Government money doesn't work that way. You can't just take money from one government agency and give it to another, let alone give it to a private hospital or doctor to help with preventable medical errors or to private citizens to improve their driving skill.
Most people are stupid. I'm not willing to suspend my judgment about who the bad guy is based on whomever the gun nuts on board have their guns pointed at.
The odds of getting shot by an armed and sleepy, grumpy, drunk, clumsy, whatever, passenger would be exponentially higher than the current terrorism threat.
Terrorists aren't the only ones running the risk of being shot dead on a plane if you let average Joe start target shooting in aisle 15.
Shit happens, especially when you do absolutely nothing to stop it. Terrorists will follow the path of least resistance.
And to fix the Franklin quote, I would prefer to live in a society that gives up a little liberty to gain a SHITLOAD of security. Our current system has it backwards...giving up a little liberty (I don't find the current airport travel system to be anything other than a minor inconvenience) for very little (if any) security. Why can't we do it right and get a better security return for the same investment?
I played the first version and remember now that you hold the space bar down. I haven't played it since.
As I stated, though, you NEVER hold your breath when firing. Breathe normally and squeeze at the end of your exhale (Breathe, Relax, Aim, Squeeze). Nowhere in the BRAS acronym does it state "hold breath".
Well if it does, they are still violating their own marksmanship rules.
I'm not saying the GAME doesn't tell you to hold your breath, I'm telling you that I was a marksmanship instructor for the US Army for 4 of my 12 years and the technique is to fire at the bottom of your exhale -- the natural pause in breathing. Granted, I wasn't a sniper instructor--maybe they have different techniques, but in the Basic Rifle Marksmanship course, you fire an M-16 or an M-4 at the end of your exhale. Period. Don't care what the game says, or what the game manual says.
Noobs only being able to play on servers with other noobs would solve that problem. I hate ANY game when I'm a noob because the non-noobs just clean house on you.
The opposite is quite true as well. Once I get good at a game, it is painful to have to wade through all the online newbies. Online racing has a ranking scheme to help combat this recurring problem.
Realism turns off most consumers though. Look at Grand Prix Legends which is universally accepted as one of the greatest racing sims ever, regardless of the CPU and GPU limitations of its time. There was no soundtrack, no missions, no money to buy parts...you simply went out and turned out lap times. Hell there wasn't even a timer (you got your score on the pit board when you crossed the start finish line). When you got damage, your car didn't handle properly, or your engine lost power and eventually died. The only option was to hit the reset key combo and start over.
My favorite game ever but most people couldn't complete one lap without spinning out or crashing.
If America's Army had you hold your breath, then they were violating their own marksmanship rules. You actually fire when you get to the end of your exhale. There's a natural pause there, your lungs aren't all bloated with air (making it impossible to line up your sights), and your pulse is normal.
While I find realism to be one of the most important aspects of a game (especially racing and sports games), more people enjoy stupid stuff like unlimited ammo and hitting 400 home runs in a game. I've always longed for FPS that rewarded the careful player (i.e. you get shot, you probably die, and stay dead for long enough time to make it worth your time trying not to die). I blame Quake and the early frag fests where you only got points for a frag, but never lost points for getting fragged.
The movie pits sentient bipeds against each other over competing resource and has nothing to do with race. The fact they look differently from one another is to be expected, given they evolved on different planets with different atmospheres, climates, plants, etc. etc.
I'd say the only flaw in Cameron's vision for this movie was casting too many white people. I don't think it was done on purpose, but it gives some people the fodder to say it's a "white people suck" movie. Had they cast a black guy in the main role (or as the evil CEO, or the Marine Colonel), it would have been really hard to say "white people suck".
I think casting calls, contracts, agents, schedules, budgets etc. had more to do with who got cast than any perceived message the movie is supposedly trying to preach.
I'm not sure what to make of your comment. Are you saying that it is human nature to be racist? If so, that's an incredibly cynical view (not to mention racist) and I'm struggling to figure out how I escaped such a cursed human nature.
I find the people who bring up race when it's not the topic at hand are the racists of the planet. (Think Limbaugh's stint as an NFL analyst). That's EXACTLY what I thought about this review when I got to that section.
All movies have a message, but very few are good or bad based on their message. Most of them are good or bad based on the execution of the message, whether you agree with the message or not. I can think of several "good" movies with that have messages I don't agree with: Wall-E, Avatar, Million Dollar Baby, to name a few off the top of my head. I don't like the message, per se, but there's really no arguing the merit of these films.
As a matter of fact, the movies that persuade me to think about something I otherwise would dismiss based on my predispositions are the ones I find the most enjoyable.
While I laud your post as one of the clearest voices in this thread, I'd just raise one question. If we are to presume rape cases in the US are higher because we have suppressed sexuality in our media, then shouldn't violent crime be higher in Europe because they suppress violence in their media?
In any case, I don't think either are caused by media, only that our respective media are mirrors of our society, not the cause of our societal ills.
Also, I just saw that Guitar Hero is rated Teen (13 and above). My 10 year old has played every version of Guitar Hero. I think he was ok as a SIX year old playing a 13 and up game?
I think this pretty much sums up my objection to the ESRB.
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Government money doesn't work that way. You can't just take money from one government agency and give it to another, let alone give it to a private hospital or doctor to help with preventable medical errors or to private citizens to improve their driving skill.
Most people are stupid. I'm not willing to suspend my judgment about who the bad guy is based on whomever the gun nuts on board have their guns pointed at.
The odds of getting shot by an armed and sleepy, grumpy, drunk, clumsy, whatever, passenger would be exponentially higher than the current terrorism threat.
