Salacious Snake

I wanted to check out Neptune's Pride the first time around, but never jumped in. The new one looks slick! Don't make the same mistake I did and jump into a public game, though. edit: I got a nearly immediate reply from the developer after snitching these knuckleheads out saying he'll look into it, so that's encouraging.

Cool, now beat Hyper Hexagon. (But seriously, you deserve a pat on the back!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Gb4fg2esPvI So, this is similar to the DS-10 (an emulation of Korg's MS-10 analog synthesizer for DS), but it's going to be a downloadable piece of software for the 3DS, and it recreates the M1. It's another historically significant piece of hardware, but in this case more of a ROMpler type of thing. Great if you want to make muzak or old house music. There was a version of this for the DS, but I think it only came out in Japan. The people making this have a great track record with DS and iOS music software, so it should be nice. edit: here's a sweet track made with both DS-10 and M01 for DS:

I had an N64 in my trunk for a while after I tried to sell it for drug money. Nobody wanted that thing. Game consoles always seem worth a lot when you're looking to buy one, but as soon as you want to get rid of one it's like they're made of dog shit. Did manage to sell of a big chunk of my music collection, which I regret in retrospect.

I agree. This looks like shit. I'd love to see this get a treatment along the lines of the Another World 15th/20th anniversary editions. Not like this.

Maybe it's finally time to get a game based on Eliminators.

If you want more discussion on how Infinite may have squandered certain thematic elements, check out this article: BioShock Infinite: an Intelligent, Violent Video Game? by Daniel Golding http://www.abc.net.au/arts/stories/s3733057.htm It more generally talks about how being a shooter undermines things, as has been a topic of discussion around here. I haven't played the game, but it's been interesting to hear and read about.

I think maybe my assessment of 2 and where it stands compared to the rest of the series is partly due to my lack of "reverence" for the series in general. I mean, I'd consider myself a huge fan of the games (from Metal Gear through Rising), but I only first played all of them within the past 5 years. (And I played them out of order.) I didn't have the experience of approaching any of them with an inflated sense of nostalgia about the previous entries. It's entirely fresh in my mind how idiotic the narrative is in every single one of them. The bosses are ridiculous in all of them. People see Raiden as this big step down from Snake, but Snake is a complete tool. They're all awkward to play and kind of backward... they hold onto series conventions well beyond sense, when multitudes of other games have found more natural solutions. From my perspective, MGS2 is just peak Metal Gear; it's the apex of all of this ridiculous crap that I've come to love. I suppose I can see how that wouldn't be the case for someone who came at the games differently. I do think people tend to have a distorted memory of MGS. That game is silly as hell. edit: I don't want to give the wrong impression here, though. It's not like I have an ironic appreciation of the series. That wouldn't be enough for me to have played MGS, MGS2, 3 and 4 to completion multiple times each and to unlock tons of bullshit in Peace Walker, and give MG and MG2 each a run through. I really do love playing them... they're fun, tense and engaging. The characters and events are pretty loopy though.

I could see that stressing you out. You can still pretty much just dart around while using trucks and walls to break line of sight, like in the prior games, but the earlier parts train you to think differently.

This eyes-on RPS article is encouraging. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/04/04/first-look-thief/ The lack of Thief's linguistic trademarks bums me out, as I was looking forward to taffing about, but otherwise it sounds like it could be a damn good game.

MGS2 is the obvious creative peak of the series; it's the most risky and experimental one by far. I don't understand how someone could have an interest in Kojima's work and not appreciate Sons of Liberty. It's the magnum opus, you know? It's the one people will talk about when Kojima dies.

RIP, LucasArts

I like the hand-grabby logo animation at the end. Also, I agree that the Dishonored thing is surprisingly representative of the game experience. Pretty cool shit.

I was disappointed to find that my reflection didn't change to indicate when I had switched weapons.

I quite enjoyed this "selfie" taken in the bathroom mirror at the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, CT. The wobbly, scratched mirror and concrete walls transported me to childhood. Of course the autofocus grabbed the mirror surface instead of me, but it wouldn't be a proper bathroom self-portrait otherwise.

God, Hokra is fantastic. It's just the pure experience of competition with all the bullshit excised. It reminds me of why I liked sports games back in the 8 and 16-bit days before they got too complex for me.

I could forgive a lot of this games's trespasses, but my main city seems to be corrupted and is inaccessible, regardless of server status.

Same for me. I'm so stoked. It was a bit sad watching Mother Base get trashed... I didn't realize how much of a sense of investment I had developed for it in Peace Walker.

That VR Aladdin thing did indeed suck. I use head-tracking (via TrackIR) in ArmA, and it is great, and that's a game in which independent looking and aiming makes sense and is manageable. In the fast-paced world of TF2, I can't imagine that being an advantage or even really being particularly usable. Aiming a gun with your face is weird, but that's kinda what they're doing for these things right now, as Mington quoted. TF2 seems like the worst candidate for this sort of thing, but it's cool that the Rift will be working in the Source engine, and starting with a game that's free to boot. (Head-tracking aside, I would be curious to experience TF on the Rift's display.) edit: so basically what Nick said right after I unpaused the cast. I really shouldn't comment on these things midstream.

Mington has the best ideas! So not that anyone was holding their breath, but I've changed plans and I'm not going... instead I'll be having a relaxing weekend at a bed & breakfast near Mystic Seaport. So there.

It's so earnestly presented that it seems like the people in charge have no idea of how cheesy it is. I'd bet you anything Chris Metzen thinks he totally nailed it and made a riveting tale of personal whateverthefuck. I don't want to bash the dude too hard, but I read an interview in which he was asked about his literary inspirations, and his answers were Star Wars and Dragonlance. If he considers those high water marks in the realm of storytelling, then as far as he's concerned, he's killing it.

That looks sweet. I think it helps that I watched it with the sound off and this pumping instead: It made for kind of a surreal music video.

Goddamn, I forgot what an assault on the ears SimCity 4 is.

I had forgotten how unbelievably corny the writing is (assuming it was this bad last time around). That combined with the overwrought score and production values and acting makes it altogether surreal.

The art director, Jonathan Jacques-Belletete, has cited Metal Gear as an influence. I know you are drawing parallels that are more on the mechanical or design side, but talking to JJB about the game, it seemed like he had his fingers in pretty much everything.\ edit: The relevant interview (which I conducted): http://totalplaystation.com/ps3/features/9781/1/ edit 2: god, please excuse the horrendous affront to the eyes that that website has become