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382 Responses to “Ask Me Anything”

1. Ur twitter keeps crashing my firefox!

   Comment by PIES on February 2, 2011 at 11:18 pm





2. Love your blog. Thanks for being cool.

   Comment by pdoxsynchd on February 3, 2011 at 12:56 am





3. That character in your Twitter avatar.. What is it? I could swear I’ve seen it before, but I just can’t figure out where!

   Comment by GFXavier on February 3, 2011 at 2:21 am





4. Do you think there will be another game industry crash like we had in the 80′s sometime soon?

   Comment by SadSandwich on February 3, 2011 at 2:35 am





5. should i go to the party?

   :x

   Comment by anonymouse on February 3, 2011 at 2:43 am





6. @PIES: What version of Firefox and what version of Windows are you using? I don’t have any problems with it at all. If anything, that should be on Twitter’s end.

   @pdoxsynchd: I’ll keep up the good fight. Even if it reduces me to the most bitter gamer in existence. Lol. <3

   @GFXavier: It’s a Zergling from Starcraft. Got bored one day and drew it in Microsoft Paint. Figured that would be a ridiculous enough avatar and icon for my Youtube and Twitter setups.

   @SadSandwich: Everything that I’ve learned about the industry says that the crash should have already happened. Casual gaming on the consoles has pretty much bottomed out. Yeah, Kinect sold a bazillion copies over the holiday. But what games actually got people to go out and purchase Kinect? None of them did. Dance Central could be a wonderful game for all that I know, but it didn’t sell Kinect. Kinect sold Kinect. And “the next Kinect” is not going to continue selling on consoles because it’s “the next Kinect”. Not when mobile phone games supply are supplying much better bang for the buck. (A shitty one-dollar game is a shitty one-dollar game, but the consumer sees that as a win.)

   I’d actually be much more concerned about the state of hardcore gaming at this point. Call of Duty, Halo, God of War, Gears of War, Rockstar’s yearly release, the World of Warcraft expansion pack. That’s the only games that are actually selling in bundles right now. (Not even Mass Effect can claim “cash cow” status.) This racket has become so obscenely expensive that I’m not quite sure what the hell you do if you’re not holding one of those games as a trump card. And even though Mass Effect and Assassin’s Creed and Dead Space are fairly new franchises that are experiencing some success, none of them are particularly new and surprising. (Of course, not all of this is their fault. Technology used to be the arbiter for new genres and new concepts. I.e. “Hey guys, we now have the technology to do THIS!” That’s pretty much petered out. It’s now up to human ingenuity to get it done. That’s a much, much slower process. But the risk-averse publishers in both the East and the West are not helping that at all.)

   If there’s any positive for hardcore gaming, I’d look at the personal computer. It’s still an open source platform, and computer technology is getting so far ahead of the seventh generation of consoles that you could see some really fantastic video games coming in the future. Even the MMORPG developers are finally beginning to realize that they can’t compete with World of Warcraft and are finally opting for the Dynasty Warriors “mash X until you bleed” model. It’s not perfect. I’d actually like to see them get closer and closer to the Bayonetta or the God of War model. But historically, the personal computer has been the major arbiter of gaming trends for hardcore gamers over the last three decades. First it was computer role-playing games (which became Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest), then it was first-person shooters (and we all know that story), and now we’ll have to see what comes afterward. Between the technology and between the endless talent pool out there on this giant open source platform, I really would not be surprised to see the computer undergo a bit of a renaissance.

   Now that’s my guess. Like a lot of people, I thought the Nintendo Wii was going to bottom out sometime around 2008 or 2009. From a game library standpoint, it basically has. Nobody is willing to design interesting games for a console when the only titles on the Nintendo Wii that sell are thoses with “Mario” or “Wii” in the title. It’s actually quite disgusting. The most important question is ultimately going to be whether all these casual and social gamers on the Nintendo Wii and Facebook and using their IPhones eventually decide they want to graduate to more interesting video games. If they don’t, hardcore gamers are probably going to endure the fate that movies have, where noisy garbage parades itself at the movie theater with every release week. And quite frankly, I’m not too interested in that. If the entire industry crashes and all the shit blows up? All bets are off. There’s just way too many ways for the industry to crash now that there’s really no way to catalog how it will go down, if it does.

   @anonymouse: Sure, why not? Parties are good. But only the ones without temptations like rock music and girls. They creep me out. But it’s kinda mutual, so it’s all good!

   Comment by Mike Lowell on February 3, 2011 at 2:58 am





7. 1) what do you think of the 3DS? Overpriced gimmick and Nintendo’s huge mistake, or an actual progressive step forward?

   2) do you think with the next gen consoles we’ll see product key registrations on discs like on PC games? Or does the game industry actually care about it’s customers to not be so greedy?

   Comment by Toadofsky on February 3, 2011 at 3:13 am





8. As far as the 3DS is concerned, everybody is talking about these incredible lineup of games that the company has prepared for the launch. They’re completely missing the point. The most important part of a portable gaming console is its identity. “What does this device do for me that a console or another portable device cannot?” The DS had an identity. It was a device for all kinds of casual games, ranging from pet simulation to “brain training”. It also maintained the “sixteen-bit market” (side-scrolling platformers and turn-based role-playing games) that the Game Boy Advance played to very, very well. It sold very well because of it. It was also very cheap. The PSP did NOT have an identity. It was a much more expensive device to develop games for than the Nintendo DS. Thus, the PSP didn’t have the kind of niche titles that could have burned out an identity for the console. So who did that leave to make video games for the PSP? The very large, big-budget publishers who are terrified to take a loss on any new video game. The PSP essentially became a library of down-scaled console games. And if you know anything about the history of portable gaming and what portable video games are considered “great”, the games most associated with the consoles (Tetris, Pokémon, Nintendogs) played better on a portable device than they would have on a console. The PSP library would have played better on a console. In five years, with some niche exceptions, very few people are going to remember the PSP game library. As far as I can tell, the 3DS is going to go down the exact same road. Will it sell very well? Yes. I’m convinced that in 2011, Apple and Nintendo are the two companies that can’t make a product that doesn’t sell well. Their brand recognition is simply incredible. Does that mean the 3DS is a gaming device I want to play games on? Not if the games would play much better on a console.

   On your second point, I don’t expect that to happen. The only possible way I could see this happening is if Activision decides to pull it with Call of Duty. It’s never made its millions advertised as a single-player game and you could sell it as a way to access the multiplayer component. It wouldn’t require the company to okay it with Sony or Microsoft. The reason they can’t do it for every game is simple: How do you think mom and dad are going to react when the serial numbers embedded into the video game console become useless when the console burns out? This wouldn’t be like product keys for the personal computer, where the product key allocates one person access to the online gaming service at any given time. I would imagine the product key would become locked to the console the very moment someone decides to go online with it. Unless console developers think hacking is going to become that big of an issue (where people can test out their hacks on pirated copies of the games), then there wouldn’t be any reason to do it elsewise.

   Ultimately, come next generation, I think product keys are going to be the least of anyone’s worries. I feel pretty comfortable that at least one of the major manufacturers is going to do something that makes jaws drop. And not in a good way.

   Comment by Mike Lowell on February 3, 2011 at 4:02 am





9. Thanks for the reply. While I do believe Nintendo’s brand recognition will help them. The “identity” of the 3DS was an issue I’ve had (which you reminded me about). Ocarina and Star Fox 64 were not designed as portable friendly games, other than being cheaper to port than make a new game, they shouldn’t have been made (IMO). I can’t tell you how many times the DS was like a renaissance with a “something for everyone”.

   With the 3DS, I don’t see as many 2D/Sprite based games being released, other than on that pitiable service of DSi ware….

   Comment by Toadofsky on February 3, 2011 at 4:34 am





10. I always thought it was a bit hypocritical of people (generally speaking, not you in particular) to complain that the PSP gets console ports but praise Nintendo for making ports of Super Mario World, A Link To The Past, Super Mario 64, Donkey Kong Country, OoT and Starfox (probably others).

    I really never felt that the PSP lacked “portable” games to be honest.

    Comment by Q-veta on February 3, 2011 at 12:54 pm





11. I get what Mike is saying about the PSP. In all the years I’ve owned a PSP, I’ve only bought a few games for it. Mine is basically a “Portable Disgaea Player.” But Disgaea games provide me hundreds of hours of playtime, so it works for me. Though I played the God of War games on my PSP, I wish they had just put them on the PS3.

    The DS has very specific games tailored for the DS hardware (case in point, the Professor Layton series.)

    Considering your thoughts on the PSP, what do you think about the “NGP”? It sounds like a beefed up PSP with buttons to match a standard controller (and a touch pad of some kind?). It doesn’t sound like Sony is getting why the DS is dominating the market. Nothing about the NGP is very revolutionary.

    Any thoughts on gaming going digital? The PSP has made the move digital downloads, and Steam has dominated the PC market for some time now. Sony and Microsoft have also been offering current-gen games for download at fairly cheap prices ($30 aint bad). I’m a big fan of this for the PSP because I like to not have a bunch of UMDs I have to carry around (though I still stick to UMD for a few select titles because I’m an obsessive collector) and I wish that the DS would follow suit.

    But I’ve shyed away from buying full release games on consoles because I like to have that ability to sell, trade, or even borrow out my games (I’m also the kind of neanderthal who still bought CDs until sometime last year.). But at the same time, I would think that if physical media was completely disbanded, prices would drop drastically. A PSP title only released as a download is always cheaper than a title that has a physical UMD on the market.

    Comment by iamKelly on February 3, 2011 at 2:18 pm





12. I’ve been reading your blogs/twitter/B.net forum trolling for years. could you tell us more about yourself ? Stuff like age, education, location, hobbies (cept vidjya gaems), your actual job or anything else you feel like sharing that isn’t VG related.

    Comment by Derp on February 3, 2011 at 3:01 pm





13. ALSO TELL US IF YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND (I CAN ALREADY GUESS THE ANSWER LOL)

    Comment by Q-veta on February 3, 2011 at 3:24 pm





14. @Toadofsky: I’m beginning to think that Nintendo’s portable approach is fiendishly similar to Apple’s, in that they release the same device three or four times and call constantly call it a revolution. I don’t think they want the games to be as important because they feel software piracy is harming the Nintendo DS (and this has always been a Nintendo nitpick). So instead, they’re going to make the hardware the system-seller. And yes, nobody has explained to me why I should be excited for “the king of the Nintendo 64 library…in 3-D!!!”

    @Q-Veta: I’ve been trying to cull a library of PSP games for the device and I’m having a lot of trouble finding games that won’t play better on a console. I’ve pretty much narrowed Prinny and Half-Minute Hero as must-owns but I could really use some suggestions for the rest of the catalog.

    And you’re just mad that I meet smoking-hot women on the internet every night.

    @iamKelly: The NGP also does nothing to interest me until I see games and I see that companies are willing to rectify the mistake that they made with the PSP. Considering the “word” (i.e. completely unsubstantiated rumors) is that it’s going to be roughly as powerful as a Playstation 3, I highly doubt that. It’ll give developers a more convenient excuse to port over their console outings. Sony needs to stop competing with Nintendo and start trying to compete with Apple. Nintendo has enough market share to continue being Nintendo in the portable market. Sony does not.

    As for digital media, my opposition to it is two-fold: 1) It’s a continuing trend towards “this country doesn’t make anything anymore”, and 2) those companies are never ever going to use digital distribution as a means for dropping the price. They’re simply going to use it as a means for padding out their profit margins. So with the exception of a service like Steam that actually offers very good prices on the software, I’m opposed to it unless Microsoft and Sony want to demonstrate they’re going to make the games cheaper by doing it.

    @Derp: I have reasons for not being too specific about my personal life. No, I don’t work in the industry. It’s just much, much easier to keep my personal life detached from the internet than it would be to undo it. Just know you’re getting the input of a Florida resident with a degree in history. The combination of academia and “sun baking into my brain” probably has to do with the bizarre writing style I’ve developed.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 3, 2011 at 4:29 pm





15. Here’s some of my favorites. I’ll assume you don’t want “console” games so I’ll just suggest the ones that are good as portable games (so no God of War, Syphon Filter, 3D platformers, MGS).

    Patapon (my favorite PSP game)
    LocoRoco 1-2 (2 is the best)
    Lumines (great puzzler, don’t get the second one because it’s basically the first one with Gwen Stefani’s Hollaback Girl instead of good music)
    Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles (it’s the same style as Super Castlevania 4 and has an unlockable version of Symphony of the Night)
    echochrome
    Crush
    Wipeout Pure/Pulse

    That’s the best I can think of. I assume you don’t want to play the god awful Square Enix games. I can’t believe I wasted 25 hours finishing Crisis Core. I tried Kingdom Hearts BBS but after an hour I figured out it was gonna be the exact same deal as Crisis Core.

    Comment by Q-veta on February 3, 2011 at 4:51 pm





16. Thanks for the reply!

    Cool story time: in university I once had a friend from Nova Scotia that asked me to play an emulated Super Famicom game while he installed a service pack on his laptop. I was using a desktop, he on his laptop, and over the network we played a puzzle game. For more than 10 years, I haven’t talked to my friend, and I’d forgotten what awesome game we played all those years ago. Your last article made me jump out of my seat since you had written about that very same game: Panel de pon. Thanks to your article I’m now searching for a legit copy to play again.

    Good times!

    Comment by GFXavier on February 3, 2011 at 7:02 pm





17. Half Minute Hero is in fact a must. It’s fun, unique, and fits the portable gaming mentality perfectly. The longest I ever spent on a level was 5 minutes, and that was the final battle. The rediculous time limit keeps the pace moving quickly, and with the price of turning back time getting more expensive every time you use it, you really have to push the clock to the last second. I have my complaints with the game, but it’s a great game. I’m looking forward to the sequal (which has been announced)

    I still need to get my hands on Prinny2. I do a “Prinny Rights Movement” at gaming conventions and on facebook, so I really need to get on it… o_O

    I’m kind of a big fan of Disgaea, but I understand you don’t like grindfests, so you might want to avoid the main games in the Disgaea series.

    And, well, hello there, fellow Floridian. :p

    Comment by iamKelly on February 3, 2011 at 7:14 pm





18. Q-Veta: Okay, those are games that I’m going to look to putting an investment into. That’s roughly the same list of games that I was able to come up with, minus a couple of additions. Now I just need to find them for cheap.

    @GFXavier: Awesome deal. I’m really happy to know that I’m not the only person who stumbled upon that wonderful game and thinks as fondly of it as I do. I’d like to go ahead and review the other games in the series. Gonna do that over time, though. Don’t want to overload the message board on one single game.

    @iamKelly: Yeah, that’s a game I was looking to play regardless of whether it was good or not. Those are the kinds of games I like reviewing: The ones that, even if I’ve read other reviews, I really have no idea what to expect out of the game. Most of the games that I’ve already reviewed on the site play to that tune.

    Yeah, the only JRPG I’m actually interested in playing is Persona 3. I know that game is held up as a bit of a god figure for modern role-playing games. Definitely curious to see if it’s worth the hubbaloo (contrary to my hatred of JRPGs, I have tons of respect for what Square did with Chrono Trigger).

    And yes, I am the Florida kind. And people wonder why I’m so cynical.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 3, 2011 at 7:32 pm





19. If you buy Persona 3 get the PS2 version. I dislike RPGs in general but I have to say I kind of liked this one. I tried FF7, Crisis Core, Kingdom Hearts but I hated pretty much all of them. Persona 3 is different, it’s the story I guess. It’s hilarious and the characters are pretty likeable and angst-free. Half the game is still running through a dungeon fighting turn-based battles though so don’t expect anything else.

    As for the PSP even though you’d consider them titles that should be played on a console (probably) I strongly suggest you check out the two Syphon Filter games and Resistance Retribution. I enjoyed them more than the portable God of War and Metal Gear Solid games combined.

    Half Minute Hero is pretty nice. I actually laughed at a few moments in the game.

    Have you tried The World Ends With You on the DS? Probably my favorite game for the system and one of the very few RPGs (both WRPGs and JRPGs) I’ve enjoyed. It’s the setting I guess that made me like it.

    Comment by Q-veta on February 3, 2011 at 7:57 pm





20. Since you don’t plan to share much of your personal real life, could you tell us a bit about the path you took until you created this site? It just popped up on one of the sites i frequent and has since then endured in my feed reader.
    I really enjoy your rambling reviews and general comments on the gaming industry and while i am not sure i should agree with you as often as i do, i still love reading your articles.

    I am also working on a small school project and struggling with it a bit. I have to pick 12 pc games that are somehow relevant in the industry/where fun to play/sold well/that i like. After deciding to only focus on 3 genres, FPS, CRPG and (probably) RTS i am unsure what to include after picking the obvious titles – DOOM I/II (for sort of starting this while mess), Deus Ex (for being awesome), Starcraft (Korea, kekeke), C&C 1 (for making RTS popular), Baldur’s Gate (restarting the whole CRPS genre), Diablo (for creating the Action-RPG sub-genre).
    Any input would be of great help. :)

    Comment by Plastefuchs on February 3, 2011 at 8:16 pm





21. Live in Florida eh? I’m trying to move there in another year or so. I have a fair amount of connections to find work, plus.

    Comment by Toadofsky on February 3, 2011 at 8:35 pm





22. Q-Veta: Not completely leaving my options out on the “console” titles. If they’re being developed as their own brand (that is, not alongside a slate of console releases), they’re not off-ground. This is all something I’m going to have to put a bit of thought into.

    And I haven’t played either of those RPGs. Those are apparently the two that the internet raves about. And for that reason, they’re worth giving a go. Still working on Psychonauts for the time being. That’s gonna get done first.

    @Plastefuchs: Here’s the short story of it: Got bored during web design class, made a web site. Got some recognition for the Warcraft III articles I wrote during the game’s heyday and built a base out of that audience. Decided to tighten the focus and began to exclusively follow video games. Created a blog to do this. Decided the blog format didn’t give me much room to write longer and more detailed articles. And here I am.

    http://www.the-ghetto.org/content/about-this-site

    Roughly covers the same timeline, but it has pretty pictures of how the web site has evolved.

    As for your project, here’s the ones I would absolutely go with:

    - Civilization (turn-based strategy, possibly the pinnacle of the entire industry)
    - Doom (with no disrespect to Wolfenstein 3-D or the primitive “first-person shooters” before it, the grandfather of the genre)
    - Starcraft (king of the real-time strategy genre, and as you mentioned, played in Korea as a sport)
    - Deus Ex (yes, very awesome)

    And from there? You got a couple of ways you can go. You can throw adventure games into the mix (Zork, Day of the Tentacle, The Secret of Monkey Island, Myst), you can throw games that target social audiences into the mix (The Sims, Farmville, World of Warcraft), you can go with a couple of games considered by many to be the perfection of their playstyle and genre (Unreal Tournament, Quake 3, Total Annihilation), you can go with some more dungeon crawlers (as you mentioned, Diablo), and you could probably look back through the history of computer role-playing and pick out a landmark title (Akalabeth, A Bard’s Tale). You can even throw a nod to Counter-Strike for popularizing the tactical shooting genre. There’s a lot of ways you can go with that. After those first four titles I listed above, it really gets muddy. But yes, those are the four I would absolutely list above all others.

    @Toadofsky: Well, consider yourself lucky. The entire state might as well declare itself unemployed. If you can get a job down here, a hell of a lot of power to you.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 3, 2011 at 8:48 pm





23. Will we continue to see an AAA industry years from now? The working conditions at most, if not all, places tend to be horrid—even on successful games like Red Dead Redemption.

    We will probably keep seeing shovelware for a while, but will the industry and current and potential employees realize how unforgiving the business is?

    And if so, what shape will the industry take, and how do you think the big developmer houses will react?

    As a bonus question, as a big StarCraft fan, how do you feel about the living conditions for the so-called professional players, be it in South Korea or in other parts of the world? Sometimes, I feel a little like I do with the NFL: if the players aren’t treated well in the short (n)or long run, how should I be able to enjoy the shows they participate in.

    Comment by C. A. on February 3, 2011 at 10:56 pm





24. Correction: Unforgivning -> Unrewarding and unthankful.

    Comment by C. A. on February 3, 2011 at 10:57 pm





25. Hey, Rick Scott is on it, dood :p

    Comment by Kelly on February 3, 2011 at 11:01 pm





26. Thank you, that helped me a great deal. :)

    Comment by Plastefuchs on February 3, 2011 at 11:32 pm





27. Father teaches his 4 year old daughter how to play Starcraft II. Adorable.

    http://www.youtube.com/user/NuubCast#p/u/7/a87x0psVIus

    Comment by Kelly on February 4, 2011 at 12:15 am





28. @C. A.: That completely depends on whether computer technology and computer coding becomes simple enough for creative minds to forfeit the grind and simply getting down to making great video games. Half the battle in these games is simply getting them into code. If you’re a small publisher or developer, you have to push because you don’t have any time to spare. Very easy to simply run out of cash. That game needs to create revenue fast. If you’re a large developer, your bosses don’t give a shit about you. So if it comes down to getting a game out in two years with sixty-hour work weeks and four years with thirty-hour work weeks, they’re choosing the former every time. If you don’t like it, you can find someplace else to work. Hell, that’s the Activision model: The developers and the publishers are completely irrelevant to them. The brand is the product. They wouldn’t have dismissed Harmonix and dicked around Infinity Ward if they believed elsewise.

    The way the business is set up right is completely unsustainable. You can’t keep spending tens of millions of dollars to make these games. Especially when none of these publishers are willing to take chances or are looking to take these chances in a completely incorrect fashion (look at the Japanese-developed Mindjack and Quantum Theory, i.e. the Japanese attempts to steal a chunk of the shooter market). There are new franchises, but not enough to hide the fact that they’re releasing new installments once every year. What is the difference between Call of Duty and Call of Duty: Black Ops. Really? Anything? It’s not a bad thing to publish the same game year after year if you can continually out a strong product, but the fact that the reception to World At War, Modern Warfare 2, and Black Ops has been polarizing means they aren’t doing the job. There’s too many stinkers out there right now to keep up what the publishers are doing.

    If the big publishers implode, then all bets are off. I have absolutely no idea what would happen. Conventional history of the medium says that all those people playing social and casual games today are going to graduate to more interesting titles. But if they’re playing it because “it’s something to do for five minutes while I’m waiting on an appointment at work”, then who knows? If it all came crashing down, it wouldn’t really bother me. I’m quite happy with the products I’ve got right now.

    As for your question about Starcraft players, it’s a very tough ethical question. In the major sports, the players are the product. In the National Basketball Association, it’s very obvious. And no matter how hard the National Football League tries to convince people the brand is the product, Goodell doesn’t have a product without the players. In these emerging “recreation and competition as business” ventures, it’s a lot easier to get away with making the brand the product. It’s like I discussed with Activision: The players are interchangeable parts. If the top five Brood War players disappeared from the face of the game tomorrow, people would still watch Brood War. And that’s the problem. Maybe SlayerS_Boxer is bigger than the game. That’s it. And until more players become bigger than the game (i.e. celebrities), none of those players can stand up and say they deserve it better.

    It’s a very tough ethical question: Do you support the players under the only option of a regime (whether Blizzard or KeSPA) or do you deny them the ability to do what they do well? People are willing to be more forgiving of it in the circle of competitive gaming because they fully understand there isn’t much of a market for it. They’re willing to use these multi-billion-dollar sponsors as a launching point. The problem is that those multi-billion-dollar sponsors are not going to design the sport that allows the players to detach themselves from it. Despite what everyone may think, the sponsors want the team events (the events where their brands “compete” against each other) to be the main ticket.

    In other words, it’s the plot to Rollerball.

    I hope that answers your question. Little bit tired right now.

