Worth Reading: 01/04/13

Happy 2013, Patrick! Great work last year, and I am looking forward to 2013.

A year ago, I probably would have agreed with the blog post about TBBT, without having watched it. Then I watched it, and I disagree with it. You do laugh at the idiosyncrasies of the characters, as you do in other comedies. The author brings up Community, which I happen to enjoy more than TBBT, and even there we laugh at the idiosyncrasies of characters. You have Britta, the feminist always looking for a cause; Pierce, the old white guy who is politically incorrect; Shirley, the religious mother. Should these demographics be as offended by Community as this guy happens to be about nerds in TBBT? I feel he's suffering from some kind of PTSD from high school that has him projecting onto TBBT.

Wow, that picture of Ultima Online sure brought back some memories. I read the article associated with it and I don't really agree with it though. If anything games helped me realize that with the best will in the world (best equipment, good communication with people, good knowledge and experience), shit will still hit the fan and it's important to be flexible enough to switch tacks and/or recognize when you're settling into a destructive pattern.

games "forcing" us into situations

I had some trouble with this. No doubt the devs are manipulating...massaging the situation into which way they want things to go. One of the latter examples has made made me think how Assad of Syria have forced Alawites, Christians and such into this us/them situation with the oppressed Sunni majority. 'You're with me or you , your families, and clans are brutally obliterated.' And I personally bet it's just that way to a very significant degree.Thus Assad sandbags for his survival, and ppl. without desiring hate do horrible things to survive.

Devs ought to learn from Pros like Assad. And perhaps players like me might learn the lesson of putting the controller down, waste 40 or so dollars, but understand an ethical choice, rather than going on to see what happens next. Sure,it seems rather strange and monetarily rude...is this the lesson to be learned?

I would have no issue I think in real life, soooo, what do the devs' want? Tricky territory and an obstruction to we always want to see over the next hill, around the next bend. Perhaps it isbest to take it to the end, absorb the lesson, but let's keep it honest that way. There is(I understand) a gun in my hand......quite a lesson.

Shining Force is like if you took Fire Emblem, made it boring by taking out the threat of permadeath, and gave it a lame story and characters that are cardboard cutouts. It stood out in the West when Fire Emblem wasn't being localized, but I don't think it holds up at all, when the other greats of the genre (Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre) are just much more interesting games.

Given the advances in the genre, Shining Force 1 and 2 hold up about as well as Final Fantasy 1, which is to say NOT AT ALL.

@Jekaboom said:

@norcy_blarvest said:

I just want to say how happy I am to see pictures of Ultima Online posted on a video game website in 2013. Such an awesome game that will never exist again.

+1 to that, Sire!

+1 again! greatest ever game

nice article!

@Dezztroy said:

@dvorak said:

@Dezztroy said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

I thought the linking to sites where you can buy guns is terrible taste for a game, hey you'r having fun shooting dudes with this rifle so why not buy it in real life

A civilian cannot legally buy/own the majority of the weapons represented in MoH: Warfighter.

That's completely inaccurate, but whatever.

Please show me where a civilian can pick up a milspec M249. Without the need for a license and such, of course. There's a reason manufacturers produce and sell separate products for the civilian market.

There are 8 transferable NFA M249 in existance. And what you said is "A civilian cannot legally buy/own the majority of the weapons"

Not where a civilian requires a license to purchase a majority of weapons in MoH.

But whatever you are still wrong because an NFA Firearm requires no such license.

Also what you also said is that a civilian cannot buy/own the majority of weapons in MoH, not whether or not they can own an M249, but that's still wrong too.

You can buy a transferable M249/FN Minimi for the price of small house here

All you need to do is purchase it and fill out an ATF Form here.

Then they process you through a background check in order to confirm you are not a felon, the firearm is then registared to your name, $200 tax stamp and boom you have your M249.

TLDR: Dezztroy is wrong and shouldn't talk about stuff he has no idea what he is talking about to avoid looking stupid.

The Shining Force games are interesting but incredibly simple. The Fire Emblem games are the natural evolution of those systems. You should look up the craziness that was the intent behind the 3 games that were Shining Force 3. Not a game you can go back and play but man did they have some pretty cool ideas. I do love the series and spent a chunk of my childhood with them.

