NeoStarr

When I was taking film studies I was absolutely shocked at how many contemporary theories we had to read that would make reference to that movie. You'd be surprised. I finally saw Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon after reading so much praise for it in every fango/rue morgue magazine I've ever owned and HOOOOOLY SHIT. It's quite possibly the best slasher film since the 80's (with the exception of maybe Scream, naturally).

NSFW music video...

If anybody knows where I can get Beavis and Butthead in Virtual Stupidity for less than Amazons hundred dollar price tag, could you pm me with the link? I can't even seem to pirate it. Thanks!

Uuuuggggghhhhh what? Plural? I thought the whole point to Hitman was not killing people unless they were your target (or they had cool clothes). I hope this doesn't turn into a typical stealth action game. I really liked just walking out into the public eye, finding some environmental way to make your targets death look like an accident, and then slipping into the shadows to execute. That was a great formula. I've played Hitman 1, 2 and Blood Money. As much as I loved the first two back in the day, Blood Money was an absolute masterpiece and it's hard to go back to the others after that game brought so much to the series. Although, it has always had very memorable level design and there's a lot of sections of the first two games that I still remember fondly. Though I've never actually played Contracts, I think that if any series deserves a 'greatest hits' kind of game with levels from previous games, it's definitely this one (and maybe pre-ride Tony Hawk).

I think I played the same version Yantelope played. That one with all the jeeps sounds like shit. The way I remember it, the sound of a jeep meant a quick jump in the bushes and a sweet ambush sequence where I'd get to kick some ass. Wasn't nearly that common though. I didn't even have a problem with the malaria thing so much; I can see why people might hate it but frankly it hits you at such perfect cinematic moments that it really adds to the tension. It's like it's scripted to happen at the worst possible times but it really increases tension to that regard. I didn't like the guard points refilling so often, but my biggest problem with that was not that you couldn't clear them but that the distance you had to travel away from the point before they respawn was extremely short. I wouldn't mind if they respawned based on time or at a greater distance. All the same, it wasn't as big a deal as people made it out to be; just more things to shoot in a shooting game. Far Cry 3 looks really great. I don't really like the direction they seem to be taking with the story so far. Your boat blows up, your girlfriend disappears... I have a feeling this is gonna end up with some surprise monsters half way through the game and that was a pretty unsatisfying moment in the first one; it was just too spontaneous and too drastic of a change that late. So far all signs point to no; but I don't remember original Far Cry promotional material ever mentioning the monster things. Also gonna miss the interchangeable characters of Far Cry 2. As pointless as it was in terms of narrative, it was always kind of cool to see the different characters react differently depending on what role the game would randomly assign for them. Just added the whole feeling of being expendable throughout the game and I was kind of excited to see them explore that more, but it's a small detail.

