crispy4000

A list of exceptions doesn’t negate the fact that Gears had a very strong influence on the style of games you’d see that gen. The industry moved away from typical family-friendly fare to be too ‘serious’ and edgy IMO. Even if they tried to be vibrant looking. I also wouldn’t feel a loss to never revisit or play most of those. Especially not in comparison to other generations, which is what this is all about.

Without being repentant? No. I actually do think you’re right here, will concede that.

I already said it. You can go to purgatory with mortal sin, receive absolution, and reach heaven thereafter. Mortal sins are absolved in confession, as you say, but are not all weighted equally in their degree of offense.

Not trying to convince anyone otherwise. Just clarifying the misconceptions here, as there is. I’d be surprised if you all didn’t hate it regardless. It’s a pro-life religion in the wake of Roe being likely overturned.

Too much gray and brown. Plus too many games ran like hot garbage with awful vsync issues and the like. Cover mechanics were overwrought. JRPGs were on a rough streak. Etc. You'd need a Series X (or PC) to really revisit that stuff in a meaningful way anyways.

Saw this and figured I'd clarify, so you all know our actual definitions. Most methods of contraception are viewed by the Catholic Church as just that, contraception. Basically, if you take a medicine or use a condom in effort to keep a new human life forming from sex, you've tried to contracept. According to Catholic teaching, if you did something in attempt to kill it just in case, or to give it almost no chance to keep living, you've aborted it if it dies in consequence. It's possible for this to happen unintentionally - typically if someone doesn't know it's a fail-safe feature of whatever contraception was used. There's thought to be much less culpability in that. Though the church would still say an abortion happened: because the drug's fail-safe is the cause of death, by design. Technically someone could use the same drug and it ends up working contraceptively, in which case, they contracepted. A woman who is raped could receive a contraceptive licitly according to Catholic ethics. As long as whatever is done doesn't have a post conception fail-safe, it's kosher (ie: killing sperm, preventing ovulation and/or fertilization). When sex isn't consensual, contraception is considered a moral option. Catholic teaching also allows for a person to take birth control licitly if it's to principally address other health issues such as endo, and its the best option for it. There's also cases of ectopic pregnancies, where surgeries are okay if they attempt to save the mother's life, even if the unborn dies as a secondary result. Same with chemotherapy, etc. Last thing: Most Catholics aren't well versed on this. I wouldn't blame anyone here for disagreeing with the principles of any of it, we're all entitled to our own. But if you hear a Catholic saying all contraceptives should be banned, they're speaking from personal bias and poor catechesis. Whew, most of that is off the mark in a game of telephone kind of way. There's mortal and venial sins, but it has more to do with how much on a whim you decide to do it. Mortal sins are worse, but not all are equal, by any means. (see: Judas) Only in that it's taught you should confess them directly. Catholic teaching isn't that having mortal sin when you die means you go straight to hell. Purgatory would be the process of rectifying that before you go to Heaven. Hell is for the unrepentant.

I really don’t care for many PS3/360 era games, so that’s out. Inclined to say Switch, since it’d feel weird never getting to play a Mario or Zelda game again. Plus the indies are all there. But man, the performance on some games could make me second guess.

Well, duh. Red or blue, congress will see it as their power, and duty, to pass legislation on a social issue that's viewed as too important for individual states to decide.

Picked up the latest Humble Choice. Not because it's an especially good month, but I feel like I heard enough good things about Spongebob and wanted to own C&C remastered for posterity. Genesis Noir looks cool as well. They offered me a $4 off coupon so I bit.

So, we’ll see renewed efforts to fight for paid maternity leave, universal pre-K and expanded child tax care credits from the left now, right? Put Republicans on record on that after Roe is gone.

It’s a really a strong tell of bias to say the other side must have leaked it. Maybe it’s all reactionary on some level, but that’s how people get to conspiracy these days. I hope this gets found out just so the boogeyman is known.

'Enshrine' is the wrong operative word with how the politics will be likely to play out going forward.

The Initiative says Crystal Dynamics will still co-develop Perfect Dark following Embracer’s acquisition | VGC WWW.VIDEOGAMESCHRONICLE.COM We will be continuing this work with them in their next chapter"

Another reason I don't think a buyout is coming.

Seem strange to pass the blame to currently elected democrats, who are as pro-choice as ever. It’s a different landscape today than the early 2000’s. I know I’ll never see eye to eye with most of you on this issue, but thought I’d share that I know plenty of self proclaimed pro-life Democrats who dismissed every effort the Republicans made against Roe as futile. Also because of the ‘settled law’ thing. People of all persuasions clearly just wanted tune in or out whatever they wanted about Roe, relative to how they personally weight the issue.

I've gone completely dark on XB3 now, and probably will until release. The direction XB2 took by the end was so fascinating, I don't want to have any preconceptions about what they'll do this time. I've already spoiled myself on Future Connected though. Since I heard its inconsequential, ironically. And I'm not going to replay the first anytime soon.

Jeff Grubb thinks so. I'll believe it when I see it.

If the Activision deal getting a thumbs up by regulators wasn't a concern, MS would absolutely be on this. Maybe Sony has more invested in Uncharted these days to want to publish a new Tomb Raider.

I'm positively shocked Microsoft or Sony didn't scoop them up, for much more. For reference, the old Rise of the Tomb Raider timed exclusivity deal cost Microsoft 100 million (lol). For triple that, they could have owned the game and studio, two others, and even more IP.

They've done a poor job maintaining their momentum, so you could be right. But Halo did overtake Warzone's player count last year, and maintained that lead comfortably through February at the least on Xbox platforms.

Yup, if you’re not spending as much on new games, it stands to reason that you have more to spend on DLC. There’s a bit of a slippery slope there on the business end, but thankfully Microsoft hasn’t gotten overzealous about their mtx. Personally, I really don’t like the idea of paying for DLC for games I don’t permanently own. Makes me wonder if an add on package of expansion passes, like Nintendo’s, would be a good way for Microsoft to add an additional tier.

Warzone is declining too though, as the article says. Only mobile has held steady. That suggests CoD’s problems go beyond BR/PVP divides. I bet a good number of people actually migrated to Halo last year.

Activision Blizzard sales and engagement tumble WWW.GAMESINDUSTRY.BIZ Modest revenue growth at King offset by 49% drop from Activision, 43% decline from Blizzard as MAUs hit new lows Only CoD mobile held static. You'd think the scandals factored in, but it could just be waning interest in CoD generally.

This was the historical statement by Phil: Phil Spencer: Game Pass leads to more game sales WWW.GAMESINDUSTRY.BIZ Microsoft VP of gaming says service has been "very healthy for our games" such as State of Decay 2, Forza Horizon 4 Nowadays, there's a bit more gray. Many of Microsoft's franchises have increased player bases and interest as a result, eventually selling more than previous entries because of the cutural zeitgeist, but might get off to a slower start. (Gears 5, for example) You also have Matt Piscatella from NPD saying that games that review poorly get cannibalized, for sure. If you look at it through the lens of CoD, it's hard to imagine that putting that franchise on there wouldn't lead to a deficit of sales. But you could see more people throwing money at the DLC on the Xbox side. EDIT: I might have to take that last paragraph back now... woah.

Only if you also say you pirate everything.