    @Plastefuchs: Not a problem at all. Just keep in mind that there are a hell of a lot of good games from the eighties and early nineties that I didn’t touch on. You may want to see the Gamasutra articles on the history of early computer role-playing. Some good name drops in there.

    http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20070223a/barton_01.shtml
    http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20070223b/barton_01.shtml

    @Kelly: Pfft. She’s Platinum League at best. I can take her. Hundred dollars a game, right damn now!

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 4, 2011 at 1:58 am





29. @ Mike:

    I enjoy the area, especially Brandon/Tampa. Currently on vacation there for a few more days.

    Comment by Toadofsky on February 4, 2011 at 2:58 am





30. Er…I was going to ask if you had any naked pictures on the interweb, but I’m supposing that isn’t very “clean.” I guess I’ll just ask the other question on everyone’s mind. Do you think O.J. killed his ex-wife?

    Comment by Truhan on February 4, 2011 at 4:14 am





31. Help me, Mr. Lowell.

    My wife has had a long obsession with Minecraft. It actually began before she ever owned the game, as she would spend hours on web sites reading about the game, watching videos on Youtube, and soaking up the culture that is Minecraft. She finally began playing the demo, and would spend ungodly amounts of time building fortresses that she couldn’t even save.

    So I finally bought her the damn game, and it’s now all she does. When she used to fuss at me for breaking out my DS when we had friends over, she now lugs the laptop around and plays Minecraft, even when it’s HER guests.

    Help me, Mr Lowell! You’re my only hope.

    - Desperate Husband

    Comment by iamKelly on February 4, 2011 at 7:00 am





32. When you open your forums will you use oldschool PHPnuke or some nooby vBulletin?

    Comment by Song7 on February 4, 2011 at 8:34 am





33. From what I’ve learned on 4chan about Minecraft I can safely conclude that iamKelly’s wife suffers from autism.

    Comment by Q-veta on February 4, 2011 at 8:59 am





34. My firefox is version 3.6.13

    Comment by PIES on February 4, 2011 at 1:55 pm





35. and windows 7 64x

    Comment by PIES on February 4, 2011 at 1:55 pm





36. and yeah it might be on twitters end, I dunno. Still annoying though.

    Comment by PIES on February 4, 2011 at 1:56 pm





37. @Toadofsky: Yeah, that’s pretty much how Florida works. If you come here for two weeks out of the year, it’s wonderful. Great weather and all that. It’s the other fifty that are tough to tolerate.

    @Truhan: Probably. Though that is just the uninformed opinion of somebody who only remembers the Simpson escapades occurring because the Bronco chase went split-screen with the 1994 NBA Finals. (Knicks fan.)

    @song7: That’s actually going to be rather interesting. My idea was to integrate the comments section with whatever message board I set up. I want some interconnectivity. Unfortunately, that connectivity requires a level of coding knowledge that is simply out of my league. And I ain’t paying the money to get that level of coding knowledge for the time being. It’s something I’m going to have to think about for a bit. But no plans of any kind for forums right now. I’m basically using this as a cheap substitute.

    @iamKelly: Oh boy. Hmmm. I had a friend whose girlfriend pulled the same spat on him with World of Warcraft. All of a sudden, his “wasted time” with video games became “let’s play together” all of the time. I’ve never had to experience it in any capacity detrimental to any of my relationships so I’m really at a loss for what to tell you. I’ve also never been hopelessly addicted to any video game for more than a week or two. I played Diablo II non-stop to level 17 and then officially stopped giving a damn about the game and then did roughly the same thing when I got to level 20 on World of Warcraft. As hard as it may seem to believe, I don’t really get hooked to a video game. I usually stop playing it the moment it doesn’t entertain me (whether short-term or long-term). I can’t give you a solid answer because it would require me to dissect a kind of psychology (and another person) that I have no experience with. :\

    @Q-Veta: I have reported you to the administrator and he will be taking little to no action shortly.

    @PIES: Yeah, it sounds like a Firefox or a Twitter issue. There is nothing I could have done on the website that could be a result of your actions. Does it happen in Internet Explorer?

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 4, 2011 at 3:51 pm





38. http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/1633/1296838567180.jpg
    I thought you might enjoy this!

    Comment by Q-veta on February 4, 2011 at 5:11 pm





39. I don’t know if you caught me getting into a flame war with TeamLiquid because of what DeMusliM did (he apparently got into a scuffle with drunks after going drinking with Rotterdam and ended with a broken hand for his troubles), but I find it completely amusing that people want competitive gaming to be taken seriously and then tolerate crap like this. It’s amusing, but yeah, “retarded” is kinda not an acceptable word in 2011.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 4, 2011 at 5:17 pm





40. Minecraft is actually a really cool game, and it suits her (she’s a creative artist type). I find her obsession amusing, though.

    The biggest mistake I made, though, was telling her that she could play with the laptop hooked up to the TV (with a wireless mouse and keyboard so she could just sit back on the couch). I insisted that I would be fine and would read a book or something. It didn’t take long before I was thinking “Dammit, I gave her the laptop, AND the TV???”

    Weather may mostly be beautiful in Florida, but we’re currently catching the tip of that Winter storm on my end. The past few days have been cold and dreary…..

    Comment by iamKelly on February 4, 2011 at 7:07 pm





41. “The winter storm coming shortly” almost seems redundant at this point. It seems more economical to list the days where anyone north of 28 degrees north has the sun to work with. But yeah, as far as your Minecraft gig goes, I dunno to say about Minecraft. I wouldn’t attempt to take the task of reviewing it (too many places that could go wrong), but I guess I eventually have to give it a shot and figure out what’s so interesting about the game. It sounds to be like a giant Rube Goldberg machine. I dunno if that would work for me or not.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 4, 2011 at 10:32 pm





42. Minecraft is an exploration, mining, crafting (thus Minecraft), construction, and survival/horror game. You explore vast worlds and cave systems and collect resources, use these resources to craft useful items and build protective structures, and at night time, fend off zombies and other monsters.

    Considering it’s open system with no set objectives to accomplish, the game can be played many different ways, with some people focusing on the survival/horror aspect, but I think the vast majority of Minecraft players focus on mining and building. If you go online you can find some really cool structures that people have built.

    It’s also only in Beta, but if you buy the game, then all future updates come with it. Basically you pay to playtest the game, knowing that you will receive the game in its completed form eventually. But for a “beta,” it feels complete. Basically the creators are just working out bugs and adding new features as things go.

    The whole community that has come together around the game is pretty fascinating. If you were ever going to talk about the game at all, I would focus on the community.

    Comment by iamKelly on February 4, 2011 at 11:00 pm





43. Putting it on download. I’ll go ahead and make up my mind for myself. I don’t want to prejudge whether it’s one of those games where you come home from work and play a game where you do work, but it’s sounding like that to me.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 4, 2011 at 11:11 pm





44. Scratch that. I thought the game was still in alpha. Eh.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 4, 2011 at 11:18 pm





45. If only Notch would accept some help writing code for Minecraft, the game wouldn’t run so slowly on modern hardware. His code (ripped apart by some members of the community) is riddled with OpenGL issues and data structure nightmares.

    People have offered to help, but with Minecraft it’s a one man show :(

    Comment by GFXavier on February 5, 2011 at 3:53 am





46. Oh, so he’s one of those guys who thinks he has it figured out and doesn’t want anyone’s help, lest his work of art be tarnished?

    I shouldn’t feel like I can relate to this. Dammit so much.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 5, 2011 at 4:23 am





47. hey! i just wanted to thank you for the advice, the party was quite nice =)

    Comment by anonymouse on February 5, 2011 at 9:20 pm





48. @ Mike:

    Kentucky area sucks though. I live in the West side of it. And it seems the further west you go the more “Southern” they think they are.

    Comment by Toadofsky on February 6, 2011 at 12:05 am





49. Definitely seconding Q-Veta’s suggestion of The World Ends With You.

    One of the best games I’ve ever played, and I hate most RPGs.

    Comment by MileS on February 6, 2011 at 4:05 am





50. obligatory post about how this thread sucks :P

    Comment by Teelo on February 6, 2011 at 5:08 am





51. Man, I love RPGs but I really didn’t care for World Ends With You… Combat system was great, and I loved being able to decrease my level… But RPGs don’t get any more linear then that game. Anytime you aren’t supposed to go somewhere, you get road blocked. Anytime it presents you with a problem, it slaps you in the face and hands you the solution in the SAME SEQUENCE. It talks about a “mind reading” ability and “imprinting memes” into people’s consciousness, but in the end, these things mean absolutely nothing.

    The only thing carrying that game was a battle system, but everything else about it just really pissed me off. Those whiny kids are the very reason why modern JRPGs suck.

    Comment by iamKelly on February 6, 2011 at 6:17 am





52. I like your blog, it’s very good. I liked the old one and your old pages were very funny also. It’s good to find someone who actually takes the effort to ALWAYS write something worth reading in his blog.

    Anyways, tell us… about you musical taste for example :D

    Comment by Nobody_Cares on February 6, 2011 at 5:09 pm





53. @anonymouse: No problem. I hope you took my advice. Woman is dangerous![/Russia Hackteam]

    @MileS: Well, I’ll see what I’ve got. I got a lot of games on the backburner right now. Busy prepping for e-sports™. It’s tough getting room for these games.

    @Teelo: Do not make me report you to the administrator.

    @iamKelly: I don’t necessarily ABHOR the turn-based role playing game. It can still be done well. They just need to branch out a little in doing it.

    @Nobody_Cares: Thanks for the nod. I wouldn’t say I have much in musical taste, I’m one of those “I listen to what’s good” kinda people. So in other words, I don’t listen to anything new unless I want to make fun of it. Which usually aggravates me, because I like the beat in a lot of modern dance music (very symphonic and synthesized, a la disco), but the lyrics are like a fucking laser beam through my brain.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 6, 2011 at 10:32 pm





54. World Ends With You isn’t a turn based RPG. It makes really good use of the DS to pull of some really fun real-time combat that is done with the stylus. Unfortunately, if you aren’t careful you can easily beat up your touch screen, as actions range from making slashing motions to “tapping” the screen (which usually ends up meaning bashing the screen in some of the more tense fights).

    I was enamored with the game when I first began playing, but it began to wear thin towards the end. I hear that the post-game is really cool, but I was just too exhausted from the BS to pick it up again after beating it.

    As far as DS RPGs go (not including the ports for Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy IV) my favorite would have to be Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story. The combat is fun, and the story was amusing. It’s quite charming.

    Comment by iamKelly on February 7, 2011 at 6:51 am





55. Dood, with ya on the music… I listen to a lot of Japanese rock/pop music, and I realize that if these songs were in English I would never listen to the them… But, in Japanese, I have no idea what they are saying, therefore, it doesn’t end up pissing me off. But otherwise it sounds a lot like the kind of American music that I don’t listen to.

    Comment by iamKelly on February 7, 2011 at 6:55 am





56. I feel like I should have a question for you, and I’m sure I will think of one, but until then I’ll just give you props for your articles. I thoroughly enjoy reading them.

    Comment by Kiefer McCrae on February 7, 2011 at 8:59 am





57. The people posting in that thread on TeamLiquid are oblivious to the real world. Everything you said makes perfect sense in terms of legitimate sports contracts and if you want e-sports to become legit then those same terms need to be applied to it as well. Reading all the posts, I get an overall feeling that they are defending him “going out to a bar and getting drunk” as “shit happens, it is life” because they want to shed the stereotype that they all just sit in their mom’s basement playing SC2 all day and night and have “no life”. It’s like “look! We’re not just nerds! We like to go outside every once in a while! Good job DeMuslim for fighting our nerdy stereotype!” If he broke it playing basketball, I’m not sure most people would then agree with you as some posters state, because it would still be “look public! We’re not fat slobs who sit at our computer all day, we like to do physical activity every once in a while!”. I don’t know, that’s just the overall impression I get from reading the posts arguing with you.

    Comment by SadSandwich on February 7, 2011 at 2:06 pm





58. @iamKelly: From what I’ve gathered, the Nintendo DS is really quite the device for role-playing games. I’ll give a number of these games their chance in due time. Caught up with Starcraft and the serious business™ stuff.

    Most J-Pop and K-Pop pisses me off for some reason. Possibly because I’ve been playing Dance Dance Revolution for nearly eight years and heard so much of it. I shouldn’t have as much of an issue with it as I probably do. I think it has to do with the fact they take the “untalented multi-singer act whose main marketing tactic is sex appeal” and takes it to an extreme.

    @Kiefer McCrae: Thanks a bunch. If you got something, feel free to ask it. Barring death, I’ll be here. <3

    @SadSandwich: I’m really, really debating whether I want to publish an article on the incident. I have about 2,500 words currently written on the topic. I think I want to let it sit for a couple of days before I consider doing it. It appears to be a American-European cultural split thing, so I want to really take some time thinking about my content before I go full article.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 7, 2011 at 3:49 pm





59. I loved the music in TWEWY. Probably the only game on the DS I really, really liked. I liked stuff like Ninja Gaiden DS, Professor Layton and Henry Hatsworth but TWEWY was something special. I guess it’s because I don’t play JRPGs (I plan on keeping in that way) and I’m not burned out on them.

    PSP is still #1

    Comment by Q-veta on February 7, 2011 at 5:38 pm





60. Q-veta Agreed, music in TWEWY rocked. I was surprised the DS could handle it.

    I grew up playing JRPGs, but the stuff coming out since the PS2 era hasn’t been doing it for me. Square has been on the downfall since Hironobu Sakagutchi, the creater of Final Fantasy, left back in 2004. His new studio, Mistwalker, put out an absolutely incredible game for the 360 called Lost Odyssey, that was very under appreciated. Unfortunately, the success of Final Fantasy is tied to the name “Square,” not “Hironobu Sakagutchi.”

    Tetsuya Nomura is currenty the big name at Square-Enix, creating Kingdom Hearts and TWEWY. But when Kingdom Hearts began, Sakagutchi was still an executive producer at Square-Enix, and he had a lot of say in the game. Now with him gone, the new Kingdom Hearts games have been awful…

    I’m a little upset about all this :(

    Mike Meh, I just listen to the music. There’s an internet radio station I listen to sometimes called “91.8 The Fan” that plays J-rock and pop.

    Comment by iamKelly on February 7, 2011 at 7:00 pm





61. I tried playing Final Fantasy 7. I just couldn’t do it. I think the reason I don’t dislike TWEWY or Persona 3 is because of the outrageous setting. I really doubt I could stand Lost Odyssey. I mean if there’s no wacky plot to keep me amused and it’s just save the world stuff why wouldn’t I just play a game that’s not turn based and there’s no grinding where I save the world?

    Comment by Q-veta on February 7, 2011 at 9:08 pm





62. I meant GENERIC save the world stuff. Shooting yourself in the head to save the world is pretty interesting.

    Comment by Q-veta on February 7, 2011 at 9:11 pm





63. Give us a top 5 personal favorites games and a top 5 best games ever made in your opinion.

    Comment by Nobody_Cares on February 7, 2011 at 10:30 pm





64. Dood, check out Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story then. The combat makes good use of the DS, and it has a neat counter/dodge system, so you aren’t just standing around waiting to get punched in the face. Also, it’s a game that has Mario and Luigi getting devoured by Bowser and fighitng their way out.

    With TWEWY, I thought it had a lot of really innovative ideas that didn’t see their full potential. And maybe I’m just bitter because, as a JRPG fan, I was riding the hype train and ended up really disappointed.

    Comment by iamKelly on February 7, 2011 at 10:49 pm





65. I just wanted to give you my opinion regarding Persona 3. I played the FES version on PS2 (the remake version with extras) and I found it quite entertaining due to the setting and character growth mechanics that are different from the usual JRPGs. I’ve been playing JRPGs since the NES era and was quite a huge fan of the genre back in the days. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them until the PS2 era where things started becoming dull. Presentation and storyline are key characteristics for me to enjoy an RPG and these departments seem lacking in current RPGs (I’ve very much felt this way with most media nowadays – such as movies). Persona 3 was the RPG that renewed my faith in the genre (and was then crushed again when I played Mediocre Fantasy XIII… errrr Final Corridor XIII… I mean Final Fantasy XIII). It’s far from perfect and it doesn’t make my top 5 list of favorite RPGs, but it did have that certain charm that made me enjoy JRPGs again. I liked it enough that it prompted me to buy an import of Persona 4 from Japan (I do understand Japanese and I didn’t want to lose anything through lesser quality voice acting and translations. But to reassure you, _some_ of the English voice actors in P3 were surprisingly decent, even for really picky people like me).

    On the decision between the PS2 and PSP version I would say go for the PSP version. The reason why I say this is that in the PS2 version, you aren’t allowed to control other characters in your party during battles despite the system being turn based (I guess the developers tried to enhance the “building a relationship with other characters” feel but it ended up becoming somewhat annoying). It also added a few more extra features, such as the capability of changing genders of your main character. But to give you a warning, I’ve never played the PSP version nor owned a PSP. These are from what I’ve read through reviews and recommendations that I got from a friend who has played both.

    Speaking of RPGs on the PSP, I believe Square-Enix released a remake of Valkyrie Profile (PS JRPG) a few years ago. I’ve never played the remake but the original had quite good a story and presentation (battle system was simple yet satisfying as well). You might enjoy that one also.

    On somewhat related but off-topic thought, I think the reason why I became distant to current gen RPGs are the graphics and the way they are presented. Dare I say this… it feels like graphics are too good for people who like role-playing. I feel that older games with inferior graphics had better story telling due to the creativity on how each scene was portrayed as well as give the player the opportunity to imagine the details about what was happening in each scene. I think the latter especially plays an important role in a RPG as it creates a chance for a player to fill in the gaps and become more actively engrossed in the story. This may be the reason why role playing such as D&D is still so popular nowadays despite being so “old tech.”

    Everything seems too pretty and unimaginative now. FFXIII was gorgeous in terms of visuals. I finished the game a few weeks ago. Chrono Trigger was a game for the SNES that I finished a decade ago. It may look really bland compared to today’s graphics. Do I remember exact scenes from either games? Not really. Will I remember Lightning’s change of feeling towards Snow and Hope? Nope. But I hell will remember the epic _feel_ fighting Lavos and the anguish from Frog’s confrontation with Magus. And honestly, I think that makes all the difference in the world for players like me.

    I’m not saying that graphics need to be lowered to have that feel again. I think developers need to focus on a more creative way to showcase their story instead of just hugging to realism and straightforward camera angles. I think God of War III presented itself well. It gave that feel that people would probably remember for a long time.

    You got any opinions on this Mike?

    Comment by Ineno on February 8, 2011 at 1:22 am





66. I got a good laugh at your JPop comment. Too much DDR? It’s time to switch to ITG. I’m Japanese and I can’t stand the crap that goes into the machine (especially the later ones). And so many of those songs have SUCH ATROCIOUS STEP PATTERNS. I think it’s time for ITG gogogo. All you need is a flash drive if you want to play DDR songs anyways.

    Comment by Ineno on February 8, 2011 at 2:02 am





67. ineno: My sentiments exactly on the JRPGs. Your imagination played a big part in creating the scenes in the old games. The 16 bit graphics could only show you so much. When I think back to some of the epic moments in Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy VI, I don’t see them as sprites, or even exactly as it occurred in the game.

    I did more research on Hironobu Sakagutchi and learned that the last Final Fantasy game that he was involved in was IX. That would seem to explain why it was the last game in the series I was able to enjoy (and is one of my favorites)

    Comment by iamKelly on February 8, 2011 at 4:55 am





68. @iamKelly: I mean, the music actually suits the game, but the later games have a really noticeable drop in song quality. I also posted on the DDRFreak forums for a very short time. Complete Japanophiles, and in a “it’s Japanese so we like it no matter what” way. God, that was grating. That probably annoyed me as much as some of the music.

    As far as the games go, I think people really just need to accept that the Japanese Role-Playing Game is really no better or worse off than it was fifteen years ago. It’s just that Western consumer tastes have changed. But people have actually convinced themselves that Final Fantasy VII is the masterpiece but XIII is a bloated piece of excess. How the hell does that even work?

    @Q-Veta: I will give the Japanese some credit for one thing: When they do silly role-playing games, they click very, very well. (Earthbound, the Mario role-playing games, etc.)

    @Nobody_Cares: Top five favorite games? That’s a tough one. Warcraft III is my favorite game of all-time. Don’t even have to blink on that one. After that? Damn. I’ve had a lot of very short marriages to specific games throughout the years. Super Mario Kart, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Doom, Tetris Attack (and its sequels), Descent 1 and 2, Asheron’s Call, Descent 3, Warcraft III, Starcraft, Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero II, Rock Band, and Starcraft II would probably be a very brief and incomplete list. I couldn’t pick from four out of that bunch. o.o

    As far as the “best” games goes, “best” is always impossible to substantiate. So I’ll put it this way: My “recommended reading material” (that is, the five games I would tell someone to play and study in order to learn about game design) would be Civilization, Doom, Super Metroid, Starcraft, and Deus Ex. Those are the five games I’ve played where every element can be manipulated in a way that creates a substantially different experience. Civilization is so thoroughly complicated that no game can play like any other. It’s like Chess with hundreds of pieces. Doom’s malleable level design basically ensures a limitless number of ways to design them. People are still discovering hidden secrets in Deus Ex. Every game of Starcraft can play differently with minute and subtle changes to the battlefield. And there’s basically no wrong way to approach Super Metroid. You can play the game in just about any order. The items and weapons just act as suggestions for how you new players should complete the game.

    @Ineno: Thanks for the input on Persona. I think the thing I need to emphasize (and this isn’t necessarily in response to you) is that while I don’t care much for the genre anymore, I feel as though I have a pretty good understanding of it. It’s not nearly as complicated as what you’ll find in computer role-playing games, which have a very nasty habit of being needlessly complicated. I think I’ll go with the Playstation 2 version because I’m going to assume that’s the more popular version by default (released first, released for consoles). When it comes to reviewing JRPGs, I really want to pick out ones that were liked or reviled on a pretty substantial scale. Most of the reviews I do are out of curiosity. That’s why I haven’t reviewed a lot of under-the-radar titles.

    As far as the entire role-playing genre goes, the thing that pisses everybody off is that the genre could emulate the decision-making process that makes table-top role-playing fun to play. The game can act as a bit of a dungeon master. Deus Ex did it nearly eleven years ago. And I’m willing to choose developers aren’t willing to take this up because the publishers aren’t taking chances on a type of game that has about a thousand ways of going wrong. Everybody is raving about Deus Ex: Human Revolution right now. But the previews have spoken of the action, stealth, and diplomacy as though they’re three separate elements. That leads me to believe it may end up being like Alpha Protocol, where the choices are almost pathetically obvious.

    The biggest problem for the Japanese Role-Playing Game is that the writing never really grew up. The stories are practically the same as they were fifteen years ago. Same characters, same tropes, same cliches. I think people are willing to excuse shallow game design if they get a lot of laughs, a couple of tears, and a cast of memorable characters. (Hell, they’ll do it when a game like Heavy Rain has none of those!) I’m not saying the Western games are in some other universe, but games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age at least feature some very interesting and mature characters. A game like Chrono Trigger never felt pretentious like most of the new role-playing games do. It shut up and only said what it had to say. It seems like Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger marked a divide between the underdeveloped stories of Final Fantasy IV (long lauded merely for having character death and plot twists) and Final Fantasy VII (a bloated what-the-fuck extravaganza). That’s not indicative of whether the stories and writing were any good (even though both were). It just seems that genre found a balance for about a year or so and that’s the year most older JRPG fans think so fondly of. But since Final Fantasy VII (and correct me if I’m wrong on this) is still the best-selling role-playing genre in the history of the genre, that’s the one companies are still trying to emulate, especially the risk-averse Japanese publishers.

