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posts about #newzealand more →
Remaking Commander Keen
Rugby League Comes To The Wii
Microsoft Introducing Age-Based Xbox Live Lockdown (In New Zealand)
Nintendo Launch Another Official Magazine
The Gamesman: 100% Kiwi Pwned
New Zealand's Nintendo/Activision Distributor Goes Belly-Up
This Is Living (And A Talking Urinal Cake)
Australia And Friends Added To Warhammer Online Launch
Kiwi GTA Modder Might Face Real Cops
Don't Blame Sonic For Hedgehog Violence

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Taggart6: I don't always drink beer, but when I do...
11/24/09

In reply to Remaking Commander Keen
Make it more modern? So I take it there's a stage where you bang your hot 24 year old English Teacher?
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Akihiko
11/24/09

@Taggart6: I don't always drink beer, but when I do...: Correction, hot 24 year old BABYSITTER. You know, after you save her from the aliens :)

#speakup
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Taggart6: I don't always drink beer, but when I do... promoted this comment Akihiko was starred Akihiko was unstarred

Taggart6: I don't always drink beer, but when I do...
11/24/09

@Akihiko: Old Hotness: Horney young abysitters

New hotness: Horney Young Teachers.

#speakup
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Akihiko
11/24/09

@Taggart6: I don't always drink beer, but when I do...: Touche'.

#speakup
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develin
11/24/09

@Taggart6: I don't always drink beer, but when I do...: Actually babysitters beat teachers 4:1 by results on Google, which kind disproves your theory :O
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Taggart6: I don't always drink beer, but when I do... promoted this comment develin was starred develin was unstarred

Taggart6: I don't always drink beer, but when I do...
11/25/09

@develin: Takes a while for the new trend to actually filter out to the masses.

#speakup
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develin
11/25/09

@Taggart6: I don't always drink beer, but when I do...:
Actually Google Trend kinda verifies that ....
[www.google.com]

#speakup
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develin was starred develin was unstarred

mrantimatter
11/24/09

In reply to Remaking Commander Keen
when I asked Carmack about doing a remake, his main concern was that there really wasn't the same market for remakes of retro PC games that there was for retro console games.

He did say that if they ever did another plat former, it would probably be Keen though.
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ninjaDance
11/24/09

In reply to Remaking Commander Keen
One of the Commander Keen series, along with Doom 2, were my first (and only!) PC games for quite some time. I recall trying to play Keen with a flight-intended joystick.

There were an immense amount of pogodeaths.
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mintycrys is HOT for Bayonetta
11/24/09

In reply to Remaking Commander Keen
There are so many good games from the Epic/iD/Apogee library to choose from for remakes: Halloween Harry, Bio Menace, Jason Storm, Jill of the Jungle, Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure, KEEN...

Unfortunately, in the era of big-budget blockbuster games, these old decaying IPs will just fall by the wayside. :/
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LunaEclDark
11/24/09

@mintycrys is HOT for Bayonetta: I want to see the Epic Pinball revival! :D :D :D
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mintycrys is HOT for Bayonetta promoted this comment LunaEclDark was starred LunaEclDark was unstarred

mintycrys is HOT for Bayonetta
11/24/09

@LunaEclDark: I have a friend who made an Android machine by gutting the artwork on a Addams' Family machine. It's pretty awesome.
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High Speed Indeed
11/24/09

In reply to Remaking Commander Keen
I still have Duke Nukem and Commander Keen shareware on floppy disks floating around my desk. I need to do some reorganizing.
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High Speed Indeed was starred

Fwiffo
11/24/09

@High Speed Indeed: you've had the same desk layout for over 15 years?? Kudos.
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Showmeyomoves! promoted this comment Fwiffo was starred Fwiffo was unstarred

High Speed Indeed
11/24/09

@Fwiffo: I just keep a lot of old junk I don't really need. It's great for nostalgia purposes.
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High Speed Indeed was starred

Destruction
11/24/09

@High Speed Indeed: Ah I love those Shareware discs. Remember my dad used to get them with Old PC mags. "180 GAMES ON ONE CD!!!" Before steam there was sending postal orders in the mail.
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Uckofay
11/24/09

@Destruction: I still have Cyber Dogs
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High Speed Indeed promoted this comment Uckofay was starred Uckofay was unstarred

