[QUOTE="Zero-G_basic"]

The same reason i'm glad i didn't buy a wii. They won't be ripping me off.Lilac_Benjie

Poor you. Not being able to enjoy Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, SSBB, NiGHTS 2, and complete the third party support once it migrates away from Sony for costing $600 thus diminishing Sony's install base this generation.

Enjoy switching place with the sheep this generation. Wii will sell most consoles and recieve most third party support, while Playstation 3 will have massive droughts in-between first party God of War 4 and Shadow of the Colossus 2.

Poor you.  A series of 20 year old marketing icons has managed to beguile you to such a degree that you have completely reordered your values concerning video games.  Things like graphical quality, the depth of gaming as an enterainment medium, increased hardware efficency, price, third party freedom of support, origionality, hardware functionality, and buisness ethics have taken a back seat to the minimal "fun" that the is able to provide.

Enjoy watching this generation degrade into a childish hell-hole of 20 year old marketing icons, devoid of value and meaning, and "family-friendly" garbage produced for the ever growing mass of casual gamers who consider gaming as nothing more than a childish play thing.

Why the Wii betrays consumers: 

1.  Mass advertisement.
2.  Altering and expanding the market by the most derogatory method possible.
3.  Lowering consumer expectations.
4.  Limiting the function of video games to little more than a childish plaything.
5.  Exploiting nostalgia and franchise tags that are over two decades old.
6.  Reordering value by the low standards and expectations consumers develope.
7.  Producing games that reflect the demand of the new "family-friendly" and "casual" audience.

Too bad Wii fans are participating in the collective regression and intellectual genocide of video games as a meaningful and valid entertainment medium.  Too bad Wii fans are advocating low standards, embracing obsolete hardware, and ignoring the higher functions of video games.   Too bad Wii fans are supporting the single most regressive, anti-consumer, and limiting company in this sick industry.  Too bad the quality of Wii games this generation will decline in porportion to the size of new "casual" consumers.  Too bad the Wii butchers the functionality and quality of gaming to such an extent that it can't provide anything beyond the most basic, primitive, and immediate forms of pleasure. 

Watching a 20 year old marketing icon jump around a world devoid of meaning and consequence doesn't exactly stimulate my desire for entertainment.  Swatting a ball around with the flick of a wrist, or making silly star-patterns for boosts, doesn't exactly cater to my desires either.  But hell, you're right.  We probably do have different experiences.

My problem with Wii, and Nintendo in general, is that they limit the functionality of games (and technological progression) to its most base, simple, and regressive forms -- they provide no alternative products, or freedom for developers who might want to make games around the demands of consumers who have moved beyond gawking at 20 year old marketing icons and pointlessly swatting balls across the screen. 

My problem is complicated by the fact that Wii is working against the best intrests of consumers in this industry, lowering the expectations of consumers, and destroying the validity of gaming as a respectable entertainment medium.

I'm simply too critical to use the base and simple entertainment I might recieve from a Wiisports games as a benchmark that justifies the existence, quality, and potential of a "next-gen" console.  You like Wiisports and SPM?  Great. 

Does it make Wii a good console?  No.  Does it mean that Wii is working to advance the industry and the entertainment medium of gaming? No.  Is it fair to praise these products in such a high and valuble light when they cater to the lowest expectations and desires we all have?  No.  Does the Wii provide cutting-edge hardware at a fair price?  No.  Does the Wii encorporate and embrace gaming as a valid and broad entertainment medium? No.  Does the Wii encourage third party development and exceed the demands of consumers?  No.

We all know what good is for this industry from the perspective of consumers.  We've always known:  stronger hardware, cheaper prices, more developers, more intellectual freedom, more innovation, newer and bolder ideas, greater functionality, more depth, more game for your dollar.  I don't exactly need to look into a crystal ball and evoke a druidish chant to scrye what is good for us.  Nintendo has forced many of its fans to reorder, forget, or denounce these very functional, positive, and historically important values to rationalize their support for a product that works against their interests, fails to meet the benchmarks of this generation, and has butchered the functionality and scope of gaming as an entertainment medium.

Bashing the Wii for the horrible quality of its hardware, the marketing campaign it has employed, its mission statement, and its clear shortcomings is anything BUT mindless fanboy rabble.

