What you say is true, and kinda funny. But Japan only "gets" a lot of cool stuff before the U.S. does because Japanese companies actually produce it and market it to Japanese consumers, who are accustomed to paying for cool new stuff on a regular basis. Because of this, I think Japanese technology exhibits more of a sense of whimsy than American technology does. American stuff tends to be cool in totally different (sometimes geekier) ways, so there's a general equilibrium IMO.
However, I don't see how your point applies here. Online gaming is primarily an American innovation; in fact, this announcement of Square's is really only of interest because it lets us know a little more about how far along the whole FFXI project is coming along, not because the clever Japanese have "done it again."
Yes, but Smilebit is a Sega development company. This effort shows at least some initiative on the part of Sega themselves beyond just publishing some cool game they found; they basically funded the development of these games.
Yes. A shipping product beats theoretical vapor every time, or, as previous generations would have said it, "A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush." But, that doesn't mean the product couldn't have been done right the first time (particularly with the apparently large number of folks who had made recommendations that would have improved the spec, which the yENC author is only now hacking into it). I believe this is the article author's point.
< tofuhead >
Technical arguments against yENC, blah
on
Usenet Encoding: yEnc
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
It should be pointed out that this site, linked from yENC's own website, goes into more technical detail regarding the technical flaws of yENC. The fact that it's linked from yENC's own site is proof that the author is at least familiar with the concerns that people have with his implementation.
I personally still find it difficult to argue against the article author's point that THERE WAS NO RUSH to force yENC out the door in such an unpolished form. After so many years of waiting for something better, why ignore the recommendations of those you are trying to help?
As an avid console gamer who had stopped gaming for a couple of years after the PSX succeeded the throne of console dominance from the Super NES, I understand _exactly_ what you're talking about. In my absence from the gaming world, I lamented the "death" of 2-D at the hands of ugly, boring, primitive 3-D graphics. Even within the SNES era, people raved over games like StarFox, a 3-D game which had very little appeal for me, but which for many was a vision of how games should look and play. Meanwhile, I foresaw that it would be many years before 3-D graphics would even approach the beauty of sprite-based graphics, and that's turned out to be true IMO.
However, it should be noted that there are examples of games that utilize 3-D graphics while maintaining 2-D gameplay and feel to great effect. One example that comes to mind for no real reason is ThunderForce V, which is a great horizontal-scrolling shooter (aka shoot-em-up or "shmup") that uses 3-D graphics which are small enough to be somewhat detailed. The kicker comes when encountering boss enemies, where the camera seamlessly zooms and rotates around the scenery from the standard side view, taking obvious advantage of the 3-D nature of the graphics.
I now happen to enjoy a lot of games that have made the switch, in all sorts of genres. Some quick examples include Mario (platformer), Zelda (action RPG/platformer), Final Fantasy (RPG), Hundred Swords (SRPG), etc. Street Fighter EX in any incarnation will never be able to replace its 2-D progenitor for me, but in many other ways, I've come to tolerate 3-D graphics in games where its usage adds more to the gameplay than it detracts from the visual appeal.
In this last regard, I think Nintendo's Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was revolutionary for me (as it's the one game that brought me back to console gaming). It was full of rough graphical edges, but to be fair, its immediate 2-D predecessor on the Super NES used graphics that were small and fairly undetailed, and in comparison were less impressive overall at the time. Ocarina of Time is still beautiful, and 3-D graphics helped that game achieve incredible depth, as well as a fantastic sense of the sheer vastness of the game world.
Great, I love arbitrary stats from uncredited references. It's very heartening to read that I am not of below-average gender.
You know, although my original point was that DBZ was already an immature show with uncomplicated themes that was produced for a young Japanese audience, there is actually no mention that the movie will be based on DBZ. The article merely states that Fox has gained the rights for a Dragon Ball movie. Should they go with a story based on the original series, it would be very easy to make a PG-rated flick for American kids...and I certainly think that this would probably make them more money than a large-scale "mature" DBZ production would.
"...bring Z down to the level of a 10 year old...?" You do know that DBZ is a kid's show, right? That's why Fox is even interested in the idea in the first place.
Oh, and Japanese 10 year olds aren't sheltered from such things as fervently as same-aged American kids are, so you could say that it's always been at that level.
