Malik
(7/25/05)
The events that
were set in motion have begun with Hot Coffee. At Gamespot,
there's a nice little piece that shows some of the stupidity that
came about from this whole messed up incident. My favorite part is
how the confusing rules of retailers have begun to eat away at the
money they so care about.
Basically, with
how many stores refuse to sell games rated higher than AO, they have
shipped back GTA:SA to Take Two. However, beyond that, there are the
retailers who specialize in used games (like Gamestop). Used games
are not covered by anything, and now the stores with rules about no
selling AO games, but yes to taking pre-owned games, are taking a
beating. These used games are pretty much ending up in a limbo state
that only leads to some big questions.
My favorite
question with all of this is not what will happen to these used
copies of GTA:SA. These copies will probably be sold in some obscure
way to a retailer that will sell them, but for a major loss.
However, the big question to me is why these stores won't sell an AO
game. It makes almost no sense. However, many things with the
ratings system make no sense. For example, why would a retailer be
protested for selling a game with content that's not much worse than
what's on daytime TV (sorry, but what I've seen of Hot Coffee isn't
exactly all that perverted or nasty...it's like what you'd see on a
soap opera, but with more polygons)? Hell, for a "hot" sex
scene in a game, I think God of War could easily take the prize for
hottest (plenty of suggestive sounds and actions coupled with
sharper images than GTA ever reached of fully revealed
breasts...sorry, but GTA doesn't have shit on GoW), yet it escapes
notice since most politicians don't know what God of War is.
Anyway, I think
the fallout from all of this shit will continue to build until it
reaches a point that makes me glad that there are stores like Frys
and online businesses aplenty to get the many new games that will
probably face AO ratings in the near future. Either that, or I'll be
pissed to see that all game makers will cater to the new standards
that push what is allowed for M ratings into what would've been T a
few months earlier. It's a lot like the damned Superbowl crap with
Janet Jackson...it'll just make it where what's allowed will be far
less than it should be (like how TV became really ultra-sanitized
after Jackson's boob shot).
Well, I don't have
much to talk about today. It's just a slow day. I am working on
puting together the review of We Love Katamari, and should have it
up in the next few days. I've been killing most of my free time with
this game. That's it. Beyond that, and the "evils
of games" (next thing you know, we'll be told that Mario is
a pedophile and all Mario games should be banned), there's not a
thing to talk about, so I'll just poof for the night and work on my
review.
Malik
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Malik
(7/26/05)
There's a typical
government response to Hot Coffee...wait until everything has
settled down and for people to finally be moving on with their
business when you step in and try to keep something in the news for
an extra couple of weeks. Yeah, according to Gamespot,
the House voted in favor of having the FTC look into the nature of
Hot Coffee. Well, I know about a million people out there that could
easily explain this whole damned thing, but I guess the government
needs to waste some money looking into a thing that is NOT regulated
by the government.
In fact, that is
the key thing. Since game ratings are not required (a company CAN
sell games that have skipped the ESRB ratings panel, but it would
simply not be sold at any store that requires ratings, like
Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, etc), the government officially has no
business regulating this industry, unless other steps are taken
first. However, since government tends to do things out of order,
and always a little later, I guess this is not a big surprise.
Basically, this will be a great chance for a good deal of money to
be wasted on an investigation that is relatively solved, and is not
under federal jurisdiction.
While the
government may be interested in blowing excessive taxpayer money on
the "brazenness of Rockstar Games in their effort to do an
end-run around the ratings system", it will not accomplish a
damned thing. Of course, the most entertaining part is the the
reason this content is in GTA:SA will come down to one of two
reasons, and neither can be decided by an investigation. Either
Rockstar left this stuff in to have a potential mass advertising
tool in the word of mouth that easily followed the revealing of Hot
Coffee, or they simply had unused code that was not deleted (either
it was forgotten about or it included some code that was needed for
other parts of the game and simply couldn't be removed).
