Raise the flame shield: Your "controversial" gaming opinion.

Call of Duty 3 online is better than any COD online since. 24 players online, vehicles, classes and huge maps were turned into kill streaks, tiny maps and hand holding gameplay.
 
I don't think you're wrong. We have a lot more distractions and a lot more tools and elements that facilitate and encourage leisure than ever before. Video games are but one of many of those things.

on the other hand if you regard the other side of the coin, school and university requirements for students of positive sciences are much higher than 20 years ago

in general, the amount of information kids learn at school today, far surpasses that of their parents and is been taught at a faster rate too.

Not because newer generation is dumber due to video games.
 
Agreed. I enjoy reading this thread, but bumping it just to say "I like Game X, I don't like Y" is not controversial or interesting.

Here is controversial:

Video games are mostly a waste of our lives and have stunted the growth and potential of numerous young men. In the book "Boys Adrift," Leonard Sax makes the compelling argument that today's scientific and military geniuses, the kind of people who obsess over perfection in their fields of expertise, have instead squandered their intellect and talent playing hours upon hours of challenging (but ultimately fruitless) video games. I think one example he gave was along the lines of the next General Patton languishing into his 20s in his parents' home with little motivation to move out and spending most of the day watching porn and playing FPS like Call of Duty or strategy games like Starcraft. Likewise, Patton himself would have been a lesser person or maybe never achieved anything if he had all of our modern-day entertainment distractions.

I somewhat agree with this. It's hard for a lot of us to find a balance between work and play and I've read at least one study that found kids who play video games are "dumber" and less motivated than kids who don't.

You can find studies saying everything and its opposite.

I'm 100% certain gaming made me smarter. It taught me a second language at an early age, taught me to observe and reflect on that, taught me the joys of imagination and creativity, and even some basis of narrative before I could read proper books.

Now to be honest I'm sure I'd be dumber if I was growing up now. Games are translated, you can (and have to) leave your brain outside, are normalized, and let's not even talk about story and dialogue or even visual events.

Not saying everything is bad now and good then, of course there are examples in both eras, but you get the idea.
It's the same with the movie industry or even litterature I think. It's not just a case of "it was better before, old man yells at cloud" but the entertainement is everywhere and so dumbed down nowadays, I just think people in general are becoming dumber and we can't really blame them for that.
 
FFXIII and the sequels are the best FFs outside of 4,6,7,9 and 10.

The new Tomb Raider is the best one of them all.

Resident Evil 4 was a terrible RE (good game overall) and the beginning of the end of RE.
 
GTAV is a bad game, just that, a bland, boring fetch quest game with too many technical issues. The fact that it got so many perfect scores shows the state of gaming journalism and gaming in general.

I agree with this. The best game ever claims baffle me, it was such a chore to finish the story.
 
Agreed. I enjoy reading this thread, but bumping it just to say "I like Game X, I don't like Y" is not controversial or interesting.

Here is controversial:

Video games are mostly a waste of our lives and have stunted the growth and potential of numerous young men. In the book "Boys Adrift," Leonard Sax makes the compelling argument that today's scientific and military geniuses, the kind of people who obsess over perfection in their fields of expertise, have instead squandered their intellect and talent playing hours upon hours of challenging (but ultimately fruitless) video games. I think one example he gave was along the lines of the next General Patton languishing into his 20s in his parents' home with little motivation to move out and spending most of the day watching porn and playing FPS like Call of Duty or strategy games like Starcraft. Likewise, Patton himself would have been a lesser person or maybe never achieved anything if he had all of our modern-day entertainment distractions.

I somewhat agree with this. It's hard for a lot of us to find a balance between work and play and I've read at least one study that found kids who play video games are "dumber" and less motivated than kids who don't.

I kinda agree with this too, actually. But isn't this less a problem with games themselves and more with modern entertainment as a whole, or heck, modern world as it is?

Are games a waste of our lives more than soap operas are? More than reading books (at least shitty ones, that happen to be super popular more often than they should)? More than clubbing or partying, and drinking till you remember nothing the next day?
People have a lot of activities that are "fun", "relaxing" or "entertaining", most of which are pointless and can be considered a waste of time. Probably more than ever now, as of the digital age.

And maybe the fact that a hobby as escapist in nature as gaming has gained such popularity says something about modern young people and societies, too.
 
Halo is utter shit and only is considered good because it was the first shooter the 13 year olds played when they got their first game system.

and to keep it balanced

ICO is at best an OK game...

