I agree-ish. Personally, I think that it isn't an awful idea to listen to a very well-respected movie critic talk about video games specifically because he/she is a movie critic. All the same, people need to remember what you're saying here, which is, if I can paraphrase, that bad ideas are bad ideas. Smart people…

Eeh. VI has my favorite music (which means a lot to me), but I still like IV's story/characters better. Gameplay-wise, V is my favorite, though. That whole era's pretty much the greatest ever. Ever.

I think there might be a deep meta-game involved. You, as the player, have the choice to break the disc, sell it back, or keep in the hopes that your mood will improve after you finish it. These choices have a huge impact on the game... literally.

I don't like it. I love it.

I'mma have to watch this later - but I'm glad to see someone put together a comprehensive praise for literary mystery. The thing that's really made me happy about the Dark/Souls/whatever-they-call-it series is how much it seems like the developers are perfectly willing to leave in the shadows. It's refreshing not to…

This might maybe somehow be possible in college. However, it's an exceedingly tough sell when a fair share of college students don't have to take appreciation classes for virtually any other type of art. I know the general education rules change on a school-to-school basis, but you could practically get out of any…

If we could get someone like Christopher Nolan (and his brother, Johnathan) to put some degree of intelligence into video game storytelling, I'd pay good money just to see the industry's response. I suspect that most of them have a good idea that their stories are the equivalent of popcorn flicks - and I certainly…

I'm trying so hard to stay off of the Bioware rage train today, but this is my problem with a lot of their products. They feel the need to say everything and anything about their properties, and leave virtually no stone untouched. That's great for the design process, but it doesn't actually work well when you're…

I want to give Bioware the benefit of the doubt. This feels so much like nit-picking and raging over what really amounts to nothing... but, hot damn, that is really, really lazy. I've always assumed that Bioware had Tali well-designed before they finished the first game, but just opted not to reveal her appearance -…

It's "fifty-four forty or fight" all over again!

I promised myself I wouldn't rage/be angry at Bioware today, so, a thought on conflict in video games:

Clearly, proof that Canadians are just rabble-rousers out to destroy hard-working American industry with their leftist plots.

I got the general feeling he was just referring to JRPGs too. He doesn't strike me as the kind of person who knows how to articulate his feelings particularly well, and, at that, doesn't entirely understand the concept of "the big picture." Put these two things together, and you get things like "Japanese games suck" -…

End Game?! End Game?! I'll show you an Endgame alright. Get the trash cans and the wheelchair - we're putting on a play.

I've been lovin' the fact that a lot of the reviewers in the 80-90 range are still praising the game, but also making comments like "it's not the greatest game ever" or "there are some real issues" - yet still giving the game a numerical value far, far beyond what those comments seem to say. I think the Giant Bomb…

I'm not sure I agree on the "of all time" part, but ME1's certainly miles above ME2 in my book. The storytelling went from compelling sci-fi adventure in ME1 to overwrought space soap opera in ME2. I know there's a lot of argument on this front, but ME1's gameplay felt so much more like it actually fit the story and…

In all fairness, the storytelling aspects are all exceedingly important to the development of games as a rich and complex medium. I like lyrical poetry and I like instrumental music - but if we could imagine gaming without the development of a narrative thread, it'd be similar to seeing only these things bloom in…

Whoa, whoa, whoa - waddya mean Crime and Punishment: The Game isn't going to be a major AAA title?

I was trying to think up some examples of games that have succeed in the States, as well - and specifically ones that aren't of Japanese origin. It's not too many, and a lot of them are on PC.

Agreed. I think the problems we face are that our (speaking as gamers) writers aren't very well-experienced with a diverse degree of topics. I mean, we demand these writers to write into very strong genres - war stories, sci-fi, fantasy - and these are the most popular art products. It stands to reason that developers…