But I also remember when strategy guides were just that - strategy guides. They complemented the information in the game's manual (yes, I can remember when games had manuals - REAL manuals - some even had fancy binding and everything!)
Nowadays though, most strategy guides hit the shelves months before the actual game even arrives - and in many cases you'll need the guide simply because it contains information that should have been included in the game's documentation in the first place!
Even then, some print "guides" still pale in comparison to the stuff you can find online. I remember this one Lucas game about the afterlife. It was a SimCity-esque game where you had to manage heaven and hell. It was cute, but darn impossible unless you knew the sooper-sekrit-information that was only found in the online guide about what made a "good" layout for your heaven and hell. Without this critical information it was impossible to really get anywhere in the game because you'd end up creating a happy hell, and a miserable heaven - and have no idea why. That was one of the few games I wasted money buying the strategy guide on, only to find that it was little more than a highly illustrated version of the information contained within the game's documentation and tutorials.
From what I've read, the Xbox wasn't particularly Japanese-friendly as many titles were released without any localization whatsoever. That's really moronic - especially coming from a company that's one of the leaders in localization in the software industry...
People call the Japanese arrogant or racist for their insistance on wanting products localized into Japanese, yet would they purchase something that didn't include English instructions and had an English description on the packaging? Stupid double standard...
Anyways, Microsoft is still learning that it's not hardware that sells consoles - it's the games. And more important, it's games that the people want to play. Of the launch titles, DOA4 was probably among the most desired title in Japan - yet it was delayed. Sure enough, the 360 barely budged when it was released in Japan, yet there was a small increase in sales when DOA4 hit the shelves.
I do notice that the 360 has more Japan-friendly titles lined up for it (namely RPGs) but until these hit the shelves, why buy a 360? Yes, I know a lot of people - both Japanese and non-Japanese - bought a PS2 based on the "potential" of "Metal Gear Solid 2". But I think a lot of people learned a lesson from that, and no longer consider "potential" as a selling point. I know I don't. If there's nothing worth playing for the console, I'll wait until there is. There's no reason to rush out and buy a console early.
Big deal. I saw PS2s selling for as much as $7000 on eBay shortly after the US release when extreme shortages couldn't meet the extreme demand. Yes, that was just for the console - no added accessories or games.
Sony is right in that their initial shipment will sell out immediatly - and I have no doubt we'll see PS3s (again, no added games or accessories!) on eBay for thousands of dollars shortly after release. This will continue only as long as demand vastly outstrips supply - which should only be 3 or 4 months I think.
But what happens on eBay doesn't affect the console's viability. The big question is - what happens when Sony starts shipping in greater numbers to the stores? PS2s were in short supply but I still managed to get one in February 2000. Xbox360's were in short supply, but I was seeing stacks at Costco by February or March of this year. So I expect that by February or March of 2007, I'll also see PS3s sitting on shelves (as opposed to selling out immediatly upon arrival.)
At that point, what's going to happen? Especially since no one's going to just buy a PS3. Most folks are going to buy a game or 2, maybe an extra controller, and maybe even some other stuff. So even if you consider that most places will initially be selling PS3s in a bundle with an extra controller and 1 or 2 games, you're still looking at about $800-900 - if not more - just to get into the PS3.
Meanwhile, the high-end 360 is $400 - meaning you've spent $100 to $200 LESS even before you buy any games or extra accessories.
Considering all the pain and suffering caused by viruses/worms/trojans that named themselves things like "nudegirl.gif.exe", I would say it's a horrible UI design decision.
Also, trying to explain to a 10 year old girl why her MP3 player doesn't work with certain files isn't very fun when the computer is set to play any media file with Windows Media Player, and so all her video and music files have the same icon. She didn't know what a MP3 file was from an MPG because the extensions are hidden. Once I fixed this, she finds it a lot easier to manage her files.
It's a very poor decision on Microsoft's part because you can end up with "file.foo" and "file.bar" but by default, you'll end up with two very identical looking things simply called "file" in Explorer. BAD MICROSOFT! BAD CODERS! NO COOKIE!
My point was that it's hard to get a good feeling for some games after just 30-60 minutes.
I'll use Dragon Quest VII as an example. After just 30-60 minutes, you'd think it was just a harmless adventure tale for kids.
But much, much later in the game (~50 hours!), there's a storyline involving a priest being nailed to a cross because his congregation thinks he's a monster, but in reality the monster had cast a spell on himself so he appeared to be the priest, and the priest was the monster.
Then later (hour 70?) your characters go to a casino.
And even after you finish the game (hour 80+), you have the chance to kill God. No, not just "a god" (kami) they're talking about THE God.
Other than there being a church in every town (with an identical priest:) religion plays no other role in the game until the points I mentioned above.
You can't even rely on game reviewers either, since most of them rarely play a game through to completion - especially for a game that could take over 100 hours to complete.
Dad was working 2 jobs (systems programmer by day, teacher by night) and mom was going to school part-time (masters degree in CS)
They managed to also help us with homework, drive us all over the metro-Detroit area for various school/educational events, *AND* be aware of what we were reading, watching and playing. There were strict limits on our TV/gaming time during the school year. During the summer, the limits were relaxed but we were usually too busy with camps, classes, etc.
It wasn't easy for them, but then again, who said having kids was easy?
30-60 minutes isn't going to give you a complete view of all games.
For instance, I think of a few RPGs which had a strong religious/church element in them...but later it turns out the church is actually the "bad" guy and the game ends up bashing organized religion pretty badly when your party ends up killing "god".
But I do agree with you that parents should be aware of what their kids are playing or buying.
I remember my brother and I had to clear all video game purchases with both parents before we were allowed to buy the game. I remember my mother giving me a hard time about 'Castle Wolfenstein' (the original - not the 3d remake) because it featured killing. Didn't matter who you were killing or why. She didn't want us 'playing war'. This was years before the ESRB even existed. I don't see why more parents can't be as observant.
