Roderick

So much of what was shown wasn't terribly exciting. I get why Nintendo is enthusiastic about Mario Maker, but people have been producing zany mods and impossible levels for Mario games for ages. It seems weird that this is their big big big thing. The Zelda and Metroid 3DS games look downright poor. Did anyone else feel that way? I get the feeling the 3DS is capable of way better than this in terms of sheer poly power. Look to Kingdom Hearts 3D (of YEARS ago) for proof. The thing that saved the day, surprisingly, was the Wii U Animal Crossing boardgame. It looked delightful! A bit of RPG-ing, playing with your Amiibo's, noodling around on a board... it's a laidback experience that looks kind of neat to while away an afternoon with.

I saw it in 3D because I had no choice. Given the choice I'll always pick 2D because I don't like how the glasses shade the film. Especially with visual spectacles it's a goddamn sin to just cut all the vibrancy and color out of the shot. Anyway, I wrote a bit about Fury Road on Filmadeus! I shines a light on the pretttty over and amazing feminist themes in the film. It was really good!

In a few weeks the Blade Runner Final Cut is hitting cinemas and I couldn't be more excited. I recently rewatched the film and wrote a bit about it on Filmadeus.

Yes, the Jem trailer was very disappointing, virtually indistinguishable from any teen pop star Miley Cyrus story? Kinda? Where are the weird holograms and the general Scott Pilgrimminess of this show? My point isn't that it SHOULD be that, I'm just baffled why they chose to resurrect a 30 year old cartoon that the target audience will know nothing about, and then completely ignore everything about it. [ADDED] Pretty much what Apple Cider wrote.

Gwardinen, I agree about the X-Men films! I also really liked The Wolverine, that is a swell, small-scale character piece - as far as one of these darn superhero films can have them.

Absolutely, I expected quite a bit after Winter Soldier. Also, I really assumed Whedon would have the ensemble super hero thing down pat. That even he flubs it, shows perhaps how unbearable this 'genre' is.

So, I wrote a bit about Age of Ultron on Filmadeus: http://www.filmadeus.com/2015/04/avengers-age-of-ultron-joss-whedon-2015.html

Cautiously optimistic would be the term of the day. That is a cool shot though. It makes little sense that a star destroyer would survive crashlanding on a planet from orbit (especially the fragile bridge part), but hey, this is a fantasy universe and it's pretty neat. Seeing old man Han is weird though. Almost like he doesn't belong in that world anymore, if you know what I mean? I wonder how I'll react upon seeing Luke. As for the sith lord dude with the weird name, I'm not a fan of his helmet. He looks like any generic sith-y bad ass dude. Meh. (And I know it's practically canon for the series, but... I'd appreciate it if there were no Wilhelm scream.)

Galaxy was already satisfyingly challenging in getting all of the stars as both characters. I felt really complete getting that last Luigi star. Man, that game knew how to walk the line between hardcore yet fun.

I had to stop watching Zetsubou-Sensei because it was too tiresome to keep pausing the episode to read all the insane explanations of all the insane jokes. A 20 minute episode would easily take 35 minutes to digest! (It was pretty funny though, and I mean this in the best way.)

My GF got in as well, but she's experiencing tremendous lag. This is apparently a common problem in this game. I occasionally glitch out, but nothing detrimental. Anyone else experience this?

I'm gonna skip this first ep, since I'm really busy this weekend. Good luck folks!!

Yes, I'd love to participate, perhaps not as a regular (I don't watch nearly enough anime for that), but certainly every once in a while if the topic's right for me. In that case it might be good to post the topic ahead of time, so everyone can decide whether to chip in or not. Also, I read tons more manga than watching anime. Is manga off limits? It seems such a one-two punch to do both. Obvious, almost. I'd also have a lot more material to work with, with A Bride's Story, Vinland Saga, and this fantastic thing I've been reading lately by Gegege no Kitaro author Shigeru Mizuki, a manga called Nonnonba - a childhood reverie infused with yokai sightings. It's funny and tragic and expressive.

This may have come up before in the deluge of posts, so, sorry if it has, but I was thinking yesterday how the title Broken Age doesn't seem quite up to snuff with Schafer classics like Grim Fandango, Full Throttle, Psychonauts, Brütal Legend, and I wonder why they went with this. Sidebar: I haven't seen the documentary yet, shame on me. I'll just spend one (glorious, amazing) day at some point binging it all and seeing people age visibly on the screen. But: Broken Age, it's not very evocative, is it? Broken is relatively fine, though it reminds me of Broken Sword, a really quite famous and still running adventure game series. It's the Age that bothers me. In our current day and age long time span, age has become a hollow, meaningless, let's-turn-my-brain-off word, used exclusively to make something seem more epic than it is. Age of this, age of that. Transformers: Age of Extinction. Really, was it really an age? And I'd be surprised, truly surprised, if the Age of Ultron didn't turn out to be the Occurrence of Ultron, which incidentally would've made for a more interesting title. Broken Age does neat things with the concept of an age, at least, and they're also broken for that matter. But using these terms is still... kind of boring. I often have a hard time remembering what the game is called, and then when I do remember I feel little for it. What was the rationale behind it, is that known?

For a minute I thought the guy getting beat up was Steve. He stole Steve's surly lock of hair.

