Humanoid

For what it's worth, it's a game I intended to replay after finishing it on the first weekend of its release. But I delayed and delayed and ended up not doing it. I feel it's in a similar place as vanilla NWN/2 (except unlike both those campaigns, I did finish the OC), it's waiting for it's MotB. And maybe I hadn't been paying enough attention during development, but I had fully expected Berlin to be as big as the shipped module, so the news that it will be isn't so much 'good' news as much as dodging a revelation that would have disappointed me. I'm going to go against the flow regarding the calls for more Matrix or similar alternate realities though. I'm sure it's a big part of the Shadowrun universe, but in terms of making a game with budgetary and time constraints, I'd rather the effort be focused on the larger part of the game instead of pseudo-optional content. I don't know how the Matrix plays in PnP, but in-game, it's just a stripped back gameplay area with fewer or non-existent opportunities for interesting interactions and decisions, so in a one-or-the-other development choice ...well, I'd pick the 'real' world every time. And rebalance Deckers with that in mind.

I thought I played that game as a kid, but the levels didn't look familiar at all. Realised that the game I played was actually Ducktales 2 - I didn't know there were two games. Would have been nice to combine the two into one rerelease given the near-identical gameplay. It'd be tricky to sell it standalone later anyhow given that. Random aside: I thought there was something wrong with my computer graphics. Turns out Firefox just has a new icon. Yeah.

Huh, I don't remember replying to this thread, but then it was nine-and-a-half years ago. Apparently I was using the green monochrome bearded retro from Privateer as an avatar back then, which I wouldn't have had for a long time at all. I'm not sure why it was even used it the first place - did the initial iteration of this board software disallow animated GIFs? The Ultima 8 Avatar is blatantly stolen (then cropped) from DOUG the Eagle's Ultima 8 anti-walkthrough. I've used it since the initial migration from the Black Isle boards (where we common rabble could not choose custom avatars) to the Interplay one (where it was a free-for-all). I didn't really post on these forums for several years - I'd have averaged about one post per year throughout the remainder of the noughties. The early part of that at the Lair and the balance spent maintaining my own forums, which was notionally for the WoW guild I co-ran but really was just a random off-topic board. When I came back here, I saw that everyone who was someone had their avatars modified with the Alpha Protocol tag (to this day I still have no idea why that was a thing), so as an obedient sheeple, I had to do the same. The colour compression is quite a bit off compared to the 'genuine' ones because I had no idea how to use the GIMP (and still don't) - this is the first and only image I've manipulated with it. Used to use JASC Animation Shop before Corel bought them out.

Hopefully it's alteration/transmutation magic rather than illusion/phantasm or enchantment/charm magic.

So much for a nice relaxing Sunday of gaming. After a routine restart, Windows is acting up, popping up error dialogs everywhere. The file checker reports errors it can't correct, and chkdsk threw up thousands of errors. Trying a repair install now, but fearing my old 2009-vintage SSD might be at fault here. I have a second, newer SSD in the system I could use, but I'd rather keep it as a games drive and just buy a new system drive if it's indeed the fault.

Answering my own question - second hand info and not sure what the source is (besides this stolen screenie), but anyway:

Don't suppose there's any news on whether any additional titles will be unlocked? Haven't really followed the previous HB's enough to tell whether such a thing is guaranteed or not. Would be the difference between buying to make a donation and buying to play stuff in terms of amount.

Except that preorder bonuses are a different but still shady business ploy meant to counteract that reprehensible idea that is the customer making well-informed purchase decisions.

Same, 75% shooters, and Sims3 which everyone probably has. Still, happy enough to donate guilt-free even if I got nothing, plus never played a Burnout game before (and technically, also don't have Sims 3:High-end Loft Stuff). Anyone know if Sims 3 disc edition content is compatible with Origin version Sims 3?

While good that MS will no longer be spying on you (visually at least), it does mean that the console now ships with a non-optional $100 paperweight.

We have a public holiday? Oh, bloody Queenslanders.

