the second bill (the one that enforces ESRB M ratings) is one that most chain stores already follow.
No, they don't. They already display signs detailing the ESRB ratings-- little itty bitty Extra Fine Print ones-- but there's no policy in place *enforcing* the "under 17 + M rated game = no sale" guideline. At least, when I quit EB a year ago, there wasn't. It's there but never really enforced, kind of like hand-washing in a factory men's room.
Yes, I didn't invert the title-- it's practically impossible to get away from DVD drives nowadays. They're almost standard on new computers-- and really only a $20-$30 upgrade if you build your own or customize an existing setup, so most people who've bought computers within the last year or so has one. PS2s and XBox have capabilities to play DVDs, so if you're a gamer you probably have another player. Not to mention the fact that some TVs have them built-in (like the old TV/VCR combos, which are surprisingly popular of late). The odds are good, then, that any given American household has a DVD player of some sort.
This raises an interesting point-- it's no wonder manufacturers are dropping the prices on their players to next to nothing; the market is saturated and people aren't likely to shell out $60+ on something "they already have".
I did, in all fairness, pick up a DVD player (as opposed to my PS2 etc.) in May of last year, but only because it was a feature of the 5.1 stereo "receiver" (actually a bookshelf changer-type system) that was on clearance anyway ($200). If the system had been full-priced (about $400) I would have said "screw it" and gone with the $250, 5.1, non-DVD-playing system sitting next to it. Both were by Sony, and I think the DVD system is no longer being produced. The point is that with all the el-cheapo DVD players floating around, I still went with a name-brand because it was "included" with the other item I wanted.
Do you why they don't use nuclear power, like Voyager 2?
We can barely land the blasted things, and you want to chuck a nuclear reactor with it? Hell, why not send four or five of them and destroy the planet we're trying to colonize before mankind even gets there? I'm not a nuclear scientist but I am fairly certain nuclear plants do not like to be rolled around, jarred, jostled, or plunged into an impact crater.
He is. He only contributed a few tracks to the past couple FF games.
Contrast this with the absolutely brilliant Yasunori Mitsuda, who delivered amazing work with Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, and a little for Xenosaga... but has largely moved on as well.
I'd die to have Gran Turismo packaged with an orchestrated soundtrack. It would be hilarious to see what all the racing fans think when suddenly driving in some Mozart-ridden European-BMW-comercial atmosphere. Heheh.
And in all seriousness would lend a completely different theme to those games as well, but the initial reaction would be worth it alone.
Kinda like how when I (briefly) played GTA, the only radio station I would listen to was the classical one.
Relating to the parent post, in the Japanese releases of Gran Turismo there were some very good instrumental tracks-- "Moon Over The Castle" especially. It's a shame Sony always replaces these tracks with licensed garbage (sadly, not actually Garbage; I like Shirley Manson's voice).
I'm somewhat reminded of the old Animaniacs skit from years ago.
Seriously, I get a lot of calls from telemarketers and poll people. They annoy me more than other people because I sleep during the day, but for the most part I accept it as a consequence of being in the phone book. Anyone can look up my name, phone number, and address in the local white pages, run to a terminal, and google one or all of those to bug me.
Every once in a while if the poll topic sounds interesting I'll do the poll-- well, OK, so I did it twice in the last six months, and really only because the interviewer sounded cute-- but the point is that I sometimes do the telephone polls in an attempt to influence the bias one way or another. If it's a poll I feel strongly about (like, say, the grocery stores in my area-- all of which are crap, thank you very much), I'll do it with the attempt to get something better in the area. If it's about gaming or electronics or somesuch, hell yeah I'll do it-- I like talking about games, and if you say that doing the survey gets me free stuff I'll ask to do it twice.
The point is that not everyone unconditionally says "fuck off" to anyone who doesn't get recognized on their Caller ID. So telephone polls are skewed, simply because the people who do them anyway are either too dumb to say no or think they can change the results with it. Which one of these two categories I fall into is left as an exercise for the reader.
Agreed. Email his editor. Email every other @nypost.com address. Hell, email every newspaper you can think of. But not this guy. If he expects the world to slave to his opinion, then imagine his shock when the world turns on him.
