Excellent point. I think there is a trend to view more passive entertainment as adult and active entertainment as childish. This seems totally backwards to me. Interactive entertainment places more responsibility to the participant to define their experience, so it is bizarre that we see these types of experiences as…

Great article @caspiancomic:disqus!

I played that Italian Villa simulation on the dev kit of the Oculus Rift too. It gave me a big headache and I could see the pixels on the screen in the visor, so I never got an immersive sense of depth either. Unless they make the pixels extremely small this will be a big hurdle to immersion too.

Thanks for the heads up. The hetero only pairing is a bone headed mistake on their part. It can't cost them more to offer different pairings right?

That is a good point. I confess I am sometimes one of those people that walk around in bike shorts, they feel very, well, supportive…

You come up with some sort of classy remote dildo control device, and market it to people in committed long distance relationships, and you got yourself a million dollar business my friend. Seriously people in long distance relationships try all sort of ways to feel sexually intimate with their partners remotely, so…

Especially when it comes to headsets! Have any of you guys worn a too-tight or too-heavy construction helmet for very long? or a scuba mask? Our heads are extremely sensitive to pressure, so unless they figure out how to make this stuff practically weightless people are going to get uncomfortable after 10 minutes with…

I think that peoples tolerance for looking silly is diminished when they are alone but it doesn't entirely disappear. We don't stop being self-conscious when no one else is around. Most of us still adhere to societal norms even when there is no real chance that we could be judged for them. For example, when I was…

oh wow we are in the thick of it aren't we? Logically I am inclined to say yes. If someone relinquishes their individuality to adhere to a larger orthodox ideology, to the point where they cease to define themselves as an individual (which in actuality seems impossible), then it seems like it is less wrong to kill…

But can any of us say we are more human than the majestic ape? https://www.youtube.com/wat…

hmm, maybe killing one alien would be equivalent to maiming a person and killing the entire alien species would only count as 1 murder? that doesn't seem right…

I think sentience should be the key distinguishing factor. After all, rightly or wrongly we don't count the death of animals as murder, and the agreed distinguishing characteristic between them and us is sentience. So zombies fall below the sentience threshold, while mutated humans (depending on the degree of…

I feel like graphic updates are akin to colorization of old film, not a true remake. There was a great Gameological article about that: http://www.avclub.com/artic…

That is a more apt analogy. It makes me consider the degree to which the formal aspects of filmmaking effect how I consume the narrative, especially when considering remakes, when the narrative is the same but the other components of filmmaking are radically different.

I really want to play that game. It looks bonkers.

I wonder if a game like Goat Simulator would classify as a "so bad it's good" game or just a "weird-ass fun" game. PBS Game/Show did an interesting episode about it https://www.youtube.com/wat…

The mechanics of a game are the audience's mode of access to the rest of it's content. In a comparison to "so bad it's good" movies, the mechanics are like the theater or TV set. Not even the most glorious Nick Cage train wreck will be enjoyable if you have to watch it through a blurry monitor and terrible speakers.…

Crossing that border on a bus right now! Want anything from Spice?

Thanks. I haven't been restoring my humanity after each fight, but I will so I can get him to help.

I finally started Dark Souls about 2 months ago, due to my friend allowing me to crash at his place every so often and use his PS3. However I only go there for about an hour once a week, so my progress in the game has been excruciatingly slow. It feels like the antithesis of binging.