Messages

176

Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Wii Zelda

« on: December 09, 2009, 07:50:27 PM »

i do agree that Nintendo need not listen to their whiny "hardcore" audience.

But note that this includes not listening to the whining about how great the cel-shading was and how TP was a sellout -- whether anti- or pro-cel-shading, it's the same annoying type of person doing the moaning.  The bulk of the audience probably doesn't care either way.

177

Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Wii Zelda

« on: December 09, 2009, 07:30:54 PM »

i'm kinda getting sick of that term

Which one? Zeltards or Whiny Nintendo Fans?

Because no matter what, Nintendo can never win against them. A sad state of reality it is.

i'm kinda getting sick of that term

Hmm, let's use a new one:  celtards!  Like peachy...

[disclaimer: I liked WW, though it wasn't as good as TP; I'll be happy whichever style Nintendo uses for a sequel.]

178

General Gaming / Re: Sony getting hit Hard lately

« on: December 09, 2009, 07:27:36 PM »

This sounds to me like the sort of thing some modder/hacker would release a how-to guide for. Depending on how much a new battery costs, it is probably a lot cheaper than just buying a new controller like Sony expects you to.

The nice thing is, since a new controller is not that expensive, it's a perfect project for those who like tinkering -- if you end up destroying it, oh well, you just buy a new one like you would have anyway.   [er, well unless you're like me, and happy to just use it wired... hmmm]

179

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 w/ M+

« on: December 09, 2009, 07:25:26 PM »

Tiger is a player and you have to play if you want to win.
You could learn a thing or two from the guy.

He also illustrates the fact that if you play, you could lose...

It's downright pathetic really:  he was rich, successful, super popular, married to an extremely beautiful and appealing woman -- and yet decided to play around with skanky cocktail waitresses in vegas?!  Christ man, if you're going to risk it all, at least show a modicum of taste in the process!  AFAICT, he was basically just humping anything that moved...

180

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Wii Sales Thread

« on: December 09, 2009, 07:12:51 PM »

It's stuck, and it shows the non-casual market is shrinking and insignificant compared to the real game market.

Well, it could certainly also be in part due to flaws in the game.  While I think MG is lots of fun, it's hardly perfect -- the individual levels are often wonderful, but eventually start to seem a bit samey (you replay the same environments multiple times after all), and the hub is boring; I often found myself feeling not very compelled to seek out the next level ...

Also, a mechanism to help people get past hard points is pure genius.  I like having to build my skills and get past a sticky part, to some degree, but there's a point at which I just get tired of it, and if I can't progress further because of that, I'll often just stop playing the game altogether when stuck like that.  That's a shame when the game it generally fun, and it would be nice if games had a way of dealing more explicitly with such issues -- great game design is extremely important, but it's very hard to make something which fits all players...

181

General Gaming / Re: Sony getting hit Hard lately

« on: December 07, 2009, 10:49:11 PM »

http://customsites.yahoo.com/financiallyfit/finance/article-108318-3394-3-gifts-you-may-want-to-avoid-html?ywaad=ad0035

Yeah, that was so stupid of Sony to include a controller that recharges right out of the box.  What a bunch of jerks.

I agree, the Sony controller is pretty nice (well it has the annoying PS control layout, but I mean the batter/recharging/etc scheme); if it eventually conks out after a year or two, well whatever, the replacement costs are low enough that I don't really care that much if I have to replace it (and wouldn't it continue to work in wired mode anyway?).

[actually, I have a very small living room, so I just use the PS3 controller in cabled mode most of the time ... I might not even notice if the battery failed!]

That whole article seems pretty lame; it's not exactly wrong, but it takes minor problems and tries to inflate them way too much.  I get the feeling the author had a deadline he was about to miss and just spewed out an article summarizing the first few hits his google search found...

182

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories coming December 8th

« on: December 07, 2009, 10:43:28 PM »

So since basically 98% of all game journalists are clueless, lazy, and corrupt, what are some game review sites that are actually good?

