Roderick

Do you have an exhibitor's pass? Because then I strongly recommend that you hustle your way into the EA stand in the business area through subterfuge and chicanery, and then proceed to drink free beverages. Two years ago I counterfeited a heartwrenching tale of incompetent editors bungling my appointment, and then I met Tim Schafer, a Mass Effect producer and Kane from C&C. Well worth the sin!

I don't think any of us took the term 'subspecies' in the mouth. That makes it sound a lot more drastic. And the differences between human races run far deeper than just visual. From the tolerance of foods (Europeans and their descendants can drink milk, Asians and Africans can not) to physical differences (due to natural selection the feet muscles and tendons in certain African tribes are longer and stronger, making them by far superior runners/jumpers to others. Then there's body length, differences in skull shape, skin colour and many more. You are correct that, as in most of nature, sharp boundaries are often not present, so we have to rather arbitrarily or crudely decide where race ends and begins, but that's not the same as saying there is no such thing. As for putting red-haired people into a separate race, I can't say anything about that since I have little knowledge about that. It might be, it might not be.

You're going to be SSX-ing A WHOLE WEEK? That sounds awful! I wouldn't last for more than three days on a crowded convention like that! But do your best! I have no idea what SSX even is! It sounds like extreme volleyball!

No, they had nothing to do with de Blob anymore. They're currently working on Awesomenauts, which is looking pretty sweet if you see the trailers. Shame about the THX plant. De Blob was pretty nice!

Will you be at Gamescom on Wednesday? That's when I'll be there. If I see you SSX-ing it up, I'll come up and say hi =)

In the broad sweep of history and evolution, there are definitely 'races' of people we can describe. Crudely, yes, but it's undeniable that there are such things as different peoples and races. We're all human beings, but there are subdivisions in that too. Compare a pygmy to a Swede and it should be pretty obvious. There is an astounding level of biological diversity within the human species (far less than dogs, but infinitely more than, say, zebras).

I haven't heard from them yet, but have sent a follow up. I really hope to get a reply in the next coming days, otherwise the avenue's as good as closed for me. The Club is an expensive 'western' haven for expats and diplomats. Families can go there to relax and swim or borrow some English books, but there's also places for business, a restaurant, room for events. It's a very broad complex for just about anything you'd want to do in a community. I also want to make clear that with what I said about the riots; I didn't mean to take on a tabloid tone of 'fuck those minority hooligans'. I empathize with their plight, just not with their actions.

I find it very hard to empathize with these people. They're hurting whatever cause they think they are fighting for. This reminds me of what happened in the Parisian banlieus a few years back. I'm sure there's a solid undergrowth of problems with unemployment, perhaps racism or oppression, et cetera. But that doesn not excuse people from just doing what they want to and ruining their neighbourhoods. At the root of any other crime is always a reason too, something understandable. They could've protested in other ways. Civil disobedience. Silent protests. Ghandi did it, and his problems were insurmountably bigger than theirs. Nelson Mandela didn't choose violence. These folks do, and the punishment they will inevitably get is their just desert.

It seems mindless and infuriatingly opportunistic. I don't know the circumstances of the 'man in Tottenham' who got shot by the police, but this is certainly a deplorable way to react. Shameful.

