@nurnberg: Wow... so do you have that on quick copy and paste? The person was even critical of the game saying they felt it was a scam but were interested in the single player component but that wasn't enough for you so you claim they are an employee or plant. I'll use another trite arbitrary meme for you then based on the uselessness of your contributions... delete your account.
@Pierce_Sparrow I think mainly because at this point this kind of message is fairly new to gaming and the big developers don't have room for it. I mean look at how homosexuality is treated in gaming, and females in general. It's taking time but I think eventually we'll get there but for the most part works where we address these issues in a more "polished" manner may come. I think Heavy Rain was an attempt in that direction. Hopefully it just continues to grow as the medium becomes more of an accepted tool for artistic expression.
@MegamanX2011 And it's this limiting definition of Video Games that is the problem, Video Games are replacing other media as forms of story telling and have been for some time. If you want simple release, that's fine, but what's to say that video games should be constrained by this vision. If that was the case for all media film would still be reels of oncoming trains and cowboys shooting the screen.
What these games (and games like it) are approaching video games as a medium for transcendent art. They are communicating a message in a different medium and honestly there are people who are out there who don't understand what others have experienced. I've met my fair share of people who've never worked a call centre who will take a dump all over the people on the other end of the line (I quit one job mainly because I was sick of sitting in the same office as one of the owners and listening to him verbally abuse people he was calling in call centres, if he treated them that way how could I trust him to treat me come contract negotiations).
Sure you may not like or want this, but some people do. It's the same reason I watch comedy TV and my girl friend enjoys shows like Sons of Anarchy or Breaking Bad. I'm glad people are pushing these boundries because it's with work like this, dare I say art, that the medium of Video Games grows and earns respectability.
@TimeFrame The thing is it's often the case these are individuals as developers who don't have access to the same resources and time to make a high gloss photo realistic game. Also it's not needed for their mandate of what they're trying to design. I love me the gfx but in the end the immersive gameplay of something like Cart Life is well worth it and really doesn't suffer from the low fidelity. Often offering the low fi experience (like in music) can really help you focus on specific aspects of the experience without being distracted by others.
@SaudiFury I picked it up it is, the mechanics are a really intriguing way of illustrating the mundane and tediousness in an immersive manner. And after a few hours I started feeling genuine compassion for these characters, something that some AAA developers never establish.
@wasakawaka I wouldn't say Canadians are hostile on the phone (having worked over a decade doing call centre work for various companies ranging from IBM to small mom and pop software companies) I'd just say we're no different than anyone else. I think the difference in my experience is ramp up, Canadians tend to start off cold and rage up while the Americans I've dealt with start hot and cool down. American's in my experience have also been more willing to come around and chill if given a reason while Canadians a lot of times fall in to a passive aggression kind of status (that's maybe misread as politeness). That being said on the whole, having worked for both Canadian call centres and American ones, the number of hostile people is probably proportionally the same. As for friendliness abroad, I think that all depends on where you go. :-)
@Brishon1 I was wondering how long it would take for the first stupid remark to come in to play. Thanks Brishon1 for confirming my low expectations of humanity.
Too true, unfortunately from what they have said the don't. Their current infrastructure includes memory restrictions that make it impossible which is a real shame and a true surprise. That was from a year or two back they may be working on a way around this but I doubt it. We may have to wait until the next generation.
How does DLC "nickel and dime" you? You aren't FORCED to buy DLC. You can ignore DLC and just play the game as is. The reality is I can use my PC or my PS3 to do the same things that Microsoft charges me for free. No additional charge, so far there are only like two features that are not on the PS3 that are on the 360. Essentially there has to either be a reasonable value add for the gold membership (and multiplayer and chat functionality is not a reasonable value add) or they need to get rid of it.
This is what journalists do, they discuss issues even in op ed pieces like this one, I for one would rather people thought about the fact that over the lifecycle of this system some of us have been pissing away 350 dollars or more that could have been used elsewhere. It's not bank breaking for some, it's not the end of the world, but in this day and age every little cent counts and we should be smart consumers not just drones who hand out our pocket book to every company we decide to worship at the alter of.
commonperson's comments