Ah, here's the correction, from some article on knights in E! Online (hardly a credible source, but the first credible source I could find after 5 minutes googling):
A few Americans--Rudy Giuliani in 2001, for example--have received what's called Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. American knights can't use Sir before their names, but they can choose to add KBE to the end. So, the next Indiana Jones movie will be directed by Steven Spielberg KBE.
If a country wants to hold onto a 'silly' institution as a symbol of their nation, so be it.
Thankfully, this does not apply to the U.S. and the RIAA, despite the fact that it is "a silly institution" that definitely serves as "a symbol of their nation".
Actually, isn't it a stipulation of American citizenship that you can't accept any titles or honors granted by foreign sovereignties (specifically knighthood)? That would make Rudy's knighthood a little difficult for me to believe, unless there's some weird loophole that I don't know about.
Let's take this another step further. You're in your car. Your car has windows. You have to drive your car on public roads (most of the time). How the hell much privacy do you expect to really have out in the middle of the bloody road? Honestly, this sort of situation doesn't really need to be pointed out, but so far nobody else has. If you want absolute, untouchable privacy, then just bury yourself in five feet of lead-lined concrete and be done with it.
This seems like a very cool idea, and I'm all for new and innovative games being released here in the U.S. That said, I will definitely not be buying either Karaoke Revolution or SingStar. Ever. This is not a reflection on the quality of these products, which is undoubtedly very high. It's for a far more practical reason.
It is because I know I cannot sing, and I wish not to inflict any more of my voice upon the world than is strictly necessary.
To sum up, one is an epic tale (or mythos), whereas the other is a children's story.
Who says one can't be the other?
And for that matter, what's wrong with making a beloved children's story into a film or television series, as long as the makers stay faithful to the author? I don't see you complaining about PBS' treatment of Brian Jacques' Redwall books.
Yes, there's a discrepancy between Narnia and LOTR... but to dismiss a work simply because you're not the intended audience-- or because it's not in a style you prefer-- doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
OK, but what about console games ported to the PC (Halo, FFXI, etc.)? Or even emulated console games? Emulated arcade games?
I agree that on some titles it's far easier to use a keyboard and mouse-- and those are the predominant titles on the PC. But to ignore a significant-- and growing, if you believe the number of console-first titles announced-- portion of the PC game repertiore just seems a bit misleading.
Easiest solution to this whole mess, and one I'm seriously considering.
1. Buy a personal cheapo shredder with a small wastebasket and shred stuff until the basket is full. 2. Buy a beanbag chair. 3. Remove the styrofoam packing peanuts from the beanbag chair, they'll be mashed flat and useless in a week anyway. 4. Place the shredded documents into the beanbag chair. 5. Repeat until the beanbag chair reaches the desired firmness.
Let alone identity theft, one of the records they handed me that week was a well known elected politician's totally routine mammogram. Her results were clear. Imagine what that kind of leak could do to an election if it were not.
Oh, the fun we could have at the cable office! The first-level technicians we hire here are basically nothing more than warm bodies, and there's been rumors of some of them "accidentally" hanging on to pages and pages of credit-card numbers and expiration dates... But then again, anyone desperate enough to be paying their bill over the phone probably doesn't have a whole lot in the ol' account anyway.
I kind of exemplified the Skaff Effect in my own habits. I'd started with alternative PnPRPGs (RIFTS and a half-hearted attempt at designing my own) before moving into D I'd proudly collected the ST:TNG CCG before I realized that nobody played that and everyone was playing Magic instead.
But in terms of MMOs? I doubt it. I tried twice to get into EQ (two years ago to the day and again last year, around November) and found it tedious, anti-social, and with far too steep a learning curve. I started FFXI a month and a half ago and wouldn't dream of going back now; having progressed further than I ever did in EQ, having enjoyed the company of my fellow player FAR more than in EQ, and finding the experience more newbie-friendly than EQ. Almost everyone I've spoken to in my limited experience agrees.
It may have some merit, but to be honest I really don't think so, MMORPGs being somewhat different from other products.
Gran Turismo 3, on the other hand - ugh! I hated the music. The selection was too disparate. I turned it off. It was better.
Sony, for some reason, hates using the original music for any Gran Turismo game. "Moon Over The Castle"-- the series' main theme-- is an excellent piece, and I have no idea why they continually refuse to put it in a U.S. version. The U.S. GT3 soundtrack did have two things going for it, though-- Grand Theft Audio and the ability to turn off any tracks you didn't like.