Sega fans are the equivalent of Linux fans, not main strem/under dog = bext no matter what

Mario is a self centered prick

I'm curious why you think it's "shit."

I'm 18, and I played the first Halo game and loved it. I love all of the series, including Halo 2's weak campaign. So obviously your little "only considered good" doesn't apply to me.

Why do you hate it exactly?
 
Gaming achieved perfection in 2006 with the release of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. I'm hoping so much that the LoZ Wii U game is a direct sequel.

Yo, can this person be my best friend? I have plenty of my own controversial gaming opinions (Especially the guy who pretty much admitted that video games can be helping the destruction of young people's life motivations, I can admit personally to its truth as a late 20's victim of compulsive gaming fanaticism), but it seems that my undying love for Zelda: Twilight Princess flies in the face of general Zelda fandom.
 
I'm curious why you think it's "shit."

I'm 18, and I played the first Halo game and loved it. I love all of the series, including Halo 2's weak campaign. So obviously your little "only considered good" doesn't apply to me.

Why do you hate it exactly?

Well to be fair, I was a bit robust in my adjectives just because this seemed the nature of this thread.

Is it "shit", well no, but it is nothing special at all and nothing even close to as "great" as so many people seem to think it is. What did it do that was so special that it is better than CS, Quake, Doom, you name any 3D shooter from the decade before it. Simply put it was what it was critically because it was on the xbox and for many it was their first experience with a competitive arena shooter. If it was only put out on the PC it would be a 6 or 7 at best. Other than perhaps a decent match making system, what did it bring to the table that was new and innovating?
 
I have never enjoyed Mario Kart.
Me neither. I never enjoyed GTA also.

Not quite controversial, but I really want to play two upcoming 3DS games, but I can't bring myself to spend $40 (actually more than that, where I live) in a game anymore.

Uh... Here is a controversial one:

Game Freak is ruining the Pokémon series by keeping creating more and more species. The designs are still good, but fuck man, there are almost 800 Pokémon. Ugh.

This is truly making me care less and less for a franchise that I've been playing for nearly 15 years :(
 
Well to be fair, I was a bit robust in my adjectives just because this seemed the nature of this thread.

Is it "shit", well no, but it is nothing special at all and nothing even close to as "great" as so many people seem to think it is. What did it do that was so special that it is better than CS, Quake, Doom, you name any 3D shooter from the decade before it. Simply put it was what it was critically because it was on the xbox and for many it was their first experience with a competitive arena shooter. If it was only put out on the PC it would be a 6 or 7 at best. Other than perhaps a decent match making system, what did it bring to the table that was new and innovating?

Well, I mean this is the controversial gaming opinion thread, but I highly disagree yet again.

I was primarily a PC gamer my entire life. I played Halo CEA on my brother's 360 and instantly fell in love with it. The game is great, and does a lot of things right.

I've played Quake, and it's great, but none of those games come close to what Halo does. Not really better or worse, I think, since they're still different. I still don't think I've ever played a game where, in the campaign, I can just jump in a vehicle when I find one, or steal a vehicle like I can in Halo.
 
There is not a single PS1 game that has "aged well"

Console gaming > PC gaming (cheaper price of entry, actual 2nd hand markets, more emphasis on local play, games mostly available as physical media allows for true ownership of content, Plug-and-Play)

Dark Souls 2 is not great, it isn't good either, it is just an "ok" game.
 
Me neither. I never enjoyed GTA also.

Not quite controversial, but I really want to play two upcoming 3DS games, but I can't bring myself to spend $40 (actually more than that, where I live) in a game anymore.

Uh... Here is a controversial one:

Game Freak is ruining the Pokémon series by keeping creating more and more species. The designs are still good, but fuck man, there are almost 800 Pokémon. Ugh.

This is truly making me care less and less for a franchise that I've been playing for nearly 15 years :(

So, they should stop making Pokemon games, then?
 
Backwards compatibility is a grossly overrated feature

After seeing how well the PS3 recovered after they removed it, and how it's done fuck all for the WiiU despite the Wii being the top seller last gen, I have to agree. People are investing in these boxes because they expect it to pay dividends over time; they can and will just stick with their old consoles if they don't think it's worth it.