It's not the ESRB or the ratings themselves that the article is targetting - its' the *enforcement* of the ratings.
Yes, I've been in the game aisle of my local store many times only to see kids grabbing GTA or other "M" titles, handing them to their parents, who just toss the game into the shopping cart without even looking at it.
I'm sure that some kids are buying "M" games on their own as well.
While I've heard of a few scattered ancedotes of a game store clerk refusing to sell an "M" game to a minor, the story always ended with the kid bringing in one very angry parent who then buys the game and then hands the bag to the kid anyways. So it's not even just a matter of stores refusing to sell the games to the kids - it's also that the parents are ignorant about video games or think they're all just innocent toys.
Meanwhile, I've *NEVER* heard of a store refusing to sell a kid an "R" rated movie.
I always get a kick out of these politicians blabbing about game regulation. Let's get all the movie theaters blocking kids from "R" movies, first (none of the theaters in my area do this). Then we should start blocking sales of R movies. After all if little Jimmy can't play "Call of Duty", he shouldn't be allowed to watch 'Saving Private Ryan' either, right?
But wait - doesn't 'Saving Private Ryan' come in a novelized form too? If we've already determined that CoD is too violent, and the movie is too violent, then what about books, magazines and newspapers? Oh wait, you say those are protected under freedom of speech?
You have got to be kidding me if you seriously think that *any* video game is going to be able to even *approach* any sort of real-life experience.
I suppose you think that after playing a few games of DOOM3 that players would be proficient with a dozen different guns? You know, because firing a *real* weapon is just like moving a thumbstick or a mouse, and clicking a button, right?
Yes, the military is using video games in their training - but for tactical practice, not weapons training.
At any rate, movies like 'Saving Private Ryan' are a heckuva lot more intense - and - have a much wider audience than any video game out there. So, why wasn't some significant portion of the audience traumatized and/or showing signs of combat-related psychological problems?
Dunno if you'll see this or not, but here goes my opinion...
I'm assuming you mean an actual water droplet - and not the comical sweat drop you see stuck to people's head when something stupid/silly/awkward happens.
The image of a water droplet landing in a pool causing ripples is supposed to signify that events (or people) - no matter how small - have consequences. In this case, the "event" is the droplet, and the "consequences" are the ripples. You could also consider it to mean that one person (droplet) can totally disrupt or distort the status quo (a still pool of water).
It could also be about "change" in general. It could I don't want to change, but change is inevitable (you are the still water, forced into motion with the droplet) It could be you want to cause a change (you are the droplet), or it could even be that change causes you to become something else (the droplet causes the still pool to become rippled)
Finally, as an exercise to the reader, what about the possible interpretations of the ripples stopping after a droplet fell in?
Read into it what you will based on what's going on in the show, but I think it usually signifies that a change is about to happen. It could be an inner revelation, or the start of an important action.
Actually, I did consider the price. First-gen, dedicated blu-ray players have been announced from a few manufacturers in the US$1000 range. So, at $600, the PS3 would be an "inexpensive" blu-ray player, just as the PS2, at about 30000Yen was considered an inexpensive DVD player in the Japanese market where DVD players were easily 50000yen and more.
In a year, I would expect dedicated players to be down to around $500-600, with the PS3 a more manageable $300-400. Hence my statement that the PS3 is one year too early.
Lastly, the early adopter market for blu-ray is going to be the A/V crowd who I suspect aren't going to consider the PS3 ("a toy") as a serious blu-ray player unless Sony works very hard to prove them wrong.
I think I can sort of understand Sony's strategy with the PS3, but I also think they're too early.
At this time the PS3 is intended to be an inexpensive blu-ray player - just as the PS2 was more popular as a DVD player than as a game machine when it first came out in Japan.
Problem is, blu-ray isn't DVD. Blu-ray isn't the only standard out there, nor is blu-ray that established.
I've yet to meet anyone who's actually interested either of the next-gen DVD formats at this time - mainly because of the uncertainty of having competing formats on the market at the same time. Does anyone actually want to take a shot at having 50% of his next-gen media being declared "Obsolete"? Not to mention that if Sony wants the PS3 to sell as a blu-ray player, they're going to have to convince the high-end A/V market that the PS3 can stand toe-to-toe with the pricier models.
In a year, there will be more Blu-Ray titles on the market, players will begin to drop into the range of mainstream consumers, and the technology in the PS3 will be cheaper, allowing Sony to still position the PS3 as both a game machine and affordable blu-ray player.
If blu-ray fails to win the market, it would not surprise me to see Sony starting to talk about an earlier launch for the PS4, just so they can get away from the failed, and expensive, blu-ray.
I would consider Mononoke to be an anime production as it was produced originally for a Japanese audience.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by most anime has moments that don't make sense. I find that a lot (most, actually) of stories have moments like that - and it's not just in anime.
Although your point about anime and culture/translation is an important one to keep in mind. This isn't an American production you're watching, so sometimes the characters are going to say/do things that might not make sense from a purely American point of view.
That said, there are a lot of interesting movies out there:
* Grave Of The Fireflies. Do not watch alone. Do not watch without a box of tissues. And, yes, they still make that candy in the very same tin... Oh, and if that wasn't depressing enough, try a double feature of 'Barefoot no Gen'...
* Patlabor (3 movies). Sequels to the TV series about a near-future police force where robotic suits (mainly for construction) have just been introduced. So, what happens when one of these suits (called Labors) is used in a crime? The police break out their Labor, of course! While the TV series was pretty light hearted, the movies are completely different - delving into the realm of the serious (Japanese) cop-drama.
* Wings Of Honneamise. On another planet, against the backdrop of politics and war, a man volunteers to be the first human in space - and in so doing, is forced to deal with internal conflicts as old as man himself. Note: be sure you don't get the censored/editted version of this film - yes, it's the one with that confusing scene in it...you'll know the one when you see it.
