Vorlonesque

It took me a good 30 seconds to realize what it was I was looking for in the pic. I think this demonstrates why I'm horrible at word search puzzles. Edit: although I think almost all of the things on there would bother GG'ers now that I think of it.

Wasn't there that really awesome SNES (well, SFC technically) Tetris game that gets mentioned on Giantbomb every so often that never came out here?

I think I still have the Tetris Axis game card around here somewhere for 3DS...got if off Amazon last year for cheap if I remember correctly. I just checked and I do: I like taking really stupid pictures (if you haven't noticed)! I went and checked to see if I had the cart with my portable consoles (I have them (a 3DS, a DS Lite, a graphite Gameboy Advance SP, and a PS Vita) in a camera case) and then I took a picture! Edit: I would add that I still think of the original Gameboy's Tetris as THE Tetris game along with the old PC release (with the crazy Russian themed backgrounds). I've never seen the original ascii art version that was programmed on an old Russian PC, but I've heard they have that in a museum exhibit so that version would be cool as well.

I got Shadow of Mordor, Farcry 4, and Sunset Overdrive. I always pick some games that I really want to play and then decide not to get them so that when people ask me "what do you want" I can easily answer that. If people don't ask and just get me stuff I'm fine with that too, but people always ask...and I figure having an answer prepared (and I generally know what people are wanting to spend so I take that into account) makes it easier for them. Usually its my brother and my parents asking. My brother and my mom aren't too hard to shop for, but my dad is nearly impossible some years. This year wasn't too bad because he'd been talking about getting a wedge pillow like I have (and my mom has) for acid reflux (and in his case snoring as well I guess, as he mentioned that too)...so that was pretty easy to figure out. Shopping this year was actually pretty simple and I didn't mind it (it was all on Amazon save for the stuff for my little cousins (bunch of Lego stuff) that Fedex lost or shipped to the wrong place initially...so we ended up getting them stuff locally at the last moment (normally I avoid shopping anywhere in person at any place other than a grocery store or what-have-you after Thanksgiving unless its at odd hours where you won't encounter crowds and long lines).

Damn, I wish I'd noticed this. I wouldn't mind to have a slightly handier version of GB Tetris around. At least the original still works! http://i.imgur.com/NTTZB6a.jpg http://i.imgur.com/kNIdWo7.jpg I still don't understand why they removed it from the eShop...was it a licensing thing or something?

That actually sounds potentially amazing; I would definitely order that to try. I wonder how selection of peanut butter would affect it, whether crunchy peanut butter would make it better or worse and would PB with more or less sugar be better. I would also (by default) ask for only the peanut butter and cheese and burger (and buns), because I always get my burgers and hotdogs plain (this is a weird quirk I have among many (most of which are probably OCD related I would guess)).

I think the donuts would kill it for me...I don't really like glazed donuts (I can eat them though) and I'm weirdly picky about mixing stuff like that for some weird reason. That said I'd totally eat a burger like that with normal buns (or pretzel buns or other things) and then eat the donuts. I could even get away with it since I'm underweight and already eat horribly (I actually need to gain weight...I only weigh 112 pounds now...I need to at least gain back the 8 pounds I lost when I got sick a couple times recently and then ideally put on some more weight to reach whatever is the normal healthy weight for a 5'11" guy...though its hard for me to get above 125 for some reason even at age 35). Edit: I would add that, while Dan's tweets are a bit oblivious perhaps; I can't get angry because he's expressing that he's happy or whatever. Hell, right now I'm not miserable and would even say I'm content...maybe even happy. I think its perhaps a bit tone-deaf to go around touting your happiness this year...but I would assume and hope that's what people are upset about (and not upset that Dan is actually in a state of happiness right now...after all you don't control you emotional states and demanding he do otherwise would be a bit terrible, but asking kindly that he perhaps not publicly revel in it while others suffer I can completely understand). I'm typing this on a shitty ultrabook keyboard...so it may not make any sense.

Pinball is the reason my arcade stick has buttons on the sides! There's a button on the other side as well that's off camera. Edit: Only issue is that I don't have a good way to tilt/nudge in stuff like pinball arcade.

I'm always surprised when I hear that you can still do it in GTA, and I think its mostly because I never did it (I didn't even realize it was possible for a long time and when I did it never made sense to do and seemed like a stupid "shock value" thing in the game that I assumed probably had gone away in more recent iterations). I played Vice City and San Andreas mostly as "crazy police chase" games where I would usually try to get my stars high and then have cars chasing me all over as I did stupid stuff like driving on the beach and using ramps on roofs to jump around. I only played a little of GTA IV but I couldn't engage in the stupid stunt driving I did in the other games quite as well so I sort of lost interest in that game. Stalker and FC2 ended up filling that "doing crazy stuff and having things go bad" void for me better. The fact that mechanic is still in the game now seems bizarre and sounds like it would just be jarring and weird (not to mention fucked up). It doesn't even work on a shock value level now because its expected, its not shocking, and its not even remotely interesting. I don't really see the advantage of keeping it in (though having really nasty consequences for the player partaking in such activity does sound like an interesting way of handling it if they didn't remove it). I think I always got health back by using the soft-drink vending machines (I think they gave a Sprite/7-up equivalent). Now I want a drink of 7-up or Sprite or some other soda/pop/coke/whatever. http://i.imgur.com/QmN7w0i.jpg

I remember they did that in Midtown Madness on the PC years and years ago (people used to play the hell out of that in my dorm and had all sorts of mod cars in there like the batmobile and the Simpson's family car and shit).

