Erm... as I recall, New Coke was actually preferred 2 to 1 in blind taste tests over both Coca Cola Classic AND Pepsi. People loved it. The problem is, they resented that the Coca Cola they’d drunk for their entire lives was no longer available, and petitioned to have the original returned to market... and Coca Cola…

Three dialogue boxes.

People forget that virtually every game from the ‘80s is better if you take the time to read the instruction manual, because back then, data storage was at a premium and tutorials largely weren’t a thing yet. Players were EXPECTED to read the manual for every single game they bought, with major gameplay mechanics…

See, I really resent the implication there. If you look back at my history, you’ll find that I’ve ALWAYS fought for freedom of expression and “art,” as you so sarcastically air-quoted. It has certainly come up most often in regards to depictions of underage characters in risque situations, because that’s unfortunately…

I am not parroting arguments I’ve heard elsewhere — I did work in the industry for 15 years, so I’ve seen the effects policies like this can have on small developers and publishers first-hand. But your point is taken, nonetheless.

Again, very interesting. Thank you for the information! I appreciate you not just saying “no you’re wrong because this is gross,” and instead presenting actual facts that show it is, in fact, a lot less legal than I’d always heard, making it not so much a matter of morality and more a matter of actual legality. Which…

Interesting. Honestly, this is the first I’ve seen of this. I’ll have to look further into it, as I was very much under the impression that artistic depictions were basically free of any such restriction.

I’m pretty well used to that at this point. I’ve been dealing with it for 8+ years. Which is part of why I’m leaving the industry — it’s one thing to try to argue this point on the internet, but another entirely to try to argue it professionally as part of your job.

That is a fair point. I’m speaking strictly of U.S. law, but I do know that in some European countries, such depictions very much are illegal.

They can, but that doesn’t mean they SHOULD. And they’re contradicting the policy they previously announced, which is never good — if you’re going to be strict about content, then be up-front about that from the start rather than claiming you’re introducing an “anything goes” policy, then being like, “well, ALMOST…

As I said in an above comment, you can assume whatever you’d like about me, but when things get out of hand and publishers start censoring characters who are LGBT, or sex-positive adults, or characters of religions they disapprove of, don’t say I didn’t warn you. This is how it starts.

You can assume whatever you’d like about me, but when video game censorship gets completely out of hand and starts banning games for featuring gay characters, or for featuring sex-positive adults, or for featuring characters of religions the publisher is uncomfortable with, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Another example of the slippery slope at work. If Valve wanted to ban games featuring actual child characters in sexual situations, that would be entirely understandable — if a bit more heavy-handed than their initial policy statement suggested they’d be, since the law does not strictly prevent such depictions in…

“And including very early 3D games like Jumping Flash and Battle Arena Toshinden is sort of as if Nintendo had included Pilotwings on the Super NES Classic, which it did not. (Pilotwings is a fun game, but feels more like a demo for the cool tech tricks that Super NES could do rather than a truly mature expression…

I agree every society and entity has had standards and limits. But I don’t agree that it absolutely HAS to be that way. I believe that when it comes to artistic representation, nothing short of complete freedom should be acceptable. And while I understand that’s not realistic — it’s basically advocating anarchy — I…

Just to reiterate.

“It’s not like Final Fantasy VIII is some reviled piece of history that the company should pretend never happened”

Typhoons in Japan are an odd beast, in that they’re typically... no big deal, really. 99% of typhoons that hit Japan are reported on the news as DEADLY DISASTERS that you should ABSOLUTELY STAY INDOORS TO AVOID, and then they hit and they’re basically just... a stiff breeze with some rain.

No, it indicates that they’re not FINDING success.

I appreciate the burn, since I too find American KFC to be damned near inedible. But honestly, Japanese KFC is like, exponentially better. I’ve tried a lot of American chains in Japan, and while most are at least similar to their American counterparts, KFC is one of the few that’s LEAGUES ahead of it, along with the…