This is a little old now, but in the aftermath of Alec discovering the joys of Zombie Shooter I thought it worth mentioning that a sequel will be coming out this year. In the proverbial no-brainer, it’s called Zombie Shooter 2 and has a 50Mb hyper-short Smash-TV-esque arena-blaster teaser. The full game should be out this year – “soon”, they said in July – and includes improved graphics, more zombies, vehicles and over fifty-kinds of weapons or accessories. Including a splendid chainsaw. As all chainsaws are splendid. Footage of the tech demo follows…
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@Vinraith: I don’t know whether it’s just a rumour or not. But I recall reading somewhere that the reason with the “lobotomization” was because people wanted to be able to use ALL the weapons as opposed to being forced to specialize.
@Xocrates
Doesn’t that pretty much destroy any reason to replay the game?
@Vinraith: Perhaps. But given the nature of the game and its origins, I really don’t blame the old players if they just wanted to blow up aliens in whichever way they wanted as opposed to having to choose.
Oh, and in the meantime I found out where I saw that “rumour”. It’s implied in the Steam store page.
idmmao: Outside of Tim Stone articles, do you think anyone is referring to a military razing when they use it?
They’re not. That’s all I’ve ever talked about.
KG
@idmmao and Howard
Frankly, you guys are right, obviously the word has multiple meanings and it’s clear how it’s meant here. However, it’s equally clear that this is a sore spot for our gracious hosts. I’ve no interest in prying into why that is, and out of respect for the fact that this is their house why don’t we all just let it go?
@idmmao & Vinraith
I said from the start, though in fewer words, that it is the prerogative of whomsoever owns the forum which I wish to patronize to limit those issues that are available for discourse and to decree what is and what is not acceptable. I hope that Mr Gillen at least has the decency to appreciate that.
Unfortunately telling me I am wrong when anyone with a solid grasp of English or five minutes spare to peruse Google knows I am not is a different matter. I don’t know what more to say beyond, yet again, most likely pointlessly, reiterating the fact that I did not intend to cause an argument. I merely thought that perhaps Mr Gillen had not run across the perfectly work-a-day usage of the word “rape” that was in fact used in the post that all started this. No offence was intended but in the process of this “discussion” much offence was offered in response.
To answer your last question, Mr Gillen, though it was not directed at me, “military razing” is in fact the lesser used version of that word or term. Razing is a perfectly normal, everyday term used both in the construction industry and, certainly in the USA and the UK, by news reporters to describe the utter destruction of a given thing. If you had argued that you do not like that usage and that you do not wish it to be used on your site, then that would be a very different thing. But you did not.
Man, all this linguistic bickering about off-topic tangents…has this comment thread been overrun by shambling zombie horde of Usenet? Let’s make the discussion topical! Go: I’ve always thought that zombie games don’t include enough necrophillia. Discuss.
Do you mean consensual necrophilia or non consensual necrophilia? :P
@ Kieron: The non-sexual usage means much more than just military razing, the military does not need to be involved and razing does not need to occur. The definition is clear enough. It’s often used by environmentalists to describe what’s being done to forests or the environment in general.
Here’s a good one of the United Nations using it in that sense, in the title even:
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/about-unodc/costas-corner/raping-the-planet.html
Here it is in a DIGG headline:
http://digg.com/politics/Rahm_Emanuel_s_Profitable_Raping_ofFreddie_Mac
It was apparently used in this way in the book/movie Jurassic Park, how’s that for current and popular:
http://sfy.ru/sfy.html?script=jurassic_park
Here it is in the headline of well known science magazine “New Scientist”
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12346-renewable-energy-could-rape-nature.html
I had considerably more links, but
I will happily go on if you’d like, just let me know how many movies, publications, and dictionaries it has to be in before you believe there is another definition still in active use today.
@ Kieron: The non-sexual usage means much more than just military razing, the military does not need to be involved and razing does not need to occur. The definition is clear enough. It’s often used by environmentalists to describe what’s being done to forests or the environment in general.
Here’s a good one of the United Nations using it in that sense, in the title even:
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/about-unodc/costas-corner/raping-the-planet.html
Here it is in a DIGG headline:
http://digg.com/politics/Rahm_Emanuel_s_Profitable_Raping_ofFreddie_Mac
It was apparently used in this way in the book/movie Jurassic Park, how’s that for current and popular:
http://sfy.ru/sfy.html?script=jurassic_park
Here it is in the headline of well known science magazine “New Scientist”
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12346-renewable-energy-could-rape-nature.html
I had considerably more links, but the spam filter wouldn’t let me make this post with them still in.
I will happily go on if you’d like, just let me know how many movies, publications, and dictionaries it has to be in before you believe there is another definition still in active use today.
I work in child care, minding children after school whose parents or guardians work long hours and therefore can’t pick up their children immediately after the bell rings at 3pm.
One afternoon I heard a group of boys chasing after another boy, with pretend guns and pretend handcuffs and other pretend enforcement equipment. A familiar game – in my day it was called “cops and robbers”.
These ten-year-old cops weren’t chasing a robber, though. They were chasing a rapist. They screamed the word repeatedly.
