It's like peanut butter and pepperoni. I like both... but not at the same time.

Also, ditch the idea that the movie needs more 'sex appeal' to gain an audience. It doesn't. People won't come to see Alien 5 because you manage to get Jessica Alba to come out of a pool of water in slow motion. ...okay, SOME people will. But mostly folks will be coming to see humans and aliens kick nine shades of hell out of each other.

The Doc gets a new female companion and has some "love-that-cannot-be plot" bit, there a "Doctor Light" episode which has a 75% chance of being utter CRAP, the Cybermen and Daleks show up, hot off of being recently 'defeated once and for all', and at the end of the day, somebody pulls a Roman God Machine out of his hat and saves the universe... often undoing all the sad terrible things in the process.

I mean, seriously. Let's take a look at some of the bigger Deus Ex Machinas this show has stuck in our faces...
Captain Jack is dead? That sucks... DEUS EX IMMORTALITY! Now he's all better. And can't die at all! ...but now the Doctor hates him, and has hung a sign over the Companion bunk that reads "No Blokes", so you have to go enjoy a spinoff now. (And then turn into a giant head and eventually die... whatever.)
The Master has conquered the Earth and turned David Tenett into an wrinkle old pickle creature? DEUS EX PARADOX! It never happened! See? Everyone's happy and safe. Yay.
(Person A: "But I thought you couldn't re-write your own timeline..."
Person B: SHUT! UP! YOU SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!)
Oh no! There are MILLIONS of terrible machine men/ machine fire hydrants bent on killing the universe? We cannot possibly stop them all? This is a true crisis? DEUS EX SPECIAL EFFECT THINGY! Oh, blimey, they're all dead. I wonder why we didn't think of that before? It worked the LAST 4 times this happened.
...and that's not even all of them!

The first series was fresh, and different, and the Doctor was different, too. He'd come off a war, and it had been rough, and he was rough for it. Then he had a midlife regeneration, and decided it would be more fun to be a goofy ponce who can't really get brooding quite right. It's been getting steadily worse since then, I feel, but I can tell you the PRECISE moment this show jumped the shark.

That would be the 2006 finale, when you had Daleks, Cybermen, and a great big stupid Dues Ex Machine fix the whole thing, but also trap Rose in an alternate dimension.
"But why?"
"Oh, cause of this (technobable)."
"Drats!"

Still, this series DID have some redeeming moments. Like the fact that despite being a chick, Donna was very much NOT into the Doctor, and was instead a 'buddy' character. The "we're not married" bit got old, but her 'hands off, bucko!' moments grew on me. And it was a welcome relief from the string of doe-eyed bimbos. And yeah, that includes Captain Jack.

And, at least they didn't feel the need to wrangle the Cybermen in this year. ...except, they'll apparently be back for Christmas. Balls.

Ok. Seriously, give the show a break. Come back in 2010 with a new, less goofball Doctor. Give the Daleks and Cybermen a chance to be REALLY DEAD for a bit, so when they actually show up again, it means something. Show us what happened to Gallifrey, deal more with the Shadow Proclimation, touch on the Master/Doctor relationship a bit, and for GOD SAKE, stay out of Cardiff.

Gallagher's statement shows he believe there's a causal link between video-games and violence. Or so he 'guesses'. Which is kind of why Kotaku posted the story in the first place.

Also, I never complained about your cheap insults, or your generalizations ('GTA players are stupid; work at McDonald's'). But I think it's nicely hilarious that you offer that up as some kind of consolation prize. And your hypocrisy is astonishing.

You, sir, have lost at the internet so hard Al Gore is on his way to your house to slap you.

...that said, I might well build a new rig to run this one maxed out.

It's like this... if I said "People say that Oasis causes aids, and I guess that's got something to do with it", I'm pretty sure people would think me stupid. And since I know fuck-all about the science involved in transferring a virus through sound, well, he'd be well right to call me an idiot for saying so.

Kotaku: Guy says something. We kinda sarcastically think he's wrong.

You: ZOMG FASCISTS!

