My opinion, cheating when you are playing against other players is wrong. Just plain wrong. You should never cheat in a situation where you could ruin the experience for others. I also make a point to never cheat in games that have multi-player. I know if I cheat in the single-player, I will forever be crippled when I play against real people, and that aint cool.
However, when I'm playing by myself, who cares? I cheated through most of San Andreas (Hydra is how real G's get around) and I don't regret it for one minute. I don't play video games with some self-fulfilling attitude of "the challenge makes me a better person" or something stupid like that, I just want to have fun. And cheats can make games fun real quick.
As for achievements, you said yourself they are pointless. I mean yes, you can boost all day, but the only thing you end up with is a number that gratifies your e-peen. The truth of the matter is that nobody actually cares. So my question to you is, who are you trying to impress with your legitimately obtained achievements? As Jeff said, points are points.
My Dad has always had mad control issues with video games. Apparently when he and my mom were first together he spent a weeks worth of grocery money on arcade games without realizing it. Because of this, video games stayed out of my house until I was about 10.
Luckily, the PS2 happened to be the most affordable DVD player at the time, so my mom finally relented and bought one. I can't remember exactly when I got mine, although I think it was 2002. Kingdom Hearts was my first game, and the commercials were everywhere.
My job involves running a weedwacker all day, and we often work through lunch, so I would definitely eat. Also, I put my hair up anyway, and an hour in I would smell like grass and gasoline so a shower is not a high priority.
I just finished KotOR about a week ago. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but come on. That game is like 75% dialogue, and it looks like that's the touted feature of this game too. Not interested.
I've been playing through Guild Wars lately (bought them years ago, WoW distracted me) and I have to say I really like it. I had fun when it was new as well, but it wasn't until I actually dug into the skill system and starting making my own builds that I realized how awesome this game is. No joke, I'm enjoying it as much as when I played WoW. If GW2 maintains the skill system, the PvP, and the casual pacing that the first game has, it will be my MMO of choice. Either way, day one purchase for me.
1. Co-op / Good Online Multiplayer 2. Explosions, pyrotechnics, watching stuff break real good (ie. Red Faction Guerilla) 3. Racing games where you go real fast, and make people crash 4. Anything that's an excuse to use my fightstick / fightpad
It's sad that a shitty "rapper" has to infect a decent beat like that. Can someone give that beat to a good R&B singer and turn it into something worthwhile? Actually, Beyonce could make that beat worthwhile. "
Here's Mike Posner's remix. It's still pop music, but damn if it doesn't blow Soulja Boy out of the water.
I read an article about this in a magazine at a bookstore. It was talking about DDO when it went free to play, and that actually brought it back to life. For MMO's at least, it gives smaller games a chance to survive in a world run by Warcraft because the biggest turn-off for most players is the monthly fee. A multiplayer game is only good if people are playing it, and being free-to-play widens your audience immensely.
As for quality, some have been alright. I personally like Gunz: The Duel. Yeah, it's janky, it often doesn't feel like a shooter, and the player-base rivals that of Halo when it comes to being pig-headed, but it's fun. I also got really sick of the fact that if you can't K-style, you're fucked, but regardless, that game has some unique ideas that could be really compelling if they executed them properly.
There's also LoL, which took DotA and made it accessible. I remember enjoying WarRock, even if it was busted as hell. Then there's Trackmania, which I love more than a lot of the games I've paid for.
I totally see what you're saying Jeff when you point out quality, because a lot of these games aren't great, but some of them are. As long as they don't unbalance the game with the paid for stuff (which it sounds like they're doing in NFS) I'll be happy to play them. Ads don't really bother me (hell, how many full price games have ads in them now?) and I don't pay for anything when I get into one of these. To me, it's just a free game,
The music on the radio is Pop music. It has always been like this, ever since Top 40 radio was invented. It's purpose is for parties, high school dances, and clubs. Everyone wants something dumb and fun they can move their body to. I love Underground Rap too, in fact I've been listening to an Atmosphere album all week, but it's dark, soulful music that really has no place at a party or a dance club.
What we really need is more Indie Radio stations that appeal to people who listen to these types of music. It's the classic "You are not the target audience for this" situation again. The kinds of music you want to hear is not on the radio because Top 40 radio plays Pop music, and people like Atmosphere (while awesome) just aren't Pop music.
As for the T-Pain thing, Auto-tune doesn't make everyone an amazing singer. Auto-tune doesn't give your voice presence. It doesn't give your voice soul. It just fixes your pitch. You still have to be able to sing. Often you'll find that the person using Auto-tune is a talented musician without it, and just uses it because it sounds cool. T-pain writes all his music. He's a pretty good producer too. And as he says in this video, you're "knocking the same shit that feeds [his] kids." Let's not forget that musicians are people, and they have to eat too.
Personally, I've got room for both. Sometimes you wanna just cut loose and listen to something stupid, and I appreciate that there are people out there making music that is fun. A lot of mainstream music has an heir of ridiculousness to it, and that is why. Because sometimes I don't want to be serious, I just wanna listen to a bass-heavy beat and hear about how paid Akon is.
The fact that you can list off a bunch of musicians that you like shows that music is doing just fine. Yes, maybe lyricism is more of a niche culture, but so what? It doesn't make it any less awesome. Why does the mainstream affect how much you enjoy your music?
Personally, I prefer Ke$ha's Sing-talk style over Gwen Stefani's more generic pop. Ke$ha's song also has a very electronic-club feel in its production which I prefer. At the same time, it's all pop music. Although both these songs seem like they're just screaming for a mash-up.
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