We shouldn't stop people from jailbreaking if it doesn't infringe our own rights!

I think we are at a sort of impasse: how to respond to such things as piracy and jailbreaking and such.

I’ve been called every derogatory thing because of pure speculation as to where my stance actually is on this issue. If you care about little else than to defend your favorite gaming company like some kind of blind fanboy, then I suggest that you turn back now, because I’m not going to validate anyone’s POV just because they want me to. I’ve never done that before, and I am not about to. I meant what I said back in 2008 about Microsoft, and I’ve done so now.

What I will do, however, is to clarify as to what my stance is on this. This may be a little long, so those that are going to do the TL;DR spiel can leave now, too.

For one, what sparked this is someone complaining about an ad that appeared on N4G that had something to do with pirated PS3 games. As I have ABP installed on Firefox, I have yet to see this ad, but while N4G is responsible for a lot of the bad things that happen on this site (with the whole “kill all the hackers” being one of them), they are not here. This is because the advertising agency responsible for the ads is a third party. They choose what to run. Of course, once found, N4G can tell them not to, but they cannot be aware of every single ad. That’s outside their immediate control.

As for the ad itself, I understand the site’s general stance on piracy. That goes without saying. However, those that take an anti-piracy stance just because of blind fanboyism (or those that side with those like Hotz and Anonymous for the same reason) are doing it wrong.

I took Hotz’ side on the CFW issue, and did not regret it in the slightest. Hell, I was even one of them that donated to him (five bucks). This is because of my stance.

What is it? It is that, as long as it does not infringe on anyone else’s ability to enjoy their system the way they want to, and as long as you don’t hurt their right, they should be able to enjoy their system however they please. If you want to install CFW onto your PS3 to play homebrew games (whatever your definition of that may be), then be my guest. You’re not stopping me from playing Gran Turismo 5 in any way. Hell, if you find a good HB game that you think I should play, then by all means, convince me to convert to the dark side for that one. There SHOULD be competition in the gaming industry, and Sony should not be scared of the homebrew community (and yes, PS3 homebrew games do exist. Just use Google and stop being lazy). Hell, even if it is a SNES emulator you’re playing with, I don’t care (hell, who HASN’T used SNES9x or MAME?). As long as you’re not infringing on my right to do what I want to do, and as long as I’m not trying to stop you from having your fun, then why should I stop you?

It’s obvious that homebrew has not hurt Nintendo’s bottom dollar, so I’m not sure why one site claimed that Sony SHOULD stop people from playing homebrew games on the PS3. If you are allowed to play them on the PC, then why should you stop them from playing them on the PS3?

I’m not saying you should be allowed to cheat online and screw up player rankings, or that someone should be allowed to access personal information about you that can be used for identity theft, or anything like that. People try to equate one with the other because they know that if they do that, they have the excuse to blindly follow whoever it is that is saying that you shouldn’t be allowed to do such things. They would never have to actually explain what is so wrong. All you have to do is scream “piracy”, and they will rush to your defense before they even know what the subject actually is. Hell, why should they care? They’re only blind fanboys! Why do they even NEED a reason to follow you?

But not everyone who is anti-piracy is so because they are blind fanboys. That’s another way of confusing the issue to benefit their point of view because of their insecurity of being able to validate their POV with actual facts. If you call out either them or their savior company, you’re playing for the other side, and no opposing POV is safe, civil or otherwise. Neither are those that would support Hotz’ POV. You think he was trying to enable piracy and cheating? How do you know that he was or wasn’t? He said he wasn’t, and there was nothing actually proven one way or another.

So this is where I am at on this issue: if I were to install CFW on my PS3 and never again take it online at all, and then install something from PS3 Homebrew on my PS3 (or, GASP, install Linux on my PS3), but never touch PSN on that PS3 again, does that stop you from doing anything you want to do on your PS3? Does that constitute piracy on my end? How does that hurt you or Sony? I’m not trying to be a smart ass. I’m just asking legitimate questions that the blind fanboys seem unwilling to answer in a civil way, if in any way. Hell, even IF I install SNES9x on it and play Super Mario World on it, is that something that stops you from enjoying your games in any way (and think about how you answer that, too)?

I ask this because this site is getting things completely confused. The blind fanboys are trying to confuse things because they WANT us to think the way they do, and the rest of the site seems to just go with it. I wouldn’t be as upset about it if it wasn’t so many of us doing this, but unfortunately, there is that many unwilling to stop taking things so personally.

