Jimquisition: Defending Call of Duty

[Tim Chuma]

Even regular newspapers still have columnists that disagree with everyone who writes for the newspaper and people read just to hate (Andrew Bolt for the Australian readers)

I just wish they didn't try so hard to do this with the Escapist recently though.

Come back Lisa Follies! All is forgiven! Rebecca Mayes, where art thou?

 

[lovest harding]

*sigh* Is his solution to each complaint about his overacting just to overact even more? Is he deliberately trying to try way too hard to be funny? Is his intention to come off as desperate "ironically?"

You sir, seem quite frustrated, maybe it was the subject of this episode that made you so?

Anyways, I welcome this new show and its counter-opinion to what is essentially the ethos of many gamers (and that includes members of the Escapist), that is, complete generalization of people based on something as unfounded as taste in video-games.

But isn't the what this video is doing to two different groups (complete generalization):
A) The people who dislike CoD, who may very well have valid reasons (I've never played them, so meh, just not something I'm interested in).
B) The 'games are art' crowd. I firmly believe games can be art. But I certainly don't go around complaining about games that I don't consider art.

It's one thing to point out the fallacies of generalization, it's another to play into them while trying to counteract them.

Anyway. The video was fine enough. I guess since I haven't really dealt with the CoD games, I just have never seen this (honestly, I can't think of a single time where I've heard/read someone complain about the games because they aren't art, as a matter of fact, I've heard plenty of people tout the story lines as on par with war movies like Saving Private Ryan, a realistic and sobering view of violence and war).
I didn't like the way he was treating the 'games are art' crowd, though. Maybe I'm just being a bit too sensitive (as I understand he wasn't poking fun at the whole movement, just the people who complained about CoD not being art). But that probably stems from my lack of knowledge too. xD

Jim's style is over-the-top in order caricaturize the opponent, and i think that he was just generally poking fun (he was after all, wearing make-up and gaudy clothing). So i do not think that he views the "games are art" crowd (aren't we all?) in the same way as he portrays them, as from what i've seen/read of him, he seems to be exactly the kind of guy to make this kind of joke.

One has to also consider the fact that he has maybe had different dealings with people (hes a games journalist after all, hes been around) and maybe he is satirizing a different type of people (as opposed to you), for i myself haven't stumbled upon someone who criticizes CoD for not being artsy.

I think this just addresses people who in general think that liking Game A (over say, Game B) somehow lessens your character and/or opinions, which sadly is[/is] something i have encountered on this forum many times and seems to be a staple of many gamers. These are the same people who will furiously put down something as popular like CoD or Halo, but in the same breath defend old FPS titles like Doom, Quake and Unreal Tournament.

As I said, I could be wrong in that just because I can't really relate to much of anything in the video.

I've seen that (liking Game A makes you better than someone who likes Game B) too, but obviously (since I didn't exactly catch on) if that is the ultimate goal his 'comedy' (I just don't find him funny) got in the way of the point. It seemed more a pointless attempt to defend CoD from backlash more than anything else.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Call of Duty was a good series, but when MW2 was released it did become shit. Plus, World at War's Russian side of the campaign kicked the ass of CoD4's and MW2's combined.

This really bugs me. What did it do good? Anything at all? I'll give Gary Oldman did a good job at shouting at me to do shit, but it was literally the most boring campaign I've played in CoD.

I just thought it was fun, the ending was pretty moving, and after it was over I wanted to play it again, so they did something right. Might be a little biased too, because I always loved the city setting rather than trenches, deserts, jungles, etc. The American side, well, the banzi thing got annoying after the 5,000th time, and I didn't like getting shot at from people in bushes I could never see.

Call of Duty 4 was decent, but the timed missions were annoying, and it still wasn't nearly as good as CoD/CoD2 were. MW2. Umm... hmm... I was going to save time by putting what I liked about it, rather that was I hated, but I can't think of anything...

