Roderick

Here's to you, Hobbes! *clinky glass*

The day of the exclusive is over -unless the console companies are willing to fork over an enormous amount of money. I'd say Nintendo's actually doing a good -if risky- job: forcing exclusivity by making a batshit insane console whose games will not play properly on others That said, I see a lot more possible appeal in Piñata for the DS than for the 360. This sort of sandboxy game works best on a quick-play handheld anyway. But then I say that for almost all genres. Hey, anyone excited about the Crystal Chronicles DS trailers? I know I am.

After a stairwell nonce-bashing. In the drugs episode he apparently gets a politician to ask questions in Parliament about the drug 'Cake', which targets the 'Shatner's Bassoon' area in the brain I also love the bit in the beginning where they report about a peadophile dressed up as a school walking down the street.

Peadogeddon is great! But what does the announcer say in that bit at the end of part one; the preconstruction of where pervert mechanics have built the convicted pead a robotic body? He says something about a 'roboplegic wrong-cock', but I can't be sure what roboplegic is. Did I hear that right? Hilarious though

I think you misunderstand me. I actually quite like the uncanny valley theory, as I do most nice-sounding scientific theories. I just think it has become tired because a lot of people are throwing it around without proper justification. Any and all academic research I obviously condone: why the hell shouldn't I? It's merely that, as a catch-phrase, it's going the way of 'post-modernism'; becoming a [temporary] cultural cliché. That says nothing about its validity. As for the stylus; too bad Thanks for trying though! Much appreciated.

It's not that we don't care, but I get sick of all the people using it abundantly without knowing exactly what it is. Worse, presenting it as a fact where it is just a theory that has *some* research behind it, but certainly not enough to demonstrate its truth beyond doubt. Perhaps you are doing exactly this?

GoW is especially good 2 vs 2. Co-op, but also deathmatch! Double win! If you can go online, it might be a possibility, but I don't know for sure. And have fun with Spaff!

I doubt Lego's get clearance for their MMO to use other existing worlds. No Spider-Man, Star Wars, Harry Potter or whatnot, I'd venture a guess. That doesn't mean it won't be possibly great of course. Actually, I think it'll be even better without all those other franchises muddying the concept.

Shut up about the Nintendog

Authentic.

Ah, that would be most kind of you, miss! See if you can coerce Tim-the-dim to cough up another one. A most admirable piece of skullduggery is called for! And you, Spaff, sir, are another fine example of how Pokémon has seemingly developed a taste for man's misery. Shocking!

Great avatar, Yuf. Well, that movie had me laughing out loud. Dave's girlfriend left him because OTHER PEOPLE posted gay porn on his MySpace website? If that's true; good riddance! She's a bit of a thicky! Seriously, how did this happen? Did she dump him and then it never occurred to Dave to just say: I got hacked? Of course she wouldn't believe him, because it's infinitely more probable that she never noticed his latent homosexuality until he flooded his public site with pictures which, apparently, featured men who looked exactly like Dave? Man, this is a minefield!

Zelda could work; everyone just take a dungeon and save after finishing it. In that case it'd be either A Link to the Past or Minish Cap. Or we wait a bit and go for Phantom Hourglass. Though I'd want to play that one in its entirety myself

Hmm, I heard that the oversize styluses are actually better in use. Got a picture? If you've got a spare, perhaps you wouldn't mind sending the extra one over to me because we share in Poké-disaster? Hopefully your tonsillitis will simmer down over the next few days. As for me, I won't go Diamondless for long. As soon as I have a confirmation I'll get my money back, I'll head over to the nearest shoppe and scoop up a copy. DVD extra director's commentary: in the mail, I toyed with the idea of ending it with the sentence 'I do not suffer fools gladly', but thought better of it in the end. I'd have said it more because I love saying it than it being appropriate.

Perhaps. But I still say it's hugely overhyped (and used way too much by would-be academics and journalists in articles about games in situations that have only marginally to do with it) and I wouldn't be surprised if the whole thing was overblown and the effect turned out to be disappointingly small.

