FELICITY!!!!

Some thoughts after 6 hours (just got to Al Mamoon):

The bad
-  Probably the only RPG this generation that I honestly cannot think of a negative thing to say about it.  Been racking my brain...nothing comes to mind.  That's a good thing.

It's a trivial thing I guess but I wish the spoken audio was more consistent. The english voice acting is quite good and I find myself not pressing buttons to skip though the dialog. However, there are times when text boxes will appear along with the spoken audio and then will stop and all you get is just the text boxes. It would enhance the immersion in the game if the spoken audio was heard through all the text box sequences. Like I said, just a trivial thing to me. Otherwise, it's a fantastic, cinematic game.

I made a similar comment earlier and stand by it.  I played a couple more hours this weekend and routinely was distracted by the switch between spoken and text dialog.  It creates a discontinuity in the immersion for lack of a better term, and I find it hard to believe there wasn't enough room for the dialog on a blu-ray disc.  I think they incorporated numerous languages, maybe that was the issue.  As for the game itself, it still hasn't grabbed me the way I hoped, but certainly seems promising. 

I totally forgot a friend of mine convinced me to buy this on steam - it comes out 1/29?

Very nice conclusion to the season.  Fairly satisfying endings to each of the core characters' storylines and some wonderful acting by Jessica Lange (no surprise).

Already confirmed Evan Peters and Sarah Poulson will join Jessica for the next season, I'm so happy.  I'm totally in love with Evan Peters, no one looks hotter in a wifebeater and tighty whities 

Let em get married.  Let em be as miserable as the rest of us.

lol that's hilarious.  Seriously even if it became legal I don't know if I'd want to bother, what a pain in the ass!

You did that on purpose.

Thanks for noticing!!!!!   

I have mixed impressions thus far.  I often don't have large blocks of gaming time, so I was going a bit crazy waiting for the "game" to start.  No doubt the music and animation is wonderful and magical, but it's just so much exposition.  The only gameplay I've experienced so far is moving from one spot to another.  I realize gaming is coming eventually but I'm not sure I like the intro/prelude to be this extended.  The other minor nit I have is that the dialog is not 100% spoken.  Given how good the quality is in general, the game feels like it should all be spoken.  I got sad every time the voice went out.  Anyway, hoping to get some bigger time blocks to play this weekend.

Tried some co-op and it's a blast!  Co-op is essentially a 2-man survival mode.  You can either go in with a Game Center friend or choose to Auto Match.  For the latter, I wish there were some way you could communicate with your partner before you jump in so you could decide what to focus on and split duties up.  I had a great game where the other guy was knight and did a lot of taunting and summoning of units, and I had happened to bring a rune for cost reduction to buildings, so it just naturally worked out well by dumb luck.

It looks like they are working on a Versus mode and some form of Arena as well as adding new classes, etc.  This is looking like it will end up on my iOS game of the year short list.

I don't think I played any of the original games (which is odd since it's one of my favorite genres) but for some reason I'm really excited about this one.  Enjoyed the demo alot, wish it was longer.

I think the answer lies in what you mean by portable. I adore my iPad, and carry it all over the house, use it for work and games, etc. not the most convenient size for cruising around town, though.

I think just in general since it will vary somewhat for everyone from as small as your phone to maybe as big as your laptop. 

The iPad Mini is probably my current favorite, the size/weight/proportion is close to perfect.  I really never anticipated it being a better gaming platform than the regular iPad but as Roguetad mentioned it fits great in one hand and it's so darn light for the screensize, power and flexibility you get.

I've decided to use my inane topic starting skills to get a little more going here. 

sounds interesting, but since it is on FOX I'll wait until there is a season or two completed before diving in.  I've started liking too many shows on FOX only to see them get cancelled during or just after the first season.  NEVER AGAIN!!  REMEMBER THE SERENITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fox never supported Serenity at even an iota of what it has The Following; I must have seen a bazillion commercials for it and I don't even watch Fox much.  They opened pretty well and have had good reviews so I think you are pretty safe to invest.   They even announced they would show 14(?) episodes in a row or something like that.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/01/22/the-following-ratings/

Let em get married.  Let em be as miserable as the rest of us.

lol that's hilarious.  Seriously even if it became legal I don't know if I'd want to bother, what a pain in the ass!

....for portable gaming?

