"The sender intends -- whether consciously or unconsciously -- to accomplish something by communicating. In organizational contexts, messages typically have a definite objective: to motivate, to inform, to teach, to persuade, to entertain, or to inspire." [Emphasis added.]
In case you want to dispute my source, I should also point out that most people learn the four primary purposes of communication (to inform, to persuade, to entertain, and to question) in grade school.
BTW, by your definition (if we ignore the circular "created by an artist" crap) just about any communication is art, including talking to my mom on the phone.
Well, let's see. I'd say I've spent about $1200 or so on PC hardware in the past six years. Sounds like a decent sum, but then I can and do use my computer for a hell of a lot more than playing video games, not to mention the variety of games that PCs can play. And I'm including parts that stopped working long before they should've died; otherwise the price would be more like $900.
I also don't care about keeping my computer "up-to-date." Beyond getting a cheap DVD burner, I haven't upgraded in two years, and that was mostly to replace those malfunctioning parts I referred to above. I replaced them with mid-range stuff, as well. If it can run a new game without completely choking, I'm fine with it.
Compare that to consoles, which will end up being well over $1000 every four years if the current trends hold, and all they can do well is play video games unless you hack them. Sure they'll be on the bleeding edge of gaming, but I really don't need that sort of thing any more.
I wasn't saying that the DS2 didn't have flaws, just that a criticism based on aesthetics is pointless. The example you gave is unfair, though; Nintendo held a patent on their D-Pad design, and there aren't many other ways you can construct a D-Pad.
I'm the same. I'm just going to keep playing games on my PC and my current-gen consoles for a while longer. Maybe I'll upgrade when the prices for the new consoles becomes reasonable.
I think you've forgotten exactly what was gimmicky about the DS. It wasn't the touch-screen, though there were fears that that would end up being a gimmick too, but the dual screens. You know, the reason why the thing was named the "DS" to begin with? And that has indeed turned out to be a gimmick.
As for the DS' success, it is in a much different situation from the Revolution. Not only was it first to market ahead of the PSP, but it already had a virtual monopoly behind it, so third-party developers were basically forced to make games for it, gimmicks and all. Not so with the Revolution. The only things that system will have going for it are a low price and first-party games, and the idea that those will be enough for it to gain even a moderate amount of market-share is wishful thinking, especially since the GameCube had the exact same advantages. The new controller just makes it less likely that a third party will ever make anything for the console that isn't either a port (which will use the controller cradle, not the controller itself) or a gimmick game, not more.
I thought the example was funny as well. The author talks about how we're headed for a video game crash because all of the games are the same but we can get out of it by making fresh new games again. The example, though, is a situation where there were a wide variety of games, but then the arcades crashed, and the only way they could recover was by making all of the games the same (i.e. rhythm games).
Nintendo has never lost the hardcore gaming population
They lost it when they lost the third parties about a decade ago. Unless your definition of "hardcore" only includes those with tons of cash to throw around.
Yeah because I explicitly stated "NO IT'LL BE THE REVOLUTION!"
OK... so if the console they're designing for right now is not the XBox 360 (and it isn't; that's what "not part of the company's plans at the moment" means), and it's not the PS3 (since you wouldn't be ranting about how the article assumed it would be the PS3 otherwise)... then what would it be?
This article is quite specifically rating the quality of the games that were released at launch. You can argue that it didn't do that very well by forgetting to mention certain launch games, but the stuff you mentioned about sales and future performance is irrelevant to what the article is trying to achieve.
The difference is that I don't think any console maker has actively encouraged developers to make gimmicky trash for its consoles since the Atari 2600. (Unless you count optional accessories like the Power Glove and the EyeToy, but those were never big parts of the industry.)
More likely, though, third parties just won't be making any games for the Revolution, period.
In what way, exactly? Couldn't be referring to the classic definition of "mature;" you see a lot more blood and "adult" stuff in FPSes than in MMORPGs. And FPSes have been around longer than MMORPGs, so it couldn't be talking about age, either. The only other thing I can think of is that the maturity levels of the types of players that play the two genres are significantly different, and, well, that would be inaccurate (NSFW).
