JonCole

Nothing as far as I know. I was under the impression that Michael Arndt wrote pretty much the whole SW7 script. Also, I'd be super stoked for Tom Cruise in SW. I honestly think he's an amazing actor and I think he could do a lot with lore-heavy sci-fi movie.

Oh yeah, that's 100% what this game is. It's like the furthest iterated version of the AC map-tidying stuff. There are like 5 or 6 different collectibles to get that usually lead to getting a special mission or powerful weapon at the end. There are something like 20 each of 5 or 6 side mission types that actually tend to be fun if you like the combat and/or driving. And there are tons of places where you can hack into random peoples' cameras and snoop on them for some of the funnier/weirder content in the game. Here's a random video I found where the guy scrolls around the map a little at the beginning:

So, weird YMMV deal but if you happened to have bought Saints Row 3 on Amazon a while ago, you may have a promo credit for the purchase of Saints Row 4. SR4 is price matched on Amazon for $10 and the promo credit is for $5, putting the game at $5 if you're lucky. If you think you may have the credit, you can click the buy and download button and there should be a confirm checkout screen that would read $5 total if you do indeed have the promo credit. Game is Steamworks enabled and activates on Steam - http://www.amazon.com/Saints-Row-Online-Game-Code/dp/B00BQHQPSM

I have a few friends who are trade offer friendly. Steam shows you what cards you're missing and what friends have those cards. You can make them an offer and they can make you a counteroffer based on what they see in your inventory. It works out okay, as long as both parties are flexible and patient with each other's timeshifted prioritizing.

A "major pain in the ass", really? It takes a total of maybe 60 seconds per badge if your internet speed/Steam servers aren't abysmal.

Yeah, I've been putting 1 point in per day to qualify for the card. Most of the games I've been making badges for cost something like $1 per badge, so by earning half in game and buying the other half I'm just about breaking even with Summer Sale card prices on days where my team doesn't win. So... essentially no loss in funds for me and I get a shot at free stuff, whether it's games, in-game items, dumb emoticons, whatever. Plus, my wife is super into these Steam events so my Steam level doesn't completely pale in comparison to hers when I do this minimal level of participation.

Yeah, an unfortunate order of events for people who are dying for a deal and wanted the game in particular. I was kinda 50-50 on the game and was going to pass, but ended up getting it at this further reduced rate. So I guess they ended up earning a sale where there previously was none from me.

The Battleblock Theater + Castle Crashers bundle is $2.49, probably a price mistake (CC is 90%, but BT is 75%; bundle is 90%, doesn't make much sense) so grab it while you can - http://store.steampowered.com/sub/43401/

Makes sense, if there was no minimum level people could make accounts just to farm free cards. Also, it's worth noting that actually getting the cards to get those first few levels can really be as simple as seeing what games you own are cards enabled, running those games while you watch some TV, selling half of them and buying the rest of whatever sets you like. Granted you're actually buying games every now and then, most people should have at least a handful of games that are eligible. Also, Steam has built-in trade forums so you don't have to bother with Wallet currency if you have duplicates and don't mind pounding the forum pavement for some quick trades with random people.

It's the top three and they're ordered numerically.

I agree with Dewar, there are probably quite a small number (compared to the total population using Steam) that is controlling the early numbers and then the bigger leads over time generate organically as people realize that their team is/isn't winning the day. They would want to coordinate because assignment of teams is largely random and there's no benefit collectively to one team being the winners all the time, particularly with the small prize pool. Regardless, I'm contributing exactly one point per day for maximum potential card gain and the largest chance at winning free games if Steam's RNG manages to favor both my team and me at the right time. Still have managed to not buy anything in this sale. My wife seems to have seen me struggling and has bought me South Park at a discount, which was super generous and may have staved off my desire to get any of my wishlist games. Nonetheless, if anything gets ludicrously cheap I might partake. SRIV at sub-$10 would still tempt me, as would sub-$20 Dark Souls 2.

