Roderick

Yes. I have to actively pull myself away from the computer to start doing useful things. I think this is a common problem, especially if most of your actual work happens behind a computer screen. It's easy to just stick behind the screen all day and hang around forums or browse news sites, and get angry when there's nothing new anymore. The few times I found myself without internet were always delightful. Scary thought.

"Not exactly a great investment return!" - IGN.com

Haha, classy!

No, YOU carry on being gorgeous! I just had a terrible time on the road. I'm learning to drive atm and today I just made the most heinous mistake after mistake in the inner city. I'm going to call this as just a bad day and tomorrow will surely be much better. I hope that everyone goes through these learning pains and I'm not somehow inadequate for driving.

I don't want to push his secret action button.

The Dinner is a Dutch modern classic by Herman Koch, and I think it would be ideal for the podcast. I finished it, yesterday, in four sittings. It's set around two families having dinner with each other, and the murky secrets involving themselves and their children. Darkly ironic and very fascinating. http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Dinner-Herman-Koch/dp/1848873824

I must beg to differ on V for Vendetta: I thought it was a terrific film with some breathtaking moments. Haven't seen Speed Racer though.

So, the Cloud Atlas movie: should I see it or not, having read the book? I'm not looking for exhaustive descriptions, just a emphatic confirmation or decisive no.

I have pre-ordered a Wii U, pretty much exclusively for reasons of work (can't review games if I don't have the console), but even so I'm getting a little excited for it. Aside from all the prospects of the machine failing or not, or where it'll stand two years from now, I'm just looking forward to checking out the GamePad and seeing how that'll affect games. The one question I don't see answered anywhere online (and perhaps that's because it is a silly question?) is whether the GamePad functions as a Wii Remote when playing Wii games. The Wii Remote is compatible with the console, but I'm wondering whether I could play games like Super Mario Sunshine (that only very subtly uses motion controls) or Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (purely motion control based) with the GamePad. Does it use the sensor bar? I know that it in fact has its own sensor bar, so you could theoretically aim a Wii Remote at the GamePad. The reason I'm interested in this is that I dislike having three different controllers for one console and would enjoy a 'catch all' solution.

From a gamer perspective, my big problem with Freemium games is that the very nature of it changes the game. Games with a high, set entry price are generally unconcerned with earning further money (unless it's through standalone packages), and their focus is on providing the absolute best quality gaming experience possible. That's not the case with Freemium, where the objective is to provide an addictive gameplay experience (abusing inherent psychological weaknesses) to coax people to stay and purchase goods. It's a game that doubles as a market place, where the latter often overshadows the former. Worse, the whole experience of the game is usually tied to making purchases, e.g. you can only get to the higher end areas if you buy this or that. It's the opposite of what I want from an interactive experience and as a result I generally am not interested in these types of games. This opinion is, to clarify, based on the type of Freemium that exists on micro-transactions and purchasable goods (all Facebook games), not on the sale of a monthly subscription such as World of Warcraft.

Nappi; I read that very book earlier this year. It's a very exhaustive biography on Tesla, you'll learn pretty much everything there is to say about him. Perhaps a little overly detailed at times, but interesting nonetheless.

Holy shit, for real? I have to check that out. I didn't realize that, but then I read Thousand Autumns first. If I'd have read Cloud Atlas first I would've likely noticed. What I also like to point out is that both the passage of Adam Ewing and the whole of Cloud Atlas suffers from having a not particularly interesting protagonist. Did anyone else feel this way? Ewing and De Zoet aren't terribly exciting, nor are they that imperative at all to the plot. They're more like observers who are there to register what other, more crucial people do to propel events forward. As main characters I was to many degrees more excited about people like Frobisher, Cavendish and Sonmi. I'd also like to weigh in on the order of reading Cloud Atlas of Thousand Autumns: I don't think it matters that much. I read them latter to former, and didn't feel the one 'prepared me' better for the other. Thing is, Cloud Atlas is such a stylistically unique and overwhelming book, nothing you read can prime you for it.

This topic totally made me realise something. Because for years and years my policy has been not to buy a game unless I am going to play it pretty much immediately. This has served me very well, since I have almost no backstash of games and I never spend money on something to gather dust. However, that applies only to physical copies of games, it now hits me. My Steam library is 3/4ths filled with games I haven't even installed yet! What gives? I guess the reason is that I don't care when the game is virtual, and stuff like the Steam Summer Sale is irresistible for stocking up. As long as the game doesn't take up actual, valuable space in my house, but occupies solely a 'possibility space' in a virtual library, it's fine. I should mention that the reason so many games are left unplayed is that I don't have internet on my main desktop so I can't activate any games on there. Ergo, the only games I can effectively play are on my laptop, which limits them to FTL and Binding of Isaac. Thirty Flights of Loving was already almost more than my machine could handle. Bummer, because I would jump to start playing Legend of Grimrock, Shogun 2, Hitt Man: Blood Cash, &c.

