Bjorn

I never watched the director's cut of Mimic to see if it shored up some of the interesting ideas that was in the original, and I haven't even seen the original since it was first released to home video. At the end, the Rock Banders have to rip the mask off of Holographic Johnny Cash to reveal that he was actually just Bobby Kotick the whole time. And he would have got away with it to, if not for them dang kids.

The Giant's Kinship gets into some of the deeper lore. I don't think any of this would be a spoiler for you at this point, it's all buried somewhere in the world:

Between Cronos, The Devil's Backbone and Pacific Rim, the guy has guaranteed that I will watch everything he makes. It's not all gold, but enough of it is to justify giving him the benefit of the doubt. Rockband the Movie needs the most awkward groupie scene that's ever been filmed. I don't know what that is, but it needs it.

FUCK YEAH! Don't Starve Together, a multiplayer expansion, is officially in the works. Still early in development, but it will be a free update for existing users when it comes out (will cost for new buyers). Confirmed online, and probably offline/couch play as well (not confirmed yet). They are anticipating being able to have sizeable servers with Rust/Day-Z like populations, where you can kill other players, cooperate, compete for resources, whatever. There were a couple of co-op mods that my wife and I tried out early on, but they were just okay. The second player could be a ghost with limited actions, but not their own character. I can see my wife and I going really freaking deep if we're both able to play together. I can also see us fighting over base design, resulting in us declaring that the other one is unfit to live with and building bases on opposite sides of the world, staring at each other over the elaborate series of walls that divide the world between us. We take base design seriously. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jlWgtMgukZ0

On your spoiler, that's not the queen. She's the Emerald Herald, who may or may not be the last firekeeper and has a spooooooky, mysterious past. The queen is the big lady sitting in the throne room.

Rabbids have invaded the Smash world and every single stage is rabbid themed.

I'm playing XCOM: THE BUREAU: MASS EFFECT EDITION and liking it more and more the deeper I get into it. The story is ridiculous, but the combat is good and it's fun watching just how much of a trainwreck the plot can become. This is really unexpected.

That's fantastic! We're going on ten years in our relationship this year, and we definitely notice there are certain types of experiences that kind of spark that particular bit of romantic affection for us, the type of thing that usually fades over the years. Cool that you've found one!

Mington's new memoir: Olly Olly Oxen Free: A hide-and-seek game of friendship seeking ends in internet tragedy

That really nails my biggest issues with the harder platforming stuff. It didn't bother me in combat so much, but did in platforming. I particular found it super easy to mess up the upward punch and the side dash when needing to react quickly while jumping.

I don't know if that's quite fair. I think there is plenty of discussion of games like that, the problem is something with DA2 comes with a triple whammy. It's a AAA game, a sequel to a damned fine game and it was one of the first games whose production started after the EA purchase, leading people to wonder if EA mandates to speed up production and cut costs were leading to Bioware quality slipping. The combination of expectation tempered with concerns set up a reaction for DA2 that was a lot harsher on its problems than another game might get. You've also got stuff like the ridiculous publisher hype machine setting expectations too high and leaving people somewhat dissatisfied with games that they might have loved if they hadn't been convinced it was going to be mind blowing, ground breaking, and ign-blow-you-away good. Take something like Deadly Premonition, where it's fans admitted that this was a game that was graphically dated and a bit ugly with shitty combat. But if you could get into it, there was a heart and soul unlike any other game.

Holy crap, those are all amazing.

That's fantastic!

That Facebook page did introduce me to some of the dangerous misinformation that people spread to try and discredit feminism, which while it follows the same bullshit pattern that you see in a lot of shitty communities (misrepresenting data, pulling things out of context, minimizing information that doesn't fit), it's useful to be reminded about these types of things sometimes. So this article gets referenced a bunch apparently in places that want to try and attack feminism as full of lies and hypocrisy. It's about how a Harvard study confirmed that 70 percent of domestic violence is by women against men. The headline with the piece is "Harvard study says 70 percent of domestic violence is committed by women against men", which is flat wrong, though the article does have the correct statistic in it, that 70 percent of non-reciprocal domestic violence was initiated by women. But, the article is: Not from Harvard. It's by a Georgia State researcher who also looks like he's worked with the CDC. Harvard just ran an article about the study, and that article was later pulled. Probably because so many shitheads were using it as "proof" about the reality of domestic violence. The study was focused on 17-25 year olds. It specifically sought to exclude the most dangerous abuse, the type resulting in death or trips to the hospital, wanting to address "average" violence. It also did not address the severity of the violence, which the authors acknowledge was a major limitation It looks like we've known for decades that men and women commit roughly a similar amount of domestic violence, this isn't new knowledge. The difference is that women are 6 times more likely to result in injuries that require medical treatment (or it kills them) than men are.

This this is a thing that exists: Women against Feminism Tumblr and Facebook page. Featuring inspiring photos of women holding signs explaining why feminism is evil and they don't need it.

The last boss would be tough by yourself I imagine, we only got through it by making sure that one of us stayed alive by alternating who was being aggressive and who was being defensive, letting the other person have plenty of time to respawn. The one area I was thinking about there was getting through the Tree Top, where there is a section of pretty tight platforming that requires you to dodge and maneuver through spinning blades that are very reminiscent of the blades from Meat Boy.

I have no problems telling the various hosts apart on the Thumbs. I've had plenty of other podcasts where I have that happen, but the Thumbs all seem unique enough to me that I know who's talking.

Wife and I finished up Guacamelee in co-op, or at least as much of it as we could in co-op. About 80 percent of it is a great game, but 20 percent is made of pure bullshit, at least if you want to co-op the game. There are a few platforming sections where the difficulty spikes way the hell up, like in one case to literal Super Meat Boy inspired design. These areas are impossible to do with 2 people, which is just really disappointing when you hit an area and then one person has to drop out because you're never going to get it done with two people. Other than those late game areas though, loved the game.

My wife was taking pictures of us cutting down a tree and managed to get a rare picture of my good side.

Probably for the best. To wax a bit sappy for a moment though, you're all pretty awesome. I've been around my fair share of video game forums over the years, and the Thumbs have attracted the best people to their forums that I've ever seen. Also, Tegan, the stuff you bring is totally unique compared to the rest of us. That makes you rad.

1. That video has 15 million views. 2. How bad would Sonic in Jaws 3D be? I've never actually watched that show, even though it seems like it would be something I might like.

Man, if that poster came in blacklight velvet, it would be perfect. It reminds me a lot of the blacklight posters from when I was kid.

Of course the advantage is that I find it relatively easy to slip into most other regional American dialects, something someone with a thick Bronx accent can't do. Like hearing someone from New York try to do a Texas accent is hilarious. I tend to pick up little bits of other people's accents within a few minutes of a conversation, not even meaning to. It also makes it really easy to pass as a Canadian when I've traveled internationally, which has been convenient sometimes.

Apparently 1 in 10 people in Ireland is a Garth Brook's fan. WTF Ireland?!