NWR of course (honestly, this site has some of the best reviewers I've seen), but what else...?

Also since pixlbit.com is made by former NWR guys, I'm assuming it'll be good too (not so many reviews there yet though, and covering all platforms means they're gonna be spread more thinly).

183

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories coming December 8th

« on: December 06, 2009, 09:01:23 AM »

Hmm, what's wrong with "flashlight gaming", and fatal frame in 4 particular?  Of the games mentioned, I've only played "fragile", and while the game itself has serious issues, the controls seem perfectly fine...

[I've seen a lot of people whining about FF4, but no clear explanation of why...]

184

TalkBack / Re: How PR Companies Butter Up Mr. Lindemann

« on: December 05, 2009, 06:35:50 PM »

Call it a Funhouse-Honorary Knighthood.

If you were really knights, you'd be wearing iron pants!

BTW, the really creepy thing to me would be knowing the sender had my address...

185

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Cuts Back on Wii Manufacturing Orders

« on: December 04, 2009, 06:15:11 PM »

Oh god, are we on the "by releasing newer, compatible, hardware Nintendo is forcing me to upgrade!!1!  they are denying me my fanboy rights!!!" whine again...?

186

Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Wii Zelda

« on: December 02, 2009, 10:53:37 PM »

its really hard to say what the best zelda game is, it really depends on which order you play the games in, and your tastes.

Sure.  Anyway, the point is basically that although there certainly was too much silly whining about WW's look, and no doubt TP's look was partially in reaction to that, the conclusion Peachylala seems to be pushing, that TP is thus an inferior game, is absurd.  TP stands on its own quite well, and is in many ways arguably a better game than WW.

187

TalkBack / Re: Nintendo Cuts Back on Wii Manufacturing Orders

« on: December 02, 2009, 08:36:53 PM »

Also note that the super-strong yen is lethal for export-dependent Japanese manufacturers, and I imagine Nintendo falls into that category to some degree (not as much as some other companies, but the Japanese domestic market isn't exactly in the best of health either...).

188

Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Wii Zelda

« on: December 02, 2009, 08:31:37 PM »

Of course, twilight princess was one of the best zeldas ever, so it's hardly like it makes much difference...

It was also predictable, and also was OoT 2.0 with more shades of REALISM.

On the contrary, I thought TP was a far better game than OoT or WW.  Not for the presentation (though of course that was a huge improvement over OoT), but for the tone and to some degree characterization -- Midna and the twilight realm (or whatever it was called, I forget) were fascinating and compelling, and really made the game (Midna is one of the best game characters I've seen in ages, in any game).  The dual wolf/link thing was very cool too, and made the game more interesting. The non-twilight parts were well designed and a lot of fun, but of course pretty traditional.

At the time early in the game when you're clambering across the castle roof in twilight, I just went "wow!", because it seemed so cool, and so unlike any experience I'd had in a zelda game before.

[Note that I liked the WW "look" a lot, and some of the plot elements (the whole concept of "the old hyrule lying under the sea, waiting..."), but as a game, WW was kinda meh, and overall seemed just as by-the-numbers as other zeldas.]

189

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Wii Sales Thread

« on: December 02, 2009, 07:20:47 PM »

Jesus Christ Nintendo, it's about fucking time you beat the PS3 in Japan again.

I rather like them splitting sales evenly, it seems the healthiest state of affairs in the end.  Much as I like Nintendo, I think it's better if there's a healthy competion (and the xbox, being from MS, is inherently unhealthy).

190

General Gaming / Re: Microsoft's Project Natal

« on: December 02, 2009, 07:17:40 PM »

Oh and the term "hardcore news sites" make me think of a bunch of frat boys hanging out trying to run a news site, taking drinks everytime they're editing a story and come across a typo or playing other games.. like how fast can you right an article and how many insults can you throw in there.