* Ghost In The Shell (movies first, then TV). In the near future, the line between machine and soul ("ghost") has become blurred. Come experience Masumune Shirow's latest translator-destroying essays on existance, politics, terrorism, technology, and more all neatly wrapped up as an action flick... You may want to track down the manga (comics) for this one... He loves cramming statements and little essays in between the panels which give you a better understanding of what the characters are talking about. Also check out his other titles - Dominion and Appleseed.
* Memories. Memories is actually a collection of 3 short films. The other two are OK, but Magnetic Rose is the one you really want to watch. When the crew of a salvage vessel come across a strange ship in the asteroid belt, they end up being drawn into the tragic past of the ship's famous former inhabitant...
* Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer. Ok, I'm only half joking here. On the one hand, this really is a great movie - which was later ripped off and remade into Dark City. On the other hand, you'll literally need a degree in Japanese studies to fully understand most of the themes here... Urusei Yatsura was a very popular, very zany, and VERY Japanese TV anime series about an alien girl who - for complicated reasons - thinks she's married to a total dope of a Japanese high school student. With a cast made up of zany characters, cariactures, aliens, and mythical beings (mainly from Japanese myths) there is no such thing as an "ordinary day" for this show... The movie centers on the class preparing for the annual Cultural Festival as a series of mysterious disappearances begin taking place around town...
You can't go judging all of anime based on just one series.
Despite its problems, there are some interesting elements in Eva. It's just unfortunate that the execution of the show leaves...something...to be desired.
The show did run out of time and money - something that happens quite often. After all, Eva was being marketed as a TV series product - not as a piece of art.
Eva wasn't even the first show that the studio had problems with regarding money or time... The story goes, that one of their earlier works was a direct-to-video series called Gunbuster (which STILL hasn't been released on DVD in the US. GRRRR!) ran out of time and money. So, they took a risk and released the final episode in black and white. This time they got lucky. The dark look of the epiosde worked well and helped underscore the desparation the characters faced.
In the case of Eva, they weren't so lucky. The main writer had suffered a nervous breakdown, and the TV stations were demanding that the show be wrapped up on time.
At any rate, you should not - and can not - judge all of anime by just one or two series. You must remember that anime is not a single genre intended for a single audience. Just like with American TV and movies, there are different genres and different audiences.
And despite what you may think, there are plenty of good stories being told via anime. Unfortunatly, there's also a lot of garbage out there. But if you keep an open mind and keep looking, I'm sure you'll find something.
I would put forth Cowboy Bebop as a show you should look into. It's perhaps one of the best titles for introducing the potential that the medium can accomplish. It's not a kid show, but isn't hyper-violent and graphic like Akira. While it does incorporate some sci-fi elements, it's really just a human drama that deals with a wide variety of issues while not being "too Japanese" in its philosophies or actions. And, finally, it has an excellent English voice-over.
You can't help but pick up on all the religious references, and wonder if there are deeper meanings being presented. After all, your average Japanese barely knows as much about Christianity as your average Westerner knows about Muslims. So the amount of research that Anno and the others must have done is truly mind-boggling.
And then you get to episode 25.
Episode 25 makes you realize that you've been had. Duped into thinking about some illusionary deeper meanings about humanity's place in heaven and the universe when in reality, it's just another instance of Japanese using English terms because "they sounded cool". There is no intentional meaning. No artistic or literary forces at work. Just some burned out writer with a deadline who suffered a nervous breakdown.
Yeah, there are some interesting philosophical points in the final 2 episodes, but who cares? You want to know what the heck's been going on all this time - and they don't even give that to you straight. What do the attacking angels have to do with the whole 'instrumentality project'? Is it supposed to be a test for humanity to see if we've earned transcendence? Considering the cast, it wasn't earned, as much as it was just "survived".
After I convinced my wife to sign us up for Netflix last year, she wanted to try a trial membership with Blockbuster.
We'd already gone through about 10 movies in the first month with Netflix with no problems.
In the trial membership with Blockbuster we went through 9 movies, of which:
2 were totally unplayable due to scratches. (these were the so-called "free" rentals we picked out from our local brick&motar Blockbusters.)
4 were mostly playable, but had to skip a scene due to scratches.
2 were scratched, but played fine after cleaning.
1 was a fairly new disc apparentally - no scratches on it at all.
Now, after one year with Netflix, we've had minor problems with 1 scratched disc - which Netflix addressed by expressing us a new copy, and we had one instance of getting the wrong version of a movie (fullscreen vs. widescreen.) Again, Netflix expressed us the correct disc.
We were doing the standard 3 movies at a time plan, but have since dropped back to 2 movies at a time. We figure this allows us to always have 1 movie at home while Netflix processes our second title. We haven't been heavy viewers, so we can get new releases fairly quickly if we want.
Netflix has more titles than Blockbuster and their customer service has been excellent the few times we've had to use it. Blockbuster's free rental from their brick&motar stores is sort of a neat idea (get what you want, *NOW*) but their selection sucks, their movies look like they've been worked over with 20 grit sand paper, and - surprise! - if you aren't careful, you can still get smacked with late fees on that "free" rental of yours! Woo-hoo!
Even if Blockbuster's "free" rentals applied to games, you're still stuck renting last year's mediocre titles.
Actually, when I was a student, I knew quite a bit about the inner-workings of the school board and administration. We often ended up having to get personally involved with decisions the board would make about our education...
Such "enlightend" decisions from the school board included:
* Telling the German teacher that there was no way her students would benefit from a student exchange program with students from Germany.
* Telling the Pascal teacher that the textbook in use by many university Comp. Sci. programs across the nation wasn't good enough for his class because the book did not feature pictures or illustrations of Minorities and/or females in a "positive light". (it was a programming book - there were no pictures of ANYONE in it!) Instead, they chose a typing book for him to use.
