Mortis Nai

In which case your misinterpreting the motivation and meaning behind what I was saying. I was attempting to point out the general crossover point when Video games became a far more complicated Beast and the demands and expectations of the customers and the industry rose exponentially. There has always been demand for sleek, beautiful looking games but they were always severely limited by the technology and the ability to "Add more" with the limited space available. While the same holds true today to some extent, the technology to render breathtaking and stunning visuals is more limited by time and manpower than it is by the technology. I mean, were still a way from Photo realistic, 3D VR Environments but we are pretty damn close and we are not limited in quite the same way via hardware as say... Midway back in the early 90's having to recolor the same models in order to conserve space on the arcade machine because they could literally not put any more into the game. You see more limitations in view distance, FoW, How far grass is rendered, how many dynamic lights there are and all that jazz. IE: Optimization for individual consoles or systems. (However you do still see some "Old School" games released on the DS & PSP because of the more limited systems.) All this means that a size able amount of time and resources now has to be invested in the visual aspect of the game which splits focus and resources making development a far more complex house of cards to manage, and some games get the balance just right and some do not, and technology is moving at such a rapid pace that no one has the time to "Grow into" the new shoes, before yet another pair of shoes is thrown on their feet and have to be broken in. The days when 2 guys in a basement can make a game that is a critically acclaimed success such as David Braben and Ian Bell writing Elite... are long gone. In my mind, the cross over point (And water mark) was January the 31st, 1997 with Final Fantasy 7. Graphics, Story and Game play all rolled into such a tight and ground breaking package that it truly seems like a fluke... as no one (Even Squaresoft/Enix) has been able to fully duplicate it. I love Video Games, New or Old. If you can name it I have probably played it, or at least having a passing familiarity with it. I love my Pixel Shading, Vertex Weighting, Soft Shadows, Speed tree, FaceGen, Bloom filled Gaming world. But there was an era when games were far more simple and had to depend upon pure game play and addictiveness... when the most plot you had was your high score or a very simple premise presented at the opening credits. It was a good time and one I remember fondly and still enjoy greatly.

*Holds up his hands* Point I was attempting to make originally, is that in many cases older games are more focused on game play, newer Games are focused on graphics, in the hope of getting a little retro vibe and fond memories going. Someone brought up the FPS Genera, I mentioned that it evolves very slowly and is the personification of a genera placing all it's focus into graphics. OK, fine... anything not released as of 2006 and is not a FPS Game is the work of the devil, I am Satan's little helper come to swallow your soul with my lies and spreading of filth and ignorance. All bow down to the holy trinity... Doom the Father Half-Life the Son Halo the holy spirit Nomine patri spiritus shooticus... My humble apologies for still enjoying the games I grew up with.

Strange thing is, I don't hate FPS Games. I Have spent Countless hours Playing Unreal Tournament and Day of Defeat competativly online, I have played through all the Doom Games includeing Mods/Expansions and I have played a great number of FPS Games through the years from Wolfenstein to Quake to Battlespire to halo 1 & 2 to Fear. I just try not read any more into these games than there is.

Doom 2 was one of the worst games ever made. Red Orchestra is yet another WWII sim styled game that uses the Unreal 2.x engine. Thief is more an Action RPG, and not really an FPS title. I hear the point that your making, and yes they each have vastly different settings and themes and comparing Battlefield 1942 to Day of Defeat will show you very different types of game play on the same genera (One realistic, and one fast paced action based.) But still at the very root of it all, Its still Guy or girl with guns shooting crap up in first person, and there are only so many times you can rehash that and make it feel unique.

Genealogy of Morals & Ecce Homo.

