It was hilarious, though it did seem like they had some trouble figuring out exactly how to end the final act.  Personally I would have preferred a little more material in the front end, which I thought was absolutely fantastic.  Maybe extend a couple more of the cameos when you've got that much talent running around.

I will say that some of the humor goes beyond raunchy, could be overboard for the more conservative folk; so be prepared!  I read they intentionally aimed for a NC-17 with intentions to make cuts, but they got fully approved so all the deliberately added stuff was kept in.



P.S.  Really love chubby Seth Rogen.  Skinny Seth has been disappointing and looks weird to me.  He is just the perfect amount of chubby in this movie (like Knocked Up).

Here's what I feel is the difference between Sony and Microsoft after this E3:

Sony is listening to what gamers want.

Microsoft is telling gamers what they think they need.

I think this is a very true statement, but for once I'm actually going to defend M$.  I think what's fairly clear is they are trying to build on their gaming platform to push further into the elusive "one box for the living room" that has been talked about for years.  Unfortunately by doing so they are alienating a part of the gaming audience, but the upside for people like me who are both gamers and general entertainment enthusiasts, is that theoretically they are delivering a full one-stop shop.  And even further, using the Kinect and its voice recognition to create a simpler refined interface to all of the entertainment content.  Its not just Sony that they are targeting, but more importantly they are going after Apple before it releases whatever TV trick it may or may not have.  Personally I think if they can pull it off, it's a great strategy to strike first and leverage off a known technology (Kinect).  At least for once they are taking a gamble and trying to get to the forefront instead of always coming from behind.

I know there are solutions around this, but in my present configuration, I have to hit about 3 or 4 buttons to get from watching live TV to watching Netflix (on my Apple TV or on PS3).  Same thing if I want to go from playing a game on the PS3 or watching a Blu-Ray to the DVR.  It sounds silly/lazy, but it's one of those "path of least resistance" things.  Imagine instead of finding another remote and hitting buttons, I just say "Xbox, I want to play Halo 5" and boom it's there.  Maybe an hour later I remember there's an NBA game on, so I hold my hand up to pause the game, then say "Xbox I want to watch the Miami Spurs game" and boom it's there.  If one box can really unify my gaming, movies and music (both streaming and hard media) and live TV seamlessly, I'm definitely all for it.  If it puts the pressure on Apple to deliver something more spectacular for Apple TV, all the better. 

Anyway, this article from Wired has some interesting stuff in case it wasn't linked before:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/05/xbox-one/

I think in either case it all boils down to solid game design.  F2P can certainly go wrong, and there are tons of examples of it (especially if you play iOS games).  But when executed properly I do believe F2P as a whole has been a really good thing for MMOs.  If you design an F2P game, inherently you have to solidify a dedicated fanbase that is addicted to it based solely on its gaming merits.  In general that means focusing on making things FUN, and efficiently fun.  The old fashioned model was designed to have long level curves and grinding and waiting and extended travel times, because they needed to keep people playing physically for more time to ensure they renewed their monthly fee.  The system worked because there weren't that many alternative options.  In today's F2P game it's actually the opposite, there's an emphasis on making sure you are actually having fun and doing what you want to do while you're on.  The more you love the game, the more you might want to support it with an in-game purchase.

For a monthly fee game to really work in today's environment, it really needs to stand out above and beyond the crowd, and have some hook that justifies the monthly fee.  Maybe it's consistently evolving content, or actual people online serving as DMs or NPCs...  the days where a company claims the fees are to maintain support of their servers are really over.  I don't think anyone buys that anymore. 

i got 5 out of 5 but I half-guessed on the bond.  When I was doing refinance the lady explained it to me but I couldn't remember the exact reasoning.

Fuck.

Even knowing exactly what was coming, that was difficult to watch.

Yeah apparently a couple of the deaths were added in.  The odd thing is I was sure I had read those happening, so it's interesting how the memory plays tricks.

I have to say I was let down as well.  TA was raving about it so I thought it would be pretty cool, but mostly it's just as Lee mentioned, really slow and kind of dull.  I actually thought the rotate for inventory was a clever touch but it doesn't really help the core gameplay.  One simple way to help things out would be to remove the need to "End Turn" - it just bogs things down further.  I understand it was based on some boardgame, but it doesn't feel much like a boardgame, more like an action-RPG slowed down to a turtle turn based game.  If there were more tactical options, maybe that would make sense but the mapsize on combat is so small that there's really very limited things you can do.  Maybe it gets a lot better later, but it doesn't seem promising.