* Continuing to vote pay raises for themselves and their friends, while keepig teacher salaries capped and neglecting to allocate monies for such extraneous things like textbooks. The textbooks for my freshman American History class finally arrived when I was a senior. Until then, students had been using a textbook that was written before WWI had ended. The schoolboard said that no one needed new textbooks since history hasn't changed at all, right? Never mind the fact that you had Black students, in Detroit, reading books in which it was still acceptable to refer to Blacks by a term that would get any non-Black person shot today.
Oh yes, I may have been "just a student", but it was made clear to us early on by our teachers and the principal that if we wanted a good education, we were going to have to go out and fight the administration for it. And fight we did. Some fights we won, some we lost. But at least we spoke up for our own sakes - and that was one the most important lessons I learned from high school.
Administrators are certainly overpaid. When I was still in school, one of the board's favorite cost-cutting measures was to encourage the early retirement of their older administrators. Then everyone got a promotion. This included taking some seasoned teachers and offering them an entry-level administration job.
The idea behind this was that an administrator with many years on the job was making much much more than an entry level administrator, who in turn makes much much more than a newbie teacher fresh out of college. This was supposed to "save money" but in reality, ended up starving the school system of the thing it needed the most - experienced teachers.
If you offered such a promotion and turned it down, you were guaranteed to be left to rot in your classroom. I was lucky enough to have some teachers that turned down the promotions and stayed where they could have the most impact - in the classrooms. Unfortunatly, I also saw a lot of good teachers take the promotion (not that I blame them!) and never teach another class again.
Of course, I also went to school in a city where the school board members were driven around the city by chauffers and made 6 figure salaries (for what, I wonder?), while each teacher was provided with a single piece of chalk as the total sum of their teaching supplies. If you were favored by the board, you even got a new piece of chalk.
Why is this targeting video games - and JUST video games?
If this is a luxury tax, then why not expand it to cover books, magazines, music and movies (including rentals)?
Let's see...you have "Children", "Taxes", "Schools", "Funding" and the newest addition, "Video Games". A fine example of grandstanding using Political Buzzword Bingo!
I'd point to the fast-food tax which was proposed elsewhere as being a more realistic - and lucurative - revenue source. The only stipulations I'd make are that this tax should apply to all cafe's/restuarants, AND that a larger percentage of the money should go into funding Sports and P.E. programs in the schools. After all, if kids are going to eat at McDonalds anyways, the least we can do is make sure there's a gym program around to make them work off a few of those calories the next day.
I don't think it's a matter of choosing "the wrong game". Mortal Kombat wasn't a horrible movie and managed to capture the esscense of the game. And the Super Mario Bros. cartoons showed that you could even turn that franchise into a movie (unlike what Hollywood produced...) Heck, even the Pac-Man cartoon managed to be halfway decent considering it's based on a game with absolutely no story, plot or motivation whatsoever.
I think it's more about choosing Hollywood.
In Japan, many games are turned into anime series or movies without mangling them into unrecognizable forms. Star Ocean, an RPG, and Street Fighter were turned into anime series that kept most of the original content intact,so it's not that it's impossible to do. It's just that Hollywood sucks. They can't even adapt their OWN movies without messing them up.
Those who are already illegaly downloading aren't going to suddenly start paying for the privelege. Heck, people who download movies don't think the movie is worth paying for (in any form) to begin with, otherwise, they'd be out *buying* the legitimate version, no?
It might be nice to offer the legitimate consumer another method for purchasing films, but the industry is heavily deluding themselves if they think this is going to somehow stop (or even decrease!) casual piracy.
The whole shock-ad thing started years ago. I can remember seeing awfully gory ads in game mags back in the early 90s. Once things like DOOM and Mortal Kombat came out, which had (for the time) rather realistic violence in them, it seemed that game advertisers seemed to be on a mission to out-shock the other.
There was an ad that featured a 2-page spread of a bloody, severed human arm. I don't remember what game it was for, or even what the ad-copy was (if there was any) there just this centerfold-esque closeup of a bloody arm.
I'm surprised that game-mag advertising hasn't gone for the smut factor. After all, didn't UK game fans end up with an ad for BC2k which featured a scantily clad women holding the game's box between her legs with the caption "All you'll ever need." or something like that? Equally tasteless, just not as vomit-inducing as showing a closeup of a bullet wound.
I'll admit using game length as a measurement of game value is pretty simplistic, but I find it makes a good rule of thumb. For me, if the estimated hours I plan on spending to finish the game is about the same (or more) than what I paid for it, then I consider that a good buy. This means that if the game is only going to keep me entertained for 10-15 hours, then, ideally, I shouldn't spend more than $10-15 on it. Fortunatly, between used games and bargin bins, this isn't too much of a problem... Ocassionally, I will pay full price for a game if I think it's really going to last me 50 hours or more. RPGs are a good example of this, but even then something like a Final Fantasy will undoubtedly hit the bargin bin eventually so if I can wait, I'll wait for the price to drop.
I'm not saying this is a hard and fast rule... I can think of a few games that I would still be willing to pay full price for despite their relative short gameplay. But such titles are far and few between.
If you've got really good credit, lenders are willing to overlook things a little - such as your income and such.
Also, some less-than-reputable lenders will try to slip you a bad ARM or balloon loan. Sure, the interest-only payment on $200k could be as low as $700-1000, depending on the current rate. That doesn't sound too bad. But then if you aren't careful, the payment could increase when the loan enters its adjustment period, or maybe you'll get socked with a huge bill to cover all the principle you haven't been paying - and if you can't make the payment, you lose the house(s) AND STILL owe the lender the money.
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I can remember the Invis-clue books.
But I also remember when strategy guides were just that - strategy guides. They complemented the information in the game's manual (yes, I can remember when games had manuals - REAL manuals - some even had fancy binding and everything!)
