Gamer's Manifesto

[bored2k]

http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/games/manifesto.html
Tell me what you all think. I think the issues mentioned there are all very true, so I strongly believe the gaming industry could be really going in the wrong direction.

[vega44]

http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/games/manifesto.html
Tell me what you all think. I think the issues mentioned there are all very true, so I strongly believe the gaming industry could be really going in the wrong direction.
they have been for years.

[Kyral]

This is why ZSNES is still around :D Old School games at its best

[sapo]

lol.. i m really laughing here..

He's saying the pure and raw TRUTH about games... :grin:

[bored2k]

lol.. i m really laughing here..

He's saying the pure and raw TRUTH about games... :grin:
That's what worries me! He's just saying the stuff we all say to ourselves :#

[pdk001]

i havent using P2P

[Havoc]

Well, not all.I love crates!

Really though, most of his points are valid, but some are implemented so, even when the devs know it's stupid (For example number 9 "Immersion and the invisible hand of God").But theyre still stupid.

I was thinking about female heroines in games, and I can't remember the last time I saw one looking "Normal".By normal, I mean, no TINY skirts, no breasts that could be used as protection in a fight, no bikinis in a medievil RPG and whatever else.
The last time I saw a normal looking heroine in a game or anime was in a anime made by Hayao Miyazaki, named Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Off topic, but appropriate in my opinion.Great film, by the way.

Are there any female readers that would like to comment on this, the stereotyping of women in games?

[talon]

I am a gamer........ but that guy is being so funny, it hurts.

[WildTangent]

its all true, goldeneye and perfect dark on N64 pissed me off so much because you cant jump ](*,)

-Wild

[poster_nutbag]

The computer industry has always been that way. I remember reading complaints about the amount of movie tie-ins, rehashed sequels and so on way back in 1983!!!

My pet hate - and call it trivial if you will - is economics code in games. It has been universally crap since the dawn of computer games. They all have the damn same cycle:

Money from nowhere -> given to player -> spent and dissapears nowhere

Think Civ 1,2,3 and 4 here. And probably 5,6,7 and 8 as well. You see, the people who develop games like this because THEY DON'T ACTUALLY CARE IF YOU LIKE THE GAME. They are only interested in sales. Hey, you liked the last one, right? So now computers have moved on a bit we can have EVEN MORE EYE CANDY, and keep the same old game logic 'cos artists are cheaper than programmers, right?

I remember CIv3 coming out. Civ2 being my favourite game, I had it lined up for a purchase: especially since all the game mags went 9/10, best Civ ever... etc. What they didn't tell you was that exactly the same tactics in Civ2 worked in Civ3!!!! So, nothing new to learn then. Didn't they damn well test it beforehand?

Sorry about the rant, it's just how I feel. Not that I'm a defeatist: I'm writing my own game, and it can be found at http://www.spqr-game.co.uk/. And yes, it will have a *real* economics engine :-)

[panickedthumb]

that article rocks ;)

I agee with almost everything he said. I was playing Jedi Knight 2 the other day and thinking how stupid this one jumper puzzle was. He just echoes my thoughts ;)

[bored2k]

that article rocks ;)

I agee with almost everything he said. I was playing Jedi Knight 2 the other day and thinking how stupid this one jumper puzzle was. He just echoes my thoughts ;)
act 1. The Final Fantasy thing is really annoying. Why do you have to talk to every single NPC to get X character to appear where he told you so ? And do NPC's (Non Playable Characters) even have a life ? I mean, I'm strolling Final Fantasy X's vast world, and no matter how much I walk and move and all the shizznit, merchants are always in the same place. There's this stupid Chocobo in between certain cities that keeps getting lost over and over. In Suikoden III's first of -many- boring city, the guards protecting the queen don't even look around, they just act dead in front of the sea. And for the love of the Twinkies, Suikoden II.. This is a game that will take you over 30 hours to finish, and basically from the beggining you see this lady washing some clothes going "I lost my soap! Find it and I'll reward you!". You go back just before you finish the game, and the freakin lady is still waiting for you!!! Now that's pacience.

act 2. Continuing with my Final Fantasy X rant (BTW It's still the best RPG game I've ever played and a top 5 all time favorite), talk about character development. You get this Lulu and Rikku characters that are weaker than Ling Xiaoyu (Tekken) fighting off Nightmare (Soul Calibur). At the beggining they hit no harder than 50hp, but by the end I'm hitting well over 9,999 with them, yet they still have their goofy stances and weak punches. Don't they learn how to fight on practice ? I mean, haven't any of them seen Million Dollar Baby ? please.

act 3. Oh and what is wrong with Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater's jungle adversaries ? I mean, weren't they trained in the wildlife ? Yet they run off like Gibson in Chicken Run when you throw a mere Snake at them. I got a working formula:
(Soldier)(AK-47 Rifle) + Wild Snake = Bam!
to quote Snoop Dogg's wise words:
"If you play me close, you're on a red beam
Oh you got a gun so you wanna pop back?
AK47 now n****, stop that! "

act 4. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. You get Tommy Vercetti, this kick a** hustler from 'Miami' right ? Everyone respects him, but oh don't you get water near him.. he might just.. flat out.. drown. How stupid is this ? Here's a guy raised near the nice FL Beach that can't swim, yet this thug from (arguably) Compton (San Andreas) can swim like Brendan Hansen..

