Cosmo Canyon is dead. Now stop pestering me about it. I get a solid five letters a day asking me something about Cosmo Canyon nowadays. Asking me about in-jokes from CC. Asking why Fritz shut it down. Asking if they can start it up in Fritz's absence. Asking whether Fritz wears boxers or briefs. More annoying at the legions of flames I get, yelling at me and blaming me because Fritz decided that he wanted to shut down his web page. Do I look like Fritz Fraundorf to you? Does this look like Cosmo Canyon to you? I can accept that some of you are confused and/or angry, but sending six letters to me, all asking stuff about CC is just pissing me off something fierce. I'm not Fritz's secretary. So stop it with the CC letters already. Fritz shut down Cosmo Canyon. Deal with it. | Drawing blood from a stone | Hello, Master Thor-whipper.... 1) Well, as for the draw point system...it should actually help us make thegame more challenging. You will constantly have a limit of spells, so youhave to more conservative. Of course, people will probably just go out andmax out on spells from weaker enemies first...BUT...this isn't muchdifferent that going out and exp. building, so those of us that don't exp.build won't stock up on magic either, and therefore get extrachallenge...which is a *good* thing in a modern-day Final Fantasy. Also, the people who have been wishing for the return to exp. buildingwill like the system because it gives them something else to do while exp.building. The problem is, Square might tone down the difficulty for thebosses even more for those who won't want to stock up on magic...so the gamewill be easier than ever. However, it might make the random battles harder because people won'twant to cast Fire 3 after Fire 3 on them because those Fire 3' are preciouscommodities (unless, of course, you stock up). Personally I'm excited about this new system...I never liked MP to beginwith. Let's just hope in turns out alright. 2) Why would you need to buy an expensive Yaroze just for import games whenyou could import a Japanese PS. It would work, right? I mean, it's notlike Sony can put things into our TV's to keep them from being able tohandle a Japanese PS...*whoops*, I hope Sony didn't hear that. Better watchthose Trinitrons carefully in the future.... 3) Why do people complain about FF7's moving camera when they can just turnit off? Complaints about that are *really* getting on my nerves. 4) Why did you call me gross yesterday? ;) |
1. Interesting point. Here's hoping you're right. 2. You're right, that should work. Of course, that locks you out from playing copies of games, which a Yaroze can do, and is just sort of annoying - I mean, if only for convenience's sake, I'd rather have an all-in-one plays-anything Playstation console than a pair of PSXes. It's just... easier. 3. Because they don't check the option menus? 4. I was in Seattle in the summer of '97. I saw what you did. So don't play dumb with me. | A different side to FF8 | Double Agent: I'm new to reading the letter column, so this has probably already beenwritten about. I'm too lazy to go through the past articles ... Final Fantasy 8 seems to be the most hyped game I've ever encountered. And Ihave one big reason why I've tried to keep up with the news on it. Not thebeautifully rendered FMVs, not the great overall character design, not thefact of it being Sakaguchi work, not the movie teasers, and not even it'sincredible predecessors. Rinoa. So cute. If there is any truth to teenagegamer stereotypes (the unpopular guy who's desperate for girls) then she'll bea major target. While she may not have the impossible build of Lara Croft,she actually has realistic features. And a pretty face. So I just look fornew pictures. Remarkably, I have a pretty healthy social life. - Justin IS |
That's an angle I hadn't thought of. I mean, maybe it's me, but when I think of Final Fantasy, the term "babe-o-rama" isn't what springs to mind. But I suppose that a well-done, attractive female character like Rinoa could break some hearts. Hell, if there are love shrines devoted to Sephiroth, a more overt romantic figure like Rinoa will probably have a webring founded for her. | Where is Fire Emblem? | Arg. I am sick to death of people saying how wonderfully amazing the Fire Emblem series is, and I can't fing any of the games anywhere, or even a ROM. Were they even released in the US? If not, do you know of any scripts or translated ROMs floating about? Also, do you know if it's illegal to keep a ROM of a foreign release? And finally, I was browsing my local anime/import store, and I saw a Phantasy Star compilation on sale, for the Sega Saturn I believe, although I could be wrong. Do you know anything about this? A reponse would be much appreciated. -Arpad Korossy |
