Only best picture nominee I haven't seen so far this year is The Social Network, and I plan on watching it before the telecast tonight. I can also say I honestly liked all of the films, which was a shocker since I didn't think there was any way in hell I'd enjoy "The Kids Are All Right."

I like both Natalie Portman and Christian Bale,but as i have not see either movie,so you think they overact as their Oscar nominated roles?

Portman - no, I don't think she overacted at all. I'm also not sure she deserves the best actress win, but she'll probably get it based partly on her body of work rather than just this film (see: Sandra Bullock).

Christian Bale definitely overacted, but the character he was portraying was seriously "out there" so it was believable. The biggest compliment I can give is that I forgot I was watching Christian Bale - he really became that character for me. What's more, I know a guy in real life that went through some of the same kind of troubles, and the similarities between their mannerisms, etc. was just spot-on.

The game is definitely growing on me. I was annoyed at the linear starter levels at first - enough so as to almost pass on the game entirely. But the week long beta gave me a chance to finally spread my wings a bit. The more things open up, the more I'm liking the game.

They definitely incorporated a lot of little things from previous MMOs that I really enjoy, and the rifts/invasions are a welcome break from the quest grind.

The only thing I'm still not completely sold on are the multiple souls. While diversity is nice and all, I've never been an alt-aholic and like focusing on a main. The number of options gets a bit overwhelming to me, and I don't feel as attached to my character as I do in most other MMOs. Maybe my view will change, but right now it seems like the game is catering to those "I want to be able to tank, heal, and cast spells" people, and I hate those kinds of players. Role-playing games are meant for you to play a ROLE. Not 50 roles.

Awesome!

Hepcat, if you ever want to "get" Radiohead, just go see them in concert one time. I was only a casual Radiohead fan when I went to see them and I was utterly blown away. In terms of pure raw musicianship/talent it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. Thom Yorke is a freaking amazing singer, and to see them pull off live on stage the kinds of sounds you hear on their albums was just mind-boggling.

Why does it have to be the action genre? If the guy wants to make movies again, more power to him.

Yeah, I've decided against it as well.

I like the graphics, I like the *idea* of the various souls, etc. even if I found it a bit overwhelming. I somewhat like the idea of rifts but I'm skeptical about how long it will take for that novelty to wear off.

Ultimately, however, the game felt to me like a mediocre MMO with a couple of good ideas slapped on top of it. If the game comes out and critics/players are bowled over about how great it is maybe I'll give it a second chance. For me personally, though, it has the feel of an MMO I'd have fun with for a couple of weeks then drop before my free month was out.

For the beta veterans in the crowd, can anyone comment on the size/linearity of the game world? Due to soul experimentation I haven't yet gotten out of the 1-10 newbie zones, but those are disappointingly linear and almost identical between factions. Does the world open up a lot more?

They're saying now it was just a hernia. Bring back the hookers and blow, boys, it was just a false alarm!

I think Carey Elwes would make a perfect wood elf.

Have you actually seen Cary Elwes lately? He took the Val Kilmer route and packed on some serious pounds.

God help me, this judging panel is starting to grow on me. I've always been one who delighted in Simon's nastiness, Paula's ditziness, and Randy's...dawginess. I couldn't help but think this carebear group of judges would be well nigh unwatchable. But every episode I find myself enjoying this kindler, gentler tone.

Randy hasn't changed much, but he seems to have fit smoothly into the role of "elder statesman" of the judging panel. No longer playing second fiddle to a couple of extreme personalities, he seems more comfortable, relaxed, and in control.

J-Lo is a bit of a pushover, but she's actually SANE and non-medicated. If she's a pushover, she's an honest pushover, and not one just because she sees rainbows and unicorns flying around the contestants' heads.

Steven Tyler. Yes, one can't help but think he is using the Idol stage as a spotlight. But when he judges (really judges, instead of just waiting to spring his latest quip), one detects something genuine going on in that egotistical little brain of his. He seems to care about these contestants and care about his role as a judge. I mean when he leaned down and whispered in that brain damaged girl's ears I damn near shed a tear.