...and to think,
this whole mess could've been behind us right now if the federal
government was not about 2 weeks late on this. Way to go!
Anyway, I keep
writing about this shit only because it keeps coming. I would love
nothing more than for some real news to come along. However, any
real news, if it comes our way, will only be hidden under the
massive articles on Rockstar. For the first few days, this was cool,
since it gave us some news in the usually dull Summer game season.
However, it's been long enough, and enough good news stories have
gone undetected.
So, to leave this
topic, I should have the We Love Katamari review up by the end of
the week, assuming I can tear myself away from the game long enough
to review it. It shouldn't come as a surprise, but this one will
also be getting a nice a high score...could you except anything else
from this franchise? I've finished the real part of the game, and
only have a few extra and locked levels to finish, but I'll get onto
the review without those (some are insanely frustrating to unlock).
Anyway, time for a little Katamari before I (hopefully) write some
more on the review.
Malik
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Malik
(7/27/05)
Happy anniversary
Velveeta!
On a less
sentimental note, I finally finished the bulk of We Love Katamari. I
was able to find the last few cousins last night. Before you can
play the last two levels, you have to find the remaining cousins.
Then, you get a weird level in which you have to collect all of the
little bastards, while you race the clock (time trial, not a timed
level). Finally, after you finish that stage, and get another
ending, you have the most unusual of levels.
After you get some
fanfare from the people of WLK, you have a new level in which you
play something about "royal academy" or something like
that. This is actually a series of levels from the normal game.
However, you have a new goal of obtaining one million roses. Yes, it
is as time consuming as you'd think. You have to collect the roses
in either single rose or 10 rose bouquets. This means you will have
to pick up at least one hundred thousand objects.
It took me about
15 minutes to get up to 5000 roses. That's when I tried to quit the
level, and was pleased to see that your progress saves. After the
first level, if you return, you will be on another stage full of
roses. I imagine quite a few stages are used for this level. I'm
only up to 7500, so I don't know how long it'll take me, and I sure
don't know if I'm going to earn anything special for this extra
work. However, since I'm a Katamari fanatic, I know I'll be
trying.
I haven't gotten
any more work done on the WLK review. It's just been one of those
weeks in which too many things are going on at once (like my third
anniversary), and too many responsibilities are trying to tear me
apart from the geeking that I love. I figure, if worse comes to
worse, the review will wait until next week. I can't say anything
for sure, but we'll see what happens.
Anyway, with all
of this "real world" bull shit, I don't have much to talk
about. Playing and finishing (well, except the rose level) WLK for
an hour is about the best I could hope for in a night. So, I'll see
what tonight holds, and we'll see how things turn out
tomorrow.
I thought I was
done posting for the day, but then I saw this article at Gamespot.
It goes on more about how the FTC is investigating the Hot Coffee
scandal. I guarantee, no matter what happens, GTA is now, and will
forever more be one of the most popular and best selling game
titles. Hell, this type of publicity is not going to crush the giant
that defined it's own genre and redefines what a best selling game
is. No, this scandal will only further to give GTA word of mouth
advertising, which not only doesn't cut into Take Two's budget, but
also is usually more impressive and powerful than any media-based ad
can ever be.
However, beyond
that, this goes into something beyond stupidity. It seems that one
Florence Cohen has decided that Take Two needs to be taken to court
over this. Her basis? Well, it seems she has been
"damaged" (what ever the f$#% that is supposed to mean)
because she bought GTA:SA for her grandchild. On one hand, I don't
know how this "damaged" her, when it was her grandchild
that received the game. Secondly, I feel sorry for the grandchild
who has a lawsuit-happy relative.
This is not a
ground for bringing about a legal trial. No this is a ground for
either saying, "the minors in my family shouldn't be playing
this game (unsupervised)", or "good thing I pay attention
to my relatives to know what it right for them before I buy a game
half-assed and act like an idiot when it comes to buying a game or
any other form of media for them". In other words, this is not
a reason to bring about a court case. Hell, I'd imagine, with the
current round of publicity on this, that the grandmother could
return the game for a refund...either from the store she bought it
from, or from Take Two directly.