I really hope you haters never go into business cause yall sure as **** would go bankrupt. The first thing you ever learn in economics is that you go into to business to make a PROFIT. That is your number one goal. Seriously you haters sound so pathetic. If yall really think the Wii is a ripoff, then I guess you think almost everything you buy is a ripoff. I guarentee you; the price you payed for your HDTVs was a lot more than what it costs to manufacture. I guarentee you; the price you payed for your shoes and clothes was a lot more than what it costs to manufacture them. You do not normally go into business to lose billions of dollars. Do you get the point? peaceful_anger

Haters?  I'm a consumer, first and foremost.  I like to know a company is busting its butt to offer me the best quality product, at the lowest possible price, while paying the highest possible prices to its employees.  The Wii is all about exploiting people to sell an antiquated, inferior, and lame product that relies heavily on worthless franchise tags and the "family friendly" audience to make a dollar.

The Wii is offering the worst hardware on the market, at a ridiculous price, and making a profit off consumers who are wound up in nostalgia, utilizing low standards to judge games, or considering games as little more than a childish plaything.  The fact someone could say, "THIS IS NP, LOLOL" disgusts me.  It is an example of how deluded, backward, and strange this industry has become.  We should all be unified against something as vile, pathetic, and disgusting as price-gouging customers. 

Don't buy this garbage.

[QUOTE="NerdMan"]Take away console's auto-aim then we can talk. Until then.....:lol:MOHaashkilla

I almost puke everytime a PC fanboy brings up this lame "autoaim" crap...Get over it dude...Consoles are way better in every way. Plug N play and no software/hardware conflicts.......Now go play your modded CS1/2/3..444... with its lame cheats. 

Autoaim is a testament to the console's inability to provide efficent and effective control in the FPS genre. PC FPS fans accuse the controller of being a poor form of input, and the fact that controllers have to encorporate auto-aim features really speak for the quality of control it provides.  It is an incredibly lame, destabalizing, newbie-worshipping, and garbage feature that makes FPS games suck.

How are consoles better in every way? 

For their inferior hardware?  Perhaps their ridiculous service charges for online gameplay?  Maybe, perhaps, because you hate being treated like an adult and being allowed to modify things to your tastes?  Perhaps you enjoy knowing all players are held to the same input standards?  Maybe because consoles grow antiquated, compared to PC's, about half way into a console generation?  Maybe you're simply unable to grasp the most basic elements of hardware and software design?  Or maybe you just love having console developers shove every choice, decision, preference, and format down your throat without concern for what you enjoy and perfer in a game?

I don't see any valid reasons for favoring consoles over PC's when it comes to FPS games.

It's a great service and has saved me a good deal on games in general.  No reason to buy a game when "replay" is often nothing more than going through a game on a harder difficulty setting.  The amount of games you will get to play with this service far outnumbers what the average consumer can afford.  You can also take your time with games, without worning about convential renting "turn-in" dates, and play when it is fun and convient for you.

A game these days usually costs 50 dollars.  That's two months of GF service, in the time you can play anywhere from 2-15 games, it's one hell of a deal.  I also use brightspot.tv to lower my subscription cost by $10 a month.  My plan, 2-games out at a time, usually costs me 14$ a month.  Purchase one video game... or have 3-4 months of unlimited gaming on an unlimited number of titles?  KILLER DEAL, =D.

The quality of the service itself is great.  It only takes them 1-3 days to ship out games.  The process is really simple and hassle free.  I've never recieved the wrong game, or a game that doesn't work, and the turn around times are great.  It's been the best gaming decision I've made in a long time.

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/13602/Epic-UT3-is-Gears-on-Crack-Cover-is-for-Wimps/

Regarding the controls, Polge revealed that they are so good that half the people who work on the game prefer to play the Xbox 360 version. Furthermore, the guy responsible for the controls has stepped in playtest sessions, where everyone was on keyboards, and with a controller he kicked everyone's butt.

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I can't believe it myself.  I've prefered consoles for FPS because it's a more even playing field.  For the most part everyone has the same controller.  PC some have a fast response mouse and other's a crappy wireless roller ball with lint all over it. And some hardcore gamers have the fancy Keyboard with customized key layouts.

But now EPIC has given the console the consideration it deserves and has the controller as good/better than the keyboard mouse combo!

Now if they can just fix RTS games and I'll be good to go.

mikasa

Autoaim is complete garbage and has made me sick at my stomach. I'll always like a keyboard a little more because it doesn't feel like some cheap peice of plastic, made for the hands of children, stuck between my fingers.

