Why is it that every time someone points out deplorable actions (particularly in regards to corporate/government activity) like forced/child labor, someone has to come to their defense with the "it's legal, why shouldn't they?" argument?
Honor is doing the right thing when nobody is looking. Obviously we can't trust some businessmen that don't care about honor, so somebody has to keep an eye on them. All that the whistle generally blowers get out of it is a bunch of grief from people more interested in arguing about legality than morality.
It's almost as if people didn't want to know that they're contributing to morally reprehensible actions, and are upset because they can't claim ignorance anymore.
Video games have nothing directly to do with being fat
By inserting that 'directly' into your statement, even you admit that games (I'd blame TV in general more) have something to do with obesity.
Sitting on your ass in front of a monitor of some sort for almost 40 hours per week is certainly a cause, since that's 40 hours that you're *not* out exercising.
Of course, you're right about diet and exercise. Blaming TV for obesity is definitely a cop-out, but it's also not entirely incorrect either. The trick is figuring out how to get people off the couch and into more active pass-times.
Nintendo once upon a time claimed to be a "cartridge company."
Nintendo never claimed that. They claimed that CD technology was too slow at the time of the N64 to be useful for games.
I, for one, agreed with them. It wasn't ready yet. There were few of my Playstation games that I could stand playing because of load times, and there were several cases where I gave up in frustration (Parasite Eve, anyone?).
But now that optical media technology has improved, Nintendo is using it, and you almost wouldn't even be able to tell in many games that it *wasn't* being read from carts.
It's like quoting Bill Gates' infamous "640k" statement: conveniently forgetting the context of the statement/stance to fit the 'argument'.
New? This has been going on since at least the Genesis/SNES era. Remember Sega's slogan? We do what Nintendon't? (translated: we're cool, they're not.) It got really bad after games went mainstream during the Playstation 1 era, and has only gotten worse in the latest generation. Remember the ads for things like Medieval? It's goofy, but cool! DigiMon: like Pokemon, but cool!
Even stupid kids' games like Zapper are advertised as 'edgy.' He's a grasshopper, but with attitude.
I've always found it to be stupid. I find it amusing that the reviewer thinks that it's a new thing.
The former Reds have an unquenchable desire to tell other people how to live their lives.
And people like you would rather let big business run unchecked. So instead of being told what to do, you're forced to breathe polluted air. You have your forests cut down, and your environment strip-mined. So sure, nobody's telling you what to do, but life sure is hell.
What, you say? That'll never happen? Big business will know when to stop? What in human history makes you think that'll happen? How many times in history have the wealthy elite done *anything* but grab as much as they can? How many civilizations have fallen because of the decadence of the ruling class (and yes, the ruling class and the wealthy elite are the same thing, in the States and everywhere else)?
Personally, I'm not an environmentalist, but here's my take: I have a lot of respect for someone who stands up for a belief that isn't likely to benefit them monetarily. Especially when it's in defense of something that's otherwise defenseless.
Very true. Not only that, but if you take the grandparent post's example of Metroid, the argument falls flat. The best players in the world can beat Super Metroid in roughly 45 minutes. The (currently) best player in the world can beat Metroid Prime in roughly 1:45. I don't claim to be the best original Metroid player in the world, but I think I can finish it in roughly 30-45 minutes.
It just took me about 8 hours to get through the latest Prince of Persia. The original (from the 80s!) had a time limit of what, 1 hour? Mega Man could be beaten in an hour, I'd be really impressed if someone finished Viewtiful Joe in that amount of time.
Note that all of these are single player games -- once you add in multiplayer, who cares about game time? You can play forever if you want.
Personally, I'd rather go through a game that has its action densely packed into a few hours than something that drags on just for the sake of lasting longer.
And presumably those students will be refunded the amount they've paid for Internet access in their fees, if they're not provided with that access?
Can you be refunded for the athletic facilities that you may not use? Refunded for the buildings that your fees pay for that you won't use? Refunded for all the services and resources that the university basically provides for free that you don't use?
Of course you can't. Everyone pays for all of them. Would you rather pay for the system that keeps track of everything that you *have* paid for, and makes damn sure that you only have access to those things?
