Yeah when they said "super soldier" I was all nerded out!

Same here.  I liked that the whole thing worked as a plot point, too, as opposed to just a throw-away reference for people who were familiar with Marvel comics. 

Now if they can just work some Thor and Ant Man cameos into Iron Man 2, Marvel should be good to go. 

I've heard that there's is supposed to be a reference to another Avenger (not Iron Man) in the alternate opening sequence, but haven't gotten my hands on the movie yet.

Dammit, I already sent it back to Netflix without watching the alternate opening scene 

EDIT:  I just looked it up online, apparently it's a micro-second view of Capt America on ice in the Antarctic.

There's actually quite a few semi-subtle references to Captain America throughout the movie as well.  Seems like Marvel is really gearing up for the Avengers movie.

I like both games quite a bit but if I had to choose one I would get Rock Band 2. 

Me too. 

I think GH:WT has a few advantages over RB2 (music maker, art style, celeb avatars, some songs done better), but the monstrous RB2 song catalog makes it the winnah.

Basially, it sounds like all current and future EA games have activation where you need an EA account. This is also used when playing any online portions of the games.
The problem is that your forum account is your EA game account as well, so if you get banned on the forums, it effectively bans you from playing your existing and future games as well.
So if you post the wrong thing on their forums, you run the risk of not being able to play any of your EA games.

Thanks for explaining.

The activation limits didn't bother me much, but this is just a bad idea.   I wouldn't care if people who were caught cheating in multiplayer lost access to the EA forums and/or game servers for that particular game, but anything beyond that is serious overkill.

I'm not quite understanding what "banned" means in that linked-to thread.  Is it that if you cause a problem on an EA website, you get banned from all EA multiplay, forums, & other online features?  Or is it all that + you can't install your previously purchased games on another computer, even if you have "activiations" left over?

The latter would definitely make me think twice about purchasing EA games in the future.  I'd hate to lose the ability to reinstall games because an EA Mod thought one of my Spore creatures showed too much nip or something.

Hiro and Ando continue to amuse me.  I liked the Adam & Pappa Patrelli scene.  The cheerleader family thing was OK, but the end was telegraphed. I even enjoyed the Daphne and Parkman stuff.

But I'm hating the whole secret origin of Syler thing.  To put it as nerdily as possible, it's the equivalent of revealing Dr. Doom is only a jerk because his mask is very itchy, and he happens to be the Thing's cousin for some reason.  I can understand wanting to give a popular character more air time, but there's got to be a thousand better ways to have done it.

I thought Hiro couldn't freeze time in front of Daphne and stop her? It worked for him when he first stopped time, looked around before jumping to the joke store for the fake sword and blood.

It sort of makes sense if Daphne is protected only when she's moving at super speed.  If she's not already moving fast, perhaps Hiro can slow her down like everbody else?

I understand this is only slightly more feasible than saying "a wizard did it."

I'm also loving this one.  Playing GTA IV was like reading a detailed but tedious crime novel.  Playing SR2 is like reading an over-the-top gangster comic book.  I can appreciate the virtues of the former, but the latter sure is more fun.

My one nitpick is I think they made a mistake giving the main character a voice this time around.  The ways they worked around the PC being mostly mute in the first one were clever.  Plus, on the rare occasions when he did speak, it was hillarious.  This time around, it seems like the PC is occasionally funny, but spouts a lot of nonsense, too. 

That clip looks like he was kidding around to me. Did he people think he was serious?

+1.  I think he knew he was going to be on SNL the whole time and was playing it up.

Yeah, I think he made some genuine, relatively benign, SNL-isn't-funny sort of comments early last week, but am guessing he knew he was going on the show by the time he went into angry-jackass mode.

Very cool.

[Spoiler]

I am guessing the plan there is

Spoiler for Hiden:

Hiro plans to go back in time once he figures something out from these guys  (I mean, right - we are not to actually think Hiro would actually just simply sacrifice Ando....)  BUT - he wont get to before Ando is resurected by some other 'villian/hero'.  Ando will then be rightfully pissed at Hiro and kill him in 'the future' that Hiro foresaw.     They will take this whole season though to actually get us from here to there....

Here's my guess:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Hiro stops time, grabs Ando, tells him he's going to fake kill him, puts some paint or catsup or whatever in his shirt, restarts time, then stabs him.  Ando falls down.

Boo hoo! Couldn't they have disguised the fleecing of the poor wittle gamers by calling the second and third games "full expansions" or "standalone expansions"?

 

Seriously though, it is sort of odd they're not pitching it that way.

Unless this is something you can devote a lot of time to, I don't think taking pot shots at rats with a BB gun is going to do anything to noticably lower your neighborhood's rat population.  Doing something to make the garbage in your alley harder to get at sounds like a good idea, but I'm guessing this might be something beyond your control if you live in an urban area.

If you're trying to freak out your neighbors, though, lurk in the alleys with your BB gun and shout demorlaizing slogans at the rats.   Putting up anti-rat posters in the alley would be pretty cool, too.

I will blatantly ignore the "classic" requirement and suggest Teeth.

Follow it up with Slither should time permit.

As someone who went to this amusment park every summer while growing up I felt a piece of me die while looking at these pictures. 

I am sorry you won't be able to visit the dessicated wheelchair corpse anymore, CeeKay.

[Spoiler]

Loved just about everything about last night's episode. Lots of OMG and WTF

Yeah, that was pretty good.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I think that was the most interesting alternate future they've ever done on the show.

