Availability February - March 2012

I will be unavailable and unable to access email or mobile on Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 February, and unavailable but able to access email and mobile between 19-23 March.

Availability update 2012

Please note that I will be unavailable or else have very reduced availability over the following periods (inclusive):

Thursday 16 - Wednesday 22 February: reduced availability, may not be contactable by phone but will be contactable by email.

Monday 14 May - Tuesday 5 June: unavailable, on holiday and attending IJET-23 in Hiroshima.

Availability for week of 21 November

I will be unavailable from around noon on Wednesday 24 November for the rest of the week, returning on Monday 28 November, to attend a funeral.

I will check email as often as possible, but will not be available for work during that time.

Availability reminder

Just a reminder that I will be travelling in Japan and unavailable for work from tomorrow, Friday 28 October, until I return on Sunday 20 October. I will also not be contactable by phone, but will attempt to reply to emails as soon as possible.

You draws a card

I picked up a second-hand copy of Yu-Gi-Oh: Nightmare Troubadour while I was on contract in Spain. If I hadn't paid EUR 7.00 for it I might ask for my money back.

Guarantee. Warranty. Pick one.

Not sure which annoys me most, "by using" or "numerous effects of various cards". It's like reading Japanese in English.

Well, you can't activate multiple things if one was set, so I can believe that.

The verb "to have" is very useful and I recommend it highly.

I draws my cards into my hand, so I do.

Ah, proofreading. You can never go back...

That phrase does not mean what you think it means

I think Nintendo and Club Nintendo have got their wires crossed on what "respect for privacy" means. I just got an email from them that has prompted me to ask for my Club Nintendo account to be closed.

At Nintendo we respect the privacy rights of our online visitors and we recognise the importance of protecting your personal details. To allow us to implement additional features on our website, to improve our products and to adapt them to our users' needs and preferences, we need your permission to gather information about your online activities on our website and with Nintendo products.

Please review our new Privacy Policy by logging into your Club Nintendo account. Once you have read the information displayed upon logging in, please use the appropriate buttons to either ACCEPT or DECLINE this new Privacy Policy.

Please note that if we haven't received your answer by 31st May, 2011, or if you choose to DECLINE our new Privacy Policy, you will from that day onwards no longer be able to use your Stars in the Stars Catalogue, as we will be forced to deactivate your Club Nintendo membership. No matter what you decide, you can still use your Stars and enjoy all the other benefits of Club Nintendo membership until 31st May, 2011.

We look forward to seeing you again on our website soon, and hope you will enjoy the new generation in videogaming together with us!

Your Nintendo team

I logged in to my account, but was not presented with the new privacy policy. I found the (current? new?) one by clicking on the "Privacy" link at the bottom of the page, but there were no buttons to accept or decline anything. I had a read through it anyway.

Nintendo may place web beacons in email communication sent to you which will notify Nintendo when you open such email communication and, while reading such emails, will notify Nintendo whenever you reach a certain section of such emails.

That's... a bit much. The rest of the privacy policy is fairly standard stuff, other than the web beacons on their site. I've never liked the idea of web beacons. But this whole hypocritical approach of applying a veneer of "respect for privacy" over a policy that is deeply invasive of privacy makes me want to take a big step away from Nintendo. If you want to collect more information about online activities, say so. But it's not respecting anyone's privacy.

And if you're forcing people to opt in to this or else lose their accounts, at least make sure the system for opting in works?

The way it was

While many people can see room for improvement in how games are translated today (which mainly seems to involve Excel), it can't be argued that some other people had a far worse time of it, as this article on 1UP about the history of Squaresoft localisation shows. The Shift-JIS bit alone made me hyperventilate.