I contemplated doing that: slipping on my Sheikah armor and snatching it up. But I hadn’t taken a hit from one of those things yet and didn’t know how much protection that armor would afford if I screwed up and woke it. I figured if I put some space between me and the giant I might could whittle it down sufficiently…

I’ve done the Northern and Southern Labyrinths and the Shrouded Shrines in the Typhlo Ruins. Out of all the shrines I’ve done, those three felt the most earned, as there really wasn’t a way to break them: you just had to find your way through the respective courses. For the labyrinths, I had the genius idea of running…

I figured, just wasn’t sure if those warrants had to involve an arrest or if they could be issued for search warrants.

Reasonable? Yes, especially if the reason you own the gun is for home and self-defense. Legal to actually use? It depends on the legal wording of your state’s castle doctrine, if any.

Where I’m from, the legal wording is something to the effect of “anybody who does not have the right to be in your home.” Law…

Not sure when you played last, but my wife and I started playing about three years ago and found leveling to be quite fast. While you don’t get much XP from kills or map exploration, you do get XP for just about anything: crafting, reviving allies, bonus XP for completing events, and so on. You also get a daily reward…

I will have to get this if no other reason than as a tribute to my uncle, who passed away in 2008. This was one of his favorites.

Kinda curious why they didn’t hold off a bit and release the remaster next year for the 20th anniversary of the original. It’s not like Blizzard is strapped for cash.

Just want to say that I less than zero interest in fashion but I find your articles on fashion in character design really engaging.

Seriously, if you looked at my closet, you’d never know I was a married man with a respectable career in public education.

While I really don’t have any sympathy for him not taking the royalties option (and, as an experienced writer who created a financially lucrative series—even if only in his native country—he really should have known better and split the difference by negotiating an advance plus royalties), I can understand his…

For some reason, this brings to mind how Street Fighter IV was hyped as a back-to-basics entry in the series that was perfect for new, lapsed, and veteran players alike; yet, it was just as complex as any entry in the series since at least Alpha, if not more so. The game didn’t follow through on its promise to return…

Well, on the S.H. Figuarts Yoshi figure, you can remove the hump and replace it with an actual saddle that just happens to use the exact same color scheme, so I’m guessing that’s a shell and Mario just throws a saddle over it. But then again, in Super Mario World, Yoshi pops out of the egg with the saddle already in…

KILL IT WITH FIRE.

So I had just cleared a shrine and some Chuchus popped up. I didn’t feel like fighting them, so I booked it, and in doing so heard that blood-freezing music and sound effect that plays whenever a Guardian has a lock on you. I tried to sprint to cover, but I was too slow. It got me, but my Mipha’s Grace was ready so I…

Sorry about that. I misunderstood you.

And yeah, they are totally using pirated software as their tech demo (simply emulating the game is, by the strictest definition of the term, piracy) so I’m onboard with you as finding it ethically dubious that they’re using it to ask for money.

Since we’re talking about the legality and ethics of video game emulation:

The ethical rationalization that it’s okay to emulate a game you own, or even one that is out-of-print and not available digitally, is one I personally agree with—however, it’s still illegal.

Unless you own the actual copyrights for a work, then…

Ethical stance? It sucks, but too bad. If you haven’t paid for the game, then you shouldn’t be accessing it.

The emulator itself isn’t piracy or copyright infringement. All it does translate the game code, which isn’t a process protected by copyright. It’s no different than if I programmed a word processor to read .pdf or .docx files; all I’m doing is giving the software the functionality of translating code.

There’s a…

Depending on how good the copyright holder’s lawyer is, emulation is most definitely piracy.

Copyrights are just that: rights to make and use copies of a work (yes, the legal definition is more complex than that and addresses intellectual assets as well as complete works, but in a nutshell that’s what they are). The…

I respect Blizzard for trying to police their community and weed out toxic players, but the only way to really make toxicity disappear is to go full-on draconian. Constantly monitor all in-game communications and player activity, and the moment somebody drops a racist/sexist/homophobic/etc. slur or starts actively…

I’m not sure if this was dumb luck or I actually figured out one of the game’s puzzles, but I noticed that some of the spooky trees had “happy” faces. I started going in the direction that those trees were “pointing” (there was always one branch that was broken, one that wasn’t) and, eventually made it through.

I’m sorry, but this smacks of high school students (and their parents) saying that they can’t get a scholarship because they’re not a minority.

There are plenty of game design workshops and camps offered by numerous sponsors that are open to everybody. The reason why there are a just a few only open to specific…