Jace Bartet

I would show it to the one friend I have who would care.

He should shave his eyebrows and keep the mustache.

Not before he trims that semi-mullet.

@Atlantis1982: Surprised? How many respondents do you think EVER read and reply to more than just the headline? I think people are more likely to respond to other comments than to any actual article, on any site, ever.

This, if in fact true, is very frustrating, primarily because there is nothing illegal about the supposed "preponderance" of references to other music in the soundtrack. The closest thing to something iffy is the use of a brief Ric Ocasek sample, and even that would pass parts 3 and 4 of the U.S.'s fair use doctrine (section 107 of our copyright law) with flying colors (all 4 points are negotiable). Remember, Earthbound was published in North America in 1995. After 14 years of non-litigation, Ocasek would be ballsy and hard-pressed to show that, now, suddenly, the artistically altered, miniscule 4-5 second sample of a non-melodic part of one of his songs featured in Earthbound has caused significant detriment to his ability to profit from the work in question. Far more egregious samples in pop music, film, and television have flourished without challenge in our culture.

And all of the supposed Beatles "infringements" I've been reading about are absolute pretense. At worst, some things that are described in the lyrics of Beatles songs may have influenced characters or events in Earthbound, but even so, that would be nowhere near anything illegal. It's not illegal to take influence from something. I have not heard any convincing example of any Beatles music being "lifted" for use in Earthbound.

I don't buy this excuse.

Why yes, MowDownJoe, that's what I was acknowledging when I said:
"Of course, this is highly simplified, because I'm not taking into account great budget titles like Zack & Wiki or Blast Works."

"You don't buy the games to get the swag, you get the swag for buying the games."

I understand what you mean, but this is like saying that they're offering the Club Nintendo program just because they are cool, nice, generous people. While Nintendo makes some incredible products, following the video game industry in general over the past couple of decades has lead me to believe that Nintendo is not a company of cool, nice, generous people. It is a company of a few creative people mixed with shrewd businessmen and an effective marketing department. They would not "reward" loyalty if they didn't have reason to believe that doing so would result in even greater overall profits.

Jenny Lee, I am 100% not following you. Nintendo's FAQ regarding Club Nintendo has the following breakdown:

Wii games = 50 Coins
Nintendo DS games = 30 Coins
Wii Shop Channel games and Wii Channels = 10 Coins

Math was never my best subject, but here's the math that I did: One new Wii game costs about $50. One Wii game is worth 50 CN Coins. I'm clearly missing something that you are not, or something, because this looks like a pretty clear 1:1 ratio. In order to earn 300 Coins, I would have to buy approximately six Wii Games. Of course, this is highly simplified, because I'm not taking into account great budget titles like Zack & Wiki or Blast Works. Anyway, back to the scenario. Six top-shelf Wii Games will set me back about $300. So going back to the apparent 1:1 ratio, 300 Coins = about $300? I'm not trying to be a jerk, and maybe I'm just making myself look even more like an idiot, but I have no idea where you are getting the data for this math you told me you weren't going to do. I never said anything about getting "an entire second game" of any price. I'm just trying to process what you suggest, that if a Wii game = 50 Coins, and if a Wii game = $50, then 50 Coins = $6.25. Like I said, I must be missing something, because that looks like a totally arbitrary number. I'm taking into account the fact that this whole discussion is rather pedantic, and that obviously Club Nintendo Coins have no literal monetary value. But they do have a representative value, and that's what's important here; not whether or not a Coin actually is a dollar, but that it could be said to represent a dollar, and that Nintendo has a lot to gain by giving you an item with a probable real-world value of $20-$30 (like the Game & Watch DS collection) as a "bonus" for spending $800 on their retail merchandise.

All of that stuff is really cool, but I can't but help associate a dollar value to these "Coins." If a Wii game = 50 coins (and it does), then that's basically like saying 1 coin = 1 dollar. So then we're kind of talking about a $300 Wii Remote holder, or an $800 Game & Watch Collection. I understand that it's supposed to be "rewards," but I'd really rather just have the option to buy the swag at a reasonable MSRP than have to buy 8-10 Wii Games to get a nifty trinket.

I'm still hoping that some smarty pants out there will figure out how to do the opposite (Classic Controller support for Gamecube games).

I'm thankful for Iku Mizutani compositions.