One thing I noticed IGN's review of Mario Kart, and in many other games recently, is that the reviewers keep talking about what the game "could have been." You read repeatedly about what the reviewer expected to see from title X, and when they didn't get what they expected, they give it a less-than-stellar review.
I think that's a terrible way to rate games. The best way to ruin a movie is to go in with high expectations, or a preconceived notion of what the movie "should be." It's the same thing for games. It's never going to be exactly like you wanted it.
I've pretty much stopped relying on most major gaming sites' reviews. The reviewers are either so jaded that they can't appreciate anything that doesn't fit their narrow view of a good game, or they're moron fanboys who have no idea what a good game actually is.
Easy. They count bundled games in their attach rate. Consider that most bundles had at least 2 games with them, and it's not hard to envision a ~5 game attach rate.
Then you're either not looking or too picky. There are plenty of top-notch titles in just about every genre available for the system. Far more than 'just' Mario and Zelda.
Two suggestions I'll throw out are Eternal Darkness and Viewtiful Joe. Fantastic, unique games that you won't find on any other system. There are many more if you look.
Umm, no, the Gamecube version still has an intro video. And if my memory serves me correctly, it starts out with a news report, then the Stars team helicoptering in and then running through the forest to the mansion as they try to escape the zombie dogs. It just looks a lot better this time around.
Well, I like all of those genres (minus rap -- I don't care for regressive musical genres), but I don't like Linkin Park.
I liked the first song of theirs that I heard. Then I heard another and thought it was the first. Then I heard another and thought it was one of the first two. After that, I just started thinking "blah" every time I heard them or any of their wanna-be's.
Sure, he may have accomplished a few good things in office. Even the blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes.
But Dubya's done plenty to more than offset those things. Start with alienating the rest of the world by essentially giving them the finger when they say something he doesn't like. Maybe clinging to his neoconservative manifesto and lying to get the country to undertake an unnecessary war wasn't so good, either. Maybe the propaganda and information control that his administration has exercised is a scary precedent to set for the future. Maybe preaching fear (the 'evil-doers' are out there!) to the citizens of this country for the last 2 years hasn't been such a good thing, either.
You stand by what you said. Fine. Concentrate on those damn tree huggers. But while you're worrying about the rain, some of us are worried about the flood headed our way.
Thing is, I really *liked* Jet Force Gemini. I thought it was a fun and original game... Until you get to what should have been the end. Instead, you're treated to another trip through every level to find the tribals you missed. It's about a 7-hour game that they extended to 15 hours by forcing you to hunt down each and every one of those damn things.
I wholeheartedly agree with your assesment of their recent boring games. I don't know what was going on with Rare during the N64 years, but they kept putting out games that could've been fun if they'd just taken out (or at least made optional) all the collection elements.
Personally, after Starfox Adventures, I couldn't care less about Rare moving to Microsoft. It's still one of the prettiest games on the console, but like so many of their recent games, it just wasn't any fun.
Rogue Squadron always struck me as the easier/arcade little kid brother
If you think it's easy/ier, you haven't tried to finish it.
And I don't quite understand how the 'arcade' classificiation can be grouped up with 'easier' like that. If you like simulations better than arcade games, fine. But there are some damn hard arcade-style games out there.
Personally, I prefer to get away from sims whenever possible. When developers go for realism in a game, they tend to bore me to death.
And what's even worse about titles like Enter the Matrix and Angel of Darkness selling well is that players (especially new players) come to expect their games to be buggy. ("This extremely popular game was buggy, why would others be any better?") So effectively, Atari and Eidos have lowered the bar for good games.
Slashdot Mirror
You've heard of sarcasm, no?
Your first post was great. However, I read this one while hearing sniggering from all the people that 'got' the grandparent.
--Jeremy
Why is it that every time someone points out deplorable actions (particularly in regards to corporate/government activity) like forced/child labor, someone has to come to their defense with the "it's legal, why shouldn't they?" argument?
Honor is doing the right thing when nobody is looking. Obviously we can't trust some businessmen that don't care about honor, so somebody has to keep an eye on them. All that the whistle generally blowers get out of it is a bunch of grief from people more interested in arguing about legality than morality.
It's almost as if people didn't want to know that they're contributing to morally reprehensible actions, and are upset because they can't claim ignorance anymore.