I used to think the iPad screen size was awesome for gaming but now that I have the Mini I really like the feel of gaming on it better.  It's smaller and lighter and gives a better feel of control, just needs a resolution upgrade.  iPhone is simply too small for my taste even with the improvement with 5.  I recently got a 3DSXL and I really like the size and feel of it, and the dual screens are nice - but the graphics quality is pretty weak.  Vita is also very nice overall but thus far hasn't grabbed me the way I thought it would.

You haters are just footloose!  Kick off your Sunday shoes and enjoy!!!!

Obama recognizes gays in inaugural, statement or placatement?  Gay marriage, controversial or yesterday's hot topic?  Supreme Court or supremely a bore?

Discuss!!!

Awesome preview!  A lot of must buys for me (Dragon Age 3, Elder Scrolls Online) but nothing like last year (Diablo 3, GW2 and Torchlight 2) where it was titles I'd been waiting so many years for.  The good news is much less chance for major disappointment or letdown.

I still think D3 is a very fun game. It's different from D2, but I like the differences a lot. Basically it's an action game now, with NO roleplaying (ie. building YOUR personal character) at all. Just pick what sounds like fun or might work, and beat stuff up.

I think you hit the issue right there.  By stripping the core roleplaying elements down too far, they killed a significant part of the "essence" of the Diablo series.  This isn't to say it's not an awesome engine and a fun game, but as BJ said, it lost a critical part of the DNA from the first two game, and the fact is it is billed as a sequel.  When Brevik left it was pretty obvious that something was going wrong from a philosophical point of view, and unfortunately too many die hard fanboys were happy to go along with whatever Blizzard tossed at them, giving Blizzard enough ammo to keep proceeding with this very different approach.

Fox has been promoting the crap out of this new Ex-agent vs. Serial Killer show, did anyone else catch the premiere?  I am not a Kevin Bacon fan at all and I really wish they had chosen someone else as the lead, but in any case the show seemed solid enough regardless.  Luckily they chose a good actor for the main antagonist and the plotline has a bunch of twists and turns that keep you coming back for more.  In case you were wondering how they might sustain a full season, they pretty much lay the groundwork out in the premiere.  This guy is not just a serial killer, he's managed to become some form of a cult leader while in prison, so he's got help all over the place on the outside.  It's a bit far-fetched but hopefully they'll delve into how he is able to create such a devoted following.

Thumbs up so far.

Surprised this isn't gaining much traction here, it seems to be doing really well on toucharcade and is steadily rising on the iTunes charts.

While it is kind of repetitive, it certainly becomes very challenging very quickly to create a build order that works for the scenario and with your class plus your style of play.  Balance could use some tweaking but overall it's a fantastic game and it looks like the devs will be supporting and enhancing it.

http://appshopper.com/games/heroes-and-castles

This has got to be one of the best original iOS games I've played in a long time.  It's kind of like a castle/tower defense game mixed with an ARPG.  Some similarities to Dungeon Defender but I'd say more immediately accessible and clearly developed for a touch interface. 

Essentially you choose one of three classes and defend your castle in waves through buying buildings and units a la TD, but jump into the fray in 3rd person combat.  Of course there are various upgrades you can make in between battles, to your character, your buildings and/or your units.   The action is fast and furious and can get a little overwhelming, but it's a blast and although a bit limited, the 3D environment is very impressive all things considered.

After you finish the campaign, I guess it unlocks an "Endless" mode and I think there is co-op play as well.

 

[Spoiler]

I thought they handled the big twist in season 1 quite well.  At least the twist I found surprising:

Spoiler for Hiden:

that the daughter was actually dead for much of the latter half of the season.

As for season 2, I'm really enjoying it.  You can tell the actors are having a ball doing it.  The story is so friggin' convoluted and over the top that I can't wait to see what they'll pull out of their collective behinds each week. 

This season has really been one crazy ride, it's so weird it's hard to describe.  I honestly can't tell where they are heading, and more often than not, I find myself wondering if what I just saw really happened or not.  It seems like they are wrapping up storylines each week, with the finale being focused on Jude.  I don't expect them to pull it all together but it would be pretty cool if they could, for instance, have Kit's kid(s?) stop Dylan McDermott in the present(?) or explain why he/they were so important.

I'm now technically under NDA so I can't say much about the game, but I'm curious why they would swap genres to MOBA where the competition is presently really fierce. 

