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Spore Almost Ready for Production, Complete With "Sporn"
It seems that there has been some backlash over questionable creature creation with the Spore creation tool. Some of this content has been cleverly and obviously nicknamed 'Sporn'. For better or worse, Spore's Producer Thomas Vu is saying the long-awaited game should be ready for production in about a week, keeping it on track for the announced September 7th release.
If there is not sporn of it, someone will design sporn of it.
Did they pull the phone-home copy protection or not?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
And... has there been any announcement in changes to DRM?
I'll gladly give them my $50 if I get a game that'll stay a game.
But when the single player aspects of a game will only work as long as the DRM servers are kept up... well... $50 for something that turns into a plastic coaster whenever EA wants seems just a tad excessive.
You know that after this launches and little Johnny visits his friends planet with giant penii walking around and his Mom and Dad see it there is going to be a meltdown in the parent sector. I think if GTA San Andreas proves anything, it's fine for our children to shoot cops all day long and beat up hookers, but as soon as they get a glimpse of something sexual the parents' heads start spinning a la the Exorcist.
Ctrl-Alt-Del put it very well.
Test your net with Netalyzr
Welcome to the uptight U.S. of A. This is still mostly a puritan country as far as sex is concerned, nowhere near as sexually progressive as, say, The Netherlands. I agree, the whole "sex is as bad as violence" shit has always bugged the hell out of me. Maybe as future generations grow up and have their own kids, we'll collectively start to move away from that mindset.
http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php?d=20080627
"I only speak the truth"
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am I the only one who thinks it's funny...and clever that they used the name "sporn" as opposed to "s-porn" or something similar?
I must be getting old I guess.
if it wont install because of the other software on my computer I'm not worried, because it wont say so until well after I try to install in Canada I can sue them for the scam.
-Ours is the wisdom of Solomon, the magic of Merlyn, the fall of Icaris.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/scott/spore-porn
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=191255
I find this one particularly amusing in its simplicity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnUXnnH6sY0
One Spore fan told CNN: I consider this very similar to child pornography, at least to the extent of distributing the material to children.
Child pornography: This isn't it.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
Spoon boy: Do not try and spank the sporn. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Spoon boy: There is no sporn.
Neo: There is no sporn?
Spoon boy: Then you'll see, that it is not the sporn that spanks, it is only yourself.
So does anyone know if the Mac version is going to have SecuROM?
Will the Wii version be the same as the PC/Mac? With the same features, etc?
Screwed up? Yep, we've got lotsa that, all right.
I recall reading, several years ago, an interview that the head of Britain's film censorship board gave on the occasion of his retirement (i.e, now that he was able to speak his mind freely without contradicting policies he was required to uphold). Basically, he said that he thought that, as regards media depictions, that sex was a fine and healthy thing for society, while violence wasn't. He thought that Britain (and societies in general) would do well to be less concerned with censoring sexual content, and more concerned with violent content.
Now, while I thoroughly enjoy playing CS with a group of fellow forty-somethings who understand that IT'S JUST A GAME, I must say that I agree with that fellow's opinion. (I don't really know how to reconcile the inherent conflict here, BTW. )
"My strength is as the strength of ten men, for I am wired to the eyeballs on espresso."
At least EA will offer some choices:
I've got nothing to do with this site... seems safe, but obviously NSFW
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/06/18/nsfw-a-beginners-guide-to-sporn/
If you can read this... 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011
hell, Like most of you, I too play a Female NE in WoW but that all changed when I could put a 6' mantenna on a 4' creature, I just couldn't pass it up!
How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
I don't see any inherent contradiction to reconcile.
As long as you're aware that it's just a game (and everyone over an IQ of 50 is), either sex or violence doesn't matter, essentially.
Outside of the game or the movie, the concerns and attitudes of some societies and cultures _are_ weird. It's funny to see people demonizing sex, as some uber-danger to society and uber-deadly-sin, while at the same time lionizing murder and murderers. It seems to me like some priorities are awfully screwed up there, if you care more about some guy going down on his wife (if I'm not mistaken, it's still a crime in a couple of counties in USA) more than about his killing a perfect stranger, whose only fault is being of another race, religion, or sexual orientation.
It starts from school, where we essentially learn that:
- any king/consul/emperor/pharaoh who waged wars of aggression is a _great_ monarch, while anyone who minded his own business is a weak "roi faineant" (do-nothing king)
- anyone who centralized the power in his own hand, and stripped his nobles and citizens of rights and power, is a _great_ monarch, anyone who as little as delegated is seen as some weak king that helped his country go to heck
Etc.
It's not just whether it's censored or not in a movie or game. It's the mentality behind asking for it to be censored, or conversely asking for more of it. That's what worries me.
And I'll particularly single out the mentality, reflected in movies and games too, that one must somehow "prove he's a Man" or "prove he has Balls" by being an aggressive retard. There is nothing to prove. Look down in your pants, and that proves it if you have balls or not. Have a feel if still not convinced. That's it. Proving one is a Man, well, if you want to prove it beyond all doubt, get a blood sample and a microscope. If you see Y chromosomes in those cells, it's most definitely male, if you see only X chromosomes, then most definitely not. It's that simple.
I joke partially. The issue is that whole cultures are centered around the idea that a male _must_ be somehow aggressive. Yes, testosterone, brain wiring, etc. We know. But before all else, a human is a very programmable machine and reactions and behaviours are more determined by that programming ("enculturation") than anything biological. If that guy ends up an aggressive idiot, it'll be more because society told him that that's what he must be, than all chemical reactions inside combined.
Again, I'm not harping against movies and games, I'm complaining about the culture in which they happen.
So, yes, if we all were to change anything, then maybe we should be more concerned about violence than about sex. And _if_ we all decide that we must censor _something_, well, then maybe again we should start with the violence. Not because the censorship itself will do anything, but maybe an acknowledgement that yes, that's the bigger problem, and no, we don't find that kind of role models and gender roles to be cool any more. Not because the game or movie itself is teaching junior to be an aggressive idiot, but because maybe it'll hammer the message in everyone else's head to stop teaching him that that's what's cool.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
On my laptop, I vastly prefer "phone home" systems to CD-in-drive style protection. I sure as hell don't want to haul around CDs for every game I have installed on my laptop.