Steam Sale–Autumn 2013

It’s that time again, and this time I’m not all that impressed. I don’t even think it’s because I have most of what I want, the whole thing just seems rather lackluster. Maybe they’re waiting for the winter sale to drop the prices to ridiculous levels. Thus far I’m only been tempted by Shadowrun for 8.99. Still, I passed. I think mainly because I realized I spent to much on Black Friday. Ah well.

Unpleasant Implications

Santa… apparently didn’t give a shit all the other reindeer were bullying Rudolph until he needed a new headlight for the sleigh.

Horrible Things in Disney Movies

Males lions, when they take over a pride, will usually kill any existing cubs so that only their offspring remain. Nala and Simba are the same age, in the same pride…

Granted it’s not 100% she’s Mufasa’s daughter.

There’s a remote possibility Scar’s her dad.

GOG.com’s Summer Sale

It’s that time again, and apparently gog.com is beating Steam to the punch. gog.com currently has pretty much everything 50% off with daily sales bringing things lower. I picked up Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and FTL for just over 5 bucks.

I’m kinda tempted with the Wing Commander Series. You can grab everything for $12, including Privateer. I have fond memories of Privateer, a game I never ‘finished’ but lost countless hours just flying around killing shit, collecting bounties and playing the stock market. I have a feeling though, that it’s one of those series where the graphics just does not hold up. At all. I’ll boot up once and avert my eyes in horror. Plus, I don’t have a flight stick. If gog.com got X-Wing or TIE Fighter I’d get a flight stick. I’m also pondering Medal of Honor Allied Assault. I think, maybe, that might hold up better.

On a related note, I expect Steam will be having it’s summer sale soon. I’m curious what I’ll end up being tempted with. It’s an odd cycle of diminishing returns each season as I buy up titles I want, there’s less to interest me.

Survey says…

I received an email invitation to do a Funimation survey today. Incase you don’t know, Funimation is the publisher for Dragon Ball Z. Seems they are considering remastering the series for Blu-ray and wanted opinions. I basically told them I already had Dragon Ball Z Kai on blue-ray and had no intention of buying the series again. Prolly not what they want to hear.

Still, I give them feedback on with video format to use. Uncropped, I don’t want any image cut. Really, who cares about little black bars?

Finally I loved they way they asked if I wanted to join the newsletter:

*No, I don't want to get awesome correspondence from the amazing people at FUNimation.
*Yes, sign me up!

Microsoft and the X-Box 180, and DRM thoughts

So Microsoft caved into consumer pressure and dropped it’s (mostly) always on requirement and used game restrictions. I wonder what Sony execs are saying behind closed doors. PS4 is still $100 cheaper and arguably has the better specs minus Kinect. I am curious how things will play out.

With the changes though, Microsoft is also seemingly needing to cut back on some other things they’d planed. Dorkly has a great tongue in cheek mock up of Microsoft’s first draft of the changes announcement. Some of the things mention do actually sound cool (though I do think it’s wishful thinking Steam like sells would ever happen). Honestly, most complaining was probably hyperbole, the DRM now previously implemented would not have been that restrictive, if at all. A few isolated cases such as servicemen and living in rural areas may have had issues sure. But really, that’s why the market has choice. I doubt I personally would have ever be affected by it next generation.

But then, my concern has never been about a current generation, it’s about the previous generations. Looking at my shelf right now I have 43 (holy crap) PS3 titles. Four of them were bought used. It’s just not something that I normally do.

However, out of 15 Playstation *2* games, 9 of them were bought used. Most of them are sequels to titles I did buy new and enjoyed, but simply couldn’t afford when I was younger (Xenosaga 2-3, FFX-2, Dark Cloud 2). If PS2 had the types of DRM XBone has intended, I would not be able to play those titles.

Some people will respond that the PC has had to deal with DRM for years and it’s doing fine. Well… yes and no. We can look at server issues for always on DRM on the PC to see how it doesn’t work. When it does work though… The thing to keep in mind is that a 20 year old PC game is still a 20 year old PC game. I can still play Baldur’s Gate on a modern PC. I can’t put in Halo into a XBone and play it. Once 360 came out support for Xbox was dropped almost immediately.

For the record I intend to eventually get a PS4, though probably not at launch. I’ll take Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank and Sly Cooper over Halo and Gears any day.

Best Quote from E3

“And then Sony played The Rains of Castamere…” – random spectator