Yahto

The frontline doorbuster brutes of the coming BigDog takeover. They drag away our cars to procreate and make more Swatbots.

Sounds like Nick is green in that game of Neptune's Pride. Or is he? Hmmm. Here's the Sony patent mentioned in the cast. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8246454.html

I've been unable to even get to the server selection screen. Ugh. And as far as 16 player regions ago, apparently you can only directly interact with three adjacent cities. But I guess you can chat and contribute to great works, so that makes the game multiplayer and necessitates always-online drm? If anyone manages to make a region without having all progress wiped after taking a break, sign me up!

In DQ you'd essentially get other people's characters in your game's Inn rooms. The more people, the more stuff is unlocked, including item recipes you have no other way of getting. I don't doubt that it works great in Japan, but you have to walk to a specific place in the game world to put it in sleep mode, then it's just sitting there draining battery and you can't play it on public transport while that's happening. I'd imagine the hordes of people playing DQ in Japan actually play DQ, and don't use that weird sleep mode. With real StreetPass, you could exchange characters in that program, then the info could be relayed to the actual game without the very specific situational requirements. I also feel like StreetPass seems so amazing only because it's placed in the context of a system with very lacking online features, but that's another can of worms.

I'd appreciate more games using StreetPassing mechanics like DragonQuest IX did, but not as absurd as having to keep the game on in a specific sleep mode, then passing people with theirs in the same state. I can't even imagine that worked well in Japan with way more people playing DragonQuest. If they'd invested more heavily in bizarre handheld tech like StreetPass instead of the 3D craze, I think the system would be much more interesting.

Now instead of just mercilessly trampling you, Bigdog can lift you by the skull and fling you across a room.