Video Game Musings – Page 33

Say Goodbye to Used Games

I’ve picked up this article and question its validity concerning the subject matter. For the sake of clarity, I’ll post it here:

SCE has secured the patent for a new disc technology that, if used, would not allow the PS3 to read used games for that platform. The technology was invented by Kutaragi himself, as well as two others.

Details regarding the patent are featured here: http://www.ipdl.ncipi.go.jp/homepg.ipdl

It is indicated specifically that the technology is to prevent the use of used as well as pirated software.

The technology involves actually rendering a authentication code originally encrypted on the game disk unreadable to other machines once the disk it is used.

This would mean that Net-based and other such games will not be the only ones to be affected by the technology.

Naturally third software developers would embrace this technology, and it would ensure sales of the inevitable “Best series” for the PS3, but used games shops would be put out of business if the PS3 were to become the primary platform in the next generation.

While information regarding the patent does not specify outright that the technology will be used in the PS3, Kutaragi has gone on record saying that copy management is absolutely necessary in order to endure that no “Napsters” of the game industry create problems in the future.

Yeah right. This kind of copy management is absolutely necessary so that the “Napsters” can’t cause problems that this little doohickey (if implemented) will cause. Used game shops will practically be put out of business because of this technology. Video game sections of rental chains such as Blockbuster won’t see as much business as before (or at least fall reign to other gaming consoles that lack this wretched technology). Friends can’t even trade games to play for the weekend. And what if your machine breaks and you have to get a new one? Does this mean you’ll have to rebuy all your games too just so they work? This is complete bullshit.

I’m not going to turn this into a pro-pirating or anti-pirating lecture. My line of thought is pretty blurred on the subject, but clearly if there had to be a means of fighting pirates, this isn’t one of them. If anything, you’re more likely to drive more people into piracy or purchasing bootleg materials that might be of an inferior make, but at least won’t have any restrictions. Hopefully, Sony will be smart and not implement such technology into their PS3. Whether you like or not, piracy is a rampant thing that is NEVER going to go away regardless of how much you try to stop. They’re everywhere!

There’s my rant of the day.

Old SMB and LOZ Cartoons Get New DVD Sets

According to a site called DVDToons.com:

Sony Music announces a 4-disc set for the Super Mario Brothers Super Show. Once again, not many details for any of their announcements today, but the dvd is scheduled for release on October 25, 2005, with a retail tag of $29.95, according to DVDplanet.

Sony Music prepares the complete series of The Legend of Zelda. Sony has scheduled the set for this October 11, 2005, with a retail tag of only $29.95. The Legend of Zelda will be a 3-disc set, according to DVDplanet.

What? No Captain N? Damn those DICs.

I’m rather split on the whole deal. You see, on the one hand, it’ll be really good to see these things on a regular TV again… although the Zelda is the only set I’m really looking forward to; I don’t need anymore horrible recollections of the Lou Albano-portrayed Mario in either live or animated form.

On the other hand, you can watch these for free on Yahoo’s service thingy… eh, who cares? I forgot the point I wanted to make.

Later.

Living The Movie After Having Seen It

Sunday, June 12, 2005 was the day that Extreme Championship Wrestling rose from the ashes in the form of a reunion show dubbed ECW One Night Stand. It was a show that I had been looking forward to watching since it was first announced. Now, I don’t consider myself an ECW hardcore – we didn’t get ECW anything in Canada until late-99 when Viewer’s Choice Canada started airing their PPVs – but I eventually picked up a couple old VHS Best Of tapes as well as the more recent DVD compilations and I enjoyed some of this stuff they put out.

So I was really looking forward to getting this PPV show – not only for the novelty of the ECW reunion special, but also for the novelty of seeing whether WWE (who owns all the copyrights) would actually

Unfortunately, a couple issues came up.

First, there was a roadtrip to Niagara that I was going on with a few folks this past weekend. I don’t recall whether this was planned ahead of time and I forgot about it or whether it was a last-minute spur. Either way, I was upset that I wasn’t going to see the PPV. I had post reflect my displeasure, but it was eventually taken down.

By the way, the roadtrip was great. Left for Niagara on Friday, came back home on Saturday night, and Sunday was spent in Ottawa for a quick run before making it back home. Which meant that I was going to catch the ECW show after all.

Alas, that wasn’t to be.

Due to technical difficulties, I was unable to catch the ECW One Night Stand PPV, which sucks ass because it was the one show that I was looking forward to. Said technical difficulties was due to the satellite receiver having stopped working. Unable to receive channels for some reason. Tried to do basic maintenance, but nothing. Funny thing was that a couple other receivers were working fine and one might wonder why we didn’t pick up the PPV from there (no available phone connection or long-ass wires to hook up – please don’t ask).

So while the issue was eventually resolved, I missed my chance to watch ECW One Night Stand. That made me sad because from the various internet recaps of the show, it seemed to have gone over well. So I guess I’ll be waiting for the DVD to hit shelves… since nighttime classes won’t allow me to catch the replay.

So the time that would have been spent watching Sandman come down to generic music (oh wait, I’m sorry – that was the 2006 version) was spent playing the then-new Revenge of the Sith video game for Xbox, which I didn’t actually touch until after having seen the movie

In all honesty, the game is nothing more than a glorified Final Fight 3D with lightsabers and Force powers. Some people will like this, others will despise it. I’m just fine with it. Sure, it’s mostly a button masher, but that’s all I expected from the game to begin with, so I’m not entirely disappointed whatsoever.