I don't know why one can't consider the FF pop songs to be licensed. The music has already been out and available for a while by the time it reaches the U.S., and usually it has to be re-done and re-negotiated for use. (I think this is why a lot of Japanese games wind up having the vocals removed from their tracks, like the old Wild ARMs games-- but, per my sig, I could be wrong.) In any event, the songs hold up well on their own and probably could be considered close enough to count.
But getting back to the topic, I have a special place in my heart for Crazy Taxi's soundtrack. Sure, it was just the same five songs over and over again, but it got me to buy the Offspring and Bad Religion albums. Good stuff, if you ask me.
Let's take a look at it this way. Saddam Hussein is captured, tried, and (hopefully) executed. So what exactly do we need Bush for, now? His job is done, we've made good in the eyes of the world by destroying a major evil in the world. Let's step out from behind the machine gun and to the peaceful podium. I'm not going to let this influence my vote. If Bush can pull out of the warmongering psycho mode before November, he may get my vote. What will influence my vote is the candidate's stand on non-military conflict solutions to the Holy Land thing.
We (America) got fucked on 9/11. No doubt about it. We decided to get even. No doubt about that. We kinda forgot about Osama and took out another world-class pain in the ass. Now can we please get back on track and hunt down the real targets? Preferably by having their own people turn against them? For 2004, my big thing will be "military force as a last resort, not first choice". I don't want to see America dragged down into a self-destructive unwinnable war. I don't want to see our country fight itself to death. We need to pursue peaceful solutions in the future when possible.
Great job, soldiers. No one can discredit your efforts and sacrifice. But I'd much rather we didn't have to have sacrificed at all.
Slashdot Mirror
the second bill (the one that enforces ESRB M ratings) is one that most chain stores already follow.
No, they don't. They already display signs detailing the ESRB ratings-- little itty bitty Extra Fine Print ones-- but there's no policy in place *enforcing* the "under 17 + M rated game = no sale" guideline. At least, when I quit EB a year ago, there wasn't. It's there but never really enforced, kind of like hand-washing in a factory men's room.
Yes, I didn't invert the title-- it's practically impossible to get away from DVD drives nowadays. They're almost standard on new computers-- and really only a $20-$30 upgrade if you build your own or customize an existing setup, so most people who've bought computers within the last year or so has one. PS2s and XBox have capabilities to play DVDs, so if you're a gamer you probably have another player. Not to mention the fact that some TVs have them built-in (like the old TV/VCR combos, which are surprisingly popular of late). The odds are good, then, that any given American household has a DVD player of some sort.
This raises an interesting point-- it's no wonder manufacturers are dropping the prices on their players to next to nothing; the market is saturated and people aren't likely to shell out $60+ on something "they already have".
I did, in all fairness, pick up a DVD player (as opposed to my PS2 etc.) in May of last year, but only because it was a feature of the 5.1 stereo "receiver" (actually a bookshelf changer-type system) that was on clearance anyway ($200). If the system had been full-priced (about $400) I would have said "screw it" and gone with the $250, 5.1, non-DVD-playing system sitting next to it. Both were by Sony, and I think the DVD system is no longer being produced. The point is that with all the el-cheapo DVD players floating around, I still went with a name-brand because it was "included" with the other item I wanted.
Do you why they don't use nuclear power, like Voyager 2?
We can barely land the blasted things, and you want to chuck a nuclear reactor with it? Hell, why not send four or five of them and destroy the planet we're trying to colonize before mankind even gets there? I'm not a nuclear scientist but I am fairly certain nuclear plants do not like to be rolled around, jarred, jostled, or plunged into an impact crater.
Kind of like slashdot... except in both cases, the moderators suck ass.
He is. He only contributed a few tracks to the past couple FF games.
Contrast this with the absolutely brilliant Yasunori Mitsuda, who delivered amazing work with Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, and a little for Xenosaga... but has largely moved on as well.
I'd die to have Gran Turismo packaged with an orchestrated soundtrack. It would be hilarious to see what all the racing fans think when suddenly driving in some Mozart-ridden European-BMW-comercial atmosphere. Heheh.