That's odd, I could swear I commented in this thread before but I don't see anything now.  Is there another Hannibal thread floating out there?

I finally made it through the first act - took me three tries to beat the boss but when I finally did it felt very gratifying.  I had to make some adjustments to my skills and gear, go back and find a spot I hadn't covered so I could level up, and also gain another feat level that provided extra points to spend on Kat.  During that stint I also got my first green set drop which was a pretty nice cape.  All that combined with knowing better what to do allowed me to beat the boss pretty handily.  (Note I think during the boss fight you don't accrue xp from the trash mobs so don't count on that; also you aren't allowed to continue with money if you die, the boss resets to full.)

I don't know about the rest of you but I'm finding this game extremely fun and challenging, even on Normal.  It reminds me so much of TQ, but in many ways I think I like it better.  There's so much optimization you can tweak, both on yourself and with Kat.  I've tried to play with her as a tank and me as dps + healing but it's been pretty tough.  She dies a lot leaving me to run and kite.  I'm trying to make myself more self-sufficient just in case but it's easy to get spoiled having her tank and provide all those nice buffs.

Gear-wise I don't feel it's got the excess of TL2 or the uselessness of D3.  There are a lot of drops for sure, and lots of trash, but the big difference is there are a lot of magical and rares that are generally useful, but in different ways.  Some might have a particular effect you really want (for me it's +mana/hit as I drain mana like there's no tomorrow), another might provide better protection but less dps.   But pure dps isn't necessarily always what's important depending on what skills/spells you are using and how you are using Kat.  A semi-good item which can be customized through essences might be preferable to a good one that can't.  So anyway, I'm finding far more loot with useful possibilities compared to D3 or TL2.  This kind of slows the pacing a bit so that you can breathe and consider what you've got after almost every major fight, which actually I enjoy.  It captures that sense that I can tweak my character (and my pet) to the way I want it and (hopefully) see the benefits immediately in the next fight. 

Couple of folks asked me what I thought about this - short answer, it's a steal!!!

I was leery when I saw it was a bargain priced ARPG, as I've tried plenty that cost more that have been a quick bust.  This one, so far, has been great.  As Hepcat said, it has a very strong Titan Quest feel to it.  I hate to say that the look/feel of the game is surprisingly more appealing than Grim Dawn (yes I realize GD is only in Alpha, but given that it's from the makers of TQ it's a bit shocking to see this game already released and in better form than GD).  And unlike Diablo 3, it captures a lot of the "essence" of the character building/experimentation that D3 lacked.  While there aren't separate classes, as a single player experience, there are enough trees and skills and specializations to mess with, plus attribute points and interesting loot (right from the getgo), that the character pretty much feels immediately personalized.  I found myself pausing quite a bit to think about how I wanted to spend my points and mold my character to a particular playstyle.  The loot system is fairly standard fare, but drops seem to get into the good/useful quality quite quickly instead of making you wait the way many of these games like to do.

The best feature in the game, though, is the "pet."  In this case it's in the form of Katarina, a ghost who essentially takes the Torchlight pet approach one step further.  You can designate a number of AI choices such as defend/attack, ranged or melee, plus customize her gear and attributes and skills.  You can set her to pick up items at your discretion in a very simple checklist fashion (I have her picking up gold, normal loot and potions).  And yes, she will sell your crap just like in TL.  This is the best "pet" implementation I've seen in an ARPG to date in terms of usefulness and the amount of customization.  She also has OK voice acting and is apparently part of the storyline as well.

The graphics look fantastic, and the voice acting ranges from funny/bad to decent.  The main character is pretty good all in all, and it's surprising just how much voice there is given it's priced as a budget game.

Of course it could all fall apart later but first impressions are really solid, and this is coming from someone who's pretty picky about their ARPGs.

The show got picked up for another season a little while back, so more to look forward to!

I really love the Norma character/actress as well, she does such a great job being neurotic and bitchy and smothering and then suddenly sweet and lovable.  I don't know how they manage to do it, but there's almost no hint of sexual tension between Norma/Norman, yet you still have these weird creepy feelings when she crawls into bed with him or holds him too long. 

