owlmoose | Tidbits

-- Linking to this rundown on the best games of all time mostly because it refers to The Legend of Zelda as "the Citizen Kane of videogames." I still need to play this game. Zelda for the Wii is high on my list of games to get, but I wonder if I should pick up some of the older titles as well.

-- Also interesting to note from that list: Final Fantasy III (for Super NES; does that mean something different than FFIII means to us now?) is the title from that series they chose. Another game I haven't played; assuming it's the same game, I might try the DS version, if I ever get around to buying a DS.

-- In the more recent gaming arena, as I was walking to the train this morning, it occurred to me that, of all the major male characters in FFX and FFX-2, the only ones without ear piercings are Auron and Baralai. Does it have something to do with their connection to Yevon? Auron was a warrior monk, Baralai was a priest. None of the other men were tied that closely to the temples. I would need to run through and look at more of the minor characters to say for sure, though. Anyone else noticed this?

-- Moving away from games and into fandom at large, even some non-fandom people have probably heard about the lawsuit that JK Rowling and Warner Brothers have filed against the publication of an unauthorized Potterverse encyclopedia, based on the popular HP Lexicon site. I'm a little surprised about the media's rush to embrace the fan and dismiss JKR and the WB as greedy -- usually, fandom is treated dismissively by the mainstream media. To compound my surprise, this time I happen to think the fan, and especially his publisher, are likely in the wrong. HP fan and lawyer

praetorianguard has published several great posts explaining the case from a legal point of view, and in her most recent, she gets into how this case could severely damage fandom if the defense wins. Yes, that's right: the defense. Because the defense's main claim seems to be that JKR allowed the site's creator to post the content on the website, praising the site in interviews and such, which should give him the right to do whatever he likes with it. Imagine the implications for fansites and fanfic if this argument stands up in a court of law. Many, many copyright holders have been "live and let live" about fan activity up until now, but if tolerating it leads to the risk of them losing their copyright, what do you think would happen? Yeah.

-- I haven't posted about the oil spill in the SF bay because it's just too darn depressing. At least I can't smell the oil slick from my house; apparently people only a few blocks north of here have been able to. Maybe I'll deal with that topic another day.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

FF3 for the SNES = FFVI, using original Japanese numbers. It is not the same as FF3j (NES) which was re-released on DS. I would say that FF3a/FF6 is hands-down my favourite video game of all time, and as much as I love and obsess over and cling like a limpet to FF12, even that never toppled 6 as my favourite. I recommend INCREDIBLY strongly that you play it ASAP. It's out on the GBA. (If the FF4 DS remake is any indication, it may be forthcoming in remake form. Also, play FF4. SO MUCH AWESOME.)

....Uh, I'm done evangelizing, now. >_>;

Ah.

So I guess then I have to admit that I have FFVI *in my house* (the FF Anthology version) and have for several years and we started playing it two separate times but both times T got impatient with it so we never got very far.

I mean to play it eventually! I really do. Maybe I should give up on getting T on board and just play it myself.... ;) I can't do the GBA version -- small hand-held devices trigger my RSI problems. (I think I can do the DS because it's larger, and the stylus may also help.)

Unfortunately, the stylus doesn't work for FF6Advance because it is designed as a GBA game. I actually recommend playing it on the Advance way over the Anthology variation, because Anthology has heinous slowdown and is lame - I'd score the PSX port as a C-. They tried to fix translation errors from the SNES version, and got a few of them, but also broke things that were correct before. (The FF4 port to the PSX, FF Chronicles, was FAR superior and only lagged during the final battle when there's a moving background. A+!)

It is possible to play the DS with it sat on your desk and the upper screen canted at an angle so that you don't have to actually hold it. I've done it this way (since I, too, have RSI) and it's possible, if slightly clumsy. The DS - at least, the older huge grey one that I have - is not well-designed for ergonomics, but I've had some luck sitting in bed (or lengthwise on the couch) with my back propped up so my back and legs would be at roughly a 120-degree angle to each other, and then drawing my knees up and resting the weight of the DS against my legs, and just using my hands to direct the DS. I don't know if that would help you at all. :)

I have monster paragraphs today!

