Actually, I think he's up-in-arms about the re-rating already. He's convinced it's a conspiracy between Take2 and the ESRB since they refused to say what was changed to allow the lower rating. I don't remember where I read about it, though. I would assume GameSpot or GamePolitics.

You're right.

Thing is, I was only looking at Gamespot and they haven't mentioned him since the Take Two settlement. GamePolitics, however, has all the goods on how Thompson is calling conspiracy on the ESRB. Still, it looks like he has bigger worries.

I could've sworn I made a thread just so we could curse the bastard out. Wonder what happened to it.

For my part, I doubt he'll start screaming about NiGHTS. I'm sure he'll have his mouth and hands full with Manhunt 2 instead.

Then again, I find it odd that we haven't heard from him yet about that one. He didn't speak up about the AO rating and he hasn't been screaming about the subsequent re-rating and imminent release. It could be that he's given up or that the news sites have stopped reporting about what he says. Either way, it's a positive sign.

I'm hoping for some sort of combat persona mask.
NiGHTS tranforming his arms into machine guns would be much appreciated. >

Uhhh... no (1:27, specifically).

You guys just found out about this? I deal with this stuff everday when I'm coming home from school. Just last week 2 of them came flying right in my direction. Almost lost my ear.

You lost me. Two of what now?

This calls for a party! Oonce,oonce,oonce,oonce!

I think you mean "uhn tiss uhn tiss uhn tiss."

Finally, the site gets its due as the best Gorramn NiGHTS fansite on the 'Net!

It's good of GameSpot to acknowledge that you broke the story and its even better that they praised the site how they did. Of course, you guys did better than great simply for breaking an exclusive story that eluded even IGN and Gamespot and other well-established gaming news sites.

Kudos all around.

Wild and Free,
You and Me.

THREAD OVER. VIPERXMNS WINS.

You can fly/Don't be shy.

I just noticed something fun.

Go back to the site. Turn the music off for best results. See those buttons at the bottom of the screen? A few of them say "Coming Soon"? Pass your cursor over one of the active buttons. It should make a tone. Now try it three times.

Sound familiar?

If you haven't already done so, go to the Japanese JoD site immediately!

Stay at the home page, and you can hear a beautiful song that clearly incorporates the familiar six-note progression that is nearly synonymous with NiGHTS!

As I'm listening to the song, my every doubt and worry about JoD's music is being smashed to pieces. Truly phenomenal stuff.

Most importantly, THEY'RE KEEPING THE SIX-NOTE PROGRESSION! Easily the most important part of NiD's score and I'm hearing it played with more beauty and feeling than ever before.

I am very happy about this. How about you?

Since this IS the "Recommended Movies" topic, can anyone suggest some good, family-friendly anime movies for me please?

If you want good, family-friendly anime, you simply can't top Miyazaki-san. Give Spirited Away a spin and I promise you won't regret it.

The message board at WatchmenComicMovie.Com is up, my friends! Get to the board, register and get things moving!

No way! I just won that off eBay a while back! XD Though I don't read too much Japanese...

I think TRiPPY may already have it, but here's the lowdown anyhow. It's a lovely book that not only features some nice development artwork (which can be seen on TRiPPY's site), but offers descriptions of each character - human, Maren, minion, and Pian alike - the items and their functions, tips and combos to pull of each trick in mid-air, and 2D maps of every Mare/course, pointing out hidden treasures and pathways. Plus, there's confirmation of the King Pian, just-for-kicks tricks to try, mention of the CD-ROM goodies, an interview with (I believe) Mr. Naka himself in the back, and best of all, 'Dream Dreams' sheet music! It's a sweet collector's goodie!

I can't translate a whole lot though.. gomen ne..!

Send some scans over to TRiPPY. She can put them up on the site and someone else can translate. Heck, Jof might be able to help.

Amazing. And he's only asking 20 bucks for it?

Whoever can read Japanese: Please, please, please get that book, scan it and send pictures to the site with translations immediately.

I'm not sure you were here for it when we talked about it, but it had been confirmed that NiGHTS would have mask to turn him into a dragon, rocket, and dolphin. Now we have not heard anything about them since then and nothing seemed to be there in the demo in Germany so we don't know if this will stay or not.

