Danielle

God, Skyward Sword. I wanted so, so badly to love this game. I made it a good 25+ hours (and enjoyed MOST of that time), before the controls frustrated me to the point where I never picked it up again. I can't tell you how many bombs that I desperately tried to kick ended up exploding right on Link's little elf boots because the command just wouldn't function. Sword fighting was such a mess. I died dozens of times on the very first boss. But the level design! And the world! I even liked the story. I found myself completing weird, time consuming sidequests because I could at least keep playing the game and not die every ten minutes because my Wii Motion Plus Whateverthefuck wasn't up to snuff. Given Nintendo's history with re-releasing games, I do hope we get a version of this with nice, normal controls one day.

Can I tell you how much I love this response? And this entire thread? <3

I'm just popping in to say I really, really appreciate this community. I wasn't on the show this week because I've been on *vacation* -- however, both my girlfriend and I are getting a steady stream of online abuse (and in her case, hacking threats), so, we're really still in the middle of internet shithatestorm 2014. There's an emotional cycle with this stuff - it starts with rage: "how dare these misogynist assholes!" and it often devolves into utter exhaustion and a desire to have nothing to do with the internet. So having a place to go where people are empathetic, smart (and sassy when the time comes) is very important. To me, anyway! Keep on keeping on.

I definitely get where you're coming from wrt: suspension of disbelief. It's easy for me to start counting shots, or think about the lighting in a given scene, etc, when I start to get spooked. But I really enjoy being disturbed by horror fiction, even if it's cheesy as hell. While we were in the car on the way back from the stream you mentioned, I was musing with my friends about *why* I like horror so much. Horror bothered me when I was young. Now, I love that there's something I can engage in that reminds me I'm not crazy for being absolutely terrified by things like disease, aging and death, loss of control/agency or the possibility of hurting/being hurt by loved ones. The fact that these themes are explored (often in the most unsubtle ways) in horror means a whole lot of people are scared right alongside me. It's not always so literal in real life, but those fears are always there, lurking. I like to think of myself as a brave lady, but even after watching a P.T. stream, I was terrified when I physically took over the controller. I kept staring at the floor in-game to take "breaks" from the tension.

I'm in exactly the same boat here. I think it's a stupid, beautiful movie. Some of it really works for me, some of it doesn't. Mainly, I'm charmed by the fact that a massive-budget action/horror/sci-fi film from 2012 had the balls to ask soul-searching 60s sci-fi questions like "why are we here?" "what is humanity's purpose in the universe," and so on. Nor am I too proud to admit that I have a giant crush on Noomi Rapace AND Charlize Theron, as well as Michael Fassbender, if I'm being honest. If the entire film revolved around them, there'd be no problems.

BUT did they take fart.skeleton? That's where the real money's at.

Yes! Yes! This was perfect and I'm cackling now.

here, here!

oof. That's really discouraging, perhaps a vestige of old attitudes about men-as-universal-breadwinner?

I just spent the majority of the afternoon reading the last 40+ pages of this thread, and I'm positively tickled by the caliber of conversation. No, really, I argue with people about feminism all day long on the internet, and I think this is the only public forum I've ever been to where people were respectful, through and through. On hiring women game journalists... I cannot comment on the GB stuff. But I can say that when I was hired at Polygon, my direct supervisor was very clear, honest and upfront with me about the degree of personal hate I would receive, being 1. A woman with opinions on the internet 2. A person with social justice, feminism, and progressive ideas on the brain and 3. one of them queers (my words, not his!). He was also very clear and upfront about his commitment to supporting me through all of that hate, which I will always appreciate. Is it completely crazy to not want to hire women entirely because of the internet rage show that will inevitably follow (which I'm not saying is the case with GB, I have no idea what their hiring process looks like)? Maybe not. But it is cowardly, lazy and potentially dangerous to your business, if you have any interest in expanding your reach beyond one very specific demographic. Every day, I'm grateful that I get to do this. I just wish I could share it with more women, people of color, and LGBT folks.

Point 1 - hey, I tried! Point 2 - Thank you! Seriously, I've been overcome by how welcoming and friendly the Idle Thumbs community has been. It's like I'm not even on the internet right now!

Super (ha!) happy to be here. I'm going to go eat a movie theater box of Junior Mints in celebration!

I'm surprised too, because it was definitely on my list, and I actually played a bit more of Woolly World than Kirby. I'm ashamed to have forgotten about Yoshi, so, as penance, I'll stare at this for a few minutes: http://www.mariowiki.com/images/f/f9/ToadBabyYoshiNSMBU.PNG

Hey, thanks! I'm SUPER happy to be here.

I had heard of this legendary TimeBelt business, but this was the first time I actually saw it in action. Amazing! Also, hi, I made an account.