Graphically speaking, it looks fine. Some people say there’s less detail than the usual crop of X-Box games, but graphics were always dressing in my eyes and as long as everything looked like what they should, I have no problem. Sounds are just about right, but my biggest qualm is the apparent lack of a Sith soundtrack. Most of the music tends to be from the original trilogy and the two prequel movies; which weren’t too bad either, but the Sith soundtrack was much suited for this.

As far as extras goes, you have two sets of bonus missions (either single player or co-op missions that have to be unlocked) that are independent of the main game. You have a few minutes of Sith footage which is blended with game footage to fit the altered storyline of the game. You have a Versus mode; a one-on-one mini-game pitting two Jedi against each other. Heck, you even get to relive the “climatic” Death Star duel between Darth Vader and Old Ben Kenobi in Episode IV: A New Hope… although both Vader and Ben seem much more agile than in the movie, but it’s still a nice inclusion. Now you get to play as Vader and beat the shit out of all the stale prequel Jedi as well as two additional ones made for the game (including one who looks like Nick Gillard, the stunt co-ordinator for the prequels or something).

More comments later…

Link’s Far Out Adventure Begins… Somewhere

So for the past week, during my free time, I was attempting to get back into Zelda Classic and its more important component, quest building. After getting the basic feel of things and trying out a few custom quests, I started work on a couple of them. One being a full-quest using the original 8-bit graphics (along with the new ones that comes with it) and the other being nothing but an action game where you do nothing but slay monsters while earning useful items along the way.

I’ve been wanting to put out a full-on quest for the program and have attempted to do so numerous times, but previous attempts usually came to a halt and entered a long period of stagnation afterwards. The idea here is to try and maintain some sort of progress journal and record what I’ve been doing. I hope to parlay this into a separate blog.

Here’s to a successful experiment.

Later.

WWE + 1 half of Mortal Kombat = Wrestlemania 21 X-BOX

WWE Wrestlemania 21, the new X-Box video game, has been announced for a March release.

According to a Game Informer article, it’s developed by Studio Gigante. Studio Gigante was not only the team who developed the X-Box fighting game Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus, but is a group led by John Tobias, co-creator of Mortal Kombat.

Somehow, I half-expect Triple H’s finisher to literally Randy Orton’s spine as opposed to his regular finisher… I wish I could say that was just a lame joke, but considering how Randy’s been booked as of late, there are worse fates.

Mega Man Anniversary Collection on GBA?

First it was August.
Then it was October.
Then it was November.
Then I bought a Game Boy Advanced SP.
Now it’s January.
Watch it get canned completely.

(2019 Update: That’s exactly what ended up happening.)

Is it really that hard to convert five ancient Game Boy games into a Game Boy Advance format? They’re just Game Boy games; you add color and that’s it. This is depressing me.

Oh yeah, I now have a Game Boy Advance SP. And I use it to play exciting Game Boy Advance games like Super Mario Bros, The Legend Of Zelda, and XEVIOUS!

Wait… what do you mean those aren’t GBA games?

Revisiting The Original Street Fighter Game

Most people’s first experience with a Street Fighter anything was the second game. The one with eight World Warriors, special moves that took time to pull off, and made for some competitive battles between players. Even with that initial iteration, it’s easy to see why it became the basis for a much beloved fighting game franchise.

Of course, that is Street Fighter II, which denotes a sequel to a prior game.

The only other Street Fighter game that I knew of back in the day was the Street Fighter 2010 game for Nintendo that was featured in some comic book ads, but eventually, I’d come across that very first Street Fighter game and while my experience with it was brief, it stuck with me until the end of time.

We were at an airport one time and on the second floor, there was a rather modestly-sized video arcade section. I only had a couple quarters on hand to try some of the games; most of which were older games that I wasn’t too familiar with at the time and most of which I probably wish I sampled for the sake of saying that I played an actual [insert vintage arcade game here] arcade cabinet. But instead, my eyes were affixed on this one machine in general with a very familiar name.

Street Fighter.

But this one was different. This one had no roman numeral II on the marquee. And also, the game that was being displayed was not the familiar Street Fighter II game that I had seen before. It took a moment for my young mind to register that this was, in fact, not Street Fighter II… but rather the original Street Fighter I. Yes, the game does, in fact, exist. I’ve seen it with my own two eyes… and it bore the familiar set-up of six buttons (three punches and three kicks).

Being someone who had been on something of a Street Fighter kick, I couldn’t help but be drawn by this magical cabinet before my eyes. Ah man, I’ve got to give this thing a try… aw, but it takes two credits and that’s all I had… but still, it’s Street Fighter I. I’m never going to get this chance again. I rarely get out at this young age of 12. So I popped the quarters in and I start playing.

The game was primitive compared to its sequel. You only had one character to play with (Ryu) and your only option was to fight in Japan or USA. Naturally, I begin the quest in Japan, where I face off against a bald guy named Retsu and eventually get defeated by Geki, a ninja. And then there was a bomb. And then I had no more spare change and moved on with my life.

That’s about all I remember about the game.

I don’t recall if the game ever got ported over to home systems. The closest thing that I could recall was reading about a PC version of Street Fighter II that also came packaged with a DOS version of Street Fighter I, but that’s about the extent of it. It’d be nice to be able to play that game again someday.

We’ll see, I guess.

Later.