Roderick

No, I was there during the winter. The whole thing was quite absurd and wonderful. Because I lived there for three months it didn't feel like a vacation and therefore strangely more distant because I had so much time to get used to things. As for your maxim, I am inclined to disagree. I think living in LA is a profoundly bad decision, since the city is absolutely ill-equipped to facilitate the state of being happy. The atmosphere is one of complete competition (if you're in the entertainment industry anyway) and everything there is aimed at working. Therefore, it is probably the best place on Earth to work and make a killing, but the worst place to have a splendid, balanced life. There's too much frantic energy there. I've seen so many unhappy people there during my short stay, completely obsessed with work and getting rich, to the exclusion of all else. Victims of LA, I call them.

No, I've been back for a month. Don't tell me you want to meet up, you had three months to arrange something!

I finally got my outfit for kendo (hakama and keikogi) to wear during training! It looks pretty smart, if I do say so myself.

Mind-explodey!

YES.

Jackie Rodkins Tell me Hot Scoops was behind this shenanigan! I laughed out loud when I cam across that. I'm not far yet, but so far this has been the ride: the first two hours I was incredibly jaded and the game couldn't interest me. Then after you encounter the first Big Daddy again, suddenly it's like YEAH, LET'S DO THIS! Right now I'm enjoying it hugely again. Storywise it's definitely not as bad as I had imagined it (so far!), and the characters are pretty cool. Good job, Two Hot Scoops.

Yesterday I finished Edgeworth and it was great as always =) I did miss the court room scenes though: nailing the perp to the cross just isn't as powerful as it would be if it happened in the bench.

Since I'm interested in the Napoleonic era, but haven't played a Total War game yet: is this game at all accessible to newcomers? Is there a strong narrative side to the singleplayer, as trailers seem to suggest?

My best memories of playing WoW were the times when I was listening to the Idle Thumbcast at the same time, or watching The Untouchables. Talking about dangerous things, Citizen Kane almost ruined my life

This year is the 2007 of video games, which was the 1998 of video games.

How can this game still blow my mind with these things?!

Hilariously, the MSX was produced in the Netherlands by Phillips. It was popular in exactly two regions of the world: Japan and the Netherlands The games I played on it were Zanac, the flight shmup I showed a picture from, the awesome Knightmare from I believe Konami (Check this out, must see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFbCz538ng0) and a slew of other games I unfortunately don't know the names of anymore. Mappy. Comic Bakery. Something with an Indian in a tree. Something in a dark castle. Something with a space knight and a kidnapped princess. Good times.

You're quite right. Even though it's all sequels, it's a fantastic time to be a gamer. Excellent harvests for the past couple of years, actually.

My first videogaming experience: MSX: Zanac:

Hahaha! =D

Mass Effect 3 could well have a bit where if Thane was still alive after 2, you could visit his death bed. That'd be poignant. Also, I will not follow Marek into battle. Nor will I join his crew. I will choose another to perform my loyalty mission in his stead.

I know I've posted here before but damn is it good to hear another cast again. I find it marginally strange to be already speaking of the podcast being repetitive. Or that it's 'not the best one, but good'. That's not how I approach it at all. To me it's just a 'thing', that I amuse myself silly with. It feels like coming home. Ohh man, The Bodycount of Monte Christo.

Didn't Molyneux announce his speech to be making a lot of people 'angry'? I was expecting Fable 3 to break through some established gaming paradigm. Now it's clear the anger is at how he suckered us all into believing something worthwhile was coming, again. In a way, this is totally admirable.

Hooray!! :tup::tup:

I liked the lot I'm playing the remaining hidden sidemissions now, the ones you get fom scanning planets. They're so awesome! Although they often err on side of short and easy, it's lovely to see the developers straying from the core gameplay with these tiny little vignettes of experimentation. Delightful!

I would strongly advise against watching The Plan altogether, as it tarnishes the impression of the show. Once you've seen it, it's hard to unsee it

No sequins?! This is bullshit. Seriously though, I realized the same thing. I came back to review what had happened in Diablo 3 land in the last 3 months, and the whole petty discussion instantly made me sick with the pathetic state of fandom nowadays. Every decision is scrutinized and lamented. You'd almost wish Diablo 3 would just be a goddamn My Little Pony game, for the exclusive pleasure of telling all those fuckers to go fuck themselves. Imagine how it must be for the D3 developers, being harassed and assaulted constantly by morons. It's almost enough for me to not want to play the game anymore for fear of being associated with that segment of fanbase.

I don't have a lot of problems with the story and characters, I thought they were all decidedly brilliant. The story had me glued to the screen at all times. The characters were incredibly interesting and fun to explore. My biggest criticism of Mass Effect 2 is that it's way too predictable. With Mass Effect 1 I had the feeling I could expect anything at any given moment. A mission might have me shooting, but also present me with a dialogue or driving, or some unexpected boss. Then, upon organically returning to the Citadel, I might be harassed by a reporter. In ME2, it's so incredibly clear how the whole thing is structured, emphasized by the end-of-mission screen. It quickly becomes apparent that it's all just about It's just that I never felt that I was on a huge, unexpected trek though the stars. Despite that there were lots of surprises something just conspired against it. I may not be able to explain it well. It's a small thing in any case. It's a beautiful game, I loved it. And since all these things I missed were in Mass Effect 1 already, I can just regard the thing as a whole and be fulfilled

That sounds pretty interesting. Wouldn't mind reading whatever you come up with myself!