Instead of telling you what has gone on throughout the year, I’m more interested in how people in the community have spent their time gaming and what they thought of 2008 through their own experiences.

So here we go…

This was a very interesting year for me… an extremely interesting year in fact because for the first time I have actually bought a non-Nintendo console. In years past, while I have played A LOT of games on all of the other systems from Atari, Sega, Sony and Microsoft, I hadn’t actually bought any of them but rather played games for them on consoles owned by my friends.

The first non-Nintendo console I had bought was a PS2 slim and a copy of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater… though I wish I was able to find Subsistence instead… oh well, maybe later. While I had gotten the PS2 first, I was on my way to getting a free PS3 through a deal where if I buy a HDTV, I’ll get a free PS3 from Sony. I pounced on this offer and also bought myself a second DualShock 3 controller and a copy of Metal Gear Solid 4. Later I got Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (as well as a PS3 remote) for my birthday and also bought Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution (which was a bad idea since it would’ve been better to buy the 360 version instead) and finally Valkyria Chronicles, which as you all know, I was really excited about for a long time. Along with a few games I also got to buy a few Bluray movies…

Of course, it doesn’t end there, recently in November I got myself a Xbox 360 Elite which came with Halo 3, Kung Fu Panda, LEGO Indiana Jones and Mass Effect for free and for Christmas I got BioShock, Dead Space, Duke Nukem 3D for XBLA and Gears of War.

It doesn’t end there though because I also bought quite a lot of Wii games too… Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, LEGO Star Wars The Complete Saga and others I’m definitely forgetting about lol. I also go, I think, only ONE DS game (Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Justice For All) which I feel very ashamed of. I’ve been neglecting the DS so much this year even though there are a TONNE of great games for it that I really want to buy.

I got lots of games this year… but still not enough. For most of the year I didn’t have the money to buy any videogames so the list of games I’ve mentioned so far is pretty small for my taste. I only managed to get a lot near the end of the year. That said, a lot of the games I got this year are quality stuff and I’m very happy with pretty much everything I got. 2007 was a great year for me with Nintendo games, however aside from a few gems, Nintendo didn’t really do anything for me in 2008… luckily I was able to fill in the void with some great PS3 and 360 games.

So, that’s what went on for me, how about everyone else?

Zack & Wiki: The Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure

Many people who have played this game will tell you that if you own a Wii, you MUST own this game. I happen to be one of them, and also one of the few who actually seemed to have bought this game in the first place.

What Capcom has achieved with Zack & Wiki is a well balanced point and click adventure by combining great gameplay, great visuals and a tonne of style and fun.

Here’s a YouTube video of just what I’m talking about. This level is a boss battle that happens to change every time you play it so I’m fine with showing this one since it won’t give away an exact solution like videos of other levels will.

Source: Zack & Wiki: Frost Breath

If that video doesn’t capture your interest, I’m willing to take questions about the game. Personally, I feel that Zack & Wiki is one of the must own games of this generation, not just if you own a Wii.

While I am disappointed that City Folk/Let’s Go to the City isn’t anything special over its last installment, the issue I want to talk about is a little different. You see, while Animal Crossing features a wide variety of Animals who end up living in your town, there seems to be a lack of ethnicity for the humans in Animal Crossing…

So why, after all this time, does Animal Crossing not have the option to choose your skin tone at the start of the game? It’s a question I’ve rhetorically asked a few friends until they finally convinced me to shoot an email in Nintendo’s direction… and since it wouldn’t hurt, I actually did:

I have a question regarding Animal Crossing City Folk for Wii.

Will the Wii version of Animal Crossing feature an option for the player to be able to select a skin tone for their character? The only time I was able to have a dark skin tone in Animal Crossing Wild World was when I stood outside in the game and got a tan which was only temporary. I feel that the lack of a permanent skin tone feature is extremely disappointing for a game like Animal Crossing.

I am aware of the Mii integration feature for City Folk. However, being able to put on what is essentially a mask of a selected Mii face is not the kind of solution I would find acceptable for this issue.

Thank you for your time, I hope you can pass on my feelings on this issue to the developers.

I do realise that that entire email was pointless since you already know what Nintendo is going to say and also because they’re not actually going to contact anyone important about this to let them know that someone has pointed out this issue… but it was just something I had to do.

