Zeusthecat

And you ironically succeeded in participating in the intended way with your post. Well played sir.

And one more: some people can be mentally retarded but is there ever an appropriate case for calling someone physically retarded?

Well then let's throw midgets into the mix. Why is the term 'midget' more offensive than 'dwarf' or 'little person'? Calling them a dwarf is like referring to them as a mystical race that spends all of their time mining for treasures. And calling an overweight person a 'fat person' wouldn't go over as well. So wouldn't 'midget' be the least offensive term?

So how many minutes/hours past 4:20 on dishonored 4/20 is dishonored 4/20 4:20? I need to know when to make a trip to my garage.

Tegan, absulutely agree with you. There are some very good life lessons that can be learned from religion that you won't typically see anywhere else and those have stuck with me. I truly hope in the near future that society can learn to be more tolerant and take an objective viewpoint on EVERYTHING. Seriously, if everyone took philosophy 101 and became aware of the prevalance of fallacies in so many aspects of our culture we could really start making some progress. I think once the 'fear' aspect is removed from most religions (Buddhism is an excellent example of this) we might start to get to a place where kids can learn about it in school without risk of indoctrination.

That is a tough situation to be in. My point of view is that if there really is a God, I would still go to heaven because I am a good and moral person. The only difference is that I derive my morals from logic and what truly makes sense rather than what a book tells me and ironically I have found that I think I am actually a better Christian now than I was when I was a Christian. I imagine you may be in a similar situation. Maybe there is a way to convey that to your mom. I basically told my mom that I believed that if God did exist he is a whole hell of a lot smarter than he is portrayed in the Bible and that I think the Bible was just an attempt by more primitive people to explain all the shit that went on around them and as a result ended up with some really weird things like sacrifice, and the malevolent version of God (with a lot of imperfect human attributes added) that exists in the old testament. I told her that if he is real, I believe I would be going to heaven because he would be smart enough to know that I lived my life justly and treated others as I would want to be treated. I mean, it would be pretty weird for a God to send me to hell because I refused to believe in him unconditionally without any proof even though I was a good person that followed more of his rules than his followers. Why create us with insatiable curiosity in the first place if we are supposed to take all of that on faith alone?

I was lucky enough that I've never really cared too much whether the food I was eating was really delicious or not, I just wanted to get my sustenance so I could continue on with my business. Of course I would eat what sounded good like anyone else but when I decided to change diets it was more of "Eh, guess this is the food I eat now, I'm sure my palate will adjust". I say if you find it too difficult to make the full change then don't. I think the bigger takeaway is that animal based product should be a much lower percentage of your diet than it is for the average American. Simply put, just eat a lot more veggies and fruits. In a lot of Asian countries, especially in rural areas, meat is a very tiny portion of their diet and as a result they are generally healthier than those that live in urban areas and consume larger quantities. And don't worry too much about having a different diet than your partner, I still cook steak for my wife and we are happy as can be with me eating my way and her eating her way.

Yeah, these forums are awesome like that. Re-reading my post, I came off as a bit of a pretentious dick about my point of view but for whatever reason I was feeling a little passionate at the time. To be clear, I harbor no ill will towards nor do I judge anyone of faith. I have lived both sides of that coin and I would be a major hippocrate if I claimed that my current point of view is the "right" one. I have actually managed to have a lot of pleasant conversations with people of faith where I was able to fully express my opinion without offending them (partially because I think they respect that I have a deep knowledge of the Bible and am not just another atheist calling them crazy, just pointing out what I view as inconsistencies and impossibilities in the book). These conversations usually end in them making some pretty decent points and us agreeing to disagree and continuing on with our lives. Sadly it is tricky as fuck to have these conversations without someone getting offended and I think that is simply due to the fact that our society is still deeply rooted in religion in some way or another. For instance, the general perception is that it is perfectly acceptable to hold up a sign saying you need to repent for your sins or accept Jesus into your life. On the other hand, if you held up a sign that says "Let go of religion and it will bring true happiness into your life", holy shit the reaction would be fucking crazy. Just like when the news reports on how us crazy atheists request that Christmas trees be taken off of government property because we want there to be true separation of church and state and for there not to be a societal bias toward any particular religion. Long story short, I love everyone, even people I strongly disagree with. When I get to know someone I can't help but put myself in their shoes and try to make myself understand that they are people just like me who have had different life experiences and could very well have a better point of view than me. I mean, we all think we're right about most things but are probably wrong about at least half of those things.

I am pretty damn fearful of people trying to introduce religion to my daughter (she's 4). Being raised very religious I lived in massive fucking fear until I woke up one day and realized that I didn't actually believe any of it, but unfortunately I was already 18 by then so I was stuck with that being the defining characteristic of my childhood (especially since I went to church school most of my life). It all seemed innocent at the time but in hindsight I realize there were some pretty devious psychological tactics that believers used to scare me into conforming and forcing me to forgo any concept of logic. Not to mention some of the ridiculous stances the church takes on social issues which I also had to adopt. I guess I worry that someone introducing religion to my daughter will undermine the way I am trying to raise her. I want her to have an open mind and question everything and I feel that the concept of faith is fundamentally at odds with that. But the biggest worry for me is definitely the fear aspect because that was the sole thing that kept me ensnared for so long. It was so terrifying to think of the consequences if I fucked up in life and didn't get into heaven. I realize I am being overly paranoid and I apologize if what I'm saying offends anyone but damnit, I just felt compelled to say it.

