Video Game Thread (Officially Unofficial)

[J.]

Viking: Battle for Asgard is mindless fun

[dorian gray]

J., where's your little girl while you're playing violent video games? Or is she still little enough not to notice?

[Reign in Acai]

Originally Posted by dorian gray

What do you mean, "original"?

As in not the sequel which everyone else is playing.

[J.]

Originally Posted by dorian gray

J., where's your little girl while you're playing violent video games? Or is she still little enough not to notice?

shes only 16 months old. still, if she were old enough she'd be watching me chop off troll heads and impaling bad guys whilst listening to graveland

[dorian gray]

You're about to be shocked at the lifestyle changes you're about to make.....unless you're a redneck and actually *want* a dumb, violent child

[swizzlenuts]

Originally Posted by dorian gray

You're about to be shocked at the lifestyle changes you're about to make.....unless you're a redneck and actually *want* a dumb, violent child

Didn't studies show there isn't a correlation with violent games/TV?

[Crimson Velvet]

Seems to me that every new study contradicts every study before it.

I say just throw the kid into the deep end and hook it up with an internet connection, a modded 360 and the complete works of Max Hardcore.

[Conspicuously Absent]

yes no.

Violent People will be more violent.

Non-Violent People however: no.

[Vittra]

Originally Posted by swizzlenuts

Didn't studies show there isn't a correlation with violent games/TV?

Yes, but studies are often flawed and can be skewed one way or another.

I think it really boils down to the child's age, and general maturity. Children who are far too young to rationalize are more likely to emulate what they see, with no distinction between what is and isn't reality. That doesn't make them dumb or violent, but they are like other animals after all. Often times they will try and repeat things they see, with no regards to repercussions. Once they reach an age where they can differentiate, I doubt it affects them negatively. (The age would be dependent on the child of course) A child who is violent/mischievous by nature without any external influence however would likely feed off Video Game/TV related violence though, even if only as an excuse, but that tendency already existed to begin with.

Anyways, if you're a stupid, violent human being, you're a stupid, violent human being. What you are exposed to at a young age likely isn't going to change that. Once your brain has matured to the point where you can properly rationalize and make distinctions, what is your excuse? Right.

[dorian gray]

I think you guys are thinking into this a little too much. Bottom line is educated, intelligent people protect their children from violence and stupidity while rednecks actually subject them to it. It's not a rule, just an observation. I don't worry too much about studies. I just make it a point to avoid playing video games in front of him. And I stand by the notion that if you insist on watching adult-level movies in front of your children, then you get what you deserve when they wake up with nightmares.

[Reign in Acai]

The only adverse effect video games have on children is in the form of being a distraction that takes away from studying and exercise. Enroll your kids in Little League and institute some academic discipline, then let them gut somebody with a chainsaw in G.O.W. Shield them from life's goriest pleasures, and they'll end up getting ganked for their milk money.

[swizzlenuts]

Originally Posted by Crimson Velvet

Seems to me that every new study contradicts every study before it.

I say just throw the kid into the deep end and hook it up with an internet connection, a modded 360 and the complete works of Max Hardcore.

Originally Posted by Conspicuously Absent

yes no.

Violent People will be more violent.

Non-Violent People however: no.

That's what I was refering to.

Originally Posted by Vittra

Yes, but studies are often flawed and can be skewed one way or another.

I think it really boils down to the child's age, and general maturity. Children who are far too young to rationalize are more likely to emulate what they see, with no distinction between what is and isn't reality. That doesn't make them dumb or violent, but they are like other animals after all. Often times they will try and repeat things they see, with no regards to repercussions. Once they reach an age where they can differentiate, I doubt it affects them negatively. (The age would be dependent on the child of course) A child who is violent/mischievous by nature without any external influence however would likely feed off Video Game/TV related violence though, even if only as an excuse, but that tendency already existed to begin with.

Anyways, if you're a stupid, violent human being, you're a stupid, violent human being. What you are exposed to at a young age likely isn't going to change that. Once your brain has matured to the point where you can properly rationalize and make distinctions, what is your excuse? Right.

Yeah, I was excluding little kids. They can be scared by the big bad wolf.

[dorian gray]

ah, yeah, I wasn't talking about teenagers...just little tykes. They need to remain as innocent as possible. I was referring to rednecks who subject their children to constant trash TV, horror movies, late nights, bad diets, NASCAR, etc.
Teens are different. I have no idea what to say about them.

disclaimer: I was in no way suggesting that J. is a redneck. I was just kidding with him as I'm sure he was kidding about letting his daughter watch him play video games.

[J.]

pretty much. surprised it went this far.

[dorian gray]

haha remember Matt's thread about tipping?

[EricT]

Originally Posted by TheGreatDeceiver

So if I, hypothetically, were to drop some money within the next few months building a gaming PC, where the fuck do I start?

How much money and what kinda performance are you looking for?

On the subject of PC gaming, if any of you do it much, GTA 4 on PC? Biggest pile of buggy horse shit ever made. Don't waste your money on it. It seems they took more time implementing the extreme amount of DRM than optimizing and fixing bugs.

What a waste of 50 bucks. Sent an email to steam support seeing if I can get a refund.

