September 30th, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
Ever since the announcement of Super Street Fighter IV, I’ve been surprised to hear the Street Fighter community rife with complaint. The bulk of them by jaded gamers aggravated by the idea that Capcom has found a way to dupe us into paying full price a second time for little more than an expansion on a game they already own.
Destructoid published an article very close to my own response.
Here’s the facts on Super Street Fighter IV: The game will be released to disc with a price tag leaning toward $35. In addition to new characters on the roster, there was enough changes to the game’s mechanics and new bonus features that Capcom felt a separate release was in order, rather than a downloadable add-on.
Initially, it’s understandable that loyal fans and early adopters might feel swindled. However, newcomers that may not have bought the original release of Street Fighter IV will be able to take advantage of a sweet deal; a $25 drop in shelf price on a superior product. This will continue to draw in new blood to the fighting game community, which has dwindled to near-extinction prior to Street Fighter IV‘s introduction.
Those who bought the first release are perfectly able to sell or trade in their original game to pick up “Super” for next to nothing (and should consider the past year of fun, challenging play experience a bonus). Capcom also took into consideration their loyal fanbase and plans to show gratitude for that support. According to a GameSpot interview with Yoshinori Ono, the developers have added content in Super SF4 that will interact with the original release, making it worth keeping SF4 disc.
You know who should be pissed? Competitive players who won’t see an arcade release of Super SF4. This makes it more difficult to meet new players outside of the tournament scene.
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September 29th, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
Episode 03: “Knock, knock… Child Protective Service.”
Run Time: 34min 36sec
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In the Method to Madness podcast, I’m joined with my good friend Kevin “The Business” Gray to discuss great anime and video games that you should be watching as well as ones you should feel ashamed you are watching.
This episode, we discuss…
Michiko to Hatchin
…or Michiko e Hatchin, depending on your preference.
This show is a mixture of equal parts awesome and win. Brought to you by the same anime rock stars that put together Samurai Champloo, FLCL, and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Along Complex 2nd Gig. We can’t wait for Michiko to Hatchin to make its way to North America, because we need more shows like this!
Japan's interpretation of huevos rancheros.
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September 27th, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
This past Friday, an article of mine was published on GotGame.com, expressing some of my views on consumer ownership in the video game industry. I’d placed Scribblenauts in center spotlight for the piece, since it’s not only the hottest new title but also because it has one of the most offensive end user license agreements I’ve ever read.
Within hours of its publication, a reader posted a comment suggesting I’d plagiarized a similar article in the October 2009 issue of Game Informer, which had hit shelves just days before.
I wasn’t offended–I get my video game industry news almost exclusively online and I can prove that I’d written the article weeks ago, should the gauntlet be thrown down. Though it did spark my curiosity to pick up said issue of Game Informer, in the relief that I might have a kindred spirit.
Lo and behold, on page 38, there’s an article about consumer ownership rights by Hal Halpin, president of the Entertainment Consumers Association. The ECA is an organization devoted to spreading awareness about consumer rights and the dangers of industry trends that threaten them.
While drafting my “You Don’t Own Scribblenauts“ article, I’d searched around for such an organization to give my audience further reading options (and to provide credence to my otherwise ravings from a paranoid lunatic). Unfortunately I could not find a group in time for publishing, having exhausted all the variations of “consumer”, “ownership”, and “rights” I could imagine into a search engine.
The organization sounds good and I support any other group cut from the same cloth. You can sign up for membership at the ECA website, but there is a catch. In order to claim independence from corporate influence, the organization requires annual dues paid by its members. If that turns you off, the article in Game Informer does offer a coupon code good for one year’s membership for free.
At the time of this writing, I’ve had difficulty establishing my own membership with the ECA, due to security red flags triggered in my web browser. I get the feeling that this is due to poor website design, but I’ve contacted their tech support for clarification.
I will offer my hunch… At first, it made sense to me that this type of article was published in Game Informer, GameStop’s proprietary video game rag. After all, GameStop’s entire business model depends on the secondhand market providing more than half of their revenue. Of course their publication is going to spotlight an article forewarning the dangers of digital distribution over tangible media. Nevertheless, I was happy that someone is covering this topic and that there’s an organization devoted to the cause.
As I investigate further, I’m beginning to suspect that the ECA may have even been founded, if not heavily backed by GameStop as an unofficial branch of their corporation. This implies that the ECA (who, by the way, also controls GamePolitics.com) is a subversive public relations device whose true priorities are geared toward sustaining the interests of retailers, rather than consumers.
What’s worse, if this is true, that means that the organization is a facade, with its membership fees being just another channel of income for GameStop.
