Raithe

Heh, one thing I did notice when you unlock the character creation side.. If you don't want to import your saves from DA:O, they actually provide several different optional "world histories" you can choose from (with notes highlighting the key differences) such as king / queen / joint rule, if the main character died killing the archdemon or not.. all of that. So that's a step up from ME2's "everything is renegade" style of automatic play. Of course, it's probably because it's just the demo (and a fan-mod unlocker for character creation) but I also noted when I ran through the "import save" that while it tells you all the key plot points of your save.. it identified half of them as wrong for my saves...

And takedowns will be different depending on whether you've stealthed up on someone, or are running into them face first... Throw in the context sensitive aspect of what the surroundings are like as well, and they might prove quite entertaining..

So far everything they've said when specifically mentioning melee is indeed either the lethal or non-lethal takedowns you can do with fists or blades from the augmentations. Also, every takedown you do uses up some "energy" from your bar. The first segment/bar of energy replenishes itself slowly, but any others require food and snacks eaten to restore bio-electric energy... Which apparently is part of making it very hard to be wildly melee, especially early in the game. There is the close-range stungun/taser prod thing though... I don't think there's been mention of whether it's a short range gun or a melee style weapon...

Paul Plenty of in-geek pop culture references littered throughout. A serious amount of in-jokes. Although I think most of the actual "alien" dialogue felt weak compared to the normal banter.

One of those nights where dreams leave you waking up in the wee small dark hours of the morn, with your fists clenched, grinding your teeth, and feeling like you want to attack something. Not the most conductive to a restful nights slumber.

Just for the geek humour.. from the writer of Schlock Mercenary...

There are many lines I could use in response to that.... However, I'll go with the "yes, in actual fact I'm a 300lb alsatian from canada who goes by the name 'mandy' on the weekends."

Yes, that's the author. He was also involved in writing Deus Ex Human Revolution.. so he has that inside track from that. It's not bad. It was worth the couple of pounds I spent on it. It's got that awkward timeline, since it's not totally a prequel and it spans a base of time. It starts up at x point and then near mid-point you have some references to the attack at Seraf Industries..and then runs along a bit more post-Seraf attack. There are characters who are connected to it, but you don't get any real detail on what happened. One weird thing, the couple of characters in the book who are also in on the attack on Seraf.. I could never quite decide if you were getting a bigger feel for them in the book (a fleshing out more as it were) then we will in the game, or that they were being kept a touch flat to not reveal things we'd find out about them in the game. Although it is more about a seperate line of the Illuminati's plans. Highlighting how they use lots of small manipulations to build groundswells in certain directions. Another point in it, technically this was around the date when the game was originally planned to be released... So I'm guessing the book was meant to be published at the same time.. rather then x months earlier. Edit: Heh, and James Swallow turned up on the Eidos forum thread about the book.. and when asked if he prefered orange or lime-aid.. passed the test with " I vant oh-range". And for the internet win..

That being said, I was thinking of picking up my own copies of the books for my personal library.. and good god the price. Although what really blows my mind is if I try picking them up from the shops here they're

Finished off reading Deus Ex: The Icarus Effect earlier.. Not bad actually, set just before the game, and runs into that 6 month period when Jensen's in recovery. Nicely adds to the surrounding world and has a few nods to the fans. Mostly bounces between the perspectives of two characters , one a secret service agent suspended for investigating the shooting that claimed her partner's life, and the other is a former special ops guy turned mercenary who gets recruited into an "off-the-books" black ops outfit. Even throws in a young Gunther Hermann and elaborates on how he ends up so heavily augmented... so a touch of fan-service there. Nothing about it really jumped out as potentially spoilery towards the game's story so far (at least nothing that made me go "curses! that's ruined the game for me by knowing that ahead of time."). So , more running parallel to those events with a few hints and nods towards it.

I take it you're obviously missing the "Commander Shephard" basis?

Trying to do a minor c# lesson / challenge involving triangles. (in between having to deal with various other tasks and chores completely unrelated to programming). Of course, even as I try to figure out what specific maths functionality there is in c#, I'm realising that my math skills are pretty dead and trying to remember how to actually use three given lengths to work out the angles and types of triangles..... The things you forget how to use....

