A light mailbag this week (step it up, people!), but what we have is good, including a thoughtful question, a foolish question, a bewildering question, and a throwback question. See if you can guess which is which. And if you want to be part of the fun: letters@bitmob.com.
Hey Bitmob,
I have become interested in a little game these past few weeks I assume all of you have heard about called Ico. Unfortunately, it is seemingly impossible to find even a used copy at any local GameStop or Play & Trade, forcing me to take my hunt online. The lowest price I found was about $40 to $45 for the disk and a generic DVD case.
For anyone at Bitmob who has played through Ico, is it worth paying $40 (at least), or should I hold off and hope that Sony rereleases a digital version on PSN or included with The Last Guardian?
-Scott Haveman
Bitmob: Wait, Scott. You’re writing to a gaming site that caters to the core gamer and asking if Ico’s worth a few saw backs? You new to this Internet thing?
Now, it would make sense for an Ico push when The Last Guardian drops, but Sony is just now getting games like Final Fantasy 7 and Metal Gear Solid on the PSN Store — PS1 goods.
Basically, don’t hold your breath…and hope you have a PS3 that actually supports backward compatibility when you buy that used copy.
Hey Bitmob,
“But enough about us, what do you all think about letter grades when it comes to games?” [Editor’s note: This is a question we asked in last week’s mailbag.]
Hi there — since you asked, I have to say that I was really not happy with the decision to move to letters instead of numbers. All it did was lend a juvenile aura to the whole EGM review system.
I’m not of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” school (usually), but this is one case where I felt like you just wanted to change something in order to make the magazine more trailblazing.
-Jane Branden
Bitmob: As we mentioned last week, most of the core Bimob staff was part of this decision, and we can assure you we did not make it just for the sake of change or for any trailblazing reasons.
One of the biggest factors was that too many people (readers, developers, PR people) couldn’t grasp the idea that a 5.0 was “average,” thanks in no small part to the generally accepted 7-to-9 soft scale used at most outlets, so they’d raise hell when we gave a game decent (but not bad) score on our scale.
With the letter scale, it’s hard to argue that C is average. Right? That’s a concept we can all get behind. And you won’t find many people calling Entertainment Weekly, which also uses a letter-grading scale, juvenile.
Hey Bitmob,
I was just listening to one of your (eminently enjoyable) podcasts and I couldn’t help but think of a wonderful way to use Natal/motion-control sensors in Rock Band/Guitar Hero.
The complaint is always that the l337 players will look down, score high, and be complete bores. I was thinking that if the motion tracker could also see the degree of involvement in a music-rhythm game it would compel the players to give it some extra “oomph.”
You may be able to score 100 percent on “Through the Fires and Flames”…but can you do it whilst Rockin’ like a DemonTM?
Just a thought. Physical gameplay influencing technical gameplay…
-Scott C.
Bitmob: Honestly, we’re not quite following what you’re saying here, but we’re putting this in simply because we love that you trademarked Rockin’ like a Demon!
…
Wait. We don’t owe you royalties for saying that, do we?
Hey Bitmob,
Have you guys ever thought of continuing the Broken Pixels podcast on Bitmob. It seems as if the 1UP version has all but died, and it makes me a very sad individual. I don’t know if it’s possible to get Seanbaby (he is, of course, an essential piece of the puzzle), Shane, and Crispin on regularly…I just really miss the podcast.
Also. Do people still call Shoe “Dan Dan Phan Phan Hsu Hsu”?
Sam Wright
Bitmob: What, are you saying Hoe Down isn’t good enough for you?
Broken Pixels is a great show, no doubt, but there’s a little problem with us getting it: It’s a 1UP property. A little bird tells us that some lost episodes might still exist that you’ll see some day, though. Let’s hope.
To answer your more pressing question, though: Ha! They will now.
And that’s it for this week. If you want to be a part of ever-growing Bitmob history, simply send an e-mail with your thoughts to letters@bitmob.com.