Category: Other Gaming/Pop Culture Questions

Brick3621 asks:

You were indifferent to the FFVII remake announcement, so here’s hoping this is more relevant to your interests: Last Thursday, Nintendo threw everybody for a loop by showcasing Cloud Strife as the latest DLC fighter for Super Smash Bros. Any thoughts on the opportunity to see him interact with the likes of Pikachu?

Well, I’ve never played Smash Bros, and honestly I’m not likely to… but hey, Cloud Strife vs. the Wii Fit Trainer?  Hell, yeah; Omnislash the $#!t out of that smug health-conscious b!tch!

Ariento asks:

I’m, uh, not sure what house words are… but I think this sounds neat?

In the TV show Game of Thrones, and the Mediaeval fantasy novels on which it is based, each of the ‘houses’ – the great noble families – has so-called ‘house words,’ basically a fancy name for a motto, like House Stark’s “Winter Is Coming,” or House Greyjoy’s “We Do Not Sow.”  Promotional materials for the show include posters that depict a house’s sigil (a wolf, a giant squid, a three-headed dragon, whatever) alongside its motto, and one of the internet’s pastimes is creating new images in this style for other people or groups, like “House Google – We Are Feeling Lucky,” “House Wayne – We Are the Night,” or “House House – It’s Never Lupus.”  Google image search “Game of Thrones house words” and you’ll get some idea of what’s going on here.  HBO has a website where you can make your own.

Anonymous asks:

Do androids dream of electric sheep?

It’s kind of an odd question to ask, really, because who the f&$% dreams about sheep?  Well… except, like… sheep farmers.  We count sheep before we fall asleep; we don’t dream about the damn things.  What kind of lame-ass android is so myopic that it can’t think of anything better to dream about than a sheep?  Although… I guess it is an electric sheep, which implies that the android is a Pokémon fan, so at least it’s got that going for it.

ThatsWhatEllieSaid asks:

YOU LEAVE US AND IWATTA DIES SEE WHAT HAPPENS?!?!??!!? (p.s rip Iwatta and hope your shit is going well)

I CAN’T TAKE CARE OF EVERY LITTLE THING OKAY I TRY TO KEEP THE NINTENDO EXECUTIVES IMMORTAL BUT SOMETIMES ONE JUST SLIPS THROUGH THE CRACKS

(Seriously though… the news about Satoru Iwata is terrible; his death is a tragic loss not just to Pokémon and Nintendo, but to the gaming world as a whole.  His approach to running things was unorthodox at times, but you can’t deny it worked, and his kindness and playfulness made Nintendo what it is today.  55 is too young.)

RandomAccess asks:

So. Today on E3 2015 they announced that there’s gonna be a Final Fantasy VII remake. If you’ve seen the trailer, what are your thoughts on it?

[N.B. Yes, this is how long it takes me to answer questions sometimes.  If I’m honest, this isn’t even unusual.  Regular readers may wish to begin embedding references to current events in their questions in order to keep me honest.]

Well, aside from that once dalliance with Final Fantasy VII two years ago, I’m not really an aficionado of the series, and I don’t exactly have strong opinions about it.  Besides which, the trailer basically consists of “we’re remaking Final Fantasy VII; look how pretty our graphics engine is,” so there’s not really anything I can think of to say about it, even if it were particularly close to my heart.  I suppose the one point that really comes to mind for me is that it’s going to be difficult for them to do a strong portrayal of Aeris’ death, because much of its force in the original came from being violently unexpected, and a big chunk of their market for this game will be people who’ve played the original.  They’re going to have to think long and hard about that one.  Beyond that… le shrug.

However, Jim the Editor, who grew up with Final Fantasy VII, would like to add, and here I quote: “ZOMGIAMSOFUKKKINEXCITEDTHEYBETTERNOTFUKKTHISUP.”

GrayGryphon asks:

What would you think of someone starting a Pokemon Tabletop RP using concepts from your “If I Was In Charge” series?

Hmm.  Well, I mostly intended that stuff to apply to the core series, and I’m not really sure how it would work if you turned it to a different mechanical framework, but if you think there’s something you can get out of it, please, go ahead!  I’d be flattered, in fact – let me know how it goes!