I've looked, but haven't found any scripts or translation ROMs for Fire Emblem yet. Annoying. And yes, keeping an ROM of a foreign release you do not own is illegal. I, for example, can legally have a ROM of Seiken Densetsu 3, but if I download a ROM of Tengai Makyo Zero, I'm breaking the law. The Phantasy Star compilation is just that, a compilation of all four Phantasy Star games for the Saturn, on one disc. I'm unsure of how much in the way of bells and whistles it boasts, but it's a pretty good value if you can read Japanese. | Working his way up | Uh yeah... 1. Who is you favorite RPG character? 2. Why do Barbie and Hunting games outsell all others on the PC chartsand sports games outsell better games on the console charts? 3. Can I have your job? Bryan "I will become a regular, dammit" Carr |
1. Nash, from Lunar: The Silver Star, and the PSX remake thereof. He's so arrogant and snide that he radiates coolness. He becomes pretty useless towards the end of the Sega CD version, combat-wise, but he's so entertaining that I really couldn't care less. 2. Hunting games are sort of fun (especially Deer Avenger), and more importantly, are cheap as hell, which makes them the rarest of things, the impulse buy for the computer. Barbie games sell because Barbie is a market force. It's popular with its target audience of young girls, which is really massive, and has otherwise limited choice of software targeted at them, so titles that are directed towards them, with a brand name, sell very well indeed. And sports games are extremely in America, always have been. "Better" is a subjective term - some people can and do buy systems just for the sports games. Same with RPGs. It's just that there's a lot more sports fans and gamers out there than any other single category. 3. No. | Virtual GameStation title bout | Hey! Listen! First of all, I'm having some bad dreams about Navi in my head.. I pressedthe C button five friggin' times, already, don't call me again! Ahhh! Ahhh!Ahhh! Uh, anyway, it seems as if some people don't understand all the facts aboutthe Virtual Game Station issue. It's not your fault at all, it's the faultof... uh, well, I don't think it's anyone's fault. First of all, it istotally legal to emulate any console on a PC, whether it be PSX or SuperNintendo or Sega Saturn. Now, before you send me a 5 page letter on "Whyemulation is illegal", listen. It is absolutely legal to emulate theworkings of one machine on another. Example (taken out of Next Generationmagazine): running Microsoft Word is functionally the same thing as makingyour Mac or PC emulate a dedicated Word machine. The illegality (is that aword?) of emulation comes in the form of the software that many emulatorsrun on, disk or ROM images that are freely available online. The VirtualGame Station still requires you to go out and purchase Playstation software.As Allan pointed out, hardware companies sell their hardware at a loss, sothey get all their profits by software (especially from charging royaltiesto third-parties to develop for their system). So of course Sony wouldn'tall of a sudden go bankrupt as the author of that letter implies(furthermore, Sony, I believe, is one of the Fortune 500 companies, so I'mpretty sure they'll still have money to make a new system, trust me. But with all the legal crap aside, the real issue is, should this be out inthe market? In case you didn't know, Sony failed to keep Connectix fromselling the $49 Emulator because there's no doubt that this emulator is infact legal. But they seem to ignore the fact that piracy will becomeincredibly easy with this emulator. Connectix claims that this was neverintended for piracy, but it doesn't take a lot of brain power to figure thisout. I mean, already there's a patch on the net that enables is to run golddiscs and official Japanese and European titles. What's there to stop peoplefrom creating a patch to take off the scanning of the titles altogether andrun pirated stuff? Admittedly, this emulator is a great technology demo that shows off theMac's power. It's one thing to have super duper tech specs, but it's anhonor to be able to actually emulate another less powerful system. Think ofit, YOU'RE system is so powerful it can emulate another system! But Ibelieve the emulator should have been kept on the show floor. Sony techiesspent years developing the system we today call Playstation, making sureit's the perfect balance of power, ease of developing, and cost, and herecomes some no name company emulating your hard work just to earn a buck.Wouldn't you be pissed? Connectix claims that this emulator will actuallyhelp Sony by bringing in more customers for their software. Oh, c'mon, doyou really think people will buy Macs just to play a Playstation emulator?Don't you think many people who own a Mac already have a PSX? The onlyreason anyone would spend $49 on this instead of spending just 70 moredollars to buy a REAL Playstation that you could play in your living room ispiracy. Do I think this emulator is legal? Yes, of course. Do I think it should bein the market? No, never. -Clyde Hudman |