It’s very sad to me that a word that carries the definition of the most horrendous act of physical violence one human can perform upon another human could ever be an acceptable word to describe a game developer modifying their own game. But what do I know? I never chased a pretend rapist.
For the record I’m not against linguistic shift, but some words have a weight that I personally agree is out of place in this environment.
Now I’d like a receipt for my 2c please.
@JuJuCam
Unfortunately your post simply serves to highlight the real issue here. You state that rape is “the most horrendous act of physical violence one human can perform upon another human” therefore imbuing it with a vast well of emotion. I would suggest that while rape is a truly vile, destructive and unforgivable act, it is far from the worst thing we can do to each other. *Far* from it.
That however, is still irrelevant. People opinions are of words have no weight or meaning and their ignorance of a language does not mean that the language cannot be used. We are not arguing something abstract or vague here. This is not the same as when people argue that “nigger” is an acceptable word as it derives from a German word meaning “outsider” or that “fuck” is acceptable because it derives from a Middle-English word meaning “sex” (and both of those arguments are clearly horse-shit). “Rape” is, as has been pointed out at pretty tedious length in this thread, a perfectly valid word that is often used in its original meaning to this very day. The fact that people do not understand or accept that is neither here nor there.
God help you ever meet a rape victim.
God help you if you think the original post meant anything other than rape.
God help you if the mass of fanboy use of the word is meant in the military sense rather than the sexual violation sense.
KG
And you believe I haven’t because….? Oh that’s right, you’re assuming for some reason. Glad to see we can keep this professional and courteous, Kieron…
ITT: trolling
I’ve edited my post to put more in, Howard.
You haven’t. Or if you have, you’re showing an impressive lack of consideration if you march around comparing any time a series goes a bit shit to rape in front of them.
You have decided your meaningless use of a word – when there’s dozens of other ones for ruining and destroying – overules someone else’s totally understandable touchiness around it. It’s very easy to be blase about rape when you’re male, Howard. Thinking that your ability to use a word overules anything else is classic male privilege.
I like the few women posters we have. I don’t like anything which helps create the poisonous male-centric quietly-misogynistic atmosphere which chokes most games forums. Rampant use of the word rape is symptomatic to all that.
You think the most important thing here is a word. I think the most important thing is rape. You are acting with incredible pedantry and insensitivity.
We follow your route, RPS descends into the backbiting sexist hole of most other reasonably large sites. We follow mine… well, we don’t go there as quickly.
Consideration isn’t a bad thing.
And also, God damn you for making me actually have to write all this out when it should be fucking obvious.
KG
Seriously… Kieron beat me to it, but dear god, some of you just don’t know when to shut up and let things rest, do you? He made it very clear that it was a touchy issue and told you to knock it off. Anyone acting like a mature adult would have just accepted this and backed down.
What do we get? A massive derail filled with paranoid cries of censorship and endless nitpicking fuckwittery in what should have been a nice discussion about a dumb game in which you shoot many zombies.
Really, easy rule of thumb here: If the moderator on a site tells you to specifically stop something, you either stop, or fuck off elsewhere to cry about it. You do not carry on like a five-year-old with an entitlement complex!
Gah… I know this post will be deleted, but I just had to say that.
…
So, those zombies, eh?
I’m pretty sure it’s more the pointless bickering that drives away that demographic, rather than them being made of precious little flowers who must be protected from bad words. The idea that you have to be careful not to scare away the timid womenfolk is, itself, massively misogynistic.
@KG
I didn’t edit because I cannot.
I am done with this. I said, right from my first post that what you say goes. You d’man, KG; this be your site. You say we’re not using that word then fine: we’re damned well not using that word!
You have however *never said that*!
You have simply continually tried to belittle both me and my opinion by stating over and over that the word in question does not have the meaning that it blatantly, categorically, undeniably does! The fact you cannot see that simply beggars belief.
Of course I am aware why that word is sensitive and of course I am aware that doing anything to deter such an important though still blossoming section of our community should be avoided at all costs: kindly do not consider me ignorant. Your continued attempts to force your view onto me in this thread have unfortunately been reduced to simple insults hurled in my direction though and I do not appreciate that.
How dare you talk as if I have no empathy for rape victims? How dare you talk to me as if I have no experience that could possibly relate to this situation? I have tried my best to be pleasant and informative here but clearly you have issue with me, not with what I am saying.
Huh.
Is it better than Halo?
“you have issue with me, not with what I am saying.”
No, he has issue with what you are saying. And rightly so.
@LionsPhil: It’d be chauvinistic if the rationale was “Think of the womenfolk’s tender ears! We mustn’t hurt them with such strong, rude language!”
This isn’t a matter of women being more sensitive to the issue because they’re the weaker, fairer sex. This is about women being more sensitive to the issue because they’re the ones it happens to.
On the list of terrible things men have to worry about, “being raped” is rather extremely low. It’s not a worry! It’s not a fear! So we aren’t sensitive to the term. We use it casually and humorously, because it’s not something we need to be serious about. It’s something that happens to other people. It’s “not really a big deal.”
