Trip Hazard

Oh, right. Makes sense.

Just finished all of Gone Home in one not-quite-marathon 2 hour session. Really enjoyed it. The house wasn't very believable, and I had a strange moment right at the start where I felt completely lost after checking the answering machine - what would "Katie" do next? Not just wander around opening drawers, surely - but I was interested enough in the house and what I'd heard so far that I dug around a bit and Sam's story started to emerge. I was hooked after that; even had a little lump in my throat at a couple of points. I loved all of the other little tidbits about Terry, Jan and Oscar, too. It would have been great to have learned a bit more about Katie herself. I know she went to Europe and then came home, and that's it really. I assume that she is a fat girl because she is very sluggish, struggling particularly with stairs, and her footsteps are very loud? Also, when I saw that

Managed to raid the black market successfully today, using a loose interpretation of Nachimir's advice (thanks for that!). Bombing out the sides to funnel the shopkeeps down certainly helped a lot. They still sometimes manage incredible feats of athleticism and take me off guard, but one can't plan for everything

There's an image I'll never get out of my head. Put this on for my jazz loving Gran yesterday (she loved it) and was reminded just how brilliant Cannonball Adderley was. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2xx3YTu2ac'>One for Daddy-O Miles Davis on trumpet too, apparently.

I got my step-daughter some Roald Dahl for crimbo. She's a bit young to read 'em herself, but I'm having a blast reading to her. Very happy childhood memories of The Twits, Danny, George, etc. Will give Graham Greene a try if he's at all similar.

Very true! So yeah, I might do her in. Besides, bitchin' dagger.

The ninja build that I started playing with a couple of weeks back has been going from strength to strength recently. I found a whole set of Shadow gear in Blight Town, as well as an Iaito (I love Blight Town so much) so now my guy really looks the part. Not that keen on the two-handed strong attack, which winds up for just a touch too long, so I may trade it in for the Uchi later on, if I can remember where to get it. My next task is to cut down to size, although having said that, I'm not sure that that will be in keeping with the heroic ninja I had hoped to embody. Edit: goodly doesn't mean what I thought it meant

Still don't really know the best way to go about plundering the black market. Even if I did, that still may not prevent me from hopping down into a pit full of buckshot.

Well done Hammerpants, envious of your skills. I can play the game perfectly well, I think, but I am prone to making awful decisions and taking dumb risks. Eg.

Thanks for the answer Osmosisch. I think I'll keep going with it (with the requisite podcasts to keep me company) and find out whether my Queequeg lookalike has got what it takes to save the world, or whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing

So, you can either: Live with your decisions, whether they turn out to be good decisions or bad, and see how far you can get. Or, restart the game and make different choices, and then either live with those or not, depending again on whether or not they work. (There's a hidden third choice which involves reading about builds that work and just copying them exactly, but that sounds like it would be really boring) I've not played enough to know, but what's the likelihood of getting completely stumped in PoE because you've made poor choices? Bearing in mind, it is possible to take your time making choices to deal with the situation at hand, and then later on encounter something radically different which stops you dead in your tracks.

Pretty tricky and fun daily today (so many close calls!), but I didn't record mine as I'm forgetful. Made it to the mothership, and then got blown up almost instantly by a teeny UFO. Finished with ~130k. Edit: Bad luck Hammerpants. This seed had so many spitting cobras!

Far Cry 2 indeed! I've not played much of it, really, but what I have played I've enjoyed. There was a particularly exciting moment when I was pinned down by a sniper whilst crossing a bridge. I had a sniper rifle too, but he was better than me. I'm gunned down, and then rescued by my pal, who it seems is only a mercenary in occupational terms. He takes charge, barking at me to take cover and firing on the sniper. It was beautiful. A seemingly chaotic, unique scenario, which felt as thrilling as any heavily scripted moment I've experienced this year. I don't like how frequently guard posts regenerate tho. Driving around is enough of a hassle without constantly getting your car shot to bits and having to pinch another one.

I played 5 hours of this, a few months back, then grew fatigued at the idea of how much time I'd have to put in to get anywhere and stopped completely. I quite admire the graphics and sound design, and appreciated the loot/trading system they have, but it seemed a very shallow experience. I might try a hardcore character; sounds like that'd be a good way to grow more invested in the game, and my character. Although, there's no respec is there? I could pour hours into one build only to completely hit a wall and have to start over. No. No, I don't think so.

What'll we do today, brain? The same thing we do every day: kill ourselves in the Spelunky Daily

Yesterdaily: Great fun, but not exactly a great success. That yeti really had it in for me.

In the parlance of DayZ, you're marked as KoS when the inevitable happens.

Just looked it up on Reddit. A lot of people downvoting them for killing the Wigglers, which is fair enough, but then saying things like "it's faggots like you that ruin this game", for which they are upvoted. Is this an example of the kind of people playing DayZ, then, or just reddit being reddit?

Guy with a gun just doing what he feels like, 'cos he's got a gun. It was a great performance from the wiggle troupe, at least.

I'm currently replaying this, and finding it harder than I remembered... I'm level 12, and just beat the Gargoyles after about 6 or 7 tries. If anybody would like to team up, for help or to help me, that'd be great. I'm Sepulchrave 76 on Xbox Live

Sorry if there's already a topic for this. I've only heard a handful of albums this year, but these are my three favourites, with examples. 1) Melt-Banana: Fetch Chirpy Japanese noise-polluters Melt-Banana have released many brilliant albums in the past, but this is, I think, my new favourite. Catchy, consistent, and hugely accessible for newcomers. 2) Carcass: Surgical Steel Scouse death-metallers have taken their sweet time over this release, but the wait has been worth it. 7 years after the so-so Swansong, Carcass are back on form with a release which sounds very similar to Heartwork, their best album in my opinion. Turn up the volume. 3) Melt Yourself Down: S/T Watched these guys play this live in Manchester a few weeks ago. Pound for pound the best gig I've ever seen. Two saxophonists, a bassist, and two drummers ensure that they're as jazzy and danceable as can be. ------------------------------------- What are some of your favourites, and why?

Really liked that Holden track - mesmerising video too! It reminded me a bit of Jega, only a bit punchier

This is true, I can't even deny it. I personally thought that much of the dialogue was very funny, and was happy to listen to more of it, but there is always the option to skip lines of dialogue if you're fed up of someone, or simply stop "melting the ice" and just get on with beating the game.

Arkham City - I've thought long and hard about it, and come to the conclusion that I do prefer it to Arkham Asylum, although not by much. Both really great games.

Steve said it. I haven't played Gone Home yet, although I do want to and I fully expect to enjoy it, but damn if this discussion hasn't got me champing at the bit. Edit: Steve said it a while back and I didn't realise when posting. :/ Still, it stands.