 

[WanderingFool]

The problem with CoD is not the weapon unlocks it is the amount of weapon unlocks. There are so many it makes the game hard to balance which is the biggest problem with recent CoD games. Melee has also been blown way out of proportion in the game. No I am not asking for realistic melee I just want my bash back. It is not an inherently bad series but has become shit and stale due to a huge amount of games in a short time span. Then there are the killstreaks I shouldn't have to explain the killstreaks after CoD4.

I think they need to expand on the system of COD points as used in Blops, making all the weapons available at level 5, but tier the weapons so that there is one group that is like 1500 points, and another thats double or triple that, but make the price go down as you level up. That way, if people want that one Lv44 gun, they can buy it by saving up points, or they could wait until Lv44 and buy it cheaper. The system would of course need some work.

Also I hate the fucking melee, but to rant about it would make this post unbearably long, so suffice to say, shit needs to be changed.

And on kill streaks... yeah, I would almost say they should go the way of Homefront and use a battle point system to buy the kill streaks, so people can actually have a chance. I know some of use have seen youtube videos of Cod players like Thunder and can see how easily he gets those kill streaks, but those are only they few good ones. Atleast using a BP system will give the players unable to string 8 or 9 kills together before dying a chance at the blackbird or chopper gunner.

This is the first time i have seen this show and i am baffled as to WHY it is here.

I think he is aiming for more controversial (to us, not to society) goal. I think he is a fat, arrogant prick... and yet I keep watching him... what does that tell you?

 

[Roofstone]

Indeed Jim, thank god, for you.

 

[cfehunter]

COD isn't shit because it's popular.

Screw art for the moment. COD is shit because it's helping to stagnate the medium.
To acctually play, yes it's fine.

But in acctual terms of inovation and technilogical achievment what has it accomplished?

Yes it's good business sense to stick with what works and what sells, but unless the mould gets broken every now and again we'll never see any change, the games industry will completely stagnate, profits will drop, investors will pull out and the AAA branch of the industry will have to retreat for a while to lick its wounds and recover. None of us want that.


As for unlockables, battlefield did it first.
There was another before battlefield but I can't think off the top of my head, i'm going to have to look it up...

end of.

 

[Ranorak]

I'm swayed.

Jim, welcome to my weekly list of videos I will watch.
At first I had my doubts, but your videos improved and you got to tell me where you got that clowns hat!

 

[Lullabye]

Jim carries some valid and strong points,although his delivery could use some refinement in my eyes. However,I'm here to follow up on his request for an intelligent rebuttal. Here's mine;

Killstreak rewards. In an online multiplayer experience,there always needs to be a chance of turning a game around. This exists...For people who can string together 4+ kills in a row without biting someone's bullet. And,the most likely scenario,the side that's performing the best will be getting the killstreaks. Thus striking down any chance people had on turning that match around.

Killstreak rewards keep up momentum,but they also ruin the competitive balance that any multiplayer game should have. Yes,it may be fun and cool to call in an AC-130 "Spooky" gunship,then be the gunner,but those on the recieving end will simply curse your name because there's nowhere to hide anymore.

I shall attempt to refute this.
There is a single hitch in your complaint. I have highlighted it.
The solution is, quite simply enough, kill the enemy team.
Perks and killstreaks do not, contrary to popular belief, make you a god. A bullet will still kill you. Quite simply all that is required is the skill to put that bullet into someone's head. Complaints about the AC-130 be damned, don't let them get it.

 

[pepitko]

Pretty good episode, felt a bit more serious that than previous ones, but that only showed that Jim can make well reasoned arguments. So well done.

 

[Kennetic]

Defending Call of Duty

Very much how men and women of the military defend this nation's freedom overseas, Jim Sterling defends Call of Duty. In many ways, Sterling's cause is more righteous and noble than anything a soldier has ever, ever done.

Watch Video

Why don't you try deploying to the shittiest part of the world to defend the freedom of your country. Does defending a video game sound more righteous than defending your right to defend a video game? I thought not.

