E3 is less than a week away now. I’ve been getting some requests for a fan-meet like we did last year, and I have no problem doing something similar this year. I’ll see what I can arrange.
Lucasfilm will be releasing the original versions of the first Star Wars trilogy on DVD for a limited time later this year, despite George Lucas’ adamant statements a couple of years back that the special editions would be the only versions available. The DVD’s will be go on sale September 12th, at the same time the new Lego Star Wars launches. Lucasfilm will then stop distributing the original version on December 31st, similar to how Disney releases their movies on DVD for a limited time only.
The original versions will feature state of the art remastering techniques as of 1993, the last time the original trilogy was remastered. Meaning it will still be pretty fuzzy.
I’m glad they’re releasing the original versions, not because I give a shit about owning them, but so the whiny fans will finally shut up about it. Now, I liked it better when Han shot first. I thought it fit with his character better. But it’s not my movie. If George Lucas wants to change it, that’s entirely within his right. Frankly, I liked the versions that were released on DVD last year. I was stunned at how clean the films looked. I couldn’t believe that they were thirty years old. They look like they were filmed yesterday.
Personally I think too many people don’t understand where their boundaries as a consumer lay. Take MMO’s for example, and I’ve touched on this before. In a problem that has been getting worse and worse over the last five years, most MMO communities are represented by the particularly vocal whining jackasses who complain about everything under the sun.
A patch goes in, and they scream nerf. They get beat in pvp and they scream that their class is under-powered, another class is over-powered, whatever. They curse the developers, call them stupid, throw insults because things aren’t how they want them. If there is downtime, they are the first morons on the message board demanding that the hosting developer refund the whole $0.50 a day that most MMO’s average out to. Talking about suing and shit just because they can’t play their game.
This goes beyond being a paying customer with certain rights as a consumer. If you buy a movie or a video game from a store, take it home and the disc doesn’t work, you have the right to take it back to the store and ask for an exchange. We, as consumers, have the right to expect the functioning, as-advertised product that we paid for. This is true.
However there seems to be this growing mentality amongst certain people that simply paying for something somehow automatically puts you on the board of directors. That buying that DVD gives you the right to demand that the director give you something different. Or that the game developer has “broken” the game just because you don’t like how it plays.
Of course everyone is enititled to discuss their opinions of anything under the sun. And there are constructive ways to do that, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. I’m referring to the percentage of people who act like they’re entitled, and I think most of you know the kind of people I’m talking about.
If George Lucas decides that his movies as-is don’t accurately reflect his vision, and he wants to change them, that’s his right. If you don’t agree, just don’t buy the films. Don’t act like you’re forced to purchase the movies, and you’re pissed because they aren’t the versions you want.
If an MMO developer decides to alter a class somehow, it’s because that’s in accordance with their overall vision for their game. Paying a monthly fee entitles you access to the play the game, not a right to have it cater to your personal wants. If a rogue in Game A doesn’t play like a Rogue in Game B, don’t go to Game A and start bitching that the class should be more like in Game B. Just go fucking play Game B if you’ve got such a hard-on for how they did things.
As I said earlier, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and here is mine. We need to be more tolerant, and less demanding. Stop acting like wanting to play a game is the same thing as being forced to play a game, and acting like victims when the game doesn’t evolve how we want it to.
Instead of spending countless hours in various forums complaining and whining that things aren’t going how you want them to, just stop playing. Go play a game that you DO enjoy. Or better yet, create your own game/movie/website/book/whatever.
Just my $0.02.