    And as far as In the Groove is concerned, you’d probably be shocked to hear how much I do not like that game. That’s a game I would probably be worth putting a review into. And yes, I know it would be unfair to judge the buggy-as-all-shit Playstation 2 version. But I didn’t care for the music or the level design, either.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 8, 2011 at 5:14 am





69. As stated before, Hironobu Sakagutchi was what made Squaresoft what it was. Everything the man touched was gold. Before I even knew that he had left Square in 2004, or even knew who he was, I noticed a drop in quality. Meanwhile, Sakagutchi’s Mistwalker studio puts out Lost Odyssey on the 360, and I felt like I was playing the old school Final Fantasy games that I loved.

    After he left, FFXI was a lackluster MMORPG. FFXII had a combat system that didn’t require the player do anything.

    FFXIII, on the other hand, has summon monsters that turn into @#$%in motorcycles and cars. One of the motorcycles is two Shivas in the 69 position. All it’s lacking there is a card game.

    I guess what I have learned is that I was never really so much a fan of JRPGs as I was a fan of Sakagutchi, without realizing it.

    Comment by iamKelly on February 8, 2011 at 6:43 pm





70. Japanophile… I used to be one of those. Until I grew up and realized that while there is truly amazing anime out there, 80% of it is garbage. Despite that, I still watch more anime than anything else… I just try to find the 20% that doesn’t suck.

    Comment by iamKelly on February 8, 2011 at 6:48 pm





71. If you are getting the PS2 version go for the FES version instead of the original. It has a few bug fixes/balances as well as an extra scenario in the end. Think of it as Metal Gear Solid Substinence where it had the originial game as well as some extra features. More bang for the buck.

    Regarding the decision making in RPGs, I don’t blaime the JRPG creators for sticking to linear RPGs. The Japanese fan-base really does not care as much for open RPGs as the western players do. This is purely my observation as a Japanese person and as a gamer who has played plenty of Japan exclusive games. I think what most Japanese gamers want is a visual novel with gameplay. They want depth in story line and attach themselves to characters that develop within that story. _Not create them._ Unfortunately open games such as Fallout, Morrowind and other western RPGs have so much freedom that it sometimes lacks the cohesiveness and drama that linear RPGs have. Also due to the nature of the western version of the genre (developing and creating your own character/party), it is really difficult to incorporate scenarios that expand between multiple characters. There was a period in Chrono Trigger where you weren’t allowed to use your main protaganist, Crono. That kind of scenario just wouldn’t make much sense in a open ended Western RPG. In the end, I just feel that it is difficult to create a character relationship such as Robo/Lucca or Glenn/Janus in such a system.

    I’m never a biased gamer. I will try any game out and put decent hours in before giving up a game. Fall-out, Deus Ex, Never Winter Nights, Diablo II, Baldur Gate, WoW and many others have gone through my play lists and I’ve yet to go past the 30% mark on any of them. None of them could satisfy that craving of a controlled storyline. I’m in no way saying that these RPGs have weak stories. It’s just the nature of the stories that people crave are different. This may be why so many Japanese play linear RPGs as well as visual novels. You’d be surprised by the sheer amount of visual novels that are produced and sold well in Japan. May be unfortunate to western gamers but I just don’t think JRPGs would come out of this mold for a while.

    But in the end, I’m actually OK with this. I’m just utterly dissatisfied with the shallowness of current scenarios and the stupid filler that scriptwriters put in nowadays. I need something dark and compelling like Xenogears and Front Mission but those are so rare now. I’m not surprised though. Mainstream TV drama in Japan consists of manga story hand-me-downs with third rate actors (well they are considered top dogs, caz you know, they look pretty). It feels like story just does not matter much for the upcoming generation as long as boobs, loli and famous voice actors are in them. Shame. Really.

    On the other topic: DDR > ITG? HERESY.
    To me, game mechanics and visuals are so important for games like these. DDR’s hard to see arrows, flashy backgrounds that make the hard-to-see arrows even harder to see and the absolutely annoying announcer telling me how well I’m doing is just so intolerable. I also hate how the modding menu is so hard to use. (Can I have at least the BPM listed so I can choose the correct speed multiplier?) Song and step-wise? I do enjoy a lot of the earlier DDR songs. They are much more technical compared to the stamina driven ITG.

    I know many of these complaints are somewhat fixable in later versions of DDR. Unfortunately I’m purely an arcade player so I usually don’t have a choice whereas ITG had it right in the very beginning. Both ITG1 and 2 never had these problems. I also look at pads in much detail. Have you played on an ITG dedicab before? Those pads are so well made that it makes DDR cabinets feel like those floppy pads at home. Seeing how analytical and critical you are, I find it wholly surprising that you don’t care much for the ITG interface.

    Maybe I’m just biased. I started with ITG, 3 or so years ago and went to DDR to play different songs. I just want to know your reasoning behind sticking with DDR. Also what level did/do you play at (8-9 footers, 10-11 footers)?

    Comment by Ineno on February 9, 2011 at 1:23 am





72. @iamKelly: Every company has their high point. It’s impossible to assume that Square would have remained on top of the world even if they still had their act together in some capacity. Think about the course of events that put Chrono Trigger together. It’s really one of those Deus Ex “I will bet you a thousand dollars there is no way this game can be as good as advertised…HOW DID THEY DO IT” games. So much had to go right for that game to be successful that it could never, ever happen in the corporate world of Square-Enix.

    Though ultimately, I can sum up the company’s direction with one excerpt: The synopsis they issued to GameSpot (and GameRankings) to describe Mindjack:

    With this unique action shooter set in 2031, Square Enix continues to expand its portfolio of video games across a wide variety of genres. Drawing upon the graphics and storytelling mastery of both Square Enix and feelplus, MINDJACK offers a distinctive experience that throws players into a revolutionary playing field where an engaging solo campaign transitions seamlessly to thrilling, cooperative multiplayer gameplay.

    I mean, really? “Square Enix continues to expand its portfolio of video games across a wide variety of genres”? Are you kidding me?

    @Ineno: I’ll go ahead and look into which one I should go with. I usually don’t grade down because of glitches or content. Most reviewers have a habit of treating various glitches and content like “okay, this adds half a point to the score, and this adds a third”. I just go with gut and make sure it’s consistent with the review content.

    As far as the reason for linearity in Japanese Role-Playing Games, I completely understand why. The Japanese tell narrative in a completely different manner. It’s probably why I took a Japanese film class and the only movies I could particularly tolerate were the western-inspired Kurosawa flicks (which I enjoyed immensely). I think what has always amused me is that the Japanese market for Japanese Role-Playing Games co-exists so peacefully along with a number of genres (namely the versus fighter and the shoot ‘em up) that Japanese developers have down to an art or a science or what you’d like to call it, a pair of genres that aren’t the least bit concerned with compelling narrative. They’re concerned with being fun and nothing else. As far as the visual novels go, I’m completely indifferent on the genre. I’ve never played any so I can’t judge them. Though Heavy Rain was caught somewhere between the visual novel and the adventure game and I really hated the hell out of that one.

    And to make the discussion about In the Groove short, my peak was in the 10-11-footer range. Depends on what kind of day it was. Also keep in mind I never played with any mods. From what I gathered, the only reason In the Groove was popular is that it was a harder game. And I never really quite accepted that answer when it was the only talking point Guitar Hero III fans had in defending the quality of their game against Rock Band back in 2007. It really had nothing to do with visuals for me, even though I preferred those in Dance Dance Revolution. I just thought the step charts were better.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 9, 2011 at 2:08 am





73. lneno Yay Front Mission! That is another case in point for what I’m driving at: I used to be able to buy a Square game indiscriminately and know it was going to be good. I spotted the game at a store, knowing nothing about it, and based my decision to immediately buy it on two things: mechs, SRPG, and that little SquareSoft logo. One of the best impulse buys I ever made.

    Mike Square-Enix is just a disaster now. The best thing they do is the Space Invaders games. Seriously, have you played the Space Invaders Extreme games, or the new Infinity Gene? Great stuff.

    Comment by iamKelly on February 9, 2011 at 2:27 pm





74. I caught the previews during its pre-release phase for the XBox 360 and Playstation 3. Looked interesting. Couldn’t possibly be worse than the game for the Nintendo 64.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 9, 2011 at 3:50 pm





75. @iamkelly
    It’s a shame a lot of the more highly acclaimed Front Mission games were never brought over to the US. I personally found the original FM to be my favorite (played 1~3 and Gun Hazard). My friend actually went through the trouble of getting me FM5 which seems to be one of the hottest imports this year. I’ll see if it lives up to its predecessors.

    @Mike
    I agree that a lot of the step charts are more technical/fun for DDR (provided that you wade through a lot of bad ones). ITG is harder in terms of speed and stamina but most songs were pretty straightforward. I guess it’s all in taste.

    The great thing about ITG was the ease of playing custom songs. I carry a USB key chain with custom/DDR songs so I get to enjoy both worlds without problems.

    ——
    10-11 is pretty darn impressive. It’ll be a while before I confidently beat 11s (I loled(spammed) my way through for a few 60%).

    Comment by Ineno on February 9, 2011 at 5:12 pm





76. @Ineno: I never cared much for most of the custom songs, especially once everybody began carrying their Guitar Hero song chart experience over to In the Groove and Dance Dance Revolution. That entire article I wrote explained in detail why Dance Dance Revolution song charts and Guitar Hero song charts were different and blurring that line does not work.

    If people had said “I like In the Groove because it’s harder”, I wouldn’t have cared. That’s fine with me. It was “In the Groove is a flat-out better game” when the only people who seemed to enjoy it were the better players, i.e. “the players who needed the challenge”.

    Yeah, main problem for me is that my knees really can’t handle that game anymore. Too much stomping going down. Always nice to play it as a change of pace.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 9, 2011 at 10:33 pm





77. http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/02/guitar-hero-canceled/

    As crap as it is that people are getting laid off in droves, I’d just like to remind everyone that I called this.

    http://www.the-ghetto.org/content/rhythm-games-and-the-death-of-level-design

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 10, 2011 at 4:21 am





78. lneno I assume you aren’t refering to Front Mission: Evolved.

    Mike you can easily get Space Invaders: Extreme for the DS for dirt cheap at Wal-Mart and other retailers. Give it a shot if ya see it.

    About the Guitar Hero thing… That does suck. I never wanted the genre to die, just to chill out a little bit, maybe not release a “new” game every 6 months. Oh well. What I hate most about these decisions is that studios are closed and a bunch of people lose their jobs because some higher ups who are responsibile for a lot of the problems decided to “cut costs.”

    Comment by iamKelly on February 10, 2011 at 4:39 am





79. I’m curious if they’ll be able to find another cash cow before people inevitably start getting bored of CoD.

    Comment by Q-veta on February 10, 2011 at 4:04 pm





80. Argh, whatever happened to Descent, that series was awesome…
    And really, sc2 in your favorite games?
    May I ask what stands out in sc2 that earns it a spot on that list?
    It can’t be the campaign’s dumbed down characters (maybe sheer production value?), it can’t be the multiplayer on bnet 2.0 either, so what is it?

    Sc2 is a giant ball of failed opportunities, nothing more.

    Comment by lolsauce on February 10, 2011 at 4:23 pm





81. @iamKelly: Noted on the DS front. And as far as the Activision gig, agreed with you. I find it totally amusing that Activision forced their developer to completely overhaul True Crime: Hong Kong (which originally began as a Lucy Liu tribute to femme fatale Hong Kong fight flicks) and now axed it because they don’t think it can sell. If only there was a way to distinguish it from the other male-dominated open-world games…

    @Q-Veta: That’s where Bungie’s game comes in. It is going to be really, really interesting to see how well that game sells. If it tanks…uh oh.

    @lolsauce: Wow, I actually wrote down Starcraft II. I shouldn’t have done that. I was going merely off of “time played” and would have listed Guitar Hero III if this was a “games I played the hell out of” list. Scratch that.

    And Descent crapped out because Interplay went bankrupt. The game engine used to make the original Red Faction was initially designed for Descent 4. Now that Interplay is back in business, it could happen again. Good luck building the game for a controller and/or a market sick of additional controllers.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 10, 2011 at 5:08 pm





82. I am honestly really excited about Bungie going multi-platform, but I am very worried about them being under Activision.

    I am not a big fan of first person shooters, but when I do play them I prefer to run-and-gun. Halo is one of the only shooters I’ll play (along with Left 4 Dead).

    Since I don’t own an XBox to play Halo, I like the idea of having a Bungie game on PS3. So here’s hoping it doesn’t get fucked.

    (of course, I was pretty disappointed in Halo: Reach. Considering it seemed to make an effort to reach the CoD crowd, Bungie going to Activision may be absolutely terrible.)

    Of course Microsoft is going to continue the Halo series without Bungie. I never understood why good franchises can’t be allowed to die with dignity.

    Comment by iamKelly on February 10, 2011 at 5:38 pm





83. I can’t stand Halo. All those years of Unreal Tournament and Quake 3 (which I still play every other day, QUAKE LIVE BABY) ruined it for me. At least in Counter Strike you killed people fast. I played Halo 2 and 3 in co-op and couldn’t finish either of them.

    Comment by Q-veta on February 10, 2011 at 6:00 pm





84. I never remember enjoying Halo 2. I loved multiplayer in the first game (remember, life long console gamer. Before Halo it was Goldeneye and Perfect Dark for me. 4 player split-screen is still my favorite form of multiplayer), but the campaigns in Halo 1 and 2 were absolutely terrible. Penny-Arcade made some excellent points about how bland and boring the campaign in the first game was.

    Halo 3 was the first time I enjoyed a campaign (and played many times over in co-op), and I loved the over all multiplayer experience.

    It’s the kind of game that, despite the fact that I SUCK at shooters, I could still hold my own against other players :p

    Comment by iamKelly on February 10, 2011 at 6:11 pm





85. “It’s the kind of game that, despite the fact that I SUCK at shooters, I could still hold my own against other players :p”

    I think the scientific term is “casual”.

    Comment by Q-veta on February 10, 2011 at 6:19 pm





86. Describing the game I mean. Damn the no edit feature.

    Comment by Q-veta on February 10, 2011 at 6:20 pm





87. Exactly. I’m never going to say that Halo is the best shooter game evar because I know it isn’t true. If I actually wanted to get good at shooters, there are tons of better games out there. I’m just not interested.

    Comment by iamKelly on February 10, 2011 at 7:19 pm





88. @iamkelly:
    I was referring to Front Mission 5: Scars of War (Import of the year in 2005 or 6). And I retract my previous statement. According to Wiki, Front Mission 1,3 and 4 has all been localized in North America. Squenix released FM1 for DS with extra stuff. I guess it’s time to try it out. 20 bucks for new on Amazon!

    @Q-veta:
    Just started Persona 4. It’s been pretty fun so far (already broke my one hour a day gaming rule Q_Q). You should go give it a try if you liked P3. I’m only about 2 hours in but it’s playing better than P3 so far.

    Comment by Ineno on February 10, 2011 at 7:54 pm





89. Don’t worry, I am going to be writing an article very soon explaining why I am completely tired of the modern crop of first-person shooters. In other words, I’m gonna show how they, as they cool kids say, “dumbed it down”.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 10, 2011 at 11:27 pm





90. Do u h8 meh gaddo?

    Comment by HU_PRACTICE on February 11, 2011 at 3:39 am





91. Is there any reason I would?

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 11, 2011 at 5:31 am





92. No, i just had an emo moment.

    Comment by HU_PRACTICE on February 14, 2011 at 11:34 pm





93. What are your thoughts on insomnia.ac’s Alex Kierkegaard?

    Comment by Anon on February 16, 2011 at 1:13 am





94. What is the reward for getting post #100 on here?

    Comment by PIES on February 16, 2011 at 7:23 pm





95. @anon: You know that episode of The Simpsons where Homer gets a crayon removed from his brain? And then while filling out his tax returns, Homer inadvertently proves there’s no God? And then Homer shows it to Flanders, whose mind is completely blown? He’s a solidly pissed-off version of that Homer Simpson. He can call you an asshole and then he will do the math and you will be compelled to agree with him. Even if his mindset is rather disconcerting and startling (read some of his general posts on his message board), nobody can take away from him that he’s incredibly smart. I don’t agree with everything he says and writes, and I think he could use an editor to point out that he doesn’t need to interject all of his arguments with a two-thousand-word philosophical sidetrack (since I’ve mysteriously managed to come to many similar conclusions independently of his without knowing a single thing about philosophy), and I also think he needs to stop banning people for petty and pointless shit, since he’s doing himself a disservice by ivory towering the hell out of his own personality and writing. But that writing is generally more informative than just about anything you will find on the topic. The people who dismiss his work because “LOL IT’S TO COMPLICATAD!” or I DNOT LIEK THA FACT HE’S ANGREEEE!” are simply morons. He’s got a lot of good stuff to say. I’ll just admire it from a distance and be amused when it becomes comical.

    @PIES: You get the hundredth post in this comment thread. What you wish to make of that accomplishment is completely up to you.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 16, 2011 at 7:35 pm





96. I have to say the thing I liked most on insomnia is Alex defending himself against accusations of misogyny.
    “Am I a “miscaninist” because I say that dogs are stupider than men? Am I not allowed then to love anything that is stupider than me?”
    Hilarious.

    I wish he’d post more reviews.

    Comment by Q-veta on February 17, 2011 at 7:21 am





97. The reviews are the best stuff on his site, even when half of a review is “THE ART FAGOTS WILL BE CRUSHED WITH MY FISTS”. Fortunately, if you pretend he’s just trolling, it’s much more amusing.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 17, 2011 at 3:25 pm





98. Urgh, I know this is going to annoy the crap out of you, but you accidentally put “Chat Channels were finally implemented in a January of 2010 game update” on your Battle.net 2.0 article:

    http://www.the-ghetto.org/content/battle-net-2-0-the-antithesis-of-consumer-confidence

    Game came out in May 2010. You don’t want to fill the minds of future generations with fuck, do you my love? They’ll be all like:

    “lolz wow, dis bluzzard semz liek gehness!!! o w8, dat gaem werent evan out in jan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ghetto am fail BLIZZERD R KING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

    And there’s nothing we should want less than an illiterate future generation. Which is why I think we should all stop procreating.

    The End.

    No, but seriously, I just thought you should make note of the error, even though it is very minor.

    Comment by Truhan on February 18, 2011 at 5:40 am





99. Amended. Thanks for the correction.

    Just to note, I’m not going to take it personal if you mention that there’s a spelling or grammatical error somewhere on the web site. I encourage people to point them out.

    Comment by Mike Lowell on February 18, 2011 at 1:00 pm





100. 100th post
     What achievement do I get?

     Comment by Q-veta, congratulations! You are our 100th poster in this thread! Keep up the good work! on February 18, 2011 at 7:09 pm





101. I amended your name. Your achievement will go down in history.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on February 18, 2011 at 10:21 pm





102. Internet history remembers all its heroes. Like that guy that became an hero. And who could forget tourette’s guy and numa numa guy. Hell, even the dramatic chipmunk has not decreased in internet stock value since it’s Inception by Leonardo DiCaprio.

     Comment by Truhan on February 19, 2011 at 2:36 am





103. Noone has posted since I posted. Therefore, I am compelled to post again.

     Mike, have you been playing the Rift open beta? Do you plan to do an article on it? I personally think it would be fair to do so as the game “launches” on March 1 (4 for EU), but the game goes live and preorderers can play on the 24th. The open beta ends tomorrow and goes live three days later. Would seem perfectly fair to me if you made an honest write-up (assuming you lack the time to do a full-on review) on the open beta. The things that they could possibly change in the three day period before the game goes live is minimal.

     Comment by Truhan on February 20, 2011 at 7:06 pm





104. Oh, and I’d also really like to see you do an opinion piece on open betas and betas in general. It seems more and more like beta keys for any random game are a dime a dozen and developers have lost focus on what beta testing really is (focus testing to prevent a bad launch, as opposed to a publicity stunt). It seems more and more like the opinion of “the players” is that the “magic patch” will fix everything, when beta testing is the measure that was supposed to have prevented the need of a “magic patch” (for the short-term, at least).

     Comment by Truhan on February 20, 2011 at 7:11 pm





105. I haven’t played Rift. I’m staying away from the current generation of MMORPG hack-and-slash games until they get past their current Dynasty Warriors phase. They got the technology down, they just need to start making decent combat systems. I hate Dynasty Warriors with a pretty burning passion and could probably fill about five-thousand words explaining why I hate it so much. Is Rift in that mold? I’m looking for MMORPGs where your level and attributes are just a suggestion for what you should be fighting instead of level and gear that forces what you fight.

     And I do have a half-written article on the metagame that will probably address most of the things you’re talking about in beta tests. It focuses heavily on that perception of the “magic patch”. That is, people don’t realize a really good competitive game needs to be stretched and bent over years of play in order to find out what’s wrong with it. A beta test can’t do that and players need to come to terms with it.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on February 20, 2011 at 9:48 pm





106. Rift pretty much sticks to the tried and true WoW formula. In an interview, one of the developers even stated that they don’t care how you hit the level cap (i.e. quests, PVP, dungeons, or rifts), they just want players to hit the level cap so they can do the end-game content. Unless, of course, those players are part of a 10 man guild, in which case they’ll have to forgo instanced raids completely in favor of raid level rifts or find a 20 man guild. They didn’t want players to have to choose which set of friends to raid with, so they made the decision for us! Fantastic. [/sarcasm]

     Anyways, I understand the whole problem with balance takes time, what ticks me off is the people that use the “magic patch” argument to dissolve ANY negative criticism (constructive or not). Remember the Starcraft 2 beta? When censorship of the word “Africa” was merely a “test” for their censorship system and wouldn’t make it to live? Or the players that said there was no way that Starcraft 2 would launch with only a 20 megabyte limit for 5 maps? Or that the “social” tab meant chat channels were only disabled for the beta so that more players would play the game instead of talk with each other?

     Comment by Truhan on February 20, 2011 at 11:22 pm





107. Watching developers try to compete with World of Warcraft by trying to be World of Warcraft is amusing. I’m looking forward to my MMORPG with a varied combat system and cut-throat player-versus-player. You know, what Asheron’s Call did eleven years ago. Stop trying to compete with World of Warcraft. You cannot compete with World of Warcraft. World of Warcraft has twelve million subscribers. No World of Warcraft player is giving up that sense of community for an unproven role-playing game, even if it turns out to be a better game.

     —

     And yeah, I know exactly what you’re talking about with Starcraft II. The Beta Defenders™. Oh, lord. I hate fanboys so much. It’s tough to give you a detailed response on how I feel about them without simply dismissing them outright. I guess I’ll say that anybody who feels a balance patch is the only way to solve a balance issue (rather than players “getting better” or experimenting with new strategies) is an idiot in their own right.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on February 21, 2011 at 10:37 am





108. Actually, there’s a guy doing a bit of math on the 12 million subscribers bit. Even though Blizzard reported they had 5.5 million subscribers in China, NetEase (they publicly disclose player numbers) only reported something like 2.6 million players during the same period. Not saying World of Warcraft doesn’t print money (it does), but 12 million is probably just an over-exaggeration for potential investors and not necessarily the truth.

     Anyways, I just saw a trailer for TERA and decided to look it up. It’s probably still not what you’re looking for, but it has a more active combat system (i.e. you actually have to move to dodge) that may be appealing. Sounds a bit like Vindictus if you ask me, but Vindictus has that whole problem of “not having any open world whatsoever” and Vindictus’s combat system is based on combos (lclick, lclick, rclick) as opposed to macroing abilities and pressing buttons (2, 2, 2, 3).