Re:Can'tt beat the original
on
Bang The Machine
·
· Score: 4, Informative
I wouldn't worry about 2-D fighters going anywhere. Guilty Gear and Capcom vs. SNK are VERY popular, as are the Marvel line of games (though they're not my cup of tea). CvS2 is coming to GameCube from Dreamcast and PS2, and CvS3 is in the works. SNK's KOF franchise is alive, and in the hands of new developers in Korea. And if you ever get nostalgic for the gameplay, you can always seek out older games for Sega Saturn, NeoGeo, and Capcom arcade boards that weren't in wide release here in the U.S., like Warzard/Red Earth. You only really got 2-D goodness from Capcom and SNK anyway, though smaller challengers like Sammy have come up with interesting efforts.
MK is a stereotypically gauche American game series. I played it with friends, but that's it. I'd never knock anyone who played it, but I didn't like it.
< tofuhead >
Re:I live down the street from the sunnyvale golfl
on
Bang The Machine
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Hush now scrub. Chun Li doesn't suck; the problem is that in some of the games, she's TOO good. In my own competitive SF-playing days at Sunnyvale Golfland, I used her against all those ARK scrubs (Akuma/Ryu/Ken weaklings) just to get them off the machine so I could play other players who had more interesting strategies than hadouken/hadouken/shouryuuken.
My old game of choice was Alpha 2. Three sucked balls IMO. SSF2X was cool, but Golfland didn't have a machine. Marvel...NO. Anyway, in the Alpha games, Chun Li was too fast, had the most powerful super combos (that could be linked into each other), and had chain/link combos up the wazoo. One technique in these older games is to use her crouching forward to walk up to an opponent and poke (hit or force a block), then link the hit or block tick into her overhead kick or her fireball. She also had an air throw, which put her over the top.
In my experience, only inexperienced players could be defeated by lucky button mashers, even if they were using Chun Li. With skill, she's a top bracket character, which is why lots of the best players used characters that were more challenging/less flexible.
< tofuhead >
Sunnyvale Golfland
on
Bang The Machine
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Let me tell you, the best SF2 players in the world are at a whole other level than normal human beings.
I hate the terminology, but all the players I've ever played outside of Sunnyvale Golfland are scrubs compared to those that I've played there. Good Lord. I don't know if John Choi (one of the best pro SF2 players in the U.S.) still plays there, but by God, he and those that were at his level were a sight to see. I entered a few tourneys alongside folks like them back when I went to school in the valley, and I never did better then the third round. John once handed my ass to me on a plate, double perfect rounds, then shook my hand and walked off. I didn't feel too ripped off though...we were playing SF Alpha (1), and he was taking advantage of Guy's endless redizzy combo.
I highly recommend this place to bay area locals, whether you want to play or watch, you're bound to see some of America's best playing there on almost any given night. Reeks of tobacco too, just like all good SF2 arenas.
< tofuhead >
Re:Uematsu is the John Williams of videogames
on
Project Majestic Mix
·
· Score: 2
Agreed. But, I personally think that nothing in the RPG music world has come close to being as _fun_ as his jazzy compositions in Final Fantasy V, particularly the battle tracks and Gilgamesh's theme. His later works are mostly derivative, tired, and too grandiose for its own good, but his old stuff is great: catchy and in line with the campy nature of the earlier FF games.
A little poppy maybe, but that's how I like it. That's why, well, ZELDA FOREVER. ^_^
Sega Saturn was a difficult development platform, cost more than the PSX, and featured sub-par 3-D graphics and FMV capabilities relative to the Playstation. For example, whereas the PSX version of Lunar Silver Star Story Complete was able to take advantage of the PSX's built-in MJPEG decoder, the Saturn received two versions: one version that had cropped, low-resolution FMV, and one version that required the Saturn VCD playback card for its hardware MPEG decoder in order to play the FMV in full-screen at high-res. By the time development of FF7 had begun, similar facts would have been common knowledge to developers, easily making Square's decision for them.
Beyond the Saturn's limitations, there is also the fact that Square tends to ally themselves with the biggest partner that will have them. Even taking Nintendo into consideration, they don't come any bigger than Sony.
However, the Saturn had other strengths, and I by far prefer it over the PSX for 2-D games, particularly fighters and shooters.
Of all the responses here, yours is the most correct. The first generation of Japanese-manufactured Dreamcast (made for the Japanese and U.S. markets) was cooled by a heat pipe and slow (quiet) metal fan. These models were considerably heavier than the later/non-Japanese-made models because of the weight of the heat pipe and fan. They also had more heat problems than later models, because they originally used an older, hotter-running rev of the Hitachi SH4.
