Dewar

A lot of people use that escape pod way too early though, and end up missing on chances.

Wow, since when did Squirle become the big man on campus?

I have Haloween and the day after off so I can throw a hell of a party on Saturday the 2nd. It's likely to be the last year that we're in this house (which is set up very well for this sort of thing) and I want to make it one to remember.

I bought and beat Ridiculous Fishing this week. It has an interesting end for a game that doesn't have any real story to speak of.

Charizard was my very first pokemon.

Oooh. I just bought Monster Hunter 3DS, but this is super tempting. I don't really need more games at the moment....

Awesome

Purple and white show up in multiplayer right?

Like one of these bad boys? http://www.amazon.com/Gamester-FPS-Master-Controller-Xbox/dp/B0000CO2UR/ Man, wierdest controller ever, but I got used to it eventually.

So, anyone actually in and playing GTA online?

Man, I can't wait for the new Elite.

I tried to cancel it, but I was too late, so I'll just have to send it back when it arrives I guess. Personally, I can't stand on-the-ear headphones. Considering there are days that I wear these things for 6-ish hours, I really want over-the-ear if I can get it. That's why I was concerned about comfort, but my wife will probably only use them for a couple hours at a time, so it should be fine.

I saw that there's a USB converter on-sale from Logitech that looks pretty nice, but I ended up just going with the suggestion from that Wirecutter article. If my wife ends up needing something more comfortable, I'll just splurge on another G930.

Here's some suggestions for stations, having set up a couple of complexes in X3:TC. 1) Your basic power for all stations is Energy Cells. You're either going to have to import these, or start your complex in a system that has a good sun rating (to run your own solar power plants) and import or build crystals. Personally, I found it easier to have my own power plant, as crystals are easier to ship around IIRC. 2) Minimize the inputs for your complex. You're going to need to have cpu controlled ships constantly flying around to get supplies to keep the place running and that task will be a lot easier if you don't have too many different things to buy. 3) If you need to split a complex over multiple sectors, do your best to make sure they're ajacent. The time to fly across a whole sector or the cost in energy cells to warp around adds up quickly. A good starter complex produces energy cells from scratch. That would require a Silicon Mine, Crystal Fab, and a Solar Array. Only input you'd need would be Food.

Ug, the USB thing I got (the 7.1 version of the one that JonCole posted) broke after plugging and unplugging the cables maybe 5 times. The speaker ports actually busted off the circuit board on the inside. My wife and I switched headsets, since I already had the necessarly ports on my computer to plug in the Razer Chimera 5.1 I was trying to get setup for her. Being without my Logitech G930 really made me realize how great of a headset that really is, so we went ahead and bought a G230 for her. I over-night shipped it because I'm already tired of this Razer. Edit: Crap, I just realized that headset requires 3.5mm stero plugs as well. Edit 2: Who builds a laptop without a 3.5mm microphone port?

Interesting, I used to be really in to Armored Core 2.

Pokemon X?

Careful, my friend got double-paid once and they yanked the money back a week later, overdrawing his bank account and requiring him to pay them intrest on the amount they couldn't get back.

That weird veterancy system you were talking about was added after release. That's part of why it feels kinda tacked on. Egosoft does this big "best of fan mods" pack every once in a while, and X3:AP included all the packs from X3:TC. What are you flying these days?

It depends on what type of equipment you're running with. Right now I have a rapier, which has a pretty sizable forward lunge, so I'm doing a lot of jockeying for position to get the right range for my lunge, followed by panicked maneuvering if I miss my jab. The best players are parrying all the time, so you have to be a more active participant and hit the block at exactly the right moment, don't over commit when they stumble, etc. I guess it all depends on what you want out of combat. It feels very intense and fast paced to me, but I may not be the typical gamer.

That first sentence is pretty much the definition of Dark Souls. It's slow leading up to the fight (creeping around corners, making sure you don't get ambushed) but once combat begins in earnest it's pretty fast paced I would say. Nothing as crazy as Devil May Cry or God of War of course, but still pretty quick and intense.

That's more-or-less the argument that Ebert had against video games being art. There are some really good games out there that know just how to get you to look in the right direction to see something awesome. I think that's what seperates the quality games from the pretty good games. The directorial skill to make the player look where you want without using the Gears of War style "press this button to look at the awesome thing" or even worse, taking camera control away entirely.

Wow, that's a hell of a cross thread joke there. I needed that laugh.

In a similar vein to the suggestions above, I watched a full play of Limbo recently. It's pretty short and damn atmospheric. I just started playing Dark Souls on PC myself. It requires a certain mental state, but if you like games where the primary draw is the challenge, it's defintely one of the best. Finally, I like Don't Starve a lot, but it's not one of those games that really has an end. If you're content with just wandering around and trying to survive Minecraft style, it's well worth playing. If you're wanting to start and finish a game and get satisfied by reaching the end and seeing the credits, it may not be for you.

Wow, that sounds.... interesting.... but I dunno.