Comments 405

Re: Limited Run Games Announces Widespread Delays, Concedes Delivery Dates Were "Too Aggressive" & "Overly Optimistic"

JJtheTexan

Limited Run doesn't need or deserve a defense from me, but I'll offer my two cents anyway. Over the last ten years or so, I've ordered well over 100 games from Limited Run. I've had problems with two orders getting lost. Both were replaced without delay. Customer service has been great.

BUT! No, I don't like the lengthy wait from purchase to shipment. No, I really hate the "FOMO" and "you have 30 days to buy this or it's gone forever, and then you might have to wait a year to actually get it." Frankly, I hate the entire business model.

So why do I keep supporting LRG? Well, because there often wasn't an alternative. I say "wasn't" because more and more LRG releases have eventually found their way to retail.

I have become much, much more selective about what games I buy from LRG now, and I always check with Playasia to see if they're offering a Japanese or SEA alternative (which they often do). Also, as a primarily Nintendo Switch collector, I have watched as Game-Key Cards and other factors have simply made staying active in this side of the hobby no longer worthwhile.

I quit physical retro game collecting years ago because prices got too high. Dumb and bad business practices by publishers and platform holders are pushing me entirely away from collecting modern platform releases as well.

Also if you want to talk about crummy boutique publishers, I have an order with Strictly Limited Games that is approaching FOUR YEARS and they still haven't shipped anything. I email them every few months and they reply promptly and say it's not ready yet. No, I haven't asked for a refund. Sunk cost fallacy, and all that.

Re: "Is This My NES' Final Form?" - Retro Gamer Shows Off The Most Pimped-Out Nintendo Entertainment System You've Ever Seen

JJtheTexan

Exactly! And to be clear, I don't approve of gatekeeping about this sort of thing. If The Handlebar Gamer says it's an NES, that's fine with me! I have no problem with also calling it a "modded NES" or a "reproduced NES" or an "original NES board with mods and a new case." Whatever makes the owner happy! (Just don't try to sell it as a "completely original NES")

Re: "If That Bothers You, I Understand" - Android Devices Get A Nintendo StreetPass Successor, But Of Course There's A Catch

JJtheTexan

@metaphysician the problem with this argument is that no generative AI engine is capable of creating art without first reviewing thousands or millions of examples of human-created art / photography / video, then replicating or simulating it. Generative AI cannot write a novel based on its own experiences. It cannot create an abstract painting from pure imagination. It cannot imagine an entirely-new genre of video game that would be cohesive and enjoyable. It is a machine following complex instructions, and nothing more.

John Searle got it right 46 years ago when he wrote "Minds, Brains, and Programs," the definitive text on the theoretical limits of artificial intelligence. AI can generate a summary of that landmark work, but it cannot and will not ever create something like that on its own.

Re: Arcade-Only Ridge Racer Sequel Rave Racer Is Finally Making Its Home Console Debut, 31 Years On

JJtheTexan

@The_Nintendo_Expat I went back and looked at video of Rage Racer and I thought the same thing. One could make the argument that the original Ridge Racer (PS1) is an expanded / enhanced port of Ridge Racer (arcade), and that therefore Ridge Racer AC never got a home port before Arcade Archives last year.

In any case I am a huge Ridge Racer series fan and extremely pleased to see the original games slowly coming back to modern platforms

Re: The Best Mistake Nintendo Ever Made? Why 2DS Is The Perfect Embodiment Of Gunpei Yokoi's Core Principles

JJtheTexan

This is an excellent assessment. How much more successful would the 3DS have been if it launched as the 2DS (or DS2 or whatever) - no cameras, no 3D, simpler form factor - at a lower introductory price?

A larger model for bigger hands (or a built-in right thumbstick) could have come down a little later, as the console became more established.

The 3DS was not a failure, but it could have been a bigger success at a time Nintendo really needed one.