To complement the cooler SH4s, later models used light heat sinks and faster-spinning (louder) plastic fans. The drives were also different, causing minor differences in noise, compatibility, and reliability (none of which contributed to any cooling issues).
In any case, you are right in that the "water cooling" done by the heatpipe was much more passive than Hitachi's method. It was so passive (and largely ineffective) that it was designed to augment the cooling effects of the fan, not replace the fan entirely.
< tofuhead >
Re:VGMix.com: The long and the short (okay, the LO
on
Video Game Music Mixes
·
· Score: 1
virt? The guy who did the Thong Song cover using a Game Boy sound chip emulator? Oh, hiya! ^_^
Say, YOU wouldn't happen to know what happened to all the content from Jimmy Vetayase's site (the Hi-Fi Gaming Page from 1997 or so), would ya? Thanks.
Dance remixes of this song have been around since 1993 or so. Buddies of mine used to use it in their mixes along with other gimmicky dance tracks like British white-label Pac-Man covers, Speed Racer, that Sesame Street theme remix, and Bombscare by 2 bad Mice back in high school. ^_^
The now defunct Hi-Fi Gaming Page, once located at http://www-scf.usc.edu/~vetayase/, used to feature huge MP2 downloads and MIDIs back in 1997 or so. This is the site that introduced me to the wonders of MPEG audio. They had some killer remixes of rare games, along with some soundfont downloads, etc. I once got a sweet Super Mario Bros. waltz medley from that site, and I haven't heard it since my HD at the time crashed so many years ago.
Jim Vetayase and the other guys who ran that site moved on to create another site, but I just don't know if that one is still around, and if so, which of the major sites it is. The old Hi-Fi page had a great library of cool stuff, and I'm still looking for that content 5 years later, with no luck. If anybody knows what happened to that site, and where those old downloads can be found nowadays, I'd love a heads-up reply.
No, one parent post in this thread was talking about dubbing, captioning, and broadcasting the original Japanese tracks via SAP on the same material, not the cost of dubbing vs. subbing.
In such a comparison, dubbing seems to have won the decision on the parts of the network people. I've posted in another thread about my preference for subs in every case; the preference for dubbing is merely an American trend that I've noticed.
That would make it three camps then. Even if you don't understand the original language, you can still pull a lot out of how the original voice talent performs the original dialog. With subtitling, you deal with the original director's interpretation of how the characters should sound and behave, which is very complementary to interpreting what the translator is presenting you in the subs. With dubs, you get the entire experience (voices _and_ script) translated, _time-edited_, and colloquialized by a second director and spoon-fed to you in your native language. Colloquialization _is_ more of an issue with dubs than subs; a Japanese ko-gal is _NOT_ a valley girl, and I don't want to hear valley girl language come out of Japanese character's mouths.
People keep saying that only elitists could possibly dismiss dubbing on the basis that it is dubbing. That in itself is an elitist statement, IMO, since it's a commonly-shared preference. It's not like I run around telling people that they are sinning by watching and enjoying dubs; other people can do whatever the hell they want, and I don't think they are elitist morons for it.
I have major problems with dubbing, not just with anime but with all foreign-language films. Simply, I want to hear the actor's own words, the same ones that the writers put in their mouths. I speak Japanese and French on top of English (at non-native fluency), but even for other languages I prefer subtitling over dubbing, simply because of this.
The solution to your subject of blocking the artwork, at least at home, was actually proposed by Carl Macek of Robotech and Streamline Pictures fame some time back (at either Anime Expo 92 or 93, when they were still held in Northern CA): For all letterboxed films, shift the picture to the top of the screen, and place subtitles/captioning at the bottom of the screen, so as not to block any part of the picture on 4:3 screens. I am disappointed that neither they nor anyone else has taken that idea anywhere.
Yeah, I remember watching Home Movies a couple of years ago, when it was on some other network (UPN?). It's very funny, but a it's paced a little too slowly for my taste. I still watch it now and then.
Well, it's true, most purist anime fans prefer subtitles to dubs. But, the Cartoon Network isn't for anime fans, it's for the mainstream who are merely looking for something different to watch. Anime fans already have many other venues to find the same material, presented in superior fashion.
Also, Adult Swim is not purely an anime block. It's filled with some anime shows as well as some American shows.
Cost, effort, and licensing issues. It takes money to create captioned scripts, and even to broadcast in SAP. Plus, not all cable systems actually broadcast the SAP; Cartoon Network doesn't even broadcast in stereo as far as I can tell (around here on AT&T Digital at least).
