Reality vs Adventure

The candy cigarettes are real. I remember them from my childhood. They packed enough powdered sugar in the wrapper of them that you could blow out through it once before you unwrapped the cigarette and it looked like you were blowing smoke.

As long as I'm not picking up a bar of soap I'm fine. But it does add scare factor in horror games. 

My favorite movie is 24 hours. There is no intelligence and detective movies that I have watched so that got to the level of 24 hours. 

Probably one of few things Assassin's Creed games actually do well, is creating live, pretty towns/cities, that are just nice to look at. Not very interactive, but pretty and atmospheric. Also Watch dogs 2. Every NPC has their own little story you can get when you hack them. A lot of random stuff is happening around you, even without you interacting with anything. All the little details makes it feel alive.
 

 

I think the best is by far Cyberpunk 2077

So many times I thought how RDR was almost perfect except for being in third person. I am so happy!

Yes, it has several modes so your character can be different sizes or 1st person, and even a cinematic mode while you ride and view everything from different angles from above. 

I get dizzy in 1st person. Horror games are the exception. As long as the camera doesn't move so fast either 3rd person or 1st person then I'm good. I think scenic outdoor games do 3rd person better and slower horror indoor is better for 1st person. I have played RDR2 in 1st person mode and I actually liked it, especially riding a horse around. Other than that, I'd say no to 1st person in the outdoors. Plus I love seeing my character equipped with awesome gear. 
I do have to say, now that I remember, Dying Light was an amazing 1st person outdoor survival horror. They did a great job with it. And it was very immersive that way. So I lied. Forget everything I said. Just depends on the game. 

Any type of business can be helped by the government if they wanted to during this pandemic. Japan has one of the largest economies ranking 3rd in the world. And no, that isn't socialism to help businesses during an economic crisis or pandemic. But the rich get richer, and we the people lose our entertainment. 

I don't get why @Empire and @skyfire are being so negative about this. What Valve and the other companies listed were doing was blocking game codes purchased in one part of the EU from being used in another parts of the EU. Remember, the all of Europe is part of the PAL region, so there should be region blocking for software nor hardware. These companies did this to ensure that people were paying the highest price for those games across the whole continent no what matter what that country's indigenous market, economic status and local law dictates as fair, which is incredibly shady and purpose built to rip people off. As gamers, we should be praising them for taking this action.
 
Quick reminder, as a mod', this is not the politics sub-forum, so please avoid the political discussion. You wanna talk politics, do so on the correct part of the forum.

Get him drunk on football game night, afterwards plug in your system and pop in a non thinking game. I did that as a teen with my step dad. He drank on football sundays and at the time I had sega genesis with John Madden Football. Next thing I know he is laying on the ground with pillows playing my Sega when nobody is around. MF
Was a fun football game. 

I've read through this topic before, but never really sank in to me. Now I realize after you referred to the God of War game as people see it being only mythical as offensive to you. I myself have to stand corrected and apologize for being insensitive. You definitely have rarity in your veins. 
I think the reason people think Greek Gods are considered mythology is because, as far as I know, there isn't temples to worship, people trying to convert, modern books, etc. If Christianity or any other religion today ceased existence of a place to worship, books, and converters, then Jesus and God would be a myth. But who is to say what is relevant in today's beliefs? A single god is the new belief. Something happened 2000 years ago to force mankind to believe in a single Deity. 
In the new world Native Americans had their own beliefs that is something I am ignorant in myself being 16% Native American. I struggle everyday being Native, White (English, Italian, Scottish, French, Dutch, and Spanish (white). I know Spanish is European, but it's a double whammy knowing American whites don't like my heritage being Hispanic. And on top of that, I struggle with what my kind did to the Natives. I'm born a true American where everyone is accepted. I don't even know what I'm trying to say anymore. This is deep to me. 
But I have learned to respect all beliefs. I continue to learn. 

God damn, I AM a fucking dinosaur.

