Serrano

Apparently Blacklist didn't sell as well as Ubisoft had predicted so there probably will be changes next time. I think Blacklist is the most enjoyable of the series though, even if it's not the same genre as SC of old (which were all excellent).

What was M about DA2? I don't remember anything that really stood out except perhaps for the serial killer plot-line.

Going by the quote and machine fetish it sort of looks like it's taking some inspiration from "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream".

I wish that they'd allowed for some really cool mechanical things to be done with Mars surface missions or flooding ships or bad weather or space ships/stations that get battle damage and start to vent atmosphere, lose power and/or gravity or suck things out through holes in the hull and other things like that. I totally get that that would take a huge amount of time and effort but it would have been nice.

It definitely doesn't take place after the original story, it's a bit like a Civ expansion in that it just makes the core game larger and more varied. I suppose there's a chance it could extend the original story beyond the original ending though?

When we start to have machines slack off for us you know the planet is doomed.

The impression I get from the articles is that aside from the alien missions which carry on as normal, you get a similar set of randomly generated and story missions against Exalt running parallel.That's no guarantee that the Exalt stuff will take long to beat but it sound like the point was to extend the campaign significantly.

Seriously, this pretty much looks like a brand new game. Throw in some harpoons and a cruise ship and we have a full sequel. I did read something about those effing jellyfish making a comeback. There's also supposed to be like 40 new maps, although I imagine some of that will be divvied up between the special missions and the multiplayer as well, but it;s not hard to imagine a ship of some kind being one of them.

http://youtu.be/OTiH3xZRBRU

Enemy Within to introduce new faction

I've been playing Duke Nukem Forever and it's DLC campaign It's much more fun than people ever gave it credit for, it's a good throwback to 90's shooters and has some fun weapons and creative encounters.

The Brock Samson?

Would it be worth trying to organize an Obsidian BG:EE campaign at some point? We could possibly have players switch in/out depending on the nights they're available, a bit like dead members being replaced on the "Let's Plays".

No word on the multiplayer matchmaking being fixed yet?

That was awesome

The Dead Scorpions vs Silent Sonatine, Round 3. Well, this was a good one. The game begins with Silent Sonatine winning the coin toss and choosing to receive the ball. The Scorpions field a new tactic and put three sacrificial skeleton linemen on the scrimmage line in order to have all four mummies be better able to relocate if needed. The Sonatine go with a strong line of offence with two receivers back-of-field to receive an opening long kick. The first kick-off event involves rocks being hurled at a Sonatine linewoman, spurred on by the newly recruited Khemri cheerleaders. Undeterred, the Amazons hit the ground running and open with a terrific long pass down the left side of the pitch while the majority of the team clobber the redshirts the Scorpions had chosen to guard the centre. Turn 1 and the Amazons have inflicted their first injury, though thankfully for the skeleton, the wound regenerates before he'd even even been carried off the pitch. An unfortunate Amazon is sent off in turn 2 by an unscrupulous referee who reneged on his bribe, causing the Sonatine to play a woman down for the rest the game. For the Scoprions turn 2 and 3 were dominated by the Tomb Guardians holding down the flanks but not quite managing to lay hands on the ball carrier, a wiley lineman dd however and managed to knock the ball free even if not a such a way as it could be recovered. Turn 4, a Sonatine thrower reclaims the ball and a second Khemri lineman is carried off on a stretcher, injuries regenerating as he goes. The Amazons begin to slowly make ground on the left side and the Scorpions begin to pull players from mid-field to reinforce the vulnerable area. On turn 5 the Sonantine ball carrier suddenly breaks to the right and suppored by two other players pushes into the middle. The Khemri try to react, a Guardian badly injuring one of the linewomen in order to free up some support from left side but a both down result means that the turn is wasted, bad news for the painfully slow undead team as Sonatine sprint forward with the ball on turn 6, made worse as the team's most experienced Blitz-Ra has his hip smashed permanently. With things looking increasingly dire, those Scorpions still able to move freely dash back towards their endzone hoping to cut off the Sonatine advance. A Guardian manages to get within a hair's breadth of the ball carrier but is unable to blitz. having to hope he can catch her as she tries to dodge past. Turn 7, another skeleton in midfield down but no permanent damage, a disastrous block by Sonatine defending the ball carrier gives the Khemri the opening they need to intercept. The Guardian blocks and down goes the carrier, a Throw-Ra standing alongside ready to pick it up the next turn. Unfortunately, the Amazons have the same idea and a Catcher deftly evades the Guardian's swings, swoops in, scoops up the ball and scores. Bugger. The second half opens with both teams two players down, each fielding a team of ten now as opposed to the usual eleven. The Khemri are in trouble, they do have the advantage of receiving the ball this time but they move so slowly that they basically have to advance at a steady pace or risk not being able to reach the end zone later when an opening presents itself. The Amazons only need to stall for time rather than take any risks. The Khemri now need to move out of their comfort zone, they need to move quickly. Bugger. The Scorpions decide to ignore the sides completely, five skeletons on the scrimmage line and four Tomb Guardian mummies spread out deep into their own half to support the Throw-Ra. The ball lands expectedly deep into their half but mercifully scatters near the Throw-Ra for an ideal pickup. The Guardians move in to form a protective barrier and the linemen, tired of being spectators in the sport take up a key strategic role since the team's creation and begin clearing the way for a Khemri march, one breaking off to the right to slow down any flanking opposition and another moving to help with the cage. Pickup failed. The Sonatines send one of their Mighty Blow blitzers paired with a catcher down the right side of the the field, herding the Khemri cage to the left. The rest the team to surround the Scorpion's linemen in the middle in a clear effort to overwhelm them. Turn 11 and the Khemri cage, still deep into it's own half begin to move forward, right along the edge of the pitch to limit the direction of attack. The Amazons try to take the centre in preparation to form a barrier but the remaining Blitz-Ra manages to withstand six seperate blocks. All remaining Sonatines drop what they were doing and begin to surround the cage moving along the left side of the pitch. Turn 12 and the Scorpions scurry up the pitch asap, the cage has made it to the middle, the central defenders are on their feet (minus one knock out) and the lineman who was defending the right flank is now circling around the back of the Sonatine's centre line waiting for either an opening or a chance to rejoin the cage. Sonatine take one last mash as the centre, knocking out the last Blitz-Ra and prepare to cut off the cage, diverting a linewoman or two to mark the remaining skeleton stragglers. Turn 13 and the cage proceeds 1/3rd of the way into the Sonatine's half but increasingly outnumbered and the noose around it's neck tightening, the free lineman who was assisting middle uses a blitz to knock down his mark and move up along with the cage, but is unable to assist with the mass of Amazons shadowing between them. The other straggler further back now tries to dodge his mark and catch up, predictably fails and frees up to more Amazons to move towards the cage. The Sonatine players begin to attack the cage in earnest now, one Guardian is surrounded and knocked down, another is pushed out of position, jostling a third right to the edge of the pitch ready to be sent over. The fourth Guardian is cut-off from the end zone and marked and the Throw-Ra carrying the ball will soon be easy pickings. Turn 14. "End of match imminent". Every Guardian is locked down, it will take two turns for the Throw-Ra to make it to the end zone and just one turn for the Sonatines to intercept. They have one play left but it's risky. If the Throw-Ra can get the ball to the lineman, it will also take the lineman two turns to reach the end zone, but, he will be able to move far enough away from all the Amazons that they will never be able to catch up to him in time. This is a pretty bad position for Khemri to be in though, safe passing requires agility and skills that none of my players have. First the Guardian has to deal with the thrower blocking the path, that almost fails and I've used my reroll before the attempting the hard part. The Throw-Ra runs through the gap, rolls a 5 and just manages to complete the hand-off, clawing back a draw on turn 15 and concluding an exciting match.

