First Rant of 2009

Sorry, I have some things I want to rant and rave about. :)

Number 1: Some crazy Senator from South Carolina wants to outlaw profanity. Like, everywhere. In public, in video games, in movies, in books, on TV....
The law would make it illegal "for a person in a public forum or place of public accommodation wilfully and knowingly to publish orally or in writing, exhibit, or otherwise make available material containing words, language, or actions of a profane, vulgar, lewd, lascivious, or indecent nature."
Which would basically ban...almost everything in existence from the state of South Carolina. This would make these acts a felony, with a maximum $5,000 fine or up to 5 years in prison.
Talk about having a stick up your ass. How would that even be enforceable? You know, if it wasn't in total violation of the First Amendment.
If you live in South Carolina, I suggest sending this guy a nice letter telling him to fuck off. I bet that would totally make his day.

I also wanted to comment on the increasing practice of releasing game demos as a pre-order bonus. Mostly I wanted to say...that it doesn't make any sense what-so-ever. The reasons I am seeing to justify this are that it creates your own personal army of game supporters, to go out and spread the word about how awesome your game is. Or that a company is so confident in their game that they want to show it to you early, even though you already decided to buy the game. Which is what confuses me. Why give your demo only to people who are already planning to purchase the game? Sure you can argue that you mostly just have to put 5 bucks down on these things, and you can switch that over to another reserve, or cancel the reserve, or whatever. Which is contrary to the purpose. Because I'm sure these companies expect that a pre-order = a purchase. Unless what they're saying is that they trust in their product so much that they're confident they can show you the game early, confident that this will make you more impassioned (for a game you already decided to buy), and will be...more sure to buy it? As opposed to...the demo being crap and you canceling your order? But...wouldn't you want as many people as possible able to check out your game, so that there are even MORE people who will immediately go out and buy the game? I should make it clear that what I'm talking about here are demo exclusives. Like the Killzone 2 demo being available only to those who pre-order the game from GameStop. Until one day before the game's release, when it will be released free to the public.
Which is fine. I mean, you don't really need to play a demo so far in advance of the game's release. The game won't be going anywhere once it comes out. It's just that the concept of handing out your demo only to people who are already planning to buy the game doesn't make any sense.

Next on my list is just a bit of news. Final Fantasy XIII won't see an American release until 2010. Kotaku has a nicely made image to go along with this announcement. I can't say I'm surprised it's getting delayed, though I was sure Square had mentioned at E3 that the game would get a simultaneous US/Japan release. And this contradicts that statement. But it's possible I'm imagining that promise and instead recalling a similar promise for the releases of Infinite Undiscovery and The Last Remnant. Or that they simply said it would release simultaneously on the PS3 and 360 in America. Still.... They are porting the game to the 360 (which they've said they won't even start until the PS3 version in completed). And then there's the whole translating the game into English and redubbing everything. So I realize these games take a long time to make, but I also recall this game being announced back in like...2004.

Let's see.... Wrap things up here.... Circuit City is liquidating all of their stores, so go take advantage of their misfortune!
Also, please keep Keanu Reeves out of my Cowboy Bebop! I think the movie itself is pretty much confirmed, though it's still unclear whether Keanu is confirmed for the role or if he's just running around saying that he wants the role (more likely). I don't really mind the guy. He's a bad actor, but at least he knows he is. And for that reason I wish he'd stay away from the movie.