Here's a list of games that are at the very least considered controversial. Some very well earned the classification, others are more of a WTF situation for being on the list.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_controversial_video_games

I turned 13 in late May of 1995. For the occasion, my girlfriend got me a computer game called Chop Suey (playable online for frees here now) that she said reminded her of us a little. It was an atmosphere-driven, point-and-click exploration game about a pair of sisters superbly named Lily and June Bugg and their various, Harriet the Spy-style escapades around their small, working class Midwestern American town after they eat too much chop suey and fall into a daydreamy haze.
The girls explore the bedroom of their aunt Vera (who they absolutely love because she's so full of life) and try on her "glamorous" outfits and makeup, pretend they're angels and fly to New York, and discover items that tell of her past as a Rockette on Broadway (including a particularly hilarious video clip where the video quality is so bad that the various Rockette's upper and lower bodies appear to shuffle onto one-another). You meet her son Dooner, get to hear his music and read his diary about his relationship to his girlfriend Monica, explore the carnival, step in shit, and visit an awesome shop called Cupid's Treats run by a tattooed biker-looking type who has, among other things, a live human hand in a jar. You also get to clothe Mud Pup the dog, listen to a bunch of legits amazing songs (my favorite being the one sung by the trio of pickles), read fortunes, play bingo, and get stalked by a black cat who turns out to accompany a witch at the edge of town who's baking a guy. Stuff like that. It's pretty funny and clever. It's a simple, anarchic slice-of-life type game with no real sequential order of events or traditional gamey challenges, but lots of personality and loads of stuff to click upon and explore, stress-free, for the simple sake of curiosity. It dares kids...and adults...to be imaginative and take risks. That's essentially what it's about.
We spent about an hour on it that evening. We went back to it several times thereafter in 20-ish minute plays whenever we'd visit one-another's houses. Just under a month later, her family moved away. I never saw her again. That's how it is in the town where I live: over time, people tend to leave. They don't move in. The game's lead creator, Theresa Duncan, killed herself 12 years later.
That all strikes me as sort of like the mood of Chop Suey itself: bittersweet. The characters in the game, and indeed the town itself, have problems (like Aunt Vera, for example, has three ex-husbands all named Bob), but there's also an aura of joy amidst the pain. Like my real-life town, Chop Suey's is one that doesn't seem to be doing so great, but who's residents find happiness nonetheless. I love my town in that same sort of way too. Chop Suey reminds me of my first love, and of the end of that love at the same time, and helps me put my relationship to my past and to my community back in perspective a little by reminding me to find the joy that's there in the midst of the suffering that life entails, like you did when you were young. And to always stay curious about life.

The left saved the nation and the world from nuclear war. If Adolf was still in power, we would still have the "my dick is bigger" game going on against North Korea, all while being manipulated by Russia the entire time. The right already committed a domestic terrorist attack because they're a bunch of butthurt crybabies. Whereas the left has overturned unconstitutional mandates set in motion by Adolf. If you had a clue about the left or even the US, you would know that we will not bow down to China.
 

Do I need to continue, or has it gotten through yet?

CDPR's strategy is to patch the game is they're definitely not going to release another CD. Their CEO did a video some weeks ago and if I remember correctly, that's exactly what he said.

I have a social anxiety disorder, and I'm on a forum for people who have that sort of thing. One of the users was showing off a VR program/game they were in the process of making, designed to help people with social disorders or autism learn to socialize with other people. It was very cool! There were different settings (like a store, or a party, or whatever), and lots of different difficulty settings to tinker with, including the "friendliness level" of the NPCs. It was very realistic looking, too. I signed up for their email list to hear about future updates, but haven't heard anything yet.