Ultimately I think it will be hard for me as I really like Norman, creepy weirdisms and all.  But clearly they are taking him down the road to crazy killer-ville, so it can't last forever...

The finale was pretty cool, made up for a lot of the annoyances of the rest of the season.  Lot of nice little moments, plenty of surprises, and the "tease" with the humanity potion was really well done.  I certainly didn't see it coming and they did a great job playing multiple sides.

Next year should be interesting to see how they split the shows and who is coming back (or not), aside from the "big 3".  Will Matt end up on the Originals?  Is Jeremy coming back?  Bonnie?  Werewolf boy?  Caroline?

I'm planning on catching up with the show over the summer in time for season 3 and the spin-off (if I still like the show after season 2 that is).

I hadn't heard about a spinoff, what's that about?

I still enjoy the show a lot.  The writing does get a little inconsistent/wishy-washy at times but for the most part it's very entertaining.  They continue to have different twists on familiar characters, which can be a lot of fun.

I totally understood the jury's feelings toward Dawn, I was more wondering about fans who were sending her death threats, etc. 

(Spoiler Alert in case you didn't see who won and still care!)

Interesting wrap up to the season with enough surprises and blindsides to keep me satisfied.  All things considered it was a pretty good/fun season with a deserving winner (taking 4 challenges including the most important 2 at the end, never voted against once and winning all the final votes - pretty dominating when it comes to Survivor terms).  I was really hoping doofus Eddie could win a freaking challenge to get himself into the final 3 to make it interesting, but alas being super hot is about all he's got going for him.  An Eddie Dawn Sheri final would have been very interesting.  Given how bitter Brenda was, she prob would have voted for Eddie, giving him at least 4 votes (2 Amigos + Andrea).  Cochran, Phillip, Eric would probably go to Dawn, leaving Michael, who could potentially be an Eddie vote.  Oh well, certainly it wouldn't have been the complete landslide.     

The oddest thing I thought was the amount of hate Dawn suffered for last week's blindside of Brenda.  That was Cochran's idea, Cochran's move, and Cochran's timing to bring it up while at the reward that Brenda sacrificed for to give him.  Dawn didn't even get that reward!  I get that Brenda held her responsible because she was closer relationship-wise but odd that all the fans seemed to do the same and were so bitter/adamant about it.

This season has been pretty disappointing, particularly after losing Alaric and (shirtless) Jeremy.   More importantly Elena became unbearable in every form (emotions, no emotions, sired, not sired, as Katherine).  Ugh.  Along with that the wishy washy brothers have become equally irritating.  Bonnie's powers are all over the place, which makes the threat levels inconsistent and hard to care about.  Matt has probably been the best character this year, and Caroline has been pretty good, particularly playing off Klaus.

They said the cure would be a surprise.  Given that I'll guess it's Damon, that would be pretty cool. 

Awesome 3.0 Update just released with 3 new heroes, new units, a 2nd campaign, more upgrades, etc.  An awesome game just got that much more awesome!!!

Also a little while back they released a free version if you were wavering because of the $1.99 pricetag.  But seriously for all the content and replay value this game is worth at least $20-30 if not more.

We finally got The Wanderers guild up!!!  Thanks to all involved for their patience.

Please post your @acctname here if you can't find someone to invite you.  Seems like shard you started on doesn't matter (as people have mentioned).  Teggy joined us without incident even though he rolled on a different shard.

Presently these people can invite:

@rittch68
@1Cortilian1
@Phalcan554
@kublaiex
@carverllewis

I've only unlocked the first tier of Guild Bank (it takes crystals) but if it looks like we need more, I'm sure we can work something out.

I quite like the combat in this. Are there no archers in D&D or just this game? I had to play a melee character 

Archer should be coming out soon, they are probably saving it for "release" or for $$$.

Sadly another disappointing iOS Diablo clone venture.  I keep thinking one of these is going to break through and be the next Diablo, but something is always missing.

The good news is the graphics look great and the core combat has possibly the best Diablo feel to it of all the clones I've tried.  The bad news is it is structured into missions very much like another game whose name escapes me.  In other words the loot you pick up isn't accessible until after you've completed a full map/mission.  I'm not sure what happens if you can't finish (die, crash, etc), whether you retail the xp and loot.

