Regarding the Avengers not showing up in every movie now, you just gotta take a big suspension of disbelief pill.

also, what was up with that montage during the beginning of the end credits?  it felt out of place.

Yeah, I took that to be a closing montage for the end of a trilogy.

[Spoiler]

One thing I liked about this movie was:

Spoiler for Hiden:

The fact I had no idea Khan was the villain in it.  I don't read about movies and so while I knew I wanted to see this, I knew nothing about it going in.  When the guy said his name is Kahn, I literally said "oh shit."  Was very nice.

Between this and the surprise in Iron Man 3, I feel like a kid again, which was kind of the last period in my life I could go to a movie and be surprised at a summer blockbuster type movie.

I'm right with you on that one. I did an actual cartoon-like jaw drop at that moment. I'm simply amazed I was able to make it to see the movie without the Internet spoiling that.

I think it's...

Spoiler for Hiden:

The closest I'm going to get to experiencing the Star Wars "I am your father" surprise. I had even seen some Star Trek speculation about how the Into Darkness villain was going to be expanding on some obscure character from an Original Series episode, so I was thrown off the scent of the surprise as much as I possibly could have been.

As disgusting as that is, my eyes are just drawn to "peice".

That, and the schizophrenic capitalization.

Is there a go-to place for seeing what's announced as being shown?

Is there any word of new 3DS hardware in the works?

Sorry if this has been mentioned somewhere in the 13 pages but have they said anything about getting rid of the 'install' step for downloaded games?

I'll take that install step over the 15 steps it takes to install the weekly OS updates.

Hope they can find a way to make it stand out.  There have been quite a few clones to come out since the Incredible Machine days, and those screenshots look more similar to the Incredible Machine era than they do to say, Amazing Alex.

255 was a much easier maximum value to remember.

[Spoiler]

There's plenty of classics of literature, scifi or not, that I haven't read, but still would be interested in the story for, and any turns it might take.

Especially so if there's a new movie about it. Keep the spoiler tags please, even if I already know the story, others appreciate the courtesy.

Also, what's the deal with the F-22s? I know the book was written a while ago, but what's the gap between the first alien attacks and the start of Ender's Game?

It's something like

Spoiler for Hiden:

50-60 years

Does it have a game mechanic wherein each run gives you tools/abilities of some sort to aid successive runs?  That seems to be the surest way for a roguelike to hook me.

Are there missions to attack Zeppelins if you're playing the German side?

I'm playing as the Germans now and that mission seems to be replaced with one to bomb enemy gas supplies.

I do confess most of my WWI aviation schooling came via playing Red Baron.

Thanks for the tip about the accelerated option.  I took that to mean it would make for a shorter campaign. 

I'd love to hear how the planes differ.  I've tried experimenting with having different crew flying different plane types, but I can't tell the difference yet.  So far it seems like you just always want to take the newest plane available.

Buyer beware. I finished up the British campaign and started into the Ameican campaign and... it's the same thing. The planes are different, but the missions seem identical and follow the exact same progression. You even start out with the same mundane tutorial missions.

The game itself is still fun, but unless the French and German campaigns are somehow different, I don't recommend anyone pay for more than the $1 British campaign.

[Spoiler]

FWIW I liked the Tennessee kid a lot, and got a big kick out of the post-credits scene. As for the film itself, I enjoyed it a lot, but it's a tier below Iron Man 1, which I just never get tired of.

I actually had more of a problem with the middle act than I did with act 3.

Spoiler for Hiden:

There was just way too long a stretch of Tony-only time, but then I guess that was the point of the story. I think the with-suit pacing would have been fine for me if his entry into Ben Kingsley's house had been in a real (but severely damaged) Iron Man suit with jury rigged gizmos attached, instead of simply it being Tony Stark with gizmos.

Question for folks who know the comic books:

Spoiler for Hiden:

Is Pepper turning into an action hero something that happens in the comic books? That part at the end where she saves the day seemed really out of place to me.

I don't quite understand what the difference is between the different planes.  Differing weapons and firing arcs, ok, that makes sense.  But how does different maneuverability or a different top speed play out when all of your movement is based on hexes and movement cards?

A description for those of us not in the know?

Turn based WWI aerial combat akin to Wings of War.

The free part seems very cool, so I bit on buying the campaigns. Buying the aces, not sure if I care enough.

Their moneymaking scheme seems very decent and not offensive. The first 8 missions are free (demo), the rest of the first campaign is a buck ($1 to buy the app), then there's three more campaigns (DLC), ace pilots (bonus DLC), and then some absurd and optional ways to pay a buck to speed up gameplay (we won't say no to your money, in-app-purchase addicts!)

What's the difference between the different human factions?  Is it just flavor text?

I still have it installed. I still have hope they will improve it. Technically, the game is now playable.. but it needs bigger lots and new buildings, imo.

Is it?  I thought I heard that there were still broken casinos and wolf pack service vehicles.

