The Coop

Final Fantasy XIII

Sins are subjective. What one sees as a sin, another may not. But whether of not you play video games is simply fact. You either do, or you don't. It's also a fact that can change, not unlike saying the light is on, now it's off. It's based on the moment and can change while remaining completely true with each change. For me, labels are something that's not in the most positive of lights. No one likes to be labeled, as they're usually based more around opinions and judgments than any kind of fact. Hardcore and casual are labels, as they're opinion-based. What's hardcore? What's casual? To make those terms factual, you'd have to get everyone to 100% agree on their definitions... and that ain't gonna happen But facts are simply truth. The light's on, the light's off. It's not labeling to state those truths, as there's no opinion involved. I'm a male, I eat, sleep, take a piss, etc. Facts. And if someone plays video games, they'd be a gamer. Why? Because as far as I know, "gamer" came from "someone who plays video games." It was shortened to "video gamer" and then finally reached "gamer." With this understanding, being and not being a gamer is just fact. And to me, not a label. I know not everyone will agree with this, but that's how I see it... which I guess makes at least parts of it my opinion and will likely result in a "divide by zero"-like disastrous outcome as everything I've typed up collapses in on itself.

Well, if you'll forgive the mini rant that's sure to follow, gamer and non-gamer is a simple one in my eyes... If you hate video games, don't touch them and see no point in their existence, then you're a non-gamer. That's no insult, it simply means video games have no place in your life and you spend no time with them as a result. If you play games and find them to be of at least some fun once in a while, you're a gamer. You don't have to log hours a week into the things, you can just play a little here or a little there once in a while. Again, no insult. It simply means that you find them reasonably enjoyable to at least some degree. The difference between those two terms and casual/hardcore for me, is gamer/non-gamer can be clearly defined. A or B. Just ask them, "Do you play video games at all?" and the answer's found. Hardcore/casual turns into this bizarre mathematical equation pulled out of someone's ass that has no real, reliable definition or set of variables. It gets even muddier when you start adding in games (hardcore puzzle game? Casual FPS? Casual hardcore player?) and arguing what qualifies as what. Those terms are based solely on opinion, where gamer/non-gamer is defined with a simple yes or no question. I know some people try and turn gamer/non-gamer into the same kind of nonsense as casual/hardcore, but it's not. Again, to me anyway.

Do you realize how many FPS, shmups, beat'em ups and racing games can fit under that? See, that's one of my problems with "casual" and "hardcore"... the terms are so broad and at the same time generic, that they mean almost nothing except to those who try and define them in such a way as to make their aspect of gaming sound better in their own ears. They're just... borderline nonsense.

Bah. It's not about fitting in, it's about enjoying the games. I know realism is the "in" thing these days, but it wasn't always. 16-bit and 32-bit games varied pretty widely from cutesy, to cartoony, to more realistic to violent as hell with eyebrow-perking levels of realism. And really, cartoony and puzzle games made up some of the most popular games long before this whole casual/hardcore cartoony/realism thing became so bloody important to people's gaming egos. My personal favorite genre is shmups, which is a genre that has a rather large amount of variations in how they've been made. You've got the Parodius cutesy to the Under Defeat realistic. You've got Thunder Force III friendliness to Mars Matrix "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO SURVIVE THIS SHIT?!" insanity. Many different styles, but they're all shmups. If you play and enjoy Parodius, you're no less of a shmup lover than someone who studies the likes of DoDonpachi. This same mindset can easily be applied to gaming in general. Just because you like Pokemon and not GTA IV doesn't give others or yourself the license to put you on some imaginary lower tier. You like different genres and there's nothing odd about that. What is odd, is that somehow "casual" has a become a genre that encompasses other genres... and it shouldn't. It's a catchphrase... something to separate what some people put under that banner from the rest of their gaming world because they're simply far too full of their opinions about what they like to play. So rock that copy of Pokemon Heartgold girl and don't worry about fitting in. You already do, whether the MW2 and GoW2 crowd want to admit it or not.

That's what I've always wondered. Many "casual" games seem to just be puzzle games at heart. The term fit for everything like them from the 8-bit era to the 128-bit era, so...

All right, so it's a suburb of the DS thread. It's still no place to trash talk the PSP, as that could start some bad things brewing. Next thing you know, PSP owners come in here snapping their fingers, singing about "When you're a Go, you're a Go all the way" and then a D-pad fight breaks out.

