Malik
(11/25/09)
Life just keeps coming
fast and brutally hard. I just had to say that as my lame excuse for
a lack of constant posting lately. Between real life
responsibilities and...well...other real life responsibilities, I
just seem to find no time for doing much in the way of fun, and not
much inspiration to have fun if I even had the time. If it wasn't
for the pure joy Ratchet and Clank bring me, and the fun nostalgic
charm of Lego Rock Band, I think I wouldn't even have the right mind
for even doing any gaming.
Of course, if the
real world becomes too much, one can always escape into fantasy.
That's a nice theory, at least. However, sometimes
fantasy can be worse than reality.
For those who
don't know the tale of Erik Estavillo versus the world, it can
either be a sad, funny, annoying, or amazing journey. It started
with
a lawsuit that was dismissed against Sony. It then continued
just this week with
a lawsuit against Microsoft and Nintendo. Now it's on to WoW/Blizzard
and it seems to not have an end in sight.
While I want to
appreciate that someone has the call to raise a fight against the
evils of the world, this is just blowing my mind away in utter
confusion. On one hand, it reminds me of a certain lawyer (who was
dis-barred) from Florida. You know who I'm talking about and don't
want to even mention the name of. However, at least that one made a
bit more sense, from a twisted perspective. This latest round of
lawsuits from Mr. Estavillo is just beyond anything I can
comprehend. For one thing, the Nintendo/Microsoft suit mentions how
it's too expensive to pay $100 for his 360 to be repaired, but
apparently the money raise lawsuits is still an option. I mean legal
filing is not cheap, and if he has a lawyer (which I'm doubting),
that's even more expensive.
On the other hand,
this individual is wanting to call Winona Ryder and Depeche Mode's
Martin Lee Gore as witnesses in a lawsuit about the monthly fee for
playing WoW. I think that summarizes this; Wow!
Sadly, this only
reminds me of two important facts. The first being that the American
court system is broken and being abused like a red headed
step-child. While the system is open for "the small guy" to tackle
the giant evils of the world, it also leaves the system open to
abuse. In particular, it leaves it open to a world of people who
view the legal system as the same things as the lottery. All you
have to do is win one stupid and/or pointless lawsuit and you could
be set for life. It's like Lucky (Tom Petty's character on King of
the Hill), who earned that name for getting a large settlement from
Costco when he slipped on some pee in the men's room. This is the
type of reason why I love some European court systems that have a
retaliation clause of sorts; if you sue and the lawsuit is found to
be completely without merit, then you end up owing the
entity/defendant you brought suit against.
The second fact is
that this is the type of face that the average non-gamer sees of the
gaming world. I mean this is enough of an event (even if it's a
non-event) that it makes the news, and then it leaves the overly
stiff types who can't get over "games being for kids and losers"
seeing just that; someone acting like a kid (in all the worst ways)
and acting like a loser looking for a quick buck.
Anyway, this will
probably forever be a problem. People like suing when it means you
can make a living without ever contributing to society. Now there's
something to be, in all sarcasm, thankful for for Thanksgiving.
On a final note
for the day, the Harmonix people released
the list of next weeks DLC early. I guess we haven't had enough
Dave Grohl or Nirvana lately, so we can all be thankful for some
more. Seriously, I love Nirvana and I have always appreciated Dave
Grohl's stuff in nearly every form. However, this seems to be going
beyond excessive for Rock Band. At least this will round out
Nevermind, since the three missing songs are the three pack of
Nirvana for next week. Even if there's some version issues (like all
but Smells Like Teen Spirit being live or unplugged versions).
Best of all, I
think Night Ranger is oddly appropriate right about now. Considering
they did so much with music videos on the power of rock (like
deflecting bullets with rock), it fits being Lego Rock Band friendly
since Lego Rock Band has "power of rock" related challenges. Now if
only these challenges can be redone to be played to Night Ranger
music! That would be awesome!
Malik |