Messages

2951

General Gaming / Re: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

« on: May 01, 2011, 10:27:18 AM »

PlayStation Plus is garbage. It's the same thing as regular PSN, but you might get to download a demo a few days earlier, or get some bullshit DLC or something. It's useless, and their "gift" is a slap in the face to all customers. Ignorance and arrogance go hand in hand, btw.

I didn't say I was happy with the compensation, but I guess at least I get to do the inFamous 2 beta.

Like I said, my comment was pure speculation, but was just making a comment that so was Geohot's.  Ignorance and arrogance are mutually exclusive.  They can occur at the same time, but that doesn't mean there's correlation.

2952

General Gaming / Re: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

« on: May 01, 2011, 10:13:04 AM »

News out of Hirai's Press Conference: Sony estimates that 10 million actual PSN users had credit cards tied to their accounts.  All users will receive a free PSN download(s) (they do not say what the download(s) will be), 30 free days of Playstation Plus membership for new and existing PS+ members, and 30 days of Qriocity service.  They're also considering paying to replace affected credit cards.

More than what I expected (I assumed just a free trial of Playstation +), although it remains to be seen what these "free downloads" are (I would expect games released by Sony, themes, and cosmetic gifts).

GeoHot weighs in on the PSN situation: http://www.gamepro.com/article/news/219136/ps3-hacker-geohot-calls-sony-executives-crazy-arrogant/

Claiming no responsibility for the current incident, Hotz instead established his formal position on the PSN attack, insinuating that the hackers responsible make the modding community at large look bad. Hotz also took Sony's executives to task, stating that the engineers within the company were not at fault. Instead, Hotz implied that Sony's higher-ups provoked the hacking/modding community with arrogant attitudes and poor technical practices.

"Now until more information is revealed on the technicals, I can only speculate, but I bet Sony's arrogance and misunderstanding of ownership put them in this position. Sony execs probably haughtily chuckled at the idea of threat modeling.

 Sony needs to accept that they no longer own and control the PS3 when they sell it to you. Notice it's only PSN that gave away all your personal data, not Xbox Live when the 360 was hacked, not iTunes when the iPhone was jailbroken, and not GMail when Android was rooted. Because other companies aren't crazy."

I have no problems with Geohot, but he makes some broad assumptions about what is at fault.  I would wager it was executive incompetence before arrogance, although that is as much speculation as his post at this point.  Only Sony knows truly who is at fault at this stage.

2953

Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #18 Poll - Originals & Remakes Edition

« on: May 01, 2011, 10:05:47 AM »

The original Mega Man, however, is really not much fun. It was innovative and provided a baseline for improvement later in the series, and that's about it.

Crazy talk, crazy talk!

Although I might just be saying this because the 1st Mega Man is the only game in the series i've been able to make substantial progress on.  Anyone have a noob friendly megaman that I could cut my teeth with and then upgrade from?  I have the mega man collection for gamecube.

2954

General Gaming / Re: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

« on: April 30, 2011, 10:03:39 AM »

It doesn't matter anyway, I'll just wait for the lawsuit like everyone else and hopefully get something out of it. As long as it hurts SONY financially, the customers win.

The hack and theft of our info has definitely hurt Sony financially, but I would hardly call it a win for us customers who have this CC info lost.  You can claim that it finally forces Sony to take security more seriously, and our info will be safer, but the damage is always done.

This reminds me of when a McDonald's in my hometown was reported to have gotten people sick with Hepatitis C.  The whole McDonald's was shut down and basically quarantined, scrubbed from head to toe, and the employees were re-trained on the importance of cleanliness in the workplace (the ones that weren't fired).  That McDonalds might be the cleanest one in the planet now, but I doubt the people who got Hep C would say it was a net win for the consumer.

2955

Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #18 Poll - Originals & Remakes Edition

« on: April 30, 2011, 01:32:43 AM »

Have to go with Perfect Dark, if just to see if my nostalgia goggles have lied to me again.

I remember actually playing this game a lot more than Goldeneye.  Split screen with bots and making a makeshift divide for the TV made out of cardboard to prevent screen-watchers!  Look forward to the discussion either way.