And in all seriousness would lend a completely different theme to those games as well, but the initial reaction would be worth it alone.
Kinda like how when I (briefly) played GTA, the only radio station I would listen to was the classical one.
Relating to the parent post, in the Japanese releases of Gran Turismo there were some very good instrumental tracks-- "Moon Over The Castle" especially. It's a shame Sony always replaces these tracks with licensed garbage (sadly, not actually Garbage; I like Shirley Manson's voice).
I'm somewhat reminded of the old Animaniacs skit from years ago.
Seriously, I get a lot of calls from telemarketers and poll people. They annoy me more than other people because I sleep during the day, but for the most part I accept it as a consequence of being in the phone book. Anyone can look up my name, phone number, and address in the local white pages, run to a terminal, and google one or all of those to bug me.
Every once in a while if the poll topic sounds interesting I'll do the poll-- well, OK, so I did it twice in the last six months, and really only because the interviewer sounded cute-- but the point is that I sometimes do the telephone polls in an attempt to influence the bias one way or another. If it's a poll I feel strongly about (like, say, the grocery stores in my area-- all of which are crap, thank you very much), I'll do it with the attempt to get something better in the area. If it's about gaming or electronics or somesuch, hell yeah I'll do it-- I like talking about games, and if you say that doing the survey gets me free stuff I'll ask to do it twice.
The point is that not everyone unconditionally says "fuck off" to anyone who doesn't get recognized on their Caller ID. So telephone polls are skewed, simply because the people who do them anyway are either too dumb to say no or think they can change the results with it. Which one of these two categories I fall into is left as an exercise for the reader.
Bah. Don't grace this hack with an e-mail.
Agreed. Email his editor. Email every other @nypost.com address. Hell, email every newspaper you can think of. But not this guy. If he expects the world to slave to his opinion, then imagine his shock when the world turns on him.
Ah, here's the correction, from some article on knights in E! Online (hardly a credible source, but the first credible source I could find after 5 minutes googling):
A few Americans--Rudy Giuliani in 2001, for example--have received what's called Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. American knights can't use Sir before their names, but they can choose to add KBE to the end. So, the next Indiana Jones movie will be directed by Steven Spielberg KBE.
OK, then, that's settled.
If a country wants to hold onto a 'silly' institution as a symbol of their nation, so be it.
Thankfully, this does not apply to the U.S. and the RIAA, despite the fact that it is "a silly institution" that definitely serves as "a symbol of their nation".
(disclaimer: I'm an American)
Actually, isn't it a stipulation of American citizenship that you can't accept any titles or honors granted by foreign sovereignties (specifically knighthood)? That would make Rudy's knighthood a little difficult for me to believe, unless there's some weird loophole that I don't know about.
Let's take this another step further. You're in your car. Your car has windows. You have to drive your car on public roads (most of the time). How the hell much privacy do you expect to really have out in the middle of the bloody road? Honestly, this sort of situation doesn't really need to be pointed out, but so far nobody else has. If you want absolute, untouchable privacy, then just bury yourself in five feet of lead-lined concrete and be done with it.
This seems like a very cool idea, and I'm all for new and innovative games being released here in the U.S. That said, I will definitely not be buying either Karaoke Revolution or SingStar. Ever. This is not a reflection on the quality of these products, which is undoubtedly very high. It's for a far more practical reason.
It is because I know I cannot sing, and I wish not to inflict any more of my voice upon the world than is strictly necessary.
A girl once told me she wouldn't go out with me until the end of time.
Sally Roberts, pucker up.
To sum up, one is an epic tale (or mythos), whereas the other is a children's story.
Who says one can't be the other?
And for that matter, what's wrong with making a beloved children's story into a film or television series, as long as the makers stay faithful to the author? I don't see you complaining about PBS' treatment of Brian Jacques' Redwall books.
Yes, there's a discrepancy between Narnia and LOTR... but to dismiss a work simply because you're not the intended audience-- or because it's not in a style you prefer-- doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
...leave the gamepad games to the consoles...
OK, but what about console games ported to the PC (Halo, FFXI, etc.)? Or even emulated console games? Emulated arcade games?
I agree that on some titles it's far easier to use a keyboard and mouse-- and those are the predominant titles on the PC. But to ignore a significant-- and growing, if you believe the number of console-first titles announced-- portion of the PC game repertiore just seems a bit misleading.
