Jayel

hehe. If the commentaries are gonna be from the special edition team, I'm going to shoot somebody.

bunch of problems is right. I got the full game despite the fact that the demo was a big letdown. Not that bad if you don't compare it to the superior original. But at around half-way mark, it kept crashing at this one spot. Tried on different computers with earlier saves, but I could not proceed any further. Haven't played since.

I dunno, after I got my xbox 360 controller working on the pc, I never had a reason to prefer xbox version. Racing games, platformer games, any games that doesn't require precision aiming, like Batman AA, Red Faction Guerrilla, even Just Cause 2 demo... totally I recommend getting a wireless xbox receiver for windows (you can get a cheap chinese knockoff from ebay for ~$20 and use the drivers from microsoft) even if you already have a gamepad from other manufacturers. Anyway, back to topic... A few thoughts: I played Homeworld from 1999 last weekend again. Seeing as how there's absolutely no support for this game anymore, and it's not being sold anywhere either (although there's a good chance it will come to gog.com soon), this wouldn't have been possible if it had similar form of copy protection. It worries me that in the future, there will be no such thing as a "PC games collection" because they would all expire at one point. Pirates are probably cheap, so if they can't pirate a game, they would probably go for the cheapest alternatives. If Assassin's Creed can't be pirated, they can either 1. buy the PC version for $60 and suffer the consequences of shitty copy protection, or... 2. get the console version for $40, play it, then sell it to EB or blockbuster for $30, and incur net cost of only $10. If they don't have a console, then well maybe the they will buy one now after realizing console gaming is cheaper. edit: wow, the servers are STILL DOWN! If I was a customer I'd be furious.

Jason's Shhh! is the last comic book I read (not Jason Shiga, though I enjoy his works as well!). Pretty cool. Not really familiar with trade paperbacks, but I did read scott pilgrim books. A lot of video game references in there. I think I even saw a few Monkey Island references.

I heard many positive things about ARMAII (game by the makers of the original Operation Flahshpoint). I heard many negative things about OF: Dragon Rising (poor console port, etc). I say avoid it. disclaimer: I've played neither one

Looks super. I'd be more interested to play with a stranger over the net. Ability to roleplay amongst people I personally know is a skill I never mastered.

getting kicked out of a single player game when you lose internet connection... man, that's just unbelievable. To think that this may be the future of PC gaming, makes me shudder.

I'm excited by this news and I don't know why. That shitty intel GMA crap in my mac isn't even powerful enough to run a popcap game. I GUESS I'M HAPPY FOR OTHER PEOPLE.

Wow, that's a great deal. What's GFWL's policy regarding activations and whatnot... is it one-time download and one-time install thing? Or is it like Steam? (although at $12, it may be worth it to play just once)

Uncovering the hidden meaning of the article's title with the magic of boolean algebra: ArtGames = !Innovative & Innovative = !Good -> ArtGames = !Innovative & !Innovative = Good -> ArtGames = Good -> !ArtGames = !Good There you have it, the real title of the article: "Art games are good, and non-art games are not good" seriously, the title should've been "art games aren't always innovative and innovation isn't always good" to avoid misinterpretation.

I'm using logitech's mx518 that lets you switch DPI on the fly (like many other gaming mice), but i find it confusing and cumbersome to use. I only ever tried using it in couple FPSs, and it only seem to add an extra layer of complication, like manual transmission in racing games which I don't like. And this thing has a thin layer of plastic coating that started peeling off at spots, and it's friggin disgusting. It looks like it's got some skin disease or something.

I'm excited for the hex tiles. Here's hoping they'll bring back FMV with live actors.

toronto's a very bland city with no noteworthy landmarks to speak of other than the CN tower... If you're in art & theatre mood, I suppose you could check out places like Roy Thomson hall, habourfront theatre, or that new opera house near University Ave. and Queen st (prolly need to book early). I like the Distillery District, but I think it's only open during summer. I think there's some anime convention at metro convention centre in late March. If you're in shopping mood, you could check out the Eaton centre, Yonge & Dundas, or Queen st. West. Yeah... it's not a very good city for tourism IMHO.

To be fair I never played the original Broken Sword - so it's possible the director's cut added some stupid puzzles and plot points that made no sense at all. It's my understanding that the portrait art on the top screen of the DS is done by different guys specifically for the director's cut: it's one of many nitpicky complaints I had that the art style you see in the cut scenes and the game itself don't line up at all. I also started playing Broken Sword 2, and already it shows a lot more promise ( ). But I still don't see any sort of logic to those puzzles. The very first scene you're trying to get out of the mansion you're trapped in, and you need to find a key to the front door! are all houses in France built this way? Edit: To steer this thread back to topic: I don't play many bad games because I try to avoid them, but I do get disappointed a lot by games I was looking forward to. The biggest disappointment has to be No One Lives Forever 2. The first one's my favourite FPS (besides half-life series). The sequel? Blech. Clearly the critics disagree: 91% on metacritic.

