XZero
-
Posts
545 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Articles
Profiles
Forums
Events
Posts posted by XZero
-
-
[Disclaimer: Not to be construed as legal advice]
Generally, to successfully demonstrate copyright infringement, the copyright holder must show by a preponderance of the evidence that (1) the copyright held is valid, (2) the defendant copied the work, and (3) the copying constituted "improper appropriation." To show (2), the plaintiff usually has to prove the defendant had access to the work and the defendant's work is similar enough to the original to show copying.
Fair use is a defense to a copyright infringement claim. Courts consider 4 statutory factors: (a) purpose and character of the use, (
nature of the copyrighted work, © amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the work as a whole, and (d) the effect of the use on the potential market for the copyrighted work. See 18 U.S.C. s. 107. thephoenix mentioned intent, which, along with considerations such as free speech, is a potentially relevant nonstatutory factor. However, he overemphasizes the importance of intent, especially since it's not a factor enumerated by the statute. Courts will consider it in the right situations, of course, but lack of intent is not good enough to satisfy the burden of demonstrating fair use that the defendant has. It's more of a social policy argument, which some judges will buy and others will disregard as something more belonging to the legislature.For the Chrono Trigger "sequel," there are a lot of problems. The C&D order is a big one. Also, the only elements of the game that are changed are the storyline and corresponding events. All of the original game's resources are used, as demonstrated by the fact that it's a rom hack, albeit a well-done hack. I'm not in the business of advising the Crimson Echoes guys if something goes awry, but they might be in deep shit if they're found to be responsible for the so-called "leak."
-
Apparently GameStop was informed that Nintendo's launch titles are expected to include Pilotwings, Nintendogs, and something else (not Zelda). SSF4 will most likely be a launch title as well. So I'll buy the system on the 27th, then I will use it to play Street Fighter and Pokemon Black until something better comes along. But I already have Street Fighter on PS3. And I can play Pokemon Black on the DS Lite. Why am I paying $250 again, Nintendo?
When the DS launched, it had Mario 64, then a long time with only a handful of decent games until Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow fixed that nearly a year later. Nintendo claims it'll have great software support for the 3DS between launch and E3, but so far, Kid Icarus isn't looking nearly as cool as it originally did, Zelda's going to be fashionably late, and I could really use a good Mario game or something to hold me over. Here's a thought, Nintendo. Launch games move systems. Yeah, I know you'll sell thirty-two bajillion of these things over the next 4 or 5 years, but throw early adopters a bone. Please?
-
This was announced/reported a couple of days ago. I, for one, am kind of optimistic with it.
FFXIII had its problems. The whole game consisted of one long corridor. Then you get to the closest thing to an overworld and realize you can't handle most of the monsters there because it's the post-game section. Then you either give up or press onward depending on how invested you are in the story. Then you beat the game, realize that the post-game stuff is a waste of time, and give up. Additionally, it's story, while interesting and better than several other FF games, was told VERY poorly. It started like an hour into the storyline with absolutely no basis for anything. FFX kind of did this, but it was different because there, you, like Tidus, were experiencing this new world for the first time. Here, all of the characters clearly are in on something that the player doesn't know or understand, and it shouldn't take 20-25 hours of gameplay to get into the story.
All of that said, FFXIII did have potential, which is why I'm optimistic for a XIII-2. Opinions are pretty much split down the middle on the battle system, but I'll admit that once I figured it out, I generally liked it. It's not as intuitive as FFI-VII, IX, and X, but it worked well.
Here, in my opinion, are the things they need to do to make XIII-2 good:
(1) Retain the battle system, perhaps with some refinements
(2) Take that giant map area and make it a bit bigger. Then label it "overworld." Then scatter some towns, castles, dungeons, temples, etc. around it
(3) Simplify the story and gradually layer on complexity. Don't put players into a world that requires reading the freaking in-game encyclopedia to understand.
(4) Kill Hope.
-
Is it my imagination, or is the character roster looking like it'll be much smaller than MvC 2?
