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I know. And I agree with him for the most part on the evaluation of those facts. However I'm still hoping that the SW feel of the game may somehow be able to compensate for those facts... or perhaps not, I don't know. Just let me dream, will ya? :D

Fortunately, Beethoven's compositions don't drive people mad. Real violence does, and that is a fact. You don't want to accept that fact, fine. Welcome to Denial. Population: You.

Right... damn shame.

That is my opinion as well. Despite Hades' relentless bashing of a game he hasn't played yet, I won't comment on the game until I have tried it personally. The whole may still be greater than the sum of the parts, or something.

What can I say? I'm a classic.

Coke it is for me. Not much difference anyway since I only drink it mixed with rum, so...

Good point.

Silent Hill isn't scary. System Shock 2 is scary. Alien vs Predator is the definition of a scary game.

No, but s.t.a.l.k.e.r. contains essences of all three of those games. To be inspired by does not mean to be similar to in any way. Er, Daggerfall and Fallout, maybe. But how does a FPS with faint RPG traits hybrid relate to Elite? It seems like they are shamelessly trying to benefit from the name of one of the best games ever.

It doesn't matter. The fact is that games are becoming increasingly more violent, and nobody really knows for sure how this might affect people on the long run. Violence is bad according to present moral standards. However, it's hard to shake off an instinct which is hard-coded into our genes. My point is we don't need extreme graphical violence putting even more pressure on our moral restraints. It's not like the war tales that were told in old times, this is more like experiencing it first-hand, and that's one hell of a difference. No. The whole rating system is flawed in that it can't protect adults. Obviously, if something is not suited for an adult, it's not suited for children either. If you have a product which is a potential hazard to the healthy adult population, who's responsibility is it? Again, it seems I'm sounding like I'm against violence in games, which I'm not. In certain cases and levels it's tolerable and I've heard of people who can actually blow steam that way, even though that's not my case. I'm just concerned about the increasing level of realism in game violence, and its possible long-term effects on people.

Let's not dumb the discussion down so much, shall we? Again, right now I agree with you. A sane person will not go out on a killing spree just because he just played Postal. However, long-term exposure to real violence will tear down the psychological safeguards that prevent you from acting violently on instinct. That is a fact. Now, what if a game was so real that your mind couldn't tell between fiction and reality? Don't be absurd. There are a lot of things that can turn a person into a psycho and most of them are out of that person's control. Do you really think that sane people actually choose to become serial killers on a whim? Yet another jewel of anti-logic for your collection.

You seem to think that violence can be controlled with a certain amount of willpower or whatever. Well, sorry to break this to you, but it can't. Once you become impervious to it, that means that the psychological and moral barriers that make violence despicable and disgusting have been demolished, and hence you have effectively become a psycho. Note that I'm not talking about the present violence in games, which is not enough to trigger psychological disorders on sane individuals. I'm talking about what game violence can become if the present increasing rate of gaming realism stays constant for say, 20 years. If you have a product that can turn healthy masses into psychos, you won't need to ban RPG launchers for civilian use, because people would rather go close up and personal.

Right, and who is the government to prevent anyone from having a rocket launcher in the basement in case they feel like going blow gas stations up. Some things are hazards to society as a whole. Ultra-violent games have the potential to be one of those things.

My point exactly. Obviously you don't know jack about real violence. I recommend you ask a war vet about his experience if you can, or read stuff by people who have experienced violence first-hand, ex-mobsters or whatever. Perhaps then you will realize how violence changes people for the worse. I don't have a problem with pixel blood and 2k poly models being slaughtered. However that's as close to the real thing as martial arts training. Real violence however is a horrible thing. Not quite the 'physical' component of it, but the emotional one. The feeling that you are causing suffering to another being is something your mind can't handle very well, and thus, rejects violently. Even though a game is not real, it's only because the technology doesn't allow for total realism yet. When it does, your subconcious (sp?) won't be able to tell the difference between 'real' and fictional violence very well, even though you know it's not real. And then, you will be in trouble.

Damn avatar robbers... I knew it was too weird to be true. :">

Hades actually saying good things about a game? This I have to see for myself.

Funny that, considering the devs have already stated that there will be no new content for the PC version other than hi-res textures and bugfixes, not even interface tweaking. I wonder where those guys get their stuff from?

Indeed, a fine example of why too much violence in games makes your psycho rating increase. " And on to the topic, it's so easy to accuse other people of being weak or not being as mentally stable as you are, but not everyone can benefit from a balanced brain chemistry, or an infancy in an adequate environment. The bottom line is that it's not their fault. Not always, anyway. It's rather unfair to say that just because you should be held accountable for your actions, everyone should. If you think you can withstand violence in games just fine, wait a few years. In time, not even your rationalization of what's real and what's not will be enough to prevent you from puking in the face of certain things... unless they stop it. Don't get me wrong, I like video games with some blood in them, but I don't enjoy inflicting pain.

Provided you could find them.

Dreaming is free, ain't it?

Yeah, it sucks to be human, don't it?

I'm going to be impaled or worse for this, but I found Ps:T rather boring. I played until the undercity (there is an undercity, right?) just because I had heard so many good things about it. If I hadn't, I would have probably quit playing much earlier.

Huh? Surely you don't think this is a new trend? Authors have been ripping off other's ideas since the dawn of time. Take something you like, change its color, give it a little of your own personal style, stick it into a new package, and TADA! There ya go, your new groundbreaking [insert work here]. The problem is with technology. When technology allows for anything you can imagine, then games will not be limited so much. Until then, we will have to make do with whatever recycled crap is released. The first 'uns were good, mostly because they were the first.

'Nuff said.

Priceless. Perhaps you don't realize the relevance of that statement, but alas, that's what MMORPGs are all about. If you remove that, there would be no difference between a MMORPG and a SP CRPG. But since day after day the gaming community becomes less and less immature and is ever increasingly moronic, odds are, you will find 3 f*ckwads for each good player. I'd rather not waste my time searching for good players in a sea of f*ckwads. There is still the issue of the 'sense of purpose' which a MMORPG lacks altogether. When I play a game, I want the game objective to be clear from the beginning. But since a MMORPG has no objective whatsoever other than 'keep going' for the most part, that also conflicts with my definition of fun. Perhaps some other people with a whole lot more of time on their hands would enjoy wasting their time in such fashion, but I do not.