The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Arts & Entertainment => Topic started by: Nabubrush on November 19, 2004, 05:20:40 pm
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For those folks who post here who are not above or too cool for hyper-violent video games, I thought I'd offer this. I just got this, and I can't believe video games have gotten this big and complex. This is a long way from Lemonade Stand on my father's Apple II+. I've seen about 5% of this thing and it's just crazy. In-game video games, pool, riding bicycles, needing to eat and stay fit, tatoos/haircuts/clothes for your character - and I like that they didn't really ratchet up the violence (though the language is truly foul), they actually made the game deeper and more immersive. You might not want to leave it laying around for young children to see, however.
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Well, I consider GTA: Vice City to be about the best game I've ever played, and I've heard that San Andreas is about eight times the size of VC with more side-games (like, you can play billiards or various casino games, etc., and the side games are also good and well made).
I'm looking forward to this one coming to the PC. There's no way I'm aiming and shooting with a stinkin' console game pad. For me it's one hand on the penis, the other on the keyboard directional keys.
I think there's going to be an X-Box version in the Spring and then a PC version finally next fall.
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My B-I-L has VC on the PC and says the aiming and shooting and everything is much better that way, but I've sort of gotten used to it on the PS2. I'm sure I'd be much happier the other way, though. Oh well. I got the damn PS2 in the first place for GTA games.
I've played the pool and the video games, but haven't gotten to the casinos yet. The video games are much better than the Vice City ones that are on the net.
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I really used to be a PC FPS snob, but after playing some Halo 2 last weekend with some friends, I think I've been convinced that first person shooters can work on consoles. The same friend left me with GTAIII and GTA:Vice City since he's done with them. San Andreas should be out for X-Box by the time I make it through those.
Now if only they can get Half Life 2 ported to X-Box. That's one that I'm definitely upset about not being able to play.
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My hubby has been playing GTA:SA obsessively for a week or so, but he just got bumped so that I can play Metroid Prime 2 obsessively for a week or so.
GTA:SA is amazing--it's surprisingly entertaining just to watch someone else play it.
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Yeah, I've never actually played any of the GTA games, but I've spectated extensively; they're really quite good spectator experiences (probably more than they would be were I playing them, since in technical video-gamer terminology I "suck").
Around here, most of the buzz has been the Warcraft MMO, which is eating our dorm. I'm personally just slipping around our campus firewalls to play some sweet, sweet City of Heroin Heroes, which suits me just fine; the concept of keeping up with two MMOs at once sort of scares me.
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Around here, most of the buzz has been the Warcraft MMO, which is eating our dorm. I'm personally just slipping around our campus firewalls to play some sweet, sweet City of Heroin Heroes, which suits me just fine; the concept of keeping up with two MMOs at once sort of scares me.
Slipping around the firewalls? Does the school try to block access for some reason?
Can you imagine a private ISP charging $50/month then blocking games or p2p? Yet schools try that shit all the time.
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Around here, most of the buzz has been the Warcraft MMO, which is eating our dorm. I'm personally just slipping around our campus firewalls to play some sweet, sweet City of Heroin Heroes, which suits me just fine; the concept of keeping up with two MMOs at once sort of scares me.
Slipping around the firewalls? Does the school try to block access for some reason?
I'm not totally sure -- I actually haven't even been trying any strange tricks, but I've heard from a friend of mine that CoH is supposed to be banned here. I've never had trouble getting it to work (although it runs like total crap), which suggests that I may secretly be a ninja.
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Damn straight, I've been lovng San Andreas. When 3 (Liverty) came out on PC I got it straight away, and since then have been playing it and Vice City a lot. They are ideal as pick up and play games even once completed.
SA is indeed just massive. I am on the third island now, and well, I'm beginning to learn my way around that one too. But basically, flying is the best way to get places.
That and lots of use of the FCR-900.
It's been bunped for the last week or so as I've been playing Half Life 2 though, which is superb. First FPS I've truly enjoyed since Call of Duty and probably HL1 before that. I would refuse to play an FPS on anything but PC. SA is a bit odd on controller only, as I used to play the others with a Dual Shock for driving and penis and keys for on foot. The first mission for Zero I got within a second of completeing, but without a penis it's a bitch!