The Japan Times (http://www.japantimes.co.jp), despite being a real newspaper with a fairly large circulation and a long history (founded 1897!) always struck me as being written by frat boys.  I imagine this is because, being an English newspaper in Japan, they find it hard to find real journalists, and end up relying on the inebriated losers that make up most of the expatriate community...

Maybe it used to be better, back in the day.

191

Nintendo Gaming / Re: 光の４戦士 FF 外伝 (hikari no 4 senshi FF gaiden)

« on: December 02, 2009, 06:55:39 PM »

Is this out in the states? First time I heard of this.

Only out in Japan, AFAIK.

192

Nintendo Gaming / 光の４戦士 FF 外伝 (hikari no 4 senshi FF gaiden)

« on: December 02, 2009, 06:49:15 PM »

Nobody else seems to talk about this...

but... I've been playing this game for a while, and despite being maybe the most formulaic JRPG ever, it's really really fun!

Well, the gameplay is very traditional and simple, but the presentation takes good advantage of the DS, with stylish "3d posing as pseudo 2d" graphics, etc.  [Walking around in towns uses a funny style where it's like you're on the surface of a small sphere: parts of the town near you are drawn like a normal 2d rpg, but more distance areas sort of rotate into place]

Art style is cool, I didn't like it at first, but after about 20 minutes, I started to love it.  Cute and cool pastel colors, manages to stand out a bit from the usual styles, and maintain a nice relaxed vibe...

Turn based fighting that's maybe a bit too automated -- the computer decides who to attack or heal!  But it basically works out once you get used to compensating for that, and the battles really seem to flow.  Battles can be challenging and long (even non-boss battles in some cases), and sometimes you really need to back off and go get different equipment to succeed (annoying if it's a long track back to a store!!), but are always manageable in the end.  Some occasional grinding helps, but nothing crazy is required.

Extremely high random encounter rate, but I don't really mind because I find battles to be pretty fun.

It seems to have managed to take everything I didn't like about JRPGs in the past and make me like them...!

Anyway... simple simple, fun fun.

193

Nintendo Gaming / Re: Official Wii Sales Thread

« on: December 02, 2009, 05:03:33 PM »

Boy, look at the PSPgo ... go....

194

Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Wii Zelda

« on: December 02, 2009, 05:00:15 PM »

Of course, twilight princess was one of the best zeldas ever, so it's hardly like it makes much difference...

195

Nintendo Gaming / Re: One-third of Wii owners are female?

« on: December 01, 2009, 08:23:23 AM »

....
Girlz Play Too!

What is that, some sort of Ubisoft special bundle?

Perhaps a class project from a course on "condescension in marketing"?

196

TalkBack / Re: DSi LL a A

« on: December 01, 2009, 03:24:39 AM »

Hah, you just watch, while we all get all the best spots in the graveyard!

197

TalkBack / Re: DSi LL a A

« on: November 30, 2009, 07:43:42 PM »

That seems about right.  Since then I've noticed little things like small wrinkles under the eyes, a slight double chin that NEVER goes away regardless of what shape I'm in, back hair, and worst of all THINNING HAIR at the crown.

Back hair?!

I don't think that's age, Ian...

198

TalkBack / Re: DSi LL a A

« on: November 30, 2009, 08:16:29 AM »

I believe that is my lawn you're standing on.

199

Nintendo Gaming / Re: New Wii Zelda

« on: November 29, 2009, 09:43:25 AM »

headgold is a euphemism for lice, isn't it?

that's disgusting

200

TalkBack / Re: REVIEWS: C.O.P. The Recruit

« on: November 28, 2009, 09:46:11 PM »

Are you kidding?  You aren't Zach.  Zach writes a blog, and then I turn it into a review.  I INFUSE it with headgold if you will.  Zach gives me gold, I make it HEADGOLD.

Thus, the stethoscope?