I finished the game the other day, loved every second of it, really looking forward to playing through it again. I waited until after to read the reviews and stop by here to see what other people had said about it. Some of the reviews are just straight up trolling; Giant Bomb in particular; though going through this thread it seems the article about rape in the game is absolutely absurd as well (not to mention they had the exact same shit in Duke3D; NSFW but see: youtube dot com /watch?v=ZYTk-cW_wQ0). With the more reasonable reviews though, a lot of the ones that fell between the 4-7/10 ratings, they seem to tear 3 things apart in particular. The first two are graphics and controls, which wouldn't have bothered me regardless since it's all aesthetics (plus I've always used CoD's tactical setting). The big thing I gotta disagree with though is people calling the game dated like it's a bad thing. I've been playing Build engine shooters pretty regularly for the past few months in anticipation for this. Mostly I like BLOOD the best but Duke takes a close second. I've always thought that the Build/Quake engine period was probably the golden era of FPS games, but lately I've been finding that the more I play these old games the less I enjoy modern shooters. A lot of the gameplay in shooters these days just has too slow a pace; you're spending too much time hiding behind cover waiting for your health to replenish, there's hardly any excitement in finding new weapons, and its becoming more and more rare that you'd have any reason to explore the environment aside from the off chance that you might grab some arbitrary collectible that some dude happened to drop X amount of off on each level for your achievement. When I saw that they added regenerative health and limited guns I was kind of worried that it was going to play like your typical shooter and with Duke themes thrown in. Luckily that wasn't the case; this is really like a time capsule of gameplay. Where I expected to be sitting behind cover waiting for my health to regenerate I found myself running around dodging bullets long enough to have the same effect. When I expected to be able to use whatever gun I picked up to kill enemies I found myself having to find a balance between ammo count and the weapons efficiency against whatever enemies I would be facing (which honestly works a lot better than Duke3Ds "10-weapons-with-little-ammo" system). When I expected to run to the next checkpoint I'd find myself distracted by 10,000 little comments Duke and friends had to make along the way. It really plays like a Build engine game and it's refreshing because of it. It's very clearly a game that has held the same design fundamentals since 1999 and I think it's a better for it. That said though, the only real disappointment for me was how unfinished the game when it was finally released. The second half of the game just peters out into a slew of gunbattles and half finished set pieces. I'm someone who followed development of this game all too closely for 12 years, and while the first half was exactly what I expected the second half had so many parts that just felt like there should have been more or where stuff was clearly missing. The forklift section in particular stands out as something that would have been a pretty good puzzle mechanic if they had actually used it for more than an optional secret. I would have also liked to see more of the staples of Duke3D gameplay; namely par times for each level and a lot more secret areas. Nonetheless I've had a lot more fun duking it out in the second half of this game than I've had throughout the entirety of a lot of shooters just because of the old school mechanics. I even love Dukematch, though nostalgia is very much clouding my judgement there because they left the jetpack/devastator combo intact despite 15 years of imbalance (not that I would have it any other way *WHOOOOSH-PEW-PEW-PEW*). Anyway, can't wait for Duke Nukem 5 (*snicker*).

Stacks on deck, patron on ice

I'll just leave this here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnQf0GanqJc Tiny ass hamburgers, tiny ass cheeseburgers, tiny ass chicken sandwiches, It’s outlandish kid.

Big Lebowski is probably the movie that makes me laugh the most every single time I watch it. The jokes are so clever they just don't seem to get old. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI89ovR36r0 This was really good. It's all done in first person perspective of this guy who dies and then his soul floats around and he watches what happens in the days after he dies and has flashbacks to other points in his life. It's not exactly the feel-good-movie of the summer; it's one of the more uncomfortable movies I've watched in recent memory, but it's damn good if you can stomach it.

I've only really enjoyed watching crap movies lately, but the last movie I saw that I didn't like was probably Inception. I tried really hard not to buy into the hype after The Dark Knight (not much for Christopher Nolan movies, obviously), but then I saw the South Park episode that makes fun of it and it actually made the concept seem pretty cool. And it was for a while. Then all of a sudden... "HIS PROJECTIONS HAVE BEEN MILITARIZED!!! ... couldn't help but laugh really, really hard at that line. I've never seen a movie pull such a quick 180. I was hoping it'd be a smart little flick about the effects and repercussions of controlling thought. But no, it's just one action scene after another before they get the job done. There's some pseudoscience thrown in there that could have actually opened up some interesting dialogue with a better story and all they really use it for is to deus ex their way out of whatever dream problem they happen to be in at the moment before discarding it. I'm well aware that everyone in the world disagrees with me; although I still think that's only because Nolan still has his contract with Satan.

Bad Girl. Her character design is flawless; over the course of a 2 minute cutscene she quickly embodies everything you could have possibly hated about high school through hyperbole and parody. Her actual boss fight is extremely tough too and full of cheap shots and one hit kills; and then at some points she's swatting guys in gimp suits at you. It's frustrating and hilarious and fun all at the same time. I've got an SD card with a No More Heroes save on it from right before you fight her. I keep it close to my heart. Well excuuuuuuuuuuse me, princess!

