Darth Drabek

Tricky - Black Steel Pretty cool re-imagining of Public Enemy's "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos." The music's great, but I kind of wish they did all the verses from the original.

Same. My first guess was pornstar-- really, look at that name! Well, I do remember some stories about the fact that.. uhm.. he was well-endowed... but no, that wasn't his profession. He was a damn' good artist, and that's coming from someone who's never been a fan of Type O Negative. R.I.P. Pete, the musical scene will miss you very much. I'm pretty sure he actually posed for Playgirl. And all the goth girls swooned. The thing that really separated Type O Negative from all the other doom n' gloom black metal bands out there was the sly wit and black humor of their lyrics. Listen to "Everyone I Love Is Dead" or "Unsuccessfully Coping with the Natural Beauty of Infidelity" for examples. If it weren't for that, I'd probably never have given them the time of day, as I'm not a huge fan of the genre. Oh, and their cover of "Cinnamon Girl" was pretty righteous.

Here's a song I've been listening to a lot lately. The band is from America's Hat and they got Michael Cera to star in their video, so they must be cool! Islands -

Price: 160 BioWare Points. Jack: Can't see ****, Commander! Jeeeeesus, you have to be kidding me. They should have put the duct tape over her mouth instead, amirite? /actually thought Jack was a decent character Oh, and it looks like Garrus finally got that armor patched up.

My two cents: In open-world games that allow you to go anywhere right away, scaling is bad news. If the game allows me to storm the Big Bad's castle at level 2, that's fine. My little adventuring party should get totally eviscerated, though, to let us know just how much better we're going to have to get to succeed. Most games circumvent this by giving the player a not-so-subtle push toward quests/assignments more suited for their level, i.e. "Oh no, my basement! There are rats everywhere!" Would you rather have a system in which if you skipped that particular quest and came back at level 20, and those rats were able to give you a hell of a fight? That does not make sense! In a more linear game, however, when the designers have more control over the types of enemies the player faces and when they face them, scaling can make for more balanced gameplay. I'm cool with that.

Seconded. "Would you be an outlaw for my love?"

How can someone with a cowboy avatar not be looking forward to Red Dead Redemption!? Heh, I missed the first one. But I remember thinking it looked intriguing. I don't have as much time or money for gaming these days, so I keep my focus narrow.

Mass Effect 3. And that's it, really. Although I'm tempted to buy the fancy new Xbox Live versions of the Monkey Island games.

That does sound fantastic. I love me some N.O. jazz. Ryan Adams - Cannonball Days

Nice work GD, but I think you swung and missed on one division. The Mariners are going to win the AL West this year. The moves they've made are in perfect accord with post-steroid era baseball's emphasis on pitching and defense. They won't score a ton of runs, but they will win a bunch of games.

Sentinel is fun. That was the class I chose for my first playthrough, as I was concerned about staying alive but wanted more flexibility than a soldier provides. The sentinel's tech armor really helps a lot with the "staying alive" part. I'll bet it's better than the protection-type of bonus powers (barrier, fortification, geth shield). It has an unlimited time duration, so if you make good use of cover you can actually activate it once and have it last the entire mission. Even if you play more aggressively, the armor always lasts longer than its cooldown, so you can generally reactivate it as soon as it's breached. It also creates a nice explosion around you when it goes down, which makes kamikaze rushing a horde of husks a feasible strategy. I'm on my second time through now, playing an adept. Adepts may have a tough time with enemies sporting multiple layers of protection, but NOBODY wipes out a room of peons with more style. Those singularity+warp combos you keep hearing about? They really are all that and a bag of chips.

And in DLC news: Kasumi's coming on April 6 Hey, a new SMG comes with the DLC? Groovy! Free for Cerberus Network members is the optimal price, of course. I don't think that's gonna happen this time though...

Tom Waits - Shore Leave

Pointless arguments are fun and all, but this thread is supposed to be about MASS EFFECT!

Not this. The codes might have a "best before" date, though. I think my preorder items card had one by the end of this year, or something like that. Can't remember what it was like for the DAO stuff, and as my home computer is currently borked, I won't be the one to check, either Yes. The point isn't to encourage early purchases-- it's a direct attack on that giant shelf full of "used games" at your local game shop. People who buy retail (thus giving Bio & EA their cut) get the DLC for free. People who buy second-hand (with no royalties to EA/Bio) have to lay out $15 if they want it (which is a decent approximation of the markdown between new and used games). Thanks HK, Nepenthe and Enoch. That's what I thought, just wanted to make sure I wouldn't get screwed if I don't make it to the store Tuesday. For the record, I like the incentive. Knowing that the DLC would cost an extra $15 means you would have to wait until the used copies are selling for $45 to break even. That value-add should be enough to entice some people to buy new instead of used.

I have a question regarding this "free day one DLC." If this Cerberus card is in every copy of a new ME2 game, then anyone who buys a new copy of the game will be able to type their code in and download the DLC for free -- regardless of whether it's "day one" or sometime in February. Is that correct? The phrasing led me to wonder if the DLC was only free on "day one" -- for first-day purchasers.

