Karc

I wouldn't count on PS3 games being region-free at all, either. The European push back means Sony could care less about other localizations of PS3 titles for a good long while. And the 90 percent plus drop in profits over the last quarter means Sony is full panic mode. They'll probably need to sue everyone they know just so they can break even with the settlements.

Region-free is more of a retailer thing than a Sony thing. The way I understand it, different regions have different costs for games. So if everything were region-free, customers would natually want to go for the cheapest item available. Especially considering the boom of online buying, it's eaiser to pay 40 bucks for a game in Australia than it would to spend 60 on the same game in America, for example. Or even simpler, once I'm done with a game, I can just mail it to my friend overseas so that he does not have to pay for it. Retailers could support region-free hardware, but they choose not to because this method makes them money. I mean, just think if Final Fantasy 12, for example, was available on a region-free PS2 (it was released months ago in Japan). Lots of people would have already played the game or bought it online, and specifically, not from a retailer. That ticks them off. Now PS1 and PS2 games that are no longer being sold being unplayable on a PS3? Got me there, unless of course, they want gamers to pay up to download it or buy a future PS3 collection. The thought sickens me, really.

Yeah, what's the deal with these restrictions? I can guess the networks fought it, because not letting viewers actually see the end of a good game reeks of arrogance by the NFL, given the loss in ratings. Or maybe the networks did it so the other networks couldn't steal the timeslots or something with an overtime game (like they could actually plan that sort of thing). Again, what gives?

Ah, press conferences. Still the number one source for all of the bullshit you'll ever need to hear. They're already doing damage control on this one too, amazing.

If these games were actually good, I'd agree with the thread title. But these are cheap tie-ins, nothing more.

Third-party publishers make FAR more money going multiplatform than exclusive. Of course Square wants their games to be everywhere. The only reasons they won't when the exclusive company buys the license outright for an insane amount of money, or the publisher knows that the game won't make a profit on a console. Most of the time, a game can be ported with relative ease, even with a different controller (Wii) or a different software (PS3).

The "Spider-Man" font is a Sony trademark. End of story. The American PS3 price is not going down despite the cries of many potential customers. The problem is that these customers assume that Sony is listening to them. Sony has NEVER needed to listen to them, but they do pay attention to the retailers. The electronics stores and the video game stores who know that their core demographic likes to bitch and moan about a 600 dollar system, only to hope no one else will touch it after that rant and then sneak off to the store on midnight of release.

The last Angle match I saw was Angle vs. Lesnar at WM 19. I felt that was when Angle should have retired (because of the neck injury the month before), and I stand by that. Angle killing himself for the last three years has been interesting to read about, though. This, I don't care. TNA couldn't handle Sting or Christian, and they are heading for a freefall with Russo. I have no reason to believe Angle will be productive to them. On the bright side, however, this is the first time in two years I've posted in the TNA thread. Um, huzzah?

The Class has a good premise and I liked a couple characters but it really felt forced and I don't know if it really has the ability to step away from the obvious Friends comparisons. Blame the network. That's the way they've been selling the show the entire summer, so it seems obvious that's where they want to go. As for what I watch, it's the Price is Right, and only the Price is Right. Working 10 hours at night pretty much eliminates all primetime for me.

Wow, this is cool. I didn't think WWE was petty enough to be trying to beat UFC in the ratings that mean nothing (since WWE gets no money from ads now) when they should more concerned with UFC kicking their ass in PPV buyrates. WWE would rather win a battle with NO money involved than winning the one with ALL of the money involved. That's WWE logic at its best. Besides, without Trish there, this is going to be a trainwreck of a segment anyway. And isn't there a little project called ECW that has to force fed to the WWE audience that night?

I'm dead serious. I don't understand wrestling, I'm not a wrestling fan. Why were they expecting a lower rating? Why are they content that the rating keeps dropping week after week? I need a remedial guide to this stuff, because I can't see it.

The rating was a 1.9 according to Da Meltz. I think I can explain it. No Kelly Kelly, right? Wait, I know, it was Labor Day weekend, just like the last rating under 2.0 was on Indy Day. What do you mean it's NEXT Monday...? Ok, maybe it was the internet fanbase finding out Angle got fired, and left the show in protest. Wait, that makes no sense, since WWE publicly fired him on their website. Maybe it's because Sci-Fi fans were subjected to 2 nights of "sports entertainment," instead of, I don't know, science fiction. Anyone else got any ideas? I'm serious, too.