     Comment by Truhan on February 21, 2011 at 5:05 pm





109. If you have a link to that, I wouldn’t mind seeing it. But yes, once the MMORPG starts acting a little more like a God of War or a Bayonetta (where each monster has to be fought in a different manner rather than simply being palette reskins or hitting harder than other monsters), I’ll be curious. The combat systems aren’t currently complicated enough for my tastes.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on February 21, 2011 at 5:59 pm





110. http://daeity.blogspot.com/2011/02/active-subscriptions-revisited-part-2.html

     I think you actually linked to this guy’s blog once. But yeah, it’s an interesting read if you aren’t a fanboy and are willing to check his sources.

     Comment by Truhan on February 21, 2011 at 7:07 pm





111. I played WoW until I reached level 20. I think it was enough to keep me away from MMORPGS forever. Although the PvP in Guild Wars looked interesting (my brother played it a lot so I watched quite a lot of games).

     I played PvP in WoW on a friend’s level 60 (this was before any of the expansion). God damn it was boring.

     Comment by Q-veta on February 21, 2011 at 7:18 pm





112. Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll go ahead and look at it later tonight. Busy with other various things. Real-life stuff.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on February 22, 2011 at 8:46 pm





113. “Real-life stuff”
     That’s a lie and you know it.

     Comment by Q-veta on February 23, 2011 at 4:04 am





114. I was lying the other fifty-three times but not this time.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on February 23, 2011 at 4:17 am





115. lolmfg, Starcraft 2 patch 1.3 is on the PTR. It does everything to the custom map system that should have been done in patch 1.1.

     Comment by Truhan on February 26, 2011 at 11:04 pm





116. And there’s still no organization like the war3 system.

     Comment by PIES on February 27, 2011 at 3:14 am





117. Well, it wouldn’t be Blizzard if they didn’t manage to screw up the simplest of things (like the early iteration of search function).

     Comment by Truhan on February 28, 2011 at 3:55 pm





118. BRO, FIRST, I WANNA CONGRATULATE YOU ON THE ARTICLES YOU WROTE, THEY WERE VERY INFORMATIVE AND MOST OF ALL THEY WERE A GOOD READ.

     SO MY QUESTION TO YOU BRO IS THIS (I CAN ASK YOU ANYTHING, RITE?): I AM COONFUSED ABOUT THE WHOLE DRM SYSTEM IN VIDEO GAMES AT THE MOMEMT. I KNOW WHAT THEY ARE BUT I AM CONFUSED ABOUT THEM BEING ON THE RISE ATM, I FIND SYSTEMS LIKE STEAM AND GFWL TO BE INSTRUVE(THE FACT THAT THEY CAN REMOVE UR GAMES FROM YOU IF THEY THOUGHT YOU WERE BREAKING THE RULES PUTS ME OFF). TL:DR WILL SYSTEMS LIKE STEAM CONTINUE TO RISE OR FALL, SHOULD I WORRY ABOUT DRM?

     ALSO I HAVE ALSO CONSIDERED PIRATING GAMES BUT I AM UNSURE OF HOW TO DO IT, WHAT IS THE ACTUAL RISK? HOW DO I DO IIIIT?

     CNUT, UR MOST HONEST RAGING BRO.
     P.S. YOU MAY REPLY IN ALL CAPS.

     Comment by CNUT on February 28, 2011 at 9:29 pm





119. @CNUT: That’s your call to make. Just don’t claim you’re going to pirate the game by “boycotting” it or profess for six straight months that you’re going to boycott a game and give it all the free advertising in the world. DRM differs on a game-to-game basis. Some DRM is accepted by the public (serial keys), some isn’t. Just make an informed decision and choose the games you love!

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 1, 2011 at 4:45 pm





120. BRO, I DID READ YOUR ARTICLE ABOUT THE BOYCOTTING BUT THAT IS SOMEWHAT IRREVELENT TO WHAT I ASKED.

     I ASKED IF SYSTEMS LIKE STEAM WILL CONTINUE TO ENGULF DRM FREE/DRM LOW GAMES AND HOW DOES ONE PIRATE (IS THAT LEGAL TO TELL? I’LL FORGIVE YOU BRO IF ITS ILLEGAL, DON’T WANT TO GET A BRO INTO JAIL)

     CNUT, A TENTATIVE BRO.

     Comment by CNUT on March 1, 2011 at 10:39 pm





121. Since the personal computer is open-source and console companies haven’t been dumb enough to pull the trigger on DRM, I’m going to presume the answer is “no”.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 1, 2011 at 11:14 pm





122. Another irrelevant typo (3DS Part Two Edition):

     This was settled a very long time ago. Nintendo settled this with their Game Boy. That device made its way to the United States in July of 1989. And even in 1989, the Game Boy wasn’t much of a device. It was cheap in more ways /that one./ <– than one.

     Comment by Truhan on March 7, 2011 at 3:33 am





123. Keep ‘em coming. Enough fixed typos and I get a new trophy on Blogville.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 7, 2011 at 3:37 am





124. Hi ghetto! i was wondering if u had updated pics lol i have a major crush on you since that youtube vid lol ur cute.

     Comment by SEXIHOTTIE on March 9, 2011 at 12:54 am





125. Sorry Adrian, I haven’t posted any new pictures recently.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 9, 2011 at 3:36 am





126. Uh oh, looks like the paparazzi will be after you soon then. The paparazzi and your designated stalker, of course.

     Comment by Truhan on March 9, 2011 at 4:44 pm





127. Oh, lawdy. I’m gonna be ruined.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 10, 2011 at 12:58 am





128. Mike Lowell what games are you looking forward to in 2011?

     Comment by Stupidus on March 10, 2011 at 5:59 am





129. The short list includes Batman: Arkham City, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, and Monster Tale (the spiritual successor to Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure). Pretty tough for me to get worked up about a single video game these days. Tough to do that when you’ve seen just about everything there is to do.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 10, 2011 at 2:52 pm





130. Oh hey, I just heard about Atlantica Online. Apparently, it’s one of those “free” TBS MMOs. That’s right, I said it. An MMO. Turn-based strategy. “Free.” Maybe you should give it a try before realizing you’ll have to pay $90 to build your army.

     Comment by Truhan on March 14, 2011 at 12:26 pm





131. Turn-based strategy MMORPG? So we’re talking Evony here, right?

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 14, 2011 at 5:18 pm





132. What about The Last Guardian, aren’t you excited about that? ALSO BATMAN:AA WAS MEDIOCRE AT BEST

     Comment by Q-veta on March 14, 2011 at 5:55 pm





133. I have zero interest in The Last Guardian. Sorry about that. <3

     And I completely disagree with you on Batman: Arkham Asylum. Just pretend the boss battle with Killer Croc never happened and the game is much, much better.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 15, 2011 at 4:35 am





134. Responding to Mike‘s comment originally posted in the Angry Birds review:

     - I was surprised how much you liked Advanced Wars series. I played the first one extensively. I picked up the DS version, but can’t remember how far I made it. I liked it, but didn’t you find it a little repetitive, simple, and poorly balanced?

     - Point of clarification. When I say simple, imbalanced, etc. I’m talking more about the Gameboy Advanced versions, which I remember better. I spent a lot less time on the DS and can’t recall what I thought.

     As far as I know, the Advance Wars community has a very established body of knowledge on what is balanced and what isn’t. It’s not really the units themselves (which simply don’t feature enough tiers in the original games), it’s the commanding officers. I played a little bit of the game on Advance Wars by Web and both Grit and Kanbei were essentially unstoppable on the right maps. Of course, the beauty is that the Advance Wars community can do what the fighting game community does and pretty much ban anything that’s obscenely broken. It’s very, very easy and doable to get a proper matchup in Advance Wars even if some of the Commanding Officers are broken. (This has apparently been fixed in Days of Ruin, where they’re all toned down considerably.)

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 15, 2011 at 7:56 am





135. Might as well pretend none of the boss fights ever happened since you’re just fighting goons all the time anyway. The scarecrow parts were excellent but that’s hardly enough to salvage the whole game.

     Comment by Q-veta on March 15, 2011 at 12:25 pm





136. Standardized and uneventful enemies are only boring to dispatch if the game doesn’t give you a whole bunch of ways to do it. Arkham may not cover it as well as the Metal Gear Solid series does, but Arkham is pretty well off. It also has one of the best designed “soft Metroidvania” schemes I’ve seen. That is, “We know we’re deliberately restricting where you can go, but we’re doing a hell of a job of making it feel like you’re not.” And while I try not to be a fanboy for the source material, the show is essentially Batman: The Animated Series: The Video Game. (And yes, I’m aware they did a couple of those back in the day.) It’s one of the few games I’ve played this generation where the use of the source material and the visuals really, really adds to it.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 15, 2011 at 4:54 pm





137. Actually I read some reviews comparing it to Metroid but my thoughts were “this doesn’t feel like Metroid at all”. It’s certainly not a bad game the combat was adequate (NOTHING MORE), it looked good, it had a lot of fanservice which is great in this case since everyone likes Batman. To be honest this is probably the most average game I’ve ever played. Except for the scarecrow levels nothing really WOW-ed me but I can’t point bad anything particularly bad about it except maybe for the boss fights. That part where you’re strapped to the chair (the one the Joker was strapped on at the beginning) gave me a scare when the image went dark because I thought my Xbox had gotten a RROD.

     The stealth sections were decent too. Nothing like Metal Gear Solid were if you sound the alarm you’re mostly fucked but still pretty ok. (in the second one at least, I always liked that, it added tension)

     Comment by Q-veta on March 15, 2011 at 5:18 pm





138. The Metroid comparisons are simply regarding the open world element. It’s more like the Castlevania games than the Metroid games, where it’s pathetically obvious you’ll have to return to a certain spot with your Double Space Jump Gloves. I can certainly see why people wouldn’t be keen on Arkham (it’s not particularly difficult and it’s definitely on-rails), but I’m not fully opposed to games that use heavy story elements to cover for imperfect game mechanics. I’m just opposed to games that do those story elements well.

     And yes, I definitely concur that the stealth sections were the best part of the game. And I’m not a stealth buff, either. Many, many ways to play those sections and it’s a pretty excellent balance between “Oh shit, I’ve been spotted, I’m fucked!” and “Eh, brute force.”

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 15, 2011 at 6:44 pm





139. Yeah the stealth parts were sweet. I especially like the part where the goons blew up your gargoyle statues so you couldn’t abuse them. That made things pretty tense.

     Basically my only gripes about the game were the pretty underwhelming boss fights (besides scarecrow) and the overuse of bane-type enemies. Going back to what you were saying about having lots of ways to beat enemies, with the bane guys there was really just one way of going about dealing with them.

     Comment by PIES on March 15, 2011 at 10:06 pm





140. Sorry to break the conversation a bit, but typo/grammar tiem! I’m going to make some English teacher type suggestions, so please take them or leave them at your own discretion (most are just opinion):

     Puzzle Gaming 101: The same action should always lead to the same events. Every time. Puzzle games are not supposed to be slot machines. Puzzle games are supposed to be a science. Look at Bejeweled. That game has somehow defied its own mediocrity, /a chain reaction system (undoubtedly inspired by the also-mediocre Columns) best described as a gift from God./ — Last sentence may need to be reworked. It doesn’t make much sense if you remove the parentheses, and that’s something you should avoid when writing (you’re using them superbly, you just seem to have lost track a bit while writing). Also, maybe it’s a gift from Satan or our lord and savior Cthulhu. We don’t know.

     So let’s pose the question: Why would Rovio code their puzzle game to feature a rather noticeable element of chance? And yes, this was a deliberate design decision. Angry Birds wouldn’t have made it out of testing if “I can’t recreate the carnage” was an oversight. /And if you want a second opinion on that little scrap of tin foil, you can consult the level that is shaped like a plinko board./ — You might want to roll the last two sentences of this excerpt together. Some sentences can start with prepositions just fine, but this one just doesn’t sound quite right as a separate one.

     /And that doesn’t work in a puzzle game./ — Same problem here, but I say kill the “and” and keep it a separate sentence. I would put “that just doesn’t” for emphasis.

     /That includes the Crush the Castle (all that game’s successes and failings) that inspired Angry Birds./ — This sentence sort of makes sense and sort of doesn’t. The first “the” seems out of place.

     That includes the Worms franchise that has chugged along for nearly two decades and /gotten/ a lot of praise. — “has gotten” or “got”

     But America Online was also successful, /and/ that didn’t mean the service was any good. — Ugh, the “and” kind of screws with this sentence. I honestly don’t know what to do about it, though. Might want to revise the sentence a bit.

     Great article, as usual. I love you with a sexual passion that no woman could ever surpass, et cetera. Also, laughed like crazy at the AOL reference. My mom used AOL from 2001 to 2009. I’m not talking about that “Oh we have broadband now!” AOL, I mean 56k dial-up for $25 per month. Damn, I HATE AOL.

     Comment by Truhan on March 15, 2011 at 10:12 pm





141. @Pies: Well, I think Arkham should get some credit for being the only decent non-shooter experience on Unreal Engine 3. I think we can all agree on that. Playing through Bulletstorm right now and I have come to the conclusion that the Unreal Engine is practically a death sentence for any game that doesn’t involve pointing a gun at crap.

     @Truhan: Excellent. Thanks for the corrections. Gonna go through and see what I can make of them. If the audience doesn’t think it works, then I have to make amends. That’s the world of readability.

     And yes, I agree with you. It’s a sad day for video games when comparisons to a decade-plus-old reign of terror. You can learn more about America Online at keyword: Shit Internet.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 16, 2011 at 12:15 am





142. It’s really quite remarkable you have so few errors. It’s flat out impossible for anyone to read their own work and find errors, but you have so few to start with. I’ve seen more errors in online news articles (and they’re usually run by a couple of people solely for the purpose of finding errors before being released). You deserve to be paid for this level of work.

     Comment by Truhan on March 16, 2011 at 12:24 am





143. Yeah, it’s possible to get pretty good at it. The thing is that you need the patience. Re-reading a three-thousand-word article numerous times and scouring for imperfections takes a lot of time. It would be a hell of a lot easier to pawn it off on someone else. For the time being, it’s good practice. I can barely isolate a subject from a verb. I just know what makes sense and sounds right.

     As far as “getting paid for the work goes”, there are two questions I ask myself: 1) Can I churn out this quality of work when a boss is hammering me with a deadline? And 2) Would I be okay with having to devote some of my services to basically being a glorified shill? The second question would be much more difficult to overcome. And as far as job prospects would go, that’s apparently going to be held against you harder than poor craftsmanship. At the very least, I’ll just go ahead and clear some headway and basically have a web site that acts a monument shining over some of the really dumb shit and really dumb ideas that get out there in the gaming community. Doesn’t have to be hugely successful. If it’s something I can do in my spare time, I’m comfortable with that. I enjoy doing it and it’s taught me a hell of a lot about this business and how people think. The time could be spent on less significant endeavors, that’s for sure.

     But yes, I’m convinced the quality of my writing is getting pretty damn good. Still want to improve it. Should I ever go forward on the crazy idea of a book or an e-book, I don’t think the writing’s quite good enough yet. I also don’t think I have the body of knowledge necessary. I’m planning on going back much further through gaming history in the review department and eventually covering what I consider to be the highest-quality games in the history of the industry. I just want to make sure I can do them justice.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 16, 2011 at 12:32 am





144. +1 guy saying you should get paid for this. Its high quality stuff. Good composition, well executed arguments FTW. If you do end up making a book I’d really consider going dead tree. IMO there’s still a bit of prestige that comes with having a physical product. I think micro publishing makes it possible even for the little guy.

     Where did the name Mike Lowell come from? I’m assuming its not your real name.

     Comment by Mike on March 16, 2011 at 2:43 am





145. @Mike: Comes down to cost and accessibility. It would also come down to whether or not I would be okay with simply publishing the book for free and using it as a building block? It’s an awful lot of effort for that. The main problem is that I’m not sure how interested publishers currently are in game literature. Run through Amazon and you’ll always find the same couple of dozen books. I probably own half of the game books they’ve put up for sale on the site. o.o

     And if you’re wondering about Mike Lowell, *ahem*, that is, ME…

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Lowell

     That’s all you need to know about ME. I hit the baseball very hard and I am a hero to many.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 16, 2011 at 5:42 pm





146. It says you’re born in Puerto Rico. That definitely sounds like you.

     Comment by Q-veta on March 16, 2011 at 6:30 pm





147. I always have a good laugh at how you make that sound like it’s a bad thing.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 16, 2011 at 6:43 pm





148. @143 Actually, Mike, there is no standardized version of the English language. Technically, “if it sounds right, it’s right” IS the rule. For the same reason, I think it’s unethical for English teachers to fail students. English is a living, changing language. Who the hell are they to tell me when to use a direct object? I was just making the suggestions for the article to “sound” a bit better, which is only my opinion. Just like it’s my opinion that women did 9/11.

     Anyways, Advance Wars, et cetera.

     Comment by Truhan on March 17, 2011 at 4:53 am





149. Oh, I hear you. I harp on the “English is an evolving language” thing with just about anyone who brings it up. I just have to make sure everyone else can understand what I say. The great thing about this language (and I’m sure it applies to all the others) is that there’s a hell of a lot of ways to do that.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 17, 2011 at 2:48 pm





150. http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/7202/1300509790508.png

     I believe the mystery of your twitter and youtube accounts is solved!

     Comment by Q-veta on March 19, 2011 at 5:57 am





151. I’m gonna need a hell of a lot more x’s if that’s the reality.

     You worried me there for a second. When I first saw your post, you made it sound like like the YouTube channel and the Twitter account were hacked.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 19, 2011 at 6:01 pm





152. Yeah, me too.

     Comment by Truhan on March 19, 2011 at 8:21 pm





153. Just wondering would you ever do a review on Dragon age 2? I am sick and tired of these other reviewers giving games a 9.5485784894 out of 10. They don’t want to say anthing bad about the company that made the game.

     Comment by Casualty on March 20, 2011 at 2:54 am





154. Forgot to add my reasoning and I don’t know if you played the first one either. But I heard they made the game a console port pretty much and the fact that it was rushed to high hell. They are also going with the trend that this game leads into another one instead of any sort of ending…. just sequel after sequel.

     Comment by Casualty on March 20, 2011 at 2:57 am





155. Just check the user score on Metacritic on Dragon Age 2.

     Comment by Q-veta on March 20, 2011 at 6:13 am





156. @Casualty: Probably a no-go on Dragon Age reviews. I tried to play the first game and couldn’t get into that one. I’m pretty much sworn off the role-playing genre entirely. I haven’t even dabbled with Mass Effect yet. I’m still into action games that use role-playing elements but that’s about it. Sorry. :\

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 20, 2011 at 6:45 am





157. I see a lot of butthurt fan boys on metacritic so I’m guessing its an average game with a lot of downfalls. Bioware sure has come a long way from BG.

     Comment by Casualty on March 20, 2011 at 8:04 am





158. Don’t worry Mike. We’ll still make sacrifices to the altars we all have dedicated to you. Oh! And a new review is up! Me so happy!

     Comment by Truhan on March 20, 2011 at 11:40 pm





159. @Casualty: That seems to be it. This is why companies don’t want to develop games for the personal computer. They don’t take bullshit from companies. The advertising campaign for the game (“Play the Dragon Age: Twittering Gold re-tweet game and get the exclusive in-game Power Sandals!”) was over the top. I don’t know about the game itself. Sounds like they were trying to please the casuals and done gone and fucked up.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 21, 2011 at 12:14 am





160. Bulletstorm typos/grammar:

     Street Fight is supposed to be Street Fighter (I think?)

     “Console shooters feature more moving parts and /move complicated playstyles/” — more complicated playstyles? (I couldn’t really tell if this was a typo or if you meant that “moves” are more complicated [I call all things in fighting games "moves." lol].)

     Unfortunately, it was a run-and-gun shooter closer to Serious Sam than Quake. Fortunately, People Can Fly /figure/ it out this round. — An awful lot of spaces between these two (and a few other) sentences, but I think that may be due to formatting. “Figure” should be “figured.” Also, I’m a fan of Painkiller, watch your whore mouth, et cetera, and other fanboy utterances that are meaningless and inaccurate.

     (Trhiska as voiced by Jennifer Hale, /and it’s and it’s/ becoming more convenient to list the games she does not voice a character) — I think you see this one. Moving along.

     It’s all standard stuff until Bulletstorm teaches humanity there are hundreds of ways to use “dick” in a compound word. — Could use a comma before “until,” there’s a natural pause there anyways.

     And as the situation rolls from worst to worstest and Grayson triggers one clusterfuck after /the other,/ — “Another” would sound a little more natural here.

     It’s kind of like the corporate movie studios that have no qualms distributing Michael Moore’s anti-corporate message? — Is that question mark supposed to be there? Not really sure.

     We’ve found having one means for killing /one-hundred/ different enemies is far less entertaining than /a hundred/ ways to decapitate, maim, and incapacitate a single type of target. — You may want to change one of these for consistency.

     I want to have your babies, et cetera.

     Comment by Truhan on March 21, 2011 at 12:18 am





161. Thanks a ton. Wow. Really bombed out on this one. Dammit so much. Completely my fault. Writing seemed a lot less sloppy when it was two in the morning and I was trying to finish the article before I went to sleep. Never choosing that route to publish another article on this site.

     Not sure what I’m going to review next. I actually have another review on the side that needs to get published. Don’t want to pull any steam out of this machine, though. The more recent reviews seemed quite relevant.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 21, 2011 at 12:21 am





162. Not really. I had a lot more opinion in the Angry Birds article, but this was almost fully mechanical errors. There were a couple of opinion grammar corrections I could have included, but I didn’t feel they warranted any attention because the article came together just fine. Still great work, and I hope Bulletstorm sells well so I can get more Painkiller (I would rape faces for an MMOFPS and/or Deus Ex-style RPG-shooter remake).

     Comment by Truhan on March 21, 2011 at 12:36 am





163. No worries about that. Should be cleaned up. I really hope Bulletstorm leads to something original. Felt like I was getting into something good when I picked up the controller and found that the main character moved very, very smoothly. Doom 4 is supposedly on the way and Descent 4 is also in production. Maybe we’re going to get very lucky here and this is the end of the urban warfare crap.

     Wouldn’t count on anything resembling Deus Ex, though. Too much risk involved. Requires an exceptional game development team to pull it off. I’d be stunned to see if Human Revolution is half of what Deus Ex turned out to be. Gonna have to wait and find out, I guess.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 21, 2011 at 12:49 am





164. When are you going to review Vanquish?

     Comment by Q-veta on March 23, 2011 at 7:15 pm





165. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is going to get done first. Vanquish should come some time afterward. Probably gonna be about a month or so.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 23, 2011 at 10:16 pm





166. Hi, G_O, I read what LaserFists posted in your name at:
     http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/1869248956?page=20#397
     and I want to know:
     1. Are there more of these analyses and can you point me to them?
     2. Were you really banned (as that post states) and what’s the story behind that?
     3. Who is your favorite SC2 commentator?
     4. What are your thoughts on the latest TFT patch (1.25b)?

     Comment by greendestiny on March 25, 2011 at 1:46 am





167. 1) Would depend on the subject you’re looking for. If you’re looking for general Starcraft II articles, TeamLiquid is always a good place to look. If you’re looking for things that I wrote…

     http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=201793&currentpage=15#296

     Here’s a similar post talking about the volatility of Starcraft II at higher levels of play. I haven’t written that much on the topic. I do plan on revisiting the Battle.net 2.0 article. Feel free to hit me back up with more specifics on what you’re looking for.

     2) Yes, I was banned. I made a vulgar troll post claiming that “LiquidJinro hacks” because “there’s no way someone could move their mouse that fast”. It was the fifth time I had been permanently banned from the forums. I’m not going to hold “banned again” against anyone. I knew what I was doing and got wiped out for it.

