Also, I'm now about to learn guitar because of this music, so anybody who says that Guitar Hero is making kids think they're real guitarists without becoming guitarists needs to get their facts straight.

I totally agree with what hes saying. I love Judas Priest, and the biggest cause of me loving the music I love today is Guitar Hero (2, specifically). And though my taste has evolved hugely from those days, I don't think I'd be listening to any of the music I do today if Guitar Hero hadn't helped me find rock. I might be listening to Souljaboy or some shit if not for Guitar Hero. I mean, hell, I've made friends based solely on our shared preferences of music. I think Harmonix and Activision need to realize the kind of power they have with this, and promote great, lesser-known musicians instead of selling out to what's popular (I'm looking at you, Band Hero).

I remember playing:
Psychonauts: amazing game, Tim Schafer is a genius
Metal Arms: An awesomely creatibve title, it's a shame it sold so poorly
Okami: Amazing. It is an absolute crime that this didn't sell, and one of the greatest travesties of gaming
Space Station Silicon Valley: I have vague memories of playing this with my friend on his N64. I also have vague memories of being addicted to it.

By printing this article you promote the same sensationalism the media uses in these
situations. You can not blame the developers for crimes perpetrated by people using their games. If a person who regularly watches Dexter kills somebody, you can't blame Dexter for influencing tht5a person to kill someone; they had the criminal motive and capability long before Dexter "influenced" them.

In regards to the individual cases you discussed:

10. The game in no way caused these reactions, that was the result of the people's obsessive personalities

9. There are no obsessive games, only obsessive people.

8. This escaped everyone, not just the games industry. And we do now have warnings. Besides, that was a TV show, not a game.

7. How the Karmapa Lama saying something many rational people already know is a bad thi9ng is beyond me. There is nothing wrong with virtual violence, especially if it prevents violence IRL.

6. The fact that this incident was caused by PLAYER ACTIONS in the game and not the game itself proves these people have problems that extend beyond video games if they were willing to result to such drastic actions.

5. This is the kind of passive agression that happens outside of these situations, and to perfectly honest, the bitch kinda deserved it.


4. The capability to do something illegal in the game, when it was not intended to be done in-game, is not the fault of the developer but the fault of the perpetrator.

3. PAX isn't a game, and this easily could've happened at any convention.

2. If somebody uses a Prius to smuggle marijuana, is it Toyota's fault?

1. The deaths were caused by starvation and sleep deprivation, not the game. Their deaths were caused by their own irresponsible behavior.

The point I'm trying to make here is that if you blame the game, you miss the actual reason why it happened, and prevent people from causing this to not happen again.

LOTS of 'em. But I'd have to say the biggest ones are Rage Against the Machine (I always liked "Killing in the Name", but it was "Bulls on Parade" that got me hooked) and Airbourne (who I never would have heard of had it not been for "Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast" in GH:WT.

Pokemon. I used to love everything about Pokemon. The cards, the show, and definitely the games. I lost my interest in the show and cards, and finally I realized how juvenile the games were too. But it did serve as my first taste of both games and RPGs, and for that I thank you, Pokemon.

FIRST FIRST FIRST FIRST FIRST

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for the Game Boy Advance. It was tedious, confusing, punishingly difficult and just plain not fun. This not only turned me off from movie games, but since it was one of the few games I owned, it temporarily turned me off gaming.

It is entirely possible, given the short amount of time between the entries, that these changes were something that Valve had in mind the second they released the game. In that respect, they may have mulled over releasing multiple patches, but decided that (a) they wanted to fix these problems all at once, not separately, and (b) that some problems (like minimal story) would be difficult to create in a patch. But DeadGirls is right. They could've easily made this an expansion, and everyone would benefit. Not a single one of the changes here have appeared to be so complex that they needed another game. The truth of the matter is that Valve is becoming money hungry, and that worries me, because Valve was one of those few remaining companies that cared about the games, not the money, and now I fear they'll become another Activision or Ubisoft. I swear, if Left 4 Dead 3, or some sort of spin-off comes out any time less than 2 years after L4D2, Valve is offixcially screwed

Sure looks like Jizzy thinks every sci-fi fps looks like Halo, even though he apparently hasn't seen any screenshots but these.