Orogun01

Yes, let's blame socialism. I know socialism made me want kill myself.

And why not? Make them useful to society instead of killing them. Or give them the option of death or Mars. Right like we used to do with forced labor and how we do now with the in-prison work programs?

Judging from the huge advertisement campaign made for both DA and ME I think that they have broke some ground when it comes to reaching an audience. Plus there is a flood of people on the Bioboards that came after these two games. I would risk to say that most gamers look to the hype and publicity of AAA games before buying, since none of us want to make the mistake of buying a crappy game. Selling the brand name (dev's team name) as an assurance of the product has become something of a practice. Don't we see a lot of "from the makers of" when it comes to launching new IPs?

As enterix said there are those; particularly the BW, that have become a brand. I see no reason why they wouldn't use their name power to push something a little more innovative, specially when they have such great IPs on their back-pocket to fall back in case of a failure. In which case the reception would be a sound "now they can go back to making ME" from it's community, which is one of the main points of criticism when it comes to BW: it listens too much too it's audience. The reason for the lack of risk I don't know, my guess would be pressures from the publisher and since a director it's not indispensable when it comes to developing a game (seeing as the star power lies with the team name) they may be reluctant to push for a new IP. Despite the fact that Indie games have been steadily breaking into the market as successes.

No, I believe that there is a lack of interest. Since this bears much similarity to the movie industry I will put an example, for every guaranteed blockbuster that a film company makes theres is at least three flukes that they finance to see if they pan out. This gives new talent a chance to be discovered and to profess their skill, for every three major movies that a director may have they make an artistic one where they risk it for the sake of doing the film. These films are financed because of the names on it, usually well established actors and directors who liked the script and would like to see the movie made. All done without any prospects at the box office, they are dedicated to making that film some to the extent of accepting cuts on their salary. I see no such commitment from the directors and the people in the industry. I'll admit that games are made for an audience and that it plays a big part on the development procedure. But most of the time there seems to be a clear distinction made by developers "If you want to make games for yourself go indie, if you take the resources of others you have to make their game".

It's a complicated issue, no doubt. It deals with legal aspects that we don't even have a consensus and are at odds. In one hand we have the right to privacy and self determination over one's body, and on the other the right to live, human life being sacred. I personally still hold that doctors shouldn't be forced into that position, that said I won't let my family suffer all so they can squeeze a few bucks out of my HMO. If only it were a few buck that they were after.

Because they are considered more established and because we have grown to believe that they create a more integral person. Games and comics are relatively new and still have to prove themselves; namely produce remarkable work that transcends boundaries and breaks into the mainstream. They both share the same beginning since they both were conceived as children's entertainment that grew as the children grew into adults and sought more mature content. Truth is that just because one person watches the whole Rambo movies, reads the Twilight series or listen to Vanilla Ice, doesn't make them any more knowledgeable or integral. There is work that should be taken purely at entertainment value and there work with serious artistic value. Same is true for games, problem is that it's a hard medium to promote and break into the mainstream. On the other hand there are very few games with real artistic value, so we may be lacking in serious content. That's not what I asked. I meant why does it matter to you? I doesn't, I have no such shame. My beef is more with the lack of actual serious games and the lack of interest amongst the industry to produce them.

Comics by themselves and out of the comic strips were targeted towards a younger audience. The problem has always been perception, that's what needs to change; comics had The Sandman as which was treated as a serious book. Even though it was changed afterwards to make sure that no other comic would receive the award, it's that kind of rejection by the the established institutions that have turned comics into their own institution. Same with games. I'm one of those people, abstract expressionism is a piece of crap, I specially hate Duchamps, Warhol and Pollock. Despite this being a low point in art, movements come and go and now we are moving towards more elegant, classical and at the same time technical forms of art. Probably as a reaction to the modernists ideals of originality and content over elegance and aesthetics. Another point in which I find myself agreeing with you, specially the medium part. It's one of the reasons why I believe that games can't be considered art, they don't grow outside of their format and depend solely on the commercial aspects for promotion.

Because they are considered more established and because we have grown to believe that they create a more integral person. Games and comics are relatively new and still have to prove themselves; namely produce remarkable work that transcends boundaries and breaks into the mainstream. They both share the same beginning since they both were conceived as children's entertainment that grew as the children grew into adults and sought more mature content. Truth is that just because one person watches the whole Rambo movies, reads the Twilight series or listen to Vanilla Ice, doesn't make them any more knowledgeable or integral. There is work that should be taken purely at entertainment value and there work with serious artistic value. Same is true for games, problem is that it's a hard medium to promote and break into the mainstream. On the other hand there are very few games with real artistic value, so we may be lacking in serious content.