On that note: I don't understand why people ask for advice on whether a console purchase is a good idea. Here's a very, very simple metric to use; if you have to ask whether a console is right for you, IT ISN'T RIGHT FOR YOU YET. Just wait until you're sure and buy it then. Where's the harm in that?
 
my controversial opinions are usually the "I like this game everyone says it shit" kind :(
 
I still don't think I've ever played a game where, in the campaign, I can just jump in a vehicle when I find one, or steal a vehicle like I can in Halo.

So its safe to say you've never play any entry in the GTA series? ...I have my own hang ups when it comes to the games themselves but it's the overzealous fans that I find have made Halo out to be some mythical beast -- nothing has never been achieved the greatness before the great Halo(s).

The Halo games are great, well 1-3 and Reach are (imo). What I always found lacking but for whatever reason it is lauded for but fans is it's storytelling and plot(s) which are mediocre at best. Bring up this issue and I'm told to read the books which expands on the universe... But I'd wish the games were better at telling me a story, some compelling characters maybe?

But it's a shooter so maybe I shouldn't?
 
Dark Souls is infinitely better than Demon Souls. From Software fucked up a beautiful thing when they created DS2.
 
Uncharted 1 is overrated.
The gameplay is just straight shit
It looked so good too initially and I did like the Jak games plenty.

Well, I still enjoyed Uncharted, but it didn't really seem like anything remarkable outside perhaps of going with a very different tone in world and characters.
You're not alone with this opinion. The entire series is overrated and the gameplay is shit to mediocre at best.
Always seemed odd to me how people gushed about Uncharted 2, even as the best game of the year, while Demon's Souls came out at roughly the same time and was completely mind blowing. I guess Demon's Souls IS kind of ugly in comparison and... actually I'm not saying it's harder, because fuck the na'vi that showed up at the end of the game. Had more trouble with them than anything Demon's Souls threw at me.
 
Between fidelity, variety, affordability and overall quality, video gamers of every breed have it better today than they ever have in history.
 
One console future ftw. People keep saying competition (great 4 consumers). But I believe they're fooling themselves. Where we need innovation in is GAMES! Not hardware.

Theres nothing great for consumers for having to spend $1,200 dollars (XB1,PS4,WiiU) to be able to play every fucking game.

I love this industry. Have since as long as I can remember. But it will never get to where its rightful place up there with movies,tv. As long as you have console manufacturers constantly battling each other which imho just confuses alot of people.

I mean would tvs be as big if you had to buy a Samsung to watch FOX? Or a Toshiba to watch ESPN? And they were all blocked from one brand to another? I get angry when I hear somebody spout out that Competition is great for consumers BS.

We need a standard just like DVD players or tvs. Even if you had one standard and the console was more expensive at the beginning. Say $600 or so. That would still be half what you're paying now to get access to any game you'd want. Halo, Mario, Gears,Infamous, God of war. I think people are right in a way. Competition is great! However I think people are misplacing where the competition should be taking place. THE GAMES! This is a software not a hardware business. Anyway. Have a great day everybody. Sorry for the long rant.:-)
 
So its safe to say you've never play any entry in the GTA series? ...I have my own hang ups when it comes to the games themselves but it's the overzealous fans that I find have made Halo out to be some mythical beast -- nothing has never been achieved the greatness before the great Halo(s).

Should have clarified I meant combat games, or even shooters in general. No other mainline game does that. Sure, Halo is still technically "linear," but the vehicles help to add for a lot more freedom and open levels (excepting Delta Halo in Halo 2. I never got why people liked that level.).

The Halo games are great, well 1-3 and Reach are (imo). What I always found lacking but for whatever reason it is lauded for but fans is it's storytelling and plot(s) which are mediocre at best. Bring up this issue and I'm told to read the books which expands on the universe... But I'd wish the games were better at telling me a story, some compelling characters maybe?

But it's a shooter so maybe I shouldn't?

The lore is great, but the stories themselves are pretty mediocre. Halo 2 had the right idea as far as scale goes, and Reach had the right idea as far as emotion goes, but they failed pretty bad at both I thought. Reach's story just felt waaay too short.

It's really something that could be improved. I actually think first person games have some of the greatest potential for compelling, impactful story-telling.

Oh, and about the "and I'm told to read the books" and things. Yeah. That goes against a fundamental rule of story telling which is essentially "Every story, every episode, every broadcast, every level, every chapter, you name it -- all are the viewer's/gamer's first."

I think it's a shame that Halo has fairly abysmal story telling for the most part, but unfortunately, so do most games.
 
