Where the hell did this Zanzarah thing come from, Germany? I never know what you guys are going to do next. For the uninitiated, Zanzarah is a 30/30/30 combination of Magic: The Gathering, Quake One, and Pokemon. The remaining ten percent acts as a reservoir for cream. It's nuts, and the production values (especially on some of this audio!) are through the roof. I had a hell of a lot of fun with the demo, although I'm not sure if they had me in mind when they made it. Playing a girl who captures fairies in a magical forest is not something I would tell my psychologist I spent my weekend doing.
I wanted to read up on this stuff before I mentioned it on here, and now I did that, so let's go. Slashdot noted that the EULA for Neverwinter Nights is apparently a tome of unmitigated evil, like the Necronomicon. Then, things moved through several phases. Derek French (NWN Assistant Producer) first asked so what's the big deal, but he asked it on Slashdot, where everything is a big deal. After hearing people's concerns on it, he's agreed to take it unto their law dogs and see what they can do. Legal language always seems nefarious, if there's anything I know enough to write a book about, it's that. I'd even go so far as to draw strong comparisons between End User License Agreements and actual bullets. But I highly doubt that Bioware was lying in wait, biding its time until it could spring this or that clause on some noble maker of modules. They don't write this shit. A lawyer - probably someone who works for the publisher, not an internal guy - looked over what the product does, and formulated an extremely stringent relationship between the user and the software. I wouldn't mind clarified language in the shipping product, but I think of it as a precaution as opposed to a necessity. Hopefully we'll have some vigilance left over when an actual threat surfaces.
Of course, the tools are fascinating, but that's not controversial enough to be news.
Way, way back, I started getting these great comics in my Inbox. This happens all the time, actually - I met Thomas that way. I was also getting Bob, Jimmy, and Mike in my mail well in advance of the general public, and they're up now for everybody as well. Give 'em a shot.
Oh, and the GameCube is a ridiculous one-hundred and fifty dollars now. Come this summer, when a raft of really, really promising titles hit, I do not doubt that these little bastards will be in short supply.
(CW)TB
