A bunch of random stuff today, I didn't think any of these really needed their own blog. I received an imod invite 4 days or so ago, and I felt very privileged to be considered. It's nice to know that your contributions are being noticed. I turned it down as I don't think I have the time to be able to do any sort of mod position justice.
Ironically, a couple of days later I get suspended for a post I made 6 months ago, for telling baby jokes in a pre-existing off-topic joke thread. I never go there, I must have been bored that day. I didn't think they were particularly offensive, but I guess someone dug them up 6 months on. Obviously regular readers would know (or at least I hope so) I'm not the type to offend people on purpose. I don't have a problem with the post being deleted, but being suspended seemed unnecessarily harsh for something that happened so long ago, particularly as it wasn't expressly offensive. It also had to happen just after I posted my Piracy blog, which got plenty of replies that I couldn't respond to! I had to laugh at the situation.
The responses to that raised some interesting points, and made me re-evaluate some things. For starters, if I see performer on the street and I am entertained enough to stick around and see what else they do, they are getting $5. After arguing in defense of supporting the industries that supply us games, music and movies, I feel like a cheapskate for having watched these guys and not giving them something in times past.
It also got me thinking about format shifting. I think for the most part it is illegal, but I'm not too sure about the nitty gritty details there. I've ripped plenty of songs I own on CD to my ipod, but it may not technically be legal. How do you guys and gals feel about this issue?
Another point of interest is items that are no longer available. I ordered a CD yesterday, and was told today that it has been deleted worldwide. I haven't checked to see whether there is a legal way to get it online digitally, though I am doubting it, as it is an obscure Australian heavy metal release from about 10 years ago. She told me she had looked on Amazon for me, and there were 3 second hand ones going for $50 (I assume this is $US, and would not include the shipping), and I'm not sure I'm willing to pay that. Similarly, I recently discovered that a CD that has been on my want list for ages (that I used to have illegally on tape that I wanted to replace) was limited to a 1,000 print run, which is probably also about 10 years old. Again I doubt this will be available legally online.
Retro games have also gone through a bit of resurgence. Prior to this generation, emulators were all the rage because older systems were no longer available, though it could be argued that they should have bought a second hand console and game. Now those games, which have always remained licenced if not available for sale, are being re-released on Virtual Console. I know I downloaded an emulator to try out some homebrew levels for Super Mario World, but I had bought the title on Virtual Console prior (which led me to be interested in said homebrew). What are your thoughts on this issue? Should it just be a case of buying a potentially high priced second hand copy of this stuff?
Some people also mentioned that second hand sales are just as bad as piracy when it comes to the argument of not supporting developers, which led me to an interesting thought. What if there was a second hand dealer who sent $5 to the developer each time a disc was sold? Obviously the price would have to go up by that $5, but would that entice people to buy or trade with that entity, knowing that you were still supporting the developers? While this sounds like an interesting business proposition in theory, I'm guessing that setting up trade with the publishers/developers would be a chore, many players probably don't really care and would go the cheaper standard second hand option, and probably most of all wouldn't trust the business to do what it says (send money the developers way). Thoughts?
On the personal gaming front, I've just finished and reviewed No More Heroes. What a whacked out game. I don't know if it will be for everybody, but Wii owners should definitely check it out for its oddball humour. I've just started playing Medal of Honour Heroes 2, which is supposed to be designed with the Wii Zapper. The controls generally are good, but whenever you die or a tutorial comes up, you need to press the default A button...which is on top of the Zapper. Sloppy, this should also have been changed when you select the Zapper as the control method. Even though the Zapper is not terribly heavy, I only want to play one level at a time before stopping because it gets pretty tiring. I tried the standard controls, and they are horrible. The two buttons on the nunchuck don't seem to do anything (as far as I can tell at least) and I have to press down on the D-pad to crouch, which means I can't crouch while I am in the middle of firing. Why isn't crouch mapped to the nunchuck? Thus far I imagine I will get over these initial gripes and play it through with the Zapper, but I'm wondering if I might just like the simple standard rail shooting of the arcade mode more, which I haven't tried yet.
Just a note on that review too; I can't see new reviews you guys have done since going to Gamespot Wide when clicking on 'friends reviews'. If you've reviewed any since then, let me know and I will check them out.