K-bohls!

I also got this during the sale, played a little bit single player and got pretty tired of it. It definitely is a co-op game seeing as you lose access to 1-3 other abilities during a heist if you play single player. I would love to play co-op with some folks so we can Blues Brothers our way out of Monaco.

GTA killed ArmA, long live GTA.

Since they introduced trading cards I have been able to craft two badges, one for Counter Strike Global Offensive and one for Company of Heroes 2. I found it easiest to simply get trading cards for different games I owned then put those on sale for a reasonable price. Spend the money you get off of these cards for ones you need and you have a set. Now the question of why you wouldn't just spend your earned money on other games is one only you can answer. I also got a 'booster pack' which dropped for Company of Heroes 2, this gave me three or four more cards, but it had a lot of dupes which I ended up selling. Who would have thought owning video games would be so difficult.

God damn. Giant Bomb has been a constant bastion of enjoyment and has helped me through some of my hardest times. Completely dumbfounded at the loss of Ryan, the site won't be the same without him. I will always remember him for making me giggle like a little girl over his serious discussion on hummingbird masks.

I really liked this format and almost wish Season 2 was nothing but a different character arc per episode. By now I don't really have any strong feelings for Clementine and sort of wish they closed that story.

I haven't played in a few weeks because my work schedule isn't set, but I should be able to attend the event this Saturday (7/6). I read an article on Rock Paper Shotgun about a "Wasteland" Survival mode that sounded pretty cool so if things get slow we could maybe try that. It does sound like the missions are better which makes me excited to return.

I finally funded my Reset Center, hopefully I can get some Resetti action on call. Also, yeah, that late night island action is a great way to make bells but is also kind of lame; I hardly spend time at my actual town!

I had some crazy pig guy wait outside my house all night to ask me if he could open up a club, Club LOL. What could go wrong?

You put my town to shame, tegan. Also, can you make animals leave town? One decided to plop down where I was planning to eventually expand my orchard and he isn't even a very cool animal.

I have the Varia boots if you want them, where would one go about obtaining replacement shoes? Maybe I should become the town hobo who is also somehow mayor, which would have some hilarious sitcom-esque effects on the personal story of my town.

Just picked up Animal Crossing: Max Relaxation Simulator so if some of you folks want to hang out and go fishing, pick fruit, or talk to an anthropomorphic swan swing by some time. 5112-4840-1282 I will scan through this thread and add numbers that I see.

I will be *probably* be able to chat it up during this year's Electronic Three. I am actually fairly excited for this year; hopefully we see some unique, new games revealed due to the new consoles. And Prey 2... oh please Prey 2.

I have the 8X as well, but I don't play many games on it beyond Sodoku and Wordament; both of which I would recommend. I do really hope they fix that Music app at some point, but that is my only real complaint about the software.

Seeing as I just got out of school for the summer and built a beast PC I would be down for some Thumb's Arma action. I played some when we did Arma 2 missions, but haven't even touched 3. If the clinky sounds when you run are the same then I am in for this weekend.

I lost my first men in battle this afternoon. Both Virion and Gregor fell prey to being attacked at range from the other side of a wall; I guess you learn little details like that the hard way. But alas I shall continue on. Actually in the Barracks roster it says something like Virion is "retired", I assume this is the thing where they can still be part of the story but can't actually fight. It just straight up says Gregor is dead, which is a shame because I thought he was pretty decent. I am glad the game is starting to fight back, and the battle maps are finally starting to open up. I also had Sully and Stahl get married which made me feel like a total creep. It's a cool system, but really weird if you stop to think about it for a few seconds. Oh well, on to getting Kellam and Miriel to hook up.

I heard tell that characters can get married if a relationship progresses far enough, and that children can fight for you. Have you actually done any of this? I am wondering if for every possible combination of characters there is a whole other character specifically made to be their offspring. That would be pretty radical if true, and it would probably prompt another play through. I was also curious about killing Frederick and Lissa off during the first mission to see how the story reacts. Hope to really sink my teeth into the game this weekend.

I hope CD Project are able to keep the depth and varied outcomes of the quests/story while incorporating an open world format. I found that even though The Witcher 2 had less content then say, Skyrim, I kept coming back because it changed enough from play through to play through. In theory it shouldn't be too hard to accomplish and might even be easier, but then why was Skyrim as repetitive and boring as it was? That said I still managed to play Skyrim for about 40 hours, but I don't even remember half of what I did in that time.

