<![CDATA[Comments from fawrh]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/kotaku.com.png <![CDATA[Comments from fawrh]]> http://kotaku.com/people/fawrh http://kotaku.com/people/fawrh fawrh commented on What's Worse: RRoD or GTA IV Lockup? I have both the Xbox 360 and the PS3, and if I had to list a major flaw, it would have to be the 360's server rollback last holiday season. When my Bioshock achievments got wiped, my Xbox was unpluged and hasn't been turned on since. I also have to admit though that I bought GTA for my Xbox, although I haven't played it yet. The real reason the Xbox version of this game is better has to be the DLC.

]]> http://kotaku.com/386839/whats-worse-rrod-or-gta-iv-lockup#c5520882 http://kotaku.com/386839/whats-worse-rrod-or-gta-iv-lockup#c5520882 Mon, 05 May 2008 07:22:12 MDT fawrh commented on Going Off the Deep End: Has Gaming Grown Up? Very good read... but as a person sitting on the inside of the industry, I would like to make a few counter points.

You are right in the fact that "the industry is young" is a BS excuse, the true state of the game industry is better related to the CA gold rush of the wild west. Game companies see one formula that works and then rush towards it, (after all theres gold in them there hills....), they pump as much money as they can into the titles that sell off of the point that they are just like the last great game. After all we developers need to eat too.... The downside to this is it does not breed any true art. Games that change the way we look at things are often copied, but rarely do well on their own. (Think about Okami, it was truly art in game form, but where is Clover now?).

The issue also stems from how console development works, after all, who wants to pay the insane licence fees for a title the are not sure will sell. Sure, it could be made for the computer, but we all know that the true PC gamer is a dying breed.

The game industry is in sad shape at the moment, and it will take an almost complete rework to change the direction that it is headed. Until the day that that happens we will be stuck playing the next ripoff of Final Fantasy or Halo, while waiting on a new masterpiece to appear in the cluster f*** that is the local game store.

Now to go and dig up my copy of ICO...

]]> http://kotaku.com/379104/going-off-the-deep-end-has-gaming-grown-up#c5364241 http://kotaku.com/379104/going-off-the-deep-end-has-gaming-grown-up#c5364241 Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:58:33 MDT fawrh commented on Public Safety Notice: Games PR Are Watching You Post @Tei: ouch, stop it, that hurts.

On to the topic: this has actually been a long time fact, a couple of game companies that I have worked at have hired people in the Sales department to sign up for every possible message board and spread good publicity about the game in the weeks leading up to it shipping. Hell, we even have everybodys most hated lawyer who has posted here.

The evil empire is just that evil, they really can't be stopped, the only thing to be thankful for is the fact that, at least they aren't sending ads into our dreams.

...yet...

]]> http://kotaku.com/383448/public-safety-notice-games-pr-are-watching-you-post#c5352548 http://kotaku.com/383448/public-safety-notice-games-pr-are-watching-you-post#c5352548 Thu, 24 Apr 2008 07:27:55 MDT fawrh commented on Choose My Next Gaming Tattoo go for a white mage on the other wrist, end of story, as its the only thing that really makes sense...

]]> http://kotaku.com/382885/choose-my-next-gaming-tattoo#c5330830 http://kotaku.com/382885/choose-my-next-gaming-tattoo#c5330830 Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:39:41 MDT fawrh commented on Understanding Free to Play maple story is fun to play, as are most of the other Nexon games, though the real catch is that all though the games are free to play, they suffer from poor GM presence (read as non-existent), as well as the fact that for certain games (ex. Mabinogi) only pretend to be free, as you have to pay to be able to do the storyline quest. FtP is a great busniess model, as people will pay more for extras, when they think that they don't have to. It just needs to be done right, (aka treat the game community as if it were a PtP game, and offer the same support), after all, they are makeing the same amount of money off of it, if not more.

]]> http://kotaku.com/379115/understanding-free-to-play#c5175364 http://kotaku.com/379115/understanding-free-to-play#c5175364 Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:57:44 MDT fawrh commented on "Every Other Effin' Black Video Game Character" The sad fact of the matter is, not that the designers couldn't come up with a better character model, but that they probobly did this by design. The sad state of the world today, is that you don't hear kids driving down the road blaring classical,the blues, or indie music, what you do hear is rap... Now, I am not saying that hip-hop is bad music, because it isn't, what I am saying is that kids will listen to what the radio and MTV tell them to. The problem that this creates for the game designers is that, to appeal to the above mentioned kids (read as casual gamers), they have to conform to the MTV sterotypes. On a similar note,this is also why the scientist in any video game is white,skiny, wheres glasses, and talks funny...

