#29 - Video Games

Far too big a hurdle for me. I feel like I'm immune to the game-sensation, but I've definitely been exposed.

WOW - I'd agree that the learning curve is not huge, but there is a big time-commitment involved. Not that my son would want dad "questing" with him, but it would take a year just to catch up.

Boredom - On the rare occasion that I do play, I also fail to follow the intent of the game makers. Long before Burnout had a section for "doing the most damage" we would play where the winner didn't finish first or fastest ... but simply had the most expensive and spectacular crash. I quite liked that Burnout2 celebrated this behavior.
On NCAA College Football, I never had that much fun helping teams I love win games against an opponent or the computer. On the other hand, playing "as" teams I hate and forcing them to do miserably ... now that is incredibly fun and amusing. (Oh, another safety against the Sooners!...)

Faces - I do love the expressions on the faces of people who are actively gaming. That is often better than anything happening on the screen. It would be most amusing to line up a photo-collage of these and have people guess which one is the orgasm!

TV - Intellectually, I absolutely agree about TV. It is far inferior to film and games (even though both "use" television as a distribution vehicle).
An environmentalist wrote a very interesting book on this topic in the early 1970s (!) -- Jerry Mander, Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. He suggested that it was pointless to protest about TV's violence or sex or general mindlessness, pretty persuasively. His view was that the issue was inherent in the medium. Even "educational television" is mind-numbing and destructive.

Finally, don't feel locked in to the admiral's intro. Rick's voice makes it feel like "home" in a way that may not even make sense. Like any good jazz musician, though, a good home actually empowers improvisation.
The "Naked Lynch" gave me the same gleeful shiver I felt when I first heard Rick's. Talk about improv: nothing like turning the message inside out and back again.

I was listening to the latest episode of Horror Etc the other night. The guest was Jay from the Filmjunk podcast. While the interview was about his short film work, he mentioned that he worked for a video game company, and helped create a game called Too Human.

As I had just listened to Nerd Hurdles 29 before that, I had to stop and say "small world, eh?"

http://www.horroretc.com/

http://www.filmjunk.com/about-us/

Weird, I wonder if he was at that wedding we went to. There were two Jays there. One wasn't him. One might have been.

Nope. Wasn't that Jay either.

I vote for Rail-beard.

I'm only voting for Rail-beard if he's running for the position of biggest douche.

I think he's the incumbent for that position.

I don't think I have hurdles about video games (except the amount of time I have the propensity to waste on them) so much as there are just some styles I find fun and others that bore me. I like Greater Toronto Area, some first person shooter (Quake, Far Cry) and real-time strategy type games (Age Of Empires, Warcraft), and some of the air combat simulator (A-10 Cuba) and car racing games (Formula 1 games rule), but I can't get into role playing games (WoW, Sims), sports games, rock band type stuff or puzzle solving games. I do enjoy a round of Tetris though.

But because of the way they'll suck so much time out of my daylights I haven't played anything seriously for at least three years, only helping my brother test out his Quake Wars mods for an hour at a time every now and then. He's made these mods that have been downloaded and played by tens of thousands of people and it impresses the shit out of me what he does and it's fun to play but I understand almost none of how he does it. He also plays at LANs with a bunch of Air Force guys he knows and from the times I've visited him at these things they look pretty fun, a lot of funny geek trash-talking, pizza and Red Bulls; it's the most social form of an anti-social passtime. Just reeeeeeally time consuming.

Also, Igor somehow makes me grin like a fucking loon every time, I love that guy.

Also, Jakob's allergic to blue? No wonder you're not aroused by the Avatar trailer.

Also, I agree that TV is bad, except when Tina Fey and Tracey Morgan are on it. Or Futurama. Or Stephen Fry. They all make me a better person. Bill Shatner too. Maybe even David Hassel ... no ... too far.

Also, who's Rail-beard?

Just some douche, I mean, dude.

We should have a Nerd Hurdles Tetris Tournament sometime.

We should. I will WIN!!!

I enjoy some video games, but I've never been blessed with great hand-eye coordination so if the control scheme is too complex I lose interest instantly. I haven't played World of Warcraft, but I play City of Heroes which is another Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game.(MMORPG) The control scheme is very simple, and the actual game play is rather repetitive, but it is a venue where my old gang from high school and beyond can get 'together' and interact from where the winds of fate have spread us. I also like Diablo II on the computer, but the only game console we have is an aging PS2 that my wife bought and that we mostly use as a DVD player.

Mandi wrote:We should. I will WIN!!!

We'll see about that. I'd prefer a Quinn tournament actually. Same rules.

Everybody thinks they would win a Tetris tournament. And maybe they would, if I was not involved.

One year at University, I got one credit in Social Psychology and four in Tetris.

One-on-one or are we doing teams?

That sounds pervy.

In other news, I watched The Guild, and now I am sad that there is no more The Guild to watch. Sigh.

I believe season three is nigh.

kumarhk wrote:One-on-one or are we doing teams?

Can we tag team Kumar? I really wanna tag team. And get Cullane in on this shit too.

Just going by outward appearances, this is the filthiest sounding thread yet. And yes, that includes the hairless pussy thread.

Hayden_Bloom wrote:

kumarhk wrote:One-on-one or are we doing teams?

Can we tag team Kumar? I really wanna tag team. And get Cullane in on this shit too.

Four to a team?

Mandi wrote:That sounds pervy.

In other news, I watched The Guild, and now I am sad that there is no more The Guild to watch. Sigh.

I find this has been an acceptable video to keep me entertained until the new season begins...

I watched that already. It creeps me out a little.

But...costumes are involved this time!!

Mmmmmm, Felicia Day!