What do you guys think the importance is of maintaining a consistent avatar in the forums? Do you think it's a defining characteristic of a user? If so, why?
I ask this because (not that anybody even remotely gives a shit) as my post count gets higher, I think I'm starting to get a little more "recognized" in the forums (again, not that you give a shit), and since I've decided to change my avatar, I've been thinking about what the importance is of keeping an avatar in relation to your growing reputation on a site. Do you think helps you get recognized by the community? Is it not important at all?
Basically as I sit here in my room, music blaring, typing on my laptop, and in so jacking off my own e-penis, I was wondering what you guys would think if I changed my avatar on a daily basis (new hot girl everyday)? Since you don't give a shit about who I am, let's take it to a broader level and put it this way, if MattyFTM changed his avatar, would people give a shit? Does that change your perception of the community because after a while, just looking at an avatar gives you an idea of who the person is? Would (leaving out the fact that he's a well-known mod) a change in MB's avatar cause you to not recognize him? Would there be riots in the street if Snide changed his avatar? Is there really any influence, good or bad, of an avatar? Should we really give a shit or are they important in fostering a community on the wonderful GiantBomb?
Thanks in advance for the 'Wow, that was self-indulgent' comments. Loved 'em.
(This is in response to multiple threads on the boycott Shadow Complex. It is a direct copy and paste of what I wrote in a forum started by Sweep.)
Orson Card is a fucking bigot. He is an extremely flawed man with loathsome views and I despise him for hating homosexuals. So, I boycott his books (at least since Ender's game). However, that's not a very complicated matter in the case of a book, because about as much of the profit earned is going to card is going to him as is going to the publisher. In that case, he truly is earning the profit that he doesn't deserve, because even though he is a great sci-fi writer and his body of work and his personal beliefs are completely un-connected, I find it noble the idea that people would not purchase his books to prove a point to people. Like being a vegetarian and boycotting meat, boycotting proves to a person that you are standing up for what you beliefs but it doesn't mean anything because you can't stop, or even slow, somebody from producing something when their is at least somewhat of an audience out there for it, which is the case for both meat and Orson Scott Card's novels. They both still have an audience.
Analogy aside, a game is a completely different matter. The game is based in Orson Scoot Car's fiction (let me prove a point here) so I'll say he gets 5% of the profit from the game (a complete and utter guess). The point is, it's considerably less in the case of a game than his novel, and the game is a great one which has none of the bigoted views apparent in Orson Scott Card's personal life. I understand the principle of the matter in the case of both the game and a book, but what it comes down to is that a fundamental level it makes less sense with the game. The game has a loose connection to the man himself, and as flawed as he is, it can't let you stop from purchasing what appears to be the best downloadable game yet released on XBLA.
As much as I respect what people are trying to do, it's not like Card is gonna kill a homosexual for each 1000 dollars he earns. It's understandable that people wish him to not earn anything, which is why the books are boycotted by many. But in the case of a game connected to his fiction in the loosest sense, which he probably had next to none involvement in the game and which contains none of the views held by Orson himself, it doesn't make sense because it will not stop his personal views because no matter how much people bitch, it will benefit him very little, and it will detract from the profit for a bunch of great people (assumedly) who set out to make a great game and achieved in doing so.
It proves nothing because earning less profit doesn't matter to Card because all he did was probably give his signature to earn a little money, and he probably doesn't care for how much money he gets because he almost no stake in the project at all. It's not good for Chair, and they deserve better than a petty boycott against a loathsome man whose fiction just happens to be a part of their game.
Also, go check out Christian Nutt's article on Gamastra. Quite good. Has some good points and makes for a good perspective on the whole matter (he is gay himself).
Comics. For me, it's one of the most impenetrable enigmas in all of entertainment. I've read Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen and a couple Hellboy trades. That's about the extent of my experience with them. You have runs of 500+ comics and if you jump in in the middle you're lost and it becomes cumbersome to keep up with the ever changing storylines and every-other-month reboots of characters that seem to be going on from what I see. They've always fascinated me, but they're is such an impenetrable wall preventing me from doing so.
