QUESTION ONE: Here's an interesting little story about Nintendo's 3DS handheld. Turns out, the concept of portable, glasses-free 3D totally violated an existing patent and they were just forced to fork over 30 million dollars to the holder. What's weirder to you, the fact that Nintendo managed to make a console without checking to see if it potentially violated any patents, or the fact that somebody actually already had a patent for the same idea?
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 | | Todd Vote |
The fact that Nintendo went ahead with this without checking to see if the patent was already in place is the bigger surprise here. The only reason that is the bigger surprise is because the 3D thing was everywhere for a bit. TV's, theaters, hell even porn had been dipping into 3D. Just knowing that should have been enough to cause Nintendo to check on the patents before they proceeded with the 3DS. I'm curious, had Nintendo known about this patent and approached the company to use the technology, would it still have cost them 30 million dollars?
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 | | Louise Lange |
It's not a question of weird, it's a question of stupidity. I think if Nintendo are dumb enough to not have checked for an existing patent on a console that they knew would take off, they deserve to have forked out 30 million dollars. It's their own stupid fault.
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 | | Adam Larck |
I really don't think it was either problem. Nintendo has enough lawyers to look over patents and find ones that are similar. My guess is the lawyers thought the patent wasn't close enough to infringe, or Nintendo thought they were ok by somewhat basing the design on what the Virtual Boy tried to do. As far as the patent existing goes, I'm definitely not surprised there. People try to patent anything and everything, so go figure someone had a patent for that.
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 | | Dan Watson |
I think it is very strange that Nintendo would go forwards without checking on the patent. My only thought on this would be that they knew the person or company held the patent but Nintendo figured they would make more than the settlement price or would just push said smaller company around and through a ton of red tape. If this was EA I would say those make sense but I don't get why Nintendo would move forwards with a patent out there on this technology. Is the 3D aspect of the handheld that important now? |
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 | | Quizmaster |
The most fun statistic out of this news is that, since Nintendo has sold over 30 million 3DS's, it only ends up costing them $1 per 3DS. Of course, it doesn't actually work like that, and I'm pretty sure they'd still rather have the $30 million. Anyway, Adam gets partial credit and 183 points for mentioning Nintendo's first attempt at 3D, and I suppose anything that was even slightly based on the Virtual Boy was destined to have some sort of small disaster happen to it.
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QUESTION TWO: There's been an interesting development in the future of Mature-rated games and their promotional materials, as the ESRB has relaxed some of their policies around "age gates" for showing trailers for M-rated games, as long as they are specifically edited for a more general audience. The idea is somewhat similar to "green band" trailers for movies. The ESRB will also consider allowing demos of M-rated games to be included with more general-rated games if a case can be made that there is a crossover appeal of some sort. What do you think of this whole idea?
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| | Todd Vote |
Honestly, this may have just created a new way for politicians to attack games next time some idiot decides to do something stupid and violent. Think about it, now they can say how the ratings board doesn't even care about how the content is distributed. Watch, this will get twisted in some way shape or form to fit some politicians agenda. Now personally, I don't think you should give an M rated demo out with a game that is rated E for everyone. Think about it.... What line separates the "crossover appeal"? Like say, Skylanders... That has dragons in it, so if Activision was developing an M rated game based around dragons, does that fit the "crossover appeal" they are talking about?
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| | Louise Lange |
I think that's a bad idea. It's a bad idea if they want to continue going down the road of rating games, because if you're going to have an M rated game, why are you going to want to edit it down to make a demo for an audience that can't legally purchase the title? I get there is a cross-over audience but kids are going to want games like GTA and Call of Duty anyway. This won't discourage them and may not help, because if they show an unwitting parent a PG demo of something like the new Tomb Raider, they might be bought the game because "it doesn't look that bad."
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| | Adam Larck |
The rating system has been something of a joke for years, and this helps back that statement up. The ratings are supposed to protect younger children from playing mature games, but as long as ignorant parents or other adults buy them the game, what does the rating matter? If they were serious about keeping this content away from children, they wouldn't be relaxing age gates and considering violent demos. However, this just shows that money talks and profits are key.
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| | Dan Watson |
I think this is a poor decision on ESRB's part. The trailers don't bother me much because you can edit any game to look friendly to everyone. The part that is going to be a bit rough is the demos. How can you explain the cross-over appeal from a game rated E and a game rated M? That just doesn't work. All you are doing is showing kids what they are missing out on while also exposing them to content that may not be suitable for them. Get ready for lawsuits galore I am sure. |
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| | Quizmaster |
Almost universal lack of support for the plan around here, which would probably be the first time that actual gamers were in favour of tighter restrictions than the ESRB is. It's funny, movies have been doing a similar thing with their trailers for years and you don't hear outrage from concerned parents, but if video games do it, the immediate concern is that it will expose children to games above their maturity level. So, is it the ESRB's fault, or do parents pay more attention to movie ratings than video games for some reason? Maybe that should have been the question.
