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Sony made this distinction, to a large extent, not so much through original design or perspective or technology as through psychology. Their message: videogames are childish, uncool garbage. What we have to offer, it's barely even videogames. It's more like movies, or some other kind of entertainment. They reinforced the premise by generally refusing "old fashioned" 2D games on their systems, unless explicitly labeled as a retro package; through putting a heavy emphasis on "mature"-themed games, and by funneling Sony's limitless funds into years of blanket advertising - rarely showing actual game footage if CG was available, emphasizing the cinematic and familiar. The implication was, the less videogames in any sense resembled what you and I think of as videogames, the better. -- What's Wrong With Console Design? [next-gen.biz]

Well, this is something that goes along with another quote I read recently:

Are you still dicking around with lovingly detailed 2D sprites? Enormous Gouraud shaded triangles are the wave of the future! Glazed, emotionless eyes! Hair that's been hacked out of stone! Giant 3D booger men in diapers are what today's gamers want, and we'll give you the tools to craft those horrendously ugly damn creatures. Someone perfect time travel already so we can just bomb 1994. -- Worst Video Game Ads comments [1up.com]

This is why I get irritated whenever anyone says Nintendo censors (oh they do, and in very irritating ways) and Sony doesn't. Sony loves to censor, and they have from the beginning, but they are good at projecting an image, I'll give them that. You suck, Sony!

So I saw the following comment today (in a gaming article, of all places):

Re:books vs. video games

It could be a Troll or it could be sincere, but the important thing is that it means that this individual is not worth arguing with about anything. For the rest of this entry I'll assume he's sincere.

He has no ideas that are worthwhile. There is no there, there. People will argue with him though, because he doesn't make overtly racist statements like this all the time. So he'll say something, and people will assume he's decent but ignorant or something. Well, no, he's a Nazi. He actually is one. You know, like Hitler. The question is, when you get into an argument with an actual Nazi, does Godwin's law apply? In other words, does the other person lose the argument immediately for being a Nazi? I think that they should be treated as nothing for the purposes of the argument. However, on certain issues (like immigration) it is valuable to note which side they are on, because that will be the Nazi side of the argument.

So, Slashdot reports on a stupid, mean prank, and I suppose, that being superior Slashdot sort of people we're all supposed to get a kick out of it. I didn't get a kick out of it, I saw it for what it was, and I commented on it here: -1 Flamebait:

Hmm...
(Score:-1, Flamebait)
by sesshomaru (173381) on Friday May 05, @09:02PM (#15274654)
(http://darkcyclone0.tripod.com/snyktn.html | Last Journal: Thursday March 02, @01:11PM) This is about the stupidist thing I've ever heard of. Essentially, a bunch of trust fund babies deciding to hassle the working class. I'm reminded of Bertie Wooster stealing policemens' hats. "Well, they like it, just like foxes like to be hunted." It's not coincidental that Wodehouse was popular in Soviet Russia.
--
...each carried a huge funnel, and I realized with horror that I had seen this awful thing before...

I ended up doing a few more comments later, Re:Manager called 911 and Re:It's funny indeed. The first comment was just to point out that in retail, you constantly have to deal with being insulted and scammed. I pointed out the details of a few scams, one I had read about and three that had happened to me. The second comment was just a Well Done to an Anonymous Coward who had made a comment similar to my previous comment but had done a better job of pointing out why this was a stupid, mean prank.

So, what am I to make of this? Well, this goes along with the hostility to the Star Wars kid for not being able to "laugh at himself." Penn & Tellar made a great point about the line, "It's fun to laugh at yourself, " in their book Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends, as they put it, "that was just a lie." The reason why it was a motto on Candid Camera was to get people to pretend they weren't humiliated for our amusement, and act like they thought the joke was funny too. Think of all the money this motto saved the Candid Camera people on dental work and facial reconstructive surgery. (But it's what I'd expect from masters of social engineering).

One of the things I realized from this article is that I'm no longer dealing with my peers, mostly, on Slashdot. No, I'm dealing with children, people who are younger than even my girlfriend, who were 6 years old when Street Fighter II came out. It's an odd sensation to realize that there are people, who have reached "official American adulthood" (but who still act like children thanks to all those years of forced infantilization that our school systems provide) who were babies when Street Fighter II came out. It gives me the shudders. I'm wondering if, just maybe, the kids are not alright.

Hopefully this isn't a representative sample of 20 somethings. (Well, my girlfriend is a 20 something herself, and she's alright. I often "rap" with her to find out what's going on in the younder generation.)

Here's a placeholder journal entry: SWOP's Own Goal

The Steel Legion modification for the original dawn of war adds another unit of the Imperial Guard, this one heavily based around armor (tanks). For information on the Steel Legion of Armageddon, go here. For information on the actual mod, go here.

This is a very well made, complete mod for the original Dawn of War as far as I know, it is not yet compatible with Winter Assault. There will be some people, mostly those who prefer original Dawn of War to Winter Assault who will like this mod better than Winter Assault.

Winter Assault may have the edge for including a new single player game, but I'd say Dawn of Steel is equal in quality to the Cadian Imperial Guard included in Winter Assault. I'll comment more later.