DanJW

We follow the US Army Guideline here: Don't Ask, Don't Tell. (Ginger especially follows this in many different ways).

Throughout this whole Mass Effect thing I just can't get over how these people are telling such blatent lies about the game. And that no-one is really calling them on it - although good effort by Geoff Keeley (sp?) in the Fox News clip. This whole thing has seriously damaged my faith in all news reportage now. I mean I knew bias existed in all news media, but actual fabrications? I'm not sure I'll ever trust again. Shit, now I'm sounding paranoid. Can I sue Fox News for maiking me paranoid?

Hello Tong (and other recent arrivals)! You seem strangely at home here. This probably means that we will never ever let you leave.

Left 4 Dead, by the way, is sounding great. It seems to have all the best features of both the current HL2 zombie mods (Zombie Panic and Zombie Master) buffed with the usual Valve polish.

Hopefully the next box (blue box perhaps?) will contain Left 4 Dead. Certainly it's current release date coincides with Ep3.

The Black & White games do it really obviously. It would only be future proofing per se if the maximum possible detail was way above that intended for top-end systems of the day. Messiah was the first that I heard of to use this though. Other than level-of-detail-adjustment, I never really heard much else about Messiah. Is that an indication that the actual game itself is a bit pants?

I think they were successful because they weren't Hollywood. They were made by New Line and Weta, in New Zealand. Very little American input went into them.

Yufster, your constant celebrity watching is making you dangerously teenage and valley girl. I expect your next thread on the subject to be typed without spaces due to overenthusiasm. A sample: OMGdidyouseebritneyslatestphotoofhergettingoutofacarwithmaddeleinemcannicantbelieveitwasherthatdiditalthoughthepresshasmadesuchahugedealoutofitidontnowwhyitsnotlikewecare!!!!!!!!!! love from b3ta

As I heard a comedian say recently; there are two types of people in the world: those that drink tequila, and those that can never hear the word again. I was the latter until this New Year Eve, when we were playing drinking games and I was forced to drink some tequila that turned out to be very high quality and quite drinkable. As for the cheescakes... try attaching electrodes like Lisa does to that cupcake in The Simpsons. I can see you slapping yourself in the face in frustration just like Bart.

well, it didn't check the point for me. I think I might have died because one of those explosive barrels wossnames was still intact right behind me. She warped me and set it off. Then when I hit continue it went back to the beginning, and Icouldn't face it again straight away.

yeah I eventually managed to beat the various waves, and had the mid-way conversation with her. Then the second part of the battle happened, with no save point, and I immediately died. By that point I was too tired to continue. I'll try again next time i get a chance to play it.

Yeah I know that, and I used Garrus to do that. In fights with multiple biotics I seem to be screwed though - which is what is happening in my fight with Benezia.

Ahhg, the guy from the second article posted a follow-up, in the wake of all the email he has received. He has taken the kind of stance that makes it clear he is completely uninterested in re-examining his claims. He calls everyone "gamer-nerds" and says, basically, "I am right, you are all degenerate nerds, so nyer". Rather than write to him, I think I'm going to email a complaint to his employers. In other news I played some more of the game on Spaff's 360 and I'm about 11 hours in. The fluff-combat has got easier, but dammit I still find the boss battles next to impossible. I think it's the more fast-moving enemies - enemies that stay behind cover I can deal with, but if they run around lots then I can't track them with my sights (oh for a mouse and keyboard!). Basically, it's very harsh about mistakes. If I don't get in imprenetrable cover within 2 seconds of combat starting, I'm dead. If I get hit by any biotic power, I'm dead. there's no margin for error. Gah!

Oh. My. God. I wasn't going to post this first article, because it's been reported in plenty of other places. So has the second article in fact. But I just can't not post the links here, in case some of you haven't seen them yet. And in case you need your life spoiled. Seriously, this has just scored a +10 crit against my hope for the human race, and most certainly for journalism. First unbelievable article, from Cybercast. Second unbelievable article, from Townhall.

If a DS could ess dee, how much dee would a DS ess?

To my surprise, when I finished replaying Episode 1 after downloading Episode 2, the Ep 1 automatically shut down and Ep 2 started up. But yes, the names can be confusing. Half Life 2 is the full length game. The Episodes form a shorter troilogy which continues the story.

The new look Ivy is incapable of "a litle jiggling"... only seismic shifts.

WE HAVE A PULSE, DOCTOR!

it almost is. This new game has been in the game press mostly for it's incredible* pneumatics. * lit; "not credible"

Hehe I love that sketch. Lucas' trashing of his own mythology is a slightly different phenomenon though.

I guess that might be it. It likes to think of itself as historically consistant (if not accurate). More likely is that it's a major break from the aesthetics of the game (at least Link and Spawn were worked so they looked like they fitted in). I don't think Vader and Yoda will part of the story mode anyway. If they are, then it will just be daft. More so than usual.

Quick everybody, look over there - a three two headed monkey ape!

hehe. they're not official muppets though. They're homebrew felt puppets! Awesome.

Hehe that is pretty cool indeed. It also helps the discussion. You see, good-looking CGI that doesn't mind looking like CGI would be at the peak immediately before the dip into the valley (eg The Incredibles). The valley occurs as the CGI gets closer to "real" life. But it has to be travelled through before reaching the grail of "healthy person". Quantic dreams claims don't hold up because they're not even into the valley yet. Where's Joanna, isn't she meant to be doing a thesis on this?