Casinos And Videogames, Together At Last! (The Jimquisition)
Grand Theft Auto Online's Diamond Casino and Resort does away with any ounce of subtlety to bring literal gambling games to GTA.
As loot boxes come under intense scrutiny after years of abuses, Rockstar's timing on this carries quite a lot of nerve. It also brings the whole in-game gambling debacle into sharp focus.
If this is where games are headed next, I'm not sure I could pick any "AAA" game over a visit to an actual, literal, real-life casino. At least they don't take real money in exchange for no real payout.
Casinos And Videogames, Together At Last! (The Jimquisition) (YouTube)
Comments (15)
Gee, I sure am glad Rockstar decided to drop this 3 GB monstrosity onto my Steam account instead of, say, Red Dead Redemption 2...
RDR2 is a microtransaction hellscape and rockstar built that game using extreme abuse of their employees, so you'er not missing out
The bit about real casino experience touches on something that will likely become bigger and bigger issue - AAA gaming experience is quickly degrading the very qualities of gaming that made it so popular to begin with. In other words, the problem is not only that both creators and audience are being openly exploited, but also the fact that this exploitation is not added to what we enjoy and love about gaming experiences, but that it actually replaces those aspects. I had not purchased AAA video game since 2012 - while casino seafood still tastes great.
Hey Jim, someone posted this on your twitter, unfortunately there are game developers out there who are actually stupid enough to support microtransactions and companies making less games as well, i'd love to see you ask this guy a question and take him to task for his pathetic non-answers and corporate bootlicking here:https://askagamedev.tumblr.com/post/167200111597/a-youtuber-named-tarmack-recently-made-a-video
Jim is well aware about askagamedev. The blogger has a history bringing some valid points but ultimately handwaving and dismissing the arguments from game critics like Jim Sterling, Tarmack, and TotalBiscuit. Because of the blogger's anonymity, we do not know if they are in some comfortable position where they want to keep the status quote.<br><br>On a blog post, the blogger details their typical 12 hour work day schedule <b>before</b> crunch. Having to do crunch after 12 hours of work is messed up. (https://askagamedev.tumblr.com/post/143743247667/what-is-a-typical-day-of-work-like-as-a-game)
Just keep being you, Jim. And stay the course hard.
I saw a trailer for this in a movie theater today. They didn't mention the actual gambling at all, it just looked like an expansion pack with a new storyline and stuff. It was at least in front of an R-rated film, so they weren't advertising a real casino to children, as far as I know. But that's still pretty insidious.
<i>"I'm not saying he definitely will, I'm saying he probably has... I mean he probably would. Not has. He hasn-Strauss Zelnick hasn't thrown baby... "</i> - <b>a taste of what Jim Sterling might be like on the BBC's Dateline London (2019)</b> Between Jimquisition and the podcasts you have a hand in, you seem to unearth some pretty rad tunes for your stuff Jim :D It's a good job I'm not you really, because if I was <i>Boston's Favorite Son</i> and <i>Podquisition</i> would probably start with some sort of horrible black metal song by an obscure bunch of log cabin dwellers. Congratulations for having a fine ear for this sort of thing Jim. The thing that I took notice of most all in regards to that trailer of the GTA Casino thing is that several cutscenes seem to feature rich guys behaving childishly. You'd think Rockstar Games might want to tone that down a bit, given some the news that has come out about the leadership and management of that company.
Well, it *is* all they know. ;)
I was able to spend real money and hit the casino in GTA 5, I made an online character just to test it. Gave the rest of the cash to some kids which in retrospect probably got spent on the casino :-(
I don't know about what other people think but for me, the whole 'Crabby, Granny, Drinky, Winky' seems much more fun and enjoyable than most of "AAA" video games in these days.
It's sad that recomending going to a real casino is now a form of harm reduction... Except for the crab...I'm allergic.
Hah I was waiting for this one. Truer words were never spoken! Thank you Jim.
This video made me think of Fallout New Vegas and how if that game had come out in today's marketplace it would've been filled to the brim with microtransactions since it actually has a casino. Now i'm wondering if Nintendo is going to start putting this in Pokemon games since I know they have gambling games in them.
I think the fascinating thing there is, even then they realized how bad it could get and put a limit on winnings per casino.