2956

General Gaming / Re: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

« on: April 29, 2011, 10:32:00 AM »

That won't be good enough, and the lawsuits will come pouring in.

There's already a class action for it. 
 
Wasn't saying that compensation was adequate, just that it's the most I would expect from Sony, as that would cost them very little.
 
Ruh-Row
 

Security researchers said Thursday that they had seen discussions on underground Internet forums indicating that the hackers who infiltrated the Sony PlayStation Network last week may have made off with the credit card numbers of Sony customers.
The comments indicated that the hackers had a database that included customer names, addresses, usernames, passwords and as many as 2.2 million credit card numbers, the researchers said.
Kevin Stevens, senior threat researcher at the security firm Trend Micro, said he had seen talk of the database on several hacker forums, including indications that the Sony hackers were hoping to sell the credit card list for upwards of $100,000. Mr. Stevens said one forum member told him the hackers had even offered to sell the data back to Sony but did not receive a response from the company."

 

2957

General Gaming / Re: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

« on: April 29, 2011, 07:41:07 AM »

Every PSN user should get a $50 PSN credit.

Realistically, we'll be lucky to get a free PSN game, if anything.  Probably looking at maybe a free month of Playstation Plus, the way this article reads.

2958

General Gaming / Re: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

« on: April 28, 2011, 08:04:55 AM »

Well they just sent me a long winded email about what I can do to protect myself including contacting the FTC.

I don't have a CC on file nor have I used my PSN account since my PS3 was jailbroken back in October. Still, crazy ****.

I got that email as well.  Doesn't seem like it's any more information than what was posted on their blog, but I guess it's nice they decided to email users in case they don't read the blog regularly...7 days later...

2959

General Gaming / Re: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

« on: April 26, 2011, 05:05:52 PM »

Enner beat me to it.  Bad news all around. 

I'm not happy with the hackers that compromised my data, but I'm more-so angry with Sony.  They are the gatekeepers of mine and obviously millions of other users personal data in this circumstance, and were expected to have the proper checks in place to prevent such fraud.  It is deplorable that they could have such limited capability to defend against this type of intrusion.

Let this also be a lesson to people who rooted on the hackers throughout all of this fiasco.  You had every right to be upset at Sony for their recent actions that hurt their customers more than hackers, but it is apparent now that the consumer will be the one to pay regardless of who wins in this fight of corporation vs. pirates.

2960

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 240: They Call Him 'The Streak'

« on: April 25, 2011, 10:17:40 PM »

It is unreasonable of me to think the code name "Cafe" has to do with the idea of connectivity with other people?  When I heard the word I think social gathering with free wireless internet.  I can't help but think this is an inkling towards Nintendo putting a serious foot forward on their online infrastructure.

As unlikely as I think it is, I would really like to see the option to utilize a DSI or 3DS as a spare controller for the new Nintendo system.  I have the same problem with piles of plastic controllers that Jonny has, and would love to be able to use my 3DS as a second controller instead of having to drop $50 for a 2nd/3rd controller.

I actually started playing Chrono Trigger not to long ago too. Haven't put a lot of time into it, but I certainly hope to finish it soon and hear Jon finally complete it and get the biggest (?) cause of Lindemann Syndrome of his back. =P I played Fallout: New Vegas and while I did find it to be unstable with some minor freezes and long loading times, I found exploring and finding places to be intriguing and it was a surprisingly engaging experience for me.

Enjoy your playthrough.  Nothing like playing Chrono Trigger for the first time.  My first RPG was Final Fantasy VII, and I came back and played Chrono Trigger on PS1, and even the terrible menus and load times couldn't ruin my wonderful experience with that game.

Maybe i'm just getting old, or don't have enough time, but I can't bring myself to invest time in an RPG lately.  I end of thinking for a while that i've just grown out of the genre, but I love coming back to Chrono Trigger, FF IV, and the PS1 FF games. 

