Roderick

That sounds really good, including the price! Can you put PDF's en DOC's on it via USB or does it need to go through some official channel? What I'm asking is, how open is the system? I was actually preparing to wait another few generations before making a purchase, but this seems like a big step forward already.

Thunderpeel, what are the exciting specs of the Kindle 3?

Apparently, for Scotia the world isn't worth a damn if it doesn't have Bill & Ted in it.

More weird Westwood goofs: on my box of Lands of Lore 1, it says that the evil witch Scotia wants it all, the whole world 'including Keanu Reaves.' Yeah.

Speaking of asses, was anyone else disturbed by Tosh' spandex ass that always seemed to jump out of the screen in some unsubtle shots? That was like a goddamn 3D effect.

In Hand of Fate you had to create potions via an alchemical process involving either randomly spawning items (shells on the vulcanic beach or snowballs) or actual hardcoded items (the infamous 'toadstool'). Fun in itself, of course, though at times very confusing.

For some reason the micro-system-based elements in Malcolm's Revenge really do it for me. I love that you can get caught by doing this or that and you get sent to prison. And there's this weird rudimentary alchemy system where items are useful for various things that's strange and undecipherable, but also has a charm. All of this is just to say, it's such a weird game. I can see how it doesn't have universal appeal. But for me it ticks such an array of boxes just right that I love it.

A trifle 20k gems, that sound doable. Man, I am pumped for this game, after playing Starcraft II. Can't wait to once again have a single guy under my control instead of an army. Could it be because the most enjoyable SCII levels were the ones where you just had a single Ghost that you had to puzzle your way through the level with?

I went through the campaign a second time, this time on hard, but stranded on one of the more difficult mission. It wasn't even that it defeated me, there was just too much stuff going on and I threw up my hands and declared that I wasn't having fun anymore, and that was that. So Normal it is for the duration of the game. I don't mind. It's enjoyable that way.

Yesterday I happened to watch The Dark Crystal, also with Brian Fraud designs and somewhat of a showcase for Henson's Creature Shop. It's a pretty weird movie, very simple yet compelling. The Skeksis are really disturbing and freaky, I can't imagine children not being scared to death by their behavior.

CaptainDish, you totally made me want to replay Malcolm's Revenge. Sure, it's got horrible design bits, but it also has murderous squirrels and a deadly mime. Not to mention a fantastic McGyver joke and a fake audience laugh track.

I think we've all been had. Toblix just described the 'Dig' missin with the laser drill, which takes place way before the Odin mission. I think! (Maybe you can play so asynchronously that you can do the Dig before the Odin.)

God I hate elitist subcultures and their bullshit. Will give the documentary a go, but it's tiring, isn't it?

No. I renounce that future through the power of my will.

The Kyrandia series is fantastic! The first one is a rather King's Questy swords and sorcery tale that takes itself seriously. The second, Hand of Fate, is superb. You play as Zanthia, a spirited sorceress out to save the world. The great thing this time is that the world is so wonderfully crazy and funny, filled with detail and animation. The third one goes in yet another direction. It's by far the weirdest game in the series, but incredible nonetheless. You play as the evil jester Malcolm and you have a dial that puts you in different moods and attitudes, from friendly to menacing. The world has gone bonkers in this game, with people literally talking backwards, fish empires, Elvis Presley in the afterlife... it was amazing and truly bizarre. And filled with hilarious jokes, not to mention!

This thread is getting me nostalgic. And makes me want to ask what the worst and/or most obscure adventure game is you've played? Mine would be something like Arc of Time. Not horrible, but very middling.

So, is Mafia II that game with the underwater city?

What an experience. Terrifying!

Yup. SC1's Mengsk speeches (and Brood War intro cinematic) were spine-chilling and struck the right tone. Mengsk never seemed quite as bad this time.

Chris and Karimi, thank you. As for the story, I partly agree. I liked it just fine, especially the ingame cutscenes. I didn't mind good old boy Raynor at all, I liked it for what it was. The prerendered cinematics though were almost without exception really off. I couldn't quite tell why, but where earlier Blizzard games always had me drooling over them, this time they seemed so lame. Perhaps it was the added 'cartoony' element ( ) that didn't gel with the high fidelity graphics, or that they just don't fit the tempo of the rest of the game. They were completely overshadowed by the fantastic ingame cutscenes in any case.

Thank you, those are some very interesting thoughts, especially about the food cap and unit selection. I have another thing I'd like to discuss: I feel there is a tendency for an air arms race to start in games, and once someone dominates the skies the other players are generally dead. Is that a true observation, or once again a sign that we're not playing 'right'? Air units just seem so much more powerful than ground units due to their manoeuvrability and power.

After repeated readings (I am a reader after all), I must say that The Silken Goku is probably my favorite Idle Thumbs podcast.

Good suggestion! I haven't used it much yet, but will incorporate it in my rush next time. I hope it doesn't delay the rush too long.

After having spent the entire evening with the office playing insane Free For All Starcraft 2 matches, there are some things that came to light. Firstly, we're all not good enough to finish each other off in the mid-game. So it all inexorably heads to a big clash of Tier 3 units. I want to learn how to crush my opponents with just a choice squad of Hydralisks and Zerglings, not necessarily sit it out until I have fifty Brood Lords or whatever, and I'm up against tenhundred Carriers. What's the deal here? Why can't we finish this? It's true my opponents are mostly turtlers, but I can't seem to break through (Zerg are by definition not turtlers). It's also apparent that early rushes are pretty easy to avoid by walling off the choke point. Which sucks for me as Zerg of course The few times I can squeeze my Speedlings through there's hell to pay though, I rip his entire economy to shreds. So good! But I do still feel there's a game in there that I'm not yet playing.

I just read the Eurogamer interview and it, too, has made me a little apprehensive. It really does sound like they're aiming for another shooter-in-a-pretty-place. It'll probably have wild and awesome mechanics, but no Deus Ex or Oblivion set in Columbia, then. It's funny because Levine mentions in the interview that one of the problems in Bioshock was that all the player had was a hammer, so that everything looked like a nail. He then continues to explain how Infinite will have much more hammers to pound nails with