[PATV] Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - Extra Credits Season 2, Ep. 17: The Myth of the Gun

Dog

[PATV] Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - Extra Credits Season 2, Ep. 17: The Myth of the Gun

This week, we try to figure out why the U.S. has always produced more First Person Shooters than Japan.

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Arcadius

Contrast the use of the weapon in a movie like The Seven Samurai with Falling Down or The Patriot. In the latter two, the gun is what empowered an everyman to do extraordinary (and troubling) things. In the US, the gun is the great equalizer, where the conflict rests more on the mettle of the man, rather than innate capability.

In Kurosawa, the weapon was not able to empower the peasant farmers. The farmers had armor and weapons but they weren't samurai. The one who aspired to cross over that gap was ultimately unsuccessful. The samurai prevailed because of who they were, not because the crisis drove them to arm themselves.

kingceth

Vanquish was amazing and really pretty. Loads of fun, although the first level is a total bitch. I'm no hater of CoD, but Vanquish is definitely a game I'd rank above it. If Marvel wants the third Iron Man movie's game to be good, they need to look no farther than Vanquish's developers.

Khadivh

Great episode--very interesting contrast between American and Japanese cultural influences. The ending music from MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries was a nice touch.

bass_fest

The FPS is a dying genre imo. They are going to have to add a lot more tigers and sharks to keep it interesting..

moosemaimer

"Now I have a machinegun.

Ho ho ho."