Robbway's blog

A lot of people love to complain about Live Arcade games being expensive. Gradius is available today for $5 (400 pts) and 3D Ultra Mini Golf is $10 (800 pts). So Microsoft makes a lot of money, right? Let's compare with the Wii:

NES games: $5 (usually). Costs before profit are: emulator, R&D, hosting.

Gradius: $5. Costs before profit are: Xbox Live Arcade licensing fee (includes hosting), emulator, R&D.

A lot of people love to complain about Live Arcade games being expensive. Gradius is available today for $5 (400 pts) and 3D Ultra Mini Golf is $10 (800 pts). So Microsoft makes a lot of money, right? Let's compare with the Wii:

NES games: $5 (usually). Costs before profit are: emulator, R&D, hosting.

Gradius: $5. Costs before profit are: Xbox Live Arcade licensing fee (includes hosting), emulator, R&D.

Okay, first off, I'm only writing about the Virginia Tech Massacre in relation to accusations that video games were to blame.  Both JT and Dr. Phil out-and-out lied when they claimed that video games "trained" the murderer.  After all, when they made their statements, all that they knew about the suspect was that he was male.  Any other conclusions at that time were completely fabricated.

Okay, first off, I'm only writing about the Virginia Tech Massacre in relation to accusations that video games were to blame.  Both JT and Dr. Phil out-and-out lied when they claimed that video games "trained" the murderer.  After all, when they made their statements, all that they knew about the suspect was that he was male.  Any other conclusions at that time were completely fabricated.

If you're the least bit put-off by Super Paper Mario, consider what chapter you are in. I'm through chapter 4, and it gets better with (almost) every chapter. Chapter one is really boring. My previous post was in chapter one. The really clever use of the 3D mode begins in Chapter 2. I never thought 3D could be as confusing as it is in Super Paper Mario. I'm not loving chapter 5 too much, but the overall game is still nice. However, I still HATE the 3D-mode time limit. It still doesn't make sense. It is still a cheap way to add difficulty.

If you're the least bit put-off by Super Paper Mario, consider what chapter you are in. I'm through chapter 4, and it gets better with (almost) every chapter. Chapter one is really boring. My previous post was in chapter one. The really clever use of the 3D mode begins in Chapter 2. I never thought 3D could be as confusing as it is in Super Paper Mario. I'm not loving chapter 5 too much, but the overall game is still nice. However, I still HATE the 3D-mode time limit. It still doesn't make sense. It is still a cheap way to add difficulty.

Super Paper Mario is an excellent game.  I'll just take that for granted.  One thing, however, is annoying the crap out of me in that game.  The game switches for 2D to 3D modes at the press of a button.  Unfortunately, there is an artificial time limit to spending time in 3-space.  For 20 seconds, you can hang out in 3D, after which you lose health from your meter until you die or turn back to 2-D.

Super Paper Mario is an excellent game.  I'll just take that for granted.  One thing, however, is annoying the crap out of me in that game.  The game switches for 2D to 3D modes at the press of a button.  Unfortunately, there is an artificial time limit to spending time in 3-space.  For 20 seconds, you can hang out in 3D, after which you lose health from your meter until you die or turn back to 2-D.

Before Super Paper Mario, there was The Thousand Year Door (Gamecube).  I bought it last year and just picked it back up yesterday.  I was completely lost.  No idea how to navigate the underground city, I just wandered around for awhile.  A long while.  I still only have one star.  My stats are low.  It will take awhile to get those stats up because PM:TTYD is a game of ones and twos.  I believe there is a story on the RPG engine in Gamasutra, and recently, too.  The bright side of the levelling up is that it's always at 100 star-points.

Before Super Paper Mario, there was The Thousand Year Door (Gamecube).  I bought it last year and just picked it back up yesterday.  I was completely lost.  No idea how to navigate the underground city, I just wandered around for awhile.  A long while.  I still only have one star.  My stats are low.  It will take awhile to get those stats up because PM:TTYD is a game of ones and twos.  I believe there is a story on the RPG engine in Gamasutra, and recently, too.  The bright side of the levelling up is that it's always at 100 star-points.