Shagger

Not all sports are a form of athletic competition. Some are a test of strategy and/or skill. Look at darts, bowling, golf, pool, snooker, professional chess and (at least some) motorsports. There are even some Olympic sports I would put in the same category, likely archery and shooting. So e-sports absolutely count as a sport. A competition that tests teamwork, strategy, skill, reflexes and situational awareness measured against other people.

The fact that so many people get confused when it comes to companies like EA and Ubisoft and games they're actually associated with, it just goes to show how similarly horrid the big players in the "AAA" game industry are.

What do you mean you don't see how they're gaming cooking books? One's themed on The Elder Scrolls and the other on Fallout.

@StaceyPowers There has been several topic created to discuss TLOU TV series and new ones seems to get posted every time there's a bit of news, so I've decided to just merge this new topic into one of the existing threads and encourage you to try and use this thread to post new info on the TV show going forward. But yeah, the image is not much to go on, but still hyped for this.

Moving this topic from General Gaming" to "Video Games as this topic is about a specific game. Without fan-made mods and patches, the vampirism cure quest in Oblivion is even worse as it completely messes up your character's face making you character appear to age. Being a vampire in Oblivion yields pretty much no benefits at all given how the magic system works. Being a vampire is a little more fun is Skyrim with the vampire lord, but it still isn't brilliant.

I'm not talking about an internet provider, I'm taking about my mobile phone provider, and I said who it was, it's 3.

I'm with 3 for my mobile phone and, to be honest, I wish I wasn't. They can never get my payment dates right and thier customer service is abysmal. I tried to leave them and go another provider, but the credit check failed, probably because I had just bought a laptop on higher purchase and that messed with my credit score. So, a renewal from 3 was my only option as I needed a new phone immediately. Pain in the bum hole.

I don't want that. I want the game companies who do this sort of thing buggerd rough and dry, but that's me.

just did a quick count, and as of posting this we've had around 275 in the last 12 hours alone. So yes @DC, I'd say this is very possible.

If I'm getting my maths right, we'll need to average around 150 posts a day. I don't know exactly what we've been getting recently, but it can't be far off that mark.

This here is exactly what I'm talking about. They way that our friend @m76 here picks and chooses what he counts a political stifling and what counts as creative freedom is based entirely of his own, self centred desires and expectations. To recognise it as a developers creative liberty only when you yourself like it is the hypocrisy that I've been going on about. Like it or not, it's down to the creators to decide what creative direction they go and why they go there. Even if a change in direction is made to purposefully be more inclusive, express a sentiment on a real world discussion be or be more politically correct, that's thier purgative. And like you said, it works both ways. It if can only be a political decision to make a character less sexualised, it must be a political decision to make a character more sexualised, you can't have one without the other. Social politics is either it's a factor in every creative decision whether you approve of the idea or not, or it's simply the dev's employing thier rights to creative freedom every time. You can't have it both ways @m76, either you support creative liberty, or you don't.

He doesn't have to appraise the credibility of his sources and prove they aren't a madman's ramblings, remember who were talking about here;

I've heard of DS4, but for some reason never considered using it. Don't get me wrong, it looks great, but I do have a couple of issues. The button prompts on screen won't match the symbols on the controller itself because the pronts will obviously use the equilvilant buttons on an Xbox controller. It's possible I could get used to that, but it would be annoying, especially for games I've never played before. I only have one DualShock 4 that works properly right now, so having to reset the controller and reconnect it to the PC and console every time I switch devices would be a pain in the ass. I could solve that by buying a new Dualshock 4, but there's no point when a new 1708 model One controller would cost the same. EDIT: Forget what I just said. For some reason I don't understand new Xbox one 1708 model controllers are price at around £80! How, when and why did that happen?

@m76 So the design of the outfits in MK9 were meant to be sexy. That's fair. That the creative liberty of the dev's, and like I've said that's something I'd advocate for. So if the dev's take a different approach in later games, why can not that not as creative liberty as well? No, it has to the work of the booby police spoiling you fun in name of, god forbid, "feminism". That's ultimately the problem I have with your stance. You can't pick and choose when a developer has and does not the right to creative liberty just because you don't like the choice they made. It would obviously never be a "political" choice when you like it. That's why you, along all the other man-babies that always complain about this, are hypocrites. Stop lying about supporting a developers right to make thier own creative choices, because you obviously don't support that at all.

That's the safe option, but I was honestly looking for something a little cheaper if possible.

Hellblade certainly increased my empathy for those with mental health troubles. It is nice touch when a game can covey a powerful, helpful and positive message whilst still being a blast to play.

Well, here is said trailer; And @Heatman is pointing you in the right direction. Please, whatever you do, do not let your first experience of this game be on PS3. The port is terrible. PC is obviously the best version of any Bethesda RPG provided your PC is up to snuff, but from there Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PS4 are next best options.

I'm looking into getting a new wireless controller for my laptop. I'm gonna go through this thread (thanks for that Video @Heatman), but if anyone has any new ideas feel free to share.