Slashdot Mirror
What you say is true, and kinda funny. But Japan only "gets" a lot of cool stuff before the U.S. does because Japanese companies actually produce it and market it to Japanese consumers, who are accustomed to paying for cool new stuff on a regular basis. Because of this, I think Japanese technology exhibits more of a sense of whimsy than American technology does. American stuff tends to be cool in totally different (sometimes geekier) ways, so there's a general equilibrium IMO.
However, I don't see how your point applies here. Online gaming is primarily an American innovation; in fact, this announcement of Square's is really only of interest because it lets us know a little more about how far along the whole FFXI project is coming along, not because the clever Japanese have "done it again."
< tofuhead >
Yes, but Smilebit is a Sega development company. This effort shows at least some initiative on the part of Sega themselves beyond just publishing some cool game they found; they basically funded the development of these games.
< tofuhead >
Beaten by seconds. I STAND DOWN.
Yes. A shipping product beats theoretical vapor every time, or, as previous generations would have said it, "A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush." But, that doesn't mean the product couldn't have been done right the first time (particularly with the apparently large number of folks who had made recommendations that would have improved the spec, which the yENC author is only now hacking into it). I believe this is the article author's point.
< tofuhead >
It should be pointed out that this site, linked from yENC's own website, goes into more technical detail regarding the technical flaws of yENC. The fact that it's linked from yENC's own site is proof that the author is at least familiar with the concerns that people have with his implementation.
I personally still find it difficult to argue against the article author's point that THERE WAS NO RUSH to force yENC out the door in such an unpolished form. After so many years of waiting for something better, why ignore the recommendations of those you are trying to help?
< tofuhead >
As an avid console gamer who had stopped gaming for a couple of years after the PSX succeeded the throne of console dominance from the Super NES, I understand _exactly_ what you're talking about. In my absence from the gaming world, I lamented the "death" of 2-D at the hands of ugly, boring, primitive 3-D graphics. Even within the SNES era, people raved over games like StarFox, a 3-D game which had very little appeal for me, but which for many was a vision of how games should look and play. Meanwhile, I foresaw that it would be many years before 3-D graphics would even approach the beauty of sprite-based graphics, and that's turned out to be true IMO.
However, it should be noted that there are examples of games that utilize 3-D graphics while maintaining 2-D gameplay and feel to great effect. One example that comes to mind for no real reason is ThunderForce V, which is a great horizontal-scrolling shooter (aka shoot-em-up or "shmup") that uses 3-D graphics which are small enough to be somewhat detailed. The kicker comes when encountering boss enemies, where the camera seamlessly zooms and rotates around the scenery from the standard side view, taking obvious advantage of the 3-D nature of the graphics.
I now happen to enjoy a lot of games that have made the switch, in all sorts of genres. Some quick examples include Mario (platformer), Zelda (action RPG/platformer), Final Fantasy (RPG), Hundred Swords (SRPG), etc. Street Fighter EX in any incarnation will never be able to replace its 2-D progenitor for me, but in many other ways, I've come to tolerate 3-D graphics in games where its usage adds more to the gameplay than it detracts from the visual appeal.
In this last regard, I think Nintendo's Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was revolutionary for me (as it's the one game that brought me back to console gaming). It was full of rough graphical edges, but to be fair, its immediate 2-D predecessor on the Super NES used graphics that were small and fairly undetailed, and in comparison were less impressive overall at the time. Ocarina of Time is still beautiful, and 3-D graphics helped that game achieve incredible depth, as well as a fantastic sense of the sheer vastness of the game world.
< tofuhead >
Great, I love arbitrary stats from uncredited references. It's very heartening to read that I am not of below-average gender.
You know, although my original point was that DBZ was already an immature show with uncomplicated themes that was produced for a young Japanese audience, there is actually no mention that the movie will be based on DBZ. The article merely states that Fox has gained the rights for a Dragon Ball movie. Should they go with a story based on the original series, it would be very easy to make a PG-rated flick for American kids...and I certainly think that this would probably make them more money than a large-scale "mature" DBZ production would.
< tofuhead >
"...bring Z down to the level of a 10 year old...?" You do know that DBZ is a kid's show, right? That's why Fox is even interested in the idea in the first place.
Oh, and Japanese 10 year olds aren't sheltered from such things as fervently as same-aged American kids are, so you could say that it's always been at that level.
< tofuhead >
Yes, but only the actor playing Piccolo.
