Random Gaming Thoughts

[Segata]

Damn, Hokuto ga Gotoku (Fist of the Northstar from the Yakuza team) looks incredible, seeing a bunch of Japanese streams up on Twitch right now. You wa Shock is the freaking battle theme too. Really hope Sega localizes this one... but I'm not holding my breath.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T00GJr-tdTI

Go download the demo. It's pretty damn fun.

[Segata]

"kiddy"

[stickem]

Maybe some of ya'll that sell on ebay can help me with a question. Why put best offer on a game and never respond/ignore a reasonable offer? I understand holding out for a better offer. For shits and giggles I offered this person 5 bucks below his price on 3 occasions now with no response lol. If you're only going to accept an offer a dollar below your asking price, why put best offer? At least freaking tell me no thanks. Meanwhile their shit is still unsold when I could have bought it 3 weeks ago. This happens on 50% of the time I make offers.

[Segata]

Maybe some of ya'll that sell on ebay can help me with a question. Why put best offer on a game and never respond/ignore a reasonable offer? I understand holding out for a better offer. For shits and giggles I offered this person 5 bucks below his price on 3 occasions now with no response lol. If you're only going to accept an offer a dollar below your asking price, why put best offer? At least freaking tell me no thanks. Meanwhile their shit is still unsold when I could have bought it 3 weeks ago. This happens on 50% of the time I make offers.

I had a seller harass me online for a couple months because he listed a game as like new and I bought it but it was the wrong game in the case but the case and manual were broken and water damaged. I left negative feedback and he threatens to expose my Address and kept harassing me until I finally just had enough reported him to eBay where he was removed and banned.

I'd had few bad experiences on eBay but enough where eBay is my last resort.

[Forlorn Drifter]

I've got my annual itch going, so I'm in a medieval mood. While I have options to replay, I kind of want something different. Medieval/fantasy RPG wise, what's a good idea?

I've been looking at Divinity Original Sin and Pillars of Eternity, what else should I consider? Mostly focusing on PS3/4, though PS1 and Wii, and retro Nintendo are open too. I have played Dragons Dogma.

[Segata]

Dragon Age Origins. Kingdoms of Amular. (seriously this game is amazing and so overlooked) Draconus Cult of the Wyrm on Dreamcast. Diablo. Record of Lodoss War Dreamcast. Silver Dreamcast. BotW WiiU/Switch. Dragon Quest anything but if just on PS systems. DQ8. 3D Dot Game Heroes. Dragon's Crown. Princess Crown. Castlevania Lords of Shadow, Lament of Innocence or Curse of Darkness. Lost Odyssey. The Last Story on Wii. Pandora's Tower on Wii.


If I had to pick one. Kingdoms of Amular. A lot of talent in that game. Todd Mcfarlane,R.A. Salvatore,Grant Kirkhope and Ken Rolston.

[Reprise]

Anyone else seen that Omega Labyrinth Z has been banned in the UK, Germany and Australia? PQube appealed and lost.

It's the first game since Manhunt 2 to be banned in the UK.

Fair or an overreaction? It seems a bit weird to me. They claim it promotes the sexualisation of children and poses a danger to young audiences, but it looks like it's typical niche, anime game with pervy fan service like Senran etc. Is it really that bad? I hadn't even heard of the game until I read it was banned.

I don't understand how banning a game helps anything. What danger do they fear it creates? What do they hope to protect people from? And are they aware that banning something achieves free advertisement and greater marketing for the game, which increases awareness of the game. It's also the lack of consistency I don't quite understand, unless there's something in this game that clearly over steps the line. Is it because the anime girls in this game are explicitly referred to as schoolgirls and that had been avoided in prior pQube games? I do vaguely remember Dead or Alive had character's ages changed in some parts of the world when it was released.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/technology-43414617

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2018/03/15/omeg ... -manhunt-2

[isiolia]

Hard to say for sure without having seen whatever content it was they found objectionable, but there are different standards for that sort of thing by region, and it's very possible it crosses a line somewhere. While banning it might serve to create a media buzz around this particular title, it also sends a message to publishers about future projects, which might be more the point. I would assume that it's more due to seeming to represent children than nudity, and some of those games do pretty much rely on technicalities to skirt around that.

[Forlorn Drifter]

I wish we could get a good Conan the Barbarian or new 3D Golden Axe game. I love sword and sorcery style stuff, but it isn't touched on much in gaming.

[Reprise]

Hard to say for sure without having seen whatever content it was they found objectionable, but there are different standards for that sort of thing by region, and it's very possible it crosses a line somewhere. While banning it might serve to create a media buzz around this particular title, it also sends a message to publishers about future projects, which might be more the point. I would assume that it's more due to seeming to represent children than nudity, and some of those games do pretty much rely on technicalities to skirt around that.

I'm aware there are different standards by region, but from a UK perspective, it does seem inconsistent, in my opinion, but like you say, it's hard to say without seeing the content they find objectionable and how it compares to other similar games. Looking at the trailers, to ME, it doesn't look any different to games like the Senran Kagura series or the Gal*Gun series. There are probably 'worse' examples than those that haven't been banned, but those are the only two anime fan service-y games I've properly played.

Here's the UK VSC's response anyways. Apparently one of the girls is described as a 'first year', although I've seen someone comment that under Japan's grading system, this would actually make them 16 or older (above the UK's legal age of consent), but I have no idea if that's true or not. It's difficult to defend the 'holding a teddy bear' but though... I just guess my confusion is, why hasn't any other 'creepy' 'weeb' game been banned here until now? Does this now set a precedent moving forward? Or is this either a random anomaly that will be forgotten or is it that this game is actually worse than prior weeb games?

The game is explicit in its setting within a “school” environment and the majority of the characters are young girls – one child is referred to as being a “first year” student and is seen holding a teddy bear. The game clearly promotes the sexualisation of children via the sexual interaction between the game player and the female characters. The style of the game is such that it will attract an audience below the age of 18.

There is a serious danger that impressionable people, i.e. children and young people viewing the game would conclude that the sexual activity represented normal sexual behaviour. There is a constant theme of sexual innuendo and activity throughout the game that suggests behaviour likely to normalise sexual activity towards children. As a means of reward gained by successfully navigating the game, the player has the means to sexually stimulate the female characters by using either a hand held remote device or touch screen software.

The VSC Rating Board believes this content in a game, which would have strong appeal to non-adult players, is an issue which would be unacceptable to the majority of UK consumers and, more importantly, has the potential to be significantly harmful in terms of the social and moral development of younger people in particular.