While I don't feel I'm qualified to pick the best game...I will say that my favorite game is probably either DOOM (though the pic is of DOOM2, which I prefer for multiplayer but for single player DOOM1 is better) or A Link to the Past After that it becomes really hard to make any sort of list of favorites in any real order because I love so many games for so many different reasons. The two above are just the games that probably had the biggest impact on me and that I regularly go back to.

Babylon 5 is good stuff, but be warned that it starts out kind of rocky and the last season drags on a bit. The overall story arc is good and the high points are pretty high, the problem is that the lowest points are really fucking low as well. I think that's partially due to its lack of budget compared to its contemporaries combined with the fact that a lot of the standalone episodes just weren't very good (there are exceptions, Passing Through Gethsemane and Believers are both excellent standalone episodes and there are others as well). Edit: I will second feelthedarkness's recommendation of The Prisoner. Not only is it very good, but it also had a huge influence on a large number of other works.

There's cross-play between the PC and PS4 versions, so if they don't allow the use of old sticks I'll probably just get it on PC (I may do that anyway). I realize that isn't an option for everyone, so I hope they support PS3 sticks on it.

I love that painting! I know Farcry will likely never go there, but it just goes to show how many opportunities there are for good story telling that are untapped in terms of games. Every inch of the world is filled to the brim of stories...spanning countless years of human history. You look into the history of any place and you'll find fascinating people who lived through amazing things.Edit: I would add that my knowledge of the southern part of the state isn't the best, as I grew up and have spent almost all of my life in the north-central part of it (grew up in and around Weston (which is sort of in the middle of the state) and went to college in Fairmont which is a good bit further north).

Holy shit...imagine a period-piece Farcry set in the late 19th century in WV and Kentucky. Farcry: Hatfields and McCoys...you've got your warring factions and everything. Farcry: Early 20th Century Coal Mining Labor Dispute could also be good.I do think Farcry: The Moon is where the series needs to be eventually. Edit: Now that I think about it...a Farcry game set in a couple fictional southern West Virginia counties in the early 20's could be interesting. There is so much going on in that region in that era...the little labor war going on, prohibition kicking in, the fact that the Hatfield and McCoy feud was still somewhat fresh in people's minds. You could have fictionalized versions of things in order for it to better fit a game perhaps (which is the Farcry formula). I'm slightly concerned that it could or would be exploitative in a way, but it would still be less so than what we've seen recently from the series (and its something with enough distance from us in terms of time that its less a concern and my biggest concern would be how race relations and racism in the region at that time in history would be handled in the game in a sensitive and responsible manner given the past couple of Farcry games). http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain

Also huge towering pillars of flame from gas wells (I took this picture from my yard here in West Virginia last Thursday): Full picture: http://i.imgur.com/ykROGtS.jpg

Appalachia!

THIS movie would excite the hell out of me! I would be all about seeing THIS movie!

I always try to say "nice shot" or "nice kill" anytime it seems warranted. Its not only a nice thing to do, but it actually seems to improve the atmosphere of any game I'm in...if people are positive and nice I've noticed that it tends to have an effect on others and everyone is a little nicer. I often forget to actually do it though...its really easy to forget to compliment people, but I think its a good practice and makes for a friendlier environment. One time a guy was being a real asshole griping about people killing him this way or that and I complimented him a couple times when he killed me and he actually got way more positive and easier for everyone to deal with.

So there's a towering pillar of flame visible from my window/front yard! http://i.imgur.com/CziDrHl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/P37GA8C.jpg http://i.imgur.com/ykROGtS.jpg (daytime pic) There were two flames a few days ago: http://i.imgur.com/OmlQsIM.jpg They fracked some gas wells up the road (they've drilled several on the same hill I think, or maybe just two; we've had a lot of drilling in this area over the past couple of years), and someone told me they burn off some of the gas for a little bit to get rid of contaminants or something that would prevent them from transporting it easily or whatever (he mentioned Nitrogen specifically). Its strangely beautiful in a fucked up "opening of Blade Runner" sort of way and I've become accustomed to the roaring sound which is very faint when I'm in the house (and sounds like a jet engine outside). They should be done in a few days I would imagine. I'm in central West Virginia and we've got a LOT of natural gas in the ground so drilling and fracking have become common place. Sorry for the shitty quality of the pictures; I took them with my really old Canon Digital Rebel EOS 300D which I guess was made in 2003 or 2004 (I bought it off my brother several years back for $100 when he upgraded to a Nikon D90). I still have yet to completely figure out how to take pictures with that camera of light sources at night (my knowledge of photography is very very limited), but I'm imaging the SL1 I ordered Thursday or Friday should be a little more friendly wrt those conditions when it arrives. Edit: I corrected a couple of the links above.

