Kotaku 
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Denver, 8:31 AM
Sun Nov 15
20 posts in the last 24 hours
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09/19/09
09/18/09
09/18/09
09/20/09
09/18/09
09/18/09
and they're both difficult and frustrating!
09/18/09
09/18/09
09/21/09
09/18/09
09/18/09
09/18/09
Also, you don't have to use the magic and stuff. I played nightlife without vampires and such. They are good with letting the user control how their world works.
09/18/09
I'll start with a normal mom and dad that sit around the living room watching the boob tube.
Then I'll add in a 25 year old fat gamer son who lives in the basement and does nothing but browse Kotaku all day trolling for PS3 fanboys by making fun of the crappy graphics.
Home, sweet, home.
09/18/09
Neither of them would have jobs (Being locked in a basement makes that a bit difficult) and they would only get money from the parents. They could have a family down there in the basement, and when the parents die or retire... I'll see how long they can live down there before the money runs out and they all starve to death.
09/18/09
09/20/09
09/18/09
09/18/09
How do you say "No..no,no,no..no...NO,nononononono!" in Simspeak?
09/18/09
09/11/09
They actually dock points from you if you kill the suspect after you interrogate/torture them...
WTF?
If anything you should be getting bonuses for burning people alive and decapitating them with windows!
09/11/09
09/11/09
I'd even go as far as to say that Jack Thompson's "murder simulators" accusation holds a little bit credence because playing tons of violent games will desensitize you to violence, and if the flow of a game regularly goes to torturing to get what you want, it will at least come to mind in such a situation in real life... his big failing is assuming that people will then go emulate it - that's a personal moral decision that's separate from inflicting it on avatars and NPCs, and the responsibility is entirely that of the person doing it.
Also... in Punisher you can CHROME A GUY'S HEAD... that doesn't even work in reality - it's cartoon torture and in my opinion, hilariously over the top. I think the presentation makes a big difference about what is disturbing or unacceptable.
09/11/09
2nd, "..accusation holds a little bit credence because playing tons of violent games will desensitize you to violence"
It does, but only to more fake videogame/movie violence.
The real thing is to much for most people that try to act "internet hardcore."
Which is part of why I won't work in hospitals anymore...the real thing sticks with you...
09/11/09
09/11/09
Force Unleashed (may God curse its name forever more), is a good example. I had great fun hovering stormtroopers over great chasms whilst they writhed in my force grip, only to zap them with lightning, flip them high into the air, and watch them plummet to their doom.
Prototype, as well. I'm not as bloodthirsty in it as my flatmate (quite disturbing from a guy who's generally quite peaceful and is also vegetarian), and in fact I usually do my best to avoid civilian casualties, but there's something perversely amusing about grabbing a bystander and running up every tall building you can whilst they writhe deseperately in your grip, before flinging them off into the distance.
...Then again, maybe I have issues. But, on a serious note, would anyone else consider these actions to be torture? Really, they are. The player is causing lengthy stress and pain to the characters. Is that 'okay', whereas doing it in a scripted scene or event isn't? Or would those decrying these torture scenes never do such a thing in a video game?
09/11/09
09/11/09
It's 2009. It's gone past the stage where games are merely a categorically fun experience. There are many other artistic avenues to be explored, and there is no reason why playing a game shouldn't make you intensely uncomfortable in certain circumstances.
If a game puts me in the shoes of a torturer, and makes an intelligent point whilst doing so, then I am all for it. If it throws in gratuitous torture scenes for no reason, that's a different matter.
09/11/09
09/11/09
09/11/09
Hence we have extraordinary rendition, and men like the Birmingham Six can spend 16 years of their lives in prison for crimes they didn't commit.