What the.... I can't believe the amount of negative posts about Leisure Suit Larry series on this thread! (2) It's quite possibly my favourite sierra adventure franchise. It's definitely neck-to-neck with Gabriel Knight series. Recently I had the misfortune of playing through the first Broken Sword game on DS. I hated just about everything about it, and it's probably the worst adventure game I have ever played. What's puzzling to me is that this game was received quite well critically, and often mentioned in "favourite adventure games" conversations and such. The only explanation I can think of is that this game is so bad, it's good.

Did you get the latest patch? If you're using steam, then it could be an old version - it won't automatically update unless you log into GFW and register your serial key. They also released a stand-alone patch like today or yesterday. I don't know if it will solve your problem, but it definitely fixed the glitches I was experiencing.

A person I know by proxy made Stair Climber 2: http://www.stairclimber2.com/ CSioW56BTz4 I haven't played the final version, but I'm sure it's awesome.

I guess you could try updating all your drivers first... but I suspect your videocard is overheating. Get Rivatuner or any gpu temperature monitoring program of your choice and run the game until you see the artifacts again. If the temperature reaches upwards of 80 or 90°C, you might have a problem. Clean out all the dust, and if that doesn't help, try a better thermal grease for your gpu cooler (or get a better cooler). If your gpu ISN'T overheating, you might have a bigger problem. bad ram maybe.

I love Dragon Age. Perhaps too much like Baldur's Gate games, but that's precisely why I love it so much. What I don't understand is, though, why the deluxe edition is so much more expensive than the regular edition. You get the blood dragon armour and the stone prisoner DLC for free when you register your game, so it seems the deluxe edition doesn't really offer much to warrant the difference in price.

One thing that really facinated me about Passage is how radically different it is from any other medium when it comes to appreciating the author's full intent. With books or music or movies you don't technically need to re-experience them to get the whole thing. If you choose to do so however you don't do it with anything other than a fresh set of eyes and ears. With Passage, you only get a part of the message in your playthrough, and you had to re-play, not just re-play, but re-play using different play strategies to piece together the whole message. The game is definitely telling you something, but how much you take away from it is all dependent on how much time you're willing to invest in it. Feels like a uniquely Video game thing and I like that. I dunno. maybe there are examples of this done in other medium (choose-your-own-adventure books maybe?) but the culture ain't my thing.

Passage did it for me, but then I'm easily impressed.

Gah I just found out that the fun's over (I'm a bit laggin behind). Now my way to work will be substantially less entertaining. Thank you guys for free quality entertainment. It was amazing while it lasted. And Congratulations to Nick. In fact, congratulations all around on a podcast well done!

Oh man, I just finished the demo and very tempted to go for the full game now. I hear it even lets you load the demo save file. That's very cool. Ican't remember the last game that did that.

Crackdown is probably my favourite console game ever. It alone justified my xbox360 purchase.

I finally finished Uncharted: Drake's Fortune today. (I was late to the party) It's a short game - my save file says I spent 8 hours - but it feels like I've been playing it forever. Looking back on it, I can't recall any good parts. All I can remember are negative parts. Maybe my expectations were too high. Maybe I'm just jaded. or maybe I simply don't have good taste in gaming anymore. Who knows. In any case, I feel like venting: Puzzles are ridiculously easy. It's like solving a 2-piece jigsaw puzzle, every damn time. I'm not saying they should be frustrating, but damn, the designers must think we're idiots or something! Speaking of easy, the platforming parts are crazy easy too. The series of jumps you have to make are strictly linear, and you can't make any wrong turns or have to figure out where to go next. There's absolutely no sense of urgency or excitement. I had my brains turned off during all platforming bits - it's just plain boring. You die a lot (or rather, I died a lot). unlike puzzles and platforms, gunplay bits are tough. I'd say the game is about 8% platforming, 2% puzzles/adventure bits, and 90% combat. Combat is where the meat is, so you'd figure they put the most effort in getting it right, right? Guess what the best weapon in the game is: a frigging pistol. The pistol you start with is more powerful and more accurate than the most powerful machine gun they give you. And how about that nightmarish grenade controls? Traveling upstream on your jetski: it's easily the worst part of the game. Not because it's frustrating, but because it's patently ridiculous! Who the hell is throwing explosive barrels into the rapids every 10 seconds, and how the hell does he/she know that you're downstream? Donkey Kong makes more sense than this nonsense. you kill 1000's of people by the end of the game despite the fact that you're supposed to be just an ordinary guy. There are bad guys EVERYWHERE. You solve a puzzle that opens up a hidden passageway and you think it would be unexplored and devoid of bad guys... noooo, you'd be wrong. It's full of bad guys. Remember the very first (or second) chapter where you learn to balance on tightrope using six-axis? Never used again afterwards. I sure don't miss it, but if I ever had to give evidence to how hastly the gameplay is put together, this is it. But the biggest problem? I wasn't immersed in the game at all! The graphics are nice and some of the environment look amazing, but the game as a whole didn't feel like an organic, narrative experience. It's very hard to suspend disbelief with all the ridiculous bits constantly taking me out of the game. If the gameplay isn't interesting and you aren't immersed in the world, then what's keeping you from quitting? I sure am glad that's done and over with. Now, on to inFamous...