[bored2k]

act 5. Illogical Fighting Games. Ok so let's start with Virtua Fighter and its hideous rules. You can twist me like a nail and break my neck and nothing happens, but if I step out of the ring I lose? What's with the 3 story high jumping? You got jujutse expert characters like Aoi Umenokouji that can't just wait for the dude and devour them -5 minutes later-, after he starts to descend ?

act 6. What's with the life bars? Is this a way to just hide the lack of creativity in game developpers? Did we learn nothing from Bushido Blade? Here's how it works: Bullet to head, the heart you gow down. Period. No "phoenix down" or "life" to help you (Oh nono Yuna you got no powers here!). Recovery bars? games try to be as real as possible .. when's the last time you found in the middle of an empty a crate filled with Gatorade and Granola Power Bars? At least Hitman tries to fix this a little bit. What's even worse is Halo's "stand still and you get all your life back!:D.. Set it and forget it!". Oh so some thug sprays bullets all over me and I just sit down and bullet wounds start to automatically heal? Couldn't we at least eat a little glass to get better like SID 6.7 in Virtuosity (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114857/)?

[WildTangent]

that article rocks ;)

the halo 2 article was even better

-LLM

[panickedthumb]

act 5. Illogical Fighting Games. Ok so let's start with Virtua Fighter and its hideous rules. You can twist me like a nail and break my neck and nothing happens, but if I step out of the ring I lose? What's with the 3 story high jumping? You got jujutse expert characters like Aoi Umenokouji that can't just wait for the dude and devour them -5 minutes later-, after he starts to descend ?

act 6. What's with the life bars? Is this a way to just hide the lack of creativity in game developpers? Did we learn nothing from Bushido Blade? Here's how it works: Bullet to head, the heart you gow down. Period. No "phoenix down" or "life" to help you (Oh nono Yuna you got no powers here!). Recovery bars? games try to be as real as possible .. when's the last time you found in the middle of an empty a crate filled with Gatorade and Granola Power Bars? At least Hitman tries to fix this a little bit. What's even worse is Halo's "stand still and you get all your life back!:D.. Set it and forget it!". Oh so some thug sprays bullets all over me and I just sit down and bullet wounds start to automatically heal? Couldn't we at least eat a little glass to get better like SID 6.7 in Virtuosity (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114857/)?
*LOL* Interestingly enough, I DID once find a crate full of gatorade and power bars, and a lot of other stuff (no joke). My friend that was with me (biggest gamer I've ever known) said "Uh oh, you know what happens when you get a lot of powerups-- in about 10 seconds ninjas are going to start flying out of nowhere trying to kick your ***!"

It was a milk crate, not a wooden crate, and we were around the basketball stadium on campus on game night, which could explain it ;)

[bored2k]

*LOL* Interestingly enough, I DID once find a crate full of gatorade and power bars, and a lot of other stuff (no joke). My friend that was with me (biggest gamer I've ever known) said "Uh oh, you know what happens when you get a lot of powerups-- in about 10 seconds ninjas are going to start flying out of nowhere trying to kick your ***!"

It was a milk crate, not a wooden crate, and we were around the basketball stadium on campus on game night, which could explain it ;)
Lmao it is true. wich brings me to another

act 7. Ok so I had 3% of my life left. Trying to find somewhere to hide, [shazam!] I found a crate filled with Gatorade yip-E! So I go say "that's more like it baby yeah do I make you horny baby!" and go back from were I came from. Everything is the same, only this time a frantically fast music that could just -kill- someone starts and out of the blue this big a** guy with a rocket launcher comes to greet me (Yes you Nemesis from Resident Evil 3!). Thanks to the gatorade I am still alive, but here's the catch: I now have 2% of my life left. Why the heck do you give me hopes and dreams so you can just take them away from me? Now that's the game developpers in their full BOFH glory ! I remember how sick it made me everytime I found Gatorade, Power Bars, Rocket Launcher ammo, Rifle Ammo and Grenades in Half-Life 2 (best game .ever). "Oh yeah so why all this? *Big A-- Organic Ship shows up guns blazing with the _\||/ Westside gansta logo on it*.. "Oh that's why."

P.S. So you took the athetle's Juice? that sucks.. O.o

[panickedthumb]

no we didn't TAKE it, we just saw it there ;)

[ubuntu_demon]

nice article.

But I have some hope I'm looking forward to :

spore http://spore.ea.com
quake 4 (I hope they fix a lot of these FPS issues)

Something I would really like. But I thing it's unrealistic for the time being :
a game like world of warcraft but without monthly costs

[bored2k]

nice article.

But I have some hope I'm looking forward to :

spore http://spore.ea.com
quake 4 (I hope they fix a lot of these FPS issues)

Something I would really like. But I thing it's unrealistic for the time being :
a game like world of warcraft but without monthly costs
Guild Wars ? Any XBX Live game ?