And as a free game, it again suffers from the dilemma of IAP structuring.  I wish one of these devs would just make a Diablo game and make us pay for the full game instead of creating IAP gameplay.  The IAP system doesn't look nearly as bad as DH4 so far, but it's still a disappointment.

I picked it up and while it isn't blowing me away I am finding it fun.  I know a lot of stuff was dropped during development and I think a lot of people feel a bit cheated because of that with the Kickstarter campaign but I didn't follow any of that.

I think a big problem was just how long the game took to come out after it was Kickstart-ed.  The original release date was summer 2011 IIRC.  At the time it really looked like a great little concept game, especially for fans of Game Dev Story.  From there it looks to me like the developers GRRMartined (that's my new word for when someone buys into their own hype, bites off more than they can chew, and becomes too pretentious and takes way too long to get something done) and couldn't get the game out.

I haven't got to spend much time with it yet, but if the tutorial was any indication, it's not nearly as polished and fun as I'd hoped it would be.

I think the problem with this is that they split the show-running talent, which can be tough on both shows.  Buffy/Angel struggled for a while before finding their strides.  

More importantly, Klaus has probably been the most enjoyable character on the show this season, and now they are taking him away.  Plus messing with the Klaus/Caroline relationship which is/was by far the most interesting one this season.  Elena and the brothers have been bugging the crap out of me all season.  Heck I'd rather they take Caroline over to The Originals and just cancel TWD lol.  Oh but resurrect my hunky Jeremy and bring him over too!

You should run this like Kickstarter, $50 - signed photo from Ethan!  Plus Ken pajama pants. 

That has got to be the cutest baby EVER!!!!

Donated, and best of luck and best wishes!!!!!

Crazy release night, I thought this Diablo-clone was way out but it's here tonight!!!  Looks like all iOS all night!!!!!!

http://toucharcade.com/2013/05/01/gamevil-throws-its-hat-into-the-diablo-like-ring-with-dark-avenger/

TONIGHT!!!! 

This is the FTL-ish Star Trek meets Game Dev Story that's been due out for a long long time.

www.starcommandgame.com

I believe all the lag and server shutdown were all caused by people playing Tilt's adventure!!!!   

I like to think of the $200 has paying to support a game I decided that I liked during the demo weekends.  Kinda like Kickstarter, except I got to play before backing. 

Ditto!  Although I think I pledged the same amount to some other Kickstarter which I've received absolutely nothing from. 

As for the chests, I've opened about 10 and the best I got were some runes.

Tilt I finally got to play part one of your adventure.  I really liked it, except I got stuck in one portion that might have been a game glitch, I'm not sure. 

It's the part by the waterfall where you find the blob of stuff with the first note telling you he's moving to higher ground.  For whatever reason it wouldn't trigger the first few times I examined.  I ended up going all over the map looking for something else but finally came back and somehow it triggered.  Really odd, the yellow sparkly thing and the blue circle on the map would make it seem like it could be somewhere up above (higher ground).   

The out of game crafting is a great touch, this game is filled with little things like that.

OK I hope so, I hate all that server crap.  I made my first character and ran the tutorial before work but I can always remake if the shard thing is an issue:

Rittchard Exsulum @ rittch68  (cleric)

Ack, there are multiple shards!  I just picked Mindflayer, no particular reason.

I'll be starting a (very casual) Wanderers guild once the game gets going, so of course as usual you are all welcome to join up.  Guild website is at:

www.the-wanderers-guild.com

If there's enough interest and a need, we'll set up a dedicated sub-forum for the guild so that info isn't all packed into a single thread.

Either way, hope to see some of you in game really soon!!  I'm really looking forward to it.

Pre-purchased Dead Island on PC - got it for $15 at GMG using a sale and store credit. And just purchase both the original Dragons Dogma for $19 on Amazon and the Dark Arisen. Did always want to get the DD games just never got around to it so nows the perfect time.

From what I read dark arise  is a standalone that includes the original game so I think you don't need to buy that separately?

Honestly this sounds like a train wreck to me.  

That's pretty harsh LOL.  I suppose your opinion has changed quiet a bit after 2 years.

Hehe, clearly I didn't know what they were aiming for from that original description, and didn't know there would be a Diablo 2 influence.

I still stand by the weirdness of having multiple heroes in the exact same costumes running around.  I suppose you can just choose to ignore them for the most part, but then the question goes back to why make this an MMO?