After a few days of waiting, I finally got a reply:

Hello,

I appreciate your taking the time to share your comments with us regarding the skin tone choices for the Animal Crossing games. At this time, specific details on how Miis are used in Animal Crossing City Folk have not been released so keep an eye on our website as we get closer to next month’s launch. Rest assured that your email will be forwarded on to the appropriate department for further review.

So here we are now at the launch of the game. As I’ve said in my email to Nintendo, I do not accept Mii integration as a solution because I don’t want skin tones to be applied through what is essentially a mask. I want my character to start off with my own skin tone… just as it should be.

Can anyone see any “coloured folk” running around in their copies of City Folk/Let’s Go to the City who aren’t wearing a Mii Mask? From the latest videos and screenshots, I see nothing but the same skin tone… I feel very disappointed.

(A small note: Yes, I am aware of the really bad Photoshop job in the picture… that was the point.)

Also known as
Senjou no Valkyria: Gallian Chronicles (Battlefield Valkyria: Gallian Chronicles)

Genre
Action, tactical role-playing game

Developer
Sega WOW

Publisher
Sega

Game Features

• CANVAS visual engine providing unique sketch and watercolour effect visuals.
• BLiTZ (Battle of Live Tactical Zones) system. Once a unit has been chosen from the overhead Command view, the player can then control the character in third person view, giving them the ability to move, position and aim the characters weapon in an action game perspective.
• Features both the English and Japanese voice work which you can switch between at any time using the options menu at the title screen.
• Music composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto who also composed Final Fantasy XII, Radiant Silvergun and Vagrant Story. Orchestral work by Eminence Symphony Orchestra who worked on SoulCalibur IV and Odin Sphere.
• Engaging storyline chronicled in an animated storybook-like format.
• A tonne of extras from replayable cutscenes, to unlockable side-stories and skirmish missions, as well as an entire book full of written information about the characters and the world they inhabit.
• More to come in the form of downloadable content.

The Good and the Bad

• Beautiful visual engine with equally well done animation and brilliant English and Japanese voice acting.
• Very well thought out tutorials and explanations of game functions means you’re never lost during a mission, but at the same time it doesn’t feel like you’re being led by the hand.
• Has a unique gameplay experience by combining well known traditional gameplay methods together.

• When listening to the Japanese voices, sometimes the English subtitles don’t actually reflect exactly what is being said because it’s the direct script of the English voice work.
• The game can become much harder for you in the long run if you don’t finish levels with a high enough grade to grab enough experience to level up your squad.
• Some grinding may be required. If you’re lacking experience points you will have to replay Skirmish missions over and over again to get more experience to outfit your squad.

Review Score

Detailed Review

Welcome to the first review ever written up for Twilight Lynk. Hopefully this will be enjoyable for people and will be the start of many more reviews to be written in the future. I chose Valkyria Chronicles as my first review because it’s not a very well known game and most people will overlook it for more mainstream games. Personally, I am a fan of Tactical RPGs and I am a big fan or Fire Emblem. That said, this isn’t going to be a comparison of Valkyria Chronicles and Fire Emblem. I will be reviewing Valkyria Chronicles and every other game on their own merits.

Story

“On the Gallian Front” is a book chronicling the events of the second Europan War from the perspective of the Gallian Militia Squad 7 and written by a journalist, Irene Koller. As soon as you start a new game, you will be presented to this book which will become your main menu for the game. You’re introduced to an alternate reality Europe in which a small country called Gallia is being invaded by the Eastern Empire. The story itself is centered on Welkin Gunther and Alicia Melchiott as the two main leading characters. There are a number of main characters throughout the game along with other secondary characters who you can choose to join your squad but aren’t a part of the main plot.

I found the story very easy to follow. While it had quite a lot of back story that it fleshed out along the way in various forms, you didn’t find yourself asking why certain characters were motivated in their actions or why any of what was happening was happening in the first place. It was all just there and it clicked into place, though it still did have a few moments where I felt were a little too cliché for my tastes.

All of the characters in Valkyria Chronicles have distinct personalities and while a lot of the playable characters aren’t part of the main plot-line, they still create quite an impact on you with their personal traits. I for one love using Vyse (who some of you will know from Skies of Arcadia) who happens to laugh like a maniac as he mows the enemy down with his machine gun. And let’s not forget Jann who is hands down the funniest character in the game. I won’t tell you why in this review, it’s best to find out for yourself. The cast of characters has a lot to do with why this game is so enjoyable and I’m sure many of you will find the bad guys to be just as enjoyable to watch as the good guys.

