ThunderPeel2001

Paper Door Mario (or whatever it's called) is supposed to be good - although I've never been able to find it for a reasonable price. Pikmin is a very nice little game. My gf picked it up randomly because it looked "cute" and it turned out to be really good!

Did you er, "cheat" on that one? Because the band name and album title go together pretty darn well! (And the image, come to think of it.) Was it all just serendipity or was it "encouraged"?

Lol! I hope you're not disappointed!

Best bit: Whoops!

Lol. Retro games time: I've just started playing Fallout on a recommendation from a friend. So far I'm liking. It reminds me a LOT of Bioshock. I can't believe they've got a very similar 50's style character called "Pip-Boy", for example.

Dude, what the hell was that for?! A lot of us don't want to see that shit. Period.

I can't believe there's something to do with Microsoft that I can't complain about in the slightest. I'm still waiting for my repaired console to be delivered, but I never expected such a quick turnaround. I'm gobsmacked. Of course, maybe they haven't fixed it... We'll see.

Welcome back to our potentially murderer-training pastime!

I think the problem with the article, and I don't think it's necessarily an angry reaction, is that the middle brain (according to the article) is incredibly simplistic and there's an important piece of evidence that's missing: That the middle brain can make the leap from holding a mouse to holding a gun - and still think it's in the same situation.

Uhhh... Apparently they've just shipped it back?! (That's pretty damn quick!)

You're welcome.

Sorry if I came across a little harshly. Here's what peeved me off: I already acknowledged in my post that the Bible is a not a reliable source for history and pointed out that it wasn't what I was basing my knowledge on. (Hence my frustration at being supposedly "caught out" by you smartly claiming the Bible isn't good reference material.) If you wanted other evidence than the one I supplied, then why not use Google or even your local library? Secondly, we're talking Indiana Jones. In the story of the film it doesn't matter one teeny jot if there's other historical documents backing it up or not: Because in the universe of the film God definitely exists, the Bible is accurate and nothing more is needed. In the case of the Holy Grail however (which is sold as another "Biblical" story within the film), the "grail" doesn't even exist in any religious stories! So even if God definitely exists in the Indy universe and even if the Bible is wholey accurate, the Holy Grail is still openly fictional. So once again we come to the conclusion that, for a variety of different reasons, Raiders is still the best Indy movie

Interesting POV and scary if you're right.

Well, I have proof that it's been delivered, but http://service.xbox.com says that it's not arrived yet.

Yep, although I've never fired a real gun, I find it very hard to believe that my brain could get confused between sitting in my bedroom moving a small plastic mouse around and running about with a heavy steel killing device in my hands. That's like confusing Daily Thompson's Decathalon with going to he gym. "Nnnng! My muscles are straining!"

That sentence is pretty much the point of the whole article, but as you've pointed out, there's not a reason given for seeing a connection. Sure, like those in Vietnam, who practised with life-like targets, they retrained their "middle brains" to fight instead of flight, and it was 90% effective... But! There's zero evidence that the muscle memory of gun practice and mouse clicking could swap over. Nor any supplied evidence that shooting people in a game re-trains your middle brain in any way, either. It's a load of crap, really, now that you mention it. Even if it is worth noting as an honorable attempt at writing something level-headed on the subject. It's not about "goodie" or "baddie", nor about pre-meditated ideas of right or wrong, it's about our middle brain (out of the so-called three we have) deciding to fight instead of flight. There is no logic in such situations (like in the given example of the police officer who handed the gun back to the criminal).

Wow! Good job on the logo.

And cheating, er, I mean, "skill".

Join the celebration! How lucky we are that we've had Tom Cruise around for 25 years. I say we all get together and post our thoughts about good ol' TC, and then email them off to him as an Idle Thumbs gift. If you're stuck for something to write, remember that this is the guy who has "introduced L Ron Hubbard Technology to 1,037,361,227 people of Earth". And Maverick. Finally, a hero worth worshipping!

L Ron Hubbard loves you. And so does Tom Cruise. I've come to realise that now. It's not scary at all. Another thing I've learned is just how much fun it is jumping on and off couches. When other people make fun of Tom for doing it, I think to myself that they must not have tried it yet.

It's funny actually, because I looked at the picture and thought "shit", then saw another next to it I'd much rather have used. I really thought it was going to turn out like crap, but I think it turned out ok in the end. Such is the magic of design.

"I'm the only genius in this whole fucking business. Goodbye." Quote of the moment. Quote of the moment!

Very nice article! Hooray for not being Jack Thompson-esque! It's a little glib, though. For a start it only uses one book as a reference. But still, it's very VERY nice to see something like this talked about in a calm rational manner. To continue the discussion, I'd just say that it uses the example of the police officer who handed the gun back to the criminal. That's an extremely literal automatically controlled physical response from the "middle brain". The other example used are the soldiers who, in training, were given human like targets to fire their guns at. In both instances it required very distinct and very physical training. Our muscles and our brains are extremely tied together (as modern day hypnotherapy has taught us - tap your body while you're feeling an emotion, and then tap it again later to feel that same emotion) so really, where's the evidence that our middle brain's won't try and click the left mouse button in times of extreme stress? There needs to be more of an examination of what exactly the "middle brain" is remembering. Part of the article says it's nothing more than "fight" versus "flight", but the examples given show only physical reactions, not mental ones, and that seems consistent with the understanding that the middle brain doesn't have logical thought behind it. So to sum up: The article doesn't really provide any evidence that games remove our natural inhibitions against killing, and if anything, supplies evidence to the contrary. I'd love to see this researched a bit more, though.

Update: It's arrived at the repair centre. Gajos signed for it, apparently. Let's hope he's some kind of 360 fixing demon that will have my console back pronto. More exciting updates as my 360 goes on its little adventure through the Microsoft RRoD repair process.

My 360 just arrived at Frankfurt, Germany (where the repair centre is)... Pretty good considering they only picked it up yesterday.