Terrorists aren't the only ones running the risk of being shot dead on a plane if you let average Joe start target shooting in aisle 15.
Shit happens, especially when you do absolutely nothing to stop it. Terrorists will follow the path of least resistance.
And to fix the Franklin quote, I would prefer to live in a society that gives up a little liberty to gain a SHITLOAD of security. Our current system has it backwards...giving up a little liberty (I don't find the current airport travel system to be anything other than a minor inconvenience) for very little (if any) security. Why can't we do it right and get a better security return for the same investment?
I played the first version and remember now that you hold the space bar down. I haven't played it since.
As I stated, though, you NEVER hold your breath when firing. Breathe normally and squeeze at the end of your exhale (Breathe, Relax, Aim, Squeeze). Nowhere in the BRAS acronym does it state "hold breath".
Well if it does, they are still violating their own marksmanship rules.
I'm not saying the GAME doesn't tell you to hold your breath, I'm telling you that I was a marksmanship instructor for the US Army for 4 of my 12 years and the technique is to fire at the bottom of your exhale -- the natural pause in breathing. Granted, I wasn't a sniper instructor--maybe they have different techniques, but in the Basic Rifle Marksmanship course, you fire an M-16 or an M-4 at the end of your exhale. Period. Don't care what the game says, or what the game manual says.
I like how you use Zombies to argue about realism in video games.
Adding more realism does not equal to making game better.
It does in racing simulators.
You missed one thing, and it is the point this article is making:
People who want more realism are saying the most realistic games out there aren't realistic enough for them.
That is all.
Noobs only being able to play on servers with other noobs would solve that problem. I hate ANY game when I'm a noob because the non-noobs just clean house on you.
The opposite is quite true as well. Once I get good at a game, it is painful to have to wade through all the online newbies. Online racing has a ranking scheme to help combat this recurring problem.
Realism turns off most consumers though. Look at Grand Prix Legends which is universally accepted as one of the greatest racing sims ever, regardless of the CPU and GPU limitations of its time. There was no soundtrack, no missions, no money to buy parts...you simply went out and turned out lap times. Hell there wasn't even a timer (you got your score on the pit board when you crossed the start finish line). When you got damage, your car didn't handle properly, or your engine lost power and eventually died. The only option was to hit the reset key combo and start over.
My favorite game ever but most people couldn't complete one lap without spinning out or crashing.
Am I the only one who liked the cartooney graphics in Commander Keen?
I think you are the only one who has HEARD of Commander Keen.
But Reality TV sure is fun! Otherwise it wouldn't be on TV, right?
If America's Army had you hold your breath, then they were violating their own marksmanship rules. You actually fire when you get to the end of your exhale. There's a natural pause there, your lungs aren't all bloated with air (making it impossible to line up your sights), and your pulse is normal.
While I find realism to be one of the most important aspects of a game (especially racing and sports games), more people enjoy stupid stuff like unlimited ammo and hitting 400 home runs in a game. I've always longed for FPS that rewarded the careful player (i.e. you get shot, you probably die, and stay dead for long enough time to make it worth your time trying not to die). I blame Quake and the early frag fests where you only got points for a frag, but never lost points for getting fragged.
The movie pits sentient bipeds against each other over competing resource and has nothing to do with race. The fact they look differently from one another is to be expected, given they evolved on different planets with different atmospheres, climates, plants, etc. etc.
Guns make it easier to kill a person you otherwise wouldn't have killed. Ok, off my hippie soap-box now.
I'd say the only flaw in Cameron's vision for this movie was casting too many white people. I don't think it was done on purpose, but it gives some people the fodder to say it's a "white people suck" movie. Had they cast a black guy in the main role (or as the evil CEO, or the Marine Colonel), it would have been really hard to say "white people suck".
I think casting calls, contracts, agents, schedules, budgets etc. had more to do with who got cast than any perceived message the movie is supposedly trying to preach.
I'm not sure what to make of your comment. Are you saying that it is human nature to be racist? If so, that's an incredibly cynical view (not to mention racist) and I'm struggling to figure out how I escaped such a cursed human nature.
I find the people who bring up race when it's not the topic at hand are the racists of the planet. (Think Limbaugh's stint as an NFL analyst). That's EXACTLY what I thought about this review when I got to that section.
So you are saying it is unrealistic for an alien race exist without conflict. That's very Earthling of you.
Just because you happen to like the message being preached to you, doesn't mean it isn't being preached.
Well stated. I believe we call that "preaching to the choir" or, "watching Fox News", or, "listening to AM Talk radio".
All movies have a message, but very few are good or bad based on their message. Most of them are good or bad based on the execution of the message, whether you agree with the message or not. I can think of several "good" movies with that have messages I don't agree with: Wall-E, Avatar, Million Dollar Baby, to name a few off the top of my head. I don't like the message, per se, but there's really no arguing the merit of these films.
As a matter of fact, the movies that persuade me to think about something I otherwise would dismiss based on my predispositions are the ones I find the most enjoyable.
While I laud your post as one of the clearest voices in this thread, I'd just raise one question. If we are to presume rape cases in the US are higher because we have suppressed sexuality in our media, then shouldn't violent crime be higher in Europe because they suppress violence in their media?
In any case, I don't think either are caused by media, only that our respective media are mirrors of our society, not the cause of our societal ills.
Also, I just saw that Guitar Hero is rated Teen (13 and above). My 10 year old has played every version of Guitar Hero. I think he was ok as a SIX year old playing a 13 and up game?
I think this pretty much sums up my objection to the ESRB.