Gentlemen, I have fucking finished this game and can finally revisit this thread. I am SHOCKED and APPALLED to see that the opinions here are REASONABLE and MIRROR MY OWN. This is an outrage, sirs. Catherine is fantastic. When I started playing it, I was really rooting for it, I wanted it to be good, so it was delightful when it transpired that it was. This is definitely a game that I will consider for GOTY, even against the likes of Portal 2. Catherine really touched me in the sense that it spoke to me as a person of a certain age and in a certain life phase that rarely gets covered by games. What other games offer you a slice of Vincent's life? The late-20s, early-30s young man who is kind of vexed by becoming an adult and struggles with questions of meaning and commitment. That is what I'm knee-deep in right now, though less with relationships and more with figuring out where I want to go with my career and future! It felt so compelling and fresh that there is finally a game that covers that. And covers sex in a way that it's not some juvenile masculine wish-fulfilment, some reward for a job well done or power-up. No no no, sex exists in the context of a relationship and it's complicated and messy. Catherine acknowledges that. Not only that, it builds these themes out in a uniquely gamey way by making the player climb towers, pushing and pulling blocks, haunted and chased by nightmares. Only a game could've exploited these feelings so well, the panic of being chased, the sheer vexation of having to climb. I hate to bring up this discussion again, but this aspect of Catherine shines so brightly as an illustration of the storytelling that gameplay in its pure form can bring, forming an emotional link between the player and the thematics of the game, that it is the most compelling argument for games being 'art' for whatever it's worth. An artform in itself with unique means of communicating grand ideas to people --not a derivative of other artforms or media. That, then, might be the most surprising aspect of Catherine: the block puzzles aren't just slapped on top of 'an anime' or dating sim or visual novel. They are an integral part of the game and push the theme and symbolism harder than anything else. Without the gameplay this story wouldn't exist. With greatest regret I too saw Catherine burn up in the final acts. It seemed to me as if the game, at the very last moment, couldn't muster the courage to let the symbolism stand on itself and made the unfortunate decision to explain everything. Via the weakest possible way, even. The explanation is not really bad, it's just wholly unnecessary and obnoxious because in the end it holds Catherine back. It cheapens the symbolic strength of what came before. It's such a shame! Catherine could have been, I genuinely mean it, art. But it chooses at the final moment to stay in the sludge of video game. But. A GOTY-worthy video game.

So rich! Icing on the cake is that final panning shot with Superman casually entering the building with a hand bag.

PRAISE BE AKATOSH, AND ALL THE DIVINES (The Nine Divines are boring. Now Daedra... Daedra are never boring.)

Ouch, Orvidos. Hang in there, and don't give up on life yet! There's tons of things to do still, stuff to experience, not just from the past.

Who made this? It looks almost Kingsleyan!

A do not consider a 150 Dollars pricetag 'reasonable', let alone a 150 Euros one. Look, I just don't care about a statue. What the hell were they thinking? THe Oblivion CE was really cool and had a minted Septim, awesomely tying into the lore of the series. But this statue doesn't do anything to enhance the flavor of world, it's just some generic dragon. So, I'll just be getting the regular version, and download a rip of the making of.

Fuck, Miffy, that's a hailstorm or awfulness. Hope you get better soon. Is the bronchitis thing permanent or only until the mould is gone from your lungs? Otherwise you can take up Egon's hobby: I collect spores, moulds and fungus.

Ohhh that's precious.

Yeah, it's always a deeply personal decision. I'd say your hating the place you work at outweighs any pro except for 'I will starve if I quit' or 'I am earning literally millions'.

That is brilliant!

Ha. How weird. I put the emphasis in the wrong place so I edited it and somehow it became a whole new post.

Polygon count seems to me of lesser importance. That might easily take away the charm and design of the models, whereas the textures are just sharper and 'more true' to vision of the game.

Nice, Thunder, very accurate. Did you change the texture file in the game or is this a photoshop?

That last one should've read 'DD'

I disagree that there is anything sexist about that. Mass Effect are deeply narrative games and they chose a character -at the root of the story- to serve as the 'face' of the games. It's actually a lot less logical to promote two characters at the same time: think about how confusing that would be. You'd think this game has two protagonists, a man and woman, fighting side by side. A series like Elder Scrolls solves this problem by not featuring a lead character at all, but rather letting the game world be its prominent image. That wouldn't work as well with Mass Effect, as it's so story-driven.

I checked out the different Shepards and I'm not surprised that they went for the blonde version. The others had hair with far less contrast, blending darkly in the background. Design-wise, the blonde hair was the most interesting. Either that or the darker-skinned one, which oozed with character. I'm not interested either way though, I'll be playing with the gargoyle box version Shepard I've been playing with all this time. I'm commander Shepard and I approve of this message.