Gaming World Forums
General Category => Entertainment and Media => Topic started by: Killer Wolf on October 23, 2008, 04:12:54 am
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My Xbox360 has been in a state of non-functionality since mid-september of 07. The out of warranty repair ticket was 99 just to get the box to send it back to Microsoft in, and they estimated a five to six week wait time on the turnaround. I said "screw it" and gave up gaming.
Long story short, I stumbled into some extra money during my budget this month, so I bought another 360 and a couple of games I had been looking forwards to - Mass Effect and Ninja Gaiden 2
Playing Mass Effect, I found myself skipping through the dialog. I turned the subtitles on because I can read a lot faster then the actors can perform their pieces and button tapped my way through a speed read of the game. I had fun, and I'm doing multiple playthroughs because I'm bored - but I do my damn best to skip everything I can. In the past, my first time through a game, I usually watch all the dialog and scenes to really appreciate what I threw my money down for...this time, I treated a brand new game like it was something I'd beaten five times over.
Ninja Gaiden 2 is fun, but I play it on the highest difficulty I can. Because of that, unless I'm playing it at a friend's house and we're taking turns, I am not really interested in it. I'll turn it on, play for a little while, and then either get tired and go to bed or cut the thing off because the stupid in-game camera got me killed after an otherwise prodigious ass kicking performance.
With new game prices holding around 59 dollars, I feel very hesitant to go buy another game that I'm either not going to enjoy or just rush right through. Wonderfully detailed conversations? Click,click,click. I was looking forward to Fallout 3 and Fable 2, and so far the reviews I've seen for Fable 2 are more of a warning then an enticement. I'm thinking of just waiting seven months or so until I can get F3 at a cheaper price so that if it disappoints me, at least it will cost less.
But it is something more then this - even the games I had that, during my drought, I missed being able to play, I can't bring myself to put in the tray and give them a spin. The whole "gamer" experiences just feels greatly diminished. I don't know if it is me, if in living without something for so long that I soured myself on it, or that the industry is just in a bad place right now.
The only game that I'm currently curious about is an (at least for now, PC) MMO that is probably years in the offing (The Old Republic), and I don't even play MMOs!
Anybody else come back to gaming after a lengthy sabbatical only to find it watered down and dull?
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I've heard nothing but good things about Fable 2. O.o
Anyway yeah I'm currently experiencing what you're talking about for most games. Like I was REALLY excited for The Witcher: Enhanced Edition, but upon getting it I found that even though I loved it before that I didn't feel like playing it again. Its the same with most of my consoles, I rarely touch them now because I seem to get bored from games I think I'll enjoy. Last year I bought Lost Odyssey which I thought was brilliant and probably one of the only games I've found emotionally moving, but I stopped playing it at the start of Disc 2 for no reason. I'd like to get back into it but I don't know if I have the will power. There are a lot of good games coming out for 360 that I don't end up playing. I haven't played GTA 4 yet even though I've heard good things about it and loved Vice City (skipped SA, not being racist but the whole black lingo made it difficult for me to tolerate). I like FF as well, but I didn't even touch FF12. I think I'll probably pick up Mirror's Edge when it comes out though.
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white lingo makes your post difficult to tolerate
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This happened to me actually. I haven't touched my PS2 for at least 4 months and as soon as I tried to fire up a game, I would not last 30 minutes without feeling bored. It's not like the games I'm playing are terrible, but rather it just doesn't have the charm that it had for me. Where previously I would play the game for hours and hours straight then taking a hiatus and playing it again and getting bored early.
It's not bad, my current girlfriend and I actually play games together now. We spent at least 4 hours playing Legend of Mana the other night, and it was fun. That's the only time I actually stick with a game. Alone I just can't play as much as I used to.
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Here's a game to play with your girlfriend. (http://www.gamegirladvance.com/archives/2002/10/26/sex_in_games_rezvibrator.html)
Seriously though, its a great game. :D
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gaming hiatuses have no negative effects
infact the best gaming hiatus is one that makes you quit/almost quit gaming in general
because then you can move on to better things in life
>:|
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Yep. I haven't touched MMOs in well over a year and I feel much better about myself.