Now, considering that these comic books runs featured in the Marvel Comic Book Digital Reader start from issue 1, a lot of my issues have been eliminated. Since everything is digital and you've cut out the middleman that is print, you've solved the issue of revisiting old comics and the convenience of buying them. Now this may sound a little "New Age"-ey of me, and you comic book purists are probably reading this going "Fuck this faggot, I like the smell and feel of a good comic book". And I totally understand that. But for me, who's always wanted to take the plunge because of the fascinating stories that come through this distinct meld of words and images by a whole milieu of fantastic artists, being able to buy a comic while I'm sitting in a Starbucks (not that I'm one of the douches who does that) adds to my feeling of being able to read them wherever and keep up. Prices'll be less (probably $0.50 to $1.00). If you're restless and don't want to wait for the trades, the digital format allows comics to be consumed in a disposable fashion, like they are always meant to be. I'm not a collector, I'm not looking to be and I hope digital doesn't get rid of the printed book, but buying them like this, storing them on my hard drive as I go (no pun intended) is perfect.. I'm hoping that most of what is printed on a regular basis will also be put into the digital realm of PSP, because it holds so much promise in finally helping to get me where I want to be may. Maybe I'll finally create a ComicVine account after all...
Again, some purists may dislike this change, but for me it is absolutely perfect.
Fuck the PS3 Slim, this announcement is perfect for me and made my day yesterday. Sony is finally moving towards what they need to do in the digital realm, what with the addition of the Minis and this reader. I don't think I've been more excited for the future of a platform because of the possibilities that the future holds for PSP and iPhone.
P.S. Don't get into a digital v.s. physical debate in my thread, keep it honest and civil. I like what the digital future holds, but some things (like film and console, not handheld, games, I don't want to go entirely digital, though the option is nice) I'm not as excited to happen. However, when it comes to disposable mediums like music, comics, and small, simple, digestible gaming experiences, I'm all for it.
EDIT: I know this is only for Marvel (Image maybe as well?) but I hope it spreads to other publishers. :)
...and don't think I'm an asshole for trying to do so, then I'm pleased to announce that we'll be playing Crash Bandicoot. Good for me because between it and Eternal Darkness (which I voted for) those are the only to I actually own. Should be fun looking back at design decisions in old-school platformers, how platformers have changed in the last 10-15 years and looking at Naughty Dog's history before the release of Uncharted 2 (!).
CHANGES TO YESTERYEAR: Discussion won't be so rigid like I stated before. Play the game over the weekend if you wish to do so, come back on Monday and I'll have some (five or six probably) basic questions and discussion points you guys can address and use as a launchpad for your ideas. I'll probably use the ones I mentioned in the previous paragraph, but in the comments please give me some ones you might want to hear people discuss before Monday. And please post reviews and postmortem look-backs in the reviews section of its wiki! You aren't limited to the decision points I give you at all, I want a free and open discussion, but it would be cool if we could get some conversation around those topics as well as whatever you guys want! If you don't want to replay the game but have played it before, feel free to chime in as long as you mention that you didn't replay it over the weekend. It's only $6 I believe on PSN, so people shouldn't have trouble getting it.
Tell me in the comments if you want to play. Looking for arond 20 people for a good discussion, but less is fine and more is always welcome.
READ THIS: Finally, I don't want to keep attaching blog posts to the forums (too much spam) so follow my blogs on a somewhat-daily basis for updates and a pick of the week when necessary (though I may still put polls there, I'll talk to the mods maybe). The discussion thread will be set up by me on Monday and will not be in General Discussion, it will be in the forum attached to the wiki for Crash Bandicoot.
Thanks, and more importantly have fun!
EDIT: Discussion goes till Thursday (longer if you wish) but on Thursday I'll be polling for our next game.
(Let's face it, in all likeliness, this won't work or won't go on long at the very least. But hell if I ain't gonna try. I won't dedicate all my time to it, and in the event that real life shall intervene, which will be often, I might need you guys to carry it on even when I miss the occasional game. Sorry to you if you read all this, but thank you so much for the support if you do. Moving on.)
The official title of the thing will be Yesteryear and, considering that you guys seem to be genuinely interested after my post yesterday, and I look forward to doing it because of my enthusiasm for games. There is so much gaming history I've missed out on, be it the Atari through SNES days, but also from the PS1 and 2 eras (which are what I grew up on). We likely won't go back to SNES/ Genesis because of the many complications of doing it from that era, but if the game is available for download on XBLA, PSN, or Virtual Console, then feel free to recommend it. I hope through this, we'll be able to understand games beyond release window, as well as gain knowledge of games possibly unknown to you or just get a much more (granted, very basic) knowledge of game design. I know I still no very little. That being said...
THE PLAN (Reposted from my other post. Maybe some descrepancies with what I'm talking about in this new and fresh post.)
