The people who are going to sue under this law will be the parents who are pissed when Timmy comes home with a copy of "GTA4" after they repeatedly denied to buy it for him.
Agreed. This is how it should be like. What some people fail to realise is that in the given scenario, Timmy is not always an 8 year old kid who his parents should be keeping an eye on, but Tim is a 15 year old kid who can do whatever the hell he likes. I'm 17 right now, my parents aren't going to waste my lives stalking me everywhere making sure I don't buy GTA. If I come home with a copy and they aren't happy, then they can sue the seller (because it's already like this in the UK). Unless I did something stupid like lie about my age on eBay.
And if these laws start to turn up nationwide, the US needs a government rating system instead of these vague definitions of what's inappropriate. And for god's sake, make a system where Halo and Manhunt do NOT have the same rating, it's just wrong.
Yes, I know parents should be parents, but that argument stops working as soon as the children are trusted to be out of the house alone. I'm not American, but as a Brit, I presume it's way below age 18. In America, 15 year old Timmy can go out and buy GTA legally (if he can find a store that will sell it to him). Is that the parents' faults? Should they be watching his every move? I'm still a minor (17), and it would sure as hell be an invasion of privacy to me.
The video rating system in the UK is strange, but reflects my opinions exactly. Only games that meet a certain threshold of content have to be rated (i.e. GTA's violence level), and are rated by the same company who rate movies. Some people get those below the threshold rated voluntarily, but generally only do it because "PG" is more familiar to parents than "7+", and still has no regulation. The rest have to be rated by PEGI, which has similar power to the ESRB; many retailers regulate them but they don't have to
So like in America, little 8 year old can still buy Halo (again, assuming the retailer will let him), but shouldn't because his parents should be parenting. But here, a 15 year old can't buy GTA, unless the retailer wants to put themself in a bit of legal trouble.
As for video games being regulated while movies aren't, I agree, THAT is unfair. But movies are regulated here too, so my stance is they should both be.
I believe the Dreamcast started at $199 and £199. However after it had lowered in the UK (in EB/GAME), I saw it still at $199 in an American EB. I know the companies are somewhat seperate, but it goes to show it was only a rip-off for early buyers here.
All Xbox 360 games have to support 1280x720. Wii games have to support 640x480.
If we're going to do this logically and not technically as you have, the Xbox 360 requires games to be capable of three times the resolution. Factor in the fact this means the textures (and models?) must also be in high definition, and then you've pretty much justified the RAM and CPU.
And the original Gamecube was 485Mhz. Can you tell me that all Gamecube ports of Xbox games were starved of the Xbox's 733MHz?
I might know what the technical details mean, but I don't care, I just want to sit down on the couch and watch the damn movie.
And if you live in PAL land, you'll sit on the couch, start the movie, and "Oh shit, it's in black and white, better get off of my ass and change my RGB SCART cable's switch to 'DVD'".
I know that those with an RGB SCART cable are probably a minority, but that was a real pain in the ass bug
Try living on the povery line and making a choice between getting that lump looked at or eating for a month. I know what most people are forced to choose in your so called land of the free...
That lump is generally just a bit of haggis stuck to your throat.
We allow our children to see violent imagery everywhere, from our games to the news. But we are so violently against sexual imagery.
Sort of the opposite here in the UK. In movies, generally the only controvesy we have about sexual content is about sexual violence. For example notice how no one CARED about Hot Coffee over here (although partially due to the fact the game already had an 18 rating). Hell I'm willing to bet that Hot Coffee on its own could be legally bought here by 15 year olds, I'm sure the BBFC would pass it 15.
Not to mention people can have sex at 16 here.
And I don't know about porn, but nudity itself is a lot more common further down in Europe (i.e. Italian TV ads). And I once saw porn on TWO channels at 10am in France once, but that was just going too far:-P
I too have Asperger's syndrome, and personally I think I'm fairly OK at reading people's expressions when I'm thinking about it or when they're very obvious (far too many false positives though). However when it comes to reading other Autistics, I can never tell, and neurotypicals can't seem to tell either.
Whenever I'm on the schoolbus and I'm abnormally quiet, people seem to think I'm either upset or pissed off about something, when normally I'm just tired.
And let's not forget eye contact. I presume the device might register that, but an Autistic person not making eye contact indicates no more than intimidation, and sometimes it's even negligible.
I know the device is made for reading neurotypicals, and it'd be very difficult for it to differentiate between the two, but still.
