Zero Punctuation: Metal Gear Solid 4

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

kojima btw. does not regard games as art:
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2098≈Itemid=2

I think his definition of art is pretty weird. So, it's only art if only 1% of the people seeing it can appreciate it? I bet about 99% of the people seeing the Mona Lisa can appreciate it. Does that mean that it isn't a piece of art?
Just because lots of people appreciate something doesn't mean it's not art.
Games are made to be sold, which means there are going to be quite a few compromises in it compared to the original vision the developer team had in order to appeal to more people. But the same could be said about lots of pieces of art. Art doesn't mean there weren't any tradeoffs made. I bet Mozart, Bach, Beethoven and the likes made quite a few compromises in their work in order to appeal to their respective employers more. Artists have to eat, too. An artist not ready to make any compromises is a pretty hungry one. I wouldn't be able to define what art is, but I'm pretty sure that Kojima's criteria why games aren't art (at least those given in that excerpt) are pretty much crap, at least for me.

 

[ayoama]

P.S. I must be the only one around here that thinks that HL and HL2 way to approach narration is... not as enthusiasming as people describe it to be. Kojima may not have got it right, but Valve has still a bit of work to do, too.

 

[MartnRendrs]

whahahahahhaha "this shit is bananas" lmao

 

[JTM]

Had you actually watched it, you would have known it was for Ninja Gaiden 2. And you're a fanboy, congratulations.

And everyone should realize that Yahtzee doesn't choose to play those commercials at the end of his vids. The Escapist puts them there after he puts in his video or they send it to him to plop onto the end of the video.

Also...

Could everyone just stop please?

This is getting worse than the SSBB thread and that was the stupidest thread I've ever seen.

I know it was Ninja "Gay"den 2. It just happens to look like the male version of Heavenly Swords. Way to miss the point.

Secondly, you accuse me of being a fanboi... of what? Welcome to using a dictionary when you don't know the definition of a word:

Fanboy (sometimes spelt fanboi) is a term used to describe an individual who is devoted to a single fannish subject, or to a single point of view ...

What single point of view was I devoted to? I guess you could call me a critic fanboi, because I spent the entire time being a critic of a critic, but if that's what you were going for, you failed. Miserably.

Thirdly, if this is the worst thread you've ever seen in your life, you're obviously new to the internets. Let me be the first to welcome you. Other sites I'd get involved in are: ytmnd, 4chan, and at least 2 other elective sites of your own choice.

Fourthly, I did watch it. And I do know that Yahtzee didn't put it there. He has some very high quality reviews, and that's not what I'm really bitching about (hence the "Great Review" that I stated at the beginning of my post, right after Ayo Technology cut off). How else do you propose that I let the escapist know that the ads are ruining the content?

They have ads before, during, and after the video (ones that get in the way). They also have them all along the right column, at the top of the page, and the right and left sides of the page where my monitor has some extra space. Seriously, it's enough.

Overall, despite the fact that you obviously were going for the most imbecilic post of your entire life, you are new, and I have a hard time blaming you on that account. Try harder next time, kiddo.

 

[Maverickhunter05]

I am disheartened toward the comment he made about the world's largest pie...

He didn't even considering giving it a chance while using the world's largest oven.

 

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

They have ads before, during, and after the video (ones that get in the way).

I've not seen an ad before the video, and unless you're counting the ones tacked on the end as 'during', I've not seen any of those, either. What ads are you seeing at those points?

As for the ones after, like in MGS where you hit triangle to skip cutscenes, a similar single-button option exists to skip the ads.

 

[sky14kemea]

hehe solid snake is still funny to meeeeee

XD i havent played it yet, but ive seen the other ones and the storyline does sound like bullpoop
and otacon and snake were never friends

if you get bored of using the gun, use his zimmer frame to knock out guards or something
10/10 for the review ^-^

 

[Korux]

I really enjoyed every single ZP up to now, but this one was so awesome, it even made me register on the forums.

Maybe the best one yet, please keep up the great work Yahtzee.

 

[teverek]

For one i will say that not one comment i read mentioned driving around in the MK 2 while the movies were going on.

and finally the reason i made this account is to say to the escapist my reason for using their site (and making this account so i could complain), It was purely because there were no advertisements for games. How am i supposed to believe that a gaming site is non-biased when they advertise for games like ninja gaiden and this eve online crap? Are reviews not advertisement enough? Honestly i would rather see advertisements for tide or wendys then see advertisements for games on a site that is supposed to be un-biased and critical.

So I am done with the escapist and Yahtzee (sorry to say cause man you are the meat in the taco when it comes to game reviews except for this one cause i am a fanboy I have been here every wednesday to catch yahtzee's reviews of games since i seen the bioshock review on a different site. I have also read alot of other articles on this site but none compare to yahtzee. So i will say goodbye to the escapist and remove the site from my bookmark toolbar.

