Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, LeBron James’ karma tweets, Ted Williams going from homelessness to media sensation to rehab, or whether American politics will use a tragedy to become more reasonable, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Historically, the last three months of the gaming year are more exciting than the first three months. Yet in 2010, that was hardly the case. Q1 2010 gave me more memorable gaming moments than Q4 2010…and there’s a chance that 2011 will end up the same way.
Let’s take a step back and look at some of Q1 2010’s best videogames: Dragon Age: Origins Awakening, Final Fantasy XIII, God of War III, Heavy Rain, Mass Effect 2, and Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver. That’s a ridiculously stacked lineup! For the kinds of games that I love, it was perfection.
While Q1 2011 doesn’t look quite as stacked as Q1 2010, I’m sure that Dragon Age 2, Pokemon Black/White, and the release of the Nintendo 3DS will give me some of the best gaming moments of the year. I’m totally down with a graphically enhanced (and downloadable!) version of Mass Effect 2 for PS3 as well. Deus Ex: Human Revolution, DC Universe Online, LittleBigPlanet 2, Bulletstorm, and Killzone 3 have great potential too. I’m sure there are Q1 2011 games that I’m not interested in that fall right into your wheelhouse.
Personally, I love a front-loaded year of gaming. The end of the year is such a hectic time in the videogame business that it’s hard to find the time to enjoy games (especially for an RPG lover like me). What do you think of the trend of publishers targeting big releases for the first three months of the year? Will Q1 2011 be more fun than Q1 2010 for you?
If I were a publisher I'd target Q1 for giftcard, tax returns, and student aid disbursements, Q3 for aid disbursements, and Q4 for obvious reasons.
When to release a new IP though? Q4 has the potential of getting sales because of the season but not only that I know I tend to buy things I normally wouldn't during that time of year. Who knows.
I'd prob do a Q3 release on new IP.
Q2 release could be big if you timed it with E3 appropriately.
I love the fact that the gamig year is being more spread out as well. I'd still like to see a few more games hit during the summer months, as it's pretty sparse.
I thought I wrote a Morning Hangover wondering why there weren't summer blockbuster games similar to movies…or I thought about writing one. Ha!
It was better last year w/ RDR and a couple of other games. But it really feels like the summer months when the kids are out of school should be a hotbed for gaming.
The argument I've always heard is that kids don't want to be home in the summer.
I think the appropriate argument is "Parents don't want their their kids home in the summer." Kids want to do whatever they want to do. If that includes playing games, the season has little to do with it.
The summer non-release is definitely odd. You would think that if you have competition for release then that would be a good thing. I'm halfway thinking that console manufacturers are somewhat responsible for this. I'm sure MS likes their downloadable titles not having much competition during summer.
Btw, my last dozen or so comments were made mostly with Android voice to text. The tech is so good.
@ Tragedy :
Living here in Arizona, I can only hope that some good comes from all of this. While this particular incident may or may not have anything to do with our broken political system and the way we all deal with each other as people, it's shone a spotlight on the problem, and it's a problem that needs to be addressed.
Last night, the President said a lot of powerful things, but the one thing that stood out the most to me was ""We should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations." I didn't catch this speech until the late night replay because I spent the night in the hospital with my son, who had a febrile seizure last night. He had his 4 year shots yesterday, and we think that's what cause the fever that caused the seizure. Maybe it was because of what happened last night, but that one line really stuck with me.
Anyway, my two cents….
Tell Drew we said "Get well soon."
-M
Get well soon, Drew!
Thanks guys. He was mostly better last night, which is why I'm home. Once his personality comes back, we know he's on the mend. We'll just have to keep pumping him full of Tylenol and Ibuprofen for a day or so to make sure the fever is gone. It's not the "fever" per say, but the speed at which his temperature rises that causes the seizures. And when the fever comes out of nowhere is when we tend to have issues.
My thoughts are with you too.
Sorry to hear about your boy.
I"m interested to see what the kneejerk reaction will be in the government over this. If the TSA is any clue….
I think the ban on the larger gun magazines that's been talked about is an appropriate response. Regular folks don't need 30+ bullets in a glock 9mm. The only reason to have a clip that large is to use it on people, not for hunting or any other reasonable purpose. These were banned previously and the Bush Administration let the ban expire.