Niomo
11/24/09

@High Speed Indeed: I have them as well, but in some box somewhere in my office. I'm sure I could find them...not sure if I actually have the A:\ drive to boot them anymore though :P
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High Speed Indeed promoted this comment Niomo was starred Niomo was unstarred

High Speed Indeed
11/24/09

@Uckofay: Was that a top down shooter where your guy could fire in any direction? If so, I used to love that game.
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High Speed Indeed was starred

High Speed Indeed
11/24/09

@Niomo: I have a working A:\. I haven't checked if they will run in XP, but they might.
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High Speed Indeed was starred

Uckofay
11/24/09

@High Speed Indeed: yea, it was incredible.

#speakup
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elronathon
11/24/09

@Destruction: ah thats nothing! I had a 2disc set called "the encyclopedia of games", it claimed to have over 1000 games on...and it might well of done.

Everything from 'Fuzzys World Of Miniature Space Golf' (still superb) to 'Race The Nags'
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ShaggE wants to join the Egg Council. promoted this comment elronathon was starred elronathon was unstarred

Niomo
11/24/09

@High Speed Indeed: Dosbox should help with that.

#speakup
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Niomo was starred Niomo was unstarred

ShaggE wants to join the Egg Council.
11/24/09

@elronathon: Hehe, Race the Nags was surprisingly fun... those compilation discs were chock full o' gold. Soleau Software, MoraffWare, hundreds of bizarre Tetris clones... all kinds of games you would have never known to look for, but once you had them, they were indispensable.
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Vishus
11/24/09

In reply to Remaking Commander Keen
Hopefully this will spur id into doing a proper remake.
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Vishus was starred Vishus was unstarred

ShaggE wants to join the Egg Council.
11/24/09

In reply to Remaking Commander Keen
Best of luck. Keen had a certain je ne sais quoi about it that would be very hard to replicate, especially in 3D.

But I have high hopes. The Dopefish will rise again.
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mrantimatter
11/24/09

@ShaggE wants to join the Egg Council.:

do it 2.5D. Bright colors, smooth mechanics and animation, and remastered, reimagined music ala BC:R.
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Camo Zombie is rockin' the mic
11/24/09

In reply to Remaking Commander Keen
Seems like the kind of job for Unreal Engine 3.
Just imagining this remade a la Shadow Complex is making me wish I was a game developer so i could at least pitch it to someone important.
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syafiqjabar of Mars
11/24/09

@Camo Zombie is rockin' the mic: And one more thing, if any game should be in that engine, it should be another Epic game
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Mardoch
11/24/09

@syafiqjabar of Mars: You're right. It should be Jill of the Jungle.
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mintycrys is HOT for Bayonetta promoted this comment Mardoch was starred Mardoch was unstarred

mintycrys is HOT for Bayonetta
11/24/09

@Mardoch: Jill of the Jungle got weeeeeeird after episode 1.
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Camo Zombie is rockin' the mic
11/24/09

@syafiqjabar of Mars: I just say it should because the look and mechanics of Shadow Complex, to me, are a perfect step up from 2d side scrollers.
I'm not sure what these videos are supposed to be conveying to be other than massive nostalgia-bombs.
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Bialia
07/27/09

In reply to Microsoft Introducing Age-Based Xbox Live Lockdown (In New Zealand)
If MS wanted to be consistent, the least they could do is prevent underage kids from downloading mature content only. That shouldn't be that hard to implement. A blanket lock-out of everything is just lazy.

Microsoft's willingness to prevent kids from downloading mature content could, if done properly, send the appropriate message to the knee-jerk anti-game lobby who doesn't understand that adults game too and some of the content out there is geared towards us, not their "precious snowflakes." (Whether or not the most unreasonable of those reactionaries would actually take notice or listen is another story entirely.)

I have no problem with age based restrictions, and as kids grow older, they too will come to appreciate the reasoning behind it and realise the world didn't come to a crashing halt because they couldn't download some mature title on the marketplace.

Really though, it's sad that parents have so little control and/or can't take time out of their busy schedule to monitor their child's gaming habits all the time, not simply when they happen to notice their little darling is already playing Gears of War 2.

....

