brendanwins

Does it affect the tech side of things? Of course not. But perception is king in the mainstream, and that isn't likely to ever change. Like it or not, if tech like this can't make you look cool or feel cool, it won't catch on. Maybe it catches a niche corner in an already niche market, but that's about it.

If you're a supporter of this technology and want to see it succeed, you should care about how people look using VR, because if it gets deemed too geeky it will fail. In the long run it'll mean less investor/publisher money and less time spent developing it because there won't be any real money to be made.

Palmer sure does like showing off his gruesome twosome. Put some shoes on for your photo shoot you rich Ur-nerd.

I don't have any horse in the Sony/Microsoft race. I hope for both to do well enough to drive competition and innovation. That said, I don't understand Microsoft's insistence on pushing voice controls. I don't want to talk to an inanimate device unless we're on Star Trek levels of voice technology. And even then, it would still be a little weird.

Maybe I'm just a grumpy old dinosaur.

Interesting article, Patrick. I am someone who isn't involved in the fighting game community, but occasionally finds interest in it, especially around tournament time.

I think that, at least by the implication of this article, the word collusion may be thrown around too freely. Collusion implies that there is some form of gain to be had. From the sounds of it, that does go on to a degree, such as the interviewee admitting to throw matches to be placed into the loser's bracket. That being said, the prime example of the Soul Calibur players didn't strike me as collusion. Specifically, if the two players had agreed beforehand to split the pot and just goof off in the final fight as a result that isn't collusion. That doesn't mean I found it any less of a problem. It's disrespectful to the spirit of the tournament and the other players involved and I would likely be upset by it if I was involved with the community.

I think the resolution is fairly simple, at least from a technical standpoint. Have players sign an express waiver agreeing to the rules beforehand. Proving collusion or intentional poor play may be hard, but that would at least give the tournament authorities some ground to impose penalties or other sanctions if players are caught.

I hope they get it figured out. The tournaments put on by these groups are some of the most entertaining to watch. The scandals that seem to crop up fairly often may draw in more crowds at times, but for all the wrong reasons.

@patrickklepek: just a minor typo Patrick - paragraph 11; it should be spelled Benghazi

Metroid Prime for sure for me. Got it for Christmas that year and had such amazing fun playing it. Probably one of my top 3 games of all time. Entering Phendrana Drifts for the first time with that music going on while it was actually snowing outside was great. God, I really want to play it again now.

Honorable mentions for me go to Vice City and Dungeon Siege. Dungeon Siege was a good but not great game, but it was the first game outside of first person shooters like Counterstrike that I played online with my friends. Multiplayer on that was a blast if you played with a bunch of people you know.