My idea is to have some kind of thread on this site, a place where there would be a game of the week or game of the month in which the community can really dig deep down in to, replay and analyze the minutia of each game. You know, really discuss every aspect of an (at least somewhat old) game. Ex: why you think the designers made certain choices at certain places, why something was broken, why something was bad, why something was good, why it may not have resonated with you but did for others or something like that. And really discuss certain instances in a game! So what I'm saying would essentially be Baclog from 1UP FM, except in the forum of text in a forum on a site.
Each week, month, whatever, you could have an assigned game elected by peers and then some of the community could replay it if they chose to. If you've ever listened to Game Club on Rebel FM, I think you'll see what I'm getting at. Maybe over the course of the month, you could have benchmarks in the game that players would have to play up to, then have a list of certain scenes or actions in that game up until that point that were decided on by the leader in the forum for that particular month, that could then be broken down and really discussed. Timeframes could be adjusted accordingly based on length but I think it would foster discussion around games beyond the usual "Its good, its bad, it makes me want to kill my mother" type of discussion that comes in the first month after a game is released.
THE LOGISTICAL IMPLICATIONS Straight up, I'll need a 20 man commitment before each game begins to be discussed. To do this, I am certainly going to need the help of the community if you are truly interested in this. Each new game will be chosen (decided by you and me) and discussed in a forum that I set up with questions to discuss submitted to me by you guys and elected by myself to talk about. I'm sure we can all be mature and actually play the games as they are "assigned" and considering that GiantBomb is by far the most mature group of videogamin', forum-dwellers I've ever come across, I'm sure this won't be a problem. Sure there'll be the occassional douchebag, but it shouldn't get in the way of what I feel'll be a fantastic experiment. If ya wanna do this, keep an eye on my blogs.
(The following plan is based on 1-week games only... more on that later in the blog. For your sanity, don't commit every week, even I'll skip here and there, but I'll notify you guys about that. It willl, and should probably be, a different group of people each week. This isn't homework, it's 900% voluntary and we all have wallets to keep tabs on in the economy.)
Every Thursday (that's today, coincidence?) I'll give out a poll of games that you guys recommend to me (maybe via PM) and you guys'll choose the winner. If 20 people commit to owning that game or being willing to purchase it (don't feel you have to, but if you really wish to, then god bless ya), we move forward. You then play until then play until the following Wedneday, where I will post the discussion topics for you guys to talk about. I'm not sure how discussion within the context of the thread will be handled, more on that in the future. I'll probably post an edit at the end of this blog sometime tomorrow. :)
For two weeks in a row, there will be a short single-player game or an indie game online (free or extremely low for indie games, or low in price and already owned by some in the case of short single-player games). I guess we could do iPhone games as well, even though they're not old at all, so please keep recommendations a comin'. This is how this process will start out. After two indies games, I will do a 3-4 week discussion for significantly larger games like strategy games, role-playing games or sandbox titles. These longer titles will be separated by pre-ordained becnhmarks that you (hopefully, but not required, though still try) reach each week, with discussion points and topics coming out each Wednesday like usual. Oh, and feel free to drop out on any game if you don't have the time while the game is being played, but don't all of you pussy out on me!!
THE RULES 1. The rules would be such that there are (and feel free to provide a rebuttal) that there must be two 1-week games (relatively short single-player games or indies games) in-between each larger game (such as an RPG or Sandbox game), and that larger game could be anywhere from 3-4 weeks.
2. All games must be under $30 online (if you're willing to pay for that) and owned/rented by at least 20 people for the next "Game Club" to commence.
3. All games must come from 2005 or before (unless it is a free indie game on the computer) and in 2010 (considering this actually works, which it likely won't) it would increase to a 2006 deadline and so on.
4. Just a suggestion, but please don't be an asshole. I want this thing to be host to intelligent ruminations on game design, music, game developers, game history and the gaming industry. As long as you don't be a prick, you can throw in the occasional penis joke. Tee fucking hee.
5. Must be from PlayStation on, unless it's (read: legally) available for download through a system such as virtual console where people can have access to it.
6. Single-player games in th 1-week deals need to be completed, on average (game length is subjective) in under the 15 or so hour mark (it can go a little higher on occasion if I grant it). And yes, I am that mighty!
7. I'm serious on this one, if a game's cutscenes take over half-an-hour (Metal Gear Solid 2 and 4 and Xeonsaga to name a few) then I won't allow them because listening to all that story will be tedious, people will skip over parts of it and dicsussing story in the thread will be tedious.
8. All discussion is to take place on Wednesdays. In the thread, you are to add your thoughts on the game in general and all the topics I provide in a post and from there a discussion will emerge. Feel free to deviate a little, but keep on topic for the most part. Address what you though of my discussion topics and then hopefully try and go into an analysis of the game itself, its design, so on and so forth.