One console future ftw. People keep saying competition (great 4 consumers). But I believe they're fooling themselves. Where we need innovation in is GAMES! Not hardware.

Theres nothing great for consumers for having to spend $1,200 dollars (XB1,PS4,WiiU) to be able to play every fucking game.

I love this industry. Have since as long as I can remember. But it will never get to where its rightful place up there with movies,tv. As long as you have console manufacturers constantly battling each other which imho just confuses alot of people.

I mean would tvs be as big if you had to buy a Samsung to watch FOX? Or a Toshiba to watch ESPN? And they were all blocked from one brand to another? I get angry when I hear somebody spout out that Competition is great for consumers BS.

We need a standard just like DVD players or tvs. Even if you had one standard and the console was more expensive at the beginning. Say $600 or so. That would still be half what you're paying now to get access to any game you'd want. Halo, Mario, Gears,Infamous, God of war. I think people are right in a way. Competition is great! However I think people are misplacing where the competition should be taking place. THE GAMES! This is a software not a hardware business. Anyway. Have a great day everybody. Sorry for the long rant.:-)

You have to take into account that the technology for video games (aka, computer technology) is always rapidly in flux. It's relatively simple to nail down a single industry standard format for pre-recorded media. Yet look at the controversy and conflict over blu-ray vs HD-DVD.

Traditionally one major reason there were many different game consoles is because there was no one ideal tech tree to get to an optimal console at the time. Everything was a trade-off to create an affordable box. Each company fought to create the best box, and that is where competition did result in technology moving rapidly. Now to be fair, as technology matures and various diminishing returns are reached, there is a better argument for a single platform. That world may be coming, but it's not here quite yet.
 
Why bother writing a paragraph just to have some rabid fanboy come in foaming at the mouth because someone doesn't agree with them?
Or more likely, it just gets ignored.

Also Demon's Souls is better than Dark Souls. Dark Souls is a grander idea executed with less resources, and it's "connected world" only lasts for about 1/3rd of the game. Demon's Souls is much more articulate in the execution of it's vision.

I haven't played enough Dark Souls 2 (waiting on the PC version) but it's backlash by the more evangelical fans was really obvious, whether or not it deserved it.
 
You have to take into account that the technology for video games (aka, computer technology) is always rapidly in flux. It's relatively simple to nail down a single industry standard format for pre-recorded media. Yet look at the controversy and conflict over blu-ray vs HD-DVD.

Traditionally one major reason there were many different game consoles is because there was no one ideal tech tree to get to an optimal console at the time. Everything was a trade-off to create an affordable box. Each company fought to create the best box, and that is where competition did result in technology moving rapidly. Now to be fair, as technology matures and various diminishing returns are reached, there is a better argument for a single platform. That world may be coming, but it's not here quite yet.


IMO it would be to Sony's and Microsoft's disadvantage if that future were to happen - if you went from having an Xbox to have Halo and a Playstation to have Killzone to the Playbox that can have both, Sony and Microsoft would lose a hell of a lot of money, cause chances are you're only really going to play one of them (depending on what you like, what your friends prefer etc). In fact, at that point, what's stopping people from buying the PC equivalent (e.g. CounterStrike, Titanfall etc) with the benefits of Humble Bundle and Steam sales?

The real winner in that situation would be PC gaming, but Nintendo would theoretically be in a better position than either Microsoft or Sony - they don't have to worry about making the hardware, so they could increase their software output in both volume and quality.
 
B-Games need to be recognized both by gamers, developers, and critics, and have a place in the field. Not mid-tier games, though those need a bigger comeback too, but B-Games, like B-Movies, with either purposefully terrible elements matched with exceedingly interesting or fun elements, guilty pleasures, or jankiness ahoy. We're somewhat there with the likes of things like Deadly Premonition and Goat Simulator, but we need to embrace the B-jank and recognize it, and get it to the mainstream.

It would help a lot with bloated development costs and super high expectations, and help pave-way for middle ground, budgeted titles. Appease to groups and be cheap-made but entertaining none-the-less works to both develop and play. B-Movies exist to do this role for films, and be a 'fun' project for the people making the film that is also equally fun for those who watch it, but also not being anything that needs big bucks to make profit back, Basically a passion project with all the jank needed to both make it and to exist.
 
You have to take into account that the technology for video games (aka, computer technology) is always rapidly in flux. It's relatively simple to nail down a single industry standard format for pre-recorded media. Yet look at the controversy and conflict over blu-ray vs HD-DVD.