]]> http://kotaku.com/378176/every-other-effin-black-video-game-character#c5120565 http://kotaku.com/378176/every-other-effin-black-video-game-character#c5120565 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:43:05 MDT fawrh commented on Public Home Beta Can Be Installed, Played? this is a fake video, period. The person that actually managed to get a "public beta" copy of home, had a version number of 1.0 this states (at 3mins 42secs in) that it is version 0.8.3 which is the current "closed beta" version. Nothing to see here folks, move along...

]]> http://kotaku.com/378127/public-home-beta-can-be-installed-played#c5120342 http://kotaku.com/378127/public-home-beta-can-be-installed-played#c5120342 Thu, 10 Apr 2008 07:30:33 MDT fawrh commented on Red Planet: Hands on With Red Faction Guerrilla Not to stray off of topic, but isn't today the day the Flynn is due to be taken off and murdered...er ...um ...I mean find out about the mysterious cell phone thing....

Back on topic the new Red Faction game looks to be more of the same that made the first one so great. Although the first game was nothing to write home about in terms of game play, it was to say the very least a revolution in game design. I look forward to "seeing more of"/reserving this game.

]]> http://kotaku.com/376860/red-planet-hands-on-with-red-faction-guerrilla#c5078045 http://kotaku.com/376860/red-planet-hands-on-with-red-faction-guerrilla#c5078045 Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:25:14 MDT fawrh commented on Don't Blame Sonic For Hedgehog Violence rofl, thats so sad, yet I can't stop laughing. The real victim in all this is the poor little hedgehog. I hope that they lock that guy up and feed him to other no so friendly woodland animals....

]]> http://kotaku.com/376709/dont-blame-sonic-for-hedgehog-violence#c5059504 http://kotaku.com/376709/dont-blame-sonic-for-hedgehog-violence#c5059504 Mon, 07 Apr 2008 11:44:57 MDT fawrh commented on Inside the Minds(?) of Griefers roflmao, I have to give mad props to who ever the attackers were, I personaly think that Second Life is a waste of time (discovered after 10mins with the game). However the sick and twisted sociopath in me thinks that f***ing with people in it would be all to fun. People really do take games to seriously (although I'd be out of a job if they didn't).

]]> http://kotaku.com/376505/inside-the-minds-of-griefers#c5053429 http://kotaku.com/376505/inside-the-minds-of-griefers#c5053429 Mon, 07 Apr 2008 07:10:17 MDT fawrh commented on PlayStation 3 Ads, Where's Waldo? I actualy have to point out that the uniforms in the first picture actually look more like a very old Soviet issue standered then they do the other above pointed out type. Regardless of all of that , both picks are very nicely done, yet really don't scream playstation, but maybe thats just me.

Art Points = 10/10
Ad Points = 2/10

]]> http://kotaku.com/376135/playstation-3-ads-wheres-waldo#c5033806 http://kotaku.com/376135/playstation-3-ads-wheres-waldo#c5033806 Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:00:58 MDT fawrh commented on Digg Bitch Slaps Kid For 360 Ransom the cops must be to busy arresting terriost on WoW.... makes me hope that some one goes to the press with this story and that someone loses their job over it...

]]> http://kotaku.com/371311/digg-bitch-slaps-kid-for-360-ransom#c4837283 http://kotaku.com/371311/digg-bitch-slaps-kid-for-360-ransom#c4837283 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:14:06 MDT fawrh commented on Acer's "Games Machine" Explained Makes me sad... A console that actually tapped the indie game crowd would make a killing. Dev kits wouldn't even have to be free, let them charge 500-1000 dollors a pop, and it would spread like wild fire. After all who has 10k sitting around for a developer licence and then another 1 to 500k for a dev-kit.

]]> http://kotaku.com/370515/acers-games-machine-explained#c4809629 http://kotaku.com/370515/acers-games-machine-explained#c4809629 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:44:58 MDT fawrh commented on What Was The First Game You Beat? Super Mario Brothers was the first game that I ever beat, although I would have to say the first game that I ever considered that I was done with, was Sword Quest: Fire World for atari2600. The first game(non-console) that I even beat was Bard's Tale on my Commadore64, which happened well before I ever got an NES.

]]> http://kotaku.com/370020/what-was-the-first-game-you-beat#c4809476 http://kotaku.com/370020/what-was-the-first-game-you-beat#c4809476 Fri, 21 Mar 2008 10:39:36 MDT fawrh commented on New Nvidia Card "Fastest On Planet" Didn't Nvidia partner with Ageia? Where is the Video card with the added Physx processer that we were promised?

