Archive for October, 2008
Movie Review: Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982)
October 31, 2008
XBox Live to Receive Cuss Filter
October 20, 2008
Warning: The above clip contains heavy profanity.
Have you ever looked at the back of a video game box and wondered what the heck “Experience may change during online play” in the ESRB descriptor means? Or have you actually had to suffer through an online Halo match where some prepubescent brat on the other end dropped racial slurs and f-bombs to the delight of his elementary school buddies? Sadly, there are a lot of jerkwads on X-Box Live who have no shame about blurting choice vocabulary words whenever they can. But according to Gamepolitics today, that will change very soon.
Microsoft has just received a patent for a real-time language censorer that will comb audio streams over XBox Live and block out the Big F. The device works, according to GP’s source Ars Technica, by monitoring phonemes and overriding recognizable words with silence or beeps.
It’s certainly impressive and could prove useful, but I have one issue with it. Is it optional? If it can be turned on and off at the user’s leisure then that’s great, but if it’s a static feature, then that reeks a little of forced censorship. Hopefully Microsoft will take it easy in this area.
Mother 3/Earthbound 2 Fan Translation Finished
October 19, 2008
Back in 1995, when I was still hopelessly addicted to all things Nintendo, EarthBound was a pretty big deal. With its giant box, modern-day setting and killer soundtrack, it was easily the most revolutionary RPG I’d ever played. I definitely devoted a large amount of time to it, and still consider it one of my all-time favorite games.
What I didn’t know at the time was that EarthBound was actually a sequel, and part of a series called “Mother” in Japan. Nintendo had translated the first game, but they never released it. The ROM of the unreleased prototype is available on the Internet for those who are curious.
Around 2005 or so, it was announced that a Gameboy Advance sequel to Earthbound (or Mother 2 if you will), was being developed in Japan, along with a compilation GBA cartridge that would include the first two Mother games. Despite the cult following that EarthBound had going here, Nintendo never released either one in the States.
But things were not as dim as they seemed. A group of hackers and translators stepped up to make Mother 3 available here. And after a couple of years of hard work, the unofficial translation has finally been released in the form of a ROM patch. Simply download the Japanese ROM along with an emulator and the patch, apply it and presto! Mother 3 goodness for all to enjoy!
So after 13 years of waiting for an EarthBound sequel, it’s fair to say that I’m satisfied. I haven’t made much progress in the game yet (I’ve clocked only about an hour and a half of play time) but I gotta say, it’s great so far. Mother 3 retains the same EarthBound charm while remaining fresh and innovative. And since I’ve been sick and stuck in bed all weekend, I thank my lucky Starmen that I have something so exciting to keep my mind off my nausea.
Ten of my Favorite Youtube Clips
October 6, 2008What follows is a list of ten of my favorite Youtube clips. It’s not a top 10 list, because I’d have trouble ranking them, and there are dozens of other videos that I love equally, if not more.
I realize that making a list like this is risky, as Youtube links tend to disappear faster than soap bubbles. Six months from now, half of these will probably be gone, and I’ll be set with the tedious task of finding replacements. But for now, click the link and enjoy these ten extraordinary clips.
