BooDidley7

Pledged. Can't wait! Though I doubt I could afford it, it might be cool to have a tier where BGC composes a song for you (and not just a remix).

I imagine there are tons of parents out there that see investing in an phone/ipod touch, etc. as a much sounder choice where the games are typically free to $1, than $40+ a game for a dedicated handheld console.

But this has only really been within the last 5 years, when HDTVs have reached mass market levels of adaption. Circa 2000, you'd have a boxy, heavy, CRT with a 20" monitor if you were lucky. Also, it used to be more about exclusives. Most titles people wanted to play, were primarily console exclusive, or hit the PC market months/years later. That's not a bash on PC games, it was just the reality years ago. Since games are so damn expensive exclusives are becoming more and more rare. Considering Halo and Gears of War are the only worth-while (and that's increasingly debatable) exclusives M$ has developed in the last 10+ years I can't see any reason why anyone is gonna pick an Xbox ONE over just about anything else, other than some blind fanboy loyalty.

Remember when blowing inside the cartridge was the biggest obstacle in getting a game to work?

If this is accurate, I will never buy this system under any circumstance. By the way, it will be interesting to see what Gamestop does to counter this. As much as I detest Gamestop, I think the industry has vastly underestimated the role they play when it comes to pre-selling new titles at the full sucker price.

They probably should've announced this on April 1st, and then no one would've believed it. I thought it was an old April Fool's joke until I saw it was just the games studio. Yeah, they had a run of mostly lousy games as of late (ok, a long time), but man it's sad to see them get shuttered.

I was referring more towards Nintendo's strategy of almost exclusively supporting their systems that were unpopular with 3rd party developers, like N64, Gamecube. Essentially if you bought those systems, most if not all the games you got for them were Nintendo exclusives. But that was all you bought for the system. Nintendo is the only one who has stable of exclusives to do that, and even they are trying to do more with 3rd party developers. They missed out on all the GTA money, and most of the CoD cash, for essentially doing nothing more than hosting the title. But MS has Halo and Gears of War. Not enough to make sustain a company when everyone (or almost everyone) will be trying to purchase non-exclusives on the systems that let you swap discs with friends or use gamefly.

What's also ironic is this talk of MS doing this when Sony apparently has a patent for such a method: http://www.gamespot.com/news/sony-patents-tech-to-block-used-games-6401992 I doubt collusion would be a winning strategy as this point anyway, since Wii U doesn't have it, although it may not be seen as a direct competitor.

Honestly, I see all this rumor mongering from unnamed sources just a typical pathetic ploy from so-called videogame "journalists" to agitate the gullible and drive page views. Are things like no used games possible? Of course. It is Microsoft after all, the company behind Vista and Windows 8, but let's look at the reality. 1) It's a much tougher market now than it was even 8 years ago when the 360 launched. 99 cent gaming and free gaming are taking a cut and raising expectations. Tablets and phones are drastically changing gaming dynamics for a whole new generation of gamers to boot. 2) Then there's newcomers with set-top boxes like the $99 OUYA and Valve. Will either of them be in the business 5-7 years from now? Who knows? But you can bet they're both gonna make a splash. And the PC market has resurrected to boot. 3) Gamestop. The industry says they hate them. But who pre-orders more games at full-retail value? Are you a sucker if you shop there? Usually. Especially if you consistently buy titles at $60, that will be $40 or less, 2 months later, but ultimately, the income they bring in, and the force they are for full-retail value shouldn't be denied. Killing the used game business would likely kill Gamestop, and that would suffocate the $60 console title. 4) Me, you, and everyone else with half a brain. If one console can play used titles, and another one of comparative specs can't, which one is gonna get most of your money and time? Especially if they share mostly the same catalog of titles. Sure there's always die-hards, fanboys, and suckers, but unless it's universal, it will be a significant sticking point. 5) Exclusives. They get rarer every year, and are less of a selling point. If Microsoft was Nintendo, they'd have a better shot of embracing the strategy of selling a console based on exclusives, but even Nintendo has somewhat abandoned that notion. If Microsoft does move forward with this, expect a subtle, yet powerful and aggressive marketing campaign. Dozens of blogs and "journalists" will suddenly proclaim how this is a good thing, and will make gaming even better. And fanboys arguing their exact talking points will flood every comments section. If there's one thing I've noticed over the last decade, there's a significant and vocal quadrant of the gaming population that is fucking brainless, yet think they're brilliant. Sheep and tools. And I won't even think twice about never buying a 720.

I hope that's all hype. I just finished the 4th episode and the series still kind of plays like slightly more risque version of Mad Men, as you have described. If suddenly it veered off into gratuitous and/or excessive amounts of nudity or inexplicable gore (not that I anticipate gore), that being too much for HBO or Showtime would suggest, it would kind of ruin what has been so far, an adult, but dignified, perhaps, even classy production. I pray it avoids falling into the typical cliches and TV trappings that usually snare series of similar aspirations.

Just finished episode 3. Love how Kevin Spacey kicks everyone's ass without ever lifting a finger. Also like how everyone on the show so far has way more than one-dimension, and usually not in a predictable manner. One other criticism though, the opening titles at start of every show feels way too much like the "Walking Dead's" credits. Strange as though it may sound. Anyway, pretty cool how Netflix might've finally scored with an original series (ok, a sort of remake, but still) that could hang with the big boys on cable.

Just saw the first episode. Not bad, although, I don't know how David Fincher allowed the first thing you hear or see on the show is a tired stock sound effect. Still, the rest of the show was pretty good. I hope they can keep it up for the next 12 episodes.

Actually, FF8 stands currently at 30 remixes, if I'm reading this right: http://ocremix.org/quicksearch/game/?qs_query=final+fantasy FF9 sits at 23. I'd be happy to see both FF8 and FF9 get the full treatment. Anyway, the only one who comes close to FF7's 105 is FF6 at 85. Which I imagine will surpass it once Balance and Ruin is released.

This is sweet. Nice job, Mirby!

Album has just been delayed by another month so this duet bonus track can be added. Can't wait!