I know the issue of 360s dying on a regular basis is a hot button issue for many Dtoiders. And I recognize your right to be angry about it. Not saying here that you shouldn't be angry. I'm not trying to defend Microsoft here or be a fanboy or anything like that.
What I am going to do in this post, actually, is give you a little bit of perspective on the issue. This perspective will explain why I'm so calm about the issue and why I've sort of become sick of hearing about it (I'm not saying stop posting about it, I just won't read it).
On that note, here is the perspective I have on this issue:
I work in a small jewelry manufacturing company. My position in said company is that of data entry in the repairs department. I take jewelry that comes in and enter its style ID number into a computer program, so people further down the line know what it is and can repair/replace it accordingly.
We currently have a contract with a major jewelry designer (like huge enough that if I say the designer by name here I'd probably be sued). And this designer company makes a lot of jewelry, obviously. But at the same time, I see a LOT of it come in for repairs on a daily basis.
Our small jewelry company got slammed with so much broken jewelry from this company that we're about a month behind on repairs. And this jewelry costs, on average, more per piece (at retail) than your typical Xbox 360.
So that, in a nutshell, is why I'm so calm about the 360 failure rate. Because I'm constantly reminded at my job that it could be a lot worse. So next time you hear about a 360 red ringing on you, just think - at least you didn't spend your money (I hope) on a POS piece of designer jewelry.
(And to any jewelry designers who might be reading this - I'm not naming any names here, so please don't sue me.)
I know this is going to qualify as a shameless plug, and, well, it is. But I just wanted to let you know that I've been published at the Escapist. Yeah, I know it's been a few days since the article went live (it went live Tuesday, Jan. 29), but I don't think it's too late to tell the Dtoid community about it.
And after reading the article, if you have comments for me along the lines of "why didn't you include this?" or "you forgot this!" or "why did you give so much airtime to that whilst only barely mentioning this?" - My response is: I'm only human. I only had so much time and space to write this article within, and I couldn't include everything that readers would want to see in this article without it taking up several term papers of space and aeons of time to do. So deal with it. I just didn't have the time, space, or inclination to please everybody.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the read! Let me know what you think!
Much w00tage has been bestowed upon me today, for today is the day that I got a new phone. An awesome new phone. An LG enV phone, to be precise. You know, one of those phones that open up to reveal a mini-keyboard inside? Hopefully you know what I'm talking about.
Anyway, now that I got a phone that actually, you know, doesn't suck, one thing I'm jonesin' to do is get some quality games for it. Normally I'd use my DS or PSP to do mobile gaming, but there are some times when I can't take those, so having games on my mobile phone as backup would be good. So that said, I now ask you, the audience - what are some good games to get for my new phone? You know, good ones? Again, I have an LG enV phone, and I'm under Verizon for my plan.
I know that I expressed extreme depression, regret, and hatred towards myself for being born an American citizen. That's not a sentiment that's going to go away easy, if ever. It's something that's forever going to plague my being, something I'll always have hanging in the back of my mind like the sword of Damocles. Something I'm always going to feel guilty for.
But one thing that will always bug me, for some weird reason I can only speculate on, is when people pull the nationality card on me, especially when it comes to video games. Like when people say that one nationality of games will always be better than the other, such as when people say that Japanese or European games will always be better than American-developed ones (such as what an EA executive saidabout European developers recently).
Now, I know that in the American games market there's fewer publishers that are willing to take chances with lesser-known game development studios or new, risky game concepts. I know the commercial games market over here is, well, commercial. And I know there's a lot of reasons to be angry at the American games market recently, such as the Spike TV Video Game Awards and all the wrong images about gaming that it promotes.
But to say that American games/game developers will never be as good as their European or Japanese counterparts? Well, a statement like that hurts my feelings. I know I'm not a game developer, but a statement like that I still take quite personally. It's essentially saying that because I'm an American, that I can never rise above my station or amount to anything, or overcome my status as an evil being. That I'd forever be doomed to be another un-creative dullard who can't think of an original idea to save my life. That's what such a statement says to me.
Maybe it's not what you mean, but I still have a tendency to take it in such a way.
