The next Final Fantasy Tactics game will be...a "social" iOS app that's free to play with significant IAP

Goddammitsomuch Squeenix   

[Tomb Raider]

Probably not much gaming time this weekend, but what little I have will likely be spent with Tomb Raider.

Robot Unicorn Attack 2 is awesome.  Fabulous, some might say. 

The Year is 1992,I am 16 years old,the Scene is Greece it is hot as hell,i have already had Sunstroke twice in one week and had scabs all over my legs and back, but whatever,i am still enjoying myself(apart from the puking and shivering).

In the middle of the Mediterranean Sea I am Parasailing and i am enjoying it,however when it's time to end,the man in the speedboat turns off his engine and i fall quite a height into the water(we are well out to sea)and as i plunged pretty deep into the water,i opened my eyes and saw endless blue all around me,front of me,below me,behind me....It scared the living bejesus out of me,I can't explain the anxiety i got at that point,perhaps i was thinking how many monsters could fit all around me,i don't know,but it had a big impact on me.

I always cringe when i see deep underwater ocean blue of nothingness on TV,yeah Jaws has some good examples(maybe that's just the 50ft shark though),The Abyss also but if anybody has seen Master And Commander,that guy who committed suicide by jumping overboard with the cannonball...yup,that made me cringe as you saw him fall underwater.

so I am not even sure what it would be called,just the fear of the open underwater blue sea..not a fear of water as i am fine at the swimming baths,and i am a good swimmer..its just that endless blue


That and Spiders

I had nearly this exact same experience when we went parasailing in Hawaii a couple years ago.  My wife had to pretty much talk me out of a panic attack when we landed in the water.

+1 on the spiders as well.  Mrs Gratch has to kill them in our house.

I just finished Season 8 of Red Dwarf and started on the "season 9" mini-series called "Back To Earth".

While i loved the regular show, this continuation is some of the most painfully unfunny TV I've ever watched.  What a horrible way to go out.

[floored]

I have never been a fan of the Tomb Raider games.  Partly because I thought Lara Croft is such a ridiculous character, and partly because that style of gameplay never really appealed to me.  I also haven't been a fan of the Uncharted series, mainly because I was absolutely god-awful any time I had to try and shoot anything.  So for some bizarre reason, I picked up the new TR game this afternoon and gave it a shot.

90 minutes in, and I'm absolutely floored by this game.  Interesting characters, absolutely incredible graphics (playing on PS3), fluid gameplay (even if I still can't shoot for shit), unique puzzles, and a fantastic story.  The first 30-45 minutes were about as intense a gaming experience as I've ever had. 

My only gripe so far is:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Seeing Lara's horrified reaction to killing someone for the first time was incredibly well done.  30 seconds later, she's mowing people down by the bucketloads.  Seemed a bit silly, but I get why they had to do it.

Other than that minor nitpick, I'm totally gobsmacked at how much I'm enjoying this.  Talk about something out of left field...hope it holds up throughout.

Gratch got me back into Anno 2070, so I've been tooling around on a sandboxy map to explore the newer stuff introduced in the Deep Ocean expansion pack.  Several of my islands have the elevated lakes necessary to build hydoelectric dams, so researching those blueprints has been my most recent goal

I really need to give this another shot and see if I can figure it out.  Got stuck very early on (one of my facilities wasn't connecting to the grid and I couldn't figure out why) and was so frustrated I didn't go back. 

Tell me where to throw some money and I'll throw some money.  While I appreciate what you guys are doing on the front page and still wander there occasionally (mainly when something of interest pops up in my FB feed), I don't really worry much about keeping up with gaming news anymore.  I'm mostly just here for the community, and will do whatever I can to keep that going.

[everything]

Oh FFS, do we need to remake everything?  (yes, i realize there were a bunch of awful Crow sequels.)  Apparently there is not a single creative thought in Hollywood anymore.  

Nothing against Hiddleston (who I think is a decent actor), but he seems completely wrong for that role.  

I'm an idiot...totally forgot about updating the app.  

