BTaylor

My tag is snorlax789, and I'm down for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (at least after it's patched), Left 4 Thumbs, ODST Firefight, for now. Later on, probably Brutal Legend multi, L4D2, and COD4MW2 multi

If I'm not too heavily involved in the single player, hit me up at snorlax789.

It's like BioWare read some Warren Ellis comics, saw some Suicide Girls, and thought to themselves, "We want us some of that!"

I was reading Quintin Smith's series of articles for Rock Paper Shotgun on Pathologic, and it occurred to me that a grim game like Pathologic handles mature subject matter much more elegantly than Dante's Inferno and Lakes of Semen or Mass Effect 2's newest and baddest biotic bitch, Subject Zero. The comparison is probably sharpest when I compare Pathologic and Dante's Inferno. Both games present hellish places, but Pathologic's town doesn't project the same sense of repugnance and grossness as Dante's Inferno's Hades. As for Pathologic vs. Subject Zero, Subject Zero just seems like an adolescent boy's idea of what a hardass, Warren Ellis-esque chick should be. It's almost a caricature of Tank Girl, for example, and it hints that Mass Effect 2's characterization is more shallow than the player would expect. It's the same problem of Dragon Age Origin's "give magic books for sex" mechanic. Relationships and people aren't so simple, and BioWare can do more nuanced and less abrasive characters than Subject Zero.

We should note that former Thumbseneer "Hot Scoops" Steve Gaynor is on the latest edition of The Brainy Gamer Podcast. Hot Scoops Gaynor and video games Rodking.

I too fall into the Steam discount trap. I have both Freedom Force games and the three Penumbra games on my laptop, and I'll probably never get around to really spending time with any of them. I'll play Penumbra - and I really am interested in Chris's thoughts on those games - but I'll probably never get around to Freedom Force because I remember how slow its early stages are. It sounds like Jake, Chris, and I are sharing classic cases of buyer's remorse, which is particularly acute because these games are so cheap and disposable. $1 for Peggle or Super Monkey Ball? Sure! $5 for the three Penumbra games? Sure again! Who cares that I really don't have time to play any of them? They're as expensive as a footlong sandwich from Subway!

Good news! If you give Kieron Gillen some money, not only will he not snub you, but he'll have sexual intercourse with you!

And Something Awful sums it up: