Windows 10... Pinball $0

[LeeVanCleef]

I finally took the dive into the deep end and updated to Windows 10 and I found a pleasant surprise in the Windows App Store. Nearly every Pinball FX2 table (or Zen Pinball for PS3 fans) is available for free play! Admittedly, you have to sit through a commercial to play the game (hey, they could shoot one out between every ball so thank Xenu for small favors!), and some abilities are curtailed in the free versions (good luck reading that DMD!), but it's hard to argue with getting to play some 20 tables for free, including a good share of the Marvel tables.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

interesting...

at the same time, i don't want to give bill gates any more money or access to me... which also makes me kind of an unwanted poster child for the hippocratic oath... especially since i haven't walked the talk and gone to linux or wine or whatever the coolios are playing with these days. :/

godammit bill... you and your endless campaign to embarrass me.

ok, FINE!

yet EVEN bill gates is probably more desirable to the current equity market / bitcoin conundrum / mr. robot shiz.

but yeah could you please just SHUT UP bill instead of spraying your flame-thrower around like it's WWII??

is it REALLY time to switch to TOR...?!?

 

[sleepy]

I've read that the once-standard games like Solitaire and Minesweeper have been split off as free downloads. What the hell is on that DVD that they have no room for the little ones now?

 

[StevOz]

DVD? Oh yes I do have one of those. As I can recall I've used it once or so a year on my PC, then again I have plugged in many a usb stick, many times.

 

[sleepy]

Maybe M$ split off the games to force people who want them to submit to their Genuine Advantage check. I do know that they dropped support for Win 7 about a year ago. At that time, you couldn't even buy the license for any borrowed installation. They were pushing a purchase upgrade to Win 8.1 then.

But with the free upgrade to Win 10, they've reinstituted the purchase license requirement for Win 7. Probably because, without it, an unlicensed Win 7 system would receive the Win 10 upgrade automatically. The unlicensed status prevents the Win 10 update.

 

[LeeVanCleef]

I understand an irrational hatred of companies, Nic (my go-to is always AT&T), but I rather admire Uncle Bill. I think he's the first monopolist since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution to really put a whole bunch of money where his mouth is towards making a difference for millions of less-fortunate citizens riding Spaceship Earth. Now I feel kinda bad about that pirated copy of XP. And Encarta. And Microsoft Office. And Age of Empires III plus the two expansion packs.
I've taken about a year off from my obsession with Zen/FX 2, as well as spending a lot of time making sweet, sweet love to the Steam version of Pinball Arcade. I must say that those Zen tables are looking a little ragged, especially after Pinball Arcade's latest DX11 update where just about all the tables look like they were touched with Scapino's magic wand. And, of course, there's the hard, cold fact that every Zen table turns into a spelling bee sooner or later. I was playing PA's Monster Bash earlier this week (I always spend time with that one when fall is near) and, as I was hitting the target to light up Frankenstein's naughty bits, I couldn't help but think that, if this were a Zen table, you'd have to spell out H-E-A-D, A-R-M, L-E-G, T-O-R-S-O... yeah, fifteen hits to open up the multiball? That seems about right.