This is the dark twin of the playfun/learnfun AI-learns-game experiment.

Hmm I wasn't aware "ripped" has such a discrete meaning in this context - I had assumed it was simply slang for "ripped off" rather than describing a technical process.

Sorry, gonna have to play the "bar card" on this one. You can obfuscate the issue but Zynga and King trademarked those words and they do "own" them in the limited sense of having a legal right to their exclusive use in a specific domain (ie electronic video games).

Does King.com own the word Saga? Does Zynga own the word Ville?

I did read it. I had to choose a spot to voice my disagreement and it happened to be this paragraph. I don't think Stephen Totilo opinion on whether the art was borrowed/ripped/stolen, however you want to phrase it, is particularly convincing, especially when he is reversing his publications most recent stance…

King.com is suing every developer who has made a game with the word "Saga" in it and you are here to tell me what copyright law covers (I know, trademark v copyright, my point is over the aggressiveness of IP defense). Cease and desist letters can be sent (and often are) without a meaningful claim. I think…

Much has been made about that article we ran last Thursday, which originally was headlined "Flappy Bird Is Making $50,000 A Day Off Ripped Art." The word "ripped" was too strong, and the article's author has come to regret it. I do, too, and wished I'd caught it. The headline's been changed since then.

I'm gonna keep commenting on a wide variety of posts. Hopefully your experience is enhanced as often (or more often) than it is disturbed.

nobody forced you to read my comment

I'm sick of all these "video game sword in real life omg" articles. Yes, its not just minecraft where you can make objects, I got it already.

Today we have grown accustomed to seeing our enemies on screen before they attack, and when a JRPG comes along with those antiquated random encounters, gamers get aggravated. Why can't the bad guys appear in the dungeons? Don't these guys have enough RAM now? Even at their best—not invisible, not random, not…

Take Stephen Totilo, for example. The other day I was showing Kotaku's fearless leader a little bit of Bravely Default, the upcoming 3DS game that is best described as "what Final Fantasy used to feel like." Before he even saw the game in action, he said he didn't like (paraphrased) "all those invisible encounter…

I think the best arguments against this specific piece are:

I've played like 20% of the games I've bought on Steam, and the majority of my library was purchased during a sale ONLY because the game was on sale. So another way to look at it is that I'm spending a lot of money on games that I wouldn't otherwise. I doubt this is an unusual experience.

Breaking news: people don't always agree on stuff

Gerard Butler would make a solid Gerrard. Sean Connery as Urza. I could get into this.

Catherine should have been a strong GOTY candidate (when it came out). One of my favorites of the last console generation and it's a shame it didn't get more attention!

Oh my god. I remember being a high school teenager, staying up late at night to try to beat MGS2 before I had to get to sleep on a school night, alone in my living room in the dark, when the colonel started flipping out. I'll never forget how terrified I was after he said "61!". Sounds ridiculous now but that was the…

Where are Yes and No???

How can you have a binary review metric, never give a no, and then ask with a straight face if you are going too easy on games.