PixlBit

I'm really loving this embedded player. It has motivated me to listen easily at work while I crank out code. Made it easy for me to listen to last week's episode as well.

Seems like you really played a lot of Cubivore. I believe Chessa and I completed the game years ago, but I don't recall getting all the different transformations.

I will agree that with a few improvements to the core formula, it can be a mainstream, widely loved game. I'm not quite sure who owns the rights to the property (Nintendo?), but I doubt we'll see it revisited. I do think the 3DS would be a great platform for a sequel, though.

On MvC 3, I hope it gets patched to nerf some of these ridiculous characters, like Sentinel. I'm going to hold off until either a Super MvC 3 is released or some sort of GotY Edition with all of the DLC. Speaking of which, I really hate that platform, especially when each fighter's going rate is $5.

Also, thanks for addressing Anonymous at the beginning of the podcast. I definitely don't intend to ban said user, but I will be tempted to out them if the trolling continues.

What I find pretty interesting, is that in the case of the iPhone vs. jailbreakers, the Library of Congress ruled that bypassing a phone OS is completely acceptable under Fair Use. Given the precedent in place already, I have to imagine the same exception to the DMCA will apply. In both cases, Hotz simply gained root access to the device and published the key, which would allow others to exercise their Fair Use rights as declared by the DMCA and exempted by the Library of Congress.

It seems like everyone is quick to decry the work of these hackers because it leads to piracy and other potential problems, but the work done by Hotz is no different than his work on the iPhone. Gaining root access doesn't inherently provide the ability to pirate, it merely gives hackers of that variety a starting point.

With Sony involved in two separate cases over the same topic (both as plaintiffs and defendants) it should be interesting to see how everything plays out. Honestly, I think they are going to lose on all fronts. They've been arguing that removing the OtherOS functionality was ok because they didn't have privity with the system owners, and against Hotz, they claim they had privity which prohibits him from violating the EULA (which includes a clause regarding hacking).

Obviously you can't have it both ways, especially when (I believe) the same judge is sitting in on both trials. In my opinion, hacking a console is on shaky ground at worst, and at best, it has already been condoned as an exception to the DMCA by the Library of Congress via the iPhone jailbreaking situation. Anyway, we'll have to wait and see how the judge interprets the law, being that it's his job to do so.

My sources on the topic if anyone is interested, #1 and #2.

Well not cut off in that sense, like it stops during someone saying something, as if something were wrong with the recording.

The title Nate was thinking of was Space Quest, not Galaxy Quest.

Also, did this episode get cut short, or is that just me?

Anonymous Comment #1: I don't want to speak for Jason, but I believe he marked down the score due almost entirely to the X-Factor. Clearly it's an odd inclusion that detracts from the experience as it seems to remove an element of skill. At no point did he say it was a bad fighting game or unenjoyable, just that it has problems - like many games do.

Additionally, his score is not far off from the Metacritic average of 85, so apparently he falls in line with popular critic opinion. Furthermore, the popular user opinion sits at a 71, which means he sits healthily between the two scores.

I'm not sure why you can't take any of Jason's reviews seriously. He always expresses his opinion and never gets bogged down in describing the minutiae of the game. As for the sections, we're not trying to emulate anyone. Jason felt strongly that the game had three different audiences and he wanted to speak to each individually. The sections facilitated with that goal.

Anonymous Comment #2: The Side By Side was added as a disclaimer. Jason played the game on the PS3 and he experienced a wide range of connection quality from match to match. Because we have tagged the review for both systems, we want to point out that the Xbox 360 version may not suffer the same problems, so players there may have "an entirely different online experience."

As far as assigning scores goes, Jason wrote his Our Take to describe some of his logic that he used to assign his score. His review is full of solid opinion and whether or not he struggled in choosing his score, a score has still been assigned. That score is solid and unchanging and inexorably linked to the opinion demonstrated by his text.

I must say that my excitement for this game has been a little crushed by this review. I still own and love MvC 2 and by all accounts, it doesn't sound like this is really a step up.

I'll probably wait until this is close to bargain bin before I bother buying it, and just enjoy some other games in the meantime.

Our Nintendo rep just informed me that it was indeed a misprint in the press release. Not sure if they will be issuing a retraction or not, but it should read "a new installment in the Mario Kart™ series."

It was pretty awesome at E3, especially with the 3D effect. I'm really excited for the game, though I am slightly concerned about how long it's going to be.

Not that the other games were very long, but they were immensely challenging (at least at the time, not sure if that still holds true). If this is a pretty easy game and it's relatively short, it could be disappointingly brief.

That's right. I kind of glazed over that in all of this. Notice that the hackers didn't get their panties in a bunch until Sony removed functionality that shipped with the system.

I had always said how smart Sony was to include that ability because it would keep the hackers away from trying to break the system because they could already get Linux on it without effort.

I'm honestly starting to think that Sony is one of the most mismanaged companies in the industry.

Funny that you picked up on this little tidbit too. As I read the press release, I couldn't help but think "what the hell do they mean, installments!?"

In all my years of writing about games, I've never seen Nintendo retract a press release, so I find it hard to believe that writing that was a slip up, so I must imagine there is some legitimacy to the statement.

I'm guessing that we are due for an all new Mario Kart and we'll be getting some updated Mario Kart game on the eShop. Super Mario Kart seems like a solid choice and one that would probably benefit from the 3DS technology.

It would be interesting if they did something like WarioWare DIY, as you suggested with the stage editor downloadable title. I'd love to have a stage editor in Mario Kart and it would probably be a pretty simplistic thing to use and make great track designs with.

Hopefully Nintendo either clarifies what they mean, or retracts the statement so we know what they meant in that press release.