ethanThomas

In his defense STALKER would probably be better compared to a girlfriend who is fascinating and beautiful, but also a little nuts:deranged:. Sometimes you can work it out and move forward. Other times it's best for both parties if you just take both a short break from each other. And unfortunately sometimes you're both better off accepting that what you had was good while it lasted, but it's gone now..

If you've never played the games before it'll probably take quite awhile. If you haven't already gotten gold on most of the medium and hard levels, I'd strongly recommend doing that before making a real effort to complete the extreme levels. (I also only have bronzes on the extreme levels (100+ faults on each of the levels), so I'm still far from a master of the game)

I was able to complete all the extreme levels without encountering either limit (probably because I played a shit ton of Trials 2: SE), but I really think that these limits are arbitrary and unnecessary. Sure 300 faults is a lot and 30 minutes is a really long time to spend on one track, I guess I just think it's silly to punish players who are already struggling.

Heck it's not just about PC games, sometimes they'll get distracted by a dog that walks by or get sidetracked into talking about their garden or Warhammer or anything else that catches their fancy. It's super low-key and casual, which I generally like in a podcast. I generally find podcasts where everyone is in the same room to be vastly superior to ones where the people are talking over Skype or whatever. If nothing else, it dramatically reduces the amount that people talk over each other. Side Note: Who is Luke Smith? I know who all the other Out of the Game guys are, but I'm not at all familiar with him.

The RPS Wireless show is a pretty good listen. It's the podcast from the fine gentlemen at Rock, Paper, Shotgun. The sound quality can be cruddy sometimes. Maybe it's just because I'm a stupid colonial, but I really can tell any of the dudes apart. I still think it's worth a listen despite my whining. Retronauts is pretty sweet if you're into old games, even if sometimes Jeremy Parish's self-depreciating comments get on my nerves. Gamers with Jobs is decent and they play a fair bit a PC games, which is always nice. The Brainy Gamer is quite good, even if the name strikes me as a bit...dunno, presumptuous? arrogant? pretentious? Also, Steve 'Mah Scoops be on Fire' Gaynor was on a recent episode. Geekbox can be fun sometimes, though I've occasionally wished I could somehow punch Andrew Fitch through the internet. I'll throw in another vote for Out of the Game, Giant Bombcast, and A Life Well Wasted.

Just wait until you get to extreme... I would highly recommend trying to get gold on most of the medium and hard levels before tackling extreme (unless of course you're an unbelievable masochist). Also for some reason the game only allows you 300 faults and/or 20 (Edit: it might actually be 30, see the post below) minutes on a given level. Unless this is a purely technical issue, it's a choice I really don't understand.

What games have you played that feature surviving and horror, but don't fall into the 'survival horror'? Personally I would put forward Defcon and Manhunt as examples of what I'm talking about. Edit: In retrospect Defcon was probably a bad example, but I still think Manhunt captures what I'm trying to articulate.

Well it's not really a coincidence since I've had STALKER on my mind after watching the trailer on Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

One of these guys is Mr. Rodkin, the other two aren't. Can you figure it out? Two of these fine gentlemen are Mr. Remo, The other one is me. Can you figure out who's who? (:erm:x10)^2

Have you played either of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games? Neither game is quite as open as FC2, but I liked both of the games quite a bit. (S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:Shadow of Chernobyl and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky)

I seem to vaguely remember the GFW radio crew talking about the Falcon and Gish. I sounded cool because the physical properties of the ball-thing changed the level of resistance from the Falcon.

The Falcon was released in 2006. I've seen it discussed elsewhere, and the general consensus seemed to be that it's cool but support is limited. The wait and see approach seems reasonable, but I don't think that there will be any sort of massive upswing in dev support for it. Also the Novint website has a listing of games that have Falcon drivers availible: http://home.novint.com/games/games.php

Or at least convoluted...

I think the Falcon has been around for at least a few years, so whatever support from devs they've been able to muster so far would probably be indicative of how much support they'll get in the future. Edit:One other thing to keep in mind before buying the Falcon, is that if you do you'll probably have to spend a lot of time convincing your non-gaming friends that the Falcon isn't a teledildonics accessory.

:woohoo:Have a wizardly birthday, dude! also farts:fart:

Huh. The game's online leaderboard only has one person (obscenepenguin) listed as having completed the tournament with zero faults, but the GB thing has two people who've have the achievement (neither of which appear to be obscenepenguin). Weird...

I haven't played either game, so I cant really tell you. As Psych pointed out, the 'survival' category is pretty vague and probably ultra subjective, but my intention was to capture a class of game that tries to deliver an experience that is the antithesis of the empowerment fantasies that many major games are founded on.

I would also strongly recommend playing the tutorials in Trials 2:SE a few times until you feel that you've mastered the technique being taught. Unfortunately the tutorial levels are built in such a way that they can be completed without the player really understanding the intended lesson. That said, if you give the game another try (trial?) and still aren't having any fun, I would certainly recommend ditching it. Trials is rather like old school Mega Man in that the controls are very simple but the actions required of the player can often be extremely complex and difficult to perform. Both MM and Trials can't really be brute forced (or at least brute forced while still being fun), and so in the game doesn't 'click' for you then it will simply be an exercise in tedium and frustration. And for what it's worth I rather dislike old school Mega Man games. While I love them, the Trials games are not 'important' games. They will not be highly influential nor an major landmark in Video game history. While something like Half-Life 2 or Final Fantasy 7 might be worth playing even if you don't enjoy them in order to understand the history of the medium, Trials simply isn't. (This is all a rather fancy way of saying give Trials another shot. If you don't like it don't worry, there are plenty of other games worth your time, energy, and money)

So wait, you don't want to read my 5,000 word essay analyzing the thematic continuity between Trials, No Exit, and The Stranger?

Fair enough. I guess in my mind 'surviving' in this context would mean a constant sense of weakness and vulnerability on the part of the player. The difference between the bad-ass cyborg Master Chief and the frail vulnerable James Sunderland.

Maybe they'll go 'bigger, badder, and more badass' and you'll fight them four times!

I personally rather like Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, but it's a pretty divisive work so I can't unreservedly recommend it. It might be worth checking out if you want to see the exact point where Frank Miller takes the express train to crazy town. Batman: Thrillkiller is a pretty good Elseworld ('what if?') that takes place in the sixties.

I didn't really like Okami, but for those who did this sounds like it could be really good news! Who's developing it? Didn't Clover shut down?

I find longplays/let's plays worthwhile either when the players are funny or it's a game where I'm interested in the story but have no interest in the gameplay. ( Giant Bomb's Endurance Run provides both of these)

Fun Fact: Right now only 1(!!) person has earned the 'Marathon' achievement in Trials HD. @psych: Don't all the levels of a certain difficulty unlock at once? Also you might try practicing your ball riding skills in the 'Outside the Ball' skill game.