DarkGamerOO7

I voted for Obama in the poll, however it really depends on who the Republican Nominee is, if it is anyone but Ron Paul then I am going to vote for Obama no question. If Ron Paul ends up being the Republican Nominee or runs as an Independent, then I have no idea if I would vote for Paul or Obama.

I actually enjoy the show, though I wish the show was written without a laugh track, that shit annoys me and instantly destroys most comedic timing and makes things that I didn't find really all that funny awkward when the audience starts laughing hysterically.

@Branthog said:

@Yanngc33 said:

@ShadowSkill11: I don't think online passes are evil. Game companies have got to make money somehow. Those who complain about online passes can only blame themselves for not buying the game new and supporting the men and women who made the game. And claiming that you're saving money by selling and buying your games used is bogus. Gamestop rapes you, taking back weak old games for 20$ when they were bought for 70 (tax included)and then certain used games (Black Ops) are sold a year later for 40$. My tip is to save up money, buy a new game and keep it.

The amount of money involve is irrelevant. There's no math involved in whether or not you possess first sale rights. We either have them or we don't. And it's not your job to be worried about putting food on the table of a publisher's employees (publishers, becoming decreasingly relevant in a day with so many direct distribution methods available). The gaming industry is bordering on the same idiocy that we saw the RIAA conducting. Persecuting their customers.

I buy almost exclusively new games, but nobody else should have to do that, just because I do. And am I a bad person if I wait for a game to be half price? Am I a bad person if I wait until it's five bucks on Steam? Am I a bad person if I wait to purchase a game until after the purchase no longer really benefits their NPD rankings?

Let's start applying this judgement and logic to all other products. Did you contract an architect and builder to build you a brand new house? Do you buy only brand new cars?

Yeah, I'm sympathetic to their predicament. It's hard when the world is moving faster than you are and your company is built on a model that can't keep up. Hell, that killed Kodak. Their model was built on selling and developing film. Digital cameras took over and their business dried up. I guess you and I are terrible people, if we ever bought or used digital cameras, too. We killed a company and screwed over all their employees. All because we selfishly stopped using film.

Of course, this *will* eventually become moot when consoles go digital some day. It *will* essentially just be Steam (or something similar) on a console and our expectations will be set. All this DLC and pass bullshit will, hopefully, go away. At the moment, it's just a sad attempt by a flailing industry trying to feel its way around to revenue.

And, yeah, season passes *are* evil. You don't see a problem with buying a copy of a game and having to pay more for it because there are more people in your household? After you buy a brand new movie at full price and take it home, you don't have to then dish out another $30, because you have three family members that are going to sit down and watch it with you. They are *evil* because they hamper *paying customers*. Paying customers who are paying full price for your brand new games. These are the people you are supposed to *value*.

I would also like to add to this discussion that if used sales of items are so evil, what about Libraries? Do you here J.K. Rowling complaining that potentially thousands of people can read her books for completely free? Does Green Day complain because the Library rents out their albums for free, where many take their album and rip it to their computer? Does George Lucas complain that all his films are available for rental at a Library for free? More Libraries are even starting to rent out video games for free and yet books are still being written and published, movies are still being filmed, albums recorded and video games developed. Companies need to learn how to stay competitive instead of treating their customers like potential criminals. Take Warner Brothers for example, they believe that double the amount of waiting time for their movies to become available on Netflix, and are unable to be streamed, that they will sell more Blu-Ray's and DVD's, however I guarantee you all that will lead to are people either renting the film from the Library, Video Rental Store, or Pirating it. I am willing to bet my bottom dollar that their plan will in no way move more movie sales.

Similarly video games that come with online passes or any of that other **** are not going to stop people from buying used, people will either skip out on the game altogether, rent it, or pirate it. It is the sad truth that companies need to start realizing. Stop treating your customers like criminals and they will happily purchase your games. When video game companies are putting out average games with short campaigns, derivative and generic multiplayer, and a game that lacks replay value for $60 and then start taking on paid downloadable content that should have been part of the game to begin with, people are not going to purchase your game. Don't blame the used market, blame yourself (the developers).