Someone just gave me what I think is a compliment yesterday when I was playing. He said I was the most aggressive Stryder he'd ever seen (I took on two other Titans (an Atlas and the bigger one that I can't remember the name of) and doomed them both while dashing around before I ended up dying. He then later said that the way I dash in at full speed scared the hell out of him in another match. What he didn't notice is that I tend to lose my Titan pretty quickly even if I do take down a few Titans before I die...I tend to charge in and do as much damage (with the homing missiles that fire three at a time (I suck at remembering the names of stuff in this game) and with my 40mm cannon) as I can before the other player can react and then I make some distance and finish them off with my 40mm cannon and trying to get shots in on their flashy orange bits. If somebody's paying attention and they try to hit me that whole time I'm done...but most people aren't expecting it (because its so stupid to go charging in close with a Stryder that no one does it) so it sometimes works. Its not even a thought out strategy...I just generally play too aggressively, which is why in games like CS I do horribly because I'm the person who charges in first and gets gunned down or blown up.

I would love to see a Battle Mode DLC pack, as that's the one area of the game I think is lacking (and I have fond memories of that mode in the SNES, N64, and DS MK games)...but other than that they're really doing an amazing job with this stuff and I hope they keep adding to the game. Edit: Holy shit, just downloaded the DLC and played it...the FZero, Zelda, and Excite Bike tracks are amazing...the Excite Bike track brings back a lot of memories of playing that game on a Nintendo "red tent" arcade machine at Pizza Hut! http://nintendoredtent.weebly.com/about.html http://www.johnsarcade.com/nintendo_vs_dualsystem_tent.php https://www.google.com/search?q=nintendo+red+tent&client=firefox-a&hs=L9u&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=fflb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=hqh7VNGlBIfIsQTWqYH4BQ&ved=0CDoQ7Ak&biw=1536&bih=1007

I almost bought one of those soooo many times going into a Gamestop after work and seeing them there...I had the money to buy it, but for some reason I couldn't justify it when I already had a perfectly good dark greyish silver model (that I still have and use for GBC games). I did stupidly rebuy a 3DS XL to get the Zelda version (and to give my mom my old red 3DS XL...my brother has my original small 3DS)...but I love gold Zelda themed shit: http://i.imgur.com/ufiWgpe.jpg But nothing really holds a candle to the gold NES Zelda carts...those things rocked with that shiny gold finish! http://i.imgur.com/CMYS0Ps.jpg http://i.imgur.com/vIqEOCw.jpg Edit: speaking of old zelda games...those carts hold their memory for way longer than they were supposed to...last time I checked both my LttP and Link's Awakening carts had their saves still on them! I think I haven't touched that Link's Awakening cart since 1994 or so when I beat it and it still had my saves from my adolescence!

I *think* its the jump sound Yoshi makes in the GBA version...having just loaded up the SNES version and the GBA version (on my 3DS) that appears to be the case...but it may be another noise I'm not thinking of. Danielle would know for certain I'm sure...but I'm imagining it as Yoshi jumping several times.

I remember Mario's shirt being brown in Super Mario Bros (the original)...I started to refer to him as "brown-shirt Mario" in this post and then re-wrote it realizing that had a WHOLE DIFFERENT connotation. http://www.mariouniverse.com/images/sprites/nes/smb/mario-luigi.gif http://www.childofthe1980s.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/mario-sprite.jpg http://www.ionlitio.com/images/2006/10/sprites_super_mario.gif http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2007/05/mariochartbig.png As to the mario regional pronunciation discussion a while back...in central West Virginia we pronounced Mario as "Mahr-eeoh" (the west coast pronunciation according to the podcast and Jake) as opposed to "Mare-eeoh" (the New York/east coast pronunciation that Chris used). We always just called him "Mario" and not "Super Mario" when I was in grade school. I do remember seeing ads from stores in New York (WPIX) when I watched cartoons that called him "Mare-eeoh" and I think that pronunciation was used in some official ads (or maybe just the Atari 2600 Donkey Kong ad). I should mention that we had a satellite dish so all the networks and other channels I watched as a kid were from all over the country so I watched several stations in New York during my childhood. I always assumed the differences in pronunciation of Mario were like the differences in pronouncing the "nam" in Vietnam...some people pronounce it rhyming with "slam" and some people pronounce it rhyming with "bomb" (I always pronounced it in the latter fashion...BUT I heard it the former way sometimes and in my childhood brain just assumed both were right (otherwise why would Robert Stack be saying it differently in Time Life commercials)...and I assumed the same thing about Mario).