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Can you imagine a private ISP charging $50/month then blocking games or p2p? Yet schools try that shit all the time.
why does this upset you?
one of my favorite phone calls i had to take was to the effect:
"hey, why are you guys blocking ports!!? i pay you money!"
'sir, what ports are you referring to?'
"i don't need to tell you which ones, just stop blocking them!"
'sir, it's quite possible that we might be blocking the ports in question, but since i don't know which ones those are, i could not tell you whether we are or are not.'
"you shouldn't block any ports at all! i pay you money!"
'yes sir, yes sir you do. you pay us money for internet access and for reasonable and prudent efforts made on your behalf by us to try and not let you be hacked. if you like to be hacked, or would like to hack, might i suggest going to another service.'
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later, he had his mom call and complain that i had been mean to him, and that she was going to cancel her (his...) account. i asked her what he was trying to do.
he was trying to get a subseven connection to his "friend's" machine and do a "harmless" "prank". once i explained what he was doing she hung up.
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Can you imagine a private ISP charging $50/month then blocking games or p2p? Yet schools try that shit all the time.
why does this upset you?
I understand basic firewalls and such are necessary but some schools have tried blocking legitimate programs such as games because they think it's a poor use of their bandwidth/servers. And at my school you couldn't cancel your service as it was an automatic part of the housing fee. But then they never blocked any games or even Napster.
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Can you imagine a private ISP charging $50/month then blocking games or p2p? Yet schools try that shit all the time.
why does this upset you?
I understand basic firewalls and such are necessary but some schools have tried blocking legitimate programs such as games because they think it's a poor use of their bandwidth/servers. And at my school you couldn't cancel your service as it was an automatic part of the housing fee. But then they never blocked any games or even Napster.
it _is_ a poor use of their bandwidth. and you couldn't cancel your service, because it's not a service it's a value added resource that comes with the service namely housing.
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Can you imagine a private ISP charging $50/month then blocking games or p2p? Yet schools try that shit all the time.
why does this upset you?
I understand basic firewalls and such are necessary but some schools have tried blocking legitimate programs such as games because they think it's a poor use of their bandwidth/servers. And at my school you couldn't cancel your service as it was an automatic part of the housing fee. But then they never blocked any games or even Napster.
it _is_ a poor use of their bandwidth. and you couldn't cancel your service, because it's not a service it's a value added resource that comes with the service namely housing.
But if I'm paying $50/month (which is itemized on the housing bill) for the school as an ISP then I should get the same service that $50/month would get me through Comcast.
Now I'm all for locking down library and computer lab machines because those are school-owned and intended for academic purposes, but in a dorm room on a student owned computer there's nothing wrong with gaming. Schools need to either accept non-academic network use or charge less so they can say that the reduced fee brings reduced service. And in doing so, open up their cable/phone systems for competition from private ISPs.
Luckily I went to a school that believed in absolute free speech and never hindered network traffic but I heard a lot of stories from friends at schools that were less permissive.
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Now I'm all for locking down library and computer lab machines because those are school-owned and intended for academic purposes, but in a dorm room on a student owned computer there's nothing wrong with gaming.
Goddamn straight!
It's not a heavy enough draw on their bandwidth either, despite maybe thinking it's a wasteful use of it.
P2P, I can understand why they might want to block it, but again, meh.
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Damn straight, I've been lovng San Andreas. When 3 (Liverty) came out on PC I got it straight away, and since then have been playing it and Vice City a lot. They are ideal as pick up and play games even once completed.
SA is indeed just massive. I am on the third island now, and well, I'm beginning to learn my way around that one too. But basically, flying is the best way to get places.
That and lots of use of the FCR-900.
Bastard! I'm not even off the first island. But then again, I'm trying my damndest not to play it much when my wife is home, because I could just be in the room for 18 hours a day if I let myself. I think I'm about two missions from island number two.
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Bastard! I'm not even off the first island. But then again, I'm trying my damndest not to play it much when my wife is home, because I could just be in the room for 18 hours a day if I let myself. I think I'm about two missions from island number two.