Microphone talk: I have a very decent Samson C01U USB mic and it's excellent for Skype podcasting. Audio quality is very good, it's a cinch to set up and only cost around 80-100 euro moneys. Yesterday I saw The Wind Rises and just flat out loved it. I've got tons to say about it, which I'll reserve for the Filmadeus review, but I adored the mature themes, the subtle evolution from Taisho to Showa era Japan and the wonderful way the planes were animated. (Also the magical salad German.)

Despite not watching terrible much anime (except for Yurikumaaaaaa arashi!), I'd be up for joining in on the podcast every once in a while, if I can add something meaningful to that episode's topic. I have podcasting experience through my own (Dutch) geek podcast that's been running for almost a year now, though I can't help with the editing. I mean, I have the technical skills in Audacity, just not the time. Arietty was a frustrating experience. The world was - visually - delightful, but the consideration ended there. I think a topical flaw in the movie is right there in the front: it makes a big deal of Arietty gaining a pin to use as a makeshift sword, but then it's never used again except for slaying poor Chekhovs gun. The film is full of loose strands like that - things that are set up and then forgotten or not used to do anything interesting. I didn't know Yonebayashi was behind this and what that might mean in relation to Marnie, but it was super obvious this was not the expected Ghibli quality.

I did it! I totally did it, I defeated Gyorg, the fish monster that has always frustrated me in my progress up until now! And cripes did they make him a lot easier. He was a pushover this time, requiring almost no difficult swimming. There's hearts and space galore. It's such a relief, I thought I might get stuck here again! The Great Bay temple itself was fun, but then I never shy away from water-based temples. There are some fun obstacles and challenges, especially to get to all the chests and fairies. Now, onwards to the rest of the game for the first time! (Still, fuck the beaver bros though.)

If it's a money investment you can make and you don't feel happy with the current equipment, go for it. A paperwhite isn't that costly (I got the wi-fi edition, without 3G. Seemed like an unnecessary luxury since I can load up on books whenever I'm at a PC and it's quite a lot more expensive.)

Just yesterday I picked up a beta key, so I tried it out and it's fun! So far my only Lords Management experience is from the (quite everlastingly cool) Awesomenauts. I love the accessibility and dang it, it also just clicks with me because I know all the lords and where they come from. It's a silly difference, but it's a profound difference. I've got a connection to these guys, to the point where I want to play Anub'arak because I loved him in Frozen Throne, &c. My Battlenet name is Leeuwenhart, probably, I have no idea. Still in tutorial land though!

Ooh! I can finally, finally say something about this topic! This christmas (2015 countdown - BOOM) I got a third generation Paperwhite and it's really nice. I'm reading The Count of Monte-Cristo and it's a bliss. The e-ink tech isn't quite super duper high res yet, but you only notice it when you press your face to the screen. Doesn't affect your regular reading. The pages load very quickly, the interface is nicely responsive and I like tapping the screen to turn a page. I bought an official Kindle cover with it (royal purple), which is quite nice as well. All in all, totally recommend it, though I can't compare to any other device. The high end competition is probably also really good! Just saying. And Project Gutenburg away!

Ben, did you clock the jackhammering at 5 minutes?

Reached the first strenuously uncomfortable moment: racing the beaver brothers as Zora Link. They couldn't have made it more frustrating if they tried. Having to hit 25 small underwater circles with sensitive controls, a blur effect and a camera that haphazardly dips above and below the surface almost made me crack in twain my 3DS. Maybe I should skip this hellish minigame and forget about a single extra bottle and a peace of heart. This doesn't bode well for the water temple, my biggest fear, but we'll see how that goes. This race, in any case, was woefully designed.

That seems a weird conclusion to me. Pokémon is on airplanes. There are Pikachu parades. Comedians make Pokémon jokes.

I recently finished Heart of the Swarm (took me long just to get to it), and it's such a step back from Wings of Liberty. For all the bitching about the Starcraft II story, I sincerely like WoL's story. Yes, it's cheesy and cliché-ridden, but it's also tonally consistent, shows a lot of warmth and is both funny and tense throughout. There's a theme, they know how to run it and it works. Heart of the Swarm, in contrast, is a giant mess. The story isn't nearly as gripping, I don't think they captured the feel of the Zerg very well (the inclusion of Primal Zerg make them feel too much like regular animals, whereas the Zerg attraction was always that they acted like an unknowable virus that could spring up and mutate and spread everywhere). It's trying to be edgy and relatable at the same time (there's a brood mother who evolves so much that she's a threat to Kerrigan), but I wanted the Zerg to be utterly inhuman. That you couldn't even understand their thought processes, could barely communicate with them. I did like the conclusion to the story though! The level design was terrific, no doubt, but it still felt like a shallow experience after the richness of Wings of Liberty. As for Legacy of the Void, I'm curious to see how they'll overcome the inherent boringness of the Protoss, who are all Super Noble and Fight Honorably, not to mention their lack of expression. Protoss units, in any case, should make for tons of fun singleplayer gameplay shenanigans, so no worries there. But can I also say that I'm sick of Blizzard throwing ancient gods into the mix whenever they feel they need to up the stakes? The Xel'Naga were once an interesting wild card (an entire extinct race), but now they've been relegated to 'oh, this one dude who just went rogue and you have to defeat him'. I pine for the days of the Overmind, which wasn't anything but a creepy eye staring at you and then a giant building with tentacles.