@Jourdon said:

@ReaganStein said:

Just when I thought patrick couldn't get any more pretentious he starts posting TED talks in "worth reading." This "feature" needs to be taken out to pasture.

What's wrong with TED talks? They're informative and interesting.

That was probably the best TED talk I've seen.

Nice

Shining Force II rocks and totally holds up.

Course, I played the originals when they were new, so maybe that's nostalgia, but I bought and played them for the PC recently and still loved them.

@insanejedi said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

You obviously don't know the origins of guns, they were used to demolish the opposing force who had things like swords and shields. You'r whole argument is just so silly I actually think you are trolling. Like you keep bringing up the electric chair like some one could just bring that around with them, hooking people up to it one by one. Guns make cowards unstoppable, every one of these mass shootings are pretty much always nerdy skinny dudes that would of got overpowered if they went into these places with a knife, the gun was the thing that made them powerful without them they are nothing, you want to hunt with your gun? Use a bow and arrow and a knife and stop cheating with a gun.

Out of humor here you are going to criticize my lack of knowledge on guns, when you consider it cheating to hunt with a gun, instead of using a bow and arrow and a knife.

Okay dumbass, for number one do you even have the first fucking clue of how to hunt with a gun? Because not only do you have to take in consideration the range of your target, but the accuracy MOA of your rifle, where the winds blowing, calibrations to your MOA/MIL turret, barometric pressure and altitude differences, velocity of different ammo choices, terminal ballistic effectiveness of your ammo choices, whether you are shooting at a high angle or not, parallax adjustment, breathing control, trigger control, and in some cases the rotation of the earth to make a shot placement on an animal in order to drop it dead right then and there to make a clean kill.

Bows and arrows? Do you even have a god damn idea what happens when you hit an animal with a bow and arrow? When you shoot it with a gun and you do the correct placement it drops fucking dead right then and there. When you hit it with a bow the bow most of the time clogs up the wound port, making the animal unable to blead itself quickly. So now it's running around in agony for 20 god damn minutes suffering before it's last minutes. Does that sound fucking fun to you or the animal? No? So shut the hell up.

I bet you didn't even understand a quarter of what I said, so stop talking about shit that you have no idea what it is.

Now the history of guns.

The first Machinegun ever made was made by Hiram Maxim who was told

"If you want to make a pile of money, invent something that will enable these Europeans to cut each others' throats with greater facility.'"

Nothing about it said to obliterate the other side. Maxim did not make his machine guns so that the Brits could hold all the power. He sold his machine gun to everyone because they would fight each other.

A machine gun or any gun for that matter are NEVER designed as murder weapons. They are tools of WAR. Where Both sides are engaged in armed conflict. And the objective of war is to WIN, and NOT to KILL. Killing doesn't win you a war. We can kill every single person in Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan with every the NATO arsenal but it won't WIN us a WAR.

Me and my mates killed a wild pig with a knife in my mid teens and took turns carrying it out the bush behind our necks we didn't have to stand at a safe distance with a gun. I still stand by my statement only pussies use guns to hunt. And I seriously could care less about your gun jargon. Your obviously stupid seriously read what you are saying about the first machine gun you're contradicting your self.

"A machine gun or any gun for that matter are NEVER designed as murder weapons" you have seriously got to be a troll, what was it designed for then? To cut the lawn?

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

You obviously don't know the origins of guns, they were used to demolish the opposing force who had things like swords and shields. You'r whole argument is just so silly I actually think you are trolling. Like you keep bringing up the electric chair like some one could just bring that around with them, hooking people up to it one by one. Guns make cowards unstoppable, every one of these mass shootings are pretty much always nerdy skinny dudes that would of got overpowered if they went into these places with a knife, the gun was the thing that made them powerful without them they are nothing, you want to hunt with your gun? Use a bow and arrow and a knife and stop cheating with a gun.

Out of humor here you are going to criticize my lack of knowledge on guns, when you consider it cheating to hunt with a gun, instead of using a bow and arrow and a knife.

Okay dumbass, for number one do you even have the first fucking clue of how to hunt with a gun? Because not only do you have to take in consideration the range of your target, but the accuracy MOA of your rifle, where the winds blowing, calibrations to your MOA/MIL turret, barometric pressure and altitude differences, velocity of different ammo choices, terminal ballistic effectiveness of your ammo choices, whether you are shooting at a high angle or not, parallax adjustment, breathing control, trigger control, and in some cases the rotation of the earth to make a shot placement on an animal in order to drop it dead right then and there to make a clean kill.

