Letters to the Editor

Guns, Cars 'n' Tits

In response to "Artistic License" from The Escapist Forum: I actually really appreciate this article for the glimpse it gives to what goes on behind the scenes of what appears a simple game.

When a game has been done well, it should appear as if it had not been designed at all, rather mined from some godly ore in the frontal lobe of one mans vision and then given form. Games like 'Portal' and 'N' do this brilliantly, a simplicity of design and function that integrates with the player so seamlessly it leaves far more room for having a truckload of fun (and in the case of both the games mentioned, a great deal of rocketing through empty space around turrets)

And so its rather easy not to smell the blood, sweat and tears poured into games like this (Of which i am prematurely elevating de Blob, to good or ill end i do not know) and articles like this allow appreciative fools like me a window into the world behind them.

Although now that i have read it, i cant experience that feeling aforementioned. The one with the mine and the frontal lobe...

So... thank you?

- Ultrajoe

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In response to "We the Gamers" from The Escapist Forum: [EULA's are] tough to crack but contracts similar to the one in video games have been busted before. Like the article said, what makes it hard is that you've agreed to arbitration, which means you go to an outside unbiased judge instead of a legal court. The problem is that the Judge is just gonna look at you and say, "You clicked 'I Agree' to their batty contract, what's the problem?"

@ Fenixius

Funny you should mention that, the U.S. Copyright service has a giant gaping hole in it regarding user-created mods and who has the rights to them. The Lanham Act (the law controlling Copyrights) was never designed for video games. It shoehorns them into this category called 'audiovisual displays' but it was intended for movies, not games.

And oh the lawsuits that are going to come out when people start making money off their mods...

- L.B. Jeffries

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In response to "Corporate Consoletation" from The Escapist Forum: There are only a few games which I've ever found that work with advertisements, instead of them being in your face about it. Surprise, surprise, all of these games involve sport of some sort. Gran Turismo 4, GTR Evolution, more recent field sports games - you associate these sorts of games with advertisements, because their real-life analogues are plastered with advertising themselves.

That said, I remember the days when games had to either create their own adverts or else make modified versions of adverts by other companies to avoid being sued.

- RAKtheUndead