@Nightshade
The larger magazine ban won't stop stuff like this. People that are nuts as shit will either carry more clips or buy the magazine illegally. If someone is determined to do harm then they are not concerned with the details.
As for me, I have a few 30rd clips for an assault rifle. I don't hunt. It's strictly for home defense. That said I would hope that I use my shotgun first so as to not penetrate my walls and hurt a neighbor.
It can also be attributed to zombie apocalypse.
No, but he’d have had to stop to reload sooner, which is when people stopped him. It may have helped to minimize the damage. And frankly, if our law enforcement officials only get a standard 10-12 bullet clip, there’s no reason to be selling larger clips to the general public.
@Nightshade
If someone has practice and has taken the appropriate steps to reload then the difference is very minimal. Have you seen how fast law enforcement can reload a revolver or glock? Pretty damn fast. i’ve never understood why law enforcement can’t have larger clips. Just because they can’t have it I don’t think is a good enough reason for John Q Public to be banned from it.
If you limit an assault rifle clip to say 10-15 rounds…then someone will just ducktape the clips together…release the spent side, flip it, then reload and arm within 3 seconds. Of course the potential for damage is worse if you can do this with two 30rd banana clips.
No matter what, nuts will find a way to do harm. If they see running a stolen dumptruck into a schoolbus as a way to get their point across they will.
I don’t want to sound like a nutso gun guy, I just don’t see where this helps. Bans on products don’t seem to alleviate issues is all. Bobby Jindal banned some bath salts that people bought at convenience stores to get high recently. Thankgod our local police arrested 2 guys for it the other day….
It could also be argued that if you need 30 bullets in a clip for hunting, target practice or home defense, you probably need some target practice. The only reason….ONLY reason to have a clip that big is to do harm to others. If we can't even attempt to deter those who want o do harm, then what? Are we supposed to just pass out guns to everyone so that everyone can shoot back? At what point do we have to recognize that more guns and bullets in more hands just increase the number of potential victims and won't solve the actual problem?
Now, it's clear that the relatively weak gun laws in Arizona are not the only issue at fault here. I'm not a big fan of Gov Brewer, but previous to becoming Governor, she fought very hard to increase the state's mental health funding to find and identify potentially unstable individuals and do whatever we can for them. Due to the budget crisis here in AZ, most of that funding has since been cut. So you have to wonder, would more help being available for the family before this happened have helped? We may never know. But if we can do more in the future to prevent the next unstable kid from shooting up 20 people before it happens, shouldn't we explore the option?
I'm not saying any one option will fix this problem. It won't. But if we resign ourselves to old ways of thinking that preclude us from moving forward and preventing these types of tragedies, than these 6 dead will be just the latest to have died in vain in what is clearly a recurrent problem, based on the fact that there is far too much gun violence in this country, and that we seem to have one of these mass shootings in the news once a year on average.
Just like the prohibition stopped alcohol distribution, gun laws keep guns away from mentally unstable people. I also firmly believe that gun laws only hurt the honest person who will no longer have the option of protection, whereas the criminal will stay a criminal and procure a weapon to inflict harm on a now defenseless person/family.
No matter what the issue is, people and their ingenuity will find a way around roadblocks set in front of them.
I don't believe anyone is proposing an outright ban on handguns. That's often a talking point from the gun lobby and those who legislate in their favor (left & right), the "they're going to take your guns away" slippery slope logic that comes with every attempt to ban stuff like larger clips or automatic weapons. But that's really just inflammatory rhetoric with no real basis in reality.
I understand what you are saying. This is what you said though, "And frankly, if our law enforcement officials only get a standard 10-12 bullet clip, there’s no reason to be selling larger clips to the general public." This implies that there would be a ban on anything larger than a 10-12 bullet clip, and like Smartguy mentioned just above there are ways around small clip sizes. The ingenuity of people with obstacles in front of them was my main point. This in a similar way to how bootleggers found alternative ways around the obstacle that was in front of them. This logic can still apply whether you are talking about a complete ban or a partial ban on something. Any type of limit is still a ban on something.
