Hoyle Odyssey or...
What I went through to learn how to loose money,
I actually bought a game the other day...well I've actually bought two games in the last few months...that's unusual for me, but it seems that my usual sources are becoming unreliable...so what can you do.
I bought Hoyle Casino 2004 so I could polish up on my Casino beating strategies...yeah right. Well I get it home; I gleefully pop open the box, enjoying the plastic cardboard smell of a new game. I pop the CD in my CD drive and eagerly begin the installation process. I even decide to register the game, just because it all seems so legit and it's a novel thing for me.
The moment of truth arrives. I've already seen this game played on a friend's computer and the anticipation has reached fever pitch. I'm so ready to try out my Casino strategies, I'm going to show those money grubbing bastards what for. The icon conveniently placed on my desktop is lavishly double-clicked and I wait for nervous seconds to see the start up movies.
Nothing happens. Of course reason dictates that if double-clicking to launch the application once didn't work, you should do it again and again. I'm in IT I know this works, it's the same mentality applied to the printer, "oh it didn't print, I should send it six more times, because the printer obviously has some grudge against me or isn't paying attention." Several double-clicks and muffled swear words later I'm still staring at my desktop.
Then something weird happened, almost miraculous. As I went to eject the CD from the drive I see the video flicker and pop, the resolution notches down and an intro movie starts. Astonished and relieved I play my game, knowing that the issue isn't resolved, but at the moment not caring. I play blackjack, I play craps and video poker, I even try some roulette and then some slot machines; these are heady days! Moments pass and more less-than muffled swear words have escaped my lips; I've lost all my virtual money. Yay, gambling.
I was right though, the issue didn't go away. Already long story made a bit shorter, there is evidently something in the disc's security device that makes it incompatible with some CD-ROM drives. And my CD-ROM drive being already pretty gimpy to begin with (it used to be a CD-R, but it just can't do it anymore), it was a sure candidate for this. Last night I got tired of the old guy and ripped him out, replacing it with the little used CD-ROM from my server. Everything works now, so I was well pleased.