Hell Kitty

Some guy insulted me and then gave me $100. Weird.

Funny that you would ask for proof, when you provided none yourself. The point of my original post was that neither side can prove their claims. "The thing about "they wouldn't have bought it anyway" is that it's just as valid an argument as "every pirated copy is a lost sale", because there is no way to prove it either way. I suspect the truth is in the middle."

Unless you can prove that piracy didn't effect the games sales, then what you're saying is just as much an excuse as what they are saying. People who choose to copy games rather than buying make up all sorts of excuses, but that doesn't make them true. Pirates excuse their actions by claiming it's not a lost sale because they wouldn't have bought the game anyway, developers excuse their actions by claiming piracy is destroying the industry. As long as pirates excuse their actions then so can the developers.

GTA Eye Vee

I just got the ordinary version, but it came with a month a Gold Xbox Live and 500 MS Points, which was nice.

Girls rule, boys drool.

Do you really think that Sony/MS/Nintendo are really going to make future consoles that are easier to pirate games for? That makes no sense. MS made piracy less desirable on the 360 what with the banning from Xbox live. I didn't say it would be intentional. So they would acidentally make a system that's easier for piracy? That makes even less sense.

The thing about "they wouldn't have bought it anyway" is that it's just as valid an argument as "every pirated copy is a lost sale", because there is no way to prove it either way. I suspect the truth is in the middle. It doesn't actually matter exactly how many legal copies might have sold without the pirate version, if companies like Crytek look at all the pirated copies out there and it makes them no longer want to develop PC exclusives, or worse, abandon PC altogether, then clearly piracy does have an effect on PC gaming.

That was a beautiful review pixies, totally unbiased and it's obvious you really care about gaming. Anyway, I've only played for a bit, and Niko looks odd when sprinting. That is all.

Do you really think that Sony/MS/Nintendo are really going to make future consoles that are easier to pirate games for? That makes no sense. MS made piracy less desirable on the 360 what with the banning from Xbox live.

The sex education we received at my old Catholic high school focused on contraception, pregnancy, STDs and peer/social pressure. Not necessarily in that order. Good times.

Those are the best kind of skulls.

Saint's Row 2 allows you to play as a woman, a fat woman if you so desire, and apparently is set to include co-op through the main story. Everybody wins!

If his feet were touching the ground that still doesn't prove that Six is just in his head. It could go either way. I think the reason they put in that shot was to cast down on Six purely being a figment of his disturbed mind.

Which means there's no way of knowing whether they were touching the ground.

I understand what you mean but how is that gaming? I mean, if I want to roam the country side on a motorbike I'll put on a leather jacket, jump on my motorbike and go for a ride in the country side. Being that I don't have a motorbike nor a licence, I guess driving a motorcycle around the countryside is as unrealistic for me as flying a helicopter for the sake of it, something I also do in the game. Besides, it's not something I'd load the game to do specifically, it's something done when taking a break between missions. It's the driving mechanics of the game that I enjoy, while sitting back in a comfy chair with controller in hand.

After watching it again I guess it seems less clear he was held up by someone else then I originally thought.

GTA is a game about sex with hookers in the same way that Arcanum is (to pick the first game featuring prostitution that came to mind). At least Tigranes admits he doesn't know what he's talking about. I suppose if you are opposed to playing a game in which the player is a criminal, like the GTA series, or Mafia, or Hitman, or Thief or whatever, then this might not be for you. Or maybe it's the combination of criminality and the general light-hearted tone of the games. If I was ever going to be morally outraged by something in a game, I think I'd put "killing humans" above sex with prostitutes or stealing cars, but then I'd need to find a new hobby. At least GTA has the police after you for killing innocents, in Deus Ex you can do it without consequence. Pop is right, GTA is a crime opera. It's also the best damn open-world sandbox game ever, so there. I always liked just getting on a motorbike and riding around the countryside in San Andreas, Good times.

This is the first time they've ever shown him being clearly manipulated by an invisible entity though.

I am a 28 year old child.

That's because you're the only one that can answer it, I don't know what goes on in that crazy head of yours. Besides you've answered it yourself in both this post and the next - there are types of games you just aren't ever going to be interested in, and there are types of games which don't get made as much as they used to (just as there are types of games that were never made in the past). The industry has changed, not for better or worse, but you haven't. If you aren't interested in a game, then of course you're not going to find it to be worth purchasing, but that has nothing to do with the quality of the game, how "good" the game is.

No it's not. All the games, movies, music, books, food, whatever else that you've consumed in your life, you like it just as much as every other time? Every game you've ever played you'd like or dislike just as much as you always did if you were to play it today? Maybe you're the exact same person you were 15 years ago, but I'm not. Of course 15 years ago I was 13, so I sure as hell hope I'm not that same. I loved the game Midwinter 2 back on the Amiga, but playing it now (though emulation) is pretty horrible, and that's purely a technology issue, with the core gameplay being so primitive compared to modern games. There are some games I no longer play because I know them so well that it's just not that fun anymore. Sometime it might just depend on my mood, there have been many a demo that I've tried and dismissed, only to try again later and think it's great. I have about 30 CDs in my music collection, and none were bought this century. Does that mean music today just isn't as good? That's just silly.

I buy just as many games in the mid to late 90s as I do now. That tells me that there were just as many games worth buying as back in those days. That there are just as many games worth buying then it is probably because there are just as many good games now as there was back then. I've played and enjoyed many games, and while there have been times when I have been less or more interested in particular types of games, or gaming in general, the hobby has never let me down. All I have to do is look at the game boxes on my shelf to verify this. So does my experience trump yours, and prove that games today are just as good as games of the past? Or does your experience trump mine, proving that older games are better than newer ones?

If back in the Olden Days all games were at the same level as something like [insert whatever old games you love here], then maybe all the folks complaining about Games Today would have a point, but the best games tend to be the exception to the rule, and that's probably as true today as it was way back when. Then again, maybe STALKER will end up in CrashGirl's garbage pile.

9, 10, 7, 8, 100%, it means whatever we want it to mean. To the people complaining, the number given at the end of a review is obviously Serious Business. What does a "perfect score" mean, anyway? That the game is the best thing out at the time? That it's the best game ever? That it has no flaws? That it's flaws don't detract? Honestly I don't even care, because the score at the end of a review means nothing to me, the content of the review does. If I'm not even interested in the game in the first place, I'm hardly going to kick up a stink when some game I don't even care about gets a specific score.