Shakesbeard

A ghost did it

You talkin' 'bout Bullet Witch? Goddamn the controls (along with a lot of other things) totally ruined that game for me. I haaaaate that game. If there's a game called Gunwitch out there you have my apologies, carry on.

You're a LOOSE CANNON and a GODDAMN LIABILITY TO THIS PRECINCT To contribute: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfxCnZ4Dp3c&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfxCnZ4Dp3c&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Just finished reading the Serpent and the Rainbow, and it was incredible. Great pacing, very engaging, and it somehow made me interested in Ethnobotany! Who knew? The movie you might've seen with Bill Pullman is only loosely based on the actual events of the book, so if you like zombies and adventurous non-fiction, check it out. Just don't expect Dawn of the Dead.

This game...oh man. I had way more fun with this than I had any right to. It's silly as hell, the voice acting is hilarious, the story is a trainwreck and the qte's are nigh CONSTANT - but it's also hella fun. Controls make or break a game for me a lot of the time and Ninja Blade hits a great balance of precision and somewhat-floaty forgiveness. I love the different weapons, from the big beefy broadsword (which can be upgraded to allow for SWORD-SURFING) to the dual extendo-blades that have you Spider-man swinging all over certain levels and bosses. There's a remarkable depth and variety to the attacks you can unlock by upgrading the various blades, and they just get crazier and more imaginative as time goes on. (I distinctly recall breakdancing, doing "the windmill" as it were, with a sword feld between my feet...) Oh and one of my favorite surprises is how you can customize the color of every item on your ninja, so naturally I played through the first half of the game as a pink and black checkered badass. I love Ninja Blade.

This is pretty exciting, I'm a big fan of the Warhammer universe (despite never buying little plastic mans) and have heard very good things about the ruleset for Blood Bowl. Question: would it be recommended to play this before playing the tabletop version or do you think they're about the same in terms of learning curve? (I know it's not out yet, an educated guess is fine) I've tracked down the game at a local comic book shop but I'm not sure if I should jump right in with that (I've gotta find someone to play with) or get accquainted with the rules through a medium I'm more familiar with (video gaaaaaaames). I'm so glad to see another sports game where pummeling your opponents into submission is a viable option, there's been a distinct lack of that business going on since Deathrow on the Xbox.

As someone who has never owned, touched, or been interested in buying a plastic musical instrument, I can safely say that I will be buying this when it comes out. Further discussion with my girlfriend cemented this fact and I'm looking forward to hooking my similarly-minded friends into playing with us. With that said, is it possible to play entire albums with games like this? That would be the icing on the cake, although I imagine it's more likely to be just single tracks.

What is this, I can't even- You know, I was ready to go all white knight for these games (inFamous, Crackdown, Prototype) but I think you've thoroughly done the work for me. People can't really shred your argument to pieces if you don't present one from the start. You essentially said "harumph what's with these open world games they're getting good reviews when I think they're crap!. I'm basing my opinion of a game off of a DIFFERENT GAME'S DEMO. *arms folded*" Whatever man, it's all good. I've been playing Prototype and it's a blast, exactly what I was hoping for when I finished Hulk: Ultimate Destruction way back when. It's fast, visceral and engaging with a ton of action and great performance (on the 360, sorry PC folks...). Question for people who have actually played both Prototype and inFamous: which did you prefer and why? It's a pretty common debate these days and I'm curious to see what fellow Thumbs come up with.

Hey I called them fucking spoiled jerks. You said it best yourself, it's something SUPPOSEDLY bad, no one knows a good goddamn how this is all going to pan out. I don't think Valve need to be deified for all their glorious gifts to the lowly gamer rabble, but I also don't think the solution is to assume they're going to leave the original L4D out in the cold and start signing names in a misguided attempt to have your voice heard. No slack will be cut. Oh, I almost forgot - no YOU'RE overreacting!!

"Announced today: Scribblenauts Canada! With 30% more chesterfields and poutine!"

I guess I should have expanded the derail note at the end there... But seriously, as consumers we can only really vote with our wallets, and I respect your choice. Activision have some terribad ideas about the game industry but at the same time I want to show support for a Canadian dev team that is making something other than a sports game. Tough call!