Wait a minute @m76, I thought you didn't like playing games with character nude or at an "underwear" level of dress (Mature individuals can take such images without getting so prudish because we are psychologically able to detach the nude form from sex, but that's beside the point.), so why on earth would you advocate for Mortal Kombat characters to show more skin? This shit doesn't affect the gameplay either way, so it doesn't change the game. So there was, according to you (without reliable links you've proven nothing, btw) some social/political motivations with the creative design of the characters. So. Fucking. What. That doesn't change the fact it's still thier creative liberty. It doesn't stop you enjoying the game. In fact, if you statement about not enjoying games with partial nudity is true, it should help you, so why complain? Nothing you say makes any sense and you contradict yourself all the time. When you make the comparison between the outfits in Mortal Kombat and fighters in MMA, you don't show any pictures to prove you point. It's plain to see why. Given that this is what a female fighter (Jade) in MK looked like in MK9; And this is how a female MMA fighter dresses for the a UFC fight. Come on! you can't seriously be implying that's the same? I mean, are you blind? The closet thing I've ever seen to someone wearing an outfit like that in combat sports was WWE star Zelina Vega's cosplay of Jade, and she didn't even wear this outfit in a wrestling ring, it was only for a PA and photo shoot. This shoot was clearly meant to be sexy and there is nothing wrong with that, that's the point of the outfit. Just because the character is made of pixels and not flesh and blood doesn't change the purpose in outfit's design. I don't know what planet you're living on, but it's obviously not on earth.

On topic and as a white, straight, cisgender male, the answer to the question "Do I feel underrepresented in video games?", is a simple and obvious no. Even if I did, when playing a game I much prefer to roleplay a fantasy, or "play as who I'm not" as it were. I think that's why I get drawn to games with female leads, like Tomb Raider and HZD.

This has now gone a bit too far off the rails. If you guys want to discuss racing games, that's fine, but I request that you do on on an appropriate thread please. And if there isn't one, create a new one.

Totally agree with you on Quiet. To me, this is ongoing theme in MGS is something that I don't mind because, rightly or wrongly, it's a staple of the series and it's something to expect. And, like I said above, like it or not it's their creative liberty, so whilst I maintain my right to criticize it, I'd still defend their right to do it. Like you said, though, what really made it embarrassing was the dev's stupid, nonsensical attempts justify the character's design, it was truly ridiculous. If they had just said, "It's fan service. Deal with it" I'd have more respect for the decision.

First of, who are "they" and it that's true, prove it. As far as I'm aware, the dev's of ME: Andromeda did a piss poor job on the facial design and animations in general, not just on the Asari. So, again, unless you have some proof that that was on purpose, then that is just you wearing your tin foil hat again. Let me ask you something. If what your saying is true, give me an instance of something that happened within the design characteristics of a game that you claim to be "political" in it's motivation when you agree with said political bias. Or, in those instances, is that just the "creative liberty" of the people who developed the game? Politics by nature is driven by one's own opinion, and since there is no way that every person who inserts this so called political motivation in a game or movie ect sides exactly with you, there must be an occasion whare that has happened and you agree with it. Otherwise, the only plausible explanation is that you're just not mature enough to accept not everything is made for you and have to lash onto this "politics" excuse to justify how you feel because you don't like to admit that you disapproval is routed through you own, selfish wants and desires. You see, my theory is you, for example, don't like the inclusion of woman you don't deem attractive enough, but don't want to admit that because you know it's misogynistic, so the inclusion of such characters becomes "political". However, you'll deem Ellie being gay in TLOU "creative liberty" because that doesn't bother you, even though, especially in TLOU 2, the writing has a strong social/political bias that the game is not shy about expressing through it's writing. Despite what I said, I would still describe Ellie's sexual orientation in TLOU as creative liberty, but there's no sense in denying the dev's make thier stance on the issue of LGBTQ rights very clear through the game, especially in Part 2. That's why when you say stuff like this; I don't believe you. Not only is it a contradiction as, like you said, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", so you can't have a standard that isn't anything other than you own. Building your hopes and expectations based solely on your own perceptions is not anything to be ashamed of anyway. We all do it, it's human nature. However, it is not an excuse to be closed minded and ignorant. Like I said, I still read Ellie's sexual orientation as a creative liberty, mostly because I always see such things as a creative liberty. Even if, like I described in TLOU, there is at least some social/political purpose buried in creative pipeline, game dev's are 100% within their rights to design that creative pipeline exactly how they want, so even with a social/political message that is still very much creative liberty. So you see, I actually do stand for creative freedom, unlike those hypocrites out there who claim to stand for "creative liberty" when the truth is they're just using that as an excuse to attack inclusion they're not comfortable with and don't like being confronted with thier own prejudices. Sometimes I like the choices that are made, sometimes I don't and I own those opinions and never make stupid excuses for them and try to paint them as a general consensus to make myself feel better. I'd rather be wrong than lie. Ellie being gay, that's a creative liberty. Abby being more muscular than most men, that's a creative liberty. Thor being fat, that's a creative liberty. A Jotun being a young, black girl, that's a creative liberty. A character having a more natural looking, but arguably less attractive face, that's a creative liberty. The way the face's looked at launch in ME: Andromeda, that's a cock up. The point is you have every right not to like it, that's your role as the customer, but just be honest with yourself why you don't.

The problem with your statement is quite simply that it is not true. People DO claim that inclusion of woman as strong leads, members of the LGBTQ community and people of colour ect has "ruined" a game, movie or whatever it happens to be. It happens literally all the time.

Nobody said that a character can't be beautiful and realistic. What is ridiculous is considering a character's value reduced in a game because they don't meet your standards of beauty and claiming that characters becoming less attractive (in your eyes) in an effort to make them look more realistic is some sort of political conspiracy. I'd say @Reality vs Adventure and @killamch89 hit the nail on the head. A world where the people in in are diverse in the way they look feels more real, immersive and interesting. I'm tempted to even call it an essential element of world building.