Zenogiasu

Between my OCD, list-making problem, and my boring job, yeah... I made a list. If anyone's curious, here's the top 16 biggest franchsies never played by GBers (I only included ones with 5+ mentions):

1. Final Fantasy - 27
2. Metal Gear Solid - 25
3. Uncharted - 24
4. Gears of War - 15
5. Halo - 13
6. StarCraft - 12
7. Diablo - 11
8. The Legend of Zelda - 11
9. God of War - 9
10. Call of Duty - 7
11. Mega Man - 7
12. Metroid - 7
13. Assassin's Creed - 6
14. Half-Life - 6
15. Pokemon - 6
16. Silent Hill - 6

@Ravenlight said:

Get wasted and sing karaoke with salarymen. Every night. For three years.

I've read that this is actually the culture of a lot of white-collar Japanese businessmen. If you don't go to the bar with your colleagues after work almost everyday, something's up with you.

Sounds like my kinda country amirite

Isn't this the kind of question you should have an answer to before you move to Japan for three years?!

Anyways, I've never been, so I can't recommend much. But from what I hear, Akihabara is pretty neat.

Ohhh boy. My faith in OUYA is fairly low as is, and this doesn't help. For their sake, I hope it sees some revisions before launch. And, y'know, it probably will. Controllers tend to go through a lot of redesigns before they hit the shelves.

Come to think of it, there are quite a few. I guess it depends on what's a major franchise. My top 3 would probably have to be:

1. Half-Life
2. Metal Gear Solid
3. Silent Hill

Yeah. Some embarrassing omissions from my gaming portfolio. Oh well. Maybe one day!

Yeah, these are the important questions. So immature.

...A.

:D

You like video games? I like video games too! Crazy coincidence. Yeah, we can be buds.

"Zelda killer"? I'm absolutely dying (har har) to play Darksiders II, but it's never gonna trump the Zelda series in sales. In terms of quality, perhaps, but it's hardly enough to "kill" one of the most successful franchises in industry history.

On the merit that the majority of the game consists of killing American soldiers--brutally, in some cases--is no one else surprised that Fox News/CNN/take your pick hasn't picked up on, and subsequently bastardized this game yet? Or did they, and I just missed it?

I've been looking for the "New Video Game is American Soldier-Killing Simulator" headlines, but nothing's turned up. Weird how naked aliens can get such a rise out of some conservative zealots, but this sort of thing is given a pass. Not that I'm complaining, of course--there's no doubt in my mind that The Line would be woefully misrepresented by any major news outlet. I'm just surprised, is all. Are you?

@nintendoeats said:

“Surely there must be a way around those things” you might say. “They can’t design a game that gives me the ability to commit terrible acts without at least giving me some choice. I have paid 60 (or maybe 30) dollars, why would Yager want to punish me and all of those innocent people for supporting their company?”

But there isn’t. There is not choice that you can make within the game that will prevent you from killing thousands of people needlessly. Whether this was to make a point, or to grab headlines, or merely out of sadistic pleasure, I don’t know. What I do know is that The Line traps you and forces you to do terrible things.

Yes, there is no choice within the game to avoid these options. But to argue that The Line "traps you and forces you to do terrible things" is very misleading. The game never, ever forces your hand. Every decision you make is your own. You are always free to turn off your console. I think it's unfair to ask people not to play this game at all. If people want to proceed (as both you and I did), then they should be free to. They should not be discouraged from playing just because you are scared of them committing the same acts you did. I would ask them to at least reach the white phosphorous scene, and make a decision from there.

Furthermore, a little bit of digging into Walt Williams' narrative intentions would quickly reveal the purpose of such an extreme story--a purpose that certainly has nothing to do with "sadistic pleasure".