Bows and arrows? Do you even have a god damn idea what happens when you hit an animal with a bow and arrow? When you shoot it with a gun and you do the correct placement it drops fucking dead right then and there. When you hit it with a bow the bow most of the time clogs up the wound port, making the animal unable to blead itself quickly. So now it's running around in agony for 20 god damn minutes suffering before it's last minutes. Does that sound fucking fun to you or the animal? No? So shut the hell up.

I bet you didn't even understand a quarter of what I said, so stop talking about shit that you have no idea what it is.

Now the history of guns.

The first Machinegun ever made was made by Hiram Maxim who was told

"If you want to make a pile of money, invent something that will enable these Europeans to cut each others' throats with greater facility.'"

Nothing about it said to obliterate the other side. Maxim did not make his machine guns so that the Brits could hold all the power. He sold his machine gun to everyone because they would fight each other.

A machine gun or any gun for that matter are NEVER designed as murder weapons. They are tools of WAR. Where Both sides are engaged in armed conflict. And the objective of war is to WIN, and NOT to KILL. Killing doesn't win you a war. We can kill every single person in Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan with every the NATO arsenal but it won't WIN us a WAR.

@Dezztroy said:

@dvorak said:

@Dezztroy said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

I thought the linking to sites where you can buy guns is terrible taste for a game, hey you'r having fun shooting dudes with this rifle so why not buy it in real life

A civilian cannot legally buy/own the majority of the weapons represented in MoH: Warfighter.

That's completely inaccurate, but whatever.

Please show me where a civilian can pick up a milspec M249. Without the need for a license and such, of course. There's a reason manufacturers produce and sell separate products for the civilian market.

There are 8 transferable NFA M249 in existance. And what you said is "A civilian cannot legally buy/own the majority of the weapons"

Not where a civilian requires a license to purchase a majority of weapons in MoH.

But whatever you are still wrong because an NFA Firearm requires no such license.

Also what you also said is that a civilian cannot buy/own the majority of weapons in MoH, not whether or not they can own an M249, but that's still wrong too.

You can buy a transferable M249/FN Minimi for the price of small house here

All you need to do is purchase it and fill out an ATF Form here.

Then they process you through a background check in order to confirm you are not a felon, the firearm is then registared to your name, $200 tax stamp and boom you have your M249.

TLDR: Dezztroy is wrong and shouldn't talk about stuff he has no idea what he is talking about to avoid looking stupid.

@GrantHeaslip said:

Aside from ending a couple of sentences with ", too." (why?), I've got to give credit where credit's due: Patrick published an entire long-form article without any blatant spelling or grammar errors. Here's hoping this wasn't just a fluke.

Edit: Looks like I spoke too soon:

@TrafalgarLaw said:

"and maybe bringing in outside writers to report on material that I have no business, interest, or time to tackle."

My native language isn't english but shouldn't it be business with, interest in [...]...?

Also, you use, a lot of commas, which is, very annoying to, ultimately, read.

It would be "interest in" if the verb form were "tackling". He has no business to tackle, to interest to tackle, and no time to tackle that material.

The commas are often caesura, commonly used in poetry to designate a natural pause, however prose has evolved to the point where using them is not so verboten.

I've seen that TED video before, probably my favorite also I glad to see somebody breakdown what Big Bang Theory really is which I've always seen as being nerd/geek is dumb and funny!

That TED talk was really interesting. Thanks, Patrick.

@patrickklepek Shining Force and Shining Force 2 are two of my favorite games of all time. Shining Force 2 would hold up more, I imagine. Did you ever play Gladius from the last generation? That was an evolution on the mechanics of Shining Force, and I would recommend that as a better alternative to playing a Genesis game.

@BlueMizzen said:

I don't watch Big Bang Theory, seems lame.

And it is. It is just another paint by the numbers, hackneyed sitcom. How they are not booed out of Comic-Con and other conventions is a mystery. Anyone that compares it to Seinfeld is seriously delusional.

@norcy_blarvest said:

I just want to say how happy I am to see pictures of Ultima Online posted on a video game website in 2013. Such an awesome game that will never exist again.

+1 to that, Sire!