I'm not talking about potential DLC down the road; no amount of DLC is enough because there shouldn't be any DLC. When you put down $60 for a game, you should get the full and complete game. Day 1 DLC or DLC released just afterward that was clearly part of the programming and simply excised to make an extra $5 in a microtransaction is crap.
-
the best Squaresoft moments for me was Final Fantasy 6, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana and Secret of evermore. That time frame of games was good times. Oh the golden SNES age, how I miss you.
Relive the golden age on a DS Lite. Between DS games and GBA backward compatibility, that system's dripping in JRPGs of the SNES and PS1 style. To name a few,
Chrono Trigger
FF I-VI
Nostalgia
Sands of Destruction
Golden Sun 1-3
Lufia
Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
Glory of Heracles
Ys 1&2
Lunar
Mario & Luigi 1-3
Dragon Quest IV, V, VI, & IX
and the list goes on...
As I was typing this, the thought crossed my mind that an FF VII remake could be pretty close. It would be VERY easy to port that sucker to the 3DS and improve the graphics to raise them to the level of FF VIII & IX. Sony might have some type of exclusivity deal, but if it doesn't, I can just hear the fanboy arguments now ("At least we're getting it!" "But it should be on the PS3 with voiceovers!").
-
I expected the region lock announcement. The pics that showed what the games look like had this little tab at the top, and that sort of software design always indicates region lockout.
The question is whether its region locked in the same way SNES systems were region locked (modding involving simply snapping off two little plastic pieces inside the system allowed you to play everything). Also, this doesn't indicate whether the 3DS's DS backward compatibility suffers from the same thing. It doesn't matter much if you have a DS Lite or whatever, but if you are planning on selling your Lite and getting a 3DS, this might cause you to think again.
I'm a bit pissed about the region locking thing, though. Tales games don't come out in the US very often, requiring an import. Also, games like Jump Ultimate Stars will never see the light of day in North America due to licensing issues, so it's nice to be able to import such titles. Relatedly, I just ordered Prince of Persia HD collection for PS3 from Europe because I want the disc and case for it, not just the digital download.
IMO, region lockouts have to go. Every DVD player can be hacked to make it region-0, and the only reason people buy stuff from other countries usually is because, like the examples I named above, there's no chance in hell of them coming out in their country. In short, until companies release all of their games globally, region lockouts are just a huge pain in the ass.
As for launch games, they of course have not been announced yet for North America. Based on the Japanese launch, I'm expecting the whole Japanese lineup (with Street Fighter being the standout), and a worldwide release of Zelda. That meshes with a recent statement by Nintendo's president suggesting that there will be a steady stream of games for the 3DS in a change of strategy from the Wii and the original DS. Plus, a game like Zelda would do really well on launch day in North America; early adopters are largely going to be Nintendo geeks anyway, so why not cater to their unquenchable thirst for Zelda?
-
Gamestop does their Midnight Release thing by how many preorders that the one particular store gets in. It has nothing to do with a corporate policy. Case in point, the Gamestop on base here did not have a midnight release for Rock Band 3, Halo Reach or Red Dead Redemption due to the small number of preorders recieved at that one particular store, but the Gamestop at the mall just 3 miles away did.
I guess I should have been more clear; I hope that GameStop does a midnight opening.
Incidentally, preorders aren't the only factor, actually. I was management there during college, and one of the stores near us was located in a mall. It's by far the busiest store in the area, and it had tons of preorders for some game, the title of which I can't remember. Anyway, the mall was giving them a hard time about opening at midnight, and ultimately they didn't do so because the mall wanted a ton of money for its added "security expenses." Sounds legitimate, right? Based on what that store paid in the past for midnight openings, the number they were asking for wasn't reasonable at all. So I suppose the point is that for strip mall stores, it's based on preorders; for mall stores, it's based on preorders and how much the company is willing to pay the mall to stay open late.
-
I preordered the Collector's Edition of this today and the manager pointed out something kind of funny. It comes out the day after Valentine's Day, which means that GameStop stores deciding whether to do a midnight launch need to take into consideration whether people will be there or be with their significant others at that point.
I guess the only people who can pick it up at midnight are those who are single and those whose significant others are gamers. I wish I was in the latter category...