< tofuhead >
I wouldn't worry about 2-D fighters going anywhere. Guilty Gear and Capcom vs. SNK are VERY popular, as are the Marvel line of games (though they're not my cup of tea). CvS2 is coming to GameCube from Dreamcast and PS2, and CvS3 is in the works. SNK's KOF franchise is alive, and in the hands of new developers in Korea. And if you ever get nostalgic for the gameplay, you can always seek out older games for Sega Saturn, NeoGeo, and Capcom arcade boards that weren't in wide release here in the U.S., like Warzard/Red Earth. You only really got 2-D goodness from Capcom and SNK anyway, though smaller challengers like Sammy have come up with interesting efforts.
MK is a stereotypically gauche American game series. I played it with friends, but that's it. I'd never knock anyone who played it, but I didn't like it.
< tofuhead >
Hush now scrub. Chun Li doesn't suck; the problem is that in some of the games, she's TOO good. In my own competitive SF-playing days at Sunnyvale Golfland, I used her against all those ARK scrubs (Akuma/Ryu/Ken weaklings) just to get them off the machine so I could play other players who had more interesting strategies than hadouken/hadouken/shouryuuken.
My old game of choice was Alpha 2. Three sucked balls IMO. SSF2X was cool, but Golfland didn't have a machine. Marvel...NO. Anyway, in the Alpha games, Chun Li was too fast, had the most powerful super combos (that could be linked into each other), and had chain/link combos up the wazoo. One technique in these older games is to use her crouching forward to walk up to an opponent and poke (hit or force a block), then link the hit or block tick into her overhead kick or her fireball. She also had an air throw, which put her over the top.
In my experience, only inexperienced players could be defeated by lucky button mashers, even if they were using Chun Li. With skill, she's a top bracket character, which is why lots of the best players used characters that were more challenging/less flexible.
< tofuhead >
Let me tell you, the best SF2 players in the world are at a whole other level than normal human beings.
I hate the terminology, but all the players I've ever played outside of Sunnyvale Golfland are scrubs compared to those that I've played there. Good Lord. I don't know if John Choi (one of the best pro SF2 players in the U.S.) still plays there, but by God, he and those that were at his level were a sight to see. I entered a few tourneys alongside folks like them back when I went to school in the valley, and I never did better then the third round. John once handed my ass to me on a plate, double perfect rounds, then shook my hand and walked off. I didn't feel too ripped off though...we were playing SF Alpha (1), and he was taking advantage of Guy's endless redizzy combo.
I highly recommend this place to bay area locals, whether you want to play or watch, you're bound to see some of America's best playing there on almost any given night. Reeks of tobacco too, just like all good SF2 arenas.
< tofuhead >
Agreed. But, I personally think that nothing in the RPG music world has come close to being as _fun_ as his jazzy compositions in Final Fantasy V, particularly the battle tracks and Gilgamesh's theme. His later works are mostly derivative, tired, and too grandiose for its own good, but his old stuff is great: catchy and in line with the campy nature of the earlier FF games.
A little poppy maybe, but that's how I like it. That's why, well, ZELDA FOREVER. ^_^
< tofuhead >
Sega Saturn was a difficult development platform, cost more than the PSX, and featured sub-par 3-D graphics and FMV capabilities relative to the Playstation. For example, whereas the PSX version of Lunar Silver Star Story Complete was able to take advantage of the PSX's built-in MJPEG decoder, the Saturn received two versions: one version that had cropped, low-resolution FMV, and one version that required the Saturn VCD playback card for its hardware MPEG decoder in order to play the FMV in full-screen at high-res. By the time development of FF7 had begun, similar facts would have been common knowledge to developers, easily making Square's decision for them.
Beyond the Saturn's limitations, there is also the fact that Square tends to ally themselves with the biggest partner that will have them. Even taking Nintendo into consideration, they don't come any bigger than Sony.
However, the Saturn had other strengths, and I by far prefer it over the PSX for 2-D games, particularly fighters and shooters.
< tofuhead >
Of all the responses here, yours is the most correct. The first generation of Japanese-manufactured Dreamcast (made for the Japanese and U.S. markets) was cooled by a heat pipe and slow (quiet) metal fan. These models were considerably heavier than the later/non-Japanese-made models because of the weight of the heat pipe and fan. They also had more heat problems than later models, because they originally used an older, hotter-running rev of the Hitachi SH4.
To complement the cooler SH4s, later models used light heat sinks and faster-spinning (louder) plastic fans. The drives were also different, causing minor differences in noise, compatibility, and reliability (none of which contributed to any cooling issues).
