Video games – destined for the trash bin

It is with great difficulty that I admit that I am losing faith in video games as a powerful, artistic storytelling medium. The potential is clearly there, but all of the executive decisions point to the very sad fact that video games are nothing more than disposable entertainment. Game releases are less about shaking the industry to cause a permanent impact and more about creating a flavor of the month.

What hidden clauses reveal…

Ironically, I had to accept a TOS change on Photobucket in order to post this. Don't worry, I actually read it.

It all started back in April when AT&T stopped a consumer from joining a class-action lawsuit via a clause in their contract. Consumers aware of the incident wondered how long until other companies started following suit, and the answer was five months. Both Sony and Electronic Arts have recently changed their terms of service contracts to restrict users from joining class-action lawsuits. The only way to opt out is to send a letter specifically requesting to not waive your rights.

It is hard to believe that this practice is legal. Opting to waive away your rights is written into the contracts that people don’t read, and opting out of the clause requires snail mail that may or may not be received. Why not highlight the clause and let people electronically respond? Because the companies cannot feign ignorance and say, “It got lost in the mail.”

But what this practice really tells us, now that we know about it, is that these companies do not stand behind their products and their practices. If they did, they wouldn’t have to create legal loopholes to stop consumers from suing them. AT&T does not want people suing them for lying. Sony does not want people suing them for the their faulty network security. EA does not want people to capitalize on how horrible their products usually are.

And now we are all educated consumers. The first thing you need to do is contact the companies in question if you start using their products. Or, better yet, don’t use their products. To be honest, I know that my protests mean nothing because I will ultimately be forced to by a blu-ray player just to keep purchasing movies. Instead of getting a standalone player, I was going to get the PS3. Now that I know Sony does not stand behind its products, I’m not going to bother. How can I stand behind such a purchase when they can’t be bothered to stand behind their efforts?

Can we ignore Ebert now?

Poor taste isn’t reporting the facts on whether or not someone was definitely drinking and driving. Poor taste is trying to make a cute joke hours after the death of someone’s loved one. This is the utter definition of “Too soon.”

What happened? Well, hours after the reported death of Jackass‘ Ryan Dunn, Ebert twatted, “Friends don’t let jackasses drink and drive.” It is true that Dunn had been drinking before getting in the car, but making it a point to crudely and pejoratively use the name of the show in a message to the masses was beyond unnecessary. It is snide and judgmental. What it should tell the world is that Ebert is a prick. Unfortunately, as I caught wind of the message on EW.com, it just puts the wind in the sails of other pricks.

We know that drinking and driving is dangerous behavior. It’s not a public service announcement. Be happy Twatter wasn’t around when Walt Disney died. Hours after the announcement of his death you might have encountered message like, “Smoking is dangerous. There isn’t much you can do about an Epcot-sized tumor in your lungs.”

I know that this message draws unnecessary attention to him, but from here on can we just ignore Ebert? It seems he knows he is on his last legs and his relevance is fading fast. The man does not make public appearances and cannot speak. All he has are his reviews and observations. Only when there is some sort of controversy for being snide (such as saying video games are not art) does anyone pay him any serious mind anymore. So let’s just stop responding to him.

Especially since a statement like that makes him a bigger jackass than some dude who put a toy car up his butt.

Geek Bullying

It’s arguable, but in the last decade or so nerd and geekdom has come to be celebrated by the mainstream. Pop culture is attempting to cater to geek tastes, and we don’t deride people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates for not extremely attractive or sports personalities. The 80′s certainly didn’t give as much credit to those of us on the more niche end of culture. Times have changed.

Or maybe times haven't changed that much. This was the face of empowerment for fringe cultures. The repackaging suggests that this is STILL supposed to be that face.

Have times changed for the better? Sure, when I was in college it was acceptable that some friends and I could found a video game enthusiasts club and wear shirts featuring Pac-Man and the Konami code. But we’re at the point where video games are so embraced today that motion controls are flying off the shelves so parents can get their children to incorporate some movement into their lives. In some schools, DDR was accepted into the gym curriculum. Games are simply accepted as a part of young culture and require workarounds to make sure kids are physical. There’s something wrong with that.

Then there’s the culture empowered by acceptance. This is a problem largely found on forums and large-scale blogs, but enthusiast clubs and conventions will reveal their fair share. Empowered geeks find it acceptable to condescend to others, mainly because the source of geek identity is internal and can only be expressed through words. No one has a problem with people sharing their knowledge or preferably anecdotes, but there are those out there who believe that they are entitled to belittle others and eschew common courtesy. Why? Because they know stuff.

Saturday Night Live sketch: 404 Not Found

The most recent Saturday Night Live featuring Miley Cyrus was not groundbreaking by any stretch. The current season has been fairly consistent in that the sketches are hits and misses, period. After watching the SNL Backstage special a couple weeks ago, I have a better understanding of why that is. Lorne Michaels says that the show is a variety hour of comedy, and hopefully there is something for everybody. Cyrus’ episode featured a few things for me.