I think Jade Empire gets a bad rap. Usually even the detractors agree that the art design was great -- many of the game's areas were stunning. I thought the combat was fun, too. It can get repetitive, sure, but that's when you try using some finesse and busting out some of those harmonic combos. I don't have any issues with the story, but the NPCs weren't exactly the most original lot I've ever adventured with, that's for sure. The Mysterious Loner, the Ingenue, the Femme Fatale, and a motley crew of Comic Relievers all join you on your quest. Some of the "closed fist" choices scattered throughout the game make you feel like a truly terrible person. Much more than other Bio games, in my opinion. Still, it's worth the guilt just to see Dawn Star's transformation from wishy-washy boring good girl to a much more interesting NPC.

I hear ya; I really do. But that isn't the kind of game BioWare is trying to make. You're talking about indie films; they're talking about blockbusters. They're different, sure, but it's OK to like both. ... Regarding Enoch's proposed "everyone sacrificed for the greater good" ending: I know the developers have said it's a possibility, but I can't see how they would implement it. Who becomes the PC if Shepard dies? Conrad Verner? If you import a game in which Shep sacrifices himself -- which I think should be an option -- that character should be gone. And I don't think Bio will do that.

Shadows of Amn is most certainly not about saving the world, at best you save an elven village(plus your soul) and even in Throne of Bhaal the world is hardly at stake. The whole super awesome main character thing is such a cliche, especially when you don't grow into it, but start out as such. I'd like my post-postmodern heroes, especially in sci-fi, to resemble actual relatable characters not some superhero caricatures. I addressed two specific issues in one paragraph there and conflated some things that didn't belong together. Let me clarify: 1) The "Epic" feel. What is it? It's it! Hard to define, but it isn't completely story-dependent. Shepard is a better-than-average human military officer who saves the galaxy. Epic, sure. SoA and ToB PC started out as a nobody but can actually become a god with crazy god-powers. Also epic, regardless of story. 2) The "save the world" plot. Obviously, I didn't intend to use SoA and ToB as examples of this. Hell, you spend most of SoA searching for a girl the greater world wouldn't miss. Sure, the "save the world" plot is cliche (especially the "ancient evil returns to kill us all!" element), but it's a space opera for crying out loud! Saving the galaxy is what you do in space operas!

These are quite enjoyable. I'm finding that I prefer her acoustic-only material, however. Before I found those links, I was listening to Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding by Elton John.

Mass Effect delivers exactly what I want from a video game. I loved the first one despite its flaws. I've been trying not to get too excited about the sequel, but that launch trailer... wow. I don't understand why people rip on ME for being so unabashedly epic, yet speak in hushed reverential tones of the fabled Baldur's Gate series. Look, I loved those games too, but SoA and ToB pretty much define the term "epic adventure." If you're sick of saving the world/galaxy, go play Shenmue and move pallets with a forklift for three hours. Another baseless criticism leveled at ME is the series' infatuation with EXTREME behavior. Why exactly is it so shameful for an RPG to allow your PC to role-play John McClane? Video games are escapism. I'm not going to push someone out of a window in real life, so I appreciate BioWare giving us the opportunity to role-play a protagonist who doesn't play by society's rules, maaaan. And does anybody really want a mild-mannered Commander Shepard? Anyway, I'm looking forward to grabbing some collars next week. Say goodnight, Manuel.

I just finished Brutal Legend's main story arc last night and thought I'd leave a few impressions for anyone on the fence about possibly purchasing this game. First, the setting, story, art, voice acting, humor, and reverence to heavy metal lore are all fantastic. There are many, many in-jokes referencing classic metal songs, albums or artists. I won't spoil any of them here, but it's accurate to say that current or lapsed metalheads will enjoy Brutal Legend more than those with no familiarity with the genre. Now let's get to some of the popular complaints. I've seen plenty of internet denizens and professional reviewers alike express this particular sentiment: "Wait, now it's an RTS game? That's not what I expected, therefore I must RAGE!" That behavior is unnecessary. You're still in the thick of the battle, using your melee and guitar-based attacks. You just happen to be building an army and making some strategic decisions during the battle, as well as hackin' and slashin' everything in sight. Honestly, the RTS battles aren't that difficult anyway. The only RTS's I've played were the first few Warcraft games (at which I sucked mightily). If you can handle those, Brutal Legend's RTS battles will be a piece of cake. DO NOT avoid this game because you have some vendetta against real-time strategy games. Another complaint I've seen is that the sidequests are too repetitive. That's valid, but it's still not a reason to avoid the game. There are several templates (ambush, race, kill X number of Y, two types of tower defense quests) along with a few truly creative sidequests which I won't spoil. I didn't mind the developer using the same template several times because the dialogue wasn't always recycled, and the locations of the quests were often very different, which lessened the feeling of familiarity (as opposed to, say, Mass Effect's identical prefab bunkers). Take the time to explore the world they've created. You'll find loads of cool stuff that you'll miss if you just blow through the main missions. Plus it will make the game last longer, which you will probably want. For better or worse, Brutal Legend's main campaign is not a 40-hour epic. Lastly, talk to everybody -- especially the members of your army when they're just hanging around camp. Honestly, those little conversations had some of the funniest lines in the game, so don't miss them! That's my two cents. Two cents? More like a buck and a half!

Oh hells yeah. Cat Stevens - Hard Headed Woman