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If it had the controls of say Resident Evil 4, I wouldn't mind it at all. But it's awkward and unwieldy. Which makes dying during those sections feel really lame.

Sleepy Dogs for $25! I was waiting for this: http://www.gamersgate.com/sleepingdogs?aff=ggnews

Far Cry Faction Fractions

I've been ignoring this thread due to spoilers, (so apologies if my comments are redundant) but I just finished Ep.4. I like it but agree it's not the best one. My preference is 2,3,1,4. 2 had the most "oh shit" moments and some great tension and atmosphere. 3 had the best, most gut-wrenching emotional moments. I wish there wasn't gun play in these games though. It's so, so bad. And when you die from janky controls it just completely takes you out of the game. I thought the hotel infiltration in 1 and the sewer escape in 4 were much better in terms of Telltale's approach to 'actiony' gameplay.

Really great podcast guys, so much stuff in there. It was like halo taking off his helmet to reveal flaming skull stacking doll of content. Oh man, and after all the Walking Dead talk I went home and played Episode 4. What bracket did I fall into at the very end? The 6%! I did not expect that at all as most of my decisions have placed me squarely in the majority thus far. But somehow I ended up in the über-minority at the end of ep4. So I look forward to seeing some of that extra attention paid in chapter 5. I fully expect my chapter 5 will trump everyone else's chapter 5's in terms of specialness.

Watching that again... did they swap child master chief with another identical looking child? The ol' switcheroo, eh Spartan Ops?

A thread as vacuous as news of its namesake has thus far proven to be.

I should play ODST at some point. Reach had a surprisingly enjoyable campaign (I haven't enjoyed a Halo campaign since the first half of CE before they start forcing you to backtrack). I don't think I'll be playing Halo 4. Not least because my XBOX sounds like it's on the verge of melting down every time I turn it on. I'm excited by the idea of AI rampancy, but I don't see how I can take it seriously behind the veneer of a hyper-sexualized robot girl. I dearly miss the cold faceless AI's of Marathon.

You don't even have to have met him, it's 100% unbelievable on its face. Valve's revenue comes, by and large, from non-Linux users. They're still a corporation after all, as much as fanboys like to forget.

I played my first game last night in a random coop match vs bots and did predictably terribly. Also do games tend to go on past 40 minutes? The pacing of it felt pretty laborious after a while, it's no Awesomenauts game that lasts maybe 15 minutes max. Lots of waiting around and not diving directly toward the enemy crystal. Also did I mention I was terrible? The shop utterly confuses me. Are the items you buy passive buffs? Or can you activate them from your stash? I don't know about this game.

Why didn't the team need you?

I still haven't tried playing yet. If anyone wants me to ruin their game for them while teaching me the ropes, I would forever grateful. (same nic on steam) I could teach you how to play... hm. I don't think I play any other online game that comes even close in terms of complexity. I'm pretty bad at Starcraft...

My first playthrough was pre-"enhanced edition" so there are some differences: a starting tutorial level that ultimately throws you in an arena to determine what difficulty level to play on (Modern Warfare style), and some new cinematics, but not too much that stands out. It could also be that so much time has passed that I didn't notice what changed but it all seems fairly similar save for the tutorial level.

This is like school.

Yeah, I don't think they had to skimp on writing to add all the extra content which makes the feat even more impressive. (not to say the writing was exemplary, merely competent) I also felt like I had a full experience the first time around. I mainly went back so I could play it in ultra on my new 660 ti (still couldn't turn on insano ultrasampling). It's still the best looking PC game I've yet played. And I wanted to try a slightly different skill tree with more emphasis on alchemy and bombs. Besides aard (force push) and quen (the shield), I ignored magic, those two leveled up are pretty much all you need. (though I still played through on normal because certain boss fights are so horribly balanced that I didn't think I'd be able to progress through them on anything more difficult.)

Don't forgot "gross-looking peasant."

I just finished a second playthrough of Witcher 2. It boggles my mind how much they put in there that is completely cut off depending on what story decisions you make. For example: In the first playthrough I fought and killed a giant dragon, having sided with the humans. In the second playthrough I sided with the elves and realized the dragon was actually a hot babe that could turn into a dragon who I obviously did not then kill. No clue of that the first time around. I can't decide whether it's a bad move or a good one to necessitate multiple playthroughs in order to get the full experience. Maybe in terms of replayability but really, how many people are as nerdy as I am and will play through a 40 hr campaign again to see all the bits they missed? It's like writing a book knowing your audience is only going to read the beginning and parts of the middle and the end.

I am now a Dota 2 participant (thanks gringor)! Any suggestions for how a total newb should approach this game? I don't want to get yelled at.

Well I think he's upset with the way the internet *cough* reddit *cough* is vilifying and hurling abuse at Wainwright when it really is about more than her. So we should be focusing on the structures in place, like PR events, parties and media blackouts instead of sending hate mail at random journalists for making stupid mistakes.

Florence's response to the whole thing is here: http://botherer.org/2012/10/26/guest-post-robert-florence-on-the-last-few-days/

Huh, good to know alt+tab is still alive and well. I use start menu a lot but I'm sure I could learn to love metro. Still, I'm in no rush to update as 7 more than suits my needs which are 2: launch steam or launch chrome.

Apparently they've gotten rid of alt+tab and the start menu and replaced it with a very rigid file launcher that seems designed mostly for multi-touch displays and trackpads. So yeah, Windows 7 it's going to be for the time being.

Just imagining the work involved making a branching narrative game to begin with, and then adding on the work of creating additional branches not only based on conversational/character choices but based on whether a character lived or died or whether you were the murderer... holy shit. The thing is, even if it was possible, how good could that story be? It would be stretched so thin that short of writing it for a decade it would end up feeling weird and unresolved. Which is actually a good argument for why the Mass Effect main story points are so unsatisfying. They had to write for dozens of paths (maybe more?) and so when they try and tie those paths into a central narrative the narrative feels far less compelling than the paths and the individual components of your particular playthrough. And there wasn't even the possibility of killing a character outside of specific points.

Yeah sounds like the assassins. There are 3 of them on the rooftops right near the distillery. Approach that area from a higher vantage point and you should be able to sneak up on them.