Kid Icarus. Only back then, I used to think it was pronounced "Kiddy Cars". Took me a while to figure out that there was no racing in it. That was the first game I played quite a bit. The first game I owned was Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants. Was pretty sweet.

I actually went through the same decision. I tried Joltik out for a bit and didn't have too much luck with him myself, but I got the feeling he might have gotten pretty useful if I had spent more time with him. I fell back on Blitzle for his speed since I didn't have a super fast Pokemon at the time, and that's always useful. But that's just me, he's a decent pokemon so I say try him out. One thing to note though is that Joltik learns a lot more bug type moves than electric as he levels up. If you're looking specifically for a Pokemon with some good electric moves, there might still be a better choice. I'd consider Emolga as well. I revisited a few of the early routes last night and surfed around a bit to find Route 18. It's not listed on the map until you find it; I have a feeling I'm heading toward some kind of secret. There was a dude in a house who wanted to give me an egg too, but I was holding too many pokemon already. Anyway, onward!

Just beat the game. I've been avoiding this thread in case of spoilers but I caught up on the whole topic. I did a fairly low level completion; went into the Elite 4 with level 43-44's and didn't go back to recharge between the Elite 4 and the ending bit. After you beat the game, it opens up an epilogue that sounds fantastic, though I'm not too far into it yet. Anyway; some thoughts... - Quick Balls are overpowered: And to a certain extent, Dusk balls, but Quick Balls especially. You can essentially use them as cheap Master Balls. You can easily catch legendaries on the first turn using one of these (I've done 3 so far), without ever having to hit them. There's a chance it might fail, but it's not a great chance and you can always save/reload before the battle. And they're cheaper than Ultra Balls. It's kind of ridiculous. They're all I use now. - The story is totally fucked: - It's the very best Pokemon (like no one ever was...): I suppose that's subjective but I really dug it with an enthusiasm that I haven't felt since the first Pokemon. The emphasis on types and powerful moves so early on in the game really force some extra thought into your battles right off route 1. Revolving battles are actually quite neat; a bit improvement over the rather simple doubles battles and a lot of new strategy. Bianca is probably my favourite character in the series now. One thing that I always wondered about the series is why they didn't let you explore different roles more thoroughly; stuff like breeders and scientists. Bianca sort of explores all those roles throughout the game and gives you some insight into them. Still; I await the day when the player can take on such roles themselves. My team, upon finishing the game: - Serperior: I actually didn't evolve Snivy until level 37 because I wanted him to learn Giga Drain and Coil early. Was a HUGE help. Once you have those, you just use Leech Seed first round and then keep Coiling until your Atk/Def hits max, and Giga Drain anytime your health goes into the yellow. After that, he basically soaks up attacks while you're free to use items on your other pokemon. He'll be gaining health constantly from LS and GD. Against other trainers, Leech Seed will typically make their pokemons health go into the red, which usually makes them waste their potions. Once all pokemon are at full health, you use something like Leaf Blade to finish the opponent off quickly. - Victini: He's helped me through many sticky situations. I had to teach him Ghost Ball or whatever it's called to beat one of the Elite 4. - Cobalion: Is actually quite shit, but occasionally just hard counters stuff that nothing else on my team will. Really only had him on the team because I was trying him out at the time. - Virizion: Slightly better than Cobalion without the type advantage. In the final battle, I swapped her out. Can't tell you why because of spoilers, but it was the right choice. - Archeops: Is a beast. There's very little strategy required with this dude except picking the right attack to one-shot your opponent. You're rarely in for a tough battle unless the opponent has straight up type advantage. - Sawk: My beautiful Sawk. A personal favourite. This dude just does so much damage it's obscene, and he's got the Sturdy ability so he can't be 1HKO'd. If you're up against something like a psychic pokemon that he really doesn't stand a chance against, you can use Sturdy and sacrifice Sawk to basically give yourself a free 2 turns to use items and stuff on other Pokemon. Other Pokemon that didn't make the final six that I found useful at various points; Munna/Musharna, Patrat/Watchog, Blitzle/Zebstrika, Boldore/Gigalith Pokemon that I had a hard time fighting but rarely used myself: Sandile/Krokorock/Krookodile, Sigilyph, Solosis/Duosion/Reunicles, Emolga (ffffuuuuuuuuuuuu) http://www.footlocker.com/product/model:106900/sku:51295625/ripken-baseball-quickball-ball-bucket/?cm=GLOBAL%20SEARCH%3A%20KEYWORD%20SEARCH I don't think Musharna will learn any more moves, so make sure you have your set figured out before you evolve. I had the same problem; putting opponents to sleep was becomming less and less effective and she wasn't going to learn any good moves for quite some time. I ended up retiring her in favour of Vaniluxe, as I intended to start replacing Sleep with Freeze. That didn't work out either and I just abandoned the mechanic from my play. Legendary =/= Unstoppable (see also: Cobalion). Victini is someone you can use the whole game for sure, but after the first little while that you have him he'll hardly stand out any more than other Pokemon. I liked having him because he complemented my starter quite nicely; might have gone another route had I chosen Tepig.