 

[2xDouble]

Not bad, Jim. Nice little dig at Yahtzee too, clever and subtle. (How'd you do that? heh. but seriously...) I think the problem is there isn't any (and should never be) clear definition of what is and is not a "good game". Like you, Bob, and James touched on today in the Extra Consideration, what makes a "good game" is entirely subjective, as long as the game isn't so horribly broken the disk needs a roll of duct tape to run properly (no I don't know how that would work. shut up, it's a metaphor. heh.). Maybe the bigger issue is that a large percentage of an audience will hate on something because it's different than what they play, often in direct competition to the hated product.

PS. Farmville isn't bad because it sucks (which it does, there is very little "game" in the game). Farmville is bad because Zynga is evil.

 

[k-ossuburb]

Although I understand the point being made, I simply just don't like any FPS that's set in a realistic situation. I prefer the more fantastical style shooters like Bioshock, DOOM and Blood. I think it's mostly due to the narratives,characters, enemies and the environments; because they're so strange and interesting it makes the experience that much more entertaining. I suppose if COD were to make a game completely out of their zombie mode I'd give it a shot (no pun intended), but the standard military shooter is just unappealing.

 

[Srdjan Tanaskovic]

Linearity in FPS games existed way, WAY before COD came along.
Halo
Quake, Medal of Honour, Counter-Strike, Doom, The original Team Fortress ect...
Halo.

OT: It's good to see someone defend CoD for a change. As long as it's good, I'll keep buying it.

yes Linearity has been in FPS before COD. But some people think that COD was the one that made it so that all FPS are linear these days

you mean Halo 2. the first Halo had shield and medpack


........................................................................................................................are you saying that Quake and Doom put more time into it's MP then SP ?

do you have any fucking idea of what you are talking about?

CS is a MP only game why the hell is that on the list? and I assume you mean the new Medal of Honour

 

[The Cheshire]

Whatever, I can't really agree with this, it's too easy to contradict other opinions by making them sound ridiculous and irrational, taking any critique done to the game as a personal critique to the person playing it.

CoD is not liked because it symbolizes a way of developing videogames that leads to stagnation and repetition, it's not only the game itself but an icon on the errors on the industry. The games themselves are OK, I am not a fan of multiplayer so I have nothing to say in regards of that, my experience in CoD multiplayer comes from listeting to little cunts scream "fag" over and over again, which kinda makes it all quite unappealing...and quite sub-mental.

But as the problems for the game itself, I would say it's just the whole militaristic, war glamourizing background to all of it. Ideologically, I can't support something that glorifies war, be it a videogame or a movie (I also think 300 is shit). I do believe there is quite a perverse background to all of this.

 

[xcgillx2]

I've never really had a problem with call of duty its just that they have put not enough into single player (for the majority). but its more multi-player that annoys me.except from black ops i liked the multi player in the other games but BO seems to me alot worse than the others, mainly because of the people that play it, but I feel its not just the players fault.

hopefully MW3 will be better because I've heard that there are different companys doing the different aspects of it. so MW3 is either going to be really good or really bad

 

[beniki]

Huzzah!

Less vitriol and more review! More of the same please.

Can't say I like the game though, but that has more to do with a bad first impression. Played an online multi-player game and couldn't make any headway since people were shooting me though walls, and insta-head shotting me as soon as I spawned. I don't like to assume someone was cheating, but no one gets that lucky 5 times in a row. I guess you could say that's a result of the game being popular; more players means you encounter more dicks.

I don't think FPSs do it for me any more though. Every deathmatch I play on games these days seems so bland next to Battlefield, and in particular, the now ancient Desert Combat mod. I don't think any new release will ever be able to beat the nostalgia!

 

[thebolt]

Never watched this but...pretty lame haha.

Call of Duty isn't my cup of tea because I don't like the leveling and the unlocks and perks and etc. Obviously tons of people DO like it and that's fine...but I think it does make the game unbalanced when I shoot people first and more times but still lose the firefight. Perks suck too. There is NOTHING more agitating than getting killed by choppers and planes.

 

[Gsmoove]

I don't believe I have to say this but if you don't like his videos don't watch. On the internet all that matters is reaction, if you provide Jimquisition with traffic and comments than he'll stick around, its his job is to rile people up.

So in conclusion apathy is more damaging to the show than your complaints and for the record Moviebob also feeds off the same animosity.