Article: The great video game crash of 1983

[VectorGamer]

This may be a rehash for some...

 

 

The great video game crash of 1983

[Emehr]

Figures there's a pic of E.T. Can anybody get original anymore?

[Nukey Shay]

Nope.

 

Just throw it over there with the others in the pile.

[Bill Loguidice]

It's barely English...

[VectorGamer]

It's barely English...

 

 

Why do you say that?

[Bill Loguidice]

It's barely English...

 

 

Why do you say that?

 

Atrocious typos, dropped words, etc. It's poorly written and needs a good edit. There's nothing wrong with the basic ideas - though it brings nothing new to the subject - it just needs to be presented better.

[VectorGamer]

I see what you mean:

 

"canidate"

 

" The average price of a video game at the time was $35, and a lot of them were being moved to bargain bins, selling for $5, to make room for the new inventory." - seems like a lot of commas, what do you think?

 

I was taught not to have commas before "and"

 

"Computers could do both, word processing and video games" shouldn't that have been a "-" instead of a comma?

 

That's just from the first half of the article.

 

It's barely English...

 

 

Why do you say that?

 

Atrocious typos, dropped words, etc. It's poorly written and needs a good edit. There's nothing wrong with the basic ideas - though it brings nothing new to the subject - it just needs to be presented better.

[Bill Loguidice]

Well, even Intellivision is spelled wrong for goodness sake. The main point though besides the poor writing and what-not is that there appears to be no original thinking in there, and some stuff that is vague and/or misleading (or factually pretty much wrong).

 

You can actually have a comma before "and". It all depends on what style book is adhered to and personal preference. Same thing with double spaces after periods. That used to be required, now it's either optional or discouraged completely (that's more a holdover from the typewriter days).

[VectorGamer]

Re: "ands" and "double spaces" - I hate that crap...you go to school and they drill and I mean drill into your head about commas being redundant before "and" as well as double spaces after a period and a single space after a comma.

 

I suppose they changed the recommendation on having a recipients address in all CAPS as well?

 

 

 

Well, even Intellivision is spelled wrong for goodness sake. The main point though besides the poor writing and what-not is that there appears to be no original thinking in there, and some stuff that is vague and/or misleading (or factually pretty much wrong).

 

You can actually have a comma before "and". It all depends on what style book is adhered to and personal preference. Same thing with double spaces after periods. That used to be required, now it's either optional or discouraged completely (that's more a holdover from the typewriter days).

[Bill Loguidice]

Re: "ands" and "double spaces" - I hate that crap...you go to school and they drill and I mean drill into your head about commas being redundant before "and" as well as double spaces after a period and a single space after a comma.

 

I suppose they changed the recommendation on having a recipients address in all CAPS as well?

 

It's important to separate the technological from other considerations. The double space after a period is generally frowned upon today (generally, not universally), simply because modern computers separate things properly. You needed a double space in the past because of how typewriters printed. You needed a bigger space between sentences to see the separation better. The single space after most other types of punctuation hasn't changed, nor have the other standard rules. The "and" thing I'll give you is an odd one. I personally prefer putting the ", and" as a separator only when the list of items prior has an "and" in it, such as "blue, green and grey, orange, and black." If it was "blue, green, grey, orange and black." I would not use a comma. However, some style books/sheets want the "extra" comma in at all times. It's all in what you're writing for and who you're writing for at the time. In the business world I've generally created my own style sheet and just made sure everything was internally consistent. Ultimately, it doesn't matter unless a particular requirement makes it matter. It's actually been quite a re-learning experience for me in the past year or so not to put two space after a period. I still occasionally slip up. It will probably take a bit more time to retrain my muscle memory. It's probably a good thing, because I'll probably end up saving tens of thousands of strokes in a year.

[CRV]

" The average price of a video game at the time was $35, and a lot of them were being moved to bargain bins, selling for $5, to make room for the new inventory." - seems like a lot of commas, what do you think?

 

Yes, it's a lot, but it's not necessarily wrong. I'm sure it could have been written less awkwardly.

 

"Computers could do both, word processing and video games" shouldn't that have been a "-" instead of a comma?

 

Couldn't you just have nothing there?

 

However, some style books/sheets want the "extra" comma in at all times.

 

That's what I learned.

 

Also:

"When to Use a Comma before "And""

Edited September 11, 2009 by CRV