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Gaming's Biggest Blunders of 2006

Ground Glass writes "After all of the self-awarding that goes on in the games industry this year, it's nice to be reminded that there were actually some pretty big industry disasters in 2006. Who can forget that timeless Gizmondo car crash story, for example? Or the onset of microtransactions for cheat codes? One of the Curmudgeon Gamers, Matt Matthews, lays out the worst the industry had to offer this year, from game hype to journalistic screwups, and everything in between." From the article: "3. Bill of Rights -- Void Where Prohibited by Law. We should also sit back and enjoy a steaming hot cup of schadenfreude at the expense of those tireless defenders of morality and the souls of our children: the state governments of Michigan, Minnesota, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and of course Illinois. Each has passed a law restricting the sales of videogames, and each has been stopped by the courts. Apparently there are things called 'constitutions; which grant 'rights' like 'free speech' which 'activist judges' are using to strike down the very laws which will protect our children from rock and r...videogames." He also offers up some of the cut content that didn't make it into the final article.

6 of 184 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Disaster of 3DO Proportions by HappySqurriel · · Score: 4, Informative

    Nevermind that if you look at the PS2 launch price, throw in inflation, and oh looky there! PS3 launch price.

    PS2 Launch Price 2000 dollars = $300, adjusted for inflation $348.08 ...

    Then you try to compare it to 3D0. How many games play on the PS3? Care to hazard a guess? Anyone? Lets just say that it is, right now, exponentially more than 3D0 EVER had.

    List of 3DO games: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_3DO_games

    Does anyone remember the PS2 launch? Anyone at all? Same pile of shit, different console. Ahh, and look at how the PS2 crashed and burned...riiight.

    The PS2 launched with over 700,000 systems in Japan on day one and had sold over 1 Million by the end of its first month (March 00); in North America there were 500,000 systems at launch and they sold over 1 Million by the end of 2000 (2.5 months). The PS2 was unavailable largely because the demand was so great that Sony could not produce them fast enough; the PS3 is unavailable because Sony has produced too few of units.

  2. Re:Illinois by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
    Even the "X" rating is not a real rating, but rather something the porn industry has used.

    It used to be. Midnight Cowboy an A Clockwork Orange were both X rated films. The adult film industry was able to pile on it because it wasn't trademarked and anyone could use it without being officially reviewed. At that point it became so strongly linked wth porn that no one would want it on a mainstream film.

  3. Ratings by Pope · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sort of. X was a real rating, along with G, M, and R as the original MPAA ratings list. "Midnight Cowboy" was rated X, for example. According the good ol' Wikipedia, X was dropped in favour of NC-17 because X wasn't trademarked, and became associated with porn. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPAA_film_rating_syst em

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  4. Re:Illinois by Tenareth · · Score: 2, Informative

    "- it's like the Constitution absolves all choices, regardless of their effect."

    Exactly what it is designed to do, remove choice from the Government, because Governments become corrupt. Obviously it doesn't stop the government from being corrupt (ours isn't as bad as Mexico, but it's not great either). However, the constitution does limit what stupidity they can do. If the constitution is no longer considered "right", such as not letting women vote, there is a process to amend the constitution.

    It's checks and balances, the Supreme Courts biggest weapon is the Constitution, it is what it primarily uses to weigh their choices. The fact is, the parents should control their kids, not the government. The government already has too much say over kids as it is, as everybody knows... governments do a horrible job of raising kids.

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  5. Re:Illinois by rblum · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well, yes, that would be questionable.

    Then again, let's not forget the politics behind that. Disneyland bought - excuse me, lobbied the Republicans - for a large no-fly zone over their grounds right after 9/11 and got it almost immediately. Daley tried to get the same over downtown Chicago, to no avail. One might speculate it's because he's a Democrat. Either way, he was pissed at the party in power - Reps. Now, coincidentally a majority of the use of Meigs airfield is by major corporations who like backing Republicans. All the small time hobby pilots were just "collateral damage" in a political pissing match.

    Still, he's getting re-elected, no matter if he wasted taxpayer money or not. That would be because he keeps things running, as opposed to the rest of Illinois. Chicago politics are always foremost about keeping the electorate happy. Heck, we lost one mayor because he didn't get the snow plowed fast enough. (Daley manages that by subcontracting his buddies in the construction industry - but the majority prefers that over actually being stuck in the snow)

  6. Re:Gizmondo Crashes, Exec Follows Suit... by Chris+Burke · · Score: 2, Informative

    Your inner manly-man is a pansy; a real inner manly-man would be punching through walls.

    My outer manly-man is punching through walls. My inner manly-man is crying because my hands hurt like hell. I think broke something.

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