Comment "A move to re-releasing classics"? (Score 1) 210
They've been doing that for years. Just look at how many times two of their best games, Final Fantasy IV and VI, have been re-released or remade.
F.E.A.R. 3 Announced For This Fall 53
Warner Bros. has announced that the third game in the F.E.A.R. saga is in production and planned for release this fall. Unlike the first two games, F.E.A.R. 3 will not be developed by Monolith Productions, but by Day 1 Studios, who ported the original F.E.A.R. to the Xbox 360 and PS3. The new game is being developed for those two consoles and for Windows.
"Day One is the studio behind MechAssault, MechAssault 2, and Fracture, so they've got all the mech and shooter experience one could hope for, but what about horror? Publisher Warner Bros. Interactive has that covered as well, with famed horror director John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing) and 30 Days of Night writer Steve Niles acting as consultants to enhance the game's scary bits. Alma returns for the third game, but her sons, Point Man and Paxton Fettel, are the stars, both featuring unique powers to help create what the developer is calling divergent co-op, where the characters' powers affect each player's game, and not just their own."
Comment Re:begs the question (Score 1) 205
Please, for the love God, mod this up. It seems like not a day goes by that I don't hear someone misuse the phrase "begs the question".
Comment Re:Legal pirates made me a annoyed panda (Score 1) 216
I paid one cent for the game (actually, I paid two cents for it, as the site crashed on me during the first transaction and I was forced to do it all over again). I don't feel bad about it, though. Fact is, for me this game wasn't worth buying. I tried the demo and it was pretty enjoyable, but not enjoyable enough that I felt like spending money on it. However, if offered the chance to get the game for free, or in this case almost free, then sure, I'll take it. How exactly am I a pirate? 2D Boy told me to pay what I felt like paying and that's what I did.
Your argument is just as bad as claiming that a pirated copy of a game, song, movie etc. automatically equals a lost sale.
Comment Re:Hmm... (Score 1) 140
So more insanely difficult piano pieces to learn.
Insanely difficult? I take it you're not familiar with Scarbo, Islamey, Gnomenreigen, La Campanella as someone else mentioned, etc.
Comment Sora developed Smash Bros Brawl, not Game Arts (Score 4, Informative) 29
Sora, headed up by Masahiro Sakurai, was responsible for Super Smash Bros. Brawl, not Game Arts. Game Arts was simply one of many developers who contributed to the game because the project was so massive. In fact, much of the game's music was composed by people who work for companies other than Nintendo.
From the game's Wikipedia page:
Nintendo enlisted outside help from various developer studios, including Game Arts, who spent excessive amounts of time playing Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Calling Game Arts "the developer for Super Smash Bros. Brawl" is pretty disingenuous. But it certainly is a good way to make people think that your game probably won't suck, attaching the Smash Bros. name to it like that.
Comment Re:My top 10 - and a few other picks (Score 1) 477
9) God of War 2 (PS2) - epic in scale, utterly exhilerating to play, the perfect demonstration that you don't need a fancy gimmick controller to make a game's controls immersive. Probably the best looking game that will ever hit the PS2.
I stopped reading as soon as your silly bias against the Wii reared its head. I probably don't even really disagree with your list, but it's hard to take you seriously when the fanboyism is so blatantly obvious.
Teacher Avoids Getting Sent to Siberia For Piracy 252
Piracy Support Line writes "Russian principal Alexander Ponosov will not be visiting Siberia any time soon, at least not for the allegedly illegal Microsoft software that were preloaded on the computers they bought and Microsoft supported the reseller's story. Although Bill Gates rejected Mikhail Gorbachev's personal appeal for mercy on behalf of the teacher, the judge was kinder. Judge Elvira Mosheva decided to dismiss the case because 'Microsoft's financial damage is too insignificant for a criminal investigation.'"
Aqua Teen Stunt Costs Turner and Agency $2M 557
evw writes "The NYTimes reports that the Turner Broadcasting System and the ad agency responsible have reached a $2M settlement with the city of Boston and state and federal agencies that treated the light boards placed around the city as an act of terrorism (as covered earlier on /.) Half of the money is to cover direct costs associated with the response. The other $1M goes to 'goodwill funds' that will be used for response training and public outreach."
Gorbachev Asks Gates to Intervene in Piracy Case 331
An anonymous reader writes to tell us that former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has asked Bill Gates to intervene in a software piracy case against the headmaster of a middle school. If convicted, Alexander Ponosov could face detention in a Siberian prison camp for his crime.
The Crossing - A New Way to FPS? 184
1up has a look at Arkane Studios' extremely ambitious new project. Called The Crossing, the FPS title looks to combine single and multi-player modes in a new way. From the article: "In the simplest sense, story missions are single-player shooting with an exception: Naturally intelligent human opponents take the place of A.I. There are two types of players: Elites and skirmishers. Elites are gamers playing the game in story mode. They're beefed up, heavily armored, and heavily armed. They have to be able to hold their own against a swarm of skirmish players. Skirmishers are gamers who typically play on multiplayer maps: well-trained, rank-and-file soldiers playing primarily to have some quick fun and increase their rank through defeating the occasional Elite. Skirmish players can also invade story maps and 'possess' A.I.s ala Agent Smith in The Matrix." So even if you're playing through the story, you'll still be challenged by the 'NPCs', all of whom will be played by a real-life human. Sounds like it could either be awesome or a total flop. Which side are you leaning on?
Woman Killed In Wii-Related Competition 784
snuffin writes to tell us that a local radio competition to "hold your wee for a Wii" has ended with a Sacramento woman dead from water poisoning. From the article: "An Associated Press interview with another contestant, named James Ybarra, claimed that contestants were initially given eight ounce bottles of water to drink every fifteen minutes, with larger bottles being used once contestants began to drop out. According to Ybarra, 'They told us if you don't feel like you can do this, don't put your health at risk.' He described the victim as 'a nice lady' and that 'she was telling me about her family and her three kids and how she was doing it for her kids.'"
Decryption Keys For HD-DVD Found, Confirmed 473
kad77 writes "It appears that, despite skepticism, 'muslix64' was the real deal. Starting from a riddle posted on pastebin.com, members on the doom9 forum identified the Title key for the HD-DVD release 'Serenity.' Volume Unique Keys and Title keys for other discs followed within hours, confirming that software HD-DVD players, like any common program, store important run-time data in memory. Here's a link to decryption utility and sleuthing info in the original doom9 forum thread. The Fair Use crowd has won Round One; now how will the industry respond?"
2006 Was the Warmest Year Ever 782
kpw10 writes "Dr. Jeff Masters from Wunderground has a great summary of this year's rather abnormal weather (his blog is the best source on the net for in-depth weather analysis). The post discusses some of the cyclical climate forces at work this year and compares this year's record temperatures to records from the past. There are some interesting differences, particularly in the extent of the northern hemisphere seeing record highs this year." From the article: "December's weather in the Northeast U.S. may have been a case of the weather dice coming up thirteen — weather not seen on the planet since before the Ice Age began, 118,000 years ago. The weather dice will start rolling an increasing number of thirteens in coming years, and an ice-free Arctic Ocean in summertime by 2040 is a very real possibility..." Here is the The National Climatic Data Center's report announcing the entry of 2006 into the record books.
