No TUD for a while, so I’ll reopen the raging debates. And we had one going around the tower lately about the meaning, and utility, of video game awards. I’d like your opinions on this.
Someone walking through the parking lot of my apartment complex and seeing a shattered DualShock laying on the ground probably thought someone had a little temper tantrum mixed in with his Bioshock last night. Actually, that’s only half right. I wasn’t mad at a game, but I was mad at the controller (of course, I’m not to blame). I’d spilled Dr. Pepper all over myself and some got in the left thumbstick. Suddenly I could not move to the right anymore. That’s kind of important in a game like MotorStorm: Pacific Rift. It’s kind of important in any game, actually. I tested it against my other controller, restarted the machine, let it dry out, nothing. So, $US60 got me barely a day’s worth of use of this controller. I said why not, heaved it over a row of apartments here and into the adjacent parking lot.
It’s Friday! Time for, that’s right, TELL US DAMMIT. here’s how it works: We ask a question, you answer it. Simple and no strings attached! This isn’t some marketing survey or whatever. It’s an emotional investment in you. Yes, we’re interested in knowing you, Kotaku reader person. You probably know fucktons about us — more than you even want to, we’re sure. But, hey, we’d like to know about you. That way you won’t be some faceless blob — and we might feel a tinge of guilt when we ban your arse. Or not, because really we’re incapable of human emotion. Not sure!
This week, Tecmo turned down Square Enix’s offer of a friendly takeover. Rather, the company is in talks to merge with Koei, making Tecmo-Koei a possibility — like Square Enix or Namco Bandai. Our question:
What do you think of game mergers and takeovers? Are they good for the industry or bad?
Whoops! Hey, we missed TUD on Friday because of all the hoorah with GC 2008, so looks like I am the temporary caretaker of the giraffe this weekend. I got a question you can answer one of two ways. Or two questions and you can answer one. Or both. Who cares, here it goes.
So I’m hideous about staying current with popular culture. Lots of times people will ask me if I’ve seen a movie, or if I watch the latest HBO Original drama that everyone’s raving about. (I never saw Borat. I don’t watch Entourage.) And I’d rather avoid the horrified expressions and fulminating evangelism, so I make a non-committal statement in the affirmative and then dodge my way out of the conversation.
But last week, I had to admit I’ve never played Halo 3. (Well, never played it in multiplayer. I played it a little in singleplayer mode.) I felt like I had no good reason for that, especially as a games blogger, but that was a choice made before I came to Kotaku. So that leads us to today’s TUD:
Have you ever bought and not played a video game because of peer pressure? and/or Have you ever told someone you played a game even when you hadn’t, for any reason?
I’m especially curious about the second one. And for the record, I do have Halo 3. I bought it late last year when I was too busy for gaming. I’m working on that one.
Reddit turned up an absolutely depressing thread in a forum the other day. Wasn’t really worth a post unto itself, but I thought it’d be a good conversation starter because man, I don’t think I have encountered anything like this:
My saddest gaming experience was while playing Creatures, that experimental game where you had to take care of creatures equipped with a neural network which made them able to learn things.
One of my creatures got pregnant but was also very sick. Her health stats were dropping and I was hoping she would be able to lay her egg in time. She only had 3% life over when she finally did. Afterwards, she laid down next to the egg, closed her eyes, and died. Minutes later, the egg hatched, and a cute little creature came out. His mother’s body still laid there. He crawled around it, uttering the same sounds the whole time. He then crept up against her and went to sleep.
I stopped playing the game then.
So, short of game adaptations for Bambi, Brian’s Song, Field of Dreams or Terms of Endearment, can a game be a tearjerker? I know colleagues (*cough cough Leigh Alexander) who were extremely emotional after finishing Metal Gear Solid 4. Is such emotion a worthy goal of a product engineered to be fun? What games have made you cry? Any? Tell us, dammit, while I … sniff … wipe the dust out of my eyes here.
So, yeah, it’s happening. Next week, Grand Theft Auto IV goes on sale in North America and Europe. Some people will buy it. Some people won’t. The TUD Giraffe is curious and wants to know. We’ve got a feature here on Kotaku called “Tell Us Dammit” or “TUD.” How it works: We ask a question, you answer it. Simple and no strings attached! This isn’t some marketing survey or whatever. It’s an emotional investment in you. Yes, we’re interesting in knowing you, Kotaku reader person. You probably know fucktons about us — more than you even want to, we’re sure. But, hey, we’d like to know about you. That way you won’t be some faceless blob — and we might feel a tinge of guilt when we ban your arse. Or not, because really we’re incapable of human emotion. Whichever! Today’s question is a two-parter:
Questions: Are you going to buy GTA IV on the 29th? If so, are you buying the Xbox 360 or the PS3 version?
Me? Since I live in Japan, I’ll be importing. Though, I still have decided which one I’m going to order…
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