Anyone up for a match?

You have to pick it up with a Throw-Ra, they get a free reroll (due to 'sure hands', which also makes them immune to 'strip ball') on a failed pickup in addition to the team reroll. And although I often break this rule, it's probably wise to keep the second Throw-Ra nearby when moving the ball forward as well because I wouldn't trust the rest of the team to pick the ball up even over several turns. I think, haven't really tried this yet but I *think* Throw-Ra can be trusted to competently hand-off the ball as well because they have the 'pass' skill, but that may just apply to throws. And while Throw-Ra can throw the ball, I don't think any of the players start off with the agility or the skills needed to actually catch the ball so I've only tried that once and I think for Khemri it's more about moving the ball somewhere down-field in a hurry and picking it up later rather than a typical passing game (But still throw the ball at a player because I'm pretty sure the 'pass' skill only gives you the free reroll if you're throwing it at someone.

I had a rematch with Walsingham and the dice rolls were fudged in my favour again, I am starting to wonder if it's possible that this is a bug? Things went much like last time with my team slowly marching up field and Wals putting up a rolling defence during the first half, picking at my players. I managed to score a goal but not before Wals KO'd a mummy who would be out for the entire match. For the second half Wals was much more aggressive and after he broke through my line I was lucky enough to just about intercept the ball-carrier early in the second half and maneuver some attackers in such a way that I pushed the carrier off the pitch by pushing his cage into him at an angle that forced him over the edge. After that close call (very close, he was one turn away from being beyond the range of my defenders) I didn't want to take any chances so once I retrieved the ball I huddled everyone around it's carrier as close to centre field as I could get and spent what was left of the match re-enacting the battle from Zulu. The dice rolls were ridiculous the entire match though. Almost every block from both teams went my way. The entire match. Not exactly sporting as I'm not sure how a player is supposed to win when they're consistently rolling push or both down. Anyway that's the report. Despite the favourable handicap I do think my caging is getting better and I'm learning how to use the different player types more effectively. I'm pretty sure Wals and Melkathi are going to start building mummy killers now though and that's probably one of the nuances of Khemri, that four mummies make for a strong start but once teams start coming out with counter-skills like dauntless and mighty blow then I'm going to have to have to change my approach and I'm at a bit of a loss right now as to what else Khemri can do. I still haven't played Hurlshot either, he's also playing a very bashy undead team so that match-up will be interesting.

It's completely free and you can have 2 characters per server allowing you to access all 8 stories. I just doubt Volourn will want to invest the time it takes to complete a main storyline or get into the meat of the game if he isn't into MMO gameplay, I had a similar barrier with the game although I agree all the stories and companions were at least okay, with many being great. It's just sort of a shame that all 8 class stories and companion interaction were stripped down (Compared to the single player prequels) because storytelling isn't the central focus of an MMO, but of course there are plenty of good points too like the flashpoints and Ops which I absolutely loved.

Me too if you'd like a rematch.