Game titles that don't suit the game?

humanji

Nevore wrote: »

I always thought Half Life referred to Freeman's life before the incident in Black Mesa.
Ie: He was a tech, a drone, and was only living a Half Life.

See, I thought it could be something like that, but that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. We don't really know anything about his character and the only thing we really hear about it is that he was late to work because of a party the night before, so that would suggest he's not completely devoid of fun. It could be it, but it seemse very weak.

Oh, and another one: Baldur's Gate. You spend so little time there, after all.

o1s1n wrote:

Half-Life is a mathematical and scientific description of exponential or gradual decay.

Wiki said it better than I ever could. I was thinking in relation to the Half-life of nuclear fallout.

See, I don't understand what's decaying. Like, is it the way Earth was, or something? It's a bit vague. But that said, the title of the thread is "Game titles that don't suit the game" and, even though I don't know what it references, it still kind of suits it, I guess.

Glico Man

What about Syphon Filter?? What the hell does that mean?

Retr0gamer

I think Half-Life is a really good name, but then again I've a first class degree in chemistry so I understand it's meaning in relation to the game Blue Shift is another play on scientific terms meaning a wavelenght of energy in the visible spectrum has shifted to a higher energy wavelength, in other words towards the colour blue in the visible spectrum.

o1s1n

humanji wrote: »

See, I don't understand what's decaying. Like, is it the way Earth was, or something? It's a bit vague. But that said, the title of the thread is "Game titles that don't suit the game" and, even though I don't know what it references, it still kind of suits it, I guess.

I know what you mean. I think it may just be a case of - Gordon is a scientist, therefore we need a cool science related term. Nuclear related things are cool. -> Half-life.

Here's another bit from Wiki about the science related titles -

The Greek letter lambda, which features prominently on the game's packaging, represents the related decay constant, as well as the Lambda Complex featured in the game. Opposing Force, while it could be named because the player assumes the role of one of the enemies in the original game, is also a reference to Newton's third law of motion, while Blue Shift refers to the blue shifting of the frequency of radiation caused by the Doppler effect or Special Relativity, in a similar parallel reference to the name of the shift your character takes. In Half-Life: Decay, the title again references the half-life equation with the lambda symbol being the decay constant. It has also been speculated that the Lambda symbol was chosen as it somewhat resembles a very simple picture of an arm holding a crowbar, the first weapon acquired by Gordon Freeman, and a weapon the Half Life series is famous for.

As for the thread title, I always found 'Magical Flying Turbo Hat Adventure' for the Megadrive to be a great name.

Xluna

Guilty Gear-no guilt nor gear.

youcancallmeal

Melty Blood

I don't know why but I actually love the name of this game

Fnz

Every Extend Extra - is a little odd.

cableguy.ie wrote: »

Jet Set Willy.

Jet Set Radio.


Also, Bioshock is a perfectly cromulent title. Humans be all kinds of messed up, in that universe.

sink

humanji wrote: »

See, I don't understand what's decaying. Like, is it the way Earth was, or something? It's a bit vague. But that said, the title of the thread is "Game titles that don't suit the game" and, even though I don't know what it references, it still kind of suits it, I guess.

In simple terms half-life is the length of time a radioactive substance takes to loose half it's current radioactivity (decay).

It will take the same amount of time to decay the first half as the next quarter.

So..

1 half-life = 1/2 or 50% decay
2 half-lives = 1/2 + 1/4 or 75% decay
3 half-lives = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 or 87.5% decay
4 half-lives = 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/16 or 93.75% decay

and so forth in a continuing exponential function.

So a substance with a half-life of 100 years will loose half it's radioactivity in 100 years, 75% of it's radioactivity in 200 years, 87.5% of it's radioactivity in 300 years and 93.75% of it's radioactivity in 400 years.

Coriolanus

Yeah, but what does that have to do with the game?

Retr0gamer

Half-Life doesn't have to be just about radioactivity though.

What it has to do with the game is that it has a double meaning. The scientific one tying in with the research centre the game takes place in and a symbolic meaning. It also ties in with Lambda being the radioactive decay constant and the symbol for lambda core.

sink

Nevore wrote: »

Yeah, but what does that have to do with the game?