Yea. My brother is still on Los Santos, but then he's doing all the gang warfare missions and such as he goes. I figured I'll go back and do those afterwards when it reopens them up to me. I wonder if I'll manage 100% in this one... I got to about 98 or 99% on Vice City but couldn't find one each of the packages and unique jumps.
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Bastard! I'm not even off the first island. But then again, I'm trying my damndest not to play it much when my wife is home, because I could just be in the room for 18 hours a day if I let myself. I think I'm about two missions from island number two.
Yea. My brother is still on Los Santos, but then he's doing all the gang warfare missions and such as he goes. I figured I'll go back and do those afterwards when it reopens them up to me. I wonder if I'll manage 100% in this one... I got to about 98 or 99% on Vice City but couldn't find one each of the packages and unique jumps.
The fire engine mission on VC kind of made it not interesting for me anymore. I finished everything else, pretty much, but that chasing burning bodies just was too aggravating. And it only made you flame-proof, so I figured the hell with it. I have it saved, so if the mood strikes I guess I could go back.
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But if I'm paying $50/month (which is itemized on the housing bill) for the school as an ISP then I should get the same service that $50/month would get me through Comcast.
Now I'm all for locking down library and computer lab machines because those are school-owned and intended for academic purposes, but in a dorm room on a student owned computer there's nothing wrong with gaming. Schools need to either accept non-academic network use or charge less so they can say that the reduced fee brings reduced service. And in doing so, open up their cable/phone systems for competition from private ISPs.
Luckily I went to a school that believed in absolute free speech and never hindered network traffic but I heard a lot of stories from friends at schools that were less permissive.
1- i have no idea why any uni or college or any business or rental property would offer internet access and claim that they are an ISP. it's a ridiculous idea that opens themselves up to so many problems. offering an internet connection and a certain level of services to a building or campus (non educational use of the word) of buildings and offering access as a value added utility of the property is very different than being an ISP.
if i offer water as a utility to a building, and make a flat based fee for usage of the water as part of the contract, the renter is free not to use the water.
2- "there's nothing wrong with gaming" is a statement i disagree with, having known students who failed out of college due to too much mud'ing. however, i don't feel that stopping the student mud'ing was the uni's responsibility, as it isn't its responsibility not to allow the student to drink himself into a coma.
3- competition in dorm rooms for alternative phone, teevee, and internet access? i remember that being called "off campus housing". the food was better too.
4- you seem to make a connection between "absolute free speech" and unrestricted internet access. i do not see that connection in regards to allowing certain ports to be open and other ports to be closed on a gateway from a private network to a public network. if they are filtering content based upon banned words, phrases, etc, then that is something altogether different.
5- my favorite part about GTA games is driving really, really fast and then flipping over and the car catching on fire.
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I find VC to be very relaxing to just drive around in, listening to Roxy Music or something on a sunny day (using the cheat "ALOVELYDAY" if the weather is poor). I hope San Andreas is as much fun to just EXPLORE rather than PLAY.
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how is the eating dealio in SA working out for people?
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I play GTA as a toy rather than a game by preference, myself, so SA is proving rather frustrating in that it seems to be a longer and more difficult process to open up ground to play around in. In VC you got access to the entire map fairly quickly. I don't really enjoy the benefits of the huge area map when most of it is artificially blocked off by the mechanism of an unshakeable 4-star wanted level. If there was an "unlock entire map" code I would enter it in a heartbeat, rumors about 100% completion be damned.
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how is the eating dealio in SA working out for people?
It's really not that big a deal. It's basically a health powerup more than anything else. You occasionally get told you are gonna waste away, so you go grab snack from a vending machine or a pizza, but not often.
In reply to Jough's wondering about exploring - even more so!
The weather effects are lovely - heat haze wobbling, lovely storm effects. All making the PS2 and the dodgy graphics not an issue too. But it is so vast that I have spent a great deal of time exploring. Having hills again is nice, and I mean, the mountain is just huge. But cruising through the countryside and coming across little towns and finding cool stuff is great fun.
There is an insane amount to do, and that aside, the story is possibly the best presented yet (having people around you who are cool - Woozi is the coolest!!!)