--Jeremy
Video games have nothing directly to do with being fat
By inserting that 'directly' into your statement, even you admit that games (I'd blame TV in general more) have something to do with obesity.
Sitting on your ass in front of a monitor of some sort for almost 40 hours per week is certainly a cause, since that's 40 hours that you're *not* out exercising.
Of course, you're right about diet and exercise. Blaming TV for obesity is definitely a cop-out, but it's also not entirely incorrect either. The trick is figuring out how to get people off the couch and into more active pass-times.
--Jeremy
Makes one wonder what the release specs on the PSP will end up being.
--Jeremy
Nintendo once upon a time claimed to be a "cartridge company."
Nintendo never claimed that. They claimed that CD technology was too slow at the time of the N64 to be useful for games.
I, for one, agreed with them. It wasn't ready yet. There were few of my Playstation games that I could stand playing because of load times, and there were several cases where I gave up in frustration (Parasite Eve, anyone?).
But now that optical media technology has improved, Nintendo is using it, and you almost wouldn't even be able to tell in many games that it *wasn't* being read from carts.
It's like quoting Bill Gates' infamous "640k" statement: conveniently forgetting the context of the statement/stance to fit the 'argument'.
--Jeremy
A new evil is spreading throughout the industry
New? This has been going on since at least the Genesis/SNES era. Remember Sega's slogan? We do what Nintendon't? (translated: we're cool, they're not.) It got really bad after games went mainstream during the Playstation 1 era, and has only gotten worse in the latest generation. Remember the ads for things like Medieval? It's goofy, but cool! DigiMon: like Pokemon, but cool!
Even stupid kids' games like Zapper are advertised as 'edgy.' He's a grasshopper, but with attitude.
I've always found it to be stupid. I find it amusing that the reviewer thinks that it's a new thing.
--Jeremy
The former Reds have an unquenchable desire to tell other people how to live their lives.
And people like you would rather let big business run unchecked. So instead of being told what to do, you're forced to breathe polluted air. You have your forests cut down, and your environment strip-mined. So sure, nobody's telling you what to do, but life sure is hell.
What, you say? That'll never happen? Big business will know when to stop? What in human history makes you think that'll happen? How many times in history have the wealthy elite done *anything* but grab as much as they can? How many civilizations have fallen because of the decadence of the ruling class (and yes, the ruling class and the wealthy elite are the same thing, in the States and everywhere else)?
Personally, I'm not an environmentalist, but here's my take: I have a lot of respect for someone who stands up for a belief that isn't likely to benefit them monetarily. Especially when it's in defense of something that's otherwise defenseless.
--Jeremy
Amen.
--Jeremy
Very true. Not only that, but if you take the grandparent post's example of Metroid, the argument falls flat. The best players in the world can beat Super Metroid in roughly 45 minutes. The (currently) best player in the world can beat Metroid Prime in roughly 1:45. I don't claim to be the best original Metroid player in the world, but I think I can finish it in roughly 30-45 minutes.
It just took me about 8 hours to get through the latest Prince of Persia. The original (from the 80s!) had a time limit of what, 1 hour? Mega Man could be beaten in an hour, I'd be really impressed if someone finished Viewtiful Joe in that amount of time.
Note that all of these are single player games -- once you add in multiplayer, who cares about game time? You can play forever if you want.
Personally, I'd rather go through a game that has its action densely packed into a few hours than something that drags on just for the sake of lasting longer.
--Jeremy
What, are you in need of a bunch of gag gifts?
--Jeremy
Republicans are evil
Never ascribe to evil that which can just as easily be mere incompetence. (or something similar).
I think both parties are stupid. True evil actually requires a degree of intelligence, which I certainly haven't seen from either party.
--Jeremy
And presumably those students will be refunded the amount they've paid for Internet access in their fees, if they're not provided with that access?
Can you be refunded for the athletic facilities that you may not use? Refunded for the buildings that your fees pay for that you won't use? Refunded for all the services and resources that the university basically provides for free that you don't use?
Of course you can't. Everyone pays for all of them. Would you rather pay for the system that keeps track of everything that you *have* paid for, and makes damn sure that you only have access to those things?
--Jeremy
One thing I noticed IGN's review of Mario Kart, and in many other games recently, is that the reviewers keep talking about what the game "could have been." You read repeatedly about what the reviewer expected to see from title X, and when they didn't get what they expected, they give it a less-than-stellar review.
