Michael Jackson is dead and every blog (except Dtoid ;) ) writes about it, why? He looked like dead for 10 years

Also, Moonwalker.

Would a morale system (i.e.: esprit de corps) be an option is contrast to a morality system? where the player decides the “alignment” of the protagonist, while all the game cares about is a measure of consistency to increase or decrease the protagonist’s stats, powers etc.

Also: Often concepts are developed for the market and are deemed far too advanced to introduce them to the average consumer. These concepts are often put on the backburner for up to a decade until market research indicates people are willing to except it. As such, is the world truly ready for the “warrior of the arctic” saga?

I had a dream the other day, that Destructoid editors were like Storm Chasers except Video Game News Chasers. They all lived in a GIANT RV roaming the country in search of news and blog via satellite uplink. And every town they stopped in for the night turned in to a huge Dtoider meet-up party.

Life was great!

Then I woke up to the sad cold reality.

People are often quick to point out the flaws in video games as an artistic medium, but many miss when video games poke fun at cliches and flaws in other forms of media. While Rhianna Pratchett does have a point, I say we award moments where video games poke fun at other forms of media, expressing the flaws in a rather creative way. An example of this could be the announcers from Madworld, which makes fun of "zany" television show hosts/commentators, or my personal favorite, this scene from Persona 4.



Are there any instances where video games turns the table and mocks other forms of media that you find particularly amusing? Do you think this is a good step in having video games acknowledged as a form of art? Or am I just blowing smoke here?

Oh, and in case you didn't know, the Persona 4 thing a joke about Twilight.

I was playing through Uncharted recently, and while it's a somewhat generic action title on the surface, I was really struck by the attention they gave to developing likable and interesting characters. There have been other titles in the past that have pushed character development to the forefront (Psychonauts, for example, succeeded in making the actual levels themselves character development), but overall games are a fairly bland medium for giving a hero or villain any sort of depth. More often than not, characterization is determined by how cool someone looks (or in the case of Square Enix, how many buckles a character has on his or her clothing). Even amongst game franchises with multiple sequels, a character arc is a rare thing (for every Solid Snake, there are a hundred Marcus Fenix's). I'd like to hear your take on chracter develoment, it's place in the medium, and any particularly good examples you can think of.

Father and daughter Pratchett are amazing. Grievetrain too. :)

Blizzard, who were composed of infallible human beings that should not be questioned in their infinite wisdom regarding the art direction of Diablo 3, just said Starcraft II won't have LAN support. Discuss!

If you could create a game on any subject matter what would it be?

Also, let it be said that although it would boost the number of cast members to a dangerously high level, I fully support the motion to add Chet to the permanent cast :)

Does Brad use Wii fit to keep in shape, or does he just juggle bears?

After seeing the whole Prototype vs inFamous argument going round because they are relatively similar games i was looking art other relationships between games coming out soon. We have Champions Online and DC Universe Online coming out in the near future, and of course the number of free roaming crime games that came out after GTA III to include too like True Crime.

My Question is: do you think that the games industry, much like the movie industry is doomed to have games shamelessly copying each other in the hopes of getting the same revenue instead of making something unique? Has it fallen into the 'Mall Cop' effect?

Pun: Really hit your MARK in Hitman: Blood Money.

Would the loss of Activision being such a huge blow to Sony? It'd be a blow, sure, but would it be enough to set off a chain reaction to cut Sony in half like some say?

Also, have you ever had a game or character in the game that you can relate to? Has it changed your opinion of the game for better or worse?

Will Final Fantasy XIV stand a chance at knocking World of Warcraft out of the top MMO spot? And are any of you excited in the least bit about its upcoming release?

