SomTervo

It could only be like the Road if it was extremely causational, gritty, and realistic. I doubt this'll be many of those; though the 'apocalyptic scenario with two primary characters on a journey of survival' is indeed a very similar template. I like the theme of nature retaking the world. That's definitely cool and pretty original in a game's plot.

That's a cool argument. There are other things that categorize zombies, though. Lack of mobility, one dimensional intelligence. Eating folk. Zombies tend to do nothing until a player is seen, then do nothing but go straight for them. AI nowadays is good enough to make enemies definitely not zombies (though in relative to an IRL human intelligence they probably are are). I always take Uncharted 2 as an example; in the survival mode, the map is open, and once enemies climb/ jump into the map, they are completely autonomous and have agency. They pull off some pretty incredible stuff without any scripting. Flanking, stealth, teamwork, fleeing; total agency. It's really admirable, I actually find them interesting to just observe. If these were replaced with 'zombie' AI they'd just stand around until they saw/heard a player, then beeline for them. Liked the fact...? Dead Rising has always had that. And a lot of zombie games have touched on it. But none in a very human way. I agree with you.

I want the game to be really gritty and survival-based, but I doubt it will be. Still, will almost definitely be a good game. Creatively, the game looks okay; but that little girl speaks exactly like Drake. If you took the script, and changed her name to Drake, and got Nolan North to voice the character, it would be exactly like a scene out of Uncharted. Basically, if Amy Hennig is creatively producing this, which she probably is, she has to fix her dialogue or she'll fall into Joss Whedon syndrome: every character having the same banter. But this depends on whether you mean the original meaning of 'zombie' i.e. mindless individual (violent or not) or if you mean the Romero-ified/ Resi Evil meaning of 'undead'. Neither are wrong, really. Both totally valid. I cannot relate to this; if I want to mindlessley kill zombies, I can play any of the games you just mentioned. What I want is a new, really challenging twist. Like evasion and survival and stealth, avoiding and dealing with zombies. Zombies basically become part of the environment in zombie genre fiction, but in games they're always active. I wish a game would come along that would just make them the hungry, slow beings they are, and let the emergence come from surviving in their context. Also they can be terrifying when you have to deal with them in these situations, evasion and survival. If it was dark, you had a flashlight, and zombies can see the light, it'd be a terrifying game to get to your destination/ safehouse/ whatever. Basically just like Amnesia: Dark Descent. No zombie game has made them scary yet, as far as I can tell.

(Only image with the title on that I could find)

Haha, excellent resolution. The problem here seems to be that the 'playing it alone helps the developer' argument is very, insanely contextual and spectral, and is a very personal, abstract thing. Money is science. It's concretely measurable. However liking a game is qualitative, not quantitative, so it's measured on a whole spectrum; including how likely you would be to tell your friends (some people might adore a game and never mention it, thus never helping the developer practically), whereas buying or not buying the game is binary. 'The game has been bought or it has not'. However, I have to say, playing a game and liking it does positively support the developer in an abstract way. But it's a completely arbitrary concept; equally the person might hate the game and it would detract from the developer yet further. The idea is so abstract that the effects will often be invisible, but a positive or negative outcome will always take place. The whole thing is just like the music piracy analogy; if I download a band's album because I can't afford it but want to hear it, and I like it, I'll probably tell all my friends about it and spread the word. I've never bought an Animal Collective album. But I've turned at least 10 people onto them, who have individually gone on to buy their own copies, or have seen them live, thus supporting them. It's not dissimilar to spreading the word for a game you've pirated.

I approve right back. Quality show. Makes me want to see the Flaming Lips again. Best costumes ever. Best live show ever.

I've been sleeping in this onesie, which is insanely hot, because it is so insanely cold. Context: photo of my flatmate, his girflriend and myself, wearing the most ridiculous things we own. (That's right, my flatmate's gf has a t-shirt with a picture of Mutley that says 'GET YOUR COAT, YOU'VE PULLED'.) After haircut, with flatmate again: Go disposable camera (so hipster).

Thanks for the info, Ethan. That actually makes me want to play the game more, which is interesting, I want to see the details of the Desmondy stuff. Sounds like Desmond and the IRL plot gets some actual development in here, which is a lot more than I was expecting. Sounds great.

Strangelove. I'm honestly pleasantly surprised. Didn't know you had the capacity for such upper lip plumage. And Galaga's great and that laundry bucket's great. MAN this thread has picked up. Good to see someone who makes great use of Tiny Hats (now open on Sundays!)

They look like Tucs? Salty little brittle biscuit things. I love Tucs, especially with a little bit cheese. And yeah, Oatcakes are definitely great. One of my favourite snacks is Wensleydale with cranberry in, smoothed over a good oatcake. So tasty. Oatcakes are good in the morning, too. And surprisingly good with beansy things. I think more stuff should be done with oatcakes.