Oh man, I love this thing so far. Been playing around with one of the themes from Dean's Lifehacker link and this is what I've got so far... The Charlie Sheen thing I made myself. Based it off some Chuck Norris quotes plugin and just changed the picture and the quotes. The rest is mostly lifted, but I want to change a bunch of the icons (already started with the recycle bin). It is complicated but it's rather rewarding. Eventually I'd like to gradually transform this into something totally original and tailored to my needs. I can't say I don't see my desktop a whole lot; my monitor is kind of the centerpiece of this room and the computer is always on regardless of whether or not I'm using it, so I'm always looking for new things that make people say "Holy shit, what did your computer just do?" I think I'm going to enjoy this.

http://rainmeter.net/RainCMS/ I've just heard that this is a pretty nifty tool. Apparently it's like a more customizable version of the Gadgets included in Windows 7 and I think Vista. Just lets you fill up your desktop with a whole bunch of useful and/or useless information. The kind of stuff people have done tends to turn out hit or miss, ranging from the overcrowded to the perfectly organized, from the highly informative to the utterly absurd. Here are some random examples... Going through the old desktop thread, I didn't see too many people using this. I think I'm gonna give it a shot soon, was just wondering if anyone had any good or bad experiences with it and what kind of setups you have if you do use it. And favourite skins are always cool.

It seems harder; but I think it's easier in the long run. I remember when I was a kid I used to rely on my Bulbasaur too much and was always forced to grind before gym/rival battles where he just wouldn't hold up. With most RPGs I like to avoid fighting as much as possible so I can try for a low-level completion. Currently going into the 2nd gym leader with a party of lvl 11-13's, wish me luck. Anyway, what are your guys thoughts on Patrat? Viable? He's practically untouchable if you don't mind waiting forever to kill something. I'm afraid his effectiveness might wear off late game though; but I don't follow the series closely enough to have enough foresight on the matter.

I was moved by this. I was moving to this.

Got Black yesterday. Loving it so far. On my way to badge #2 right now. PROTIP: This motherfucker learns psybeam at lvl 11 and then just one shots the fuck out of everything for the next few hours. Isn't it cute though?

Doing things like this is bannable right now, but I really hope they add support for it. If you want to try it anyway, instructions are here... http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=193365 I think since the trick has popped up there has been a lot of interested people emailing Blizzard trying to get them to allow it. Unfortunately right now you have to modify game files to do it, and usually when they check for hacks or cheats they just check for any sort of modification to those files regardless of what they actually do. So I wouldn't recommend it, but I think it's pretty cool. I hear they eventually added support for this sort of thing in WoW, so maybe there's hope; but I think there's also a lot of issues with Battle.net that people would rather see sorted out before UI modifications become important.

Pretty sure I do. You had the same avatar; yeah? Cool guy iirc.