Roderick

No, that's not weird at all. Line-ups usually take a year to become anywhere near interesting. The Wii U's time has simply come to bloom into the thing it was designed to be. PS4 and Xbone will take another year before they're remotely interesting.

Yes, grading is stupid. It is for any complicated product or piece of art. As for the judgement: apparently the launch line-up is weak (nothing really new there for any console) and the steps forward in terms of beauty and perceivable power are minimal. So, basically, when you buy a PS4 (or Xbox One) you'll do so for the promise that one or a few years from now, it'll pay off. And the thrill of having a new high-tech machine in your house.

Watched it, and I was indeed puzzled at the approach of unifying the moneys. The real issue is tying the software to the machine instead of an account online. Perhaps Nintendo are working on this behind the screens, and who knows what technical nightmares lie behind such a switch. I do hope they'll make it happen this generation, 'cause I'm investing heavily in digital 3DS releases. Not to mention the fear of losing or breaking my handheld, at which point there's nothing to prove that I purchased anything. It's not an ideal situation and Nintendo need to address it. Bill Trinen did his best Mr. Rogers though. It felt as if the guy had a sore jaw from smiling at the end.

Gonna watch the Direct when I'm home. Unified accound: sounds great. Bullshit detector: on maximum.

I Have No Mouth is even better: there was magnifying lens in a urinal that only triggered after a very specific event. For no reason other than 'game design'.

Wait a minute, people don't go through the entire game in a single combo chain?

Gune of Thrunes

Ohhh, that makes sense!

Tanu, don't be afraid to experiment, fail and try again, or start over with a different class to get the feel for it.

That brought such a rush of warm memories of last year back. The music alone is so stellar.

To be fair, Nachimir, anyone in Dark Souls who doesn't first look around the corner (which is reeeeeally easy, just pan the camera a little) has no business being in the Tomb of Giants. And what the hell is wrong (or right) with Link?

...but if it is an RTS, and at least it's not Dune, I'll settle for it being so-so.

Yeah, where's that match-3 Dune game?

Me and my group rarely play with the assassin anymore, switching him out for the witch instead. The expansion brings a few new characters that do away with slightly unbalanced things. The construction master (?) for instance is better replaced by the conquistador. The conquistador has added value because of a flavor rule I introduced: when you announce yourself, you have to shout "HAHAAAA!" to really underline the bravado of the character.

HNNNG, I second Ticket To Ride. It's the best boardgame I've ever played, very evenly paced and at the end everyone feels they've accomplished something, rather than having dramatically lost. It has a better end game than Catan, which tends to just end abruptly and without a satisfying bang. Other really cool games: Macchiavelli! A card game where you assume renaissance roles and try to construct a city. Every round everyone switches roles, which decides the order of play, special powers and the coin you collect. It's an AMAZING game, very fun and highly devious. Best played with 4-5 people though, 3 is a little weak and 2 not worth it. But GET IT AND PLAY IT. It's cheap and great.

Ha, that's my exact experience with I Have No Mouth. I finished it this evening. So, now that that's done, I'm going strongly with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies too! Hooooly cow this is a good'un. So far it's easily matching the rest of the series. Such fun murder mysteries and insane characters!

Majora's Mask is the Citizen Kane of my Half-Life 3.

After the initial 'wow GTA is coming!' buzz, I feel less and less interested in getting this game at this point. I think the only thing that would make me buy it on PC is Thumbs multiplayer. But when I briefly played it a few weeks ago, my feeling was 'oh, it's just another GTA game', which already got old in 4.

I Have No Mouth: I finished all the sequences now. What a mixed bag! Some are really better than others, though I appreciate the level of creativity that went into all of them. There's not one that's dull or too long. Each of them has at its base an interesting moral dilemma to solve and a choice of what to do. Gameplay-wise it's all incredibly awful and difficult to parse, necessitating walkthroughs, but still. The game does switch indiscriminately between harrowing humanity and DID SOMEBODY ORDER A LARGE PIECE OF HAM? Now I'm onto the finale, which has already started out pretty swell.

Walking through Den Bosch this morning, I encountered a young man flyering. I generally don't pay attention to them, but he approached me and asked if I knew Lindsey Stirling. That rang a bell: she's that violinist who achieved some fame with gaming-inspired compositions and Kate Bush-style dancing. So I told him, and he was very excited to finally meet someone who knew her. Turns out he was campaigning to get people to vote for her in the upcoming Dutch Top 2000 list, which runs every year and is a completely useless collection of popular songs, topped by a predictable, nigh-immutable summit. He didn't seem very comfortable on the street, his eyes rolling this way and that as I spoke to him. He seemed very nervous. I thought this was a such a wonderful, but strange thing to spend your energy on. He actually had nicely printed flyers. I asked him what his connection to Lindsey was, but he wss just a fan trying to get her name out. Then I went home with my German copy of Er Ist Wieder Da, the big 2012 hit about Hitler returning to present day Berlin and becoming a media star.

A few years ago I really loved some of the themes Lego did. The modern Pirates line and Pharaoh's Quest were amazing. Atlantis had it's fun things too. Licensing-wise it's a mixed bag. The Indiana Jones sets were splendid, Star Wars is occasionally good, Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean were disappoinments. Right now I've quit buying any of the store Lego sets, and focus exclusively on the marquee adult sets. The modular buildings are breathtaking, and there are tons of enormous (and expensive!) boxes only available online or in official stores. I didn't know they had one in Gouda, by the way. I know Fokkido in Zwolle, but that's about it. Oh, I am a fan of the Superheroes sets though. This week I purchased Arkham Asylum online, woo!

I wouldn't find that self-serving to an unsavory degree. It's no different from putting all kinds of interesting trophies with backstories in Smash Bros Melee. I just get the feeling there are full on two people working at Nintendo in charge of the VC. They have no standing or pull in the company and they work from within the janitor's closet.

Lego has branched off into tons of weird things. The Ninjago and Chima themes both have a whole collectible/battling aspect to them, with cards and novelty toy mechanics. Hugely popular. Then there are the minifig collectibles, now at series 11 which will be themed around the movie and have zombies and Abe Lincoln in them. Aww yiss.

I love those lectures! I watched the entire series a few years ago and would recommend it as an excellent primer on the philosophy of justice. Maaaan that is the correct way to hold a class on philosophy. I doubt we have anything like it in the Netherlands. Our teaching system isn't exactly participatory, though steps have been made in that direction. Not that this is the ideal situation, since a format like this favors ones adept at Phoenix Wright style bluffing and thinking on their feet; not people who are accustomed to gathering their thoughts before speaking.