While there are a lot of very cinematic moments within the game that become increasingly awesome as the story progresses, there are quite a lot of moments where there are standard conversations between characters. These are handled in a much more traditional “face to face” manner with a standard background still with what can only be described as comic book frames with the characters talking back and forth with each other.

With a few small bumps along the way, the overall story, plot and characters really did deliver in excellence. I am also VERY glad that they brought in a great English voice cast to voice the characters. I’ll talk more about that in the Audio part of this review.

Gameplay

While Valkyria Chronicles may seem very different, it really doesn’t feature anything that we haven’t already experienced in many other games, though I say this in a good way. On the surface, you are presented with what appears to be an RPG, however in many ways you will find that a lot of the more traditional RPG elements have been taken out and simplified in favour of a more straight forward action game. The result is a game that is accessible to many who feel that RPGs can get too technical for their tastes. There is still some character management to be done and you are able to do some customisations by equipping the squad with certain weapons as well as purchasing upgrades for your tank unit.

The meat of the game comes from the many battles you fight with a group of characters you select to use. While there are many action elements to the game, it is still turn based. You start off with the command view that shows you a map of the battlefield area with markers showing the placement of your units and any enemy units within view. An interesting twist in this game comes from its own version of the “fog of war” concept. You will only be able to keep track of enemy units that members of your squad can visually identify from their locations.

You have many kinds of different units to use and they all have different strengths and weaknesses and are used for different purposes. For example: Scouts are used for reconnaissance and are able to spot enemy hidden enemy units while shock troopers are your main front-line units, Lancers are your anti-tank units and Engineers are your support units, and finally the snipers whose purpose will be quite obvious to everyone. You will learn more of how these units are used as you progress through the first few missions of the game.

Once you have selected a unit to move from the Command View, you are brought down to the battlefield and are able to directly control the character in a third person shooter view. Different units have a certain level of Action Points which drain every time you move your selected character. In this mode you can move your character to position them near enemy unit, however if your character gets within range of an enemy unit, that enemy character will open fire on your character. Pressing R1 will allow you to go into firing mode which will effectively stop time and allow you to aim your character’s weapon at the enemy. You can spend as long as you want in this mode, however once you have selected to fire your characters weapon on an enemy unit or have chosen to cancel the attack, any enemy soldier still alive and within range will resume their attack on your character. Your character can only attack once until you end their movement and choose them again.

Unlike other Tactical RPGs, movement is determined by how many Command Points you have and isn’t determined by the number of characters you have and which have or have not made a move. If you want, you can choose to move the same character as many times as you want until you run out of Command Points for that turn. Alternatively, you can choose not to use up all of your Command Points for that turn, in which case they are carried over to the next turn. Either way, once you have chosen to end your turn the Enemy Phase will begin. Depending on how much of a tactical mastermind you are, your units should be able to survive to your next turn and hopefully take out some enemy units as well. In any case, it all depends on how well you’ve thought out the actions of your units.

You’ll certainly find a lot of action in this game and at the same time, you don’t have to be a tactical genius to be able to enjoy the game. However, it does help to stop and think before you act. You’re their commanding officer, so it’s your responsibility to get your units out of the battle alive.

Visuals

Sega has been developing its CANVAS visual engine for quite awhile now behind closed doors and Valkyria Chronicles is the flagship title to show off just what this visual engine can do. As soon you view any image of Valkyria Chronicles, you’ll notice that everything has been sketched and watercoloured. We aren’t talking about a cel-shaded art style that many games of the past have had. This game brings to life a watercolour sketchbook that goes extremely well with the premise that you’re reading the chronicled history of Gallia.

I could go on and on about minute details and how effective the colour palette is and how the textures look crisp and all that kinda jazz, however all you really need to know is that the art style simply works. The anime art style will most definitely allow the visuals to outlast most other games of this generation. If we come back and take a look at this game at the end of the next generation, chances are that Valkyria Chronicles will still hold up against the latest games of the time.

There is one small problem I have noticed occasionally while playing through the game. The textures, particularly around shadows on various objects that moved frequently, seem to blink from one texture to another repeatedly in a shimmering pattern. You can find it mostly in cutscenes, though to be honest; it’s not really an issue since most people won’t even notice it.

Audio

The first thing that you should know is that Valkyria Chronicles includes both Japanese and English voice acting. You can choose to switch between the two voice tracks at any time, however it can only be done through the options menu on the title screen. Personally, I found the English voice work to be brilliantly done and it also included a lot of my favourite voice actors, however I do realise that there are a lot of other people who prefer to hear the original Japanese voice work instead. The only problem Valkyria Chronicles really has is that the subtitles don’t match up exactly with the Japanese voice work since they are based off of the script for the English voice work.

