Intrepid Homoludens

I dunno. It depends on the quality of the cutscenes ultimately, not just on how it's presented. I enjoyed the CG in Syberia. But I loved the in-game cinematics of NOLF2.

LOL! That's precious! My 'brolaw' also speaks German (he partly grew up there). But his Turkish accent is quite thick, sometimes I have to ask him to repeat himself. And what were you doing there at 5 a.m., eh?

I wish to meet a strapping gorgeous Austrian man. But reading your comments, make him Northern Austrian and I'll melt all over the place. My brother-in-law is Turkish, btw. He's pretty cool, like a mischievous little boy. Perfect balance for my sister who's more the earnest type.

[imagines Yufster having a drink alone in a posh club and being approached by a mysterious yet sexy iMac] Yufster: "Jeezus Cripes, cawn't a girl enjoy her spiked rum milkshake in peace around here?!" iMac: "But, but.....I'm mysterious yet sexy!" Yufster [looking it up and down]: "Hmmm, well, you are rather fetching in this green light." iMac: "Why not let me buy the next round of milkshake and we'll just chat. You know, chat." Yuster: "Wellll, that cawn't be too slick, I suppose..." [next morning, Yuf wakes up in iMac's bed] Yufster: ".....ohhhh, this headache. WTF happened?" iMac (walking into the bedroom with a Philippe Stark tray of hot coffee, croissants, and marmalade): "You were extraordinary last night!! I can't find enough superlatives!" Yufster: "I think I have a hangover."

Last night I finally seriously started playing The Thing (PC). I had capriciously bought it about 2 years ago when it first came out (why, oh why did I pay full price?) but for some reason hadn't touched it with conviction. Now, I'm a rather ardent survival horror whore, and the game isn't too shabby. There were a good number of things (pun unintended) I would have done differently, but overall it's good enough to warrant a few hours of lights off, sound up session. The strategy elements are sufficiently interesting and necessarily very simplified, although it's disappointing to see that it wasn't more imaginatively crafted into the story proper - the NPCs you work with are systematically 'infested' at the service of the narrative, they could have been better if done unpredictably. Graphically, it works well enough as an action game, but the blockiness and lack of ambient effects (dynamic shadows, intensive lighting, etc.) had me grossly missing the Silent Hill games too often. The sound is perhaps the game's best work, with minimal use of music and moments where nothing but the howling winds of Antarctica are your only companions. I really wish they had styled this game more as a suspense type adventure, where the fighting is scarce and the psychological edge in character relationships cranked up to highest, where the dread of not knowing when the next awful sudden moment is far more frightening than the moment itself. My only apprehensive and tense feelings happened at the very beginning, just before the first fight with those little nasties. After that it became conventional and banal. But still, I'm having a rather good little time with this. In short, I wish the Silent Hill development team (including the director and music composer) had been given this project and used the SH2 or SH3 engine. Anyone else play it? Share thoughts, please.

Blair Witch Vol.1: Rustin Parr had the creepiest installation interim I've thus far seen. Basically a slideshow of some of the ghouls you meet and places you visit, but the soundtrack was chilling - a little girl crying, leaving echoes. The load screen was simple yet highly effective - a nearly indiscernible image of Parr's house deep at night, while the moon's lunar phase acted as a load meter.

Laughing Out Loud. Of course it looks awful, Looking Glass / Ion Storm Austin have never been known for good artwork and such, they're more respected for better gameplay. I honestly don't think their art direction is very good. Such a shame, isn't it? Thief was released around the time of Half-Life and Quake III, and graphically it's....well, to put it bluntly, it's rather ugly looking for its time. Thief: Deadly Shadows should have been named Thief: Butt Ugly Shadows, even it is being criticized for its lack of attractive graphics.

Bitch. Anyway, I believe there is a certain code you need to slip into the .ini whatchamacallit by way of a thingamajig in order for Thief to play in XP. I'll try to find it for you. EDIT: Here, I found it. Hope this helps.

You embarrassing fool!! Play it already!

Gamespot news, 7/1/04 Yay! I don't have to play this shiny shiny FPS on a console! Unfortunately I'll still have to put up with the likeness of the ugly Vin Diesel. Eiw.

My sister bought some havarte the other day. We ate it all.

"You look like you need a monkey." "Excuse me?" "I have a very fine monkey for you. Only twenty dollars, American." "Sorry, but I don't want a monkey." "What did you say?" "I said I don't want a monkey." "Why not?!" "Because I don't like monkeys!! Now get that filthy beast away from me!" "Are you insulting my monkey?!"

