A Week In CommentsS

Mega Man 10's Endless Mode Coming Later, For Download
Comment by: salaminizer: I knew it!
Nominated by: Lessthan_tom

An Endless Mode fits well with their Endless DLC strategy.

U R *Not* "Mr. Gay" In Super Mario Galaxy 2
Comment by: Krish Ravindranath
Nominated by: Luis

it says
Ya Im R U?

Comment by: njdevil
Nominated by: Showmeyomoves!

Didn't the US Airforce recently buy a whole bunch of PS3's? What if th-

*Evaporated in a mushroom cloud*

The Stalling Of An Anti-Bush Video Game
Comment by: kobeashi
Nominated by: iddqdFTW

I'll say that I would have been very interested in playing this sort of game, but the PSP might have been a deal breaker.

I think user experience would be crucial to a title like this, and portable gaming doesn't offer the immersion that they would have needed. Afterall, we've become accustomed to emotional involvement with the movies we watch, and that's opened the gates for video games. We're used to projecting ourselves into our television sets and becoming invested with characters we see there, so the characters in our games aren't a far leap. But a tiny screen that's sitting in our laps? I think the path to immersion becomes a longer walk in that case...

Please Describe The Ideal DRM
Comment by: James Countryman
Nominated by: InsidiousTuna

The ideal DRM is basically Pokémon. Not the games, the creatures. Pokémon (or information) can't be copied*, but they can but moved to new regions, like Kanto or Hoenn (my PC or iPod). When you catch (buy) a Pokémon, it's got your name on it- forever. But that doesn't mean it's yours forever, because they can be traded (resold) with the use of a trade station (authorized retailer). Also, after a catch or a trade, Pokémon are free to learn whatever HMs or TMs (mods/hacks) you want them to.

*Normally. I admit there are glitches, which exist outside the narrative of the allegory.

There's Two Sides To Every Xbox Live Banning [Update]
Comment by: Duin
Nominated by: Surreal_Sunshine Hesh wants some se

My god the tone on that man! The tone! How dare he speak that way to innocent children just playing a game. He has no right calling anyone's momma and definitely has no right banning those charming young lads. His tone was totally out of line. Who cares that he said nothing wrong and simply did his job, I object to the grievously nasty tone he used with his words.

No one deserves that tone, ever. It was mean and those poor poor video game playing children, just trying to have fun, received the harshest of tones.

Do you hear me!? TONE!

In all seriousness... Some of you need to get a grip. Lambasting the man for banning a mouthy, modding little reprobate and subsequently 1 day banning his equally puerile, completely untrustworthy and flaunting friend (gee golly, I love me some of his glitching and modding videos), is just... asinine.

Fuck political correctness. He did his job, set an example and should be commended. Tone be damned.

Sega, You Are Once Again Making A Giant Mistake
Comment by: Inzoum
Nominated by: puresewas1de

What can I say... this is the absolute opposite of what I brought up in the last TAY regarding the Ace Attorney series' localization efforts. Proper localization can do wonders to a game, but that doesn't mean everything needs to be adapted or edited to the local taste.

It's understandable that a Japanese history quiz is out of reach for most westerners, but playing a game like Yakuza is all about peeking into the the more recluse parts of an exotic culture. There's only so much you can take out or adapt in a game like this before it loses its focus. Localizing intelligently then becomes a task of making these foreign elements understandable and entertaining.

When struggling with a topic you know your customer base will have a hard time understanding, it's better to find a constructive solution than to underestimate your target audience and deny content. Those who DO understand would be deprived of an enjoyable element of the game.

An interesting path to follow, then, would be to include a bonus menu with additional infos and comments on the characters, locations and events discovered in-game as the player progresses. Assassin's Creed II and Metal Gear Solid 4 (through a separate downloadable program) both have these complementary menus to help the players "get" what's going on, who is who, and why they're doing their crazy stuff. If it works for fictional history and universes, why couldn't that work for a foreign culture?

