ThunderPeel2001

Yeah, I might have a rummage, too.

Yeah, mine is just blank. Guess that blog is actually very wrong. There's a useful page from Google explaining it all here (and how to fix problems with their notifier, etc.). http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ctx=mail&answer=74765

Huh.

Ah! I did not know this. Thanks. Will it affect email on my Android phone, though?

I may do that. It's interesting because people seem to be hacking my session, rather than my password... because they never change it. They just send some terrible, broken-English spam. This time I supposedly sent a message saying: Wow! It�s so delighted! http://jourj-evenement.fr/LINK-CENSORED If you're going to spend the time hacking people's GMail accounts, you should at least make sure the messages you send look remotely legit, IMO. I've booted the French session using the "Details" link at the bottom of the GMail page, but I'll look into the double authentication. Thanks.

Huh. My Gmail just got hacked for the second time ever... (From someone North of Paris -- makes a change from the usual hackers, I guess?). Weird thing is: The previous time it happened was when I was just going to LA last year... which is what I'm about to do tomorrow. Strange coincidence! That is all.

Yeah, you know I think the Grand Theft Auto (i.e. crime) part of GTA is possibly pulling the games in a direction they don't need to. I play them because they're fun, not because I get to commit crimes in a gangland setting.

Gaming forum travel advice... Brilliant!

So what you're saying is that you're a zombie... with an even bigger appetite for flesh??

This is confusing. Rodi's passionate outburst did not seem out of place to me at all. Especially following Mr Kingz's equally passionate rant. Also, the question of art was raised in Kingz's post when he complained that the video added nothing to our culture.

It's not about pretensions of craft, it's about literally creating something. If someone created a life-sized AT-AT, I'd think it was damned cool, and I'd like to see it for myself. That's still reproducing something, but it's interesting. The sad fact here is that it's not interesting, or of any real value to anyone. Hopefully next time they'll manage something better. And, as I said before, I still believe it's better to create something worthless than to not even try... Failure is part of the creative process, after all.

Wait. Isn't that GTAV's story?

I agree. At least they produced something for people to enjoy. Watching the Superbowl or playing Gears of War doesn't do that. If people don't enjoy it, then fair enough, but it's better to create something worthless than to not even try.

I think the problem is that the writers never thought to make Nico come to America "for the American dream". If they had, the satirical aspects of the depiction of the US would have resonated a lot more, and the game would have been all the better for it. I don't think that crossed Dan Houser's mind, though, because we got the same GTA universe that we've always gotten, and a character who wanted to escape something. Nico never shows any interest in the American dream, and he berates his cousin whenever he does.

Yeah, the character stuff in Gay Tony was great. I really enjoyed it. It was the gameplay that was OTT. They clearly decided to try and do as many things they could in their final trip through Liberty City... They also made the missions a lot more difficult to cater for those who had mastered GTAIV. As for the "satirical" signs and billboards in GTAIV... Can't say I was a fan. "Hmm. We need a name for the internet cafe.... Any ideas?" "Well, it'll have to be something rude and shocking. Um, I know! 'Tw@'!". "Genius! How about an image for the beer billboard?" "Um. The beer's called 'Pisswasser', right?" *both chuckle* "...Well need something that's rude and shocking again. I know! How about a woman pissing into the beer bottle!" "Incredible. Have a cigar. And a raise."

Ooh! A show that isn't relentlessly cynical? Suddenly I'm interested! Edit: Wait. This is what you're all referring to? I did not expect that!

There's always going to be massive disconnect between a) The actions of the player. The actions of the character in a mission. And c) The integrity and likeability of a character. As much as I want the story and characters to improve in quality, I can't see how they can get past this. Especially if people are going to try and hold them up to such standards... When I'm driving around Liberty City, it's often quicker to take the pavement. That often means ploughing through swaths of pedestrians. I don't want the game to try and make me feel bad about that. And I don't want the character I'm controlling to suddenly have a nervous breakdown because he's committed genocide on the way to meeting his cousin for a game of darts. Likewise, I don't want the gameplay in the missions to be altered, so that there's a period of grief following each bad guy I execute with a flawless headshot. But the only way these two actions can marry with the third thing, the integrity of the lead character, is if they're a completely unlikeable, despicable, psychopath asshole... Who, personally, I'd rather not play in a game. So, to be fair to Houser and company, I'm not sure what the solution is. Go for a heightened sense of reality that's more jokey and fun, perhaps? I don't know.

Yep, good point. I'd be willing to bet that most of the script for GTA games is done before hand, though. (Not including "mission briefing" dialogue, of course.)

Wow. This really makes me want to play Batman: Arkham City! It also makes me wonder just how dated GTAV is going to be... As much as I quite enjoy the way GTA games are put together, I can see that they are quite old fashioned now. Hmm.

I agree that "bring in better writers" generally leads to pap, but that's why I added "for a year". I do believe that a team of talented writers should be able to come up with a decent script by then (although more time might be needed). It's what David Fincher does with his films: He'll find a script that he likes, and then go and ask the studio for money for a year, for him and the writer to develop it further. This is all done prior to pre-production. Unfortunately the reason why there's so much pap out there at the moment is that the studios find an idea ("remake this movie!") and then set a release date... No matter how ready the script is, the film has to start shooting because of the impending release date. It's crazy, but it happens all the time. The last James Bond movie, for instance, was madly rushed out to meet the release date... and it showed. As for them working organically with everyone else, I'm pretty sure the script is written before anything else -- especially on a GTA game which is pretty formulaic in its game structure? It would be extremely costly to develop any other way, surely? Anyways, don't want to side-track this too much, it's just that I have given it a lot of thought

ZOMBIE SUBBES!!! *hides*

I agree, Houser is actually pretty good with dialogue. His characters do have distinctive "voices". A sign of bad writer is when you take a random line of dialogue out of context, and can't tell which character said it. Houser is good at that stuff. That said, there's no excuse why GTAV couldn't have a brilliant script. Funny, moving, profound. Isn't it about time that a game's storyline gave me as much satisfaction as a great TV show? Madmen, The Wire, Battlestar Galactica. Whatever your favourite thing is. And that doesn't mean stopping every ten seconds for exposition, it just means a gripping story with interesting characters. And if you think about it, the script is the cheapest part of the entire process: Take a bunch of writers, lock them in a room for a year, and out they come with a fantastic script, that's actually something you'd want to watch on TV or in the cinema. Games tend to get a "pass" with this stuff because the quality of writing is generally so incredibly shitty. It's almost always a poor copy of a TV show or film... and GTA is no exception there. I said this before with LA Noire, and I'll say it again: If the GTAV trailer was a trailer for a movie, I wouldn't go near it with a 10 foot pole. Would you? Yes, it's a tricky balance with games, but I believe it's achievable. And I think Rockstar's GTA sandbox world would be a perfect place for it.

I guess I'm in a bit of a minority... because I'm not tired of the game mechanics of the GTA series. It's probably because I'm a bit of a late comer. But I'm happy with a slight variation on what we got with GTAIV missions.

Well, that's kind of underplaying it. It's not a random 2 minute sample of the game. It's a carefully crafted 2 minutes of footage designed to specifically to sell the scope, style, and feeling of the game. Each shot will have been agonized over. The dialogue tweaked, argued about. A hundred different music choices gone through. Tens of thousands of dollars spent. This is the best possible way they can represent the game in 1 minute and 24 seconds... without explicitly showing gameplay. Because of that, I think it's worth talking about. Also, we don't have anything else to go on...

Sorry to disappoint you, Orv. As aggrieved as I am already, I'm sure it'll be a fun game to play... even if I'm frustrated by the characters and story.