JonCole

I need further confirmation, is it a game or a video game?

Oh, don't read what I was saying as gamer entitlement. Skyrim is my game of the year, so the very few things I have to complain about it are sure to be minimal.

Well, you can 100% the non-randomly generated missions.

Agreed. It's almost like they made the progression so good that when you have no more progression, the game noticeably dips in minute-to-minute appeal. There's something about just having in your mind what the next perk you might get or what skills you need to work on that makes everything a little better. Not to mention normal enemies just don't scale at all, meaning I can bring down anything from a troll to a spriggan in one or two hits.

I just 'completed' Defense Grid: The Awakening insofar as to say the story mode missions are all wrapped up. I really like this tower defense game because it often provides a general framework with which to build your defense array rather that give you an open field to have at it. Between this and the fact that enemies have to pick up something at the end point and return it to the beginning, I felt like there was more than enough variation in level design to keep things interesting all the way through. Highly recommended, especially if you need something to pass the time while catching up on myriad GOTY and CES podcasts early this year.

It's that time of year again... the time where I ping the Idle Thumbs forums and see if anyone is actually interested in playing some Modern Warfare on PC. Everyone still on BF3, or are there any takers for MW3?

Really? This is seriously happening again? When did I ever come close to saying you "repeatedly stated with authority that everyone was suckered in"? All I said is that "we all" is too broad for my liking, especially since a handful of people posting in these very forums have stated satisfaction with this game. I feel like I shouldn't have to work on any post to avoid offending you or "putting words in your mouth". I want to say this with absolutely no tongue-in-cheek: chill out, bro.

<beating a dead horse>Stop saying "we all", please. It's more than clear by now that your opinion on this is far from universal.</beating a dead horse>

That said, the Giant Bomb guys talked about the game quite extensively in their Game of the Year discussions and ultimately felt generally positive about the game. Despite some rough spots, there are plenty of things to glom onto and feel good about when you're done with that game.

Yeah, it's really a failing that they rely so heavily on events for distribution of the best legendaries. They should use them as an incentive for catching more Pokemon instead.

Go to "Your Games and Software Library" under account and you should see the CD key there. Go to Steam > Games > Activate a product on Steam... and there you go. It's slightly more unwieldy than the indie bundles, but I think Amazon is fairly pushing its own downloader over assuming you already have Steam and giving you a CD key without explanation.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is $10 on Amazon, activates on Steam. http://www.amazon.com/Deus-Ex-Revolution-Standard-Download/dp/B005HRZ29K/

Yeah, I really enjoyed Singularity as well. It's like the Bioshock-inspired game with some actual degree of originality as well. That story was bananas. I'd definitely pick it up at that price.

Torchlight's netbook ran at 5 fps on my netbook, for what it's worth.

I just "beat" Pokemon Black! Of course, that just means that I completed the Pokemon League and main storyline, but there's still plenty of other junk to go. I just realized at some point that I never really maintained the momentum to get to the end of the modern Pokemon game, what with Platinum and SoulSilver sitting on the shelf collecting dust with about 6 - 7 badges collected in each. That said, Black easily has the best plot and most unique gameplay progression in the DS generation of Pokemon games. The simple act of making none of the previous games' Pokemon available until after defeating the Elite Four made the new set that much more interesting. Take that, consider that many of the new Pokemon had type combinations that had never before been seen before, and the "Gotta Catch Em All" thing gains some degree of appeal after all these years. Honestly, if you haven't played Pokemon for years this (and Pokemon White, that is) is really a fantastic entry point. It took me 70 hours just to beat the main campaign, which means you will already be well versed in the new mechanics before you get the "opportunity" to delve into the huge (read: daunting) back catalog of Pokemon.

Response regarding the Companions, don't click if you haven't completed that storyline. While Skyrim might not have the best story in the world, I feel like there's generally an internal logic which governs the separate story threads. That alone does a good enough job for me in keeping the plot relatively cohesive with respect to many other open world games.

Also, pretty sure Limbo was on sale three days ago.

I thought Fable III was 2010... maybe the PC version was 2011? Still, L.A. Noire practically has it by default over that other piece of garbage.

Ah yeah, great tip. I actually quite like OnLive and it seems like a great thing for your situation if you have a solid connection. I might suggest, however, waiting until around Christmas before you try it... they often run promotions for new customers where you can get a fairly recent game for free or near free and Christmas seems the best bet for when they'd do a new one.

Admittedly, very little. Any kind of 3D gaming is likely to be quite rough, though processor-dependent games might be manageable (something like Starcraft II at low settings will probably be playable at native resolution on your display). Otherwise, I'd stick with 2D indie games at the very most, though I'd recommend testing through demos whenever possible. It might be a good idea to pick up the latest Humble Indie Bundle so you can get a feel for what it might support. That should give you a good selection (and quality) of games that require different levels of performance at an affordable price.

Well, I used this service with a visa gift card + paypal to buy The Witcher 2 for $19, so the stakes are pretty low. All seems to be going well for now, though it did show up as a RU key when I activated it. Downloading it with no hitches so far, though I'm curious to see whether or not it'll default the language to something other than English.

Morrowind Complete 2011 - http://www.gamepron.com/file/944/Morrowind-2011-Mod-Compendium/

As a relatively poor person, I love the indie bundles because they offer games that I kinda wanted but couldn't afford when they came out. Hooray for me.

There are signs on the road and stuff sometimes.

Do you have any progress in Restoration Magic? I found this to be an unfortunate consequence of being a mostly combat class with some destruction magic on the side, because I rarely dabble in Restoration but it has a couple of critical paths that keep your available magicka high (which I imagine is particularly useful for a pure mage). That said, you might want to invest some points in that and Enchanting, so you can put some good magicka regen enchantments on your armor. It does have an almost paralyzing level of choice at times, I have to admit. Don't worry about not visiting the holds, though, as some of them simply have very little to offer in comparison to the major ones (which is probably why you haven't visited them yet). I've had a little bit of success keeping away that sense of being overwhelmed by thinking of my progress more as a story. While the appeal of doing everything is obvious, I like the idea of my character becoming the leader of whatever guild and saying to himself, "Yeah, I think I'm gonna take a break and find that one guy's ring or that one mage's soul gem."