Wizardry review on GAF says the save system is bad too - very few auto checkpoints and the guy says he lost an hour of progress after it didn't resume correctly after suspend.  I'm passing on this one, too bad.

[Sign]

Elder Scrolls: Omens just came out (and an HD version for iPad).

lol, how about Elder Sign: Omens?  Still looks cool but I got excited there for a second

More complete patch notes here-
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=450602&page=11

Significant nerfs to magic users and pyros it appears.  Also they are removing some of the Engrish.  "You Defeated" is now "Victory Achieved."

Looks really good.  Even more impressed their server didn't fall over.  The video worked on the first try for me.

Didn't you work there? Don't you get a complementary version of 'Skyrim' or something?  

I wish!  I didn't work on Skyrim at all though, so I wasn't expecting it

Granted I haven't seen the videos, but I can't believe anyone would seriously think it looks like just a moderately upgraded Oblivion, visually at least.  In general what I would guess most people are really saying is more like "It looks only slightly better than my years-old memories of Oblivion."   Ron would be the person to ask either way, considering he's playing right now.

Picked up Galaxy on Fire 2 HD, a special iPad2/4S-only version they made.  Probably the best Elite/Privateer clone out there, or at least the one everyone talks about.  The HD version looks amazing.  It's a little slow to get off the ground as you start off with a really crappy ship with very limited options, but upgrading and doing missions is a lot of fun.

Also, don't miss Mage Gauntlet, a really great game that sits right alongside Zelda and Secret of Mana in playstyle and look.  A nice story with a lot of humor unfolds as you play, and there are a ton of different spell abilities to try out.

This concept art trailer is pretty cool.  Great music too - http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zYcuyiMa-QY

Pretty impressed with Siri for the little that I've asked of her so far.  I don't use my phone for much personal organization and don't keep my calendar in there, so it's a bit limited.

"Siri, set a reminder for Mom's birthday tomorrow."
Sets a reminder for tomorrow, 9am.
"Errr... 10am."
Changes it to 10am.   Pretty cool!

"Do I need an umbrella tomorrow?"  Saw this on the web somewhere and it does bring up the weather. 

I have no cause to complain about battery life so far.  I turned off all push of any kind long ago and that helped a ton.

[Spoiler]

Capra Clue

Spoiler for Hiden:

lol... concentrate on the dogs first.  After those are down, it becomes very easy.  You can use the staircase to lead the dogs and jump down if capra follows you up instead. Should give you enough time to deal with them.[/spioler]

Yeah right now I literally can't even get to the other side of him without dying.  I get stun-locked and just get obliterated. Died the first time.  Died the second time trying to get my souls back (lost about 5k souls on that one). Died the third and fourth time trying to get past him.  Going to give it a couple more tries tonight before I turn to farming souls and getting my vitality up.

Capra Demon

Batman, although not for a couple days.  Inexplicably, Amazon.com isn't offering release day shipping on this one.

They didn't when I put in my order last week, but then I checked yesterday, it was available, and I was able to upgrade my shipping option on my order.

edit: Just checked and it's still listed, so I don't think it's too late to upgrade your order.

Thanks, it wasn't listed when I checked.  Either way is fine.  I've got souls to farm

Oh no, now Gabe wrote a huge post about Skylanders toys on the front page of Penny Arcade.  Bail out, bail out!

Batman, although not for a couple days.  Inexplicably, Amazon.com isn't offering release day shipping on this one.

Never heard about the game, and I work in games, read gaming sites daily, and have a 38k gamerscore.  I guess it could always blow up into something big but I wouldn't even think about it.

Edit: OK right after this I loaded up my Joystiq feed and it was the latest story   Still wouldn't bother.

That guy has been active around here for a year or two, and is pretty well known.  He shows up to lots of protest marches and things like that.  The police really hate him

Got my shipping notice! 

I'm getting myself a Grovemade one, although haven't decided what artwork to put on it.
http://www.grovemade.com/collections/iphone-4-case-features-page/

People I know who use a 3G right now all want to throw it under a bus.  I have a 3GS for the moment and it's fine.  Sounds like you're upgrading though.  Only a few more days

Few of the horsepower-intensive games with 3d visuals have interested me.  I'm looking at the games that have sucked up 10-20 hours or more of my time each, and they all look like things a 3G would do just fine with.

Have you tried using a plain 3G recently?  IMO it's pretty awful.  Just navigating the phone and using the menus is incredibly slow.

Apparently being given this "now with bears" game.  Also Forza 4.  No time to play even Rage which I bought last week.  Dark Souls Dark Souls Dark Souls.

FYI Amazon has the big hardcover official guide for $13.74 - http://www.amazon.com/Souls-Official-Guide-Future-Press/dp/3869930527/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318134428&sr=8-1

I had a $10 credit so I couldn't resist   Edit: Damn, it's out of stock now!  Glad I got my order in early. Got my butt kicked all over Undead Parish tonight.

Ok dumb question on the texture pop-in topic.

Are the users who are still experiencing the anomalies and installed the game sure that they installed BOTH disks 1 & 2?
I just finished installing disk 1 and it did not prompt me for the 2nd disk at all. I inserted disk 2 and selected install and off it went.