Just watched both episodes yesterday.  I like the Mohinder plot line.  He started getting nutty last season, so having him go Dr. Jekyll doesn't seem like such a stretch to me.  The adrenal thing is silly, but so is all super hero science, so it didn't bother me too much.

Hiro and Ando are amusing me as well.  It's probably not a good sign when the comic relief characters are the most interesting part of the show, though.

The Patrelli, Parkman and Bennet storylines are a mess.  Nothing makes a lick of sense and the writers keep digging the hole deeper and deeper. 

How was the AI on the heroes/villains you team up with?  Do you actually get to controll them at any point?

Here's a picture of bacon taped to a cat.

This thread topic was both succinct and accurate.

I have to go with three. Time-travelling locomotive trumps hoverboard.

the hovering time travelling locomotive at the end seriously jumped the shark.

You, sir, are mistaken. Land vehicles that fly for no practical reason was CLEARLY established earlier in the trilogy.   

Next you'll be telling me that Teen Wolf Too is a bad movie.

I have to go with three. Time-travelling locomotive trumps hoverboard.

As it stands, I'm being required to register for yet another forum just so I can point out the incredibly obvious that Knightshade = Knightshade.  (I've only been using that name for the past few decades, so I can see where there could be confusion) 

I can't really speak for the group, but I can think of plenty of good reasons to require guildies to register on the board beyond the name thing. 

This smacks of numbers padding.

I sorta think you're off base on this one.

I'm beginning to think PETA is proof our universe is just an occasionally clever parody of a much more serious universe.

How is this one holding up for people? Has this game got legs, or does it lose its charm quickly?

I think the ability to create/import creatures gives it a bit of longevity, but the civilization and space stages of the game just aren't that fun to me.  I imagine I'll play through the tribes portion a few more times, just to fool around with different creature designs.  I don't think I'll be up for much more turret-zapping, religious conversions or creature abducting, though.

But what if he has a sith-style apprentice that's even worse!?!?!?

It's good in a Xena-and-Hercules-without-magic sort of way.

I mean, I've seen a single tank hold 4 targets AT ONCE before. I, and other healers kept the tank up, while the rest of the group slaughtered the fools who wouldn't get off the tank to attack the far weaker targets.

One of the coolest things I've seen so far in-game was an Elf tank charge single-handedly into a line of Destruction.   There were about 5 baddies pounding on him, but a few order healers hung back and just wouldn't let the Elf drop.   Things kept going this way for a few minutes, but once the first Black Orc fell, all the other baddies just broke, the Elf right on their heels.  It was magnificent watching him chase down this whole pack of hulking monstrosities all by his lonesome. 

Adam Baldwin has poor vampire elimination skills.

Kadnod = Warrior Priest

(btw, you'll only have to kill 10 bears, as each has a head)),

 

It is nice to have a "get X animal bits" quest and just be able to kill x animals.  No more animals walking around without teeth or pelts or other essential animal bits is definitely a good thing.

So?  Has anyone used the reverse grouping?  The one where you can click the icon under your portrait and join someone's group?  I do it when I'm at a PQ. 

Yeah, I've done it in big PVP-fests.  It's a pretty cool feature.  Much better than just wandering into a big fight solo.

My question:  Why can't they add a shuffle function to playlists???  Or even to an album?  Or an artist?  WOuld that be so hard to do???

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the question, but isn't that option under "settings:music"?

Anyone know if there's any rhyme or reason to how much spice sells for on a given planet in the space stage?  Is it just random or is there some sort of game mechanic behind it?

Is anybody going to burn their iPod and switch to the Zune revolution!?

If you replace "burn" with "accidentally smash," then yes, this is exactly what I did last Sunday.

I'm very pleased that Microsoft decided to update their software in honor of my joining.   

I think the 3rd Season needed fewer flashbacks.  I would've rather seen an episode or two entirely about the earlier Team Ventures, rather than have bits and pieces of info about them scattered throughout several episodes.   It's definitely still a great show, but there were a few snoozers this season.

In a related note, I thought Metapocalypse was exceptional this year.  The finale was hillarious.

I turn it all in on Saturday, but won't know the results 'till Sunday. Wish me luck. 

That's some really great work, particularly on the warpaint.  Good luck!

I've only read the linked-to summary, but the second one sounds more-or-less fine.   The sort of international IP issues it seems to address are valid trade issues, so I can't see why they shouldn't be accounted for.  They shouldn't be given undue weight, obviously, but I really don't think we're going to cut off diplomatic realtions with China over bootlegging textbooks and Harry Potter novels.

Only the "developing country assistance" part seems a bit lame.  If we wanted to give a poor nation more favorable trade terms if they respected US copyrights, patents, trademarks, whatever, fine.  But this:

building, activities designed to increase awareness of intellectual property rights, and training for officials responsible for enforcing intellectual property rights in the developing country.

will likely end up in a lot of wasted money.   As will that first piece of legislation.

-edit for clarity.

I blame the liberal robot media.

Anyone have any tips on planet defense other than making turrets?  I got to a point where I literally couldn't leave my home system without getting a "homeplanet being attacked!" message. 

I'm not sure if this is a bug or if I just goofed around too long & the enemy AI grew too powefull while I was screwing around.

Got my code, too. 

It's pretty great that some of the games come with mp3 soundtracks, too.

I'd much rather have the CD in the drive. Then, you wouldn't have to worry about the registration server going under, or the company vanishing, or you losing the patch that would make the game playable in say, 5 years or so. Oh, and I wouldn't have to install SecurROM, either.

While this particular DRM scheme doesn't annoy me personally, I am glad that others who are bothered by it push back.  I have no doubt that things would steadily get more and more restrictive otherwise.