JonCole

Ah, totally. For better or worse, Rian Johnson loves intricate dialogue. I tend to like it, but I know a lot of people who can't connect with it for reasons you mention or just because they don't like how much of it there is.

Well, that's really weird. Haven't checked back on this topic in a couple weeks and I was just checking up on it to recommend Brick and The Brothers Bloom. It's like you guys are wizards or something. Brick is definitely in my top 10 and The Brothers Bloom might land itself on that list, too. I got TBB from Netflix last Friday and I still haven't returned it, after watching it once regularly and once again with the director's commentary. I'm probably going to listen to it again with the other commentary that Rian Johnson created in MP3 form that deals with some of the more technical aspects of the film. I would say that the most compelling things Johnson does are the really well-written dialogue, the magnificent attention to detail in his set design, and his dynamic use of the camera. I dunno, I just feel like he's a breath of fresh air to film making, but maybe I'm just a fanboy.

I should be in, unless some sort of crazy unexpected event stops me.

I actually just completed Data Hive in my playthrough, and it was really a combination of what Chris was saying (quick aiming, an importance in headshots), prioritization of red buggers (equipped with fast firing elite plasma rifles, they can destroy you in seconds), and using the area underneath the walkway (which is accessible by ladder) to take cover periodically.

I would say that ODST is among the better linear console FPS games. I'd recommend it over the previous Halo games with respect to the three games you mentioned, because it's at least as open as Bioshock and Half-Life 2. And really, as far as console FPS games go, the controls don't get any better than in the Halo and Call of Duty franchises.

Oh, man, absolutely. I'm going through the game a second time on heroic (went through at normal difficulty, the first time) and swarms of those guys are completely destructive. I don't know if I could take them in Legendary...

I remember that there were some Flood things that broke the pace of Halo's fundamental gameplay, too. And maybe some prophets or something.

I haven't checked out the demo yet, but I just randomly decided to pick up Forza 2 off my shelf the other day. I've never really been interested in the simulation-style racing games, so I didn't expect much. Almost three hours later, I'm practically sold on Forza 3 without having seen much more than its trailer. Just today I've taken a little bit of a dip into the decal customization system and it's just so impressive and addictive. This series seems ridiculously appropriate for perfectionists/completionists, so I'm a small step away from pushing the preorder button on Amazon.

I've been almost run off the road by some jackasses who couldn't stand me driving the speed limit because I'm so busy giggling at episodes of the podcast.

Yup, it was almost constantly a little bit of "so, there are at least two British guys, and those dudes are... someone. oh, yeah, patters is a british dude, i remember that much?" Hopefully that'll be remedied after a couple more sessions.

... or a wizard.

If that's... 4:00 PM EDT, which it should be if I did my time conversions correctly, I might join in. Haven't played that game in ages, though, so I should probably refresh myself on the control scheme.

So, I'm a little LTTP, what exactly is all this GTA business that you guys take part in? The thirty other topics are a little intimidating and I don't like to do heavy browsing on my netbook.

I think that a lot of the fun that can be attributed to ODST is built upon what exactly you're trying to get out of a video game. I know that a reason that a lot of people like to play Halo is that the Master Chief is certainly no Gordan Freeman or Rookie, he's practically a god with a shotgun. If you're into that sense of empowerment, be my guest and enjoy the Halo "proper", because that series does a great job of giving you that rush. But for me, I don't mind sort of roleplaying the ODST - sneaking through the shadows, choosing to flee rather than fight at times, or attacking opponents at range rather than head to head. The reduction in weapon types and balancing of weapons seems to complement that style of play, as well. The shotgun is a little less potent, the carbine is devastating, the new pistol is designed to dispatch groups of grunts, etc. Not only that, but I think I may have escaped a lot of the more frustratingly difficult segments by choosing to play in normal difficulty for my first playthrough. I can see the position that you and Justin come from, but I simply don't agree at this point. Maybe in starting my second playthrough at Heroic difficulty and experiencing the story with a more fine-toothed comb I'll begin to notice the difficulty issues that you're talking about. Out of curiousity, though, what difficulty did you choose when you played?

Another enemy that's much more intimidating - Wraiths. In non-vehicular based missions, these things are brutal. And taking one out by planting a grenade in the driver's compartment is totally satisfying.

Is that the one where you have to If so, I can see why you'd take so long finishing it.

Your point about Half-Life 2 vs Half-Life 2: Episodes seems to be ripped right out of my mind. I was listening to Rebel FM's Game Club podcasts where they're playing through Half-Life 2 and they were saying that the word around Valve internally during the development of HL2 was that it was supposed to be the best shooter on the PC. Likewise, I think, was Bungie's intent with Halo 1/2/3 - pack as many repetitions of that 30 seconds of fun as you possibly can into one game, witness as many vistas as possible, and fight as many different enemy types as is bearable. ODST does a little more tactful subtraction, trimming the fat around the different weapon types and even making sure that each flashback was distinctly a different type of gameplay to avoid too much repetition.

I just burned through the campaign in the past two days, and I posted my opinions on that aspect of it on my Bitmob blog: http://bitmob.com/index.php/mobfeed/a-crime-drama-in-space-halo-3-odst-review.html I have to admit that I shamelessly ripped off "odious tea" for the header to my conclusion and uncreatively cranked out "Oh! Da BeSt Tea" as an alternatively positive label for the game. Okay, I did have a little shame. When it comes down to it, I just loved the atmosphere of the game and the less hokey, non-"OH MY GOD SAVE THE UNIVERSE" vibe to the story. As far as Firefight goes... I have no opinion yet. I just beat the game yesterday so I've unlocked many of the Firefight features, but I don't really have many friends who've picked up the game yet so I haven't been able to try it. The lack of matchmaking is disappointing, but from what I heard, random people might not add much to the experience unless you're really lucky in who you get matched with.

Having just barreled through ODST, I just came to the realization that none of my friends have the game. I really want to get in on some Firefight, so if anyone is down, feel free to add me.

I actually just switched from the Zune software to Juice two weeks ago and I haven't had any problems thus far. I just used the following feed, so all I can say is that you should maybe try to delete the feed from Juice and try it again: http://feeds.feedburner.com/idle-thumbs

Best run in Google Chrome, but this seems to be a pretty sweet Javascript NES emulator: http://benfirshman.com/projects/jsnes/

Being a relative virgin to retro adventure games, I'm hopping on this asap. I need to build my gamer cred. =/

I was under the impression that Mac wasn't "in the know", as far as game mechanics are concerned. He's the lead writer, after all, not the producer or lead programmer.

I would say you're right most of the time, but some pull it off extremely well. Out of the realm of video game podcasts, the Engadget podcast is pretty damn good for a Skype podcast. And speaking for CastMedium's podcast, I know that our host does a bit of editing to just take out those moments where someone starts to talk over someone but quickly quiets down, which can be distracting but is easily editable. The quality of a Skype podcast really all depends on how much post you want to do and if the recording is over Skype or on each podcaster's computers.

Wait a few months and watch it again. It really only gets better with repeated viewings, because you have the opportunity to check out the subtleties instead of so closely following the plot.