Personally, I thought it was too slow. I know the speed was, y'know, realistic, but I think they should have sped some things up so they fit in with the original opening. That way they wouldn't have had to cut things out (Maggie in the paper bag, less shots of Maggie driving, etc.).
I'm willing to bet they used the PAL version of the Simpsons opening (which I assume is sped up from 24fps to 25fps) but filmed at native 25fps speed, which doesn't help.
I'd like to point out what the BBFC think about sex. This is their 15 rating criteria:
Sex
Sexual activity may be portrayed but without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour.
So whether the minigame itself would get a 15 rating or not, it's clear that sex in a non-pornographic contest is pretty much okay for 15 year olds. Keep in mind that this text is mainly for films, and polygon sex with no genitalia would probably be considered a lot more mild.
Also one thing I'd like to point out. The ESRB don't seem to care about crime. Both Halo 2 and GTA got M ratings in America. In GTA, you are encouraged and required to break the law to play the game. In Halo 2, not once are you encouraged to kill humans and some NPCs can't even be killed. I'm not specificly saying whether to raise GTA or lower Halo, but there should definitly be different ratings for the two. It shouldn't be based purely on how gruesome the violence is (which could be considered milder in Halo since you're not fighting humans).
We can accept gritty realism or the cel shading thing. Either one has to be stylishly executed, and the game has to be far more than a shooter where I'm opening doors in order to hold my interest.
Agreed. Personally I think caring about graphics in games so much is like going to a movie and being disappointed if they happily went through the storyline with no special effects. It's not like when you're playing the Wind Waker you say "Crap, I missed the enemy because my sword looks like a cartoon."
Slashdot Mirror
The people who are going to sue under this law will be the parents who are pissed when Timmy comes home with a copy of "GTA4" after they repeatedly denied to buy it for him.
Agreed. This is how it should be like. What some people fail to realise is that in the given scenario, Timmy is not always an 8 year old kid who his parents should be keeping an eye on, but Tim is a 15 year old kid who can do whatever the hell he likes. I'm 17 right now, my parents aren't going to waste my lives stalking me everywhere making sure I don't buy GTA. If I come home with a copy and they aren't happy, then they can sue the seller (because it's already like this in the UK). Unless I did something stupid like lie about my age on eBay.
And if these laws start to turn up nationwide, the US needs a government rating system instead of these vague definitions of what's inappropriate. And for god's sake, make a system where Halo and Manhunt do NOT have the same rating, it's just wrong.
Sounds like you'll be getting a drive-by argument from us soon.
Hear me out before you mod me troll.
Yes, I know parents should be parents, but that argument stops working as soon as the children are trusted to be out of the house alone. I'm not American, but as a Brit, I presume it's way below age 18. In America, 15 year old Timmy can go out and buy GTA legally (if he can find a store that will sell it to him). Is that the parents' faults? Should they be watching his every move? I'm still a minor (17), and it would sure as hell be an invasion of privacy to me.
The video rating system in the UK is strange, but reflects my opinions exactly. Only games that meet a certain threshold of content have to be rated (i.e. GTA's violence level), and are rated by the same company who rate movies. Some people get those below the threshold rated voluntarily, but generally only do it because "PG" is more familiar to parents than "7+", and still has no regulation. The rest have to be rated by PEGI, which has similar power to the ESRB; many retailers regulate them but they don't have to
So like in America, little 8 year old can still buy Halo (again, assuming the retailer will let him), but shouldn't because his parents should be parenting. But here, a 15 year old can't buy GTA, unless the retailer wants to put themself in a bit of legal trouble.
As for video games being regulated while movies aren't, I agree, THAT is unfair. But movies are regulated here too, so my stance is they should both be.
I believe the Dreamcast started at $199 and £199. However after it had lowered in the UK (in EB/GAME), I saw it still at $199 in an American EB. I know the companies are somewhat seperate, but it goes to show it was only a rip-off for early buyers here.
All Xbox 360 games have to support 1280x720. Wii games have to support 640x480.
If we're going to do this logically and not technically as you have, the Xbox 360 requires games to be capable of three times the resolution. Factor in the fact this means the textures (and models?) must also be in high definition, and then you've pretty much justified the RAM and CPU.
And the original Gamecube was 485Mhz. Can you tell me that all Gamecube ports of Xbox games were starved of the Xbox's 733MHz?
It'll be at least five years (after they make up their minds) before I see any games in a hi-def DVD packaging.
