Nachimir

Electronic music +1

That's an interesting point. I think you're right. I doubt digital products would have accelerated so fast without it; the number of bought tracks per ipod sold was laughable at some recent point. The other effect of piracy on me has been to demonstrate to me how untenble a vast music collection is. I've stripped 80 or so gigs acquired in the past 13 years (itself stripped down from more given to me) down to 16 gigs of almost entirely bought stuff. Even at that size, it still sometimes feels a bit too big to grasp, at least compared to the CD collection I had in the 90s. I want a music collection I know and love, not a respository of things I've acquired without contemplation. That's what cloud services are for. It's post-scarcity media, but we're still picking through the impact crater learning how to deal with it.

I broke up with my girlfriend last night, which is not as bad as it sounds. It was mutual; she's going away for a placement year at fabulous game developer, and with us both knowing from past experience that we really, really suck at long distance, it made the most sense to end things. I really can't blame her for taking the best option for her career either, in a climate where placements are like rocking horse shit she had three interviews and offers from all of them. What was sweet was the we both saw it coming, both got trepidant, and as a result both thought we were about to really hurt the other, but it turned out to be okay. I have a generally odd opinion on relationships, framed mainly by my parents divorce. Staying uncomfortably married for so long was a failure on their part, and the divorce resulting in none of us having to maintain facades that contributed to a family was a massive win, unanimously. As a result, I don't really get the idea that if a relationship ends it failed, or if it carries on it's succeeding. If I can stay friends with an ex, that's a win in my book. My emotions have been up and down today, but very mild compared to other breakups where I've been hurt or had to hurt someone. Playing GTA with some of you tonight helped a lot, so thanks

How on earth does anyone make that jump with a moped?

That was most fun. Some excellent direct hits with grenades in the ice cream truck race, particularly ActionShakespeare making one go off right under my moped. Cops and crooks was also excellent tonight

Not really, they're tiny and postage will be fairly cheap. PM me where to post it to, there are still a few left.

I didn't mean to pooh pooh the game by posting that link, it might be amazing. I didn't realise it was just three women, and thought it was a lot more. The representation of sexuality in games really does bug me though. People are generally so different, as well as being in such variable circumstances, that I doubt there is one single realistic model of sexual behaviour. It also annoys me that representations of sex are so transactional and lead to something that's basically a bit of titillating bum and side boob.

I have no idea. Probably at the end of the Eurogamer Expo a couple of years ago, and they sat in a box until a recent office move unearthed them.

I've been put off this a little by this: http://www.gamecritics.com/alex-raymond/women-arent-vending-machines-how-video-games-perpetuate-the-commodity-model-of-sex

Going by pirates I know, I can testify to that. There was also someone looking into buying habits correlated to piracy, who apparently found that people who pirate also tend to buy a lot more anyway. This too corresponds to a lot of pirates I know (but not all). The most interesting thing I've read on it recently is this piece by Peter Serafinowicz. Knowing more musicians and game developers helped, but the main reason I stopped pirating stuff was because other options became more convenient. People follow the straightest line to what they want, generally. Piracy is a great big desire line, some companies are catching up.

IGN seek out the Citizen Kane of games. The end times are here. WGO1OJazlsc

Every message I get now says "I'm assuming there are none left", but there are still 8 or so.

HMV canceled the order, stating that their supplier says it's discontinued. The product was still up on their site last night, but it now appears to be stripped out

He took the piss out of himself quite well in Extras: ptTMs1rBSwY

Who knew you could launch a car into the air with a stick? ZMUW1Hc0OhE Also, he does something remarkable with a horse at 2 minutes while demonstrating his invincible leg.

Vakyria Chronicles is £9.99 from HMV at the moment. With delivery. Backlog++

Also: http://www.heyokay.com/

I try so hard not to get excited by previews and trailers, but this looks amazing.

I know very little about working in sound for games, but I am acquainted with a couple of sound engineers in the industry. Sound is often ignored and neglected, particularly when it comes to budgeting and conference programmes (GDC being the rare exception), yet it really makes a massive difference to a game. Sound work needs all the advocates it can get. From what I've heard, working on sound for games is a fairly interesting job if you like messing around with that sort of thing. However, they're not common jobs, and you'll be looking to big developers before you even get to ones that have their own studios. Smaller developers will outsource production or just buy effects.

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++ on the flinching comment. I like that they're paunchy middle aged men who seem to think "badass" is a product that can be bought. A great moment is the part in the great sword video, after showing it so long and heavy that they can barely wield it, where he says "Keep one of these by your front door and you'll be a force to be reckoned with". Really? It looks like just about anyone on the doorstep could kick him in the nuts before he got a proper chance to pick it up and swing. The girlfriend's verdict is that Cold Steel weapons are too ugly to want, but the meat shoes got a big laugh. The cheesy plaster of paris camelot and science fiction sets are hilarious too.

That is pretty much the best press release ever.

I have nowhere near enough time to play this, but I just wanted to say that I'm really enjoying the thread and various reports on it It sounds a bit like Diplomacy, in that the game encourages all sorts of negotiation, pacts and the breaking of them, and it could really lead to animosity if anyone forgets it's just a game.

On landlords, I've always rented rooms in people's houses. I don't mind sharing houses, and that way, if anything goes wrong with the house the landlord is really motivated to fix it.

Hmm, in the past year or so I've committed to not buying games if I'm not going to have time to play them. However, I thought this wasn't going to be so bad, but if I include uncompleted: PC Osmos Plants vs Zombies (Already played it on the iPhone, not sure where this came from. Probably a ridiculous sale or something) Wii: Madworld 360 (Top two both from Toblix, thanks! Brütal Legend was ace.): Splinter Cell: Double Agent Tomb Raider: Legend Dead Rising (Got bored on getting to the clown a few times, dying, then realising I didn't have a recent save. Also, no HDTV when I first tried playing this, which actually made a lot of the text impossible to read) Blind Girl (by GLPeas) Carcophony Rez HD Pixel Boarders (I really love this game, but crappy garbage collection frequently slows it down to an unplayable crawl) iPhone: feelforit Angry Birds Eliss Rolando Tumbledrop K Shogi There are only six games I haven't even touched in that list, but still: :getmecoat:getmecoat