I've noticed that in the past few Podtoids that Samit has been much more active. For a while Samit was a backup player that would usually be somewhat quiet and would timidly mumble something about sports.
I have 4 theories about what may be happening:
1. Anthony is stepping down in the future and Samit is being groomed to be the replacement host.
2. Samit is starting his own Destructoid podcast, most likely about sports. (not exactly my cup of tea but I could see that there may be enough interest for the topic)
3. Samit is in a Wardrox like role. (Making sure that content is interesting and doing any research to make the podcast that much better)
4. Samit is just more comfortable with the whole podcast thing.

Don't take any offense to anything that could be misconstrued as anything other than the greatest appreciation. You guys have an amazing podcast that gets me through my boring morning commute.


Also, I recently purchased the "Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection". I somehow neglected MGS when it came out way back when. I have just finished MGS1 and I've started MGS2. I've fallen in love with the series and I have a complicated problem. I currently own damn near every console... except for the PS3. My problem is that I have a Fiance that has a better concept of what a budget is. How do I convince her to let me buy one! She too is a gamer and she also listens to Podtoid. Do you think Jim could say in his best Liquid Snake voice "Jess, let Craig buy a PS3 so he can play MGS4"

First off, I think that this is some information you guys would like to know

Most writers who work in the games industry are not professional writers, most are just programers or designers who's only experience in storytelling is from picture promps they did in highschool. Professional writers who are part of the writers guild however, are usually never hired because the companies would have to pay them a certain minimum fee, companies like Activision would rather underpay an amature storyteller then pay a little more for an expert.

Question: Do you think that stories in games would be of better quality if there was some kind of traditional format. Similar to how films have screenplays, books have outlines, and plays have scripts.

Question: Dialogue in games seems different from dialogue in film and stage. Why do you think this is?

Question: Would you consider something like Braid to be a story? Because I see Braid as less of a story and more of a painting. Because Braid does not follow any of the traditional narrative structures.

Question: Are you attatched to characters you create yourself, or characters who have been premade by the designers?

Why has almost every simulation game 1256456 bugs, crappy graphics and a 300 page manual?

What is one narrative/ literary device you'd like to see used in a videogame? I don't think role reversals and parallels are used enough.

This has nothing in common with the article exept its nearly the same theme. I made this weeks ago hopeing there would be another cool contest on dtoid, kind of draw a picture about fanboywars. Guess it doesnt happen again, so i post it here because its kind of the same theme as the article picture and i dont know what to do with it else
<a href="http://s617.photobucket.com/albums/tt259/Bl8runner/?action=view¤t=Fanboyswars.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt259/Bl8runner/Fanboyswars.jpg" border="0" alt="Fanboy Wars"></a>

This question is mainly directed at Anthony.

Every so often, a game comes out that is excellently designed, yet fails to feel like a worthy investment of time. Despite the fact that I loved Bioshock, I came away without a sense of closure, and that many of the actions I had scrutinised over in the game had no lasting consequence. In other words, the game lacked a sense of accomplishment. But this is something repeated in many, many games over the years, often in games that I generally considered in my list of best games ever.

Bearing this in mind, my question to you is this; how does it feel to know you put hundreds and hundreds of hours into trying to achieve recognition in the games industry only for your dad to become more popular than you in one brief and shakily shot video of him saying a familiar videogame catchphrase?

No question here, but...I propose that this theme song be played anytime Samit is introduced

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As a city planner and architect, I'm really excited to see what Cities XL has in store. The big difference between this and other Tycoon/Sim world builder games is that multiplayer aspect where the success of cities has everything to do with how it (and people in it) interacts with other cities (and other people). If I build City A and want it to be awesome, could the neighbors also be awesome? Or would it result in some kind of corrupt competition for a finite number of dollars? Would that even be possible in Cities XL? Would we be able to get to the point where a multiplayer model such as that game tell us something about how we develop cities in the real world?

...Or is it all way to ambitious and in the end the product would end up like Spore, making way too many promises and delivering not that very much...?

Given the current state of the American (and global) economy, could it be possible that Ra's al Ghul's economic terrorism was successful ?

@dexter 345: A Pecfag?