"Meta-series" is such an ugly word that I'd prefer we keep talking about it in terms of the "SMT series" and the "SMT main series". Although there're awkward ones like Strange Journey that could just be non-numbered but still main series entries... (like GTA has, for example).

Still, exposure like this isn't uncommon. It's kinda like equal-exposure growing pains. They've been hidden, hinted at but not shown, sidelined and outright denied for so long that when people want to allow them to be seen as normal they have to go with the outrageous and unignorable in order to get the point home.…

There's a straight couple dancing in the same image, but when the gay couple does it, it's "overtly showy"? Er... actually, "in comparison", I'd say they're pretty damn similar.

Your sidenote consists of "I play the game the regular way". Considering the challenge is only ever presented as an alternative way to play the game, does your comment that you don't, unsurprisingly, conform to the rules of the challenge in normal play really add anything?

It is an old concept - Fire Emblem is decades old. This 3DS game is just the latest in the series.

The Berserk movies are the worst offenders, I feel. Decent animation ruined by cruddy 3D models that'll only look worse as time goes on.

I don't disagree with you on anything, there. But I also think that there were deliberate, not-thought-out attempts to distance themselves from FFXI for no other reason other than they were told not to just make a sequel to FFXI. But they succeeded not so much in distancing it from FFXI, but distancing it from FF…

I wish they'd got this team to do the Jurassic Park game. That could've been just as interesting a setting for a very similar sort of game, and yet... it's a mess. And now will likely never be revisited in the same genre. Sadface.

Yes, but won't come out in the UK - whereas the opposite is true for the Inazuma Eleven series. You can't have a 3DS that can play both games in English.

Japanese games? I want to play Etrian Odyssey 4 and Inazuma Eleven Go (when the latter hits Europe). So I guess I have to buy two 3DS consoles? The 3DS is the only region-locked portable in history, as far as I'm away, and it's a shitty precedent. Anti-piracy, yes - anti-region locking, no.

Honestly, these are the kinds of stories you get out of China these days. Fun stuff is happening too (lively arcade scene, etc), but it's rarely as newsworthy or 'event'-like. Kotaku's certainly not had such a bias that I've found, and Eric's commentary on events like this haven't ever evoked anti-Chinese sentiment…

I wasn't talking about the US at all, just that state militaries are not run for profit...

Final Fantasy IX having this same setting surprised me too, at the time. Never managed a full co-op playthrough, mind - they didn't take full advantage of the ATB system and only allowed one menu to be navigated at once, even if two characters controlled by different players had their turns ready at the same time.…

I suspect you may not if you seriously think the military provides economic returns equal to even half of what we spend on it. Of course, this isn't a huge deal to most countries, as we don't maintain our militaries to make money, but for national security and diplomatic clout.

It can have some turnaround and benefits, yes - just like with Military salaries of course feeding back into the economy. But if it was even close to half of actual expenditure it'd be one of the largest and most noticeable economic benefits in the entire country. Basically, the amount of spending is just too damn…

Japan has a self-defense force (which in recent years has actually been deployed abroad and so kinda functions like an army). But if you think even close to the majority of the military budget goes into salaries, you'd be reasonably misunderstanding this issue. Otherwise, you know that military is a huge expenditure…

He wants to boost the economy by sinking huge amounts into setting up an actual functioning military? I don't think he gets how money works

I think it's pretty much a given that this game isn't going to be anywhere as good as the DS games were. Honestly, I wish they'd do an updated third game in that series, for 3DS or something

There is a limitless supply of free DotA2 keys on www.reddit.com/r/sharedota2

I'm not saying the topic choice is childish, merely the way they've chosen to tackle it in the material I've seen. Of course, there's always a chance they'll surpass my expectations, but given the tone of the content seen in trailers and the demo, I'm not holding all that much hope.