Gaming isn't necessarily an non chemical addiction. The pleasure centers of the brain release dopamine when a person does something enjoyable. People have been known to become addicted to that sudden rush of the chemical. Some people can't get away from what it is that is releasing the dopamine, and have literally died from it. There have been gamers who dropped dead because they wouldn't leave their game for days on end. It's a psychological disease when it reaches that point, and a chemical addiction. Sure through therapy, they can learn to give up the games, but the brain will find other avenues to release dopamine. After a person beats an addiction, regardless of what that addiction was, it's 1000 times easier for them to fallback into it than people who haven't been an addict in some form. I'm a former addict. Combining the years I was using and the years it took to get clean, I lost 4 years of my life to heavy drug abuse. I'm 39 now, and with all the chemicals I put in my body, it's entirely possible that I may not make it to 40. I've been clean for 17 years, and every day is a war against myself. I keep thinking "just a taste". But it's never "just a taste". Not for drug abusers. Not for alcoholics. Not for gambling addicts. Not for gaming addicts.
The disease of addiction takes many forms. Some beat it. Some simply can't. Some don't even want to. There's nothing we can do but watch from the sidelines.

Addiction is actually a disease and not a lack of self discipline. Many addicts aren't given proper help due to society's failure to see it as a disease and treat it. In the sense of gaming, porn, or anything people do that doesn't require putting substances in their bodies still needs to be diagnosed as a disease. A gaming addict may be sleep deprived, eat little, nutrition deficient, poor social life; can interfere with their work and they lose their jobs or career. It's the same for any addiction. Of course, every case is different. Last thing an addict wants to hear is lacking self discipline as if you really have a choice. In a state of full blown addiction, you no longer have a choice. They usually need medical or psychiatric help. But it's not like a gamer will have life threatening withdrawals, so they won't need medical help. A good psyche evaluation may help find the deeper problem that led to gaming addiction in the first place. It could very well be this pandemic as an example, and anxieties that has worked its way into a person's life. Maybe they lost someone and just wants to do nothing but play games so they won't face it. It just could be anything. Addictions are not normal unless it is a chemical itself inducing it from drugs or alcohol. Otherwise, it's a definite psychological problem that may be at the root of it. But know, it isn't necessarily the psychological problem that is the disease, it is the psychological problem that led to the addiction, where the addiction itself is a disease. Many of us may feel addicted to gaming at times. But if your gaming interferes with your wellness (just like anything else, not excluded to gaming) it becomes a diseased state. Sure, we had the choice in the first place to put something in our bodies or stay up late gaming, but not being able to break the habit is no longer a self discipline issue. If you are into prolonged gaming and consume your required nutrition and get required exercise, and keep your work ethics, social life, etc. then you don't really have an addiction problem. Addiction literally = disease. 

Nice review! Although you should of had a bottle of booze, and should I say it? Yes, a parrot. LOL. I love the machete he uses! Brings a more raw hatred rather than an elegant sword. Much of the environment looks the same, but seems worth playing. Cool he gets a ship, cause in Black Flag I remember a scene where Kenway and Adewale both captured the ship and it was up for debate who is captain and they agreed the pirates wouldn't follow a black captain. But now he is one. I still have a little ways to go in Black Flag, then I'll get this DLC. It's $10 right now. Hopefully when I'm ready it will be $0. Or I will take it! Arrr

I have, and reviewed it for Downloadable Discontent. I thought it was OK, and the progenitor for the later Origins-style of games with how different some gameplay elements are. I suppose it'll do in a jiffy if you need me ACIV:BF. ^^

It's a time for new beginnings. We had our time to criticize trump. Now all we can do is uphold the law. And trump no longer can hide behind the WH. So let them investigate his taxes or whatever else and have our courts handle it. The shit show is over. 

I read about this the other day and honestly, we have been hearing about gamers in the news recently and not for very good reasons but this shows the good that gaming can do in terms of bringing awareness to real-life issues and teaching us about the history of other countries. What do you think of this?
 

I don't know if this has been done yet, but a good AI in terms of enemy would be not only something that can kill you, but WANTS to kill you. That I think would be giving the AI the ability to think though, which could be the downfall of life and end up like either the Terminator or the Matrix. But maybe I'm overthinking shit.