Maybe I'm just becoming a softie in my old age, but I found myself smiling when I reached the end of last night's episode and realized about the harshest criticism was "Is this a joke?" It's not that they're letting through bad singers (though to be fair, some of the quality is probably below what would have been let through in past seasons). It's just that truly bad singers get met with a simple No No No, Thank you, Goodbye. I finished watching the show feeling good, not like some kind of sadistic monster. If that makes me crazy, then so be it. I'll take it.

Yeah, my first thought was "Uh oh - his liver is toast."

Hopefully it's an appendix or some bad Chinese food.

There are quite a number of announced games due out this year, but unfortunately I found only a handful interesting. The good news, however, is that supposedly nearly ever major developer has at least one Kinect game in the works. I think publishers were holding off to see how well the Kinect sold before committing. That means you probably won't see a real flood of titles until late this year or 2012.

Yeah, the jury's still out for me. On the one hand I missed some of the snark - I thought the judges were FAR too lenient on some of the singers. They were letting through people that Simon would have had thrown out on their ass after the first note. So I'm a little skeptical of the level of talent we'll see, though I hope I'm proven wrong.

On the other hand, it was refreshing to see new judges and J-Lo is far superior to Ellen, Kara, and Paula. I think Steven Tyler is here for his ego more than the show, but he's fun to watch (favorite line of the evening: "hellfire and save the matches, fuck a duck and see what hatches").

Thanks CeeKay. Now I'll be able to get a few of the Kindle books I had a hankerin' for.

Yeah, I have serious doubts as to whether or not that slingshot really works well enough to sling a bird more than 7 or 8 inches. I think it's going to be like Mousetrap - looks awesome in the commercials, but in real life it's just a disappointing bunch of plastic that doesn't work right half the time.

The problem with MMOs is that it is impossible to please everyone, but that's exactly what you have to try to do in an MMO to keep people playing. It's a constant juggling act, and I don't envy developers even attempting to pull it off.

I've played a LOT of MMOs over the years, and I've taken little things I loved about each of them (even the bad ones):

- EverQuest - The large, expansive world was just incredible. While "zones" are now a sort of archaic concept, they made the world of EQ feel huge and full of variety.

- Asheron's Call - The monthly event system in AC has never been equaled in my mind. Really cool developer-run events, a changing game world, an engaging storyline that felt like players made a difference. Awesome.

- Star Wars Galaxies - Many people will tell you that SWG still holds the record for best crafting system ever, and possibly best housing system ever. I tend to agree. The introduction of social professions (such as dancers) was also really cool. For all the things that SWG got wrong, they really nailed certain features that have seldom been equaled.

- Horizons - This is a little-played MMO that I think had some of the best ideas in an MMO ever. Unfortunately it was just too ahead of its time, and the developers were unable to maintain the infrastructure to make the massive events work and spent so much time on the 1-50 game that there was no end game content whatsoever. There is a laundry list of things this game got right though - awesome economy (still one of the best economic structures I've seen in an MMO), great crafting, the ability to change classes, the ability to play a dragon with a really unique "hoarding" concept, cooperative player events which required both crafters and adventurers to team up, combat "stance" system which introduced strategy into combat - there was a lot to love about this game. It still holds a really special place in my heart.

- Dark Age of Camelot - Fantastic game when it launched. The RvR combat was unique for its time and lots of fun.

- Shadowbane - Had one of the best (and most challenging) PvP structures ever. Guild on guild warfare was really fun. Getting ganked by an assassin while chatting with your friends....not so cool but it made the world feel extremely dangerous.

- Asheron's Call 2 - Disappointing game that had a couple of nifty ideas that never stuck. Players had to rebuild cities (which would then populate with NPCs, etc.) over time which sounded cool on paper but in reality never got off the ground. Monsters had combat "cues" which would tell you the best time to use a certain attack which was a neat idea that I wish would get reincorporated. They were also one of the first to create a really good group/dungeon/warpstone system to get people together for dungeon runs. AC2 was also one of the first MMOs I can recall that really pulled off player-created music and instrument playing! Unfortunately the game world was incredibly restrictive and linear, and the game was just so radically different from AC1 that people never really embraced it.