Yeah there are definitely systems that Awakening just seems to ignore explaining. As someone who played a fair amount of Sacred Stones I knew the general pace and what to expect, but the finer details can be hard to suss out. I also think "Normal" is way too easy, even for someone who hasn't played FE in a while. I am playing Classic Normal and barely even need to pay attention. I have my dude and Frederick team up and murder fools, one hit usually kills and never more then three or four damage when attacked. The maps seem to be built around very obvious choke points, which makes it dreadfully easy. Anyone know if it ramps up the difficulty? I am only around mission six or seven so I hope it does. The systems outside of battles are top-notch though. It took a while to care about the story or characters (you have amnesia!), but I find the support conversations and barracks to be good fun to engage in. Kellam4lyfe

Dark Souls did this in a huge way. One of the most well realized worlds and narratives with about 5 minutes of actually explicit narrative content. The rest is told through one of the best uses of world building I have ever seen. Almost every item found means something. The place you found it, the way the body looks to have died, the enemies nearby; it all means something. Same can be said about the location of enemies and types of areas you traverse. To be fair you only notice most of these aspects after reading online about it, but once you do it adds a whole level of atmosphere in a interesting and unique way. And on a subsequent play-through (and there will be a subsequent play-through) the earlier areas take on a whole new meaning. Although I didn't finish it Darksider 2 also had some pretty great atmosphere, especially compared to other action-rpg games. One of the most enjoyable worlds to explore, at some points leaving me breathless. Swimming in the water in one of the early dungeons was one of the most artistically beautiful moments I had in a game in awhile. Should also mention the bang up soundtrack, it leans on acoustic guitar but fits well with the world. Especially when the world color is muted it fills the void with a great sense of style and place. It was simply a great world to just exist in, and also fairly relaxing. Man, I should really finish Darksiders 2.

I would love to contribute to a un-official non-fiction book club! My brother and I are both pretty heavy readers in non-fiction, he actually got me into it by hooking me on the ancient Romans. I have since moved onto the Napoleonic Era, but the past few months have left strapped for time and have fallen back into fiction, but I would love to come back! Here are some things I have read. Julius Caesar, by Philip Freeman - This was actually the first non-fiction book I read, and it is both a great read and an interesting subject/time period. Cicero, by Anthony Everitt - I then moved onto Everitt's biography on Cicero, the great Roman orator. In hindsight this one might be a bit bloated but that is what one expects of a biography. Augustus, by Anthony Everitt - This is where Everitt really shines, by far on the best biographies I have read. I highly recommend checking this one out. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, by Timothy Snyder - One of the most tragic books I have ever read. It tells the tale of the poor people who lived on the eastern front of World War 2. You always hear about how both sides were evil on the eastern front, learning why will break your spirit. Highly recommended. The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte & The Reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, by Robert Asprey - This is were I got serious with my non-fiction reading. 1,100 pages dedicated to one man's life, and it was interesting the whole way through. Robert Asprey comes from a military background and his writing reflects this, you don't get a great sense of Napoleon's political career. Thankfully Napoleon had the most interesting military careers I have ever read about. Also I remember "The Reign" smelling particularly good. Hero: The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia, by Michael Korda - Admittedly I never got further then the first three or four chapters on this one. They were quite good but I started to not have the time to settle into reading for multiple hours straight. My brother tells me this one is worth a read however. So there you have it, my recommendations if some thumbs want to read a real book, none of this fancy prancy made up nonsense. If people were interested in a hardcore non-fiction club I would suggest The Rise of Rome, mostly because I have wanted to read it since it came out and this might force me to.

Was anyone actually able to follow the story in Darksiders 1? It came off as such self-indulgent writing with so many dumb "twists" that I by the end I didn't know if something was or wasn't a twist and who half of the characters were in the greater story context. That said I think the premise of playing as the four horsemen is awesome and I am enjoying Death's story more, with the idea of resurrecting humanity being both interesting and simple to follow. And the game play is leagues better then Darksiders 1.

Make the bird noise! Edit: No bird noise...

Oh what, huh, never knew that. How does something like that happen? Even a huge company like Microsoft lost the "metro" name right before Win8 came out.

Having not played Dark Souls I now plan to sink into it over winter break after Spec Ops. That said it would have been rad if they just named it something different like they did from Demon Souls to Dark Souls, but they probably got to much traction with Dark. And no Hotline Miami nominated for Independent Game of the Year is a damn shame.

What was that game with the dude crawling through the hospital? It looked like Solid Snake but the trailer didn't appear to contain a name, only the five "W's" of questions building curiosity in the viewer as to the situation the hero finds himself trapped in.