Rise of the Video Game - tonight on Discovery

[MaximRecoil]

Video games were born in a vacuum.  They created themselves.

Nice straw man. Your text here is in no way representative of anything I've said.

The Soviet Union was never a threat and the three years I spent on the nuke base in Europe was just a dream.

Another straw man, but in any event, I like how you keep leaving out the word "significant", even though I bolded it for you in the last post. But what is really incredible is that this simple concept confuses you.

Russia with nukes + USA with no nukes = significant threat
Russia with nukes + USA with nukes = insignificant threat

And nothing is as cute as circle with wedge cut out of it.

A straw man again (I never claimed that "nothing is as cute"). And of course, the only thing in Pac-Man is a "circle with wedge cut out of it". There are no ghosts of various colors, including pink, with "cutesy" names like "Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde", with animated eyes; nor are there any colorful fruit, nor "cutesy" animated intermission scenes.

[RandyT]

Russia with nukes + USA with no nukes = significant threat
Russia with nukes + USA with nukes = insignificant threat

Not confused in any way.  Russia with nukes + USA with nukes = one wrong move and everybody dies.  That's about as far as one can get from "neutral"

A straw man again (I never claimed that "nothing is as cute"). And of course, the only thing in Pac-Man is a "circle with wedge cut out of it". There are no ghosts of various colors, including pink, with "cutesy" names like "Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde", with animated eyes; nor are there any colorful fruit, nor "cutesy" animated intermission scenes.

Ok, let's pull it apart:

cute  (kyt)
adj. cut·er, cut·est
1. Delightfully pretty or dainty.
2. Obviously contrived to charm; precious: "[He] mugs so ferociously he kills the humorit's an insufferably cute performance" David Ansen.

charm  (chärm)
n.
1. The power or quality of pleasing or delighting; attractiveness: a breezy tropical setting of great charm.
2. A particular quality that attracts; a delightful characteristic: A mischievous grin was among the child's many charms.


Honestly now,  which would you say was "charming"; the flashing maze at the end of a PacMan level or this:

[MaximRecoil]

Russia with nukes + USA with no nukes = significant threat
Russia with nukes + USA with nukes = insignificant threat

Not confused in any way.  Russia with nukes + USA with nukes = one wrong move and everybody dies.  That's about as far as one can get from "neutral"

There was a balance of power:

neu·tral·ize (nū'trə-līz', nyū'-)
tr.v., -ized, -iz·ing, -iz·es.
To make neutral.
To counterbalance or counteract the effect of; render ineffective.

Do you really think the "powers that be" in Russia and the U.S. were suicidal?

Ok, let's pull it apart:

cute  (kyt)
adj. cut·er, cut·est
1. Delightfully pretty or dainty.
2. Obviously contrived to charm; precious: "[He] mugs so ferociously he kills the humorit's an insufferably cute performance" David Ansen.

charm  (chärm)
n.
1. The power or quality of pleasing or delighting; attractiveness: a breezy tropical setting of great charm.
2. A particular quality that attracts; a delightful characteristic: A mischievous grin was among the child's many charms.


Honestly now,  which would you say was "charming"; the flashing maze at the end of a PacMan level or this:

You are being ridiculous. It doesn't matter which game was more "cutesy", or even more "charming", the fact is, they were (and are) both widely considered to be "cutesy" games, and Pac-Man came first, which is what I said in the first place. Who would have thought that anyone would disagree that Pac-Man is a "cutesy" game?

Synopsis by Brett Alan Weiss:
 
In Pac-Man players guide a yellow, pie-shaped creature around a single maze, munching dots while avoiding four roaming ghosts. Four energizer dots are on the board, one in each corner. Eating one of these special dots will temporarily empower Pac-Man to turn the tables on the ghosts. Each time all the dots in a maze are eaten, play resumes with a fresh screen. Simple four-way control, cute graphics, lively music and addictive munching action make the game enjoyable for males and females of all ages.

Billy Mitchell:

"The fact that it's cute, it's almost like a hero running around the board from bad guys. It's not an appeal based on violence," the 39-year-old from Hollywood, Fla., said. "Whether it was an 80-year-old lady or a kid, everyone could adapt to the Pac-Man world."

Gamespy:

Pac-Man was revolutionary in a number of ways. For one, it pioneered the "turn the tables" style of play that dominated arcade and console games for years afterward. Most of the time the Pac-Man player is on the defensive from the evil ghosts, but after eating an energizer, Pac-Man has the chance to turn the tables on the bad guys and become the agressor. Pac-Man's cute characters and generally non-violent theme attracted female players, something many video games continually fail to do.

news.yahoo.com:

Remember Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde? It's been 25 years since Pac-Man and his archenemies first made their appearance in the United States. A new genre in video games, Pac-Man was a cute, non-violent creature that was fleeing the bad guys, and it was popular among women as well as men. The game was so popular that it spawned Ms. Pac-Man and Junior Pac-Man, as well as a cartoon show and hundreds of different products ranging from T-shirts to mugs to pencils to bed linens.

Regarding Toru Iwatani (the creator of Pac-Man)

And yet, Iwatani is in some ways a video game Luddite. He has become a great believer in a golden age of video games, when the ideas were instantly accessible, the controls easy to grasp, and the gameplay simple and charming. “The development of the hardware, and the greater ability to express every idea that flies into a programmer’s head, mean that game creators have made the new games congested with every technique in their power. The basic games behind all this are so blurred that people can’t catch up. We should go back to basics — like Pac-Man — and play in an easier, more relaxed way.”

