"Exchange sounds and songs and play multiple units simultaneously through a wireless communications link." (the korg ds-10 site)
Nice.
Nice.
@mattatat: The Nitrotracker dev has you covered: DSMI, a MIDI controller via Wifi (or serial via DSerial).
@Guu: "... the greatest tragedy is that editor who got fired over the bad review ..."
Many good posts Guu, thanks.
And not that it takes away from your main point, but there has been no evidence presented showing that CNET/Gamespot fired Gerstmann over his scathing Kane&Lynch review, nor that Eidos demanded Gerstmann getting fired for it.
That circumstantial speculation turned into "hard internet fact" way fast.
@hikkifan1986: I was very surprised by Fischer's non-analysis too.
On the one hand I can understand her attitude. As a woman in the gaming industry, she mightn't want to become the official spokesperson for the objectification of women in gaming, culture. She sounds like she rather wants to talk about the work as an industry person, not a female industry person.
But to more or less discard the very real issue of entrenching and perpetuating gender stereotypes in gaming? Not wanting an active role of changing the status quo, but accepting it as par for the course; "Sex sells, and I like eye candy too -- let's get Clooney naked!"
Maybe we can't fault her for wanting to focus on her positive experiences. However, she's in a position of influence. To not even acknowledge the problems of gender stereotypes in gaming and pop culture is myopic and disappointing.
@CheekMystique: Damn, did it again! Most societies have gotten rid of the laws preventing women to vote.
I really should've written "most societies have introduced universal suffrage". My bad.
@Tsaketh: Hehe, was I that unclear? Maybe I was.. I meant men were all powerful when women didn't have the vote, of course.
But most countries have gotten rid of it because women demanded change and fought for their rights. And society is better off for it, though by no means equal yet.
Every improvement of our freedoms have been gained through struggle. Her inability to connect those dots is pretty scary. Just because she has no problem, the exploitation and perpetuation of women (and to a muuch lesser extent, men) as sex objects can't be that bad. In fact, it's good! For business.
Anyway, that's what I read into it. Maybe she just didn't want to leap into a 20-page email essay on women's lib. for an MTV interview...
"The day we start looking at something like this and saying it is a bad thing and is sexist is the day we need to re-evaluate pop culture as a whole."
Yes, goddamned PR ninny. We need to re-evaluate pop culture (and much of larger society) as a whole.
Women's suffrage is less than a 100 years old in most countries. Which was awesome for men -- all powerful! Problem was it sucked for society and humankind, so most countries got fucking rid of it.
She goes on about how she's never experienced any sexism or unfair judgement bacause of her gender. HOW THE FUCK DO YOU THINK THAT HAPPENED, M(R)S FISCHER?
By women clinging to the status quo? Sex sells, lets make a buck exploiting the shit out of it!
Young girls/boys learning the ways of the world from this myopic, self-contradicting, PR spin-ster is depressing.
@durrem: Well he did do Jericho. I would actually like to see his take on Assassin's Creed.
Not his most inspired episode, but his worst is still pretty high quality satire (for our gaming culture).
Sweden represent! My local EB Games told me the PC Orange Box sold like nothing else. The owner had something wild in his eyes talking about it (and the greatness of TF2).
@bakedpigeon: yea, CS's still pretty big here. Lots of worldclass pro teams as well as good amateurs for such a tiny country (~9 million).
@bakedpigeon: yea, CS's still pretty big here. Lots of worldclass pro teams as well as good amateurs for such a tiny country (~9 million).
The gameplay looks way too "arcadey" for me personally. Is it a mode, or are the cars handling like that throughout the game?
In the multiplayer race when the car veers off-road into some bushes, it looks like it gets "bumped" back on track.. Or how quickly the car gets back control from swaying wildly at high speeds.
Looks gorgeous though.
Oh it's sea weed. That's... vaguely disappointing.
Looks a bit ...laconic and monotonous. Or something.
The parkour chases through those beatific environs always looked great, but the combat leaves ...everything to desire.
10-on-1 brawls feels really tacked on and, as you guys said, way too easy. I mean, if you're a smooth, stealthy assassin, getting jumped by 10 people must be proof positive you're the least effective assassin ever.
@ChaosBahamut: Yeah. I think Sony has a PR nightmare on their hands. Big mistake in my book (I thought gimping BC in the last model was a normal-sized mistake).
I was stoked for a cheaper PS3, but with no BC I don't know.. I don't have a PS2, but some friends do (great game libraries too). I'll probably just wait 'til I can afford the non-gimped version (they are keeping a BC-able version right?!).
Strange. I read a lot of comments calling Too Human derivative, bland, having crap combat, etc. And praising Mass Effect as looking better in every way.
"Strange" because I feel the exact opposite way.
I've become increasingly interested in Too Human. To me TH is shaping up to be the epic action RPG I'm missing in my game sessions waaay more than Mass Effect. (I'm not a 360 owner yet, but to me TH is more of a system seller than ME ...perhaps my "sleeping-pill" memories of KOTOR colors my opinion of ME.)
I'm not saying you ME fans are wrong, just that our tastes differs. Wildly.
@Plunkett: At times in this Halo DS saga, you (Kotaku) have poked fun at Casamassina's teasing/claims, even evidence.
In hindsight I and others might have made too big a deal of that, heat of the argument, etc. But honestly, you don't see how this could've turned "into a credibility thing"? o_O
FWIW, I read Kotaku almost daily and really like your witty, no-holds-barred, fast-paced reporting and commentary. But sometimes I get the sense that an edgy headline and punchy phrasing takes precedence over accuracy.
(Also, I don't think you and Casamassina hate eachother, but a webstreamed Uwe Boll-esque boxing match would be awesome kthxbai!)
Just to be crystal clear. To me this is about trust (and who we should trust): do we trust game journalists more, or game companies?
Maybe we should only trust certain journalists? But who? Plunkett@Kotaku but not Casamassina@IGN? Why?
If a Bungie spokesperson can say "I believe this Halo DS demo was unsolicited," and we trust him over an independent journalist (with video evidence) who claims this demo was created with MS' knowledge but ultimately turned down, where does that leave us?
Is Kotaku the only honest and independent site left? Seriously: why?
If you don't believe Casamassina, please explain to me why, and why we should trust anything we read on kotaku.com.
Sure, I sometimes cringe while listening to "Wiik in Review" with Matt and Boson(sp?), but I have yet to catch them in subterfuge, dishonesty or outright lies.
Their appreciation of things Nintendo might be mine+7, but I've always found them honest and truthful.
Does anyone have examples of why Casamassina should not be trusted? Can anyone tell me why he -- (yes I'm repeating this 'cause it's crucial) an independent journalist with NO STAKE IN THE HALO FRANCHISE -- is less trustworthy than a Bungie spokesperson. Anybody?
@P_40E: YES FUCKING YES INDEED I AM! I'm *seriously* suggesting that an independent journalist with NO STAKE IN THE HALO FRANCHISE is more trustworthy than an honest-to-God stakeholder!
Do you have *that* little faith in Casamassina? Because you "don't know him"?
Then why the fuck is Kotaku more believable? Do you know Luke Plunkett (disclose your biases here!)?
Matt Casamassina has a looong record of reporting on Nintendo/gaming, and I have yet to find an example where he has misled his readership on purpose -- links?.
Let me turn it around, do you *seriously* take a stakeholder's word -- whose interests are more-or-less maximizing shareholder monies -- over a journalist armed with video evidence (that you wouldn't have gotten in a million years from Bungie or Microsoft)?
(And let's agree to disagree on the bullshit "I believe" cop-out. I take it as "I don't want to be caught in a lie so I'll give you my 'I believe something' take on what I thought might've happened -- that Microsoft ultimately decides on anyway, by the way!!")
@el_rezzo: Yeah, pretty much like "Halo Wars."
The difference here seems to be that it was turned down by MS (and that Casamassina broke the story, which people apparently hate).
The reason why it was turned down is a valid and interesting question, but "why Casamassina is a whore" seems to be the more important talking point...
My theory:
1. Developer X contacts Microsoft: hey, we have an idea for Halo DS (shows Photoshop screenshots), what you say?!
2. Microsoft says: Umm, weird but... okay.. Umm.. what do you have in mind?
3. Dev X creates a playable demo and shows it to Microsoft.
[4-13. Much skulduggery]
[5-Y. Casamassina gets wind of the story and tells us very little about it for a long time.]
[5+N--16. Kotaku + many many others fall head over heels to tear Casamassina a new asshole.]
15. Microsoft: Umm.. guys, thanks but we're gonna pass, ok?
16. This post ('There's been rumours, "proof" and heresay [sic] flying around the place for years now, culminating in this week's "footage" of the game.') and our comments.
@P_40E: Ok, let's compare and contrast shall we? Emphasis mine:
Casamassina: "Once upon a time, a very smart publisher came up with a brilliant idea. It contacted Microsoft and got the ball rolling on a very unlikely project: Halo for Nintendo DS. Needless to say, there were many egos involved and unfortunately because of some issues that I won't detail, the project was eventually cancelled."
Brian Jarrard: "This rumor has been circulating for a while and as you know we even saw some real life screens and assets this week. Ultimately it's up to Microsoft to decide if and when they take Halo to a different platform. That particular demo was in fact created and I believe it was an unsolicited pitch a long time ago but nothing ever came of it."
---
See Jarrard's qualifier "I believe"? Doesn't that suggests he doesn't know? He didn't say "It was an unsolicited pitch." To me it looks like he wasn't even in the loop.
Forgive my ignorance, but I see absolutely no disparities between these two statements.
Is Casamassina that full of shit and so untrustworthy? And is Bungie's Community & Franchise Director so trustworthy that an "I believe" = RUMOR SMASH: HALO DS UNSOLICITED PITCH/FANMAIL?
@PhotoBoy: How the hell is Casamassima's love of attention an issue?
He claimed he had seen a Halo DS game, at the time he didn't provide evidence (for whatever reason -- NDA, promises, etc.), but said something to the effect of "Believe me, it exists."
People refused to believe him and ridiculed him (and IGN) in absurdum. And here we are today. He is proven right.
If you don't want to blindly trust somebody's word, fine. But when evidence comes in supporting that persons claims?
I have little respect for people who refuse to (set aside their feelings for Casamassina and) acknowledge that.
This weak "fanmail" spin has the trappings of such a respect-losing instance.
