Thrik

Just in case anybody's interested, Metal Gear Solid 3 is hitting US shores as far as I'm aware this week. It's been reviewed already on IGN, scoring a rather respectable 9.6/10, and being touted as the best in the series yet. GameSpot has also said the same thing, but only rated it 8.6 and stated that it's catered too much for past players of the series and not new fans (although wouldn't that go without saying, considering this is the third now? ¬) Anyway, it doesn't come out in the UK until June 2005, so I can't say for myself. I'll just have to look at the trailers and dream. Whilst MGS isn't a lot of people's cup of tea, it's certainly mine. IGN: http://ps2.ign.com/articles/566/566279p1.html?fromint=1 GameSpot: http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/metalgearsolid3/review.html Trailer: http://jpn01.konami.co.jp/movie/mgs3/mgs3_gc2004_e.zip And just in case you missed it, they've also announced a fourth MGS game according to this.

That was merely an illusion, my friend. Now it is fully reflective, utilising the unique Source™ Rendering Engine, and Per-Pixel Reflective, Refractive Lighting Technology! Clearly more than worth the extra cost.

Dude, Idle Thumbs is beyond the town. Idle Thumbs is up there in the clouds, floating around next to the Lord himself. ...

Dude, he still goes by Huz in the coolest parts of town. ;

You squeeze it hard enough so that it doesn't just fall out (since your fingers on both sides are holding the CD) and use your other hand to pull it out. However, if this proves too time consuming! I have developed and patented a time-tested tool which allows easy removal of the CDs, which preserves both the integrity of the CDs and the case. For a mere £19.99, this tool can be yours too. PM me for details, and if you're not convinced, check out these testimonials: "Jesus, this tool is bloody awesome." - Ben "bgbennyboy" Gorman "Whoa, this is a really useful tool. I will be using this for all of my future Grim Fandango sessions. :)" - Dave "Huz" Bowman "I must say, this is the best Grim Fandango CD removal tool which I have ever come across. Brilliant work." - Jake "Jake" Rodkin "The Remi highly approves of this tool. I recommend it to all." - Remi "Remi1000" Olsen

So, any ideas as to how well HL2 sold in comparison to, say, Halo 2? I'd be interested.

The trick is to hold it back, tilt it so that the targetted CD is hanging vertically, and then squeeze both sides of the case.

I personally love the original cardboard GF case -- it's very nice. Hell, I want to replace it at some point since mine is so tattered.

Planet Half Life calls it "Dog" on their outdated "Allies" page.

Dude, a virgin Grim? I'll pay you £300 for it. Or not.

DVD boxes are definitely the best. They're compact, strong, have plenty of room for some lovely artwork, and they just look great. I'm not really a fan of traditional boxes at all. It's all well and good initially, but then you realise that it's not exactly economical with your space after you've been purchasing them for a few years.

I would like to join you in this Half-Life 2 enjoyment, but my new graphics card must be obtained before such events may commence. However, I have changed my avatar to celebrate the moment!

Yes.. you can still download it from Steam. You just won't be able to do anything without the serial.

I didn't mind it because I completely isolated myself from the hype and all advertisement prior to playing with it, and missed their mind tricks which got people all wound up into thinking you'd play as Snake throughout. Hell, even the ingame cutscene which introduces Raiden was set up to make you think it was Snake. They really are evil.

This article is brilliant. I've always thought well of Valve, and thought all this bad talk they've gotten from people for delaying the game is unjust. If they're willing to sacrifice their credibility for a better game, then so be it -- I'd rather have the better game.

Halo 2 is ridiculous. I kid you not, three people who go to my college were saying how they've arranged to visit GameStation at midnight to pick it up, and there's probably plenty more like them. This makes me believe that Halo 2 really could have sold the 2.38 million units which are reported to have been sold here.

Doubt it. 3D Realms employees are often on their message boards, and the general impression I get from them is that work is still going ahead is planned. I mean, only a couple of months ago they were going on about how they'd just gotten a new physics engine and such. I have no doubts that it's coming, and that it will be great.

Yeah. Are we talking about the same ending here?

I've played through it a totally excessive number of times, and it never gets any less enjoyable. It's probably one of the greatest gaming achievements of all time, and thanks to the excellent art direction, has almost timeless graphics.

Total radicalania. Post any Psychonauts magazine scans you can get - not doing so is a cardinal sin for sure. Pity there's no new screenshots in there though.

I'm surprised there hasn't been a thread about this yet, and it's kind of late. Anyway, Guild Wars - a rather popular upcoming MMORPG which doesn't require a monthly fee - started its three-day testing period on the 29th, meaning that it ends later today. It's not too late though! The client is only around 60kb, and the game is "streamed" while you play rather cleverly. There is an initial first-time download of 35mb, but it's pretty tame. I don't really play RPG games and only got this because of all the hype, and was pleasantly surprised. The graphics are freakin' awesome (it looks even better when you're ingame and all the fireflies and such are darting around), the game seems fairly fun, and I am enjoying just exploring. It should appeal to fellow adventure enthusiasts like me, since there is a fair bit of the adventure element present. Anyway, it's worth a shot whilst it's free - I don't know if you'll get another chance, so I'd take advantage of it while you can. You can grab the client from their site.

I really have to agree with the whole score argument. I think that scoring games sucks, period. It encourages people to base their judgements of a game on a number, rather than giving their brains something to do and reading a carefully written and honest review. This can make some really great games get hit undeservedly by a fairly average score, and thus get ignored by a lot of people. Let's take a game which is perfect in every way for example, but the graphics aren't top notch. Say, they released Grim Fandango as is right now for the first time. Whilst it would score incredibly high in every category just like before, the chances are that it would get marked down for its graphics not being super high-poly and everything like today's grunts expect in a game. This mark-down would then result in the overall score being pulled down, and the game undeservedly getting an average score, rather than a brilliant one. This would ultimately result in a lot of people (who, by principle, only go for games whch get above average scores - unfortunately a lot of people) simply sticking their noses up and not trying it out. It's a tragic situation, but it's unfortunately going to take a near impossible amount of persuasion and effort to turn the gaming journalism industry around towards good old reviewing and simply not giving them a numerical score. It's like applying mathematics to literature - it shouldn't happen.

http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/psychonauts/556929p1.html Not really any new information, but there's some concept art and stuff in the screenshots gallery. Dunno if they're old or not.

*mature*

Oh yeah, I heard about the demo just being an arena type thing. The rest of it is supposed to be far more cinematic and plot-driven though, so I remain optimistic. Doesn't come out here for a week or so though.