There is so much bitching and moaning about how cliche Japanese games (particularly JRPGs) are but I can't help but think that from the other side looking in (Japanese people looking at Western gamers), they are probably saying the same thing about us. For example, we make fun of games with the title "____ Chronicles," effeminite male characters, overwrought dialogue, etc. Yet trying to think as an outsider, how are we any less cliche when tons of our games, films, etc all seem to feature the same bleak apocalyptic environments (often with Marines of some sort), dialogue that is all too often series of smart-ass one-liners delivered in rapid fire, and tough-guy steroid-using main characters with little to no hair?

I'm just saying, isn't it possible that what we are seeing and calling cliches are simply cultural norms and expectations that are part of the Japanese culture and not ours? I just can't help but think that somewhere out there, the Japanese are on their podcasts bitching and moaning about all the cliches in Western gaming.

@Sir playedallot

I JUST played through the original Monkey Island - it was great, I don't need the remake any time soon. I do love Zombies though. I'll have to check that one out.

@Podtoid
Here's another one for you guys:
Tell me about Half-Life 2's flaws for once. I've been having difficulty trying to come up with any, but I figure since you guys do this for a living, you'll probably have a better time of it that me.

hey guys just wondering me and my mate have been fighting over this for a while so i hope u can put it to rest for good which is better warcraft or a pan of bread? thanks

Damnnit! More than 50 comments, I know rev doens't read past page 2 :(

Oh well, I'll try asking anyways:

It seems like everyone wants a little slice of the game industry these days. Movie makers want games to be more like movies so they are "as good as them", and writers now want games to take more elements books. Screw those guys!

So what's the deal? How long until the music industry jumps on this bandwagon? Why not have books/movies be more like games? Or just should we all stfu and accept the fact that we're all different?

Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion because Rev mostly likely only reads the first 50 comments (save us sammit!)!

So, I regard No More Heroes as one of the best Wii games ever made. Considering it's self-aware, it constantly makes fun of itself, and not once did it take itself seriously.

I'm wondering if you guys are as excited for No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle as I am, and what you're expecting from it?

Also you Iphone users, if "they" made a little controller to stick into the bottom of it would you

A/ buy one,
and
B/ buy more games for your phone.

Ps Thanks Aaron, Im now gay for Peggle.

Do you think Mountain Dew is a cheap cash-in when it comes to make those Game Fuel drinks? Also, which do you prefer, that Horde red one or the Alliance blue one?

@Dexter345 A Theabilitytodestroytheplanetwithoneflexfag?

A million zombies or a million Michael Jackson clones? Which would be easier to fight through?

Who would win Chet's (aka Brad) pinky finger, Jim's monocle or Topher Cantler's Bees?

Twitter will it die out or am I going to have to start shacking my fist at passersby and yelling for them to get off my lawn!?

Cya later

Turkish- Quick Tommy before ze Germans get here.

I've been recently thinking about sex and sexuality in gaming. What's your guys' thoughts on the matter? Do you think that modern games do an adequate job of portraying sex and sexual orientation? If so, why? If not, how could the depiction of sex/sexuality in games be improved?

Has there ever been a video game that you have attempted to carry over into real life? If so, what was it and how successful were your attempts? What aspects of the game did you need to change in its port to reality? If not, what games do you think would carry over well into the real world? For example, have you ever considered what it would be like to see the Fable II pub game Keystone being played in ACTUAL casinos?

For me, it was the 2002 Xbox full-contact futuristic ultimate frisbee game Deathrow (read "death throw") that my friends and I were recently introduced to. While we can't actually stomp on each others' faces in real life, the IRL analogue of this game has proven to be ridiculously entertaining despite the fact that I am terrible at sports.

There was something I noticed at the end of Prototype it leads to the same ending as Grand Theft Auto 3 as in the same kind of rut you would be after wards (completing the main storyline only). In this way the best parts of the game would be inaccessible due to the game itself ramping up to such a difficulty that going back and re-playing to the original would only yield any enjoyment at a masochistic or completionist slant. My question is, is there any merit to this and is anyone else pissed of and angry that they put in characters that tend to more or less take up space (aka Dana Mercer). Also if I'm wrong within my question about difficulty feel free to crush the preceding question to dust.

The problem with Videogame writing is the same problems we see in movies. I work at a visual effects studio, and have seen the horror that is a movie put into production without a finalized screen play. I could go on at length about examples but that isn't the topic at hand here. Studio execs, as I'd imagine execs at game companies, get the idea of "wouldn't it be cool if..." and try to stretch that one idea into an entire two hour movie.
Movies that seem to be the strongest story wise these days come from strong source material, i.e. existing novels, plays, etc.
I'm not saying games should be based on Tennessee Williams plays or anything, but maybe writers need to come for sources outside of VG development and clearly earlier in the process. It seems to me that game designers come up with the game mechanic first, then write a story to justify that type of play. As opposed to having an idea for a story, and then developing the means to tell that story afterwards.
Being able to speak to industry folks and designers how do you feel about this. Do you think that better games have come out of inspired story tellers that just made a game as a way to tell their stories, or that being an interactive medium, we can't completely separate the way we tell the story from the story itself?

The PSP Go is getting a lot of press but how many store do you think will actually carry it? Retail stores make little to no money from console sales and being download only will make stores not get the profit from game sales. How will Gamestop react to a platform with no used game market?

How many of you actually still play a portable system, if so, do you solely use it at home?