- City of Heroes - Loved the character creation (still the best in the industry), sort of loved the instanced missions. Unfortunately the superhero genre just doesn't grab me like fantasy/sci-fi worlds so I lost interest. But one of the first MMOs to prove you could break out of the sci-fi/fantasy model.

- Anarchy Online - I really loved this game, even though it was a buggy, laggy mess at launch. The instanced missions were really revolutionary at the time, and it was neat to be in a sci-fi world.

- Age of Conan - This game had one thing really going for it, and that was the pseudo-real time combat system. Really fun system that I hope another MMO will embrace. Good game, but hampered by bugs, unfinished content, and features listed on the box that were absent in-game. Released too soon, but there was a lot to love about it.

- EverQuest 2 - Probably my second favorite MMO behind EQ1. While it eventually turned into a bit of a WoW-clone, at launch it was a much, much different game. Grouping was emphasized, the game was all around tougher. Raids in this game were incredibly fun and incredibly challenging. The crafting system was the best since SWG, hands down, and they had an incredible housing system to boot. It's really too bad EQ2 was overshadowed (and eventually greatly influenced) by the launch of WoW, because in an alternate universe it definitely would have been the king of MMOs.

- World of Warcraft - I had a love/hate relationship with this game for years. Loved the beta, but wound up playing EQ2 instead because it felt more hardcore and challenging. Went back to WoW off and on over the years, but kept getting bored with the quest grind. Went back to it in September for Cataclysm and haven't looked back. At this point in my life it's a perfect fit, and though a few years ago I would have been appalled at playing such a "carebear" game, today I finally understand the appeal of such a solo-friendly, casual title.

- Lord of the Rings Online - This game is so much better than it should have been. Awesome game world, terrific emphasis on story, fantastic grouping mechanics, etc. My major problems with LOTRO is that combat never felt "real," skills were few and far between, and classes and certain mechanics were limited by the rigidity of the LOTRO license. It's still one of my favorite MMOs, however.

- PlanetSide - Terrific game that is considered one of the first MMOFPS. Hoping they make a sequel. Had its flaws but was really fun.

- WW2 Online - Another game that was way ahead of its time. Turned a lot of people off because you could literally drive 15 minutes (real-time) to the battle front and get hit with a single bullet and die. However, the game provided some of the most realistic "terror of war" gameplay that I've ever experienced.

- Aion - I actually really liked this game. The only turn-off I had was that end-game was pretty much all PvP-focused, so when I hit that point I started tuning out. The ability to fly was really cool, it had good solo-ability and questing, etc. Some people didn't like the Asian-inspired atmosphere, but I found it pretty refreshing and fun.

- Vanguard - I will forever live in infamy on OO for my persuasion in getting a bunch of people to buy this wreck of the game. However, I believed at the time that it was revolutionary in some ways (and still do). Technical bugs and execution were the game's downfall, not the gameplay mechanics. Vanguard brought back some of the hardcore stuff from the old EQ days (corpse runs, etc.) that I really enjoyed from a challenge perspective. The Diplomacy system was AWESOME and I pray that some MMO comes along and steals it one day because I think it truly could be the "third sphere" (behind adventuring and crafting) that could make an MMO great. The game world/dungeons were incredible, and this was one of the first MMOs since EQ that I felt I could spend time in just exploring. They didn't attempt to make all classes balanced, and in that sense it was a true "role" playing game in which everybody had strengths and weaknesses. The crafting system was incredibly complex and fun, and had it been more polished could have been the best crafting system ever. The game was just too ambitious, and the developer just too egotistical, for it to work. But by God it was a valiant attempt that I hope some developer will one day try to replicate.

I enjoyed it, but it was definitely a slog. By the end I just wanted it to be over. Compared to the first BioShock, where I was actually sad the journey was finished.

