Humanoid

Men would be less depressed about losing their hair if plugs were better quality, easy to get and had no social stigma. ....at least I think that was the intended point.

I accept it in general but it's generally fallen over at portraying bleak. The supposed icy hell of Icecrown was a big letdown for me since all it turned out to be was snow and a zonewide blue filter. Tectonically ravaged zones likewise end up being very bright, etc. I felt the art direction better suited the more fantastical design and colour of the Outlands continent. This of course was before the developers did a triple somersault backflip at the conclusion of the Burning Crusade and went back to traditional fantasy. I don't really care either way on how the turnabout impacted the general storytelling, just commenting on the suitability of the art direction.

See the problem is that you can add swords to ME2 and call it DA2, but adding guns to DA2 results in ME2, not ME3. Cheap shots aside, I do look forward to it quite a bit more than DA2 mainly because of the preconception that I'll be getting a slow-paced action game (the type of action game I prefer) as opposed to a twitchy RPG. I tend to get deer-in-the-headlights syndrome with fast-paced action games so the ME series is about as actiony a game as I'll ever bother playing. As for plot, I'm not big on it but given the genre won't particularly fuss about it. Would like to see a better feeling of impending doom though - a'la the single ship capable of wiping out half the galaxy's firepower singlehandedly rather than the ship taken down by three guys with handheld weapons. On reflection I wouldn't actually mind seeing the reset button hit - i.e. total annihilation of the galaxy while the reapers are in it - with a handy escape hatch for our hero, natch.

After much delaying - having had access to the final quest for about a week - finished New Vegas. Was playing slowly as to try make my second playthrough coincide with the 'big' patch, but it's too close to holiday season now to start a new game now. Steam says 74 hours logged though there'd be pretty significant idle time in that. Undecided about WoW Cataclysm - I had quit halfway through a 6-month billing cycle so my account is still active (and I logged in to check out some new stuff) but not sure about actually buying the expansion proper. I've got about a week before leaving on vacation so anything I pick up now would need to be fairly low-commitment, not sure what to play now really. Might play the Broken Sword remake now that it's on GoG.

I accidentally started one with that guy holed up in Goodsprings. Couldn't even get the game to progress since I completely skipped the rules, so I tabbed out and force-terminated the game.

One thing that does irritate me about graphical advancement is that it's in some way retrograde - fridges are quieter, more spacious and more power efficient. Video cards are louder, bulkier and more planet-warming. So yes, while we do have technological advancement, I'd classify it as a relatively immature one where only one factor really matters. So yes, we now have painstakingly modelled, high-polygon, tesselated breasts; but at the same time our ears are assaulted by the incessant hum and rattle of modern "coolers," require investment in bigger, bulkier, more heavily ventilated enclosures, require air-conditioning in summer, and draw as much power as the rest of the house combined. Now, granted it's only been 15 years since 3D acceleration was born, but I hope the next 15 years bring a wholly more balanced set of advancements.

I see a Y and a C, but where are the M and the A?

ME without pausing to use skills would be Virtua Cop no?

To be fair, the next decade starts in about 3 weeks.

I didn't mind it so much, except for the random Kings guy who runs up to you to give you a worthless food item now and then. The randomly respawning thugs are a bit irritating too I guess, they die before I notice them but the slow-mo effect from combat mode popping up as a result is distracting (I know, I should turn it off). I can see the loading time issue, but a pleasant surprise is how quickly stuff loads even installed on my 5400rpm spindle drive. (Too lazy to split Steam directory) No idea about console load times though - do they play nice with aftermarket SSD installations? That said, I could see the content-thin west and north sides cut and moved into Freeside to take up the sprawling empty blocks.

Dunno, I haven't seen a decent fishtank screensaver for consoles yet.

I'm largely apolitical and drink decaf cola only. I guess there's probably a connection there.

No graphics card in the world can run Battlecruiser 3000AD well.

Look genetic.

Americanized is an Americanised version of Americanised.

Darklands please!

Baba Yetu nominated for a Grammy - or indeed two of them. About 4 years late but still. http://www.grammy.com/nominees (Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s), Best Classical Crossover Album) via CivFanatics.

Agreed. On one hand I'm interested in how Bioware does this and if they can do something fresh and interesting, but on the other I'm dreading the whole Disney stuff. But then, I remember a DA trailer where the party banter looked completely like something from a 90's Disney movie, and it wasn't the case... I wouldn't mind an RPG framed as a musical. Not hard, just take mundane dialogue and sing the lines. I'm thinking the start of Beauty and the Beast. EDIT: Heck, the brother character would be a good Gaston, chin and all.

After some years of umming and ahhing, finally banned effective this year. Previously they were legal for three days a year, that being the Queen's Birthday long weekend. Stalls used to pop up in shopping centres selling them, was a weird sort of business. I believe they're still legal in the Northern Territory.

My only complaint with the base game was the enemy spawn (or lack thereof) on reloading issue. Fixed?

I don't mind melee in isometric games but monsters are gross and icky and I don't like to be near them. That and I'm too lazy to run up to them. Most fights I fire of a couple token potshots and let the given human companion do the bulk of it. That said, anyone used throwing spears to any real extent?

I vaguely recall being told that it was illegal to buy and/or import RC games, but it was legal to own them. Ah, the law at work.

Don't underestimate the electoral power of the chai-latte sipping crowd.

Finally got around to picking up the um.... 34th anniversary re-release of David Bowie's Station to Station. I probably haven't given the album the credit it deserves in the past, having felt it overshadowed by the Berlin trilogy. Much better than the crappy Young Americans re-release a few years back certainly. Anyway, listening to the bonus CDs - 2 discs from a bootleg a performance at Nassau in '76. Charmed all over again by the Thin White Duke.

Thiaf? What the FLAMFLAMFLAMFLAM is Thiaf? It almost, but not quite, reaches the heady heights of stupidity that is '5ive.'