[Conspicuously Absent]

Yeah, thats pretty much what I heard too, Imight wait 6 months then download it and see if the patches fixed it. I have a couple friends trying to get their money back from steam as well. Fuck DRM.



As to building a gaming rig: Price-range and performance expectations?

Dual vs Quad Core
9800 vs 260 vs 280
4GB RAM vs+
Overclocking? (if yes: cooling, mobo selection, etc) for example: I bought a 2.6 Ghz Dual Core, because the step up to 3G was large, I can overclock it to 3G quite easily for playing shit like Crysis or what have you.

Do you need new harddrives?
Do you need a new monitor? (if you're doing a massive upgrade: could be)
do you need a new case (does it suck? Do the video cards fit? )
Do you need to buy the OS (or are you capable of pirating and installing Microsuck software yourself?)


Should get you started.

[General Zod]

New Resident Evil 5 looks bad ass.

Zod

[EricT]

The new Prince of Persia pisses me off. Not in the way that the last few games have (being frustrated over the seemingly impossible task at hand), but due to the games insisting behavior on doing everything only one way. In the last few, you had some freedom to say "hey, you know, maybe I can try and wall jumping to this then running to this and jumping over this and doing that to this guy this time!", but with this new game, everything seems to be "wall run this" or "jump over that".

Also, the story is fucking lame.

[Evil?]

Ya, well I bought Ico and Shadow of The Colossus on ebay the other day. Ico is a fucking classic and I haven't played it in years. Looking forward to playing it again.

[Thanatopsis123]

I bought Ico after I fell in love with SotC. I never have gotten around to playing it though. I wonder if it would work on my PS3.

[Reign in Acai]

Dorian may be right.




Prosecutors at the murder trial of 17-year-old Daniel Petric claim that the teen shot both of his parents, killing his mother, because they wouldn't let him play Halo 3.

According to prosectors, Petric, 16 at the time of the shooting, was forbidden to buy Halo 3 by his parents, Mark and Susan Petric. The teen snuck out to purchase the game anyway, and was caught by his parents upon his return. The game was locked up in Mark's lockbox, along with a 9mm handgun.

Mark Petric, a minister at the Life Assembly of God in Wellington, Ohio, testified that soon after on the evening of October 20th, 2007, his son entered the family room with a request.

"Would you guys close your eyes," Daniel Petric asked. "I have a surprise for you."

It was then that Daniel Petric allegedly shot both of his parents in the head, killing his mother instantly. Mark Petric survived due to the timely arrival of his daughter and her husband, who had arrived to watch a Cleveland Indians game.

It's just an amazingly heart-wrenching story, made even more so by the following exchange between father and son related by Mark Petric during testimony:

"Dad, I'm so sorry for what I did to Mom, to you and to the family," Daniel Petric said, according to his father. "I'm so glad you are alive."

"You're my son," Mark Petric responded. "You're my boy."

Lawyers for the accused delivered a brief statement at the opening of the trial, explaining that their client had be under a large amount of stress after being homebound for a year due to a snowboarding accident with nothing to do but watch television and play video games.

I really don't know what to think about this case. The parents were doing what I always suggest parents do, monitoring their son's gameplay and making sure he doesn't play what they don't approve of. Sadly in this case it backfired.

Without knowing more about the family - specifically about Daniel Petric - there's no real way of knowing why this happened. I suspect the boy's lawyers might have a point about being homebound for a year, especially if Daniel was an active teen, as the snowboarding incident seems to suggest.

It's a tragic story that really leaves me with conflicting emotions. On one hand, the fact that a teenager can feel so entitled to something that he'd kill for it worries the hell out of me. At the same time, the fact that the father can forgive him for what he had done is a strong testament to the power of both family and forgiveness.

[Trylakos]

man as robot


whats the deal on those QL invites? :3

[Krigloch the Furious]

the new maps for Call of Duty 4 are awesome!
China Town is Carentan from the old games. so awesome

[MFJ]

games i have purchased recently and my thoughts-

Gears of War - 9/10 game
Gears of War 2 - 9.5/10 - absolutely superb gameplay and story. the co-op campaign is one of the best ever developed
Call of Duty : World at War - 8/10 - great game, but the gameplay is exacty like CoD4. still, looks beautiful and plays just as well. a little repetetive, but hey... that's CoD for you. extra point for the mission you unlock when you beat the game which is called "Nacht der untoten (Night of the Undead)". you try to fight off a nazi zombie attack by boarding up windows and purchasing better weapons with the points you get from killing zombies. awesome shit, perhaps better than the actual game itself.
Grand Theft Auto 4 - 9/10 - Need I say more?
Left 4 Dead - 7/10 - Its about time somebody made a good FPS zombie game. fun gameplay and some spooky shit going on... definitely keeps you on your toes. once you played through one level, though, you've basically beat the game. every level is available from the beginning so theres no saving going on. you get the same weapons in every level, and there are only a handful of different enemies. still, a great multiplayer game which does a lot of justice for the "violent shoot 'em" up category. could have easily been 10/10 if only it were deeper
Rainbow Six : Vegas 2 - 10/10 - A worthy sequel. Basically the same game with some awesome new maps, enhanced graphics, and a few new weapons. the best addition is the character development stuff, you gain levels in order to unlock better weapons, armor, and camo. brilliant multiplayer/split screen action.