SecretAsianMan

I'm sure that Joystiq closing is in no way related to AOL doing massive restructuring and likely closing several sites that have nothing whatsoever to do with gaming. This is clearly about ethics in journalism.

It's been a long time since I've played Super. I don't remember where most things are or what's needed (and watching speedruns doesn't help because they mess up the intended order so much it's hard to keep straight). But if water doesn't impede your movement at all, you indeed have the gravity suit. You can confirm on the Samus screen (go to the map screen and hit R). It might be useful to take a picture of that screen as well to get an idea of what gear you have or might still need.

I really liked Republic Commando. It was nice playing a Star Wars game (that isn't a flight sim) without lightsabers in it. It was a little short but still a good game. I'd actually like to have seen a sequel because in general I found the clones way more interesting than the Jedi or Sith.

And in other news, it seems that AOL (they still exist?) may be shutting down Joystiq soon. Recode first reported the news and its been pretty much confirmed on Joystiq's site.

I got a bunch of snow yesterday. Had to park on the street and shovel my driveway before I could make it into my garage. Nearly fell on my ass a couple times. Luckily my neighbor has an ATV he's fitted with a snow plow. He likes driving around and plowing everyone's driveway with it, without even being asked. It also reminded me that I need to get some snow cleats or something for my shoes.

If you had a PSN account active before May 15, 2011, you might be able to claim benefits from the class action lawsuit filed against Sony for the security breach they suffered in April that year. If you can prove you were a victim of identity theft, you can get up to $2500. Otherwise, eligible U.S. gamers (sorry Teg) can claim either one free PS3/PSP/Vita game, 3 Playstation themes, or 3 months of PS+ (provided you're not already a member). The deadline for claims is Aug 31. You can file a claim online at the link above. And if anyone is suspicious of the link, I did some checking just to be sure (its the site that places like Forbes, Engadget, and IGN direct you to).

If you want to be even lazier, you can set up custom searches in Chrome. Right click on the address bar and pick 'Edit search engines...' Scroll to the bottom and make a new one for the forums. You can call it whatever you want and give it a keyword shortcut (I called mine Idle Thumbs and used 'it' for the keyword). Then put this in for the URL http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&q=site:idlethumbs.net/forums+%s When you want to search the forums, just go to your address bar, type in your keyword shortcut, hit space, then whatever you're looking for.

This is tangential to the current discussion but I thought it was worth sharing

I want to make a collection of Dragon Age adult fan fiction just so I can call it Dragon Age: Sexposition

I've never taken off of work with the express intention of playing video games. I have skipped class though.

I've never messed up computer parts that way, but I have messed up an original Xbox controller. Back before there were wireless controllers and you had a long ass cable tethering you to your console, I used to get shocked all the time when I picked up my controller. After a while it started doing weird things like phantom inputs I never did or drifting one of the analog sticks to the right. Eventually it just died altogether, but by that point the 360 existed and I ceased caring.

I have a grounding strap simply because it came with the toolkit I bought. I have never used it and have never accidentally zapped a component, even while sitting on the carpet in the middle of winter in a fuzzy sweater with the heat running (that's not an exaggeration).

I complained about Shia because I don't like his acting in any movie. He annoys me. I think I remember once, long before Crystal Skull, hearing about a theoretical 4th Indy movie with Kevin Costner as his half-brother or something. I could be making that up though.

I'm with Twig, forum searches are hardly ever good. I don't remember what I was looking for, but I do recall at some point trying to use the forum search for something but because all the search terms were 3 letter words it was useless. Google found it right away.

Completely not related to this topic: I can't help but see the thread title and think of this

My highest Steam count is TF2 with 1318 hours, although I also have a significant number of hours on the 360 version as well (probably in the neighborhood of 900). My second highest on Steam is Dungeon Defenders with 1124 hours, which I'm really ashamed of now because I fucking hate that game.

I don't own Destiny nor have I ever played it, but I've seen various streams/let's plays of it and one thing keeps bugging me. What the heck is an Orb of Light? I keep seeing a message that some player has generated an Orb of Light but I have no idea what this means and I'm entirely too lazy to look it up.

The threat of Big Frog

Some more DLC out now. A new heist and character. I haven't tried the new heist (I haven't even done the Diamond yet). The new character also adds a new perk deck which makes you more resistant to damage at close range. I kind of wish I'd gone for the difficulty completion achievements back before all these new heists came out. It's so much harder now that all these new jobs exist that I can't do myself.

I also only listen to gaming podcasts, but then again I only listen to podcasts while in the car, usually on the way to/from work. In general I'll get through about two a week which these days is Idle Thumbs and the GiantBombcast.

I actually don't like MM either. On paper it sounds like a thing I'd like but in practice it just didn't sit right with me. I'm not bothered by the way it plays with the Zelda format or tone, it just... wasn't fun. I didn't quit the game out of frustration or anything like that, I was just never compelled to finish it. It probably didn't help that kid Link in Ocarina drove me nuts.

This year's AGDQ Battletoads run And Battletoads Arcade

For speedrunning that's totally true. Pimple does the most damage so he's usually chosen by speedrunners to get through the combat portions faster.

Left to right: Zitz, Rash, Pimple The 'Toads all appear in every Battletoads game, but which ones were playable depends on the game because normally one (or in the case of the Gameboy game two) of them is captured prior to the start of the game. The Double Dragon and arcade games are the only ones where all 3 are playable.