Last time I checked, the PS3 is coming out before 2011. Unless you're thinking of Vista games
I might know what the technical details mean, but I don't care, I just want to sit down on the couch and watch the damn movie.
And if you live in PAL land, you'll sit on the couch, start the movie, and "Oh shit, it's in black and white, better get off of my ass and change my RGB SCART cable's switch to 'DVD'".
I know that those with an RGB SCART cable are probably a minority, but that was a real pain in the ass bug
Try living on the povery line and making a choice between getting that lump looked at or eating for a month. I know what most people are forced to choose in your so called land of the free...
That lump is generally just a bit of haggis stuck to your throat.
Oh wait, the other land of the free?
No games have been "banned"
Except Carmageddon, but that got released uncut 18 eventually.
Considering that the AO rating is almost as effective as a ban, I think our system is doing a lot better in terms of censorship.
Yes, I'm sure it took a lot of effort for Microsoft to find out what a useragent is.
Damn right it's a myth. Margarine tastes better than butter!
We allow our children to see violent imagery everywhere, from our games to the news. But we are so violently against sexual imagery.
Sort of the opposite here in the UK. In movies, generally the only controvesy we have about sexual content is about sexual violence. For example notice how no one CARED about Hot Coffee over here (although partially due to the fact the game already had an 18 rating). Hell I'm willing to bet that Hot Coffee on its own could be legally bought here by 15 year olds, I'm sure the BBFC would pass it 15.
Not to mention people can have sex at 16 here.
And I don't know about porn, but nudity itself is a lot more common further down in Europe (i.e. Italian TV ads). And I once saw porn on TWO channels at 10am in France once, but that was just going too far :-P
I too have Asperger's syndrome, and personally I think I'm fairly OK at reading people's expressions when I'm thinking about it or when they're very obvious (far too many false positives though). However when it comes to reading other Autistics, I can never tell, and neurotypicals can't seem to tell either.
Whenever I'm on the schoolbus and I'm abnormally quiet, people seem to think I'm either upset or pissed off about something, when normally I'm just tired.
And let's not forget eye contact. I presume the device might register that, but an Autistic person not making eye contact indicates no more than intimidation, and sometimes it's even negligible.
I know the device is made for reading neurotypicals, and it'd be very difficult for it to differentiate between the two, but still.
Rubbish, it's telecined from 24p to 60i. Check various doom9 posts and 100fps.com if you don't believe me.
Personally, I thought it was too slow. I know the speed was, y'know, realistic, but I think they should have sped some things up so they fit in with the original opening. That way they wouldn't have had to cut things out (Maggie in the paper bag, less shots of Maggie driving, etc.).
I'm willing to bet they used the PAL version of the Simpsons opening (which I assume is sped up from 24fps to 25fps) but filmed at native 25fps speed, which doesn't help.
I mean, when the celphone dials someone in your addressbook without you initiating it?
Doesn't that only happen to people who don't lock their keypads?
Over here in the UK, we were taught that using the inches part of the ruler was improper. Of course that stopped when we all hit puberty :-P
However the real problems is that there was NO QA process. It would of been very simple...
Looks like your post needs a QA process :-)
The screen's aspect ratio was 180 degrees off
That does absolutely nothing to the aspect ratio. Perhaps you mean 90 degrees?
Was it made by Sony?
In other news, child admits breaking his brother's arm was inspired by "Snap".
I thought it'd was going to broadcast on uktv from the title.
This.
I'd like to point out what the BBFC think about sex. This is their 15 rating criteria:
So whether the minigame itself would get a 15 rating or not, it's clear that sex in a non-pornographic contest is pretty much okay for 15 year olds. Keep in mind that this text is mainly for films, and polygon sex with no genitalia would probably be considered a lot more mild.
Also one thing I'd like to point out. The ESRB don't seem to care about crime. Both Halo 2 and GTA got M ratings in America. In GTA, you are encouraged and required to break the law to play the game. In Halo 2, not once are you encouraged to kill humans and some NPCs can't even be killed. I'm not specificly saying whether to raise GTA or lower Halo, but there should definitly be different ratings for the two. It shouldn't be based purely on how gruesome the violence is (which could be considered milder in Halo since you're not fighting humans).
Agreed. Personally I think caring about graphics in games so much is like going to a movie and being disappointed if they happily went through the storyline with no special effects. It's not like when you're playing the Wind Waker you say "Crap, I missed the enemy because my sword looks like a cartoon."