Since I seem to be the only one who doesn't super love Looper, my somewhat spoilery thoughts briefly -

So, still sticking with this game and I'm enjoying it more as I go along. That may be in part due to the fact that I've just started playing while listening to podcasts and doing ALL of the side content so I'll be distracted by less as I actually progress through the main story. I've done so much of the side content that I've actually unlocked CTOS all over the city, hacked all the towers to show all POIs, bought all the available weapons, bought all available outfits, and bought about half of the available cars, trucks, and motorcycles. I feel like it's worth noting that this game has the best feeling motorcycles out of just about any non-racing game I've ever played. Maybe it's just because 90% of the cars handle like shit, but the superb handling and generally solid off-road capability of motorcycles make them amazing for just about anything but take-down style missions. Plus, they're a lot easier to spot than the specific cars that are actually worth driving. Also, the grenade launcher is ridiculously OP. You're doing yourself a disservice if you don't use it from the very beginning of the game. What better way to handle enemy backup than blow up their cars before they can dismount? What better way to handle a heavily armored guy than a grenade to the face? Buy one, buy ammo whenever you're short, and some of the more frustrating combat encounters simply won't happen any longer.

Buy Metro LL right now, if you find it visually lacking or whatever you get 50% off the preorder of LL Redux which is a $12.50 discount (meaning you'd ultimately get a $6-ish discount on Redux if you decide to go that way).

That's super weird, I thought all the rewards were for F2P games. Having cosmetic items for F2P games be rewards in weird contests and resold for big bucks seems much more palatable than cosmetic items in games you pay for being $20 on the open market. Lame.

For some reason it occurs to me that one of the Lost podcasts I listened to back in the day:

I want someone to draw a beautiful digital painting of an Idle Thumbs-related meme character sitting on a toilet with the twin toilet plate painted onto it that can be hung in the Idle Thumbs office bathroom.

Yeah, it's not particularly responsible for parents to do that either, though I suppose I could see the convenience of giving a kid a Steam gift card and telling them to have at it. Considering I spent my allowance in my childhood buying food and toys I didn't need, my teenage years buying drugs and alcohol that I'd later come to regret, and my college years using scholarship money to buy a ton of games I didn't play, I wish my parents had kept the purse strings pretty tight, maybe asked me why I wanted a particular thing and tried to help me reason things out now and then.

That's a bit of a red herring, it's really more like "or are a child that somehow has access to money that's not yours" or more to the point "or are a child with irresponsible parents". If I was a child, this would be a great program for me because as long as you vote every day and participate in a minor way, you get access to highly demanded fake items that you can sell and buy cheap games with. And guess what? Those cheap games are readily available in the sale, so if I was a kid with parents like those I had that gave me a minimal allowance I'd be super stoked about these sales and contests for perfectly responsible reasons. I think it's unreasonable to ask Valve to create situations that protect people who make irrational decisions.

I think that like with most things, this sale isn't ridiculously insidious unless you're an idiot and/or you have no self control. My wife always adds games to her wishlist that she even has a passing interest in and saves the purchases for these seasonal sales so she can participate in the events without feeling having to buy games you only began to care about when there was "extra incentive". Also, when you normally get an almost certainly worthless coupon when you craft a badge, you at least gets cards for this event when you complete badges that you could proceed to sell or mess around with for this contest. Even if you only contribute one point per day, you have a shot at winning some free games. That doesn't really sound particularly horrible to me, and the cost for participating to any normal person is buying games that you wanted to play.

Yes, yes, yes. Loved Brick, Brothers Bloom and to a lesser extent Looper. Weirdly enough, I think Brick and Brothers Bloom give me more faith in Star Wars being interesting than doubt because Looper was okay but not great. If Johnson can bring even a hint of the noir and caper aspects that make those films good to the central trilogy of Star Wars, I'll be very satisfied.

I'd say Enslaved's gameplay is a little better than competent. It's not Uncharted 2 or Tomb Raider, but it's still good.

Day 2 of sales are live! State of Decay at $5 is pretty slick, Walking Dead S2 at $12.50 and Prison Architect at $10.19 aren't too bad either. The current community's choice is actually pretty good, Bulletstorm for $5 and Call of Juarez Gunslinger at $3.75 are both highly recommended. I'm voting for cyberpunk in the next one, want my wife to try Shadowrun Returns and $3.75 is a steal for it.

Yes I am.

I think I also recently read imagined that Fullbright's lead programmer left for Oculus, when it was in fact Supergiant's lead programmer.