Roderick

How can one prevent his credit card from being cloned? Also, WARRIOR MONK Miffy!

The strings are made from Yoko Ono's hair.

So, is there a variable package coming out with this game, or do you need to buy the full thing with drums and guitars in one go? Ideally there's a package with a guitar and microphone, but not the drums.

Coming late to the party, still wanted to give my tuppence about Spinner Cay. I still love how it feels like Monkey Island, with the cast being splendiferous. Now that Elaine has a larger role, it becomes obvious how fantastic her in-game model is, coupled with the great voice acting. She's genuinely cute! That doesn't happen all that often with a 3D character in a game! However, on the whole I thought this episode was less good than Screaming Narwhal. Mostly because the puzzles were of pretty poor quality: lots of fetch quests ( ) and puzzles that had only a single step. The few moments of brilliance ( ) weren't really exploited well from a puzzle perspective either. The foundation was there, but it wasn't used to its fullest. I'm also starting to think that the lack of production values (which isn't a taboo term, I hope!) is hurting the game more than I initially thought. The cloned characters really don't do the universe justice and during parts like , which should have felt epic and grand, it becomes almost pathetic because the graphical oomph is lacking where the game pretends there is. The result is that oftentimes I get the feeling I'm playing a great concept of a game, with an execution that doesn't do it justice. I understand this is because of the budgetary and time constraints, but the reasonable argument that I shouldn't complain because it's only 8 Dollars per episode is irrelevant. When I'm playing, I don't calculate how much money I've spent on it, I just feel the potential of a game and whether it fulfills on its promise. As it is, I'm really enjoying the experiences, and there are plenty of touches that are great (that transition from the tiny islands to the ship, wow!), and the characters are great, but there's also a lot lacking in the execution, both qua puzzles and production values.

Indeedly.

Amazing story, Miffy. You acted very cool in that situation, totally like the warrior-monk we're all trying to be Awesome.

An iron lung? You'd have to be careful stepping into magnetic fields with that on.

Big Bang Theory really had to grow on me, and even then the main point to keep watching was because of... that one nerd guy. The Doppler Effect guy. I forget his name. The rest of the ensemble just doesn't cut it. How I met your mother, however, shines, in my opinion! What a wonderful ensemble, really giving the show warmth and humour.

Disney didn't just pay 4 billion to Marvel just so they can change a winning formula. Disney doesn't want to slap Mickey Mouse onto everything. They own half the world already (the rest belongs to Viacom), including Miramax (nothing 'Disney' about that) and even porn labels. So Spiderman will remain Spiderman, and I don't think SLG will see changes either. But that I'm not sure about.

OKAY, I've finished Psychonauts, and there's two things that I have to say. Three things, actually. 1. Meat Circus wasn't as bad as I remembered it! In fact, it was kinda fun! There were a few frustrating bits, but otherwise, it was really nice! =) 2. Psychonauts still has one of the best, most fulfilling endings I've ever seen in a Video game. It just hits all the spots, both emotionally and narratively. 3. I never noticed this, but Crispin Whitehead is voiced by Dwight Schultz! Yeah, Howling Mad Murdock! He's a great voice actor, I've heard him in many animations. Good stuff!

Wow, that's amazing. I don't know how many times I've wanted electricity to just beam down from the wall to a device without cumbersome cables. I knew they'd crack it at some point, but so soon! Also, TED is great. Just imagine though: our kids will grow up in a cable-less environment, and we'll have to explain to them what that was like in for what must seem to them as some prehistoric, 'wired' age.

