Jimothy Sterling:
Why do people think I am in some sort of arms race with Extra Credits?

We cover similar topics. Overlap is inevitable, and I don't really watch their show regularly so I don't know what they cover. In any case, just because one series may have touched on a topic that doesn't automatically disqualify every other series in the world from covering it too.

Seriously, this whole, "oh mah gawd Extra Credits did this" thing is just ... weird.

Because your videos are infinitely lesser in quality and boil down to poorly regurgitated information that's either been covered to death or covered much better by other, more skilled talent. In fact, most of your videos read word for word the same as threads started and ended here weeks before you got in front of the camera. It's like you'd rather be late to the party and arrive just in time for everyone to nod in agreement, than actually break any ground at all.

My advice: give up on the facade, stop stating the obvious--you've gone beyond preaching to the choir and seem more like a parrot than a priest at this point--and offer something that's actually unique. You awkwardly standing in front of a camera and vomiting out rehashed forum posts in a painfully inane facade lost any charm it may have had long, long ago.

Being a snark smartass who likes to pretend they're important has been done. A lot. It's time for some originality. When you aren't offering anything that can't be found just as easily by searching the front page in any gaming forum, it's time to take a step back.

Stripes:

Blood Brain Barrier:

What evidence does he put that high color games look better than low color ones? He just says they do, so we accept it and that's the end of it. I haven't seen anyone in this thread questioning WHY hi-color games like Viva Pinata look better. If Jim says they do, then apparently that's enough. If he said the opposite I doubt it would be any different.

It's the structure of Jim's rants and the way he presents himself that is appealing to us, which is why if Jim says it, it's gotta be right. Like he says himself.

What I said earlier is still true, whilst its always an opinion piece this one hasnt got an argument behind it because its very subjective. How can you present evidence that one is better than the other? what looks good is completely subjective, its stupid to demand evidence for such a thing. He has an opinion and people agree with him, why is that not acceptable to you? Why is impossible to agree with him? If you want evidence he did infact give some in the way of saying stylised games age better than photo-realistic ones, his evidence being that the origanal halo and killzone were held high praise for their capability at the time but now that things have improved they dont look appealing whilst stylised games from the same time have aged much better. Thats not opinion though, its fact, you cant prove something subjective is objectively correct.

No arguments there. So if you can't prove that certain games look better then why make an episode on the best looking game of this generation? If I swapped out all the games he cited as looking good for all the ones he thought looked bad, the reasoning of the episode would still remain intact. That can't be right.

Great choice! I'll go with Rayman Origins:

See this is what happens when you post in the wrong forum... Sorry, I was answering another forum...

Oh but hey, great oportunity to say... I have no opinion on the subject but animated things do hold out better then 'real life' style things over time. After all people still watch old Loony Tunes cartoons, how many people still watch I Love Lucy or the Honeymooners? Cartoons/toonish animation holds better over time then real world types. Especially when you consider a cartoon just gets more colours, real world stuff is improved in countless ways over the span of years.

Umm... Yea, Thank Gozer for Jim.

I agree with the article completely. When i got my first HD TV, the first shows that truly set the oooooo factor was the BBC nature documentaries.

My wife did not understand the point of HD at all until she watched CSI:Miami. Ever see that show? Bright vivid colours and great contrasts.

I must respectfully disagree with Jim on this one. Modern 1st/3rd person shooters with a photorealistic aesthetic can look gorgeous, and I submit Just Cause 2 as the best example of this. The island is jaw-dropping beautiful no matter what angle you look at it from, but I guess that's what sells it: since the game is free-roaming you're allowed to look at the scenery at whatever angle you want. And I always find the level of detail given to structures to amaze me.

I would have said eternal sonata personally

That's why movies iwth practical effects will always look better over time than those with CGI. Star Wars being the perfect case in point, where old movies with limited but REAL sets look as good now as they did then while the backgrounds in the new prequels look atrocious.

The most important part of this video to me was the part about Kirby Mass Attack, because I just remembered that I still haven't bought it. God dammit.

Trine 2 looks friggen GORGEOUS, just because it's so damn colorful!

I always thought Crysis and Uncharted had some of the best graphics this generation, and they were filled with color.

