Last year I got a decent price on a year card thinking I would like to get some MP gaming time in.   I not only didn't play any,  I've dropped so much of my Xbox gaming that if it wasn't for the backlog shelf, I would have already unplugged it.   I don't think I've played more than an hour so far this year.   My  PS3 has had more game time.

No, everyone, pay more attention to me!  What a bold, discerning maverick I am, forging against the tide of popular opinion to denigrate my betters!  Anyone can score a game against contemporary standards, but only the most cunning of auteurs can transform a game review into a sweeping commentary on industry marketing by holding the finished product up against the fantastical expectations dreamed up while gorging on pre-release spoilers for the last three years.  OVERHYPED ARGLE BARGLE!

Now get out of my way!  I'm off to participate in a panel discussion about the philosophical themes in Bioshock Infinite!  Obviously, every miserable failure of effective world-building and competent storytelling deserves a forty minute deconstruction of the inspirations drawn from Koyaanisqatsi.  I just hope there'll be a good opportunity to connect phrases like "reductive verisimilitude" and "vomit waffles" in conversation so I can underscore the intelligence of my critique without losing any street cred.  Someone stencil "Senior" onto the start of all my business cards!

Weapon upgrades?  Come again?  Durr, I though all the vending machines sold exactly the same thing so I just ignored them!  Even the ones with totally different color schemes and sounds.  Thank god my inability to comprehend basic gameplay elements has zero effect on my opinion or, apparently, my credibility!

Oh, what's this?  "Extremely High Voltage!"  Well, I don't need safety gloves, because I'm Homer Sim-

-Bzzzzzt

I'm confused. Sarcasm?

That or drunk.

AA,  where can one subscribe to your newsletter?

Finished the game tonight.   Ending was odd, as expected.   I really wish they had let you define the ending,  but I guess it fits with the theme.

Damn,  that last battle was a huge PITA though.

[Bioshock Infinite]

finally going to finish Bioshock Infinite on the PC, but not sure what will be next.

This for sure.   The spoilers are starting to come out on random BI threads on gaming sites.   

odd. I had just heard that he'd announced that his cancer had resurfaced. 

good bye Mr Ebert.  you will be missed.

my initial rage is balanced against LA's complete lack of quality titles in recent years.  also sad that one more developer of my teenage gaming years is gone.  

given the big D's shift away from anything Ep I-VI, I fully expected them to cancel 1313 once it came out that they were cancelling The Clone Wars series.  for those two, they earn a hearty  

whether they get the other finger raised permanently is dependent on where they take Ep VII-IX

both of my kids made it through without scarring at age 3 and 5. 


although the boy does dress in black and occasionally has burials for his action figures, but I'm sure that's unrelated.

That is a gorgeous spider, wow.

Get a room.

just you, the spider, and Kato

I maintain lab machines and servers for a recently released major software version for an unknown company here in the NW.  you could call it Macrohard Walls Orange.

my lawyer advised me not to answer this question.

your lawyer, or your hidden directive?  you know the one, the one ring 0 subroutine you haven't been able to hack. 

yeah, that stood out to me as well.  in one of the pics on TWD, they showed him with glasses on in that scene, and I was thrown off a bit. 

awesome.  looks like they were high when they wrote it.

although, you do realize what day this was posted, right?

apparently, our soldiers are always armed with hatchets, I guess. 

Twitter

Starting today, we are shifting to a two-tiered service: Everyone can use our basic service, Twttr, but you only get consonants. For five dollars a month, you can use our premium “Twitter” service which also includes vowels.

Google Nose

great, now tweets will make even less sense than before.

One thing that stood out to me which seems to be overlooked.  the group the Gov brings to the assault is mostly made up of reserves.  remember the bit a few episodes back where the recruited new soldiers from the group.  he had lost quite a number of his hardened soldiers to Merle's ambush and they also lost a few during the earlier assaults on the prison and Woodbury.  I have the feeling that the group he brought was mostly isolated behind their walls and had not seen direct conflict, and then against walkers only.  quite a different enemy when they are shambling outside your walls like a shooting gallery.  once the high of busting the front gates faded into a duller search and destroy mission, they were vulnerable. 

[Spoiler]

Spoiler for Hiden:

Bummed they didn't do more to make the prison into a death trap.   And by not taking out the Governor.   Shocked by the turn after the failed raid.   Was not expecting that.   Too bad Martinez was so stunned to do anything about it.   As soon as they pulled back to the door after Miltons attack,  I knew Andrea was a goner.   

Only six months to wait.

I always find it funny when I open something like a chocolate box and there's ammo or something else inside. You think they'd program it to avoid silly things like that

You're just not up on the future of chocolate ammunition.

What,  don't your cracker jack boxes come with a magazine where you live?

saw this.  good explanation.

a Game of F--ks

oddly enough though, not showing up this way for me. 

I'll agree with you BW.  the acting felt forced in that commercial. 

I also have a copy if anyone is interested.

Good.   That was one big annoyance of the game.

I would think players who used the system a lot liked it, and players who never used it (me, for example) either hated it or didn't care about it. Or is that oversimplifying? 

I think it's more that the mere presence of the AH alters the game.  In-game item drops just become junk commodities like gold.  You're never excited about an item, other than its worth, because you're likely just going to sell it and then buy whatever item you want on the AH.

It you never bothered,  you could get quite a way through Nightmare,  as I did.   Until I hit a wall and kept getting killed by specials,  and someone asked why I hadn't bought anything off the  AH.   that was when I learned how under equipped I was compared to my friends.