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QUESTION THREE: So, with BioShock Infinite due in the upcoming weeks, you may (or may not) be wondering what happened to the rumoured BioShock movie, which was originally scheduled to be a "hard R" movie directed by Gore Verbinski (of Pirates of the Caribbean fame) with a 200 million dollar budget. Apparently, you can blame the Watchmen movie somehow, because it bombing at theatres led to a reduced budget, which cost the production the director, so the movie is entirely dead. Well, that's kind of depressing, actually. Let's instead talk about video games that we'd like to actually see made into a gigantic big budget movie spectacle with a huge well-known director.
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| | Todd Vote |
There are so many ripe for the picking... Can we get a Kenneth Branaugh-directed God of War movie? Perhaps a Quentin Tarantino-directed version of Red Dead Redemption? How about a fighting game franchise, any fighting game franchise turned into a movie helmed by Gareth Evans? There are so many gaming franchises that have the potential to do well on the big screen. Much like the comic book genre, all it will take for Hollywood to realize that these can be done right is one movie that makes it all click. If we can get one super successful video game turned film franchise, watch as studio's start locking up the rights to others...
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| | Louise Lange |
Stewart says Mass Effect but I've never played it....... Having recently bought the new Tomb Raider, I've noticed that the new Lara looks awfully like Jennifer Lawrence, to the point I wouldn't be surprised to find they've done it on purpose. I can't help but think the rebooted game might make a pretty shit movie, though. Fallout: New Vegas would make for a great setting but not if they had to fill it with CGI. If they concentrated on the story while making sure it didn't look too fake, it would be amazing.
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| | Adam Larck |
I think a Valve crossover movie would be interesting. Maybe a Portal/Half-Life movie that ties into Half-Life 3 when it's finally announced. Sure, it's a silent hero in both games, but I think the supporting cast could be great. Plus, there'd be some impressive effects to see.
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| | Dan Watson |
I think Assassin's Creed would be an amazing movie. I would also love to see a God of War style movie. Finally, just as a fan, I would like to see Gears of War done into a huge over the top summer action movie. Of the three, I think Assassin's Creed is most likely to happen and would be the most successful. God of War may have missed the boat as it was just a few years ago we had a few movies released based on Greek Mythology. Finally, Gears of War I could see working depending on how they created the locusts. In the end, I doubt there will be a successful, well done cross-over in the near future, except Mortal Kombat of course because that already sounds and looks awesome. |
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| | Quizmaster |
Louise has the one most likely to be true in Tomb Raider, and earns 652 points. Stewart gets an extra 439 points for his side for Mass Effect, even if I'm not sure it would ever translate into the big screen as well as it has in game form.
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QUESTION FOUR: It's probably just a coincidence, but what the hell, let's talk about misogyny in games. Or more specifically, the new trophy in God of War: Ascension, which you receive after gruesomely defeating one of the (female) Fury bosses. Oh, yeah, the trophy is entitled "Bros Before Hos". Or at least it was before the outcry caused a quick patch change to the slightly more nonsensical but arguably less offensive "Bros Before Foes". Should the creators of God of War have seen this coming ahead of time? Alternatively, should something as small as a stupid trophy name really cause this much trouble?
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| | Todd Vote |
There is really only one thing fitting for this question:
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| | Louise Lange |
As a woman, I think other women need to get a grip. It's a trophy in a game. That is all. I don't quite understand how people have got their knickers in a twist over it and while the developers have done the right thing avoiding any more outcry, it is too dumb for them to have foreseen. If I got a "Bros before Hos" achievement I'd laugh for a second and then forget all about it a few minutes later. In fact, I'd want it as a slogan on a game award for my avatar to wear.
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| | Adam Larck |
This should have been seen a mile away. Sure, they were trying to come up with a creative name, but considering the talk about sexism in games is always here, why egg it on with things like this? I can see why women would get angry at this. They get mad at hearing it in the regular world, why would in a game be different. Good call to nip it in the bud and change it when it released.
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| | Dan Watson |
This is rather stupid on the part of those that were outraged by a trophy's title. I think having an achievement or a trophy like that would make me want to show it off. It is a fun name and who is playing these games that really is outraged by that? There are women that are barely clothed in the game and we are worried about a trophy's name? Seems rather stupid to me. |
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| | Quizmaster |
All right, we got the go-ahead from an actual woman, that means it's not sexist! I love having such a simple system of checks and balances, don't you?
Dan gets 1934 points for suggesting that in a game chock full of things like topless women, maybe a silly trophy name isn't the biggest problem you could make a stink about if you were really inclined to do so.
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BONUS QUESTION: Well, it was St. Patrick's Day this past weekend, and while I know we're all mostly mature adults (or close enough), did any of you spend some time celebrating with cheap green beer?
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| | Todd Vote |
No. No I didn't.
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| | Louise Lange |
No. I didn't. I played Tomb Raider, Stewart broke his car's windscreen and we watched Project X which was terrible.
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| | Adam Larck |
I just worked on some more wedding planning on St. Patrick's Day. Never really care about the holiday and I'm not Irish, so no reason to celebrate here.
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| | Dan Watson |
I spent Saturday laid up in the hospital. While carrying furiture to the new home, my leg gave out and I ended up tearing my ACL and PCL. So, that is why I am getting this in later than normal, and haven't really been doing much of anything lately. So the year keeps getting better. I did manage to get Corned Beef this weekend though so that is a huge positive.
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