Well I meant I'd enjoyed Freedom Fighters.. and Homefront looks like it's going to have certain similar styles in some way. But they've talked up about how you interact with civilians and other resistance members can have further consequences down the road.. So it's possible there might be a bit more c&c to Homefront then the simple ones of Freedom Fighters.

Your lack of awareness and attention to detail does not make them the evil mastermind though.. I always tend to cycle through the options whenever I install a game, just to see what's there... Not because I'm a paranoid sufferer of OCD. Honest.

I'm actually contemplating picking up Homefront in a couple of weeks... I mean, I enjoyed the old Freedom Fighters game, so it might be worth it.. and they have talked about how you can get different consequences in the game depending on the choices you mae and how you handle the resistance ... So I'm a tad curious how well that will play out.

.. Well to be fair to Bio.. there is that big shiny button under Options about "Not sharing gaming data with Bioware online"... so it's not as if its hidden away and they're concealing the fact..

He was quite good in the role of Lucifer back in the first Prophecy. Of course, that was a blink and you could miss it role .. especially when up against the intensity of Christopher Walken stealing scenes..

"mannly men. men in tights." Sorry, something about that just flashed that song through my head. Although if we're talking action starts of the 80's that impress - Dolph Lundgren, not just an action star but a Master's in Chemical Engineering and an IQ to match Einsteins (apparently). Although for the historical figure view.. Quin Shi Huang. Finely balanced on the impressive versus total bastard. Set about and achieved unification of China and established the foundations for two millenia of imperial rule.. On the one hand I loathe the guy for the book burnings he used and forced assimilation to unify the warring states... But on the other I can understand why he did it and how it worked. And you kind of have to admire the iron willed focus and complete bastardness to go through with it all.

I'm caught in that awkward "I want to play a game" yearning, but not actually in the mood to play any games. Which probably makes no real sense but.. heh, at the moment I guess it's just the sit and wait to see if any new games in the near future inspire actual game playing moods.

I actually managed to read through Dark Heresy, Deathwatch and Rogue Trader core books recently... Although I was expecting the character creation and advance to be a bit more like Warhammer Fantasy RP. I've got to say they do seem quite interesting, and both Deathwatch and Rogue Trader include some short comments on how you can combine the other games with them. All made so much easier by that combination of Calixis Sector, Koronus Expanse, and the Jericho-Maw Rift.

It was awesome except for the guy who played the lead. He sucked pretty hard. It was like they tried finding the person with the least charisma they could find. It did have a rather damned good soundtrack. Actually both the mini-series did.

And for something completely different... I just watched the final episode to Blake's 7. Something I'd missed up till now and woo, that caught me a bit by surprise. I mean, I knew the bad guys had won and it caused an outcry back then..but I hadn't realised just how extreme it was. How many tv series do you know that would end the series by killing off all but one of the heroes.. have a final shot of the lead figure being surrounded by the evil Federation troopers.. and then cut to the credits and have the sounds of several laser blasts ring out..... As they say, 1978 in America had Battlestar Galactica and Dirk Benedict.. 1978 in the UK had Blake's 7 and Paul Darrow.

Another preview.. and this from a game journalist who admits to never having sat down for a proper game of the original... IGN - Deus Ex:Human Revoltion - A Newcomer's Perspective

Hm, I finished off the Borderlands single-player campaign the other weekend.. but apart from the DA2 demo I just haven't been able to get in the mood to play anything. Which is kind of annoying since I've got a Fear 2 game to finish off at some point..that's been hanging for about a month. And I picked up a cheap copy of Dead Space some time ago I still haven't started.

And apparently my sister will be bringing home a new dog in a few weeks. A german shepherd puppy going by the name Mason... I did ask if she gets another cat will it be called "Dixie" but that went whistling over her head. Since there's already the typically brain-dead, over-enthusiastic spaniel called Katey, and the one-eyed persian cat by the name of Nelson loitering around the house.. I foresee some potentially tumultuous times ahead.