I was speaking specifically to the fact that the standard clip on the glock 9mm used in this shooting has a 10-12 bullet clip (+1 in the chamber). You'll notice that Smartguy also acknowledged that two 30rd banana clips duct taped in the same way would be twice as devastating. No one's saying we can plan for every contingency. But we need to explore real options for becoming a safer society, and that includes reexamining our gun laws.
Also, I reject the logic that a family with a glock 9mm with a 12rd clip is “defenseless.” A good shot can end a situation with a single bullet. And of you’re not a good shot, perhaps you should consider getting a home alarm system instead.
I always the ingenuity to sneak large amounts of shampoo on an airplane. It's amazing that controlling hair gel on planes is easier to accomplish than gun safety.
I’m also fairly appalled that people on both sides of the aisle are getting this moment so wrong. It seems like most are doing well. But when you have people on the right like Sarah Palin turning this into a “why am I being persecuted” fest, and people on the left like Bernie Sanders fundrasing off of this tragedy, it’s clear that we have a lot of work to do as a nation.
Have you ever heard the quote: “Never let a serious crisis go to waste…it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before.”?
It’s most politicians’ virtual mantra.
-M
Perhaps the problem is that not enough people call them out on it.
Wasn't that Rham Emanuel who said that?
@Gun laws
I have 30rd clips because I enjoy shooting my gun in rapid succession when me and friends go shooting. We go shooting because we don't have the time to go fishing (odd I know). Now I feel that I am pretty accurate but if I'm full of anxiety because of me or my home is in distress….I'd like the option of bullet lassoing whatever is in my house. Be it a zombie or human intruder.
Personal preference, I don't like extended clips on handguns. They feel very unbalanced to me that way with the exception of a PP7. The extended clip actually makes the grip large enough for my hand.
@nightshade
You are right though…the 30rd clip is strictly meant for doing harm to others. It's just very contextually sensitive. Harm to others wishing me harm is fine by me, but harm to others for the sake of just doing it is wrong. It's an impassioned discussion either way you look at it. I don't think banning/limiting something that honest law abiding citizens can possess makes this place any safer.
I want to make it clear that I don't disagree with your right to defend yourself and your family in the least. But I don't believe your personal preference of not wanting to change clips while doing target practice is a legitimate argument against a certain amount of gun control. I like going 75 on the highway, but if I get pulled over there are consequences.
I guess my problem with your logic is this: Just how many people do you (seriously) think are going to break into your house that a 30rd clip would even be necessary? You don't think you could put a stop to one or two (or even three) people with a 12 round clip? You don't think the first shot fired won't be enough to dissuade the average criminal?
@Nightshade
I would think hearing me rack a round in a shotgun or load a round into a chamber of my assault rifle would be enough to dissuade any would be attacker. If the sound doesn't get them then perhaps the fact that they see a 30rd clip hanging underneath the gun will let them know that it is actually loaded and I have an ample amount of opportunity to end their presence. It doesn't matter if it is 1 or 30 people. My family is worth is eccentricity of protection. As is yours.
At your gun control argument in my case…since it is against the law for me shoot people or bring my gun to certain places the gun control we have in effect is working.
Honestly no I don't think 1 or 2 rounds from a 9mm will do what I want. In the worst case scenario I'm going to assume that the person is perhaps on some kind of drug and might not notice a small round. That is why I have an assault rifle, shotgun and a .45 long colt. I only want to have to shoot someone once.
Mass shootings oddly happen in places where people aren't allowed to have weapons. Schools, hospitals, federal buildings. It's a sad thing but these horrible events happen. Very hard to predict and nearly impossible to stop. For instance the guy who flew his single engine into the IRS building in Texas a few months ago.
I would argue that talking about a gun as a form of protection is eccentricity enough, because you're discussing gun control's effect on a last resort type of moment, rather than how we can prevent the violence in the first place. While a I agree you should have that line of defense, we should do much more to make sure that you never, ever need it.
@Nightshade
So would you rather talk down an intruder or rely on them being scared of a house alarm? In all seriousness I'd rather have the means to protect myself in addition to an alarm.
