Dain22

The only game where I can recall being afraid has been (and still is) Half-Life 2. But only for the poison head-crab (zombies). They pushed the right buttons in my lizard brain for arachnophobia to the point where I would push NPCs like Alex in front of me so they would deal with the threat out of my sight. If and when I ever stumbled upon them the sight/sound would have me running away squealing "no no no no no."

If I ever get my hands on Skyrim, I imagine I'll have a similar experience considering how spider-heavy the game is. :S

I love how the trailer makes me think more about how it portrays California (satirically) than it reminds me of "San Andreas." It the same thing I felt about GTAIV's Liberty City as a take on New York rather than going back to GTAIII.

Mind you, I loved GTAIV because of it's commentary and satirical re-creation of a time & place. GTAIV really did a great job of not only capturing the post 9/11 attitudes of America, but also just the overall urban atmosphere of a place like New York. If they can do that again with V (ideally with a new time period - we've clearly got new place) I'm sold. I'm the kind of guy who just enjoys walking or driving around just to see the open world "happen" on it's own (and occasionally breaking it for laughs). Hopefully the main character and storyline are as strong and interesting as IV's.

@H2Oyea said:

@the_OFFICIAL_jAPanese_teaBAG: Definitely is.

@Mr_Skeleton said:

D: I thought all of that was original.

Must... resist... defending... Daft Punk...

But seriously, rather than derail this thread with a rant, I highly recommend reading up on their use and interpretation of sampling

Here's some that I found and posted about in a blog a while back:

Source:

Also,

Source:

@coonce I'm using Windows XP. I appreciate you looking into this for us!

Edit: Just saw the posts about using email address instead of username. Everything seems to be working now. :)

@Heli0s ; @coonce : I'm getting the exact same problem and I've been a premium member for about a month. Here are the url(s) I've been trying to subscribe to:

http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/feed/hd/3/

http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/feed/hd/10/

http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/feed/hd/5/

http://www.tested.com/videos/feed/hd/7/

http://www.screened.com/videos/feed/hd/2/

Spent a lot of lunch-hours in High School playing Four Swords with my friends - good times!

Really pleased to see this story being covered. Kudos Patrick.

For a deeper look into the issues of arbitration, suing, and other topics concerning one's legal rights in America, I'd highly recommend checking out the documentary entitled "Hot Coffee" on HBO.

I am very pleased to hear about games like this are being made. I fully support developers exploring these ideas and addressing real human issues and emotions. There are plenty of games out there that let you escape reality and provide you with a safe distance from "moral choice" and thought. They often give you a character or an avatar that, at best, you might relate to - but can still remain emotionally separated form.

I love the idea of games that shake things up and force you to make critical, moral and even philosophical decisions. I love the idea of a game forcing you to accept consequences for you actions, as if it was saying "no, this was your doing. You made the choice" and committing to it. I think Patrick(?) first hinted at this idea when he discussed how GTAIV saved his game progress after killing one of two characters in a main story quest. It's like breaching the 4th wall without actually breaking it.

Patrick, please continue covering these kinds of themes in game design.

@Brendan said:

I like the intentionally bad version, but someone should get this man some professional sound editing assistance to make the good version so I can listen to it every day.

I could offer amateur/hobbyist/enthusiast level sound editing assistance. Plus I have experience running inside-jokes into the ground.