I did, just not monosyllabically with a binary "Yes" or "No" answer. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> No you didn't. IMO you said that all FPS's are same and that they have not changed much in 32 years. And that Doom and HL2 are equal. That's not answer to my question. I didn't ask about evolution (pretty minimum one that is) of first person shooters. I asked which one is better game <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Then there you have your answer... all FPS Games are essentially the same, and not much has changed in 32 years. Strip away the Shiny new graphics and what do you have? Not much. Sure some FPS Titles have attempted to inject a modicum of plot into the games but even now it's the bare minimum. Doom 3 & Half life 2 are a Farcry (Pun intended) away from Final Fantasy 7 for having a deep impacting story. I really do not see how I can be any clearer in my opinion there.

Wickerman flashbacks...

More like a dramatized speculative religio-documentary. Anyway, a useless piece of cellulo

Why is that Mortis? ( For once, I'm not being a smartass, just curious what might cause a person to change their allegance. ) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Well what patch of soil I was conceived doesn't mean that I automatically hold some philosophical belief that I must defend that patch of land with my life. To quote Bill Hicks "It's a round world the last time I checked." I grew up in England during the Thatcher years, if there is anything that can kill any sense of nationalism it's that mad woman in office. When I was 10 years Old my mother moved us up to Scotland, and when I was 17 I decided to move to America. I have traveled all over this country, I have met a great many different people from Billionaires whom own Newspapers and TV Stations too Homeless runaways without a penny to their name. Since being here I have both suffered and prospered, there have been times where there was no food in the cupboards and I had to live off Ramin, and there were times that I ate out at the finest restaurants the world has to offer. I have seen a great deal of America and this is now my home, this is where my family is (My Wife, My Friends) and this is where my memories and experiences of adulthood are. I do not agree with Americas Political agenda, I do not agree with the war in Iraq, but I love my friends, I love my family and I would fight to protect them, anything worth loving is worth dieing for. My Mother came over to visit a couple of months back, and she was spouting the same crap that people always accuse America of. That the people are fat, ignorant, lazy and stupid, that Americas health care, social system, education system is atrocious. And I found myself actually getting offended. The American people truly get a bum wrap, the "American way of life" gets a bum wrap, and it is the target of a great deal of Anti-US propaganda the world over, every country is quite happy to slate the US as the bad guys, and the unfortunate part in that is that the US Government gives them a great deal to work with. The simple truth is that this is one of the most privileged countries in the world, and the American people are some of the most enlightened, kind spirited and loving people I have known and I would rather live out my days and raise my children here in the mythic land of milk and honey, than I would anywhere else. Sure the US Government is comprised of a few soulless money grubbing mass murdering bastards... but they are not all like that, some of them are actually decent people who do a great of good, and at the end of the day what Government does not have a few bad eggs? It's certainly not Britain's Government that's for sure... The British Empire, The Crusades, The Enslavement of Scotland, Ireland and the working class... Thatcher, The Royals... the only thing that Britain has to be proud of is that it has somehow convinced the rest of the world that it's larger and more powerful than it really is... mainly by killing and enslaving a rather large portion of the world. All in all after having seen so many other countries of the world (I did a great deal of travel as a child, and even got to experience Soviet Russia.) I know just how lucky and fortunate I am to live here in the US.

*Holds up his hand* I live over in Boys Town, or rather Lakeview if you would prefere (Chicago.) It's currently drizzling with freezing rain The Ironic thing is I am an Immigrant to the US, from England and I have more "National" Pride for the US than I do for the UK.

Depends if your country signed the Geneva convention or not. A Soldier is supposed to execute there own moral judgement... If your commanding Officer tells you to set fire to a group of children, your not supposed to actually go ahead because "They told you so."

Corine Marcon puts the Toreador to shame.

