Shadowstrider

It depends on the game, but VO budgets are generally small, yes. To quote the old addage; no ****, Sherlock. Did you post this to distract? I really don't see any purpose to it. I'm fairly sure everyone knows this. This is not true. At all. In any way, shape or form. Players want, no, demand a visual confirmation to their actions in modern games. They also demand textual and auditory confirmation. If there is none, they feel cheated, additionally there is no more efficient way to express something visual than with a visual trigger. If I score a hit against a guy's leg, he should react to with all three of the aforementioned means. There is also the matter of physics and traps. There is nothing more satisfying than triggering a trap, especially one set by your enemies, to defeat your enemies. Without graphics you could not do this properly, because you would have to be updated every second to be aware of where your enemies where in relation to the trap. It is inefficient and insane. Graphics matter more than you think, to say the least. Editted addendum: Good writing isn't the meat and potatoes. Writing is the base, without it a soup will suck. Graphics and sound are the meat and potatoes, they are the selling point of the soup, they are more marketable than the base, but without the base, you just have meat and potatoes not a soup.

Industry standard graphics, FX, voice acting, FMV, etc. are all part of what most players would consider quality. See: Blizzard. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> you're just saying the same thing over and over again. There is more to a game than flashy graphics, otherwise Flash would be the ultimate modding tool. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Actually, he also mentioned voice acting. You might laugh, or shrug it off, but voice acting is very important to quite a lot of people. Why? People don't like reading when they can just listen to a speaker. Laugh if you want, but focus group after focus group has reinforced this. One of the most poignant and eloquent criticisms I've ever heard about games basically boiled down to "I don't want to read." One of the lines that most struck with me was "I play WoW, but I don't know the first thing about the world or setting." I asked him why, to which he replied "I just haven't read any of the texts or anything, I go to the guy with the exlamation point over his head and pick up my next mission." I asked why he hadn't read, if he was just generally disinterested or found the writing bad. His reply actually astonished me, I'd never thought that "I just don't want to read" would have come from this person. He'd written several page documents, and was studying english as his major. This idea isn't held by just him, either. Tons of people have had similar opinions, and it is sort of a testament to WoW that it is succcessful despite people being disinterested in the actual story of the game... something I don't understand. It is almost a foreign concept to me, playing a game that you have no interest in the story. The most important feature in a game is fun. If a game is fun people will play. There isn't necessarily a specific set of criteria for fun, something that people tend to forget. People get wrapped up in genre title, and what is or isn't an RPG, or action game. I've said it before, I'll say it again; People should like or dislike games based on what they are, not what they are not. There is more to a good game than flashy graphics, yes, but there is more to it than good writing, or intuitive controls, too. It is the combination of all features, that makes or breaks a game. If a game isn't fun people won't like a game, no matter how good the writing is or the graphics are. This, I think, is why people want bigger and better graphics or voice-overs; they're the most obvious part of a game. They are right there in front of you, and you can asses it for exactly what it is, unlike a game's backend systems.

I think the matter is that people are looking for a point where there is none. Its like in that Monty Python sketch about scottish poet Robert Burns where he rides past a sheep and it explodes. Its just a sheep that explodes, thats it. No point. The fun lies in the absurdity of a sheep just exploding for no reason. And its hillarious <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It is funnier than the president feeding sausage to a chimp, yet still not all that funny. Secondly, a sheep exploding is completely out of the blue, unless it somehow relates to said poet. Exploding sheep in sketches about a poet = Random and kind of funny (though not really). Your picture seems to insinuate that the president is stupid, has a lot of free time, and is keeps busy by feeding monkeys. Mocking the president = done to death. Monkey being fed sausage by President Bush = Doesn't seem random and isn't funny.

Logic is lost here, sadly.

Retard means to slow or impede progress. If something is retarded, it means its progress has been slowed. It isn't bigotted.

I'm glad to see that this thread has lived up to the excessively low maturity level I've come to expect.

"I have no reply, so I'll call you gay." For the loss.

Naw, they just have to filter "gay" ... :D <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I prefer their current policy; shoot last and apologize when questioned. [/sarcasm]

It isn't impossible or pointless to ban people who use the term gay as a slander. The point is to show that it is not acceptable, and it is not impossible, GMs are in game all the time, and have the ability to kick anyone they see using it or if there is sufficient evidence pertaining to an individual. You may think you had a point, but your point was really that "because the disease is so widespread, we shouldn't treat it." Try again.

It was a masshunting accident.

I thought you were implying he was holding the chimp's weenal, so yes that would be good. In any event, anyone involved with this thread should be shot.

I'm still waiting for the funny. P.S. You mean "Philistines." In this case, I don't see how it applies since we're not mocking your artistic merit (well, maybe Steve is) or your cultural values, but rather your inability to provide humor. You, sir, fail the internet.

Generally, when you set a theme (anything funny) you should try to stick with it, and not just the first word of it. Your submission fits the "anything" catagory, but not the funny. You, sir, fail the internet. ...could've at least made it a choking on a pretzel scene or something...

Mass ignorance = acceptable. I love the logic!

When you run, jump into the air, then at the zenith of the jump go prone. You dive like a dolphin when it jumps out of then back into the water. While doing this, you could still fire with fairly good accuracy, despite the animation displaying the gun facing the diver's left shoulder.

Yes.

Have you ever watched the animation for dolphin diving? In the animation the gun turns and faces left, but the player can still shoot directly ahead of them, and turn. I don't see that as legit. The best bunny hop was when people did it while laying prone. Always a classic. This patch pleases me.

I don't think Bcookie is tho I don't know why I was given the title, or why the wookie was. Maybe because we were moderators. Maybe because we're elite hackers from the interweb. Maybe, just maybe, its because I have had a secret relaytionship with the administrators. too far... I say not far enough! In any event, it don't matter much, it was just my comeupence. Is their some kind of "dating" in WoW or something? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> My understanding was that no group could discriminate membership based on race/creed/sexual orientation/blah blah/etc... If that is the case I don't think Blizzard needs to apologize. If they ONLY enacted this rule against this person because (s)he is gay, then yeah, it is wack.

They need to settle this. Highlander style. There can be only one... Chris Taylor in video game development.

Yes.

This thread saddens and depresses me, at the same time it entices me and keeps me wanting more with its action dramady hooks.

It sucks for you. Millions of avid Diablo players can't be wrong just because you say so. Or are you a God wasting your eternity in these forums? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I'll just point out that millions of people can be wrong. 2000 != New millenium. Diet Dr. Pepper != Dr. Pepper The Backstreet Boys are not good entertainers. etc... etc... etc... Also, it isn't just because he says so. There are quite a few people of the opinion that Diablo sucks. You know, quantity isn't quality, and all that jazz. Personally, I couldn't care less about the Diablo series, they're alright dungeon crawling hack and slashers, but not much else. There certainly isn't any role-playing in them, and they're certainly mindless. In any event, this has gone way off-topic.

Mostly classical literature, and textbooks on writing. Some other crap that never gets read, as well.

I bought a flower for each lady in the office, unfortunately some where not in today and others I could not find, so I ended up with a few leftover. Thats okay, though, because I had some left over to pass off on the girlfriend. Sloppy seconds FTW. So fly.

I only watch when the Johnson twins are curling... or if another hottie is in a sport.