I agree with Teggy - a great deal of my "meh" feelings were probably due to the fact that it couldn't replicate the first thrill of seeing Rapture. It was more of the same - not a bad thing, but not something to make me jump out of my seat either. Also, I really, really hated the "protect the Little Sister" sequences. I hated the one time you had to do it in the first game, and when I realized I'd have to do it multiple times in this one it nearly made me want to quit right then and there.

Add to it that the storyline wasn't nearly as compelling or original as the first one and it was a recipe for mediocrity. The plasma/gun combo was outstanding, but that wasn't enough by itself to make it anywhere close to as good as the original for me. I kind of wish they had waited a longer period of time between games and did something really revolutionary (i.e. Half Life vs Half Life 2), rather than do what felt like a ridiculously long expansion pack.

Vanilla WoW will let you play from 1-60 with all the class benefits, quest improvements, old world revamps, etc. that were introduced with Cataclysm.

The Burning Crusade expansion is required if you want to level from 60-70, or play a Dranei or Blood Elf.

The Wrath of the Lich King expansion is required if you want to level from 70-80, or play a Death Knight (though to play one requires at least one character of level 55).

The Cataclysm expansion is required if you want to level from 80-85, or play a Worgen or Goblin.

Also, the expansions stack. So Cataclysm requires WotLK, which in turn requires BC.

Unless you absolutely have to play a Worgen or Goblin, your best bet is to probably just buy vanilla WoW, and then decide at 60 if you wish to continue on.

Yeah, the changes they made with 4.01 (the Cataclysm patch) made it even easier to solo in a game that was also one of the most solo-friendly MMOs on the market. For instance, even warriors now get skills that allow them to heal damage while fighting. Pretty much any class you pick can viably solo to max level. And now that they've revamped all the old zones and quest lines, the lore/world/quest progression is more fun than it has ever been.  

I started playing mid-Septemberish and have just hit 81. That's playing casually, not rushing or power leveling, averaging around 10-12 hours a week. I'm guessing that with the Cataclysm changes and improvement to quest hubs, you could probably do it much quicker now (I hit 70 just after Cataclysm hit, so basically ALL of my leveling up to 80 was doing "old world" content - the original zones + Burning Crusade + Lich King). The new zones/quests are designed to quickly get you from quest hub to quest hub without a lot of downtime. For instance, I did level 80 - 81 1/2 in 3 nights (roughly 7-8 hours) in my first pure post-Cataclysm zone.

I've always loved MMOs, but as I got older/got more responsibility I had to adjust my priorities and what/how I played.

In college when I had nothing but free time and disposable income, I spent a lot of time in hardcore MMOs like EQ (well, they were also pretty much the only thing out there at the time anyway).

When I got married I shifted into the new breed of "hardcore" MMOs like EQ2, where I did a lot of raiding, grouping, and end-game stuff. I stayed away from WoW because I considered it too easy and casual, and I wanted a game where grouping was essential.

After my strict raiding schedule in EQ2 caused issues with me and my wife, I turned to LOTRO. While I still did some grouping, it eased me into the idea that soloing and the ability to be able to stop playing on a dime was starting to become important.

After I had my daughter, and particularly now that she is running around, I've re-discovered WoW and having a blast. Is it easy? Almost comically so. Have I grouped? I've grouped once in 81 levels. But you know what? I don't care. My priorities have changed, and WoW fits my current lifestyle perfectly. It's either play WoW and get my MMO-craving satisfied in bite-sized chunks, or give up MMOs altogether.

Well I stuck it out for 4 days of Men's Health workouts in the hope that the fourth session would change it up but sadly no it was just like the first 3.  I'd have to say there is no way I'm doing only one type of session for 12 days straight without changing it up and trying something different.  They must have missed something here, why would it reset your daily progress if you do a different workout?

Yeah, this is a huge disappointment to me as well. I thought it would at least randomize exercises from a pool of choices.

What I'm doing now is doing the Men's Health Fat Burner one T-Th-Sat and a cardio one Sun-W-F.