I remember posting on the 8BT forum once that the only reason the comic was worth reading is that it's a goofball retelling of the original Final Fantasy story with twisted renditions of the main characters; if the comic was about something else, even if it only changed over to a more generic fantasy story, it would no longer be funny because then it would rely entirely on its repetitive, often ripped-off jokes to come across to the reader. The other people on the forum, being fanboys, of course ripped into me for stating that opinion. But imagine my surprise when the creator himself admits as much in this article!
So it's perhaps inevitable that the writing would be a secondary concern, and the humor is often far more repetitive than the art. To compensate for this, Clevinger begun focusing more on story than jokes some time ago, but as a rule the quality of the writing hasn't become any sharper. A large component of the strip's popularity is love for the characters Clevinger uses, something he acknowledges when he says "I've lost count of how many e-mails I've gotten from fans thanking me for reminding them how much they loved the original Final Fantasy."
Some chick takes a joke way too seriously and writes five pages of crap about it. Man, the reason why/. posts Escapist articles all the time is so clear to me now...
Depends on what you mean by "bullying." If you're referring to verbal abuse, pranks, and mild physical conflict (flicking someone's ears, for example), then I would say that yes, bullying is a rite of passage. After all, a lot of things happen out in the real world that could be considered very similar to this form of bullying, and you have to be able to cope with it.
If you're talking about deliberately causing bodily harm, that's not bullying; that's assault.
1) If my child does buy something that I don't think is appropriate, I can not return it.
Finally, someone comes up with a sensical argument for these types of laws. Well, there are two ways around this that wouldn't involve the government needlessly curtailing freedom of expression:
1. Force the retailers to accept returns of M-rated games sold to minors. No proof that it was actually sold to a minor would be needed, of course, but what would then happen would be that retailers would refuse to sell M-rated games to minors (thus giving them plausible deniability), which gives us the perfect compromise position. 2. Punish your kid for buying the game. Radical idea, I know. If he did it with your money, then either take it out of his allowance, make him do a bunch of chores, or refuse to give him money for something the next time he asks for it. If he did it with his own money, well, taking the game away is punishment enough, isn't it?
2) With the advent of live CDs it is possible for a minor to run a violent video game on the PC with out leaving behind any sign of it.
If a kid knows enough to do that, then he knows enough to just download the game and bypass the retailers altogether. Besides, he would still have to hide the CD, and if he's clever enough to do that in your own house without getting caught, and has enough willpower to only play the game when it's "safe" to, then he's probably mature enough to handle the game's content anyway.
3) If my child is mature enough to play an excessively violent video game, it is my decision as a parent to make. So why not make video games like movies, TV and magazines?
Video games were already like movies and cable TV. That's the big problem with this legislation; it's hypocritical. As for magazines, I assume you're talking about pornography, which is considered obscene and as such is a completely different issue from violent video games. As for the government restrictions on broadcast TV, those are due to the fact that the airwaves are owned by the public and leased to the networks, which is a different situation from that with movies, cable, and video games.
Last I checked, my "previous transgressions" didn't make me millions of dollars.
Besides, it's very clear that Schwarzenegger didn't want to sign this bill. He bowed under political pressure. This makes him a hypocrite no matter how you want to look at it.
Slashdot Mirror
Most games are not attempting to communicate, but are rather trying to entertain their audience.
Indeed?
"The sender intends -- whether consciously or unconsciously -- to accomplish something by communicating. In organizational contexts, messages typically have a definite objective: to motivate, to inform, to teach, to persuade, to entertain, or to inspire."
[Emphasis added.]
In case you want to dispute my source, I should also point out that most people learn the four primary purposes of communication (to inform, to persuade, to entertain, and to question) in grade school.
BTW, by your definition (if we ignore the circular "created by an artist" crap) just about any communication is art, including talking to my mom on the phone.