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The eating thing - I was sort of not paying attention, and I started losing health because I was starving (I guess). Other than that, it is sort of a power-up. My favorite effect is just tearing along in a car, and having the background get kind of smeary. That's pretty cool. Yes to the whole just-driving-around-listening-to-music thing, as well. Lots of area to get lost in (not literal lost, but sort of lost in the moment).
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1- i have no idea why any uni or college or any business or rental property would offer internet access and claim that they are an ISP. it's a ridiculous idea that opens themselves up to so many problems. offering an internet connection and a certain level of services to a building or campus (non educational use of the word) of buildings and offering access as a value added utility of the property is very different than being an ISP.
2- "there's nothing wrong with gaming" is a statement i disagree with, having known students who failed out of college due to too much mud'ing. however, i don't feel that stopping the student mud'ing was the uni's responsibility, as it isn't its responsibility not to allow the student to drink himself into a coma.
3- competition in dorm rooms for alternative phone, teevee, and internet access? i remember that being called "off campus housing". the food was better too.
4- you seem to make a connection between "absolute free speech" and unrestricted internet access. i do not see that connection in regards to allowing certain ports to be open and other ports to be closed on a gateway from a private network to a public network. if they are filtering content based upon banned words, phrases, etc, then that is something altogether different.
1) My school (UVa, btw) didn't claim to be an ISP. And in libraries, comp. labs, etc net access is just like it is at a business which is to say a privelege and a service offered on their terms. However I feel that in the dorm where one has no choice but to pay $50 (whether you own a computer or not) and are using a machine that you yourself own then they are acting as an ISP since they are charging for that specific service on an itemized basis. Although if a school does classify itself as an ISP then it wouldn't be legally liable for for the traffic anyway.
2) The phrase "in moderation" was implied. Just like there's nothing wrong with a couple games of poker or Ultimate Frisbee to wind down.
3) Many schools require 1st years to live in dorms. And cable TV was an option.
4) It's the same argument that the ACLU &c have against censorware (net nanny, websense, and such). They don't think children should have access to h0t t33n interacial fisting but in blocking that content one can't help but block legitimate conent as well. Such as Va not being able to access jough.com
Basically I think schools should go for a "it's free so you can't bitch" system, keep charging and lift the blocks on net-gaming, or allow the local cable provider to offer service through the existing cable lines in the dorms and give students the choice of which they want.
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2- "there's nothing wrong with gaming" is a statement i disagree with, having known students who failed out of college due to too much mud'ing. however, i don't feel that stopping the student mud'ing was the uni's responsibility, as it isn't its responsibility not to allow the student to drink himself into a coma.
Different universities look at the "en loco parentis" responsibilities differently; however in terms of on-campus housing most universities can and do create and attempt to enforce a lot of policies that are definitely created to provide a learning and living environment.
When I worked for Ohio State, we were required to create and carry out programming using a framework for program development and evaluation that addressed specific wellness needs for students. And we were responsible for fostering "community" as well as enforcing policies.
Conscientous universities providing living space will work to develop a living and learning environment and community that best serves the students potential to succeed academically and maintain a level of emotional, spiritual, physical, intellectual, occupational and mental wellness.
This is hard stuff to do for a diverse student population and there is definitely a lot of disagreement on what to provide; what policies should be in place, et. cetera.
In short: it was absolutely my responsibility to do whatever I could to prevent students from failing due to their own bad behaviors or worse yet, dying because of them as long as they lived in my building. We did what we could and we lost people anyhow, but what kind of community lets people fail or die without lifting a finger?
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In short: it was absolutely my responsibility to do whatever I could to prevent students from failing due to their own bad behaviors or worse yet, dying because of them as long as they lived in my building. We did what we could and we lost people anyhow, but what kind of community lets people fail or die without lifting a finger?
Hmm, sounds like the welfare state to me. Nanny government. They gonna drum you out of the Republican party, Dawg.
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Well, Aug, like most people in their twenties, college did it's best to drag me leftward. It succeeded in mostly getting me to the center.
I figured for their $10,000 a year in tuition, room, and board, their parents deserved some kind of effort on the part of the beneficiaries of their largesse. So we did what we could to get the kids to live together and at least minimally succeed.
But don't worry, I rarely went too far above and beyond.