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I see what you mean about organic skill enhancement. Damn, I've got a great recent example of that but I can't remember what it is. Oh, Braid! It's more about tuning your brain naturally, but yeah. Trials 2 was a similar story. I'd certainly be up for a game sometime, apparently the map editor is great

Holy shit, so triple post, but wow, this game is incredible. Every mechanic has a gameworld representation (or perhaps everything that could be folded into a possible mechanic was) and everything that happens is so tangible. He picks the bullet from his arm, he gets out the map, he jams the gun. Flies buzz around, Zebras and Bison roam the landscape.. It's really, really fucking immersive. On top of that, the shooting is top notch, and the explosions are nice and huge. There are so many incidental things as well. I'm driving along to my destination, looking at the map, and I lose concentration for a second or two. I look up, and the car is irretrievably teetering on the edge of a bridge having broken through the barrier. It was just one of those "Oh fuck, oh, shit... I suppose that's it, shit" moments that are so rare in games. A really early one came as well when I'd just passed all the introductory stuff and was free to do what I wanted. I bussed up to the top corner of the map and stole a boat. Some guys spotted me from a safe house and began shooting, and I ran my vessel aground. It was a real formative sort of thing, like this is how much the game will kick the living shit out of you. I'd reason that it's an RPG more than any other RPG. You pick your dude, you assume his character, and you're thrown out into this massive, realistic world. You play the role of a mercenary trying to kill the Jackal, and the approach with weaponry, vehicles and the character's body contribute to the feeling of a genuine place that actually exists and the player can change. There are no stats and character building - you're the same person the whole time, no magical "levels". I mean this in the pure "Role Playing" sense, rather than the "derivative of D&D" definition of course. Fuck yeah Far Cry 2.

Thanks for taking the time to read it! Yeah, I'm still learning, and I agree with some of the stuff you mentioned about my style. It's a general flaw with me that I tend to state my opinions as objective facts, and I'm working on it, promise [though in my defence I never write in a personal manner, and trying to keep it strictly impersonal can at times make experiences harder to communicate. It is, however, a much better way of improving my writing and if I can do it well it will theoretically look awesome to potential employers, especially if I still have the view to eventually doing this shit professionally]. I also sort of got tired of the review because it's not really, for me, an interesting game to write about. Sorry if that's totally unprofessional, but it's hard to avoid in certain scenarios. Although I acknowledge games don't necessarily need to be leaning to the flashier side of things - look at Pong, Space Invaders et al as an extreme example - The Club's core gameplay didn't feel strong enough. The score attack would become interesting for short periods, but before too long the clunky controls would get in the way or the environments would blur into a monotonous corridor, and if the shooting itself more closely matched the way movement is presented it may have benefited. With that sort of premise, generally either more or less speed in the movement would have suited it much, much better. Basically, I love score attack games (such as the cited examples in the review), but this was... not a good one.* *[in my opinion ] Again, thanks very much for reading and passing comment, this is the kind of constructive criticism I need. And here's my fairly bare catalogue of material. If you hate it please tell me

I played it to the end and I suppose I never had that "moment" like you guys. It's happened before in other games, and although I enjoyed The Club I never came close to that feeling. Beware of my review style, a lot of people dislike it. With trepidation, here it is.

Seems pretty so far.

Just bought this from Gamersgate's massive Ubisoft sale for £15, along with GRAW 2 (which is just less than £4). Downloading now, can't wait to get stuck into it. If it doesn't live up to expectations I blame the Thumbs podcast team.

I got this in Zavvi (on PS3) in their closing down sale for £6. It's OK. So OK in fact, I'd consider it almost completely average. I published a review for this the other day, COINCIDENCE?! But yeah, it's a bit cack to control and has no sense of spectacle, so it fell quite flat with me.

Maybe she's just jealous.

Auditorium By: Cipher Prime Available: http://www.playauditorium.com/ Synopsis: Relaxing/frustrating music based puzzler that's something between Music Catch and Blueprint. Beautiful visuals and soundtrack to boot. More: http://blog.cipherprime.com/

"This game will compel your fat, hillbilly wife to whittle a dildo from sheet plastic and fuck herself with it while you spend a night with your dog, Skeeter" - IGN.com

We can try our damnedest, but this proves that there's no way we'll ever beat their best.

"The moral dilemmas present extensive ethical quandaries" - IGN.com

It's designed to run well on shitty hardware, so you may be in luck.

Dinosaur hunting. Make it happen!

Good work, Jake.

"Say this in Jake's sexy voice and it sounds very appealing." - IGN.com

"The visuals are even shinier than Jake Rodkin's head" - IGN.com

Even the pissing dictionary definition made it difficult to discern the proper meaning.

After some searching, it appears to be a very grey area whether or not their definitions and applications are interchangeable. I'll ask my Philosophy teacher. Anyway, piracy still can't really be justified.

I'd be inclined to agree. Buying shoes that a six year old working in a sweatshop lost an arm over would be "unethical", but you're not necessarily a bad person for using the product because, hey, we all need shoes and they may be the only affordable option. It'd be "immoral" to actively support such treatment, and that would make you a horrible bastard.

"My face was sucked into a cosmic vortex created by sheer awesome" - IGN.com "So amazing it's literally a force of nature" - IGN.com "This game is a law unto itself" - IGN.com

So I've been considering buying Demigod, been very interested in it for a while but I think I'll have to wait until I get paid at the end of the month because I have next to no money right now. Anyway, figures like this make me want to support it even more. There's no DRM and it's still getting pirated the shit out of. The old "we hate DRM, BAAWWWWW" excuse is gone, and people are exposed as the horrible bastards they are. It's the exact kind of game PC guys should love and want to support, and it's already been stolen X5 over sales? Shameful. Legit buyers - and the game's ratings - are also suffering because of that thanks to the over-populated servers.

Do I get some truck balls and a Sarah Palin 2012 hat pin?