@gladspooky said:

People just have a hard time realizing every sitcom is terrible. It's exactly as funny as Seinfeld. Not any worse, or better. Except it's probably broadcast and filmed in HD? So it's objectively better, I guess?

That's not an incredibly stupid thing to say at all.

I just want to say how happy I am to see pictures of Ultima Online posted on a video game website in 2013. Such an awesome game that will never exist again.

@Beb said:

I can't help but feel like a lot of Big Bang Theory hate comes from people projecting on to the show, and not the show itself. My girlfriend loves the show and watches it obsessively, which means I've seen every episode at least once. After reading the blog that Patrick linked, I have to say that while I agree with it to a point, I think that the criticism goes too far.

It's certainly not for everyone, ironically, because it is a lowest common denominator network laugh track sitcom. In that regard, I think it is no worse than every other show in its field. It's a show about a bunch of nerds, but it's not made specifically for them. It's supposed to appeal to a broad audience.

Where I think the hate goes too far is when people say that it is demonizing or belittling nerds. It seems to me that when self-proclaimed geeks watch the show, then relate to the main characters and then feel slighted when those characters are used for laughs. The thing people seem to miss is that the non-geek characters get this treatment too. There are PLENTY of times that Penny, or other non-nerd characters are made the punchline of a joke, but it's easy to overlook those moments and assume it's a nerd-hate-fest if that is what you 'want' to think of the show.

I definitely agree that the show could be a lot better, but I can't help but roll my eyes a bit when I read complaints that it is some kind of hateful, abomination of a show.

People just have a hard time realizing every sitcom is terrible. It's exactly as funny as Seinfeld. Not any worse, or better. Except it's probably broadcast and filmed in HD? So it's objectively better, I guess?

@Dezztroy said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

I thought the linking to sites where you can buy guns is terrible taste for a game, hey you'r having fun shooting dudes with this rifle so why not buy it in real life

A civilian cannot legally buy/own the majority of the weapons represented in MoH: Warfighter.

That's completely inaccurate, but whatever.

Patrick starts watching TED Talks as part of his New Year's Resolution, and I've started watching Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (the UK series, not the rubbish US one). That series is fucking fantastic! It's actually helped me to become a more involved part of my business and see small business in a much more refreshing light.

@ReaganStein said:

Just when I thought patrick couldn't get any more pretentious he starts posting TED talks in "worth reading." This "feature" needs to be taken out to pasture.

What's wrong with TED talks? They're informative and interesting.

I can't help but feel like a lot of Big Bang Theory hate comes from people projecting on to the show, and not the show itself. My girlfriend loves the show and watches it obsessively, which means I've seen every episode at least once. After reading the blog that Patrick linked, I have to say that while I agree with it to a point, I think that the criticism goes too far.

It's certainly not for everyone, ironically, because it is a lowest common denominator network laugh track sitcom. In that regard, I think it is no worse than every other show in its field. It's a show about a bunch of nerds, but it's not made specifically for them. It's supposed to appeal to a broad audience.

Where I think the hate goes too far is when people say that it is demonizing or belittling nerds. It seems to me that when self-proclaimed geeks watch the show, then relate to the main characters and then feel slighted when those characters are used for laughs. The thing people seem to miss is that the non-geek characters get this treatment too. There are PLENTY of times that Penny, or other non-nerd characters are made the punchline of a joke, but it's easy to overlook those moments and assume it's a nerd-hate-fest if that is what you 'want' to think of the show.

I definitely agree that the show could be a lot better, but I can't help but roll my eyes a bit when I read complaints that it is some kind of hateful, abomination of a show.

@dvorak said:

@Dezztroy said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

I thought the linking to sites where you can buy guns is terrible taste for a game, hey you'r having fun shooting dudes with this rifle so why not buy it in real life

A civilian cannot legally buy/own the majority of the weapons represented in MoH: Warfighter.

That's completely inaccurate, but whatever.

That probably says more about our gun laws than anything else.

Just when I thought patrick couldn't get any more pretentious he starts posting TED talks in "worth reading." This "feature" needs to be taken out to pasture.

I was given the TBBT season 1 on Blu Ray for christmas one, year watched the whole thing over a week. Enjoyed it but never thought when the season was other that I needed more of this show. Reinforced the fact that Laugh Track comedys really piss me off, I feel the laughs are way more forced these days compared to the days of Seinfield and early days of Friends, I felt those shows had some subtle laughter compared to just laughter at max on every joke on Big Bang, might just be my nostalgia kicking in though.

