Roderick

Nais!

That's another great step. I found this interesting: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=mediation-correlated-with-structura-11-01-22 Apparently, meditation can alter the physical state of the brain within a matter of weeks. Good for people with anxiety problems! (Myself included.)

It's actually great to hear that. I mean, I've known it, but to hear it confirmed is oddly compelling Thanks.

That's so gross! ;; I'm in the thick of trying to get a job. I've been carefully scrutinizing job offers and companies I'd like to work at for the past months and it's quite a stressful ordeal. I'd most like to get a writing job in games (after all I know about the industry I still want in, I must be mad!), so I'm focusing on that. Next to actually getting the aforementioned job, the biggest concern would be emigrating. It'll be tough to leave the Netherlands, with all my friends and family in it, for an unknown set of years and settle somewhere abroad, possibly half the world away. Trying times, and unstable of feelings.

Unless you're being ironic, I'm curious what you were expecting from Duke Nukem Forever that wasn't in the trailer?

Actually kind of amusing, in not such a bad way

Day One Perch, though my wallet is already crying. I have to though, I need a 3DS for my job.

I don't think you should give the eye strain rumor any thought. It won't turn out to be a real problem. For one, a ton of people have already played with the 3DS last E3 and there weren't any problems then that we heard of. Secondly, nobody wants another Virtual Boy, Nintendo least of all. They'll have tested the shit out of this before considering using the tech. And yes, of the launch games only Professor Layton has any merit to me, and that's a title that could have easily done without 3D. The wait is for the proper Resident Evil and Ocarina.

The conference (the Amsterdam version) was pretty lousy. Honestly, why can't Europe put up a decent show like the Americans? Beacuase the people talking here (admittedly, a lot of them were Japanese) had so little stage presence. As for the thing itself, holy shit, what a non-show. No big announcements, most titles were not that interesting at all, and there just wasn't any... you know, any bomb dropping. The pricing is ridiculous though perfectly in line with how Europe always gets shafted, by everyone, continuously, and the region locking -well, I've said all I'll say about that. My enthusiasm for the 3DS has actually somewhat evaporated over the last few weeks.

The wizard strikes again!

One of the very few games with true AI was Lionhead's Black & White, and that just became a confused mess in gameplay terms. That wasn't due only to the AI of course, but I do think if you have actual AI you need to set really clear perimeters and boundaries to harness it into anything useful.

Dan, I think it's more universal. We tend to get enthused when hearing about how NPCs can have daily routines and interactions, but in practice it's never quite as interesting, and hardly ever carries the emotional weight that a scripted event would have, where you know that something is being said, something progresses. Perhaps the fundamental boringness of this sort of thing comes from the fact that it so clearly is 'meaningless'? In the lightest sense, we might crave direction, an authorial hand guiding the world?

THE GREEN HORNET WAS ATROCIOUS DON'T SEE IT FOR THE LOVE OF MARDUK

I'm still very much conflicted about whether to buy this for PC as I did Oblivion, or for the Xbox 360. On the one hand the PC version offers flexibility and possibly better graphics. But since a few years I've taken a preference towards relaxing on the sofa when playing games, and Skyrim would be the kind of game I'd like to play for hours on end. Historically I don't care too much for mods, so that's not a big problem. I guess it will depend in a light way also on the graphic fidelity of the console versions and how stable they are. If it's a buggy game, I'm better off on the PC where a quick patch fix is easier to arrange. Let us be honest here: this game WILL have some bugs and crashes. The question is how severe the problem will be. For the record: I'm always optimistic and I fully believe that it won't be a big problem. I'm just saying.

I have yet to see The Green Hornet (and I will), but let me make these bold statements up front: 1. I know very few movies that wouldn't benefit from having an extra 15 minutes chafed off. 2. Cameron Diaz became wholly superfluous and obnoxious after Charlie's Angels (1). 3. Cameron Diaz spent up all her sexiness in The Mask. Now she's just an annoying twat with a weird face, which I don't want to see smeared over a cinema screen at any particular time. 4. I fucking hate 3D. It's useless and reduces both the quality of the image (everything gets muted and gloomy) and the amount of information you get (details are lost in the background). It is bullshit and I want it to die at the quickest convenience.

The Kindle 3 is god damn sexy and I want one. However, I'm miffed that there isn't really full support here in the Netherlands. I'd have to import one (I guess?) and then use whatever limited selection Amazon has chosen to bequeath to the feeble strap of land that is Europe. Maybe I'll wait a few more generations. What do you make of the trend that e-reader manufacturers are now creating hybrid tablets in a bid to win over the iPad crowd? I'd prefer seeing them further developing the specific e-ink tech and keep the device focused on the reading of books, rather than diversifying into a losing battle against Apple.

SURELY there is security cam footage of that feat! Also, I desire all women in the west to also wear yukata. Kingz: Ehn, yes. Kromz: Don't sweat it, see PM.

Thanks for explaining And I hope things work out in Jordan the way you describe. You tend to hear more about the people in the middle east taking matters into their own hands, demanding change. It could be the start of good things! (My apologies that I asked you to explain things, though, because apparently when you make an effort to learn something from someone, you're supposed to already be an expert on it, or else you'll be treated like a dumb idiot here on the Thumb )

I was only commenting on the apparent surprise of the statement in the initial post, no need for insults

I just saw Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and it is without a doubt in the top five of most atrocious films I've seen in the last ten years. A miserable piece of garbage. I was literally facepalming constantly throughout the movie. Every plot twist was horrendous, every event a horrible play on Greek mythology and every character a complete dumbass. This was supposed to be a Harry Potter killer? It can't hold a candle to the effortless charm and realization of the HP world.

I'm not trying to be facetious here, but hasn't the middle east been pretty fucked up for a while now? It's pretty hard to understand the full breadth of what's going on from here, but between Israel, Iraq, Iran and Sudan, it appears a hotbed of turmoil and strife.

Nice!

(Gerbil: yes, both the machine and the games will be fully region-locked.)

I don't know about Spain, but game shops in the Netherlands are stocked with import titles that I never even heard of. Whether or not they're must-have classics is another thing, but there are a thousand RPGs and adventures that we never see, including interesting releases of titles like Lux Pain with soundtrack CD. However, even if every game eventually saw a release here, it would still be no excuse to lock it to a region. It's purely an antiquated tool to govern the economic interests of Nintendo of Europe. Instead of increasing the quality, service and speed of their product, they choose to lock it off so consumers don't have the option to vote with their feet anymore. It's quite malicious.