The Video Game Thread

[PujolJunkie]

It's probably best to point out that the entire scene can be skipped. You don't have to play it or even see it. It's entirely skippable.

I, for one, think its extremely messed up but it doesn't bother me. It's a video game and I have no trouble remembering that. There's been worse violence than this in Sylvester Stallone and Steven Seagal movies.

Is it pushing the envelope? Yes. But if anything, it makes the bad guys that much much repulsive.

[Cronos]

For clarity's sake, does the player actually control what the character in the game is doing in this scene, or just watching from his perspective?

I've seen a lot of violence in video games and I wouldn't say it bothered me but it definitely pushes the envelope.

[Jocephus]

Heh, I'll be buying that. It does raise the question about how far things like this could go.

what i'm doing is i'm buying assassins creed 2 and my buddy is buying MW2, and we'll swap...i'm sure it'll be a fun campaign, but i don't really wanna be a CoD person...(nor halo)

edit: and yeah, that scene is "messed up", but it's also a video game and well, it does/can/could happen...i wouldn't want my kids seeing/playing it, but well, i don't got no kids so i don't care

[PujolJunkie]

For clarity's sake, does the player actually control what the character in the game is doing in this scene, or just watching from his perspective?

Nope. Fully controllable or fully skippable. No real inbetween.

Heh, I'll be buying that. It does raise the question about how far things like this could go.

what i'm doing is i'm buying assassins creed 2 and my buddy is buying MW2, and we'll swap...i'm sure it'll be a fun campaign, but i don't really wanna be a CoD person...(nor halo)

I can honestly say that I've been both and there's almost no comparing the two as far as online stuff goes. Call of Duty is heads and shoulders above Halo as far as the rewards system, the levelling system, etc. I love both games, but you definitely wouldn't regret getting into CoD more heavily. I completely understand what you're saying though.

[Tambourine Man]

Let's say a game had a sequence in which you were playing as an American soldier conducting an interrogation of a suspected terrorist. You'd be given the option of conducting the interrogation by obeying the treaties laid out in the Geneva Conventions, or you could go all Abu Ghraib in the interrogation. Is that too far?

[Jocephus]

I can honestly say that I've been both and there's almost no comparing the two as far as online stuff goes. Call of Duty is heads and shoulders above Halo as far as the rewards system, the levelling system, etc. I love both games, but you definitely wouldn't regret getting into CoD more heavily. I completely understand what you're saying though.

it's more the online communities i don't care about in both...i played cod:mw (from this same friend who is going to get mw2)...and yeah, the SP campaign is a fun action FPS, but i just have no interest in the online community

and

Let's say a game had a sequence in which you were playing as an American soldier conducting an interrogation of a suspected terrorist. You'd be given the option of conducting the interrogation by obeying the treaties laid out in the Geneva Conventions, or you could go all Abu Ghraib in the interrogation. Is that too far?

no, cause its america, f yeah!

[cards2468]

Forza 3 = awesome

so many tracks, so many cars

In the past I complained that the Forza series focused on quantity of cars instead of quality cars in general, and I feel they've focused on some very good cars. I was a huge WRC fan back when it aired on speed and my favorite rally cars always were the Peugeot 206's and the game has the 206 and 207 with Rally livery and they tear up the rally courses and pivot like a dream about the apex of hairpins. The game also has about every LeMans LMP1 and 2 prototype unlike in 1 and 2 which only had a couple. Another thing I'm happy about: more bimmers. I'm not a BMW fanboy, but the collection of BMW's in the past were sorta pathetic considering how many cars the game had in general.

I also have to say, I think the road geometry and roughness of Road Atlanta and Sebring are spot on now. The hill right before the last turn in Road Atlanta used to have an odd peak and didn't seem to match cockpit views of the course, but the peak is much more realistic now. As for Sebring, the air strip portions of the track are more annoying than ever, just like the real course, and is also matching my experiences of racing on St. Louis Downtown Airport's runways with their hard and rough cement surfaces.

[cpebbles]

Dragon Age is pretty sweet so far. I named my war hound Sh-thead and I just killed a little kid.

[ghostrunner]

I have never enjoyed a Bioware game, but I decided to give them one last try so I just went and picked Dragon Age up. I should have some first impressions by tonight.

I usually like Bioware's stuff but I think it's weird that all that time and effort went into yet another Lord of the Rings-esque RPG. Seems like well-covered ground by this point. I'd think the RPG format could accommodate some different genres for a change. Bioware did a pretty decent job with Jade Empire a few years ago, and Mass Effect was a fairly unique story even though it was repetitive.

[PujolJunkie]

I have never enjoyed a Bioware game, but I decided to give them one last try so I just went and picked Dragon Age up. I should have some first impressions by tonight.

Mass Effect was a fairly unique story even though it was repetitive.

oh my god yes.

The idea was fantastic, the execution was awesome at first. But on the 612th [expletive] planet that I landed on and searched, I grew faint. Finding every single deposit and blah blah blah got so tiresome. The main idea, the character development, etc. were all awesome. But man, after a while, that game just got to be too much to play. And this is coming from someone who spent an ungodly amount of time on Fallout 3.