Red corner, meet your opponent in the blue corner... | The contender | Quite frankly, if Sony does win this particular lawsuit, there's goingto be a LOT of fallout, on multiple fronts. First off, and the most obvious, will be the emulation scene. Emulatorsare legal, as are ROMs of games you own. Granted, the most obvious useof emulation is for piracy, but simply having an emulator on yourcomputer is not illegal. Essentially, a Sony victory would lead to manylawsuits, as essentially every emulator author could be sued, and thosewith emulators could potentially be held legally accountable. In otherwords, if Connectix loses, this could be the end of the emulation sceneas we know it. Another more subtle fact would be a blow against reverse engineering.For those who aren't familiar, essentially, it is possible to take adevice, figure out how it works, and create a similar device. Notexactly the same, not a copy - but it is perfectly legal to make adevice that has the same function as a piece of equipment. Know whyvirtually every PC (Macs not included) is considered an "IBMcompatatible"? Years ago, hardware manufacturers reverse-enginered IBMPCs and began selling their own - they functioned the same, but are notidentical to IBM PCs. The right to reverse engineer equipment has been upheld time after time.Know what Connectix did? They reverse engineered the PSX. If you run theVGS, you don't even see the load-up screens with the Playstation logo on'em - and those are coded directly into the PSX bios. The VGS acts likea PSX, but has its own, new code - and it is therefore legal. Sony is essentially suing Connectix over a perfectly legal product, andit is my hope that any competent judge will realize this and throw thecase out. As for claims that it promotes piracy, well - mod chips havebeen around for years and they serve the same purpose. IMO, Sony shouldbe glad that Connectix has done this, simply because it'll help sellmore games, and produce more profits. Granted, PSX ROM piracy isn't exactly an issue - people who downloadentire PSX games are few and far between. You can also look atNintendo's recent actions against the authors of UltraHLE, the N64emulator. It's more simple to download N64 ROMs, simply because of thecomparatively small size of them. Even so, the current (and only,apparently) release of UltraHLE only runs 2 games near-perfectly - Mario64 and Zelda. Is it going to hurt Nintendo's market share? You decide -Mario 64's been out for years, and Zelda's sold over 6 million copies -emulator or not. While I'm grateful to Sony for a great machine, they need to focus theirlegal team on something more productive. - Tortolia |
It should be noted that pirating PSX games is as simply as using a CD burner - downloading ROMs off the internet really isn't a going concern for PSX piracy, while CD-R copies are a major one, one that Sony's going to great lengths to prevent the use of. On the other hand, I'm not entirely convinced that the only projected use of VGS will be piracy. Several Mac-using friends of mine are using it as an opportunity to get involved in the console gaming scene. Moreover, piracy schemes for it aren't nearly as widely available as Clyde Hudman made them out to be (I found a CD-R enabler, but it wasn't *too* easy), and hell, we're talking about the Mac market. If this was a PC product, you're damned right I'd be panicky about overwhelming piracy. But frankly, there's a whole different mentality at work here. Mac piracy is relatively minor; not scoffed at, but it's not a big, company-wrecking trend. Consequently, I seriously question whether the VGS, as a Mac product, will have any impact on the gaming industry at all. It can be exploited, sure, but judging from fourteen years of being a Mac user, I don't think VGS will be a big deal. A PC-based PSX emulator, that could be problematic. But not on Mac. | ff8 mod chip concerns | I HEARD THAT A GUY SOMEWHERE IS GAY |
You know, I heard that too. And you know what? It's TRUE. Isn't that GREAT? Maybe we should all be gay! That'd be keen! We could all dress up in tee-shirts with "Hi I'm Gay!" written on the front in big, yellow letters, tight pants and Carmen Miranda hats! Thanks so much for the information update and the idea! You've made my day extra-special! Oh, and we've got the much-delayed new Deep Thought posted up, so give it a look already. Hokay? Good. See you tomorrow. - The Double Agent | | | |