Some of my favorite video games of all time have been non-violent. It is very interesting to see the different mechanics and plot devices that are employed in place of the ones that are so prevalent in most games that involve killing. At the top of my list in this category is the Harvest Moon series. Specifically the following 3 games: Harvest Moon (SNES) Harvest Moon 64 Harvest Moon Magical Melody (Gamecube) These games essentially involve running a farm and building relationships with the nearby villagers but have a lot of mechanics layered in that give them a surprising amount of depth. Looking back over the years I still view Harvest Moon Magical Melody as one of my all time favorites and put well over 100 hours into it. It was one of those games that I just never felt finished with and gave me a great sense of satisfaction whenever I played. So I pose this simple question: What are some of your favorite non-violent video games?

Yes, I completely agree with the rest of your argument so I left it out.

I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree with this piece of the argument because I don't think it's really an apples to apples comparison. It is absolutely true that those games are vastly superior on the PC but a decent gaming PC is much more cost prohibitive than any console. I would have loved to have originally had a gaming PC instead of a 360 but at the time that just wasn't an option due to the cost. I don't think it's too far of a stretch to assume that a lot of people were in a similar situation and bought one of the consoles because a gaming PC wasn't even an option. So I really think that these games sold better on the 360 simply because it had a much larger install base. It's hard to say how different it would have been had the costs of entry been equal but I think you can get a fairly accurate picture by comparing the sales of a game like COD on the 360 vs the Wii. Despite the fact that the Wii has a larger install base than the 360 it still sold a whole hell of a lot more on the 360. Now there may be other factors at play but I am going to conclude that those facts support my argument that people will generally buy the version of a game that plays better and has better graphics. I probably should have been a little more clear that my argument only stands when comparing hardware that is priced similarly.

Awww, I'm a tard then.

Sweet! If it happens can I get an honorable mention? I'm such a noob at this I had no idea how to make such a request.

I wonder what the chances would be of making that happen? That would be just too fucking perfect on this forum.

I bet you'd like them if they were Goldblum smilies. Imagine having the Goldblum equivalent expression for every type of stupid smily.

That is exactly how I feel and brings me back full circle to why I am so disappointed that they made such an underpowered console. Even if processing power doesn't matter to some people I imagine most people would choose to play a version of a game with better graphics and controls if they had the choice.

I think seitan is in Tofurky which I find delicious. I have actually always preferred the flavor of Tofurky over any deli meats even before I was vegan but I guess I'm weird like that.

Nintendo games have been by and large 'family friendly' for most of their existence, I don't think that is something that started with the Wii although I do agree that the non-gamer demographic has been a much larger focus since the Wii. I guess I just take issue with the statement that Nintendo doesn't make hardcore games. I think it is kind of a meaningless term. In my opinion there are some very simple games that many people would consider very hardcore and some fairly complex games that many people would consider baby games. Plus, I don't think 'hardcore' and 'family friendly' are mutually exclusive. I do agree with the overall tone of your statement though and I feel the same way when I think about purchasing the WiiU. Also, sorry if I come off as a little bullish over the 'hardcore' thing, it is a term that I find very interesting and I think it's fun to debate.

Oh man, I spent several hours in San Andreas ramping my BMX off of the top of the mountain and deploying my parachute. For some reason that stands out as the strongest memory of that game.

Speaking of good children's books, Walter the Farting Dog is actually pretty fucking hilarious even for me. And to keep this post on topic, I would love to see a Walter the Farting Dog game on the NextBox (that was a joke).

Eh, that seems like a bit of an inflammatory statement. While I personally have become disinterested in Nintendo's established franchises I think there are a lot of long time gamers that still find a lot to enjoy from Nintendo, especially on the 3DS. And what do you mean by 'hard core games'? I'm not sure that I really understand what constitutes a hard core game. In my opinion, those puppies in Nintendogs were pretty fucking hard core.

If you are looking for a good cheese tasting substitute, nutritional yeast is excellent. I grew up on that stuff and it has a kind of cheesy, nutty flavor. Goes great on toast and popcorn and I use it in a lot of cases to replace cheese. It is also incredibly healthy.

Ah, I think I'm starting to understand now. I would say Minecraft actually has something similar to the concept of power ups in their brewing system, granted you have to gather materials to make the potions rather than gain xp. The potions can have varying durations but none are permanent and they offer power ups such as water breathing, fire damage, increased speed, reduced damage, and a multitude of others. Does that fit under the 'power up' criteria?

Totally, I have close to 200 songs for Rock Band 2 and it is one of the few games I can still get my wife to play with me. I would almost go as far as to say that that genre was the last bastion of 4 player local coop gameplay.