Tale

My subjective experience here conflicts with my objectivity. I've never touched the stuff, but my best friend for the first part of my life was a heavy user. And he has left me with no respectable image of those who do use it. The problem here is that I grew up, as a child, around people who were also children who used it. So them turning out bad might not be the entirety of the problem. If they'd been drinking heavily at 12, they'd probably be in the same situations. But it's left a long standing bias. My objectivity promotes legalization and regulation. But my bias is against the whole thing.

My copy is about two weeks away. I can never get Amazon's release day shipping anymore.

I'd love to vote for McCain. If he can get detached from the corpse that is Palin. And if he'll just bleeding stop flipping over to the extreme end of the GOP every time someone accuses him of not towing the line enough. Be who you are, man! But I simply can't trust him. He seems too willing to fall to peer pressure on any subject that's not torture related.

Finished Runaway 3. Much better than 2. Glad they returned to what was successful in the first game.

Tried out the El Shaddai demo. Tycho was right. That thing is insane.

For both the sake of those who haven't read the books and those who are DVR'ing episodes to watch later, please make liberal use of spoiler tags.

Invisible War has a lot of things going against it. The engine wasn't that great. It moved a lot of features over to console designs, such as how the inventory was handled. I know lots of people don't like the unified ammo system. But I suspect that the biggest thing against it was that it was trying to speculate on a post-singularity world. Deus Ex was just a few steps into the future, got the whole cyberpunk sans the net feel going on, but Invisible War was a lot less relateable in places. And the secret Templar society set up recruiting stations in public locations. Awkward. Anyway, I still liked it. A few people around the forum do as well. The common sentiment seems to be "it was a good game, but not a good Deus Ex."

I can't really speak to the AI. They revamped the AI between last time I played it and today. Besides, I could never figure out Diplomacy in IV either. Though, at least prior to the revamp, all Civs played to win. They wouldn't want to be your buddy in the long run because they knew they had to get rid of you. It's harder to pump culture for borders. It's possible, but not as easy in IV. I had no problem with unit movement. I absolutely adore the 1UT.

I'd recommend something exceptionally British.

I did not know that Homefront was built by the studio that grew out of Trauma Studios. They can't catch a break.

Your backlog is pitiful at the side of my own. I would wager a huge amount of money on it. Only because I actually finish some of my games. Otherwise my backlog would beat up your backlog and leave it crying in an alley.

I've heard of 35 arrests in two countries. Some people are getting away with it, surely, but not all of them. Those arrests are mostly talked about being linked to attacks on government sites. If they're some of the same individuals involved in the attacks on game publisher sites, I don't know.

I had a moment of weakness yesterday. I went ahead and purchased Drakensang: River of Time, the DLC/expansion, and pre-ordered Dungeon Siege 3, and Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012. All while Alice is set to release tomorrow. And I just went back to playing Runaway 3. Also two seasons of Babylon 5, but that's not a game. I know what you're thinking. "He only bought Duels for the hats!" Not true, the 2011 edition was tons of fun. I pre-ordered for the hats. I probably would have bought eventually. But this is why I have a backlog.

I didn't even know how to heal when I ran with Lucas. That's why I died so often.

I beat Runaway 2 and am onto Runaway 3. LA Noire is kind of running a little long for me, so I'm taking a break from it. 2 desks completed and it feels like more of the same. Though the final homicide case was exceptional, it gets right back into same old afterwards.

What I want to know is how it took 14 years to squeeze it out. It should have one of the longest and most impressive campaigns of all time. I recall it being said that it was a problem of constantly wanting to add stuff every time another new game came out. But I've not heard of anything from the final product that reflects that, such as portal guns and gravity panels.

Beat inFamous 2. It doesn't really do anything new from inFamous 1. Fewer missions that are terrible, however. I rather enjoyed it. Next I'll return to LA Noire. Alice comes out Tuesday and I'll be on both the first and second game for a few days. Eventually get back to inFamous 2 for an evil run.

The only words that exist as a suitable response to those videos would be filtered out.

inFamous 2. Haven't gotten any of the new powers yet, but am looking forward to it.

You most certainly do.

Saw Super 8 yesterday. My complaint is that the ticket cost me $15.50. It was a good movie. I don't think it'll be for everyone.

What I tend to find is that most of the time, complaints are a sign of a problem, but not specific to what the problem is. If someone dislikes a game, they generally won't understand why, so they'll reach for the obvious and public culprits. It's not what I think this type of game should be. It's dumbed down. Etc. The plot sucks. When the impacting factors are sometimes more subtle and less recognized. That is to say, when someone likes a game, they forgive the faults. When they dislike a game, they'll complain about any element of it, regardless of whether or not that's why they actually dislike it. This is the role critics are supposed to fill, by my understanding. People who actually know enough to point out these elements and understand how they contribute to the overall enjoyment of a particular game.

Pre-orders tend to be their homework. It's not an unfair way to gauge public interest. Which I think is the primary purpose all along.

I, abuse, commas, like, there's, no, tomorrow. I also vouch to boldly split infinitives at every available opportunity. Because that rule is made up.

Older gamers may not use as much of their buying power on games. Alternatively, Modern Warfare manages to sell well outside of its target.