Trip Hazard

Did you ever play the Wii version? Aiming with the wiimote is quick and precise, and just way more fun. In fact, I'd say the game couldn've done with a bit of a difficulty boost to compensate for this. The reason I haven't got the PC version yet is because I love the wii version so damn much.

Yeah, a couple of times, but not recently. I liked it, I liked the grotesque imagery. I think I'll read it again tonight. Edit: I wouldn't have minded alternative solutions and sub-optimal outcomes, but it seemed to me (please correct me if I'm wrong) that there was one correct way to solve that scenario and any deviation would mean that I "lose" and then have to restart. I do agree about Lucasarts games that sometimes the puzzle design is undercut by the fact that you can just throw any solution at it and see what sticks.

I've never heard it, or any other Magazine stuff besides Real Life. I tend to do this, where if I find a new artist and try out an album and I really like it, I'll not venture beyond it for fear it brings the band down in my estimation. Stupid, I know. Going to listen to SD soon. That was fucking amazing! Edit: That Bill Fay stuff is excellent. Surprised that I've never heard of him before.

Hahaha, love Richard Cobbett http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-06-28-the-sickening-side-of-the-steam-summer-sale "There are, I'm sure, people who are able to play just one at a time, but for most of us this is the easiest way to sap each individual game of much of its flavour. Like eating a whole box of Quality Street at once, they all mulch together into one gooey mess. The slightest moment of irritation is a reason to jump ship to another game, finishing becomes about feeling able to move on instead of soaking in all of the goodness each has to offer, and even in the best times, the games not being played still cast their tantalising shadow over proceedings. "Play me insteaaaaaadd," they whisper. "We will give you trading caaaaaaaards and for some completely inexplicable reason you're statistically likely to caaaaaaare."'

Yes! I got 50 hours out of this behemoth, before an update conflicted with some mods I had installed and I decided to uninstall. I'd usually find a nice, long drive (preferably in Germany), tune the radio into BBC R6 - which required tweaking an ini file - and then just cruise around happily for an hour or so. Bliss. Getting stuck in traffic is just as annoying in game as it is in real life, tho.

Crank up the bass for this one Also, if anybody uses Grooveshark please feel free to take a look at my VG music playlist. It is short at the moment, by choice, but suggestions are always welcome! http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/It+s+All+In+The+Game/92827007

I gave up on Escape after just a couple of hours, because it was boring and not funny, and the puzzles were illogical, and Guybrush made so many stupid, lame quips. Oh, and it's ugly.

Played I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream yesterday, and was quite interested in the setting and thought the voice acting was good. Picked Benny to begin with, but failed to do what I was supposed to and triggered an event which meant I had to restart. Second time around, I'm doing things a bit differently and think I'm making better progress, but accidentally (and irretrievably) lose an item which I need, and so suffer the same fate as before. Fuck this. Now I remember why Lucasarts adventure games are the best there is. You can't die and you can't get into an unwinnable state. (Thought I may return to this later on, with a walkthrough to hand)

Jake Kaufman (aka Virt) has been very enthusiastic on Twitter about this, reminding me of how excited I initially was when I heard he was working on it. I'll be picking up Shovel Knight for sure, first chance I can.

M.R. James is dead good. Have you ever seen the 1957 film Night of the Demon, based on Casting the Runes? It's got some really cheesy effects in parts which haven't aged well, but it's a fast-paced and well-written spooky story. Also, Kate Bush sampled a bit of it for Hounds of Love, so that's a massive thumbs up from me.

See, I found it a bit tricky at first, even having to push myself to get through the opening chapters. But when I got a handle on it, wow, I just can't fault it. Considering the amount of dialogue in the book, I never got bored of it, it just fizzed with emotion and every character was so well constructed.

Great! I'd be happy to make another character and do some co-oping, if you're up for that. Not so many other people in our timezone on this forum

Rubbish run, but on the plus side, I think my new headset sounds okay?

Just finished Bioshock Infinite. I had to pretty much force myself to, in the end, and the ending was pants. On paper it seems like a good game, but it just doesn't really cohere at all. Have more thoughts about it, but I literally just finished it and the ending dragged on so much that I now feel really sleepy.

Was that one by the folks that made Odin Sphere? I really wanted to like Odin Sphere, but I just couldn't. However, Muramasa Rebith looks like incredible fun.

I absolutely will, thanks! I've also been thinking of reading Feersum Endjinn - any good?

Never read any of the sequels (mate of mine said they were pants compared to Dune) but I finished reading Dune about a month ago and I absolutely loved it. It's a real tome, takes a while to build up speed, but it is extremely well written and exciting and just GREAT. Totally agree with Argobot about how the "world-building" is so incredible. There's a whole chapter at the end devoted to the ecology of the planet, and it's just so, so good.

Listening to Magazine loads in the car recently

Ubi seem to have taken a leaf out of the big book of Bethesda in making games that have many, many tasks (often with scant variation) scattered across a big map, for players to tidy up. Fine for the first few hours; deathly dull thereafter.

I played Dota ages ago, but not online 'cos I'd heard terrible, awful things about the community, and I'm a total wuss who needs constant reassurance. Is there some kind of Thumbs support group which can ease me into Dota? Stroke my hair, coo platitudes into my ear, that sort of thing

I've been reading Consider Phlebas, which is a decent enough adventure yarn, but isn't really blowing my mind. I should've tackled these culture books in order, but before I even knew they were a series I'd read The Player of Games, and it's pretty clear that Consider is the work of a writer not entirely settled into his own style. Some of the prose is a bit clunky, and info on umbrella topics like what is the culture, how did it come to be, how did the war start etc. is often delivered in long, rambling narrative passages that I find difficult to digest, particularly when I compare it to how it was relayed in Player, where it was woven right into the story, a niggling thread inevitably to be picked at. Still good, like.

I enjoyed the archives the first time, running up and down staircases and getting tied up in knots trying to figure out where to go. Now it's just two big, awkward rooms for me to leg it through.

Dark? You don't know what dark is. Just you wait.

Go for a slash and brush your teeth, lazybones. The Long Goodbye is an excellent read.

I will! Been working round the clock recently so no time for any games, but I'll hopefully be on in the next couple of days. Any of yous got vent or skype or what have you? Got a tasty new headset with a mic and want to try it out. Might sing you all a song if I'm feeling particularly malicious After the patience-stretching slog of trying to kill them all, I did try this for a few times, but often got caught at the narrow end of the valley near the bridge, and, after having been slain several times in that manner, I couldn't not kill them. See above! Why do they hate us so? I'm past this part now though. Embarrassingly, I had to keep killing them until they stopped respawning. The only other time that's happened was in the Lost Bastille on NG, getting repeatedly ruined by the sentinels.