JonCole

Bright side: Respond to voice commands. Dark side: NIGHTVISION. http://www.theverge.com/2012/12/19/3785228/darpa-alpha-dog-now-obeys-voice-commands

It sounds to me like you didn't read the Penny Arcade article. Kuchera wasn't demonizing re-writing - he was having a discussion about re-write reporting and more specifically criticizing insufficient attribution - The article you cited at The Verge does just that - not only includes attribution to the original interview (another thing Kuchera knocked other sites/articles for not doing) at the end of the post with a "Source:" citation, but also on the second line of the page in bright pink hyperlinked text. So, to answer "shameless or clueless?" with that context, how about neither?

Was the post incorrectly attributed?

As far as spoilers go, maybe we should just throw in a little hint before each spoiler as to what the post spoils. Nothing to wordy, just a "Colossus 1/2 (spoiler): [ spoiler tagged thing ]"

I definitely already put my gamertag here, but I figured I'll just throw it in again because I've been playing CODBLOPS2 practically nonstop. I'm jonac13 and feel free to add/join me if you see me on any time, I'm up for any playlist though I'm usually rolling in TDM.

I also think it's not a big deal if we're ambitious with our goals and some people go at a slower clip, as long as we're fairly vigilant about using spoiler tags.

Grabbed Kinect Party for the sweet price of free. I also got Bully for $10/800 pts, as I figured I might be more likely to play it on 360 than PC due to the achievements. Looking forward to the rest of this sale.

I dunno, the game isn't really even that long. Each colossus takes no longer than 15-20 minutes to beat (maybe more on hard?), so I don't think it's too ambitious to do two a month. That said, I'm in either way though I can see my interest trailing off if we do this for 16 months.

The feature might be tacky, but the "backlash" just seems like thinly veiled jealousy to me. Not necessarily from you guys, but definitely from that RPS article. It was funny and admittedly made me laugh, but if you honestly think that Brian was trying to show off his massive castle with a billion dollar television then you need to get real. I'm not going to defend the documentary because that discussion is long past, but I'll just say that in my brief Twitter discussion with EIC Chris Grant concerning the videos he said that it was really meant for people who didn't know much about the industry. That may be why it came off to many as this stargazing, mega-ambitious self-advertisement (at least the ad part was true), because they were really just explaining how the business works rather than how they hope to change it in these massive ways. I think it's kinda shitty to constantly crap on them for putting out content that will allow them to survive as a website on the internet, while they still are doing awesome stuff like changing their review paradigm in a novel way (allowing scores to change over time) and putting up the features osmosisch is talking about. The way that you guys and others I've seen on Twitter have been talking about Polygon, I'd expect it to be worse than IGN. Every indication I get from Polygon is that it's still in its formative stage, so taking out their hopes and dreams in the garbage seems premature.

Yeah, I'm sure they'd be successful if they only published original reporting and 2000+ word features.

Did you actually watch the video? Brian is ashamed that he has all that free stuff (that he'll never use), so that's why he put it in his basement. He said he'll probably auction all that shit off for charity or just give it all away at some point. I mean, I get the whole "it's cool to dislike popular websites" thing, but this is such a petty thing to nitpick.

I dunno, just seems like a logical extension of features on other sites like The Verge's favorite things/what's in my bag, Lifehacker's how I work, etc. The fact that their work is playing video games is the only difference.

You guys wanted another THQ-please-give-us-a-second-lease-on-life-for-the-love-of-Christ bundle, right? I think I like this one better than the Humble Bundle version, mostly due to Metro 2033, Red Faction: Space Asshole (the good one), and Space Marine. http://www.amazon.com/THQ-Tantalizing-Medley-Download/dp/B00A3F5S0O/

It's really not clear to me "what people love about Metroid". Frankly, the Prime series was never a particularly stellar seller (relative to other Nintendo franchises or big exclusives on other platforms) so I think Nintendo has a lot of room to redefine what people love about Metroid. I just know what I love about Metroid and that is the 2D exploration aspect. I liked Metroid Prime, but I really couldn't stand the control scheme when I played Prime 3 and Prime 2 (via Trilogy). I'm going to be fiddling with Dolphin Emulator sometime soon and am quite curious about how I'll like the Prime series after playing it with a proper controller and graphical quality in parity with the environmental design. I'm in full agreement that Fusion is linear and bogged down by the exposition, but I liked/like it nonetheless. Zero Mission and Super are most certainly better examples of 2D Metroid, but Fusion is what is currently available to me and it's been longer since I played it than the other two.

I've been intermittently playing Metroid Fusion on my 3DS (got it in that ambassador thing) and I'm continually reminded of how much Nintendo pisses me off by not revisiting that formula for their Metroid games.

