Triad Orion

...Maybe "work" productivity. "Awesome" productivity, however...

...That is at the same time totally awesome and totally creepy. Tool assisted or not, it's still nuts.

Well, I'm venturing a guess that Gecko's referring to using shortcut keys to play the game on a whole other level; pro players end up going so ungodly fast for regular players that it's almost unbelievable and it ceases to be about strategy and becomes a crazed rush-fest to the point of becoming an action game. And sometimes that "don't play with them" isn't an option, dude. In the case of World of WarCraft, there's not a whole hell of a lot you can do about that guy in full PVP gear camping your corpse and ganking you a bunch. You can't simply kick him off the server for being a douchebag. And as for the console realm, sometimes if they're using all the exploits in a game like, for example, Smash Brothers, and you don't have any clue how to do it... it becomes a problem. Yeah, not playing's an option, but if this is the case, people should generally hold the common courtesy to not glitch/exploit unless the other players can and/or don't care. Some people don't like it when their opponents pull punches, but other times it can create a better environment for both or all players if they do. And if a player can't have fun without glitching or exploiting a game in a non-tournament setting, then they should probably find a new game anyway. That's my opinion, at least.

Hey, you know, I remember days like that too, though my hacker foe was actually a TIE Bomber and he shot rapid-fire Rail Detonators. And yeah, I know exactly what you mean. XD

Hey, have a great 21st, Arek. Enjoy the booze, and good luck with drunken Smash. It can be a real blast.

A complicated, but somewhat loaded question. However, it's a question that does need to be asked, so, bravo Shael. I'm largely in agreement with djp. The use of a lot of "exploits" are highly contextual. djp brings up Machinma as an example of positive exploiting, and I agree; Red Vs. Blue has given many people great laughs, and part of it comes from exploiting a "look" glitch with the pistol, where the Spartan head doesn't look down all the way when the pistol is pointed at the ground. These sort of exploits don't detract from an experience for anyone, and create a positive thing on the side which can actually *add* to the experience. Then you have areas that are more gray: take the concept of Snaking, not in Mario Kart, but rather in F-Zero GX. That's a major exploit of the physics system. It can be exploited to be a huge advantage, but requires great skill to control and is not necessarily considered a bad act. That said, the masters who can snake well (I cannot, for example) will generally crush anyone who can't. In a sense, this may detract from the experience of the non-snaker, but you run into the (questionable) obstacle that "it's part of the game". Does this violate a social contract of the gamer or the spirit in which the game is created? The short answer, for the case of F-Zero GX, is there really is no right answer that's universal, because not everyone agrees with what "the boundries" of the game are and what the true definition of fun is. Now, in the case of World of WarCraft, "unscrupulous behavior" is a broad issue. Being a douchebag isn't a violation of terms of service, but buying gold and hacking certainly are, and there's nothing about testing boundries there for fun. To really go deeper into WoW, issues need to be narrowed down to specific issues.

You can cut a tree down with that wit.

Aww, I'm sorry, Palpable. You know I didn't mean it that way. XD

Level-headedness? Impossible! XD I kid. You're probably right, though I admit it's fun to make jokes...

Wow. The stupidity of this person is... *palpable.* Like, I think I can feel a writhing mass of unknown origin coming out of my computer screen, gibbering in mangled web-speak and sounding vaguely of lulz. I'm up for the regular humiliation. But I say it should involve pretzels as a turn of dramatic... well, irony's not the right word for it, but you get the idea.

Even as an indie project, I find it hard to believe they couldn't find somebody who could look more like Link. And seriously, I think even an indie based project could tell this work is utter cheese and would probably only serve to piss people off. That said, I gotta say? One hell of an awesome April Fool's Joke.

Offtopic, but QFT. Admittedly, I like the ZX series for its faithfulness to the classic Mega Man formula, but seriously. Classic and Legends. Want more of that.

Not to be a jerk, but Sakurai's the one who did a lot with Melee, was he not? So he implimented ONE random element into the game. A single variable you have to deal with. Yeah, it sucks for raw tourney play, but I still say that's a better deal than getting someone new who may have instituted other random factors by some other stream of logic foreign to us.

I wouldn't go so far as to say the first part of that. Though I happen to very much agree that Brawl is more fun, some people may just like the "feel" of Melee more. *Shrugs* And me, personally? I like the "evening the odds" stuff that Nintendo threw in there. Yeah, it's harder on tourney players who want to play without variables, but, personally? I think those variables are half of what makes the game fun. For me, it makes games closer, matches more exciting, and the overall experience more fufilling. And yes, I'm one of those Smash players that utterly loves chaos in their matches, so yes, I like stuff like Spear Pillar, Norfair, and a lot of the tourney-banned levels because of how crazy they can get. Of course, this is largely why I'm not a tourney player either. *Laughs*

Quitting the Clarinet like a scrub when I was actually pretty decent at it. I went to a middle school which competed at this big event at Hershey Park, and we won the competition there hands down. There were five bands at the school, and I was lucky enough to be in the top one, and probably stood to go into one of the top two bands at the local high school once I got there. Problem was, we moved and my freshman year was at a different high school. They only had two bands there, and the admin said I could only go into the lower (basically beginner) one if I was a Freshman. Being like, 14, jaded, and arrogant, I decided not to join, stopped practicing, and just... fell apart as a player. Turns out I learned in my senior year that placement in the bands was the perogative of the Music Department and not the Administration. Not only that, but the Advanced Band was hurting for Clarinet players the whole time I was there. Go figure. That's the biggest thing I regret as musician; and unfortunately now that I'm now 23, I don't remember how to play the damn thing and I don't have my instrument anymore anyway. Though, that said, I would love to learn how to play the piano someday.

