Archive for the ‘introspection’ Category
At its heart, Duke Nukem Forever is a first person shooter that basks in its own heritage, more interested in reminding the player of how awesome Duke is — and by extension, the series itself — rather than providing any new reason to think so. "I'm amazing because I think I am" is the motto of 2011's Duke, and Gearbox's implementation seems more interested in being offensive for the sake of it than for any sense of funny.
It should be obvious to anyone who watches the news that, at least in the US, when it comes to how the public at large handles depictions of gratuitous violence or gratuitous sex, reactions usually vary wildly. We're used to violence on movies and television shows, to say nothing of the perpetual sport we as gamers partake in through gunning down criminals and generic "bad guys" through the course of any FPS or action game. We're "desensitized" to this, at least when our impetus is killing enemies in the name of a greater good, and most people don't really balk unless said killing is exceptionally graphic and excessive.
After reading a review of The Void that accused the game of being sexist against women, I decided to dig further and explain why I feel such a comment is way off the mark. Any players drawn to the game by the promise of virtual characters would be disappointed in just how non-sexual the game actually is, and the realization that all the nudity has a point. Warning, there's a lot of NSFW content herein.
I've had a on/off subscription to EVE for years, although it usually lapses in a short space of time. EVE is a game I want desperately to love and play and enjoy but every time I try, I feel like I've walked into the middle of a group of people laughing over an inside joke and I don't get where the entertainment lies. EVE can be unforgiving if you're a solo player, as the bulk of it lies in epic fleet warfare requiring the synchronization of a large group of players. While there are things to do on your own, my experiences with mining are about as interesting as I suspect spending hours inside an actual mine would be.
NaNoWriMo has been an event that has intrigued me for a few years now. I've often thought of doing it but never actually committed the "thinking" into "doing," despite seeing it crop up every year in my friends' status updates on various social networking services. I admit to a certain level of elitism preventing me from getting involved, as well: NaNoWriMo has always seemed like an interesting idea, but in practice I always come off feeling that it's the sort of deal bored housewives do to make themselves seem more interesting– "I'm a novelist," etc. No, dear, you watch Oprah.
Last week the body of 19 year old Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado was found on the side of a road in central Puerto Rico. The body had been decapitated, dismembered and partially burned. Both of his arms and legs had been severed, an attempt had been made to do the same with his torso, and the entirety of his body had been dumped off of an isolated street. Jorge was openly gay, well liked and very popular.
While MMOGs originally started out as huge social experiences over time they were refined further and further into single player escapades that had multiplayer components thrown in here and there liberally, to the point that now the preferred method of progression is to just play the game alone. Most games these days heavily cater to that, requiring very little in the way of group activity as you level– you can get through the entirety of World of Warcraft, for example, solo, and any group quests or instance runs are completely optional. However, once you hit the level cap, the expectations of the game shift radically from solo-friendly to heavily dependent on raiding. For the solo player it's a startling change of perspective as the rug is pulled out underneath you, and for those players who don't want to raid the only content they have left comes down to recycling daily quests over and over, PvP arenas/battlegrounds, or chasing after vanity achievements.
2012: J F M A M J J A S O N D
2011: J F M A M J J A S O N D
2010: J F M A M J J A S O N D
2009: J F M A M J J A S O N D
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- Joshua Meadows: Thank you guys.
- baphomet: Josh: I miss your face, Mixvio. same here…
- baphomett: i was shocked i liked it as well, im not into pointless T&A and could have done without all the tits in my face constantly but it...
- baphomet: i wouldnt have bought it anyways, but if i HAD i would have been real pissed off to get home and find out i couldnt have multiple saves.
- Josh: I miss your face, Mixvio.
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