2961

Nintendo Gaming / Re: 1 year anniversary of Monster Hunter Tri game day with Nintemple.com and NWR

« on: April 20, 2011, 04:11:45 PM »

Appreciate the invite, Maxi, but I'm pulling in 60-80 hour work weeks while finishing up my final Masters course, so now's definitely not a good time.

Also, i've only gotten a total of 3 hours in Monster Hunter Tri, and haven't even gone online yet :

2962

TalkBack / Re: The Best 30 DS Games

« on: April 20, 2011, 04:03:26 PM »

I like this feature, mostly because most of my DS games are either franchised Nintendo games or re-makes of prior games.  My owned games are:

• Chrono Trigger
• Yoshi's Island DS
• Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
• Zelda: Spirit Tracks
• MarioKart DS
• Final Fantasy IV
• Super ScribbleNauts
• Dragon Quest IX (Have only played an hour, will probably need to start over because its been a while since i've played it)

I've played the Phoenix Wright Game (the 1st one), and liked it a lot, but feel like its gameplay will have diminishing returns for me, so I don't own any of them.  Radiant Historia is on my possible buy list once I get more $, because i've gotten back into Chrono trigger, and i'm starting to desire a new RPG fix.

Anyway, anxiously awaiting more off this list.

2963

TalkBack / Re: Next Nintendo Console to be Announced in June?

« on: April 15, 2011, 09:51:22 PM »

Flash memory is cheap enough nowadays that a cartridge based system could easily be a reality. So long as the save file and any additional DLC is also stored on the cartridge, I wouldn't really have an issue with it.

I, too, would love the ability to only access my games and write save files a million times before it can NEVER BE USED AGAIN.

Every game delivery system has a shelf life (the exception arguably being digital tied to some account, but you could argue that has a limited shelf life as well).  Have you never gotten a disc scratched beyond repair?  I for one would gladly take cartridges over discs again.  No more worrying about friends leaving discs on their sides leaning against a wall and getting scratches.

2964

TalkBack / Re: Next Nintendo Console to be Announced in June?

« on: April 15, 2011, 01:59:46 PM »

Realistically speaking, Sony (and as of late, Microsoft) have stated that they intend on supporting the PS3 & 360 for 10 years.  I could see Nintendo releasing their new console next year, riding that console until the PS4 & XBOX over9000 comes out, and then work on the next iteration. 

2965

TalkBack / Re: Next Nintendo Console to be Announced in June?

« on: April 15, 2011, 12:20:10 AM »

Here's my wish for the Wii2/SuperWii/NES6.0:

Wii motion plus controls for Wii 2 games.

Start that as the standard right out of the gate so every game has that functionality.  Also, it'll mean I won't have to buy another set of plastic peripherals for another new system.  I already have the following for my Wii

- 2 Wiimotes
- 2 wii motion plus adapters (I'm stupid for being an early adopter to this, when I should have known they would come out with a wiimote that didn't require the stupid cheap plastic attachment)
- 2 nunchucks
- 2 Driver wheels
- 2 Classic Controller
- 1 Classic controller pro
- 2 gamecube controllers

While I'm afraid this won't happen due to retailers needing something to sell to make a profit, I really wish it would be considered, and frankly, it wouldn't be a half-bad idea for Nintendo to adopt this strategy.  Could possibly give those sought after Casual players more incentive to buy the New system if they know they don't have to buy more plastic to go with it.

2966

Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive #17: Legend of the Mystical Ninja (SNES) - Official Discussion

« on: April 15, 2011, 12:10:36 AM »

Maybe I've just lost my old-school platformer chops, but although there are some things I like about this game, I can't stand many old game conventions that exist here.  This game screams shitty Konami 8-bit platformer with 16-bit graphics.  Let's count the ways this game fails.

- The upgrade system for the weapon like castlevania, but shitty.  It's like having to start in NES TMNT with Raphael, kill enough enemies to get upgraded to Leonardo, and then Donatello, and then get hit and be back to Raphael again.  It would be a lot more acceptable to have to re-collect the weapon upgrades every time you died, but I find it to be too much punishment for a single mistake as-is.

