World's Worst in Videogames: O'Reilly Factor Edition

Bill O'Reilly is best known for his very conservative rants, often taking falsehoods, misinterpretations (either accidental or purposeful) and complete lack of perspective to prop up his political opinions.
As per GamePolitics (here: http://gamepolitics.com/2006/11/18/bill-oreilly-slams-playstation-3-launch-gamers-ipods-tech-not-in-that-order/#comments), O'Reilly turns his ire toward videogames, and technology in general.
One thing caught my attention, and just because he has a podcast of his own (again, quote is via GamePolitics):

"I don’t own an iPod. I would never wear an iPod… If this is your primary focus in life - the machines… it’s going to have a staggeringly negative effect, all of this, for America… did you ever talk to these computer geeks? I mean, can you carry on a conversation with them? …I really fear for the United States because, believe me, the jihadists? They’re not playing the video games. They’re killing real people over there."

Ironically, if he listened to KFI in LA, where Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge broadcast a show, then he would know Leo Laport, a self-professed geek who is talking to the masses. He also podcasts that show via his TWIT network (www.twit.tv).
Here is another example of him making a sweeping generalization about a group of people without even speaking or listening to one of them. If he had, he would have seen that we aren't that introverted, but often talk to other people in a large variety of situations, often in person (see PAX, or the dozens of anime conventions) but also via online.

He also equates video games with drugs and alcohol. I can't deny that some people get addicted to the likes of WoW, but the same thing happens to nearly every hobby out there. There are a set of people called workaholics, people who work at the sacrifice to their personal lives. So should we ban work?

Early in his rant, there was this paragraph (again, via GamePolitics):

"Basically what you have is a large portion of the population, mostly younger people under the age of 45, who don’t deal with reality - ever. So they don’t know what day it is; they don’t know temperature it is; they don’t know what their neighbor looks like. They don’t know anything… because they are constantly diverted by a machine. Now what this does is it takes a person away from reality because they’ve created their own reality…"

He's accusing video games of being an escape from reality, something that books, movies, music, poetry and so forth all have in common.

This is another case of where someone doesn't investigate, or at least talk to a gamer (and there's plenty of them) to get an idea of what the culture is like. O'Reilly would rather believe the fiction that is often put out, and doesn't even lift an inch to find any evidence to the contrary. Even with the more reasonable Blois Olson, from the National Institute on Media & the Family, as a guest, he just refuses to change his perception at all.
So the Worst in Videogames Award goes to political pundit Bill O'Reilly.

Wiiiiiii

This weekend, while doing some shopping (ok, figuring out what to get my mom for her birthday), I first went to Target, which has its entire Wii display up and running, sans playable demo. The Wii was on display, showing an infomercial about the system. I did see some people curious about it.
On sale for $.01 was a DVD with trailers for Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Tony Hawk Downhill Jam's Wii versions. The aside the E3 trailers, the content is short versions of what you would find on commercial DVD movies; some behind the scenes type stuff. If you need an extra DVD case, its worth it. Otherwise, grab it if you're buying something anyways.

Lastly, I stopped by a nearby Gamestop, which has playable Wiis out (you just need to give them your driver's license). First, Joystiq's annoyance of losing the menu cursor (story: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/11/dude-wheres-my-cursor-wii-annoyance-1/) is true. Once you get the cursor oriented, it feels just like a mouse; you don't feel that you're pointing with the Wii-mote, but you are controlling the cursor with it.
The game on demo was Excite Truck. Controlling it was simple, as tilting the Wii-mote replaced the functions of an analog stick. Mostly the problem I had was that I am completely used to controlling via analog stick and not tilting the controller at all. Once that was gone, I actually enjoyed the game.
If there is anything that just doesn't work well is the built-in speaker; it is more distracting than immersive. The quality is just too low (and I'm not an audiophile, and I noticed how low quality this was) and takes my attention away from the screen.
I was already convinced that the Wii could work with the DS. With the game that was displayed, it wasn't miles away from current controls, but it certainly has some promise.

Post-Election Wrap Up

All I wanted was the Democrats to get one house of Congress. But with them now holding a solid lead in the House and barely inching out as majority of the Senate, I think we're in a good position with a power-hungry Republican president.
The main thing I hope they do is hold Bush accountable. Congress needs to go back and get rid of the overbearing laws that don't do much for security, but utterly destroy civil liberties. The NSA Wiretap scandal needs to be properly wrapped up, if only to make sure that the president, no matter who is in office, has to follow the law. Then the signing statements, which should have no legal power to them, should be made so then they don't have any power whatsoever.
For the long run, I hope this puts a new backbone in the Republican party. They have blindly followed one person for too long. Some pundits speculate that Republicans should have been more moderate, while others more conservative. The direction they should have gone is more independent; following their own opinions and not the opinions of others.

As for Rumsfeld's resignation, I think it was long overdue. However, his replacement-nominee, Robert Gates, has me a bit worried that not much will change (see: http://www.brendan-nyhan.com/blog/2006/11/bob_gatess_hist.html). I will wait and see if things change for the better, but won't give up any hopes on it.

World's Worst in Videogames, or A Kind Gesture

A story that has been going around since it first appeared on Digg (look here as well: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/11/03/extensive-world-of-warcraft-play-desensitizes-humans/), a player put up a small obituary in the World of Warcraft forums. The first response: "did he drop any good loot?"

The likely reason for this post is that the poster misinterpreted the obit. as a one for an alternate character, not a real person.
On one hand, Joystiq comments that this is terrible comment. Is it really all that appropriate to joke about somebody dying?
But then there is the argument on if this comment is not only appropriate, but a kind gesture to a WOW player. Here's what Frodo, Weekly Geek podcast host, said in the Joystiq article:
"The guy spent a ridiculous amount of time on WoW, he probably would have LOVED that response. I know I would have. If I were dead."
Looking at it that way, the post becomes a good comment. While we all don't like to speak ill of the dead (well, except of the eternally infamous, but that is another story), but we also want friends and loved ones to joke around and have the least amount of sadness when we die.
Admitingly, I wouldn't mind a comment like that should I die tomorrow. Then again, I don't plan on that happening anytime soon, so don't test that last comment.