It is said that a lot of what makes a movie great is its musical soundtrack. I feel that this is also true for many video games, whether they are story based or not. Valkyria Chronicles’ score, composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto and orchestrated by Eminence Symphony Orchestra, works extremely well and helps the story feel that extra bit more epic. Personally, I feel that this has to be some of Hitoshi Sakimoto’s best work yet.

One thing about the US/Europe/Australian version of this game is that it doesn’t include the main theme song found on the original Japanese version. It is disappointing, however for the most part, I don’t think anyone will mind too much in the long run.

Extras

As far as extra material goes, Valkyria Chronicles does not disappoint. In fact, in many ways it’s surprising just how much is packed into the game. As you play through, you’ll discover that each new chapter opens up more and more extras for you to explore. Some are unlocked automatically after you complete a mission or view a specific cutscene, while others can be bought using the in-game currency. Most of the extra material is organised within the pages of “On the Gallian Front” and while I could go into exactly what you get, I think it’s more fun to find out for yourself. I will say, however, that there is a lot of written information for you to read through that really gives you the sense that a lot of hard work was put into creating this game. Even better is a certain extra chapter you can unlock that has some delicious fan service… yes, you heard me.

Of course, it doesn’t end with what’s packed into the Bluray disc itself. Downloadable content has already been released in Japan which will be available in other regions in early 2009. From what we know so far, there are two download packs: one which contains a side story involving Edy and a few other minor characters who join your squad and the other one will have you taking control of the Eastern Empire units as you play missions against Gallia. Each pack contains all new recorded voice acting and will expand upon the main storyline so it’ll definitely be a treat to get.

I don’t think anyone will be unsatisfied replaying this game considering the many ways it draws you back in. I guarantee you that you will want to try to earn A ranks in every mission and choose to use different characters to unlock more information about them in their profiles. The real question is, how much more can they pack into the game with the downloadable content?

Final Thoughts

I won’t lie to you, I had very high expectations going into this game since I had heard quite a lot of high praise from others. The unique gameplay experience, well presented story and beautiful visuals really draw you in and just when you think it’s over, you’re given more to play with the promise of more to come. I’m very proud of Sega after playing Valkyria Chronicles. They haven’t released a great game like this in a very long time, and the inclusion of Vyse, Aika and Fina from Skies of Arcadia as cameo characters pretty much tell you that Sega is trying to recapture their greatest moments within the pages of Valkyria Chronicles.

Well done Sega. If I were wearing a top hat at the moment, I would tip it for you in acknowledgement of a very well made game.

Second Opinion

Mr. Weasel says:

Ugh, yuck. As good as the story is… there are some parts which scream cliché JRPG/anime! I had to stop myself from clawing my own eyes out at times, especially because of that damn pig. I mean, who in their right mind puts an animal mascot into anything these days?… Oh wait. In any case, the moment when the words “I will protect you” were spoken, it was all over for me. Can’t anyone think of maybe getting the characters to say, I don’t know… SOMETHING ELSE!

Then there is that one chick with the really long neck, pointy chin and huge tits… I tell ya, I could get lost in those. Though, with that aside, it’s about time Sega finally managed to make a decent game in recent years… Sega! Let the hedgehog die already and focus on more important things like this!… and while you’re at it, bring back Skies of Arcadia and Dragon Force!

Now, excuse me while I go back to dreaming about snuggling up between Selvaria’s breasts…

Links

• Official site (Japanese)
• Official site (US)
• Wikipedia page
• Buy Valkyria Chronicles from Amazon.com

That concludes the first review posted on Twilight Lynk. I hope you have enjoyed reading it as much as I stressed myself out from writing it. You’re all free to write your own reviews and opinions about Valkyria Chronicles in this blog entry/thread whenever you want. For anything regarding the way the review was done itself, I have opened up a forum thread specifically for that purpose in the feedback forum.

I’ve been working on the site design for StarWarsMMO.net which has just launched… right now! This site is part of the LucasArts Fan Network, the same folks who run LucasForums.com. It’s dedicated to The Old Republic MMO which is being developed by LucasArts and BioWare.

To celebrate this event I have created a new page on Twilight Lynk…

Lynk designs is mostly for me to show off my skills, however there are some interesting things in there to check out…

The introduction of an R18+ rating for computer games has been delayed indefinitely after South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson withdrew his support for a discussion paper and public consultation process.

