ThunderPeel2001

Uhhh, unless I'm missing something, the whole thing is about Computer and Video Games (as referenced many times in the document itself and by the fact that it was compiled by the Entertainment Software Association). I LOVE the fact that my generation, the initial gaming generation, now mark the average age of a gamer! There was a time about 10 years ago when gaming seemed to be for a "younger" audience because no-one older than my generation was gaming -- like "it's time to stop that now, only kids play games!". But no! They were wrong. As I said at the time, we are the first generation to grow up with computer games, pushing the boundary and taking games with us. That's the reason why there wasn't older people playing them - and now games have actually crossed over into the older demographic (thanks, no doubt in some way to Nintendo) and we've won. Yay! 70-year-old gamers FTW! (I wonder, incidentally, what type of games we're going to be playing when we're 70? I started playing games that used ASCII characters for graphics... Now I play GTA for too long, go outside, think about ramming other cars and wonder why no-one else is doing it. By my calculations, in 2040 we'll be in The Matrix )

Rape School?

Ha! That's actually pretty damn cool (in a brilliantly funny way). It only failed when it actually tried to be funny... playing it straight was hilarious. I'd love to see a character killed in a movie who just suddenly started flickering and disappeared (like old baddies in arcade games). No explanation, no reaction, just like in games.

Nope, you're wrong. I'm a filthy cheater: Calling 625-555-0100 drops a brand new spanking NRG-9000 in front of you, instantly. Just the thing when you're attempting Stunt Jumps Thankfully summoning vehicles isn't totally considered cheating by the game, so you can still get achievements (unlike using a health, weapon or police stars cheat).

I think I might be able to make this evening... Woohoo!

Hmmm. No replies... Not seen Karimi for a while now...? He's probably been locked up. (For rape.)

Well I started going through the Gang Wars because, well, they're actually pretty fun. Sure enough you start getting weapons in your safehouse for every 10 you complete. 10: Sawn-off Shotgun 20: Automatic pistol 30: ??? 40: ??? 50: ??? I think you unlock vehicles by doing races, too. Does anyone know if using cheats to summon certain vehicles stops you from unlocking things in GTA games? For example, if I got a taxi to every stunt jump in GTAIV and then summoned a Double T (or whatever) in order to do them, it would still count, right?

Yup, for some unknown reason it was shot 4:3. But it's still great

Just thought I'd give a heads up to any Dave Gilbert fans out there... His first "professionally made" game is released today... Emerald City Confidential I'm definitely going to play this at some point, I've loved his previous stuff.

Yup. It's hard to believe they were THIS unprepared.

Er... Right. It's very good (and cheap)

Wow, I had no idea that so many people are interesting in these sticks. Pretty cool stuff. The Tournament Edition sounds the best (a replica of the actual stick used in the arcades... nice!), but I'm guessing they're limited? I'm sure Mad Catz are manufacturing them as quickly as they can.

Yours is good, too

That's fucking amazing!

Review: http://www.richardcobbett.com/codex/journal/filingcabinet/emerald_city_confidential/

Really? They seemed totally impervious to my many bullets... it was very frustrating