Trep Yufster Wrong, 'it' girl. ICO is about a horny headed boy who rescues a magical princess from a bad witch's castle.

Ah well. Still, for all the all bells and whistles in the game you'd think they'd at least allow more people to be able to enjoy it. Fook, Splinter Cell runs 10,000 times better than T: DS on my sister's rig and it features practically the same game mechanics and graphics. If you ask me, IS have turned out to be a bunch of morons who ultimately allowed themselves to get caught up in all that bleeding graphics trend shit and forgot to sympathize with the many of us who don't waste so much money on the latest tech shit. I'm pissed, and it's justified. You don't really think I had no knowledge of that already, do you, hot stud? Frightening? [remembers a certain online chat revolving around SP: Pandora Tomorrow multiplayer] Quite. Unless you do so with a lover as foreplay.

Gentlemen, my work is done. But the man is still an idiot for giving away his Thief game. And on that note I suppose I'll finish the Thief: Deadly Shadows demo before retiring for the night.

Um, lemme put it this way. DX and whatnot is like your catching your grandmother smoking weed and defending it by quoting Milton. NOLF is like catching your grandfather putting on high heels and fishnets with garters and declaring his passionate carnal love for goats.

Jeezus Crumpets, man! How many times do I have to tell you? You do NOT bonk a guard when he sees you. You tippy toe up to him and bonk him from behind, he'll never know what hit him. And Garrett, for some fooking reason, wears fooking tap shoes to work, so crouch and tread slowly. The guards have predictable patrol patterns, pay attention and time your moves. Carpet, grass, and moss do not betray your tap shoes. Concrete, stone, and metal do. If you want to bonk like the best, then learn to bonk properly. Oh, and feel free to throw shit like bottles and goblets across the room, guards will always go to investigate where they land and make noise, giving you the chance to sneak past.

The humour is subjective. You either got it or didn't, it was both highbrow and lowbrow. However, the gameplay was more or less damn solid. There were times when the humour brilliantly harmonized with the challenge of a hardcore first person action game. Don't let the lightheartedness of it fool you, the NOLF series is fine action gaming at its best. Anyone here remember the fist fight with Armstrong? I kept getting killed because I was too damn busy laughing my ass off from the absurdity of it all.

You idiot.

I love cheese.

Eiw. Who the hell said that? That actually sounds.......EIW! [cringes] Not to mention that it was conceived and launched during the height of the....[shudders].....New Age trend. Let's face it, Myst was a product of fashion. Many of its whores were crystal rubbing, Navajo security blanket holding, Yanni music orgasmic geeks who probably owned 17 cats and spent 200 dollars on an ounce of rare herbal tea. I did, however, love playing realMyst because it was in real time 3D. Poking around the various Ages without fear of getting fragged was fun for a while. Seriously, though, the game looked disgustingly beautiful in real time 3D! Okay, okay, I'll admit it. I hung around in the bonus Age of Rime and meditated on the whales. It was that jawdropping, so STFU!

The first couple of times I watched Patrick Galloway die various deaths in Undying was novel. After that the unskippable death cutscenes became sheer torture.

I consider ICO to be a work of art. In addition to the visually exquisite, impressionistic world it creates for the viewer, there is a transcendent spiritual element involved that nearly all other games lack, the entire experience resonates of sheer beauty and conveyance beyond the conventional interactivity and technical qualities of 'gaming'. ICO is the very first game I played where I travelled beyond 'gaming'.

I didn't mind the respawning so much, but that the game relied waaaay too much on it like a nympho slut living a wet dream out loud is unforgivable and deserves at least one entire point taken off. The Siberia levels would have been one of the best series of levels ever it it weren't for that. Otherwise, I enjoyed the game immensely, though not as much as the first NOLF. NOLF2's cutscenes were very impressive and the entire thing was of the best quality (as always from Monolith ), but I missed the dingbat wackiness of the first NOLF, the world was more populated and felt more alive. NOLF2's slight move away from irreverence leaves its world a bit barren. At times I felt I was playing a straightforward ego shooter. In the end, I had a spankingly drunken great time with the first NOLF, but NOLF2 felt too much like a.......computer action game. You understand, don't you?

Craft is basically mastery of skill and technique. It's ultimately not gravely required in art making, but it can greatly augment it. Suffice it to say that craft can be vital in the particular and overall quality of the end product. Um........no.