Well here is part 2 of my torture porn piece i hope you enjoy it.

Last time i talked about the basics of the torture porn genre and why i thought that it doesn’t exist i also gave a bit of evidence on how it all started etc and finally i even touched on the video nasty genre of the 70’s and 80’s and now it’s time to finish things off.

As said before during the 70’s and 80’s the video nasties were giving critics bad nightmares because they hadn’t seen any kind of movie like this so what the hell does the video nasty era have to do with the torture porn genre now well the video nasty was another genre made up by critics because they hadn’t a clue where to put these films because of there extreme nature and it’s just like the torture porn genre now, when something new happens in films this scares critics and they haven’t a clue what to do with them so like sheep as soon as they hear one critic calling it something they also adopt that genre and put ever movie like it into that pigeon hole instead of looking at it the way it should be.

By the 90’s the video nasty had left us and the genre died down because more and more people had heard of it and on the face of things these films weren’t as bad as they were set out to be.
The only other reason why it scared a lot of people was the introduction of the VCR but again by the 90’s a lot more people had a VCR so it was more easier for people to make there own minds up on these films instead of taking word from only a hand full of people.

If you looked at the start of the 21st century we had started with a new era of technology the DVD player that gave even more freedom for people to make there mind up about these films.
Now fast forward just a little to Halloween of 2004 and this is when the critics gave birth to the so called torture porn genre thanks to a little movie called SAW.
It was a very long time before saw that the critics had seen a movie of this nature and again like the video nasty of the 70’s and 80’s this scared them because they didn’t know where to fit it hence the made up genre of torture porn.

In the space of the next 4 years from the launch of the first saw films we would have three more sequels and a burst of movies along the same line with the hostel movies and the remake of the Texas chainsaw massacre being the stand out movies but like the saw films these were thrown straight into the torture porn category and weren’t given that much of a chance by anybody who had never heard of these films.
If you look around now it so much easier for people to make there minds up about these movies thanks to a few things that include DVD, a big boom in cinema and the Internet and it’s the last place were the minds are made up more easier as there are a lot of websites that can help people make up there minds including the fantastic Bloody-Disgusting.com.

So if these movies are not torture pron what are they well they can easily be put into the thriller/horror section but if you want a more easier place that these movies belong to well i think that most horror/thriller fans would be happy for these movies to be called EXTREME movies and at least then it would ditch the horrible notion that these were porn of any kind of nature and then it would give them a little bit more of respect.

Well that’s it for my torture pron piece i hope you enjoyed reading it and if you have any comments feel free to leave them and tell me what you thought.

Now i did a feature over at the movie end of Vagusnet but i decided to close down the movie blog and include movie stuff here.

The feature in question was on torture porn and i want more people to read it so i will be posting up both parts of it just to see what everybody else thinks about this subject.

Now to start things off i just want to say that there might be some stuff in this feature that will not be appropriate to children as there might be some swearing and graphic detail.

I’ve gotten the warning out of the way and now down to what the hell this post is about and it’s basically about the movie industry trying to put some movies in a topic that i think does not exists and it only gives a more bad look on the films that are forced into this category.

To most critics the torture pron genre came about when a small company called twisted pictures came up with the idea about a serial who puts his victims through a challenge that will in the end give them some kind of soul back and this film was Saw.
As you can probably think the critics hadn’t a clue what to think about this movie as there hadn’t been a movie of it’s kind with such straight forward nastiness that it made them a bit uncomfortable, well i say they were completely wrong as in my eyes Saw wasn’t the start of the supposed torture porn genre and that the critics only want the public to hate this genre even more by latching something as evil as porn on the end of it.

If you cast your mind back to the 1920’s there was a movie released called freaks that centred on a leader of a carnival that tortured people for being different, now if you read that sentence that I’ve just written there you will notice the word torture and as you can see this film came out in the 1920’s not 2004 when Saw showed it’s face.

