Apologies if this has come up before, but it was too good not to share. This is an English guy living in Australia who does video reviews of games which are absolutely fantastic. The name "Zero Punctuation" presumably comes from the fact he doesn't seem to pause for breath once during the entire thing. A must watch for anyone who is even mildly interested in games.
Check out the website for more videos
22 comments:
Gee glad to see you're being so open minded when you classify an entire form of entertainment as "crap" in one fell swoop. Bravo!
I especially like the "do what I say and not what I do" component with Flit being "allowed" to keep his computer but banning any potential children from ever using it for games.
It's definitely a refreshing change from your usual knee-jerk reactions to anything you personally don't like, usually based on little to no actual first hand experience. Read any Harry Potter recently?
Way to over-react to an innocuous comment douche bag.
Sorry, but I am so sick of that kind of absurd attitude from current affairs shows and brown-nosing politicians, so it ticks me off when I see my friends spouting the same small minded bullshit.
What Margaret is basically saying is that kids should never so much as touch a game when they could be playing outdoors. So no TV then? No books? How about arts and crafts? Why not deny them ANY FORM OF INDOOR ENTERTAINMENT to encourage them to go outside and play?
I'm not saying that kids should be allowed to play as much as they want whenever they want, or that it is a substitute for healthy activity, but that does not mean it is automatically EVIL or must be BANNED COMPLETELY! There is nothing wrong with games as a form of entertainment, any more than there is a problem with any other indoor activity. Too much is a bad thing, but that doesn't mean it has nothing positive to offer and must be eradicated completely.
There are plenty of games out there which can be extremely beneficial for kids, can help to stimulate their minds and imagination, get them interested in music, teach lateral thinking, spelling, maths. Nintendo has done a lot to introduce more mind and body exercise into games via things like Wii Fit and Brain Age.
It is just closed minded and stupid to dismiss an entire industry as "crap" because of some pre-conceived notion that video games = evil waste of time. It's not all good, some of it's awful, but that's no different to TV or movies or books.
No, what she said was her children won't be allowed to play games. I think parents have every right to control what their children are exposed to. Perhaps Margaret doesn't have the same positive opinion of games that you and I have, but there's no need to have a rant about it.
Ranty pants.
If margaret wants to ban her kids from something, that's fine. It's the fact that she is banning it because it's pointless crap that I take exception to, because that simply isn't true.
Besides, you know I like ranting.
I think the value of games is subjective, and we are all capable of forming our own opinions. I also believe respect for the right of other people to hold differing opinions to ours, no matter how baseless or fallacious, is important (of course there are caveats to this but for the purposes of this discussion I don't think I need to elaborate).
Personal attacks are unnecessary and distract from the point you are making by provoking a mostly emotional, defensive response, as opposed to rational debate, which I would hope is your aim.
And you stink.
I especially enjoyed the term "ranty pants". Nice that I'm allowed to play games isn't it!
Ok, you're right. No more personal attacks.
Speaking of the right to hold differing opinions, I think games are fine for kids given proper supervison. On the other hand, I'm going to enforce a blanket ban on my children from being visited by shambling, unwashed bums giving off the distinct odour of boot polish and methelated spirits. Sorry Matt!
PS: Margaret, would you soften your approach if you knew the Wii has a new Mario Cart coming out? God I got sick of that game back at Uni because you played it sooooooo much! And it's never too early to educate children about the dangers of italian drivers.
That's alright, I'm sure your offspring will be much scarier than me. Frankly it's a relief that I won't be obliged to visit and pretend to marvel at the beauty of your child while trying desperately not to run screaming from the room and regurgitating my own internal organs.
I just re-read Margie's first post and I was wondering what would happen if a child of hers had only one good leg? Would her own children be tempted to amputate their own appendage for a piece of gaming action? Or what if she had one with 3 legs?
Well as long as at least two out of the three are "good", presumably they get screwed.
If they only have one good leg though, I think Margie has pretty much committed to buying them a PS3.
A warm Christmassy glow of good-will appears to have broken out - either that or I'm on fire.....again.
I like that you think you're so damn open minded when no one else is allowed to raise their kids how they want to. Well done for striking another blow for censorship everywhere Richie.
It appears you were on fire Julian.
You know, I have no problem with you raising your kids however you want. Personally I don't intend to ban my children from activities which hold no interest to me, but if you want to go down that route then more power to you.
What I do have problems with you expressing closed minded ideas based on misinformed prejudice.
You just dismissed an entire form of entertainment as "crap" just because you personally have little interest in it or knowledge about it.
Personally I don't have much time for poetry and know next to nothing about it. But I would never be so absurd as to dismiss the entire body of poetic works as "crap".
Sorry if I came on too strong, it's just a topic I feel strongly about and I find attitudes like yours extremely frustrating. Especially considering they are usually coming from people who run our country.
My attitude is that I think computer games are a waste of time. It is not simply that I find them boring or have no interest in them. It is because I think they detract from everything else a child should be doing. Children should be out experiencing life instead of holing themselves up in a room playing computer games.
I don't think it is healthy. I also don't think it is closed minded or extreme to hold this view. When people grow up they can make whatever decisions they want, but while my children are gorwing and learning and developing I would rather they did not have these types of stimuli impacting on them. As a caveat to this I do not want my children watching TV either. It's got nothing to do with what adults can and will do. I simply want my house to be a certain way and quite frankly you can stick your outrage bacause it has no bearing on the matter.
Wow... You don't visit the blog in a week or so and a 19 comment debate on child rearing has evolved.
I love the video btw.
Sorry has anyone seen my Soap Box?
Video Rocksaws!
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