[ubuntu_demon]

Guild Wars ? Any XBX Live game ?
hm .. I'm gonna check out the website of guild wars.

But I don't like consoles btw :)

[bored2k]

hm .. I'm gonna check out the website of guild wars.

But I don't like consoles btw :)
Guild Wars if for you then. Its focus is PvP btw.
Also try Anarchy Online (http://www.anarchy-online.com/), wich is completely FREE.

[Dylanby]

A have this pet peeve about FPS games. If I look down I expect to see feet!
I can't stand being a floating torso.

[ubuntu_demon]

Guild Wars if for you then. Its focus is PvP btw.
Also try Anarchy Online (http://www.anarchy-online.com/), wich is completely FREE.

thnx

We are going a bit offtopic about this :) But -->

I like completely free. Scince I only buy games if I really really really like them. I plan on buying quake4 if it has a good multiplayer.

I don't play much games currently ... only when I have a holiday. The last time I played a game (freeciv 2) I couldn't do much else with my life which isn't good :-P. This summer I will be playing games if there are some decent ones around.

Maybe someone knows a nice multiplayer rts (starcraft like) game that is multi platform ? Would be nice if I could play some games with my friends this summer without booting to windows :)

edit : stratagus is quite ugly

[Takis]

Maybe someone knows a nice multiplayer rts (starcraft like) game that is multi platform ? Would be nice if I could play some games with my friends this summer without booting to windows :)
I was going to suggest Rome: Total War but apparently that's really giving some trouble being ported. It totally rocks otherwise.

Back on topic, though, I was walking to my car after uni and passed a crate. I didn't have any weapons on me (they even took my trusty crowbar!) so I couldn't break it to see if there were any powerups inside.
I'll be back on Monday.

[fng]

This is why ZSNES is still around :D Old School games at its best

zsnes, (x)mame and dosbox ... \o/

[fng]

Before 1996, companies would make 2/3/4 games a year and mostly all of those games were addictive,
Now it takes 3/5 years to make a game, Almost all efford goes into eye-candy, reuslting in bad gameplay and non-addictive games.

Thinking about the last 5 years, i cant think of many PC games who were really great.
- quake3 osp/cpma (NOT quake3 out of the box, those 2 mods made it great)
- warcraft3
- world of warcraft

That's about it

I've been keeping me busy with emulators and old games like:
- zsnes
- mame
- nethack (this 1 is truelly amazing)
- lucasarts and other adventures
- mud's
- openttd
- QuakeWorld
- ...

[ubuntu_demon]

Before 1996, companies would make 2/3/4 games a year and mostly all of those games were addictive,
Now it takes 3/5 years to make a game, Almost all efford goes into eye-candy, reuslting in bad gameplay and non-addictive games.

Thinking about the last 5 years, i cant think of many PC games who were really great.
- quake3 osp/cpma (NOT quake3 out of the box, those 2 mods made it great)
- warcraft3
- world of warcraft

That's about it

I've been keeping me busy with emulators and old games like:
- zsnes
- mame
- nethack (this 1 is truelly amazing)
- lucasarts and other adventures
- mud's
- openttd
- ...
ID and blizzard are companies who keep making great games :)

[bored2k]

ID and blizzard are companies who keep making great games :)
<rant> Why didn't you guys mention VALVE ? It's this tiny company that made, oh .. I don't know.. http://www.3dnews.ru/documents/8979/hl2-logo.gif (http://www.planethalflife.com/half-life2/) </rant> What about Epic games and oh.. UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2004 -aka the numero1 online FPS game? (In my books its numero2, behind Counter-Strike:Source).

Personally I don't know what to expect from Quake 4. Unreal did a great job showing the world what MP FPS could be like (broad, huge, kick ***, violent, fun). I personally don't like the fact that it looks too much like DOOM III.. this means they would have to come up with a really groundbreaking gameplay to avoid the "its just DOOM with a different skin set" comparison.

[panickedthumb]

personally, I'm looking forward to quake 4. I've loved all the quakes up to this point. I don't think they'll disappoint me.

[bored2k]

Speaking of Quake, Gaming and ID, don't y'all think they just butchered Doom's fan respect with Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock aka you.think.youre.so.funny.when.your.not.you.huge.mo nkey as a lead role ?
http://media.filmforce.ign.com/media/490/490104/img_2755677.html

Oh my more butchery
When asked about other projects, such as Rocky or Rambo, Stallone had this to say: "I've finished the script to Rambo, and it looks like we will get started on that real soon." When asked when production would begin, he replied, "In a perfect world... September." Stallone said all is ready to go, and hopefully that's when they will begin filming.

[Havoc]

For a more serious approach to the state of the gaming industry today, check THIS (http://www.the-underdogs.org/scratch.php) out.I found it very spot-on on many topics.I believe it's a very good read for all those gamedevs out there. ;-)

[Ibuntu_52]

It would be awesome if some company came out with a game that spoofed the endless cliches in video games.

lol, it probally wouldn't sell a whole lot of copies thou.