Fast forward a little and you’ll come up to the video nasty era of the 70’s and 80’s when movies like last house on the left, Evil Dead, i spit on your grave and many more, these films really boiled the blood of the BBFC, the critics and even the public because these showed stuff that people didn’t even expect to see in a movie, countless people were tortured, mutilated and killed in many different ways.
These films really pushed the boundaries of what films should be because people just thought that movies were there for big explosions and stupid little talking cartoon animals but they were so wrong and that the movie industry had a darker side to it that needed to be shown.

Well that’s it for now in the next part of this feature that will be up the same time next week i will dig more deeper into the torture porn genre and tell you more of why i really think that the critics are so wrong about calling it that

Just in case you don’t know about this site head on over to the lolocaust as it’s one of the best sites out there on the Internet and it has a fantastic forum.

the site can be found here and don’t forget to tell everybody about it.

This monday i will be launching our first competiton and while the prize is’nt a huge one (a DS game) you never know in the future i might be able to get some bettre prizes.

So check back this monday for the details

Now this is’nt a news story of sorts just the fact that i want to point out that i’m in a small gaming clan on the xbox 360 and that we do look for people to play against if you are up for it.

The clans name is SSC (Scottish Sniper Clan) and we mostly play on Call of Duty 4.

So if you are interested in a few games just send me a friends request ( xbox live user name is V Dark Shot V) and i’ll see if the other chaps are interested.

As promised here are the first Vagusnet gaming awards, this year has been one of the best for gaming showing what each console can bring to the floor to make it stand out, yes the poor PS3 hasn’t had a great year but it has to start somewhere and we know that Sony will not quit with there machine.
The biggest surprise of the year has to be the success of Wii, nobody could of predicted that it would people just laughed at it now Nintendo are laughing back them.
The Xbox 360 also a great year showing off what the console can do with a string of fantastic games.

So without further ado here are my winners for the best games of the year.

Xbox 360 Game of the Year
Now this was a hard choice as there were alot of fantastic games out for the 360 including Halo 3, Bioshock, Call of Duty 4 etc but for me there could only be one winner and that is……….. Call of duty 4.
For me Call of Duty 4 had everything and that the multi player mode in my eyes is the best I’ve played on the 360.

Wii Game of the Year
Like with the 360 category this was another hard one as the Wii had a brilliant year with the likes of Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime Corruption, Resident Evil 4 and many more released on the little white console, however there was one game that stood head above the rest and that was…….. Super Mario Galaxy.
I guess there is no surprise there however it was the best game out on the Wii this year and it was a welcome return to form for the little plumber.

PS3 Game of the Year
Unlike with the other two categories this was a bit more easier as the PS3 didn’t have the great year than it thought so there was only one title in the running for this in my eyes and that is……. Uncharted Drakes Fortune.
Finally a game came out this year that showed what the PS3 can do and it could only mean good things if they can follow the template of this game.

DS Game of the Year
The DS came on even more leaps and bounds this year kicking the PSP butt again and again, the little handheld showed Sony how to do a portable gaming system and it broke record after record.
The game that stands out for me however on the DS this year is…… Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass.
Links first outing on the DS was a huge game and it pushed the DS to its limits with some of the best portable gaming that has ever been made.

PSP Game of the Year
Now this is a hard one for me as I’m not a fan of the PSP but there has to be a winner in each of the categories and i have decided to go with…….. Silent Hill Origins.
The game did come out to near the end of the year but i was a big fan of the Silent Hill series and this showed that survival horror can be done on a handheld console, the best thing however was that this wasnt a remake but a whole new story.

Overall Game of the Year
this is the last category, now i know that you are thinking that he didn’t do very many but i did want to go down that same route as ever single videogame award i just wanted to point out the best one each one of the systems.
So now down to business with the overall game of the year and for me this was easy as one game was the biggest shining light at the end of the gaming tunnel and that was……… Super Mario Galaxy.
Now I’m a huge Nintendo fan and i was waiting for this game for ages and to my joy this was every bit that game i was waiting for. Nintendo crafted out a game from pure gaming gold and gave another spin on the Mario formula showing the other companies on how to make and adventure game.