I disapproved of HipHopGamer’s way of showing that he disagreed with Hotz’. Seriously, HHG, you resort to a rap like THAT just because Sony was the target? I thought of you better than to resort to cheap…oh, wait: “Uncharted 3 coming to 360!” My bad, you WOULD resort to cheap shots against Hotz (after all, that’s how you’ve built most of your career). Then again, you weren’t alone: the name calling started here, as well as the “kill that f**k” BS began there, too. So why am I just blaming you for acting like some hysteric, blind fanboy?

A day or so ago, there was a Bitmob parody article saying that the author was who brought down PSN because he accidently slept on the PS button on his controller. Of course, it was meant as a joke to be funny. However, the amount of people willing to bash it because they didn’t find it funny was outlandish. It was as if the article hurt their feelings. They took it too seriously and/or too personally, and went so far as to judge the type of people that WOULD find it funny. The Bitmob article did one thing successfully, if nothing else: shown us just how much we have been overreacting about anything regarding the PSN issue. The reactions to it on this site prove to me that they were hurt that they got exposed. Of course, they were exposed before when they cheered Anonymous being hacked! That showed me the real reason they were against Anonymous and Hotz: they drank Sony’s milkshake!

Note that while I don’t condone how Anonymous went about proving their point (anyone who thinks I did is an idiot), I can see what their reasons were: to show Sony that they were upset about their stubborn stance on whatever it is they are trying to prevent. To be honest, I’m not sure if I would want Anonymous’ help, but seeing as how they’ve been on the right side of certain fights (their fight on Fred Phelps comes to mind), it’s hard to not at least consider the offer if you're with a similar stance as mine.

Again, I’m not saying that we should suddenly condone piracy and cheating. I’m saying that as long as it doesn’t hurt me or you, then why should I be that concerned about stopping you from doing whatever it is with your system you want to do? YOU bought it, and it’s in YOUR house, hooked up to YOUR television set. Why should I care if you want to play that homebrew game on your PS3? I’m able to separate the good from the bad. I don’t know why no one else on this site can, but I am able to do so.

Hell, I’m not even sure why people are bitching about the OtherOS lawsuit. Sony told those people that they wouldn’t touch it, but they did, and then possibly lied about why they did it (playing the piracy card in the means of garnering support for the removal when that was not the real reason). There are people on this site that are saying “well, no one used it”. Sony felt enough people used it to make such a guarantee, and plus, if you didn’t care about it, then why do you care enough to make the proclamation that it shouldn’t be reinstated. You didn’t care that it was on there before, yet you’re damn sure wanting Sony to fight to make sure it stays off your system. Again, “I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE”!

So yeah, that’s my stance. The TL;DR version of it is this: I am not against fighting piracy as long as we know that there are several interpretations as to what piracy even is, I am against stopping people from doing things that they do in the privacy of their homes when it does nothing to infringe on our right to do anything we want to do, I don’t know why we have to prove everyone right about this site’s “fanboy cess pool”, why we didn’t care before but we do now, or why we are constantly unable to separate one argument from the other, or why we have to take everything so personally and fuel the hysteria constantly.

E3 2011: Predictions

After cherry picking the internet for gossip and rumours regarding the upcoming E3 event, the biggest in the video game calendar, E3 2011 could be the best ever produced or give gamers the greatest underwhelming experience since the Panasonic 3D0.

Personal feelings regarding hype always involve a note of caution, in that way I never feel a overwhelming sense of frustration although I admit at times it's hard to control depending on the subject matter. E3 is a personal favourite of mine, one I look forward to every year, however giving the recent examples of people in the industry over hyping announcements these days I keep my thoughts low key, therefore any news which excites me feels all the better.

The big three are hoping to steal the limelight off each other once again and here is what I think could possibly happen:

Sony:

Sony's press conference will come under intense scrutiny after the Playstation Network was invaded by hackers. Many will hope new features are introduced to improve the service, not just from a security standpoint but from a user interface view also. The Japanese company also has the matter of the Next Generation Portable, which excited many when it was first announced earlier in the year. Here is a list of what I think Sony will announce:

*NGP will cost $279.99 for basic model, 3G model will cost $329.99

*Kevin Butler will once again appear on stage, hopefully talking about gaming rather than appeasing to fanboy garbage.

*Twisted Metal will see a release date of January 2012

*Rockstar bring the Grand Theft Auto franchise to NGP in a new exclusive story, not a port of any console game.

*Sony confirm new firmware update that adds better and more gamer orientated dashboard including more in depth PSN ID's and slicker Trophy comparing/synching.

*Batman Arkham City will have exclusive DLC on PS3

*Eight Days will rise from the dead to see a targeted release timeframe of 2012
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Nintendo have a very interesting E3 ahead, although the 3DS has potential it has yet to storm the charts from a hardware and software standpoint. Their current home console the Wii, has seen software become stagnant with a price drop included which has caused Nintendo to announce the arrival of Project Cafe, which will be properly announced and presented to gamers in playable form from June 7th onwards. Here is my Nintendo predicitions:

*Project Cafe will have a pricepoint of $349.99.

