I guess calling someone with a disability a retard is also the truth and not offensive at all...
EDIT: Ok, ok, I know it's a harsh example, but it's not like you are going to say to such a person, "I'm sorry, I can't take you seriously because you're disabled."
Well said. How can anyone have a meaningful conversation if they are busy pointing out flaws in grammar and whatnot? For instance: I have a bad habit of severely overusing commas. But, as long as the reader understands what I wrote, than what's the problem? I hold nothing but the highest respect for the spoken and written word, but a bit of bad punctuation now and then is harmless. e.e. cummings made a career out of his bad punctuation :P
Geeze Louise!!!
I really think it's time to close this thread and move on to more constructing discussions.
Like how Sam & Max can function as rolemodels in pursuing worldpeace and free asbestos for all!
I want to close this wonderful thread with saying: I just played Sam & Max - Hit the road. It's so hilarious to see how many links there are from that good old game to the new episodes Like Jessie James Hand and Bosco's is next door in Hit the road too, but there they beat the crap out of him and I think that picture on the wall of them from mars is a heads-up as well. I just don't remember what it is supposed to remind me of
Dunno how big Autumn Moon are, but they seem to afford doing it in 2D.
Autumn Moon has been around since 2002 trying to secure a publisher, and only recently got one. Also apparently a lot the pre-production team worked on it without getting paid. Starving artists are commendable, but most people start a business to stay in business. If Telltale makes decisions that ensure themselves a future, we get more adventure games from them.
Autumn Moon has been around since 2002 trying to secure a publisher, and only recently got one. Also apparently a lot the pre-production team worked on it without getting paid. Starving artists are commendable, but most people start a business to stay in business. If Telltale makes decisions that ensure themselves a future, we get more adventure games from them.
That may be, but their courage and perseverance seem to have taken them quite far already. The game's coming out this year, and I'm looking very much forward to it. I hope the sales will be rewarding their boldness.
i think the game is still great even if its episodic and short.
I'm the kinda gamer that wants to finish games in one sitting.
Then regrets spending 6 hours gaming afterwards.
The episodic nature keeps me from skipping out on work hehe
i love episode gaming!
Chuck Jordan (writer on Curse of Monkey Island and Sam and Max episodes 4-6) offers an interesting, and almost completely different take on the whole length debate:
It’s something that’s bugged me ever since I moved out here and started working in videogames.
The problem is the weird dollar-to-hour value ratio people use when talking about games. You’ll frequently see a game review, or just public opinion of a game, focus on how the game is “too short.” Not that it was shallow, or ended too abruptly, just that it “only” took three-to-nine hours to finish it. (Yes, Half Life 2: Episode 1 took some reviewers nine hours to finish, and it was still “too short.”)
More often than not, this complaint will come immediately after the comment that the game was very well-written, had great dialogue, a great setting, and well-developed characters. But still, “too short.”
What I like about Tycho’s post is that he finally put into words what bugs me about this — it’s turning games from works of art into commodities. You pay x dollars for a game, you’re an American with an inflated sense of entitlement, therefore you sure as hell better get y hours of entertainment out of it.
What other art form does this? I’ve never read a book review that dinged the book because it was less than 300 pages long. I’ve never seen a movie that was only an hour and a half, and then demanded half my money back, because I got twice as much entertainment time out of The Lord of the Rings. Often you’ll see the exact same people who get all up in arms whenever Roger Ebert or somebody dismisses games as being incapable of being works of art, then go and complain that they paid $60 for Dead Reckoning: Vengeance of Kain 2 and only got 20 hours game time out of it.
There are three possible solutions, as I see it:
Introduce “standard” game lengths. Television is broken up into blocks of thirty-minute and hour-long programs, and people don’t seem baffled by that. Board games generally list play times on the box. Publishers can start releasing games of standard 4-hour, 12-hour, etc. lengths, and have QA report the “average” length of time it takes to play. If the people want filler, give them filler, and see how they like it.
Report the game length in reviews, but don’t make it qualitative. Game review sites love their decimal-accurate scores, so those aren’t going away. But a so-called “videogame journalist” should be embarrassed about writing good thing after good thing about a game, and then giving it a sub-par score just because it’s “too short.” Tell the readers it only took you x amount of time to play, and then review the game on its own merits.
Suck it up, people. We keep hearing how the average age of videogame players is going up; last I heard, it was around 23. People that age should have enough discretionary income that they don’t have to be such tightwads with their entertainment dollars. I can understand a twelve-year-old’s being disappointed that the game he spent his allowance on didn’t last him more than a couple of days. I’ve got a lot less sympathy for the dude who’s got a job and shouldn’t have that many hours to spend on a game in the first place. If you want videogames to be treated as art, then stop treating them as products.
I would just like to add that, while I too think that it would be terrific with a little longer and slightly more challenging episodes, I have found episodes 1-3 very enjoyable! (And I'm very happy to have bought the whole season!)
Personally, I think the graphics work great, and the voice overs are superb. The story may not be the most intricate, but I think it's very Sam&Maxy (is that a word?) and makes for some good times...
Regarding the debate if episodic games are good or not, I think there's definitely a place for both. Just like there's a place for both TV series and movies.
Comments
Well said. How can anyone have a meaningful conversation if they are busy pointing out flaws in grammar and whatnot? For instance: I have a bad habit of severely overusing commas. But, as long as the reader understands what I wrote, than what's the problem? I hold nothing but the highest respect for the spoken and written word, but a bit of bad punctuation now and then is harmless. e.e. cummings made a career out of his bad punctuation :P
I really think it's time to close this thread and move on to more constructing discussions.
Like how Sam & Max can function as rolemodels in pursuing worldpeace and free asbestos for all!
And I don't think my carpet matches the drapes.
That's all folks.
If memory serves, im sure they beat the crap out of a guy who's trying to rob Bosco, not beat up Bosco himself
Autumn Moon has been around since 2002 trying to secure a publisher, and only recently got one. Also apparently a lot the pre-production team worked on it without getting paid. Starving artists are commendable, but most people start a business to stay in business. If Telltale makes decisions that ensure themselves a future, we get more adventure games from them.
That may be, but their courage and perseverance seem to have taken them quite far already. The game's coming out this year, and I'm looking very much forward to it. I hope the sales will be rewarding their boldness.
--Erwin
That's from the cartoon series. You can watch some of them on Youtube, or all of them on Gametap.
I'm the kinda gamer that wants to finish games in one sitting.
Then regrets spending 6 hours gaming afterwards.
The episodic nature keeps me from skipping out on work hehe
i love episode gaming!
Personally, I think the graphics work great, and the voice overs are superb. The story may not be the most intricate, but I think it's very Sam&Maxy (is that a word?) and makes for some good times...
Regarding the debate if episodic games are good or not, I think there's definitely a place for both. Just like there's a place for both TV series and movies.