Why would anyone hate a tiny indy developer for the existence of FtP? These games are clearly making money, so the first step opposing them is to never buy them. (After this week's article on who's buying big into FtP it would seem a lot of "gamers" are just as much to blame as the mythical soccer-mom Candy Crush…

I say make money how you see fit in this industry. It's already challenging to stay afloat if you're not a big time studio. If you like doing F2P, and as long as you have a viable audience that enjoys your F2P model, more power to you.

Great read, the author brings up a lot of valid points. Personally, I have nothing against the free-to-play model (I've played a few games with them, and never felt compelled to buy anything, asides from a skin or two in League) and I think that gamers these days just like to bitch and moan when things don't meet…

Posting here in support of Ethan. F2P isn't the end of the industry. Multiplayer wasn't the end of the industry. Atari wasn't the end of the industry (though ET tried).

If F2P is done well, bravo (Jetpack Joyride, free, but I've bought a little thing to support them). If it is a cashgrab POS, I don't play it. …

No its not and unless you've got a good way to back up your statements, its just your opinion...which just sounds like "I'm not being catered to, so it must be bad for everyone".

Hey man. I'm actually on your side. I don't get all the free to play hate. You just keep on keeping on. To those that have so much vitriol for f2p, really the decision is incredibly easy for you. Don't play it, and certainly don't pay for it.

Yeah, he and good old Ted Woolsey had a lot tougher of a job (and did better at it) than people gave them credit for.

True, but it's not unlike the sort of interpretation and co-authorship of works that pretty much all (good) translators do. But that still falls under the duties of a translator, and doesn't turn them into an author (otherwise, pretty much all major translators would be credited as authors of classic works of…

By using the insignificant present, you had a very fruitful experience that cannot be understood by someone who does not use something insignificant.

I got this game as a 7-year-old after much pleading to my mom (it was $80 at release and we were not well off). I don't remember why I wanted the game so badly, but I finally got it for Christmas that year and just completely ate it up. I credit this game heavily with influencing a lifetime of quirky humor and…

He sure is the man who wrote EARTHBOUND, but he is not the man who wrote MOTHER.

If not for your English script of this game, which I am proud to say I preordered as a sixteen-year-old in 1995, I would have never gotten as deeply as I did into modern Japanese fiction, and certainly not as deeply into Japanese psychedelic / avant garde music. Instead of moving to Japan and starting many awful bands…

Thanks for posting here, Marcus! Any other Earthbound thoughts or memories you'd like to share?

Well, Mother 2 was a success in Japan. Earthbound was not a success in North America. That's probably the biggest reason NOA hadn't touched it again until this year.

Translators/Localizers get so little credit in the industry for their work...

What an uplifting article. Thank you so much.

I love this article, I genuinely do. I got this game when it came out, expected to HATE it, and fell in love before I left Onett for the first time. My hat is off to Marcus Lindblom, you have no idea how much of a roll your work had on my childhood, thank you sir, thank you.

It's great to see people who worked on things that didn't pan out finally get the recognition they rightfully deserve. Must have been an incredibly rewarding thing to go through when he did this recently.