     3) Day9, no question. Dude’s knowledge is impeccable. The only people who can match him on the knowledge front are his brother and Artosis, and quite frankly, neither of those guys really seem as interested in Starcraft II as they did with Brood War. The YouTube regulars are a complete mixed bag. Won’t go into much detail on them.

     4) The game is very close to being “solved”. It isn’t difficult to predict how the game will evolve in the face of a necessary-and-significant nerf to the Blademaster. They just need to go ahead and do it. Undead really has no chance in competitive play as long as that matchup is such a deathtrap. Elsewise, I really have nothing of consequence to say about the patch. Good changes elsewise.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 25, 2011 at 2:26 am





168. Sly 3 tiem:

     I’m arguing /that philosophy/ of game development had its hands all over Sly 3. — May want to make it “that party game philosophy” for clarification.

     You introduce new characters in order to increase the number of ways that a game can be played. Not as a means to streamline and simplify the utility of each character and their playstyle. — May want to combine these sentences with a semicolon or (my personal favorite) a dash.

     The problem was not the difficulty level. It was the level design. — Might want to combine these two sentences with a comma.

     So the game’s left to fall back on its mission and level design. — This is going to sound retarded (and it is), but you might want to change “game’s” to “game is.” Most English teachers say to avoid apostrophes outright, but I vehemently disagree. But this sentence just sounds a little odd without the “is.”

     The camera stil, but it’s tolerable. — Huh?

     Still love you in a sexual way.

     Comment by Truhan on March 25, 2011 at 3:39 pm





169. Amended. Thanks for the help. I’m going to leave “game’s” as it is. It’s not proper grammar, but it’s every bit as readable. And as for the final error in the sentence talking about the camera, WordPress must have cut off the sentence when I hit “undo” and I missed it. I know I proofread it before moving forward.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 25, 2011 at 4:39 pm





170. Why do some games get punished because they are similar to previous iterations of their series but Pokemon can constantly get rave reviews for being the same damn game for the past 15 years? Not only that but no one ever has seemed to care about there being two different versions so you can’t even accomplish “catching them all” yourself (which in my opinion is essentially playing an incomplete game). WHY?

     Comment by SadSandwich on March 25, 2011 at 8:06 pm





171. I’ll give you the blunt answer: Reviewers are only willing to punish games for being stagnant if they’re not one of the most anticipated games of the year. That’s how a game like Dragon Age II which is being absolutely obliterated manages to score higher than eighty on Metacritic. The entire idea of docking a game points because “it didn’t do anything new” is completely fucking ridiculous. You only measure it downward if other games in the genre are doing better. Not if the top of the genre doesn’t do anything new. That’s what drives me nuts about Pokémon. The most recent release’s new innovation is three-on-three battles. Yeah, okay. The franchise has finally caught up to the Japanese Role-Playing Game circa 1987. Nice job.

     Feel free to hit me up with some feedback. Giving you a shorter reply because I’m heading out for a second.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 25, 2011 at 8:16 pm





172. Nintendo has a lot of money so that’s why Pokemon doesn’t get slammed. Or maybe it’s just really good, I don’t know.

     G_O could you recommend me some PS1 games that are not Metal Gear Solid and Castlevania? I missed out on the earlier consoles and I’m checking some old games I’ve missed but with the PS1 there’s so many games I don’t know what to choose.

     Comment by Q-veta on March 25, 2011 at 8:16 pm





173. Playstation One? Crash Bandicoot 2 and 3 are musts for platforming, the latter of which is one of the best platformers of the generation. Crash Team Racing has a reputation for being one of the best cart-racing games of all-time, though I don’t personally have that much experience with it. PaRappa the Rapper is must-have material if you’re the least bit interested in rhythm games. Also check into the Spyro the Dragon series, which was the platforming series by Insomnic Games prior to the Ratchet and Clank series. And you could always give Soul Reaver a hitch if you’re interested in that. I’m culling through GameRankings and looking through the top games and I’m rather stunned at how many are sports titles and role-playing games. Making it tough to give you recommendations.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 25, 2011 at 9:08 pm





174. Yeah I already got Soul Reaver. I played it when it was released but never finished and I never could reinstall it on Windows XP. Definitely gonna get Crash (not CTR, playing kart games alone is sad). Thanks.

     Comment by Q-veta on March 25, 2011 at 9:47 pm





175. I’m a gay ass RPG man, so here are my PS1 sug(gay)estions:

     Final Fantasy 9. My first RPG and most sensual lover. Will always be the best game ever created ever to me.

     Legend of Legaia. Don’t get Legaia 2. More like LeGAYER 2.

     Star Ocean 2. EVERY RPG fan should play this. I don’t give a flying fuck what you have to do, fucking play this shit.

     Lunar 1 and 2. Lunar 3 was such a piece of shit, but these games are so fucking epic that no amount of failure can tarnish their legendary status. Just be prepared for some SNES graphics.

     Frontal Mission 3. Turn-based strategy that I am sure is actually shit compared to good strategy games.

     I’m too stupid to think of other games right now. Call me later tonight, when we can be alone.

     Comment by Truhan on March 25, 2011 at 11:41 pm





176. @ Truhan, I’m determined to play FF IX, I dislike all the futuristic tech stuff in the new ones.

     Just have to get a rom, I’m sure as heck not paying a bundle for a game.

     Comment by Toadofsky on March 26, 2011 at 3:01 am





177. @ G_O
     Really, anything will do. I’ve probably read every article on your site, and although your latest pieces – console game reviews – don’t excite me as much, I read them as well.

     @ Q-Veta
     Here’s a mix of genres I recommend for PSX:
     - Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
     - Colin McRae Rally 2.0
     - Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere
     - Pandemonium!
     - Resident Evil 1&2
     - Vandal Hearts
     - Silent Hill
     - Tekken 3
     - Unholy War

     Best emulator is hands down psxfin because it’s lightweight and doesn’t require plugins to work.
     My preferred ROM site is romhustler.net

     Comment by greendestiny on March 26, 2011 at 7:59 am





178. I personally use psX because it doesn’t require plug-ins to use and can also read the discs from my drive. That’s right, I didn’t pirate my games. I play them right from their respective discs. Most of the time.

     Also, I thought Abe’s Oddysee was a PS2 game?

     Comment by Truhan on March 26, 2011 at 12:15 pm





179. Lolz, I was thinking of Stranger’s Wrath. Disregard that, I suck cocks et cetera.

     Comment by Truhan on March 26, 2011 at 12:20 pm





180. On the topic of SC2, I once saw a replay of a Zerg doing Nydus play not only offensively, but also defensively. The guy would throw a Nydus to use as a forward rally point, effectively guaranteeing his army a safe escape every time the Terran ball was too close for comfort. And then throw another Nydus on the opposite side of the map, which meant that the opposing player was always on the defensive, running back and forth and trying to intercept Nydus Worms. This game took place on Metalopolis, I think Husky or HD commentated on it.

     I know there are creative tactics just waiting to be discovered, for example with Colossi or Ravens. Maybe Ghost+Helions drops could be viable against Protoss? You could drain shields, wipe out everything with Helions and leave before the opponent can react. One other strategy I was thinking of were Queen drops to help spread creep near the opponent’s base, but I’m only a gold terran chump, so I don’t know how viable this strategy is.

     As such, I agree with your opinion that SC2 is far from being figured out, but I think some units will be tinkered with to make them more viable, case in point the recent speed boost to Battlecruisers (I like to see higher tier units on the battlefield in pro games, since it means shit is getting way serious!). What are your thoughts on the current metagame, besides what has been discussed in the thread that you linked to? Is there something particularly annoying that you would like to have addressed in some form or fashion?

     Comment by TB on March 26, 2011 at 1:43 pm





181. Well, Nydus Worms are actually pretty weak. If you calm down and take em down one at a time, they’re not going to pose much of a problem. Also, I heard they’re going to be adding a text warning of Nydus Worms being built for deaf people, so now it’s going to be easier than ever to stop Nydus play. Not that I think Nydus Worms are useless, they’re just a bit too weak for high level play.

     As for offensive creep, this was originally intended in earlier alpha designs (creep would actually harm Terran and Protoss buildings over time), but they eventually decided against it. The problem with offensive creep is that Nydus play, or even Overlord drops, are far more effective (Queens are slow even on creep and killing creep tumors is incredibly easy for Protoss). I would much rather see more offensive Nydus play than the heavy reliance on creep spread, but I just don’t think they’re cost-effective enough (maybe lower the cost to 100/50 or 75/75). It also doesn’t help that Overlords are ridiculously easy to pick off (but, for whatever reason, players completely ignore them until late game when it can cause a massive mid-game swing).

     O lawd, look at me, answering questions not addressed to me. Well, hopefully el the Ghettolord will have an opinion on my opinion of someone’s request for his opinion.

     Comment by Truhan on March 26, 2011 at 3:47 pm





182. Today’s TSL3 series are proving to be very interesting learning material. Late-game harass with reapers and ghosts? Yes, please!

     Comment by TB on March 26, 2011 at 8:08 pm





183. @greendestiny: I’m planning on going older very soon. I want to get in some playthroughs of the Quake and Duke Nukem games before I embark down that road. Going to begin doing reviews of old-school shooters. Think I can totally cover that route. Don’t want to start delving into the gems for a bit, though. Gonna save my best writing for those.

     @TB: What annoys me is two-fold: 1) The community demanded the same game and same playstyle and now complains the game has been “figured out” and 2) That a community of strategy gamers would be nearsighted enough to label an eight-month-old real-time strategy game as “figured out”. The player base is talented as all hell, but they’re completely overstating their own skill as Starcraft Two players. They haven’t scratched the surface of their own skills and haven’t scratched the surface of how this game will eventually play. For them to shout “Nope, it can’t be done!” is absurd. I don’t like when gamers make excuses. Especially not ones that are more gifted than I am.

     To comment partially on Truhan‘s rebuttal of the Nydus Worm, I don’t think anyone has quite tapped its potential for the amount of mobility it can give the Zerg. If you can get them into play, the options for flanks and mobility are practically limitless. They’re there. It’s just that nobody ever really used Nydus Canals in the first game and don’t have their heads wrapped around the tactic. Clamping down the map with Mutalisks and Doom Drops is much more familiar. The younger audience is probably going to make these guys pay very dearly when they get talented enough to compete. They won’t be playing Brood War in Starcraft II. They’ll be playing Starcraft II in Starcraft II.

     The Reaper and Ghost play sounds very interesting. I’ve found that Reapers are more effective than Hellions at attacking secured positions and scoring quicker kills. They’re also great scouts. I’m going to presume this was against a Protoss player?

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 26, 2011 at 11:05 pm





184. Yes it was. It happened in the second game between FXO.qxc and MVP_Genius, which was on Xel’Naga Caverns. Since Genius had a Protoss ball, he ended up moving it back and forth just to snipe down a few reapers and ghosts. It was a long game, so the fatigue must have contributed to the effectiveness of this strategy. The VOD for this should be up soon on TeamLiquid’s YouTube channel.

     http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=205145

     It was a crazy day because all of the Koreans lost, with only NesTea scoring a single win out of all of them. The first three series are a good watch, though I would recommend the above game and then the third game between ESC.GoOdy and IMNesTea. The fourth series, however, was just painful; dropping roaches into a stalker ball is never a good idea.

     Comment by TB on March 27, 2011 at 8:38 am





185. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9NDIJX_lUA

     http://www.youtube.com/user/teamliquidnet

     For all your TSL3 needs.

     Comment by Truhan on March 27, 2011 at 5:41 pm





186. Well, I guess I’ll reply to Ghettoman, but most importantly, I think this video game is broken. The top says the score is 184 points, but my last score was 185 (this will be 186). Maybe the game is just buggy when it hits 184 points? Well, I need to find out whether to trash this game now or keep playing.

     Anyways, indeed, Nydus Worms DO provide exceptional mobility, I’m just saying they’re a bit weak and gas-heavy. Nydus Canals weren’t used so much because they HAD to be built on creep and were built by drones (in a ZvZ, they could have been a bit viable, but why bother when you both share creep anyways?). Nydus Worms can be planted anywhere you have vision and GENERATE creep (though this is a drawback if you plant one in a dark part of the enemy base). I was really happy to see Day9′s Funday on Nydus play, but I still think Nydus Worms are not cost effective enough (one of the stipulations was to have three Nydus Worms digging at the same time – a 300/300 investment that could have gone into the army or into another Hatchery with gas to spare). In Brood War, Nydus Canals only cost 150 minerals (so making two cost as much as a hatchery), but didn’t have the punishing 100 gas cost. Never mind that they can’t be canceled while being built and cannot be salvaged (unlike a Bunker, but I suppose they’re more for emergency wall-offs and preventing Zerg players from being able to play early game), so the investment can quickly turn into a waste of money when the opponent gets the warning message. At least Ghosts are cloaked while nuking, Nydus Worms are completely open to attacks. That said, at 200/200 supply with a larvae oversupply, I can think of no wiser investment than Nydus Worms. Those Ultralisks can’t move themselves into the Protoss deathball. And neither can anything behind them.

     Of course, I’m not really talking about defensive Nydus Worms, which is probably your real point (hey! I can get my entire army to any of my bases in a snap!), but I’m too stupid to counter that. I think defensive Nydus Worms WOULD be very cost effective and possibly even a decent way to spread creep. I guess the problem is the Canal-syndrome you mentioned, where Nydus Canals could be used ONLY defensively, but noone used them anyways. I’m just not as sure as you that Nydus play will actually break free from that original Canal mindset.

     Comment by Truhan on March 27, 2011 at 7:31 pm





187. Yay! The score finally updated! Now I’ll finally be able to hunt whatever keeps crawling around in the air ducts.

     Comment by Truhan on March 27, 2011 at 8:39 pm





188. Dump the resource cost of Nydus Worms a bit and it’s alright. Blizzard obviously wants their placement to be a conscious decision. Ultimately, nobody has the skill to use them as they’re intended. But for a race that’s supposedly built around flanking maneuvers, they’re totally invaluable, especially in defensive strategies. And then once you start using them in defensive strategies, you can begin using them to promote offensive play. Right now, Nydus Worms are used for nothing but all-in and aggressive maneuvers. Until players start using Nydus Worms to throw jabs, there’s no way anybody is getting away with any haymakers.

     I’ve watched very little of the TSL so far. May go dedicate some more time as the tournament drags on. Although I know so little about what’s going on that I couldn’t tell you what I’m looking forward to.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 28, 2011 at 1:35 am





189. Well, after watching IdrA’s playing in the TSL3, I can honestly say I’m no longer a fan. After smack-talking about how the other player would be a complete pushover, he lost 2-1 with COMPLETELY bad manners (ignoring the other guy the entire time). The first game was just a 200/200 macro wait-and-see game where IdrA’s drops constantly got taken out because he ONLY sent in full Overlords (no trick drops, no empty overlords to soak up any damage). Second game, exact same thing happened, except IdrA did send in extra Overlord’s (sometimes) and eventually won. Last game, CrunCher tricked IdrA into thinking that they were going to play the exact same game for a third time by using Hallucinated Phoenixes to mask a 6-gate rush. IdrA had something like four Roaches and six Zerglings to counter this kind of rush (that he should have scouted anyways). He was completely destroyed.

     Moreover, even in the game he won, IdrA made himself look like a complete joke. Most of the time, he was sitting on 2k minerals and quite a bit of Vespene too – WHEN HE WASN’T EVEN 200/200. Even IF he was 200/200, all those minerals could have gone into some extra Overlords (for trick drops) or (preferably) upgrades. The ONLY reason he won is because most of the Overlord drop casualties consisted of empty Overlords that he eventually quit using in favor of having his roaches taken out while trying to escape. I’m certainly not saying I could play better than him, but his skill DEFINITELY doesn’t warrant such incredibly bad manners.

     Oh, and his opponent? An American trained American. So don’t bother with any of that “Well, NO American can beat a Korean!” crap.

     Comment by Truhan on March 30, 2011 at 11:51 am





190. Just watched Mondragon v. ZeeRax. INSANELY epic. A MUST-SEE match. No sarcasm, it was an incredible match that left me breathless.

     Comment by Truhan on March 30, 2011 at 2:02 pm





191. I hear you, Truhan, the first set was pure balls! Seriously did not see that coming.

     July is dominating lately with his new Zerg tactics. They had a Korea versus Rest of The World match and July took out WhiteRa, HuK, Moonglade and Jinro all in one go. It’s best to see the match between him and WhiteRa, though, a crazy comeback.

     http://www.gomtv.net/2011championship/vod/63894

     He also played against NaDa earlier today, and the first set was like seeing a true Zerg swarm. Pure kill mode.

     http://www.gomtv.net/2011championship/vod/63991

     July is stomping the competition something fierce!

     Comment by TB on March 30, 2011 at 2:45 pm





192. It sounds to me like IdrA has a very similar weakness to my own playstyle. I have a very difficult time picking out what a strategy is going to be unless I have proper scouting. When IdrA gets “proper scouting”, he is very easy to fool. That would seem to be the reason for his inconsistent play. I mean, nobody doubts his mechanical skill. He’s too easy to get frustrated. Which is kind of obvious, but he’s supposed to be a world-class player. He shouldn’t make the kinds of mistakes he does.

     I haven’t been paying that much attention to the professional scene lately. Probably has to do with the fact that I haven’t been playing the game much, either. Something about it isn’t catching my eye right now. Don’t know what it is. May be able to give you guys a better answer in the near-future.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on March 30, 2011 at 4:57 pm





193. I don’t play SC2 much either (I’ve logged in twice since early October to look at patches 1.2 and 1.3), but I sure do like to spectate it. I’m probably one of the worst players out there because I’m so slow. I would play RTs, but LOL RT VS. ATs.

     The problem isn’t necessarily IdrA’s inconsistency, more than it is his refusal to change his strategy. Almost nothing from him changed in the three matches. He was far too predictable and paid the well-earned price. The bad manners is the real issue. He goes in, as an arrogant fuck, and comes out, not humble from losing, but pissed off at the other player for being able to outplay him. It’s not bout skill or imbalance anymore, IdrA needs to grow the fuck up and learn some sportsmanship. It’s not every day that the underdog comes out on top, but when it happens you should at least be respectful of his ability (ESPECIALLY in a professional setting). It’s not even like the 6-gate was cheese, it was just a completely different strategy that should have been scouted with a sacced Overlord or two. He shouldn’t have had almost no army nearly nine minutes into a game. It could have been defended (though that forcefield placement was something else).

     Comment by Truhan on March 30, 2011 at 10:05 pm





194. Hola! It’s James (or Jimmy, whichever you prefer) from our many, many email conversations. I’m pretty burned out on shmups, I don’t think I can even look at one for about a month. Anyway, have some q’s-

     1- I heard that you played advance wars (I play AW 2 rarely, thinking of *cough “obtaining” a cyclods and the DS games)! Who is your favorite CO?

     2- What is your personal favorite single-player RPG or ARPG (Chrono Trigger, ff6, Ys)? Do you even like RPGs?

     3- What is the most overused word in today’s society?

     Oh yeah, I kind of dipped my toes into the Pokemon metagame. It’s bullshit how much it relies on luck with “iv points” and “natures”. It’s fucking impossible to get a good-tier dude with a nature that’s any good. Anyway, I’ll probably raise my Latias which I named “Vulvasaur” and then ragequit. I know it’s not even Bulbasaur, but with a name like that, come on. That name came to me eating cereal which I then spat all over the table from how amazing it is. And Ivysaur is “I be sore”, and Venusaur is “Penisaur”. Anyway, I be done a rantin’ and a ravin’. I’ll have to ask some more later.

     Comment by JamesL on March 31, 2011 at 11:17 am





195. @Truhan: I concur with you. People root against certain players because they seem outwardly unconquerable but are overcome by a player on his best day. IdrA too often conquers himself. That just makes him look like a bitter goof. None of us like losing but you would think he’d finally learn to overcome it. I think there is an incredible amount of people that would like to get behind him but are simply repulsed by the idea of doing so.

     @JamesL: Mornin’. Lemme give you some answers.

     1) My favorite Commanding Officer was Kanbei. Very straight-forward. More money, more powerful units. I think I also got accustomed to the idea of playing Sami during the campaign, but I never really got the hang of it. Yeah, the entire idea is to spam infantry and start capturing the hell out of everything. But obviously, if it was that easy, the game wouldn’t be any fun. o.o

     2) I used to like role-playing games. Then after about three consecutive Final Fantasy games where I had to will myself to play the things and never finished them (VII, IX, X), I realized I had just gotten over them. The RPG I have the most time with is Final Fantasy VII and my previous personal favorite was Final Fantasy VI. Today, I have an untold amount of respect for Chrono Trigger. I don’t care much for the genre as a whole, but that game stands out as something that’s pretty spotless from top to bottom. Today, if I want a role-playing game, I want an action role-playing game in the mold of Castlevania or a beat ‘em up with solid role-playing elements. I’ve never ever liked dungeon crawlers ever. Too straight-forward and not enough thinking going on.

     3) Facebook, if only because it implies that Facebook still exists and is still standing.

     I really have nothing nice to say about Pokémon. I get the point. The appeal is in capturing the various Pokémon. I’m not quite sure how that’s supposed to be more satisfying than hunting down rare weapons in Diablo or World of Warcraft. And yeah, just because so many people are playing the game and a semblance of strategy has developed around the game does not mean that the strategy is actually deep.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 1, 2011 at 1:10 am





196. Best Christmas special ever. I just wish this site got more views, seems too much effort for only one day :<

     Comment by Truhan on April 1, 2011 at 3:44 pm





197. I’ll let you in on a secret: It probably took me about an hour to do it. It’s just a re-skin of the front page. E-z chee-z stuff.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 1, 2011 at 7:44 pm





198. It would be more hilarious if you actually made all of those parody articles and basically that would be the ghetto for a day. I can already sprunge the top 9 shooter list with my throbbing sprunger.

     Comment by Truhan on April 1, 2011 at 8:05 pm





199. I tried doing it once with a mock of Digg (simply known as “Diggg”) but realized it was going to be way too much effort. I figured the main page would get the point across and clicking through the links with any serious conviction would lead them back to the main site, where they would realize “Oh crap, I got trolled.”

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 1, 2011 at 8:52 pm





200. 200!

     Yeah, but your parody articles are pretty funny. And some of those looked like they could be epic.

     Comment by Truhan on April 1, 2011 at 10:21 pm





201. Well, if it makes you feel better, I linked to the Call of Duty: Black Ops review. That’s an article! :D

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 1, 2011 at 10:49 pm





202. I was kinda disappointed that there wasn’t really a ’14 sexiest cosplay photos’

     Comment by SageDarius on April 1, 2011 at 11:22 pm





203. Who wasn’t.

     Comment by Truhan on April 1, 2011 at 11:31 pm





204. http://www.kotaku.com

     Try this site. They are very respectful of women on this web site but understand that women are also very sexy.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 1, 2011 at 11:37 pm





205. In case any of you guys are curious, the newest update is going to be a tad late. I’m waiting on a book. Gonna be a bit before that book comes. Bleh.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 3, 2011 at 2:07 am





206. Fine by me. At least we still get ya hanging out here.

     Comment by Truhan on April 3, 2011 at 4:47 am





207. Round 2! Fight!

     Well, I’ll try to explain the Pokemon metagame to you- easily. I’m assuming you know the rock-paper-scissors super effective crap so I won’t bother. Here we go-

     There are 2 kinds of attacks- special and physical. Special defense determines your resistance to special attacks and same with physical. Your stats are determined by the following- So each Pokemon you get has IV points which are there forever and never change. These determine their stats when leveling, blah blah. (You can have up to 30 in each, and some people obsessively reset and go batshit crazy to get these “perfect”) Then there’s natures, which every Pokemon has one of. These either decrease one stat by 10& and add 10% to one stat, or do absolutely nothing whatsoever (neutral). Then there’s EV points which you only have 500 of, and by fighting and ko-ing certain Pokemon you gain EV points. 4 EV points is 1 stat point.

