Roderick

Toblix; no snark was intended from my side either, and none was picked up from you, sir.

To be fair, it was a very long generation. I'm glad they upgraded the hardware every couple of years, it was a smart move.

WHY are people having all these questions about 999, a game that they should just put in any of their Nintendo-made handhelds of literally the last eight years, no matter where they bought them, and play it without any problems whatsoever? Hey, remember the days when Nintendo didn't region lock their handhelds? Ancient and beautiful times, they were.

Storyheavy Etrian Odyssey? You mean the thing I literally described as wanting a few weeks ago? This world is going nuts.

Disappointed they didn't come to the logical conclusion of not buying consoles altogether, but trading one DRM machine for another.

So, HarmoKnight. I'm now in world 3. It is a fun and well-developed game that keeps throwing new surprises at you. In that sense, it's good and yes, worth the 15 euros. But you can also feel that it's somewhat limited in scope. Despite the gameplay twists, there's only so much that they're doing with this. If we're talking about gameplay evolution, I think this is kind of a dead end, unless they can build in a additional strategic layer without it becoming a mess. It's almost funny that this is coming from Gamefreak. It's the complete opposite of Pokémon: instead of a world constructed ground-up from insane battle systems and intricate randomly generated things, here's a game that's purely about the tactile experience of pressing a button and seeing something happen. It's refreshing! Maybe they need a good marriage of the two, though! Also, I keep thinking I'd be a lot better at HarmoKnight if I could tap on the screen with a stylus instead of pressing the buttons. The timing's a lot more difficult. Theathrythm uses a stylus and is so much more intuitive for it.

Here's something so blithely repulsive it makes you want to quit gaming forever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iYS4EXz6f1Q

Microsoft just turned into the upcoming generation's Sony. It's baffling to me that companies still think they can get away with these acts of unchecked arrogance and disrespect for their audience. That's a business culture sickness rearing its ugly head time and again.

Looks amazing. I hope they have some classic Garth Merenghi warped title music and a 'digitized from VHS' filter to boot.

What a loss! The video game community had, of course, his differences with the man, but his piercing insight into film stands beyond question. He wrote things of inspiring depth. Sad to see him go!

Full Throttle 2 confirmed! Fuller Throttle: Too Full a Throttle - Kickdown: Ben's Revengeance

Yoda Stories 2? I'm listening. I'm a little sad for nostalgia's sake about LEC passing, but let's be honest, aside from Force Unleashed they hadn't made particularly wortwhile games in the last ten (fifteen?) years. A normal company should try that! Most companies can't even make a good game and not get closed immediately. I'm drifting off. Farewell, Lucasarts! It was a mercy killing (Star Wars 1313? Yawn).

That's just what she is most comfortable in. I think we covered this earlier, but there is a jarring modicum of weird sexual flippancy in these games that is both inappropriate and unnecessary.

All we need now is 'Starcraft Too'.

Golgo 13. Now there's a piece of shit. That scene is brilliantly recreated in Kane & Lynch 2 though.

Eden of the East wasn't bad, but certainly not the tight and deliberate experience Moribito is turning out every morning during my breakfast.

A little further into Miracle Mask and my opinion of it has gone considerably up. I now see the game just starts slowly and explainy, but now I'm underway (2+ hours in) and the puzzels are coming and the story picks up. Notably the past bits are a lot of fun, dealing with a younger Layton. The exploration of the 3D environments remains entirely impressive: I'm getting major Curse of Monkey Island vibes from it, because of the warped-yet-soft art style. Adventurey goodness!

A couple of disappointing European attempts made short work of that. Now that I think about it, there is still tons of 2D animation being done all over the world - way, way more than 3D. Just think of all the cartoons out there, the entire anime industry, but also the arthouse films (Brendon and the Secret of Kells, Persepolis). How in the hell did I forget that when I wrote my above post? It's only when you frame the conversation in terms of 'major cinematic release that cost upward of 20 million dollars' that hand drawn animation has petered out. Everywhere else it's still amazingly present, to the point that asking the question seems absurd. Amusingly, even when we look at video games, hand drawn (or at least 'flat') animation has non-ironically, non-nostalgically been totally revived as a relevant art style.

The Paperman short is great example of how the industry is moving forward. Let's get a few things down first. Hand drawn art as a form of animation will always exist and be made, just like the range of other ways of animation (live drawing in sand, stop-motion, cut paper, claymation, etc). This is how art students still learn to animate - they're the fundamentals, the basics. Will handdrawn animation ever be commercially viable for big budget blockbusters? I doubt it. Perhaps Disney will turn out another one as a curiosity, or another studio will try their hand at it for reasons of nostalgia, but I don't see a big boom of it, like we had in the 80s and 90s. 3D has taken over, that should be obvious. But 'death', certainly not. Just looking around on Youtube shows that there is still so much handdrawn animating being done. It'll stay that way, and hey, maybe we'll see more cool fusion stuff like Paperman popping up. I'm certainly for that!

I wanna see the next Rebuild movie. I started a show that I would highly recommend as a mature, well-constructed anime: Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit. That's a singularly generic name for an amazingly animated series with literally no filler. Every scene is relevant, everything else is cut. As a result, it feels like a very deliberate, toned-down fantasy yarn that deals more with people than with the slight nuance of supernatural stuff sprinkled on top. Give it a try, I am finding it intruiging and refreshing.

Tanu, really now. Just play the damn game already instead of min-maxing your every experience. Life isn't a JRPG!

Look at it like another layer of strategic interaction that you have to consider in operating the device. Holy cow, Nintendo is giving you so much gameplay for your buck!

I (fortunately) haven't followed 'that' topic, so I have no idea what this is about, but TP, I think at this point it seems like you're attracting this sort of attention, with you behavior (without judging either way whether you're right or wrong). Perhaps you should try to let things go, or become a little more mellow about stuff. When you post things like these and get upset by them, aren't you just circling around in an antagonistic pattern of getting into heated discussions and then being hurt when other people gang up on you?

It can be a huge obstacle to develop a style that fits you. I think a lot of people struggle with that, and your teens/twenties/heck, thirties, are perfect for figuring all that out, shifting dress styles in and out, until you hit upon something that makes you look like Sean Connery (or in the case of the ladies, Klaus Nomi), or at least makes you feel comfortable. I can also relate to Stephen Merchant, who in his fantastic Ricky Gervais Guide To podcasts spoke about how he looked kinda bad, no matter what he wore. When he wears a suit, he knows that "that's the best I'll ever look." As for myself, I've taken to wearing business casual. Just a sharp and clean look with dress shirts and sweaters, nothing too extravagant, but I am susceptible to whimsy. I might just pop a skull & crossbones pin on there somewhere.

I felt underwhelmage too at first, but then after a year I tried playing a DS game and was struck by how rudimentary it looked. It's frighteningly easy to underestimate the graphical leap the 3DS made. The device isn't quite perfect, though. I'm still holding out hope for a twin-stick version with better batteries. C'mon Nintendo, do it.