The trouble is that with a show that has gone on as long as The Simpsons has, even good writers will struggle to advance the characters or create interesting episode plots because so much has already been done. Even down to the basic level of jokes, a lot of good puns and sketches have already been 'invoked', so what can you do now? Pretty much the only choice is to reference contempary affairs such as politics and pop culture, and this type of humour doesn't age well and isn't usually that funny in the first place. The desperation is obvious in some of the newer episodes (The 'bread maker maker' gag being a particular example where you can almost hear the writer screaming 'help me I'm suffocating.').
While I don't particularly mind a studio audience or laughter track, it can be annoying when there's a distinct and isolated laugh coming from one person. Come on guys, you know what I mean, that really grating laugh that sounds like it's coming from some fat woman who can't shut her mouth and who shrieks and whoops like a banshee at the dentist. You just hope that Joey or Monica will pick up a Zulu spear from behind the sofa and hurl it into the crowd but it never happens.
This is completely different from online gambling, which is where you willingly put money down and accept that you might lose it all for nothing. This is actually more akin to a virtual eBay, with Sony taking eBay's place and raking in a slice of each sale. Last time I checked eBay was legal virtually everywhere, just replace the antique teapot with a few kb on some random server.
Not that I don't find the whole concept ludicrous, however...
You sound just like my ex-roommate, who would watch me hiding in the shadows in Thief and say 'I'd find that so boring'.
Heck, I'm not even as hardcore a player as some of us guys are. These folk can spend several hours on a small level, reloading every time an AI even thinks something is up. Infact, a good few play through without saving! Personally I stick to the code of killing nobody, and letting my blackjack do the talking. Even I can spend a lot of time on one section, darting in and out of the shadows with the timing of a gymnast.
While Thief may not be the first or most successful game of the genre, it is, as far as I'm concerned the the best execution of stealth. I've played the original Splinter Cell game, and while it allowed for a good manner of sneaking, it lacked that choking tense atmosphere I get when a member of the City Watch is walking past me with a huge sword on his hip.
While it's great that we all have different tastes, I can't help but think that if people gave the more cerebral and challenging games, Thief in particular, a chance they could come to enjoy it. But hey, if you definitely don't like it then that's fine by me.:)
Now that it's dark here I'm off to download a new fan mission and lose myself for a couple of hours.
Please, leave us intelligent adults alone to appreciate dark, morbid and distasteful humour on the merit (wordplay, structure etc.) of the joke itself, without being drawn into the soccer mom, 'Won't someone think of the children?', drama of the subject matter.
I too was looking to see if anyone had mentioned Thief. Go Garrett! Wooooo!:)
Seriously, there can be no better stealth game(s) than Thief. Anyone who has not yet played the series should get onto eBay and pick up the trilogy for about the cost of a brand new game, maybe even less. The hours of entertainment from both official and fan missions will pay for itself a hundred times over.
Warning, you will probably not like Thief if you are of the following mindset:
Impatient
A graphics whore (Deadly Shadows notwithstanding)
All about shooting things and blowing shit up
Sound, atmosphere, storyline, character development; Thief excels in it all by coupling the engaging and mentally stimulating aspects of the film industry with the interactivity and immersion of the games industry.
I would like to see the games industry flirt with the film industry on more occasions, focusing a greater proportion of attention on great story writing and character development. I know, fat chance of that happening when the morons out there just want to blow shit up in their latest Conflict: Iraqi Prison Guard adventure.
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The trouble is that with a show that has gone on as long as The Simpsons has, even good writers will struggle to advance the characters or create interesting episode plots because so much has already been done. Even down to the basic level of jokes, a lot of good puns and sketches have already been 'invoked', so what can you do now? Pretty much the only choice is to reference contempary affairs such as politics and pop culture, and this type of humour doesn't age well and isn't usually that funny in the first place. The desperation is obvious in some of the newer episodes (The 'bread maker maker' gag being a particular example where you can almost hear the writer screaming 'help me I'm suffocating.').
Why don't they just put it out of it's misery rather than attempt to squeeze these last few dollars from the dead horse?
