Chris

Oh yeah...

I guess you're bound to be right eventually...

I think it sort of leaves more up to the imagination, so you at least might not be aware of how ridiculous the designs can be. I mean, I have nothing against higher-polygon models, but designers will have to meet the challenge by coming up with stuff that isn't just going to be goofy once you can tell what it is. Also, like many series, horror series tend to end up using the same bag of tricks. In some genres this is not as important as long as you just keep refining gameplay that's already solid, but if developers just keep trying to scare you the same way you'll become desentisized to it in a way that you don't really from similar gameplay. I mean, look at Resident Evil. That series was getting incredibly stale, and with RE4 they've really injected a whole new spirit into the thing, keeping the same fundamental RE sense of suspense but from a different perspective, different type of enemies, etc., allowing the designers a whole new breadth of gimmicks.

I think part of it is that monsters in horror games are actually often really stupidly designed, and as they get more and more detailed you realize how lame it actually is to have a snake-headed robot orangutan. So yeah, you probably are right to an extent.

Are you the same Waemer that called Mike Nelson's secretary?

"Indie" is absolutely the best possible adjective I could ever hope to consider using in order to describe the SpikeTV game awards. Clearly.

Damnit, when I quickly scanned your post, I read this bit as actually having happened.

Strangely, I managed to see a commercial for this and that was horrifying enough that it would never have occurred to me to actually try to watch the program itself. I mean, seriously, these things only serve to make me more cynical and angry, 100% of the time. I guess I commend you for trying.

Woooooooo

Possibly, although the first guy didn't even link the Spike website so I don't know.

What the fuck??

That's a badass soundtrack, but it seems like they have pretty much Western-only soundtracks. And if it's Tommy Tallarico and his gang working on this project, I suspect it'll stay that way.

That guy Andrew Kepple has worked with Trapezoid (of animutation/Lemon Demon/various LEC song covers fame) in the past.

Yes, Halo was in fact being worked on at Microsoft before Microsoft bought Bungie. You guys are still pissed about Halo not being PC/Mac exclusive? It goes WAY farther than that...

Hilarious! (in regards to the article)

Ultimate lame.

What?!

It sound a bit naive to think that ANYONE who signs to a record label isn't fucked by the company. The guy has no musical talent whatsoever, but that has nothing to do with the fact that he sold WAY more albums than he got paid for. I sure as hell wouldn't buy it, but a surprisingly high number of people did.

Seriously.

Well, I wasn't implying there was any reason he WOULD succeed, which was pretty much my point.

Yeah, pretty much.

ME: I meant- SARAH: What about Santa Cruz? ME: Oh, oh, that's hilarious. Oh, I'm laughing milk through my nose. Soya milk. ... No, I don't get it.

Believe it or not, Arnold is actually a much more competent governor than I think anyone (certainly I) expected. He's a Republican, to be sure, but I'd sure as hell rather have him in the White House than GWD. He just can't let go of kicking people's butts... Also, "special interests" pretty much refers to groups which represent a minority of the population but can wield a disproportionate amount of power. Someone else can probably put it better.

I don't know... Most of the non-arts majors at my school, and others I'm sure, are graded on a curve, which leads to almost cutthroat competition in which students will refuse to help one another, and so forth, hoping to edge our their fellow students for that chance to get into a good graduate school. Those who have the greatest aptitude for math, or computer science, or medicine, or whatever, clearly have the edge in a system that is graded by rank rather than effort or some other subjective system. This is not the case of arts education, which is not as objectively graded. Though I don't have much (read: any) experience in it, the corporate world too seems to be pretty cutthroat; those with the best business sense seem to be able to stomp all over those without. And of course you see mediocre people everywhere. That's how things are. Mediocrity is pretty much defined by what your average person is. I'm not sure what you mean by "getting where they are", because getting to art school isn't really much of a test of how well their mediocrity will actually carry them upon graduation. I suspect most art school graduates do not actually end up supporting themselves with art. Also, there are other qualities besides being "smart". People want a president with a strong direction with which they agree. Unfortunately, in a country with this many people and so many ridiculously differing opinions, you're not going to get a president with a strong direction (unless he gets in office pretending not to have one) because that guy is only going to please whatever minority of people happen to agree with that direction. Politicians have to come off as middle of the road so they can be people's lesser evil, not an ideal candidate. It's retarded, but I disagree it's because of some encouragment of mediocrity. I have never actually seen a reality show so I can't really comment on that. I also haven't seen American Idol but I do know about William Hung (actually I know him personally) so I guess that's what you're referring to. It's true he enjoyed a burst of popularity but he pretty much got fucked by the record company that signed him and I suspect he won't be heard from much again. Mediocrity didn't work out for him quite as well as it looked like it was going to. As far as the show itself, again I haven't actually seen it, but isn't there some judge that insults everybody pretty scathingly, thus not exactly encouraging mediocrity? I suspect even the winners of that show aren't particularly amazing singers, but pop singers often aren't--that's certainly not something restricted to the US, or to this era at all.

I disagree, I think the movie quite definitely makes its point consciously.