Gm3r.com | Party Like A Gamer.

I honestly can’t figure out how buying a used game was any better than piracy.

Jerry Holkins, Penny Arcade

Penny Arcade has responded to the THQ used games row with… support for THQ.  In response to the comments made by THQ about used game buyers, Penny Arcade founder Jerry Holkins (writing as alter-ego Tycho) proclaimed “the idea that THQ is somehow ‘disrespecting customers’ with this kind of rhetoric misunderstands the situation as completely as it is possible to do so… I honestly can’t figure out how buying a used game was any better than piracy.”

Things are heating up on the ol’ internet about this. Check out my take on the matter after the break.

Read the rest of this entry

I don’t think we really care whether used game buyers are upset because new game buyers get everything.  So if used game buyers are upset they don’t get the online feature set I don’t really have much sympathy for them.

Cory Ledesma, THQ

Used game buyers are facing an assault from major publishers.

EA charged to the forefront of this battle with their “Project Ten Dollar” exchange tactic, which was well handled in games such as Mass Effect 2’s Cerberus Network and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 VIP packs as it offered additional content but still allowed full use of the games. However, THQ are close on the heels and fast becoming the uncouth pack leader following comments by creative director for wrestling games, Cory Ledesma. In an interview with CVG Ledsema says ”I don’t think we really care whether used game buyers are upset because new game buyers get everything.  So if used game buyers are upset they don’t get the online feature set I don’t really have much sympathy for them.”

So what’s with this attitude?  Continue after the break for the full run down on why THQ believe one-time passes in games such as the upcoming Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 are necessary.

Read the rest of this entry

Earlier this week the Italian American Service Organization, UNICO National, made it abundantly clear it was not a fan of the upcoming Take Two and 2K gangster title Mafia II.  UNICO’s Andre DiMino came out swinging; Claiming, “we are demanding they halt release of the game and cleanse it of all references to Italians and Italian Americans.” DiMino is apparently unaware that juxtaposing “cleansing” with an ethnic group is uncouth, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on that one.

Read on to find out more about why UNICO considers Mafia II to be “racist nonsense,” and catch Take Two’s reply.

Read the rest of this entry

One day, we tried to figure out why we wanted ladders so bad because we don’t really need them. It just felt like we’re game development pussies because we can’t do ladders.

Todd Howard, Bethesda Softworks

Recently, IGN discovered why there are no ladders in Bethesda’s Fallout: The engine simply can’t handle them. Now, you might say that’s a recipe for ridicule considering game engines from prior decades could handle those tricky vertical staircases, but I say it’s a cause for immense praise (even if Bethesda’s receiving it by accident).

Game ladders are ridiculous artifacts of lazy game design and should be buried with other mistakes from the 90s like Zubaz and Vanilla Ice.

There’s nothing like a ladder to whisk you out of the game world and send you flying into ridiculousness because for some reason – unbeknown to me — game developers seem to think all ladders are magical time/space vortexes that whisk people into the air when they get close enough and look upward.

Hit up the “read more” link so you can agree with my top five reasons why ladders are stupid in games.

Read the rest of this entry

The internet is abuzz, abuzz, people! News of Blizzards Real ID enforcement, which will unveil the real life names of everyone who posts to Battle.net forums, is setting hearts and minds ablaze with passionate discontent. Of course, this could be but another outrage, in a long chain of internet outrages, with all bark and no bite (remember how many times you and ten million other people swore you were going to quit Facebook?).

No, we’re not anti-Blizzard or anti-corporation per se — in fact, Blizzard has done much to be proud of — but like any healthy relationship built on respect, sometimes it is necessary to tell the other person that they blew it and need to correct themselves.

