Monte Carlo

No co-op? That's a shame, but you two recommending it is good enough for me. Thanks.

Check this story out. KoL aren't my generation's anthemic icons, that would be probably U2. Who, although annoying, would never bail out of a gig because of some pigeon sh1te. Honestly, what is it with these young rock stars. I bet they went to their hotel afterwards and tried to throw a Nintendo DS out of the window, but it bounced off the double glazing.

Since I've got Steam it's been meh-tastic. I've discovered that my awesome, CERN quality gaming rig isn't remotely bothered by it running in the background and I'd sort of forgotten it was there. However, Torchlight is on there for peanuts. I fancy a Diablo-esque dungeon stomper, any ideas on whether it's worth the effort? Cheers MC

Company of Heroes main theme Plus the ideologically disturbing but stirring Panzer Theme Not the sort of stuff you'll listen to chilling out with a glass of Chablis to, but utterly compelling in-game.

^ Meshugger rolls a natural 20 for wacky place names and wins.

I couldn't give a toss personally about the retro-design of character models (FWIW I think the new Qunari look cool but seem to jar completely with the ultra-disciplined race portrayed in DA:O), but Dave Gaider's thin-skinned and uppity response to the faithful on the Bioware forae is instructive.

To sum up Greg's interview: 1. They don't listen to comments on the internet 2. Because it's thuggish 3. But Bioware's strength is that they are really, really open to criticism 4. Although they don't think there's anything useful in the comments section of their forum 5. But if you are a specially chosen Bio player you can make comments in their private NDA-protected forums 6. Did Greg mention that he's not really interested in player comments? 7. He says, "hey wait until you've played the game" i.e. after I've given him forty pounds. 8. The marketing for DA, with Marilyn Manson was a genius piece of awareness-heightening, not puerile and embarrassing. 9.

Thanks, but i already made my order. Interestingly, the other comps I researched were all broadly in the same price range give or take

Company of Heroes! I am now seriously good against the CPU but remain rubbish at all the pros / smurfs / cheats (er, rangers on the field in two minutes followed by Shermans another minute later? Ultra-precise arty because of some anti-fog of war hack? puh-leez. Happily this is rare but you do come across it). Am toying with the idea of another game of Dragon Age and am thinking of Far Cry 2 for my brand new Alienware gaming laptop mwuahahahahahaha!

What? V.O. alone costs an arm and a leg, DA:O for example has three or four of the replete with muzak for the utterly unerotic sex scenes, lots of talking / flirting, art assets for gifts to buy NPC affections, and so on. All of that could have instead been deployed into a Really Big Sword or a 10 x 10 room with an orc in it. And a pie. Cheers MC

You see? They're taking over with their over-scrutiny of everything. Please make games for guys in big blue boxes with GAME FOR GUYS written on it. Gaming is one of the last bastions of geeky masculinity and they are taking over. It will be choose-your-own-fortress-wallpaper and soppy romances and less +6 Hackmasters. :: sobs ::

MAN THIS I LOVE YOU EVEN THOUGH I HAVE NEVER MET YOU IN MY WHOLE LIFE AWESOME Yet again the awesomeness of the internet shows itself as a force for global good. Plus, the guy in red is obviously Daniel Day Lewis, this is the movie he badly doesn't want you to see.

:: sigh :: they are optional, our argument is that the time and resources that go into them could be better used doing something less made of epic fail.

I think we invented lasagne, just a sort of flour-and-water gruel version with bits of pork floating in it. To be honest, classic British cooking is pared-down Italian - simple seasonal food that relies on the provenance of the ingredients - i.e. game, roasted meat, cheese etc. Italian food is better because of the climate and Monica Bellucci.

There are three reasons I'm avoiding this one (1) the pre-defined character (2) the romances and (3) I liked Dragon Age. I wanted Dragon Age 2 to be like Dragon Age but better. This is completely different, it just leaves me cold. Although I will admit, as I previously posted, to being very interested in where Bio is taking this. That doesn't mean I particularly feel the need to play it.

Guard Dog I bet these women are in their thirties, right? Just play the demographics game to your advantage --- there's more single ones of them than there are single ones with your chromosome. Every single guy I know who should be married by now is taking some sort of revenge on womankind for the way they treated them in their twenties. The balance of power shifts at your age. I'd enjoy it while I could!

Apparently we also invented lasagne.

Pork pies, Pidesco. You can keep your rice-with-prawns-in and acorn fed pigs. Give me a pork pie, a piece of cheddar and a pint of Fuller's London Pride.

^ This is a Karmic consequence of supporting Ubisoft, I'm afraid.

No disrespect to the ladies, but occasionally men and women want different things from popular culture. There's stuff guys like and stuff women like, it's perfectly OK. The Sims is a chick's game. Company of Heroes isn't. It's the difference between catching My Best Friend's Wedding versus Ronin on the TV. But there's a tipping point. As an older, male gamer I have no interest in romances in CRPGs. Whatsoever. I find them puerile, embarrassing and tacky. As long as they are completely optional and are a marginal part of the game then I can deal with it. The tipping point as far as Bioware is concerned has now moved too far for me personally, I am now way out of what they perceive their audience base to be and the squeakiest wheels are getting the most oil. The Bio forums are just excruciating, emo-obsessed people wanting to cyber with anything and explore stuff that really belongs in another genre completely. I won't be buying this game, will be playing something with tanks in it, or maybe a sand-box RPG. Cheers MC

I suppose if you sleep half the day and eat at midnight then you've got the time to come up with... tapas?

Youth in Revolt Amusing teen comedy with a sort of Catcher in the Rye vibe going on. The protagonist's sinister French alter-ego Francois, a sort of low-rent Tyler Durden in slacks with a Gitane, is especially amusing.

They should be illegal, when I am Generalissimo it shall be one of my first decrees, we will send an Emissary to the Canadian government to ask them to do something about it lest we resort to armed conflict.

Prince Charles will become King Charles III, succession passes down via the eldest male. Elizabeth became Queen unexpectedly when her father (King George VI) died. With the change of monarch, EIIR (Elizabeth II Regina) becomes for Charles CIIIR, and the royal device changes on uniforms, letter boxes, mastheads and warrants. An expensive business, but luckily longevity is something the Windsors' are blessed with so it doesn't change that often. Cheers MC Edit: Although the postbox on my street is an ancient WW2-era specimen with GR for Georgeous Rex on it.

Care to give an example? I'm having trouble picturing a conversation between two people about weather that is longer than three sentences. Me to Mrs. Monte: "Is it raining where your office is?" Mrs. Monte: "No, but it looked like it might a minute ago." Me: "****ing Meterological office. Sack the lot of them." Mrs Monte: "What did the weather report say?" Me: "Slightly cloudy, twenty degrees, no rain. It's bucketing down here" (I work about six miles away from my wife) Mrs Monte: "I wonder what it's like down at my parents?" Me: "Raining. I bet it's ****ing raining, despite the weather report. They didn't get the weather wrong for D-Day and that was almost 70 years ago." Mrs Monte: "Calm down Monte, I think the sun's coming out over here..." Rinse and repeat