HEY GUYS so I went to Quizno’s for lunch today because the sign outside said “Get toasty here” and I was like duuuude it’s 4/20 so maybe this is where I can get some sweet bud but instead there was just sandwiches and I was like waaaay bummer.
Ah, drug humor. So edgy.
Really, though, the most important thing about April 20, 2006 is not the random, arbitrary attachment it has to pothead culture or the hilarious jokes to that effect, but rather the fact that Mother 3 has been released in Japan. (Arguably there is some tangential connection to drug abuse there, but that’s neither here nor there.) 1UP will of course be lavishing a detailed preview upon it, but my initial impressions are A+ — the sometimes contrived feel of Earthbound is missing, and the interface is mercifully streamlined. Surprisingly, the prevailing sentiment for the game is one of wistfulness and melancholy, which I have to say is not what I expected. It’s a very polished game, too, and I would be stunned if Nintendo doesn’t localize it. (I do not, however, know anything more than you about that particular topic — Nintendo is absolutely poker-faced when it comes to upcoming games, which is why they managed to drop several completely new and never heard-of games into their release schedule at last night’s event to everyone’s astonishment.)
I’m still contemplating a scanner purchase, but I decided to invest in more RAM first. Remember the theoretical 640K ceiling? Yeah, I miss those days. My last laptop shipped with 512 MB of RAM and was painfully pokey until I rounded it up to a full gig; so I figured that a MacBook equipped with a full gig to start would would be enough. Ha ha, no. It was a unreasonably slow in places until about an hour ago, when I added a second gigabyte — now it’s running as fast as its reputation led me to expect.
I’m just glad that hardware prices drop as resource consumption rises. If this were 12 years ago, an extra GB of RAM would have cost me about $12,000. It doesn’t make me pine any less for the days when I could squeeze the entire OS into a 6MB partition, though.
14 thoughts on “420 is a joke”
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How is your Japanese? Can you read and understand the game or are you playing blind? I would import it, but my Japanese skills are seriously lacking. I can usually tinker my way through many imports and figure things out, but reading and understanding the bulk of the text is another story.
At any rate, Mother 3 looks fantastic. Maybe we can convince Tomm to create an under-the-table “fansub” version for his friends if it doesn’t make it out of Japan.
Mother 3 had better come here, especially if they stiff us on a new 2D Metroid…
Go back to the 2005 Nintendo E3 keynote and listen to the titles that Iwata mentions as he waxes nostalgic after the virtual console revelation…Excitebike, Earthbound… Yup EARTHBOUND. Iwata knows what’s up…I hope.
Like, woah dude, I totally want to buy Nintendo’s Mother. *giggle* *snort* *drinks bong water*
Um, hi guys. I could make a stupid joke about some game I never got to play on the SNES, but Tycho’s most recent post spooked me. This HD-Format Wars scare me because I only started collecting DVD’s until last year (I’m at 15 movies now!). It’s frustrating to learn that a new monstrous, unaffordable format will render my disks obsolete. It’s kinda sad, in a poor geek way. But, hey, it’s Maria Juana Day for reasons I don’t know, so have fun! What’s the deal with today, anyway? Is it Bob Marley’s birthday?
I played Earthbound on ZSNES back in 2001 and loved it and the ending made me cry but I hate to admit it! Dammit! There I said it! Are you people happy! (thank God none of you have no idea who the hell am I!). I also cried after watching Titanic because, c’mon, Rose was such a cute girl and she deserved to stay with Jack! I also used to dance everytime I listened to the Thundercats song back when I was twelve and everytime the show was about to start I shouted THUN! THUNDER! THUNDERCATS! HOOOOOOOOOO! and started dancing to the beat of the Thundercats tune. I also have a picture of Richard Garriott dressed as Lord British in my room, a picture which was taken form the Ultima Exodus for NES strategy guide, and yes, I ordered the Ultima Exodus for NES strategy guide BACK IN THE MOTHERFUCKIN DAY! I was that hardcore.
Morgan: Seriously. I mean if they can re-release crap like Lufia for the GBA, I don’t see why the big N has a problem with Mother.
Juan: You can still play dvds on HD-DVD players. But like the PS2 and X Box 360, HD-DVD’s just a more expensive upgrade rather than anything new.
“I mean if they can re-release crap like Lufia for the GBA, I don’t see why the big N has a problem with Mother.”
Um… Nintendo didn’t do that. What are you talking about?
The greatest 420 comment I heard today was from one of our testers, who said “Whoa, do you realize that like right now, 90% of America is stoned?” I weep (seriously) for the future of our youth. Raroo, I AM localizing Mother 3, it’s called Contact here. (I kid, I kid) I would be more than happy to write faux-English text for an under the table friend localization, but that would require someone to translate it first. Someone who understood I would rewrite their translated text. You find the fan who doesn’t have an ego disorder, and I’ll do it in a heartbeat.
I’m pretty sure spookychee, who did the excellent FFXII translation FAQ, is planning to do the same for Mother 3.
Oh, you can? Great! But what if Blu-Ray wins the struggle? What about that? Sony will dominate the medium with iron fist, then take revenge for the injustice brought upon Betamax, and then no device on Earth will play standard DVDs any longer. Propietarily formatting is Sony’s way of life, we know this. What about that? What about that?! *cries in despair*
Tomm: Make it up as you go! It’s the only way.
Oh, I’m ALL over Contact.
A. It looks/sounds fantastic.
B. I support Atlus.
C. I want to send a message to Nintendo about the games I want to see.
D. All of the above.
I choose D.
Tomm: Nintendo does make decisions about what games can and can’t be released here on their systems. It’s why it took so long to get the Final Fantasy games in-between part 1-4 and 4-6.
Gatsu–no, they don’t. That’s Sony.
I don’t have to send in game “concepts” to Nintendo. I send in the completed game and they accept it (if it’s not buggy) or reject it (if it is buggy). That is the limit of Nintendo’s “say.” The seal of quality means “won’t freeze your system or erase your memory cards (we think)”
Sony, on the other hand, has to approve every game CONCEPT. Meaning we could play a totally awesome game called Kenk–er, a cool game. And we could secure the rights to do it. And then Sony could say “No, absolutely not.” And then the game can never be released.
*the more you know*
Tomm–I almos bought Contact in Japan, but then I figured: 1. I wouldn’t be able to fully appreciate and understand it in Japanese. 2. It’d be like cheating on you. :-)
You also saved yourself some money. Contact is the most expensive DS game in Japan right now.