27 August 2012

Me so Halo. I frag you long time.

Looks like this site is still around, at least the discussion is so. Let us discuss Gamecrush.  GameCrush is a site where you pay  to play a game with a person of the female persuasion for 10 minutes.  You have to be 18 or over.  The girls set their gaming mood to either "flirty" or "dirty." Chat is completely open and while signing up is free,  you must purchase credits in order to play. A typical 8-10 minute game costs $8.25, 60% of which goes to the woman, all is paid in credits. Cost per minute is on sliding scale based on your chosen 'PlayDate's" popularity. The popularity is determined by ratings given to them by    And of course tipping is encouraged.   It was available only on  Xbox Live, and in casual Flash games on their site. The flash option will get you six minutes of face time through the girl's webcam, What goes on in the video chat is up to you and your PlayDate. GameCrush says it modeled its pricing structure based on the  the cost of buying a drink at a bar. In a bar, you're basically buying the opportunity to chat a girl up. GameCrush is hoping players will look at their service the same way.

When I first read about it I was like WTF! Who cares who I am gaming with?  But then I am one of those female gamers. A rare breed. A gamer that happens to have indoor plumbing. That was on advantage of the internet and games for me - no one had to know anything about me except whether I could blow your starship to pieces with the rest of my team.  Then I looked at it more closely. Seemed to me this is just another soft porn site. But they must be legit, right? The site even has a LIKE on Facebook button.  

  Jessica Rovello at The Huffington Post said it best when she said "Let's not mistake what this is. It's not gaming, it's simply a new spin on the phone sex lines of the 80s. It's light porn with a twist. If it wasn't, you wouldn't need to be over 18 to join, you wouldn't be able to have uncensored "Dirty" talk over webcams and you wouldn't be able to tip your PlayDate real cash after your session. "

Is it just that? Or could it be more predatory? How old are the PlayDates? How is their age verified, Tracey Lords claimed to be over 18 when she was younger.  In an article from the New York Times in 2005 it became very apparent how easy it is for predators to take advantage of people on the internet,  are the people using the service open to prosecution without their knowing? Are they predators knowing exactly what they are doing?  Why did IGN and techCrush seem to support it?  The main reason seem to be that the owners say they are not a porn site.  So if I say I am not over 50 does that make it true?

We all know sex sells. It sells games, it sells cars and it sells newspapers. But this concept seems a bit backwards.  Seems games sell sex.  If that is the case I dread the future of the human race.

26 August 2012

I Confess!

 I was on the Mud a while ago.  A bunch of players were discussing what they were 'replaced'  with by their parents when they went to college. One was replaced by a dog, another by cable.  I thought sort of thought about it and then realized they were probably correct.  My daughter filled a lot of my time before. After she went to college i treated us to something. It probably is replacement. So what did she get replaced with?  A PS3.  She is actually okay with that.

In Process on the PS3:

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
Catherine
DC Universe Online
Elder Scrolls: Oblivion
Final Fantasy XIII
Journey
Sonic Generations

Quick Assessments:


Assassin's Creed Brotherhood - this is going to take a little time.   Undecided

Catherine - Interesting playing on easy for story. So far no real surprises in the story. WTF is up with the hair styles on these people?  7 out of 10 

DC Universe Online -  Has some neat stuff. Too much into nickle and diming the players and has more updates than GW2 beta.  I play with a friend but other players are so so. Difficult to communicate quickly without paying for voice, so not finding the online experience that great. 5 out of 10

Elder Scrolls: Oblivion -  intriguing. Something reminds me of Thief in this one maybe all the underground escape route stuff and that zombie that comes screaming at you.  7 out of 10

Final Fantasy XIII - It is a game no it is an interactive movie. Just shoot Hope PLEASE. I am still in the 20 hour tutorial, battle is sort of cool. 6 out of 10

Journey - Suggested by the Chaos Monkey. It is beautiful, a bit tedious in spots. Takes 3 hours almost to the minute to complete first time through. Have yet to try in interactive mode. 7 out of 10

Sonic Generations - It is Sonic what can I say can do it side scrolling and 3d in each level. No rating atm