Hermie

Oh, we're doing this again? Me and my current city. (I have cut my hair to just below my ears since then.)

Happy Rodi!

So what you're saying is that you're the next Jeff Green?

Speedy, I can't say I've felt anything remotely like what you're describing, but I wanted to add my support, and commend you on recognizing that you're having difficulties, and knowing that you should seek professional help. A lot of people ignore this, thinking their feelings are shameful, and so on, so I think it's really brave of you to not only admit it to us, but also to doctors/other help.

Fair point. I guess it's just my personal tiredness of staring at bald, constipated army dudes. Then again, another big theme in Mass Effect is choice, so why not showcase the very first choice you make?

Yeah, the outrage shouldn't really be directed at the result of the poll (guess what, there would have been nerd rage no matter what version was picked). Instead, we should consider that it took them 3 games and a fan campaign to even consider that there should also be a female Shepard in the marketing. I've played ME as both male and female, but thanks to the prominence of Default Shepard on the covers and everywhere else, I feel like when I play as a girl it's the "different" choice instead of one out of two equal choices.

I, like many, am not good at debating these kind of things, so I will veer off via Strong Female Characters and talk about something I know how to discuss; movies. I recently saw Bridesmaids, and it was a revelation in more than one way. My first thought out of the cinema was "wow, it was so refreshing to see a movie with women characters that were neither over-sexualised nor pandering to a female audience." My second thought was "but it shouldn't be, it should feel normal." With few exceptions, most films are made with a male perspective, where the most prominent female character is the Love Interest, who is usually either a capital b Babe, or a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. If there's a second one, it's usually the Doesn't Take Any Shit, Michelle Rodriguez type of character depicted in the Kate Beaton comic and the article JamesM linked. (It's amusing cause she's a girl, yet she acts like she's tougher than all the guys. Isn't that hilarious?) Another striking illustration of this is how many movies fail the Bechdel test: Try looking at your DVD collection and see how many fail this. You can blame the evil executives that just repeats "well our test show that movies from a male perspective keeps selling, so we keep making them", or you can blame the fact that the majority of screenwriters and directors working in Hollywood and elsewhere are male, but either way, the results are the same; movies as a medium are almost exclusively patriarchal. Films are supposed to capture and reflect humanity, both in reality and imagination. The fact that it is still so lop-sided is (to me) the clearest example that we still live in a sexist society (not that anyone questioned that in this thread, but I have encountered plenty of people who have). A lot of women themselves don't even stop to question how they are portrayed in media, they just accept their passive, objectified role. (Such people as Sal's friend, I would guess.) Looping back around to Bridesmaids, the early buzz around the movie used such terms as "The Hangover, but with women/for women!" "a chick flick guys can enjoy!" "an R-rated romantic comedy" and so on. The trailers and other marketing also heavily emphasize "look at these wacky women obsessing about this wedding and their relationships", when in reality, none of these things describe the movie at all. It's simply a buddy comedy, like other Apatow-produced movies such as Knocked Up and 40-Year Old Virgin, except the characters happen to be girls this time. In fact, when I have mentioned that I wanted to see/have seen the movie, several people have cocked their head to the side and said "really? You?", because when a movie has an all girl cast and is called "Bridesmaids" the 'natural' (indoctrinated?) assumption is that it is a flick for chicks.

Happy birthday The Muerte!

Got Veeveeveeveeveevee in the bumble hindu tumble, finished it today. It only took two play-sessions (three if you count the 90 mins I played before the update erased my progress). Great fun! I too am in love with the soundtrack. My single complaint is about the part where you have to escort someone. For a game that rely on such tight controls, the following is quite sloppy and imprecise. Otherwise quite superior, worth what I paid for the bundle alone.

Whew. Just finished it. You know how most video game endings are either a) an insane twist that comes out of nowhere and takes you out of the story, or instead of making an actual ending, they simply amp up the action more and more until it doesn't even make an impact anymore? Bastion is neither, they nail it. I don't want to say anything about the ending itself, but yeah, finish it.

I found the combat clunky and weird in the beginning, but once I started unlocking more weapons, it clicked. There's around 11-12 of them, and each feels and controls completely different. Once I found the ones I liked best, the combat became way more smooth and intuitive. The world is also doing a great job of drawing me in and making me curious about what it was like before it went to pieces. The writing is just vague enough, and together with the art, music and atmosphere, I'm enjoying exploring this world a lot. Disclaimer: I am not associated with or have relations to Games Kasavin, SuperGiant Games or either of the Warner Brothers.

I have no idea if this would be smart for you or not, I just know that selfishly, I want you to go so I can read the blog you make out of the no doubt absurd stories you will experience in such a place.

You have NO idea.

This one has a whole series. I'm not entirely sure what to feel anymore.

Girls as Link: Yes.

The character creator crashes every time I bring up the actual character sheet, so stuck with that before I get it on Obsidian Portal. I registered at that forum thingy, but... what do I do there? <.<

Right! Guess I missed that one. ignore me.

So Dishonored is the game Arkane Studios is working on, and presumably the reason Bethesda acquired them (right?). It was revealed here, where we see a cyber future environment, with Harvey Smith (from Deus Ex) and the concept artist behind City 17 working on it. Now there's a steampunk screenshot, and they're saying it's an assassin game with Bioshock-y powers, with open environments like Deus Ex, where how much chaos you cause effects the world. So it's a cyberpunk/steampunk Deus Ex/Thief/Hitman hybrid with Bioshock/Skyrim-like powers. Somewhere, Steve Gaynor's mind is on fire right now. Can this live up to the hype GameInformer is building?

Stop! In the name of loooooooove. ...Wait, that one fits.

Invites are open right now, so you should be able to get it from people in this thread in exchange for your e-mail address.

Yeah, what Patters and Kingz (OR SHOULD I SAY PATRICK AND STEVAN PERHAPS) said. The whole thing is very much designed towards the circles concept, so every time you share something, it very explicitly asks "who do you want to share this with?", and you pick circles or even individuals. Or if it's just a flash video of a feline, you can go ahead and set it to public/my extended circles/my circles. I enjoy this concept, because now I plan things with my friends without everyone know what I'm up to, or I can write things in Norwegian without worrying about cluttering up the feeds of English speakers with gibberi.

Eh, it's asynchronous like Twitter, so you can follow someone without them following you back.

This is the weirdest mental image. That said, I don't think I'll be able to track one down, but I'm still very interested to see what you all say about this game, as it has fascinated me for a while, yet I never got around to playing it.

Frozen Synapse appeared on the Sale of Steams today only. It includes two copies, so does anyone want to go splitsies? preferably someone in the states, as it's cheaper than buying it in Euros.