So you can play GBA games on a DS? I didn't realize that. This may change some things.... Hmm.

Thanks for the pimping, and advice, and icon love. ;) I'll definitely think about it!

That's part of the joy of the DS, is that it is backwards compatible for GBA games. The "new" DS (DS Lite) is far more ergonomically designed than the old one, and is about 30% lighter, so that should help with your RSI as well.

I am totally not on a fandom crusade to get everyone I know who's a good writer into FF6 fandom. Not me. *straightens halo to hide horns and tucks pointy tail out of sight under white robes*

Also: cutest icon evars.

To clarify the FFIII thing.

The numbering on the Final Fantasies before VII are messed up.

Final Fantasy VI was originally released in the U.S. Final Fantasy III. So chances are the article refers to FF6 and not FF3.

Don't know if that clears things up or muddles things more.

I knew there was some numbering thing, which is why I wondered which game it actually was. I think you're right -- I've heard a lot more about FF6 being exciting and groundbreaking than I have about FF3.

Thanks! :)

I was wondering whether the latest kerfluffle from my crazy little fandom had penetrated into the rest of the interwebs..... :D

And you've really zoomed right in on what's most relevant for the pan-fandom community. If a judge were somehow to rule that JKR sacrificed her copyright to Harry Potter, and gave up her ability to regulate the publication of a for-profit book that appropriates a lot of her material, simply by not suing a free website — well, every company would sue every fannish web site in existence to safeguard their own interests.

Fortunately for us I think the odds of this being the legal decision are pretty miniscule!

I have been a little surprised to see a number of non-fandom blogs coming down against Rowling. But to be honest, they seem usually to have an agenda and a preferred story that blocks them from actually paying attention to what's really going on — from a simple "the richest person is always wrong" prejudice to a neo-maxi-zoom-all-information-must-be-free!! true believer.

The best part of the whole thing has been the statements from Vander Ark's publisher, which couldn't have been funnier if they were trying. Did you catch all that? Comparing cease and desist orders to the atomic bombings of Japan, saying they weren't in it for the money, they were in it to bring Harry Potter information to impoverished third world children.... I think I collected a bunch of them in my journal post.

Oh, I've been following along since the day it hit Fandom Wank. ;) It's rare for me to be glued to FW, but this time I haven't been able to look away. I tell myself that it's professional interest in copyright and the publication of reference books (and I'm sure you know that Steve Vander Ark is also a librarian by profession), but part of me is totally fascinated by all the crazy.

Fortunately for us I think the odds of this being the legal decision are pretty miniscule!

I agree. I wonder, though, whether there won't be moderate chilling effects regardless, along the lines of the chilling effects the Marion Zimmer Bradley case had for fic.

So, do *you* think The Legend of Zelda is the Citizen Kane of videogames?

I tell myself that it's professional interest in copyright and the publication of reference books

It's that too! That's what was so great about this story — it had it all, from interesting intellectual ramifications to high comedy to.... other things.

(and I'm sure you know that Steve Vander Ark is also a librarian by profession

Yeah. Was, past tense, a librarian, from what I understand. He's been through a lot of interesting life changes lately.

I should probably stop making poorly-veiled allusions to Steve's tawdry personal life, but it's so hard to resist!

So, do *you* think The Legend of Zelda is the Citizen Kane of videogames?

Well to be honest Twilight Princess was the only one I ever played, which probably makes me a bad gamer. So I can't really speak to its historical context. But TP for Wii was great! I think you'd enjoy it. More action than RPG, but really beautiful and a lot of fun.

Are you gonna get your Super Mario Galaxy on? I get a whole week off for Thanksgiving, soooo..... ;)

Are you gonna get your Super Mario Galaxy on?

Eventually, probably. Zelda is first, though, and T wants to finish Okami before we start anything new, and I also keep being tempted by the DS. So I'm not sure what the game schedule looks like, just now. :)

I should probably stop making poorly-veiled allusions to Steve's tawdry personal life, but it's so hard to resist!

Well, naturally, he makes it so easy....

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