Triad Orion

I tend to use Gamespot, 1-up, and Kotaku the most regularly. Generally, Kotaku is probably the most useful.

No way. Just... no way. I loved Rocket Knight Adventures when I was a kid. This is exciting!

....then... all those crit rockets I ate over the months...? They were all lies?! It's not really happening! *Flashes back to reality*

Granted, should that become the case, it would be a problem. But by the time it does, Blizzard will have so much capital banked that they can survive for awhile while they put out a new game or two to fix the issue. And honestly, Activision's not going to touch Blizzard. Unless Blizzard screws something up big time and costs everyone involved a lot of money, they're still going to remain virtually independent. Activision knows Blizzard works best this way, and it is how they became as successful as they have.

...Yeah. I kinda forgot about that one. XDD I was thinking more along the lines of the Zaku II, the Gouf, and the Gelgoog.

Yeah, typically it's a poor business model. But demand still remains high for World of WarCraft. And honestly, it runs higher for it than any other Blizzard franchise. Only StarCraft has a chance to compare worldwide. Diablo is a tertiary franchise by comparison. So, while for most companies it's a poor business model, it's working for Blizzard because they keep stoking more demand for it. In addition, the fact that StarCraft II and Diablo III are in production, along with another unnamed MMO shows they're moving to diversify. Blizzard already is a powerhouse company and it will continue to do nothing but grow. ...That said, it's still 2 weeks to never for its release dates on anything. At least it's almost always worth waiting for. XD

In Blizzard's defense, the issues they're patching out of WarCraft III are serious security risks and could cause some real damage to people who end up being affected by it. And I believe WarCraft III has a bigger user base than Diablo II right now, even if a lot of them are just out to play DotA. And really, just be glad you're getting a content/bug fix patch at all, even if it's delayed. Most any other company would've ditched support for a game as old as Diablo II long ago. I really want that patch too, but shit happens. *Shrugs*

He's an equal opportunity mobile suit lover, I guess. Seriously, who in their right mind would argue that the Federation had cooler mook suits than the Zeon? Unless he really likes Char, which is also acceptable. Until Char's Counterattack, anyway. XD

That's a really good joke. I really got a good laugh out of it. Kudos to the guys who came up with it.

Can't really get better than Age of Empires II if you take StarCraft out of the mix. Though I remember Rise of Nations being pretty fun back in the old days too, and there's Age of Mythology if that's your thing. Star Wars: Empire at War was pretty fun if you only did Space battles. The ground battles were boring as hell, though.

Wow, that really bites. I'm certainly no fan of the way a few Western nations are hyper-sensitive about violence in video games. Australia and Germany come most quickly to mind. If I recall correctly, the characters in TF2 had to be converted into cyborgs to get past Germany's ludicrous levels of censorship. But here's what I don't get. If a movie like 28 Days Later can be released in Australia, depicting acts of violence against infected, but living humans, what makes Left 4 Dead so different? I guess you can make the argument that the player has a hand in the violence directly, but I don't really buy that as a serious argument. My condolences to our friends in Australia. Hopefully something will come up for all of you down there.

I too loved Secret of Mana, though again, magic grinding sucked. It wouldn't have been quite so bad if you could carry more than four of those walnuts for MP, but I understand why they didn't allow that. Honestly, though, I didn't like its sequel, SD3. Combat and gameplay slowed to a sluggish pace, it was much more visually confusing, and I honestly didn't find too many of the characters all that interesting. Not that Secret of Mana had characters with any real depth, but at least Mana had a discernible sense of humor. I *can* see why people like SD3 more, I personally just don't.

Holy crap, even the *original* Dark Forces. YES. VERY YES.

Well, even if the sound chip wasn't great for the Genesis, did you really find Sonic's sound effects annoying? Because I sure as hell didn't. Most of the time, the sounds fit in well with what was going on screen, and at the time that was really all you could ask for. The sounds weren't obnoxious, they got the job done. And Makai, I'd like to point out an interesting fact: For awhile, there was a short period of time where Sonic eclipsed Mario in popularity. I'm sure you know this is *kind* of a big deal, even if the time period was very short. No other video game character really has been able to do this. This should say *something* about the game quality at the time: It shared a genre with Mario, yet it *distinguished* itself against it and in fact was a very different, solid, and fun platformer. The point was, Sonic didn't need powerups like Fire Flowers or Cape Feathers to make his game interesting. His games became popular based on his base abilities and the construction of their levels: Multiple paths in a platforming stage were rare before Sonic popularized it. So was the concept that you weren't always punished for missing a jump; you just go down a route or two and you could keep on going. So really? Sonic's games did so well because they were solid, accessible, and fun platformers. We're not blinded by nostalgia. It's all but objective fact that the legacy Sonic titles on the Genesis (Sonic 1-S&K) were very good games for their time.

Adding on to BGC's post, I would also like to add that Valve has supported it through massive balance fixes, particularly for Versus Mode. A lot of other online games don't bother much with balance fixes beyond one, maybe two patches. Valve has explicitly tried to polish the Left 4 Dead experience further beyond its release to make it more enjoyable and intense for Infected and Survivor alike.

