They definitely could, especially in a dedicated online game. However since, as far as I can tell, the console as a WHOLE isn't forced to be always online, they have fewer channels for being derpy.

Also thanks to Microsoft and EA's /stuff/ as of late there's probably going to be a marked stigma about going rampant with DRM on a system that's not really enforcing it.


Seems like Sony got their act together, whereas Microsoft is... starting to do the same kind of stuff that was making Sony have all those security issues in the first place.

24/7 internet connection + mandatory always-on webcam thingy + the kind of draconian DRM policies that just get hackers' jimmies a-rustlin' = you're going to get hacked and they're going to be some pretty malicious hacks.

Godhand and Shining Force 3p2 came in the mail... sometime this week. SF3.2 wasn't supposed to come till like July so uh wtf. Probably gonna play some Godhand to make sure it works. SF3.2 will obviously wait so I'll... probably just run it through Alcohol to make sure the disc is readable.

Also threw in an ordr for SF3p3 since shipping times are being so goddamn ADVENTURESOME lately.

Anyway actual game updates, uh...

Shenmue - Not much progress. Just at the end of day 1. Did I mention that Chulip is Shenmueish as hell?

I need to get back to Dust and Shining Force. I sort of took a break because the weather got STUPID and I had a migraine for basically half of last week.

@ Dice:

I think i heard the Mana Khemia games were less AM I KAWAII? UGUU~~~. Maybe.

I should get a copy of Xenoblade in case I ever get a Wiiu...

As someone that works in IT, could you elaborate on how it does this?

--- edit ---

Oh god.

Looking for my copy of Xenosaga 1. Checked closet.

Found bag in closet.

Bag contained several XBox controllers and two apples in a /deeply advance state of decay/ which, invariably, are almost a year old.

How the hell they even GET in there.

Would the offline RFID thing amounted to basically being a permanent CD key or something? That sounds reasonable.

Dear god his mouth looks so /moist/.

OH SHIT SQUARE LEARNED HOW MATH WORKS.

Boycott the system and actually get through my backlog for once. Do you how many PSX games I have accumulated over the past year and a half? Do you know how many of those I've actually PLAYED?

I only played the original Animal Crossing and while I liked it, the non-robust NPC interactions made things really dull, and I don't have any goddamn attention span.

I re-installed Divine Divinity a little while ago but couldn't get into it. On my old laptop it was really crash prone. I... think it might've been on this one too, I don't know.

Yeah, my bad, ACF's music was good. I like how the overworld deviates from Morricone's original considerably more anyway.

PDS - Finished disc 1 (at like two hours). I love the style of this game. I don't think it's terribly fun to play.

Dungeon designs have yet to get away from being super simplistic. There's no real variety or strategy in how you deal with the battle (stay in the green area till you fully charge, move to the enemy's weakspot and combo attack), and random battles are too frequent for how long they can last -- also you can set them off by rotating apparently? Not much variety in the special attacks, either. Your special form gets on unique buff based on the form and you can swap stats mid battle, but all of the attacks are... just damage dealing attacks that get progressively strong.

 I do like some of the neat optional stuff, like being able to save the baby sandworm in the desert, but... for the price it commands on eBay? For what it's worth, I like Zwei and Orta a lot more.

I sort of thing a lot of people would sell more if they cut the cost of their prints down. Yes, I know, huge labor involved. But the material cost for prints is fairly low. Yes, if you sold 100 prints at 60 dollars, you'd make twice as much as if you sold them at 30 dollars. But if you sell 100 prints at 30 dollars and like 0-10 for 60?

@parn:

Windows as a gaming platform was also a major selling point for, er, Windows, too. Not necessarily one that Microsoft was actively driving -- I don't recall GFWL really gathering steam, pun completely intended, thanks in part due to Steam -- but if you were into PC gaming, the general assumption is that you'd go Windows.

And there's no way in hell Microsoft didn't know that.

Just play the original. Horrible combat graphics aside, it's generally a far better game, since most of the new stuff in ACF you either don't get to play with much/can entirely lock yourself out of until the post-game.

Also ACF's translation is inexplicable worse, and the music is entirely explicably worse.

Panzer Dragoon Saga - Appears to be really short. Dungeons don't have much going on in them. Battle system is really simple. Heavy on the cutscenes. Think I'll pass.

Columbus Art Festival started today so I went to it with my mom. It was... I don't know kind of disappointing compared to last year. Couldn't hear anyone playing on the stage, seemed to be fewer booths set up, um... oh, and the realization that the only interesting stuff is too expensive to actually buy and the affordable stuff is just prints (most of which are still to expensive to actually be worth it). And I don't need more paintings anyway.

So I could go back there for some of the interestingish food trucks, or... I could do something completely different. Or do nothing. I don't know. It only comes once a year and I don't want to waste going there, but, fuck  I don't know. Was the artichoke/polenta thing really that good?

I think part of the reason it was fun last year was because I wasn't really EXPECTING it to be there, so it was the fun of /discovering/ it that made it meaningful to me.

Hot out lately. There seems to be a narrow band of temperatures I find comfortable and this is not it.

It's 5:03 AM and I had a yerba mate for dinner so obviously I'm not asleep.

Apparently another one of the neighborhood cats died back in Lima.

And I want to try drawing with my tablet more but I find the physical act of moving a drawing utensil around to be deeply unpleasant and uncomfortable. I haven't used a pen/pencil for anything more than signing receipts or the occasional piece of paperwork since I got out of college. I'm completely unused to using one now, I guess?

Also found out that nobody seems to do repairs on original XBoxes.

I could stay up till six and go out to panera for breakfast I guess. I haven't done that in awhile. Not so fond of Panera though. Maybe Buckeye Donuts?