- I wish you could use your weapon diagonally.  The angles for the first boss (hitting the discs) were surprisingly hard, and I got a game over before beating her.

- The overworld parts feel like pointless filler.  I got to the second land, and toyed around with some of the games, breaking blocks a la arkanoid knockoff, and spent money training, but don't quite get how it benefited me.  How about we go through the platform stages and inbetween stages we can choose to spend $ on these diversions.

A key to fun in a platformer is that it should be enjoyable to just do basic movement.  That's why games like Mario and Shinobi III are so great: it is fun to do basic movement.  This game is sluggish, and then they flood the screen with enemies that slow you down entirely too much.  It just isn't fun.

Ok..that was a lot more pessimistic than I meant to make it, but re-thinking it, all these negative points sort of take away from any merit I could mention regarding this game.  Someone tell me if I'm missing the point of something, but I personally hate justifying a few levels of tedium so I can get to the defining reason why a game is fun.

2967

TalkBack / Re: Next Nintendo Console to be Announced in June?

« on: April 14, 2011, 11:21:32 PM »

I agree with everyone here who mentioned "Super Wii" as a possible next console.  NES 6 sounds too much like the Friday the 13th & Nightmare on Elm Street sequel counts, and Wii is too much of an equitable brand name to let go.  Nintendo may want to recapture some of the hardcore market, but they sure as hell don't want to relinquish their casual appeal that printed them money for the last generation.  Nintendo's stockholders wouldn't stand for a hardcore gamer-only approach, because it would completely hamstring their potential consumer base.  The Name "Super Wii" in my opinion bridges the gap between hardcore and casual gamer, as the "super" is nostalgic of the Super NES (many hardcore gamers consider this system the "golden age of gaming") while the "Wii" has the mainsteam appeal and instant brand name recognition.

2968

TalkBack / Re: Possible Wii Price Cut Next Month

« on: April 13, 2011, 11:50:38 PM »

I hope this happens.  Mine has been on the fritz, and makes a loud whirring sound as if it's about to takeoff like a helicopter.  Not only that, but it has disc read errors pretty consistently when playing Brawl & Kirby's Epic Yarn. 

Not only that, but I've been jonesing getting a Black Wii.  Will look really nice with the rest of my entertainment center.

Anyone know what kind of policy Nintendo has of transferring Virtual Console games between systems if you're purchasing a 2nd console?

2969

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Game Series that Need to be Reborn on Wiiware

« on: April 12, 2011, 08:44:58 PM »

A few games I wouldn't mind seeing a revival are Haunting Starring Polterguy and Mutant League Football.  I think both of those franchises would be legitimate if given not only a fresh coat of paint but maybe a bit of a gameplay overhaul.  Both are personal favorites from my childhood.

2970

NWR Forums Discord / Re: RFN Boxquotes

« on: April 12, 2011, 08:36:07 PM »

I like the concept of this thread:

2971

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 238: RFN Backstage Assault!

« on: April 12, 2011, 12:12:32 AM »

  He just cut the discussion because "they had no time".

One of the worst podcasts in recent memory. The pokemon discussion was terrible. I'm not the EV/IV guys (Only ever played Red and Black) but a lot of the stuff you said just blew my mind. You guys dont know how to check the stats of the new move? Really? The evolution bitching? There is only one positive in not evolving a pokemon and the game DOES tell you. I also don't understand how the obssessive community can ruin your experience. That's just stupid. The annoying as **** fighting community has never taken away the fun of playing Street Fighter or any fighting game from me. I just play em the way I want and have fun. Pokemon is as simple or as complicated as you want it to be and you guys are trying to play it the complicated way even though you really wanna play it in the simplest form. It's your own fault not pokemons.

Nintendos games are mostly developed by japanese people. The art designer are often heavily influenced by "anime ****". Games like pokemon, zelda, kirby, donkey kong, mario, metroid all have that anime **** style all over them. the only games that are not really like anime **** are the realistic games (1080, wave race. although the illustrations for those games are borderline anime **** as well) and games that have simple styles like puzzle games or games with miis (which also feature a lot of anime **** googly eyes and super deformed porportions)

In other words, Nintendo games mostly feature art design that is essentially "anime ****".

lol.