That is only if you consider Rape, Murder, Assault, Theft and other acts as "Wrong." There wrong because there is a perceived punishment, but we do not act out of love for our fellow "Man" but rather out of fear of negative consequences for our actions. That is not Morality, that is Control through Fear. Which is exactly what the point that our Society is based upon. When is it perfectly acceptable to go out and Commit Genocide? When we make up a reason that explains it all away and makes it a positive thing... Killing the evil "Jew", spreading Christianity, The End of Communism, "Liberating" a country and "Imposing Democracy." Mankind commits the greatest atrocities when it is allowed to invent excuses and loopholes to indulge its more base instincts. If our Moral compass was built from a desire of survival and advancement, rather than out of fear of repercussions, we would not be able to delude ourselves or others to such an extent to allow such things to happen.

It all depends upon your interpretation of nihilism. Read "Beyond Good and Evil" and "On the Geneology of Morrals" as well as "Thus Spoke Zarathustra." 'To the clean are all things clean'

I have seen people use a vacuum cleaner to clean out the coal or wood ash from an open fireplace before, they "Made sure it was cold" first but I still thought it was a bad idea... you just never know if there is going to be a small but very very hot lump somewhere underneath all that ash. People can and will do stupid things.

Google "misogynistic." I was agreeing with you, it is a sexist comment yes. I was saying in essence "I never said I was not a sexist pig" which was technically meant more as a slight against the political correct society we live in, where everyone has to be loving and tolerant of everything and everyone, rather than an actual slight against women. Nevermind... that's social philosophy and morality which is vastly off topic for wii controllers.

I never said I was not misogynistic... :crazy:

I was just looking for as many companies that had one word names, or at least commonly used one word names. It's harder than you think. "Eidos" is technically Eidos Interactive for example. I was going to put "Square" but it's technically "Square-Enix" now and I didn't think hyphenated names would count. Bah, i found it funny. :ph34r: <_< Edit: Nothing wrong with Eidos, They did The Legacy of Kain and Tomb Raider Series (Which were good up until a few years ago when Eidos began making some seriously poor decisions... Angel of Darkness and LoK:Defiance... what the hell was that all about...) Interplay was a Developer as well as a Publisher. And OK, Bethesda have not made a decent Game for about 10 years now. Find it interesting no one has disputed Capcom or Midway yet. OK Perhaps not Capcom... Mega Man, Street Fighter, Resident Evil just to name a few. All Midway had any serious success with was Mortal Kombat, but what an impact that had.

I grew up in the 80's... there are no ethics in business.

If your looking for one word that by typing will make you more credible it is: "Bethesda" "Firaxis" "Bungie" "Eidos" "Rockstar" "Midway" "Capcom" "Valve" "Bullfrog" "Interplay" Or Even "Bioware" "Period" just makes you sound like a girl, but it truly does bring to mind images of playing vigorous sports. (Sorry, I couldn't help it, I'm not picking on you to be vindictive, spiteful or mean, you just left yourself wide open there.) I wuvs Obsidian, honest

I started playing the new Broken Sword Game, which made me crave playing the old SCUMM Games. Monkey Island:

Yet another step further away from humanity. Suicide booths, here we come! If we admit for a moment that "God" is nothing more than a concept to comfort us from death, then there is no such thing as "Evil" all we are left with are positive and negative actions and experiences, or to put it simplistically, as we teach our children "Good" and "Bad." If that is the case then the only thing that we can truly judge our lives against are our experiences, then by removing the emotion behind them... we are no longer human, or even truly alive.

I'll need about three fiddy.

Simple solution... add that rubber stuff that they have no "No Slip" Pencils or on the back of some Control pads to the wii remote. That should stop the slipping out of peoples hands. And yes, Nintendo is probably liable, but unless it is a class action lawsuit that chances of getting the Giant to pay up are slim. It has absolutely nothing to do with "Americans being unable to take responsibility for their actions." If you buy a car, drive it home and the breaks fail causing you to hit someone else's car, then the dealership is responsible for selling you a faulty product. If you Buy a Faulty Video card that fries your motherboard after you install it... then the manufacturer is liable. I just want to know who thought making a sleek product that had the user vigerously making stabbing or slashing motions at their TV was a good idea to begin with?

Only time will tell.