Nowadays though, most strategy guides hit the shelves months before the actual game even arrives - and in many cases you'll need the guide simply because it contains information that should have been included in the game's documentation in the first place!
Even then, some print "guides" still pale in comparison to the stuff you can find online. I remember this one Lucas game about the afterlife. It was a SimCity-esque game where you had to manage heaven and hell. It was cute, but darn impossible unless you knew the sooper-sekrit-information that was only found in the online guide about what made a "good" layout for your heaven and hell. Without this critical information it was impossible to really get anywhere in the game because you'd end up creating a happy hell, and a miserable heaven - and have no idea why. That was one of the few games I wasted money buying the strategy guide on, only to find that it was little more than a highly illustrated version of the information contained within the game's documentation and tutorials.
From what I've read, the Xbox wasn't particularly Japanese-friendly as many titles were released without any localization whatsoever. That's really moronic - especially coming from a company that's one of the leaders in localization in the software industry...
People call the Japanese arrogant or racist for their insistance on wanting products localized into Japanese, yet would they purchase something that didn't include English instructions and had an English description on the packaging? Stupid double standard...
Anyways, Microsoft is still learning that it's not hardware that sells consoles - it's the games. And more important, it's games that the people want to play. Of the launch titles, DOA4 was probably among the most desired title in Japan - yet it was delayed. Sure enough, the 360 barely budged when it was released in Japan, yet there was a small increase in sales when DOA4 hit the shelves.
I do notice that the 360 has more Japan-friendly titles lined up for it (namely RPGs) but until these hit the shelves, why buy a 360? Yes, I know a lot of people - both Japanese and non-Japanese - bought a PS2 based on the "potential" of "Metal Gear Solid 2". But I think a lot of people learned a lesson from that, and no longer consider "potential" as a selling point. I know I don't. If there's nothing worth playing for the console, I'll wait until there is. There's no reason to rush out and buy a console early.
Big deal. I saw PS2s selling for as much as $7000 on eBay shortly after the US release when extreme shortages couldn't meet the extreme demand. Yes, that was just for the console - no added accessories or games.
Sony is right in that their initial shipment will sell out immediatly - and I have no doubt we'll see PS3s (again, no added games or accessories!) on eBay for thousands of dollars shortly after release. This will continue only as long as demand vastly outstrips supply - which should only be 3 or 4 months I think.
But what happens on eBay doesn't affect the console's viability. The big question is - what happens when Sony starts shipping in greater numbers to the stores? PS2s were in short supply but I still managed to get one in February 2000. Xbox360's were in short supply, but I was seeing stacks at Costco by February or March of this year. So I expect that by February or March of 2007, I'll also see PS3s sitting on shelves (as opposed to selling out immediatly upon arrival.)
At that point, what's going to happen? Especially since no one's going to just buy a PS3. Most folks are going to buy a game or 2, maybe an extra controller, and maybe even some other stuff. So even if you consider that most places will initially be selling PS3s in a bundle with an extra controller and 1 or 2 games, you're still looking at about $800-900 - if not more - just to get into the PS3.
Meanwhile, the high-end 360 is $400 - meaning you've spent $100 to $200 LESS even before you buy any games or extra accessories.
Considering all the pain and suffering caused by viruses/worms/trojans that named themselves things like "nudegirl.gif.exe", I would say it's a horrible UI design decision.
Also, trying to explain to a 10 year old girl why her MP3 player doesn't work with certain files isn't very fun when the computer is set to play any media file with Windows Media Player, and so all her video and music files have the same icon. She didn't know what a MP3 file was from an MPG because the extensions are hidden. Once I fixed this, she finds it a lot easier to manage her files.
It's a very poor decision on Microsoft's part because you can end up with "file.foo" and "file.bar" but by default, you'll end up with two very identical looking things simply called "file" in Explorer. BAD MICROSOFT! BAD CODERS! NO COOKIE!
My point was that it's hard to get a good feeling for some games after just 30-60 minutes.
:) religion plays no other role in the game until the points I mentioned above.
I'll use Dragon Quest VII as an example. After just 30-60 minutes, you'd think it was just a harmless adventure tale for kids.
But much, much later in the game (~50 hours!), there's a storyline involving a priest being nailed to a cross because his congregation thinks he's a monster, but in reality the monster had cast a spell on himself so he appeared to be the priest, and the priest was the monster.
Then later (hour 70?) your characters go to a casino.
And even after you finish the game (hour 80+), you have the chance to kill God. No, not just "a god" (kami) they're talking about THE God.
Other than there being a church in every town (with an identical priest
You can't even rely on game reviewers either, since most of them rarely play a game through to completion - especially for a game that could take over 100 hours to complete.
My parents raised me, my brother and sister.
Dad was working 2 jobs (systems programmer by day, teacher by night) and mom was going to school part-time (masters degree in CS)
They managed to also help us with homework, drive us all over the metro-Detroit area for various school/educational events, *AND* be aware of what we were reading, watching and playing. There were strict limits on our TV/gaming time during the school year. During the summer, the limits were relaxed but we were usually too busy with camps, classes, etc.
It wasn't easy for them, but then again, who said having kids was easy?
30-60 minutes isn't going to give you a complete view of all games.
For instance, I think of a few RPGs which had a strong religious/church element in them...but later it turns out the church is actually the "bad" guy and the game ends up bashing organized religion pretty badly when your party ends up killing "god".
But I do agree with you that parents should be aware of what their kids are playing or buying.
I remember my brother and I had to clear all video game purchases with both parents before we were allowed to buy the game. I remember my mother giving me a hard time about 'Castle Wolfenstein' (the original - not the 3d remake) because it featured killing. Didn't matter who you were killing or why. She didn't want us 'playing war'. This was years before the ESRB even existed. I don't see why more parents can't be as observant.
