juv3nal

(apologies if this has been posted before and I missed it) Mr. Breckon, I think you know what you need to do:

Sure Hackers is bad, but it's bad . On an unrelated note, are any of you fans of Béla Tarr? I've seen Werckmeister Harmonies & Man from London (which I thought was not as good as Werckmeister), but haven't been able to get around to seeing (nor, at nearly 7 hours long, am I sure I want to) Sátántangó.

Just watched this. It's pretty sweet, although, not having read the comic, I was afraid , luckily it didn't do that.

I bought this on impulse the last day before the price went up (there was an introductory price at $7.50 or so for a while). I really like it. I can understand the objections to powers coming and going, but I think the way it's been done serves to mix things up and helps to lend some variety to (within) the levels.

lengthy interview with Mr. Gaynor over at gamedesignadvance

Yeah, I have an i7 Vaio Z as my current machine as well. That is one sweet laptop. I mean, it's as expensive as two equally powerful, but larger/heavier machines put together, but to cram all that into 3lbs with reasonable battery life/heat output is amazing.

That's overstating the case a bit. For example, there are plenty of 15" laptops with something other than Intel IGP, but just being better than Intel IGP is not necessarily "powerful" IMO.

as should be news to nobody, there will be significantly less gaming to be had on a MBP unless you dual boot (or virtualization, I guess, how good is that for gaming nowadays though?).

I have an older Asus laptop. The build quality of the external case bits is not so hot (the lid hinge is all messed up so I can't really close the lid anymore), but never had a problem with any of the internals. The lid thing didn't crop up until ~year 2.5 for what that's worth. Personally, I'd give some thought to going with something smaller/lighter if you're going to be lugging it to class every day and just plug into a bigger monitor when you're at home. Maybe that's not realistic for your budget though.

Hmm. The last thing I need is another piece of plastic, and there's zero pre-order bonus for the digital version, not even a day or two of early access? I guess I'm spoiled or something and barring horrendous reviews I'm sure they'll get my money eventually, but I just don't see the point of paying right now for the non-disc version, but they apparently don't need my help on pre-orders.

It's been a while (apparently all of chapter 2 has been created since when I played it), so I don't really remember, but there's a walkthrough buried in the comments here. I don't know how to link to an individual comment, so look for the one posted July 21, 2010 5:09 PM. That one's got progressive spoiler hiding so you can probably find the clue you need without inadvertently reading ahead. I won't vouch that the other spoilers in those comments do the same. edit: I just had a quick look at that walkthrough so you won't have to. short version:

I haven't paid for it, but I have played through the first chapter. I really like it. There's something about the really mundane, everyday tasks you're doing early on that makes the odd stuff that shows up later extra creepy.

I'm going out on a limb here, but I reckon there might be more discussion if you'd actually linked to the darned thing. Also, the first chapter is playable free.

I'm not much help, but Budapest is awesome. Especially if you're a carnivore foodie. They do a lot of game (boar, rabbit) and they do this deep fried goose liver (not gavage-fattened like foie gras, just regular liver) with apple sauce. Yum. Also rooms were cheap (at least they were when I went ~5 years ago). I got a room from a random tout at the train station which was way nicer than and cost less than the hostels I'd stayed at in Prague or Vienna.

Wait. A sackboy plushie?! Done and done.

Actually not that excited about most of these (the ones I am excited about, I'm dubious about whether they'll actually come out 2011), but battletech (edit: err...mechwarrior, whatever, same diff). That had fallen off my radar.

I don't love either Lie to Me or Mentalist, but I prefer Lie to Me. I think I just like Tim Roth because of his part in Reservoir Dogs. Plus, while Cal is abrasive/a bastard, Jane is smug which in my books is more annoying.

Checked out Ghostwritten yet? (edit: in case it's not clear, that's a recommendation: you should)

Ted Chiang does really good sci fi short stories if y'all have not read any yet.

I liked Sky Captain. It has undead Laurence Olivier and hokey banter in it. Plus robots. What's not to like?

I played a lot of it but I'm pretty sure I ended up getting pissed off at some bug (it wasn't, if I remember correctly, anything that would have stopped me from finishing the game, just something that denied me the particular outcome of a quest that I had been aiming for or something) and never finished it. I don't remember the exact bug, but I do remember replaying over an hour (since the beginning of the questline) to try to get the proper outcome to "click".

I don't remember which trailer sparked it, but my strongest impulse on seeing this game was that Duke Nukem is totally fucked if it releases at any point after bulletstorm (if anyone ever gave it a chance to begin with).

This is true to some extent, but legitimacy or lack thereof can have a tangible effect on who ends up making games. Kids in high school, for instance, who decide to make indie games versus the ones who are bound for Juliard (or wherever) might be the same kids and guess which is going to get more support from parents/guidance councilors etc. due to "legitimacy". That has got to have some effect on the kinds of games we'll see in the future. To the extent that you care about that, you should care about legitimacy.

Apologies for getting sucked in again... This "interactivity gets in the way of great art" argument is hogwash. I don't think anyone can credibly argue that Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, whatever didn't create great art, but composing a piece of music is only part of the equation; any of the great classical compositions can result in something horrid if performed by a poor violinist, pianist etc. Generally speaking, we can consider the artistic merits of a composition separately from the creative choices and technical ability exhibited by someone who plays that composition. And what do you do with games? You play 'em.

On the topic of blade runner, this is a pretty good documentary about the film. There's an awesome quote from Rutger Hauer in it: Rutger comes across with this kind of uncanny charisma that comes from being a guy reflecting on the best thing he's ever done and knowing it's the best thing he'll ever do.