Early in the show there was a sketch about Black Eyed Peas members apl.de.ap and Taboo, who were hosting a talk show about being second fiddles (or less). Then there was the expected Miley Cyrus Show sketch, but it featured a subversion of the SNL trope in which cultural entities confront their impersonators. Miley showed up as Justin Bieber opposite Vanessa Bayer’s Cyrus. What was really surprising about this sketch was the fact that Cyrus’s impersonation was spot-on. Scary accurate.

Why am I not linking video this time? I always link video. Well, there was a third sketch I really enjoyed that parodied odd French, avant garde television show. Honestly, I’m not sure what it was attempting to parody outright, but it was fun. It began with a guy making moves on a woman, then presumably his partner walks in and catches them in the middle of the club. They banter in French, and then the music starts. Everyone starts dancing, the guy gets drinks thrown in his face, and Andy Samberg is a mime. It seemed like a step away from the usual, dialog-focused fare on the show. I really liked it. But Hulu and NBC feature reduced versions of the SNL episode. The coveted sketch was missing. So screw Hulu this time around.

SNL has something for everyone, but not the Hulu repeats. That’s a shame, too. It probably would have caught on online.

For better or worse – primarily worse – Detroit may get a Robocop statue

We live in a day and age when farce has become appealing enough for transformation into reality. While ideas like canned unicorn meat and taun-taun sleeping bags on ThinkGeek becoming reality do not upset me much, the idea of erecting a Robocop statue in Detroit is extremely disturbing to me. To think it all sprang out of a Twitter suggestion that was dismissed by Mayor Bing. By now my feelings on the whole twatting rage should be fairly well documented. This definitely does not change my mind.

Company Presses Your Ashes Into Vinyl When You Die

Slashdot Idle Story | Company Presses Your Ashes Into Vinyl When You Die

This is absolutely awesome! When I die my wife and children will be able to listen to me over and over again, followed by some catchy, upbeat tune. Probably “Double Rainbow! Oh my god!”

Only problem? I don’t plan on ever having a record player in my home. Nothing against it aside from the fact that the only records I ever owned were Sesame Street and free cheapies that came with books. And it’s more than likely that the Sesame Street was my brother’s.

Modern Video game Warfare

Dear Cracked.com,

You have visually summed up everything I have said about the triteness of modern video gaming. It quite literally renders thousands of my words meaningless.

“Born Free”, but for what?

I don’t get M.I.A.’s new music video, “Born Free”. (Not even close to safe for work.) US soldiers round up gingers, take them out into a mine field, and make them run for their lives. It may be a social commentary on how the “other” is arbitrarily chosen. It may be about the US being bullies. Hell, it could even be torture porn made specifically for Eric Cartman. Regardless, I find it needlessly excessive to the point that it takes complete attention away from what is supposed to matter most – the music!

Not even a month ago M.I.A. was complaining about Lady Gaga and her image. I agreed. Lady Gaga’s persona is pointlessly weird, to the point of indulgence. Her videos take after the persona, but the music itself seems a separate entity from the oddness of Gaga. M.I.A. seems to have a chip on her shoulder because she has some political songs. However, this video seems pretty indulgent itself while the music, from what I could tell, does not really say anything. Not that I suggest Gaga and M.I.A. are similar. Gaga is indulgent; M.I.A. is pretentious.

Avatar is of the Devil

Eastern garbage-ism?

It has been three months, and people are still talking about Avatar. It is pretty amazing. James Cameron tapped into something powerful yet again. People cannot let it go. Avatar just has to remain in our public consciousness. He created a spectacle with staying power.

I like the idea that Cameron has tapped into something greater, though. Avatar preaches paganism? I did not think of it that way. It preaches worldliness and that everything is connected. Man is somehow disconnected from everything and needs to get more in tune. That is beautiful stuff. Those points are likely to be glossed over by most viewers, mainly because they were not as poignant as the impending genocide in the name of capitalism. Then again, Pastor Driscoll’s stance on that should be clear. He has two home theatre systems and three TiVo’s.

The most surprising thing about this bold statement is that it took this guy until February to say something. I wonder if someone has said something sooner than that? This strikes me as late in the game. Most science fiction and fantasy gets hit hard by religion, but Avatar has been skewered by the critics more than anything else. I wonder if, like Harry Potter, we’ll start finding websites listing the evils of Avatar – and updates when the sequels arrive.

But this bothers me. The way this guy comes across, it seems as though he is preaching that Christianity favors deforestation, capitalism, materialism, racism (“Eastern garbage-ism”), and an overall myopic point of view. I readily admit to having my differences with practitioners of Christianity in the past, but this is not something that should be spread by anyone claiming to be a good Christian. Heck, this should not be spread by anyone claiming to be a good person.

(Link brought to my attention by Topless Robot.)