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i'm not playing games very much at all now (cos i didn't bring my xbox to university) but i still find myself reading about the latest Upcoming Triple A Blockbuster Titles on the various "gaming-journalism" internet websites. it is not helping me out!
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(skipped SA, not being racist but the whole black lingo made it difficult for me to tolerate)
oh dear.
oh...dear
gentlemen? excuse me, the group of howshallisaythis dusky gentlemen on the corner there? yes you sir with the rather angry looking dark skinned chap on your oversized novelty t-shirt? would you mind keeping your hullabaloo at a minimum? I'm attempting to read Ulysses by James Joyce.
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Check out a lot of new games, and find something new if you're bored with what you got. I got bored of some of the best games I've ever played. Check out a lot of the demos available for PC games in the genres you like. Who knows, you might even like something freeware. Don't ever feel bound to a certain set of games while you're on a computer with internet access.
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Your attention span is either getting lower or you're outgrowing games.
Pick one.
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@Steel: I see what you did there. But in all seriousness I feel its a valid complaint. Same as if the dialogue was in old English, or if GTA 4 happened to use as much vocab as Ulysses. :P
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yeah steel its totally valid, now if you could please keep your indian lingo to a minimum that would be great
sincerely, afura
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Here's a game to play with your girlfriend. (http://www.gamegirladvance.com/archives/2002/10/26/sex_in_games_rezvibrator.html)
Seriously though, its a great game. :D
Thats cuh-ray-zeeeee!
It's so hard to find that game with the vibrate pad included, and if it is available somewhere it tends to be really expensive. :fogetcry:
Your attention span is either getting lower or you're outgrowing games.
Pick one.
I think I've outgrown games :fogetcool:
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@Steel: I see what you did there. But in all seriousness I feel its a valid complaint. Same as if the dialogue was in old English, or if GTA 4 happened to use as much vocab as Ulysses. :P
SIR REQUESTING PERMISSION TO DERAIL TOPIC WITH EBONICS DISCUSSION SIR.
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make it so...
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@Steel: I see what you did there. But in all seriousness I feel its a valid complaint. Same as if the dialogue was in old English, or if GTA 4 happened to use as much vocab as Ulysses. :P
yes because black people are as difficult to understand as old english. OOGA BOOGA. thank you for this.
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But in all seriousness I feel its a valid complaint.
WRONG
Same as if the dialogue was in old English, or if GTA 4 happened to use as much vocab as Ulysses. :P
WRONG!!!!
edit: yeah we do have a bad habit of fucking bandwagoning
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All right first of all I don't want to play the "are you racist?" game when I already do it with genuine racists to begin with. So let's take a good look
(skipped SA, not being racist but the whole black lingo made it difficult for me to tolerate)
It is of merit, I think, to note your statement that you're "not being racist". It indicates to me, anyways, that you are as aware as I am that there is something racially inflammatory in your coming statement. Whether or not you are racist isn't a question I even care to address. But what I do want to argue is that yes, you are being racist.
Let's first take a relevant detour into various stages of black identity as portrayed by the media. The first is the stereotype. Hopefully you know these: the Brute, the Mammy/Tom, the Pickaninny, and the Coon. (http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/news/jimcrow/menu.htm) Details on each are in the link. In most modern media, the stereotype has been removed, or at worst, supplanted by a new one (hey ima funny black friend white girl WATCHHOOOO SAY??? *eyes bug out*) but who knows if these offshoots and hybrids will have the staying power of the others.
Then you have the archetype, where in order to separate themselves from the stereotype, they adopt the exact opposite stance. Blacks are not thugs with lots of chain, they are doctors wearing sweaters. Blacks are not poor, they are rich. Blacks don't speak ebonics or slack grammatical style, they can be more erudite and cultured and savvy than white people. This type of archetype likes to believe they have more in common with WEB Du Bois and Frederick Douglass, ignoring that despite being well educated, Du Bois never forgot the struggle he and all his race would face in his life and beyond; and swore that the American Negro "would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face." (emphasis mine)
Which leads to the third identity, the antitype. The idea that being "white" does not mean being "normal". It's where Nas, Ella Baker, Tupac, and Malcolm X got their identities from, and it's the realest of the lot; rather than becoming a golliwog doll or pretending to put on white face and ignore your race, the key is to recognize race as one of the major factors in your life, and to never forget it. To have pride in one's culture, as opposed to hiding from it to fit in and be "normal".