]]> http://kotaku.com/369475/new-nvidia-card-fastest-on-planet#c4767092 http://kotaku.com/369475/new-nvidia-card-fastest-on-planet#c4767092 Wed, 19 Mar 2008 06:53:53 MDT fawrh commented on Rumored PlayStation Store Release List Shows Home, Ratchet: Quest For Booty Due In July Not buying it, there have been way to many "leaks" about the PSN, home, etc. for me to believe another one. Very "RUMOR" until sony says otherwise.

]]> http://kotaku.com/368857/rumored-playstation-store-release-list-shows-home-ratchet-quest-for-booty-due-in-july#c4740434 http://kotaku.com/368857/rumored-playstation-store-release-list-shows-home-ratchet-quest-for-booty-due-in-july#c4740434 Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:21:06 MDT fawrh commented on How'd You Find Kotaku? A fellow programmer pointed Kotaku out at work one day, been checking the site daily ever since.

]]> http://kotaku.com/367839/howd-you-find-kotaku#c4700770 http://kotaku.com/367839/howd-you-find-kotaku#c4700770 Fri, 14 Mar 2008 08:46:45 MDT fawrh commented on Pontiac Ad Does Spy Hunter Oh So Right greatest car add ever...

]]> http://kotaku.com/367793/pontiac-ad-does-spy-hunter-oh-so-right#c4698698 http://kotaku.com/367793/pontiac-ad-does-spy-hunter-oh-so-right#c4698698 Fri, 14 Mar 2008 06:52:19 MDT fawrh commented on Watch "Erotic" Wii Game Trailers ...in a way this furthers the point that games are art... in this case really really bad art, that no one likes, but art none the less... I have to give them points though for going for an original idea.

]]> http://kotaku.com/367328/watch-erotic-wii-game-trailers#c4678406 http://kotaku.com/367328/watch-erotic-wii-game-trailers#c4678406 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:45:31 MDT fawrh commented on New PS3 Firmware Allows PS2 Game HDD Installation [Update] I thought that there was a download in the playstation store that did the same thing, although I haven't tried it... it was called something like "Playstation 2 system data" and in its notes it mentiond something about the HDD...

]]> http://kotaku.com/367346/new-ps3-firmware-allows-ps2-game-hdd-installation-[update]#c4678280 http://kotaku.com/367346/new-ps3-firmware-allows-ps2-game-hdd-installation-[update]#c4678280 Thu, 13 Mar 2008 07:36:57 MDT fawrh commented on The Haunted Ms. Pac Man I have to say that I am with Witzbold on this one, the powers that be are not to be f***ed with.

]]> http://kotaku.com/366370/the-haunted-ms-pac-man#c4643433 http://kotaku.com/366370/the-haunted-ms-pac-man#c4643433 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 12:27:39 MDT fawrh commented on The Best Reader Created Bugs On The Internet #10, due to the labor and originality that went into it.

]]> http://kotaku.com/366247/the-best-reader-created-bugs-on-the-internet#c4637233 http://kotaku.com/366247/the-best-reader-created-bugs-on-the-internet#c4637233 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 08:50:19 MDT fawrh commented on Some Guy Is Blackmailing Me, Delete My Account ha, ha, ha...wow....just ...wow. I will openly say that my fiance hates games, anima, and all things geek. (although for some god forsaken reason loves reality show..*dies alittle on the inside* ..). Yet she still plans to marry me and I even work as a programmer. If you actually care about someone then you make it work, even if you don't have the same intrest. Helpful hint: buy 2 tvs and some headphones so you can enjoy your games in peace while she watchs yet another pointless episode of the hills....

]]> http://kotaku.com/365735/some-guy-is-blackmailing-me-delete-my-account#c4617585 http://kotaku.com/365735/some-guy-is-blackmailing-me-delete-my-account#c4617585 Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:36:15 MDT fawrh commented on Rock Band, Less Effective On The Street the homeless guy = a good front man and a great insperation to us all...

the kids that made this video = should be sterilized...

]]> http://kotaku.com/365267/rock-band-less-effective-on-the-street#c4596619 http://kotaku.com/365267/rock-band-less-effective-on-the-street#c4596619 Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:25:59 MST fawrh commented on PSP2 Concept Mega Gallery Extravaganza #1 wins for the depth of the design as well as the Abio intergration (hint at Sony, bring back Abios, I have the money now and I want one Da** it all.)