That trailer is just fantastic!  Can't wait for this one.

I voted on my laptop, iphone and ipad lol.  i wonder if you can vote with any device that has a browser.

Well it looks like after last night's episode, most of our conjecture has been overturned.  Maybe not completely but for the most part... 

As much as some of the side elements seem unnecessary, I have to say I am really falling for Freddie Highmore's performance as Norman.  His facial expressions are just wonderful and he's able to convey so much without dialog (actually he's probably better without dialog at times).  Best scene for me was when he's riding on the back of his brother's motorcycle, the way he just lights up, it's just a beautifully filmed moment.  Equally impressive is his walk home after getting laid, that exuberance and joy boiling underneath but suppressed from a lifetime of holding things in.

I'm really wondering what it is they are planning/thinking longer term.  Norma doesn't seem nearly as overbearing and controlling as you'd think she'd need to be to really drive Norman insane.  I mean the kid is going out at night, dating, Scooby-Doo exploring, getting laid - way more than I was ever allowed to do as a teenager lol. 

I liked the second episode more, I'm not sure why.  Maybe because they toned down Hannibal's creepy makeup a bit, he seemed more normal and accessible.  I also noticed they very clearly set the show into the present with technology, which seems like it might have been a change from the original pilot.

I also re-watched Red Dragon over the weekend, I had forgotten that they show how Will ends up stopping Hannibal.  It will be interesting to see if/how they adhere to the books (or not).

It looks like Star Command might really be coming out soon, I think it's in approval...  might be worth it's own thread, we'll see.

I couldn't find the scene in question, all I saw was some freaky rat and a dude with a $ square on his head.  WTF.

Okay. I'm on your team... Well, let me rephrase that , I seriously didn't see anything that everyone is speaking of at all... Confused   .

I finally saw it, you have to look really closely at the first two panels, on the TV ($) head guy, there is a frame of hot gay action.

Yeah I highly recommend Kingturn to anyone who likes these type of fantasy TBS games.  It may seem a little stripped down at first relative to Fire Emblem, but in some ways I think it's an even better game.  And yes, as Misguided said, even the "casual" difficulty can be challenging.  

While there's a loose story going on to thread the scenarios, it's really just about playing each map, leveling/equipping your party members, choosing which to deploy (when you can), and beating a pretty tough AI.  You can tell there's some influence from Game of Thrones, so it's possible the "plot" will become more interesting as it goes further, but really it doesn't matter that much.  The gameplay is the thing here.  

What sets it apart strategically from FE is that instead of set scripted kind of scenarios, the way the battles play out is almost strictly about your gameplay and strategic choices.  In FE, re-enforcements can be triggered by the scripting or moving to a spot or killing someone etc. - sometimes winning a scenario boils down to memorizing when things are going to happen and not trigger them until you are ready.   In this game, every map has a number of "tents" which are essentially spawn/heal camps.  You are limited in how many active numbers you can use at a time (like FE), but unlike FE, if one goes down, as long as you control the tent and there are resources available, you can bring in someone else up to the fixed maximum.  If you can capture an enemy tent, you get a +1 to how many units you can use, so it's absolutely a huge deal to defend your own tent while taking others.  Sometimes it comes down to a war of attrition; the AI system is based on a percentage as to whether or not they can get another unit.  As I understand it, the more you kill a unit, the less percent chance it has of coming back, but often enough it feels like they have unlimited resources.  

In some ways it can become a big game of cat and mouse, feint and counter-feint.  Unlike most TBS games, there are times when it's better to NOT kill off an enemy so that they can't spawn out a new character to protect a tent you are going after (they are also limited in their overall numbers).  Sometimes you have to "fake" going for a tent, see if/how the AI reacts, and then either pull back or push forward depending on what it does.  The AI is really pretty amazing at times, it seems to know what I'm doing and counter it effectively.  Maybe sometimes it's my imagination but it even seems to do things like deliberately sacrifice units so that it can bring out another one to defend.

Dungeon Hunter 4 just came out.  Gameplay is solid but it's yet another "free" game filled with IAP insanity which I think may be a turnoff to most.

For turn-based lovers, I'm really enjoying Kingturn, which also just released.  It's kind of like a low budget Fire Emblem (no cutscenes, etc), but that's very close to what I've been craving on the iPhone/iPad.  OH, and you can turn the music off lol!