Gwardinen

Rather than try to explain it myself, this might help: http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/08/31/jupiters-folly-free-to-play-multiplayer-strategy-from-the-makers-of-neptunes-pride/ Is anyone interested in trying a game? I've made attempts at the other two Iron Helmet games in the past but I think it only works with people you at least somewhat know and have some shred of both intelligence and decency (betrayal isn't betrayal if you're all assholes all the time).

I've not watched the video but I'm pretty sure they're misunderstanding what's going on here. The game may well put in defaults as you level, but my understanding is that your entire skill structure can be changed at more or less any time in Diablo 3. So while you may unlock Skill X at level 11, it doesn't necessarily need to go in the level 11 slot. I think you can pretty much have any combination of skills once you've unlocked them. You can check out the skill calculator here.

Yeah, it's sad, but it's entirely possible the writer wasn't exactly looking forward to this either. At the extreme ends of the site popularity spectrum (low and high), there's a lot of pressure to write things that are going to generate the quickest hits from attention-grabbing headlines and easy quotes. Not saying IGN doesn't pretty much suck these days (though their guides are often still somewhat useful), just trying to make the point that it's entirely possible the writers of such articles cry themselves to sleep. At this point, I would probably be willing to write a not too dissimilar article if it would finally get people to start paying me properly.

Yeah I'm kind of with you on that. I wasn't particularly invested by the end, as all I was doing was containing bug infestations and making sure at least most of my mines were actually mining. That said, I was right next to Murdoc and could have betrayed and attacked him at any time and didn't really feel any desire to do that either. I'm not sure the Iron Helmet games are my thing. Maybe they're one more activity (like professional StarCraft, for instance) that I enjoy hearing about from a talented communicator, but doesn't thrill me all that much for myself.

I think those are all real takedowns from the game, yes. I think some of the takedowns are different if the people were aware of you beforehand, and obviously there is a difference between lethal and non-lethal takedowns. Most of those were also double takedowns, which requires an augment to use. Unfortunately, if you play it stealthily and non-lethally like I did you tend to miss out on most of these because your victims will not be aware of you, will usually be on their own and will not be killed (and therefore no arm blade usage). Hence why I only ever see about four, kind of dull, takedowns. I also don't really notice anything in it that looks particularly weird from a camera perspective. The takedown camera is a pretty specialised thing anyway. The only thing that's obviously edited to me is the coin coming out of the Typhoon pose, but there might be others.

Yeah, I might suggest that you slowly play through the campaigns while using GoW3 as your multiplayer game. Play multiplayer, Horde and Beast on GoW3 because it's the best complete package, and just play the campaigns at your own pace.

I suddenly wish I lived in Montreal. I'm around a fair amount but not necessarily signed in to Live, so with warning I may be able to make a group session.

I honestly didn't play a huge amount of adversarial multiplayer in GoW2, not due to the game but due to my group of friends at the time only really being interested in the cooperative modes. I've only played a few matches of it in the third game so far, but I've not had much trouble getting into games* and I've always been in the same team so far. It would surprise me if the game put people from the same party in opposite teams much, since the party system is so fundamental to the framework of the game now. You're literally in a party from the main menu, and even if you play the campaign alone you're still in a party, it's just a one man party. *Except Horde and Beast mode games, actually. Whether this is because most people create private matches for cooperative modes or because in the first days of a new release people are more interested in traditional multiplayer than non-campaign coop I don't know.

I believe that's still the way things are. Unfortunately this is a second hand console and I believe it's out of warranty even for RROD. Eventually (particularly if this fix doesn't help) I may end up ponying up the cash for one of the new models. Right now, though, it's only been a week since I spent all my available money on a new computer (that I'm still looking forward to receiving). I played some Beast mode, Horde mode and a little Wingman and Team Deathmatch with a friend just now. It was all pretty great. Basically everything about the multiplayer has been improved.

