Recent content by Dashartha

I think we can be reasonably certain where most of escapees will come down on the issue of games as art. So we're not talking about that. It's also (mostly, I feel) a debate that should be external, not internal. We should be engaging our culture(s) as a whole with this issue, not just...

I sorta thought that modding was one of the points of Minecraft... Notch encourages it, and pretty sure that building an essentially barebones system and then allowing others to play creatively with the world/code you've created is what the game's all about. So no, I don't think he's being...

*sputter* Weak...? You, my friend are hanging out with the wrong type of women. Next girl that calls it weak, challenge her to do just one hour on a line at dinner rush on a Friday night... How can it be weak? You're dealing with fire and sharp shit... How is that not masculine? In my...

You can absolutely be bad at enjoying other forms of art. If you're functionally illiterate, you can't enjoy literature. Or if you've grown up on a steady literary diet of pulp, the great, flawed masterpieces are completely inaccessible. Do you need to prove your enjoyment? Not really, but...

They make me sad.

The Malazan series is possibly the greatest work of epic fantasy fiction (IMHO) written since Tolkien (sorry Martinites; Martin is the better writer though I recommend reading Eslemont's Return of the Crimson Guard and Stonewielder first, puts some of the stuff that happens "off camera" (can't...

Rubicon is one of my favourite books (and the way Rome treats crossing the Rubicon was a stroke of genius) I love the little barbs he includes every once in a while; places where his personality really shines through. 2666 by Roberto Bolano, possibly the most bibliophilic book I've ever read...

Shit... You're right. (I don't believe in math, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it)

For real. And they definitely were invaded. And there were a few massacres (rape of Nanjing etc.) for which Japan still has not apologized, nor have they even acknowledged culpability. People hate being one-upped in their suffering. They also don't know about the Balkans, Rwanda in 94...

That's pretty standard fare for here. (China... I live here/there, whatever). Couple things: very little Mao propaganda here (disregarding his face on the currency, you see more Mao portraits on T-shirts at a university campus in the west than you do here). TF2 isn't banned, it just isn't well...

For me, what makes Fallout so appealing is the setting; recognizable monuments and settings juxtaposed with devastation and war (Washington Monument, etc.) and the fundamental challenge of survival. Hardcore Mode in NV was a brilliant addition to the games. The question I would as is: Is the...