And this brings us to our discussion, and I'll go ahead and post your follow up as well:
@Steel: I see what you did there. But in all seriousness I feel its a valid complaint. Same as if the dialogue was in old English, or if GTA 4 happened to use as much vocab as Ulysses. :P
Your parallel here is false because old English is almost impenetrable at conversational speeds and Ulysses is not so much vocab oriented as it is stream of consciousness writing. Neither of these can be applicable to the Ebonics situation in that one is a dead method of speaking and the other is physically impossible to do. No, what your comparision is trying to illuminate is that anything other than good old English language or slight variations of it are welcome, but anything else is abnormal. The very game you're choosing to remake recasts words like Shiva, Sephiroth, and Midgard, from their original tongues into words that are completely without meaning. It also introduces nonsense words like "Kupo!" "Mako" and "Materia". Future games would include slow talking blue creatures that controlled the world's shoopuff system and Quina Quen's own unique Jar Jar take on English.
The problem is not linguistic modification (is referring to your gun as a "gat" any more severe than referring to magic as "materia"?) but something else. I could leap to what I'm sure it is, but I'll hold my tongue even though I've got the reason all lined up and ready and instead ask for your own justification. What is so wrong with ebonics and this time, spare the vague analogies to dead languages or those that are not applicable?
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(https://legacy.gamingw.net/etc/hardwarelogic.com/articles/blogs/Website_Reviews_and_You/MoreYouKnow.jpeg)
(someone should make a fallout 3 topic.........)
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Yeah I seem to be gettig bored of any game and I'm not really ue if that is a good or bad thing because now I'm even bored than before. Hell I still haven't been able to play Mother 3 on my psp and I'm so bored... nothing can be played for more than 5 minutes.
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Yeah I seem to be gettig bored of any game and I'm not really ue if that is a good or bad thing because now I'm even bored than before. Hell I still haven't been able to play Mother 3 on my psp and I'm so bored... nothing can be played for more than 5 minutes.
Stay on topic please
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SIR REQUESTING PERMISSION TO DERAIL TOPIC WITH EBONICS DISCUSSION SIR.
...Since when do you need to ask permission? :fogetshrug:
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since medieve warned me for a joke post in GA and I have to make sure I don't exceed 100 until I'm out of the hospital since gw will be all i got left to do...
also because unlike other topics I semi/fully derail this one hasn't exhausted its discussion potential and is more than HERES MY CELLPHONE ITS NEAT.
but I want a good justification as to why Vanit's drawn this line in the sand.
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Edit: I rescind my question; I actually don't care.
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uh. was that not clear?
because I think it's pretty clear he drew it on racial grounds which is counter to what he's saying and, you know, I've never been one to believe forums are just call and responses and instead of just talking about "i stopped playing videogames i wonder if thats affected how i enjoy them" it might be better to shift focus on a pervasive attitude of near-institutionalized racism in gaming and in the audience for gaming.
however he might have another reason like he could be a foreigner and has trouble with direct enunciated english let alone an accent of any kind so I'm not going to jump on his back without that being clear!
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motherf*cker no one makes me type a paragraph and rescinds the question...
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I think you raise a very good point, Steel. I agree many games, or any media for that matter, use modified versions of English to portray the way characters may speak, by introducing foreign sentence structure or vocab. My pickle with GTA:SA really doesn't have anything to do race, and I think it was a mistake on my part to refer to the issue as 'black lingo'.
In a nutshell I guess I found it frustrating because it did more than replace a few words. Its been a few years since I played it, but I remember there being metaphors I found bizarre put back to back and then there may have been some altered vocab on top of that. I think a good comparison to this would be A Clockwork Orange (the book), where quite a large amount of the vocab was replaced and then used in metaphors, leaving me feeling alienated from the story. I felt the same thing with GTA:SA and thats why I didn't get very far in it. I shouldn't have brought the issue of race into my classification as that really didn't have much to do with my quarrel with the game.
Again, it has been a few years since I tried to play it, the issue I'm describing may not be as prominent as I remember, but thats what went through my mind as I tried to play it.
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jesus christ dude everything you post reads like a press release in the midst of some sort of race-driven mccain scandle or something.