Jimothy Sterling:
Sorry, I can't believe that for a second. That's like, logistically impossible.

Isn't that basically the same thing as "Dividing by zero?" As in literally impossible.

Captcha: Harp On

Something that people seem to be doing to Jim for some reason.

Jimothy Sterling:
Why do people think I am in some sort of arms race with Extra Credits?

We cover similar topics. Overlap is inevitable, and I don't really watch their show regularly so I don't know what they cover. In any case, just because one series may have touched on a topic that doesn't automatically disqualify every other series in the world from covering it too.

Seriously, this whole, "oh mah gawd Extra Credits did this" thing is just ... weird.

"Simpsons did it!"

Personally, I like to see different peoples takes on similar subjects. I watch EC every week, and was actually pleased to see Jim take on similar subject matter. Not just because Jim is farking BOSS, but intelligent discourse is always a welcome thing.

To the video... spot on!

One of the big reasons why Torchlight 2 is much more compelling experience to me than Diablo 3 is the art style. You can have a dark atmosphere with out having to choose from a 4 color pallet of various stages of dog shit decay.

Keep up the good work Jim!

Jimothy Sterling:
Why do people think I am in some sort of arms race with Extra Credits?

We cover similar topics. Overlap is inevitable, and I don't really watch their show regularly so I don't know what they cover. In any case, just because one series may have touched on a topic that doesn't automatically disqualify every other series in the world from covering it too.

Seriously, this whole, "oh mah gawd Extra Credits did this" thing is just ... weird.

South park did it.

Anyhow thanks for calling the game a candy colored murder simulator. Ill spend 20 minutes tempting a rabbit to my garden then a snake will come in and eat it. As all my other pinatas come to feed on the brightly colored innards pouring from the dead husk of my rabbit children cheer in the background and I weep.

This is why the 4h kids were so weird in school. They didn't just know about the birds and the bees before anyone else they were making animals practice it for fun or profit. Then if everything went well they raised the child and ate it.

trollpwner:
Oh, COME ON Jim. You may not be the sharpest knife in the draw, but normally you aren't beaten to what you're saying by extra credits by *this* much. http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/graphics-vs.-aesthetics

See that? Season 2, episode 16. Over 50 weeks ago. 50 weeks! Almost a year. Ab-surd. *sigh* Oh well. Guess the actual content wasn't bad though. Even if extra credits did do it better.

EDIT: look at this! Yahtzee managed this in 2009 http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/6372-The-Conduit

Not saying Jim's point isn't relevant, but this really is leaving it late.

Was just about to point this out, good call.

Aesthetics are more important to how visually appealing a game is than actual graphical quality.

I totally hated this about this generation. Where are the freaking colours? It made me think that games from SVGA generation like Curse of Monkey Island looked so much better...

I can't choose one, but I like both Rayman Origins and Trine 2 this gen. I just hope this fad of brown and greys goes away for good next gen.

I take it you haven't played "Valkyria Chronicles" for the PS3?

Cell shaded, pretty good game play, mediocre voice acting.

While it's not as 'bright' as VP, it's got some damn fine 'not just black on red on grey' graphics and looks AMAZING on my HDTV.

Brown and gray graphics in various dark lightings actually help cover up a lack of detail because the colors blend together better. Colorful games with extreme contrast would not look like a major step in photorealism without a seriously larger effort in programming. These gritty shooters appeared with the new gen. because they were easier to make look realistic.

Captcha: I am a soulless victim of intrusive marketing tactics

Agreed, Jim! Realistic games might be impressive during their current generation, but 10 years after, they will look like garbage. I remember seeing Def Jam on my friend's PS2 many years ago and saying "Holy shit, this looks amazing! It's so REAL!", nowadays? It's incredibly meh...

However, when I look today at Sonic 2, it still looks amazing. And no, it's not nostalgia, I really find this game to be ageless. If I play it today, 15 years after I first played it(I believe...), I still enjoy its graphics.

