Roderick

I'll pretend not to have read that to preserve sanity.

I'm going to buy the DS later when it's cheaper. Although there already are some really interesting games out there! Polarium and Mario 64 DS are definitely on my list. But until then I'll be pretty much busy with all the beautiful things appearing on the Cube: DK Jungle Beat, Resident Evil 4 (already played and it's extremely good! Gonna buy it right away when it's released on the 18th!) and some others.

What the hell is that second link?! What an optical illusion; and with coconuts!

Ow Jeez, I'm hyped now. Dammit!

If anything, this is another typical Will Wright gameconcept that puts me aflame just by reading these wild possibilities. The same thing happened when I read about the Sims, and that turned out to be awfully boring and disappointing. Still, I can't help myself. It sounds so good. Even though I wouldn't call it the Godzilla of concepts; the way it's written in the 1UP article made it sound like a Pirates!-type approuch, where each phase has a distinctive style of gameplay. Still, it tickles the same spot that Age of Empires tickled; rising up and building an empire over the centuries/eons. Let's hope this is done with more [visual] flair than the Sims!

I like the trailer. One thing I really hope is that it's more of an open world with far more space to explore. Not again just one dull Hyrule field as the only place you could take your horsie for a ride. I want a persistent, big world! Fortunately this is foreshadowed in the trailer, but that's really not saying anything.

I just KNOW that I am B A Baracus

Wait a minute -why don't we create an A-Team?!

People are impressionable and take inspiration from the things they see in the media, some more than others. Violence could very well inspire more violent behaviour. But I think this is especially true for younger people who can't put a game in a larger context yet. I'm certainly not saying that violence should be banned, that's ridiculous. I'm just noting that it is my opinion that extreme violence in games could very well invoke bestial feelings inside the person playing. And it's up to the mental stability of that person to decide what to do with it; ie. turn it into a constructive experience or let himself go wild. Personally, I don't need extreme forms of violence in my games. Sure, I look Doom and the like as much as the next guy. But when I even read about the Punisher game where you can literally torture your enemies in gruesome ways to extract information, which is a key element of the gameplay (it's fucking USP even!), my stomach turns. That is gratuitous and unnecessary. And don't tell me it's necessary to semiotically describe the character because that is bullshit. It's wrong, in my opinion.

In my newest, daring rant, I lash out against digital artistry, claiming a few bold things that might get a rise out of you. Read it on Cap'n August (link in sig) and tell me exactly how much you agree or disagree with me. Because this is something that is a big thing for me and I want as many people as possible to read my opinion on it.

Be not afraid, Erwin, all is coming to an end soon. And I am, in fact, completely neutral towards Persian art.

Now we know how Radiohead write their songs.

Cool.

You're completely right in assuming that the road is as important as the result for me in this respect. That I used 'it fucking shows' is a tittilating contradiction then: because it usually doesn't show at all. I meant that symbolically to communicate that the process was important to me. And you totally understood. Kingz; I think I agree with most of what you said there. The link to Twincruiser was more out of respect for one of them (they were twins) that died recently. They made stuff for Blizzard; I guess that falls into the fantasy paperback category. I also think you know it's kind of undoable to have this entirely balanced, nuanced point in a small rant without it watering down the point you try to make. If anything you have to strengthen some of the things that, in real life, you're less strong about. The rant is more or less triggered by endless waves of people who, like Baconian said above, tend to make lots of shallow paintbrushy plastic thingies. Trying to slap some sense into them It would be a horrible mistake of me to even think of trying to teach you guys a thing or two about how everything works. Of course a medium is just a medium. But my rant is more about a feeling that I've grown into than righteous truth. When I go and paint something I feel much more satisfaction than if I'd do it digitally, because then I feel that I'm messing with the elements, struggling with real paints and tools. It just feels more genuine, to me. Maybe I should make a follow-up depicting the good things about digital art. That would be a hoot, now wouldn't it? But seriously, I'm only a small guy. I'm not pretending to know everything or be totally right about it all. Synthetic Gerbil; read this rant and the next one: http://www.captainaugust.com/index.php?when=20041020. It explains all my points. Even though your reasons for not reading my stuff have nothing to do with the validity of what I say. Or should all moviecritics be expert moviemakers themselves before their opinions matter?

haha! =) I think I share Tanu's standpoint, but not his concern about roleplaying in public channels. I don't expect them to do it properly, but it being a Roleplaying Server, I do expect some gesture of sentences being spelled correctly and such. I've never said anything about it though. I do so in the guild channel, after a while, when I think there's been enough speak of one's holiday. A few days ago I had a guy in a party who couldn't stop jumping. He was jumping like a madman all over the place, attracting wealths of monsters to us. We died a few times but it was kind of harmless and funny in a way that me and my serious other partymember would look at each other and know we were both thinking: 'is this guy mad or something?'

I'm not very religious, but frankly I'm too indoctrinated to feel comfortable saying Goddammit because I think there's a God listening. A bit superstitious in that respect if you ask me. In all seriousness, I think a big part of our moral compass today is created by Starwars. We don't need religion anymore to teach us the ways to live. We have The Force.

Now imagine that a mag from England (which is the neighbours + a egligable body of water) costs 10 euros here, in the Netherlands. That's an insane amount. Luckily I have the school library

But in this case, you see, it actually is kind of appropriate. The colossi will probably cast huge shadows, into which you're steadfastly riding your horse. It actually makes sense.

Have to agree on the Outcast thing. Buggy as hell and never could finish it [partially because of it], but I must've played it over five times over many years. And very likely to just start again at any given time.

Don't know about the English-language one, but the Dutch PC Zone Benelux is a horrible, gruesome magazine filled with jokes about poop, remarks towards poop and witticism involving poop. It's like taking a big long plunge into an awkwardly filled toiletbowl, reading that piece of literal shit. GamesTM is supposed to be good. As soon as I feel that Communist urge again, and get the 10 euros it'll cost me subsidized by the government, I'll buy it.

I'm glad they did this. 'Wanda' was just REALLY weirding me out. I just... couldn't... cope. Now I'll sleep again. Like a masculin baby.

I was circumcized when I was a baby because I had 'health problems', I couldn't pee right or somethingarather. As for the 'mutilation' bit; it's just a bit of skin they remove, they're not cutting in the actual thing. I still function pretty much like every other normal human being. Mentally I'm a wreck.

The one time I borrowed Game Developer Magazine from the library on school I thought it was pretty crappy. COuld've just been an uninteresting number though.

Outcast was unfortunately not a hit (it deserved to be one!), but I don't think that anyone who played it hated it. In fact I think most people loved it for its uniqueness.

No Tanu, Zaphod has another head tucked under his visible one. I think it's an elegant solution to an awkward problem.