JonCole

I got beat around by Gascoigne a handful of times so I decided to grind some blood to buy a couple of the weapons and see if I liked any of them more. I actually still ended up liking the axe the most, though the sword that converts into the hammer is kinda cool (though I just don't know how to be effective with that slow hammer). I also managed to level up to 20, which seems like it should be more than enough for the second boss in the game. Incidentally, I ended up triaging my inventory a little bit and noticed something interesting in the flavor text of a certain item. Potential spoilers for Gascoigne -

Um, I believe it's actually just Borderlands 2 and the Pre-Sequel ported to XBO/PS4. I was slightly tempted due to the prospect of not having to pay full price on PC and instead just grab it for PS4, but I heard that both games suffer some serious framerate issues. Considering I have a PC capable of handling BL2/PS, I decided to just hold out for Pre-Sequel + some assorted DLC to eventually go on sale for cheap (I already own BL2, but not all of its DLC).

Tech news is fucking gross sometimes -

I guess you're right, his name is "Miles Morales" after all. I guess I forgot granted he's often referred to as an "african-american Spiderman" in a lot of media surrounding that version of the comics.

Take this with a grain of salt (namely in that Marvel/DC rebrand regularly) but the new post-Secret Wars Avengers team is looking super Social Justice-y - If you're unfamiliar with Marvel comics, the team is the following - Thor - female, identity unknown Iron Man - potentially female "Rescue", Pepper Potts Captain America - black, male, Sam Wilson, formerly Falcon Ms. Marvel - Muslim, female, teenage, Kamala Khan Vision - robot Spiderman - black, male, teenage, Miles Morales Nova - biracial, teenage, Sam Alexander I'm incredibly stoked, I love Ms. Marvel and Thor in particular and this is sure to give them an even higher profile in terms of exposure and advertising.

Wii U Deluxe Bundle w/ Nintendoland and 3D World for $259 shipped via eBay - http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nintendo-Wii-U-Deluxe-Set-Super-Mario-3D-World-and-Nintendo-Land-Bundle-Black/121522485298?customid=224e27a95cfc4e99b0448618cc20329a&pub=5574652453&afepn=5337259887&campid=5337259887&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c4b4df832&afepn=5337259887&rmvSB=true If you're already an eBay user, check your email for a 5X eBay bucks offer that will give you $26 eBay bucks cashback. Great deal for the ever-present fence-sitters.

I haven't played in a while and I only tend to in short, random bursts but this news is really encouraging and will definitely keep Payday 2 on my hard drive - http://www.gamespot.com/articles/payday-2-dev-signs-24-month-deal-for-new-content-a/1100-6426115/

Do blood stains persist through visits to Hunter's Dream? Do they persist through exiting the game?

Maybe this thing when it comes out? - http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-controllers/razer-turret Probably the opposite of ergonomic, but I like Razer peripherals and the cradle looks pretty nice.

Grilled cheese with mayo is excellent, makes a far crispier sandwich and the caramelized mayo adds another layer of flavor. Just don't use too much or the added moisture will require you to cook it far way longer than usual.

kewpie mayo 4 lyfe

I BEAT IT ON MY FIRST TRY, I AM THE LORD OF BLOOD

So, I just completed the loop in the first zone that takes me back to the original bonfire/lamp. I have 8000 blood, I've already bought the Hunter gear, I've already buffed my weapon, what do I do with all this currency? I guess I could just buy enough molotovs to last me practically forever, but maybe I'm missing something?

So I just had a really good run, still in the first zone, where I really felt like I made serious progress. Take everyone's advice and use molotovs, bullets, and vials relatively liberally. I'm usually an item hoarder in games, but the relief you can feel if you just decide to not care so much about that is immense.

Alternately, Amazon has a Bloodborne console bundle that saves you $24 (which might be a better deal if you don't get taxed by Amazon) - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00UZGQ3G4/12-230c-20/

I did Military Veteran, Axe, Pistol. Maybe I need to experiment more with the items, I've been trying to conserve Molotovs as I heard they are quite useful on the first boss but maybe I need to focus right now on just mastering the mechanics.

Still slumming it in the first zone. In Dark Souls I found that as I learned a zone, I could go a little faster as I repeatedly went through it. Not so with Bloodborne, as I am just getting repeatedly shredded as I try to go any faster than a turtle's pace. It's starting to frustrate me, but maybe I should just put it down and try again later. It's hard not to just keep bashing my head against it as it's so new and I really want to progress with the community, but I also am very wary about burning out.

Man, that sucks. I'd say that I won't buy Logitech on principle (because reading this, I honestly feel like they don't deserve my business), but they have a couple of specific mouse configurations that unfortunately no competitors copy so it's hard to find a direct alternative to my latest mouse. I'd happily buy a Steelseries or Razer or whatever if they had what I like. I have absolutely no insight into slot loading disc drives. I would say that configuration is a little overkill for non-gaming applications, unless that work involves video rendering or Photoshop. If your friend/client wants/needs to go cheaper, I'd say you could comfortably downgrade the CPU to an i3, use the stock cooler (granted height isn't an issue in that case), and drop SSD to leave a still very snappy PC for regular computing tasks.

It's definitely hard. Really fast paced and it seems like they're more willing to throw fast guys at you right from the beginning. Just experienced my first instance of a lot of momentum cut short by two big black wolf creatures in what felt like the hind end of the first zone. Those guys are so fast and while I tried to aggro only one, the second one came in when I least expected it and I could help but be stagger juggled to death. That said, this game feels really good. The end of every fight feels a lot more like a victory than the trash mobs in Dark Souls did. It also feels nice to know that I probably don't have a vast wealth of FAQs and forum threads to explain the game to me, which makes me feel invigorated to figure out things for myself.

So, basic questions - I know there isn't blocking, but is there any kind of parry/countering in this game or is it all dodging? Hunter's Dream seems to be your home base, so to speak, and I'm guessing it's a safe place to retreat to when I want to walk away from the game. Is this true?

The problem with pointing out hypocrisy is that you can end up accidentally adopting the same mentality that first offended you, which I was reminded by via my father this weekend who essentially said "we should really be hammering more on Ted Cruz being born outside the country, since Republicans did it so much to us with Obama". There are more than enough reasons to discredit Cruz without having to stoop as low as bottom-feeding scum like Donald Trump.

I really haven't found a better solution for streaming video from my PC to my TV than Plex. I believe there is a PS3 client, though I haven't used it personally (I use it with an Amazon Fire TV and my Android tablet).

My experience with PS1 classics has been pretty good, but perhaps that's because I have no frame of reference for the PS1 since I never owned one personally. Hard to go too far wrong for $1, though.

PlayStation Store is running a flash sale this weekend with a lot of games for less than $1 each.

Very interesting indeed. I'm perfectly okay with Nintendo ditching the two-screen model of a more traditional single screen thing that can work between multiple platforms to include their home console, handheld console (if those two things are separate at all) and mobile. I don't know about you guys, but I think that Nintendo splitting their efforts between the two consoles has probably resulted in poorer games being made in general. How much of Nintendo's time has been wasted developing the obligatory Mario Party game for 3DS? What if traditional Pokemon was available for every one of Nintendo's platforms and you could cross-save? The more I think about this, the more potential I think it has. Mobile is a bad word for so many people, but I'd prefer to think that it's a sign of Nintendo looking forward instead of staying the course until they bury themselves.