Well, we’re not going to go through the list of reasons why Real ID is a monumentally idiotic idea. If you want a well-thought out account of that, you can check out Ashelia’s words here. Under the assumption of this being a terrible idea, though, where do we go from here? Fortunately, there are ways to get what you want in the world, even from big corporations like Blizzard, and we’re here to help. No, we’re not anti-Blizzard or anti-corporation per se — in fact, Blizzard has done much to be proud of — but like any healthy relationship built on respect, sometimes it is necessary to tell the other person that they blew it and need to correct themselves.

If we could sum up our guide with one phrase, this is it:

VOTE WITH YOUR FEET.

Check out our suggestions on how to rectify this issue after the break.

Read the rest of this entry

Now, I could just post this goregous StarCraft II video without any sort of commentary, but I’m compelled to finally speak up about SCII’s art direction. Ever since the first StarCraft II screenshots were released to the world, a debate has raged on the internet questioning whether or not the sequel follows the spirit of the original, or if it has been given the cartoonish Warcraft treatment. I won’t go on a tirade here, since Blizzard’s decisions at this point are final, and no amount of whining by the community will make any sort of difference.

Still, there is something to be said about the extreme extent to which the art direction changed between the iterations, and I’ll be disappointed that the sharpness and isometric ruggedness of the original gave way to exaggerated, rounded polygons — not to even mention the fact that the game looks like a child’s juvenile crayon rendering in comparison to the world-class quality of the latest commercial.

Regardless of my personal pining for the rugged, unforgiving graphical world of the original SC, this newest 30-second trailer is enough to get my blood pumping for all-things StarCraft. The sequel lands on July 27 worldwide, with the release of the first part of the StarCraft II trilogy: Wings of Liberty. Two additional games, Heart of the Swarm, and Legacy of the Void, will follow in subsequent years.

Tara & Jill is a weekly column by Zaxy bloggers Tara Miller and Jill Collette, who are all-around aficionados of everything geeky. No, they’re not unicorns, and no, we can’t give you their phone numbers (trust us, we’ve tried), but you can still kick back and read along as they explore the culture of gaming with spirited observation.

Sometimes I start up a video game and become instantly distracted by the main character’s outfit, or should I say, the lack thereof. “Really,” I scoff, “I’m supposed to kick ass in a belly baring low cut shirt,” and, “How is that unitard not giving you a wedgie?” That said, some of these characters know what they’re doing. A parasol may seem like a frilly, impractical accessory, but a well trained princess is able to use it as a weaponized flying device.

So what would I wield if I were a video game character? Read on to find out.

Read the rest of this entry

Tara & Jill is a weekly column by Zaxy bloggers Tara Miller and Jill Collette, who are all-around aficionados of everything geeky. No, they’re not unicorns, and no, we can’t give you their phone numbers (trust us, we’ve tried), but you can still kick back and read along as they explore the culture of gaming with spirited observation.

I believe that there’s a common displacement of logic between women and their dating standards. Now, I won’t get into all of the problems on women and their dating habits (don’t get me started), rather, I’m talking specifically about dating gamers.

Let me first clarify that when I say women, I’m talking about the everyday girl who paints her nails, goes out dancing with her girlfriends, talks on the phone, obsesses over twilight and does not play video games (with the exception of Nintendo Wii, sometimes) That’s not to say all girls are like that, I’m just speaking in terms of general perception.

What I can’t help but notice is the general lack of girls that give these guys a chance and get to know them past their stereotype

When I say gamers, I don’t mean the dudes who play Madden with their “bros” while smashing beer cans over their forehead after making a touchdown, or the die-hard obsessive sockers that play World of Warcraft. (Good luck with dating, guys! Not tryin’ to hate.. just sayin’) The type of gamers I’m talking about are the men who generally spend all their time playing video games every day on PC, Xbox 360, or PS3, and don’t have very many hobbies outside of their virtual worlds.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that there are gamers that do have girlfriends, but what I can’t help but notice is the general lack of girls that give these guys a chance and get to know them past their stereotype.

I asked a few girls for their take on why they wouldn’t want to date a gamer. Read on to find out their responses!

Read the rest of this entry