will be felt far and wide. A win for Hillary Clinton will mean continuity in the Obama's policies while a win for Trump is uncertain to the American and global environment. Clinton's policies are similar to those of President Obama. Trump on the other hand has taken rather complicated policies such as tax breaks, strong immigration stances, and a new policy of rebuilding the country. In the investment field, Trump is causing fear. Economist has ranked him as one of the leading risks in the global economy. Investors such as Warren Buffet and prominent hedge fund managers have placed their bet on Hillary Clinton because they don't trust Donald Trump. Moody's has released a report praising Clinton's economic roadmap.
Why Trump Could Win
Though am not a political analyst, I believe that Trump has a better chance of beating Clinton. First, a number of votes globally have solidified the theory that people are looking at something else. The Brexit vote where Britons opted to leave the EU is a clear example. The referendum result was very different from what the polls and pundits had predicted. Influential figures such as Barrack Obama advised the Britons not to leave the EU. At the final day, the Britons, tired of bureaucracy decided to vote with the minorities and leave the establishment. The same could happen in the United States where people decide to give a try to a non-politician. While Trump is funding his campaign, Clinton has received millions of dollars from the establishment. This is to the advantage of Donald Trump. Another reason why Trump could win is because of the bad reputation of Hillary Clinton who has been in the limelight for more than 40 years. As the secretary of the state, the world saw the formation of ISIS and the subsequent destabilization of the Middle East. This could favor Trump who has in the past made a number of accurate predictions. In 2000, he wrote about Osama Bin Laden when no one was talking about him. Last but not least, Trump is a master marketer. This is evident in the campaign spending. While the media is biased against him, he has received from it billions of dollars in free advertisement. Clinton has so far spent hundreds of millions of dollars in publicity. Trump has spent only a few millions of dollars. For instance, last week, Trump travelled to Mexico before making his immigration speech. This speech was freely covered by most American media. This could play in Trump's favor.
USA Election – Useful Links
- Read the latest news on the USA election on USA Today
- Be updated with the latest news about the USA election on The Guardian


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