Starcraft should run on just about anything. Diablo 2, I remember, was quite the beast when it came out, but should run just fine now on everything as well. Awesome that you bought them though. Both games feature really involving stories with excellent voice acting and dialogue. Man, I once cheated through Starcraft just to hear all the intro cutscene dialogue again. Come to think of it, I've never finished Starcraft without cheating at all! Apart from the difficulty being ramped up, I'd always get so bored with building up an entire base again that, after about halfway Zerg campaign (that's around 15 levels), I'd just start cheating to spare me the effort and get on with the story. I'm not much of a realtime strategy player, though I adore the genre. I expect things to be quite different with Starcraft 2 though, since they're actively making sure all the levels are different and do not revolve around repeating mechanics, rather taking the 'minigames' approach, which I think is an excellent move. Also, I don't know if this was featuerd in the current podcast or a previous one about Starcraft, but I kind of liked the idea of there being persistent quests that you could perform for boons during the game. I hope they've replaced it with something that retains that feeling of additional, optional quests, and not cut it out entirely. Zergling wings!

But in the end, it doesn't matter anyway, cause this is the dawning of a brand new day, and it doesn't matter what you've heard, cause I'm the motherfucking monk.

Thunderspiel. That's your new name.

I just started playing the Bringing Down the Sky DLC (which came as a bonus with the Classic edition of Mass Effect). So far it's fun. I'm always loved driving around on planets that had a huge other planet behind them on the horizon. Epic!

Same goes for me. What I had feared is basically happening: they shot their load with Wrath of the Lich King, which in Warcraft storyline terms is the culmination of everything happening since Warcraft III. Though the revamped old world interests me, and Deathwing obviously is extremely cool (he never went out of style since War2), 'tain't no Arthas.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think with Cataclysm they've made a truly genius move. See, the game doesn't add a whole lot of new areas, but instead revamps the old areas, storywise because Azeroth is being 'sundered'. This gives them a great opportunity to recreate the whole world with the better graphics of the newer expansions (like you said: higher texture resolutions, better shadows, weather effects, water, etc), without having to spend huge amounts of time updating a world that isn't in the picture anymore (because: lowlevel). So with Cataclysm, Blizzard is really doing exactly this (updating the graphics), in the form of a new expansion. Of course, it won't exactly be Mass Effect levels of high fidelity models et al, but it should help bridge the gap between it and newer, beautiful MMO's like Aion and Warhammer that will, at least graphically, pose a threat to Warcraft's crown.

,,Comin' riiiiiight up... sir!"

Goddamn those Commandos (1?) levels are beautiful. Just, absolutely, unapologetically beautiful.

Man, I loved Desperados (and the first Commandos first as well!). The setting was just awesome. I sucked grandly at it, never getting passed the storming-the-hacienda level (which must have been like, level 6 or something). Robin Hood had its niceties, but on the overall wasn't really... I dunno.

So, is anyone here going to Germany come August? I'll be there, in Cologne, on the biggest European games convention (and attached GDC) from the 19th tot the 21st. The 19th is the press day and afterwards it's open to public. So if anyone is coming, it might be fun to meet up and play some, you know, video games! http://www.gamescom-cologne.com/

Shouldn't have drank from that magical elixir! And Scrobbs, I read on Kotaku that the Gamescom (and Cologne, perhaps?) did have a very unique, nice atmosphere. Apart from the convention, the city itself has a lot to offer as well, in terms of musea, the great cathedral and shops.

How I got it was kind of embarrassing/awesome though. On the press day of Gamescom I visited the Rock Star booth and, not kidding, a gopher questioned whether I was 18. Now, I know I look young, but I'm 26! So I told him so politely (it's not something I get angry at for that matter, it's an honest mistake), and he immediately got me the Gay Tony t-shirt as an apology. I heard they were pretty rare, by the way. I certainly didn't see others walking around in them. Mass Effect 2 tees were all around, by comparison.

The beautiful thing is that I wasn't even supposed to be in the (restricted) EA press stand. I unfortunately had no appointments there, so I had to literally con my way into there, pretending my editor had screwed up with the arrangements*. Once they had let me in, it was all about free drinks and snapping shots with the stars. That's what rock 'n roll is all about! (*Everyday I'm hustlin'!)

The truth can't be stopped!! And yes, that is a very Gay Theft Auto shirt.