. . .
Except that is is a big deal and it happens all the damn time and guess what? There are people for whom it is a worry, and a fear and an issue. And if you keep using the term casually, and treating it like it’s not a big deal, it’s going to piss them off and they’re going to leave.
It’s not about protecting “precious little flowers.” It’s about not being a twat to people who are honestly and RATIONALLY scared of having something absolutely fucking terrible happen to them. Or who have had it happen to them, and would be entirely within their rights to get really pissed off at you trivializing what they went through.
So if you don’t want those people to say “fuck this” and avoid you because they know you’re just going to be a dick to them, you need to, you know, not be a dick to them.
I’ve gotta say, for a conversation about a game that consists of shooting zombies in the face this is a bit off topic, dontcha think? Could you continue your various rants elsewhere?
However, on the subject of the game, shooting vast numbers of zombies with vastly overpowered weapons sounds like my kind of game! Bring on the zombie shooterfulness!
It’s also just a question of taste. There’s a place for rape references casually dropped into conversation, but it’s not really here.
I thought this also wasn’t really the place of querulous pedants and absolutely exhausting whingers, but someone had to go and spoil the fun.
Wait, i get deleted after some of the other shit that is left? Okay, i’ll say it another way.
Rapist don’t only target women, acting like this is a gender issue is in itself insensitive.
@Heliocentric: Acting like rape isn’t a gender issue is being willfully ignorant.
To wit: suppose I am walking along dark streets in a bad part of the city at night. Things I have to worry about: being mugged, being robbed, being beaten up.
Suppose I am a lady, and am walking along dark streets in a bad part of the city at night. Things I have to worry about: being raped, being mugged, being robbed.
Notice how these lists are different.
LionsPhil: What Noc says, basically, minus the swearing. The “anti-misogynists are the real misogynists” card is, as ever, a nasty one to play. This is about atmosphere and really basic feminism.
I think the thread has ran its course here, so suggest people back off. We’re not here to talk about the nature of non-consensual sex. The position has been made clear. If people want to talk more, do take it to e-mail or elsewhere. Or alternatively, google around a few sites and read some essays.
KG
So, we’re over that horrible trainwreck of an argument? Good. So, on the subject of ZS2, I hope they do stick to the minimalist pure shooty style of AS2 Reloaded.
The story behind reloaded is pretty messy – I gather that their publisher had basically run off with the game and were largely doing whatever they wanted with it. Sigma team eventually came out with a V1.5 version – Reloaded – and got valve to pull the previous publishers version from steam. Nicely replacing the earlier build, too.
And honestly, if you can seriously look at 5000+ alien monsters, and say that you’d honestly rather be playing inventory-tetris when you COULD be shooting them with a semi-automatic mininuke launcher, you need your head examined. By zombies.
Everyone who likes these games needs to go play alien swarm (ut2004 mod) and then tell me these “x shooter” games are not crap. Because at the moment i can’t see it.
Bweh?
What on earth are you talking about? Alien swarm is practically in another genre – Swarm is a tactical team-based shooter with an emphasis on online play. Alien Shooter is a game where you singlehandedly take on upwards of TEN THOUSAND enemies in a single level. You’re effectively comparing Serious Sam to Rainbow Six here.
Since everyone seems to be getting their “Okay, this is my last post on the matter” posts in, it’s only fair for me to get mine.
Ultimately, a lot of people here were having an argument with nobody on the other side. NOBODY in this thread was saying it’s okay to use the word as much as you want, or disagreeing that it shouldn’t be used on this site. I personally never defended nor do I have any interest in defending the Karry’s original post that brought this all up- I suspect he was using the definition most everyone thinks he was, though from a strictly grammatical standpoint it’s ambiguous. I never disagreed with nor do I have any interest in disagreeing with a decision not to use the word on this site. All my point was that there was at least one person who was actually saying the dictionary was wrong, and that that is a ridiculous position to take, and no amount of implying I’m an insensitive, chauvinist moron will change the fact that the dictionary defines a word, not your own personal beliefs about it.
I personally would never use the word in company where I wasn’t certain everyone else would be aware of the second definition for exactly this reason, and let’s be honest, the average gamer, the average ANYONE has a small fraction of that kind of vocabulary, as I believe we have illustrated over the last few days.
@Dom fair point, what about shadowgrounds. I find their less is more more enjoyable.
@Heliocentric
I agree. As much as I did enjoy AS2:Reloaded, Shadowgrounds, and to a greater extent Shadowgrounds Survivor, came off as a much more enjoyable and polished game. I’m always in the market for smaller indie titles such as those, as while they may not last 30 hours, the 10 hours you do get out of them are thoroughly enjoyable.
Wow. This thread proves there’s a need for a place to redirect these discussions to. For example, like metafilter has a seperate site where people can discuss such tangents. Maybe RPS should reserve a part of the forums for that, so that the rest of us can chat about shooting zombies in peace.
Just thought I’d mention it but Zombie Shooter 2 was completed and released recently(the news post on sigma’s website dates the release as September 23rd)