Boot Camp

In response to “Global Growing Pains” from The Escapist Forum: Actually, marketing and economics can still be reasons to region lock titles. A publisher may want to focus on major regions at a time without worrying that they could be cannibalising their sales in the other regions. They may want to see how a title performs in one region before spending money launching it elsewhere. The reasons you give (and accept) for Nintendo holding back their launch in different regions are still valid today.

But yes, it sucks to be the consumer due to regionalisation of titles. Especially if it is a niche title that isn’t going to be launched in your region, or is going to have a good long delay before appearing.

– UnSub

There’s a massive topic on the Steam Powered forums that’s full of people (Especially Australians) lamenting how games they want won’t be released in their regions (Or, in some cases, how they could pick up a game in one of their local stores or on D2D – but not on Steam). Region locking is obviously one of the reasons why people pirate games.

– Blayze

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In response to “Achilles’ Phat Lewtz” from The Escapist Forum: You left out that the Greeks often engaged in friendly PvP in between battles 😉

Interesting comparison, and highly appealing to my inner elitist literature geek. Also nice that it makes MMO players look more educated, or at least on the same level as the rest of the world. We all want the epic lootz, our loot is just shinier and have cooler names. And it’s y’know… fictional.

– poleboy

All I could think of was the inevitable comparison to Helen being the “e-ho who launched a thousand guild drama posters”. heh.

Nice read. I studied Classical Greek in high school as my second language (don’t ask) and found the Iliad to be very relevant to what you’re talking about. There’s a lot to be said about the perception of excellence, but also of the idea of heroism achievements as well. Achievement systems in MMOs, such as the robust system in WAR’s Tome of Knowledge or WoW’s upcoming achievements idea, are at the core of the appeal of getting that “phat lewt”. The gear you have is not just a marker of excellence, it’s also the visual marker of your progression of achievement in your game of choice. PvE raiding in WoW, with its tiered sets, appeals to this need better than any MMO so far, regardless of your opinion of the game.

To the Greeks, conquering Troy became more than just a matter of regaining Agamemmnon’s honor. It became a goal to an end, a way to tell the world “we did this”, or in better terms for the article, “we pwnz0red u in PvP, QQ more nubs” XD

– fsanch

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In response to “My Life as a Tank” from The Escapist Forum: I was a MT for my WoW guild for almost 3 years and I totally know where you’re coming from. It’s a bit of a rush to know that you are literally the single person in that 40-man raid that can make or break a boss fight. One of my favorite fights ever was when we were fighting Nefarion and our other MT went down in phase 3, I stepped in and finished the fight. That was our first time ever killing Nefarion. It was totally awesome.

– iburns

I appreciate your articles look into the pysche of men and gamers. Indeed, I find it indicative not only of the nature of the humble tank, who seeks both to be lauded for their efforts as well to be the humble hero in equal measure- but also of Men, who by nurture and instinct want to be the hero and the righter of wrongs, even when they are thoroughly unqualified for it.

I always play a tank because I prefer to be Self Sufficient. Other classes need someone to protect them so they can use their awesome powers, the tanks awesome power is the fact they don’t need protecting.

Whose the better superhero?

– TsunamiWombat

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In response to “A Gun to Your Head” from The Escapist Forum: My understanding of the use of the Evoker “gun” is that in order to summon a powerful Persona into physical being one must break a psychological barrier within themselves, hence why the whole procedure of summoning requires one to go through the motions of “blowing one’s brains out” with the gun. Too I kinda imagined some kind of limited charge/energy in the form of ammo to be necessary as well. At any rate summoning Persona is serious business.

Indeed it makes total sense that in order to strengthen and create new Personae one must strengthen and build one’s own mind. Thus making new friends, strengthening your relationships, taking art classes, learning discipline through martial arts training, etc. would facilitate new and stronger personae. It’s a wonderful premise for an RPG. It presents the idea that you can kick ass not by finding a BFG 9000 in a locker somewhere but by being a good student of life, by making friends and strengthening your relationships. Persona 3 presents gamers with the idea that it’s good to do your homework and be nice to people. At times I’ve found the game educational, brilliant!

– MorkFromOrk

I recently bought P3 on a whim and am thoroughly enjoying it specifically because its so different from other JRPGs in all the ways that matter. People can dislike it for it’s simplistic graphics and grinding but like the author says, it has a thematic depth that I have never seen out of a JRPG before. I hadn’t even played one since FFX and Persona 3 is something truly different and interesting, even if the basic gameplay doesn’t deviate much from the JRPG formula.

– ReepNeep

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In response to “Beat Your Game to Death” from The Escapist Forum: DMC 3 is the only game I played that was true hardcore because you always look cool no matter the difficulty setting. Memorizing enemy placement and special moves is not hardcore. Struggling to survive is hardcore. Pulling shit out of your ass to win in the clutch is hardcore. Only a few games pull this off (DMC 3, Shinobi, Blood Will Tell, Onimusha 3, Dead to Rights, Max Payne, Enter the Matrix, Star Wars Jedi Outcast and Academy, Resident Evil 4)

Beating Ninja Gaiden is like surviving a car crash or a complex surgery. Everyone is just happy you made it out alive because the game is so unfortunate and joyless. Ryu does the same moves over and over again against cheap enemies with overpowered attacks. And you can’t save your game. That’s not hardcore. Ninja Gaiden is just sadistic. A player has to enjoy pain in order to like it.

– R.O.