Roderick

Synthetic, I think you strike a good point, which is that the player brings a lot to a game themselves. Playing in the right atmosphere can really enhance an experience. I may start experimenting with this; playing in isolation and darkness, to see if I can get that done. Atmosphere is a super important ingredient, and old adventure games could shine with the right conditions. Outcast is a game I love very much and played to death (but never finished it due to gamestopper designer bugs) when it came out. A few years ago I tried it again, but it was a hard sell primarily because the resolution (below 640x480) is really low and stands in the way of this fully realized world. The voxel engine is amazing, but the game wasn't designed with the future in mind, ironically. It was so ahead of its time, but they should've incorporated (if that's possible at all, I don't know!) resolution features for at least twice what they had. Sure, no PC at the time could run that, but even in 1999 everyone knew tech was growing at crazy speeds. Now that I dig around a little, there are apparently some high resolution patches, but none especially stable. Worth checking out, maybe.

Who am I? I don't know.

I try not to spam my film blog too much around here, but I've just posted a bit on L'année dernière à Marienbad, and I think it touches on some interesting points about the film. I know there are likeminded fans of Marienbad here, this is for you. http://www.filmadeus.com/2013/02/lannee-derniere-marienbad-last-year-at.html

I agree with you on the majority, there, but I don't think it's fair to compare complicated matters of corporate finance with complicated matters of social government. Yes, both are complicated, but the latter is comprised of things that dig deep into our lives. We get angry not because we are told we should get angry (well, a little bit), but because they concern morals and the way we live and what happens with tax money that we pay. Of course there's anger- and fearmongering going on, and a lot of 'false' anger, directed towards topics like immigration. But when it comes to stuff like abortion and bailing countries out - yes, that's complicated, but it's also something of genuine concern to a lot of people.

I fear that the Morrowind graphics mod will make me feel like I'm not playing the same game I know and love. Then again, maybe I've fallen into the trap of remembering the game as far more impressive and beautiful (visually) than it really is.

I can only agree. This was Steven Spielberg at his action direction finest - in the way that Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls wasn't. Tin-tin rocked and had great energy.

Damn those flagpoles are fucking annoying >_< That's a bad bit of shit right there. Finish! I was seriously pissed off about the flagpole jumping, which took me some twenty loads to get right. The problem was that my laptop choked on that bit of level and you need to jump onto the pole itself, whereas the knob of the pole (we're getting into porn territory here) was constantly glowing and shining - making you believe you had to jump there to latch onto it or something. Combine that bad signposting with a with louse framerate and that's a recipe for extreme frustration. I'll tell you, I didn't expect to enjoy this game anymore after that. I was too worked up, too agitated. I hated it. Then there was a bit where I and that made me smile again and the game still won me over in the end. It wasn't a full pleasure though, thank jupiter that TFoL didn't have any horrible jumping bits in them. Fuck me.

Very interesting thoughts, Tycho. You've pretty much got your article right there Anyway, this is making me return to Gravity Bone right away, since I never finished it. I couldn't figure out how to negotiate the window sills i n the second level.

Just to bring some counterweight to this, I loved it. Granted the plot didn't make a ton of sense, but no less than, say Live And Let Die. What it did so right was bringing the same thrills as Goldeneye: the past coming to haunt Bond (MI6), in a very personal story. You're saying you weren't touched by the way this film developed the relationship between Bond and M? The reason I like this film isn't for the plot, it's for the strong emotion underneath, that strikes such a nerve. (And the cinematography). It poses a lot of interesting parallels and questions that haven't really been asked during all those years: what will happen to Bond if he continues being a spy - end up like Silva? Is Bond really such a macho or does he have gay feelings? What happens when he starts to fail? Wherever the film doesn't make sense plotwise ( ), there are so many emotional truths to it. Anyway, I (re)watched Batman Begins yesterday. It was the first time in a while, so I only now noticed THIS: and proceeded to shit myself.

Absolutely, the hardware failures on that platform were inexcusable. I waited for a whole new batch of motherboards in like, the third generation of 360s, and the thing still died after three years. Hey, guess how long my second hand Game Boy held out? Forever. OK, not entirely fair, considering the hardware. Gamecube then? Wii? Those fuckers won't die.