Prevention is a good idea but when you make something inaccessible I don't see how that helps stem any sort of violence. I would never do you or your family harm. I won't break into your house. I had to do background checks in order to obtain my firearms. A criminal will not bother seeking your permission for anything so telling the average person that there is a limit on what they can own or do with what they own will only take you about as far as just feeling good.
Better parenting would perhaps be the key? Perhaps in public schools instead of spending so much time on the P.C. version of history we use that time to teach people how not to become financially ruined by the time they are 19. Some things like that could help.
I've always been wary of any politician who uses the pulpit of education, healthcare or the children as a means of getting something done.
I believe you're taking my comments the wrong way. I said quite plainly that I respect your right to protect your family. I never said you should have to "talk down" an intruder or any other such nonsense. I did say however that 30 bullets for one person is overkill.
If we can prevent the level of violence we saw here this past weekend through preventive measures that would stop people like him from having access to these types of weapons in the future, why the hell wouldn't we? A guy who was clearly mentally disturbed walked into a store and bought a firearm. He then bought an extended clip and bullets. He bought them all legally and then killed 6 people and wounded another 14. Something is horribly, horribly wrong with that.
But basing our discussion of gun control solely on the last line of defense that is your right to arm and protect yourself doesn't solve the problem. It fact it ignores it. With better prevention, that moment you fear and have prepared for is a lot less likely to ever happen.
@Nightshade
To use your intro, quite clearly someone who is hell bent on doing harm to someone else does not care what is illegal and will obtain the means or devise a way to do harm no matter what.
I don't think stricter gun control would have stopped this. Just like the TSA feeling you up won't stop someone from stuffing dynamite in their ass.
Also..who said I would use all 30 bullets? Hopefully it would take just one or 2. If not, then I am glad I have 29 more ready to go. What I’m saying is that I don’t care how many it takes, I want what I feel will give me the best contingency in a horrible situation.
I have thought about this some and I feel that perhaps our points of view differ because you lived in a very crowded area whereas my area was/is more rural. Perhaps it is just the mind set.
I've lived in both rural and urban areas. Fact of the matter is, the 5 states with the fewest gun deaths have the lower guns per persons, all of which are in the teens (including NY at #5), where as the 5 states with the highest number of gun deaths (including Louisiana) have guns per person rates between 30-60%. Gun control works.
… and that's why I drool over the Smith & Wesson 500:
http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/ser…
If your handgun is so big that it needs a shoulder strap, I don't think anybody is going to f**k with you.
-M
That's huge
…that’s what she said.
-M
It’s clear that the status quo is not working. We have too many of these mass shootings. If small changes in gun laws (and others) can cut their occurrences, it will have been worth it.
Have you tried shooting fish?
@Ray
No but I have shot an alligator before.
A friend of mine actually hunts alligators with nothing more than a boat and a stainless steel oar. He gets close to them and then hits them in the head. I've never gone with him while doing this because hunting is not my thing. In fact 99% of the fish I catch I release.
@rpad
my friend just scored cubs-yankees tix at wrigley in June. I can't wait to boo Jeter for the first and last time in person!
I think Q1 2011 gaming will just put me more behind than i already am.
@Ted Williams
you know i don’t keep up with internet sensations as the rest of the public does. I thought when people were talking about Ted Williams i thought they were referring to the baseball player. I was wondering why Ted Williams was trending on twitter and on internet search sites. Yeah i know i’m old.
I am definitely more interested in Q1 games I would say. I am looking forward to Pokemon Black/White, the 3DS, Bulletstorm, Gears of War 3, and Portal 2. All Q1 releases. I can’t even think of anything that I am really looking forward to after those games all come out.
Also, speaking of Pokemon Black/White there is a mall tour coming up for the game with one of the stops being in Indianapolis on the North side (closer to me). I am very tempted to try and make it down for that, I just don't know if I am willing to take the chance at being the only adult there. Of course I could also take my little brother and sister and use them as my shield/disguise for being there. haha.
Yeah, I always feel weird going to Pokemon download events…but it’s SO worth it!
I agree, also since it is at a mall it just makes me think that the place will be crawling with little kids. I think the brother and sister shield is the best idea right now.