Also, does it give you an opportunity to actually track your weight? I input my weight at the beginning but haven't seen any place to actually update it as I progress.

[Edit] - Looks like your stats are uploaded online and there is some tracking stuff you can do there. I'll check that out tonight. Kind of disappointing you have to go externally to do all that but if it's good content then I guess I can live with it.

[Spoiler]

My favorite scene:

Spoiler for Hiden:

The whole Will Ferrell "do you wake up in the morning and put your big boy pants on?" scene. I had to back it up and watch it like 3 times I was laughing so hard. Even funnier than Will Ferrell's outbursts was Mark Wahlberg's terrified expression the whole time. It was classic.

The movie was definitely much better then it had any right to be.

I LOVED the DragonLance books in high school. However I tried to re-read them a couple of years ago and they were so amateurishly written and juvenile I couldn't even get through the first book. I still love D&D but after that debacle I decided to keep DragonLance in my memory where it's still awesome.

I ended up getting the following for Christmas:

Pandemic
Forbidden Island
Small World
Ghost Stories
Last Night on Earth

I also got to play a game of Castle Ravenloft, as I bought that for a friend of mine.

So far I've only had a chance to play Forbidden Island, which my wife and I really enjoyed. I think it's going to be a hit since the rules are easy and games are quick.

I'll have to give that a try. I saw them in Tampa a few years ago and it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. They are freaking amazing live.

The only reason I remember this game is that for YEARS afterward a buddy of mine and I used a phrase from the game. There was one line where the woman says, "What the........hell?"

The way she said it, and the awkward pause in the middle of the phrase, made it an instant classic that was used in any situation where we didn't know WTF was going on.

In fact, it ended up replacing our previous favorite game phrase from King's Quest V: "Dyyyyying for a drink Graham?"

The only thing I can really think of is mushrooms. I absolutely hated them as a kid, would not eat them. It was weird how my love of mushrooms came about.

I was in Germany on an high school exchange student trip, and pretty much starving. I really didn't like the German food and was mainly living off bread. The German kids I was hanging out with decided to order pizza and got one with nothing but mushrooms on it. Big giant sliced portabello mushrooms.

I was so hungry, and not wanting to be rude, that I just said to hell with it, I'm eating them. When I got back to the states I started ordering them on pizza, and that led to just loving them in general - fried, on salads, on pizza, in spaghetti sauce, on hamburgers, etc.

So my advice is that if you really hate something and want to learn to like it, starve yourself!

I picked up both Monkey Islands and a bunch of the EA games (Scrabble, Yahtzee, Mirror's Edge, etc.)

I was pulling for Fabio only because I couldn't stand Sash and I thought Chase played a really poor social game in terms of jury votes. Chase probably played the best *technical* game of Survivor in terms of lying and backstabbing to further himself, but his constant betrayal and bald-faced lying about rewards just really turned me off of him. He may be a great guy in real life but he pulled some real dick moves.

I was torn because I hated to see all that money go to a 21 year old kid, especially when every time they asked him what he'd do with it he'd reply, "Have fun, har har har." I believe Chase would have funded his cancer charity, while Fabio is probably going to blow it all on keg parties and Xbox games.

I do think Fabio's gameplay was underestimated. Everybody really liked Fabio - the only person he even remotely pissed off was Naonka and even she couldn't stay mad at him when all was said and done. I admire a well-played social game as much as I admire a well-played strategic game, even if it's more subtle.

Should be a very good year. Fortunately we were in a position this year to give all of our loved ones a very nice Christmas. I was also very happy that our department at work put together an awesome Christmas for a very needy local family.

Thanks for the suggestions; I've put some of those on my wish list.

I bought Castle Ravenloft for a friend of mine. We started playing D&D 4e when it first came out and had a pretty regular group going but we both ended up with more responsibility than time. He constantly laments the fact that he misses D&D but can't justify the time investment. Figured it would be absolutely *perfect* for him (and the bonus being I get to play too!)

I'll be willing to toss in some between PC/360 titles Graham.