Y'know, I would actually go to bat for Assassin's Creed 3 for what it is in broad strokes, but in general defense of the game I totally forgot one of the most frustrating experiences I've had in my life (my life is not so bad, really) - that last goddamn chase sequence. So, mild spoilers in this post so don't click the link if you haven't finished the game and plan on playing/beating it. Anyways, just total shit level design, the ultimate learn by failing but not having enough time to learn by failing because FUCK YOU INEXPLICABLE TIMER/PROXIMITY LIMIT thing, and a total exposure of the worst elements of the game all in one two minute to two hour sequence depending on luck - http://kotaku.com/5967220/assassins-creed-iiis-final-chase-sequence-was-the-worst-thing-i-played-all-year Also, this is pretty much the only time I'd ever link to Kotaku, if that gives you any indication of how serious I am.

I'm as much a fan of the ridiculous though entertaining MGS dogma as anyone else, but every time I jump into one of those games I just remember how much those mechanics and systems (especially the old school line of sight, three levels of alert) don't hold up for me. I'd rather just wait for someone to beat it and record all the cutscenes for me to watch on YouTube.

f.lux is interesting but kinda assumes that you like/observe natural light in the room your computer is, which is something I don't do. Zenni Optical As a glasses-wearer, one thing that has improved my life significantly is zennioptical.com. This'll come off a little shilly, I'm sure, but I really do love this website because it makes such a bad, expensive experience (glasses-buying) and improves on it significantly. Basically, you just buy glasses direct from manufacturer - as long as you have your prescription, you can order glasses on the cheap at your leisure. The only thing that might throw you for a loop is them asking you for PD/pupillary distance, which is just the distance between your pupils - something a friend can do for you with a ruler and a brief moment of weirdness as they look directly into your eyes. Anyways, the site has all kinds of frames for $5-10, with tinting for $3 at various shades (10%, 30%, 90% tint) and colors. You can also get other features like anti-glare coating or transitional tinting at a deep discount as compared to local establishments ($6-15 vs $30, at least at places around me). Anyways, paying attention to promotions and being a little stingy with my choice of frames has gotten me a collection of six pairs of glasses and sunglasses to match different outfits for less than $100. I also got a pair of prescription goggles for racquetball play for only $30. It's worth a try if you're tired of getting glasses for upwards of $100 a pop and having to deal with Lenscrafters trying to sell you on every little addition. How Long to Beat If you're like me and are paralyzed by the sheer number of games you have on Steam/your console backlog, I really like howlongtobeat.com for helping narrow down my choices. It's basically just a repository of people posting their completion times for games at various levels of completion - speedrun, normal run, completionist run, etc. It's great when I'm feeling the need to beat something but can't be bothered to play something that is surprise 20 hours to get there.

Fallout 3 is Oblivion with guns. Skyrim is Fallout 3 without guns. Far Cry 3 is Skyrim with guns. THE ELDER SCROLLS V IS FAR CRY 3 WITHOUT GUNS. THE ELDER SCROLLS V: IGN REVELATIONS

Yeah, this is my sentiment exactly. Their love of minor iteration is what's bothering me most about Nintendo; they tease with these big, innovative, platform-proving games like Wii Sports and Nintendoland, but then deliver nothing but minor iteration for their main titles. I'd love big leaps every few years, with some real refinement of classic formulas with smaller projects in the interim years. Granted Nintendo's pedigree, they needn't be incredibly ambitious or flashy to see a lot of (financial) success - why not do that with classic gametypes that people who played Zelda or Metroid in their NES/SNES years would enjoy?

Also, isn't that just... Fallout?

Wired 360 controllers are still in production, yes. The wireless receiver was actually really horrible when it first came out, because Microsoft didn't have the drivers into their plug-and-play database so you'd have to dig around in their help files on their support site. Beyond that, Xinput wasn't really very popular until relatively recently, or in other words the 360 controller wasn't officially supported by a lot of games for the first year or so after it came out. I actually threw mine into storage after the first six months of practically no use, but I dug it up a few weeks ago and it works like a charm now that games actually support it and Windows 7 installs the drivers as soon as you plug it in.

I just wish that Nintendo would take the mentality that they've adopted with the NSMB games and map it to their other franchises. I know that Phantom Hourglass is almost an overhead/isometric Zelda game, but it's not the same as my dream of basically another Link to the Past/Link's Awakening but with high-resolution graphics. They haven't really made an original sidescrolling Metroid since Fusion, which feels like FOREVER ago (actually replaying that right now on my 3DS). I'd kill for these things and I can only imagine it'd be cheaper for Nintendo to make than these full 3D titles that the core audience seems generally iffy on.

Spoiler tag doesn't exist for nothing, natetwoc.