Friday 7 November 2014

Hatred the video game. Has the line been crossed?


I came across this little gem of a story about the new video game in production known simply as ‘Hatred’.

Recently a trailer was released for this new game due out in quarter 2, 2015. The video is brutal to say the least, and as for the subject matter, I really don’t know what to say.   

If you haven’t seen anything about Hatred the trailer is below. Just a quick warning that it is quite graphic and could be seen as disturbing.


HATRED Gameplay Trailer.

I am pretty laid back when it comes to violence in videogames. I have spent numerous in game hours covered in alien brain matter, and beating zombies back to death with their own mutilated arm. I don’t think anything of my in game actions. It does not affect me in any way. I am ridding the game world of an evil in order to complete an objective or goal. I am a good guy, a hero.

I think this is what bothers me the most about Hatred. My character is not a hero, he has no purpose other than destroying the lives of innocent people and this I feel is quite disturbing.

Games like the Grand Theft Auto series have been continually chastised by main stream media due to the violence that is portrayed in the games. The series puts you into an open world full of innocent people. You can rampage your way through the world shooting everyone in sight, mow people down in your car, or if you’re in a fighting mood you can just beat people up for the fun of it.

So what makes Grand Theft Auto different from Hatred? I guess it comes down to moral choices. You can do all the things above in GTA, but that’s not what it’s about. Hatred is all about killing innocent people, nothing else.      

Having said that, Hatred is a game that has to be made. It will never be a big AAA release. Just like previously released games like Postal it will fall into obscurity and slowly fade away into the deepest darkest corners of the internet.

Will it ever be released in Australia? I highly doubt it. The Australian Classification Board are quite strict when it comes to subject matter in games. The invisible line of what is and is not acceptable in gaming may have been crossed with Hatred and I think I can safely say that we will never see this as a retail release in Australia.

Cheers,


Thorncliff

Wednesday 8 October 2014

What's Gamer Dad - Thorncliff all about...

So you’ve read the first couple of posts and you’re still pretty confused about what this Gamer Dad - Thorncliff thing is all about.

Well now’s the time you’ve been waiting for…

Gamer Dad - Thorncliff is a blog about my love for video games. It will also be my platform to share my knowledge and passion with other like-minded people.

I have now grown up. Well, not really… Let’s just say I’m now working full-time, have a wife, and a beautiful little 3 year old daughter Abigail. Has this changed my gaming habits? Of course it has. This, in part, is why I am here. I’d like to use this as a platform to engage other gamer parents like myself.

I have an extensive knowledge of gaming consoles, games and genres, but being a gamer parent is a relatively new venture. As my daughter grows up, I find myself thinking more and more about what games she will be able to play, and also what games I play whilst she is present.

The mission of Gamer Dad - Thorncliff is to help parents struggling with issues such as what console would be best to purchase for their kids, or whether a game is suitable for them to play. My aim is to provide an honest and open opinion based on me being both a passionate gamer and a parent. This blog will be used to convey my thoughts and feelings on numerous subjects in the gaming world, drawing upon my experiences as a long-term gamer and, more recently, a gamer dad.



Why is this important? Well for starters the average gamer in Australia is 32 years old. Many of the games I grew up playing were never what I would consider to be overly graphic or with strong adult themes. The Australian Classifications board has done a great job of classifying games into suitable categories, but I feel that they are still not fully understood by many people. These classifications are taken with a grain of salt by many and games get put into the hands of kids without the full knowledge of what the game actually portrays. For a more in depth breakdown of gaming classifications in Australia, you can visit the Australian Classification Board here or check out the chart below from DigitallyDownloaded.net.

Now, I’m not here to tell you what you should and shouldn’t allow your kids to play, but rather aim more to give you an honest review of particular games: their themes, subject matter, and content. I love killing zombies, shooting my way through a foreign city, and ripping the head off a mythical beast as much as the next person. In saying that, I do not play these games in front of my daughter. Most of the content in the games I play is aimed at mature audiences and really isn’t appropriate for my 3 year old to be watching, so I save these games for when she is in bed or out of the house.

Peer pressure from the kids to buy them the latest blockbuster game, just because all their mates have it, can be a nightmare. I’m just here to help you make a decision on whether you should give in or not.

Cheers,
Thorncliff

Why am I here...

So here at Gamer Dad - Thorncliff, my topic of choice is video games! This decision is the result of video games being a massive passion of mine. This passion started many years ago with my trusty old Nintendo Gameboy. Surely you remember the one: the grey brick with the 8-bit screen, directional pad and two action buttons, A and B? It came with Tetris. and I can remember spending hours on end playing it, trying to beat my previous score. I also had Super Mario Land; it was playing Super Mario Land that I first became connected to a character. Mario had a goal. Rescue the princess. It wasn’t like games today with unlimited respawns: when you died in-game back then, you died, and had to start all over again.


The first computer my parents got was an Amiga 500. It had some epic games that even to this day are getting rebooted. SimCity, Road Rash, Prince of Persia and Rick Dangerous made me fall in love with video games even more. My favourite game of all was called Cabal. You played as a commando fighting your way through military bases. One of the best parts was that it was my first taste of co-op gameplay. More hours than I can remember were spent playing this game with my brother and school friends.

Then came our first PC. It had a 2GB hard drive that the salesman assured us we’d never fill. Yeah, right. With the PC came a whole new level of gaming, in the form of the firstperson shooter (FPS), and in particular Doom and Quake. Stuck on Mars or jumping through a portal into another dimension became what I wanted to do with all my free time.

The first console I bought was the original Xbox, followed by an Xbox 360. The worlds of Halo and Fable made me fall in love with gaming even more. Beautiful and strange new worlds were brought to life in front of my very eyes, ready to explore and conquer.  

I made the switch a few years ago to Playstation and haven’t looked back. I now own all of their consoles - PS One to PS4 - and a PS Vita. I’ll probably start an argument here but in my opinion the controller feels better than the Xbox 360 controller, and the operating system on Playstation is very easy to use.

I like having both Sony and Microsoft consoles as enjoy both brands exclusive titles. I would cry if I couldn’t play a new Halo or Gears of War game on the Xbox, or an Uncharted or God of War on Playstation.



I also own a pretty good PC that I also play games on but this is not my preferred medium.


I am now more excited than ever before to see what the gaming world has in store for the future. I am an admin on a Facebook page called Aussie Gamers Express and co-host a weekly podcast of the same name, with a friend of mine LewkOne who I went to high school with.

Being passionate about the subject of video games makes it so hard to limit what I have to say but check back soon for more.

Cheers,
Thorncliff

Saturday 27 September 2014

My avatar...


I have chosen the above picture as my avatar as it represents my blog perfectly.

The photograph shows my daughter Abigail taking over the iPad, then proceeding to lie on top of me, mocking me with the horrendous sounds of Peppa Pig and Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom.  

I love that she is growing up in a time with all of this technology readily available to her. It is not a bad thing that at 3 years old she knows how to operate the iPad. Alphabet and counting apps have helped her academically grow, and made learning fun.

Technology is fun and all parents should encourage their children to learn how to safely use it.

Thorncliff

Tuesday 23 September 2014

A bit about me...



Well hello there,

I'm Thorncliff (Sean in reality) - welcome to Gamer Dad - Thorncliff! It is always really hard to describe one’s self to the masses but here we go.

I am a father of a beautiful little girl, am married, work full time, study at university full time, and am a massive fan of gaming, movies, rock music and pop culture.

I love all things gaming related. I own a few consoles, my favourites of which are my PS3 and PS4.

Hopefully my gaming advice and experiences shared here will help others out.

Cheers,
Thorncliff