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I got sold a counterfeit copy of 'The World Ends With You'

Counterfeit game!

As you can probably guess from the post title, I just bought a copy of 'The World Ends With You' on EBay. Or, I thought I did. What I really bought was a counterfeit copy of 'The World Ends With You'. Grrrrr.

In keeping with my running tradition, I'll take this post to spell out all the signs that this item is counterfeit.

The Box:

'E' for everyone?

The counterfeit box lists the rating as 'E'. The actual game has a rating of 'T'. A legitimate item wouldn't list the wrong rating on the box.

Time travel?

The counterfeit box claims a copyright of 2004. Very interesting, considering the real game was released in 2008. A legitimate item wouldn't list the wrong copyright date on the box.

One size fits all!

The counterfeit box is a one-size-fits-all game box. See that upper bracket? That's so the box can optionally hold a Gameboy Advance cartridge. A legitimate item would have a box designed to hold the product.

Also, it doesn't come out in the pictures very well, but the whole box has a grainy, printed-on-an-inkjet-printer look. Fine text on the box has blurry edges around it from the lower quality printing.

The Instruction Manual:

(sorry for the blurry pictures)

The counterfeit instruction manual takes an approach that I've not seen before. The manual contains no actual instructions, but instead contains is a scattering of screen shots from the game surrounded with text plagiarized from assorted preview sites. My favorite quote in the manual was this tidbit:

You can host or join a match with up to three other players to knock their collected pins off of the virtual table. It's a nice touch that really looks set to add a fun dynamic to what seems to be a solid single-player experience. We'll have more on The World Ends With You as the April release date draws near.

Not a phrase I ever expected to see in the game's instruction manual.

The Cartridge:

(blurry! But still 'rated' E)

There's not a lot to talk about on the cartridge, outside of the single damning bit of evidence: The real game is rated 'T', this is labeled 'E'. A legitimately manufactured cartridge wouldn't list the wrong rating on the label.

Epilogue:

I'm writing the following to the seller:

Dear Stephen Burr,

You have sold me a counterfeit copy of 'The World Ends With You'. As you probably know, selling counterfeit video games is against the EBay terms of use, and is unfair to me as a customer.

I have put together a detailed summary of how I know that this is a counterfeit on my blog. You can read more at: http://jaqenn.blogspot.com/2008/09/i-got-sold-counterfeit-copy-of-world.html

I require that you send me a full refund ($31.95) for the purchase of this item. I will then destroy it. If you wish the item to be returned to you, please include an additional $5 shipping and handling.

It is my opinion that you were unaware that this was a counterfeit item when you listed it for sale. However, your good intentions do not compel me to accept an item substantially different than you advertised. If you purchased this item on EBay, I recommend that you seek a refund from your seller. If you are within 60 days of the purchase date I believe you can have Paypal assist you in getting a refund.

Thank you for your time.

-Trevor Christman
ebay Jaqenn

I love my job...

Here is a copy of a clip played at our last company meeting, to encourage us to turn out the lights when we're done with a room. At a lesser company, you'd be told "Please turn our the lights, it costs us lots of money." At National Instruments, you get told:

New Van

Our car started having troubles a few weeks ago. We ended up deciding that it would be better to replace it than to fix it, especially since we've pretty much outgrown it anyway. So, after much searching we ended up with a 2004 Honda Odyssey:



You know how some people name their cars? I've always thought that could be fun, but I can never come up with a really good one, and using a dumb name always felt pretentious.

Well, Shauna came up with the perfect name for this one:

Tohru. Tohru Honda.

Quote of the day

I was looking over the catalog of sessions presented at the Game Developers Conference earlier this year. I noticed a session from the Mercenaries 2 design team, describing programming a physics engine which supports network gameply, which looked very technically interesting. But then I saw the intended audience line:

Intended Audience:

Programmers who need to network a large streaming world and/or havok simulation. People who enjoy blowing things up.

I think that includes a great number of us.

Recanted: Neurological Game Control Finally a Commercial Reality

Even though I was very excited to read about it earlier, I'm recanting my desires for an OCZ NIA input device.



I am doing so because I am skeptical of it's usefulness. Lets consider the three input types provided by this product.

- Jaw Tension
The NIA takes an analog measurement of your jaw muscles, and maps this to multiple input triggers. One example review mapped 'slightly clenched' to run forward, and 'very clenched' to run forward while jumping. Another review commented that by using brain-to-jaw communication instead of the brain-to-finger communication, you shave about 100ms from your response time.

But that means you cannot speak, yawn, or eat while using the device. And that, my friend, is insane.

- Eye movement
The NIA takes an analog measurement of your lateral eye movement, and maps this to multiple input triggers. One example review mapped the left and right edges of the screen to 'sidestep left' and 'sidestep right'.

But that means that you must keep your head pointed straight at the monitor, and it means that you stop looking at the screen when you want to give input to the stupid thing. Or, that if you look too hard at an edge of your screen, you accidentally give input to the stupid thing. And that, my friend, is insane.

Even the most exciting potential for this thing - using your eye movement as a replacement for the mouse - is impossible because it only tracks horizontal movement, not vertical movement.

- Brainwaves
The NIA takes constant measurements of your alpha and beta brainwaves, and maps their intensity and frequency to six different input triggers. For instance, elevated alpha levels are associated with spikes of aggression. An example review commented that they were able to make their character jump by thinking profanity.

Besides the whole stream-of-mental-profanity madness, doesn't that mean (and I'm the least educated about this aspect) that you have to stop emotionally responding to your game? If spikes of aggression trigger one behavior, and spikes of elation trigger another behavior, what are you going to do to stop triggering this behavior from normal gameplay? Stop caring about what's happening?

Also, those calculations are reportedly done in software, reported to consume 10% - 15% of your processor time. I was using that processor time, thank you very much.

Add to this that almost every review I found reviewed this aspect the least, commenting that 'we couldn't train ourselves to use it quick enough to give a fair review', and it makes me very, very skeptical that it will be useful.


- Final Thoughts
So, what you really do with the OCZ NIA is give up $150, the uncaring use of your jaw, the uncaring use of your eyes, and the uncaring use of your brain, and gain about 100ms of reflexes. I'm a gamer, but I'm not that hardcore.

If I was paralyzed, I'd think this was great. As someone with full use of their limbs, I'll pass.

Neurological video game control finally a commercial reality.

Ever since my first game of BattleTech at the age of ten, I've been eagerly awaiting the day that I can control a robot with my brainwaves.

Looks like that day is today.

Now, don't get me wrong. This technology has existed in prototype form for a long time, squirreled away in laboratories while they try to make it work right.

Nope, today is the day that I discovered that it's been commercialized and targeted to the general public.



Sure, it's hard to learn to use. Sure, it will probably never work as good as a mouse and keyboard. Sure, it's $150 for a 'keyboard' with around 10 buttons.

I don't care. It's controlling a computer with my brainwaves. For me, it's as deep of a childhood dream as those other misfits who wanted to be an astronaut.

I'm currently trying to convince myself that it's worth $150. I'll let you know if I take the plunge.