Let your little darling shoot strangers in the face online, unsupervised, all the while hurling obscenities at people twice his age through his headset that you paid for, and jam mountain dew and hot pockets down his gullet.

I hate the world.
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Edited by Bialia at 07/27/09 11:50 AM Bialia was starred Bialia was unstarred

IamTheS
07/27/09

In reply to Microsoft Introducing Age-Based Xbox Live Lockdown (In New Zealand)
Brilliant image for this, by the way. I love FotC.
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bialia promoted this comment IamTheS was starred IamTheS was unstarred

Kirov Reporting
07/27/09

@IamTheS:

I absolutely concur. New Zealand: Like Lord of the Rings!
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bialia promoted this comment Kirov Reporting was starred Kirov Reporting was unstarred

Bialia
07/27/09

@IamTheS: Binary solo!

100000100001110000001010000100...
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Bialia was starred Bialia was unstarred

Chilly Hollow
07/27/09

In reply to Microsoft Introducing Age-Based Xbox Live Lockdown (In New Zealand)
We were wondering about xBox Live and the ability of kids to download anything they want as long as they have a credit card or a Microsoft Points card just yesterday. I think Microsoft is trying to clean up the behavior on Live and we speculated that eventually they will come up with a way of screening downloads there. I have no idea how, but when parents only sue after the fact instead of being pro-active, what's a corporation to do? It'll be interesting to see how the NZ situation plays out as a way of seeing into our future in our own country.
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Chilly Hollow was starred Chilly Hollow was unstarred

Foxstar is in love with Kotaku's two Brians.
07/27/09

In reply to Microsoft Introducing Age-Based Xbox Live Lockdown (In New Zealand)
It's simply them covering their butts before the NZ government kicks them in it. Harsh yes, sucky yes, but when parents don't parent, others have to or end up taking it on the chin.

I'd rather censor myself and protect myself from a government style reaming then 'fight the power' and end up sitting in jail over something like this, which IMHO isn't worth lawsuits, million dollar fines and jail time. Plus the unspeakably bad PR.
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Edited by Foxstar is in love with Kotaku's two Brians. at 07/27/09 2:36 AM

luigilogik
07/27/09

In reply to Microsoft Introducing Age-Based Xbox Live Lockdown (In New Zealand)
I live in NZ, and two weeks ago on regular, free tv at 9:30pm they showed "the perfect vagina" so anyone of any age could watch flabby labia being cut off a woman's vag, but heaven forbid they download a halo map pack instead.
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nrXic promoted this comment Edited by luigilogik at 07/27/09 2:25 AM luigilogik was starred luigilogik was unstarred

DrunkAus
07/27/09

In reply to Microsoft Introducing Age-Based Xbox Live Lockdown (In New Zealand)
Isnt this what 'Master' and 'Child' accounts are for? The Master account can control what the child account can do (I may have gotten the terms mixed up but whatever).
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bananapyramid
07/27/09

In reply to Microsoft Introducing Age-Based Xbox Live Lockdown (In New Zealand)
The root of the problem here is that the division of Internal Affairs here in New Zealand has not up until this point been placing content ratings on downloadable products.

Microsoft's intention, no doubt, is simply to avoid falling foul of the law here, by halting the sale of what could end up being restricted materials to people that will not be legally allowed to possess it.

What it unfortunately amounts to, however, is a corporation taking it upon themselves to censor media, which is unacceptable.

A government censoring any sort of media is questionable enough, but acceptable given that we live in a democracy, and we could kick up a stink if we really felt that strongly about it.

You could argue that people also vote with their dollars, when it comes to the actions of corporations, but this always ends up as a lot of talk on the part of a vocal minority (i.e. a few Kotaku readers), while Joe Consumer who doesn't give a damn carries on buying whatever he likes.

However, I find myself thinking that, were I in Microsoft's shoes, I would be doing exactly as they are, and for this reason: If a 14 year old currently owns content that will soon, retroactively, become illegal for him to own, where to from there? I would want to avoid as much of that mess as possible, even knowing that there's already going to be a lot of mess needing attention when downloadable content ratings come into place.

As for where the prompt for this action came from, and I speak entirely on the basis of rumours here, I hear it's a government department, but not the department of Internal Affairs, oddly.
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