Zach

"The Games for Windows strategy is on the verge of being schizophrenic"

What does this even mean? The article is about how MS is trying to simplify stuff through really cool ideas and integration, and suddenly the author throws this in there. This sounds like a fantastic idea and I have no idea how it's on the verge of being "schizophrenic" (which only is a correct usage of the word in a colloquial sense).

I think it's very funny that 4 of those games are based on huge movie or TV franchises well-known in popular culture for their violence. Who really needs to be told that 8 year olds shouldn't be playing the Godfather or the Sopranos? Who doesn't know that Reservoir Dogs ISN'T about cute puppies swimming in artificial lakes?

That's one of the nicest mods I've seen. Too bad he didn't put up a step-by-step log of the work he did, I always think that's the most fascinating part.

No, Vlad, what's killing games journalism is the fact that you couldn't write this without infuriating at least 75% of Joystiq's fanbase. And that's a comment both on your terribly hostile language, and the general aversion human nature has to being told their opinions are wrong or unjustified.

Kyou: The problem is that 'critical' complainers are in short supply and often put their complaints in such negative terms it's difficult to seperate opinion from fact. The sort of gamers that take the time to post on message boards to complain often are so invested in the game, that they take any flaws quite personally and as such are full of indignation when they make their complaints. It's pretty discouraging to read negative complaints day after day.
Also, FuzzyPickles: I laughed. And then I wrote a critical analysis of Joystiq's commentary:
http://zacharyvladamir.vox.com/library/post/this-is-why-i-write.html

Yeah just keep in mind the guys who didn't figure it out are the ones that are reviewing and writing about videogames for a living. I have so much hope for the industry! :)

still a pretty funny video though

Looking at the GameCube ratings, and comparing it to sales in the rest of its generation is just more proof that game review scores don't really affect sales at all, I guess.

Interesting. I did something similar, but a little bit more sophisticated, by looking at Mega Man X from a Neitzschian perspective. There are a lot of similarities to be found there!
The link is http://zacharyvladamir.vox.com/library/post/man-is-a-rope-stretched-between-the-animal-and-the-mega-man.html

I think that this sort of discussion is important, for reasons I've pointed out in the linked blog, but I think it also needs to go above "Lol the stories are the same!". There's a literary theory that there are only about 11 stories that can be told, so of course you're going to get some of the same stories. It's much more important to look at how and why games are constructed, and what they can tell us.