GFW Top 10 PC games of 2008 features Fallout 3

[sai | GLYPH]

I'm sort of meandering all over the place again, but it just smacks of NMA paranoia to me. Read the whole clip Brother None posted there (Dunno if that's all of it, don't have this issue yet). They say at worst "Some of the more rabid Fallout fan communities", nothing like "Those sons of bitches at NMA who I hate with every fiber of my soul". On top of that, the "The truth of the matter is no one knows a damn thing yet about whether the game will be good or not."
RAGE BALL

Not to be picky, but context and word choice go a long way toward painting a picture. It's why books...work.

"Some gamers (including us) are thrilled by how faithfully Bethesda is preserving the look and tone of the old games while bringing the franchise into the current millennium, while others (especially some of the more rabid Fallout fan communities) continue to deride every new fact, screen, or random piece of info that comes out of Bethesda about the game."

This whole sequence of statements boils down to "we are logical, they are petty."

Thrilled? Implies permanence. The demo may be out but the game isn't, and this article is about the game. We've got somewhat of a mixed context here. Especially when later the article states that most of the game is a huge unknown. Might a better expression than "thrilled" be anticipating or looking forward to? I guess us rabid fan communities aren't the only steadfast in our ways.

Then they launch into what they're thrilled about. Macro-concepts. I'm not arguing that they shouldn't have used such things, however, there's a difference between generalizing and presenting broad concepts...

There's a huge difference in implication between saying "we like this for A and B" then turning around and saying "others just keep on hating everything." It paints the picture that 'we' are logical and decent, while 'others' are illogical and petty.

And then the use of "rabid Fallout fan communities" rather than rabid Fallout fans. There's a difference of aim. One would think without the parenthesis, "others" would mean "other gamers", but apparently it means other game communities.

So the magazine is good and logical while some communities (in their entirety - as per implication) should be disregarded for being full of illogical screaming monkeys.

They won't curse off NMA in a legitimate article, because a legitimate article needs to look legitimate. Legitimacy gives credence to their statements.

 

[4too]

The Buzz Of The Hive

The Buzz Of The Hive



DarkLegacy:

...Microsoft ... Magazine ...

Microsoft saturates all media with it's buzz.

Spending T-Day Holiday with 'The Valley' relatives.
Have been witnessing the power and the glory of American commercial TV.
Soap Opera's won that label when popular drama was sponsored by soap companies in the 'Golden Age Of Radio'.
Game shows are another win-win vehicle for patrons and producers.
Word puzzle shows / quiz shows are popular at this demographic slice.

New show for me, ABC's fast paced 'Merv Griffin's Crossword' (look ---> X ---> 'cross'!) game show with big M$oft money.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 is the main sponsor, Xbox commercials at the breaks. Other fellow travelers, on line colleges and game universities are hawking the good life too.

Xbox 360 gets frequent mentioning, special Xbox 360 EXTRA question sponsored in game puzzles, and this console is one of the grand prizes.
The media persona leading the pace is one smarmy sharpie, I 'kin' tell yoo. May be the archetype for all Nex Gen acolytes. Says 'extreme' at least once a show.
When 'The Escapist' buzz blog extrudes a movie / docu-drama of itself,
I imagine this master of ceremonies, or some one just like him, will play the role of Russ Pitts, (Agent Provocateur, pious procurer, or Microsoft pimp?)

The daily winning contestant gets a shot at the grand prize bundle, 5000 dollars U.S. a tropical vacation, AND A XBOX 360 [with games!?!]. FTW!

This is how embedded the Xbox 360 is in this show.

(a) Win, smarmy sharpie says ... "" You won the $5000.00, and, get to go on {insert random location here} vacation WITH AN XBOX 360 UNDER YOUR ARM !!!!!""

(b) Lose, smarmy sharpie says ... ""Oh no, YOU didn't Win the ... Xbox 360.""

Thus the Microsoft drum beat to buy, Buy, BUY a Xbox 360 insinuates itself deeper into our pop culture.

Microsoft saturates all media with it's buzz.

All the bees and wanna-bees be buzzing. The whole hive be ringing and singing, fuzzing a buzzing.

Power at the harmonic peaks, additive cycles one mystery beat.

Anticipate the buzz to swell and sync to a fevered resonance.

Prepare for the pan ultimate revelation when the buzz achieves the resonant frequency of the song of the spheres,
and our absolute ''l33t-ness'' whip snaps us into heaven, (reputed to be a Starbuck's Coffee den hovering over Bellevue Washington.)
or flings us into the maw of the -- Sony --, (not likely the the old Peter Pan cannery in Bellingham Wa. But if you pass Go, do not collect $200. If you pass gas, prepare to show the necessary carbon emissions permit.)

