An interesting thread has been a-brewin’ on the SRK message boards recently. One that I’ve taken pleasure in participating. The question posed is whether Capcom should package Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix along with the upcoming Street Fighter IV as a bundle. The significance being that it would be a way for SSF2THDR to be published on tangible media, rather than being exclusively available through a download service like XBLA or PSN.
Of course, I’d be in favor of that idea. As I’ve said before, I as a consumer would much prefer tangible media over digital distribution.
If you would humor me, I’d like to explore a theory… Now, let’s assume that Street Fighter IV‘s price tag upon release will be the usual $50. The way I would further envision it, Capcom could still release SSF2THDR online for the (again, assumed) price of $20. Meanwhile, Capcom could add it as a bonus to SF4, raising its price to around $60. To me, this would be an awesome deal. People who only want SSF2THDR could still buy it digitally for only $20. Those who want SF4 would only have to suffer an additional $10, but they’d be getting two full-sized games for that price. I believe that in the long run, Capcom would profit more by that arrangement and consumers like me would get the physical copy of the game that they’ve been pining over.
Alas, I understand that this is not to be. For nigh upon each game’s release, those gears are already in motion. However, I do propose a compromise: I would suggest that after a year or two of both games’ release, Capcom could re-issue SF4 in the form of a “special edition”, which includes SSF2THDR as a bonus. This is something that we’ve seen precedent and proved successful. (Resident Evil: Director’s Cut, Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence, Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+, etc.) By then the price may even drop to a comfortable $30-40.
That would provide the product the extra value to draw in people who passed on it the first time and give the hardcore fans an excuse to buy the same product again. My feelings won’t be hurt if they don’t adopt my plan, but I think it would be a solid idea that both Capcom and their consumers can benefit from.
I like to pretend that I’m a writer. One symptom of this is that I’m a stickler for precise use of the English language. That is to say that I’m constantly examining my own grammar, vocabulary, and those of others.
Sometimes, though, there are issues that I have with the English language itself. For example, placing words like “that” twice in succession in the same sentence. To illustrate: “I believe that that is annoying.” When spoken, such a phrase would make complete sense, since one would normally place extra emphasis on the second “that”, distinguishing the two. Yet when in written form, it could be mistaken for a typo.
I can see some people suggesting to omit the second “that”, believing that that would be acceptable. (You see what I did there?) It’s not that simple since there is a value to the second “that”. It serves as a qualifier, directing your attention to a specific point in the idea you’re expressing in such a sentence.
For example, “You can see that color is red,” is different from “You can see that that color is red”. In the first form, it gives the sense that you could be looking at that color anywhere around and acknowledge that it is red. On the other hand, in the second version, the speaker is still identifying the color, but on a specific object. Or it could be that the speaker is differentiating that color from other colors that are visible.
It’s a personal pet peeve of mine and it’s a challenge to construct sentences that detour from using that syntax. Some of my alternative sentences may appear a bit funny as a result, but I believe that they’re still far less confusing to read. Or maybe no one cares but me.
Here, we can watch your hero and mine, David Sirlin, showing his stuff in the newly-released Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix open Beta. He doesn’t come in until about 3 minutes into it, but it’s still fascinating to watch. The additional notes add the sense of development in motion. It may be a few years before I’m yet able to play HDR myself, but at least I can rest knowing that it will be worth the wait, trusting this task in the best hands.
What seems to be an industry-wide response to Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, we’re seeing an increase in fighting games currently being ported and developed, at least outside of Asia.
Within this past year, we’ve seen evidence of development of new fighting games using classic franchises, including Final Fantasy, Mortal Kombat, and just recently Castlevania. Not only that, but we surprisingly also got to see a North American release of doujinshi fighter, Arcana Hearts. (Now if only they’d port Melty Blood!)
I believe that as they perfect the net code to support the precision accuracy required to play fighting games online, the genre is more likely to make a comeback. This greatly excites me since the video arcades are practically dead. Online play will never replace the glory of the arcade scene, but if this opens the door to reviving a genre that’s been limping along for the past 10 years, I’d support it!
According to Kotaku, a marketing survey has been circulating asking consumers questions about what they’d like to see next in the Halo franchise. Specifically asking which other genre of games would be most appealing with the Halo brand attached to it. If you were to ask me, I think a LEGO game would be the best bet, since those games are so popular and it would gain access to kids that are too young to appreciate the line of Halo first-person shooters.
However, my attention does draw toward the third option in the survey, that being a Halo-themed racing game. In my vanity, I’d like to take credit for this, should it ever come to fruition. My friends will vouch (and I’m sure I have recorded proof somewhere) that I conceived the idea of “Halo Kart” about three years ago.
I couldn’t be that hard to do, really. You already have the vehicle driving engine, a good couple vehicles to choose from, and the ability to use weapons. All you really need are some decent tracks and you’re off! To make it interesting, I suppose they could make some kind of gameplay element where you can leave the vehicle to engage in on-foot shenanigans.
I confess, I’m no fan of Halo (outside of the Red Vs. Blue series), but I can certainly see potential for the franchise.
