Oh, no I realize that. But that's what I'm saying. Antipolygraph and NSA are both equally biased, just on opposite sides of the fence. I mean, NSA's stance is at least newsworthy because they are a government agency. Antipolygraph's critique of them isn't really news worthy, because anything NSA says positive about the polygraph would be shot down by them, since they oppose it. What would be new worthy is a more neutral source criticizing it, which would give validity to the idea that NSA is lying through their teeth.

I understand that NSA may be lying about polygraph tests. Or exaggerating. But why post a critique from antipolygraph.org? The prefix Anti- is in front of the word polygraph. It's not hard to deduce their stance. While everyone has biases, this is like asking a vegan their stance on slaughter house practices.

I second this. I thought Blizzard made good games, but not anything good enough for me to put up with them crapping in my cereal bowl so frequently.

So the blogger is suggesting Dennou Coil or Real.

I know the OP originally was talking about slightly different technologies, but given what AR has done for the common figurine, imagine the applications it could serve on your iPhone. Touch screen + Accelerometer + Camera + Augmented reality system.... It could easily pull off the kinds of things Dennou Coil had suggested. Personally, I think that's the best approach.

I'm perfectly willing to shell out for a new game over a used game, only under certain circumstances:

1. If there is a physical incentive. Give me a pretty artbook or batarang or soundtrack or something. I hate digital incentives though, because it makes me feel like part of the game itself is locked down for people who couldn't preorder it. I think physical incentives are rewards for those who buy it new, while digital incentives are punishments for those who buy used (or hell, sometimes just later). That's more likely to convince me not to buy it.

2. Limited run games. I always buy things I know I'm going to like, but might be harder to get later. Examples are Atlus games or Fatal Frames. Really not a good business strategy though, I would think.

3. Desire to vote with my wallet. Not that common, but I'm pre-ordering and buying Monster Hunter Freedom Unite as soon as it is released since I want Capcom to get money for it. I want them to release Monster Hunter 3, so I'm attempting to vote with my wallet.

While publishers/developers don't have much control about number 3, and 2 isn't really good for business, 1 is pretty cheap and easy for them to do. It's not that hard to compile some art and throw together an artbook, or print a special poster or something, but it goes a long way for me feeling that it is worth the extra money to buy it new.

Not in the PSP's case. The PSP has no region lock on games. None. I actually own a Japanese PSP (I wanted a white 1000 model), but most of my games for it are US versions. One is even PAL. An interesting note: UMD movies do have region lockout, even on my PSP which uses custom firmware.

Most consoles, that is the argument I use. I modify most of my consoles so that I can play import games. But with the PSP, that's totally not why people run custom firmware.

I agree with most of what you said. This new generation hasn't featured many exclusives, and most of them that do exist stem from markets. For example, the 360 has sold very very poorly in Japan, so some very Japanese games have been becoming PS3 exclusive, like the new Atelier, the new Siren, everything nippon ichi ever. The part I really disagree on is the part of owning multiple consoles. This generation has been wholly too expensive. I can't afford any of the three new consoles. I'm unsatisfied with this generation and I'm struggling to pick between the PS3 and the 360, since I have a hard time coming up with anything that makes one better than another, just different. But I can't afford both of them. Some super-awesome exclusive could go a long way for pushing me to buy one or the other. Of course, Ghostbusters is not that game.

Uh...this is more of a problem with the industry than just Sony. This example is just with Sony. With a game that isn't even some a-list title. I'm surprised you'd be so determined to work that hard to try to hurt Sony rather than devote your time towards something that might actually be productive. Either you must really really hate Sony, be one of the biggest fans of Ghostbusters ever, or you must devote a considerable amount of time futilely lashing out every time you're shafted by a company. Which would be every day of your life.

To me, it seems pretty pointless. It might be more productive to start some media campaign against the high-prices of video games in the Eu/Au regions. More people would care, and with the amount of fervent hatred you must have, you might be able to get somewhere.

It's not anything new, although it might be more wide spread now. Last generation, Microsoft paid quite a lot of money to make Shenmue 2 an X-box exclusive, which really shafted fans of the game. In both Europe and Japan, Shenmue was released for dreamcast and players could transfer save files over into the new title. In the US, you would have needed to buy a new console to continue the multi-part game, and even then sacrifice the ability to continue with the same materials you left off with.

To argue that it is dying is an exaggeration. Sometime in the mid-nineties I heard that the genre of Adventure games was "dying" and that there would be no more demand for these kinds of games in the future, yet now, more than ten years later, not only is the genre still around, it has had a resurgence with the introduction of the NDS.

When the PS2 had just come out, I heard "online games are the future" and that single player, offline games would be dead in a couple years. That also hasn't happened.

In the case of MMORPG, which need a large player base to stay alive, are much more affected by the popularity of casual gaming than console or PC games, which can still have enough success to spawn more. Like Clover, which is now Platinum. Most of the games they make are not tailored towards the mainstream or casual markets, and they typically don't sell as well as more casual or standard fair, but it hasn't really slowed them down. I think there will always be a market and a place for "hardcore" gamers, even if it is eclipsed by Peggle.

Well, I sure you already know from experience, Mr. Secret Agent Formula 1 racer, but a room full of shambling corpses isn't very scary if you have a flamethrower, machine gun, and military training.

In horror, atmosphere and a feeling of helplessness is pretty important. Although I'm sure you've never felt fear in your life, Mr. Bond.

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why would you turn this game into a movie? The chances of this being good are virtually zero. The game was a work of art, and screwing with it is a terrible idea.

Why do they keep making video game movies? Silent Hill has been the only one that was even half-way decent. Why hasn't the public learned to just stay away from these movies?

I've heard that multiple times, but I still question it. There are places in Silent Hill 2 that feature the words "There was a HOLE here but now it's gone". It really seems to be a pretty strong nod towards the "hole" from Silent Hill 4. Additionally, 4 didn't seem as different as people tried to make it out to be. It seems to obey the mythology MUCH better than 5 did, and it seems to just explore things in a new way. Really Silent Hill 5 and Origins are why I'm dreading this game. Origins borrowed heavily from the movie and didn't take the series any new direction. 5 just ignored the mythology of the games and mucked stuff up.

IMHO when "large chunks of the story are only explained if you read the books for it" then someone failed miserably in the story telling department. Having a book that expands the story from a game with a complete story works fine, but a player of the game shouldn't be expected to have to read extra novels just to get the whole picture. Especially for an FPS. Although, I don't like Halo due to how ridiculously slow it is for an FPS (I'm more of an Unreal kind of person), I do give them credit for trying with a story. FPS games as a whole have always had weak plots so Halo managing to get something that was passable is fine. Half-life isn't exactly a work of art in the story department, but it's interesting and very successful as far as FPSs go.

Yes, luxury consumer goods is not relevant to a major industrial economy. But I'm not wrong. The article mentions the Japanese rejecting a luxury consumer good because said luxury good was created/designed in America. I'm not arguing any point about economics or the Japanese trade sector, but rather arguing that the average Japanese consumer does not care where their product was made. This article implies (as have some users) that the Japanese will be less inclined to buy a luxury consumer solely due to it not being Japanese made. While it is very difficult to break into the Japanese market, Apple (the topic of the article) and Microsoft have both succeeded in getting their foot in the door. So your comments on the trade industry of Japan is insightful, but actually irrelevant in the scope of the article.