Rob
I think the "joke" murdered itself.
Rob
Well, let's see. I'd say I've spent about $1200 or so on PC hardware in the past six years. Sounds like a decent sum, but then I can and do use my computer for a hell of a lot more than playing video games, not to mention the variety of games that PCs can play. And I'm including parts that stopped working long before they should've died; otherwise the price would be more like $900.
I also don't care about keeping my computer "up-to-date." Beyond getting a cheap DVD burner, I haven't upgraded in two years, and that was mostly to replace those malfunctioning parts I referred to above. I replaced them with mid-range stuff, as well. If it can run a new game without completely choking, I'm fine with it.
Compare that to consoles, which will end up being well over $1000 every four years if the current trends hold, and all they can do well is play video games unless you hack them. Sure they'll be on the bleeding edge of gaming, but I really don't need that sort of thing any more.
Rob
I wasn't saying that the DS2 didn't have flaws, just that a criticism based on aesthetics is pointless. The example you gave is unfair, though; Nintendo held a patent on their D-Pad design, and there aren't many other ways you can construct a D-Pad.
Rob
Yes, because the primary concern of controller design is aesthetics, not useability.
Rob
I'm the same. I'm just going to keep playing games on my PC and my current-gen consoles for a while longer. Maybe I'll upgrade when the prices for the new consoles becomes reasonable.
Rob
I think you've forgotten exactly what was gimmicky about the DS. It wasn't the touch-screen, though there were fears that that would end up being a gimmick too, but the dual screens. You know, the reason why the thing was named the "DS" to begin with? And that has indeed turned out to be a gimmick.
As for the DS' success, it is in a much different situation from the Revolution. Not only was it first to market ahead of the PSP, but it already had a virtual monopoly behind it, so third-party developers were basically forced to make games for it, gimmicks and all. Not so with the Revolution. The only things that system will have going for it are a low price and first-party games, and the idea that those will be enough for it to gain even a moderate amount of market-share is wishful thinking, especially since the GameCube had the exact same advantages. The new controller just makes it less likely that a third party will ever make anything for the console that isn't either a port (which will use the controller cradle, not the controller itself) or a gimmick game, not more.
Rob
I thought the example was funny as well. The author talks about how we're headed for a video game crash because all of the games are the same but we can get out of it by making fresh new games again. The example, though, is a situation where there were a wide variety of games, but then the arcades crashed, and the only way they could recover was by making all of the games the same (i.e. rhythm games).
Rob
Nintendo has never lost the hardcore gaming population
They lost it when they lost the third parties about a decade ago. Unless your definition of "hardcore" only includes those with tons of cash to throw around.
Rob
If you're talking about Pair 5, Player B was the idiot in that scenario. If you're talking about Pair 6, well, yeah.
"You cannot use your brain to decide, it's luck..." that's funny.
Rob
The players are allowed to examine their environment before the start of the game.
Rob
No, if he'd said Magic of Scheherazade, he'd be right.
Rob
Yeah because I explicitly stated "NO IT'LL BE THE REVOLUTION!"
OK... so if the console they're designing for right now is not the XBox 360 (and it isn't; that's what "not part of the company's plans at the moment" means), and it's not the PS3 (since you wouldn't be ranting about how the article assumed it would be the PS3 otherwise)... then what would it be?
Rob
Who'd have guessed?
Rob
This article is quite specifically rating the quality of the games that were released at launch. You can argue that it didn't do that very well by forgetting to mention certain launch games, but the stuff you mentioned about sales and future performance is irrelevant to what the article is trying to achieve.
Rob
Pfft... Bahahahahahaha--Wait. That wasn't a joke, was it?
Rob (I knew at least one poor, delusional guy would wonder why the Revolution wasn't mentioned)
The difference is that I don't think any console maker has actively encouraged developers to make gimmicky trash for its consoles since the Atari 2600. (Unless you count optional accessories like the Power Glove and the EyeToy, but those were never big parts of the industry.)