Some days you just can't get rid of a Bat

Never thought I'd actually say this about an Assassin's Creed game, but can someone just tell me what happens in Revelations. Don't have the money and definitely don't have the time to play it, and it also sounds like it has the smallest steps taken gameplaywise out of all the iterations so far. Someone just tell me the story development/ endgame so I can wait for ACIII. Whenever that shit's out. I'd rather read someones explanation on here than a Wikipedia synopsis or some shit.

Christ those UC2 maps were worth it. I've bought UC2 maps and skins, and Killzone 2, and 3 maps. FarCry 2 Singleplayer packs. Red Dead Redemption DLC. Quite a lot of DLC, actually, now I come to think of it. I research DLC a lot before I buy, it's just like buying a new game retail for me. I really make sure I'm not buying something that isn't worth it. So far, it's payed off. I really, really like a lot of DLC. RE: The actual topic, I agree with the assenters. I'm pretty cool with Online passes, though I think they could be cheaper to buy and less restrictive. Also, trial periods (i.e. with rented titles) should definitely be at least 5 days. I've rented several MP-heavy games that have only 2-day Online Pass Trials, which is an utter, utter pain, and it's not like the publisher are losing much by giving a couple of extra days.

Uncharted 3: Kitty Didn't Get Wet. or Uncharted 3: Waste-land-ing the Night Away (anyone get this reference, I'll be plizzled.)

First time I heard that was in Donnie Darko. 'Gram' Green instead of 'Graham' Green (gray-um).

... Maybe. And... Maybe. Also, re: the topic title, there's no such thing as mispronunciations, as long as a speaker can understand what you're saying/ you can understand what a speaker says. You can pronounce things unusually, but not incorrectly, unless it's so different it's a different word altogether, in which case it's not a mispronunciation, but the wrong word.

The main thing with the film analogy is that MGS is the first game to actually be excellent cinematically . It doesn't mimic film and its angles and lighting, but takes the techniques used in film and applies them to a game. All the camera angles are, as well as being great camera angles, totally functional in the context of the game, and are flexible in line with it also. The bit I always remember is when you climb down out of the air vent after listening to those two guards talk in the hanger/ tank bay area. If you press against the wall on the catwalk to creep under the camera in the corner, the angle is just incredible. Sublimely good. And the engine and colour palette is just so ingeniously together.

Allomorphy. Morphological oddities. Totally suck. One of the things I distinctly tried to avoid in my course choices in English Language, that and syntax. Too hard to get your head around. I'd go with "zj", but really I don't think there is a "phonetic" spelling for that sound. I believe the term you're looking for is the voiced oral palato-alveolar fricative! Characterised by the 'long tailed z' symbol, or /ʒ/, in the IPA. There isn't a symbol for it in the English alphabet, as it's a realisational phenomenon, not an orthographic one. Orthographising it as 'chj' really makes no sense. It's voiceless counterpart is the 'sh' sound, characterised by the 'long s' or [ʃ], so really it should be written as 'zh'. 's' becomes 'sh' so 'z' should become 'zh'. Still, orthographic shit is idiotic. If you say something like 'judge' the 'j' and 'dge' sound is actually two sounds slammed together, 'd' and 'zh'. Written phonemically as /dʒ/. So 'judge' is /dʒʌdʒ/ written phonemically in the International Phonetics Alphabet (the upside-down V symbol means the 'uh' sound like in 'but').

Or you can do a trim, maybe get rid of the tache/soulpatch area or go for big sideburns or a goatee? I often just shave off the upper lip and under lip soul patch. The hair all round your face looks fine and still pretty sharp like that, like you're trim. That's bi-winning. Kanye West > Jay-Z (Though admittedly I haven't given Jay-Z many proper listens)

Fair point, I just noticed that several people seemed to be arguing about it currently and it didn't seem resolved. I forgot the OP said that.

The game is stylistically so perfect. Every element of its design is so together; amazing music, amazing artwork, amazing script, amazing mechanics. It's all so bloody great. MGS3 is the only one that comes close to this level of togetherness imho.

Ico/ Shadow of the Colossus, even though both do have little unlockables and things that change. I still play them just for the playing of them. So relaxing and somehow cathartic. Max Payne. The gameplay is barely innovated at all, and the story is always the same (except for an apparent special ending for doing MP2 on hardest, which I should probably get round to doing as it's one of my favourite games). I still just play it for the atmosphere and the fun. Batman: Arkham Asylum. I've completed the game about 5 times, not even to unlock or collect everything, but just because I adore the progression and atmosphere. I 100%'ed it on my second playthrough. I felt more like the Bat playing that than Arkham City tbqh. I do think we need to define our terms a bit, but just to make the distinction between 'replay value' in the design of the game, and 'replay value' for a person who has a soft spot for a game.

It'd be an interesting way to play them, def. Though you may get impatient and skip to one you want to play sooner, because it'll be a looooong haul!