From Dust's PC port has always-online DRM, is crap
Really, who didn't see this coming? Ubisoft has a richly-deserved reputation for hating on the PC, and From Dust's DRM and terrible port can hardly be a surprise in light of the company's past actions. Ubisoft's upcoming Driver: San Francisco will probably also have this asinine DRM—Ubisoft claims it will not, but a similar claim was made for From Dust. As the man said: "Fool me once, shame on… shame on you. Fool me… won't get fooled again". Fortunately, a cracked version is already available, so you can still play it on PC without Ubi's hateful DRM (but don't be a dick, guys—buy a legit copy and run the cracked one). Or, you can just play PC games from companies other than Ubisoft. That is, after all, what they clearly want.
All Operation Rainfall games will be localized in Europe, Nintendo of America still silent
Reviews of Xenoblade Chronicles have been very positive, and I am eager to play it. I will probably try to mod my Wii to play PAL games and import it, as well as the others when they come out. At this point, I might consider doing that even if Nintendo of America relents and decides to release these games Stateside. It's not like the fall is hurting for new releases in a general sense, as I mentioned last week, but if the Wii is your only console, and particularly if you are eager for some role-playing, it must be incredibly depressing to see nothing but Skyward Sword on the horizon. I won't say "never", but as I am still unmoved by the 3DS and don't see the appeal of the Wii U, November 20 may be the last time Nintendo of America sees my cash for a long while. I'm sure they'll get over the disappointment.
No gods or kings, only man
PayPal founder and Facebook investor Peter Thiel is apparently a major backer of the Seasteading Institute, an organization that hopes to create small "start-up countries" on oil-rig-like structures beyond territorial waters. According to a profile in Details, the goal is to perform an experiment in governance, "the founding of ideologically oriented micro-states on the high seas, a kind of floating petri dish for implementing policies that libertarians, stymied by indifference at the voting booths, have been unable to advance: no welfare, looser building codes, no minimum wage, and few restrictions on weapons." This might sound familiar to you. Now, I'm not saying that mutant slugs will transform the seasteaders into lightning-wielding monsters, precipitating a violent social collapse. I'm saying that you don't need mutant slugs for fully-realized libertarianism to go horribly wrong.
Silent Hill HD Collection has horrible voice acting
Hot holy hell, Konami, what were you thinking? Given how wooden these animations look in HD, a mighty fine effort was going to be needed from the new voice actors, and instead we get this steamer of a show. Here's the most chilling thought: those were probably the best clips available.
Now Playing
Deus Ex: Invisible War – It's not like the aesthetic of Deus Ex was particularly great or memorable (Leigh Alexander has been expressing her loathing for it in her letter series with Kirk Hamilton, which you should check out even though it's on Kotaku), but Invisible War is so different as to seem thoroughly bizarre. I can see where the complaints about Invisible War being "dumbed down" came from—it's much more in the vein of a traditional shooter, and features much less management from the player. I like the game, but not as much as I like Deus Ex.
Currently Sparky works as a scientist in Rhode Island, and works gaming in between experiments and literature reviews. As a writer, he hopes to develop a critical voice that contributes to a more sophisticated and interesting culture of discourse about games. He is still waiting for a console port of Betrayal at Krondor.
- Backbeat Review - June 5, 2023
- Deliver Us Mars Review - April 20, 2023
- The Whispering Valley Review - April 3, 2023
