Garple

I don't really know. It's not something that comes up often in my interactions with fellow Americans. Anyway, Ebert's a thinking man so I don't know if you can lump him in with a hivemind like that.

God damnit. I'm getting closer and closer to buying this and making my laptop run it, whether it likes it or not. At least I could blame my shitty performance on framerate.

That's a spicy meta-ball!

As someone from Massachusetts, this reminds me of Red Sox fans in the 90s.

Also, hasn't Ebert ever heard of relativism?

Yeah, it's sort of an add-on after the main episode ends. You have to keep listening, like that song that sounds like it was sung by Ernie from Sesame Street at the end of Green Day's Dookie.

Far Cry 2 can keep you engaged when you're not playing in much the same way a Lynch film keeps you engaged when you're not watching. Pardon me if I'm missing your point Also: Gabbo is coming!

Also, for anyone who's way behind on movies like I am, I'm going to throw in a recommendation for the Tim Burton produced "9" (watched it last night and was quite impressed)...watch that and Fantastic Mr. Fox in one night as a double feature. Along those same lines, this reminds me, I really really need to see "Up"

If you're saying I didn't get it, I resent that. What the hell is there to get? The actual horror element was so lazy and uninspired and the neo-80s vibe is kind of cool on its own for aesthetic reasons, but it didn't seem to do anything to make the film better. The main actress had a near mesmerizing screen presence and it was kind of a laugh to see Greta Gerwig (queen of the mumblecore genre of indie films) do something more typical. But I like my horror to be either scary or cheezy enough to be amusing and this film sat blandly between those two extremes.

I'm up for this. I don't have a headset but I'd love to join in, and I'll probably get a headset if enough thumb action starts cropping up on the PS3.

And title generators and all that kind of stuff... http://www.norefuge.net/vgng/vgng.html This one is video game titles, most of them are not funny, but it did come up with Italian Hippo Dungeon. Some of the titles generated just sound like real dsiware or wiiware games, such as: Fantasy Bowling Fever, Little Underwater Island and Advanced Gnome Castle. Link some other ones... There's one that generates your Wu-Tang Clan name but I don't feel like looking it up.

It's hilarious how these goofy nicknames come out of nowhere and stick forever. Do we even have any idea why they were calling Sean "Famous"?

I cracked up. On the inside, at least.

He's great at being the everyman's critic. He takes films on their own terms...for example, he doesn't expect Spider-Man 2 to accomplish the same things as Gone With the Wind and he will give something like Spider-Man 2 a good review if he thinks it accomplishes what it's trying to accomplish in a way that will please an audience who is discerning enough to read reviews. I've heard a lot of "average joe" types disparaging critics as out-of-touch snobs, but Ebert manages to bridge the gap of being intellectual, but not letting that make his reviews irrelevant for those who are not as intellectual as he is. Don't let your frustration with his talk about video games color your opinion about him as a film critic. He really is damn good. edit: It does frustrate me that he seems to base his opinion of games on watching videos of them. They need to be PLAYED...that's what they're fucking FOR!!!!!!!!!!! He admits that he never intends to play any video games ever...so why does he talk about them?

I don't have time to consider this as much as I'd like to right now, so I'll just say I would have made the zombies much more dangerous, so that traveling toward the location of an NPC rescue was something that could easily get me killed and so that the threat to Frank West would intensify with the distance he covered. Like in the beginning of Fallout 3. The game is so rough on you that by the time you actually get to one of your destinations you've been beaten down to hell and back and actually feel somewhat like you've made a "journey".

IGN.com

Jake's Famous Van of Man-Sauce

I really got a kick out of the fact that the narrator guy gave a salespitch at the end of the demo. It seems like a great point of re-entry for an adventure game skeptic. Jake and Famous, please enjoy my monies. Man..."Jake & Famous" sounds like a hot sauce company.

I know, but that comes out of nowhere. I'm a playing as a snarky arrogant guy who suddenly becomes the deputy sheriff and runs around going out of his way to save people. The way the game has you wandering around really dampens the feeling of your life being at stake. Going to rescue someone or not doing so should be a big decision, like leaving the safe-room in Left4Dead2 but instead it's fairly casual. Plus, when go help that special agent in the beginning, I go find him and he says, hey help me kill this guy, I'll lay down cover fire, you go do most of the work, and Frank West just does it almost without question.

Well whether they still have it or not doesn't nullify the analogy does it (I'm honestly not sure but I don't think it does)?. Furthermore, it seems safe to assume the planning in this new X-Com game will be on a much smaller scale than that of its predecessors. I think the point is, can they use elements that are characteristic of the spirit if not the specifics of the X-Com series and make a satisfying, if divergent, game. I'm also trying to say that I don't think it should matter that a game is a departure from a series if it's a great game in its own right. I know, it's disappointing to a long time fan of that series...but what are the odds anyone would have made a game that was a lot like the old X-Com games in 2010? Especially when consoles are likely to be the main SKU or at least a strong consideration in terms of the design.

For some reason, I just started playing this game. I like it...but I decided to search for a thread to explain some things. For one, I couldn't figure out why Otis (the janitor) kept telling where survivors were hidden. I didn't really get why I was supposed to care about going out of my way to save them...I don't approve of the way the game uses people like flags in Assassin's Creed or something (in other words, they're checkpoints to be collected on the way toward 100%) and then, when I tried to go help some of the barricaded people they wouldn't even talk to me (granted I had to partially wreck their barricade to get to them, but what else could I have done?). Also: did you guys notice you can spit on people by aiming with nothing in your hands and pressing the throw/fire button?

No, the only hardware problem in this case is with the hardware inside my head. As interesting as it sounds, this game seems a little too Breckonesque for me to wrap my brain around.

I have a funny feeling this will be like Fallout 3 where people say: "this isn't going to capture the spirit of its predecessors" but then, despite being fairly different it will be awesome. Maybe it will combine shooting and strategy in the way the Tom Clancy games do. where the planning and real-time action are divided up. Then again, I've never played X-Com or any of the Tom Clancy games, so I don't know why I'm typing things in this text box. In any event, I have a good feeling about this game. I hope it doesn't get a bad rap just because of the IP involved (like if it's a good game but doesn't feel like X-Com).

In the morning Kotaku said Halo 2 online was still working. I don't know if that's been changed since then and don't care enough to look.

Bjork's got a version in English, though and it's the best. I know the accuracy on that is super contentious though...so fine: "Venus as a Boy" or "Human Behavior" or something.