You answered your own question.
While I don't particularly mind a studio audience or laughter track, it can be annoying when there's a distinct and isolated laugh coming from one person. Come on guys, you know what I mean, that really grating laugh that sounds like it's coming from some fat woman who can't shut her mouth and who shrieks and whoops like a banshee at the dentist. You just hope that Joey or Monica will pick up a Zulu spear from behind the sofa and hurl it into the crowd but it never happens.
Sorry, but accidentally putting on your underpants over your trousers doesn't qualify...
TESTING...Testing...Testing...
No one ever complain about that :/
It's because they love you long time.
But one expert warned it could be misused by politicians who want to persuade more people to back them.
For some reason I picture Honor Blackman flying over the electorate on election day, spraying this 'trust potion' from light aircraft.
It's a pity I can't add you to my friends list, that was just delightful. The use of 'seven' and 'three' was the cherry (or APPAL) on top.
Oh definitely.
I bet Actuator Man will be lamenting this new technology.
Answers to questions, eh?
Such as, 'How does Roland Piquepaille sleep at night'?
Dr. Zoidberg, is that you?
This is completely different from online gambling, which is where you willingly put money down and accept that you might lose it all for nothing. This is actually more akin to a virtual eBay, with Sony taking eBay's place and raking in a slice of each sale. Last time I checked eBay was legal virtually everywhere, just replace the antique teapot with a few kb on some random server.
Not that I don't find the whole concept ludicrous, however...
That's how we design cameras in Belgium. We call it a "Belgian Chip".
Are you brave enough to 'by' that famous book called a dictionary? :-)
Buying the music?
I jest. I bes a scurvy dog like the rest of ye.
Yeah, there's no way it will hit Earth, otherwise John Titor would have mentioned it...
You sound just like my ex-roommate, who would watch me hiding in the shadows in Thief and say 'I'd find that so boring'.
:)
Heck, I'm not even as hardcore a player as some of us guys are. These folk can spend several hours on a small level, reloading every time an AI even thinks something is up. Infact, a good few play through without saving! Personally I stick to the code of killing nobody, and letting my blackjack do the talking. Even I can spend a lot of time on one section, darting in and out of the shadows with the timing of a gymnast.
While Thief may not be the first or most successful game of the genre, it is, as far as I'm concerned the the best execution of stealth. I've played the original Splinter Cell game, and while it allowed for a good manner of sneaking, it lacked that choking tense atmosphere I get when a member of the City Watch is walking past me with a huge sword on his hip.
While it's great that we all have different tastes, I can't help but think that if people gave the more cerebral and challenging games, Thief in particular, a chance they could come to enjoy it. But hey, if you definitely don't like it then that's fine by me.
Now that it's dark here I'm off to download a new fan mission and lose myself for a couple of hours.
Yeah, the whole 'bad for the prop' thing is a cover, they actually caved under pressure from People for the Ethical Treatment of Melons.
Please, leave us intelligent adults alone to appreciate dark, morbid and distasteful humour on the merit (wordplay, structure etc.) of the joke itself, without being drawn into the soccer mom, 'Won't someone think of the children?', drama of the subject matter.
And blackjack...
Seriously, there can be no better stealth game(s) than Thief. Anyone who has not yet played the series should get onto eBay and pick up the trilogy for about the cost of a brand new game, maybe even less. The hours of entertainment from both official and fan missions will pay for itself a hundred times over.
Warning, you will probably not like Thief if you are of the following mindset:
- Impatient
- A graphics whore (Deadly Shadows notwithstanding)
- All about shooting things and blowing shit up
Sound, atmosphere, storyline, character development; Thief excels in it all by coupling the engaging and mentally stimulating aspects of the film industry with the interactivity and immersion of the games industry.We will see more of this in games in the future.
I hope so, I really do.
I would like to see the games industry flirt with the film industry on more occasions, focusing a greater proportion of attention on great story writing and character development. I know, fat chance of that happening when the morons out there just want to blow shit up in their latest Conflict: Iraqi Prison Guard adventure.
A female doctor?
With figures like these, who wouldn't?