Shagger

I'm not sure how I missed this topic because I have a lot to say. But hey, better late than never... Honestly, I have no respect for the opinions of prudes and idiots who don't understand the difference between depictions intimacy and depictions of sex. Especially when said individuals use thier own prudishness and lack of undertanding as a mechanism to talk down to people. I can almost garuntee the same people wouldn't say the same thing about movies, TV shows or books. Of course, there is a line between between appropriate, even if it is explicit, depictions of intimacy and exploitative, cheep exploitation and juvenile depictions of sex to sell to twits. The first issue is very simple, and I've said the same thing about violence in video games. The ratings system is there for a reason. That reason is to alert you to the content contained in the game. If you as a parent, or even just as an individual, don't respect video games for what the are, as in that they are an entertainment medium and not toys, then that's on you. You may get shocked and shaken that precious little Jimmy saw boobies playing Mass Effect or The Witcher, but you have nobody to blame except yourself. Thier complaints ended in terms of relevancy the moment age ratings started to appear on game boxes back in the mid-90's. Frankly, I find the fact that this is still a thing 30 years later is embarrassing. Next, onto the porn... I mean the point... or maybe I do mean the porn. That is the "controversy", right? I have nothing against sex or nudity or anything like that in games, but I hate seeing as a cheep excuse to sell the to the 13 year who's just discovered what his willy does. And that is ultimately what the difference between porn and legitimate media with sexual content. Context. Nodody bought "Debbie Does Dalles" for the plot and games like Mass Effect and The Witcher series aren't loved because there's tits in them. Context, like human intimacy and relations, is complex, so it's impossible to genralise, but I think most adults can look at a specific piece of media and understand wether or not any expressions of sex are appropriate in context or not. There is even such a thing as porn games, and they have existed since the days of the Atari 2600. And you know what, that's fine too. I personally see no reason to take issue with people playing games one handed with a box of tissues on the side. Hell, people who play emotional games have a similar set up. Jokes aside, I see no reason for games like that too exist, in fact, I even see them as more morraly adapt way to create such media than more traditional pornography. Some people aren't comfortable with sexually graphic content in media, and that's fine. I want to make it 100% clear they do not deserved to judged for it, nor do they even have to explain themselves. Some folk are just more comfortable with it than others. If there is something about a game that makes you uncomfortable, don't support it. Unless the game, or even a movie, TV show or whatever, is a deliberate attempt to provoke, offend or spread misinformation, then people should leave it be. And frankly, there are people on both sides of the political spectrum who need to heed that lesson. And this is what I think @Osiris397 was eluding to. And I don't think either of us want him to be, but he's right. Gaming at it's core more about action, not emotion. In the end, playing a video game is a test of self, so media that is traditional more existentially expressive is hard to translate into it. Having said that, improvements in the technology has made line between video games and visual media, like movies and TV shows, very blurry indeed. To the point where the only real difference is between the people who will indulge in one, but not the other. Pompous bastards, in other words. Games that practically sell themselves on emotional stories, like The Last of Us or Life is Strange, have been massively successful in recent years. Not to mention that adaptations between them have also seen a marked improvement in both quality and sucess recently as well and it's because video games are, at long last, being taken seriously.

I actually disagree. Sega did well with the Mega Drive/Genesis because they beat Nintendo to 16bit, but the basic concepts and designs they implemented into thier hardware weren't that different. There was no real innovation there. Ever since the Mega Drive/Genesis, it was mistake after mistake. The rushed out the SegaCD/MegaCD when the technology was too young, not to mention it's impracticalities as an add-on instead of a separate console. Then there was the pointless 32X add-on they came out with leaving the Saturn underdeveloped compared the Playstation and N64. They never really recovered from that. It's a shame because thier next console, the Dreamcast, was the innovative, well developed console they needed instead of the aforementioned add-ons and Saturn, but it came too late. So in answer to the original question, yes. Sega's failures opened the door. Especially for Sony who made a similar console to the Saturn in that they were both CD based 32bit systems, but without Sega's split focus, Sony made it better.

If your question is "Do you suspect that that so many indie games utilse retro style graphics because they can't produce more modern graphics?", I have to say yes. It's not that these games look bad or anything, I just find it a little embarrassing when indie game developers insist that retro style graphics are a stylistic choice when, at least some of the time, it clearly wasn't.

I'm meant to say "Giant's", but it must have autocorrected to "Goats" 🤣

I was gonna say the same thing. Even by modern standards the Big Gordon's Sword is a pain in the ass. Getting the Goats Wallet is a pain as well because of how cryptic some of the Gold Skulletas are.

@Heatman, there was no reason to start three separate topics for this as these fights were all at the same event. That is why I've merged them together and given them a general title. Please stick to this format in the future.

I've merged these two topics together as they are about basically the same thing. @Ja sa bong, please exersice some common sense when it comes to this in the future.

This is very satisfying. Those scum deserve every little bit of bad karma that comes thier way.

The problem with this debate is the people who care enough to join the debate are last people who should be listened too. The extremists on both sides have no capacity for reason, compromise or even common sense. It's the people in the middle that are dispassionate enough to set a sensible limit on what is edgy and what is straight up offensive, but that same dispassion also makes them less likely to care enough to get involved with debate at all. Not to mention neither sets of extremists would be happy with the outcome and only make thier already loud, irritating complaints even louder. Ultimately, unless it's a clear attempt to jgst offend and provoke people, give the developers and publishers the choice on whare to draw the line and have both sides respect the creative decision. Give them the freedom to make the choice, but also charge them with the responsibility for that choice and everything that goes with it.

A final update. I have been diagnosed with a kidney illness. I won't post the name of the condition because I know people will ask Dr Internet about it and likely get wmerronous information about it, but I can assure you it's not something to be concerned about as it can be controlled with medication. There is currently no risk of needing dialysis nor a tranplant and it won't affect my day to day life. It just needs monitored.

Wet Vs Cold AND Wet. Yeah, the answer is obvious.

Haven't we all drawn pictures of this sort of thing in our maths books as eight year olds?

No. Any such system would be too open to abuse.

I don't really see the issue of a minority (Albeit an annoyingly loud minority) of gamers being, let's say, culterally intolant and what the Star Citizen fanbase do as the same thing. In both cases it takes a special level of stupidity to engage, but I can feel sorry for the Star Citizen fans in the same way I feel for scam victims in general. I understand how it's much easier on one's pride to believe the lies of the scammer than admit to yourself that you have been fooled. Yes, Star Citizen's fans, or perhaps Star Citiizen's victems to be more accurate, have been making themselves look stupid by not only buying into that scam, but relentlessly defending it for over a decade. However, as with all scam victims, it's not simple stupidly that brought them there. They are victems of some very shrewed, crewel but also very clever manipulation. You can't put the blame, or at least not all if it, on them. The culturally intolerant I mentioned earlier deserve no such sympathy. It's all very simple with them. Stupid, ignorant, closed minded people doing stupid, ignorant, closed minded things.

Saying that games should be developed for a specic culture to play implies that gamers aren't capable of enjoying cultural themes in games unless it's thier own. As petty and narrow minded as some gamers have proven themselves to be, I have to believe that we are better than that.