Ben-DutkaPerhaps it was inevitable. But what was once a simple, harmless little hobby for a few of the less popular kids in school has now become "big business."
The term sends shudders through the long-time hardcore who naively wish things could've remained the same as always. We have to take the bad with the good. The advancements are amazing even though the nasty underbelly of the electronic world has, as of late, seemed…slimier.
Activision, Infinity Ward, two disgruntled former employees, and a multi-billion-dollar property. The legal facts are almost impossible to follow accurately and at the end of the day, it all boils down to the following: a bunch of very rich people jabbing at each other in an attempt to get richer. $100 advertising campaigns. The advent of casual/mainstream gaming, which essentially translates to "faster and dumber" (as just about anything that caters to the mass populace needs to be). The costs of…well, everything. Hackers attempting to play the role of patriots or revolutionaries or Robin Hoods or whatever the hell they do, which as far as I can tell translates to little more than a massive "look at me" complex.
Somewhere beneath it all lies the simple joy of a video game. I'm sure of it. It's there, even if we have to dig through several layers of slop to find it. No matter how advanced games get, the veteran gamers still play them for the same reasons. And those reasons are really quite tame; it has nothing to do with making a statement, making money, or posturing in any way, shape or form. It's just about living in a fantasy, virtual world for a few hours; an escape that is most necessary, especially these days. I just don't want everyone to lose sight of the heart of gaming because I swear, it still beats. Just focus on that and maybe the rest of it will just…go away.
sometimes i wonder if this faster and dumber trend will ever end. it's not all bad, though. there are still games out there that take some thought, and have some depth. fallout 3 goty, and mass effect 2 were 2 of my favorite games this gen. loved the detailed worlds and characters in those games.
the big business side of gaming can be somewhat of a turnoff especially when companies start boasting how their games will be all that, and they don't deliver.
Last edited by Excelsior1 on 4/6/2011 9:41:53 PM
Demon Souls or UC would make good examples of what you mean.
The only dumb trend I see know is the serial complaining.
People need to learn that if they are unhappy with a product, move on from it.
This current generation of gaming, despite it's marvels, is one of "it's all about ME and what I want".
I must be getting old.
Unfortunately, Mass effect 2 is an excellent example of the "faster and dumber" games tuned to the mainstream gamers. It's sad when a sequel is in many ways much worse than the original.
Good point , also besides the lawsuits and hacks etc , games nowadays are bieng changed from their original formula that we all love. For example socom4 is now like cod , resident evil 5 and now 6 will be made with cod in mind to drag in that cod player .Killzone3 was cod dummied down. Every new game is always bieng ruined by greedy developers trying to achieve cod black ops success by making their games cod retard friendly.Money changes people, excuse my language but I have had just about enough
Last edited by DirtySkillzHD on 4/6/2011 9:54:07 PM
What formula is that?
The simple pick up and shoot at something formula.
Socom 4 now like COD? In what way?
So true World!
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Some of the SOCOM "Vets" (as they boastfully call themselves) can't get over the fact that a game with more options is better for everyone.
I for one will not play the classic modes often because re-spawning is where it is at!!
I'm going to be all over the classic mode. I'm a SOCOM vet as well but I'm not as blind as the others who bash SOCOM 4 because of more stuff is in it.
Clamedeus – Good for you man.
Yes its still gaming. When I press a button on my controller things happen on the screen.
And sometimes when you wiggle around in front of a camera.
Lol!
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
another slimy thing has been all of the geohot vs sony nonsense. denial of service attacks against psn. nasty stuff. glad that's not that closely covered here. it seems like there is an article about that nonsense every other day on cvg. that just gives publicity to someone who has made things harder for gamers.
Hackers like this g!mp geohot and that crowd anonymous should be hunted down like dogs and thrown of a cliff.
Roman style
Roman style? Sparred? Or tortured? No JK! But seriously the guy is a wiz he could of gotten a good job at sony.
Doesnt matter shadow. Don't even put thought into. Waste as little time as possible. Don't even torture them. Just do it and get it over with then move on.
I liked Anonymous until they attacked the Sony sites, they gotta stick to uncovering actual illegal activities by corporations, not attacking gamers who wanna play games.
Thumbs up for you!
Amen ben! The last paragrapgh, the one about not forgetting the heart of gamming that still beats, very touching to someone like me, who along with many others still game as a type of release from the real world.
Nothing beats delving into a fantasy world where one can literally be anything or do anything they want. I know I can certianley speak for myself, but I think I can also speak for others when I say that.
Here's to letting you know that there are still atleast some gamers who game for the fun of it.
Here here.
Agreed.
gaming since NES ! i want my dreamcast 2 ! lol
F*ck yeah, Dreamcast 2 must happen, maybe when the more hardcore Wii2 fails and leaves a hole in the market.
DC2 would be a dream come true.
Amen! A DC2 would be awesome.
I just want to play my games. That is all. Hackers make things good and worst. Won't get into detail with that unless someone wants me too.
Last edited by thj_1980 on 4/6/2011 10:21:29 PM
I can't stand hackers. Moders are ok, but hackers piss me off so much. I hear Crysis 2 has already been hacked.
fortunately crysis is working on that type of cheater protection. ive played against hackers in battlefield and beat em. leaderboards seem like they always get hacked when a game first releases. how can someone be level 50 w/ 650000xp when a game has only been on for 2 days. people love to cheat because they can never as good as they want to thus craving that unfair edge. hackers are totally weak.
^ Old school Veteran of everything since the Colecovision 🙂
LOL World!
How's about a good game of "Snafu" on my Intellivision???
But since I've got a few more years on ya…..