]]> http://kotaku.com/364979/psp2-concept-mega-gallery-extravaganza#c4592412 http://kotaku.com/364979/psp2-concept-mega-gallery-extravaganza#c4592412 Fri, 07 Mar 2008 12:06:46 MST fawrh commented on PlayStation Store Update: Dead! @nxp3: the Wii crack was uncalled for.

Yet I have to agree that rocketmen was pretty poorly done, it was more like a bad SNES title. On an up note Home should be hitting sooner or later, so its worth the wait, besides there is still plenty to play on the PSN that is worth the time. Oh and to those of you in Europe, the flow expantion is well worth the cost.

]]> http://kotaku.com/364861/playstation-store-update-dead#c4584969 http://kotaku.com/364861/playstation-store-update-dead#c4584969 Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:16:29 MST fawrh commented on Kings of Power 4 Billion % Due Next Week I am assumeing PC, but what is it comeing out for?

]]> http://kotaku.com/364974/kings-of-power-4-billion--due-next-week#c4584739 http://kotaku.com/364974/kings-of-power-4-billion--due-next-week#c4584739 Fri, 07 Mar 2008 06:51:52 MST fawrh commented on The Coke Can Mantis, Pray! Pray! Extreamly insane, that bug is good enough to be sold as real art. Good job on killing the contest.

]]> http://kotaku.com/364510/the-coke-can-mantis-pray-pray#c4568355 http://kotaku.com/364510/the-coke-can-mantis-pray-pray#c4568355 Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:33:21 MST fawrh commented on In-Game Ads Predicted to Reach $650 Mil By 2012 Ads are a great idea in games, as long as they are tasteful and not out of place. It would be a noble idea to see MMOs (although fantasy settings probably wouldn't work) use ads as a alternitive to a subscription fee.

]]> http://kotaku.com/363553/in+game-ads-predicted-to-reach-650-mil-by-2012#c4541108 http://kotaku.com/363553/in+game-ads-predicted-to-reach-650-mil-by-2012#c4541108 Wed, 05 Mar 2008 06:58:34 MST fawrh commented on Gary Gygax, Co-Creator Of D&D, Dead At 69 @Ajh: I completely agree with you, I had actually met and played a few games (of D&D with Gary, and will be the first to say that he was a great guy and will be truely missed.

Some of the other comments just bothered me, due to the way they were addressing the game as his, but I digress, Gary will be missed and I even intend to send a card to his family offering my condolences. On another note though the saveing throw comments, while cute at first , are almost becomeing disrespectful... but then again thats just my opition, which really doesn't matter.

]]> http://kotaku.com/363660/gary-gygax-co+creator-of-dd-dead-at-69#c4541081 http://kotaku.com/363660/gary-gygax-co+creator-of-dd-dead-at-69#c4541081 Wed, 05 Mar 2008 06:56:13 MST fawrh commented on Gary Gygax, Co-Creator Of D&D, Dead At 69 Due to the fact of how many of you are contributing Gary as such an important figure in gameing history, I just wanted to point out that although he was a great game creator and inventor, the basics for the origional D&D were not all his idea. (See: [en.wikipedia.org]). I suppose this only bothers me due to the fact that Dave Arneson is a former teacher of mine, (as well as being an all around cool guy). Anyway I'll end my rant now, just felt that it needed to be said again.

]]> http://kotaku.com/363660/gary-gygax-co+creator-of-dd-dead-at-69#c4529766 http://kotaku.com/363660/gary-gygax-co+creator-of-dd-dead-at-69#c4529766 Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:17:09 MST fawrh commented on Gary Gygax, Co-Creator Of D&D, Dead At 69 All thought I am sad by this great loss to the gaming world, It saddens me just as much to see how many people don't relize that he wasn't the only creator of D&D, he was the co-creator. I just like to see credit go where its due... On a side note RIP Gary, we will indeed miss you.

]]> http://kotaku.com/363660/gary-gygax-co+creator-of-dd-dead-at-69#c4528811 http://kotaku.com/363660/gary-gygax-co+creator-of-dd-dead-at-69#c4528811 Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:44:03 MST fawrh commented on Gary Gygax, Co-Creator Of D&D, Dead At 69 Sad...But at least we all still have Dave Arneson alive and well.