Now that I'm a parent, just 7 hours of unbroken sleep is enough to get me this excited.

On a business trip recently got to have an evening free of kid obligations.  I got to go to bed at the hour of my choosing, and wake up whenever I felt like it.  I even had those heavy duty hotel curtains that block out so much light you have no idea when the sun rises.

I woke up in the morning, felt completely rested, felt no need to sleep in further.  I looked at the clock and it turned out to be 7:30am.

Sounds like with a few more bug fixes they'll be ready for beta test.

Just thinking about it, I think we'd be better served heading over to boardgamegeek in search of a user-made quick start guide.

Oh man, there's going to be a new Star Wars movie!

I've never played the boardgame but I bought this based on all the glowing recommendations.  It does indeed seem super awesome, but I'm a little intimidated by the learning curve.  The tutorial does a good job going over the basics, but I'd love to see some advanced tutorials.

I used to fairly regularly listen to the same college radio a capella show that Ironrod mentioned, "All A Cappella."  It sounds like you would enjoy it if you checked it out. Looks like they have an online stream: http://wers.org/

Have you seen Pitch Perfect?

I have not seen Pitch Perfect, it is very rare for me to watch a movie these days.  I don't think I have been to a movie theater in the last 8 or 9 years.

There are some new technologies that allow one to see movies in their own home!  They call it Home-O-Vision.

If you're not a movie fan, I don't know if you'd like this one, but you may want to at least check out the soundtrack.

Out of curiosity, what brings you back to Forza 4 more than Horizons?

I got Horizons on sale and liked it plenty, but I found myself missing the exercise of learning a track and getting better and better at it. With Horizons you never really know what's coming, which can also be fun, but when I drive on virtual Laguna Seca or Maple Valley, I know I'll be pushing my virtual cars to their very limits.

I used to fairly regularly listen to the same college radio a capella show that Ironrod mentioned, "All A Cappella."  It sounds like you would enjoy it if you checked it out. Looks like they have an online stream: http://wers.org/

Have you seen Pitch Perfect?

Thanks, I've been playing entirely in landscape so that sounds like a likely culprit.

Yeah, I've been trying to give it the benefit of the doubt, but I have to shift over to join the naysayers. This just isn't fun in its current state.

Not sure what you mean. All of the spells have their letters at the top of the page and they "light up" if you can cast them. You're not seeing them?

Huh.  I looked all over but I didn't see the letters at the tops of the pages.  I'll have to check again on my next playthrough (currently trying on with the 'no spellbook' choice at the beginning.)

How do I use all the spells in my spellbook?  The first few have their letter codes listed, but in the pages that follow there are just descriptions with stamina costs and necessary reagents. Do I not yet have access to those latter ones?

I've only scratched the surface, but this game seems like it's clearly in the same genre as FTL but it's definitely a different take.  I probably will still like FTL better but this seems like it will also be fun.

Regarding Victoria's issues with the game, my impression is that the micromanagement is an integral part of the gameplay.  Where in FTL you're encouraged to pause the game frequently and issue orders as needed, Star Command is trying to keep things real time and more hectic.  You're supposed to be overwhelmed by all the things you have to do to keep your ship functional and fighting back.

I will agree though that it's extremely clunky only being able to move one crew member at a time when fighting off boarding actions.  It feels like when I dust off Dune 2 and have to remember how to play an RTS without being able to group select.

Well that's a contender for the creepiest out of context top post I've seen in a long while.

It is known.

How did they lose a suspect with the amount of law enforcement that was chasing???

It's a ghost car!

>>>Popeyes has KFC beat by a wide margin

Agreed.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Popeye's resemble the extra crispy variation of Kentucky Fried Chicken?  If so, flawed comparison.  Original Recipe is where it's at.

I would love to see a Gaming Trend kickstarter of some sort.  I have no idea what you would want to shoot for or how you'd pull it off, but I think there's the potential for something pretty nifty there.

Quick Question; was it a public Holiday for you guys on Monday?

Nope.  Nothing special about it other than it was the normal deadline for turning in taxes.

Okay,thanks Engine

I was a state holiday in Massachusetts. Patriots Day celebrates the first battles of the Revolutionary War, and it's always the day they run the marathon. Government services like post offices all shut down, so this year Masachusetts taxes were due on Tuesday. Many businesses give their employees the day off. Not mine. 

Friends are saying speciically Sprint cell phones were shut down around here.

I'm back in Boston for a business trip. I walked through those exact bomb areas at least 3 times over the weekend.  I had so many coworkers and friends running, volunteering, or spectating. Everyone's on edge here waiting to hear that everyone else is ok. Can hear plenty of sirens and such from my office but I wasn't close enough to feel the blast.

I'm posting this from a cell phone so I don't know what's up with that news of no cell phone service.

As far as I know, all Steam games are things you download; no streaming Steam.

While you're browsing the Steam library, add any potential future buys to your wishlist. Steam will email you when they go on sale.