That makes me so sad, the mass production EVA toilet suddenly looks like a Damian Hirst creation.

Here's an old favorite: Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos. I know, I whip that out at the merest convenience. The game is 2/3rds HUD, but look at this beauty: What I like about this is that various elements (the book, the scroll, the compass and the oil lamp) are objects you find in the game and are then added to the HUD. What further sells the immersion is that you can directly interact with the environment to press buttons and levers, and you can drop/throw objects from the inventory into the environment. That always sold the world to me. It has an immediate tangibility that is so different from a lot of other (J)RPG's [from that era], that would feel more like you're going through menu's and orchestrating puppets rather than really inhabiting a universe. At first, the post stamp viewport into the game is off-putting, but after a while you don't even notice how small it is anymore. It's that absorbing.

You know, it's pretty amazing how well the PS3 managed to exude that 'incredible hardware' angle. Even today, when I think of the PS3, I think of the best and most futuristic hardware ever - despite it being over half a decade old at this point.

Related, there was a [way too recent] point where I got really worked up about the definition of RPGs, just so I could drive another nail into the JRPG coffin. The ensuing discussion (are JRPGs RPGs at all?) was fun, but I also realized I was being kind of a dick with my hammering on old, outdated or narrow definitions. I think the same might apply here. So, TP, I get where you're coming from, but maybe/hopefully you'll look back in a short while and laugh at yourself too, like I did.

I have a six year old Skies of Arcadia Legends save that begs to be continued.

You know, I think Evangelion is a great introduction if you're, you know, in your late teens or early twenties. Later than that and I fear it might be off-putting rather than enticing. You know, for reasons of subtlety. I'm actually more of a manga reader than an anime watcher, but I think things like Saturn Apartments or Dorohedoro might appeal more to the mature reader/viewer.

Probably only funny for the Dutchies is this silliness I made: The woman pictured above is our queen Beatrix, who loves to sculpt busts and heads. When I saw archive footage of her going at it on tv (because of her recent abdication announcement), all I could think of was Lionel Richie.

Lemme hear some love for the, admittedly not great but still kind of fun, Crahs Tag Team Racing! ...No?

Finish! [/Mario Kart] I am quite pleased with this game. Overall it was practically a carbon copy of Brotherhood, but hey, I didn't mind it going in reprise. The (historic) story set in Istanbul I thought was very well done, a tight experience, and the Desmond bits were of course all but baffling. A little strange not much attention was paid to Lucy, with all the stuff that happens to her in Brotherhood. But then again I am impressed with how they're slowly dripping out the story over four games now. It's soapy, yeah, but it works to tie the thing together. After all these hours, I'm still not very enthusiastic about Istanbul itself, it just doesn't have the scope of Rome. It was a functional setpiece, more than a beautiful place to walk around in. The break to Cappadoccia was very welcome and well done. According to my schedule, I will now proceed to wait until the next game is out, and then buy a discounted AC3.

I haven't laughed this hard at a film in a while: Symbol, a 2009 Japanese absurdist philosophical comedy thingy by Hitoshi Matsumoto. A man in polka dot pajamas wakes up in a white room, without any doors or possibility to escape. Like with every good film, I urge you not to read anything more about it and just watch. It might not be for everyone, because it's very very Japanese, but by gum it's worth it if you do enjoy this sort of thing.

I hate that Trigun bullshit. Just tell the damn story, thank you. Don't go with inane bait-'n-switches halfway through. It ain't original, it's just annoying.

Beautiful short, I love that technique. Thank also for posting the making of video, Mington.

Wasn't Space Brother a big hit in these parts?

I love 70s hairdos. While we're on the subject, I thought Towards the Terra was a pretty good anime (and a fun manga too, To Terra, btw!). It's one of the first shojo sci fi stories, from the 70s, and pretty influential. Okay, Summer Wars is great and I am especially awful enough that I also realized it was the successor to the Digimon movie. I have the Digimon Movie on DVD. Yeah, it's pretty bad, but I love it and it has a special Angela Anaconda cartoon about Digimon at the start. Don't judge me.

"Three alarms and you're out, Fisher!"