Whatever your political view regarding GameStop, you may want to seek out an alternative organization with similar goals. Count on me providing updates regarding the ECA, as they come to me.
Posted in Games | 1 Comment »
September 26th, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
Aya Kiguchi as Birdy the Mighty
Maya Kiguchi is a super-cute garvure idol from Japan. A Gravure idol (unlike AV idols like Hikari Hino) is a Japanese model that only models under more family-friendly conditions. They’re like the Maxim Magazine type models; girls in their teens and older appearing mostly in swimsuits, leotards, and sexy-yet-tame outfits…but no nudity.
She makes this week’s Cosplay of the Week, cuz well… Dayum.
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September 24th, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
Good news, Disgaea fans! There’s a new Disgaea game being released in Japan this November.
The bad news: It’s a visual novel, so it will probably never be translated into English.
Visual novels have been a popular genre of video games in Japan for many years, yet they’ve never quite caught on in the Western world. My theory as to why: Americans don’t like to read. Those that do are satisfied with traditional books to quench their literary appetite. The addition of imagery and occasional multiple-choice plot direction doesn’t keep our attention in the video game platform. Video games are more regarded for interactive entertainment and as soon as we pick up the controller, we’re ready to start punching and shooting.
It also hasn’t helped matters that many visual novels contain mature (often erotic) situations. Unlike Japan, sexually explicit entertainment hasn’t been fully accepted into mainstream culture and is nearly impossible to gain support by Western video game publishers.
Personally, I hope that “Infinite” makes the cut for localization.
Disgaea: Infinite focuses mostly on the characters from the original title of the series, with appearances of characters from its sequels. It will be released via the PlayStation Network for the PSP, with the unconfirmed possibility for PS3 playability.
Check out the trailer below:
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September 23rd, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
Dear Penny Arcade,
Regarding today’s comic strip: I totally called it.
You’ll be hearing from my lawyers.*
-The Grey Ghost
*Just kidding.
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September 22nd, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
Episode 02: “Can You Say ‘Fugly Plugsuit’ Three Times Fast?”
Run Time: 46min 30sec
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In the Method to Madness podcast, I’m joined with my good friend Kevin “The Business” Gray to discuss great anime and video games that you should be watching as well as ones you should feel ashamed you are watching.
This episode, we discuss…
Kemeko DX
Though you might not be able to tell, since it takes us 45min to say the title in the episode.
Kemeko Deluxe is a terrible ecchi anime that’s no different from every other crappy show like it: High school girls with boobies and panties and aliens and every other fetish tossed into a fan service poop smoothie. Dammit, Japan! Why you make us hate you???
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September 19th, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
Yaya Han as Psylocke
Not much more can be said about Yaya Han, except that she is awesome. Along with several anime and video game characters, Yaya also indulges her comic book fandom, as you can see in her excellent portrayal of X-Men‘s Psyclocke. (Let’s hope she can’t really read minds…)
Posted in Cosplay, Cosplay of the Week | No Comments »
September 15th, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
Episode 01: “The First Episode Always Sucks”
Run Time: 54min 00sec
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In the Method to Madness podcast, I’m joined with my good friend Kevin “The Business” Gray to discuss great anime and video games that you should be watching as well as ones you should feel ashamed you are watching.
This episode, we discuss…
FIST OF THE NORTH STAR
Welcome to the first episode of the podcast! Or perhaps I should say, “the fist episode”. Kevin and I discuss an anime series that’s very dear to both of us, Hokuto no Ken (aka Fist of the North Star). It’s a classic action series that you can watch for free on Hulu. It’s a fun, manly show that while it may appear to be nothing but head-exploding kung-foolery on the surface, it does offer substance seldom seen in anime today.
But let’s face it, the kung fu’s pretty sweet.
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September 14th, 2009 by The Grey Ghost
A user on the Eidos message boards posted a tech support question for the PC version of Batman: Arkham Asylum. What made his question suspicious was that it was posted on September 4, 2009. The PC version of the game isn’t due to be released until September 15th.
Apparently, Eidos had programmed the game to disable some of Batman’s abilities if it detected that it was a pirated copy. An Eidos message board moderator responded:
The problem you have encountered is a hook in the copy protection, to catch out people who try and download cracked versions of the game for free.
It’s not a bug in the game’s code, it’s a bug in your moral code.
Even if determined pirates manage to develop a patch to fix bootleg copies of the game, I gotta give it to Eidos on this one. This is a very clever way to bust and discourage people from downloading the game illegally. This is the kind of copy protection I can get behind. Ridiculous DRM methods, “justifiable” price hikes, and downloadable exclusives only punish customers that have bought the product legitimately. More video game developers should adopt these types of tricks that only affect pirates.
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