I don't start threads for Raw/Smackdown/ECW more than a day before the show airs. You started the OAO ECW Week 10 thread on August 10, 2006. The show was on August 15, 2006. I think that is about five days. The search function is awesome, just saying. Then again it was only two weeks ago.

This is why I say that anyone who started watching WWE after 2000 is never going to get this angle, and it's not their fault. WWE has done it well before, but that was before they started things like the Diva Search and the bodybuilding prerequisites for their hiring practices. A storyline like this literally cannot be done in today's WWE, because they hire people who are the total opposite of the roles they need. You can't hire 20-25 year old model blonds for lesbian angles and then expect them to have a serious acting bug. Stereotypes aside, people don't get to where they are in life without having a certain method to things. Beautiful women who are great actors don't go to WWE, simple as that. Why WWE thinks they should after the shit they have pulled is beyond me. The reason people see it as a sex angle is because WWE makes it a sex angle from day one with who they hire. Serioulsy, who else on the roster could have played the role of Mick Foley without having it be a sex angle? Carlito and Trish, sex angle. Edge and Lita, sex. Booker and Sharmell, greed and sex. They couldn't get a classy woman to do the woman's role, so we get a slut. The only one who could have made it work was Trish (whose done some slutty things over the years), but she has to be buried hard before she leaves. It's a nasty facade that bit them in the ass tonight, at least for me personally. It showed me that WWE lost their copy of Pro Wrestling 101, again. That, and the disturbing fact that most of the advertised wrestlers on that card have wrestled on TV for more than 10 years. New stars, my ass.

That's pretty much my understanding of the storyline. It's not a love story or a slut story like every other WWE angle (which is just more evidence to me that Foley wrote this himself), it's a guy trying to redeem himself. Only two things bothered me to the point where I still did not care. 1. They used Melina as the woman. I can't stand Melina on TV, at ALL. 2. Anyone who became a WWE fan after 2000 is not going to get that storyline, at ALL. I mean, seriously, this angle takes thought to understand. Not a lot of it, but more than is given by Carlito and Trish, for example. Foley has to explain this tomorrow night, with the Stryker chalkboard, preferably. I mean, some of the youngin' Cena tools might need some pictures. As for the rest of the card, it's clear that this is the annual WWE mood swing of "let's fuck the fans in the worst way imaginable to amuse ourselves." WWE logic at its finest having two different endings to the same finish in the title matches. That was funny to watch.

The second movie made less sense than the first. The violence was completely unnecessary (except for T'Chaka's death), and there was little storytelling. I think Pym died of a stroke, at least that was the worry about the size change. So he'd be brain dead at that point. IM's heart simply stopped though, so he could be revived before his brain went kaput. And Avi Arad doesn't fool me. Of course he wants something that can't be done in live action. It'd cost too much. I give more credit to the producers for not caving in and making it a CG crapfest.

Can someone explain to me the point of Mickie James jobbing in her hometown? Was she set up to be the hometown face so WWE can fuck the fans and give Edge heat? Is she still a heel? Why is Lita champion when she's "leaving?"

I'm calling it now. Trish is jobbing in her last match in her hometown just so WWE can piss everyone off.

Nothing says ECW like a typical 15-minute WWE main event match with 2 guys who were never in ECW to begin with (Undertaker and Big Show). It's obvious to me at this point that Vince is desperate.

Why must Triple H always do this? Seriously, Eugene and The Squad, that's six guys who could have meant something until they were squashed.

Wow, I never thought of this thing as racist. I thought the white chick just wanted to have sex with the black guy. It's rather romantic, if you think about it.

You do realize that it was the 4th of July right? Who's at home watching wrestling? Somehow I don't think that's going to matter. It's a valid point, but it's not going to matter. We know RVD's not showing up for the next three shows (and he was the top "star"), and getting busted for pot was a bigger story than jobbing two belts in two nights. Well, if anything, and if you're right, then I guess some wrestling fans do have lives. That's a good thing in the end.

Surprisingly well? Yeah, I guess a drop from a 3.2 to a 1.5 in three weeks is surprisingly well, if you're Vince McMahon. Only took him a month to lose half of his audience this time. That's gotta be a record. Last time I saw a drop of over half the wrestling audience was, let me think.... Oh right, the Invasion.

If Trish doesn't come back, I'll have no reason to care about WWE anymore. So hurry up and quit Trish.

I was hoping that the two would get fired immediately and thus save their careers. But as usual, WWE will bury them hard before axing them so they can't draw anywhere else.