Unfortunatelly, I can't say the same about some other incredible games, like FF VII for instance(death threats in 3,2,1...). Don't get me wrong, FF VII is and AMAZING game, it really is and I have enjoyed it a lot! But to be honest, I find it REALLY hard to overlook the graphics today. =/ And believe me, I'm one of those guys who say "graphics aren't really important, gameplay is what it's about", and I stand by that! I really enjoy games like VVVVVV or Minecraft, but the question is that those games followed a specific ART STYLE which will not look dated eventually, whereas FF VII strived for something a little more realistic and "mechanical".

I guess the keywords here are "art style". Games that pick a style and don't worry too much about being realistic usually age better, while games that try to emulate the real world will eventually look dated. That occurs mainly because the hardware available during their generation has a limited computational capacity which will be considered ridiculous when the next generation comes around, just take a look at Moore's Law, it will make sense. :)

Daystar Clarion:
No love for Okami in your last gen section?

Stylised graphics will always age better than titles going for photo-realism.

That's why Journey will still look awesome in 10 year, and MGS 4 won't

I agree with this.

Also, you made me really want to play Wind Waker again... in fact, there were some amazingly good looking games on the Cube last gen, like Viewtiful Joe (wich was made by Clover Studios before Okami), F-Zero GX is still a looker, heck, it looks and runs way better than most Wii games, especially if you play it in 480p and widescreen.

In fact, despite it's bad reputation amongst most Escapees, the Wii has some amazingly good looking games and I know I'll get quoted by this.

Also, Rayman Origins was an amazingly good looking game too.

It's sad that grey, brown and black were the colors of this generation, despite being the "HD gen".

DVS BSTrD:

Jimothy Sterling:
Why do people think I am in some sort of arms race with Extra Credits?

Apparently we're not allowed to like Extra Credits on this website anymore, so we get a sort of perverse glee imagining you destroying them on a weekly basis.

Extra credits took our donation money and left our site. I view it as a giant slap in the face to the community.

On topic, I love how wind waker aged. I always believed it to be a gorgeous game. I hope cell shading makes a come back. WoW and SWTOR have their own art styles over raw graphical power and I think its the right way to go for long term projects.

budokai 3 (NOT TENKAICHI) may not be the best looking game, but it should deserve credit for one of the best looking fighter games

I think the best looking games of this generation are Red Dead Redemption and Just Cause 2. And I am always right.

You could have least given BF3 kudos for lighting effects.

You say I'm wasting my HD display playing Battlefield 3 (or under-utilizing it or something). I say I wouldn't be able to pick out enemies from the blurry background if I didn't have HD resolution. But I CAN see big blobs of bright-ass colors on an SD screen... hmmmmm.

Personally I don't feel vibrant colors are required to make great visuals, and certainly am not going to play Pinata whatchacallit. Little Big Planet was colorful- bored the snot out of me.

As a middle ground between grisly monochromatic shooters and candy-colored kiddy games, what about Halo Reach? Look up in the sky to see that you are on a moon orbiting a gas giant, the backdrops in that game looked awesome. And some of the enemies wore purple.

I emphatically disagree with you that most colorful/cartoony = best graphics.

I'm still playing SNES games on my Wii, Call of Duty on the other hand I traded in as soon as I could. That says everything when I find Donkey Kong Country 2 more apealling than a current gen game.

Sorry Jim, that isn't how you spell Mirror's Edge, which continues to be the most beautiful game I've ever played. Plus, Crysis 2 had a good color scheme as well, and is easily the most technically advanced game in regards to it's graphical capabilities. Not to mention Journey, which on the Descent level literally brought tears to my eyes and made me want to get a giant print of the scene I was watching. (see ~3:20 of the video) Hell, what about Rayman: Origins, or even TF2?

I do agree with your other points though. But really you're just preaching to the choir at this point. I've been ardently complaining about the Grimdarkness that has infested many games lately for years now.

See, I was going to agree with you 100% on Viva Pinata, but now there's other examples like Rayman Origins, Just Cause 2 and Mirror's Edge amongst others that have been suggested and I just can't choose.

I do agree the Wind Waker is the best looking game of last gen though. And I vaguely remember people doubting the graphics of it when it came out. Fools!

And now I want to play Wind Waker, which I don't have any more. I am sad now. And I want a new Sonic Generations, Mirror's Edge and Viva Pinata. A man can dream, can't he?