No Man’s Sky is coming to the XBO. Ponder that for a minute.
Month: March 2018
Vermintide 2 – The End Times Ain’t Done Yet – A Review From Scroo
Fatshark has done it again. So well in fact that within the first two weeks of release, Vermintide 2 sold more than 500,000 copies and has brought in more revenue for the company than the first title did --ever! Stay with me and I'll tell you what I think so far. Read more
The Real Problem With ‘Sea of Thieves’
Sea of Thieves is under a lot of heat right now from gamers and gaming journalists alike. And not without reason. The game has been heavily criticized for a severe lack of content attached to a sixty dollar price tag.
But no one seems to want to talk about the real reason why Sea of Thieves is problematic.
Boats
And yes, I'm all the serious.
Now anyone who reads or watches our content here on Twinstiq (all eight of you) will know that I have a very deep bias against the demons of the sea known as boats. Now I want to be as forthcoming about this as possible, that way you know where I stand on the issue of the normalization of boating within gaming culture.
Speaking of Boating Normalization, let’s talk about the absolutely disgusting rise of boating within gaming these last few years.
For quite a while, Boats were largely an afterthought or extension upon a game and it’s many systems. Having little to no effect on the habits of the player. But as gaming fidelity rose, we saw better physics engines that could simulate the horrid movements of water more accurately. With this progression we saw game developers carelessly allow themselves to implement more and more boat-based missions. Eventually we saw games like ‘Archeage’ and ‘Assassin’s Creed 3’ have entire sections of the game solely devoted to what can only be described as boating propaganda.
The reaction from the gaming community when Black Flag was released should be seen as disgusting to any decent human being. Gamers loved the Boating-Based gameplay, and no one ever questioned if it was good for their health. The "Pirate Fantasies" it allowed players to partake in took no issue in exploiting a lifestyle that was the result of 264 Pirate attacks irl the year the game was released (2013).
Now ‘Sea of Thieves’ is attempting to once again bring Boats to forefront of young people's minds. Thankfully everyone seems to hate how the game is nothing but an empty shell of promises that’s better off left alone, just like the boats it glamorizes. And while this should be a warning to all who think boating is just a “harmless hobby”, I have a feeling that another game down the line will try to corrupt the minds of young gamers and basically train them to use boats in harmful ways.
Make no mistake. Boats are violence. And video game boats are nearly guaranteed to have an effect on real life boats. According to a Fox News article that I will not link to and you should not Google, Boating in video games makes your child more likely to become a boat.
And this should clearly have cause for concern. According to the US Coast Guard, 2016 saw 701 boating related deaths. “The highest number of yearly boating fatalities in the last five years.”
That’s almost nearly about approximately roughly around twice as many as the 371 rifle deaths the FBI reported for the same year!
The trend between increased boating deaths, and boats being normalized in video games are so obvious that it’s irrefutable by any logic. And unless we want to see more games like ‘Sea of Thieves’ bring Boats into the limelight of gaming culture, we need to be diligent. Despite negative reviews, people have not rejected the lure of this boat porn. Despite the sheer amount of hate the game has been receiving, it has still topped sales charts. This is highly concerning.
We have too oppose boats in video games at every front. That is why I have never, and will never play ‘Sea of Thieves’ or any other such “Boat Games” that may rear their ugly head.
I’m getting too old for this WRUP
I just had a great idea!
We’re Losing Our Internet Freedom – [Fifth Update] Pai is still Lying
Okay guys this is about Net Neutrality and this shit is important!
[Update 3-21]
I've been seeing a lot Net Neutrality articles lately and a lot of them concern FCC chairman, Ajit Pai himself. From news that the NRA has given him an award for, "Protecting free speech" and "saving the internet". To the possibility of Pai being sued for using "The Harlem Shake" in one of his propaganda videos without permission. And the much more positive news of several US states filing their own bills in order to impose Net Neutrality rules on ISP's regardless of what the repeal says.
I just read a piece from ArsTechnica that made me come here for another update because I feel it's worth sharing with you all. The article calls Pai out, a few times in fact, for just outright lying and presenting old information as new and factual all thanks to the new rules -Which, by the way, haven't been imposed yet. I don't know this guy keeps getting away with spewing sewage in the street and calling it gold.