Before you mod this off-topic, please bear in mind that I accidentally omitted the word "personal" in step 1. It should read....
1. Buy a personal cheapo shredder with a small wastebasket and shred personal stuff until the basket is full.
Easiest solution to this whole mess, and one I'm seriously considering.
1. Buy a personal cheapo shredder with a small wastebasket and shred stuff until the basket is full.
2. Buy a beanbag chair.
3. Remove the styrofoam packing peanuts from the beanbag chair, they'll be mashed flat and useless in a week anyway.
4. Place the shredded documents into the beanbag chair.
5. Repeat until the beanbag chair reaches the desired firmness.
Instant furniture, very comfy when playing games.
Let alone identity theft, one of the records they handed me that week was a well known elected politician's totally routine mammogram. Her results were clear. Imagine what that kind of leak could do to an election if it were not.
Oh, the fun we could have at the cable office! The first-level technicians we hire here are basically nothing more than warm bodies, and there's been rumors of some of them "accidentally" hanging on to pages and pages of credit-card numbers and expiration dates... But then again, anyone desperate enough to be paying their bill over the phone probably doesn't have a whole lot in the ol' account anyway.
Did Not Finish.
I kind of exemplified the Skaff Effect in my own habits. I'd started with alternative PnPRPGs (RIFTS and a half-hearted attempt at designing my own) before moving into D I'd proudly collected the ST:TNG CCG before I realized that nobody played that and everyone was playing Magic instead.
But in terms of MMOs? I doubt it. I tried twice to get into EQ (two years ago to the day and again last year, around November) and found it tedious, anti-social, and with far too steep a learning curve. I started FFXI a month and a half ago and wouldn't dream of going back now; having progressed further than I ever did in EQ, having enjoyed the company of my fellow player FAR more than in EQ, and finding the experience more newbie-friendly than EQ. Almost everyone I've spoken to in my limited experience agrees.
It may have some merit, but to be honest I really don't think so, MMORPGs being somewhat different from other products.
Gran Turismo 3, on the other hand - ugh! I hated the music. The selection was too disparate. I turned it off. It was better.
Sony, for some reason, hates using the original music for any Gran Turismo game. "Moon Over The Castle"-- the series' main theme-- is an excellent piece, and I have no idea why they continually refuse to put it in a U.S. version. The U.S. GT3 soundtrack did have two things going for it, though-- Grand Theft Audio and the ability to turn off any tracks you didn't like.
I don't know why one can't consider the FF pop songs to be licensed. The music has already been out and available for a while by the time it reaches the U.S., and usually it has to be re-done and re-negotiated for use. (I think this is why a lot of Japanese games wind up having the vocals removed from their tracks, like the old Wild ARMs games-- but, per my sig, I could be wrong.) In any event, the songs hold up well on their own and probably could be considered close enough to count.
But getting back to the topic, I have a special place in my heart for Crazy Taxi's soundtrack. Sure, it was just the same five songs over and over again, but it got me to buy the Offspring and Bad Religion albums. Good stuff, if you ask me.
Let's take a look at it this way. Saddam Hussein is captured, tried, and (hopefully) executed. So what exactly do we need Bush for, now? His job is done, we've made good in the eyes of the world by destroying a major evil in the world. Let's step out from behind the machine gun and to the peaceful podium. I'm not going to let this influence my vote. If Bush can pull out of the warmongering psycho mode before November, he may get my vote. What will influence my vote is the candidate's stand on non-military conflict solutions to the Holy Land thing.
We (America) got fucked on 9/11. No doubt about it. We decided to get even. No doubt about that. We kinda forgot about Osama and took out another world-class pain in the ass. Now can we please get back on track and hunt down the real targets? Preferably by having their own people turn against them? For 2004, my big thing will be "military force as a last resort, not first choice". I don't want to see America dragged down into a self-destructive unwinnable war. I don't want to see our country fight itself to death. We need to pursue peaceful solutions in the future when possible.
Great job, soldiers. No one can discredit your efforts and sacrifice. But I'd much rather we didn't have to have sacrificed at all.
Unless you're an angry dyke with a knife, of course.
Considering his link includes the goatse picture, it's not terribly unlikely.
I prefer SCUMM anyway.