Also, in regards to that statement, not all American developers are un-creative dullards who bow to commercial whims and have their developers be boisterous, obnoxious, loud-mouthed rock stars. There are developers worthy of our respect here, such as Warren Spector (Deus Ex), Tim Schafer (Psychonauts), Jonathan Mak (Everyday Shooter), and some others I can't think of off the top of my head right now. American-based studios worthy of our respect? Well, there's Insomniac, Valve, Ninja Bee (Cloning Clyde, Band of Bugs), and Harmonix. And Bioshock really is quite awesome, despite what the Spike TV Video Game Awards say about it.
So in short, game creativity and design talent isn't as black-and-white as what country it comes from. At least, that's how I see it.
"51 percent (of those surveyed) believed the government should be regulating the actual content of the games."
"Even among gamers surveyed, 44 percent said the government should regulate mature content in games..."
And people wonder why politicians get away with wiping their asses with the Bill of Rights, passing laws like S-1959, a.k.a. the Home Grown Terrorism Bill. (Although that bill hasn't passed yet, it's still very fucking scary that it's being considered. It already passed the House of Representatives with a near-unanimous vote.)
People here are so much like sheep, stupid sheep at that. Not only will they believe anything the government tells them, but are willing to give up their freedoms in the name of so-called "security." And they're perfectly willing to endorse the oppression and removal of freedoms of others because of their fucking superiority complex, under the naive assumption that it "can't happen here."
Well, it's happening right fucking now. And I'm sick of it. I'm sick of this country and the people in it. I'm sick of all the fascist, genocidal (yes, genocidal) bullshit that is done in our names and that we so happily swallow. And I've fucking had it. I'm fucking sick of being associated with oppression. I'm fucking sick of being associated with this country's genocidal policies. I'm fucking sick of having my tax and consumption dollars support it. I'm fucking sick of my very existence supporting it.
Bullshit like this makes me want to kill myself, or someone else, maybe a lot of someone elses, I don't know. I'm not thinking straight. I hate my association with all this bullshit. I hate myself for being born an American citizen. I fucking hate my life because of it. I honestly don't know how much more I can take. I wish I could move out of this fucking country, but I don't have the time, money, or other resources to do so.
I'm sorry if I scared anyone with some of the threats in that last paragraph. It's just that I'm so angry and so depressed right now I can't think straight. I hope you can understand why.
Yeah, I know a lot of you have no interest in Neopets whatsoever, it being for "kids" and whatnot. But click on that above link and play the game at that link. Do it. Do it now.
Okay, played the game? Came back to this post? Good. You may pick up your jaw from the floor now.
Yes, the inexplicable has happened. A First-Person Shooter has appeared on Neopets. I haven't played enough of it to make an effective judgment call on its quality, but what I played so far is kinda meh. Two types of enemies, rather angular and primitive graphics (I've seen Quake 3 done in an internet browser, so trust me, I've seen better), a meager weapon selection, and somewhat sloppy controls (having Fire assigned to the space bar instead of the left mouse button is kind of awkward to me) makes this not exactly a quality FPS.
But still, an FPS...on Neopets.
What the hell is going on?
Is this Neopets' attempt to appeal to the hardcore gamer crowd? A more adult crowd? An attempt to shed its "kiddie" image? A desire to do something different (at least, for Neopets)? I don't know. But regardless, if it's any of the above, if Neopets continues on such a course, it could end up as a disaster. As us hardcore gamers know, the FPS genre is often shat upon by parental watchdog groups, who say the FPS genre incites kids to violence, cannibalism, and other fun things. And the main character of the game, Sergeant Zarex of Section Six, looks suspiciously like a Master Chief ripoff, except without the faceplate. So parents who currently approve of their kids playing Neopets might decide to start writing angry letters upon learning of this genre of gameplay showing up on this supposedly "kid-friendly" website. Sure, the enemies in the game are robots and the weapons seem innocuous enough (with names like the Bzzt Blaster and Sleep Ray), but the mere idea might be enough to send most parents up the wall.
This could indeed turn out to be a bad move for Neopets. But will it? Only time will tell, I guess, but right now, I'm still reeling from the concept.
Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press living the dream since March 16, 2006
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