Mr W Phallus

I've hardly played Mario Kart Wii, but that Bullet Bill power up did seem way too OP. On Mario Kart 64 on the other hand, well you can only ever go down 3 positions when playing multiplayer for starters, so you always have a decent chance of catching up if you're half decent. Plus you'll be the one with the best power-ups then.

I'm going to go with Mario Kart 64; not many games manage to appeal to such a universal audience, I think it achieved what it set out to do perfectly. And I don't care if the blue shell is cheap, that's what makes it so satisfying.

Day 09: In Wind Waker It's not really a 'moment' but it's quite upsetting. Also OoT is pretty damn depressing at times, the first time you become an adult is harrowing.

On a thematic level, this binary relationship can be applied as a metaphor for various other binary relationships; for example, a marxis

Damn, the best soundtrack as a whole? That's difficult. It's a bit of a cop-out but I'm going to go for the entire Halo series. Honourable mention goes to OoT; even though it has nothing to rival the amazingness of the Dragon Roost Island Theme, the soundtrack is so ingrained in my mind (despite the fact I've hardly played it) that it deserves a mention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JupMqp7LUHY Loving the new album.

Don't be silly, that man was clearly hanged for being a pirate, and if we take the P from pirate and the N from the noose that he was hanged with then we get Dead PNIsland or Dead Penis Land which tells us this film will be a piece of feminist propaganda where the zombies' constant lust for flesh is an allegory for men's wanton sexuality. Or that's what I see anyway.

Might want to put that in spoiler tags there, buddy.

Actually I'm just not big on paying for DLC full-stop. In fact I can't think of any DLC I've bought that isn't a multiplayer map pack, which is the only type that I can see any justification for (and even then, I expect a decent amount of time to pass before they come out). I'll stop there before I drag this discussion any more off-topic.

I've wanted to see Enter The Void for a while now, but I get the feeling that my laptop screen - or even my pretty outdated TV back home - won't do it the justice it deserves.

How come no one uses iTunes? I just use that since my iPod is synced to it and Spotify for anything I don't have on my library. Or youtube.

I think they're both pretty good, and I can see why they'd want to avoid people reading some kind of racial subtext into an apparently lynched figure (even if the likelihood of this happening is pretty low, we all know how people will seize on the stupidest things if it allows them to slander video-games). The black background works to re-establish some of the menace lost by replacing the hanged figure.

You can in Lair of the Shadow Broker. Well, maybe, but I don't intend to pay for sex in real life, let alone a video-game.

Firstly I don't see how we're going off topic - we're discussing the future of video-games with a particular emphasis on emotional narrative so everything that has been said is relevant. Anyway, Quite how creating a character that will face situations you have never faced yourself requires no imagination or creativity, I can't see. Now making use of genre clichés and stereotypes of space marines and soldiers, that is a different matter entirely. It is possible to apply your own personal experience to a speculative situation, in fact all fiction does this to varying degrees of extremity, otherwise it would just be autobiography. If we're going to start complaining about writers taking on unfamiliar subject matter (in terms of plot) then we might as well start complaining about canonical texts such as Paradise Lost, Frankenstein, A Clockwork Orange etc. And you can forget about genres like sci fi, fantasy, even anything written anachronistically. The point is, it is in the characterisation that personal experience matters, not in the situations the characters find themselves in. The biggest problem with the game industry is the characters (particularly player controlled protagonists) tend to feel super-human and invulnerable and this extends to their emotions. They are designed that way to give the player a sense of empowerment. And when games try to bring in character weaknesses, they tend to fall back on clichés and tired tropes. The best characters have strengths and weaknesses, and this is where personal experience comes in, in making a character with the strength and vulnerability of a real person. So you want to make a game that draws on your experiences of fatherhood? Space Marines can have kids too, you know.

Hmm is it just me or are there not actually many couples in video-games, and even less marriages. Although they're not a couple in the traditional sense I'm going to go for the Chief and Cortana. I was also quite upset that I couldn't get with Liara in Mass Effect 2 after forming a relationship with her in the first game, although the hot assistant and Miranda did help ease my pain...

Really? Am I the only one who thinks she's not hot. Facewise at the very least.

I think I might actually like The Prestige best out of Nolan's films. He sure is over-rated but I'd still say he's a long way from crap.

I never even rescued Dog Meat, because that way I knew I wouldn't get him killed.

Not adding anything new here, but (unsurprisingly) the OED sums it up perfectly. I love having access to OED online at uni.

Hmm that's a tough one. The ruffians from Viva Piñata were pretty damn annoying.

Finally got round to watching American Beauty for the first time, it's definitely going up there as one of my favourite films of all time. There's still plenty of films left on the 'Oh my god, I can't believe you haven't seen that film' list though.

Could you explain the context a bit more there Dean? Since when was infant an uncommon word?

Hmmm, interesting. The Long Halloween is one of my favourite Batman stories, but I wouldn't have thought they'd go with a non-original story so maybe he won't be that person who you'll know he is if you know your Batman. I guess we'll have to wait and see. Good casting though, I think he'll fit the role well.

http://www.ugo.com/games/the-best-first-levels-in-video-games Some suggestions courtesy of Ugo.

I really enjoyed that video (well I'd enjoy listening to pretty much anything if Stephen Fry said it) and I have to say I agree, but at the same time a part of me leans towards the pedants as well (probably because it's so fun to correct people). At the end of the day, my reaction will depend on the specific example at hand. For 'most everyone' it doesn't bother me at all, though I doubt I'd ever use it myself, whereas with 'could care less' I do think it's nonsensical and lazy and that people shouldn't use it. Then, falling in the middle ground, misuse of a word like 'entrée' doesn't bother me if a modern day American uses it, since it's meaning has already been altered and adapted, but if the misuse was only beginning now I'd probably tell everyone to stop being so culturally ignorant. I'm just gonna put this one down to me being a hypocrite.