]]> http://kotaku.com/363660/gary-gygax-co+creator-of-dd-dead-at-69#c4526558 http://kotaku.com/363660/gary-gygax-co+creator-of-dd-dead-at-69#c4526558 Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:30:52 MST fawrh commented on Valve Wants Team Fortress 2 Maps Free On Consoles The truth of the matter is that Valve will have a hard(er) time releaseing content for free on Microsoft's platform then Sony's. In the same breath I do understand his point about the PS3 being a difficult system to program for, but there is no point in out right bashing the platform either. It all goes on the different business models that the companies are using. Microsoft charges for it's XBL service, which both the Wii and PS3 do not, however due to the amount of time and ease of development for the XBox360, Microsoft's system has quite a few more titles. The bottom line is that when you bash a platform as a developer, you are in esence bitting the hand that feeds. The platform owners have final say if your game ships or not, (it has been this way since the NES and Sega Master System). Gabe bashing Sony might be the reason that EA had to release the game. Or I could be wrong and he really is just an idiot that is biased.

]]> http://kotaku.com/363586/valve-wants-team-fortress-2-maps-free-on-consoles#c4525392 http://kotaku.com/363586/valve-wants-team-fortress-2-maps-free-on-consoles#c4525392 Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:54:21 MST fawrh commented on Bungie Helping Restore Kid's Erased Memories Its nice to see that Bungie is takeing the time to care about their fans, I know that it will keep me buying their products. If only Microsoft would learn from this and A. get some comptent tech service and B. give us back the achivements that we lost during the dark days of server rollback.

]]> http://kotaku.com/363345/bungie-helping-restore-kids-erased-memories#c4518316 http://kotaku.com/363345/bungie-helping-restore-kids-erased-memories#c4518316 Tue, 04 Mar 2008 06:49:55 MST fawrh commented on The Violent Gaming Book To Buy Your Parents On a side note, why hasn't the fact that PS3 owners have done extream amounts of good to medicial research with folding @ home, without any incentive mind you, gotten any media attention?

]]> http://kotaku.com/362953/the-violent-gaming-book-to-buy-your-parents#c4499848 http://kotaku.com/362953/the-violent-gaming-book-to-buy-your-parents#c4499848 Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:42:53 MST fawrh commented on The Violent Gaming Book To Buy Your Parents About time there is a book/study that relizes that if the whole world were gamers, there would be no war/violence. I say this from the standpoint/ideal that children are taught the difference between fiction and reality and between right and wrong. Games take their fight to the games, after all I would very much prefer killing someone in a round of counter strike or halo then shooting them in real life. Besides in a game the respawn so I can shoot them more. Another note that I hope they bring up is that a gamer talking trash is taken less harshly by other gamers, then by the public at large. If, in an online match, I didn't get called a B**** or a F*** tard by some 10 year old kid, then I would think that the world had come to an end. In real world prespective this would be looked at with great disdane, and could possibly get said kid backhanded by a parent/guardien.

Point in summery is that it is nice to see, for once, researchers actually doing research, and not just throwing stones.

]]> http://kotaku.com/362953/the-violent-gaming-book-to-buy-your-parents#c4499781 http://kotaku.com/362953/the-violent-gaming-book-to-buy-your-parents#c4499781 Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:40:30 MST fawrh commented on Mabinogi Open Beta Starts March 5th Played the open beta, and although it was very much a beta build (aka bugs, translation errors, etc.) it seems like it may turn out quite nice. Oh and for those that don't know nexon's other MMO is a pretty good 2D action rpg hybrid (aka MAPLE STORY). I highly recomend checking it out as well, after all its free.

]]> http://kotaku.com/362687/mabinogi-open-beta-starts-march-5th#c4498135 http://kotaku.com/362687/mabinogi-open-beta-starts-march-5th#c4498135 Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:40:37 MST fawrh commented on PlayStation Store Update: Track Pack Attack Not to mention that "Tori Emaki" got removed from the Store (glad I downloaded it 1 day prior)

]]> http://kotaku.com/361982/playstation-store-update-track-pack-attack#c4466322 http://kotaku.com/361982/playstation-store-update-track-pack-attack#c4466322 Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:07:37 MST fawrh commented on WoW Killer Would Cost A Billion It would actually be alot eaiser then they are thinking to dethrown WoW. A "simple" (term used sparingly) blend of a game like Little Big Planet (think user created type world) and the open endedness of a game like Oblivion (not set to a sigle class, but ablities grow as you use them), could easily be a WoW killer. The graphics don't even really matter much (as I think WoW is extreamly outdated). The game play defines a game, after all thats what makes it a game, and WoW doesn't make any leaps and bounds in that catorgory. They mainly steal the best held "ideals" from previous games and combine them into one. Once something comes out that changes these "ideals" WoW's days are numbered.

]]> http://kotaku.com/361780/wow-killer-would-cost-a-billion#c4450243 http://kotaku.com/361780/wow-killer-would-cost-a-billion#c4450243 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:52:05 MST