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Post by Dances in Undergarments on Dec 18, 2006 20:08:46 GMT -5
I see 'thru' used alot in 'Drive Thru', but other than that it just seems more like MSN / SMS speak to me, just as 'altho' and 'tho' do. Was unaware that it was actually in US dictionaries, though. Wow, this thread really is awesome - great 3rd party game reviews AND English lessons. Woo!
I use 'donut', too, and I think thats basically because thats how I've seen it spelt on the Simpsons (ah, Simpsons - now thats a teaching tool).
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Post by Nester the Lark on Dec 18, 2006 21:05:54 GMT -5
Just out of curiosity, does Australia tend to use the British or American spellings for words? Frankly, I'm a bit disturbed that my spelling for "although" has gotten more attention than the featured game. I had no idea it was such a huge distraction.  |
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Post by Fryguy64 on Dec 19, 2006 4:54:15 GMT -5
My criteria is simply that thru, altho, and their ilk are informal shortenings of words that still exist in the dictionary. The longer words should be preferred to make a writing appear more formal. Also, they are not shortenings recognised outside of America. Whereas words like color would have once been the same, now they are dominant in the American language, and you'd be hard pressed to find "colour" expressed as anything other than a British or an Archaic American term in American dictionaries. I have no problem with an American writing color, but I will not follow the same conventions because it's purely an American spelling, and I'm not American. (However, I will use the word if used as a product name or piece of branding, such as Game Boy Color, but I will complain that it wasn't localised for the European market - in the same way I cringe every time a game is released here where the word "mom" is used. In fact, only Another Code has ever used the British term "mum" in my experience). Thru, Altho, etc. smack of the same simplification as u, lol and brb. And sure enough, these web slangs may end up in a dictionary some day, but they are informal shortenings of other existing words, not replacements for them. I most certainly would not expect to see them in a book or even in a piece of descriptive online text (eg. Wiki). I am all for the evolution of language, I myself use donut instead of doughnut (and you'll find most donut shops here do the same) and I do use "u" and "thru" in certain contexts (usually when trying to save time, space or money when sending a mobile phone text message). These aren't the only examples - but they seem relevant to this discussion so far. Language evolves, but it requires that no meaning is lost in the transition. Unfortunately, I fear that using American-exclusive shortenings would be no better than if I slipped into Latin or French from time to time (eg. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose - itself nonsense because I haven't added accent to several letters). It might have some small, local meaning, but the vast majority of readers will wonder why on Earth I'm writing like that. But I fear I have contradicted myself (or at least set myself up for a fall) as I continue to use the British spellings of words (colour) rather than the more widely known American spellings (color). I really should stop writing these essays on NinDB. Maybe it's an unexpressed desire to go into blogging or something |
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Post by wanderingshadow on Dec 19, 2006 8:18:33 GMT -5
Language evolves, but it requires that no meaning is lost in the transition. Unfortunately, I fear that using American-exclusive shortenings would be no better than if I slipped into Latin or French from time to time (eg. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose - itself nonsense because I haven't added accent to several letters). It might have some small, local meaning, but the vast majority of readers will wonder why on Earth I'm writing like that. We do that in America at times. We use foreign phrase now and then. Anyway, nice right up on Portrait of Ruin. I want to play it, but I lack a DS at the moment, so... |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Dec 19, 2006 11:54:55 GMT -5
Fry, I want to be clear that I'm not trying to complain, and I'm fine with you editing my write-ups. Heck, add U's to all instances of the word "color" if you want. It's your site. I'm just saying I don't think it's as sloppy as you make it out to be. Neither of us can deny that the Internet has had (and will continue to have) a profound impact on language. Personally, I don't think "1337 5p3ak" amounts to anything more than an online version of pig Latin, but I don't think it's the same thing as "formal shortenings". I think there's also a difference between using them on purpose and out of ignorance. Also, I wonder if smilies/emoticons will ever come to be considered formal punctuation. Oh, and Portrait of Ruin is a really cool game. |
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Post by Sqrt2 on Dec 19, 2006 15:49:09 GMT -5
Personally I am annoyed when games come out over here with American-ised spellings present. Surely it can't take much work to add the letter u to words such as color,honor etc.
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Post by Dances in Undergarments on Dec 20, 2006 3:25:13 GMT -5
^I'd much rather the game now than 6 months later with the correct spelling for this region, particularly as, well, where does it stop? Should Australian releases have 'hello' replaced with 'g'day', and any instances of say, Chu Chu Jelly in Zelda becoming Chu Chu Jam? I personally don't care enough to be bothered by it, I was actually pointing out 'altho' as I thought it was a simple spelling mistake.
And Australia uses British English, to answer you're curiousities - so colour and the like are our correct spellings.
Back, vaguely, to the topic at hand, I still haven't gotten anything better than the 'bad' ending in Dawn of Sorrows. Maybe I'll give it another run through before Portrait's release here.
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Post by Fryguy64 on Dec 20, 2006 7:00:34 GMT -5
Corey, I don't disagree, and I'm not getting defensive or having a go at you. I just had a lot of pent-up views on the matter that I decided to share in this suddenly relevant discussion ;D
Your writing is clear, and that's a skill I wish more people had. Shortenings are fine in many cases, and I probably wouldn't have noticed them until I put the 3PSs on the site. I wouldn't have brought it up with you (unless you used with reckless abandon, causing my subediting brain to explode).
As it happens, I'm not annoyed that I don't get British spellings in localised games, any more than I'm annoyed that American TV shows aren't dubbed with British accents (God forbid!) But I am suitably impressed when games are translated into British English rather than American English, and Another Code seemed to suit it well, as it was such a moving and personal game.
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Post by Wildcat on Dec 20, 2006 10:10:54 GMT -5
Heh, language is always the fun subject to discuss.
