Bjorn

Just hit the part about playing local multi on a projector. Seriously, this is the best thing ever. We replaced our TV with a projector last year, and can't imagine going back. Biggest drawbacks are that you need a sound system, have to have a dark room for the best picture and they take more work to setup than just sitting a TV on a stand. But playing local split-screen on a 142" screen is sooooo good. The cost of setting one up is really not much worse than buying a TV. You can spend anywhere from $700 to several thousand, just like buying a new TV. But you get a giant screen.

This ad is currently in the Steam News popup. See anything odd?

South Park, due to its rapid development, matches the attention span of the Internet age much better than the Simpsons, where episodes are usually begin being made almost a year in advance of being aired.

Mostly anger, if I was going to advise, I'd say go with lightning (worked for me). I also feel like I did the Bastille out of order, that I was a hair underleveled for when I was there. It was totally doable, but I have a feeling I'm going to end up going somewhere else and discover that it's super easy. I've only found one Greatsword so far. I think I got it from It looks like you can at least try out the move set of weapons even if you don't have the stats for them, which is nice. It doesn't have the crazy stagger if you're not strong enough, you just have the damage penalty.

F*** that boss, with a flaming halberd. I spent most of my time playing this evening in the Bastille. I finally let myself be summoned into someone else's world to help, which went swimmingly! Sidenote: So co-oping a boss is not a guaranteed way to turn human. I *think* it might only work when you've already beat a boss. Several times (mostly on the Bastille boss) I've co-oped a boss before I beat it in my world, and neither time did I turn human. Every time I've been hollow, and co-oped a boss I had previously beaten, I have turned human. But it's a small number of data points, there could be something else going on. Anyways, so I figured it was worth using an effigy to bring in some help and finally be done. Did that, pulled in two people, and apparently they are worse at Dark Souls than me, as one got killed within about 15 seconds, and the other made it about halfway through the battle. So now I'm hollow. Co-oped it a couple of more times for practice, then used another effigy, brought in more help, and this time we got the job done. End result though was that I had a metric ton of souls. I actually feel like I"m leveling up considerably faster in DS2 than 1. I've intentionally put off leveling up a few times and just bought arrows, shards, and miracles I thought I might want some day. I've been afraid that I'll out level other people too much to get any jolly cooperation in. Still haven't found anyone who will let me use boss souls. Gotta be someone soon. I haven't really found a weapon I love yet. Been getting by with the Homunculus Mace, but I'm not in love with it. Oh yeah, I did end up looking at the Black Armor edition weapons. Honestly most of them aren't any better than the starting equipment. The mace is just a hair better than the regular mace, but it loses bleeding in favor of a bit more damage.

I'm buying that bundle just for Typing of the Dead, which I've almost bought a whole bunch of times anyways.

That's amazing, thank you. Bookmarking that for possible future use.

What is your studio's spirit animal? Red panda, or Red Cat-Bear, if you prefer that name. FAQ

Fire, makes me think of Prometheus, a tree once considered the oldest known living organism, cut down in the 60s as part of a research project before anyone realized it was almost 5,000 years old. Confirmed: Firewatch is a tree simulator documenting the 5,000 year lifespan (in real time) of Prometheus, from germination to felling.

What level do you have yours at? I'm at a 3 (I think, whatever the base for a Bandit is). I feel like I'm doing pretty well against bosses, and haven't struggled to heal. One big difference I've noted is that the game doesn't "queue" up commands like DS1 did. Like, if I use my bells to heal, then tap right twice to change weapons during the heal animation, nothing happens. That same mechanic makes swapping back and forth between 1 and 2 handed stances a bit more problematic, as you can't queue up the change in the middle of another animation. I had a couple of deaths playing around with a Halberd because of that, since I didn't have the strength to wield it one handed, and I would blow the timing on going two-handed, resulting in a weak-sauce one handed jab.

Froth: The Game But in all seriousness, I think it's Spelunky: Lord's Management edition. Different spelunkers compete against each other for glorious treasure by commanding armies of bats, yetis and ufos in traditional arena combat.

Splendid! That's also an incredible list of games to talk about in one show. Well done.

Two photos in a row with intense eyebrow action going on.

