Noyb

I can't find anything wrong with that... Well, you can if you try to describe aloud it to friends that way. I'm not sure if I was failing to enunciate properly, or they have some Freudian issues, but they heard it as "gay sex underwater." Yes, I'm aware that Deus has two syllables. And that Thumbs doesn't need any more questionable google hits.

The video and animations were hilarious, but jeez, he needs to take a breath every now and then.

Gah. I wish the demo will come out before the game, so I have a chance to see if it will run well on my laptop. Otherwise, I guess I'm getting the 360 version.

A certain internet blog I don't care to link to that rhymes with blow-taku picked up the scoop from mojo, who took it from here.

I had trouble accessing the Double Fine Action News earlier today. Not like I would have any reason to expect something new. Not at all. I saw NOTHING!

My original steam ID that I use as a login points to a two-generations-old email address, yet in the options, I have it email me at my current one.

Well, the trick in Dead Rising in general is to not expect to beat the story on your first playthrough. Your level and skills carry over to your next game, so you should try and get through as much of the story as possible, but spend the rest of the three days on subquests (escort missions and psychopath fights) to get powerful enough to actually beat the story. Also, there's a pretty useful shortcut:

Psychonauts is on Steam, yet Steam Communities does not allow me to choose it as my favorite game.

So how does a massive corporation known for yearly, full-price token upgrades get its customers to upgrade? Pulling online support for the last year's product. They keep *saying* that they don't want to act evil, but I'm just not seeing it.

Just started playing it, and I'm enjoying it almost as much as it's humbling me. I'm a good ways into the game (8 hours, 4th stage out of about 8?), and it's still keeping my interest. Maybe the reason I'm not hating the controls as much as some reviewers is that this summer I just played Breakdown, that first-person fighting game, where you obviously can't change the camera angles. With the tank controls and instant-180 button, it reminds me a bit of Breakdown combined with slightly less tight RE4 controls. The coolest part about the controls is that you can assign any move you want to the buttons, and build up your own combo chain. It's a bit odd that the emphasis is on dodging rather than blocking attacks, but it keeps the movement flowing. Also, the cutscenes are so unbelievably cheesy as to be utterly hilarious. Godhand: You're not human, are you? Mask-wearing Gorilla: Ook! Enemies: We'll get your arm next time! Godhand: Yeah, well...you're idiots!

Gears of War co-op is worth the time. There are some neat bits where each player takes a separate path, like one snipes and the other runs around on the ground, or one enters a building while the other loops around to flank a turret. I like Gears' local multiplayer, but any online system that involves trying to convince random people online to *allow* your friends to be on the same team deserves a . Also, don't forget about Lego Star Wars II on the 360.

Crackdown's competition can be seen here here. Odd seeing so little Nintendo love from a European conference. The only mentions of Nintendo are for Red Steel (new IP) or Wii's Opera browser (best online feature). From a quick glance at the nominees, it looks like the awards are focused mainly on European developers.

Whoa. They're also selling separate mp3 commentaries for newer movies. How did I not hear about this before? Not only are they mocking Star Wars Episode 1, but they name-drop Psychonauts. http://www.rifftrax.com/showSample.php?vidID=20 Edit: From the samples on both sites, it seems like they've lost something since mst3k. It feels like they're riffing less frequently, but with more hit-or-miss jokes. Hopefully it's just due to the short length of the previews.

Oooh. I found a PC tech demo of Echochrome's predecessor. The little guy is autonomous, and there's no built-in levels (or even a save-load feature). The implementation is a bit buggy, but still fun to play around with. http://indygamer.blogspot.com/2007/07/ole-coordinate-system.html

It was a pretty tricky jump as far as I remember.

EA apparently has a Game Innovation Lab. They showed off a project at E3 (under indie games showcase for some bizarre reason). Didn't seem too impressive. Blurry black-and-white images, low-pitched single notes, random slow-motion videos of birds flapping their wings and other creatures. Like Myst without puzzles or plot, vague constructs without mystery or meaning. Basically gave off the vibe of a massive corporation's idea of "deep art." http://www.areyouindie.com/showcase/profile.php?id=8

Wow, Echochrome looks like fun. Is there any good reason why it's being developed for the PS3 instead of, well, any platform where it stands a decent chance of being played?

One thing I never got about all of these Pandora box stories: didn't Pandora already release the evils of mankind in the original story? A quick wiki search shows that what was left in the box was the ability to see the misfortunes of the future. Since their lives suddenly became that much worse, lacking that gift gave them a blind hope. So, following the myth, opening the box in present days either releases hope, or lets you see the future, depending on the interpretation.

Are they programming in Blade Runner AI detection questions?

Thanks for the link. There are so many rumors and myths floating around about the ESRB, it's nice to see some straight answers.

Chris Kohler over at Wired found some analysis from Newsweek from journalists who actually played the game, as well as some comparisons to the original Manhunt and other forms of violent media. Worth a read, especially with all of this speculation going on. http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/06/newsweek-mtv-pl.html Also, I seem to remember reading around the time of the Hot Coffee incident that the ESRB does not actually play the games that it rates, just views developer-submitted scenes of representative gameplay and edge-pushing content. Was this true? Is it still true? There's something to be said about rapid-fire viewing of decontextualized violence shaping someone's perception of the game.

Playing Breakdown (first person beat-em-up for the original xbox), and was reminded of this post. OMFG, the final boss wasn't too bad (only took me about four tries on normal), but the fight *after* that is insane. It puts you up against five waves of enemies, grouped about 4-5 at any one time, each capable of hitting you for 1/6-1/3 of your lifebar in one shot, each likely to flank you if you're not constantly aware (since you have no peripheral vision and pretty much must use hand-to-hand against them). It's a sudden, annoying, random increase in difficulty completely unlike everything that went before. If there's one thing I hate in games, it's the groundhog day effect of replaying a significantly long relatively easy part just to get to a jaw-droppingly difficult part. What's worse is that the checkpoints were fairly generous except for this one crazy instance. Edit: Finally beat it, after having to completely change my tactics for that fight, and that fight alone. It didn't help that the last wave's victory condition was taking care of the slow-moving minimal threats while killing the fast-moving major threats only resulted in them respawning indefinitely..without *telling* the player.

I think that Pokemon episode was the one that triggered that epilepsy/seizure scare over in Japan from the blinking lights. Personally, Manhunt creeps me out. I never had much of a desire to play it, but I still don't think that censorship is the way to go. It seems like part of the problem is that the lawmakers refuse to believe that M-rated games are intended for adults, so what they view as extreme is lumped into a level somehow higher than a classification for mature audiences. Edit: Ah, since neither Sony nor Nintendo want AO games on their consoles, it is essentially censorship.

Finally beat Super Paper Mario. It felt a lot less charming than the other ones. There were so many parts that just dragged on and on: (MINOR SPOILERS) I do have to commend Nintendo for trying to shake things up (MAJOR SPOILERS) but it just felt really grating after a while. The combat or exploration didn't feel as tight as a standard Mario platformer, or as interesting as the constant on-guard feeling of the past RPG Marios. The bosses were more long than difficult, and I never really felt in danger of dying. Granted, I can still have fun with easy games (Minish Cap), but it felt like a constant grind here. None of the abilities ever really developed to a level where the puzzles or exploration became much more interesting than, say, the colored key system of Doom. All said, I was enjoying myself near the end, but most of the game just felt tedious.

I wouldn't think Purcell would want to work with Lucas "Telling a Story isn't Profitable" Arts any more. Quit toying with my emotions, Internet! Also, very old point of contention, but did the writers of Escape from Monkey Island's last few acts even play the original game?