It's not the ESRB or the ratings themselves that the article is targetting - its' the *enforcement* of the ratings.
Yes, I've been in the game aisle of my local store many times only to see kids grabbing GTA or other "M" titles, handing them to their parents, who just toss the game into the shopping cart without even looking at it.
I'm sure that some kids are buying "M" games on their own as well.
While I've heard of a few scattered ancedotes of a game store clerk refusing to sell an "M" game to a minor, the story always ended with the kid bringing in one very angry parent who then buys the game and then hands the bag to the kid anyways. So it's not even just a matter of stores refusing to sell the games to the kids - it's also that the parents are ignorant about video games or think they're all just innocent toys.
Meanwhile, I've *NEVER* heard of a store refusing to sell a kid an "R" rated movie.
I always get a kick out of these politicians blabbing about game regulation. Let's get all the movie theaters blocking kids from "R" movies, first (none of the theaters in my area do this). Then we should start blocking sales of R movies. After all if little Jimmy can't play "Call of Duty", he shouldn't be allowed to watch 'Saving Private Ryan' either, right?
But wait - doesn't 'Saving Private Ryan' come in a novelized form too? If we've already determined that CoD is too violent, and the movie is too violent, then what about books, magazines and newspapers? Oh wait, you say those are protected under freedom of speech?
Bzzzt...
;)
So...Hitler, Ghengis and Alexander DID play violent video games?
You have got to be kidding me if you seriously think that *any* video game is going to be able to even *approach* any sort of real-life experience.
I suppose you think that after playing a few games of DOOM3 that players would be proficient with a dozen different guns? You know, because firing a *real* weapon is just like moving a thumbstick or a mouse, and clicking a button, right?
Yes, the military is using video games in their training - but for tactical practice, not weapons training.
At any rate, movies like 'Saving Private Ryan' are a heckuva lot more intense - and - have a much wider audience than any video game out there. So, why wasn't some significant portion of the audience traumatized and/or showing signs of combat-related psychological problems?
Dunno if you'll see this or not, but here goes my opinion...
I'm assuming you mean an actual water droplet - and not the comical sweat drop you see stuck to people's head when something stupid/silly/awkward happens.
The image of a water droplet landing in a pool causing ripples is supposed to signify that events (or people) - no matter how small - have consequences. In this case, the "event" is the droplet, and the "consequences" are the ripples. You could also consider it to mean that one person (droplet) can totally disrupt or distort the status quo (a still pool of water).
It could also be about "change" in general. It could I don't want to change, but change is inevitable (you are the still water, forced into motion with the droplet) It could be you want to cause a change (you are the droplet), or it could even be that change causes you to become something else (the droplet causes the still pool to become rippled)
Finally, as an exercise to the reader, what about the possible interpretations of the ripples stopping after a droplet fell in?
Read into it what you will based on what's going on in the show, but I think it usually signifies that a change is about to happen. It could be an inner revelation, or the start of an important action.
Actually, I did consider the price. First-gen, dedicated blu-ray players have been announced from a few manufacturers in the US$1000 range. So, at $600, the PS3 would be an "inexpensive" blu-ray player, just as the PS2, at about 30000Yen was considered an inexpensive DVD player in the Japanese market where DVD players were easily 50000yen and more.
In a year, I would expect dedicated players to be down to around $500-600, with the PS3 a more manageable $300-400. Hence my statement that the PS3 is one year too early.
Lastly, the early adopter market for blu-ray is going to be the A/V crowd who I suspect aren't going to consider the PS3 ("a toy") as a serious blu-ray player unless Sony works very hard to prove them wrong.
I think I can sort of understand Sony's strategy with the PS3, but I also think they're too early.
At this time the PS3 is intended to be an inexpensive blu-ray player - just as the PS2 was more popular as a DVD player than as a game machine when it first came out in Japan.
Problem is, blu-ray isn't DVD. Blu-ray isn't the only standard out there, nor is blu-ray that established.
I've yet to meet anyone who's actually interested either of the next-gen DVD formats at this time - mainly because of the uncertainty of having competing formats on the market at the same time. Does anyone actually want to take a shot at having 50% of his next-gen media being declared "Obsolete"? Not to mention that if Sony wants the PS3 to sell as a blu-ray player, they're going to have to convince the high-end A/V market that the PS3 can stand toe-to-toe with the pricier models.
In a year, there will be more Blu-Ray titles on the market, players will begin to drop into the range of mainstream consumers, and the technology in the PS3 will be cheaper, allowing Sony to still position the PS3 as both a game machine and affordable blu-ray player.
If blu-ray fails to win the market, it would not surprise me to see Sony starting to talk about an earlier launch for the PS4, just so they can get away from the failed, and expensive, blu-ray.
I would consider Mononoke to be an anime production as it was produced originally for a Japanese audience.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by most anime has moments that don't make sense. I find that a lot (most, actually) of stories have moments like that - and it's not just in anime.
Although your point about anime and culture/translation is an important one to keep in mind. This isn't an American production you're watching, so sometimes the characters are going to say/do things that might not make sense from a purely American point of view.
That said, there are a lot of interesting movies out there:
* Grave Of The Fireflies. Do not watch alone. Do not watch without a box of tissues. And, yes, they still make that candy in the very same tin... Oh, and if that wasn't depressing enough, try a double feature of 'Barefoot no Gen'...
* Patlabor (3 movies). Sequels to the TV series about a near-future police force where robotic suits (mainly for construction) have just been introduced. So, what happens when one of these suits (called Labors) is used in a crime? The police break out their Labor, of course! While the TV series was pretty light hearted, the movies are completely different - delving into the realm of the serious (Japanese) cop-drama.
* Wings Of Honneamise. On another planet, against the backdrop of politics and war, a man volunteers to be the first human in space - and in so doing, is forced to deal with internal conflicts as old as man himself. Note: be sure you don't get the censored/editted version of this film - yes, it's the one with that confusing scene in it...you'll know the one when you see it.
