Henroid

You show me where video game capability was sacrificed for the sake of being a general-consumer kind of product (or service, elmuerte is on to something) and I'll concede the point that video games are somehow doomed.

At any rate it's clear why EA turned their back on Nintendo completely. Microsoft literally made EA an offer they can't refuse. In exchange for inherently supporting EA's online pass feature (allowing EA to cancel it for popularity points and savings on costs of operation a little) EA gives MS exclusivity. Plus, EA can now get more monies instead of losing to used sales. I never thought all that shit would culminate into what it did.

I really wish video game enthusiasts had the capacity to recognize that products exist for more types of consumers than themselves. The amount of knee-jerk internet-asshole nerd-rage that happened over this event was embarrassing.

There's a guy throwing everything he's got at me in NP2 and we're exchanging Jurassic Park references at each other as the conflict escalates. Love this game.

Yeah Sakamoto wanted to "correct" people's perceptions of Samus. We were wrong to think of her as strong, independent, capable, and kick-ass. We were supposed to view her as a crybaby hiding behind men the whole time! Asshole. I hate to get belligerent but I wish that guy would fuck off already.

Iron Helmet is currently linking to a survey from Neptune's Pride 2 and asking people to participate. It's being done by a person / group independent of the studio. https://plus.google.com/u/0/113029255206516862234/posts/gDoZ9XdqMCv It's got plenty of "strongly agree / disagree" type questions but some of them are incredible because it makes you think about your motivations in playing the game. "I find the relationships I form in this game important." Strongly agree. But then, "I don't feel close to other players." Also strongly agree. Why? Because Nick Breckon is out there somewhere.

That was probably the one cool thing about Other M; Samus was dispatching enemies by grabbing them and blasting them with her arm-canon point-blank, or throwing them, slamming them, etc. That's something that's been missing in terms of her physical prowess and ability. But what we lost from the series wasn't worth it. Anyway, Super Metroid.

I've always hated the argument that Samus' suit is what gave her the notable height. The suit doesn't have a full foot of platform-shoes going on, nor does the helmet add a foot between the top of her head and outside of her helmet. The stupid guy in charge of Metroid has fallen back on this, as have people who feel the need to take his side.

I wasn't thrilled at the news about Team Ninja working on a Metroid game either. It made me nervous immediately from top to bottom because of the design aesthetic those guys are into, and certainly lived up to their name. Samus' tits were bigger, and her jumpsuit went from having normal boot style heels to becoming like stripper platform high-heels. It was pathetic and sad. And given how the creator wanted to "correct" the perception people had of Samus, it's clear they intended for her to be a piece of ass in addition to the loss of her independence and strengths as a character. A couple years ago someone wrote about Other M, not as a video game review, but analyzing the themes and tones of the game going beyond the obvious. http://moonbase.rydia.net/mental/blog/gaming/metroid-other-m-the-elephant/article.html The short of it is that Other M romanticizes abusive relationships. It's really gross but makes perfect sense.

Giving permission for use in such a broad-sweep without any other action gives the perception - legally speaking - of lack of protection. Our sentiments don't matter, legal precedent does.

With respect to the changes affecting only the ad opt-ins or just anything, nobody knows yet. As for YouTube's systems, it's very much a shotgun. Lots of things in the automated process get picked up that shouldn't. Now, they do have a method where you can contest the targeting of videos and accounts, but it's not streamlined at all yet and a big pain in the ass.

Metroid was sloppy in its execution of this whole idea, but it was the first attempt and understandable. Metroid 2 (which I only beat for the first time recently) also had problems with having direction. Super Metroid locked the formula in damn well though. Every room is distinct, it's easier to recall areas that had something to them now that you have a new ability. Plus, unless you were exploring for every-single-item the game was pretty guided when it came to bombing your way through a wall or floor. Hell, they even give you the X-Ray Scope, which only has the purpose of letting you discover thing just by looking around.

It's my favorite game of all time, for the reasons of having an excellent soundtrack, art direction, atmosphere, exploration, guided / hinted progress, and the open room available to sequence break in so many ways. I know it's actually impossible for anything to be perfect but I can't help but claim that this game is perfect for me. We used to rent the SNES a lot when I was a kid. We always got two games too - Super Metroid and/or Donkey Kong Country. Super Metroid just devoured all my free time. I started into my sort of speed-running of it not too long after taking in everything the game had to offer for atmosphere. I remember the goal stated in GamePro was to beat it in under 2 hours (on the in-game clock), and the first time I did it felt really special. I discovered a preferred-route or two when it came to item collecting to take the time down, but it wasn't until highschool, years later, that I actually learned some of the more advanced speed run tricks. Then I just went apeshit with the game. Eventually, somewhere during the 2006 - 2008 years, I landed my best completion time for a 100% run. 38 minutes. But I've lost my touch at the game. I tried to pick it up again this afternoon, not really trying for a speed run, and a combination of not playing it for a while and a busted controller (tried to change the control scheme to compensate and that didn't work) made me feel inept.

The fact of the matter is, YouTube policy actually addresses the monetization of Lets Plays. http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=138161&topic=1115890&ctx=topic That Jeremy Parish quote though is pretty accurate to the whole thing. My whole angle in this is that monetizing Lets Plays has forever existed in a gray area and people are suddenly surprised about the other shoe dropping.

And then the entire website reverts to text.

Did somebody say McDonald's?

Hey tegan did you do that thing where you get the Super Missile pack right at the entrance of Brinstar, where you have to speed-morphball across a collapsing floor / closing gates?

It kinda reminds me of That Guy from the EA shareholder meeting.

The Death of Nick Breckon 2: What Is This

The game has made a million dollars via the PC by the way. A well-earned success.

Whoever came up with that parody of the JFK quote is the best.

So Denis Dyack continues to be Denis Dyack. I'm sure everyone here is familiar with his Kickstarter, which states it will be a spiritual successor to Eternal Darkness but also has a bunch of language about how the game may not be done and no refunds, etc. All that aside, Polygon has a news story up about Silicon Knights. The short of it is that - Silicon Knights' office has closed, but the company still exists somehow with the skeleton crew (Dyack included) after last year's layoffs. - Silicon Knights sold off some of its art assets, equipment, and furniture to Precursor, Dyack's new company. - Epic Games does NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL and is filing injunctions. - Dyack, of course, will not elaborate on anything to the press.

That quote note Chris dropped about Sean renaming the British Isles "Ireland" is my favorite thing. Well done Sean.

A guy I know (who happens to be of Zeboyd Games) is within the top few ranks on the leaderboard. A couple days ago he was 2nd. It totally blew my mind. And he's fairly casual about explaining it too so it makes me feel inept as shit that I'm crawling along slowly in the 2nd campaign.

Wrapped up Monaco just a bit ago. There's still the 2nd campaign and all but that feels like more of a bonus challenge to things. That was a hell of a lot of fun. Failed attempts at levels never really deterred me, I was always able to see how things could've gone better. Bonus moral boost for going back to earlier levels and cleaning them out in a hurry, compared to my first pass at them. So I knew I was learning things.