You know what?  Screw controls.  I perfer PC's for FPS games because the developer doesn't treat me as if I were some sort of slow child that is uncapable of altering the game to my personal preferences.  I like mods.  I like to be able to edit textures and change things around.  I like to use trainers to alter the gameplay.  I like to be able to save anywhere and everywhere.  I like to turn up or down the settings depending on the game. 

Haha, this is so wondeful.  So many Nintendo fans have become so deluded and desperate to defend a product that has sold them down the river, reversed the natural progression of this industry, and is attempting to butcher to gaming to little more than a childish plaything that they no longer care about the integrity and consumer friendlyness of this industry.

God, I hate this industry.  And it's not Nintendo that I hate the most, either.

One time I was in my college class when my retarded history teacher saw me reading Nintendo Power(during break), and she said I wasn't allowed to read it during class.  When I pointed out that it was our break she said she didn't care and that video games were a waste of time and I should be spending my break doing homework instead of reading Nintendo Power(even though she let other kids go in the hallway instead of doing homework).

Then she said that she hated video games and they were bad for your brain.  So I showed her an article in Nintendo Power about an educational video game that was releasing soon and she said it didn't look all that educational to her.

Don't closed minded adults like this piss you off?  Tell me your views on this subject.

xxxxxn

I really can't blame them too much for hating video games.  The industry is dominated and centered around the demands of children, and possesses little value outside of homogonized marketing icons that replace substanance and depth in games.  Games suffer at the hands of consumers who demand relatively shallow, repetitive, and boring products that fail to compete with other entertainment formats.  Video games, and unfortunately the direction they seem to be taking this generation, still amount to little more than a childish plaything that might, on occasion, provide a rare level of entertainment that an adult might enjoy.

I wish games would move past the shallow and childish nonsense that decades of inferior technology forced them to be.  Games have a ton of potential, but consumers have yet to hold developers accountable for the poor quality of their products.

But again, it'd be best if you could find a really good MMA sensei in your area that has REAL black belts in several styles.  The quality of your instructor is paramount.

This is a decent source of information on the topic too.  Focus more on finding a good school.

http://ntfa-dallas.home.att.net/choose.htm

It depends on the context and what you mean by "like." For the last year or so, I've been taking Shotokan karate and Akido.  So far, I've enjoyed them much more than Judo and MT.

Effectiveness -- Although I admit that the quality of your sensei is the single most important aspect of learning a martial art for self defense, your body style plays a very important role.  I'm a very (very) tall and fairly large man.  I personally find that Judo and BJJ are typically well suited for shorter and more compact people.  I often find myself struggling for leverage.  TKD requires too much kicking (its great if you have a really tall and slender build) and tends to tire me out.   Shotokan karate (not the generic crap that is everywhere, aka Karate USA, etc) suits my build the best, and I enjoy the aggressive and striking nature of it -- it emphasizes and supports my strengths (brute strength and height).

Fun -- I love practicing and watching akido.  Of all the martial arts, I find akido to be the most beautiful and fun to practice.  It's an extremely defensive art, and when paired with Karate, mixes quite effectively. I hated rolling around in lengthly grappling exercises in MAA, Judo, and JJ.  Akido is kind of boring at the start, but I'm starting to really love it. 

1. Concentrate on finding a friendly, well qualified, and highly experienced instructor in your area.  The quality of your instructor is usually more effective than a paticular style.  People spend time pointlessly bickering over styles all the time, but a great Sensei can make an ENORMOUS differnece in how much you learn, how good you are, and how motivated you are.
2. If you want to avoid all the far-east pomp, mixed martial arts styles are usually the most practical, easy to learn, and effective in self defense.  You won't get all the Asian aspects of martial arts, but you'll be able to defend yourself effectively after learning the most effective techniques from a wide variety of schools.  It's also a great way to "sample" various schools of martial arts.  If a few techniques stand out as favorites in your mind, you might have an idea of what martial art you might want to focus specifically in.

 Best general advice.  More biased specific advice?  Sure.

1. Avoid the big chain schools -- TKD, generic Karate.
2. A martial art that stricktly deals with energy redistrubtion or grappling tends to get messy and boring.
3. If you're really serious, look into taking a really solid grappling art (BJJ is a good example) along with a really good striking art.
4. TKD is extremely flashy and utilizes too many wacky kicks and