mikemariano

The POTATOES ARE COUNTING DOWN!

If you people really loved Portal 2/Indie Games/Potatoes, you would have all quit your jobs to play these games! I also wouldn't put it past Valve if they actually delayed the release of Portal 2 if these games aren't played in time. A humorous message from GlaDOS calling us failures and making us play more Killing Floor. And by "us" I mean you wiser PC games. I'll be waiting a week and a half for my Xbox disc to arrive from Amazon via Super Saver Shipping.

After two and a half hours, it seems we are 3% complete. (Their progress bar image has a hundred notches in it and we are at three.) If trends continue, we'll be playing Portal 2 by Monday night! Though as Purple Future pointed out, more people will likely start playing tonight and over the weekend. That's what I can't figure out. How difficult is it to earn those potatoes?

I know y'all are sick of me posting links to Action Button but this negative review of Dragon Age II does a good job of explaining what turned me off about the demo. Also, don't worry: it's not written by Tim Rogers, but I guess we have to beware the house style.

I just pre-ordered the Xbox version! I can't wait to co-op with no one!

That's bad. Does Steam do anything through HTTPS? Twitter and Facebook now offer the option for everything to be done through HTTPS, so even though cookies are still in use, no one on a public network can sniff them out and steal them. I would feel more comfortable if Steam did this, too. In related news, thank you all for buying me three hundred copies of Portal 2.

Actually, that Final Fantasy XIII review I think is the best implementation of Rogers's wasteful style. Most of those words actually have to do with playing the game. He goes button-press-by-button-press to show how maddening Final Fantasy XIII really is. It was the most helpful review of the game I read. But there's nothing in his Bulletstorm review beyond the same hyperbole featured on every other site. I am afraid to click on this link. I don't think I want to know what he looks like. Heck, I didn't even know what Nick Breckon looked like until Jake posted the video last night.

"How do you make a game more satisfying than Bulletstorm? Well, you would start by inventing a game that could actually suck you off." -- IGN.com action-button.net Sometimes Tim Rogers writes long, unhinged essays that illuminate aspects of a game. This is not one of those essays.

Ooh, Jungle Strike is an influence! I can only hope Renegade Ops includes memorable briefing scenes after you destroy national landmarks in the line of duty: Being that Just Cause 2 lets you blow up everything, you'll be told "You blew it!" quite a bit.

I just completed all of the quests for Fallout 3's Broken Steel. It was well put together, though I can't imagine how you could play any of the expansion packs without getting this one, too. The only real achievement I have left is to reach Level 30. However, I'm only at Level 28, and I don't want to embark on the more evil quests (Enslave everyone! Kill innocent ghouls!). But I don't think there are any other quests left. I guess that means I have to scavenge a lot of scrap metal!

That is my favorite part of Marty McFly. He has no inner monologue and announces every observation. ("He's a Peeping Tom!" "The Cavalry!") This kind of makes him the perfect adventure game protagonist.

Super Mario Bros. may start out as a blue sky game, but things get dark and gritty in World 3-1. It's because that's when the Hammer Brothers show up! But seriously, Tanukitsune, that Blue Sky Campaign page is from 2005, and it isn't anti-violence; it's anti-limited imagination. Obviously, we still have a game development environment that can turn Dante's Inferno into Dante's Inferno, but I don't think we're lacking in high profile fun, colorful games. Especially when you factor in Kinect games, Angry Birds, etc.

Don't forget about running through air ducts! Deus Ex: Human Revolution may turn out to be too retro for its own good, but that's just fine with me. Many commenters online are also apprehensive about a Half-Life 2: Episode 3 if the gameplay is exactly the same as it was 13 years ago. (Will Gordon Freeman still climb ladders without using his hands?) Are people going to dismiss Portal 2 if it still makes the same noise when you press the E key? But I have no problem with musty old game mechanics if they're mechanics that work.

Ooh, the in-development-since-2009 MechWarrior reboot! I hope this means Dukematch supports a billion keyboard commands. They also worked on the poorly received 2002 Die Hard game that used the No One Lives Forever engine. "The rats you see in the sewer will bleed if you shoot them but they won't ever die." -- IGN.com

Wait, there was weather in Oblivion? Maybe I should play that game. I'm playing Fallout 3 right now and I'm upset by the lack of weather. It never rains or snows. Plus the sun always rises and sets at the same time. It's December 22, 2277 in Washington, DC according to my Pip-Boy and I just enjoyed a 5:45am sunrise with Fawkes. Can nuclear war really get rid of the winter solstice? PS: It's almost Christmas! The game doesn't do any holiday themed stuff, does it?

The Giant Bomb Live page just showed Chris Remo playing Space Asshole, and promises some sort of Idle Thumbs Reunion. Go to the Giant Bomb Justin.tv page right now! Then make Jake promise to upload a video of it!

"Chock-full of crazy moments that will make you go 'OMG' and 'WTF'." -- IGN.com "Three rogues walk into a bar and...kill everyone." -- IGN.com The Dragon Age II review isn't as terrible as the Dead Space 2 review, if that's worth anything...

"Cousin, it is your cousin! Let's evangelize weed!"

PS: I love love love the Conf Grenade/Podblast sports music sting. It visits me in my dreams!

I AM LEAVING HERE WITH ROMAN! (I think they can give us someone new.)

I have no problem with that; it is a party night with her friends. We fans are just lucky enough to listen in, and we'll take what we can get. Besides, Alexander wasn't exactly blocking any more stimulating conversation. Klepek did. We were promised more Idle Thumbs! (Hmmm, I got Alexander's gender and nationality wrong. Oops!)

I'm totally out of the loop on my game journalist inside info. I've seen Leigh Alexander's byline on Rock, Paper, Shotgun but I don't know why he is considered an attention hog or worthy of verb-ization. Is this Kane and Lynch related? One of those guys in the video last night was involved in some Kane and Lynch thing, right? Why does Leigh Alexander hate Kane and Lynch?

I basically just hammered the A button for the entire Xbox demo, which as a mage became amusingly stupid. This demo really isn't built to show off any depth at all. They might as well have kept the Marilyn Manson song in.

Good luck, Croteam! That sounds like an insane goal to get right without a performance hit. Unlike cover based co-op games, players will not be hunkered down in one section. Serious Sam players will be in every corner of the map, presumably with dozens of enemies in each location. Ow, my framerate!

Ah, excellent use of the spoiler tags. Good work, gentlemen. I finished the main quest of Fallout 3's Point Lookout last night. I enjoyed it, though I was too scared to fight any swampfolk. Too many Deliverance flashbacks! Also, Desmond the Ghoul has the most atrocious English accent. Poor guy that does all the ghoul voices! He can't be an expert in all dialects, can he?