As stated multiple times, Reala was seen wearing a mask. So, the Persona masks are probably still in the game.

So, if the Persona masks are still in the game and they're working well, why isn't Sega showing them off?

I can only assume that they're keeping it under wraps for gameplay or story purposes. You know, kinda like how Nintendo withheld information on the sailing parts of Wind Waker. Or how it was ages before we learned that Link turns into a wolf in Twilight Princess. Or how Bungie divulged the entire control scheme for Halo 3... except for what the X button does.

Any way you slice it, there's something going on behind the scenes regarding the Persona masks and we may not know what it is until after the game is released.

What I am afraid of is not how the game play or looks. I fear that the game will lose the soul that put it into our hearts in the first place.

When did I say that it was only about gameplay or graphics? *reads the post again* Okay, let me be clearer.

All the examples I mentioned weren't just better because of technology or experience. They were better because the narrative kept improving. The Halo universe gets bigger and better with every installment. The Grand Theft Auto storyline gets more and more engaging. The Final Fantasy games keep improving on each other in terms of characterization. Smash Bros. Melee took the original concept and improved on it in every way possible. Metroid Prime 3 actually has voice acting and dialogue -- a first in the series. As for Mario... well, think about how far the entire Mario universe has come. Think about Mario and Luigi and Peach and Bowser as they are in any Paper Mario game. Now compare their presentations in that game to their presentations in the first Super Mario. The differences in characterization and appearance are indescribable.

Oh, and let's not forget Zelda. You wanna compare the storyline of Twilight Princess to the storyline of the original game? Be my guest.

More than ever, video games are being considered for their narrative and artistic value. This especially goes for games focused on a first-person experience like NiGHTS. The soul of the gaming franchises mentioned have all been nurtured to phenomenal growth over the years. I'm confident that NiGHTS will finally get the same TLC.

ANYTIME ANYGAME decides to do a sequal I beleive there's a call for legitimate fear. I mean, will the game live upto our expectations? Or will it miserably fail in ways we wish there never HAD been a sequal. Will the voice acting be great? Will the gameplay be silky smooth? Will there be an epic ending song? Will the game itself be epic? I believe it will be good. I have faith.*croses fingers*

I don't think that fear necessarily extends to video games.

It certainly extends to movies, but video games are the rare medium in which sequels tend to improve upon their predecessors. To wit: Super Mario 3 vs. Super Mario 2. Smash Bros. Melee vs. Smash Bros. Metroid Prime 3 vs. Metroid Prime 2. The entire Grand Theft Auto series. The Halo trilogy. The entire Mortal Kombat series. The entire Final Fantasy series.

Granted, this trend is far from universal (*coughSoniccough*), but still. Technology improves and developers grow more savvy with time.

I can't hear William's voice in that clip. It's just NiGHTS talking, the way I hear it.

Nineteen.

Elaborate, please.

I don't think I have any worries anymore.. I think I've actually seen enough to be satisfied. ^____^ Which is quite an odd feeling. I hadso many up and down feelings before, but now I'm pretty confident. But seems a lot of folks here have some pretty valid worries. Have any of you changed your minds, with the new information?

Well, my worries principally involved too much focus on the kids and frakking up the voice acting. Now, I know that the kids can only attack with ammo gathered by NiGHTS and the voice provided by NiGHTS sounds okay, so there you go. I'm still concerned about how the game will control, but I'm willing to be patient for more information.

All in all, I'd say things are looking up.

YES.

Actually, I'm curious about TA. Imma hoping they do wait a year or 11 for that one, though. Let JoD sink in x3. BUT, I see a 'To Be Continued' thing at the end of JoD.

I'm not sure there'll be a "To Be Continued" ending, but Sega would have to be totally and completely daft to pass up this chance for another franchise.

I didn't know that Peter Pan was androgynous. Of course...he's always scared me a bit.

Peter Pan has been portrayed by actors of both genders. Because both genders can portray the character accurately, he could be considered androgynous.

I sort of enjoyed it, though I thought it could've been MUCH better, actually.

