Category Archives: Rants

Idiot Drivers, Enjoy a Lesson in Safety

Driving Rage

This morning I had immense road rage, but it was totally justified. One guy was inches away from driving out in front of me at a roundabout, and at least four others changed lanes in front of me suddenly, without indicating. This makes me angry, and in my pure rage I recalled the following scene from the brilliant action-comedy, Shoot Em Up. If only I could dispatch ignorant drivers in the same way. One can only dream!

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Anders Breivik is a Psychopath who Happens to Like Games

This weekend, Anders Behring Breivik murdered 76 people is Oslo, Norway. He has written a “manifesto”, explaining his actions, and among the 1’500 pages of whatever bullshit a psychopathic zealot might discuss are several refrences to video games. He claims to have used Modern Warfare 2 as a “training simulation” for his operation, and WoW as an excuse to his friends and family for spending so much time in isolation. This is no doubt going to dig up the age-old misguided media-fuelled argument that videogames are responsible for making people go around killing people. I expect Jack Thompson will rear his ugly face soon enough, but I want to get in here right away: the man who carried out this attack is INSANE.

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Why I Don’t Give a Shit if a Game is Innovative

Guest Article : Steven Harbor

The current generation of video games is stricken with a curse. To my memory, neither the previous generation nor any of the generations before it had this problem. This problem was introduced way back in 2006 when Nintendo finally announced its new gaming system, the Nintendo Wii. Nintendo touted their new “innovative” motion controls. These motion controls would supposedly usher in a new era of “innovative” games. Nintendo, after decades of repeatedly remaking their key franchises with marginal improvements and updated graphics, suddenly became the harbinger of innovative gaming. Ever since then, Microsoft, Sony, and every developer in the world have been trying desperately to jump on what I would say is an imaginary bandwagon. It’s a bandwagon of innovation that does not actually exist. The Wii obviously did not usher in an innovative era of gaming. There isn’t a single game on my girlfriend’s Wii collection (which is quite large) that I can say uses the Wii remote in any meaningful way. Nintendo blinded everyone with a hail storm of marketing and hype over its product, acting as if it was the second coming of Jesus, but what motion controlled game came out last year that you just absolutely loved? That’s what I thought. You were holding the controller sideways and using the 1 and 2 buttons as A and B buttons on all those games. Now that’s a real era of innovation right there. “Oh, but there was that one thing where you have to shake the controller up and down to—“ shut up before I smack you in the face.

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Stranded on the M3!

Aaaaaargh! I’m currently sat inside Winchester Services on the M3. My car’s headlights decided to stop working, and I’m waiting for the AA man to arrive. Luckily this place has free wi-fi, and I’m able to sit here blogging this and login to Steam to play Braid on my little netbook. I wish I was at home playing New Vegas… Read More ››

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Ubisoft – How Did It Come To This?

This has been covered in the news a lot lately, but I’m still not over it and feel it deserves a place in our Rants section. I’m talking about Ubisoft’s truly bewildering (read: INSANE) new DRM system. I strongly oppose the principle of it, and fear what it may mean to the future of PC gaming, especially if other companies start considering similar plans…

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Addicted to Achievements

Achievement Unlocked

What makes you want to finish a video game? Just getting to the end of it is usually enough to satisfy most people to the point that they will happily trade it in for a new one right away, because, well – apart from multiplayer – there’s nothing left to do once you’ve completed it, right?

Don’t be stupid, of course there is!

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