Topic: WOW!

Hmm, at first impression it strikes me as a (greatly!) refined eye-toy.
And again it reminds me of how the time seems pretty close nowadays for when ‘virtual reality’ finally sets in. But I really don’t see how this can make games better.
I mean… I would say I’ve got better things to do than actually talk and otherwise interact – by jumping around in front of the TV – with characters in an ‘ever evolving’ virtual world. In real-time, nonetheless!

But then, I prefer to play games the ‘old way’ – where you’re (hopefully) completely sucked into a great pre-written story with a fixed set of characters. Best example, imo, is Planescape: Torment. Or, well, the odd Final Fantasy of course! However, I also enjoy action (Metal Gear), strategy (Jagged Alliance) or puzzles (Lemmings, Portal).

So, since you seem more impressed, which type are you? 🙂

Amazing? Maybe. There is something to be said for it being brought to the masses via MS. So on that note I’ll nod my head yes. But for the most part it looks like MS wants the non-gamer crowd. I’ll explain…

My old roommate is probably what most would consider the antithesis of a gamer. He is from that spoken-word crowd and usually doesn’t care for pop-culture at all (except as a topic of ridicule). Well, he bought a Wii because someone he new had it. That person told him how much fun they had playing the tennis and bowling and blah-blah… So he get’s it and plays it everyday. Me, I tried it and after a while decided it wasn’t my thing. Not that it was bad, no not at all. But it didn’t appeal to that part of me that grew up playing every game under the sun. And it surely did not provide the same pleasure derived from playing any of my Xbox games.

So he throws a party and all of the people (except myself) are of the same ilk as my roommate, late twenties to early forties with the same interests… They played the thing all night. They absolutely loved it.

As soon as I played the vid in the link, I thought of them. Will a lot of people like this new found toy? Yes. I just don’t see much there that will appeal to hardcore gamers. Even if the responses from the console are accurate with good tracking and all I think most “gamers” won’t really take to it. I’ve been wrong in the past though. Fro reference I like Racing and Real/Turn Based Strategy Games. Think Forza/Gotham Racing and AoE/Civilization. Oh and an honorable mention to Worms 🙂

IMO they nailed it with the original xbox. I got to the place where I wouldn’t even buy a game unless it was multi-player. I’d sit there and talk smack all day while playing. So with that in mind I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

Just keep in mind that Atari, Nintendo & Sega were once the kings. Gamers show no love/loyalty if a company slips up. MS better get it right.

Man about 18-20 years ago I was buying everything like a big kid with just that thought in mind. I had the Turbo Grafix 16, Neo-Geo, Jaguar, everything Sega and everything Nintendo. Heck, I still had the hand-held Mattel football game from when I was little (and yeah I had the Gambino as well). When I got the Playstation I sold or gave away all of it.

When I bought the Xbox I had for a couple of days playing the Golf and Gotham Racing. I gave the Playstation to a friend who’s boyfriend left and stole the Xmas cash leaving her with two small boys and no money for rent or presents. I gave the two boys my system and about 35 games. And never looked back.
Now I have too many things on my plate (read: girlfriend that I want to keep) to play games anymore. It sucks too. But this thread has brought up some fond memories for sure.

p.s. I just remembered… When the first Mike Ditka football came out on Sega (I think) me and my arch rival in video games put down the battle axes for a day. Mike D. football was the first to allow two people to play on the same side (with full play calling and pretty decent control over the players) and we played a whole season switching the QB position every half. Oh, and we did it in 24 hours playing straight thru with about 4 pizzas and a case of rootbeer. Man I got give that guy a call…

Ok back on topic 😆

@UncleAge wrote:

Now I have too many things on my plate (read: girlfriend that I want to keep) to play games anymore.

You could do worse! 😆

Me, I more or less quit keeping lookout for new games. The few times I do play it’s something I’ve played many times before. Reliving memories, so to say. 🙂

However I am (kind of morbidly) interested in how people and society will react and change to the more and more real depictions of our world.
Especially if those game creators who’ve got brains, like Peter Molyneux, who always tried to allow the player to do anything (all the ‘evil’ stuff too) in games continue to pursue their ambitions.

Ah I see.

Conquistador: My thoughts on it, if true, would require more reaslim than currently exists, which would be why it makes no impact. I’m not saying it would anyway; but we wouldn’t know yet because there is no sense of power in games for such people, because it’s not real enough. What I meant is maybe once it gets past a certain threshold, it WILL be real enough and then perhaps it might affect such things. It also might not; which would be a shame. I sort of see virtual reality as a potential way to do whatever you want to whatever you want with whatever you want etc., so that you don’t necessarily need to in real life anymore. Naturally there’s danger there too though; sometimes it’s good to do something in reality and gain the consequences, good or bad. But I just hope for a time when people with desires that affect others negatively can get them out of their system in a game that’s realistic enough to give them what they want out of it, so they can control themselves in the real world, having been sated.

Again, this is only theory, and I’m not even convinced it would work either, but I’d be curious to find out. Fortunately, I’m not a homicidal psychopath, but unfortunately, that means I’d have to judge on how others react, instead of knowing for myself. 😛

thcilnnahoj: You raise good points; bad parts are often left out. But if it goes as far as it could, maybe there’d be enough automated calculations that some things would just be able to be done without speciifically programming for it. Still, your point is a good one.

And yes I know of those games; they sickened me when I first learned of them but as I’ve grown a bit more and as I started learning languages and went to live in Japan temporarily, I’ve realised that maybe it has its place, and I doubt many people are psychopathic enough to translate their fantasies to real life. Besides, real people don’t look or act like the terribly meek girls that are over-powered even b y a weakling, so I’m not sure many who play that would take it to real life anyway! 😛 Not that you said anything like that, but just thinking out loud.

I suppose there’s potential good and potential bad with everything, and the scenario I mentioned where people could get out their perversions or persuasions or whatever else in highly realistic simulators might not help them get it out, but make them want to in real life. But then, if it’s all tracked online, then people could see who acts that way online before anyone is hurt, right? So maybe that would help! Hehehe.