Old school veteran of everything since the Tandy, Texas Instruments, & Commodore.
No worries Biker, you still hold the record of biggest f*cking game collection of all time and longest continuous gamer on this site.
B-17 Bomber. It talked!..ish..
World,
Well, I forget who I was talking too in an earlier thread(Damned CRS), but there's other gamer here that's 58 too, although I'm not sure if he's a collector too.
I_defenestrate,
Funny you should mention B-17 Bomber because I just bought that Intellivoice attachment & I had forgotten about that game, so "thanks".
Now I'll add that one to all the other Intellivoice games I'll be needing too.
Biker, how many games do you actually have?
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
I still remember playing games with my brother on our Fairchild Channel F system. We were amazed at how awesome it was (we were used to our Pong box) with its multicolor display and such.
Qubex,
I take it as you're meaning ALL games, right?
As of last Saturday, I just hit the "2,060 games" mark for ALL my games overall.
Also 21 consoles & 14 hand-helds(a few being doubles, as in my PS2 black fattie & White slim, plus different color schemes for my various GameBoy models & my 5 PSP's)
Last edited by BikerSaint on 4/7/2011 8:42:22 PM
Gaming is kinda like that nice peaceful village that got ravaged once they found gold in it.
yeah and its citizens got raped by a barbarian horde.
"Gaming is stupid, it's for nerds, low lifes, and people with no friends. Wait…games are making money? I want in!!"
– Greedy bastards
Last edited by Jed on 4/7/2011 2:08:30 AM
This is something I'll never understand about some of these hackers. Ok, you like to tinker with tech and see what you can do with, I get that, but what's the purpose of trying to break and bring down what someone else has created.
If you've hacked your ps3 to do weird and wonderful things get a job working with tech and when you need to vent your destructive feeling, go out into the country and break some stuff and set it on fire.
I play video games for the exact reasons Ben mentioned, I don't see the fun in trying to break a network. Play the game and let me play mine.
i was reading about these hackers attacking sony today. these guys in these couple groups vowing to take down sony. bunch of morons. the one guy is talking about "you have to kill me to stop me from hacking the ps3". i hope sony takes those guys down
Things have moved way beyond simply being business. You have a group of people – mostly script kiddies with time on their hands – who think that they are above and beyond the law. They view anyone that disagrees with them with disdain, and feel no reluctance in handing out 'justice' in a form of cyber-vigilantism. Yet these same people issue pompous proclamations saying that Sony has wronged gamers and everyone's freedom by suing GeoHot. Remember of course that GeoHot hacked the PS3 and publicly release one of the most important encryption keys that has no actual purpose than enabling piracy – which is why Sony is suing *him* and not other hackers who have not taken that step.
Oh, but it's OK, Anonymous will 'protect' your consumer rights and freedoms by attacking Sony. And just how will these self proclaimed bastions of freedom and right do their work? By attacking PSN with a distributed denial of service attack, and going after the other SOny sites. Who suffers? Gamers. The same people that Anonymous claim to be protecting. Oh, but that's OK, according to Anonymous, we're just collateral damage, so they are protecting us by damaging us – logical right? Then there is their other tactic of attacking individual Sony employees *and* their families. Yes, these terrorists are targeting people such as Howard Stringer's kids. Now, what is it that you call people who attack innocent people and cause fear and terror? Oh, that's right terrorists, and criminals. That is all Anonymous are, terrorists. There was a time when they might have been something more, but now they are not. not they enable drive by script driven hacking which allows any yahoo with an ax to grind to become a nuisance.
The sooner this organization is investigated, identified and jailed the better. If they have consumer rights at heart, there are better ways to go about taking action. Targeting consumers as collateral damage and going after the children of the employees of a company is simple criminal activity and the acts of cowardly terrorists.
I keep remembering the line from Dune – the sleeper has awoken. Gamers are a relatively docile bunch, until you take our hobby down. Listen up Anonymous, you are not making friends, you are making enemies.
Well put highlander. They are terrorist cowards in true form.
Anonymous isn't actually an organisation. It's a bunch of little punks who are angry at the world. They're unorganised and unled. There is no structure to their attacks, they simply choose a target. The source of it all… 4chan, a truly awful corner of the internet, and one that I am sad to say that I was once an active participant of.
Peace.
Lawless, I know what they claim. The thing is that an organization is judged by it's coordinated action under a single banner. 'They' call themselves Anonymous and 'they' plan their actions through IRC and other channels. Like a terrorist or criminal organization 'they' maintain a loosely connected network of small 'cells'. That makes it difficult to pin them down as an organization. But their coordinated action does infer that they act as a single entity.
The saddest part of this is that the small fry running the LOIC attack tool are the ones that get traced and generally have their IP service terminated. These same small fry could easily be prosecuted for computer misuse, but the 'leaders' behind the action take no such chance.
Last edited by TheHighlander on 4/7/2011 2:31:36 AM
I suppose you're right in that regard. I just refuse to refer to such idiocy as an organisation. It's more like a cult of stupidity. And the poor mindless sheep are the ones sent to the slaughteryard for the actions of the hounds sent to round them up. 'Tis a real shame.
I agree with what Highlander said, I'm actually pissed that someone could say they are helping the consumer but in reality they are hurting them because all they are doing is messing things up for the gamers who only want to watch movies and play games.
Hear what both of you are saying… but like all of us that make us the individuals we are, are likes and dislikes, our code of ethics (whatever those are today), and our overall window on the world we look through of… in their eyes they are right, and everyone is wrong.
How do you negotiate with that, and with a monster that has an ideology of sorts that is like a multi-headed hydra… it is a problem that will probably never go away… to be honest… I think it will get worse.
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"