I always find it funny when I open something like a chocolate box and there's ammo or something else inside. You think they'd program it to avoid silly things like that

You're just not up on the future of chocolate ammunition.

What,  don't your cracker jack boxes come with a magazine where you live?

It's a smoke screen for the CDC's zombie survival plans.

I have to think that they know things are bad,  but not to what extent.  When they've lived their lives under a totalitarian government with a near complete block of the outside world,  they have no idea how bad it is there.

two games for MGS 5?  cue the angry ragers who got irked by star craft 2

That's hilarious Bullwinkle!

it's a screen cap from the commercial.

link

BioInf is what I would like to play most, but as we are going away for the weekend, it will be a random assortment of games on the Android.  checking out some of the recent Humble Android bundle games I picked up earlier. 

If I get more time at home this weekend, maybe dig a little deeper into NNK. 

I need to get back to this... got distracted by Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite.  

This is me, too, but Lego City is in the mix, also.

count me in the same boat as Mo..F..er.  Been playing it when the wife grabs the PC.  barely put a dent in it though as I didn't start up until much later.  first JRPG in a long time and first in even longer time that I have enjoyed.

loved them both, enough to double dip with the PC version after the last upgrade.  Interested now that RS is confirmed.  either AA or AC style is good for me. 

Saw this on CAG.

http://www.gamestop.com/browse?nav=16k-3-acfc3,28zu0,134f&utm_source=linkshare&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=deeplink&cid=afl_10000087&affID=77777&sourceID=lw9MynSeamY-HKIKPCzheIxu1gQGRW6DEg

do you want some more details on the PS4?


Yeah,you do!

First up, multiplayer gamers will be pleased to know that Sony will include a mono microphone/headset with every PS4,

The firm also said that a split/screen multiplayer game could use the PS4 Eye to identify where players are sat and move the windows around to be suit each player's location in front of the TV.

The DualShock 4's lightbar - the illuminated panel across the top of the controller - will assist player recognition by shining a different colour on each controller in use. The lightbar, Sony said, can also be used for in-game effects such as gun muzzle flash health bars.

Sony also confirmed during the presentation that it will raise the PSN friend limit on PS4, according to IGN. It didn't specify what the new limit will be, but currently the PS3 enforces a 100-friend limit.

It also promised that every PS4 will come with a "very large hard drive", but again held off confirming capacities.

THe PS4 will also charge the DualShock 4 (via a USB cable) even when on standby, unlike the PS3, which has to be fully switched on to provide power to drained controllers.

does it?



Ohhhh this one is interesting

IGN also reports that the DualShock 4 controller will come with an extension port on it - likely to provide the possibility for add-ons in future. It will also revert back to regular digital buttons, doing away with the pressure-sensitive buttons on the PS2 and PS3 controllers due to the fact that no one used them on PS3.

the only games I know to actually use the analog button presses was MGS.  other than that, I'd be hard pressed to name one other game.  Can't say that I would miss them though.

well, F me.  I loaded up today and get hit with the stuttering audio bug.  doesn't affect any other game, just this one.  as soon as the rendered vids play (audio is fine there btw), and get to the menu, i get cracking and popping.  I loaded up the game level and it was even worse.  I had no issue with this two days ago.  

looking online, I see barely anything on this and the few fixes I have run across haven't helped.  

okay.  found another fix which actually worked.  not sure why this is happening all of a sudden, but at least I can play now w/o issue. 

set the c:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\Common\BioShock Infinite\Binaries\Win32\BioShockInfinite.exe compatibility mode to Vista SP2. 

"'Ground Zeroes' is a prologue of MGSV," Kojima said. "9 years after that event will be 'The Phantom Pain.'" Metal Gear Solid 5 comprises these two parts, much like Metal Gear Solid 2 opened with the Tanker chapter, then moved onto the Plant portion starring Raiden.

that's pretty much what I expected they would do once they said
"Ground Zeroes and Phantom Pain put together is Metal Gear Solid 5"

two parts.  

now, what I'd like to know is this.  was the recent interview with the supposed producer cgi or real?

I like how he writes "and/or", as if being wrong about the specific order of those two would undermine his point. 

For future reference,  one way to make sure a dog release its grip on something is to stick your finger up its ass. Gross but effective. Or so I've heard... 

Pics or GTFO!

no pics or 

I have read reports that NK don't have enough food nor fuel for anything prolonged.

Couldn't they feed the army with the food stored in the president's cheeks? Ought to be at least a weeks worth in there.

Played about two hours so far.   They really draw out the intro, don't they? Graphics are maxed out and the game looks gorgeous.   Gameplay is exactly what you would expect, only brighter.   So far,  I've seen the usual progression of upgrades,  with one exception.   When you get the chance to buy a vigor early on,  I suggest doing so.   I have not come across it yet.   Otherwise it's the same types of things you'd see in either BS1 or 2.  Riding the sky rails is fun and is a great way to dispatch foes.   Felt a bit like Batman jumping back and forth

If there is one complaint,  it's that the game has been very linear.

[PS3:]

Another huge week for gaming it seems coming up. Let's take a look.

PS3:
Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel
BioShock Infinite
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14
Terraria (PSN)

PSV:

360:
Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel
BioShock Infinite
Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14
Terraria (XBLA)

WiiU:

3DS:
HarmoKnight

PC:
BioShock Infinite
Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin

Sunday (4/24) Releases:
Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity (3DS)

What are you buying this week?

BioInf is already preloaded and waiting for tomorrow night.   

Considering picking up Luigis Mansion as the reviews have been good.

  although I'm not waiting until 4/24