Video game news and reaction

[Krensky]

So, does this mean you Aussie folk had the Flower Power mutator turned on permanently in Gears of War 3?

Heh, that would been kinda funny actually.  I'd give props to any game company who resubmitted a game that had been refused classification with flowers instead of blood.  They could even replace the bullets with rainbows.  But no, oddly enough, this is totally cool (actually makes me wonder exactly how graphic Syndicate is...).

I'm not sure, but I think that Epic may have gotten through since in the single player you're not fighting humans and other the Myrrah, it's obvious. I'm guessing they didn't play very far since I could see them throwing a fit over the ash people and the final cinematic, plus Adam Pheonix's story.

That combined with having to play a good amount of multiplayer to be able to use executions in it may have led the censors to not notice it.

*shrug*

Either that or Epic or Microsoft knew whose palm to grease as a cost of doing buisness.

[Sletchman]

From the few bits of actual information on the process I could find, it looks like they have the developers / publishers effectively demo certain segments of the game (with the worst possible impact on a player) - so games like Gears could just focus on murderlating an alien monster, while avoiding the ash people and the PvP executions.  It really looks like it comes down to studio interpretation and choice (and perhaps honesty?).  It was also stated in an interview that board members are not required to complete a game.

I could of course be wrong in some of the specifics, I'm just going of what the board website has on it.

Well, there are finally moves afoot to give us an R18+ category. Probably in a year, if we're lucky.

The current proposal is from 2008 - it took 3 years before it was even made public.  I wouldn't get too hopeful that it'll be made official any time soon.  I hope I'm wrong though.

Interestingly, a sociological study commissioned by the board recommended an R18+ rating back in 1999 (it even acknowledged that there is no psychological pecularities from videogaming vs any other entertainment medium, and that adults will simply download / aquire games from other locations with R18+ ratings).  I'm glad to see they utilise the research they paid for.

[Mister Andersen]

The problem lies in how our censorship system actually works: it requires the agreement of the Attourney-General of each state to unanimously agree to any change in order to introduce a new category, and until very recently we had one guy holding up the entire process for reasons of personal belief + the usual "Think of the children" nonsense. He's gone, but the process isn't exactly swift

[MilitiaJim]

You can never get rid of tyrants, and folks who would like to become tyrants.  Tyrants can never get rid of mobs, pitchforks, or torches.  I'm just sayin'.

[vardeman]

Does anyone know if World of Pandacraft is live yet?

V

[MilitiaJim]

Does anyone know if World of Pandacraft is live yet?

V

I recall mention of March.

[vardeman]

Does anyone know if World of Pandacraft is live yet?

V

I recall mention of March.

Thanks

[Valentina]

So, 5 years and about a hundred emails with customer service, I got my CoH account to work!
Anyone still play?
Yeah, yeah. I know. SWToR and Skyrim.
Humor me. 

[Sletchman]

That's an admirable level of commitment right there.  I'm just sorry that I don't play newer PC games (or MMOs at all).

I'm playing Just Cause 2 at the moment.  I'm way late to that particular party, but Christmas for me means getting gift certificates from relatives who don't know what to buy me, and who won't accept my "I don't want anything" response - plus sales at my local electronics store.  It's a total blast, and makes me wanna come up with some fun and fast rules for this kind of chicanery in game.

[Mister Andersen]

Sorry, my only MMO is DCU Online, which has the intriguing set up that there are certain missions entry to which is locked to the character's mentor (Hero: Wonder Woman/Batman/Superman, Villain; Circe/Joker/Batman) so you HAVE to team up with someone with a different mentor to complete all missions.

But right now, I'm on my very first playthru of Mass Effect (I say first even though I had to restart because I missed recruiting Garrius by killing Fist before visiting the Med Clinic). I'm playing infiltrator -- purely to pick up the cloaking tech in ME2, which I fell in love with in the demo, when I port over to the second game after I buy it -- and tending Paragon over Renegade atm.

[spinningdice]

Currently playing through Mass Effect 2 (just finished through ME 1 again) since my HDD crashed and wiped my savegames from the previous time I played through it.

For some reason I always play an Infiltrator on my serious playthroughs.

[Sletchman]

Adept for me.  Add in a Sniper Rifle as your bonus skill and you can tackle anything (Pistols are so beastly that you don't need Shotgun or Assault Rifle).  More importantly, you get to be a superhuman space wizard - what's better then that?

Admittedly I didn't really enjoy ME1's tech powers, so I'm kind of biased because of that.  Also, it'll be nice if ME3 has more class related dialogue - it ticked me off that my Adept couldn't relate to Kaiden's "Brain Camp" experiences, or even have a line about their implants (especially when dealing with other Biotics in mission).

[Krensky]

Soldier is fun just to laugh at Harbringer when he takes over a drone.

Widowmaker plus warp ammo plus time slow equals headless bug.

[Valentina]

Sorry, my only MMO is DCU Online, which has the intriguing set up that there are certain missions entry to which is locked to the character's mentor (Hero: Wonder Woman/Batman/Superman, Villain; Circe/Joker/Batman) so you HAVE to team up with someone with a different mentor to complete all missions.

But right now, I'm on my very first playthru of Mass Effect (I say first even though I had to restart because I missed recruiting Garrius by killing Fist before visiting the Med Clinic). I'm playing infiltrator -- purely to pick up the cloaking tech in ME2, which I fell in love with in the demo, when I port over to the second game after I buy it -- and tending Paragon over Renegade atm.

Understood, I've actually got a max level DCUO heroine who's been benched for want of any compelling content or comrades to assault it with. And numerous alts, of course.
Who're you around the Universe Online? I might say hello some time.
I'd list my own name, but I've been away so long apparently I lost my name. =P

[foproy]

http://www.g4tv.com/games/xbox-360/64060/silent-hill-downpour/articles/76342/silent-hill-downpour-hands-on-preview-when-it-rains-it-poursevil/
i am optimistic about silent hill downpour. even though it does seem to be going the open world sandbox setup.