To prepare our souls for this LAST DAY, The Xbox Event Horizon, when every mortal coil grips the EXTREME controller of cultural convergence ....

We shall all whisper Xbox, xbox, xbox, xbox, ..... , loop it, sync it, ... be it ... Microsoft hive mind --> bee it.


/////////////

Brother None:

It's possible they're trying to curry favor, ...

BN, it's part of the mating dance of all reporting media, to be on the good side of current and potential sources of information and advertisement revenue.
The good old "getting along by going along''.
A ritualized social convention. Don't rock the boat.

Very few can manage to stand tall on the slippery middle ground.
It's most often, either "on your feet, or on your knees".
For a MICROSOFT Windows magazine to be engaging in a gratuitous pissing match with a PC game fan site,
well, it flies the Vista-Xbox flag in the face of conformists, and renegades alike.

Mo' buzz. Wet shoes, but mo' buzz.

/////////////

For the record:
I still sub to Maximum PC, and Mac / Life.
If I stay on dial up for 2008, may sub to U.K.'s Mac Format (offers full Mac applications on it's DVD) AND THERE'S MORE --> save over 50% on newsstand retail!



4too

 

[Black]

Because most people here know when they are just disagreeing with someone and when they know that someone is wrong. Which is something most console retards I know can't seem to understand, and when they get their argument beaten, they just hid behind their stupid usual cliche "everybody has the right to their opinion" argument. Guess what fucker! It's not about opinions! You don't go into an exam writing down opinions and get to pass it. You have to know what you're talking about. This is not an exam, but it's not an opiniated battle either.

Bravo, I wonder when people will start getting this.
There are facts and opinions. And facts beat the crap out of opinions.
When there's a fact, like, y'know "Fallout was supposed to be isometric with turn-based combat", nobody really gives a shit that your opinion is "well, imo fpp rtwp would've been better".

 

[Dracon M'Alkir]

Re: The Buzz Of The Hive

<SNIP>

Holy crap man, no need to go insane on us!

If the media and all forms of mass entertainment are saturated with pre-programming, why continue to watch it? Do the easiest and most time tested method ever invented, unplug it. Unplug your TV, disconnect your cable service, and never watch TV again. It's what I've done, and I'm happy.

 

[Mord_Sith]

Same here actually, I hadn't watched commercial TV for about 3 months before I disconnected, I still use my TV, however it's shows I want to watch when I want to watch them, rather than some crappy re-run that I'd rather take an ice pick to my temple and tap on it until I either fall unconscious, or begin to bleed profusely from.

Effectively I've been without commercial TV for about a year now, and loving every minute of it!

 

[sai | GLYPH]

Bravo, I wonder when people will start getting this.
There are facts and opinions. And facts beat the crap out of opinions.
When there's a fact, like, y'know "Fallout was supposed to be isometric with turn-based combat", nobody really gives a shit that your opinion is "well, imo fpp rtwp would've been better".

It's more complicated then "fact vs opinion." There's the issue of judgement valuing and devaluing both facts and opinions.

The problem is that "everything's relative" or "it's just opinion" end up being an easy way out to 'win' an argument. It overlooks matters of implication, art, discipline in a field of media, and other things intrinsic to the topic... by tossing it out the window.

If you look at argument in a progressive light. Throwing everything out through a single variable removes the goal of argument to begin with. If you just want to win by creating a logical black hole, extreme relativism is perfect.

I'm of the pursuasion that principle values held shouldn't be abandoned for the sake of winning an argument. So I'm generally against the relativism approach. I also find Bethesda's actions (in developement and PR) quite disagreeable for many reasons.

 

[4too]

Stranger In A Strange Land

Stranger In A Strange Land


@ Darklegacy ""Thanks for the support.""

My first planned TV this 2007 was PBS's "The War".
Sports? meh. An enthusiasm I reserve for all things FO.

I am visiting. One of the opportunities is sampling the entertainment preferences of others.

These parental units enjoy the fact and word based game shows.

The Xbox media penetration vehicle, could be A 'Jeopardy' wanna be, with pretensions to "Wheel Of Fortune' with out the eye candy of Vanna White.


Games For Windows, The Escapist, Merv Griffin's Crosswords, I am just connecting the dots
and seeing more truth to Douglas Adam's "shoe event horizon"
then may be comfortable to our NEED to be entertained.
Seeing Oz's 'man behind the curtain',
manipulating the medium,
then all media, in a make or break thrust for the control over our choices.
The leverage to channel action,
if we so choose to follow the power of the embedded suggestions.

Does it matter?
Some humbugs sell Xbox's, other humbugs sell Presidents.

Sine cera? Let the buyer beware.

4too