Same here. I didn't own a PS2, so the news of Okami coming to Wii is great. May not be an exclusive, but damn, is it nice to have.

I guess the real trick here is to demand companies to produce these games for the Wii. The problem lies in getting them to listen; as you say, it's easy to make shovelware for a quick buck to pray off the uninformed. The thing is enough Wii owners have to make enough noise one way or another demanding more "hardcore" games. It's a difficult position, considering companies don't like risks and don't care about consumer desires unless it suits their needs and serves to make them money. Not a slight, but the truth. That's why I suggest buying what hardcore games DO come out for the Wii. It's the most powerful method consumers have to tell developers what they want: Purchasing Power.

I just wanted to bring up a point in a flaw of logic I saw earlier when discussing Nintendo's major franchises being "maimed" when "slightly improved" versions get released for new consoles. ...How can a franchise be maimed if the games are technically getting better? I don't want to sound like a dick, but to me, that sounds like how it should be going. Especially if the demand is there. If nothing else, we should consider ourselves lucky that Nintendo hasn't started completely phoning in most of their big name titles and that they're still largely AAA. That said, I do agree with a lot of people on the weaknesses of the console. The lack of a hard-drive, an XBL style online matchmaking system, etc. are all a major problem. The matchmaking system in particular is a grave problem because if EA of all companies makes a decent one? Someone's doing it wrong! Though gutting Rock Band after MOH's reasonable system? ...The logic eludes me. The lack of third party support does fall into our laps too, as gamers. It's a vicious cycle; on the GCN, we didn't buy a lot of the exclusives because the PS2 and X-Box were the big sellers here in the states. The problem for third party developers is that paradigm still carries over into this generation, and thus third party games aren't as frequently produced because they still view the Wii has high risk. This kills us because we don't have any third party titles to buy on the Wii, and when we don't have titles to buy, the companies take that as a reason not to produce for that market. We pretty much have to make noise and indicate we want stuff on the Wii and then follow through. I think Bahamut's earlier point on not supporting the third party games on the GameCube was right on the money, and I think that's come back to haunt both gamers and Nintendo. Money talks, so if you want more third party games, go out and actually buy the decent third party games that come out on the Wii like No More Heroes or Zack and Wiki. It should be obvious by now that I own a Wii and enjoy it immensely. But I too, am aware of its flaws and really wish they'd be rectified so the product would be better.

I do like the energy and upbeat nature of the mix. There's lots of good ideas here and clearly lots of future potiental for Kidd Cabbage. That said, the piece didn't ring with me quite as much as I'd hoped. Not to say I actively dislike it, but it's not really my thing, I guess. With that on the field, there is a lot to say that's positive about the mix. Faithful adaptation of the source material, high energy with lots of creative takes on oft remixed songs, solid pacing, and overall good sound quality. I'd definitely recommend the piece to others, even if I wasn't a huge fan of it personally. Good work, KC. Looking forward to seeing more.

Late coming into the thread, but I'd totally want one if I could get one. I'd carry it around, even if I'm not a musician myself. This is a really good idea, I think. Unfortunately, I can't really add much more to the thread. Again, Jose's designs are pretty much the best, though Ramaniscence's basic design is worthy of note too. Though personally, I'd like the idea of being able to pick from a couple of background colors. Makes it a bit more personal, though it may complicate the design process a bit.

I don't understand why it takes so long to get games out there. I mean, it's not like they have to translate it much from Standard or American English. Unless your ratings board takes forever and a day to get anything done. Which I doubt, otherwise that'd be the subject of why release dates are a pain there.

Everyone does. Mostly because his Over-B is incredibly annoying. Not because of what it does, 'cause it's fairly easy to avoid and not all that scary. But his goddamn voice for that. Well, that's my reason at least.

Don't bet on it for awhile. According to one of his jokes at the end credits recently, Brawl doesn't even have a confirmed Australian release date yet. Going right along with the "arbitrarily tacking months onto release dates." Anyway, the Zack and Wiki review was a little ho-hum, though it did get me to smile a bit. Though I dunno what problems he was having. A friend of mine owns Zack and Wiki and had no trouble with the motion controls. *Shrugs*

...Actually, he owes us that steak dinner now if "The World Ends With You" counts as an original series.

I think Atma's talking that the low ceilings of the rooms make fighting really cramped and the support beams that hold up the house get in the way and mess up attacks. Generally speaking, projectiles get eaten by the beams and your blows get interfered with. Essentially, while the house is up, your launching momentum is limited in the house thanks to low, hard ceilings and the support beams getting in the way.