Jake

Er wait... You're implying it's better - more honorable - to have a game in which the player's objective is to systematically re-enact the killings of specific real soldiers who died in combat, than to put an anonymous face on the whole thing? ¬ ¬ I don't quite understand. Maybe it would honor the soldiers of the war if you played as a real person, and when you were killed, you got assigned the name and identity of the next person listed as killed in the line of duty. Actually that is starting to sound as if it has a point. Few (read: no) war games have any sort of point or message, and as this discussion isn't about how they need one, I don't think that's where you were going with your statement. Also, as to the person further up who said that the point of the JFK game was to prove that Oswald could have got the 3 shots off in the amount of time... that is the most flimsy excuse ever heard. If you want to prove that, pay an expert marksman or military guy to quickly fire a bolt action rifle, and film it. Making a game where you target JFK in his car and shoot him yourself proves nothing, other than the developers really wanted to make a crazy sensational offensive thing that cashes in on the public's interest in the JFK assassination.

One day idle thumbs will be redesigned, and the forum sidebar will receive a sizeable functionality overhaul.

If there was a movie or a TV series that conveyed you being victorious and a winner for shooting Kennedy three times in twice as many seconds (however you'd convey that), people would shit all over you. Unless you were doing it for some sort of artistic reason you'd hardly be able to get it on TV or in a theater, or in a retail store, let alone get funding to make it in the first place. Conveying his assasination is one thing, but glorifying it for no reason is another. If they have some point they're trying to make, or anything, I'll accept it. I'm not just flatly against portraying the shooting of president Kennedy in game (or other) form, I'm just against the apparent mindless sensationalism and vague sickness of this instance of it.

From the Instant Messenger: italics added after the fact

Right at the start, before you go into the test chamber and push the shopping cart into the laser beam, the two scientists sort of brief you, and they make repeated mentions to "the administrator wanting this test in particular to go off without a hitch" and the like.

Idle Thumbs is a portal skybox.

Kenty is naughty.

HL1: Source?

Good to see the nerd voyeurs are being indulged.

Wow, the opening 20 minutes or so were completely amazing! Haven't played something that awesome since Half Life 1, though that's basically what I was expecting. I am a little frustrated that, where I'm at now (about 2 hours in), the game has for the time being devolved back to "gordon is alone in a stone corridor being chased by stupid jumping things that are hard to kill with a crowbar, raising and lowering water levels," but I know as I progress it will mix it up a bit.

mickey you know you only need to validate single player hl2 once over steam and then it works erm, forever? and as far as loaning the game out, you can just loan someone your steam ID/password and they can download it ... only problem with that is you won't be able to play at the same time I guess... but that's how loaning something technically works anyway isn't it?

Is it in Midway Treasures vol 2, maybe?

Sounds like there was a big slump in there for a bit, but it also sounds like they spent years working pretty feverishly on the engine/backend technology before making any actual levels... which is what I'm assuming you're calling "the game proper."

omg h4x!1 Whole story here.

Some jokes go on for a little too long... (bacon)

Ah, thanks Moos, that's really helpful. I'm trying to run with as few extensions as possible since my computer at work isn't exactly amazing.

Oops I forgot how math works.

If DNF is good, the hype will auto-generate at this point (new casual gamers might be too young, but the people who chose what gets on mag covers and repeated front page mention on websites, and what gets spotlighted on entertainment tv news and the like seem like they'd be more than happy to cover "DNF actually coming out, is awesome!" stories into the ground), and I think it will spiral into a zillion copies being sold. Half Life 1 was already 8 years ago and it's not hurting. I wouldn't expect DNF to do worse than Doom 3, either (oddly Duke seems like it would have broader appeal), and Doom 2 predates DN3D by at least a bit. That said, a zillion might be a slightly high estimate.

My avatar may be a joke, but seriously, anyone who genuinely thinks 3DR is going to close up shop without putting out a ridiculously fun and engrossing Duke Nukem Forever is a fool. It might take them another two, three, or ten years, but they will eventually put out a game, and it will be fun, and it will sell a zillion copies.

If you're going to read Hitchhikers Guide (or Charlie and teh Chocolate Factory for that matter) you're probably better off reading it in English, if you can.

The stuff leading up to the ending is amazing though, with so yeah.. if you limit your definition of "the end" to the actual end cutscene I am sad for you. That's just you being too conditioned by most games which in fact have zero story until the end cutscene. I think the events in the final act's puzzles are rewarding enough that they don't have to rely on 8 hours of cutscene to make me feel good and satisfied. But that's just me. And you're right that that last cutscene was a bit short

I appreciated the Nascar cars all giving each other the shifty eye, but other than that I wasn't really impressed with that Cars trailerlike I was with the Incredibles and the Monsters Inc teasers, both of which I guess were basically one-gag animated shorts.

Dude. All I'm sayin is, look to the left.

I think the CGW article is up somewhere on Psychonauts.com as well.