Friggin' love Ken Robinson

Thank you for the TBBT link, I couldn't agree more with the blogger. TBBT is a horrid show, one of the worst I have ever seen. It's not just boring as hell, it's cruel

Also, I would say that L4D is the perfect example of a good, scary CO-OP shooter, where the players play the "survivor"-role... A shame the sequel was a piece of garbage, that completely missed the point

@Dezztroy said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

I thought the linking to sites where you can buy guns is terrible taste for a game, hey you'r having fun shooting dudes with this rifle so why not buy it in real life

A civilian cannot legally buy/own the majority of the weapons represented in MoH: Warfighter.

That's completely inaccurate, but whatever.

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

I thought the linking to sites where you can buy guns is terrible taste for a game, hey you'r having fun shooting dudes with this rifle so why not buy it in real life

A civilian cannot legally buy/own the majority of the weapons represented in MoH: Warfighter.

I don't watch Big Bang Theory, seems lame.

This comment thread got insane pretty fast.

@insanejedi said:

@Dan_CiTi said:

Well this is silly, guns aren't made for killing/harming things? It's not a kendo sword or some nunchucks, it's a fucking gun, and you shoot someone in the head or arm or leg with it, primarily a human, and if you live in the dark ages and are some hunter/poacher, an animal.

And people who use cars for anything but pure transportation are extremely silly to me, but then again I forgot too many people in the world are terrible drivers and just like to go joyriding and race down the street every night because they have nothing better to do. Also the last driving game I finished was Burnout 3 or Revenge, so there's also that part why don't give a flying fuck about cars.

A gun is designed for war, it was always designed for war right from it's very invention. Just as much as the sword and nunchuck was designed for war. A gas chamber, and a guillotine, are designed to kill people with most likely consistency to cause death.

A gun is designed to fight people who could conceivably fight back as much as a sword is made for, it was never designed to kill unarmed people who are not willing or cannot fight back, but a Sword and a Gun are terrible executioners tools, tools that have the objective of 100% killing someone/something. That's why executioners use lethal injection, electric chairs, or a nooses because they are designed to kill people.

You obviously don't know the origins of guns, they were used to demolish the opposing force who had things like swords and shields. You'r whole argument is just so silly I actually think you are trolling. Like you keep bringing up the electric chair like some one could just bring that around with them, hooking people up to it one by one. Guns make cowards unstoppable, every one of these mass shootings are pretty much always nerdy skinny dudes that would of got overpowered if they went into these places with a knife, the gun was the thing that made them powerful without them they are nothing, you want to hunt with your gun? Use a bow and arrow and a knife and stop cheating with a gun.

@Dan_CiTi said:

Well this is silly, guns aren't made for killing/harming things? It's not a kendo sword or some nunchucks, it's a fucking gun, and you shoot someone in the head or arm or leg with it, primarily a human, and if you live in the dark ages and are some hunter/poacher, an animal.

And people who use cars for anything but pure transportation are extremely silly to me, but then again I forgot too many people in the world are terrible drivers and just like to go joyriding and race down the street every night because they have nothing better to do. Also the last driving game I finished was Burnout 3 or Revenge, so there's also that part why don't give a flying fuck about cars.

A gun is designed for war, it was always designed for war right from it's very invention. Just as much as the sword and nunchuck was designed for war. A gas chamber, and a guillotine, are designed to kill people with most likely consistency to cause death.

A gun is designed to fight people who could conceivably fight back as much as a sword is made for, it was never designed to kill unarmed people who are not willing or cannot fight back, but a Sword and a Gun are terrible executioners tools, tools that have the objective of 100% killing someone/something. That's why executioners use lethal injection, electric chairs, or a nooses because they are designed to kill people.

@insanejedi said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

Because cars primary use is to transport, guns are to kill people. What games are you refering to that do this with cars?

Well cars kill more people than guns do every year in the western world so which is morally more comfortable?

And guns are not designed to kill people, guns are designed for CONFLICT a gas chamber or electric chair is designed to kill people, a gun is designed to fight.