In any case, you are right in that the "water cooling" done by the heatpipe was much more passive than Hitachi's method. It was so passive (and largely ineffective) that it was designed to augment the cooling effects of the fan, not replace the fan entirely.
< tofuhead >
virt? The guy who did the Thong Song cover using a Game Boy sound chip emulator? Oh, hiya! ^_^
Say, YOU wouldn't happen to know what happened to all the content from Jimmy Vetayase's site (the Hi-Fi Gaming Page from 1997 or so), would ya? Thanks.
< tofuhead >
Dance remixes of this song have been around since 1993 or so. Buddies of mine used to use it in their mixes along with other gimmicky dance tracks like British white-label Pac-Man covers, Speed Racer, that Sesame Street theme remix, and Bombscare by 2 bad Mice back in high school. ^_^
< tofuhead >
The now defunct Hi-Fi Gaming Page, once located at http://www-scf.usc.edu/~vetayase/, used to feature huge MP2 downloads and MIDIs back in 1997 or so. This is the site that introduced me to the wonders of MPEG audio. They had some killer remixes of rare games, along with some soundfont downloads, etc. I once got a sweet Super Mario Bros. waltz medley from that site, and I haven't heard it since my HD at the time crashed so many years ago.
Jim Vetayase and the other guys who ran that site moved on to create another site, but I just don't know if that one is still around, and if so, which of the major sites it is. The old Hi-Fi page had a great library of cool stuff, and I'm still looking for that content 5 years later, with no luck. If anybody knows what happened to that site, and where those old downloads can be found nowadays, I'd love a heads-up reply.
< tofuhead >
No, one parent post in this thread was talking about dubbing, captioning, and broadcasting the original Japanese tracks via SAP on the same material, not the cost of dubbing vs. subbing.
In such a comparison, dubbing seems to have won the decision on the parts of the network people. I've posted in another thread about my preference for subs in every case; the preference for dubbing is merely an American trend that I've noticed.
< tofuhead >
That would make it three camps then. Even if you don't understand the original language, you can still pull a lot out of how the original voice talent performs the original dialog. With subtitling, you deal with the original director's interpretation of how the characters should sound and behave, which is very complementary to interpreting what the translator is presenting you in the subs. With dubs, you get the entire experience (voices _and_ script) translated, _time-edited_, and colloquialized by a second director and spoon-fed to you in your native language. Colloquialization _is_ more of an issue with dubs than subs; a Japanese ko-gal is _NOT_ a valley girl, and I don't want to hear valley girl language come out of Japanese character's mouths.
People keep saying that only elitists could possibly dismiss dubbing on the basis that it is dubbing. That in itself is an elitist statement, IMO, since it's a commonly-shared preference. It's not like I run around telling people that they are sinning by watching and enjoying dubs; other people can do whatever the hell they want, and I don't think they are elitist morons for it.
< tofuhead >
I have major problems with dubbing, not just with anime but with all foreign-language films. Simply, I want to hear the actor's own words, the same ones that the writers put in their mouths. I speak Japanese and French on top of English (at non-native fluency), but even for other languages I prefer subtitling over dubbing, simply because of this.
The solution to your subject of blocking the artwork, at least at home, was actually proposed by Carl Macek of Robotech and Streamline Pictures fame some time back (at either Anime Expo 92 or 93, when they were still held in Northern CA): For all letterboxed films, shift the picture to the top of the screen, and place subtitles/captioning at the bottom of the screen, so as not to block any part of the picture on 4:3 screens. I am disappointed that neither they nor anyone else has taken that idea anywhere.
< tofuhead >
Yeah, I remember watching Home Movies a couple of years ago, when it was on some other network (UPN?). It's very funny, but a it's paced a little too slowly for my taste. I still watch it now and then.
< tofuhead >
Still costs money, btw...
< tofuhead >
Well, it's true, most purist anime fans prefer subtitles to dubs. But, the Cartoon Network isn't for anime fans, it's for the mainstream who are merely looking for something different to watch. Anime fans already have many other venues to find the same material, presented in superior fashion.
Also, Adult Swim is not purely an anime block. It's filled with some anime shows as well as some American shows.
< tofuhead >
Cost, effort, and licensing issues. It takes money to create captioned scripts, and even to broadcast in SAP. Plus, not all cable systems actually broadcast the SAP; Cartoon Network doesn't even broadcast in stereo as far as I can tell (around here on AT&T Digital at least).
< tofuhead >