Cultural upbringing is a hard one to move away from. Its easy to spot here who adheres to the American way of thinking, and who doesn't. Thats not to say one culture is better than another, but sometimes it pays to think about things you take for granted and then perhaps see if it's the product of cultural upbringing, which often adheres to outmoded or old standards that doesn't apply to current times.

Exactly!  For me it's clearly not a cultural OR an upbringing thing.  I was born in America, my parents are immigrants but mostly traditional Chinese in cultural background.  I try to approach things like this logically, or maybe just with a bit of independent thought and question.  Why is a male nipple OK to show but not a female nipple?  Why are most parents OK with violent content (even looking at cartoons) but not OK with anything even remotely sexually suggestive?  Would you honestly rather have your kids see lots of killing/maiming/torturing vs. having sex?   Why is it fine for children to celebrate 20 giant men smashing each other over a ball or 2 guys beating the crap out of each other, but emotionally scarring to see a star-covered nipple?  Why is there a "fear" of sexuality at all? 

Apparently you can now pre-order and get into beta. 

https://www.sinsofadarkage.com/

I think that Cyberpower and iBuypower are related by common ownership, but they seem a little shady about acknowledging that.  I don't think I would do it again.  Maybe my experience was a rare exception.        

Don't know about the ownership thing, and I've certainly seen both good and bad comments about both.  But I've physically been to and inside the Cyberpower building and while it does appear kind of chop-shoppy, I probably wouldn't call it shady.  At least they were open enough to let me walk through and see the workbenches, etc. - I've certainly seen messier labs where I've worked. 

I think it's probably luck whether you get one of the more skilled techs to build yours.  They used to have a paid option for better handwork but I think that's gone now.  That said, I've had crappy experiences with big names like Dell and Gateway as well so who can you really trust?  If you go with one of the "premier" fancy shops, you may get great craftsmanship but you'll pay handsomely for it.  But if you're really willing to pay that much, you'd probably be better off with a Mac.

I keep playing this game, I tend to get addicted to these, and I did eventually break through the "wall."  I spent a little real money (primarily to play one of the extra characters) and on a few mid level items.  However I do believe the key (other than just leveling up) was saving up enough cash to get "group leech" items.  These allow you to heal the whole party back a small percentage of the damage you do.  I'm now closing in on level 20 for my party and near the end of the third planet.

The characters and sense of humor are definitely amusing, but it's the main combat that keeps me playing.  There's just some weird grinding fun to inching up your xp and cash.  I'm saving up for a rare item that should hopefully take me over the top.

The game really needs a balance overhaul.  Certain missions are just way too tough, but the majority are way too easy.  Every once in a while you'll happen on a "perfect" challenge.  I realize the hard part is to balance with the IAP items, which is why I'd much prefer they just make a balanced game and charge, say $2-3 with full access to everything except maybe new characters (a la League of Legends).

I ended up naming this my game of the year for 2012 even though it's old.  Crazy to think about how many hours I've played.  I have over 1700 matches that were counted on one account, plus another 2 alt accounts.  So say 2000 matches at about an average of half hour each - 1000 hours    I don't want to calculate further and creep myself out.

I like her comment:

“I think it's part of the natural growing-up of the medium, and of people's view of video games. The whole ‘video games are for children’ thing, most gamers don’t agree with that. They know what age they are and they know what they want. But the games publishers are always worrying about that perception. They don't want to do stuff that will upset anyone. I just think it'll take a few brave games to break that perception, and then it will become normal.”

Which also goes back to my question, how and why did it become "normal" to glorify the slaughtering of people but not the sex-ing of them?  Honestly I just think it's kind of illogical and strange that a movie like Hostel can show a scene of a girl's eye getting ripped out (and fed back to her or something, I don't remember I closed my eyes lol), and be considered "OK" for general consumption, but heaven forbid we see a PENIS going into a girl, or even more ungodly, an ERECT PENIS  .  Or how ridiculous it was a few years ago that the entire country went into an uproar when Janet Jackson' pretty little titty showed up on TV.  I mean seriously, I'm gay and I'm not afraid of some boobage, what is everyone freaking out about   

The last few PCs I've bought have all been Cyberpower as well, they generally have a very strong selection of the latest and greatest so you can mix and match to your heart's content.  The PCs I've had with them have had mixed success in terms of longevity, but I can't say if that was for certain something on their end or more me tweaking or upgrading or whatever.