Ok. So I've played and completed it. I have to say that's highly enjoyable and seriously recommended I have no idea what this review is talking about regarding Johnny being so despicable that it almost ruins the game. The reviewer made such a fuss about the character being so unlikeable that when it came to a later mission where you had to "harm a character you care about", they almost threw down their controller in sheer frustration. It was such a strong reaction that I thought "this has to mean that you're the final assassin at the end of GTAIV", but no, it wasn't that bad at all. The lead character, Johnny, is a biker dude who complains about how his motorcycle club ("The Lost MC") and its leader, Billy, have lost their way: Too much violence for the sake of it, is one of his major complaints. But conversely he'll also happily go on a mass-murdering "Gang war" mission (this is GTA, what else are you going to do on missions??)... This might bug some people, I guess, but if you ignore this lack of continuity because, as I said, it would be pretty shitty to have a lead character who didn't want to kill anyone in GTA(!) then I think you'll get on fine with the character, even if he's not as likeable as Niko... Johnny isn't as sympathetic as Niko for good reasons, though: You're playing a member of a psychotic, fringe biker-gang, the type of social outcasts that Louis Theroux would investigate. So it didn't bother me in the slightest that I didn't love the character, or totally get with his ideals of "sticking to the man" -- but I was more than happy seeing his side of the events of GTAIV and enjoyed being part of the gang. (I almost feel like going back to play his missions in GTAIV now, just because I know so much more about him.) Speaking of which, I really enjoyed how they took a character that was actually featured in GTAIV and told their story during the same time period as GTAIV. A very cool idea that makes the game feel very connected the main story we all know and love. After playing Lost and Damned I believe there's a lot of mileage to be had from this idea, even if they didn't totally take advantage of it this time around; Niko hardly appears, and says nothing new when he does (which has probably a lot to do with Michael Hollick's unbelievably poorly thought-out way of handling his grievances, and presumably being an all-round-pain-in-the-ass to work with). Let's hope that Hollick and RockStar sort something out for the next add-on, but I'm not hopeful. Despite being pushed back, The Lost and Damned is also a bit buggy and not quite as polished as GTAIV. The problems are not gameplay ruining, for sure, but I did find myself failing missions simply because I wasn't aware of what the game wanted me to do. There's one mission in particular that I didn't realise that I had to keep holding down RT for most of the mission -- until then I just assumed the camera system had broke. Another mission became a lot easier when I realised that if I called my back-up at one precise moment they created an ambush for me -- slightly before or after and it was too late, and the game wasn't very forgiving about it. An early mission involves dropping one of the new weapons, pipe bombs, under otherwise indestructible trucks (a bit annoying that this these were otherwise impervious to damage, but anyway). In theory it should have been fun, but after a few fails I realised it wasn't fun at all and that it was just a hell of a lot easier to shoot out the tires/shoot the driver and THEN role a pipe bomb under the vehicle. The storyline seemed to be missing some damned obvious twists/tie-ups, too. Presumably this will be all be tied in up in other add-ons, but there didn't seem to be any good reason to leave it open now. My final complaint is about the achievements: FIVE?! That's it? Microsoft have decided that all game add-ons only add FIVE achievements?? That seems ludicrous considering it's also giving away 250 points (XLBA arcade game give away 200 points in 12 achievements!) This may sound like a very minor thing, but there are a few new elements added to The Lost and Damned (Gang Wars, Biker Racers, Arm Wrestling and even.... Air Hockey?!), but there's not a single achievement attached to any of them (except for knocking 69 fellow bikers off their vehicles during races), which means if you're like me, you'll probably not bother to take the time to explore/complete them just for the sake of doing them. (It's especially stupid considering you're given a massive 100 points just for completing the main mission... What a waste. What were MS thinking?) Anyways, despite these minor quibbles I thoroughly enjoyed delving into the world Johnny and the Lost and look forward to see Liberty City from another side in the future (through the eyes of a corrupt police man, maybe? Maybe the female cop who pretended to be interested in Niko?). Here's a little tip for races: The longer you hold down the baseball bat, the harder you hit.

http://www.skynetresearch.com Or is this something to do with the new movie?

Exactly. I don't know why I even mentioned it.

If you've not already played it, you'd be best not to get your hopes up too high... It's just a platform puzzler more than anything.

Don't lie, you secretly hate us. We can tell.

Heads up... The PC version of Braid is being released at the end of March. I'm actually tempted to pick it up again... Would that just be silly?

I have some worry that there's going to be a PS3 only add-on that's somehow "better" than Lost and Damned... I'd hate for there to warring add-ons -- like you have to buy both consoles to get the "full" experience. That would really suck (for me). Could this be a time-based thing, btw? Braid was a "360 exclusive", but it was only for a set period of time. In theory it could come over to the PS3...

Sorry dude, current circumstances do not allow. Also, this does not inspire confidence re: your non-rapist claims: http://www.idlethumbs.net/forums/showpost.php?p=99817&postcount=20

I loved the Alpha/Zero series (3 was perfect, once you understand the different "isms"). The HD remix looks pretty great and everything, but if it's LITERALLY the same game but with better gfx, then it's definitely not top of my shopping list... Although, like you I was very interested before it came out.