Seriously. Shh. You're making the internets sad.

I resent the implication that the people who DO take such matters are virtual sociopaths. No, it's not about exalting violence for it's own sake. It's a simple premise... if they censor THIS, eventually, they'll censor something else. And then you wake up one day an a Fireman is at the door, asking to see your book collection.

As for the "Gr, Kotaku biased" bit... well, it IS a sodding video game site. I'm no completely sure, now, but I think the NRA's newsblog might be a bit titled towards a certain point of view.

Completely objective journalism is a bullshit premise, anyhow. Even the best, most honest and objective-aspiring newsman will let a little hint of opinion slip through.

I'm having a bit of trouble pinning down the source of your argument... but I have a feeling it has something to do with a tear stained Oasis poster.

Not saying I'm RIGHT... it's a pretty jerky thing to do. But there it is.

"Well, I deliver pizzas for a living, but it SEEMS TO ME, if you're talking about cooling a nuclear reactor, you should use Mountain Dew."

If you can't be bothered to at least do some basic research into the subject you are speaking on, please, spare the rest of us your personal delusions. Spouting your baseless opinion on the root cause of endemic social violence when thousands of research papers and articles on the subject are a Google search away is just, well, RETARDED.

In essence, you did exactly what Gallagher did. You threw out a statement on a subject you had a marginal understanding of, at best. Hence, sarcasm. But I'll make you a deal...
You try not to apply your personal gut instinct to science, and I'll try not to say mean things to you.*

* - I'm not actually going to stop saying mean things.

Stick THAT in your pipe and smoke it, ya stupid hippy.

I liked him better when he just hit watermelons with a mallet.

...but then, it's not exactly 0%, is it? Me? I prefer to round up when dealing with the death of the species.

A 9-volt that stubs it's toe... that's an aggravated battery. Shooting a guy twice over a PSP? That's ATTEMPTED MURDER.

No wonder Jack Thompson was able to practice law in that state for so long.

"All this has happened before... IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY, BITCH."

In essence, what Fritz is saying is that issues that have a possibility of being provocative, controversial, or even (god help us) offensive, have no place in games. Which is, if you'll pardon the expression, FUCKING STUPID. Fritz acknowledges the game likely won't have an 'atrocity button', letting you throw small pox laden blankets to the natives, but for some crazy reason, he seems to take offense at the mere NOTION of colonization. He even talks about how it's possible to peacefully resolve your conflicts with the natives... but, no. Still offended. Lastly, he talks about how he's for the first amendment, and how he believes 2K has the right to release the game, before saying they SHOULDN'T.

You can't sanitize history, Mr. Fritz. Well... you can, it's been done. But you shouldn't. It leads to bad places. Nor should you sanitize a video game ABOUT history. I'm sorry if the events of the 1400-1800s offended you, sir, but you seriously need to grab hold on some reality. The claim that a Civilization title is in some way obscene is just absurd.

[insomniabob.blogspot.com]

Because while I'm frequently a jerk, I'm not a DOUCHEBAG.

I'd be willing to bet that out of 2,676 people, all but perhaps 400 of them are opportunistic dickheads, trying to get some easy money.

1. Some kind of legal issues with the titles themself. Party A owns the rights to the game itself, Party B owns the distribution rights, whatever. Which is stupid, but possible.
2. Some kind of technical issue... but that doesn't seem very likely.
3. Sony US is fucking retarded.

I can't say for certain which. Kotaku, wanna use your journalistic cred to ask a Sony rep for an answer?

Also, if 5 different companies are making a 360 console, that's good for YOU, the consumer. Why? Because you can compare the models, and buy the one that doesn't suck for you. Good stuff.

Be interesting to see how this will play out.

One man's seemingly unstoppable rampage has already claimed 12 lives, and wounded hundreds more in Tokyo's Akihabara district. This tragedy began when a maid cafe in Akihabara suddenly exploded. Witnesses to the event claim the destruction was was caused when a fast moving object fell out of the sky, slamming into the cafe.
According to witnesses, the perpetrator stood up out of the rubble, placed a portable stereo (of the type commonly referred to as a "Ghetto Blaster") on the ground beside him. Upon activating the stereo, the "Godzilla Theme" from the popular series of movies could be heard playing.
"That's when he starting attacking people", says Kenji Irakawa, a student and self describe 'otaku'. "My english isn't very good... but I think he kept asking 'Why?' over and over again. And I think he was crying."

With a combination of drop-kicks, suplexes, and a martial art's technique known as 'Falcon Punch', this unknown assailant quickly overwhelmed the nerds and teenagers in Akihabara, before moving on to the rest of Tokyo. Local police have thus far been unable to stop, or even slow, the man's rampage down.
"Nothing can stop him... he seems to be fueled by pure rage!"

Currently, the JSDF is in the process of luring the man out to see, where an experimental "oxygen destroyer" will be deployed. Scientists hope this devastating weapon will be enough to halt the man's rampage, but the Prime Minister's office is taking no chances, and has called on the international community for military aid and disaster relief.

The reason people fall over themselves is because when Blizzard puts out a game... ANY game, they go all the way into quality-land as the limits of technology will allow. Even WoW, which I hate, was lovingly crafted, and well executed. I found it repetitious, but they've got like 15 million people playing it, or something, so they don't need me. And every other Blizzard game has been pure. Fucking. Gold.

Sure, I'd love to see a new IP from Blizzard. But it's been 8 YEARS. Daddy needs his demon horde killin' fix.

Also, after exhaustive research, I've decoded the secret, and I'm prepared to announce it.

It's not Diablo 3. It's a Diablo 2 expansion pack. Suck it.

Doesn't necessarily mean anything... but hell, we all know it had to happen some time. Now's as good a time as any, and since we've already got another World of Warcraft Expansion and Starcraft II in the pipe, unless it's a new IP, that means Diablo.

In this game, rather than being a one man army, (I've seen a total of ONE gun used in gameplay) you're a regular(ish) guy, who has to use his brains and his available resources to defeat or avoid his enemies. If that's not survival horror, I don't know what is.

But what will set Alone apart from other games is the realistic interactions between the character, his items, and the environment.

And I'll tell you why... it has an element that I've seen in most of the better games I've played in the last 8 years... games that actually broke ground instead of trying to copy something else.

Attention to detail.

Take the MGS series, for example. Each game had an increasing number of ways you could interact with the world. By MGS2, almost every 'prop' object could be expected to behave realistically when shot. Most games don't even bother.

I can count on one hand the number of games that let you do something as simple as shooting out a lightbulb, but I can't even begin to add up the games with at least one 'stealth sequence' where you CAN'T. Not because I don't want to... but because I can't remember them ALL. They don't stand out from the crowd, because it's so damn common now.

Those minor details are what really make a game come to life... make it believable. But most developers don't bother with the 'little touches' anymore... especially in the last few years.

Case in point, when I started playing MGS4, there were actually several times occasions when I was baffled to find things that actually WORKED like one would expect them to in real life. Soda cans make noise when shot or accidently kicked. Garbage bins, which appear to be mere background detail from a distance, are actually a useful hiding space. Alert guards can smell cigarette smoke, Etc.

In the last two or three years, I'd gotten so used to thinking about how things worked in a GAME, that when confronted with realistic behaviors in a game, I was taken aback. And that's just incidental little touches from Kojima-san's team. Imagine a whole game built around that premise?

In Alone, fire spreads realistically. Lighter fluid can be used in a variety of clever (and deadly) ways. Objects can be picked up and used as blunt force weapons, or used to handle dangerous obstacles... knocking down a burning door or moving a power line.

I've seen a LOT to make me excited about this game. About the only thing that could pooch the deal is if it has gut-wrenchingly awful controls, coupled with abysmal voice acting. I've seen A bad review... but frankly, I don't trust the source has a good grasp of 'good', since he somehow manages to compare it to God of War.

@Vanguarde: Unless that review was written by JESUS, I'd say you should probably still rent it. I mean, come on.