…

Mr Atkinson has opposed the introduction of an R18+ rating for games for many years, telling parliament earlier this year that he knew it denied Australian adults choice but was necessary to help restrict children’s access to “potentially harmful material”.

…

Four games have been refused classification so far this year, with horror game Silent Hill: Homecoming the latest to be banned last month.

Over 90 per cent of Australian adults, including both game players and non-players, believe Australia should have an R18+ rating for games according to a report released this week by Bond University and the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia.

…

The issue is again on the agenda for discussion at the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General meeting next month.

Read the full article here: The Age Blogs - Screen Play: Censoring the censorship debate

This country is so hypocritical about its media. There are various movies made and released in Australia that feature heavy drug references and violence. The adults of this nation are able to view those movies and the government even supports the making of such movies. However, when it comes to the gaming industry, the people who are in charge want to try to bury it and pretend it doesn’t exist and try to take it away from those who have a right to enjoy them.

…After all, how many of us laughed our asses off when we saw Grand Theft Auto IV and Metal Gear Solid 4 score 10 out of 10s at various web sites? For a time it seemed like everything was going to be scored 10 out of 10 across the board. The worst part is that those games don’t even deserve a perfect score. I agree that both of those games are very good in their own ways, but there was still a lot wrong with them to be scaled in such a way. I feel as though every review score posted lowers the collective IQ of the reviewer and their audience.

A lot of game sites seem to take pride in the fact that they rank one game with a 9.4 and another game a 9.5. What is the difference between those two scores other than a 0.1 value? How are those scores related to each other? Does this mean that I should not buy the 9.4 scored game over the 9.5? In a lot of ways it’s become more of a match of “this game is better than this other one” rather than “this game has these key points you should be aware of”.

I also feel that some game sites have it all backwards. They give you a page full of text and then show you the key points and the score at the very end. I find a lot of people just want to get the gist of it at first and if they’re really interested, read further into the review for more details. Therefore the smart thing to do would be to put the final points and score at the very beginning.

I’m sure many of you can come up with many other ways to improve videogame reviews. I’d like to hear your thoughts. What makes a good game review? And furthermore, how would you like to see the reviews done for Twilight Lynk?

Welcome to the new look Twilight Lynk.

The original design for this place was pretty much a rip-off of my old web site, The Anime Crisis Center, and to be perfectly honest, wasn’t very good at all. I’ve managed to get most of the work done with this new look, but there are still a few small issues to be worked out, such as the forum images which need to be replaced. Either way, this is the way things are going to be for Twilight Lynk from now on.

If you have any questions or suggestions or whatever, let me know. Your input is extremely valuable since this site is here for you guys to use. Tell me what you like and what you don’t like and also what you want out of this web site. Be brutally honest, I need as much feedback as possible to make this place as good as it can be.

Thanks, and enjoy!

The difference with this article from the few others I have written in the past is that it won’t try to give you all the answers, rather it is intended to get a discussion started so that you can share from your own experience, what PS3 games we should be aware of.

Before I begin though, I’d like people to focus more on PS3 exclusives rather than the multiplatform titles… to be perfectly honest, I feel that most of the current multiplatform games perform better on the Xbox 360 than they do on the PS3.

Okay, let’s start:

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

I’m sure you’ve heard people speak very good things about this game yet haven’t tried it out for yourself. To be honest, I wasn’t all that convinced until I played Uncharted for myself as well, but it definitely is one of the defining games for the PS3 at the moment. It’s a very nice blend of action and adventure and cinematic story telling that, unlike Metal Gear Solid 4, doesn’t take you away from the game for too long.

Uncharted has some amazing gameplay and equally amazing animation to go with it. Everything seems more real, and not just in a photo-realistic sense. Naughty Dog, the developers of this fine game, made an extra effort to animate the characters with as much realistic human movement as they could and that alone makes it feel more real than anything else.

The gameplay is also very well done, both in the action and the adventuring sides of the game. The gunfights, especially in the “Crushing” difficulty can become pretty intense, and you have to make on the fly tactical decisions that will either get you killed or save your ass in the most dire circumstances. It’s all done in a way that’s very exciting without it having to be a frantic multiplayer FPS. All of the enemies can duck behind cover, roll out and shoot, throw grenades, etc just as well as you can, so you better be ready otherwise the colour of the world washes away and death finds you.