Though I agree with the sentiment, Problem Machine, I think FTL is complex enough that it takes a long time before you have explored every option. Just consider the quite wide array of different ships (9 base ships each with an alternative scheme): factoring in those variables alone will take you dozens of hours. It's true that you start to encounter the same scenarios again and again, but after 34 hours of play I am far from experiencing this as a slot machine. I've only really mastered two cruisers, the rest is still unknown and exciting territory.

Especially the use of 'Ford' seemed to me a deliberate reference to Brave New World, which has the same sort of reverence for Ford.

The Mantis cruiser is finally mine! I just had a massively successful run where I was swimming in money because I got the Scrap Collector addon at the start. I got no less than four laser guns, so if I timed it correctly I was firing nine laser blasts at the same time. Nothing stood a chance, but it also shows how (over)powered lasers are in comparison to the rest. I've noticed that the first shop you visit always has both a teleporter and a drone control, which is super useful. And today I noticed that the end boss is really the only time where rerouting power is really useful: when you hear the familiar 'boom boom boom' of missiles being launched, it's time to divert all powers from shields to the engines for maximum evasion. I would so love an add-on, or a neverending more, or whatever. I just love cruising around this universe.

Yes, missiles are probably the most useless weapon in the game. I rarely bother with beams either and just stick with bombs and lasers. I just roughed up the boss on Easy with four laser weapons equipped. He didn't stand a chance. I have to disagree with a sentiment aired on the podcast that the game would be better if it had better (and more) feedback. I don't want the game to specifically tell me that my oxygen is not on or that I've left a door open. The whole game, not just the interface but the ship as well, serves as an overview on which you can elegantly read all the information you need. I like that you learn to spot things quickly, that you are forced to look as opposed to just do what is suggested. It's really not that hard, but it's very satisfying.

The crystal cruiser unlock is one that isn't so much dependent on picking the right choices, as it is about getting really lucky. I've had two runs back-to-back now where I got the stasis pod and crystal guy, both in both cases they spawned so late in the game that there was no more rock homeworld to travel to.

It is a rather unfortunate placement of the graphic, but I've come to find it amusing and still want one.

I concur. Silent Hill is for some reason totally acceptable to me where other horror games are emphatically not.

Yesterday I saw the recent Dutch film Doodslag (Manslaughter), about an ambulance driver who gets into an impossible moral dilemma and his subsequent deconstruction. A relevant and gripping film about violence against emergency personnel and the parasitic role of demagoguery in our society. The lead is comedian Theo Maassen. He brings an irresistible mix of vulnerability and dark turmoil that buoys the film.

The latest European Nintendo Direct stream confirmed a host of 3DS titles including Guild 01 and Devil Survivor. And they announced the Pikachu 3DS XL would arrive on our shores. I think I want one! A nice design is apparently all I need to take the step towards a marginal upgrade. To be honest, my 3DS is also starting to rattle a little. Something inside the hinges must've popped off or something. The XL is supposed to be a lot sturdier, which I welcome. Of course, the whole thing is still steeped in Dual Feelings, since the lack of a second nub is an astounding oversight they'll almost certainly remedy with another hardware overhaul in two years. I wish Nintendo would stop cutting corners. Compromising isn't entirely bad, but it is if it's to the detriment of the hardware.

Oh shit, it's already out? I am literally on the last thirty pages. I guess one month really is a little too close, and I thought I was doing really well too. Bummer. Will finish up and then listen to the cast, and perhaps hasten to get the next title.

So, what I discovered recently - and I don't know if this is common knowledge - is that the Youtube loading circle is actually a game of Snake you can play with the arrow keys. A small mind-blow.

I'm actually pretty glad they're so successful. It's not fun for the homebrew community, but homebrew was never the aim for Nintendo; they want a closed-off platform where they monopolize the content. The R4 flash card put some serious hurt on the DS, no matter how successful it was. R4 was (part of) the reason Capcom didn't bother with translating Edgeworth 2. I have no love for it whatsoever and am glad to see it irrefutably combated and blocked. Cliffy B is a cool, high-profile dude who has done a ton of good communicating the value of games to a broad public. Underneath his hip facade are a lot of genuine, careful ideas on video games and I will speak few bad words about him.