What I've done in the past few years kind of goes against my natural instincts to want to upgrade, but has thus far worked out extremely well.  I went with an iMac with the best processor and graphics card, then upgraded only the memory.  Running Windows 7 on Bootcamp I have not had any significant issues with drivers, crashes, etc.  Everything just works beautfiully and the 27" monitor is probably one of the best available anywhere.  It's pricey but really feels worth the extra cost.

I haven't used Windows 8 much yet, but just remember if you go touch screen on a desktop configuration, make sure you have thought through the physical ergonomics of it all, i.e. will it strain you to reach toward the monitor depending on the size and where you place it, and do you really want fingerprints and such on your (presumably) large screen monitor to deal with, etc.  Personally I think it only makes sense on a laptop or tablet.

The second screen is filled with GAY PORN.  Also naked pictures of RON.   

JK, I keep hearing about this second screen business but personally I don't get it.  When I watch TV, I want to watch something good enough that I want to actually watch it and pay attention to it.  If it's lame, then why bother?  Or I suppose I could play a game or something but that kind of means I'm not really watching at all....

While I thought GW2 combat system is pretty brilliant on paper, I didn't think group dynamics were that much better in dungeons in practice.  I've had more fun with the holy trinity system.  I missed the complexity of builds from GW1, something was lost in the dumbing down/simplification of skills.  Trait system was pretty cool but in the end you are still limited to the relatively small number of weapon skills.

GW2's problem isn't/wasn't the combat system IMO, it's more the lack of coherency and focus in the game content.  By ambitiously trying to be all things to all players, they ended up watering down every element and losing touch with each element, and in some ways allowed each element to hold the other back.  I honestly think they would have had a stronger game, actually stronger THREE games had they split it all up.  Game 1 would be a single player story-focused adventure set in the MMORPG world/lore.  Game 2 would be a dynamic content MMORPG that mixed world PvP with dynamic PvE.  Game 3 would be a competitive PvP game like League of Legends.  All 3 games could use the same basic combat engine but they wouldn't necessarily have to cater to each other or use the exact same items and skills and whatnot.  This way you allow the PvE game to go crazy wild with loot and lore, the MMORPG will always be focused on groups and group combat in a dynamic environment, and the eSports mode can be focused and balanced properly.

Just an FYI, the game hits a wall after the first two planets.  I love the game art style and little character stuff, but the balance needs work.  Typically these games require some amount of grinding if you don't want to spend money on IAP, and I'm fine with that.  If you like the gameplay you probably don't mind repeating the same fights over for more cash/loot.  The problem is if/how you balance that with being able to progress with absolutely no IAP.  I still would prefer a single buy price for a game that is balanced more appropriately and leaves all loot possibilities randomized. 

My personal feeling on it is "It's a product.  I review products.  Somebody out there wants to know whether or not this game is worth their cash" - it's more the community reaction I'm worried about.   The review itself will fall off the front page in a day or two and fall to obscurity with a news push or two.   I just don't want somebody tearing me a new ass because their kid read it or something.

This is where the thread began.  As noted, some/many in the forums don't use the main site as a place for information and reviews.  For some of us, though, it's the primary site we read for reviews, and then some times we may jump into the links provided by people here.  So maybe "censorship" is not the right word choice as it gets peoples' panties all bunched up, but the fact is that the review or even a mention of the game on the front page  was eliminated because of concern that the community would not approve.  And so that's why I got into the annoying double standard I see of "it's OK for me or my kid to see insane amounts of violence, but heaven forbid we see some private parts doing sexy stuff." 

I don't think Ron and the editors need to review every game that exists, but this one fell into his lap (no pun intended) and seemed like it warranted at least a paragraph to describe it and perhaps avoid at all costs if you are afraid of seeing porn in your games (which since I never saw the video link I am presuming based on what people have said).

Oddly enough I stopped having the sorts of issues mentioned with PC games once I officially migrated myself to a Mac (running Bootcamp) as my primary game machine.  I still have a graveyard of PCs in various stages of disarray lying around that I'll have to go through some day, but instead of messing with PC innards on a regular basis, I haven't had a single problem with my iMac in over a year.  Just upgraded to the newer model, hopefully it will be equally stable.

I have a feeling it's going to be a big flop, but I'm curious about the new one from Trion (Defiance) that's tied into the TV series on SyFy

http://defiance.com/en/game/

I suspect both the show and game will fail in the first season, but here's hoping for something good/different 

I should clarify my earlier comment, without this site I wouldn't have even known this game *existed* so there's no way I could search for it.  If it were reviewed (if even only to say that after spending an hour with it there was no redeeming value), I would know I should likely avoid it.  