That’s it those are my picks for the game of the year and next year should be even more interesting as each one of the consoles should of found there feet, with the PS3 clawing back at the other two, The 360 having it’s third birthday and onto more impressive game and the Wii pushing even more boundaries with it’s unique selling points.

I will have update soon it’s just that i’ve been really busy sorting things out and concerntrating on projects but i do promise there will be a post of some sort in the next few days.

I’m also thinking about starting something special but i’ll not say anything at the moment just incase i decide not to do it.

As you can see there has’nt been much in the way of activity on here over the last few weeks well i hope to change this soons as i’ve not long finsihed the forum and i have been very busy but i am hoping to get back to posting at least one news story on here everyday very soon.

Well not much has been happening at Vagusnet over the last few weeks but i want to change all of that by asking for your help.

What is needed is one or two people to help me out on here by posting at least 1 news story every day (except Saturday and Sunday) and also from time to time be willing to post up a review of a game.

If you think you can help me out then you can get hold of me via msn on xboxfan1980@hotmail.co.uk and we will see what you can do for us.

Any help from anybody would be greatful as i want to bring back vagusnet from the ashes and make it a site where people can get all of there game news and information from and i can’t do it on my own.

Now before anybody says anything i just want you to know that these are the views of me and me only and nobody else.

The Xbox 360 has now been out for over 18 months and I’m looking at it and wondering what the hell has it brought to the table in the past 18 months that has justified the console and the new generation of gaming.

First off I’m going to stick up for the 360 by saying that it has pushed online console gaming to a new height because if it wasn’t for the 360 i doubt that Sony and even Nintendo would of thought about going online and i just want to clap my hands for what Microsoft has done.
It has just been online where the Xbox 360 is great at, we know that it has a lot of FPS and racing games but it handles them so well that it shows you a console can handle a FPS and they are not just for PC gamers.

Now it’s time for me to blast the 360, other than it having great FPS and racing games there isn’t much else on the 360 that’s has really stood out, so far most of the games have either been really terrible or they haven’t lived up to there hype.
My first case in point comes in the form of Gears of War now this game was hyped up so much that i wanted to punch anybody else who talked about before the release of the game, when the game finally got released did it live up to my expectations well for the first 5 minutes it did but the more you scratched the pretty graphics surface the more you realised that this is just another bog standard no brainier action game, the saving grace of Gears of War came in the form of the multi player however even this started to grate on me after a while and i started to get sick of it.
It’s not just Gears of War that has disappointed me i was really looking forward to Lost Planet, Dead Rising, Splinter Cell etc but even these turned out to be last gen games with a few nice graphical touches.
So this goes to show that the 360 is rooted in the last gen but is trying to make up for it with new shiny graphics and passing them off as something new, if i wanted a last gen game i would of stayed with the xbox, ps2 and gamecube but the whole point of a new generation of gaming is to be treat with something new not thrown the same game out again and again.

I have enjoyed my time so far with the 360 but there have been a lot of times when i look at my white console and think to myself did i make the right choice in choosing this or should I’ve just waited a little longer before buying one.
I’m looking on the horizon of the 360 and it is starting to become a bit more clear that this new generation might live up to the hype but it has taken over 18 months for this to happen and a lot is riding on the second generation of games for the 360 because now it has competition from the PS3 with it’s better graphics (sort of) and the Wii with it’s different take on gaming.

Whether the games coming out for the 360 over the next year makes me happy that i picked it remains to be seen but i am keeping my fingers crossed that my white box of tricks is going to shine.

Now if you have any opinions on what I’ve just said by all means post up a comment as i would like to know what you think.