Ben X

Ah ha, found the correct announcement thread. Will be publicly announced in approximately 12 hours' time. It does not yet excite me as much as it would some people, but I am planning to become one of those people very soon due to having recently gained access to the relevant thing. But even without that, I enjoyed the video in that thread.

Are you talking about this announcement? That was revealed publicly at PAX, no?

Just watched Arena, the first half was really good - nice effects, set, battlefield atmos, then the plot-turn when the other aliens show up really gives the feel of "SPACE: anything can happen!" It slows down a bit once Kirk and the Gorn are on the planet surface (in more ways than one - why do they fight in slow-motion?), though. It's yet another 'powerful aliens play games with the crew' ep, but it was enjoyable. Not as good as new BSG, but better than some new Doctor Who, so it holds up.

I did watch Balance Of Terror, but I kept falling asleep (not due to the episode, just because I was tired). The bits I did see seemed pretty cool, though - a bit more serious and tense.

Hey, toblix has a second awesome hallowavatar!

Boy, I guess Zeus is really stuck on the Tunnel Of Love.

I've watched a few TOS eps now. Dr McCoy is definitely my favourite character, he actually gets some really good lines. It's generally pretty lightweight and silly. There also seems to be a pattern of aliens creating illusions (the heart's desire, whatever they happen to be thinking about, a medieval castle) and especially dressing the female crew members up in pretty fairytale dresses. I'm trying to remember some episode-specific stuff to talk about, but honestly nothing's really stuck in my mind. I'm not bowled over right now... I just watched Squire Of Gothos, it was pretty ropey. Apparently this is one of the classic episodes ¬¬

Well, I'm just skimming at a very leisurely pace, so it may not go anywhere if I do it..! Apparently TAS has some good stuff in it: http://www.avclub.com/articles/star-trek-the-animated-series,39584/

Once you guys get the practicalities sorted, you should start a Comic Book Club thread (or one per book) so it doesn't get chopped up by other stuff. Speaking of which: I can't believe I've not yet plugged Brian K Vaughan's online-only PWYW comic, Private Eye. It's on the 4th issue (out of ten, I think) and really good: http://panelsyndicate.com

Oh, awesome, I'm planning to make my way through the Trek tv shows as well, but only the better-regarded episodes (AVClub has given me 20 TOS eps to watch). Might try TAS as well. It's a shame Netflix only does the remastered ones, though. I'd much prefer to see the original effects. After watching a few TOS eps, I really don't think anyone can complain about the Abrams movies being too action-driven or not philosophical enough. I know Trek does that too, but there's plenty of dumb in there too. Plus, the TOS and NG movies nearly all veer towards that side anyway (apart from the more ponderous ones that are generally regarded as the weak ones, like The Motion Picture and Insurrection); I don't think Abrams has besmirched the legacy of time-traveling whale rescue and kicking aliens in the knee-nuts. I mean, "Shore Leave"? Come on. Jesus. This probably warrants a The Star Trek Watch-through thread...

If anyone ever spots Dark Messiah Of Might And Magic going cheap anywhere, please let me know! I keep missing it by hours.

Thor 2: boring mess Captain Phillips: very tense, well-made, though based on true story so structure's pretty non-existent. Bad Grandpa: https://twitter.com/TimeGentleman/status/395245709324484608

Nah, just frame it as a thankyou note, then mention that if anything's upcoming you're available and still very interested etc.

The sequel is a massive let-down. There's scope for a fun take on lost world movies, but it gets bogged down with pointless returning characters and bland new ones, plus some tacked-on character reset/progression that makes Flint pretty passive and annoying. The 3D was also pretty much non-existent. The two original director-writers only did story on this so perhaps that explains it. Mr T declined to do this one, and is replaced by Terry Crews, so perhaps he knew something.

Wowzas, that goes back to 1996! Sadly, only the stuff from mid-2006 onwards is downloadable.

Excellent news! Sounds from the press release like they're keeping Arndt's story (or the story he was given to work on?), but I guess they could end up starting from scratch...

http://youtu.be/Hq2KXudEjkI

I have a 25% off Shadow Warrior coupon valid til Nov 4th, if anyone wants it. It says "tradeable, not marketable" so I guess I can trade it for nothing?

http://i.imgur.com/TpiLjzR.jpg

Ah, ok. Yeah, they just talk about why they changed the clothes, not the make-over, which is a shame (and I can't find them saying anything specific about that). I guess maybe it ties into her being more stronger and pro-active in this one - she's not exhausted and bedraggled anymore, she's the chosen one who killed GLaDOS. Or perhaps they did decide to make her more attractive to the player; I hope not, because that's a pretty lame design choice. I do think the P1 design is the more interesting of the two, but then keeping everything the same would have been dull too... Having said all that, looking at this in-game shot from P1, the difference doesn't seem so extreme - lighting seems to be softening out her tired look...: http://www.giantbomb.com/images/1300-1776452 EDIT: oh, a better fiction-explanation I found is that the Party Escort Bot made her look nice for her party.

I know someone who's working on this, so it's deffo real, but I don't know a single other thing about it, frustratingly.

Yarrrgh, ye scurvy pirate!

This sounds like something Grandpa Simpson would do..!

Not sure if joking. It's not a diegetic explanation, just the devs' ostensible reasons for doing it. I guess when you stay in one of those hotel room things you get auto-makeovers? Or Wheatley got bored and did it? Perhaps it's one of those things that just don't have an in-game explanation, like how HL2 evolved Barney (and Eli and Kleiner) from being a load of guard clones to one individual.

The best one of all the Haunted House Levels games, imo.