More likely, though, third parties just won't be making any games for the Revolution, period.
Rob
In what way, exactly? Couldn't be referring to the classic definition of "mature;" you see a lot more blood and "adult" stuff in FPSes than in MMORPGs. And FPSes have been around longer than MMORPGs, so it couldn't be talking about age, either. The only other thing I can think of is that the maturity levels of the types of players that play the two genres are significantly different, and, well, that would be inaccurate (NSFW).
Rob
I remember posting on the 8BT forum once that the only reason the comic was worth reading is that it's a goofball retelling of the original Final Fantasy story with twisted renditions of the main characters; if the comic was about something else, even if it only changed over to a more generic fantasy story, it would no longer be funny because then it would rely entirely on its repetitive, often ripped-off jokes to come across to the reader. The other people on the forum, being fanboys, of course ripped into me for stating that opinion. But imagine my surprise when the creator himself admits as much in this article!
So it's perhaps inevitable that the writing would be a secondary concern, and the humor is often far more repetitive than the art. To compensate for this, Clevinger begun focusing more on story than jokes some time ago, but as a rule the quality of the writing hasn't become any sharper. A large component of the strip's popularity is love for the characters Clevinger uses, something he acknowledges when he says "I've lost count of how many e-mails I've gotten from fans thanking me for reminding them how much they loved the original Final Fantasy."
Some people just can't handle the truth, I guess.
Rob
Some chick takes a joke way too seriously and writes five pages of crap about it. Man, the reason why /. posts Escapist articles all the time is so clear to me now...
Rob
Depends on what you mean by "bullying." If you're referring to verbal abuse, pranks, and mild physical conflict (flicking someone's ears, for example), then I would say that yes, bullying is a rite of passage. After all, a lot of things happen out in the real world that could be considered very similar to this form of bullying, and you have to be able to cope with it.
If you're talking about deliberately causing bodily harm, that's not bullying; that's assault.
Rob
1) If my child does buy something that I don't think is appropriate, I can not return it.
Finally, someone comes up with a sensical argument for these types of laws. Well, there are two ways around this that wouldn't involve the government needlessly curtailing freedom of expression:
1. Force the retailers to accept returns of M-rated games sold to minors. No proof that it was actually sold to a minor would be needed, of course, but what would then happen would be that retailers would refuse to sell M-rated games to minors (thus giving them plausible deniability), which gives us the perfect compromise position.
2. Punish your kid for buying the game. Radical idea, I know. If he did it with your money, then either take it out of his allowance, make him do a bunch of chores, or refuse to give him money for something the next time he asks for it. If he did it with his own money, well, taking the game away is punishment enough, isn't it?
2) With the advent of live CDs it is possible for a minor to run a violent video game on the PC with out leaving behind any sign of it.
If a kid knows enough to do that, then he knows enough to just download the game and bypass the retailers altogether. Besides, he would still have to hide the CD, and if he's clever enough to do that in your own house without getting caught, and has enough willpower to only play the game when it's "safe" to, then he's probably mature enough to handle the game's content anyway.
3) If my child is mature enough to play an excessively violent video game, it is my decision as a parent to make. So why not make video games like movies, TV and magazines?
Video games were already like movies and cable TV. That's the big problem with this legislation; it's hypocritical. As for magazines, I assume you're talking about pornography, which is considered obscene and as such is a completely different issue from violent video games. As for the government restrictions on broadcast TV, those are due to the fact that the airwaves are owned by the public and leased to the networks, which is a different situation from that with movies, cable, and video games.
Rob
Just about everything I know about Chinese history I know from playing Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Dynasty Warriors.
Rob
Last I checked, my "previous transgressions" didn't make me millions of dollars.
Besides, it's very clear that Schwarzenegger didn't want to sign this bill. He bowed under political pressure. This makes him a hypocrite no matter how you want to look at it.
Rob
So... what's the difference between the problem of video games and the problem of movies again?
Rob