What I liked about the progression of FO1 to FO2 to NV was the effect of time, as opposed to geography, had on the world. A bombed-out wasteland is a bombed out wasteland no matter where it is, what I want to see is the experience of reconstructing society. NV has been criticised by some in comparison to FO3 for being "too civilised", but I think that's looking at it from the wrong angle. Do we think humanity in a post-war scenario such as that presented will forever remain in the hole they've dug themselves, doomed to just counting out time? Indeed I'd go so far as to say the timeline is actually too slow, and the content of the later games set in an "unrealistically" far future compared to the backstory. I'd be interested in seeing whether there is support for taking part in evolving the world, to the logical end-point of a post-Fallout world, either with the emergence of a new renaissance where the bombs are just articles in history books, or with the final snuffing out of the final flicker of humanity. Or is the setting just a Mario-esque repetition of the same theme, where time has no meaning?

Wish I had something more profound to say. Rest in peace.

I think the point is that MS apparently took a portion of what really is meant to be the capital, as opposed to perhaps a more traditional deal of taking a cut of sales revenue. Of course, the nature of reward-based crowdfunding blurs that line between funding and takings, which makes the idea of the cut being an amount for every backer-assigned copy quite likely.

I'd say I'd be hoping for the opposite, no cameos unless extremely well justified. We're in a very different and distant part of the world, so any such encounters would tend to evoke the small-world syndrome. ME took this to the extreme, Shepard met acquaintances, who could be anywhere in the entire galaxy, by pure coincidence more than I see my neighbours when I walk around my suburb.

The rage is worse if you attempt to drive in the UK, multiple 550EUR speeding fines per trip are just about guaranteed. And in France, bloody toll roads everywhere (and their all-caps road signs are ugly). At any rate, I could have easily gotten through with minimal time loss had I decided to be an aggressive nutter and taken the footpath, or push a hatchback or two out of the way, but I was trying to do it all realistic-like (hence the radio station). Besides, while I'm stationary, at least my hired drivers driving my other trucks are still bringing in the dough.

A comedy of errors in Euro Truck Simulator 2 - took a job taking me from Geneva to Dresden, took a wrong turn getting out of Geneva resulting in being stuck in a traffic jam for half an hour real-time. Take the opportunity to flick through the built-in Internet radio player and select the appropriate station: KTFM Geneva, the best of 70s and 80s music who happen to be having a disco hour. Get so engrossed in the music that I miss the fact my fuel is just about gone, not being able to hear the sound of the low-fuel warning tone on account of the music (I think it was Stevie Wonder). Ran completely dry just as I cross over the border from Switzerland to Germany, and actually manage to coast for over a kilometre into a roadside petrol station ....but I overshoot the actual pump and plow into the carwash thing at the back of the station. Being now stationary and unable to even turn on the engine, I end up having to call roadside assistance, and, despite being in less than 100m away from the diesel that would be my salvation, end up being towed all the way back to Zurich at the cost of a couple hours and a few thousand euros. This is probably a good reason I've never even tried to drive in real life.

So it turns out the rest of the world was perfectly fine and had been all along. They just decided they didn't want to talk to America for a while.

Tsk, the proper way to reboot these days is to just name it the same as the original and provide no textual means whatsoever to distinguish between them.

Happy to say I enjoyed it without qualification. I bought the big CE box of it on BD so I could get the bundled DVD of The Magnificent Ambersons too. Also happy to blind buy The Trial and Touch of Evil.

I dunno, Citizen Kane was apparently pretty good.

Sure, but with the RTS aspect looking pretty flat, it'd need something special in its other qualities to really stand up. Again, early call, but splitting time between the builder aspects and being a dragon is something I'm not feeling is working. I wonder if the in-battle economy aspect is something that could be simplified or dropped. A more autonomous army, perhaps produced offscreen instead of at ingame bases, backing you as a full-time actor might have worked better than the current compromise.

For extra comedy, it's been mooted that Kutcher will front up for a series of Lenovo ads. St Jobs promoting Wintel machines? Perish the thought.

First turn of Dragon Commander, which I got as a backer reward. I'll flat out say I probably wouldn't really have looked at it if it wasn't a reward, based purely on the genre, and as a result I'd probably have to admit I might give it less than a fair chance. So far there's really nothing there that's grabbed me and made me want to keep playing. I will - one turn is one turn and all that - but the RTS aspect is a downright turn-off. If it turns out the game is viable while completely opting out of the RTS element, there might be a bit more in there worth seeing, but even then there's not really much opportunity for RP - no option to burn your insubordinate generals to a crisp for example - but such is expected for a game that markets itself on its other aspects.

Been too tired to play games today so instead sat down to watch Luis Buñuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. Now I'm in even more of a dreamlike state. Too tired to even try to deconstruct it, just enjoyed it as the surrealist comedy that it is.