What’s up with online thesaurus sites lately? Ones like thesaurus.com used to be great; for each word I’d enter, I’d be given over a dozen synonyms, as well as slang terms, antonyms, and figures of speech. Now I’m lucky to receive five results from a search.
What’s worse is that when I click on a synonym that is closer to the idea that I’m trying to find a word for, half the time there’s no listing at all for it! I’ll either be redirected to the word I’d originally entered or I’ll get a “Did you mean…?” page. That’s just useless.
I know that I shouldn’t depend on sites like that as a crutch, but they still provided a healthy exercise for my own vocabulary. It just disheartens me when I can think of several synonyms to a word myself that the database at thesaurus.com failed to consider.
Oh, and for the curious, typing in “synonym” into the search will not cause an explosive feedback loop, as I would expect.
The open Beta for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix we live earlier today, much to the fighting game fandom’s delight. Alas, I’ll not be able to join in the fun, since I lack the necessary Xbox 360. The game itself is incredibly watered down, with only Ken and Ryu as selectable characters. I see a lot of complaints about this, as well as a slew of other aesthetic gripes.
Some of the wiser gamers providing feedback are offering their perspective on the gameplay. Not that I want to discourage players from punishing the hell out of the game to iron out all the kinks, but at the same time I gotta remember that the developers have already turned to the best of the best tournament players on task for consultation.
What I think the significance of the open Beta is more so to test the net code for online play. Testing this element of the game can only be tested by unleashing it upon the masses across the globe. There’s only so much field research you can do from within the development house, even if you have people working from different points in North America. In order for this game to be the beautiful piece of software that it’s foretold to be, the net code is key.
So go forth, XBLA monkeys! Do whatever you must to cripple your bandwidth, so that Capcom may learn how to compensate. Now is the perfect time to fire up BitTorrent, download those critical software updates, and play your entire YouTube playlist. Abuse this game so that it may grow stronger in the end!
Sometimes I like to pretend that I’m as hardcore counter-culture as I used to be. So I’ll check out what’s going on in independent media, including some of the extreme conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones or David Icke. Most of these guys are flat out crazy–that’s a given–but I still like to keep my mind open to possibilities, outrageous as they may be.
One recurring theme throughout their rantings is the idea that The Man wants to put everyone into prisons, since the companies that build prisons are big business. What they’ll often present to illustrate that theory are cases where citizens are given heavy prison sentences for trivial crimes.
Most recently, I heard one host discuss how some states have made it so someone can be made to serve up to 10 years in jail for speeding. Yes, that sounds obscene and shocking the way they tell it, however what they fail to include is that in order to be eligible for a sentence that severe, one usually will have a long list of prior offenses–and we’re not talking parking violations; more like DUI, driving with a suspended license, reckless driving resulting in a collision, etc.–and then being busted for speeding to the tune of going 60mph in a school zone. That kind of person is a danger to society and has earned a dime in the joint for being so irresponsible toward the safety of others.
Besides, is it really that hard to find people to put in jail? Have we reached that level of utopia that we’re actually hard-pressed to find criminals among us? What about all those thieves, drug dealers, and wife beaters that get a slap on the wrist by the state before being released back into the public?
I accept that a great deal of our judicial and law enforcement systems are corrupt. Many cities milk their citizens through chicken-shit citations. And too many people are sent to jail for civil affairs like software piracy. But I have difficulty believing that when it comes to filling prisons, the system must be twisted to cull from the innocent, rather than the more deserving. Does the all-powerful Illuminati really have such a hard time finding excuses to lock these jackals up, so they have to resort to picking on harmless tax-paying citizens? Cuz that’s a horrible way to run a secret operation… It would raise far less suspicions to over-punish the guilty than to bully the innocent.
I’m sure that most of those conspiracy nuts would offer some kind of explanation for it. Like maybe that the powers-that-be do this to keep us fearfully in line. All I know is that if it doesn’t make sense, it’s most likely not true. Even if martial law is upon us, I doubt this is one of the precursors. Jello Biafra once said, “Don’t hate the media. Become the media.” I support this idea 100%, but it does us no good if we over-sensationalize minutia just as the mainstream does to distract us from what’s really important.
This video has been fairly viral in the past couple weeks. Rumors spread that Nintendo secretly produced the video. They’ve denied it and I believe them. This is certainly not the first time a guy has boasted about his girlfriend’s hotness on the internet. It’s also spawned several copy-cats and parodies as well. The following video illustrating the opposite side of the coin’s ugly reality…
I sent both videos to my girlfriend with the note that I plan on buying a Nintendo Wii with Wii Fit and then counting the seconds before she pounces me off of it. She responded that it would be however long it would take for her to pull herself up off the floor from laughing so hard. Le sigh…
Comedian George Carlin died this past weekend from heart failure. This is sad news indeed, coming from a fan of his work. I’ve followed his line of comedy for about 12 years now and he was my first major introduction into counter-culture. George Carlin also inspired my belief that stand-up comedians are the modern day philosopher. Alas, the current generation is desperately lacking in comedians of Carlin’s wit and wisdom.
The world is less funny without you, George. You’ll be missed.