Ahh, that was great. Miffy; hope it isn't bad news of the lasting type!

Yes, it's terribly exciting to see where Capcom will bring the RE4-spawned gameplay. There's so many neat little sophistications that are already apparent. And the trailer shows you'll be besieged by at least twice as many folks as in any of the RE4 situations: holy shit! Chris will have a hell of a time getting out of that one. As for racism: there will surely be some idiots who fall for that one. Where we they when we were shooting Spanish peasants? Oh wait, Spaniards aren't a handy token racial minority, so let's just cherry-pick which group we defend.

You know what? I'm getting pretty goddamned tired of the uncanny valley. It's totally overhyped, a buzz-word and its effects are hardly academically proven. It's just a really nice-sounding theory from a Japanese professor and we all latched onto it because we vaguely felt our own feelings corresponded to it. Speaking of which, I was watching the trailer for Beowulf the other day, and for the life of me I couldn't decide whether it was live-action or some sort of weird hyper-realistic but-not-quite-there 3D animation. Check it out: http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/beowulf/

That's actually heartwarming, to see you tackle the game for the first time

Hello CD-wow, I have grown tired of the delays you keep sending me. It has now been over a month that I have been waiting for Pokemon Diamond, and over four times now you have delayed the shipping without a satisfying reason and without anything more than a witless, corporate apology. The game is now even for sale in my own country, annulling any reason I had for ordering with you in the first place. I have had enough of this tomfoolery and demand an immediate refund. I hereby cancel my order, madams and sirs, and you can rest assured that I will not seek business with your site again. This might have been prevented had you compensated me for my inconvenience through the donation of even the smallest token; a redeemable voucher for your site or some appropriate piece of paraphernalia. In the light of current events, however, I must judge your actions to be one of poorest customer service. Signed, Roderick Leermakers > Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:53:02 +0000 > To: ikleeshermantatahotmail.com > From: reply@cd-wow.com > Subject: CD WOW! Order Delay: Pokemon Diamond Nintendo DS > Hello > > Thank you for placing your order with us here at CD WOW! > > We are writing to you regarding your order for: Pokemon Diamond Nintendo DS > > The arrival of stock from our supplier has been further delayed. The advised shipping date for this title is now the 17/07/2007 > > As soon as we are able to ship this item to you we will send you an e-mail confirming dispatch. > > From the date of dispatch, please allow up to 7 working days for delivery within the UK. > > Please also rest assured that the delay to this item will not affect any other items that you may have ordered from us. > > We will notify you immediately if there are any further updates with regards to this title. > > We hope you will accept our apologies for any inconvenience that this delay has caused. > > Thank you for shopping with CD-WOW! > > > > Kind regards > > CD WOW! Customer Service

The only relevant question is, of course, did you touch him Solid Snake crotch-grab style?

Chim-chimmenee, chim-chimmenee, chim-chim-che~piddle.

What I like about the game is that it isn't 'fixed'. If you come across a setpiece that's very hard, chances are at the third time you'll suddenly breeze through it without any effort. Because of all the random little factors you can just keep trying and eventually get the right combination of events and overcome the obstacle. That's what happened to me time after time at difficult points like the village in the beginning and the siege at the cottage with Luìs.

Gee whizz, how about giving a game a fair chance before taking it down after the first minute? Some games take some effort before they reveal their genius. Don't know if Crackdown's one of them (haven't played it myself yet), but this seems like stupid frustration from a spoiled kid who gets angry when he doesn't get something immediately when he wants it. No offense, of course.

Yesterday I had a kick-ass Gears of War 2-vs-2 multiplayer evening with four people in a room, two tv's and two 360's, and it was SO awesome. We played until the wee hours. I think we went through all the maps three times. Played for five hours straight. Now I haven't played a whole lot of games on the machine, but in multiplayer, I'd be surprised if there were a more exhilirating experience than GoW. The tension! The excitement! The plentiful strategies and visceral action! There were so many fantastic turnabouts and ninja-style chainsaw murders from behind... oh Wotan be praised what a fantastico game!