I repeat, Wednesday, that's it, though please post reviews about the games on their respective wiki pages if you feel so obligated to do so. Comments can branch off those reviews and discussions can continue there, but as for the main thread, try to keep discussion to Wednesay. Picky I know.
9. An obvious one. If you are participating in a given week, try to actually play the game that week and discuss it from that fresh perspective. If you wish, there can be another thread devoted to people who don't replay it that week, but have played it in the past. I can't keep track of this, so we're on the honor system.
10. RapeLay will never be an option.
ANY QUESTIONS? Give me your concerns, questions and "ververdan0226, this is so complicated, it will never work, you ignorant faggot, why even bother?" 's in the comments below. Like I said at the top of this, I'm sorry for making you read all that, but if you did and you are reading this after all that, thank you. Truly. It will likely not work out (a lot of convolutions and possible ramifications, but it is definitely possible. I'm conviced that if any community is intelligent, mature, responsible and dedicated enough to do it, it's GiantBomb.
Cheers.
Nick
ALMOST FORGOT... We start off with a single-player game this week... Options include...
Any options not chosen may be put in future polls down the line.
I love you guys. Actually no, I don't, but I respect you and hope you respect what I'm attempting and the GB community I'm trying to foster, even if it doesn't work (like I haven't said that before in this post!). If it doesn't, well, I tried. Pretty nifty idea, huh <pushes up glasses>?
I don't actually have glasses.
Just to let you know.
I'll stop now.
EDIT 1: Sorry for not including this. Spoilers will be all over these threads. Readers beware.
EDIT 2: Discussion expanded to Wednesdays and Tuesdays. Maybe Mondays as well. If you guys need three days then awesome...
EDIT 3: Running tally. Constantly updated. Let it be known that I hope to get 20ish committed votes for a single game by noon tomorrow (Friday) so people'll start! Eternal Darkness, 2. Max Payne, 2. Keep 'em coming...
EDIT 4: Yep, Mondays through Wednesdays is the day.
EDIT 5: I encourage replaying the game 480%, but you can participate in the thread if you tell me that you've played the game before and know it inside and out (for the most part). 23 Comments
(This blog is from a post I made in the forums and is in response to a comment made earlier. Link here.)
Perhaps, maybe the business people behind the site have more control over their reviewers than I would like to think , although I severely doubt its as bad as you suggest with your comment. But its not like their are people at corporate paying for a harsher review for a game such as Trine to have a lower score. Whether or not you believe in the integrity of the people writing the reviews, previews and features over there, I personally think its unfair to say what you are saying because even if you don't think their reviews are believable, you are not respecting the people who work there by saying that they are so easily swayed by corporate backings which you assume to be true. Maybe Jeff walked because of this or maybe he got fired as a result of this, but unless you know something that I don't, I think its unfair for you to assume that you know what goes on behind that company and that the company cannot be trusted, even if what you are saying ultimately proves to be true.
It just angers me that people think they know how Gamespot is working behind the scenes (I certainly don't and this rant is based on my optimism for the integrity of the people working there), even when they don't, and though I'm still not entirely convinced that what you are saying isn't true, I don't think people should talk like you are and be derrogatory to the site based on assumed information. Its just unfair, even if I'm eventually provwn wrong. So even if you don't like the site (even I don't) just don't visit it and keep your comments on its quality to yourself.
Look at me, trying to sound all preachy. Sorry if that post got redundant and that I used the word integrity a lot, but I hope you get what I'm saying, even if you disagree with me and reply snarkily. I don't mean to be mean and you'll probably be mean to me, but I dob't care. :)
Once again, this topic is probably going to get locked, if it hasn't already been by the time I post this.
RATCHET AND CLANK FUTURE: A CRACK IN TIME Dead serious, my most anticipated game of Fall 2009 is Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time. Insomniac Games is one of my favorite developers, and that's because they consistently put out quality titles on a yearly basis. I even enjoyed Resistance 2 more than others, and although it did have some flaws, the single-player was still fairly solid, and the co-op and multiplayer added up into a great package that I have really enjoyed and that I don't believe people give enough credit too. But I'm getting off track. People clearly aren't as excited for this one because you look at it and, yep, its Ratchet. But three'sothing really wrong with that. The continual refinement and addition of gameplay elements that I see in the series and looks to continue into this game is fantastic. The series has always been innately satisfying to me, be it the beautiful vistas, the satisfying combat, the wonderful progression as you buy and upgrade weapons, the humor and storytelling, the relationship between Ratchet and Clank or just the sound you hear as a steady stream of bolts flows into you. The game so far looks gorgeous and just all around looks like a fantastic progression of the series through more open-ended worlds and what appears to be some awesome Clank platforming segments. I can't wait to play it. Allgeier (the Creative Director at Insomniac) has hinted that this may be the last one, and if so, I can't wait for the conclusion of the Future storyline. Ratchet and Clank truly are a great duo.