And every simulation racing game that has ever existed? Every Need for Speed Game, Forza Horizon? They are all glorification of driving fast and dangerous on roads that would be totally unrealistic in a simulation world. It's not wrong that they do that, it's awesome to drive a Lamborghini really fast away from cops but the manufacturers know they SELL cars through the video games.

Don't believe me? A lot of people want a Nissan GTR because of it's effectiveness in video games.

Statistically speaking again, cars kill more people than guns do every year in the western world, so which is more morally reprehensible? Promoting cars or promoting guns? Are either of those things wrong?

No people want GTR's because they are an awesome Japanese car that beats European super cars, the people that can afford those cars aren't just buying it because it looked cool in a video game.

Your argument is just silly, do you even read what you are typing anymore?

We are talking about the game Medal of Honor directly linking to gun manufactors from their game, so don't just pull out your absolute bullshit we should ban cars because people die in them argument. This is about a game directly helping to sell fire arms to people that think they are fun to shoot people with in games, all the games that involve a Nissan GTR, don't involve pedestrians you can run over, they involve racing simulation or arcade style like Most Wanted. It just blows my mind that you think cars are even remotely comparable to the damage guns do. Wow dude just wow...Go back to Fox News buddy.

Woah, that They Breathe trailer is intense!

maybe bringing in outside writers to report on material that I have no interest in or time to tackle.

Unless it's Justin McElroy and his Sherlock Holmes monthly report, we probably won't be interested either...

@Lazyaza said:

Oh man that essay on the TBBT was perfect, absolutely sums up 100% why that show is a cruel, horrible farce of evil.

This, I never understood the appeal of the show and I laugh at the people who think it's great because they share similarities with the main cast.

@insanejedi said:

@Bourbon_Warrior said:

Because cars primary use is to transport, guns are to kill people. What games are you refering to that do this with cars?

Well cars kill more people than guns do every year in the western world so which is morally more comfortable?

And guns are not designed to kill people, guns are designed for CONFLICT a gas chamber or electric chair is designed to kill people, a gun is designed to fight.

And every simulation racing game that has ever existed? Every Need for Speed Game, Forza Horizon? They are all glorification of driving fast and dangerous on roads that would be totally unrealistic in a simulation world. It's not wrong that they do that, it's awesome to drive a Lamborghini really fast away from cops but the manufacturers know they SELL cars through the video games.

Don't believe me? A lot of people want a Nissan GTR because of it's effectiveness in video games.

Statistically speaking again, cars kill more people than guns do every year in the western world, so which is more morally reprehensible? Promoting cars or promoting guns? Are either of those things wrong?

Well this is silly, guns aren't made for killing/harming things? It's not a kendo sword or some nunchucks, it's a fucking gun, and you shoot someone in the head or arm or leg with it, primarily a human, and if you live in the dark ages and are some hunter/poacher, an animal.

And people who use cars for anything but pure transportation are extremely silly to me, but then again I forgot too many people in the world are terrible drivers and just like to go joyriding and race down the street every night because they have nothing better to do. Also the last driving game I finished was Burnout 3 or Revenge, so there's also that part why don't give a flying fuck about cars.

Can probably change the "Valve just launched Greenlight" header - it's been a while now.

Interesting take on Big Bang...I've seen that show to be fucking garbage from day 1, but not for the same reasons. Everyone is more than welcome to pile on, as far as I'm concerned.

Weird that there's an Ultima Online pic above the article about game "addiction." UO is the only game where I ever felt like I was losing chunks of my life to it where it was getting out of control. My friends and I were all playing on a free/non-official shard for hours and hours every day, and they were starting to feel the same way. The way we solved our problem was by getting banned on purpose. It worked.

damn that article was deep.

Oh man that essay on the TBBT was perfect, absolutely sums up 100% why that show is a cruel, horrible farce of evil.

Looking forward to that Patrick. It's great watching a really admirable journalist evolve over your time here (Not that the others don't evolve and change, just that your younger and all.)

Most areas (New and Old) of game journalism seems to have rooted themselves as soon as they become established, keeping the same style and technique at the apex of their success. The fact that you didn't do that and decided keep to wading your way though the stupidity pool that is journalism is F-ing inspiring. Please never stop wading and giving us swimming aids as you do so.

Morrowind was so special, and I was fortunate it came out at a time when I was willing to put up with bad movement/combat in games. Nowadays I wouldn't make it out the first town before giving up.