Could it all be a simple lack of instructions issue? The manual does not say that you need to install both disks.

Thoughts?

Not seeing 360 complaints, and the PS3 only has one disc.
Video of what people are complaining about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rbh7ztsQU8

when youre human (so far) it seems like you get more EXP.  also you can only summon other players into your world when youre human.  and screw you for having enough to return to human after every death!

Ha, I am just getting started.  I actually died a bunch of times (mostly by accidentally rolling off cliffs ), and just remembered when I put on what is apparently an armored bra that I should probably revive my humanity.

Can someone explain humanity to me?  Do I want to be spending my humanity to restore to human after each time I die?

Restarted last night with a pyromancer.  WAY better initial experience than the Thief, and better than the Sorcerer I tried after that.  The delay between hitting RB and actually throwing a fireball is annoying but doing 140+ damage in a hit has helped me out of many hairy situations.

If you preordered and got the collector's edition, don't forget to download the mini-strategy guide.  It's an excerpt from the larger strategy guide and is quite useful for the first few starting areas up through Undead Burg.  Doesn't explain humanity though...

Nope, regular old nails.  imo the back is very scratch prone and I'm real careful with it, like I would be with any of my electronics.

Strange.  I only have a 3GS but I routinely keep it in the same pocket as my keys.  Looks just fine to me.

Same phone I can't hold without a case and same phone I can't set down without placing it on cloth?  WTF

Why can't you set it down without placing it on cloth?  I don't get it.

Dark Souls AND Rage!!  Both 360.  Looking forward to a long night of HDD installs tomorrow

Lost a bunch out of my 401k and a mutual fund I maintain.  Luckily I drained most of my investments besides that to buy my condo late last year (perhaps itself a dubious investment), and have been busy building back up my plain savings.  Even in a negative environment there are still opportunities if you're willing to take on risk, though.  I had quite a nice payday shorting RIMM right before their earnings last quarter.  But that could've easily blown up in my face, too.

Giantbomb has done a pretty extensive quicklook, I'd suggest those on the fence that never played Demon's Souls give it a watch
http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-dark-souls/17-4966/

lol @ 45:50.  Dragon out of nowhere.

That was a fascinating review.  I know I have a different mindset than most, but I simply cannot comprehend how something like this would be considered fun:

It's baffling to me that that everyone is clamoring to experience that.  To each their own, I suppose.

Yeah you can write something very similar about Rogue or Nethack or Shiren the Wanderer and those games are all very fun to play IMO. 

Wait a second - for a second there, I thought it was our very own Kathode!

Not me   I never met Jacobs although we used to hang out with some guys from Mythic every once in a while when I was at Bethesda.  Fairfax is probably 20 or so minutes away from Bethesda's HQ.  Kind of an interesting location to try and do a startup.  It's a very expensive area.  I never met Meggs either - he was at Bethesda only for a portion of Skyrim. 

Anyone know how the Fire holds up to reading in sunlight?  My Kindle 2 finally died at some point in the past year and it's sole purpose of existence was for vacation reading.  I was considering replacing it.

The Engadget blog said the screen is Gorilla glass, which I believe is the same as an ipad.  So my guess is that's it's basically impossible to use in direct sunlight, much like the ipad.

The touch screen would just annoy me (looks like you have to reach further to click the screen than the good old edge buttons)

Kindle 3 is an awesome device and a big step up from the 2, but my one annoyance is that it's so easy to accidentally hit the side buttons when holding it naturally or shifting grip.  That's been my experience anyway.  Also literally every person I know who I've let use it for the first time immediately tries to touch the screen to control it  I think touch was the natural way to go, but I agree it's not a necessary upgrade unless you're a techno-whore like me

Preordered a Kindle Touch 3G.  Too bad it doesn't ship until late November.

To be fair, I don't have a PS3 so I never played the first game.  I've just heard about how brutally difficult it is, which doesn't interest me in the least.

Kudos to the devs for sticking with their vision (so few do that nowadays)...just bummed that I can't really get on board with it, since the graphics and atmosphere of this game look pretty awesome.

Weren't you saying in the iphone thread that you liked roguelikes like Fargoal?  This is the same idea or at least very similar IMO.

latest rumors say October 4th for the reveal.  here's some grains of salt, pass them around.

Dalrymple is very reliable.  Looking forward to it!

Seriously, I don't understand why they can't even announce a date for them to announce a release.  We know you need to release a new phone, get to it!

Wouldn't that be like an "announcement of an announcement" that we always complain about in games?   They probably want people to keep running out and buying iphone 4's right up until the last minute.

Can't wait for the 5.  I skipped out on the 4, so looking forward to a retina display and a camera with a flash

Played Horde mode for two solid hours last night and had a great time.  I love scrambling around trying to get in your repairs and upgrades in the 30 seconds between rounds.  We got to wave 30.  The boss waves are really brutal.

Hopefully will be playing Gears 3 tonight!  Also finally biting the bullet and upgrading from my 8gb Xbox to a 250gb Xbox this week.  Debating Resident Evil 4 HD (after I upgrade of course!).