miffy495

Love Stranger's Wrath, but it can be really hard sometimes as well. If it ever does make it over to PC, I'd be ridiculously psyched, as it still won't play on 360... :(

It's 14:00 Mountain. Is Atlantic an hour ahead of EST? I'm never quite sure how time works when you start to get into the maritime provinces.

Essentially, but a fuckton of people read SomethingAwful, and when they decide to get behind something, I brace myself for an explosion.

Some of us do. You could have at least posted a link...

We've been raved about on SA now? God, this thing must be getting way huger than I assumed. Massive props to Remo, Jake, and Nick.

It sells out pretty much the instant we get it at work. I've been waiting to pounce on my own copy for a while now. You'd think working at a store with a games department this would be easy, but alas...

Nooooo! It is, it really is! Hard /= not fun!

I don't think I've ever actually taken a cab in any GTA game. Am I really missing out?

WARNING: She would need significant amounts of either old-school NES skill or the patience to develop it. Hard as balls. Not kidding.

That was pretty excellent. I was proud to be a part of it. Barreling my truck along, seeing Grippage standing there waiting to be smushed, and then being involved in a massive pileup of people trying to run over the dude made my night.

On to world 4 level 5 now, which I think means that there should only be another 7 levels left, if the map is accurate. However, there are still something like 4 pieces of the suit left for me to find, so I don't know how that's going to work out. Either way, I feel like I should respond to what Remo said about this game in the podcast. As I recall, the claim was that the game got immensely difficult around halfway through level 3. This is somewhat true. The meat of the game (platforming, enemy grunts, etc) does not get significantly harder, but the bosses become the platforming equivalent of a bullet-hell type of game. Like, think Ikaruga, but with an old guy in a pith helmet instead of a space ship. The midboss of world 3 took me about 15 tries, and the final boss took the same. Strangely, judging by the midboss of level 4 going down in two tries (and he has two forms you have to fight in succession, as well!) it would seem that surviving those fights has forced me to develop the skill to continue on without too much difficulty. On the other hand, world 4 has been causing me a lot more platforming deaths. The levels get really convoluted and trying to stay on a moving platform while being bombarded with enemies from a Gauntlet-style spawning device is a huge challenge. Beating them feels amazing though. I'd say that, of games that I'm actually motivated to finish, this is easily one of the hardest I've played in a long long time. Still though, it never seems unfair. When I finally do make it through a section, it's usually unscathed and feeling like my reflexes have been honed to perfection. Only rarely (I'm looking at you, boss of world 3) do I come out of a scrape with an enemy feeling like I just barely hung on by the skin of my teeth. Even that feeling is a rush though, so I can't complain. Basically, this game feels like it's been tuned to perfection, at least for my skill level. Every time I die, I know that if I were just a little bit faster I could have made it out without incident, and this motivates me to go back. If I feel like I've been cheated by a game, I stop playing. I haven't stopped. I've completely fallen in love with Hatsworth, hard as balls though it may be.

Well, I just had to give my summer hours for work, and lied and said that I had a summer class on Tuesdays and Saturdays (actually only Saturdays), so I'll be in for a while.

If you're a Cohen fan, I got some videos on my girlfriend's camera from the 10th row of his Coachella show. Hallelujah straight into I'm Your Man. As soon as she puts the videos online, I'll post the link. Glorious.

I picked a cucumber, which I then remembered was not a vegetable. Looks like most people are at least choosing phallic veggies...

The girl hates hockey, but I'd be glad to grab a beer with you if you'd like. I'm fairly close to downtown, so whatever's convenient for you probably would be no trouble for me. Getting into a playoff game could be kind of a zoo, especially as that late in the year means the Flames would have to be pretty far into the playoffs, but there's a ton of pubs around, and if a pub has a TV in Canada, it's showing hockey.