[Fozzy The Bear]

Do you really think the "powers that be" in Russia and the U.S. were suicidal?

YES!  and they still are!!

Your lack of understanding of the programme and its explanations is quite astounding. The fact that Randy was actually trying to get over to you is that conflict and war drive development. Peace just drives apethy.

The sociopolitical and global political situation was what drove the development of the technology, that permitted video games to exist. It's important to recognise and understand the social and political history, in order to understand the context of the development of the games.

If it was not for conflict, you wouldn't even be able to write or respond in the way you are now, because there would be no internet to write on and no computers to connect to it. You'd be using a quill pen and a pot of ink, while attaching your message to the leg of a pigeon.

It's very clear that you fail to understand how everything that happens in this world is a result of chains of cause and effect. Until you understand that you won't understand the programme.

Now stop arguing with Randy and go do something more constructive.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[MaximRecoil]

Do you really think the "powers that be" in Russia and the U.S. were suicidal?

YES!  and they still are!!

Which of them have committed suicide recently? I must have missed that nuclear war we had "back in the day".

Your lack of understanding of the programme and its explanations is quite astounding.

Your lack of reading comprehension ability is quite astounding. See below.

The fact that Randy was actually trying to get over to you is that conflict and war drive development. Peace just drives apethy.

Your first sentence is often true, but there is no basis for the second statement. Now, regarding your lack of reading comprehension ability, I have already addressed this claim of Randy's, which means I am well aware of the point he was trying to make. Additionally, this wasn't even the main "Cold War connection" the show was trying to make. Randy already summarized the main connection they were trying to make when he said this:

videogames offered escapism from a world where everything was not wonderful, and where there was constant talk of nuclear armament and doomsday scenarios.

Now that is exaggeration is best, and pure BS at worst. Video games offered an escape from boredom, i.e., something to do, like a comic book, a movie, or a game of checkers. Who was sitting around thinking, "Gloom, despair, and agony on me! The oppression of this Cold War is too much to bear! I fear we'll be annihilated at any moment! But lo, yonder lies a video game! It is sure to drown my sorrows and sooth my pain..."

The sociopolitical and global political situation was what drove the development of the technology, that permitted video games to exist. It's important to recognise and understand the social and political history, in order to understand the context of the development of the games.

The driving force behind the development of hardware is not necessarily the driving force behind the development of software—no more than the driving force behind the development of paper is the same as the driving force behind the development of art or novels.

What was that carefree attitude at Atari all about? They must have been concealing their deeper Cold War misery, lol.

If it was not for conflict, you wouldn't even be able to write or respond in the way you are now, because there would be no internet to write on and no computers to connect to it. You'd be using a quill pen and a pot of ink, while attaching your message to the leg of a pigeon.

Or so you say (my usual response to speculation). But either way, it is irrelevant.

It's very clear that you fail to understand how everything that happens in this world is a result of chains of cause and effect. Until you understand that you won't understand the programme.

It is clear that you either haven't read my posts, or you didn't understand what you were reading.

[Fozzy The Bear]

If it was not for conflict, you wouldn't even be able to write or respond in the way you are now, because there would be no internet to write on and no computers to connect to it. You'd be using a quill pen and a pot of ink, while attaching your message to the leg of a pigeon.

Or so you say (my usual response to speculation). But either way, it is irrelevant.

Speculation!!  

FACT 1) Carrier Pidgeons were used during WWI to carry some messages from the front line. Written in ink on paper and tied to their legs.

FACT 2) Modern Computers were created during WWII in order to produce accurate gunnery tables and for cracking of cypher codes.

FACT 3) The cathode ray tube was developed into a picture tube as a result of the development of RADAR during WWII. (you do like your monitor I take it.)

FACT 4) ARPANET was created as a communications system to link military and development establishments, it was theorized during WWII and developed during the Cold War.

FACT 5) The Transistor and The Microprocessor were developed during the Cold War to guide ICBMs, Missiles and the rockets used in the space program.

Without the war impotus and funding to drive those developments there would be no internet and no computers to connect to it and NO VIDEO GAMES!. That's NOT speculation you  It's historical FACT!




OK You're clearly absolutely right and anything anybody else has to say is clearly absolutely wrong.... 

Nuf Said!! Not going to waste any more time on you and I suggest nobody else does either.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[MaximRecoil]

Speculation!!  

FACT 1) Carrier Pidgeons were used during WWI to carry some messages from the front line. Written in ink on paper and tied to their legs.

FACT 2) Modern Computers were created during WWII in order to produce accurate gunnery tables and for cracking of cypher codes.

FACT 3) The cathode ray tube was developed into a picture tube as a result of the development of RADAR during WWII. (you do like your monitor I take it.)

FACT 4) ARPANET was created as a communications system to link military and development establishments, it was theorized during WWII and developed during the Cold War.

FACT 5) The Transistor and The Microprocessor were developed during the Cold War to guide ICBMs, Missiles and the rockets used in the space program.

Without the war impotus and funding to drive those developments there would be no internet and no computers to connect to it and NO VIDEO GAMES!. That's NOT speculation you  It's historical FACT!

It doesn't matter how history unfolded. You have no idea how it would have unfolded if things were different, and neither does anyone else. Hence, "speculation".

You don't have the authority to redefine the word "troll" (no, it doesn't mean "someone who disagrees with me").

You've initiated insults and played the "troll card" in only your second post on this thread. Feel free to consider yourself done. Your resignation...

Nuf Said!! Not going to waste any more time on you

...is accepted.

[jcoleman]

Give me LCD or give me death!