Beyond all of
that, I might point out that this was not really "deceptive
advertising". No, it was rather a section of code was forgotten
about in programming the game. This code was never meant to be
accessed. Beyond that, this code was there, I'm betting, only
because it couldn't be easily removed without damaging the rest of
the game's code. It was not intended to be accessed, and as far as
Rockstar was concerned, it no longer existed. So, they did not deceive
anyone as much as the situation just changed. It's like if you step
in a pile of dog crap and don't know it. When someone says
"what the hell is that smell?", you are not lying when you
say you don't know...even if it was later learned that it was your
fault. That's what Take Two did...they stepped in some shit and
didn't know it. Nothing deceptive...it's just shit happening.
Also, with how
(I'm guessing this is true, but I may be wrong) one could probably
get a refund from Take Two over this incident, if one chose to
return their copy of GTA:SA, what is the basis for both a legal
trial, and a class-action status? There is none. This is just an
example of a lady with no better sense than to sue for the sake of
being a waste of time and money for the US legal system.
Plus, if Cohen
wants to still be a good person about this, she could make sure her
(probably under aged) grandchild is supervised while playing this
previously M rated game. After all, that is not only the best step
for an AO game, it is the best step for a freakin' M (17 and over)
game. Plus, she could make sure her grandchild doesn't access the
locked material, and then it's the same game she bought for him
originally.
But then
again...let's sue because there aren't enough frivolous lawsuits as
it stands! After all, we can all be asses by using our right to sue
people for the sake of being jerks! Yippee!!!
Malik
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Malik
(7/28/05)
Yesterday, the new
PSP
Firmware Update was released in Japan. This is the update that
actually gives some new features, unlike 1.51 (which only gave more
security against homebrew programs). On top of the web browser,
there are some extra audio files that are now supported, and some
new image files. So, unlike the previous updates, this one actually
serves a purpose to gamers. However, while this update should work
on American PSPs, it is only found on the Japanese PSP site, and
only has download instructions in Japanese. Plus, it is only being
recommended for Japanese PSP users. In other words, Sony is either
limiting the American audiences chance for a web browser, or they
are just taking their time on our version of this patch.
While nothing has
been announced yet for our shores, I think it'll be only a matter of
time before Sony brings an American version (one that will both work
and be endorsed for American PSPs), since it sounds like a good deal
of American PSP owners have taken the chance on this update.
Also, if you're
interested in some pseudo-spoilers (and an award show brought forth
by the biggest whores of the "game news" business), Gamespot
has the G-Phoria award winners listed on their site. The actual show
will air on the 8th of August, but I know some of us can't wait
to...I don't know how to continue this since I still feel that the
G4 network, with a couple of exceptions, is about as watered-down as
possible in the gaming world. It's like Nintendo Power, but for
every console.
Anyway, for those
who care, it looks like Halo 2 pwned in the awards...which I find
pretty funny since I guess I'm either blind or something, because
Halo 2 was a good game...nothing more. It didn't re-invent the FPS
genre, it didn't give us anything all that amazing, it gave us
Bungie's version of MGS2's Raiden (the damned Covenant storyline was
nothing short of cheese-tacular), the split-screen (I like
split-screen over XBox Live, just because I like to be social with
my multiplayer) was horrible compared to Halo, the weapons were not
that exciting (I like the weapons on the first one a good deal
more...and dual wielding didn't add all that much)...in short, it
was just not enough new stuff or innovation or anything along those
lines to have it win so many awards. Hell, for best original
soundtrack, either you didn't know the competition, or you'd vote
for Katamari Damacy; it's that simple.
I'm so tired and
hot that I'm actually finding myself arguing with the
"logic" of G4, so I'm shutting up on that subject about
now...