I wish I could say there was a good balance between the action and the adventuring, but there seemed to be a lot more action than there was adventuring. But, what adventuring you do get up to is pretty damn good. Everything from wall and rock climbing to solving ancient puzzles and the odd quick time event here and there which have been popping up a lot in games lately.

Personally, another thing that impressed me about this game is that it runs so well on the PS3. There are no mandatory installs, no loading screens and everything runs pretty damn smoothly. The game does feel like a long movie and short for a videogame, but it has plenty of replayability when it comes to collecting treasure and unlocking all those extras… and provided you’ve bothered to download the patch, the joy of collection PlayStation Network trophies.

If you haven’t tried it out, you really should because chances are you’ll end up loving it and that in itself will encourage Naughty Dog to make more.

Valkyria Chronicles

I’ve been hearing about this game for awhile now but haven’t been paying attention to it until recently when I found it that it’s actually a Tactical RPG with a difference. After searching through the net, finding videos and reading about the game, my interest peaked and I can say with great certainly that I’ll definitely be buying this game. While I’m sure it’s going to have a really cliché Anime style story (of course!), the gameplay itself is what interests me the most. The kind of tactical games of this type that I’m used to are Fire Emblem and Advanced Wars, but Valkyria Chronicles, while it does take elements from these two series, has some very nice and unique gameplay features which I really want to try.

The gameplay feature I’m talking about is called “BLiTZ” or “Battle of Live Tactical Zones.” As with most other games of this type, it is turn based and you start off with a map of the battle area where you can select your units etc. It all seems pretty standard until you select a character and your perspective suddenly come down from the map view and into a third person perspective where you can directly control the character you have chosen.

Usually, in other games the map would be divided into square areas and each character has the ability to move a certain amount of spaces and attack within that area. With Valkyria Chronicles, this idea is thrown out the door almost completely. When you are in this third person perspective, it’s basically a stripped down version of a third person shooter. You are able to move your character as far as their move points will take them, you can move to an advantageous location, attack an enemy with your machine gun or rifle or whatever off in the distance, and if you have any move points remaining, retreat to a safer location.

When you are moving your character in third person view, enemy soldiers near your character will fire on them and you may or may not take hits depending on what kind of cover is around you. However, when it comes time for you to attack your enemy, time stops and you are given the chance to aim your characters weapon yourself to score head shots, etc. It’s combining strategy with hands-on action in a very interesting way, and these kinds of fresh ideas are what make me excited about this game.

Gameplay aside, the art style and visuals themselves look stunning… and so they should, I didn’t pay all this money for a PS3 (note: this is a lie, I got my PS3 for free, but you get what I’m saying…) just so I could look at glorified last gem visuals, now did I!

Right now, Valkyria Chronicles is only out in Japan, but it’s set to hit the US in November, and hopefully sooner than later in Europe and Australia so I can pick it up and don’t have to import. For me, this game is under the DO WANT! category.

And more…

So now it’s your turn. What PS3 games are there which we should all REALLY be paying attention to? If people don’t speak up, we’ll never know and we’ll probably end up missing out on some really special games. I for one don’t want that to happen.

Source: Q&A (ABC1) R Rated video Games

Just watch and see how stupid the country I live in, Australia, can get.

I would also like to point out that you don’t have to kill anyone in Fallout 3. You can go through the entire game without having to kill a single person, you are given a choice. Whenever I see things like this, they never give the entire truth about the game, only the “omg, you kill things” side of it. Please, PLEASE, if you’re a journalist and you’re going to do something like this, get your facts straight about what you’re talking about. I have seen supposed facts being spouted frequently on these types of discussions about videogames in various media formats and they only highlight the fact that there is violence in videogames and ignore pretty much every other aspect about them.

Also, and here’s the biggest issue. None of the politicians on that panel knew what the hell they were talking about. We DO have a rating system for games, we just don’t have an R18+ rating for it!

In extreme circumstances I’d move out of Australia because of their total asshattery but then where would I go? The US? Ha, (no offense to anyone) I’d rather be dead then live in the US… so I guess I’m stuck here in a country so afraid of everything that it bans a game like Fallout 3 because they’re afraid everyone will suddenly get hopped up on drugs and start killing people.

I think this entire thing stems from people being afraid of what they don’t understand, which is very encouraging in a multicultural country where the idea is to understand people of other cultures. Well, this is my culture, and I’d rather people took the time to understand at least a small part of my culture and that we’re not out to destroy your culture.