Nappi

I thought it would be immediately obvious to you, considering that you live in Australia.

I guess I didn't think it that far. In any case, I was expecting something a bit more clever and a bit less cliché.

I wasn't a big fan of how Irene Adler was treated either. I'm not sure if it has to do with Moffat or the expectations of modern audience or something else entirely, but they could have handled it better. Furthermore, the season cliffhanger was resolved in . The episode was still very entertaining.

Part of the reason might be that the some stores try to get rid of their large stocks of old paperbacks to make room for something else and that's why the physical are so cheap. Also, e-books are relatively new and there is no competition (I don't know how closed system Nook is, though) so they can actually charge you more when you buy digitally. Actually, I have no idea what the reason behind the pricing is, but I noticed the same thing when I checked the book store on my mother's iPad. Incidentially, any public domain recommendations? Preferably something that has aged well and isn't too laborious to read/listen. I have listened through most of the Sherlock Holmes books with pleasure, tried to complete Around the World in 80 Days, barely managed Moby Dick and been positively surprised by Heart of Darkness.

Bdays!

The driving felt no more pointless than driving between two locations in GTA or Mafia. It was also completely optional. I simply don't see how it could have been handled differently (some driving minigame perhaps?) or, in fact, what was the problem. At least you can get to know your partners and get a feel of the city. I didn't think the graphics were particularly fancy. I'd say that if you take away the characters, the city and era as well as the story (both the one about corruption and the stories of the people you encounter throughout your investigation) then you might end up with a sub-par game. They were there, though, with a gameplay to go with them. The gunfights weren't as good as in AAA action games, but they did their job, and I actually enjoyed the occasional chase (although, they were quite scripted). The proper policework was for the most parts very interesting. I don't know, since I didn't even realize that it was universally hailed as a masterpiece. The point I was making, though, was that you seemed to be wildly exaggerating the game's throughout the discussion. Again, this is not a 40-49 out of 100 game - not even close. Seems to me, that you were expecting a game that cannot be made (one where driving is awesome but still realistic and fitting your status, for instance) and were unavoidably let down because of that. I wasn't expecting anything like that (this was supposed to be a horribly bad game after all) and was very positively surprised. In my opinion, L.A. Noire tries something very different from most all games, and for the most parts succeeds in doing so really well.

Just finished L.A. Noire. It has it's flaws for sure but it certainly isn't a game deserving of a review score in the 40%s. It just isn't. My biggest complaint, in fact, is that the PC version came with all the DLC in the box, making the game just a tad too long. I liked how the actual investigation part of the storyline came together, though. I was also very impressed by the strong sensation of being surrounded by complete dicks at one moment and almost friends the next, even if the constant remarks made by the people around me was a bit annoying at times. I actually cared about my partners a bit - something that hasn't happened very often with video games. The game also has the best ever GPS substitute I have come across in a video game. Not having to look at the map all the time and just asking your partner for directions every now and then felt really good and natural.

Happy new year everybody! How about normal physical exercise then?

SpaceChem is a weird experience for sure. It actually feels less like a game and more like a (graphical) programming exercise. And it is dumped down surprisingly little. I liked it, but at some point it started feeling too much like work. Not that I don't like these sorts of things but after an hour or two of hours of continuous play it can get a bit boring.

I got an actual gift! Half-Life 2 + Lost Coast. So erm.. If you are one of the very few people who still don't own the game, you are welcome to it. Totally worth it at that price.

Oh, hi!

Yeah, he seems to be doing pretty bad job at what he is actually paid for. However, from the internet drama point of view, he is doing just fine! I bet that if you dig deep enough, you'll find that behind all this is just some sort of escalated fight between two bros PR consultants.

Link to the new podcast is missing. Edit: <div class="horsebag" id="header">

Ask him and he is still the victim.

Shogun 2 is streamlined things quite a bit and is the most novice friendly game in the series. The tutorial is pretty good and if I remember correctly, you can select the campaign and battle difficulty separately. The demo should give you a good taste of both components. If you want try out a Total War game, choose Shogun 2. Highly recommended, especially for that price.

Finished it. I was a bit worried that the tower defense stuff would ruin my experience but I only ever had to complete one (the tutorial). In other words, I trained 7 master assassin's by the end of chapter 4. The actual story missions were probably the least enjoyable part of the game. What is more, some of the missions seemed rushed, almost to the point of being broken. The checkpoints in one race didn't register me passing by them 50% of the time, for example, and some of the chases were arranged so that you very nearly lost the target if you didn't immediately start running in the right path. Quite a few of 100% sync challenges were unfair or simply stupid (though, I didn't bother with them). The core gameplay is still lovely, though. I enjoyed the change of scenery too, but unfortunately Constantinople wasn't drastically different from, say, Rome of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. The loading times were horrible. The writing in Assassin's Creed makes Dan Brown look like a literary genius. I'm still boggled by the fact that a triple-A game series can have an overarching storyline as insultingly horrible as this.

Good. Quite a lot of teal and orange, though. Are you sure you don't work for Hollywood?

That would be wonderful... no no... crackerjack! Glad to hear that the new Sherlock Holmes is entertaining. The reviews haven't been too good, but then again, I didn't expect them to be.

Only thing more monotonous than the Hollywood color palette is your continuous ranting about orange and teal.

Where the fuck do they find these PR consultants?

You can, of course, cheat a bit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx-HTgxanqg

You must have a game on Steam in order to get your first piece of coal (otherwise you could just spam registrations). The best and most assholish way to achieve this is, of course, paying 1 cent for the Humble Bundle. At least, I think that is how it happened.

Most of the discount coupons are valid from January 2nd onwards. However, some are apparently valid during the sale as well. The formula is likely to be (X*Y)% for those games. Or not.

So anyone want to trade The Longest Journey + Dreamfall for coal or something else? Or coal for coal so that I can get more coal? I feel horrible for this post.

I love the internet for things like these.