Anyway, I'm sorta
dragging on the WLK review. I really was hoping to get things
running by tomorrow, but I can see that it's just not going to
happen. It's been too hectic of a week for anything to actually get
accomplished. I'll try to get in some work on it this weekend, but
that might be a long shot too. I guess it's one of those wait and
see situations.
Malik
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Malik
(7/29/05)
I don't think this
is meant to come as a surprise or anything, but another of the pwN-Gage
led revolution in handhelds that did too much has bit the dust. The
Zodiac, from Tapwave, is no more...or at least it will not be made
anymore. As for the three people who actually bought this thing and
thought they were making a smart purchase...well, you f$#@ed up on
pwN-Gage proportions.
The idea of even
making a PDA that plays games is either a brilliant move that was
too intelligent for it's own good...or more likely, and this is what
I'd have to say, it was a brilliantly stupid move. It's one thing is
a major console maker decided to make a handheld in today's
marketplace, but it's another if an unknown (in terms of video
games) makes a gaming system when we have a strong level of
competition from Nintendo, Sony, Nokia (yeah, they aren't
strong...in fact they sucked...but they were here first and they
were going for the same market share as Tapwave), and every cell
phone maker in the world in the handheld market.
At least it's good
to see that Tapwave was defeated rather than trying new incarnations
of they failed experiment, like Nokia has done. When a system fails,
the best move is to get over it...I just wish Tapwave would've seen
it sooner since, despite giving me a good laugh for the last two
years, they cost a few stupid people some hard earned money. Of
course, I doubt Tapwave could've continued on, since the whole
company has gone belly-up...I just wonder if the Zodiac had any
major role in this. If so, I hope this serves as a lesson for
potential all-in-one handheld game system designers to leave the
market to those who know what they are doing.
I also wonder if
this will have any effect on Tiger and their soon to be released
Gizmondo. I'm not sure how well it's doing on the other side of the
Atlantic, but I have a good idea of the American future for this
system. It will involve not being sold in any real stores (or only
getting a small shelf that's blocked by a giant cardboard cut-out of
Master Chief), not being known to the employees of the stores that
do sell it, and a few dozen stupid people wasting their money
because they think that somehow the Gizmondo will be able to stand
on it's own against the DS and PSP. Yeah...it'll be like Tiger's
Game.com thing that was released and failed horribly a few years
back...only with a different lame-as-hell name.
Anyway, I'm still
dragging on the We Love Katamari review. I only had a small amount
of time to write last night, and I blew it trying to collect the one
million roses in WLK. At least I'm not over 2% done...after a couple
hours trying. I'm at about 27,500 roses, and am starting to think
that this is about as useless of an endeavor as I've ever taken in a
game. At one point, Velveeta asked me, "Why is he making you
collect one million roses?", with "he" being the King
of All Cosmos. I could only think of one appropriate answer,
"because he's an ass". I really like the idea of finishing
this mission, but I don't know if I have it in me considering it's
taken so long to just get less than 3% done.
By the way, since
I have almost nothing to talk about today, I thought I'd share this
thing I found. While I was looking at some various GTA:SA forums (to
read the funny and not-so-funny responses to the Hot Coffee stuff),
I came across a link for the Wikipedia
listing of Jack Thompson. Beyond how it's funny reading about
how self-righteous he is, I found the bottom part the most
interesting. Just keep scrolling to the end of his "open
letter" to the game industry. There's a little message from a Gamefaqs
forum member about the origin of the latest Thompson crusade. I
don't know how true this is, but it sounds a lot like The Sims 2 is
on his radar thanks to someone pretty much f$#@ing around with him.
If it is true, I have to say it's pretty damned funny.
Anyway, as you can
tell, I'm not really with it today, and I have almost nothing to
talk about today (it's the lazy news days of Summer, after all). So,
I'll just log about now.
Malik
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