In an intrinsic view, yes they are. Since they have no more value than how much they affect us it's up to the audience to assign that value and how much it affects them. That's its the nature of art, it's value is on the eye of the beholder.

Get 'im!!! Serious now; I don't now why the whole game shame. No movie critic feels ashamed when they say that Citizen Kane it's the best film ever, even though most people think it's the most boring piece of **** ever filmed. I don't like that there is a double standard, dedicating yourself to music, movies, books or art it's seen as a more noble pursuit than games. Despite the fact that all of them are an equal waste of time and serve the same purpose of enriching your life.

Happy Birthday!

Seems like there is no stopping the suicide talks. Can we move it to it's own thread then?Mods?

Demon's Souls combat for DA2 would surely silence a lot of PC elitists. But alas. You mean "throw 2 strikes, block and die" that kind of combat?

I'd love that!. :runs to see if anyone has made one: edit:Jackpot!

Although there is the other side of the coin, a doctor is someone we can trust, who swore an oath to save lives. If assisted suicide is something open for everyone, it becomes a matter of choice amongst the afflicted and his/her family.The doctor should have no obligation, nor choice in a man's death unless it's a medical issue. I agree that a method that's both painless and dignified it's the best way to go, on the other hand that would make the option to appealing. A reason that people don't kill themselves or that they fail, it's because they are afraid of a gruesome death. If suddenly it's marketed as something painless and dignified, those who think about committing the act but stop short because of fear will turn to this "new way".

Ok I replayed both games a few months ago so I can objectively say that AP progression scale it's a lot higher than DX. In AP you basically can't hit ****, every gunfight; even with expert, it's basically me behind cover waiting for the critical hit. Because that's the only way to get a sure shot that it's actually on target. DX, I can have an actual firefight where I hit where I was aiming.

Because it's common knowledge and I haven't had Amaretto in years.

Finished cleaning out all the crap that had piled in my room for the last 4 years and put up a new desk. Spacey

Harsher than being brutally tortured and beheaded? Because that's what has happened to our captured male soldiers, and that seems pretty damned harsh to me. Probably because you can also add rape to the table. Though you can probably make an argument to toss that under being brutally tortured. There is a difference, most men don't attract the same kind of attention as women. A captured woman in a camp full of men becomes the "stress reliever" of the whole camp, it's not even torture for the sake of information its for pleasure. Also more lasting since the chances of death are minimal. Edit: I find this topic to a bit disturbing, can we get back on subject and be happy for our gay troops? I have already congratulated my gay enlisted friend and asked him if he was going to appear in full drag on camp

Was "Overwhelm" removed from the game? Damn good question.

Well, the Iraq war has pretty much ended that policy for the US. The front lines are undefined, and they need female troops out in the community. Here is a good article on it. Granted, the policy is still to not allow female troops in certain regiments, I believe. But the Iraq war has shown that women are very capable. The only reason to maintain the policy is the fact that young women are more important than young men to a society. And the fact that war would be specially harsh to a woman, more so if she it's captured.

Can we have weapon mods too?

I remember that my teachers used to do that as a sort of joke when the time came to hand out the grades, problem was that everyone had cheated off me on the English test and the whole classroom would cry out if they did that. Good times

Homeless people addicted to alcohol, people whose life goes out the drain because of their addiction to gambling, they are no different than the ones living in an abandoned house with only their next fix to look forward to. Basically every drug has the kind of extreme cases you mention and if you want to be really utilitarian about it, legal drugs have more of those cases. Namely, alcohol. Criminal takes drugs therefore drugs are the cause of crime not the criminal. Normal person takes drugs therefore he will become a criminal, that's a very flawed logic. Then you fall into speculation, a junkie will rob you to get drugs. Aren't beggars already begging for drug money? Or trading their food coupons for alcohol. Most of the casualties on the drug trade come from the dealers and not the addicted consumer, doubt that we will have an army of crazed junkies robbing convenience stores considering that all their money goes into feeding their addiction and not towards getting a gun. The problem is that most of the people behind bars aren't the ones out robbing and killing, the great majority is made up from those caught under possession charges. The legalization of drugs is going to be the next "DNA technology" of law, a wave of appeals on cases where the accused was sent to prison because of a drug that it's now legal. I also would like to clarify that I believe that drugs should still be illegal, in no way or form legalization is a solution for the drug problem.