Here's a link to the article from ArsTechnica I highly suggest reading it and it's comments.
[Update 2-26]
Today is the 26th of February and tomorrow the 27th the last major stand against the repeal of Net Neutrality will take place. Fight for the Future is an advocacy group that has put together a hashtag #OneMoreVote in a last ditch effort to bring people together in order to appeal the death of Net Neutrality. In a quote taken from Polygon- "Only one more vote in the Senate is needed to take the case to the House of Representatives, where cosponsors can vote to block the repeal of net neutrality. If unsuccessful, net neutrality will be repealed in April."
This is it folks. Our 60 day grace period since the official FCC vote to repeal is up. Telecomms are already changing policies and if something isn't done, we're just a few days from the new rules taking effect. Check out the links above and get the info you need to get into the fight if you haven't done so already.
[Update 1-24]
Burger King
Weirdly, Burger King has jumped on board the no repeal train with a really good neutrality analogue. Anyone who still may not understand exactly what's going to happen to the internet should watch the video below. In said video you'll see B.K. playing the role of a telecom who is imposing the new Whopper Neutrality rules upon its customers and it's a pretty entertaining and insightful spot.
[Update 12-15]
As you likely know by now the FCC has voted in a three to two vote to end Net Neutrality. This in itself is a nightmare. But thankfully for those of us who want to keep Net Neutrality alive and kicking we still have a glimmer of hope in this sea of darkness. Read more
Wrup are video games again?
I had another awful week, so I have zero knowledge of what happened in gaming. How about you guys tell me in the comments instead?
Seriously, all I gathered was Drake streaming something on Twitch. Good for him, I guess. And Twitch. And whatever game he played.
Anyway, what is everyone playing during the weekend? Read more
Austria is a fucking nazi country…wrup
That whole violent video game debate, oh boy... but how about something even more disturbing?
We have a political party in our government which (in the best case scenario/this is just the stuff that was recently documented) has professional politicians in its ranks that wish for Adolf Hitler to return, who are part of fraternities that sing old Nazi songs, who've been pictured doing the Hitler Salute (unironically). And now a heavily armed police force under the command of a member of said party raided our Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and apparently seized documents concerning right wing extremism including a full list of informants, possibly even stuff shared by foreign agencies.
If you don't know shit about austria: We are a wealthy western democracy, sandwiched between Germany and Italy. Our biggest cultural exports: Mozart, Hitler and Red Bull (which btw. is owned by Didi Mateschitz, who is also a strong supporter of the far right, keep that in mind next time you'll buy a Red Bull). We've been bombed to hell already. We've still have concentration camps in the country to remind us of what has happened here. One would think we would have learned the lesson.
Never underestimate the threat of fascism.
Anyway, video games. Read more
WRUP-Lands
This week, some heavy metal. Because if we don't listen to it, we won't be able to determine if it will make us killers or not. They hide Satan in those arrangements, just like Barcodes, and Rap Music. We need to find it and show the world how it must be stopped, or the devil might make the world play video games...
Well, Anyway, What games are we playing this weekend?
Greywolfe: still doing daily quests. hooray. or something. but i've actually started picking up real games again. campaign two of etherlords ii is done. i need to take a break from that game before i step into campaign 3, but it's been a blast, playing a 40 hour aaa game. i'm very nearly at the end of space quest 5, too. probably going to move over to quest for glory 4, after that. and as for book of unwritten tales, i'm going to start in on that again, soon.
Andrew: Trying to resolve some annoying PC issues. If successful, I will probably be checking out some new-ish stuff on GOG and Steam. If not, I may revisit Fallout 4 on PS4.
Yoda0vgs: Still trying to finish up the Witcher, just started on the expansions, once im done with that Death March run ill prolly try out assassins Creed
Scroo: Snowed in this weekend it looks like so I'll be doing quite a bit of Netflix-ing and the like. Probably also some gaming cos that's my MO. Steep is more or less done but has been lots of fun. I imagine I'll continue in Grim Dawn and I might finally try getting really into Nioh.
Trulegendkiller: Having a Fucking Birthday Bitches!
Dr. Strangethumb: Wishing I was cool enough to go to Tru's Birthday party!