     My gripes summarized-

     So, this makes the game HARD but not CHALLENGING (in little Billy to obsess over it for a perfect nature and IVs or somebody to use a hacking tool. It’s incredibly repetitive and unforgiving. AND every time you try to travel across water or scale a wall with a special “HM” move (which you need to beat the gyms to even fucking use to restrict your travels making the game incredibly linear. Oh, that along with some guy that doesn’t let you pass) it goes on a 30-minute monologue about “are you sure?”, even though you could just move the fucking dpad to get back where you were if you made a tiny mistake. There’s just so mush unnecessary shit that overcomplicates it. Plus, the new pokemon suck ass- http://www.serebii.net/blackwhite/pokemon.shtml Look at this- http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&biw=1024&bih=594&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=stoutland+pokemon&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq= it looks like a terrier and a walrus could somehow produce offspring and fucked, but the terrier and walrus both had cerebral palsy. And this is compared to Charizard, the ultimate badass. So, that’s why Pokemon is fucking retarded.

     So q’s

     1.- What do you think of terrier-walrusmon?

     2.- Is asperger’s real, not real, or overplayed?

     3.- Do you like Joe Satriani’s music?

     4.- What musical genres do you like?

     5.- How catchy is Sensei’s theme?

     6.- What is the RTS equivalent of Call of Duty and Halo? (that being a short campaign and abysmal multiplayer, yet salivated over by millions of people)

     Comment by JamesL on April 3, 2011 at 9:25 am





208. Oh shit, typos up the ass. I need to sleep.

     Comment by JamesL on April 3, 2011 at 9:26 am





209. Just a quick note, since this is some funny shit: in the second game between HuK and IdrA during the MLG, IdrA called gg once he saw HuK’s army on a collision course with his base. The thing is, pretty much the whole army were hallucinations.

     http://i56.tinypic.com/2upcxo7.jpg

     Comment by TB on April 3, 2011 at 10:21 am





210. Haha, that was good. Idra, Idra…

     Comment by JamesL on April 3, 2011 at 10:48 am





211. Just pissed myself laughing. You owe me some new pants.

     Comment by Truhan on April 3, 2011 at 3:06 pm





212. @JamesL: Thanks for the run-down. Yeah, Pokémon is dumbed-down Japanese Role-Playing. I don’t know how the hell that has an audience. What amuses me about a lot of these games (Pokémon, Halo) is how they started off as incredibly simple versions of their previous counterparts and are now almost back to where the genre was by their fourth and fifth games. It’s laughable.

     Now to respond to your questions:

     1) I have a feeling that once you get to about five-hundred Pokémon, you start to run out of ideas. I would like to see a vending machine Pokémon that attacks by spitting smaller Pokémon at the target. See, I’m qualified to do this!

     2) I don’t think I’ve ever given it a second thought. I couldn’t give you a single opinion on the issue. I guess I could look at it this way: Life sucks a lot. Unfortunately, you have to play the cards you’re dealt.

     3) I don’t know anything about his music. All I know is that he has one of the toughest songs in the Rock Band series (previously introduced in Guitar Hero: World Tour). I’m totally musically-illiterate barring a couple of opinions on the state of modern radio…

     4) …though I do enjoy good disco. Very creative stuff, a lot of it bordering on symphony-style production. All kinds of instruments. Earth, Wind & Fire is a notable example of something I’m into.

     5) That song is bizarre. The entire game is kid-friendly warfare and that song still feels like a total curveball compared to the rest of the music. Quality stuff.

     6) I don’t think there is one. I would have to say that it was probably the Command and Conquer series. It’s not a good thing when the game that figureheads the franchise (Red Alert) is a gigantic rush to see who can get the most tanks. I have to at least commend the series for trying to experiment with some crazy weapons. Though at this point, I’m not really sure if anybody takes the franchise seriously.

     @TB: That absolutely proves the point I was making about “Brood War players are still playing Brood War in Starcraft II”. Nobody used Hallucinations in Brood War, so OH MY GOD THOSE MUST BE REAL UNITS! What a colossal brain fart. My God.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 3, 2011 at 7:09 pm





213. Couldn’t he tell by the blue-ness?

     Anyway,

     1. Is Zelda a dungeon crawler?
     2. Are people going to get tired of Call of Duty? If not, will sales at least taper off a considerable amount?
     3. What’s the difference between acne and a catholic priest?
     4. Is guitar hero a ripoff of the DDR spinoff guitar freaks?
     5. What do you think of the Ys games?
     6. Would you cut off one of your testicles for 500 grand? If not, what would you settle for?
     7. Would you bite off a puppy’s head if it gave you extreme physical fitness for the rest of your life?
     8. What is your favorite brand of gum?

     Hey, you told me to ask you anything… Just pushing your buttons. But I still want those answers!

     Comment by JamesL on April 4, 2011 at 6:36 am





214. Oh crap, I accidentally the whole bold. And the whole italic. Also, I still can’t believe Idra was so stupid.

     Comment by JamesL on April 4, 2011 at 6:39 am





215. Oh, HTML fail. I swear I’m dyslexic sometimes. There.

     Comment by JamesL on April 4, 2011 at 6:43 am





216. Well, that’s strange. I thought I did it right… It seems the webpage divided by zero and we will all be swallowed in a black hole. Um… maybe this would best be left to the proprietor as I obviously don’t know what the fuck I’m doing as far as HTML is concerned. *headdesk headdesk headdesk* Why I so stoopid?

     Comment by JamesL on April 4, 2011 at 6:49 am





217. It’s been amended. I’ll go ahead and respond to your posts in the morning. Gotta be up early.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 4, 2011 at 7:18 am





218. 1) Crap, I’m not really sure what to classify Zelda as. Action-Adventure seems to be the most palatable and inoffensive classificiation. I’m sure there’s been some great pissing matches waged over this.
     2) It’s inevitable. It’s just a matter of “when”. I thought the sales would have tapered off already. The game has not changed since Call of Duty 4. It’s going to be very interesting to see how Modern Warfare 3 turns out. This is the first time the series has been presented with a major development hitch. I’m a firm believer that sales of a video game reflect the quality of the predecessor. I haven’t really followed the chatter for Black Ops, so I don’t know what people think of it.
     3) o.o
     4) I’d normally be inclined to say that it is, but Konami had years to try and get that game stateside. That was their blown opportunity. Keep in mind that Harmonix was once a subcontractor for Konami’s Karaoke Revolution games. It’s probably where they got the idea.
     5) I only played the Super Nintendo version of Ys III for about thirty minutes. I know very little about the series elsewise. Can’t give you an answer on that one, sorry.
     6-8) I would bite off a puppy’s head if it was a testicle and I could do it for five-hundred-thousand dollars while enjoying the cool, refreshing taste of Stride™ gum, if that’s what you’re asking.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 4, 2011 at 3:22 pm





219. 1. So what stupid thing did I do to bo-talize everything?
     2. Why does everyone shit their pants over “grrl gamerz”? They usually have shit taste anyway. “H3y 6ayz, can I h4z H410?” I dunno, maybe it’s because I’m asexual, heh heh heh.
     3. But what if the testicle-puppy was infected with zombie disease and you had to go on an adventure to get a stride gum injection to cure you before you became COMPLETELY zombified? Would it still be worth the 500 grand and stride gum? What if they turned it into a TV series with you and Samuel L. Jackson as a loose cannon, token-black cop wherein you would both try to find the crime boss that kidnapped his girlfriend and injected the testicle puppies (which just happened to be the terrier walrus pokemon) with the zombie disease IN THE FIRST PLACE? But, turns out, the crime boss was actually your father AND brother via incest with Samuel L. Jackson’s missing girlfriend! THEN you find out Samuel L. Jackson is the president of Stride gum corporation and helped organize this to raise his profits! What do you do next? Find out next season on Testicle-puppy Eating Zombie Cops!
     4. Why do I feel Valve games are the same old shit as of late?
     5. Why am I asking you these questions? Are you psychic?
     6. Do we have to rename the show PSYCHIC Testicle-puppy Eating Zombie Cops now?
     7. What new game releases are you stoked for? As an RTS fan (from what I can gather) are you excited about DOTA 2? Are you of the opinion that Valve sucks sack, like I?

     Comment by JamesL on April 4, 2011 at 4:11 pm





220. Based the site’s timezone, do you live in NZ or another Pacific island? Be careful not to get eaten by cannibals!

     Comment by JamesL on April 4, 2011 at 4:14 pm





221. 1) You did the bold quotes incorrectly, resulting in Worpress cleaning out the bad code and leaving the original bold tag to eat up everything after it.
     2) It’s the nature of the culture: Lots of guys, very few girls. The issue is the women who play the act. I’m sure it’s this way in other geek cultures: You can’t fake it. It’s impossible.
     3, 6) I am not allowed to comment on this question at this time due to pending legal litigation.
     4) Probably because the only games they’ve released since 2008 are Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. Can’t give you much of an opinion on Portal 2, the next game in line. Really a game I’m going to “wait and see” with.
     5) I dunno. If I had to guess, you’re probably pressed for time while simultaneously trying to eke some entertainment out of your remaining free time.
     7) Right now? Batman: Arkham City and Uncharted 3 are the only things I’m particularly interested in. As far as possible plays, I’ve been keeping my eye on The First Templar and Lucha Fury, a pair of beat ‘em ups which are supposed to be out in the next month or two. Like me some good beat ‘em ups. Genre really sucked me back in with God of War and Bayonetta.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 4, 2011 at 12:57 pm





222. Have you ever played God Hand? It’s incredible.

     Comment by Q-veta on April 6, 2011 at 2:03 am





223. That game is the definition of learning curve! Heh, and this is coming from someone that plays shmups obsessively (when I said I couldn’t touch one for a month… I couldn’t do it! I needed that shmuppy goodness!), and that genre doesn’t bother to instruct you at all. It’s- “Here bitch, enjoy these pink bullets up your ass. Oh, you had full options and a laser? Guess you’ll have to make do with the standard shot, pussy!” But I’m very adept so I can 1 life clear pretty much stage 1 or 2 of every shmup ever and 1cc at the least stage 2 without playing it first. But God Hand is difficult… It’s on my backlog (I’ll get back when I learn to combo). What do you think of it, Sir Ghetto? I’ll say it’s pretty good. I enjoy getting my ass handed to me!

     Comment by JamesL on April 6, 2011 at 7:44 am





224. Is this not the best PR for a shmup? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lkzv5JPVoro&feature=related It’s so stupid, I kind of think it’s not official, but Cave is Japanese so there’s a good chance it is. Lolz @ the random pudgy guy in the middle in a pink bra.

     Comment by JamesL on April 6, 2011 at 11:41 am





225. @Q-Veta: I haven’t. Purely from what I’ve seen in video footage, it didn’t particularly surprise or impress me. But hardcore gamers (i.e. not IGN) seem to be pretty convinced it’s some sort of incredible beat ‘em up. I may have to look into that down the road.

     @JamesL: Considering Cave’s audience, this would actually be pretty logical for the company to release. What would be the point of a traditional teaser for an audience that has already decided whether they want to play the game or not? Oh, and that ad probably cost about what, fifty dollars? Funny stuff.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 6, 2011 at 1:20 pm





226. 1. Huh… was there something wrong with the site clock? You’re on EST now, but you were on Pacific (in that it said you posted 4 hours after EST) a day or two ago. What time zone are you in, dude?
     2. FYI, I put the backslash before the letter (I seem to have some slight dyslexia…). I thought I could fix by putting it (backslash) after the letter in another comment.
     3. I was looking back through our emails and I used YOU’RE as YOU ARE! NOOOOOOOOOO! I rarely make mistakes like that (besides skipping words which happens once I revise my sentences and chop out parts)! How could it be? My life is meaningless!
     4. What is so appealing about trial-and-error bullshit like angry birds? Why don’t people become cognizant of the fact that it sucks?
     5. Who should replace Samuel L. Jackson in the third season of the show? Will it ever be the same without him?
     6. Am I asking too many questions?
     7. Should I get the Castlevania shirt or the Shinobi shirt?

     Comment by JamesL on April 6, 2011 at 1:44 pm





227. To 93- Let’s say… “Icycalm” doesn’t describe him very well. (Note, I don’t run the site, just a commenter)

     Comment by JamesL on April 6, 2011 at 1:48 pm





228. http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=9623
     http://insomnia.ac/commentary/arcade_culture/

     Wow. Donate at least a million dollars to a company that can’t even be bothered to port anything older than 5 years without subcontracting a dating sim company who fucked it up beyond belief? Then trusted them again to port another? “4rka3d g43ms r g00d cuz they tak y3r m0ni3z?” type rant?

     This is some good shit. Note that I am not part of the shmup forum as everyone there is a whiny douche with their dicks in each others’ mouths, but I stumbled upon this and I realized he was not as smart as I initially thought (the first link). Also, I saw on his site that he had stolen reviews from the proprietor of http://www.cave-stg.com/ and found a thread where he basically said “Suck it, I’m taking your reviews! Hahahahaha!” after they got into an argument about a new Cave game or something. Strangely, we are both smug assholes who like shmups, arcade games, tearing apart people’s words to make them look stupid (I have always been good at this. I think it’s because I’m schizoid or something, I dunno), and dislike TF2 (which I honestly only played for about 2 weeks then migrated back)- yet I still don’t like him. In real life we’d probably be best friends.

     Comment by JamesL on April 6, 2011 at 2:19 pm





229. Too bad he closed off his forum to non-paying users, I thought icycalm was pretty funny. And he hasn’t updated his site in a while. I like how he describes one of his books. The first part of the first sentence is “In this work of absolute genius”.

     On the topic of God Hand. I don’t blame you about not being impressed since the graphics are pretty sub-par and it’s not as visually impressive as Devil May Cry to an outside viewer. However some games don’t really look impressive when viewed on youtube like God Hand or Jet Set Radio but are awesome when you play them.

     You have customizable combos and the game is pretty hard. Definitely worth at least a playthrough.

     Comment by Q-veta on April 6, 2011 at 2:25 pm





230. To Q- For me it’s more laughing “at” than laughing “with” (have to say about 65-35), but still funny nonetheless. I mean, on his site, people are on his turf. It’s like if Ghetto edited the HTML to make my comments say “I’m a stinky poopy head”, which is what Icycalm pretty much does on his forum.

     This- “the “games are art” fags who won’t shut up already about Ico and Rez” was a laugh with moment.

     “Someone is going through Ketsui’s second loop seemingly absent-mindedly” No fucking way that is possible. He probably had had his nervous system wired into the PCB. Otherwise it was a mirage.

     “someone else is shitting all over Batrider’s final boss” Batrider, while classic Raizing (and admittedly fun), is a haphazardly programmed clusterfuck with no rhyme or reason. There’s a difference between a well-designed game with easter eggs and secrets- and a clusterfuck with easily manipulable gaps. So was Dimahoo (BARF! Why is my ship moving the speed of grandma? Why do the stages and music suck so much? The Engrish! WHY GOD WHY?).

     As for God Hand, I think it is too. I’m definitely going to get around to it. You’re right too! Some games are 1000x more fun when you play them. GH and shmups are notable examples.

     Comment by JamesL on April 6, 2011 at 2:57 pm





231. I had no idea God Hand had customizable combos. That probably goes a long way in explaining why I couldn’t see the genius on face value. I am going to assume it works very, very well.

     As for Alex, I caught note of his “recommended reading” and had a bit of a chuckle. Not only because (if his cover art IS an accurate reflection) he is going to be self-publishing the work (which means he couldn’t find a publisher for his proposed genius), but for all we know, the book doesn’t even exist. He’s been claiming for years that he’s going to be writing these damn things. I’ll wait until I see a finished work. And then I want people to say gushing things about the finished work. ‘Cause quite frankly, my experience with self-edited, self-published books has been quite miserable.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 6, 2011 at 4:03 pm





232. Sums up my thoughts on Pokemon: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/3008-Pokemon-White

     Comment by SadSandwich on April 6, 2011 at 4:16 pm





233. Yes that’s the genius of God Hand. You have Triangle, Square and X and you can set any attack move to any of these buttons. Square is different from the start because you can put whatever 5 attacks you want on it (it’s a chain combo). The only thing you can’t customize is 2 attacks which the game doesn’t even tell you about that are forward + triangle or backwards + triangle and it depends on where your enemy is.
     So it’s a pretty deep combat system and the better you play the harder it gets (as in the difficulty level increases and you start taking more damage, enemies become more aggressive).

     An excellent game overall where the only thing not good are the graphics although the art direction is decent even if the technical part is underwhelming.
     Music is awesome though. Listen to this:
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6E_wHYbLH4

     Comment by Q-veta on April 6, 2011 at 4:22 pm





234. As for the IGN review:
     http://img858.imageshack.us/img858/2631/ign.jpg

     Comment by Q-veta on April 6, 2011 at 4:25 pm





235. @SadSandwich: Building a media franchise around the motto “Gotta’ catch ‘em all!” and then adding new characters with every subsequent game. What a brilliant bunch of fuckers Nintendo is. They really are.

     @Q-Veta: Wow. So why the hell did people shit on this game, anyway? “It sucks because it’s kicking my ass?” Apparently, that only works when you build your ad campaigns around it.

     And don’t worry, the IGN review has gotten plenty of fanfare from people such as myself. Tossed that bastard around like it’s candy. Love that picture.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 6, 2011 at 9:59 pm





236. No one shit on the game except IGN. The game isn’t popular, it’s probably the least popular Clover game (and the hardest).
     Most people who played it said it’s great except some reviewers complaining about the graphics and level design (it’s a beat em up where all you do is fight, it’s 100% action. In the old 2D beat em ups there was no level design either)

     Comment by Q-veta on April 7, 2011 at 2:18 am





237. The game has a 73 on MetaCritic, so I’ll assume that score is a case of total misunderstanding on the part of reviewers. The best of the old beat ‘em ups compensated for their lack of level design with well-designed characters and fluid movesets. I’m going to assume God Hand does the same.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 7, 2011 at 2:24 am





238. Oh, and just to let you guys know, I’ve begun writing the draft of my upcoming article that will be published on this site. It’s going to be at least three parts. Don’t think I’ll need a fourth. I’m at around 7,000 total words right now (the first part will be about five-thousand), and quite honestly, it’s going to get a lot longer.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 7, 2011 at 2:50 am





239. As much as I hate pokemans (I only bought HeartGold for nostalgia. Hey, I was 8! Shit pulls on your heartstrings! Anyway, I’m done now.), I’d have to give them the benefit of the doubt here. They only did the “gotta catch em’ all” motto when you had to buy in for every pokeman (like the card game). Once you get the game, they have your money. You could just get a water type, teach it an ice move, and go through the whole fucking game. It’s pathetic.

     Gamefreak should make Pulseman 2 or a Drill Dozer sequel instead. Fuck.

     Comment by JamesL on April 7, 2011 at 7:43 am





240. Well the game is hard. Except for Ninja Gaiden Black I don’t know of any games that are hard that got good review scores (Devil May Cry 3 isn’t hard). Here I’ll give you an excerpt out of a Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 review.
     “Not only is the gameplay starting to feel dated-especially in the wake of Batman: Arkham Asylum’s brilliant combo system”
     It’s the same reason everyone likes Angry Birds so much. Something that’s too hard and too complex just flies right over their head.
     Here’s another excerpt from the Quake 3 port on Xbox Live (playing Quake 3 with a controller LOL):
     “And the sheer visceral simplicity of that experience, regardless of how dated it sometimes feels, is timeless. ”
     How is Quake 3 dated? It’s still pretty much the pinnacle of 1v1 FPS. I guess if you’re not rewarded with an on screen message for everything you do it’s dated.

     Also this isn’t relevant to complexity but on the IGN review of Rayman 3DS (a port of Rayman 2) it says something like “Rayman 2 is one of the best platformers ever made” – 5.5/10
     Let’s not forget that Jim Sterling gave Vanquish a 5 because it was too hard. Vanquish isn’t even hard on Hard let alone normal which he probably played it on.

     Also what’s your next article gonna be about? Is it going to be like icycalm’s genealogy and take 1 year to complete?

     Comment by Q-veta on April 7, 2011 at 9:26 am





241. @JamesL: Whys do you hates Pokémanz!? Whys!? You gotta catch them alls! You can’t play through the game with one Pokémanz!

     @Q-Veta: The only game I’ve reviewed on this web site which overwhelmed me from time to time was Bayonetta, and I didn’t hold that against the game. I considered that a bonus. Perhaps I should write an article basically saying that if you are going to call a game dated, you had better be prepared to defend it. “[E]specially in the wake of Arkham Asylum’s brilliant combo system”. I mean, I really liked what it tried to do. But let’s not call it brilliant or anything. And let’s not call it difficult. It’s very difficult to review multiple games in multiple genres and purport mastery of all of them. I can review shooters and beat ‘em ups because I understand the concepts. And reading through here, I don’t think most people would disagree with that. But yeah, if you’re going to label a game “too hard”, you had better be prepared to defend the hell out of that statement.

     I won’t let slip on what the article is, but I think a lot of people will be pleasantly comfortable with the topic. Let’ s just say it’s very current and relevant.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 7, 2011 at 12:00 pm





242. See, I know Kotaku is garbage, but I can’t help myself. I like to think of their articles as little critical thinking exercises where I have to find the leading questions, sponsored biases, logical fallacies, etc.

     Oh, unrelated, but “www.gameskillstorm.com” is brilliant.

     Comment by spyfoxguy on April 7, 2011 at 12:07 pm





243. I stopped going to Kotaku because most articles stopped being about video games. I still visit it every week or two to see how bad thigns have gotten. If there wasn’t a way to visit the site with the old interface I would stopped going altogether. The new one is fucking horrible.

     If I want to read video game news I go to Destructoid and VGChartz since they have nice sales charts.

     Comment by Q-veta on April 7, 2011 at 12:19 pm





244. @spyfoxguy: Dammit, I want to post that Kotaku comment on the Twitter feed. Too long, though. Great stuff.

     Like doing April Fools’ Day gags. Sure, internet always provides the chance that it runs thin. But hey, lighten up, will ya, internets?

     @Q-Veta: Yeah, the pickings are pretty Slim. The Destructoid guys at least show some personality. Sterling’s articles are always pretty good as well. Even if they aren’t, people complain about him and his tears will sustain me.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 7, 2011 at 6:14 pm





245. @ Mike: Can’t honestly say I feel the same about Destructoid. Sterling can make a good argument in a post, but he ruins it oftentimes stupid pointless images, that don’t have anything to do with the post.

     What’s your XBox Live Handle? I’d love to a comparison of games with yuz.

     Comment by Toadofsky on April 7, 2011 at 8:32 pm





246. to toad- Yeah, couldn’t have said it better. His shitty MS paint drawings can sometimes evoke a chuckle, though.

     to Mike- “The final verdict? If you can’t find a sexy cosplay Metroid making lesbian love with a sexy Samus co-ed, then you’re not on Games Killstorm!” I am disappointed, DemonG0ku4. Nintendo is for fags, dude. Like, dude, where’s the pictures of Cortana using her vitrual tits to give Guilty Spark a shower? Like, not cool man.

     to Q- I’ll try to get the combos down in Godhand now. I’d have to admit it confused me before, so thanks for explaining it to me.

     To all- Rust in Peace vs. Ride the Lightning vs. Master of Puppets?

     Comment by JamesL on April 8, 2011 at 9:41 am





247. @Toadofsky: I believe Jim wrote an article defending this, interspersing the article with various random pictures that had nothing to do with video games at all. I don’t agree with everything he says, but his candor is rather refreshing. His Jimquisition segments have convinced me he would be a professional wrestling manager in an alternate reality.

