Nachimir

In several waves, a bunch of people were terrified that mobile/casual/facebook/free to play* games would cannibalise traditional console and PC development. Acolytes of any of those things were gleefully prophesying it too. None of them seemed to realise that, as Ucantalas points out too, building a new audience doesn't make the old one go away or alter its preferences. I think new consoles are giving us a break, but a section of industry news and gossip will be back to recycling sky is falling BS before long.

I asked someone who's developing with it: When the Xbox One is on, you can't hear it. It has a massive fan inside.

Congrats! Well, here you're a delightful human being IMO.

I just wondered how I'd be at Spelunky while drunk, and got further into the jungle than I usually can. So, totally psyched for the daily, I bounced off the first bat into this. It's so bad I'm almost proud of it. Like, on most runs I couldn't die any faster if I was trying to.

It is pretty huge, though putting it near the edge of a shot taken with a wide angle lens is definitely doing it no favours.

Nothing to video it with yet, but I thought since I've been getting to the jungle consistently, I'd try a daily. Hit myself in the face with a bomb in 1-1, which then landed next to me

This is still IV, right? I should be around for a few weeks at least!

The first one I tried to push killed me exactly like that, and I've never tried it again. Maybe it's a random chance that being pushed sets one off.

I've only played Betrayal twice, but it was a lot of fun both times despite the imbalance.

Because all he cares about is completing the eggplant run. Which was amazing to watch, particularly the ghost on 5-2, getting through the ridiculous exit on 5-3, and the number of close calls he has during the fight with King Yama.

*points to telco exchange for entire city, located about 150 metres from where Thrik lives* It is true though: broadband providers are rolling out fibre far faster than many expected. The house I'm currently in is on the lowest package they could get, and we get about 20Mbps. I got a tenth of that in 2006 and it was considered great. This was laughable in 2009, and now it just looks quaint even if you look at rural connections separately.

The Europe edition of Ticket to Ride has tunnels on the map, which give it a tiny, lightweight gambling mechanic which I think just makes the game complex enough while still being easy for new people to pick up. I also find it lets me be sneaky: The last two games I've played, I've managed to complete a ton of routes, that look like they're not going to connect up, then near the end of the game make a continuous line of all of my trains snaking through the map for a bonus.

I used to think this, but looking back at the plainer lego sets I had a kid, they look horrifically naive next to a lot of modern toys. I think it's better that creative toys like this survive through licensing than die swimming against the tide. Plus, they still do their own cool stuff. I think Monster Fighters is pretty much one of the best themes they've ever done.

Oh Jesus fuck no.

Happy Birthday Tegan!

That makes sense, but also, so does it being completely illegal for pharmaceutical companies to advertise prescription drugs like consumer products

I would ask "Sorry, what was the question?" just to make him do it again

It seems like for-profit medical systems inherently create perverse incentives to push products and perform unnecessary procedures. It makes me very nervous that the current UK government have started selling our state healthcare system to private companies.

Man, medical care in America sucks. I feel intensely sorry for you all being so stuck in a morass of bureaucracy and mercenary behaviour, especially you Zeus. I hope your kid stays healthy! Incidentally, one of you asked about a doctor maybe getting kickbacks: I think that sort of stuff is less regulated in America. As far as I understand, it has about the same ethical boundaries as game journalism, in that product suppliers can send people on trips, etc. to garner favour. I've also been shocked on several visits to see pharmaceutical companies advertising drugs directly to consumers/hypochondriacs with "Ask you doctor about [drug]". Here, there's a bunch of legislation and somewhat wasteful bureaucracy that either entirely prevents that stuff or keeps it in check. Life stuff: I just did almost nothing for a week, and it was really hard at first, but has been intensely good for me. Before that, I worked for four months with not much in the way of weekends, and in that time organised two and a bit expo booths, one festival and one game space. While also moving house and dejunking. It's been intense. My computer broke a day after I left London, which is a bummer, but luckily all of that work paid well enough I could sell it for spares and buy a new one. Cycle commuting in London was the best thing. I got four miles of continuous practice in being assertive each way, every day. There is constant traffic, but if you're fit and on the right bike it's easy to go faster than anything in London that has more than two wheels. I was a little nervous about Elephant and Castle Roundabout, which is apparently a black spot for dead cyclists, but found it ok. Back in Nottingham now. It feels tiny, and I'm going to leave as soon as I can because of that.

I suspect that, while the visuals will be better, successive hardware generations are only going to deliver noticeably diminishing returns.

That gets even better as it goes along. A friend occasionally comes up with similar ones, and I think his best so far is: "When you cut yourself, use blue plasters like people in the catering industry. That way, people will assume you have a job". American Gothic: I'd always assumed they were a couple, and I guess most people do too. Obviously, I need to read more Dan Brown. Truth!

Kind of surprised to not have seen something like this sooner: http://imgur.com/a/uooT9

Probably NSFW:

Please Don't, Spacedog! intentionally exploits that. I got to try an oculus build of Among The Sleep, and (as long as you're used to first person stuff in it without feeling sick) it kind of shines: You're embodied as a child, so if you look down you see your own tiny body toddling around.