EDIT:  I must have played Bride of Pin-Bot a hundred times, and tonight is the first time I've ever hit the billion point shot.  That makes 3 for 3 on huge high score jumps tonight.   

[ton]

Neither of the new tables are showing up for me.  Strange.

I've been playing a ton of Zen Pinball over the last month (mainly the Epic Quest table).  I'm not a big Marvel fan, but their tables are all pretty fun and unique.  I'm finally starting to figure out the Bobs Fett table, which has baffled me for since release.

Switched back to Pinball Arcade today for a change of pace and was amazed at the difference in ball physics.  It was quite difficult to make the switch back.  Oddly, I beat my previous high score on two tables:  by 20 million on Monster Bash and nearly double (80mil) on Medieval Madness.  I had the final castle down to only one more hit on the gate to open it when I center drained.   

Guess it was just a good pinball day.  

[SWTOR]

Some SWTOR on PC and Final Fantasy V on the iPad.  For some reason there's something strangely satisfying about an overly grindy JRPG right now.

New Black Sabbath is kinda meh.  God is Dead?

Harrison Ford's bit on Jimmy Kimmel Live was hilarious.

My little league experience in a nutshell.

[Final Fantasy V]

I picked up Final Fantasy V on iOS.  It's a very, very well done port and a pretty intriguing game.  I can now (finally) say I've played every main entry in the FF series.   

3 closed and one open beta, from what I've heard.  2-3 weekends for each one.

This weekend's beta event (2nd part of phase two) is active as of this morning.

OOh,second part of Phase 2,cool i hear Phase three is the PS3 beta

I wonder if it will be cross platform for the beta,the FF11 beta for the 360 was just for the 360,until the full game came out and then we transferred to other servers with PS2 and PC players

Third part of phase 2 is this coming weekend   I was really hoping for phase 3.

Same here.  Not looking forward to character wipes...hope I don't burn out on this before it's even released. 

In case anybody is curious, the iOS port of Final Fantasy V is fantastic.  This was the one entry in the series that I'd never played...had to give it a shot. 

[Sacred Citadel]

Keeping an eye on reviews for Sacred Citadel (looks like it could be a fun 'Golden Axe'ish side scroller) and God Mode (potentially the next Painkiller or Bulletstorm).

[SWTOR]

Spent all weekend back in SWTOR...having a blast with my Imperial Sniper.

Quite a few rounds of Nimble Quest on iPad as well.  Finally got all the skills maxed out, which is helping my survivability immensely.

I've only played one Atelier game (Atelier Annie), and don't remember it being overly skeezy.  Maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention, but I thought it was a pretty solid JRPG.

I only posted because I assume he has already traded it in at this point and was hoping to offer some explanation for lack of interest.  Gratch, if you haven't traded it back and want me to delete my post I'm happy too.  As for my statement, I buy most new games from Greemangaming, which almost always offers 20% off on new releases and preorders.  Check out this thread if you don’t believe me.

Console titles tend to hold their prices slightly better but I have seen BSI for $15 off already.

On PC, sure...you could get a better discount.  On console, finding it for $45 would probably be a stretch.

Gamestop will give me $39 ($30 + 30% increase if I use it towards another game), which is pretty close to what I was asking and I don't have to pay to ship anything.  I thought that maybe the inclusion of the original + one other game might be an incentive around here...guess not.  I've still got it (haven't dragged myself away from the PC yet today) if anyone's interested in a last minute deal.

I might also be willing to swap it for either the new Tomb Raider or new God of War.

For some reason, I decided to give SWTOR a look this weekend.  I know it's cool to hate on, but I'll be damned if the story elements aren't the most compelling (by far) in the MMO genre.  As someone who plays almost entirely solo and couldn't give a rip about end-game, high level, grouped content, SWTOR is still pretty fun.  Started up an Imperial Agent, and it's been pretty awesome.  I'm also playing a stealthy ranged character for the first time ever (I'm typically a sword & board melee), so maybe it's just the change of pace that's appealing.  Regardless, I'm strongly considering subbing for a month or two to get around the F2P restrictions.

I'll agree, however, that I wish we could have just had a single player Star Wars KOTOR RPG.  