2972

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 237: Shiny New Toy

« on: April 09, 2011, 09:48:33 AM »

So, I've been lurking this thread for the past week and looks like not very many people enjoyed the Game Genie as much as I did (or its just drowned out by all the anti-Nintendo talk).

SFII + Game Genie Air Moves was amazing.

"What system?  What game?  What code?" 

Anyone else?

 

I never owned one, but my friend did when we were about 12/13.  We usually used them for infinite lives cheats so we could see the end of games that seemed impossibly hard at the time for NES.  He also got a game shark for PS1 for things like unlocking all the secret cars in Twisted Metal.  When we got PS2s, it didn't seem like we needed one because I remember the cheats usually being added as either rewards for completing tasks or just as additional things to toy around with, like GTA having spawn tanks or flying mode.

Fun to tinker around with, but to be honest I was never that enthralled with them. 

2973

Podcast Discussion / Re: Episode 237: Shiny New Toy

« on: April 07, 2011, 02:29:52 PM »

In the end the true blame for the lack of quality 3^rd party exclusives lies with the consumer base of the Wii.
No, not us Nintendo devotees, but the “casual” market who Nintendo catered majorly to, and it’s not like I blame them, because it brought them massive success in hardware sales.  Not only that, but Nintendo will also make bank on their software sales, because Mario is a known commodity by now, so everyone that owns the system looks to the Mariokarts and New Super Mario Bros for their extra games if they get anything outside of Wii Sports and Carnival games.

The problem is that these casual gamers will buy somewhere around 2-4 games, while people like me (and I assume you all as well) buy in the 10’s & 20’s of games.  Because 3^rd party developers believed they could sell a “core” product to the casual market and rope them into “serious” gaming, we were given a few projects like Madworld and No More Heroes.  If I recall correctly, neither had stellar sales, which gave these developers more of a reason to think there is less incentive for them to produce “serious games” for it, so you see things like movie-tie ins, games based off game shows, PS2 & PSP ports, & dumbed-down versions of PS3/360 games.  This is done by them for the same reasons you see spoofs like “Meet the Spartans” and “Vampires Suck” come out: make a game for the least cost possible, and then even if the game sells very little, it’ll still be a success because it made a bunch of money on such a small cost. 

From a business perspective, it makes more sense for these 3^rd party developers to sell to PS3/360/PC owners, because they will develop it for the weakest format and sell it on all of them.  The last attach rates I saw showed that these system owners buy more games on average than the Wii owner, which developers take as proof that there’s more likelihood that the game they release on these systems will have a better chance of selling.  Because of the hardware limitations of the Wii, they cannot be included in this process because it would take effort to “dumb-down” the graphics and gameplay to deliver a similar experience.

In our defense:
Although that’s my perception of why 3^rd party developers neglect the Wii, it doesn’t mean I agree with them.  If these developers were able to sell to the PS2 successfully, then there’s no excuse why they can’t do the same with the Wii.  This is one of the few times I’ve seen a system with the highest installed base have the least compelling set of 3^rd party games.  Although the system isn’t as powerful, the development costs should be much less than HD games, and you would think this would compel developers to work on quality titles on a smaller budget for the Wii.  As an example, I can’t believe it would be that hard for Rockstar to make a GTA game at least comparable in quality and scope as the PS2 versions.

2974

General Gaming / Re: The new PSN EULA is a pile of Poo!

« on: April 03, 2011, 08:17:45 PM »

In the US, there's legal distinctions between lost, misplaced and abandoned property. I dunno if anyone could sue over it, but that's still messed up. You know your money is there. It's your money. You should use it when you need it.

This is what I thought of when you wrote "It's your money.  You should use it when you need it".  Not sure if that's how you intended it.

2975

NWR Forums Discord / Re: Superheroes that should have their own movie

« on: April 03, 2011, 08:14:17 PM »

I know he's not necessarily a superhero, and it's extremely unlikely it'll ever happen, but my teenage self would squeal with joy if this comic book series became film bound: