You can all be very glad you don't live in Norway, getting a driving license here will cost you on average about 3k-5k$ (20k-25k NOK). I'm not particularly familiar with the new (harder) system, but when I got my license four years ago, I had to pass not only a 45min driving test and a theory test, but also a 3 hour "long drive" session, a full day of slippery slope training (ice during winter, oil during summer) and about an hour of night driving.
Because everyone makes way to much cash here, driving lessons are about 60-70$ an hour.
@bobtheduck: That Charisma armour did nothing, Bob, and you know it! If it wasn't for my insanely skilled healing, your charismatic ass wouldn't even get close enough to poke that dragon with a stick.
Just because you were quick enough to chop of it's head and cast a town portal, doesn't make you deserving of those microsof.. err.. blizzard points!
Just because you were quick enough to chop of it's head and cast a town portal, doesn't make you deserving of those microsof.. err.. blizzard points!
@LittleBigPlaneteer: It has nothing to do with selling well or not, it's pointless to localize anything in Scandinavia because it won't affect your sales. Everyone here is fluent in English, so games are never, ever localized, except maybe a translated manual. The language argument is just as redundant here as it is in England and Australia.
Which begs the question, why can't they just ship a few dozen crates of american copies over here?
@LittleBigPlaneteer: Except, of course, that very few titles actually get translated. The GB and Scandinavian releases are all in English, why couldn't they ship a few thousand copies over here?
And what is all this talk about PAL and NTSC? It's a handheld device, it really doesn't care what kind of aspect ratio your bloody TV uses, now does it?
Speaking of CivIV, I just love ValveTestApp16800.
The fantasy games where you can go on quests to be awarded different levels are my personal favourite. Just last night I completed the "Kick ten Babies" quest in Ironforge and got awarded three yellow and a blue level. I then used these different levels to open the gate to eternal damnation. At the moment I'm working on getting a group together to go on the "Blasphemy" quest. I can solo the swear in church and desecrate graves part, but I need a few orcs to help me out with the raping of nuns.
It's all worth it though, I bet I'm getting some pretty sweet levels and maybe even points for it!
Denis Dyack is.. how should I put this.. an opinionated fellow. I don't know how many of you actually listened to his thirty-odd minute rant on the "1Up Yours"-podcast a couple of weeks ago, but it got messy.
With all due respect, because he is a talented designer, he does have some Deker Smart'ish ego-issues. While someone like Molenyx can get away with over-hyping his games, because he's a friendly guy who'd never go toe-to-toe with someone in an internet flamewar, Dyack happily engages in heated discussions on the 4chan forums, making him an easy target when he starts promising amazing things he can't actually deliver.
He basically needs to stop bashing other games and realize that negative previews aren't part of a global conspiracy to crush the human morale and destroy common decency.
Being a journalist myself (Non-english), I'd like to point out just how sloppy and hurried that entire article was. The content is one thing, but the entire piece was plagued with incoherent sentencing and poor flow. The tell-tell signs of a twenty minute write-up.
Sometimes you have to do them to meet deadlines and quotas, I can vouch for that, but something as controversial as this should never, ever be handeled in that manner. Either you work overtime, or you postphone the article and print a random Reuters-piece instead.
Sometimes you have to do them to meet deadlines and quotas, I can vouch for that, but something as controversial as this should never, ever be handeled in that manner. Either you work overtime, or you postphone the article and print a random Reuters-piece instead.
250 KP - Microsoft will announce a Blu-ray add-on (50:1)
250 KP - We're given a sneak peek at some DLC upcoming for GTA IV. (25:1)
250 KP - We're given a sneak peek at some DLC upcoming for GTA IV. (25:1)
@Absent Blue: Now I'm curious, what happens in 3764 hours?
@NinjaPoo: Those kind of disclaimers are legally void in the EU, the publisher can't limit the use of a legitimately purchased product. To the contrary, Sony was fined for calling copy-protected CD's "CD's", if they want to copy-protect their music, they have to clearly mark and warn the customer that they are not buying a CD and that it might not work in CD-players.
Even then, customers are free to break the copy protection, change the format and give copies of the songs to close friends and family. However, they are not allowed to spread the music or make it available freely.
Same deal with the freeloader. Except Nintendo is off the hook, because they clearly state that the US version of Brawl will only work on NTSC Wii's.
Basically, if you're dealing with private consumers in the EU, you can't make special terms. Licensing is only applicable to registered businesses.
@phinehas: Freeloader bypassed the region lock, mate, the copy-protection still works. The box clearly states that the Freeloader will not play "backup" CD's (Which I guess is what pirates call pirated games nowadays) or other unauthorized games.
No one uses freeloader to pirate, it only works with legitimate importers. Chipping on the other hand..
NoE timed this brick with the EU release of SSBB, that way, they get to sell the game to a lot of customers twice.
@bolt7: I'm sure buying a US Wii is all fine and dandy for the UK'ers and others who don't live behind the almighty custsoms barrier from hell (also known as Norway). It's hard enough to slip a jewel case through, they would be all over a Wii.
After they've added a customs fee, toll on the product, toll on shipping and the new enviromental tax, that Wii is going to be close to a grand USD.
After they've added a customs fee, toll on the product, toll on shipping and the new enviromental tax, that Wii is going to be close to a grand USD.
All the while you can get EU Wii's for as little as 500-600 USD in stores.
I don't mind getting my SSBB bricked all that much, the US pricetag is as good as giving it away, I figured I had to buy the EU one eventually.
I'm just glad they held off on bricking it till near the EU SSBB release date, so I wont have my game interupted :)
I've actually seen them live twice, which is kind of weird, because I'm not that big of a fan and would never pay to see their concert.
They just happen to play at a lot of parties.
They just happen to play at a lot of parties.
@Foxstar Sixtail: As with Christoffersen, I was under the impression that Wario Ware and Pikmin didn't sell that badly, new "weird" franchises have a much harder time than new "realistic/gritty" franchises. Yet all of those are encompassed by established franchises.
Which unfourtunaly, is the way the human mind works. We want more of what we like. The more we're comitted to something, the more we frown upon someone changing the formula. Imagine if Nintendo made a new Mario RPG, then at the same time announcing they were scratching a new Mario platformer. Even if the new Mario was absolutely terrific, they would still have an outrage on their hands that would rival "New Coke/Coca Cola".
"Super Mario Galaxy 2: The Attack of the Rabid Lunas" will outsell "Elite Beat Agents Wii" any day. Hell, even Mario Sluggers will probably sell 7-digits. Chastizing Nintendo from milking their franchises, is kind of like critizing Coca Cola from pumping out the same damn brown liquid year after year. As long as they make huge profits off of it, they will continue to do so.
@Rookerith: If the US server GMs are hanging out in Norway, who the hell works in Funcoms US offices? The EU GMs..?
Actually, that would explain quite a bit..
To those wanting 7-days guest passes, they will come eventually, but at the moment the servers can't quite cope with the sheer amount of paying subscribers. It's just common sense to halt free trials when paying customers still have to wait in queue to log into the game. When the 1-month leavers, well, leave, and the server capacity has been beefed up, chances are you'll see those 7-day passes popping up.
Ouch, Age of Conan got kicked off the list already?
I guess the brits are too civilized for barbarian boobies..
I guess the brits are too civilized for barbarian boobies..
@Siegeman: I was hoping someone would mention Europa Universalis. Both that game and the Hearts of Iron-series do indeed capture a lot of historic details. (Even contra-factual stuff; if you while playing Germany sucessfully fund a coup d'etat in Britain, the new british PM becomes Mosley, his cabinet other famous british nazis, everyone with personality traits and portrait images)
The details in those games are amazing too. How about commanding Manchuria against nationalistic china, or use Afghanistan to invade Persia? You don't have to fight in the pacific or in europe, the whole world is rendered skillfully and detailed. Heck, I changed government policies as Norway, and my social-democratic PM stepped down because I become too capitalistic, the new PM was the leader of the Norwegian conservative party in the 30's (with a profile portrait!). Now that's attention to detail.
Two months during military basic training is probably the longest in the last decade or so, didn't get my first console till I was six though (SNES), but I did play computer games on my moms 286 before that.
Good idea, but how about this: you can invite other people into your garden? Oh, and you could dress your garderer in trendy, green clothes, stream the latest in roses to your friends gardens and play in-garden minigames?
Oh wait, this is starting to sound familiar..
Jokes aside though, it would be just awesome if you could attatch your Zen-garden to your PS Home. They should expand on the idea too. Perhaps you could hop into your GT-car, drive to the Liberty City airport and fly to Africa? Only to find out that the continent is under attack by an army of metal gears?
That would actually be cool.