So last night was a lot of frustration, but tonight was glorious. Beat not one, not two, but three bosses. And then turned around and co-oped all three a few times to help other people out. I actually think a couple of the bosses were less deadly when I was by myself than with 3 people. I tend to forget that bosses get a big health boost when you bring in help. I feel dumb for not realizing that, of course, co-oping a boss will turn you human. The few reviews I had read all commented on needing to depend on human effigies to turn human, but if you can help someone with a boss, same thing. It's been that way in every other Souls game, no reason for it to be different here, I just had a dumb moment and didn't think about that. So I was able to run around most of this evening human, which helped surviving a ton. I also found my first Soul Vessel, which is exciting. It lets you respec your points, so I'm just throwing points into whatever I want to play with, knowing that once I've really settled on a weapon I like, I'll just spec to maximize it. Amazingly, in about 12 hours of play, I still haven't been invaded. I'm sure not that many people have unlocked that covenant yet, but it has to exist and at least some people have to have found it. Maybe the blue sentinels are putting a damper on low level invasions. I've got one cracked red eye orb, but am hesitant to use it, assuming that whoever I invade will be protected.

Ha! Nice. I finally went back and finished it this week after the FF2 announcement. Back when it was new, I had started it at work and played until the then quit to go back to work.

Yeah, but not in a bad way, at least not yet. I also feel like I am bad at Dark Souls all over again. The amount that I've died is ridiculous. I'm currently running around with bottomed out health, trying to put off using my first effigy until I feel like my skills have improved some. I might have been getting tired and sloppy late last night though. I'll see if it goes better today.

I can't say that I've spent any time on there to get a feel for how they write. I keep a bunch of blocks setup on both Chrome and Firefox to keep me productive throughout the day, but I do have IE as a backdoor if I really want to visit one of the sites I normally block. So the only time I see any of the MSN sites is the rare occasion I decided to use IE to do that, because I'm too lazy to change the default load page.

I agree, screen tearing is so distracting to me that I can't play anything that has it going on consistently. As for the general graphics of the game, it's kind of like it's two games. There are some textures and some views that are breathtaking. And then there are other graphics that are certainly no better than DkS1. I definitely see some framerate dips on the PS3. I'm satisfied with having bought it on the PS3, as I like having it now and a chance to explore it without being spoiled. But I'm going to end up with it on PC. I haven't noticed anything, but it's still early in the game and I've only faced a few enemy types. I decided to check a guide to see what was supposed to be in the chest I destroyed. It should have been a titanite shard. So yep, turned a shard into rubbish.

What, she's only nominated in...four, really? Nevermind. Maybe if they would have nominated her for hero, she for sure would show up. Or would a fifth nomination just look desperate? That original "blasted" article I shared actually amused me for its inability to name Jennifer Lawrence. Seems like the kind of detail a writer or editor might think is important.

Yeah, I meant to mention that as well. I had a weird feeling about one chest, so smacked it a couple of times to make sure it wasn't a mimic. And all I got was rubbish. The one I destroyed was in

I thought about Deprived, and then talked myself out of it. I screwed around for over an hour with a Cleric before deciding that I hated that starting build (can't even one hand his starting weapon). Now I'm a Bandit. Going is super slow. I spent 30 minutes toying with an enemy I shouldn't have been playing with. I knew better, just wanted to try. I had forgot what it is to start one of these out knowing nothing. I should have named my character Jon Snow. Quick, non-spoilery thoughts: Bonfire warp from the beginning is awesome. Saves a ton of time without feeling cheap. Leveling up only at a single person is a little lame. Would love to not have to even warp anywhere to level. Fought 2 handed for awhile, surprisingly effective. I can see people doing very well with this. High risk, high reward. Did you like awkward 3D platforming and jumping? Good! Because there's more of it. Bloodstains, bloodstains everywhere. I spent several minutes just watching bloodstains appear from people trying to make the same impossible jump. YOU CAN MANUALLY AIM A CROSSBOW!

If you makes you feel any better, there's a 125MB day one patch that I'm waiting on to download, and I have horribly slow internet, plus it's the PS3, so that like cuts the speed in a third. Edited to add: Oh, there's also a mandatory hard drive install. So when y'all are ready to play, make sure you can go brew a cup of tea or something while you're waiting.

Working...done. Dark souling....just beginning.

Good luck... That's one the hardest and most frustrating section of Demon's Souls for me, while being one of the easiest to go back through once I understood it.

I imagine that I had a unique reaction to a lot of Sam's stuff compared to much of GH's audience, as I'm the father of a girl not much older than Sam. So I've spent a lot of time around teen angst and drama over the last few years (which is even worse in real life than fiction!). That said though, a lot of the negatives people could draw from Sam are in many ways a reflection of the instability in her family life. Not to absolve her of responsibility, but her parents are being self-absorbed whiners who have abandoned many of their parental responsibilities over the last year, which in turn directly leads to a lot of the problems with Sam's behavior. Engaged parents with the right balance between empathy and discipline *probably* don't end up with the same situation on their hands. So a lot of that kind of reaction people might have had towards Sam I actually dumped off on the parents.