* Ghost In The Shell (movies first, then TV). In the near future, the line between machine and soul ("ghost") has become blurred. Come experience Masumune Shirow's latest translator-destroying essays on existance, politics, terrorism, technology, and more all neatly wrapped up as an action flick... You may want to track down the manga (comics) for this one... He loves cramming statements and little essays in between the panels which give you a better understanding of what the characters are talking about. Also check out his other titles - Dominion and Appleseed.
* Memories. Memories is actually a collection of 3 short films. The other two are OK, but Magnetic Rose is the one you really want to watch. When the crew of a salvage vessel come across a strange ship in the asteroid belt, they end up being drawn into the tragic past of the ship's famous former inhabitant...
* Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer. Ok, I'm only half joking here. On the one hand, this really is a great movie - which was later ripped off and remade into Dark City. On the other hand, you'll literally need a degree in Japanese studies to fully understand most of the themes here... Urusei Yatsura was a very popular, very zany, and VERY Japanese TV anime series about an alien girl who - for complicated reasons - thinks she's married to a total dope of a Japanese high school student. With a cast made up of zany characters, cariactures, aliens, and mythical beings (mainly from Japanese myths) there is no such thing as an "ordinary day" for this show... The movie centers on the class preparing for the annual Cultural Festival as a series of mysterious disappearances begin taking place around town...
You can't go judging all of anime based on just one series.
Despite its problems, there are some interesting elements in Eva. It's just unfortunate that the execution of the show leaves...something...to be desired.
The show did run out of time and money - something that happens quite often. After all, Eva was being marketed as a TV series product - not as a piece of art.
Eva wasn't even the first show that the studio had problems with regarding money or time... The story goes, that one of their earlier works was a direct-to-video series called Gunbuster (which STILL hasn't been released on DVD in the US. GRRRR!) ran out of time and money. So, they took a risk and released the final episode in black and white. This time they got lucky. The dark look of the epiosde worked well and helped underscore the desparation the characters faced.
In the case of Eva, they weren't so lucky. The main writer had suffered a nervous breakdown, and the TV stations were demanding that the show be wrapped up on time.
At any rate, you should not - and can not - judge all of anime by just one or two series. You must remember that anime is not a single genre intended for a single audience. Just like with American TV and movies, there are different genres and different audiences.
And despite what you may think, there are plenty of good stories being told via anime. Unfortunatly, there's also a lot of garbage out there. But if you keep an open mind and keep looking, I'm sure you'll find something.
I would put forth Cowboy Bebop as a show you should look into. It's perhaps one of the best titles for introducing the potential that the medium can accomplish. It's not a kid show, but isn't hyper-violent and graphic like Akira. While it does incorporate some sci-fi elements, it's really just a human drama that deals with a wide variety of issues while not being "too Japanese" in its philosophies or actions. And, finally, it has an excellent English voice-over.
This is the main thing that annoys me about NGE.
You can't help but pick up on all the religious references, and wonder if there are deeper meanings being presented. After all, your average Japanese barely knows as much about Christianity as your average Westerner knows about Muslims. So the amount of research that Anno and the others must have done is truly mind-boggling.
And then you get to episode 25.
Episode 25 makes you realize that you've been had. Duped into thinking about some illusionary deeper meanings about humanity's place in heaven and the universe when in reality, it's just another instance of Japanese using English terms because "they sounded cool". There is no intentional meaning. No artistic or literary forces at work. Just some burned out writer with a deadline who suffered a nervous breakdown.
Yeah, there are some interesting philosophical points in the final 2 episodes, but who cares? You want to know what the heck's been going on all this time - and they don't even give that to you straight. What do the attacking angels have to do with the whole 'instrumentality project'? Is it supposed to be a test for humanity to see if we've earned transcendence? Considering the cast, it wasn't earned, as much as it was just "survived".
After I convinced my wife to sign us up for Netflix last year, she wanted to try a trial membership with Blockbuster.
We'd already gone through about 10 movies in the first month with Netflix with no problems.
In the trial membership with Blockbuster we went through 9 movies, of which:
2 were totally unplayable due to scratches. (these were the so-called "free" rentals we picked out from our local brick&motar Blockbusters.)
4 were mostly playable, but had to skip a scene due to scratches.
2 were scratched, but played fine after cleaning.
1 was a fairly new disc apparentally - no scratches on it at all.
Now, after one year with Netflix, we've had minor problems with 1 scratched disc - which Netflix addressed by expressing us a new copy, and we had one instance of getting the wrong version of a movie (fullscreen vs. widescreen.) Again, Netflix expressed us the correct disc.
We were doing the standard 3 movies at a time plan, but have since dropped back to 2 movies at a time. We figure this allows us to always have 1 movie at home while Netflix processes our second title. We haven't been heavy viewers, so we can get new releases fairly quickly if we want.
Netflix has more titles than Blockbuster and their customer service has been excellent the few times we've had to use it. Blockbuster's free rental from their brick&motar stores is sort of a neat idea (get what you want, *NOW*) but their selection sucks, their movies look like they've been worked over with 20 grit sand paper, and - surprise! - if you aren't careful, you can still get smacked with late fees on that "free" rental of yours! Woo-hoo!
Even if Blockbuster's "free" rentals applied to games, you're still stuck renting last year's mediocre titles.
Actually, when I was a student, I knew quite a bit about the inner-workings of the school board and administration. We often ended up having to get personally involved with decisions the board would make about our education...
Such "enlightend" decisions from the school board included:
* Telling the German teacher that there was no way her students would benefit from a student exchange program with students from Germany.
