Thrik

That's true, although with other manufacturers it always seems so obvious what's a new console and what's simply a rehash. I don't know if it's Nintendo's marketing, naming schemes, or what — but I have a really hard time keeping track of what exactly is what. It can't just be me. I've come across more than a few people who thought that the Wii U was just another Wii model, and how many people really understand that the 3DS is a whole new console and not just a DS with 3D? And now there's the 2DS, further confusing that particular point. It just seems like madness, and it looks like Microsoft is joining the fray with their naming of the Xbox 1. I mean One. Which I guess can best be described as the Xbox 360 2. Or the Xbox 3?

Man, I am getting so tired of Nintendo's relentless cycle of models. It's getting to the point now where I can barely discern between what's an updated version of an existing console and what's entirely new. So this thing is basically a 3DS without the 3D, right? Or is Nintendo considering it a step onwards, and it could potentially have its own games which aren't on the 3DS? Jesus. I mean for me this is fine because I can't actually see the 3D on the 3DS due to my weak left eye, although the form factor is weird. For home use it's absolutely fine, in fact having an unhinged pad like the Wii U pad is probably better in all respects — I know that I generally used my DS as flat as possible. But for slipping into your bag or a pocket it seems unsuitable at best. If I had to guess, I'd say that this is for the parents who buy their kids a handheld but it's always used in a living room, bedroom, or car. In other words, it being ultra-portable isn't such a big deal.

Man, rap is something else when you don't understand a word they're saying. Otherwise some enjoyable specimens of rap. I quite enjoyed hearing this fellow the other day. Does this even count as rap? It certainly has common hallmarks such as an obsessive fixation on status and money. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PMoX-iclpM

I'm going to be honest: I'd never heard of either of them until this thread, and having just listened to both of their individual samples I wish it'd stayed that way. I'm not really sure what you mean by anything in that first sentence so I'll just assume I'm missing something.

Jesus fucking Christ. I'm all for alternative music but this is really taking the piss. How can anyone seriously enjoy this?

Yeah, there's a lot of physicality to pinball machined that I've never experienced in a video game version. With that said, today's consoles with their sensitive shoulder triggers could certainly do a lot better than, say, a keyboard and mouse.

Same Wind Waker HD gameplay footage: It actually looks more faithful to the original than I expected. For some reason the early media gave me the impression that we were looking at a serious overhaul of all the art assets, but most of the original geometry and textures seem to be intact — just in higher resolution. I'm totally fine with this, and the (dialled-back) bloom looks good. I'll tell you one thing though, after listening to Blake Robinson's renditions of the Wind Waker soundtrack I'm really wanting some remastered music in this shit.

Seriously, what? Jesus.

There are quite a few cheque scams knocking around, one of which is 'accidentally' sending you a cheque that's too big. When you reimburse it the whole cheque ends up being invalid and you've lost however much you reimbursed. I think cheques work in a relatively weird way (at least in the UK) where even if you've had the funds deposited in your account they can still be taken away significantly later once the bank does more thorough checks. I personally would be inclined to have nothing to do with them and insist on other ways of paying.

It's not a bad idea to have a phone number associated with your email account, considering that otherwise if someone did get in they could both lock you out and then have free reign with any site you've set up to use that email address as a 'Forgot your password?' address (probably quite a lot).

This is some quality shit for Banjo-Kazooie fans, even better than the prick tease that was Nuts & Bolts' soundtrack: Banjo-Kazooie Symphony - 72 mins The musician's YouTube channel is an absolute goldmine of orchestral game music renditions, by the way. I'm quite partial to the , not to mention the .

I don't know how far it can go, but I synced one PS3 controller with my PC via a cheap Bluetooth dongle. I'd be surprised if the same software doesn't allow for multiple controllers. Xbox 360 controllers are trivial to sync wirelessly if you use Microsoft's official receiver.

OK, here's a part three that's could actually exist during this decade. Remember those sweet Half-Life 2 fan movies that were made some time back? Here they are: It turns out that part three was fully filmed, but the creators didn't have the time to do the masses of ambitious CGI they'd need so it's just been sat on the cutting room floor. But they've decided to put it on IndieGoGo, and it sounds like even if it isn't fully funded it'll still be produced — at a slower pace. They've done a teaser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ3wsONvHXY I think these videos are cool as hell but it's one of those things where I don't know if I care enough to back it and wait for it, heh. But if anyone's interested, you can back it here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/half-life-escape-from-city-17-part-3

Put the ad on dating sites too for unpredictable results.

This will be the last GTA we get for about five years based on past history so might as well wait for one's ideal platform. In my case, that'd be the PS4.

Yes I'll play it on my PC which can barely run San Andreas. :~

360 version was significantly better than PS3. I don't think it has much bearing though because that was the early days of the generation and developers overwhelmingly did shit PS3 ports.

Haha. Yeah, people will be desperately ICQing him all 'Seriously man, actual leaked shots and everything!!' and he'll refuse to look until it's posted on the newsgroups — which will never happen because Valve will be banning the WON IDs of anyone with the guts to post the screenshots.

Sadly I think some of us derive a small amount of glee from knowing that as we bump it.

Half Life Demo is Here!

I do like the comments made in Skyrim and Fable about your apperance, for example in the former guards will take note of what weapons and armour you're carrying and make appropriate comments, and in the latter you'll get praise (or not) for how nice your clothing is. It does all feel very arbitrary though, like there's an obvious slider of 'nice' to 'not nice' even though I personally might find something cheaper cooler-looking than something expensive. It'd be nice to make the NPCs feel more subjective and like they actually have opinions on things.

You still have baggers? I don't think I've seen one here for about 10 years. The only exception is when it's a mini-supermarket and there aren't any proper bagging zones, so the person at the till bags as they do it and then hands you each bag as it fills — which they do pretty acceptably for my tastes. Seems like a waste of money for shops to have dedicated baggers knocking around though.

Makes sense, I guess they're hoping to get some Kinectimals in there. If they can do it without diluting the 'Zoo Tycoon' part of the game to ridiculous levels that's totally fine with me. It's a bit like how Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 and Theme Park World had the silly 'ride the roller coasters' mode and shit, but still a full-on building/management side to it too. That game really does look gorgeous, though. That bit at the end where it zooms out to show the traditional perspective... man. Man.

Exclusive Zoo Tycoon? That is quite bizarre yet it's by Frontier so I'm definitely interested. I'd prefer Roller Coaster Tycoon but I'll take what I can get.