-
The Wii is an interesting console because it's got great games for two very distinct groups, but little for the mainstream.
On the one hand, it has tons of crappy kiddy games and lots of so-called "shovelware" games, many of which are aimed at family-oriented play. On the other hand, it has lots of games that appeal to gamers like yourself: people who grew up on the Atari, NES, and SNES (and N64 to some extent), and who have very fond memories of those games and that generation. For you, there is New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, Super Smash Bros. Melee (GCN) and Brawl(Wii), Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby's Epic Yarn, and a host of other games I'm forgetting, plus the virtual console classics.
I remember a recent post on Youtube or some other video site where the person noted that a noticeable amount of adult gamers were more interested in Kirby & Donkey Kong than Call of Duty this year. Those are the gamers from our generation.
Incidentally, the biggest problem with the Wii is ironically its selling point. The motion controls are annoying. I thought the Twilight Princess controls were fine, and the Mario Galaxy controls work well enough, but for most games, I just want that second analog stick and some extra buttons. The best games on the Wii are those that don't use or otherwise completely minimalize the use of motion controls.
-
I think that black one looks pretty damn sexy. It does, however, look like something that could get fingerprinty. Eh, whatever.
And Meeting_Gman, here's the issue. The $50 was not a magical number, even if they treated it like one. As of now, it's not officially listed in their preorder listing, which means when an employee presses F8 (or whichever shortcut leads to the reservation lists), it doesn't appear because there's no Systems tab. However, in the F10 search system, there is a 3DS SKU, and that's all they need. The employee just has to go into the reservation system while conducting a transaction and type in or copy over the 3DS SKU (or add it to the so-called "hot skus" list for easier access). From there, they can view the minimum deposit of $50 and do a standard preorder. The only thing that makes it unofficial is the fact that it's not yet been added to the standard preorder list.
Admittedly, and as I noted in an earlier post, the problem GameStop may run into is taking too many preorders. I'm sure they're monitoring it, but I remember when the Wii came out, there was a day about 1 month before the launch when up to 3 employees and 25-40 customers (depending on the store and its allocation) could reserve the system. That alleviated launch day problems with allocations. I doubt that Nintendo's given GameStop such concrete information for fear of leaks. Consequently, it's unlikely that the company will be able to fill all of the preorders on Day 1 unless they cut it off after reaching a fairly reasonable number per store. Thus, my approach is two-fold: preorder at a store where I know and am good friends with management, and get there on day 1 so they can't sell mine claiming the 48 hr. waiting period expired.
-
I finished it a couple of days ago. All of the levels cleared. The very last level was a disappointment, though. After how hard some of the other stages were, this one was easy.
-
I did go out and reserve mine today. I was going to post a scan of the receipt if one hadn't already been posted.
Here's the information about it:
The list price is still unknown, as are the colors. An email last week suggested that it would come in black and blue. The current list price in the computer is $999.99 as a placeholder. As we all know, Nintendo's announcement will come in January.
Typically, when there are multiple SKUs for a product like this, all of the units preordered will be placed under one SKU (likely the black one), and at a later point, GameStop will contact everyone on the list and verify whether they want to get the color that it defaults to or the other color. The thing that's interesting is that they're taking reserves without an allocation, which means it's conceivable that they will be unable to fill the orders in March.
As for games, there are two or three titles available to reserve, but nothing that anyone wants yet. Kid Icarus, Zelda, Star Fox, etc. will be added to the list when the announcement is made.
-
I worked at Gamestop for several years. I'm still good friends with the management at the store I worked at, and they told me that the preorders start tomorrow. Won't say anything beyond that (names, store number/location, etc.), but this is most definitely NOT a rumor. This is confirmed information from corporate emails to the stores. If you don't believe me, that's fine. I'm personally going in tomorrow to reserve it because I want to get one on day 1 and don't want to sit in a line somewhere. If I can get a better deal elsewhere, I'll just cancel it.
There is no bundle or anything as far as I know. If you reserve it, you are reserving the system itself, and that's it.
