Thaddeus McMonster

Sophie,

The numbers are easy to read, once you know what they are. The first number is the number of systems sold in Japan in that week. The arrow is whether the system sold more or less than it did last week. The second number is the amount that it changed by. The percent is the percent that it changed by. So, for instance, the Wii sold 195,331 consoles last week, which is 168,659 more than last week, an increase of 102.77%.

Is this just for Japan, or is it worldwide?

If its for Japan only, I'm going to guess the DS will outsell the PS3 by a 2.97 to 1 ratio.

"Joystiq, if you're hiring, think about ThaddeusMcMonster, he seems to be able to pull off a coherent review..."

And I never even play the game!

"What the hell kind of criticism is it to say "if you enjoy RPG's, you'll enjoy this game"?"

It's obvious that you disagree with me on this, and if you want to say the paramont purpose of a review is to give the critics opinion of the game (or movie/book/etc), then go ahead. But you'll have to agree that isn't the whole purpose, that a critic should defend or at least explain his opinion. The 1up review clearly doesn't do this, the critic basically states his opinion again and again over a few paragraphs. Are you going to try and tell me that was a good review? As Roger Ebert said "Even when a critic dislikes a movie, if it's a good review, it has enough information so you can figure out whether you'd like it, anyway."

"If that's his opinion let him have it, brown nosing be damned."

Believe it or not, the purpose of a review isn't to state the writers opinion of it. Everybody has an opinion on just about everything. Not everybody is a paid critic. The purpose of a review is to help the reader decide whether or not the game (or movie/book/whatever) will be enjoyable. Granted, the critics opinion will certainly factor into his review, but there's more to a review than an opinion.

Take this reivew that I just wrote up:

"The premise of NWN2 is much the same as the original, make a computer RPG with the rules of Dungeons and Dragons. While the game manages to include just about every piece of D&D, including all the feats, spells, races, classes, and items you could want, it lacks other qualities that a good RPG should have. The characters are one dimensional, and the storyline is forgetable, with one hackneyed plot point after another.

The entire game seems to suffer from too many rules. Every rule was imported from D&D, without thought to whether this rule makes the computer version better or worse. Of course, that is pretty much the premise of the game, but after being surrounded by the endless stats, equations and numbers, one has to question whether the premise is any good at all. In pencil and paper, those stats help immerse you in the world, you have to know how powerful spells and weapons are, and how feats and abilities work. With a computer game, the computer can do those things for you. Thus, a feature that helped create a sense of immersion in pencil and paper, detracts from it in the computer version.

The levels feel quite small, compared to games such as Oblivion they seem almost pint-sized. The dungeons are almost linear, and instead of interesting concepts we get monsters behind every door. The NPC's just wait around for you to interact with them, they don't go about any daily routine or have the appearance of a life of their own. Granted, this has been standard fare for RPGs for quite some time now, but things are changing, and the gameplay concept feels old.


OK, so its a bit unfair to compare this to Oblivion, Oblivion broke new ground for RPGs, and a game doesn't have to be completely innovative to be good. However, NWN2 doesn't brake any new ground, its simply NWN with more monsters items spells etc, prettier graphics and a new interface.

For those of you who simply want a Never Winter Nights with more stuff, get this game, you'll love it. For those of you who don't care about D&D rules, and simply want an interesting or immersive RPG, pass on this one.

Bottom line, 5/10. You can make an intersting, immersize RPG with D&D rules, just look at Baldur's Gate 2. NWN2, however, is neither interesting or immersize."

That is, IMHO, a much better review. It presents the point the critic was trying to make in the original review in a balanced manner, and doesn't use any annoying phrases and or stream of conciousness ramblings.

>, If Nintendo has been completely irrelevant for the past 10 years, what was Sony before the PS1? (Or MS before the Xbox)? Whether or not nintendo has been irrelevant isn't the issue, companies can come out of nowhere to lead the market, Sony did it, (and Nintendo pretty much did it too, with the NES).

Main Entry: too
Pronunciation: 'tü
Function: adverb
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English tO to, too -- more at TO
1 : BESIDES, ALSO
2 a : to an excessive degree : EXCESSIVELY b : to such a degree as to be regrettable c : VERY
3 : SO 2d