PixlBit

What does the "Director's Cut" do for the game? What's been added or improved? I'm not clear why this has been rereleased.

"I’d love to sit here and bestow this game with a five star review..."

This is good criticism--while many critics would have given this game four or five stars because it was "fun," Mr. Titus tries to be objective and actually provides a critical score. Which is what a critic is supposed to do. Good job.

In regards to latency and lag, I think the play will be decent--I certainly hope it will be, anyway, so that people can practice.

But as Mr. Lewis said, half the fun of on-line play is moving up those rankings. What's my incentive to play if there's no lasting measurement of my performance, no bragging rights or goal to strive for?

I also worry about options. Brawl's forced two-minute fights (I always play stock) were absurd, and made worse by the terrible lag. Again, I hope Sakurai and friends get it right this time. 

I agree, which is why I'm bummed, too. Mr. Sakurai has always seemed to be a little more, say, enlightened than the usual Nintendo exec, so I had hoped he'd do what almost every other developer would do in the modern age and provide a stat tracking/leaderboard system of some kind.

But who knows? Maybe he'll change his mind at some point in the future.

If you mean the lack of an on-line ranking system, that came from an interview over at IGN.

Here's the passage: Still, the creative director couldn’t get into specific implementation details, though he did note his team has no plans for any sort of world ranking system. “We don’t want to have a type of situation where you have a ranking pyramid, and only the people at the very top can enjoy it. I think there are other unique ways to be able to implement a system where people can get satisfaction out of performing at a skill level relative to their peer group.”

But yeah, Nintendo fanboys are already defending the decision.

I always loved Melee--in fact, if it weren't for Mega Man appearing in the new Smash Bros., I'd probably be satisfied enough with just a remaster of Melee for the WiiU (with on-line play that actually works, of course).

Sadly, I hear Smash Bros. WiiU is not going to have any kind leaderboard for competitive play, which is a shame (but typical Nintendo).

Guess that's why we have EVO.

I doubt all these sins will hurt Nintendo much--while it reinforces the skepticism a more neutral-minded gamer like myself might have of the company, the typical fanboy will complain but then quickly forgive the moment Nintendo does something "good" again. Which is pretty much anything, from making another Mario game to giving out chintzy awards through its Club Nintendo program.

But seriously, Nintendo is not your friend. From fabricating cartridge shortages in the '80s to trying to ban rental games in the '90s to blocking a fan-made Zelda film a couple of years back, why anyone still defends the company is beyond me.

It would be nice if there was a version of Kickstarter, or a similar crowdfunding service, that actually did make the contributors true investors/partners in the game's development. Not sure how it would work, exactly, but the company would thus be held more accountable, and the thrill of actually receiving returns off the game's success would be satisfying. (The guaranteed name in the credits would also be cool.)

I've experienced similar issues with a few games I've helped fund--iOS's Republique, for instance, has been delayed already, and judging from the team's updates, I really wonder whether it'll live up to the early previews showed over a year ago.

Double Fine's problem reminds me much of the poor stooge who wins the lottery, thus becoming incredibly wealthy, but then somehow squanders all that money just a few years later. Mr. Schafer bit off more than he could chew, obviously, but if it all turns out to be a train wreck, at least it'll serve as cautionary tale to some, and a perverse spectacle to others.

And those are fair arguments. Xbox Live Arcade also offers a superior selection of (paid) games, if you want another feather for its cap. But then a Sony fanboy would downplay your arguments, saying the controller is not better, that the Xbox's interface is "silly," and any supposed improvement in on-line play is usurped by Sony offering its service free.

Again, better to not be a fanboy and simply appreciate each system for what it is. In my view, so what if there is a better system? They're both good enough for what they are, and there are more important things to do in life than wasting our time debating trivialities and ignoring facts.

(Notice, however, how we didn't even bother including the Wii in this discussion. And there is an objective, factual reason for that...)