I'm not trying to sound defensive, and I know exactly what it sounds like when someone posts something like this with no verifiable source to back it up. If you don't believe me, call a store tomorrow and ask. I just figured there'd be some people here who want to get one on the first day without sitting in a line at Best Buy or Target, and the safest way of doing so is to reserve it at GameStop. Even if they are evil.
-
For those interested, I have been informed that GameStop will begin taking preorders for the 3DS tomorrow, 12/26/10. Exact details, such as price and date, will be revealed next month by Nintendo, and I don't know how much you have to put down in order to reserve one, but if you're looking to make sure you have one on launch day, be sure to check out your local GameStop tomorrow.
-
Like everyone else here has said, this is a Quicktime thing. I don't know any other program that does this.
Here's a little instructional support from another website. I've done this before and can vouch for its accuracy:
Restoring MP3 Associations if you want to use Windows Media Player as your default. Otherwise, the steps are largely similar for other players.
1. Open Windows Media Player
2. Press ALT+T and Click Options
3. Click File Types
4. Check Mark Mp3 and Click OK
5. Close Internet Explorer and Reopen it.
Removing Quicktime Association
1. Open Quicktime in Start > Programs > Quicktime
2. Click Edit > Preferences > Quicktime Preferences
3. Click [File Types] Tab and Uncheck MP3
4. Click [browser] Tab
5. Click MIME Settings, and Uncheck MP3
6. Click OK Twice
Setting Default Associations
1. Click On Start > Set Program Access And Defaults
2. Click Custom and Scroll Down to Default Media Player
3. Choose a Default Media Player like Winamp
4. Press OK
-
Funny, my <18 family members are aware of the greatness of yesterday's games. They can see the pluses and detect the flaws with ease. Also, they exclaim that a lot of the classics were given the necessary elements needed for their longevity. This exceeds numbers and popularity. However, with games such as Cheetahmen, Street Fighter 2010 and Plumbers Don't Wear Ties, we are very much aware that the games that sucked didn't get much attention for that very fact... they just plain sucked.
Till the AVGN reviews them. Then suddenly everone is in a rush to play some of them.
-
Along the same lines, you have just as many young gamers that fail to appreciate and look down upon old games as old gamers who have become jaded and turn their noses up at anything that smacks of novelty. Both could probably stand to get over themselves, but either way neither is intrinsically worse than the other.
I don't disagree with this, but from what I've been observing and especially from what I saw during my 5.5 years at GameStop, people under 18 were quicker to dismiss old games than adults were to dismiss new games. Thus, it's not that it's intrinsically worse to be on one side or the other. Instead, I suppose I'm noting that the numbers on one side are overwhelming compared to the numbers on the other.
My completely unscientific hypothesis is that for every ten 13-17 year olds, there might be one or two who would acknowledge that Zelda: Link to the Past is as good or better than Halo (this is NOT intended to get into a debate over the qualities of Halo or Zelda). On the other hand, for every 18-30 year old, we may bitch and moan like Crankey Kong about the golden age of days gone by, 8 or 9 out of 10 would probably acknowledge that Halo is a generally a good game that, while lacking novelty, did a whole lot of things well.
-
On the SMB3 point, I can provide several justifications (you can evaluate their validity yourself).
Mario 3 had a flawless gameplay system. Its platforming controls worked perfectly, and its level design was brilliant. It also featured countless hidden areas and secrets. Moreover, Mario 3 had some of the best graphics for its time given the console it was released for, and a very memorable soundtrack, which I suppose is more subjective.
I acknowledge that modern games can have largely similar praise. Modern games can have brilliant level design, flawless gameplay, etc. Thus, the point is that if a PS3/Wii/360 game has all of these features combined into one package, SMB3 and that game should be viewed as being equals.
Many younger gamers, it seems to me, are disinterested in the older games solely because of their technical limitations. They fail to appreciate the quality of these games. Older gamers, on the other hand, are more likely to acknowledge that a game is good if it is good, regardless of graphics and other technical limitations. They might express a preference for older games, but they seem less likely to wholistically dismiss a new game as sucking just because of their preference for the nostalgic classics.