I will check back in a few weeks to see if anything has changed but i seriously doubt it will ive been seeing complaints about the advertisements for well over a month. Perhaps if Yahtzee sees this maybe he can get something done. Seems to be the only one on here that cares about public opinion. Maybe if we all decrease Yahtzees traffic #'s we will get results quicker

In closing does a movie critic advertise movies ? Does a Restaurant Critic advertise restaurants? Does a donkey get tricked into a filthy show in mexico? I believe in my heart the answer is no to all of those questions.... the donkey volunteers

 

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

Does an game industry magazine advertise games? The Escapist isn't just Zero Punctuation, you realize?

 

[YYZed]

Mailbag Showdown showed that Wii owners are little kids who can't argue worth anything.

If we had a Mailbag Showdown 2 for all the crap from this Thread It would show the same thing except all the PS3 owners would be using big words they dont really understand.

 

[Frosk]

Little did I know (now I do, much to my chagrin) that it was an advertisement for Heavenly Sword((S)) 2, which they now have on the XCrap360. Jeeeesus. Nothing like ruining a perfectly good review by adding on a TWO MINUTE AD on the end.

If that isn't the definition of "Fanboy", I don't know what is.

Why do I have to say this? Yahtzee is not putting those ads onto his videos. The Escapist is! If you go back to some of the earlier episodes now they took out the ads at the start of the videos and replaced them with ads at the end of the videos. That tells me that it is the Escapist putting the ads there, not Yahtzee.

Besides, you don't have to watch them (like MGS's over extended cutscenes). You can hit the stop (pause) button after you realize that it's not one of his movie shorts and presto, no ads.

 

[laikenf]

Why people is asking Yahtzee to review Ninja Gaiden 2? He already did. It's called DMC4 review.

You gotta be joking, right? It's not even funny.

 

[blackmath]

For once i have to disagree with you Yahtzee.

First of all, before playing MGS4 i was NOT a fan of the MGS series, and didn't really have any intention of becoming one.

However, after playing it at a friend's house i became so addicted to it that i went out and bought it the next day

Yes, there are long cut scenes, but playing it for the first time (still am XD) i found them genuinely interesting (although the hour-or-so long cut scene between acts 3 and 4 was a bit OTT) and at least they are skippable.

Also, I had no idea of the backstory and i found that the game did a good job of explaining the majority of it, and with the release of the MGS Database today its going to be even easier for previous non-MGS fans to get into it, and fill in any blanks left by the fourth game.



Oh, one more thing - genius as always Yahtzee, love ur work!

 

[teverek]

yes they do advertise games and most of them get paid great deals of money to provide high scoring reviews....

and if you don't know that then read about what EA has done to game reviewers that have worked for these magazines/sites they get fired its that simple and since that crap started happening i stopped buying into this whole " we advertise but we will still tell you what we advertise is shit" because they dont tell you its shit you find out its shit when you get home from wasting $100 on a shiny new coaster. (EA has had game reviewers fired on several occasions most recent being Jeff Gerstmann who reviewed Kayne & Lynch he was fired from gamespot for a bad review)

This is what advertising does to this type of site it allows the producers of garbage to tell you its awesome when its not. But hey keep buying into it soon you wont be yelled at for putting a drink on the coffee table cause it will be covered in $100 coasters.

 

[Alstan]

Why people is asking Yahtzee to review Ninja Gaiden 2? He already did. It's called DMC4 review.

You gotta be joking, right? It's not even funny.

You're right it's a bad taste joke, I played the NG2 and the DMC4 Demo and NG2 is by far much better. But I really think Yahtzee would complain about the same things he did on DMC4, but it's just a personal opinion.

Also I love when Ryu swings he's weapon to take out the blood and the vibration turns on for a second

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

Does anyone know HOW Yahtzee likes to see story portrayed in games? He always seems to complain about story based games yet at the same time he seems to be an advocate of them... I'm getting really confused here.

 

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

I see no 'padded' reviews here, teverek, in spite of what happens elsewhere. Are you saying the existence of advertisements automatically makes any objective review impossible? Car and Driver magazine reviews cars, but they also have advertisements from car manufacturers in their magazine. Hell, any magazine that contains reviews of the industry they cover has ads for the very same industry. Are the things they say inherently biased?

Can we not just judge when the evidence of such corruption presents itself, and not just assume everyone automatically trades in objectivity for money at the drop of a hat?

To use a really crappy analogy: if you touch a stove when it's hot and get burned, it doesn't mean you'll get burned when it's cold. You're swearing off all stove-touching because there's ONE that's turned out to be hot.

 

[Susan Arendt]

In closing does a movie critic advertise movies ? Does a Restaurant Critic advertise restaurants? Does a donkey get tricked into a filthy show in mexico? I believe in my heart the answer is no to all of those questions.... the donkey volunteers

Perhaps not, but the newspaper or magazine running said critic's articles runs ads right alongside them. There are commercials during Ebert & Roper (or whatever it's called these days). Not sure what to say about the donkey, really...that one has me a bit nonplussed.

All Escapist reviewers, Yahtzee included, state their opinions about a particular game. That's the start and end of it. Whatever happens around them, be it an ad, or a forum thread, or an article in the weekly magazine, has no bearing on said opinion.