What interests me about this whole topic is how quickly it can slide into censorship.  What if the editors chose to not review, say, Call of Duty, because it was deemed too bloody or violent or had questionable moral value?  I suspect there would be a very different reaction.  You may say that's a horrible example, but I could easily argue that in the opening hour I played the game, I killed and maimed a crap ton of people with a variety of different weapons.  Some I continued to shoot and maim after they were "dead" just for the fun of it and to see what body parts would fly where and how much blood and guts I could generate.  I know there are plenty of people who would consider this sort of thing morally "wrong."  

Purge makes the statement "Entertainment and sexual arousal for masturbatory purposes are two different things" sound like it is a rule of law, when in fact it's just his personal feeling about entertainment.  I'm sure for some people it's one and the same, or at least could potentially be.  Just like for some people it's fun (or even arousing) to watch a movie or play a game about a family of cannibals that skins peoples' faces off.  Even the definition of what is a "game" is up for grabs these days.  Take the "game" Heroes Call and the others in that series, for instance, it's really just a book with multiple paths.  There have been "games" in the past which were mostly just animations strung together through some simple clicks or choices; I don't know for certain that reaplcing those animations with sex/"porn" rather than something else automatically makes it "bad."

So the question is where do you draw the line?  And who gets to draw the line?  Obviously for a private site like this the owners/reviewers get to decide based on whatver criteria they deem acceptable.  Regardless, I'd still appreciate hearing the opinion of a reviewer here as often as possible (and contrary to some I do read the front page all the time, and this is pretty much the only gaming site I read regularly) about something I might come across, even if it were just a statement that he personally found something morally objectionable.  At least it gives me a frame of reference and a unique point of view to consider.

Not sure what to call this relatively new genre of games which have you managing a party (usually of 4) characters and fighting mobs/bosses to level up, etc.  I've played a number of these now and most have had one or two elements that set them apart, and generally were fun/addictive in their own way.  This one continues with the trend and thus far has been quite fun.  Gameplay-wise it hasn't added anything special to the mix, but the cast of characters is much more interesting and fun compared to any of the other games in this genre that I've tried.  The sci-fi theme is refreshing as well.  If you like these kinds of games, it's worth giving a whirl. 

Sorry I missed this thread over the holidays.  I have to agree with thFool - seems hypocritical to me that our society condemns sexuality in favor of violence.  So it's cool to play games simulating how many different ways I can kill or maim someone, but then we get morally outraged about games that simulate different ways to f someone?  

I'm right there with these guys.  We spend so much time on moral outrage when the media attacks a game as a "murder simulator" that is "corrupting our children" but often do the same when a game like this comes along.  It took violent games years to figure out how to handle violence well (and well a huge segment still seem to be made with a middle school mindset).

I'm cracking up at this argument in this thread.  While yes, certainly our society is pretty fucked up when it comes the acceptance of violence over sex, that's hardly at all the point here.  The point here is that this isn't a game worth reviewing on any site that takes itself remotely close to seriously or has any idea what it's readership is..  It's jerk off material loosely disguised as a game. Are you saying movie sites should review porn alongside the current releases?  Come the fuck on.  Get off the soapbox.

My original point was that it may not warrant a review, but there might be a compelling story here. I don't know, I haven't played it.

Exactly the point!  Without this site, I honestly would have no idea what this title is about because someone has/had already a priori deemed it not even worthy of reviewing based on what?  A personal moral code/standard?  That's as much a soapbox as anything else.  Maybe there was an interesting game somewhere in there or not, but a review would have given me an actual impression from someone I trusted.  Just as there are great games I would never have heard of it weren't for this site, a review of a crappy game could steer me clear from it (or toward it) as well. 

As far as movie "porn" is concerned, sure bring on the reviews - one man's porn is another man's action adventure lol.  Again, why is a violent/torture movie like Saw 7 considered "legitimate" whereas Tittyfuck 69 is not? 

This thread is awesome if I do say so myself!

Sorry I missed this thread over the holidays.  I have to agree with thFool - seems hypocritical to me that our society condemns sexuality in favor of violence.  So it's cool to play games simulating how many different ways I can kill or maim someone, but then we get morally outraged about games that simulate different ways to f someone?