* Telling the Pascal teacher that the textbook in use by many university Comp. Sci. programs across the nation wasn't good enough for his class because the book did not feature pictures or illustrations of Minorities and/or females in a "positive light". (it was a programming book - there were no pictures of ANYONE in it!) Instead, they chose a typing book for him to use.
* Continuing to vote pay raises for themselves and their friends, while keepig teacher salaries capped and neglecting to allocate monies for such extraneous things like textbooks. The textbooks for my freshman American History class finally arrived when I was a senior. Until then, students had been using a textbook that was written before WWI had ended. The schoolboard said that no one needed new textbooks since history hasn't changed at all, right? Never mind the fact that you had Black students, in Detroit, reading books in which it was still acceptable to refer to Blacks by a term that would get any non-Black person shot today.
Oh yes, I may have been "just a student", but it was made clear to us early on by our teachers and the principal that if we wanted a good education, we were going to have to go out and fight the administration for it. And fight we did. Some fights we won, some we lost. But at least we spoke up for our own sakes - and that was one the most important lessons I learned from high school.
Administrators are certainly overpaid. When I was still in school, one of the board's favorite cost-cutting measures was to encourage the early retirement of their older administrators. Then everyone got a promotion. This included taking some seasoned teachers and offering them an entry-level administration job.
The idea behind this was that an administrator with many years on the job was making much much more than an entry level administrator, who in turn makes much much more than a newbie teacher fresh out of college. This was supposed to "save money" but in reality, ended up starving the school system of the thing it needed the most - experienced teachers.
If you offered such a promotion and turned it down, you were guaranteed to be left to rot in your classroom. I was lucky enough to have some teachers that turned down the promotions and stayed where they could have the most impact - in the classrooms. Unfortunatly, I also saw a lot of good teachers take the promotion (not that I blame them!) and never teach another class again.
Of course, I also went to school in a city where the school board members were driven around the city by chauffers and made 6 figure salaries (for what, I wonder?), while each teacher was provided with a single piece of chalk as the total sum of their teaching supplies. If you were favored by the board, you even got a new piece of chalk.
Why is this targeting video games - and JUST video games?
If this is a luxury tax, then why not expand it to cover books, magazines, music and movies (including rentals)?
Let's see...you have "Children", "Taxes", "Schools", "Funding" and the newest addition, "Video Games". A fine example of grandstanding using Political Buzzword Bingo!
I'd point to the fast-food tax which was proposed elsewhere as being a more realistic - and lucurative - revenue source. The only stipulations I'd make are that this tax should apply to all cafe's/restuarants, AND that a larger percentage of the money should go into funding Sports and P.E. programs in the schools. After all, if kids are going to eat at McDonalds anyways, the least we can do is make sure there's a gym program around to make them work off a few of those calories the next day.
I don't think it's a matter of choosing "the wrong game". Mortal Kombat wasn't a horrible movie and managed to capture the esscense of the game. And the Super Mario Bros. cartoons showed that you could even turn that franchise into a movie (unlike what Hollywood produced...) Heck, even the Pac-Man cartoon managed to be halfway decent considering it's based on a game with absolutely no story, plot or motivation whatsoever.
I think it's more about choosing Hollywood.
In Japan, many games are turned into anime series or movies without mangling them into unrecognizable forms. Star Ocean, an RPG, and Street Fighter were turned into anime series that kept most of the original content intact,so it's not that it's impossible to do. It's just that Hollywood sucks. They can't even adapt their OWN movies without messing them up.
Seriously now, what's the point of this?
Those who are already illegaly downloading aren't going to suddenly start paying for the privelege. Heck, people who download movies don't think the movie is worth paying for (in any form) to begin with, otherwise, they'd be out *buying* the legitimate version, no?
It might be nice to offer the legitimate consumer another method for purchasing films, but the industry is heavily deluding themselves if they think this is going to somehow stop (or even decrease!) casual piracy.
The whole shock-ad thing started years ago. I can remember seeing awfully gory ads in game mags back in the early 90s. Once things like DOOM and Mortal Kombat came out, which had (for the time) rather realistic violence in them, it seemed that game advertisers seemed to be on a mission to out-shock the other.
There was an ad that featured a 2-page spread of a bloody, severed human arm. I don't remember what game it was for, or even what the ad-copy was (if there was any) there just this centerfold-esque closeup of a bloody arm.
I'm surprised that game-mag advertising hasn't gone for the smut factor. After all, didn't UK game fans end up with an ad for BC2k which featured a scantily clad women holding the game's box between her legs with the caption "All you'll ever need." or something like that? Equally tasteless, just not as vomit-inducing as showing a closeup of a bullet wound.
I'll admit using game length as a measurement of game value is pretty simplistic, but I find it makes a good rule of thumb. For me, if the estimated hours I plan on spending to finish the game is about the same (or more) than what I paid for it, then I consider that a good buy. This means that if the game is only going to keep me entertained for 10-15 hours, then, ideally, I shouldn't spend more than $10-15 on it. Fortunatly, between used games and bargin bins, this isn't too much of a problem... Ocassionally, I will pay full price for a game if I think it's really going to last me 50 hours or more. RPGs are a good example of this, but even then something like a Final Fantasy will undoubtedly hit the bargin bin eventually so if I can wait, I'll wait for the price to drop.
I'm not saying this is a hard and fast rule... I can think of a few games that I would still be willing to pay full price for despite their relative short gameplay. But such titles are far and few between.
If you've got really good credit, lenders are willing to overlook things a little - such as your income and such.
Also, some less-than-reputable lenders will try to slip you a bad ARM or balloon loan. Sure, the interest-only payment on $200k could be as low as $700-1000, depending on the current rate. That doesn't sound too bad. But then if you aren't careful, the payment could increase when the loan enters its adjustment period, or maybe you'll get socked with a huge bill to cover all the principle you haven't been paying - and if you can't make the payment, you lose the house(s) AND STILL owe the lender the money.
A win-win situation for the lender.