JCvgluvr

I think M:OM deserves the lack in sales. Good gameplay, terrible everything else. It was interesting seeing the special stage for the new DoA game. I guess Team Ninja got something else out of the deal, eh? Oh look, yet another person who thinks Other M is condemned for trying something new. Newsflash: That's not why it's universally slammed. It's slammed because it handled many of those new things very poorly. If you want a good example of doing something new with a pre-established Nintendo character, look at Kirby's Epic Yarn.

I don't believe them. Not by a longshot! Of course they're going to say they have no short term plans. They have to. If the opposite was true, do you think they'd be stupid enough to tell that to the public? No freaking way. They'd be cutting off their launch system sales right at the knees! That's just basic business sense. Just watch. In a couple of years, the technology will "unexpectedly" improve and become cheaper. Boom, 3DS Lite. I'm inclined to trust history's record of handheld consoles before I trust Mr. Iwata and friends. They've got systems to sell. Honesty doesn't make them a profit.

Aw, but I like to exaggerate. Calling someone impatient doesn't elicit as much reaction as calling them insane. Nah, you're pretty much correct. I imagine it'll be a year or two before the 3DS Lite shows up. But when it does, paying $250 for it seems acceptable to me.

Well that settles it. Not only is waiting for the 3DS Lite the smarter, more cost-effective thing to do. I now have no games to tempt me to waiver from my intelligence. No Paper Mario, OoT, or any big first-party game at launch? No problem. Time to sit back and wait for the only system any sane person would purchase.

Looks like we can't make fun of DNF anymore. (Still, until it actually releases, we can't say for sure, can we?) I lol'd...for reelz.

I'll have to check this out at some point. Half Life 2 is amazing. I hear that! Can someone tell me how we got a sequel to Left 4 Dead and Portal before we got a Half Life continuation? HL2 Ep3? HL3? Just give us something Valve, please!

I like X-23, actually. She seems like Wolverine-ish gameplay, but much faster. She just might take Wolverine's place on my team if I like her play style.

This actually makes a lot of sense. (A desperate, unfulfilled mind like mine will believe anything at this point.) To-tally, dood. Personally, I don't hate She-Hulk so much as I just don't care about her. And, like I said, she offers nothing unique to the game as a character. She's just Hulk with larger than usual chest muscles. If Mega Man is so worthless as a character entry, her inclusion in the game is hypocritical.

3-D character models made from scratch are a little harder to create than 2-D sprites. Cut Capcom a little slack there. (Not counting Zero, and the like.) What the frick is that supposed to mean? And I suppose She-Hulk and Akuma DO offer something unique to the game? That's just nonsensical bull spit. We just had Mega Man 9 and 10. Mega Man Universe is on the way. Can someone explain to me how it's possible that Mega Man is being overlooked in such a critical time in his career?

If Mega Man isn't there, I certainly won't be happy about it. Zero is hardly similar, not making for the best replacement. Having MM as DLC would be a small consolation, but I need him NOW!

Oh I see, blaming James for all your problems again. You sly dog! No, I definitely get what you're saying. It's true, Sonic relies on speed just as much as Mario relies on mushrooms. (XD, that sounded loaded with illegal paraphernalia!) What's important is that you understand where I'm coming from (and you do, so that's good). As long as we can get on the same page, Sonic just might have a chance.

I'm glad you feel that way, Seph. Once more people realize this, the better off Sonic will be. Now, my question to you would be: If you realize that Sonic is more about momentum-based platforming, why didn't you say that in the video? Saying Sonic is about "moving ridiculously fast" only reinforces that negative stereotype that plagues Sonic today.

This week's episode was pretty much on the ball. Where I'd like to disagree, however, was Sephire's/James's view on Sonic. What he, and so many people are mistaken about, is what Sonic's core gameplay concept is. Seph described it as "moving ridiculously fast." You see, that concept isn't actually what Sonic's about. Sadly, this view is what's holding him back. No, what Sonic is about, is solid platforming, pinball physics, and speed as a reward for skilled players. At this point, you might be wondering what makes me qualified to designate what Sonic's gameplay is about. Well, truth be told, I'm just expressing my opinion. But I'm 100% convinced that I'm correct, and the genesis games themselves can back me up on this. If you go back to those games, the good games, ask yourself how many times you actually got Sonic to go fast. If you think about it, you will probably only come up with a handful of sweet, blissful moments of speed. Then you'll remember places like Marble Zone and Sandopolis Zone. Until people realize that Sonic is more about solid platforming than speed, developers will keep making games like Sonic Rush and Sonic Unleashed's day stages, and the unpleasable fanbase will continue to shun Sonic, and what he's become. Once we can all break past that "all speed, all the time" mindset, Sonic can and will rise back on top. That's what it will truly take to get Sonic out of his slump.

For what it's worth, this weeks entry seemed much more grounded, and made sense to me. Another great episode.

As long as the movesets of created characters are as balanced and fine-tuned as regular characters, I see nothing wrong with including it. More options, right?

Well, if even dialog comes under question, then I just give up. What kind of story can we tell in a game without cutscenes, exposition, or dialog? Going along with that, do we want a story like that? I don't see much potential in it.

Agreed. They could do worse things to the series besides an HD port of the almighty SC2.

What person? Glados? Dr. Breen? Why does that matter?

You want another example, Mr. Author? I already gave one. Portal. Ignore the final cutscene and the song. They're not necessary to grasp the narrative. Half Life 2 is another great example. Ignore the book-end cutscenes, and the rest of the entire story is told through exposition, intuition, and close inspection of the game. Now then, what say you?

How about the return of Weapon Master Mode, eh? That tower crap can go die a grisly death for all I care. Other than that, a return to SC2's gameplay would be for the best. And more character creation.

Exactly. It isn't a thought provoking plot if almost no one put in any thought to it.

The trial was considerably fun. Still, it's hard to play something like that after coming from Scott Pilgrim (blocking would be nice). Nightcrawler is OPed. I'll pick this up when it gets Deal of the Week status on XBL.

How about Portal? Yeah, there were a couple cutscenes at the end, but you don't need them to comprehend the narrative.

Well, that seems REALLY hard to believe. Yeah, the guy who made it had nightmares about the game...besides that, everything else seems like conspiracy theory speculation.

Okay, did anyone else besides me find this week's episode a little overdramatic? I mean no disrespect for any of the members of Extra Credits, but it kind of seemed like they were looking too deep into a 30 year old arcade game. I find it hard to believe that a game so simplistic is putting forth such an engrossing narrative. Not only did they say that Missile Command offers a moral dilemma, but it offers the biggest and hardest moral dilemma ever put into a video game? Really? This game plays just as easily and straightforwardly as games like Pac-Man and Centipede. Am I supposed to believe that Pac-man is an allegory of a man who's running away from the ghosts of his past, his regrets endlessly haunting him? Are the bugs in Centipede supposed to represent our darkest sins, which we must eliminate in order to attain holiness? Probably not. To be honest, I totally expected Shadow of the Colossus to be put in the spotlight. That game can easily make the case of a game's narrative being on display only in its mechanics. (Granted, the game DID have a couple of cutscenes, but who cares about them?) Does a game as simple and mindless as Missile Command really merit such an in-depth focus? I'm not so sure.