Unbeleivable. woop woop entitled gamers coming through! : Hey Valve you made a great game and we all love playing it! It's a little barebones though! : Aw thanks guys we have lots of ideas, we're gonna give you lots more content! : Lay it on us baby! : Well actually we have so many ideas that we're just gonna release a sequel a year later! : WHAT THE CHRIST WHY ARE YOU ABANDONING US YOU LIARS : No wait we're still supporting the first game we just- : SHUT UP FIDDLE MUSIC IS CRAP AND I HATE SUNLIGHT IT BURNSSSS Valve has given you Half-Life, Counterstrike, Team Fortress, Portal AND Left 4 Dead (with sequels and mod/community support like CRAZY) and at the first sign of trouble you flip out and start a shitty, poorly constructed, ONLINE BOYCOTT PETITION? FUCK you "gamers", you pathetic little children, you fucking spoiled jerks. okay it's a bad strawman but COME ON, this stuff makes me embarassed to say I play games

I rescind all prior statements in regards to this man. String him up.

Oh yeah, that's right! I told you to avoid gettin' mixed up with the little buggers, it's simple economics! Let me give you a friend of mine's number, he'll straighten you out with a free Chrysler.

Haha, p. good man how are the kids?

Seems like a cool dude. He was a programmer on Tecmo Bowl back in the day and also designed the new Ninja Gaiden games which helped define the third person "hyper-action" genre. What have you done lately?

Looks like now is the time for me to finally get a DS. I'd imagine there's some pretty decently priced Lites out there, given all this DSi hubbub, right?

Man I can't wait for another "fuck you, d'ya want the story? buy our next game" ending! Assassin's Creed: The good stuff - cool freedom of movement to climb high stuff - fighting templars - the first mission Honestly that's about all I got out of it. I enjoyed the game for a couple hours until my heart started sinking, slowly realizing that I'd essentially seen everything the game has to offer. The assassinations offered no room for experimentation, something Thief and Hitman have been improving on for years and years. The combat blew my mind when I accidentally discovered hidden blade counters, and then subsequently bored me to tears with repetition. I really wanted to like it but it seemed like the game was actively trying to stop that. It sure was pretty though.

This game. This is the best game. I just played 3 hours of Wrecking Crew with three other people and I can easily say this is my favorite game so far this year. Using the Nano Rifle to chip away at support columns and load bearing walls, the hammer/rhino combo of pure, cathartic, destructive bliss, the "hot seat" pass the controller multiplayer that hearkens back to evenings turned nights turned mornings of Worms with friends... Awesome.

So this is going to be fucking awesome. :tup:http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game/gunstar-heroes/achievements/:tup: Oh man I love this shit http://www.gamerbytes.com/2009/04/sonic_knuckles_xbla_bound_comp.php Oh god yes (PS3 gets a demo tommorow!) http://www.marvel.com/news/vgstories.7770.Marvel_vs~dot~_Capcom_2_Returns_This_Summer Also Banjo Tooie comes out today, what are you guys looking forward to/playing these days?

I hadn't heard about the DN Trilogy, that's kind of awesome. I think I actually played the platformers more than Duke 3D. Throw in some Bio Menace and Rise of the Triad as bonus unlockables and I'll be in heaven. edit: and Raptor, I played the hell out of that limited shareware cd I had...

Oh it most definitely is http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/ Anyways, is anyone planning on picking up Space Invaders Extreme? I bought it for the psp and really enjoyed it but I'm looking forward to playing it on a big tv and listening to Justice or Danger or some crazy electronic music through custom soundtracks. (also woop woop Jeff Minter Space Giraffey backgrounds!)

Thanks, it's all about the details, although I think the esrb rating was a bit too subtle/tiny.

So the next game boxart challenge should definitely be the for the Idle Thumbs game. I wanna see Gandalfs and pullquotes and blue lava all over the place.

They seem to be pretty selective in their customer service efforts, and that's kinda what bothers me. Sure, they replace 360's quickly because it's such an embarassingly widespread issue that they don't really have a choice. Try cancelling an xbox live account, something that isn't in their best interests and you'll see what I mean. The last time I cancelled my gold subscription I went through FIVE different people, all with a different excuse for not being able to help me, all asking for varying degrees of personal information. I think when I hung up my phone it read something like 35-40 minutes. This is all anecdotal of course, but taking incidents like this (and similar ones I have heard from friends, family, and the interwebs) and comparing them to the remarkably good RROD policies just makes the whole system look even worse. (also Canadian btw)