Because this is the DS thread

I know folks want to find him, see why he left, tell him this or that and what have you, but I say just leave the man alone. He left for a reason and didn't leave behind ways to contact him for a reason. Give him his privacy. If he chooses to come back some day, welcome him with open arms. If he doesn't, then just remember him fondly and respect that he apparently wants to be left alone after years of putting up with all of us looney-bin aspiring types.

DS, DSLite, DSi, DSXL, 3DS... DS Micro has to be coming.

I despise terms like "casual" and "hardcore" to describe games and gamers. They're nothing more than terms made up so people can separate themselves from the games/gamers they don't want to be associated with for whatever self-serving reasons. They're video games. And if you play them, you're a gamer. Period. Saying you're "hardcore" doesn't make you cooler in any way, shape or form, and saying you just play "casual" games doesn't make you any less of a gaming geek. It's time people got over this retardation. If you play video games, accept the fact you're a gamer and move on. Edit: Yes, this post comes off somewhat trollish. But after years of hearing those terms on the Web and in real life, it's simply reached the point where I just want to strangle people. Those terms rank right up there with "real" when talking of gamers.

That's because... YOU ARE! Everyone's a newbie at some point. Some folks seem to forget that while they're bashing away at the ranking FNG. But as long as you're just a newb and not a n00b, then you'll be fine.

S3Xy817CH- "Ooooooo... baby. Oh yeah, hit that combo. Oh, the quick time event's coming!" k1llerdud3- "Uh oh. I've never been very good at these." S3Xy817CH- "Oh! Hit the button! FASTER! OH GOD FASTER!" k1ll3rdud3- "I'm hitting it as fast as I can!" S3Xy817CH- "OH GOD YOU'RE ALMOST DONE! OH GOD YE-" **on-screen "Player 2 has disconnected"** ... **on-screen "Player 2 has joined the game"** k1ll3rdud3- "You still there? I disconnected before we were both done." S3Xy817CH- "Story of my life." k1ll3rdud3- "What?"

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

With this thread pretty much done, was Rozovian the only one to notice my "sig" back on page 1?

Where are you people finding time to get these done already? I haven't touched my remix since Friday due to work

Since this thread was done backwards... ________________

It's not fixed in FireFox 3.5.(something) either. My cache's been cleared, but they still show up behind it.

-Strapping Young Lad "AAA (Studio)"

Unless you happen to be using Rama's dark skin for the site.

Necrobump you Castlevania loving mudda fuggas! Anyway, I cruised through the thread and didn't see this linked to, so... http://www.gametrailers.com/video/gc-09-castlevania-lords/54474 It's an extended trailer from last year's GC. Shows more in-game stuff and dialogue. I read through everything here, and if memory serves, this is supposed to be a reboot of the franchise (it's all the rage these days, isn't it?). So how it links into the older games doesn't really matter if that's the case. It'd be a fresh start... though I'm sure there'll be lots of little fan service touches that'll hearken the previous games.

This has been going on at another forum I visit courtesy of NTSC, and it seemed to result in some fun. So, I thought I'd try bringing it over here and see how things went. The point? To make up a Sega Genesis game cover that didn't exist back in the day. You can take it seriously, or just have some goofy fun. However you want to do it. But to help get you started, I made these four templates for you guys to use... For changing the date or country down at the bottom, use Arial, bold, size 5 with the aliasing set to "sharp". For the description font with the screenshots, use Arial, regular, size 4.24, the leading (space between lines) should be 5.7, with the aliasing set to "sharp". And yes, unlike my last ones, these have transparencies. Keep in mind, these are settings for Photoshop. Also, if you want to do something like turn the bottom black/grid design into a "1-2 Player" cover, just cut and paste that logo from the first black/grid box. Both use the same grid pattern, so it should line right up if you put the left edge of "1-2 Players" box over the left edge of the "1 Player" box. VRC Ratings for red box. For the tiny font where you'd read things about copyright (the "Sega and Genesis are trademarks of SEGA" line), use Arial, regular, size 2, aliasing set to Sharp, and the leading (space between lines of text) set to 2.1. For the description text on these boxes, I used Arial, regular, size 6.2, aliasing set to Sharp, and leading set to 6.3. These settings are also for Photoshop. And to get things possibly jump started, here are two I did... Anyway, I know there are plenty of creative people here, so let's see if we can lure them out. Surely there's enough Genesis love to have a little fun with this, right?