I'm aware, Sno, but since I'm going to have it fixed tomorrow and potentially replaced thereafter, I don't care too much about potential damage to this particular console. I also don't care too much about the consoles in general at this point since so many have failed for me, and yes they've all been in well ventilated areas and so on.

For now, I've performed the infamous towel trick and it appears to be working. Tomorrow I'm going to take it to the guy who fixed it for me last time, as I got a six month warranty from him and it was five months ago. So, hopefully, consider me still operational.

By god, just after posting that last message I made the mistake of actually trying to play the game and my 360 instantly red ringed. I think this is my 6th or 7th Xbox that has had an RROD.

Yeah, the first two actually have surprisingly enjoyable campaigns, and both can be played cooperatively. Gears 1 & 2 do two player co-op campaigns, with Gears 2 having a four (or five, I forget) player co-op Horde mode as well, and Gears 3 does four player co-op campaign, and four (or five) player co-op in Horde and Beast modes too.

I don't know if I've seen the comic you're referring to.

Interesting letter. There was some stuff in there that made me look at things from a slightly different perspective. I don't share precisely his viewpoint on everything, but he's definitely showing the careful consideration and desire to work from a lack of preconceptions that I appreciate in all forms of thought - particularly these ones that regard entrenched viewpoints. I happened to read the article in question a while back, and I didn't like it then and still don't. I also wondered at the time, and still do, what the hell it was doing on Gizmodo. The most virtuous motivation I can think of is that the editor(s) that approved it wanted to try to shake things up there and make a point about how even publications that focus on a particular community need to have outside perspectives sometimes. Somehow, though, I suspect it was published because they knew it would probably garner quite a lot of attention. Hits mean advertising money, and if anyone can understand a little financial incentive right now it's me. There was a strip and a sort of mini-editorial posted within a webcomic series I read that talked a little about how some things at Gawker Media might be viewed from the outside. Fair warning: some of the strip and editorial themselves are kind of misogynistic. Not a great surprise given the letter we've just read, but the fact remains that there can be some fishy goings on at Gawker occasionally, and one has to wonder how planned certain events really are.

I don't know what that was but it was surprisingly great. I was grooving along to it.

The bugs are surprisingly vicious, aren't they? I'm constantly shifting security forces around my territory to try to make sure there are no weak spots for the bugs to get in.

I really was not digging this idea from just seeing videos and hearing about it, but having played the trial on XBLA I'm surprisingly into it. The handling of the car is really fun, and plowing through buildings is pretty entertaining. Beyond that, the tone is perfect. It straddles stupid and funny in a way that somehow feels much better than it did in Just Cause (to me, I know others found Just Cause more compelling). Perhaps it's because it's easier to take a downloadable game less seriously.

Sorry to hear that, subbes. It's pretty awful when people of your own age die, and I think many of us worry about the people we know through the internet suddenly disappearing as well. Hope you're ok.

Sorry for double post (do we care about that sort of thing here? I've never been sure) but I just discovered a feature that others may also not have known about - requesting peace! If you have $100, you can officially request a peace treaty with another player will will apparently allow your units to occupy the same space without fighting and that kind of thing until war is declared again.

Like Romulus and Remus! Wait... they killed each other. Like Romulus and Remus! ...shit.

I've heard that the Typhoon aug takes most of the health of even bosses if used at close range (particularly as I think you can upgrade its damage), so that may be a way to make fights easier too. I'm considering trying to push my way to getting it and the anti-electricity aug before the second boss. Hopefully I'm not about to run into the second boss already.

I'm in as Gwardinen. F4T C4T and I have the same space face, which is a shame.

Sure, get three friends to play it and bodyguard you while you stroll around enjoying the beaches and hot tubs like the VIP you are.

Assassin's Apprentice, and really the whole Farseer trilogy and the sequel Tawny Man trilogy, is really worth reading. The Soldier's Son trilogy you're talking about, Orvidos, really is not nearly as good. Nothing she's done is as good, in my opinion.