Fiefdom

Bloody hell you people have a lot of faith in the US education system. Having a tutor means that he can cover the same material without having to 'learn' at the rate of the slowest student in each of his classes. I'm sure that anyone who learned a language either by himself or with a tutor, or learned how to program by reading tutorials and other programs, or delved further into calculus than most schools would provide for, or has succeeded at a sport with a coach, or whatever, without half-assing it, can attest to greater success than one would have experienced relying on a school regiment. Unless he, or his tutor, are rubbish at academics, then he won't be inherently disadvantaged in any respect. Before college, it is a decent scholarly record and the stamped slip of paper he gets when he graduates that he needs to go forwards in life, regardless of whether or not he obtains them through a school.

The fact that this student spends his now more bountiful free time playing Guitar Hero is irrelevant if it doesn't too much detract from his studies. It is those of you who believe you must go through a regimented program to go forwards in life who will have no peculiar or outstanding qualification to do anything more than anyone else who has also gone through a similar program. School is a waste of time for those who have access to a superior method of study, either through a tutor, one's parents, or by oneself; I wouldn't be surprised if someone else here who had to sit through the jokes that are foreign language and AP classes agrees that such time could have been better spent on a less bureaucrat pursuit.

It's the piece of paper at the end that's important. If he gets that, then he's no worse off than anyone else. If anything, his hand-eye coordination will be far superior to that of those who stare wide-eyed on front of the television doing absolutely nothing. Judging from a part of the article that many of you neglected, "Blake is happy with his success. Mom and Dad are happy with his grades. Since he's gone to the tutoring arrangement, she hasn't once had to tell him to do his homework, because he does it on his own," he isn't in a horrible position. At least he has the motivation to pursue SOMETHING.

Fun times: "even if he is being tutored on the side (which you know isn't as intense a study as being taught by 8 teachers in 8 classes. He will take longer to graduate)." Hahahahahaha, no.

And this: "One thing about gamers, they're easily replaced by others quickly who are better. If you want proof of this, go on online leader boards and watch how fast the people in the 10 ten get replaced all the time." They get replaced by each other. Look at the rankings of Olympic athletes. Hell, look at the rankings of professional StarCraft players in Korea. They move around all the time but they all have the potential to be very near the top at some point and they all hover in a a very elite group.

... : "I'm a software engineer (second year) and making much more than this kid ever will at a tournament." If you fail or can't support yourself, you will be forced to do something else. Likewise, if this kid fails or can't support himself, he will be forced to do something else. The only difference is he's younger than you are.

... : "There are plenty of good christian schools." I believe the complaint was that that particular school was disagreeable. Just because someone doesn't subscribe to religious fanaticism doesn't mean he isn't an intelligent member of a religious community.

... : "Wow!, since 2005 Terry15 has made close to 25,000 dollars. that almost like $750 a month. Way to go winner!" You think these people lack jobs on the side? They're doing what they enjoy doing, not what will necessarily make them huge amounts of money. It's the exact same thing as anyone striving to become a professional athlete. Sooner or later they either succeed or they do something else.

What's shown is the trailer for the first DJ Max Portable in Korea. I was also confused by the video but a quick search reveals that there are multiple recent articles suggesting a North American release. Presumably the trailer for the first PSP version of the game was put up as an example representation because there isn't a trailer for the North American version of which I am aware.

I already own both of the released versions because I never expected a North American release to actually materialize. T_T I lvoe the games though, so I'll probably get this one anyways.

Have you ever played Ikaruga, or any other decent shmup? The mechanics are generally simple but the gameplay itself is not. Tennis, golf, and many other sports have very simple rules but are not inherently easy to play well. You underestimate the genre as much as you are biased against FPS games.

Has anyone else noticed that comments seem to disappear and reappear randomly upon refreshing the page? I have to post multiple times before a comment shows up and I'm unsure as to whether the fault is at my end or that of the website.

Does hard-core gaming necessarily revolve around titles focused on violence? I'm not entirely sure what the term is meant to describe, I think it has a broader reach than most people assume. There are multiple branches outside the realm of casual players. I cannot see many people who take gaming as a very light hobby pushing their way through Resident Evil (or Fatal Frame), practicing enough to get past the first couple levels in Ikaruga, beating an RPG or strategy game that requires at least forty hours to complete, or playing StarCraft every day on competitive ladders.

I consider myself a hard-core gamer in that I do not play many titles which are considered casual. I like shmups and I like long games with detailed storylines. I also like challenging games in general, but I'm not attracted to FPS titles or primarily violent games. I was iffy about playing Resident Evil 4 and I own Halo only because I found the PC version for less than $10 at a Wal-Mart and I figured that I should at least give it a try. I'd much prefer to play Fire Emblem or a visual novel over a GTA game.

I think some people don't like the pace of Fatal Frame not because of any kind of elitism in regard to their gaming interests, but because they are genuinely not interested in slower games. I'm under the impression that there a number of people who played and loved Resident Evil 4 but haven't expressed much of an interest in playing any of the earlier Resident Evil titles. I'm sure there's plenty of people who would prefer Resident Evil 5 over Fatal Frame just there are sure to be many people who feel the opposite (I'm a part of this latter group, even though I have a PS3 I'll opt for Valkyria Chonicles over Resident Evil 5). There's a lot of different interests between gamers. A lot of my friends have no idea what the majority of games on my game shelf are (games from Atlus, Nippon Ichi, Key, some of Namco's Tales series, etcetera) just as I'm unfamiliar with many of their favored games (Hitman, Elder Scrolls, Splinter Cell, and some other titles I can't remember the names of). You couldn't accurately refer to any of us casual gamers despite the huge gap in our interests.

I don't see a problem with a number of people not liking games such as Fatal Frame as long as it doesn't result in those kinds of games being canceled. I'm most probably a kind of minority (I don't think Nippon Ichi's titles sell as well as Bungie's), but there's enough people who share my interests to make these markets perfectly viable (ignoring the visual novels, haha). I was looking forward to learning more about Day of Disaster, I'm content with Fatal Frame IV.

La Pucelle Tactics was fun. :)

I also don't sell any of my games. I usually end up liking the majority of the games I buy. My little brother plays some of the games I don't like anymore, but a number of them have nostalgic value. I am one of those people who doesn't like to get rid of things, but I do revisit games that I really enjoyed and I sometimes do go back to games I haven't really played. I had Resident Evil 4 for two years before I touched it, I didn't play the first Phoenix Wright until this year, and I'm still playing through the GBA version of Riviera.

I still play Pokemon Yellow on plane flights and long car or bus journeys, heh. It's a lot of fun to go back to games I used to enjoy for one reason or another. The first two Pokemon generations, the Legend of Zelda series, Fire Emblem, Nippon Ichi's weird tactic games, and a whole bunch of other titles are a part of my growing up and I like going back to them even if I've already beaten them.

I used to lend games to friends but I found that most people don't bother to avoid damaging the disc or case and are horrible at returning games at a specified date. My Dad is the only person who I trust with my games now (aside from my little brother who I supervise while he plays).

Heh, I bet my little brother and I will have a great time playing this game. The more I learn about this game the more fun it looks to play.

That was fun to watch. :) I'm really looking forward to this game.

GameStop so often invents release dates that I wonder if anyone has tried to pursue legal action regarding their being intentionally misleading. I personally wouldn't be surprised if the date is later found fallacious.

This may or may not be related, but would a release in the first two thirds of December be considered a winter release even though it would technically not yet be winter?