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

Articles like this are why I come to Giant Bomb, fantastic work Patrick. Recently I've come to have many problems with video game reviews, as anyone should if they have visited System Wars...It seems to me that reviews have become more about financial business than doing what they are supposed to be which a critique of a work of art. Not going into depth about what makes a game good or bad is not helpful to developer. Take for example a negative review of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace that was in a newspaper, could one real detail why it was a bad film or what made it bad? Probably not, now if you watch RedLetterMedia's review of The Phantom Menace, even if you completely disagree you are able to detail exactly why the film failed as not only a Star Wars film but as a film as a whole and gives great incite to film makers, Star Wars fans, film enthusiasts and generally everyone interested. I'm in the camp that review scores should just be dropped, which I believe would put more emphasis on the content of the review.

Again going back to my Phantom Menace example, if RedLetterMedia would have attached a numerical rating to his review it would have distracted from the content of his review and instead put the focus on the "bottom line", the number. If someone rights a detailed criticism and critique of game and then states "This game deserves a seven out of ten", well then people start to ignore what was in the review, ignore what may or may not be a problem to them, and instead focus on the number and call it terrible game because it did not score higher. When Tom McShea reviewed Skyword Sword, how many people do you think actually read his review and read his criticisms of the game? Probably not many, they just saw the 7.5 score and then ran to the nearest forum to describe how the game is a horrible flop and how outdated the game series is and how horrible the controls are, without actually have played the game or read what makes the controls "cumbersome" to Tom McShea. If you were a Zelda fanboy though, you may have cried that the game deserved a higher score and that Tom McShea has no credibility and that the controls are fine without reading his review and seeing the faults of Skyward Sword or the controls. I simply think that with scored reviews, scores become to much a focal point, rather than the actual content of the review.

Off the topic of review scores, Adam Sessler is awesome, probably one of the few good things about G4TV and X-Play.

To increase the security of your Xbox Live Account you should enable a pass code. A pass code requires you to enter four key presses of your choosing (RT,LT,RB,RB,Up, Down, Left, Right, A,B,Y,X may be used) before you can log in to your account. This means that even if someone obtains your Xbox Live Account they cannot log in or recover your account on their Xbox 360. True they can still purchase items or changing your password from Xbox.com, but at the very least the pass code could help get your account back if it stolen.

I would like to add that I am insulted by the way the Video Game Awards present video games and those who play them to general public. Perhaps the worst aspect of the Video Game Awards is instead of showing video games in a way that progresses them as a legitimate art form, or legitimate form of entertainment they instead perpetuate the very stereotypes the video game industry and those who actively play them have been trying to rid themselves of since their conception. The Video Game Awards make video games out to be nothing more gratuitous violence, sex, drugs, and everything but a legitimate art, and it paints those who play them as obnoxious, profane, and immature males. I don't care how many years ago it was, opening the "Oscars of video game awards show" woman saying "I just want to rip all my cloths off" presents video games wrongly to the general public, insulting to those who create, develop, publish, and enjoy games, and has nothing to do with video game culture or advancing the medium.

I have an ASUS Laptop for video games and its fantastic, plus all ASUS laptops come with a one year accidental damage warranty so if your roommate pee's on it or you drop it down the stairs and it breaks you are not out over $1000. I would also like to add that the slight increase in processor speed is irrelevant as the i7 in my laptop overclocks itself to 2.9GHz automatically when it realizes it needs more speed via TurboBoost.

@Mystyr_E said:

well at least they're not putting in a horrible web-based browser and forcing you to download a game from their service when you CLEARLY own the retail disc, right? I mean, who would do that?

What does Valve have to do with Call of Duty?

Both games campaigns are terrible, I'm sorry but these games are getting so linear they might as well be on rails. Battlefield 3 felt like a movie I was watching where I occasionally shot at someone. It lacked any tension or any sort of real danger. It was mundane, boring, and poorly executed. The game might as well have been a four hour long cutscene.