A little history:

I've always been interested in board games/pencil-paper RPGs, however, I didn't really get into more "adult" board games until around 5 years ago. I ended up with a collection including Carcassonne, Settles of Cataan, Arkham Horror, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Lord of the Rings, and a few Risk variants. With friends moving away, the baby, etc. I dropped out of playing them and most have been sitting in my garage collecting dust.

Recently a new game shop opened up in town that has really rekindled my love of board games. They have competitive pricing (typically about what you would pay for them online w/ shipping), a really good selection, and lots of board game gatherings and events and such.

I've asked for Last Night on Earth for Christmas. What other games would you consider "must-haves?" Bonus points for two-player games - while I have a couple of friends who could be persuaded to play every now and then, it will be mainly me and the missus. I'm not big on historical warfare type games, but love horror/fantasy and really good sci-fi. Thanks in advance!

Quick initial impressions -

Technology-wise, it surpassed my expectations. I was expecting it to be more laggy and less accurate, and was pleasantly surprised on both counts.

When my daughter started crawling we rearranged our furniture so that she'd have a nice open area in the living room. As it turns out, this is IDEAL for Kinect. I carefully calibrated everything for the best possible experience, and can say that if you have the right layout it is pretty amazing.

Dance Central is the most fun I've had with a game since Rock Band. We had some absolute hilarious moments last night. I'm not going to give anything away other than that I rocked the hell out of "Funkytown."

Kinectimals is definitely very well made for a kid's game. I bought this one for my daughter. She's too young to really interact with it but she enjoys watching me play. They really did a great job utilizing all aspects of the Kinect functionality with this game.

I'm looking forward to picking up a fitness title, but that will probably have to wait for Christmas. As it stands, Kinect Adventures and Dance Central are more than enough to burn some calories. I didn't realize how out of shape I was until I got this thing!

My overall gut feeling is probably the same as a lot of folks - the technology is amazing, but the game library isn't mature enough yet to wholeheartedly recommend it. Still, I'm hoping we'll see some cool titles next year.

My account was hacked and it was as simple as writing support and telling them "Hey, my account was hacked." I was back up and running within 24 hours.

Woo hoo! My wife surprised me with a Kinect and Dance Central for my birthday. Didn't have time to mess with it today but plan on devoting my full attention tomorrow. I debated between Kinectimals and a fitness game as a secondary and wound up getting Kinectimals for my daughter.

A friend of mine got me some Captain Morgan Private Stock, so we are currently debating an evening of drunken Dance Central tomorrow night. 

I don't think anybody predicted this. As it stands, I'm glad I'm just out $9.19 versus $30.00 (which was very nearly the case)!

Holy cow, thanks for the heads up. I've been putting off WotLK praying for a price drop but didn't think it was going to happen. Sweet!

My biggest gripe with House is their unwillingness to tinker with the "formula." Sure, I know they don't want to fix what's not broken, but does every case have to play out the same way every single time?

1. Patient comes in with weird symptoms.
2. Team misdiagnoses the problem multiple times
3. Something completely unrelated to the case coincidentally causes a lightbulb to go off in House's head
4. House uses information to save patient from brink of death

(Optional step) Have House forge ahead with controversial procedure that has high risk of killing patient but ends up saving them.

Can't they mix it up just a little bit?

I also find some of the conceits they take just so unbelievable. Regularly breaking into people's homes to investigate possible sources of disease. Seriously? Also, these are some of the best doctors in the country and yet they have to misdiagnose (and come close to killing you) several times before they find a cure? Umm...maybe House isn't such a genius after all...

Yeah, people sometimes don't understand how lucky we've been that game prices haven't changed much, despite the fact the development costs have risen exponentially. I clearly remember paying $40+ for Atari 2600 titles back in the 80s, and all the PC games I bought from the early 90s on were $50. Considering the value of our dollar versus that dollar back then, you can make a case for game prices actually dropping rather than increasing.

I'm using Ninja/Ghost/Warlord as well. Great combo if, like me, you like to sneak around the edges of the map and hit people from the sides or behind.