Apelsin

Today marks the celebration of the birth of Video Games! Rejoice!

First season is so-so I've heard. Actually skipped it entirely and just started watching the second season instead. It's not the pinnacle of television, but I like it.

Episodses my precioussss... Looking forward to this! Always nice with more designer speak. Hopefully lots of stuff to pick up!

That should work for me.

Do we have any eurothumbs up for some Payday?

Ugghhh... Wrote a fairly long post (by my standards) about my thoughts on The Ship and accidentally backed out of the page. All gone. Ah, well. Most of it has been said already. Interesting concept that requires a larger amount of human players to work. If AI were able to handle the needs system they could've eased this problem, but as they are now they're mostly windowdressing.

Is Tawmmy goin'ta get outta the cybah-mines?

Is it the Murder party one on Steam?

What I remember of Clannad was lightweight comedy being interspersed with some very odd segments with a strange introspective tone... Only watched the first 6 or so episodes though

I recently finished Nimona, which was amazing, and was wondering if there are any other titles like it around? Also, that superhero comic from a a few pages back, Copra looked kinda interesting art-wise. Will need to check out if it is available on these shores.

THE ECONOMY TONIGHT!

Not sure if Just Cause is close enough to be considered a clone. It's even more of a sandbox than the GTA games, where most of the fun comes from traversing the environment and parachuting around. Also, the driving is fairly shit. You could take a look at Giant Bombs looks at Sleeping Dogs. They acknowledge the ultra violence and I believe one of them wasn't that big of a fan, but made the argument that the rest of the game might outweigh that.

There's also Stars without number, a sci-fi rpg that has a free edition: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/86467/Stars-Without-Number-Free-Edition Been following a campaign which is quite fun. Has a very Firefly feel.

Not able to join during this weekend, but might be able to join next week. Add me on Steam: Muppjockey

I've only ever RP:d once and my character was pretty bland, played very straight. The only exception to this was that I made a mistake when setting it up that resulted in me not having any money to buy pants for him, leaving him pantless for the start of the adventure. Two of my party members however had very fun characters. One of them was a humanoid duck mage with a very funny family history and a tendency to roll fails on magic checks with usually hilarious and annoying results. The other had a character class which gave him bonuses whenever he acted in a daring, swashbuckling manner which of course lead to the player trying to find as many situations where he could take advantage of this as possible.

Just played an half hour and quite enjoy it so far. I'm not sure exactly how much one was allowed to share, I'll have to read through that email once more, but I really just want to state how nicely doubtful I felt deciding which heroes to assign to keeps. I fear having already doomed my playthrough

Could work! Unless the time zones are too far apart, that is... Seems that I'm about 6 hours ahead of EDT, which might push it into "too late" territory for me unfortunately.

Yeah, that's definitely a shitty thing to say. I heard from an acquaintance that someone had called up a dog breeder they knew to inquire whether they could purchase one of the dogs to eat it. Asked them whether they were "one of those people who don't approve of people eating dogs". I imagine that must bring a very distinct feeling of unease.

I could never have an arachnid as a pet... Or any insect or any slithering thing. The way they move just bug me out.

Hmm... Cool. I quite enjoyed what I played of this game. Unfortunately all of my mates moved on fairly quickly from it and it ain't all that fun to play on your own. If someone else is up for some Payday, let me know!

The New York Islanders are looking fierce this year. Very fast and dangerous in the offensive zone, while providing good defensive coverage as well. Sharks were fairly lucky to escape with a point yesterday.

Mammal Multiplications.

I also have a plant that has suffered greatly. It's the most twisted, skinny palm tree I've ever seen but it's been with me for so long now that I'll keep it until it either dies or someone forces me to throw it out I'll see if I can get a photo of the poor thing up here.

I'm not sure whether this is a valid comparison but here I go... The narrative context that mechanics take place in certainly do matter with regards to the emotional impact and morality of the actions portrayed. Take the example of sexual situations as they can be portrayed in media. I don't have any problems with sex scenes in movies, when they're done well they can be romantic, sweet and generally make people feel good, if possibly a bit embarrased. However, when I saw the rape scene in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I became uncomfortable to the point of nausea. It's one of the most horrendous things I've seen, to the point that I do not want to watch that movie ever again. The main difference between these examples is that the positive one concerns two (or more) consenting characters take part in the "mechanics", while the rape is forcefully done to an unwilling individual. In most games, the human enemies you shoot are either soldiers, criminals or police officers. People with training, equipment and hopefully an understanding of the situation they've entered. While they in most cases certainly do not wish to die, the assumption is that they are at least aware of the risk and have accepted that risk. Additionally, because of their training/experience and their equipment they pose a threat to you (although the stakes are generally stacked in the players favor). As such they're combatants, willing participants in the mechanics of the game (as willing as NPC's can be at least). In Hatred a lot of focus seems to be put on executing these mechanics on individuals that are portrayed as civilians, non-combatants, while showing lingering shots of them begging for their lives. Seeing that trailer made me feel a lot like I felt when I saw that scene from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, only this time we're apparently asked to play as the perpetrator. I certainly don't think the violence in "regular" games is completely without issues. One could argue that violence is not a good thing even in situations where it can be justified, but that this game doesn't stand out amongst others? I don't agree with that.

And the main character from the darkness