This is the gaming extension of my article "Thought of the Day" that I write on Facebook.

• 18Oct 09

  Thought of the Day: Gaming, 18 Oct 09

  When criticizing a game, forum posters love to throw around certain buzzwords. For shooters, one of those words is "run 'n gun." In this big thread about Call of Duty, that phrase popped up in about every other post. There was quit a bit of debate about whether or not Call of Duty is a "run 'n gun" (RNG) shooter.

  Here's a better question: Why's that matter?

  I wrote:

  What's "run 'n gun" mean? If I look at it literally, that seems to mean I can run and shoot at the same time, or at least fast movement will have minimal effect on my accuracy (like in Unreal Tournament, for example). People get in arguments over terms without ever defining them.

  So let's say our game in question is RNG. Most shooters are. So many posters in this thread seemed to think that if they said "COD's RNG!" enough, that automatically means it's a bad game. I've literally seen posts that were a single sentence: "CODs a run and gun shooter, lol." Okay, what does that prove? I'm not even getting into the argument of whether the game is RNG or not. When you break down what RNG means, it shines absolutely no light on whether a given game is good or not. It's just irrelevant jargon, like FPS versus TPS.

  Tomorrow: "Realism" in shooters, another word people love to throw around as if it's actually relevant.

  • Posted Oct 18, 2009 10:14 am GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 11Oct 09

  Thought of the Day: Gaming, 11 Oct 09

  You would have had this publication yesterday, but Internet Explorer crashed for no reason after I typed all this out in GameSpot's text editor.

  Check it out: On Thursday, Palantas went to Red Lobster. I'd heard there was a special there called "endless shrimp," where you could get all-you-can-eat shrimp. Well, it's true. They have five types of shrimp: Three scampis, a golden fried, and a coconut popcorn. You start out with two dishes, and they keep bringing you another dish until you're full.

  I ate ten dishes. I counted the shrimp individually, and I finished 101. I was stuffed at 93, but I vowed to continue until I'd eaten more than 100. What's this have to do with gaming? Absolutely nothing. I just wanted to brag.

  

  For something that is about gaming, and since I'm feeling ****ing lazy, I'm going to answer some of my reader comments. These are about ODST and my ODST review.

  Wallenstein_155 wrote:

  Poor character development and a terrible ending to the story left a sour taste in my mouth.

  raahsnavj wrote:

  Interesting review. I thought ODST was suppose to give a more story driven halo experience, but it seems that it failed at that goal

  Okay, here's my take on Halo. Halo's like a big-budget Hollywood summer science fiction movie. It's supposed to have great action, great production values, and just enough story to keep things moving. I don't think Halo's ever been about deep, complex characters or intricate storylines. Halo takes a lot of flak on these two points, and I respond: Okay, which shooters do have deep, complex characters and intricate storylines? Hmm, let's think storylines...

  • Doom: Aliens attack
  • Quake: Doom
  • Rainbow Six: Terrorists attack
  • Half-Life: Doom
  • Unreal Tournament: None
  • Ghost Recon: Rainbow Six
  • Gears of War: Doom
  • Team Fortress: None

  ****ing Shakespeare.

  Now let's think characters: Doomguy, Duke Nukem, Marcus Fenix. Those are some deep characters all right, and they're even some of the more memorable ones. Without looking it up, can you even tell me the name of either of the player characters from the two most recent Rainbow Six games? How about any Call of Duty game? And Gordon Freeman? Don't get me started on him...

  Right now, GameSpot is having a contest where people vote on the greatest videogame hero ever. Gordon Freeman is winning. I really can't believe this. Gordon Freeman is winning a contest for best character.

  

  Gordon Freeman is NOT A CHARACTER! His sole defining characteristic is that he's quiet. That's not a character! What's Gordon think about what the aliens have done to Earth? Don't know, he never says anything. Does Gordon like Alyx Vance? Don't know, he never says anything. What would Gordon rather be doing than fighting aliens? Don't know, he never says anything. Would Gordon rather be doing Alyx than fighting aliens? Don't know, he never says anything. Is Gordon a homosexual? Don't know, he never says anything. That's not a character.

  And with that, I'm going to end the most topically disjointed issue of Thought of the Day: Gaming ever. Bye.

  • Posted Oct 11, 2009 3:12 am GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 28Sep 09

  Thought of the Day: Gaming, 28 Sep 09

  My review of Halo 3: ODST is up. It's long. Read it on:

  • GameSpot
  • IGN
  • Giant Bomb
  • 1UP
  • Posted Sep 28, 2009 5:16 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
  • 12 Comments
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