SecretAsianMan

I've always wondered this too. I mean, can you even ogle your character if it's first person?

I love having entire conversations hidden behind spoilers. It's like a secret club you gain membership to by completing a game. Anyhoo...

I'm tired enough that I first took that quote to mean he could move the hurricane zone back on top of the lady who's trying to evacuate. I combined this with the comparison to Austin Powers and I imagined those giant touchscreens were part of a weather control device and that Fox News' next broadcast would be to demand one hundred billion dollars or they would destroy the world.

That was one of those puzzles I got by trying every item until one worked. Even after I found the correct one, it didn't make sense to me at the time because as a kid Now that I think about it, that happened a lot. There are a bunch of puzzle solutions that didn't make sense to kid me, not because they were illogical but because I lacked the real world experience to know or understand them. I think the one that made the least sense to me was washing the buggy. I washed it because the game told me I should since I had a bucket of water, soap, and a brush, but I didn't get the joke about it raining after you wash your car (that is the joke right?) so the whole sequence of events made no sense to me.

I am having the worst day. I'm extremely tired because today I moved all the furniture into my new house. That wouldn't be so bad except I'm working long nights with about 4 hours of sleep in the last 2 days. I've also found out that they screwed up the electrical wiring in my house. None of the appliances get enough power except for the fridge. So this means I can't use the washer, dryer, microwave, dish washer, garage door opener, or water heater. I've submitted service requests but I know they're not going to respond quickly unless I keep bugging them which I don't really have the time or energy to do. Tomorrow the cable guy is supposed to come and hopefully I'll have internet at home, but only if they didn't screw up wiring the cable in the house too, which at this point is increasingly likely. Moving sucks.

I had a dream today that Idle Thumbs did some kind of tour where they went around to different cities and recorded podcasts in front of a live audience. It was similar to stand-up comic group tours where they would come out one at a time, do a bit, then get together at the end for reader mail. It was the best thing and I want it in the worst way.

That definitely appears to be the case. I haven't played the current version either (only the original) but watching Nick's run and then watching Killingsworth play the exact same map, you can the slow and steady method works much better. Most of his time is spent hanging from ropes and ledges observing the surroundings and waiting for the perfect moment to throw a bomb or rock. Reflexes alone are not enough to get you very far.

Pittsburgh is strangely home to a huge furry convention. For the right price I could be persuaded to crash the next one. I'm going to need a LOT of motivation though. Many furries in this picture (nothing dirty though). You have been warned.

Today I dreamt that I was asleep. I think I'm really tired.

I've been trying to catch up on the explorer's club. Nick's Oct. 6 run is my favorite so far.

I can't get the Rockapella theme from Carmen Sandiego out of my head and it's driving me nuts http://youtu.be/dGVa5MESpIs

As a result of looking up a puzzle in Grim Fandango (see spoiler above), I am now re-reading the Grim Fandango puzzle design document that got put up on the internet a few years ago. Man, this thing is amazing. Besides describing all the puzzles and solutions, it's full of background info and random side notes and comments from Tim. It really makes me appreciate the game even more. I want to see the design docs for all the Lucasarts games. I also really REALLY want to play Grim Fandango.

Man, my town has really exploded these last few days. I got the police station built and I'm working on the cafe. The shoe store opened today and at the same time T&T Mart went under construction for their next expansion. I also got a third room in my house and another resident is moving in to replace the one that left. Another of my residents is going to leave as well, but I may ask her to stay. Too bad I don't have enough time to actually enjoy any of it.

Spoiler for Grim Fandango

Interview with Entertainment Weekly about the opening. He basically says that they offered him the opportunity to throw everything in there so he took it. Can't really say I blame him.

There are also cat Bullet Bills.

This really isn't going to spoil anything for you Zeus but I'll still hide this thing about getting the frozen hamster just in case. Thrik, that sounds awesome. I've been itching to play Grim again for years but I haven't been able to because of time and technical issues. I'm super jealous.

According to Wikipedia, the Sonic Adventure manual was the first time Dr. Robotnik was called both Robotnik and Eggman in English (having always been known in Japan as Eggman) and referred to as Eggman thereafter. That game was first released on the Dreamcast in North America on Sept. 9, 1999. It was later released for other platforms, including Windows on Sept. 14, 2004. The exact halfway date between the end of the 1996 government shutdown (Jan. 6, 1996) and the start of the current shutdown (Oct. 1, 2013) is Nov. 18, 2004. The release of Sonic Adventure for Windows is 65 days before the halfway point between the shutdowns. Thus, I think it can be reasonably inferred that changing Robotnik to Eggman is indeed responsible for the current shutdown.

I sent them candy, someone else can send them Hot Pockets. I know what Chris means about finally playing a game in short bursts. I normally play a game from start to finish (or not at all) in large, hours long sessions. But lately I haven't had that kind of time and the only thing I've been regularly playing is Animal Crossing for the 3DS. Granted Animal Crossing isn't something that can be "finished" in one long sitting, but spending a few minutes everyday interacting with my town is kind of nice compared to a game that demands a more significant time investement. Me too.

I don't know what thread to put this information in and I don't want to start a new one just for this, so it's going in here. I just learned that Tom Clancy died on Tuesday. I'm not really into any of his stuff, be it books or games, but my first thought was "Oh man, what's going to happen to Sam Fisher? Are there going to be no more Idle Thumbs Splinter Cell jokes?". I then felt terrible that this was my first thought upon hearing someone died. I'm a bad person.

Agreed. I can't wait until I'm finished moving in.

If by "beat" you mean you must defeat the dungeon's boss before you can access the next one, then no I don't think LttP required you to do that. Usually the thing that prevents you from accessing a dungeon is some kind of hazard in the overworld that requires the item found in the previous dungeon, like many here have mentioned. I imagine you can leave a dungeon as soon as you get the item and go to the next one. But obviously in order to beat the game you'd have to return later and fight the boss so there's no reason not to just finish it the first time.

I can understand not wanting to remain in one place for too long. I actually started looking at houses about 2 years ago, but I put off buying one because I knew that once I did I was committing to being here for a while. In an ideal world I'd have purchased this house somewhere else, somewhere I'd rather be, but the reality of my situation is that I can't really go somewhere else, so a house just makes sense for me. On a sad and depressing note, I'm feeling really lonely. Probably because I'm insanely tired and more than a bit overwhelmed with all the stuff I have to do in my new house, but I really wish I wasn't such a hermit and had some friends. It sucks not having any self-confidence or feeling of worth. This is going to be a long month. I'll stop complaining now.

I've never played a Pokemon game but I'm tempted to get X/Y. I'll probably end up getting Y, but between work and moving I won't have time to play for many many weeks. Hopefully you guys can take pity on a rookie trainer who's a month (and several years) behind.

I actually try to avoid flying whenever possible in Kirby games. It slows down the action too much for me and makes the game a little more interesting if I don't use it. But that said, I wouldn't want them to take that out. I actually remember being excited about it as a kid because I thought "Oh man I have a move with infinite ammo", then being surprised when I couldn't hurt Whispy Woods with it.