     @JamesL: It was the first cosplay picture I could think of. That Zelda picture seems to get posted everywhere. I figured that was a good fit, since it would go hand-in-hand with the laziness of most modern video game journalism.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 8, 2011 at 10:34 am





248. Ah, I see. I don’t think anyone would get that, though.

     Comment by JamesL on April 8, 2011 at 10:51 am





249. That’s my way to justify it. Saves me time. <3

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 8, 2011 at 11:41 am





250. Heh, heh. You’re starting to sound like me.

     Comment by JamesL on April 8, 2011 at 12:04 pm





251. Trying to finish up the beginning of the article that I’m working on. Just realized that I’m going to have to split the first part (of three parts) into two parts. This is getting terrifyingly long.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 8, 2011 at 3:20 pm





252. That’s awesome, because I always liked your writing ever since I found the site.

     Comment by JamesL on April 8, 2011 at 4:23 pm





253. Glad you do. I think most of the problem is finding a way to get it out there. I really don’t want to become a viral marketing whore. That’s not my personality. I think the writing has become quite good. At the very least, I’m touching a lot of areas that most people don’t seem to be capable of. And that’s not cocky. The field of game journalism™ has been getting table scraps for a while now. Not much money in it.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 8, 2011 at 4:25 pm





254. This website has changed my life.

     Comment by Turtleinshell on April 8, 2011 at 4:34 pm





255. @251 More like terrifyingly arousing. Or terranfyingly arousing, if you’re into bad puns.

     Comment by Truhan on April 8, 2011 at 5:38 pm





256. Well, I still need to polish some loose ends. The first part is basically done, though. I’d like to have it up early this morning, but tomorrow afternoon or evening is more likely.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 8, 2011 at 7:48 pm





257. @ Mike: I see your point, but I just can’t stand most game journalism, it’s fundamentally broken.

     Not to be kissing up, but you run circles around pretty much every game website/magazine and journalist.

     Now what’s your XBox Live handle, I’d love to find time to spar or compare games with ya…

     Comment by Toadofsky on April 8, 2011 at 8:37 pm





258. It’s okay to kiss my ass. Just give me hell when it counts.

     Oh, and as far as my XBox tag goes, I used to use ghettooverlord. You’re probably going to find a while bunch of rhythm games tethered into that account and not much more, along with some Halo 3. The account hasn’t been activated for about two years. Make of it what you would like.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 8, 2011 at 9:39 pm





259. You have a 360? http://www.play-asia.com/Mushihimesama_Futari_Ver_1.5_Platinum_Collection/paOS-13-71-br-49-en-70-3yu5.html

     Region free!

     And it’s in English!

     Oh science, I hope I did the fucking italics right this time. If not, I’m becoming an HTML celibate.

     Comment by JamesL on April 8, 2011 at 10:40 pm





260. YESSSSSSSS! ITALICS!

     Comment by JamesL on April 8, 2011 at 10:40 pm





261. @ Mike:

     Stick to PC and PS3 more? Just curious…

     Comment by Toadofsky on April 8, 2011 at 11:00 pm





262. To kill both your questions with one salvo: My XBox died about two years ago. I originally fixed the RAM soldering problem on my own. It was classified by Microsoft as an “overheating” issue they wouldn’t honor the warranty. Then the console went all “E74″ on me. I’m not replacing it until I can get a cheap Slim for used or somebody steals one and sends it to me. Both options give zero dollars to Microsoft.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 9, 2011 at 12:02 am





263. That’s MS for you.

     Anyway, why couldn’t you have been my brother? : ( We could play Brood War, make fun of fat people, write articles on video games, read schematics and solder shit, play some Ketsui, make a Stevie Ray Vaughan cover band… awesome.

     I’m buying a J360. For da reegin lawkd shmups, boyee! I’m thinking a Sega Saturn would be better though… Fuckin’ Radiant Silvergun! Oh wait, they’re porting that to the 360. So I guess I could just burn some dreamcast ISOs. Fuck yeah!

     Comment by JamesL on April 9, 2011 at 12:45 am





264. Heheheh, sorry about that. Looks like luck didn’t fall into place. Don’t worry, you can pretend I’m a brother if you want. We’re all friendly and cordial to each other on the internet, where everybody is friendly and cordial.

     But yeah, if you can make the purchase worth it, go for it. I don’t deny anyone the right to purchase the game. I only mock them if it’s necessary to do so.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 9, 2011 at 2:09 pm





265. Just to let you guys know, I’ll have the first part of the upcoming update live by tonight. Got some other things to take care of.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 9, 2011 at 3:09 pm





266. What are your thoughts on Modern Warfare 1? I kind of liked it (online) despite the shitty campaign because of the RPG elements. I really hated the lack of mods and the fucking boring setting though. It’s all brown, yellow, and gray. I bought the second because I heard it improved so much, I thought “fuck, I have half a grand to blow” and I bought it. *headdesk* How does a game with at least 500,000 people online on any given platform (‘sides PC) at one time take 2 minutes to join a fucking match? Pathetic. You make at least a billion in profits on a game and you can’t pay for goddamn servers? AUGH! But to rephrase the Q, what do/did you think about MW1?

     Comment by JamesL on April 9, 2011 at 7:05 pm





267. I think it’s one of the most stunning compromises between casual gamers and hardcore gamers in the history of the industry. Excellent game.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 10, 2011 at 12:23 am





268. Like I said, it was okay for a day or two. Far from good. Far from Quake. I knew MW2 sucked, but I just wanted people to shut the fuck up by buying it (because my opinion is less legitimate that I didn’t have it?). You do funny things with an asston of money to blow. Should of got dome DC shmups. Anyway, Epic needs to stop making shit and make a good UT game again. I loved the article, and I hope all these shitty FPSs die a horrible death. As a rule of thumb, anything based on WW2 and “modern war” will suck balls (sides’ urban terror? Never played it because I don’t have Q3 anymore). I thought the RPG elements were an okay idea, but the amount of grinding it required you to do was fucking unhuman. Then there’s “prestige”! “What the fuck? Why would I give up all the weapons I earned? That makes no goddamn sense!” So, I’d have to say MW1 was “tolerable” (if you play it for less that an hour) and anything else is total shit. I meant okay compared to anything else in the market (which isn’t very endearing) like MoH, Gaylo, and Queers of War (or as I like to call it, “duck and cover marathon”). Welp, I guess it’s time to pass off cock of doody to some unsuspecting dumbass and get Civ 5, a real game bitchez! Oh ya, what do you think of Civilization?

     Comment by JamesL on April 10, 2011 at 11:32 am





269. Oh shit, I veer off topic too much!

     Comment by JamesL on April 10, 2011 at 11:33 am





270. Let’s see what I have for the new article, shall we?

     /ID Software’s second franchise would be much different. It would be in the business of offending the market.*/ iD accidentally got autocorrected to ID. This didn’t happen to any other sentences starting with iD (all one of them).

     /Yeah, you could use the mouse./ The c in could is not bolded.

     That’s it! EXTREMELY well-writted with only two mechanical errors. I didn’t even find a sentence that I thought should be restructured or anything of the sort. <3333333333

     Comment by Truhan on April 10, 2011 at 12:36 pm





271. @JamesL: I remember somebody on another message board trying to imply that I don’t have the right to bash Call of Duty’s lack of innovation because I don’t play the game at a high level. This actually happened. I’ll be going into very specific detail what my issue with the tactical shooters are, so don’t sweat it. It shall be done.

     I am enjoying the hell out of Civilization and consider it a very ample substitute for replacing my addiction to Warcraft III and Starcraft II. I bought Civilization IV. I have it on very good word that Civilization V isn’t up to par, so I passed it on. Civilization IV pretty much has a reputation of being unparalleled. A couple of things are too powerful (If you’re playing with a leader who has the philosophical trait, you can run yourself up the entire technology tree with Great People instead of having to commit any resources to your technology slider), but nothing in the game that can’t be overcome by a good player. It’s a “balanced” game: The strength of items is determined by range of their utility (How many different situations is this ability useful?) rather than “X is better than Y”.

     @Truhan: Thanks for the nod. I was actually confused what to do with iD Software’s name. I capitalized it on purpose, assuming “always capitalize the first letter in a sentence” trumped “company naming conventions”. As for the second, I caught that just as you wrote that message. It’s already been amended. Glad to see I stepped my editing game up for this article.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 10, 2011 at 12:43 pm





272. @Mike People always say that to defend their interests. I say “How would you know you don’t like assfucking a dog?” or something similar to shut them up.

     Comment by JamesL on April 10, 2011 at 12:47 pm





273. I actually think a company’s name would trump “proper” English, but there was another sentence that you started with iD (so I figured you meant to lowercase the i but it got autocorrected or something). To each his own rules, I’m not gonna tell you which one is right or wrong (I’ve seen plenty of people do each style).

     Comment by Truhan on April 10, 2011 at 2:03 pm





274. @JamesL: In reference to what? I’m confused. o.o

     @Truhan: Yeah, I amended it. Went with your suggestion. Had to agree with you. Looks better that way.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 10, 2011 at 2:56 pm





275. In reference to forming an opinion on something you don’t actively engage in (i.e, CoD) or don’t own. So I say; “how would you know you don’t like assfucking a dog if you never tried it?”.

     Comment by JamesL on April 10, 2011 at 3:04 pm





276. Gotcha. “Judging a product you haven’t tried” is a skill that takes a very long time to develop. I’ve pretty much found I can do this with movies. Pretty good at it.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 10, 2011 at 4:59 pm





277. Oh shiiiiiiiiiii, does this mean you’ll throw up a review of Suckerpunch?

     Comment by Truhan on April 10, 2011 at 5:05 pm





278. I prefer movies to be movies and video games to be video games. I do not prefer movies to be video games. One star.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 10, 2011 at 9:07 pm





279. Sucker Punch? That movie looks shitty. I’m surprised none of you made a reference to the game developer as a joke anyway.

     My original question still stands, slightly revised for everyone to answer-

     Peace Sells vs. Rust in Peace vs. Kill Em’ All vs. Ride the Lightning

     Hm?

     Comment by JamesL on April 10, 2011 at 10:27 pm





280. Rust in Peace. Never been a fan of early James Hetfield’s voice (though Anesthesia is epic).

     Comment by Truhan on April 10, 2011 at 11:37 pm





281. Actually, it’s not too bad, but they overused the echo effect way too fucking much. I’d have to agree with you, because Friedman was the best Yin to Mustaine’s Yang. Definitely as good as Mustaine. I like the cover of “I Ain’t Superstitious” on Peace Sells a lot though. Blues and metal… awesome.

     Comment by JamesL on April 11, 2011 at 12:50 am





282. Metal IS blues. Metal just evolved from it out of Europe. Grunge is far closer to blues, though (I like all three genres quite a bit).

     Comment by Truhan on April 11, 2011 at 1:26 am





283. Yeah, very deep in blues roots. Grunge? You mean early grunge (pre-mainstream like Green River) or the “grunge” of the mid-late 90′s?

     Comment by JamesL on April 11, 2011 at 1:34 am





284. I mean early Alice in Chains (Heaven Beside You) and Days of the New’s first album (hard to listen to What’s Left for Me? and The Down Town and not feel the bluesy roots).

     Comment by Truhan on April 11, 2011 at 9:11 am





285. Oh yeah, definitely. I never liked Nirvana and later “grunge”… Never got the obsession some people had with Nirvana.

     Comment by JamesL on April 11, 2011 at 12:31 pm





286. Nirvana is kinda overplayed and I would call them punk more than grunge. Oddly enough, Days of the New is very late 90s as opposed to Nirvana’s early 90s revolution.

     Comment by Truhan on April 11, 2011 at 1:23 pm





287. This just in! The-Ghetto.org is Alexa ranked 3,746,311! How does that make you feel?

     Comment by JamesL on April 11, 2011 at 5:53 pm





288. Depressed.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 11, 2011 at 8:07 pm





289. Same. Ghetto-man should be famous enough to at least be living in a suburb. Too many people are idiots I guess (or maybe they’re too impatient to wait on his quality works).

     Comment by Truhan on April 11, 2011 at 9:52 pm





290. Now you’re 3,746,312! How are you coping with your newfound popularity and droves of women throwing themselves at your feet?

     Comment by JamesL on April 11, 2011 at 10:29 pm





291. Oh wait, that would mean you became less popular, d’oh. This is from someone in Algebra 2, also.

     Comment by JamesL on April 11, 2011 at 11:50 pm





292. I have a couple of things in mind for promotion. I’m still more concerned with developing the writing. I don’t think it’s quite good enough for the book. And yes, I think it’s inevitable that I give the book concept a stab. Why the hell not?

     Being the 3.7 millionth-most-popular web site doesn’t make me feel that thrilled, though. Eh, I’ll figure something out.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 11, 2011 at 11:52 pm





293. Your battle.net article is more renowned and well-received than battle.net 2. That might just have been some mixture of good timing, spot on accuracy, and sheer luck (any of those fifteen other “we hate battle.net” posts and articles could have gotten famous, but it was YOUR article so many people linked to to perfectly describe what everyone really thinks of it). Not that you didn’t deserve the praise. Those 4000 words were a true labor of love. Or hate. I’m not quite sure.

     Comment by Truhan on April 12, 2011 at 12:01 am





294. I’m gonna be dead honest: As far as structure and content goes, that is probably one of the worst articles I have written on this web site. It just happened I hit a niche and spoke from the heart on that one. Resonated with a lot of people. I’m definitely following that article up with another one. I want to go back and see how everything I said panned out.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 12, 2011 at 12:09 am





295. You can air episodes of Testicle Puppy-Eating Zombie Cops on the site.

     Comment by JamesL on April 12, 2011 at 12:26 am





296. I will look into this decision and I will consider it accordingly. Keep up the good work, sir.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 12, 2011 at 2:25 am





297. @294, I dunno. It seems pretty well-structured and omfg pictures. Pictures are among the best thing you can add to articles because, well, to paraphrase what you said in the next to last picture: A picture is worth 4000 words. There only seem to be a couple of errors (I won’t bother pointing them out if you’re going to revisit the subject) and only a couple of problems with sentence structure.

     Comment by Truhan on April 12, 2011 at 5:13 pm





298. Well, let’s put it this way: When I revisit the topic, you’ll see how much better my writing has become. This little hobby has been a complete boon for that.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 12, 2011 at 8:49 pm





299. Well, as long as someone makes a SPARTANS reference for post 300, I think I’ll be able to wait. No matter how much you hype the Battle.net 2.0 2.0 article. Unlike Greg Canessa, your only experience is not on designing a console and Popcap’s online systems.

     Comment by Truhan on April 12, 2011 at 10:57 pm





300. I’m definitely looking forward to the second part of the FPS article, since I’m toying with the idea of translating it (it’s what I do), if you don’t have anything against it.

     Comment by TB on April 13, 2011 at 3:53 am





301. Any thoughts on Anonymous and their attacks on Sony?

     I don’t entirely agree with Sony’s tactics (seeking IP addresses of people who viewed GeoHots web sites and videos). However, I don’t understand how Anonymous can claim this to be an “invasion of privacy” when they gladly hand out people’s personal information so that others can harass and threaten them, and do so in the name of “freedom of information,” or just “for the lulz.”

     Anonymous has proved that they are capable of using their collective power to do good things. But for the most part, I think they are just a bunch of immature hypocrits and cowards.

     Comment by iamKelly on April 13, 2011 at 9:00 am





302. Well, when a corporation does it, it’s “Big Brother” at work. Anon is not pleased by Big Brother tactics.

     Comment by Truhan on April 13, 2011 at 11:56 am





303. @Truhan: The separation between me and Canessa is better phrase as “I screwed up one fewer Battle.nets than Greg Canessa.”

     @TB: I would not have a problem with that. Not for a second. We could definitely work something out. What would be your preferred method of distribution? Another web site? As long as credit and a link are attached, I definitely wouldn’t be opposed.

     @iamKelly: Sony is complete assholes. Who the hell pays their legal team millions of dollars to go into the woods with a stick and hit a hornet’s nest? It’s probably difficult to justify what Anonymous has done in response, but it’s always totally entertaining to watch them go at it. Anonymous is simply a more violent manifestation of why people pirate video games, because they want to feel like they have a point of leverage against “teh evil corporations!!1″ Anonymous is that philosophy gone self-aware.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 13, 2011 at 5:15 pm





304. “A bald, naked woman with rings “orbiting” her head is explaining to me that the Sega Saturn is “out there”. Uh, yeah.” But the Sega Saturn IS out there! What the fuck was Sega thinking? I’m thinking of building a Dreamcast dreamcatcher so it can cast my dreams.

     Comment by JamesL on April 14, 2011 at 1:08 am





305. I usually post translations on my blog, which is really a mix of a translation repository and a portfolio. It doesn’t really make a difference to me where the end-product appears, though. I’ll fire off an e-mail once I’m done, and then we can work this one out.

     Comment by TB on April 14, 2011 at 2:47 am





306. The more I read into it, the more I realize how badly Sony is screwing this up. They just released details of the settlement with GeoHot and it’s pretty rediculous. I support Sony in their attempt to fight piracy, but this is just stupid.

     But then again, I’m also learning that Sony has a long history of doing dumb things to combat piracy.

     I could probably get more behind Anonymous if they went about things differently, but they really don’t help their position much. All their attacks did was turn people away from their cause.

     Comment by iamKelly on April 14, 2011 at 12:28 pm





307. @JamesL: I stand by the opinion I developed when I was about twelve years old: Sega the game developer didn’t fuck it up. Sega the marketer did. The Saturn and the Dreamcast are so criminally underrated that I think they’re risking the possibility of becoming overrated.

     @TB: When the article is finished, I can talk to you about that. I’m a little bit of a control freak, so I would probably favor hosting the translation on my web site. I would obviously give you credit and a link plug. What language are you looking to translate it into, anyway?

     @iamKelly: Sony spent millions upon millions of dollars to get an injunction against one man. The work he did is now public. Anybody else can now rip the console to shreds. The President of Sony would be better off going into the forest with a stick and hitting a hornet’s nest. It’d be a hell of a lot cheaper than suing people and getting the same effect.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 14, 2011 at 12:37 pm





308. One other thing: I’m planning to post all of the additions to the tactical shooter article in the same page. I’ll also go ahead and post a dummy article on the RSS feed and use it as a redirect to updates as they’re made. Can anyone present a valid objection to this?

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 14, 2011 at 12:50 pm





309. I’ll be translating this into Polish, and I’ll send it over once I’m done.

     Just to reassure you, I’ve done around 150 translations of single articles, I’ve translated a book, I am close to done with another one (or two, if God wills it), I’ve subtitled a show and two comedy specials, I’ve helped with localization of a game about boats (head of the project was probably sick and tired of the volume of corrections I’ve submitted), and I am currently working on translating an MMO – so it’s not like this is the first thing I’ve ever laid my eyes upon. Here’s my wonderful blog, though it’s in Polish: http://blattdorf.wordpress.com/

     Comment by TB on April 14, 2011 at 2:19 pm





310. Sucker Punch was terrible, just terrible. Easily one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. The action had no context it was just a LOL THIS IS SO RANDOM AND GEEKY LOL THE CAKE IS A LIE!!! sort of thing.

     About “Anonymous”. Are you people under the impression that Anonymous is not a bunch of self-entitled 14 year olds? It was funny when they it was a 4chan thing and people just did petty things for their own amusement:
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNO6G4ApJQY

     You see this Anonymous is legion, we do not forgive, we do not forget was never serious. It was an inside joke which there are plenty of on 4chan. What happened was in 2008 they did that Scientology thing and the popularity of 4chan soared (while the quality plummeted) so now everyone was going there. Since it mostly attracted edgy teenagers who think real life protests that accomplish nothing are cool they didn’t bother to figure out that the ANONYMOUS IS LEGION thing is a joke.

     ANONYMOUS is set to boycott Sony in their own stores on the 16th. They organized this whole thing on FACEBOOK. So yes, angry 14 year olds and nothing will happen. Perhaps another DDOS attack on Sony’s sites which will do nothing since they’re prepared for it now.

     About Geohot. I liked how he spent the donation money on his vacation (yes, the vacation might have been planned months before but that doesn’t change the fact that he could have cancelled it and gotten a refund so he could pay his lawyers).

     That was real classy of him. Also he said if Sony wanted to settle he’d want Other OS restored and an apology. He got neither. I don’t know WHY Sony sued him but I’m glad they did it. The guy is a huge attention whore.

     Comment by Q-veta on April 14, 2011 at 3:30 pm





311. @TB: Not a problem at all. Don’t doubt your acumen for a second. Ultimately, I won’t be publishing a translation until the article is finished. Once that gets done, you’ll have my word that it’ll go up. That’s an awesome thing you’re doing. <3

     @Q-veta: Anonymous is the Google of internet communities. People are just praying that they don’t turn on “the forces of good”. In the meantime, people will accept the benefits of their approach. I don’t fuck with 4Chan for a reason. They are one dangerous singularity.

     And yeah, I made a stink out of GeoHot going on vacation. What an assclown. “LOL SUPPORT MAH LEGAL FUNDS, WHAT DO U MEAN UR MAD I WENT ON VACATION I DIDN’T SPEND THE DONATIONS ON THA VACATION JUST MY OWN MONEY THAT COULD HAVE GONE TOO THA LEGAL FUND THAR’S A DIFRENCE!” Probably best for him that they settled. Dude was gonna get martyred hardcore.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 14, 2011 at 7:43 pm





312. So… what I am learning about all this is that everyone involved is an ass?

     Makes sense.

     Comment by iamKelly on April 14, 2011 at 8:41 pm





313. WoW, this video game is just like real life.

     Comment by Truhan on April 14, 2011 at 9:28 pm





314. You don’t fuck with btards.

     Who would win in a 3-way tag team MMA match? Churchill and Roosevelt sans-polio, Stalin and Mao, Hitler and Hirohito, or Vladimir Putin by himself? Churchill was a fatass, so he’s got the weight advantage… but Hitler’s a tiny bastard so he could be sneaky and administer a ball punch… What do you guys think? I put Putin by himself because he’s fucking awesome at judo.

     Comment by JamesL on April 14, 2011 at 9:31 pm





315. @iamKelly: Yeah, that’s the most neutral response I think I’ve heard on the matter.

     @Truhan: Oh really? :P

     @JamesL: “Putin, because he’s a fan of martial arts and is a practitioner of Judo” was coming off of my mouth before I even read your final sentence. I think that answers your question, sir.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 14, 2011 at 9:54 pm





316. G_O I think you misunderstood me. This recent Anonymous thing doesn’t seem to have anything to do with 4chan. I found about the boycott on the video game board and everyone was surprised this was actually happening.
     IT WAS ORGANIZED ON FACEBOOK, THEY BEING ANONYMOUS

     They even have their own press releases. Now the real 4chan was definitely behind that Jessi Slaughter thing. That was hilarious.
     What “Anonymous” (not or barely 4chan related) is pitiful. But yes you probably wouldn’t want 4chan coming down on you.

     Comment by Q-veta on April 15, 2011 at 2:55 am





317. I got bored while researching and decided to look more into Guy Fawkes, the guy who inspired the mask worn by V that all the Anonymous people hide behind.

     He was a Catholic who was hanged, drawn, and quartered for the 1605 “Gunpowder Plot,” an attempt to destroy the King of England and the English parliament in order to establish a Catholic rule in a Protestant dominated land. He and 13 other conspiritors attempted to do so by storing gun powder under the House of Lords and blowing them up.

     But this also led to researching the history of “hanged, drawn, and quartered.” There was apparently some total bad ass named Major-General Thomas Harrison who, while the executioner was disembowling him, sat up and punched the executioner.

     That is easily the best thing I have learned out of all of this.