I think that's a terrible way to rate games. The best way to ruin a movie is to go in with high expectations, or a preconceived notion of what the movie "should be." It's the same thing for games. It's never going to be exactly like you wanted it.
I've pretty much stopped relying on most major gaming sites' reviews. The reviewers are either so jaded that they can't appreciate anything that doesn't fit their narrow view of a good game, or they're moron fanboys who have no idea what a good game actually is.
--Jeremy
Eternal Darkness is one of my 'current-gen' favourites so far, but it certainly isn't unique.
Yeah, I guess the whole 2-millennium-spanning, 12-character-playing, insanity-effect-generating genre has been done to death.
--Jeremy
Easy. They count bundled games in their attach rate. Consider that most bundles had at least 2 games with them, and it's not hard to envision a ~5 game attach rate.
--Jeremy
I'm still not going to buy a console just to play the same games again.
Ok, enjoy Tomb Raider and Sonic on your n-Gage.
--Jeremy
There's nothing that I really want on it
Then you're either not looking or too picky. There are plenty of top-notch titles in just about every genre available for the system. Far more than 'just' Mario and Zelda.
Two suggestions I'll throw out are Eternal Darkness and Viewtiful Joe. Fantastic, unique games that you won't find on any other system. There are many more if you look.
--Jeremy
Umm, no, the Gamecube version still has an intro video. And if my memory serves me correctly, it starts out with a news report, then the Stars team helicoptering in and then running through the forest to the mansion as they try to escape the zombie dogs. It just looks a lot better this time around.
--Jeremy
Come bring your mouse to my Soul Calibur 2 tournament, and see whose shit gets whipped out of 'em.
--Jeremy
Well, I like all of those genres (minus rap -- I don't care for regressive musical genres), but I don't like Linkin Park.
I liked the first song of theirs that I heard. Then I heard another and thought it was the first. Then I heard another and thought it was one of the first two. After that, I just started thinking "blah" every time I heard them or any of their wanna-be's.
--Jeremy
Sure, he may have accomplished a few good things in office. Even the blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes.
But Dubya's done plenty to more than offset those things. Start with alienating the rest of the world by essentially giving them the finger when they say something he doesn't like. Maybe clinging to his neoconservative manifesto and lying to get the country to undertake an unnecessary war wasn't so good, either. Maybe the propaganda and information control that his administration has exercised is a scary precedent to set for the future. Maybe preaching fear (the 'evil-doers' are out there!) to the citizens of this country for the last 2 years hasn't been such a good thing, either.
You stand by what you said. Fine. Concentrate on those damn tree huggers. But while you're worrying about the rain, some of us are worried about the flood headed our way.
--Jeremy
Thing is, I really *liked* Jet Force Gemini. I thought it was a fun and original game... Until you get to what should have been the end. Instead, you're treated to another trip through every level to find the tribals you missed. It's about a 7-hour game that they extended to 15 hours by forcing you to hunt down each and every one of those damn things.
I wholeheartedly agree with your assesment of their recent boring games. I don't know what was going on with Rare during the N64 years, but they kept putting out games that could've been fun if they'd just taken out (or at least made optional) all the collection elements.
Personally, after Starfox Adventures, I couldn't care less about Rare moving to Microsoft. It's still one of the prettiest games on the console, but like so many of their recent games, it just wasn't any fun.
--Jeremy
Yeah, the deep plots behind the Mario games certainly helped bolster their sagging gameplay elements.
Err, wait...
--Jeremy
Rogue Squadron always struck me as the easier/arcade little kid brother
If you think it's easy/ier, you haven't tried to finish it.
And I don't quite understand how the 'arcade' classificiation can be grouped up with 'easier' like that. If you like simulations better than arcade games, fine. But there are some damn hard arcade-style games out there.
Personally, I prefer to get away from sims whenever possible. When developers go for realism in a game, they tend to bore me to death.
--Jeremy
And what's even worse about titles like Enter the Matrix and Angel of Darkness selling well is that players (especially new players) come to expect their games to be buggy. ("This extremely popular game was buggy, why would others be any better?") So effectively, Atari and Eidos have lowered the bar for good games.
--Jeremy