As for the 'Vania, I've enjoyed my time with it so far. I've gotten stuck on the final boss and Zelda: TP has sucked up all my gaming time, so I'll dive back into it in a little bit. It's arguably the most challenging handheld Castlevania I've played (outside of the old GB ones...hich I imagine were harder...haven't played those), but that's a good thing. ^_^ Good article, Corey.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Dec 20, 2006 11:28:09 GMT -5
Back, vaguely, to the topic at hand, I still haven't gotten anything better than the 'bad' ending in Dawn of Sorrows. Maybe I'll give it another run through before Portrait's release here. I'll give you a hint: You need to have a certain item equipped.EDIT: Now that I think of it, there were a couple of bad endings. Which one are you stuck on? Corey, I don't disagree, and I'm not getting defensive or having a go at you. I just had a lot of pent-up views on the matter that I decided to share in this suddenly relevant discussion ;D I'll admit, for a while there, I thought you were saying that American English was a "bad habit," so I felt a need to stake my claim. Also, being that the 3PS is an official feature, I should've been using the formal spellings anyway. I suppose I feel that the shorter spellings should be accepted more formally, and the only way to eventually achieve that is to use them as such. But I guess I'm just too far ahead of my time.  As for the 'Vania, I've enjoyed my time with it so far. I've gotten stuck on the final boss and Zelda: TP has sucked up all my gaming time, so I'll dive back into it in a little bit. It's arguably the most challenging handheld Castlevania I've played (outside of the old GB ones...hich I imagine were harder...haven't played those), but that's a good thing. ^_^ Good article, Corey. It does have good boss fights, kind of in an old school sort of way. They're challenging and you die easily, but once you learn the patterns, they're not so bad. That last one, tho, is nasty. But if you manage to survive, you unlock some cool bonus modes. One of which is a primarily stylus-driven version of the game. It's a neat unlockable, and a very cool use of the DS. |
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Post by mrmolecule on Dec 20, 2006 13:13:19 GMT -5
First it's a McDonald's game, now its shorter spelling..what's next? The condition of your hands? I love this thread. |
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Post by Dances in Undergarments on Dec 21, 2006 4:03:02 GMT -5
Back, vaguely, to the topic at hand, I still haven't gotten anything better than the 'bad' ending in Dawn of Sorrows. Maybe I'll give it another run through before Portrait's release here. I'll give you a hint: You need to have a certain item equipped.EDIT: Now that I think of it, there were a couple of bad endings. Which one are you stuck on? I'll give it a run through / thru later, but from memory basically nothing happens at the end. So I get a feeling its a reeeeeally bad ending. Like I said, I'll have to give it another go and see, though, but I've got TP to conquer first. |
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Fran1395
Pikpik Carrot
Congruity. Who needs that?
Posts: 166
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Post by Fran1395 on Dec 22, 2006 10:37:27 GMT -5
This message is still about the Rayman Raving Rabbids game. It's great and all (I especially like the fact that the Wii Remote puts your hand motions in the game; an excellent choice for whenever you are shooting them with orbs of light and for whenever you are controlling them with the power of music), but I'm not in full favor of the idea of going up against rabbits (when I hear it, I'm like whatever!!).
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Post by Nester the Lark on Dec 24, 2006 11:20:19 GMT -5
3PS #6 Bonk’s AdventureDevelopers: Hudson, Atlus, RED Publisher: Hudson System: Wii Virtual Console, TurboGrafx-16 Nintendo’s New Super Mario Bros. for the DS was a reminder of why platform games were so popular during the 8- and 16-bit eras. It wasn’t about collecting stuff or fetching keys. You didn’t spend time talking to other characters or watching cutscenes. And there certainly wasn’t any official way to get 100% completion. It was just pure platforming, running and jumping for the sake of getting to the end of the level. Maybe you bopped some bad guys and scored a few bonus points along the way. Sometimes, less is more. Bonk’s Adventure, originally released for the TurboGrafx-16, is a wonderful example of this simpler time. Bonk (or B.C. Kid, as he was known in Europe) is a comical little caveman with a massive cranium, and he served as the mascot for the TG-16. He literally uses his head to attack enemies, pound the ground, and coast through the air. Pack some aspirin because you’ll be bashing prehistoric enemies for six levels and a handful of bonus stages. Story? Save the princess. It’s primitive, but hey, it’s 10,000 B.C. Even though he never gained the popularity of heavy hitters like Mario or Sonic, Bonk’s legacy continued with multiple sequels across multiple platforms. Two more games followed on the TG-16, and his futuristic descendant, Zonk, starred in his own spin-off game, Air Zonk. Bonk also made appearances on the original Game Boy, NES and Super NES. His first adventure was remade and released on the Gamecube and PlayStation 2 in Japan in 2003. If you love New Super Mario Bros. or classic platform games in general, Bonk’s Adventure is one to look into. And now you can enjoy the original version of Bonk’s classic adventure, and you don’t even have to dig up a fossilized TG-16 to do it. Thanks to the Virtual Console, all you need is a Wii to bonk stuff. (However, I may want to rephrase that later.) Original Release: Dec 15, 1989 (Japan), 1990 (North America) Bonus Links: The Bonk Compendium - Fan Site Bonk Is Here! - A classic comercial from the US. |
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Post by kirbychu on Dec 24, 2006 11:59:34 GMT -5
I've played Bonk... a looong time ago. I think it was on an old floppy-based system, but I forget which one. The disc was actually labeled as "Chuck Rock 2: Son of Chuck", though. So I had always assumed that's what it was. A quick Google of Chuck Rock 2 says otherwise. I've never even seen that game. Bonk was fun. I didn't get very far before giving up and playing Fantastic Dizzy, but I was only about five or six at the time. |
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