*It will only be slightly more powerful than the Xbox 360 and PS3, which I predict will sadden many gamers.

*Nintendo will spend time trying to justify the price point with the design of the controller.

*Nintendo will announce an all new online service, Nintendo-On or something similar. Friend codes are ditched for a more user friendly user name template.

* Mario will be teased with no gameplay along with the return of StarFox.

*A new first party exclusive is announced for Cafe that is designed to appeal to older gamers.

*The 3DS will see a Wii Sports type package announced based on Nintendo characters.
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Microsoft are attracting a growing number of negative feedback from gamers, mainly regarding their first party exclusive portfolio and continuing focus on their so far successful motion gaming add on Kinect. While sales of the console and software are very steady at the moment, the negativity seems to focus on Microsoft not being able to balance motion gaming for Kinect and traditional controller based gaming into their exclusive line up.Here is my Microsoft predictions:

*$50 off 250gb model, 250gb Kinect bundle and $20 off the 4gb model.

*Kinect software will be around 75% of the gaming announcements, which could disappoint many.

*Star Wars Kinect sees a release time frame around the same time as the Blu Ray box sets

*Codename Kingdoms will have traditional controller and Kinect forms of play. Probably Crytek's answer to the Elder Scrolls series.

*YouTube comes to Xbox Live.

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Apart from the big three, we have the third party announcements to look forward to, some of which I think could be made are:

*A new Monkey Island game from LucasArts (they seem intent on ignoring pleas for Star Wars Battlefront 3)

*Transformers War for Cybertron 2

*Battlefield 3 to have exclusive DLC on one of the consoles

*Konami bring the Zone of the Enders series multiplatform

*A Simpsons PSN/XBLA title

*Metal Gear Solid Rising release time targeted for Q1 2012

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Well, that's it for my predictions, we will all find out soon enough if they are complete trash or if some have been guessed wisely.
There may not be another Zynga game in which Energy is more important than in Adventure World. Every switch thrown, every puzzle solved and beastie whacked costs you the Facebook game juice. Players often find themselves without Energy minutes into an Expedition. But this isn't the time for whining--it's time to show you the value of upgrading your Tools and how to do it.

Tools: The Game Changer
If you noticed, each piece of debris and monster has a life bar, and normally take multiple hits with your Whip or Machete to whittle down. This, of course, quickly becomes a waste in later Expeditions purely due to the amount of obstacles in your path. But increasing the amount of damage your various Tools inflict against said baddies could considerably reduce the Energy spend in-game.

For instance, say a Snake has three hit points and is Level 5. Since monsters can hit back in this game, it could take three to five Energy before an enemy goes down. Now, imagine if you had upgraded your Whip to Level 2. Offing that Snake would take just two to four Energy with a beefier Whip. The same situation applies to Tools like the Machete.
Adventure World Tool Shop inside
And Now For Your How-To
Adventure World Tool Shop outsideUpgrading your Tools in Adventure World is simple. All you need to do is head back to Base Camp from an Expedition, and look for a makeshift hut that should already be in place in your headquarters. When you click on the Tool Shop, a window will appear featuring all the Tools you've found thus far on your journeys. Click on the Tool you wish to upgrade.

Once you click on a Tool to upgrade, you'll notice that each Tool costs Coins to upgrade. That's it--no asking friends to help you out with materials or farming certain crops for special items. Just the goods you find during your travels in search of El Dorado. However, Coins are actually quite rare in this game, so you'll need to save and spend wisely.

When you have enough Coins for an upgrade, just click on the appropriate icon to pay up. Tool upgrades are also level-locked, meaning you must reach a certain level for most Tools before being able to upgrade them using Coins. If you're feeling impatient, you could always unlock access to those higher level Tools early using Adventure Cash.

Just One Small Catch...
However, some Tool upgrades do require an extra boost: your Tool Shop. Yes, the building itself can be upgraded, too. And this time, you will need items from your friends. (Just think of how things work in CityVille.) Luckily, you only have to do this about twice to unlock access to all of the game's Tools. Then, it's back onto leveling up to access new upgrades for Coins.
Adventure World Tool Shop Upgrade
Upgraded Tools are hands-down the way to go, if you want to save precious Energy for the good stuff, that is. You know, exploring ... uncovering the secrets of El Dorado? That kind of stuff. Your wallet might thank us later.

Click here to find all of our Adventure World Tips in one spot >

[Source: Zynga]

Have you upgraded your Tools in Adventure World yet? What other Energy-saving tips might you have for your fellow adventurers? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment