Video Games are the greatest form on entertainment on earth!

[Vodstok]

Ever heard of a "Rube Goldberg Machine"?

If you havent, they are wile e coyote-esque, overcomplicated machines that do very simple things. Another good example is the game Mousetrap.

Som creative individual used Gary's mod for Half-life 2 to make one, and it is a great vehicle to showcase the Source engine's physics abilities.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6148878850469533200&q=half-life+2&hl=en

It is just amazing.... And the tech that is supposed to come out in the next year is going to set the bar even higher. Best of all (for me anyway), game companies have been hiring actual writers since HL was a big success (Mark laidlaw is still on staff scripting the games)


heres another:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8926325136071596338&q=half-life+2&hl=en

[Roderick Usher]

wow, that was really boring

[Vodstok]

wow, that was really boring

I know you werent kidding, but that made me laugh. Damn killjoy....

[Roderick Usher]

Sorry, Vod.

It's just that someone spent a lot of time planning out a virtual Rube Goldberg machine and it was just one pixilated BOOM after another.

Doesn't seem that hard to do when the laws of physics are being programmed

[crabapple]

Aw, heck, I like virtual physics as much as the next person. But my idea of a video game is like 3D miniature golf. I have a small collection of different minigolf courses and I can never find anyone to play it with me because supposedly it's lame and I'm a ... "dork," I think, was the word they used.

[Vodstok]

No problem, they arent for everyone. Go back to your cave paintings :p


just kidding. I get impressed when programmers make it so real-world actions can be recreated in the computer, probably because i know how godamn hard it is to do.

valve Software made the world, these are just examples of what users were able to do with it.

It gets me really excited for games like Bioshock and Quake Wars where you get handed a bunch of tools and some objectives, and the world evolves around your actions. the buzz word is "Emergent gameplay", but basically it is a fancy way of saying "Shit happnes that the programmer didnt plan for."

It has been happening almost since video games have been around, but that stage is being set for even more complex worlds and more interesting outcomes.


I think it all has to do with how you look at it. on the surface, the videos are pretty boring, but they represent a huge step fowrward in what computers are capable of.

Think of someof the things pixar has done with animation. Years ago, EVERYTHING had to be animated manually, even water. Now, they are creating virtual water that acts just like water. throw a rock into it and it splashes and ripples, instead of just kicking off a splash sprite.

Ahem... I guess i am aas apssionate about programming as i am writing....:o

[urgeok]

i'm intrigued by the capabilities of these games .. i like the way they look and feel .. i'm amazed by the imagination and programming - i just cant play them for more than 10 min at a time.

[Vodstok]

i'm intrigued by the capabilities of these games .. i like the way they look and feel .. i'm amazed by the imagination and programming - i just cant play them for more than 10 min at a time.

I can and have played for hours before. I dont get a whole lot of time for them these days, but when i do i make it count. i would LOVE to get to work on one. I have played around with programming physics and AI, but nothign serious so far.

[crabapple]

Hey, when you LOVE something--I'm talking about LOVE, electric love--you gotta sing it, do it, jump up and shout it. You gotta do your thing, that's what it's about.

[newb]

Pretty cool Vod. I think the physics in Half Life are the best i've ever seen in a video game.

[Vodstok]

Another one to get excited about. Looks like some pretty amazing teamplay from the other videos ive seen, but this is just cool :
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4717827582923346912&q=quake+wars

[Roderick Usher]

You want to see awesomely realistic environments and real-life physics?

Step outside.

It's crazy how real that shit is!

[Vodstok]

:p

It's just another form of story telling, where the person being entertained is active rather than passive.

[crabapple]

Seriously...I really do like virtual minigolf, and virtual pool games too. The ball physics make that stuff realistic, and you don't have to go anywhere to do it. I like virtual things.

[Vodstok]

From a different thread, but:
poo-nuts;)

I'll never budge on this one



Why do you dislike video games so much? Especially these days, every bit as much work and passion (sometimes more) goes into a game as a movie, and the goal of both is the same.

[Despare]

You want to see awesomely realistic environments and real-life physics?

Step outside.

It's crazy how real that shit is!


But I can't legally use those physics to hurl barrells of explosive liquid (while it's on fire) at people for fun. Besides, real phsycis mixed with an over the top world create an experience that can't be replicated in real life. A lot of games, the good ones at least, are like watching a movie or reading a book only you control some of it.

[Vodstok]

But I can't legally use those physics to hurl barrells of explosive liquid (while it's on fire) at people for fun. Besides, real phsycis mixed with an over the top world create an experience that can't be replicated in real life. A lot of games, the good ones at least, are like watching a movie or reading a book only you control some of it.

Exactly. This is why i cant stand sports games, i can actually play football, or baseball, but i cant crawl through the alien infested depths of an underground government research facility while combating special forces. Not this week anyway.

[Despare]

I like some sports games, especially playing with buddies. Sure I can go outside and toss the ball around but when we're both controlling a team and trash talking... it's just fun. Although I'd rather play non-sports games. Creeping through a casino that's been taken over by terrorists while the abduction of your team is still fresh on your mind.

[Roderick Usher]

A lot of games, the good ones at least, are like watching a movie or reading a book only you control some of it.

Exactly why I don't like video games. If the general public controls it, it can't possibly be art.

In a book or movie an artist is taking you on a voyage that is specifically designed to ellicit specific emotions and reactions. Every bit of it is crafted to deliver the artist's message, his or her words and/or images exactly as they are intended. Immersing yourself in a book or movie is to relinquish control, to give in completely to a creator's will.

Video games have no set path. Yes there are game perameters and specific scenarios, characters and environments. Yes they are crafted by skilled individuals who are telling a story, but the experience of controlling the action yourself eliminates the possiblilty for artistic expression and reflection.

Mostly it's just BOOM BOOM BOOM and people living out thier most malicious intents.

I will concede that eye-hand coordination and problem solving skills can certianly be improved by playing these games...I can see it in my children.

But honestly what do you like most in your gaming experience? Shooting and blowing shit up, right? You don't walk away from a 4 hour gaming marathon puzzling over the arc of the characters or the social/philosophical implications of what alien contact would mean to mankind, or how path global terrorism is going to affect our daily lives - you just want to shoot the fuckers.

It plays to the basest human instincts and I will not soil myself with it. I hate the medium.

There, I'm done. I'll leave you gamers alone now.

[Vodstok]

Ahh, but things they are a-changin'

more and more, games are being desinged to illicit emotion rather than run and gun. Sure, killing is part of it, but that hardly separates it from film or tv. The characters have personalities and backgrounds, there is a point to everything.

Half-life and its sequal are very story driven. FEAR is practically a movie that you get to walk through.

[Roderick Usher]

You have a huge commute, right? Full-time job? Wife, kid? No time to spend working on your craft of writing?

How many hours do you spend gaming compared to writing?

Nothing wrong with gaming, but it does tend to suck people in and EAT time. Don't we all have better things to do?

[Despare]

Videogames are art in my opinon. It's not all just shooting games you know, in fact that's a HUGE misconception. Chrono Cross, Skies of Arcadia, and countless other games not only illicit emotion but show an amount of character development greater than a lot of books and movies I've read. Hell, there are also a lot of great puzzle games which don't involve characters but stimulate problem solving and abstract thought. Posting on interenet forums eat time too, there's ALWAYS something better to do no matter what you're doing. Besides, videogames help me to relax and relieve stress which is invaluable.

[Vodstok]

You have a huge commute, right? Full-time job? Wife, kid? No time to spend working on your craft of writing?

How many hours do you spend gaming compared to writing?

Nothing wrong with gaming, but it does tend to suck people in and EAT time. Don't we all have better things to do?

At this point in my life, i spend less than an hour every 2 weeks playing games. I spend a ton of time writing between programming and writing my fiction. But i definately see your point with that one. it is a very time consuming form of entertainment

[urgeok]

At this point in my life, i spend less than an hour every 2 weeks playing games. I spend a ton of time writing between programming and writing my fiction. But i definately see your point with that one. it is a very time consuming form of entertainment

i'd certainly rather play a video game than watch boxing on TV :p

[_____V_____]

Agreed 100% to the title of this thread. Nothing beats plugging the console in and grabbing the controller for some much needed stress relief.

Lemme tell you, intriguing oneself with stuff from a fictitious environment engages the brain cells in activities which take it away from the hammerings of common, daily hing-a-ding. Not necessarily grabbing a BFG and blasting the living shit off CGI loaded graphics, but racking the brains puzzling over imaginary mysteries also helps heaps.

Be it aliens, humans. puzzles or rivals, here I come! :cool:

[newb]

How about the fact that video games are just plain fun. Just another form of entertainment....some people will think nothing of sitting on the couch for 4 or more hours watching a football game or watching movies.

Different strokes for different folks. [ I just made that up ]

[Vodstok]

Different strokes for different folks. [ I just made that up ]
Wow, that's catchy. You should copyright that light Paris Hilton tried to do with "That's hot."

[crabapple]

Different strokes for different folks. [ I just made that up ]

You're lying.

[crabapple]

I wanted to mention virtual pinball games, also. I used to love going to the arcade and playing pinball machines. Now it's hard to even find these machines. Playing on a real, physically solid machine is cool, there is nothing quite like that...especially in the environment of an arcade with all the noise, people, flashing lights and so on...pure joy. But those arcades are vanishing and those pinball games going into the homes of collectors. Virtual pinball games, however, are still very much available, as retro as they may seem.

Yesterday I got the "Avengers" pinball game for next to nothing, and it's not bad. It has soundbytes and video clips from the show--even a full-screen opening title sequence that introduces the game. Only some kind of fogey would remember "The Avengers" but this was a neat show and they made a neat pinball game out of it.

[Vodstok]

Hey,they used to show it on A&E all the time 10 years ago... Even before that attrocious movie...

And who can forget that Mrs james Bond had a leading role in the show?