(Holy shit I sound like a PR rep, but I just love the series. Moving on).
UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES Here's a hint, the graphics are pretty. Like really pretty. Like really fucking goddamn pretty. Just from a technical perspective- animations, graphics and so on the game looks to be a step beyond Uncharted 1 in graphics (amazing right?). But that's not even why I'm excited. The pulp feel of the original- the characters, the story, the action- all made up one of my favorite games on my PS3 (sorry mutated island inhabitants!). What with co-op and multiplayer, which I was a little ambivalnet towards, but both look shockingly solid.
BRUTAL LEGEND If you aren't excited for this game, then you don't deserve to live. I mean, who isn't a fan of Tim Schafer at this point? Its action, its metal, its part real-time troop command, its open world and it looks awesome. And it definitely looks like Jack Black's work since High Fidelity (shows how quick people got sick of him).
I'M SICK OF TYPING, SO HERE'S A LIST OF EVERYTHING ELSE... ALPHA PROTOCOL Action, RPG, cool dialogue system, unique blend, quite intriguing. BOOM.
BORDERLANDS Diablo with guns and satisfying combat set against awesome graphical flava. Come on people??
MODERN WARFARE 2 No explanation needed...
SINGULARITY Really intriguing game with what looks like revolutionary time elements. Maybe it'll be good, maybe it'll be shit, but I am quite excited.
DARK VOID Vertical shooter in the Bermuda Triangle with high production values and alien aircraft. Color me interested...
SCRIIBLENAUTS Even if the game itself is altogether too simple, what they're doing with all those words is both unique and awesome and I am quite excited.
BIOSHOCK 2 Fuck you haters, I'm excited.
BAYONETTA Hair + Action + Hideki Kamiya= Guilty Pleasure of the Fall
THE SABOTEUR Very cool looking. About time Pandemic redeemed themselves for Mercs 2 (not bad, just not as good as expected).
Also, thought I'd mention Beatles: Rock Band, DJ Hero, Need for Speed SHIFT, Dragon Age" Origins and Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (yay PS3!).
Keep in mind, this list is strictly titles confirmed for Fall (not Winter and Early 2009), except for maybe the Saboteur. Hope people read these blogs now that I'm doing them more often, but they don't, and that's just fine. Just my way of getting excited for the Fall. So yeah, good year for games.
As an avid PS3 user (PS3-only in fact) this sounds cool, but not nearly close to what we should be getting. Voice chat outside games anyone?? They do mention in the rumor that the patch could be comparable to NXE in terms of the overhaul, but that's clearly not anywhere near being an apt comarison. I mean what would that entail? The reputation system sounds cool, but I hope there's a larger integration of trophies into the overall experience on PlayStation Network. Does the comparison to NXE mean significant additions/ an overhaul to the general interface? No, and that's just my hopes and dreams because Sony's really sticking with their XMB. The XMB is not bad by any stretch, but a graphical update and added functionality would be cool, even if it probably won't happen. I love my PS3 and I still enjoy it more than a 360, even though the 360 is a better system in a couple respects (imagine that fanboys?,enjoying a system more than the competition, even when its lagging behind! ). The thing I'm waiting for, and what does not seem apparent in this rumor, is for PSN to become less like an invisible thing powering PS Store and online play and become more of an integrated experience akin to Xbox Live that actually exists in a tangible fashion. The functions are there on PS3 (mostly) just like the 360, but the integration of them into the core experience, I think, is severely lacking and the initial rumors surrounding this patch make me a little perplexed, because it still doesn't seem close to fixing some of the leftover issues that I have with the system.
Anyway, what do you guys think about the reputation system? Do you think this would be enough on the part of Sony? What do you thinl would be necessary for PSN to become equivalent to 360 in terms of new, or better features. Do you agree with my opinions? Do you think I sound unintelligent and stupid in my writing this (I always feel like I come off that way)?
Sorry for using this very minor rumor as a means of venting on PSN. PS3 is still a great system that I love and enjoy using every day. :) Too bad no one will read this blog post. :(
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