Concession

Posted by Steve on November 14, 2003: New comic here. Oh, and if you don't get the ending, you should have a look at this and this.

So, let's start with this, shall we? Now, at the risk of starting up the old PC vs. console debate, let's face facts here. You've got a showstopper bug that makes the game unplayable, and the game's already been out for a year now on consoles anyway. Also, showstopper bugs in new release PC games are hardly rare. We're not talking a glitch here and a minor bug there, we're talking "buy the game and then sit around and wait for a patch to make it playable" bugs.

Now, let's talk about your main advantages of PC games. 1) Price. A lot of people figure one PC is cheaper than three consoles, which are later replaced with newer consoles. Now, if that one PC lasted the rest of your life, fine. But that's not the case. First of all, a high end PC to run these games at a rate where they're really "better" than the console versions ain't cheap. Second, sooner or later (sooner) the next big PC game needs the next big graphics card to run it, and they don't exactly hand those out either. So factor all that in, and price is hardly an advantage.

The second advantage is online play, particularly online rpg's. Now, while Nintendo hasn't exactly embraced online play, Sony and Microsoft are all over it. So you gotta figure by the next generation of consoles, its pretty much going to be a standard feature, and you'd think that hard drives would be as well. Well, maybe not with Nintendo, but they're weird like that.

Now look, the point of all this isn't to just bash PC gaming, honestly. If that's your thing, fine. What I'm trying to say is that PC gamers shouldn't stand for this crap. Too many PC games are released and immediately need patches. Too many developers ship unfinished PC games because they know they have the luxury of patching it later. I understand that there's a million possible hardware combinations to test and you can't possibly get to all of them. However, if your system meets the requirements, you should at least be able to run the damn thing. And if a PC game costs the same as a console game, it should run just as well. And with consoles what they are these days, there's alternatives out there to shitty, broken, half assed PC games, and if you play these games you should let the developers know about that when they screw up. Speak in the language they all understand: money. Stop buying the broken games, and they'll stop shipping the broken games.

Now that that's out of the way, let's move on.

Have a look at this. Man, Nokia is really going to lose a shit ton of money on this thing. I mean, who would have thought that pricing a shitty handheld unit at a hundred bucks more than a console (300 bucks, though it's already at 200), and three times the price of a Gameboy Advance, (oh wait, it's down 200 bucks now, so now it's only twice as expensive as a GBA) plus insulting your target audience before your shit is even released, plus higher development costs to make games for your shitty handheld, would lead to horrible sales? A note to any of our readers who might happen to be parents with kids asking for an N-Gage for christmas/birthday/etc.: don't buy it. It'll be a doorstop by this time next year.

Ok, I think that's all the venom for today. The rest of the post should be much more pleasant.

Jason has got a whole new look going on over at Game Rave, so head on over and check it out.

Fenris, of Aikida fame, has got a new comic happening, so give Pepperwood a look.

And while I'm pimping comics, check out Questionable Content. It's pretty cool, and the guy who does it is a friend of Joe's, which gets him points too, since pimping his comic let's me pimp Leave. Actually, I would have mentioned him earlier, but his server was for sucks for awhile there. Anyway, check it out.

And finally, some new stuff from the Gord. See you next week.

Posted by Bob on November 14, 2003: Last week's sketch winner, Leatherface, is up. TWO pictures of Leatherface, to boot! This week's winner is Emma Frost, the White Queen. I'll get that one up as soon as I can...I dunno when, cause I really have no idea what to do with her at present. The new poll is up right here. You just have to register to vote. Have I mentioned lately how INCREDIBLY EASY it is to register? It takes like, two minutes and you get to talk back to Steve and I, along with our bro Jason of Game Rave. And all sorts of other people! Register! Vote! And by all means...POST!

Okay, so if you ever thought D and D is a sin, apparently, you are right! This thing is gold, you've gotta check it out.

Are you tired of most web journals in which the writers complain about their life and say stuff like "My parents don't understand me, I want to fight my dad, he's such a NOOB?" Well, then I have one for you to read! There's some funny stuff there, if making fun of other people doesn't offend you....If it does, then I have to believe you are at the wrong website anyway.

Check this out. You've gotta love Seanbaby.