-
Over the last few days, I've been doing some general internet browsing (not really looking for anything in particular), and I've noticed a trend in comments sections on several game-related pages. There seems to be a generational gap between younger gamers (under eighteen) and older gamers (18+) in terms of what it means for a game to be good.
Let me give an example. On a recent IGN posting, they named Mega Man 10 as having the best something on the Wii this year. I don't remember what the award was for, but the point is that a comment down below indicated that gamers these days don't care about Pac Man and Megaman.
This was a bit disheartening. I can understand the sentiment that characters like Pac Man or Megaman may not be as relevant today as they were back in the 80s (and 90s, in Megaman's case), but it's very dismissive of the games as a whole. I understand that it was probably some jackass kid, so I'm not reading too much into the individual comment; it's more of an example.
My question, then, is whether the OCR community thinks that young gamers (under eighteen) are too close-minded when it comes to fairly evaluating quality games. I'm particularly interested in the well-reasoned opinions of younger gamers on this forum.
I'd be willing to bet that if you polled a group of 14-17 y/o gamers, they'd quickly rank Halo above Super Mario Bros. 3, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Megaman 2, or any of the games frequently cited as being among the best of all time.
-
Picked up the soundtrack based on the comments here and the sample on Disney's webpage. Oh. My. God. Brilliant music, excellent thematic scoring, and that end titles song... wow. I'd say to at least listen to it on YouTube, but the YouTube compression REALLY doesn't do it justice. The whole thing is worth it for that track alone.
-
I've been looking at various products on Amazon, and it seems they have a number of DVDs available that are exclusive to them (lots of old Nickelodeon stuff, for example). It's all Manufactured on Demand (MOD), and it apparently is placed on DVD-Rs.
Has anyone here ever ordered one of these MOD products, and if so, what was it like in terms of overall quality (post some pics if you have them, like box or disc art, etc.)?
Thanks!
-
Love it. I think some of the instruments are a bit too overwhelming at parts, which can be fixed with some panning and volume adjustment. That's my only constructive comment; everything else, from the arrangement to the instrument selection, is brilliant. This is an excellent take on one of the best tracks from SMB64!
-
Ubisoft, you win. That's all there is to it, you win.
As anyone who watched the soccer tournament over the summer can tell you, the horns people were blowing throughout the whole thing were annoying as hell. Apparently Ubisoft came up with a good way of using them.
According to IGN: http://ds.ign.com/articles/113/1138191p1.html
Ubisoft put something in the DS version of the Michael Jackson game that, if tampered with, will play a constant horn over the music of the game. Tampered with in the form of rom dump, that is.
I guess there's only one problem with this. Who's pirating the Michael Jackson DS game?
-
So it seems like any future iterations (DKCR2?) would be infinitely better if they stick to the basic design established in this one, add classic controller support and properly map the roll to a button, and add Diddy as a playable character in single player mode.
Hmmm... so why not just download DKC on the Virtual Console and play that instead?
3DS: Friend Codes on First Page, OMG THE THIRD DIMENSION
in General Discussion
Posted
So Reggie confirmed that there'll be no Zelda or Kid Icarus before E3
http://ds.ign.com/articles/114/1146094p1.html
Looks like the 1st party launch games are Pilotwings, Nintendogs+Cats, and Steel Diver. Reggie mentioned that the hardcore gamer can look forward to Street Fighter 4, Dead or Alive Dimensions, and ... Madden (hardcore?).
So looks like I'm picking up Street Fighter and maybe Pilotwings. Or I'll skip Pilotwings until its price drops and just play Pokemon and Dragon Quest VI on the 3DS. There's also a Devil Survivor upgrade coming out, and since I haven't played the first one, that might have to be a buy as well.
You know, they've been pushing this thing like crazy in the last couple of weeks, and they've probably had this launch window planned since some time last year. They're releasing a system where not only is there no Mario-series game, there are no games within their 'big 3' series at all. And that wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that Pilotwings, though the last two were good back in the 90s, is at best a 4th tier series in the grand scheme of Nintendo's world. This is uniquely one of the company's worst system launches in terms of quality software.