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The Fallout 2 Soundtrack

The first half hour has left me markedly unimpressed. Pressing on...

The official word was that SC:G was cancelled because it "didn't meet the standards" of the company's output. Whether SC:G and Warcraft Adventures (or whatever it was called) were cancelled because the fans didn't want them or simpy because Blizzard had ventured too far out of its RTS/hack and slash comfort zone is unclear.

Actually it makes a lot of sense. If you think of the sort of environments, weapons, gameplay etc that a CIA game would involve, it is the sort of thing that is best suited for consoles. It is also likely that it will have real time combat (or a system similar to KOTOR) and either 1st or 3rd person perspective. How do you infer?

I was under the impression that Fergie explicitly stated that Obsidian was an RPG developer. With the exception of maybe a point-and-click adventure, I can't see myself getting excited about any other style of game that Obsidian could turn out that would revolve around the CIA. I'm burned out on FPSes and action games, and those are the only other options that spring to mind.

A reality-based RPG? eh... I've always preferred my RPGs to be rooted in the pulp genres - horror, fantasy and sci-fi. If it's happening, I can't imagine it being anything other than a deeper version of Splinter Cell: Double Agent (not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just less than what I would expect from Obs), although I have to admit that a high-concept RPG indebted to the likes of Breach or John Le Carre would be mighty intriguing, if not half as potentially lucrative as Planescape:Torment. We need a spy thriller that isn't totally linear.

Going through NWN2, again, in anticipation of MotB. It took me 2 weeks to get through the beginning of the game (from West Harbor to Neverwinter) because playing the game for longer than 10 minutes at any one time found me crushed by boredom. Now that I'm through the beginning it's picking up, however. I'm going through as a very tall Tiefling Weapon Master, since they're well suited to the class anyway.

Shymalamalanahanalan isn't that bad at climaxes, it's just that after Sixth Sense he's painted himself into a corner by teaching audiences to anticipate his twists. The problem with Lady in the Water was the rampant egotism of it all.

Damned frat boys, bleeding on my car.

Tricky tricky of Microsoft to put a gag order on reviews till today. 2 days between review and release ensures that the deafening hype will overtake any bad press that might accrue. Not that there's any bad press, but SW:EIII was a steaming piece of **** and critics were more than willing to cuddle with it on account of its being the last of a legendary series.

Buck 65 Also, New song

I'm gonna rise up I'm gonna kick a little ass Gonna kick some ass in the USA Gonna climb a mountain Gonna sew a flag, Gonna fly on an Eagle I'm gonna kick some butt I'm gonna drive a big truck I'm gonna rule this world Gonna kick some ass Gonna rise up Kick a little ass ROCK, FLAG AND EAGLE!

Unnecessary.

The ending has been leaked, or so they say (Microsoft's aggressive attempts to quell its spread seem to point to authenticity) and from the looks of it it was just as maudlin and ham-fisted as the straight-out-of-Pearl Harbor commercials suggested. Audio's a little garbled, but there may or may not be another "give us more money" cliffhanger.

Right. So, there are these portals. And they open only at certain times. I would like to point out here that there was no semblance of timekeeping in NWN2 (a bit if you count the Keep's timeline.) so does this mean we will get a clock in MotB, and we have to wait around until a given time, ala TES games? Or is it a "only open at certain times" in the old "This door will not open until you kill the goblin king and explore the lava cave" sort of way?

Interesting, interesting. The spirit eating mechanic is an ingenious response to the ridiculous rest mechanics of NWN2. We'll just have to see if it comes out well in practice. I was intrigued by the new sense of time they'll apparently be adding.

I was under the impression that it was being made. There's a regional MMO being made, if I'm not mistaken. But an actual sequel to Shenmue 2 is highly unlikely.

BG3 / IWD3 / KOTOR3 Dead Rising 2 (there's really no reason why they're not making it now) V:TMB 2 or some analogue thereof.

harsh. I'll probably still buy it anyway though, just to try it out. It's not a bad game in the slightest, it's just not an RPG by any stretch of the imagination.

Co-op is boring, unless it's a Toejam & Earl game.

Not really. It was as meaningless as the "moral choice". Whereas in Deus Ex or even Diablo II modifying your character added to your list of abilities or enhanced your weak ones, in Bioshock you start out good at everything and get better, and nothing is permanent, so by the end you have no weaknesses at all. It's more like Oblivion than anything else. An all-powerful character is no more interesting than a supremely weak one. But, this hype, yes, it's stupid. But I've reason to believe that USA Today wasn't paid off, but rather, a staggeringly large contingent of console 'tards (as Yahtzee affectionately called them) actually believe this ****, and USA Today is only calling it as it sees it.

The whole Kanye "MTV is racist" meltdown netted some support from 50, who had already backtracked with his impeccable "well, I'm going to retire from solo work and production, but in my spare time I'll work on solo work and production." line of reasoning. So at this point the only people taking this seriously are the media and everyone who doesn't know who DJ Kool Herc is. Besides, I appreciate hip hop on a much deeper level than any of you. Holla.

Seth Green gets in on it. GW too.

Former fed chairman, perhaps the most respected and deferred to ever. His very word could dynamically change the face of the stock market. He totally did this many chicks last nite.

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