WRT your questions about the ION kit Horticulture Tycoon, I got mine back in December and think it's one of the best gaming accessories I've ever used. It's flat-out marvelous and if you can see yourself playing it enough to justify the purchase, don't hesitate. I had an issue about two weeks after getting it where my yellow drum head stopped registering hits, but after a quick replacement (every part of the set is modular) I was in business again and haven't had an issue in the four months since. So damned fun.

Living in a city where I see at least 4 pairs a day, I must point out that it's actually truck nuts. I don't like my hometown...

Yeah, I was in the audience for that. Surreal as hell, and my girlfriend, who'd fallen asleep on my lap by that point, was awakened very abruptly by my sudden "What the hell!?" reaction. I then had to explain why it was so cool.

Assuming that I usually play games to completion is a mistake. I try, and I think I do have a better track record than Remo, based on his comments in the 'cast, but it's probably only about 1 in every 5 games that I'll actually finish. Still, Hatsworth is one I intend to do this with. I'm playing it along with GTA Chinatown Wars, which is quite easy. When I need a break, that's what I'll hop to.

That entirely depends. Usually it ends towards the end of May/beginning of June. If a few series go to 7 games, it won't be over til June. You'll probably at least be able to catch some of the final series. As for games to go to see, I doubt it. I'm not sure which cities you're hitting on your Canadian tour. Montreal isn't looking promising, as they're already one game away from elimination. Calgary is down in their series as well. Vancouver is looking pretty good though, so if they make it far enough you may be able to catch a game. In terms of favoured teams involved this year, I prefer Montreal, then Vancouver myself, with Calgary a distant last. Looks like I'm going to end up rooting for the Canucks. Usually I'm a die-hard Maple Leafs fan, but they finished near the complete bottom of the league this season, so I'm not particularly invested in the proceedings. Still, it's always nice to watch a good game.

Fuck, that was incredible. I've never even considered a bike could do some of the shit in that video. Caught Band of Horses live this past weekend, and I agree. They are bloody awesome.

Cool! Also, sorry to hear about your mum, Scrobbs. I just got back from 5 days in California last night, 3 of which were at the Coachella Music and Arts festival, so I'm feeling very happy, sorta sunburnt, and have a mile-long list of CDs I need to buy now. Highlights included Leonard Cohen getting the audience to sing several songs along with him (one of my favorite artists ever, and seeing him live completely made my life), Morissey stripping onstage (He's still pretty damn ripped for his age), Paul McCartney's tribute to Linda on the anniversary of her death (I cried a little), and Amanda Palmer crowd-surfing while playing Radiohead's "Creep" on a ukelele in a burlesque costume. Other landmark shows were the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, My Bloody Valentine, X, the Kills, the Mexican Institute of Sound, and countless others. Total overload of musical goodness. A fantastic weekend all around, made better by the fact that I made the trip with my girlfriend and two very good friends. The other three were all 20, so being 21 I was stuck on liquor duty, but at least one of us is legal down there. (Drinking age at home is 18) Sad it's over, but after 5 days of camping, goddamn did showering feel good this morning. Now I have to get back to reality and finish one more project for school by next Monday. Also, the NHL playoffs started while I was gone, so I get to watch good hockey for a couple of months too!

Most of those games that you mentioned seemed to take pleasure in torturing the player. Levels that loop endlessly til you find the secret exit, spike traps right where you'd be entering from that will kill you instantly, etc. I'd say Zelda 2 is probably the most apt comparison, as it wasn't really cheap, just ball-breakingly hard. Hatsworth is not a cheap game. It does not torture you arbitrarily with crazy things. Rather, it demands a hell of a lot from you, skill-wise. It is far more generous with continues than Zelda 2 though, so you'll usually have the stock of lives necessary to power through. I'd say that the action game part is actually more in line with things like the original NES Ninja Gaiden than the kind of game you mentioned. Again, not cheap, just demanding.

I see. That's pretty damn awesome, actually.

Yeah, there are a bunch of head silencers you can buy. Don't know how well any of them work, honestly, as my solution has always just been to turn up the volume until it isn't an issue anymore.