Traditionally one major reason there were many different game consoles is because there was no one ideal tech tree to get to an optimal console at the time. Everything was a trade-off to create an affordable box. Each company fought to create the best box, and that is where competition did result in technology moving rapidly. Now to be fair, as technology matures and various diminishing returns are reached, there is a better argument for a single platform. That world may be coming, but it's not here quite yet.
Yeah, this. Video games are completely interactive and need real time rendering, and by proxy are much more dependent on hardware and the underlying software so one set standard is a pain in the ass to do. There's PC to an extent, in that you have a wide number of configurations but generally all games will run on it, but that's kind of the exception that proves the rule because it's much more complicated for people to use, more prone to random issues, and in general is much more expensive on the hardware end.

Really, when it comes to formats like movies or music it's just that you have static file that can run on a wide variety of configurations, much like how iTunes, Foobar, and Winamp all play MP3s. In contrast games are more like synthesized music that ISN'T a premade recording, and that can turn out very differently with different hardware.

And frankly, even among other passive formats things aren't as nice and clean as we'd like. You point at movie DVDs, I point at streaming services and how they're not necessarily on each device or have the same titles. And even putting that aside (it's like different cable packages!) there is the fact for dedicated eReaders they're generally their own little island, not depending on one singular format.

Is Ocarina of Time even considered an RPG though?
If you go by the Japanese cover (look near the bottom.)

But the fact it's the kind of game you can hold a legit debate about rather than just being a purist jackass about ("you don't actually role play or make meaningful choices in FFVII therefore it's not an RPG!") shows that it's far from a guarantee for many RPG fans. And I do think that while there's significant overlap the bases and reasons for interest are fundamentally distinct.
 
There is not a single PS1 game that has "aged well"

FinalFantasyTacticsboxjpg.jpg
 
There is not a single PS1 game that has "aged well

I disagree with this. I only got into gaming with the PS2 generation so I don't have any nostalgia for PS1 titles, but I've recently been playing a bunch of the classics on Vita:

Metal Gear Solid
Resident Evil 2&3
Castlevania: SOTN
Vagrant Story
Silent Hill

And I've thoroughly enjoyed all of them. Obviously the graphics aren't flashy, but I think all of them look really good because they have great art design that shines through, and the gameplay systems themselves are rock solid. They are some of the best games I've ever played, just as there are tons of old movies that are still amazing--the technology isn't as 'good', but the content is.
 
If you go by the Japanese cover (look near the bottom.)

But the fact it's the kind of game you can hold a legit debate about rather than just being a purist jackass about ("you don't actually role play or make meaningful choices in FFVII therefore it's not an RPG!") shows that it's far from a guarantee for many RPG fans. And I do think that while there's significant overlap the bases and reasons for interest are fundamentally distinct.

Interesting, didn't know it was marketed that way in Japan! I'm not very familiar with the series, but I can definitely see RPG aspects and appeal to it, I just had never heard anybody refer to the Zelda games as RPGs (except wasn't the 2nd or 3rd in the series a legit RPG?).
 
IMO it would be to Sony's and Microsoft's disadvantage if that future were to happen - if you went from having an Xbox to have Halo and a Playstation to have Killzone to the Playbox that can have both, Sony and Microsoft would lose a hell of a lot of money, cause chances are you're only really going to play one of them (depending on what you like, what your friends prefer etc). In fact, at that point, what's stopping people from buying the PC equivalent (e.g. CounterStrike, Titanfall etc) with the benefits of Humble Bundle and Steam sales?

The real winner in that situation would be PC gaming, but Nintendo would theoretically be in a better position than either Microsoft or Sony - they don't have to worry about making the hardware, so they could increase their software output in both volume and quality.
This right here is exactly what I'm talking about my friend. The GAMES is where the competition should be taking place! Let Halo go directly against Killzone and let the best game win. That is where we win, because it will force developers to go directly against one another vs hiding behind a console exclusive clause. Also because of the one console standard the market itself would be larger. For instance last Gen you had 80 million each for 360vs PS3. So give or take around 160 million customers that were split. Now thered be one large pool.

I was thinking along the lines like the bluray consortium. Lets say the VG consortium. Sony, MS, Nintendo,Samsung and whoever. Decide every 5 years or so. Ok the CPU should be at least this. The gpu should meet this performance. Of course each individual manufacturer could change a little bit. Maybe HD space and what not. But you get the idea.
 
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