No one?  Damn, you guys are brutal.

Going back to Gamestop tomorrow if no one claims it.

Just to comment on a few things here. I have 5 games on cart, 10 dl games, and 3 psp games on this 32gb stick. I still have 16 gb free! I don't like the pricing on the memory sticks at all, but this 32gb really has lasted.
So off to try gaulamelee!!!

I just downloaded Atelier Totori, which is a wonderful addition to the stable of games if you like carefree JRPGs with a heavy emphasis on alchemy. But I was stunned that the game is almost 3GB. Of course, it IS one of the the best looking title on the system.

For me in the PS Store, this shows as "disk only". And it looks like it's the 3rd of three games. Should someone new to the series start with the first one or does it matter?   Oh - there's a "plus" version for the Vita, I see. How different is it from the PS3 version?  Need to go investigate, it would seem.

According to the IGN review, it's a straight-up port of the PS3 game. 

I have purchased both seasons on BluRay.  But I wouldn't hesitate to watch season 3 episodes obtained off the back of a truck or otherwise.

HBO offers their Go service in other countries without requiring a cable subscription.  When they offer it here, I will sign up for it to give them my money.  But I am not going to sign up for basic cable and HBO both to view the episodes.  I don't feel that twelve episodes of viewing is worth $150-200 to view them.

Pretty much this.  GoT is the only thing that I'm interested in that I can't currently watch through one legal format or another.

[Spoiler]

I think she's smokin', and this might be one of the sexiest pictures I've ever seen.  Ever.

Probably NSFW, so I'll spoiler

Spoiler for Hiden:

Just to comment on a few things here. I have 5 games on cart, 10 dl games, and 3 psp games on this 32gb stick. I still have 16 gb free! I don't like the pricing on the memory sticks at all, but this 32gb really has lasted.
So off to try gaulamelee!!!

I just downloaded Atelier Totori, which is a wonderful addition to the stable of games if you like carefree JRPGs with a heavy emphasis on alchemy. But I was stunned that the game is almost 3GB. Of course, it IS one of the the best looking title on the system.

Dammit Dante, my wallet didn't need to hear about that one!

[FF XIV]

FF XIV beta, maybe some Settlers 7 or Anno 2070

In what may be the stupidest article ever written, Explosion.com looks at why Bioshock Infinite is a sexist game

Beware, the level of derp goes to 11 on this one.

Of course, you're completely rewarding their stupidity by linking to them, generating revenue for them and encouraging them to be stupid in the future.

The derp amused me, and copy/pasting wouldn't be any more appropriate.

In what may be the stupidest article ever written, Explosion.com looks at why Bioshock Infinite is a sexist game

Beware, the level of derp goes to 11 on this one.

That was a crappy joke CK

Absolutely without question:

+1.  I cannot see this without cracking up.

Whelp, that answers my "should I give it another look" question.

When is this coming out?

Release date hasn't been set yet, afaik.

You're welcome.  In Vitro and other fertilization treatments are things that can be critically impacted in abortion legislation, but are rarely discussed because they are utilized by such a small percentage of the population (mainly due to the rather ridiculous cost involved).

It's something that, for obvious reasons, I have some pretty strong feelings about.

Can't go into any specifics (yet), but I will say that the new FF XIV is vastly improved over the original.  I'm having an absolute blast with it.

I wish I were kidding.

In an email exchange obtained by the Raleigh newspaper, Presnell was asked by a constituent if she would support an Islamic prayer being said before a state legislative meeting.

"No, I do not condone terrorism," Presnell responded, according to the report. "We just need to start taking a stand on our religious freedom or it will be whisked away from us."

I think the headline on Fark said it best this morning:

North Carolina: "We must lift the ban on religion in public places"
Constituent: "So then would you support Islamic prayers being said before meetings?"
Legislator: "Of course not, that would be terrorism" 

Freedom of religion...as long as it's Christian. 

Side note:  I'm really looking forward to seeing all the different sects of Christianity battle it out for the title of "state religion" in North Carolina.  Do they start with a bracket of 64, or do they just settle things cagematch style?