     Comment by iamKelly on April 15, 2011 at 9:23 am





318. @Q-Veta: Oh. Oh. Ohhhh.

     I understand now. <3

     And yes, I don't plan on fucking with 4Chan ever. I will admire their work from a distance.

     @iamKelly: Yup. Guy Fawkes was pretty much one awesome son of a bitch. There’s a reason he gets his own unofficial holiday.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 15, 2011 at 1:10 pm





319. Word around the sperm bank is that Nintendo is gonna announce a new console at E³. Thoughts?

     Comment by Truhan on April 15, 2011 at 2:37 pm





320. Dood, Thomas Harrison needs to be celebrated. Anyone who can punch his tormenter while having his intestines pulled out deserves some pretty serious awesome points.

     @Truhan: It had better have at least 4 gigs of internal memory. I’m not saying that that is good, but it sure as hell beats the 512 MB the Wii came with.

     Comment by iamKelly on April 15, 2011 at 3:14 pm





321. Well, once again, word around the sperm (whale) bank is that the new console will be stronger than the PS3 and 360. But this is all rumors and smoke blowing at this point, just like deciding which is a stronger console, the 360 or PS3.

     Comment by Truhan on April 15, 2011 at 3:35 pm





322. Let’s hope this new console will have more than 10 good games this time and perhaps a launch with games that are actually good, unlike the 3DS. Just one good game at launch would be cool.

     Comment by Q-veta on April 15, 2011 at 4:36 pm





323. @Truhan & Q-Veta: Isn’t it funny how hardcore gamers screamed for years and years that Nintendo couldn’t keep doing what they were doing? Appealing to casual gamers and ditching the hardcore gamer? And while we didn’t correctly anticipate the backlash (we assumed that casual gamers would stop playing entirely, but are simply playing cheap games on Facebook and their iPhone), we correctly understood that Nintendo put themselves in a shit-hole? For the first time in its young history, Nintendo is the company rushing to market with their new console. They’re the company that sold eighty million Wiis. The company went for a hail mary and half-succeeded. Now they’re going to have a tough time convincing all those hardcore gamers they pissed off over the last fifteen years to come back.

     @iamKelly: Yeah, I don’t think I can disagree with that. That’s a pretty damn awesome way to head out, trolling the guy messing with your insides.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 15, 2011 at 4:41 pm





324. Guy Fawkes’s motives were religious.

     Comment by JamesL on April 15, 2011 at 4:49 pm





325. *shrug* I’d be willing to forgive Nintendo if they decided to get serious. I don’t even care if it’s not as powerful as the PS3. Just give me some good games and better functionality.

     I just think that in terms of business principles, Nintendo is still a better company than Sony or Microsoft. They just need to step up their game.

     Comment by iamKelly on April 15, 2011 at 4:57 pm





326. I’m not disappointed with the Wii, the Gamecube backwards compatibility is great and I can play old games I couldn’t otherwise (no, emulators do not cut it. I don’t want to play Metroid Prime at 25% speed).
     It’s just that besides the 3 Mario games, Mario Kart, Brawl, Metroid Prime 3 and Donkey Kong Country Returns I can’t think of a single game I would call great (I haven’t played Super Paper Mario yet, maybe that one is good). I don’t count Zelda and Resident Evil 4 since they’re just Gamecube ports and I already played RE4 on the PS2 a few years ago.

     The DS was a total disappointment for me. First thing I’ve gotten buyer’s remorse over (although I didn’t actually buy it). The 3DS looks to be more of the same (the Mario game they showed looks cool).

     I really hope Nintendo can manage more than 2 good games per year this time around.

     Comment by Q-veta on April 15, 2011 at 5:00 pm





327. The important thing to remember with Nintendo is that they NEVER sell a console they lose money on. The Nintendo 64 may have sold like shit. But they were making money off of each and every one of them. Sony, and particularly Sega, do the opposite: They sell/sold consoles well below marketable means. This isn’t a bad strategy, but it is the reason Sega fell. The idea is that lowering your console price below competitor’s prices (even if you can’t afford it) will increase the userbase, which increases game sales (which is where they make up the profit loss on console sales until the console sales become profitable).

     Nintendo’s higher royalty fee also keeps them afloat pretty well too. You would think they would have a LOWER royalty fee since they’re already making bank on console sales, but no. The free market decided on other consoles instead. Nintendo doesn’t make risky business moves, so I don’t think they’re anywhere close to falling.

     To put this in perspective:
     It was speculated the Sony was losing somewhere between $100 and $300 on each PS3 sale DURING launch (I’m sure the console is now profitable). The Wii, on the other hand, cost $250 but only cost $100 to produce. Nintendo has always done this, but they ended up getting a LOT more Wii sales than usual, so they were more profitable this generation. It’s no secret that the new Playstation and Xbox consoles are not intended to be released until the current consoles have fulfilled a 10 year lifecycle. Nintendo releasing a new console “mid”-cycle at a profitable price means they won’t have much competition until “their” mid-cycle.Their strategy seems to be a Nintendo console in every home and also an Xbox and/or Playstation console. Since they’re going to profit no matter what, maybe they think they can get an even bigger userbase by having an odd cycle.

     Again though, the console itself is pure speculation at this point. I myself doubt they would announce a new home console so goddamn soon after releasing an all-new handheld. Never mind that if they actually DO announce it at this E³, that just means it’s over a year from release (if I remember correctly, the PS3 was released in 06, so a late 2012 release would put it JUST past mid-cycle for the 360 and PS3).

     Comment by Truhan on April 15, 2011 at 5:10 pm





328. The Wii actually only made a profit of $6/console at launch. There is a misunderstanding about this 10 year life cycle thing. I know Sony said that the PS3 will keep selling for 10 years but that doesn’t mean they won’t release a new console before that. The PS2 is still selling and it’s been out for 11 years. The PS1 sold for over 11 years as well. They’ve always done 10 year life cycles it’s just that now they’ve said it out loud and everyone misunderstood them.

     Also Microsoft said the Kinect is the new Xbox. I don’t want to know what their next console is going to be in that case.

     Comment by Q-veta on April 15, 2011 at 5:15 pm





329. No, what Sony would have you believe is that developers are still making games for their consoles even after they push out a new one. The biggest PS2 exclusive release after the PS3 released that I can think of is God Hand. Sony lost quite a bit of money on the PS3 and on out-moneying HD-DVD that releasing the PS4 just to compete with one other console developer at a profit loss would be a bit risky. They would do what they did this generation – wait at least a year (maybe two) to gauge the market.

     As for $6 profit, I was actually recalling from memory a quote from the one and only Shigeru Miyamoto during a launch interview where he mentioned how much the Wii cost to produce. I’ll assume you’re right, but the point still stands – Nintendo doesn’t make risky business moves. They always profit on console sales. On the other hand, Nintendo doesn’t make risky business moves. For this reason, they probably miss out on quite a bit of profit they COULD be making. Again though, Sega fell flat on their face after doing this for just two generations (the Sega Master System was made as an alternative to the NES in markets that Nintendo didn’t sell in and the Genesis ended up making a profitable run in its cycle). Sega fell after two unprofitable generations (Saturn, Dreamcast, but also all those shitty add-ons like the Sega CD). Of course, this failure can be attributed to a plethora of other factors, including simultaneous development of multiple consoles (that ended up never being produced) and an in-house rivalry between Sega America and Sega Japan.

     Comment by Truhan on April 15, 2011 at 5:29 pm





330. I think you meant God of War 2. Persona 4 was the last game I can think of in late 2008. I bought my PS2 in late 2007 and it had a lot of great games. I still haven’t played everything I want. It doesn’t matter if developers stop making games as long as there are a lot of good games released already since you’re still likely to find a game you haven’t played but you’d still like. Also Sony probably sells the PS2 at a nice profit margin so it doesn’t matter if games are still being made or not.

     The PS1 and PS2 still sold well after 5-6 years because they were cheap and they had a huge catalog of games even if the PS2 was backwards compatible with the PS1 and the PS3 with the PS2 (well until they removed that). The same hasn’t happened with the last 2 Nintendo consoles (they were discontinued a year after the new Nintendo consoles hit). The PS3 could very well sell for 10 years, it looks like it’s got a lot of good games. I can’t say the same for the N64, Gamecube and Wii. Sure they have some incredible games, but Mario Metroid and Zelda can’t keep them selling forever.

     Comment by Q-veta on April 15, 2011 at 5:49 pm





331. Yeah, derp moment there. Though I think God Hand was released after the PS3 as well. But Nintendo can continue making consoles just because the ones they sell will always bring a profit, even if nobody buys them. Not supporting backwards compatibility and older consoles over time actually benefits them, in a twisted way (never mind the HUGE handheld market that will probably crash pretty soon thanks to smartphones). By not supporting their “bigger” install base, they force people into their “next big thing.” I’m willing to bet that this “next console” won’t have Wii/GameCube support of any kind.

     Anyways, bitches and whores, bring it on Ghetto-man. Please smash my face against a car with your epic knowledges.

     Comment by Truhan on April 15, 2011 at 6:02 pm





332. The rumors say it’s backwards compatible. God Hand wasn’t released on the PS3, maybe you’re thinking of the God of War Collection. I doubt Nintendo’s next console will be more successful than the Wii unless they come up with a whole new shitty gimmick that only 5 good games will use well anyway.

     I also doubt the 3DS will sell more than the DS. The 3D gimmick isn’t as interesting as the touch screen was on the original DS and it can cause headaches (it does for me). And the launch was terrible. It was like the PS2 launch in Japan except instead of Tekken it had Street Fighter and no games for a year.

     Comment by Q-veta on April 15, 2011 at 6:16 pm





333. Sony is actually beating Nintendo in the Japanese handheld market. That should say something about how poorly the 3DS is doing so far.

     But that will probably change when Nintendo finally gets their launch line up out there….

     I kind of view the 3DS the same I do Kinect: It’s a neat piece of technology, but so what?

     Comment by iamKelly on April 15, 2011 at 7:27 pm





334. @Q-v, No, I think I was thinking of God of War, but that God Hand is also a major PS2 game released after the PS3 launch. Sorry for my poor wording and thought processes.

     @Kelly I hate 3D. It was a neat piece of technology 50 years ago. It has the same problems the Virtual Boy had, sans red and black being the only colors. Its still impossible to play for any discernible amount of time, but at least there’s an option to turn it off completely. Unfortunately, I think the high production costs required in making a game 3D will really kill third party games for the 3DS (assuming the No Games Portable doesn’t REQUIRE 3D like the 3DS does).

     Comment by Truhan on April 15, 2011 at 8:26 pm





335. What I mean by neat technology is that it is capable of producing a 3D look without glasses. I also think that the impression having “depth” as opposed to images “popping out at you” is pretty cool. But that is it.

     I can’t wait for the country to suffer a migraine at the hands of 3D and finally give up this craze.

     Comment by iamKelly on April 15, 2011 at 10:47 pm





336. http://www.vgcats.com/comics/images/110329.jpg

     Comment by iamKelly on April 15, 2011 at 10:52 pm





337. That’s like the video game of my life. But yeah, no glasses is pretty cool, especially considering these $3000+ 3DTVs require $200 glasses that need to be plugged in. Oh, and there are NO 3D television channels. Fancy that, these 3DTVs are useless unless you buy 3D enabled Blu-Rays, which require a 3D enabled Blu-ray player! Yup, not all Blu-Ray players are able to be upgraded for 3D, so be ready to trash em! Luckily, the PS3′s body is ready.

     Comment by Truhan on April 15, 2011 at 11:31 pm





338. New update is now live. Absorb my intellect into your own. Drink from the chalice. Rise.

     And just to let you know, I’ve still yet to pick up a 3DS. I’ll let you know when I try the thing out and get a mind-shattering headache for my troubles.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 15, 2011 at 11:59 pm





339. Good. We pay you to play video games and become incredibly jaded and filled with rage. Not play videos games and enjoy them. Especially not games that are bound to give you a headgayche.

     Comment by Truhan on April 16, 2011 at 1:14 am





340. How do /you I/ get back there? — Yeah

     But “WE NEEDS STORYLINEZ!!1″ even caught /up the/ guys at iD Software, — “Up with the”

     Back to complaining.

     3DS hits you with “Headache.” It’s super-effective. It does 9001 damage.

     Comment by Truhan on April 16, 2011 at 9:07 am





341. Changes are in. Thanks a bunch. Think it would be fair to give you a credit for being unofficial editor for this entry.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 16, 2011 at 2:09 pm





342. http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/85633/anonymous-sony-store-boycott-fails-stores-take-defensive-action/

     Sony wins again!
     Now I hope you understand my explanation of Anonymous a little better.

     Comment by Q-veta on April 17, 2011 at 2:14 pm





343. Heheh, I got you. Don’t sweat it. Guess it’s back to Denial of Service attacks for them. o.o

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 17, 2011 at 7:55 pm





344. Off-topic, but what are your opinions on the Audi sport quattro? I think it’s a pretty sweet ride.

     Comment by JamesL on April 18, 2011 at 5:56 am





345. Of course, Anonymous is protesting every article that says it failed.

     I found one article (Nerd Reactor) where a guy claiming to be with Anonymous attacked the site because of a joke they made, accusing the site of “poor journalism.” Then another guy said “Yeah, he’s right!” The editors called the guy out on it, saying the two “people” had the exact same IP address.

     It sounds like it worked out better in Europe, though, with stores closing.

     Comment by iamKelly on April 18, 2011 at 2:17 pm





346. …even if Sony closed the stores preemptively.

     Comment by iamKelly on April 18, 2011 at 2:43 pm





347. @JamesL: I am not a car guy at all. I know nothing about cars. I just know that I need something with the stability and reliability to get me from place to place.

     I am the Mac fanboy of cars. *le sigh*

     @iamKelly: Sony also has a much more palpable presence in Europe. The XBox love is mostly an American thing. That, and population density probably makes it earlier to pull such a stunt. The twelve-year-olds on PlayStation Network would have needed their mom to drive them to the event and that wasn’t happening.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 18, 2011 at 5:15 pm





348. I’m not a car guy either (that being, it’s not one of my main interests- but a mild one). I just have an uncanny love for the Audi sport quattro.

     On another note, my Ys 3 remake download is finnito and HOLYSHITTHISGAMEISAMAZING.

     Comment by JamesL on April 19, 2011 at 7:40 am





349. Ware 2 dwnlaod? Ys was one of the few SNES games I had.

     Comment by Truhan on April 19, 2011 at 10:32 am





350. The store closing was explained. It was closed in Manchester because of a football match.

     Comment by Q-veta on April 19, 2011 at 10:39 am





351. How dare you besmirch the good name of football by calling soccer football. I don’t watch either sport, but I’m pretty sure this constitutes starting World War 3. We’ll see what the history books think of your “football” after a few blitzkriegs and nukes.

     Comment by Truhan on April 19, 2011 at 11:31 am





352. ….I could honestly see the world going to war with America on those grounds, actually. The world’s obsession with “futball” is violently insane.

     America would be the only nation to not give a crap about it, as if just to spite the whole world.

     But between “football” or “futball,” I’d rather shoot myself.

     Baseball, on the other hand…..

     Comment by iamKelly on April 19, 2011 at 4:38 pm





353. Just to let you guys know, I have to take a short break from writing the article. I need to purchase a game and I need to play through it to refresh my memory adequately. Didn’t want to hit a snag, but that’s what’s going to happen. Got an article or two in the meantime that I would like to go ahead and write, anyway.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 19, 2011 at 7:14 pm





354. Fine by me.

     Comment by Truhan on April 19, 2011 at 8:11 pm





355. @Truhan- they remade 3 with an overhead perspective based on hack-and-slash. Very awesome. I *cough “obtained” the ISO (.rar-ed into 6 parts) on a download site, burned it, installed it, went to Falcom’s website and installed the bugfix update, and patched it with the fan translation.

     @to all- My parents made me play football for a season. The only sports I can tolerate (or hell, even enjoy sometimes) are; baseball before roids and poor sportsmanship were so prominent, basketball (but I hate figureheads like leBron and Kobe. Dwight Howard seems like a nice and humble guy IRL.), rally racing, and high-level soccer/football/futbol. American football sucks the big one and I hated playing it.

     Comment by JamesL on April 19, 2011 at 8:14 pm





356. Oh yeah, this one kid used to pick on me. Then I leg sweeped him and stepped on his face with my cleats… That was the only fun all season. The rest of the team didn’t stop bothering me, they just thought the other kid was a fag “cause he got beat up by James”. The way teenagers’ minds work sometimes, eh?

     Comment by JamesL on April 19, 2011 at 8:17 pm





357. I don’t follow baseball, but it’s the only sport I’ve ever enjoyed playing (and not half bad at from years of playing). I love going to professional games when I get a chance, and traveling to Wrigley Field for a Cubs game is like a childhood dream of mine (but being from a small town, Chicago terrifies me o.O)

     For the past couple years, my friends and I have held an “anti-Super Bowl Party” in which we gathered to play various video/table-top games. The first year we did it was just to spite the fact that EVERYONE was watching it just because the Saints were in.

     Comment by iamKelly on April 20, 2011 at 8:50 am





358. Chicago is amazing. My stepbrother lived there once upon a moon (He’s married in Louisiana now. I warned him about the turmoils of married life, but alas, all he said is that I’m too cynical for a teen and that my mind would change. NOOOOOOO, NEVER! MWAHAHAHAHA! Never is most likely, but I’m not ruling out that all my neurons might die when I get older thus succumbing to marriage.). Also, I LUUUROVE the anti-super bowl party. I’ll have to do that sometimes.

     Oh guys, I just found out “Ys” is pronounced “ease”. As in, “I acquired this game off Mediafire with great ease/Ys”. Lolololol. I thought it was “eese”, as in “geese”, as in the plural form of goose, as in Geese Howard from Fatal Fury. “Reppuken! Deli rae!”

     Question because I’m too lazy to use Google but for some reason can exert more effort here and get poorer results (pretzel logic, I know)- Is it true that some IKEA have restaurants?

     Another- What do you guys think of films like “American Pie”? I personally think it’s all a load of shit.

     Another 2- Favorite non-chain restaurant and chain restaurant? I’d go with the Chinese place by my house and Chipotle.

     Wow, this is way off-topic. But hey, I’m bored.

     Comment by JamesL on April 20, 2011 at 9:16 pm





359. No typos or grammar errors in the new article, in case you’re wondering. Hopefully, this new message board will let me point out typos without problem. The wait is gonna hurt though :<

     Comment by Truhan on April 20, 2011 at 10:16 pm





360. The first year we did the anti-Super Bowl party, it was kind of a flop (because we found out that EVERYONE was indeed watching the Saints, even people who would normally not watch it). But this year we had a really good turn-out and a lot of fun.

     Two rooms of video games, another room for table top gaming, and a kitchen full of Super Bowl party food (because the only reason I ever went to Super Bowl parties was for the food)

     Comment by iamKelly on April 20, 2011 at 11:36 pm





361. That’s fucking awesome. Did you notice something? I mean, whenever my parents dragged me to a super bowl party the host always got the same poor-tasting food. No kettle cooked (WHICH IS THE SAME FUCKING PRICE)? Communism! Why do they always buy the shitty junk food? Every single time at every party besides mine, they have chips that taste terrible. Did any of you notice this to be true? I was going to hold a Nintendo World Championships 1990 repro cart tournament extravaganza. It never happened… : ( So, I haven’t been to a party in at least a year. When it happens, I usually bring mah DS and play MUHFUCKIN KETSUI!

     Comment by JamesL on April 21, 2011 at 12:50 am





362. I took my little sister to one of her high school’s football games. I was probably the only guy in the stands playing a DS.

     Comment by iamKelly on April 21, 2011 at 10:43 am





363. Holy shit, me too! The weird thing is (besides get-togethers with fellow gamers) I have only seen about 5-10 DS systems in public. Most were owned by little girls.

     mi padre tried to take me to some games, but I just ate an asston of food and played DS during them. I think the person next to me remarked on my lack of enthusiasm. AND I met a person who I was trying to un-friend at the time. NOO!

     “In late news today!; Gradius 6 was in development, but canceled! Riots filled with angry shmup players are flooding the streets! WHY KONAMI, WHY? WHY DID YOU DO THIS!” *newscaster joins riot* WTF! I WANT MAH GRADIUS, COCKSUCKAS.

     My q still stands- favorite chain and non chain restaurant.

     Comment by JamesL on April 21, 2011 at 12:21 pm





364. My dad tried desperately to make me a sports guy. He’s given up now and realized that in hindsight, he having forced me to play was mighty retarded.

     Gots Arab food. Be back soon.

     Comment by JamesL on April 21, 2011 at 12:23 pm





365. The ghetto, changing peoples life one article at a time.

     Comment by James_Woods on April 22, 2011 at 9:40 pm





366. I just figured out the male protagonist of the Hoenn Pokemon saga… is wearing a hat. I thought he had white anime-hair. That is the dumbest fucking hat I’ve ever seen.

     Comment by JamesL on April 22, 2011 at 11:06 pm





367. Video for you all- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn7-fVtT16k Einstein was better.

     Comment by JamesL on April 22, 2011 at 11:08 pm





368. And also, at 53 seconds in… “brane”. Physics pun.

     Comment by JamesL on April 22, 2011 at 11:09 pm





369. Well, since noone’s talked in an entire DAY (RAGE), I guess I’ll post an example of exceptionally poor writing.

     http://www.riftjunkies.com/2011/04/20/bard-mechanics-why-theyre-lame-and-how-to-fix-them/

     It’s hard to find a paragraph that is FREE of errors in this article. Even then, there are paragraphs riddled with a multitude of grammar or spelling errors to make up for the few clean ones. My only solace is that this guy (probably) isn’t getting paid anything.

     Comment by Truhan on April 24, 2011 at 8:42 pm





370. Let me go ahead and read that when I’m done with what I’m doing. May take a bit to get that way. I want to try and get this damn thing cleaned up before tomorrow.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 24, 2011 at 8:43 pm





371. Oh, and none of you saw that. AT ALL.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 24, 2011 at 10:54 pm





372. i saw

     Comment by isaw on April 24, 2011 at 10:58 pm





373. Dammit.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 24, 2011 at 11:05 pm





374. Me too. It’s alright, just take your time. Just needs a bit more work.

     Comment by Truhan on April 25, 2011 at 12:08 am





375. Forum layout is done. Now to deal with some logistics and I should be good to go.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 25, 2011 at 12:36 am





376. What are your thoughts on the Wii’s successor? You no doubt heard the rumors and it’s now been confirmed by Nintendo that they’ll show something at E3.
     http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2011/110425_4e.pdf

     Comment by Q-veta on April 25, 2011 at 3:29 am





377. If they go with the idea I’ve been hearing tossed around (the idea of having a screen built into the controller), I’m all for it. Henry Hatsworth completely opened up my eyes as to what you can do with a second playable screen and I hope they run with it. However, it’s wonderful to see Nintendo realizing how colossal a mistake they made with catering to the casual gaming market. Yeah, they profited in the short-term. They’re now going to be scrambling to get back the XBox and PlayStation audience. History says they’re going to have a very hard time doing that.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 25, 2011 at 11:52 am





378. If you already know where to find the forum, you can go ahead and re-register. I had to wipe the existing forum database to fix my error.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 25, 2011 at 11:40 pm





379. Oh deary me, did you manage to get help with your problem?

     Comment by Truhan on April 26, 2011 at 12:08 am





380. Sure did. Now I’m trying to fix one more thing and then I’ll be exporting content from WordPress over to the forums. Everything looks to be a go.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 26, 2011 at 12:39 am





381. http://www.the-ghetto.org/forums

     There you go, gentlemen. She’s now live.

     Comment by Mike Lowell on April 26, 2011 at 7:58 pm





382. BUMP

     Comment by PIES on July 26, 2011 at 4:29 pm

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