Though, let me throw this out there. The average lifespan for a so-called conventional online game *really* isn't that long. You have rare gems like StarCraft, or Counter-Strike, or Call of Duty 4, or what have you, but in modern times the competitive, popular online aspect of many games dies out as quickly as it begins. Most games that offer online capability don't see massive long-term popularity; more often, it's games from a specific company. Yes, Left 4 Dead had a short shelf life, but only in context of Valve released games. Many other shooters see either sequels or a drained community within the period of time Left 4 Dead and its sequel. And really, I'm just inclined that people became bratty and took it personally when Valve said they would support it with content and then they backed out. Yeah, I see why people are pissed, but as I've said before, you purchase a product based on what it is when it comes out of the box, not what it might be after a couple patches. The problem is the same it is with anything: you take a risk when you invest in something. Then they go pissing and moaning to Valve because they don't think they got their investment worth. It isn't going to solve anything for them. L4D's "fans" often just don't seem to get this, and it's quite frustrating. A lot of these so called fans have probably played the game for forty hours, so they got the same wear out of it they would've if it was single player anyway! And really, when thinking from a design standpoint, I honestly think Valve is telling the truth about the difficulty of adding new things into L4D without fundamentally changing its design. This is especially the case in Versus mode. A new Survivor weapon could either be utterly worthless, or it could just as easily end up better than the other weapons. Likewise, maps were not designed with new Special Infected in mind either. Imagine a Spitter from L4D2 showing up in L4D and blocking off chokepoint corridors with DoT spit. You don't have a way to avoid it, and it can quickly turn into something easily exploitable. And if it's not easily exploitable, a new special infected, like a weapon, could simply be useless. Really, a whole new game makes sense in this context. Yeah, it came out fast, but mechanically after releasing Left 4 Dead, Valve realized just how much more they could make the game, and making it an expansion ultimately was just not an option. And if they turn out a high-quality product that is superior to the original game, I'll buy it. I had lots of fun with the original Left 4 Dead and I got my fifty bucks worth out of it. Support or no, it was still more engrossing and entertaining than many console games I've paid a similar price for.

A big part of it is versatility and expectations. Mario is highly successful because as a character, he's still pretty much a blank slate. Aspects of his known personality just fit with the heroic archetype. The only thing that's tacked on is his love of good food. So really, Mario works as a perfect fit for most genre shifts because as a character, he's undeveloped and can "be" what he needs to be for that particular game. Sonic doesn't really have that luxury, considering Sonic Team's been doing their damnedest to create a character with attitude from the beginning. One way they try to differentiate him from Mario is by giving him a concrete personality, which in theory, is great for his own core games. But this limits his ability to branch out into other things that don't have to do with speed. As for expectations... Mario has shown in his versatility that we can expect him by this point to do anything. Plus, Nintendo's really only marketed Mario as... well, Mario. They still leave him as a relatively blank slate beyond "Hero." Sonic's big selling point compared to Mario was always his speed, and Sega marketed him this way since inception: why play a fat, slow plumber when you can play a speedy, cool, blue hedgehog? So speed has been a part of Sonic's character since the beginning, and that's what we identify him as. If he's in a game that doesn't involve him going really fast, we think something is inherently flawed in the premise. Another problem, as addressed, is quality control. Mario games undergo extensive testing and quality control because Nintendo knows just how much rides on a Mario game. Though there have been some bad Mario games, for the most part, when Mario genre-hops, he typically ends up in one of the best games for the genre. Kart-racing? He practically invented it. Arcade sports? Golf, Tennis, Baseball, Soccer? All quite good. RPGs? The Paper Mario games are truly gems. Sonic's forays into such things tend to fall flat. I think a large reason for that is Sega's more concerned about making the quick profit rather than the great game *and* the good profit. It's not the smart business decision in the long run. Honestly, I don't think Sonic's done as a character. I really don't think so. However, I do know that Sega has no idea what the hell they're doing with him anymore. In my opinion, they should just let Shigeru Miyamoto have a go with him and show them how it's done. 10 years ago, such a statement would be blasphemy, but honestly, I want to see someone who has a penchant for reinvigorating franchises see what they can do with the blue blur.

Fixed this for you, BGC. XD

Chadly, you should convince your real-life friends to be smart and play it on PC. 'Cause that's where all the cool kids hang out. >>

I highly recommend Valkyria Chronicles, Disgaea 3, and Arkham Asylum. Disgaea 3 may look complex and difficult, but generally its learning curve is gentle enough that you can get into the game. If you have problems, you can always grind up levels to fix it. Honestly, Disgaea is much more free-form and far less restrictive than the Final Fantasy Tactics Advance series. It's closer to the original Final Fantasy Tactics in customization, but honestly it's a lot easier to pick up, in my opinion. Arkham for the PS3 has the advantage of having the Joker challenge modes as an exclusive, which proves to be fun and interesting.

Tell unto us, even us lurkers, a story of greatness. >>

Do not feed the Atmuh. You're only asking for his latent powers to awaken.

Very slick work here, Nekofrog. I really like the choice of key you went with, and the arrangement was well conceived. A great take on a great song. Definitely worth the download, and it shall remain on my playlist for quite awhile.

Whoa. Cool sounding idea! I'd like to see the videos of the AI versus human player runs someday, if they ever come about.

That said, the Stand Alone Complex series remains reasonably philosophical and intellectually intense. Perhaps not as much as its movie counterpart, but SAC's dialogue is some of the more cerebral, intelligent discourse I've seen in anime. Complex sociological theories, literature, philosophy, and political maneuvering are brought up and discussed on a fairly regular basis. Even if you don't consider SAC as good as its movie or manga adaptions, you really owe it to yourself to give it a shot if you haven't seen it yet, Radical. Definitely one of the best animes I've had the pleasure of watching.