Anyway, I'm gonna try to watch Barry Lyndon sometime this week.

Saw that one about a week ago. Very well-acted, beautifully filmed, though there's no real plot to it. Kubrick never could figure out how to end his films, it seems.

My favorite movies? Well, let's see:

Dogma -- Strange as it sounds, this is probably one of my favorite films of all time. Any film that could make me think so much about religion while making me laugh about it is an outstanding movie. Alan Rickman is his usual wonderful self, and Ben Affleck delivers one of the greatest monologues I have ever heard on film. There's also a scene where Matt Damon shoots up a corporate boardroom with help from Affleck. Great scene. Seriously, watch the movie.

Thank You For Smoking -- Another intellectual comedy. Every actor in the ensemble (except for that Goddamn, no-talent Katie Holmes!) is a gem, with lead Aaron Eckhardt outshining them all. This is a movie that could make you care about a tobacco lobbyist. Highest recommendation.

Serenity -- If you are unfamiliar with Firefly, the short-lived TV series that spawned Serenity, get off your ass. This is a sci-fi/western with outstanding characterization and a futuristic universe created with dazzling detail. There's no chance of a sequel or a franchise, go get out there and enjoy what we've got!

Pan's Labyrinth -- A true masterpiece. A foreign film that balances the bleak dystopia of Civil War-era Spain with the magic of a fantasy underground that would put Lewis Carrol to shame. Every performance is phenomenal, every effect is eye-popping, every frame is a work of art.

Dark City -- An intellectual sci-fi movie that asks what role our memories play in who we are. If our memories are fake, is our personality similarly a lie? The film is very underrated, with a wonderfully realized world, gorgeous special effects and a plot that keeps you guessing. For extra fun, watch this as a double feature with the original Matrix.

Those are my picks. Find them and enjoy.

Let's just wait until the Tokyo Game Show. Anything could happen then. If there's a better time to start advertising, that would be it. SEGA might even push back the release date some more, preferably December. We just have to sit back and wait. Just be glad Sonic Team is taking more time developing the game rather than hyping it.

Everything in the post sounded great... up until that last sentence.

I don't see why developing and hyping are mutually exclusive. Programming and PR are completely different departments; their work is only interdependent in that advertisers need developers to make stuff to show off. Furthermore, it's not like the programmers have to do the hyping themselves. The director and a few producers might come out to do some promo, but that'd be it.

Still, I agree that right now, the advertising should primarily be done at the gaming conventions. JoD had a hell of a showing at Leipzig and E3, all it needs is to blow our socks off again at TGS and the press machine will be good to go a few weeks afterward.

In the coming age of surrealists and potheads I think NiGHTS has a chance. I mean, look at us. Sure we're longtime NiGHTS fans, but we're also teenagers... well, most of us I assume. We know what's hip. If we think artsy games with flying purple jesters are cool, then what are the chances other teenagers will too? They might be curious.

"Surrealists and potheads?" Hm. Well, I guess that visually speaking, NiGHTS is no less trippy than Teletubbies, H.R. Pufnstuff or any other kid's show or movie you could only appreciate on weed.

As for advertising, I believe SEGA is trying to refrain from hyping this game like they did with Sonic Heroes and Sonic 2006. As a longtime Sonic scener I can tell you that's a good thing. SEGA doesn't want to disappoint this time around so it's only appropriate they keep this game under moderate secrecy... until the ri---ight time.

<.<

>.>

Don't forget Shadow. Sega was shouting about that game to the heavens.

Regarding NiGHTS, I think that the advertising should be directly proportionate to the game's quality. If they hype the game and it turns out to be crap, no one will take Sega's advertising seriously again. If they release the game quietly and it turns out to be great, gamers and critics everywhere will cry out in frustration at Sega. "This game is fantastic!" we'll all cry. "Why the hell didn't you support it enough?" Oh, and the Sega brass will be kicking themselves for not investing enough in the game's press, missing out on several copies sold (trust me, I've seen it happen with Beyond Good & Evil and Psychonauts).

Sega's in a very delicate position right now, reputation-wise. This can only work if NiGHTS is a much-hyped hit or a quietly-released misfire.