Gordon Freeman is a Theoretical Physicist who job is to study the effects of radioactive substances in an effort to open extra dimensional portals. The game is littered with references to real world physics.

Coriolanus

Fair enough.

Eamo87

Shenmue

corcaigh07

Eamo87 wrote: »

Tetris is the first that comes to mind. Like what is a Tetris?

in terms of the game itself,a tetris is 4 cleared lines, isnt it?

also, whats wrong with Jet Set Radio, the DJ shouted Jet Set Radio in every cut-scene announcing the Radio station called...................Jet Set Radio.

staying on sega, why is Shenmue named after a meaningless tree?

Retr0gamer

We'll find out in the final game!

Oh wait.....

Eamo87

corcaigh07 wrote: »

in terms of the game itself,a tetris is 4 cleared lines, isnt it?

Someone else said that to me before now that I think of it. Well thats my curiousity satisfied. Cheers.

Fnz

corcaigh07 wrote: »

whats wrong with Jet Set Radio, the DJ shouted Jet Set Radio in every cut-scene announcing the Radio station called...................Jet Set Radio.

It doesn't really tell you much about the game. "Jet Set Radio" could be anything from an air traffic control puzzle game to a rhythm-action, jelly simulator!

L31mr0d

corcaigh07 wrote: »

in terms of the game itself,a tetris is 4 cleared lines, isnt it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alw5hs0chj0

Star Lord

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Eh, beat it and find out. My problem is that there's only one monkey on the island, a three headed one at that.

I beat all of the Monkey Island games. I still don't know the secret. Ron Gilbert still won't reveal what he intended the secret to be at the end of the third game.

You're forgetting the monkey that you feed bananas to, and there were also the ones that escaped the island as the crew of the Sea Monkey, that took it back to Melee Island.

corcaigh07

Fnz wrote: »

It doesn't really tell you much about the game. "Jet Set Radio" could be anything from an air traffic control puzzle game to a rhythm-action, jelly simulator!

but how many games have a title that gives you an idea of the game, hardly gonna called it cel-shaded ASBO Radio! Jet set radio is the radio station in the game and it makes more sense than a lot of game titles.

does bioshock or shenmue tell you much about the game? If you never played tetris before, what the hell is tetris?

cableguy.ie

Beyond Good and Evil great game crap name

NunianVonFuch

Far Cry. Sure it's the Cryengine and it lets you see... far. But it makes no sense ingame which is probably why Far Cry 2 has nowt to do with 1 aside from the licence nonsense that is.

Killzone 2. Such a generic name. Even "Shooting-things 2: The Shootening" is better.

MDK. The sequel and browsing through forums the web etc. revealed that it's supposed to stand for either "Murder. Death. Kill." or "Max. Doc. Kurt" (the 3 characters in MDK 2) but this is never mentioned ingame at all.

Retr0gamer

I thought everyone knew what MDK stood for?

NunianVonFuch

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I thought everyone knew what MDK stood for?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDK_%28video_game%29 Wiki says: In an interview with David Perry in the RetroGamer magazine released in UK, David revealed that the original meaning of "MDK" was in fact "Murder Death Kill". This can be confirmed by viewing the game's concept video where the game's logo is written with those words on top of each other with the letters "MDK" enlarged. But because the toy company that were supposed to make toys based on the game didn't like to have those words printed on the toys, the words were removed and replaced with only "MDK". The meaning of "MDK" has since then become a subject of debate.

So yeah just cos he told YOU in a special interview!

Retr0gamer

:P I read it in PC Gamer in a preview years ago.

ProjectColossus

I always thought it stood for "Mmm, damp knickers" Stupid PCZone preview.

Gummy Panda

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Ninja Gaiden.

Gaiden is a non-canon sidestory.

So ninja gaiden is a side story of what exactly?

Gaiden can also mean tale. Ninja Gaiden = Ninja's Tale

LinHaX

My favourite is Guild Wars. Does anyone play PvP or GvG? In my opinion it`s all about grinding/farming, so the right title should be Farmer Wars or similar ^^

Drakar

Modern Warfare doesnt seem to include the sections on waterboarding or manufacturing evidence / lying to the UN.

Retr0gamer

Tech Romancer on the Dreamcast. I mean it sounds like a dodgy fetish porn film not a 3D fighting game.