toxicitizen

Pretty much this. Even when copying code, you'll understand what you're doing infinitely more just by typing it out yourself instead of copy pasting. But as someone just starting to learn, I find that I learned the most when I was left to my own devices and had to make something work without any specific instructions. I've collected a bunch of ressources, some better than others. Since you mentioned learning Python, this might be of interest. http://ocw.mit.edu/c...ming-fall-2008/ It's not a course on Python but rather an introduction to programming/computer science that uses Python. I've only watched the first two lectures because I've other stuff I'm working on at the moment, but I'm planning on getting back to it over the course of the summer. It's basically a whole semester's worth of material: video lectures, problem sets,quizzes and tests. Also, this is kinda basic but still amazing, imho. www.codecademy.com Basically a game-ified programming tutorial. It's JavaScript (though they recently added some HTML and CSS lessons) but really it's great for just learning basic concepts and understanding how they work and practicing them. Stuff like syntax, operators, functions and loops and such. It was actually good practice for a class I taking doing this winter, which was in C and Java. If you like these I could probably find a few more links for you. I bookmarked a whole bunch of stuff when I was in resources gathering mode a couple months back.

Let's be honest, the scripts were hardly GTA and RDR's strongest points. ... But they were far from the weakest? The scripts in those games are still amazing. The overall stories are often questionable, because they're so epic and expansive, but the actual dialogue and meaning behind the dialogue is always great. I'm still pretty confident that Houser, after examining MP1 and 2's script heavily, will be able to pull off a good Max Payne tone. It won't be Sam Lake, obviously, but it shouldn't be far off. It's mostly a pity that it's doing all of this through so much cutscene... In-game cutscenes were always very basic scene-setters in Max Payne, the comics did the brunt of dialogue. If they've changed that... From what I understand, they did they change that. And that's kind of missing the point, isn't it? The stories certainly weren't what I'd call weak in previous Rockstar games but they weren't as tight and focused as the Max Payne ones were. I don't know, I hate knocking it before experiencing it. But based on previous Rockstar games I just can't help feeling very pessimistic about his ability to recapture what made the first two games special for me. Part of it is due to Alan Wake having the exact same effect on me. It made me realize how central Lake's writing was to my love of Max Payne. The gameplay was great (and actually still holds up to this day, imo) but the story was where it truly shined. Rockstar games are pretty much the opposite.

Exactly why I was worried the story wouldn't have the right tone :/ Let's be honest, the scripts were hardly GTA and RDR's strongest points. But you had me worried there, Maritan. What you described is unfortunate but is far from a deal-breaker for me. I'm certainly not going to cancel my pre-order over that. I figured the experience would be drastically different so I was kind of prepared for something like this.

Torchlight. A few days ago, my clicking finger was getting restless waiting for Diablo 3 so I figured it was time to get back to it. I'd first started playing it after finishing Diablo 2 last winter but I ended up rage quitting it about halfway through after wiping my fifth weapon trying to enchant it. The enchanting failure rates in this game are beyond retarded! Wasting gold by having the enchanting do nothing is one thing. But fucking wiping the item of all its magical properties? That is so fucking infuriating! Like, throw-your-fucking-monitor-at-the-wall infuriating! But yeah, other than that I loved the game. There's still some stuff to do like the infinite dungeon and side-quests but I beat the story's final boss but sadly I don't think I'll be able to justify getting back to it what with Diablo 3 this week and Torchlight II later this summer. I'm now really tempted to pre-order the latter on Steam, actually.

It's the calm before the storm, man! I've got the installer downloaded and sitting on my desktop and tuesday can't come quickly enough. I'm hoping ebgames will send my copy early so that I'll get it on monday and be able to play when the servers go live at midnight but I think that's pretty fucking unlikely edit: just had a look at my bank account and my card was charged today! there is hope yet!

Calling it now. The bears are with the Templars!

Well, that new gameplay trailer was pretty awesome. For some reason, the part where he actually went through a building instead of climbing it kinda blew my mind a little lol It's a pretty minor addition but while playing the game I never really went "man, sure would be cool if that window were open and I could go through that room", so it kinda surprised me on the spot.

Came to post exactly this but you beat me to it so I'm using a bigger pic Glad this only took a few months. Can't wait! Pre-orders get 10% off but if you own the original you get 25%.

I used to feel the same way but then HD remakes came into play and people started posting replays of old games and whatnot so I figured fuck it, let's just roll with it. A game completion is a game completion so whatever. Do you mean Pit Boss? If so, I don't know if you want to figure it out on your own or what so I'll spoiler it

Wait, almost sounds like you're saying BTTF was worse than Jurassic Park? I haven't played JP but I heard it's fucking awful and what I played of BTTF was fun. It's not a great game but it's awesome for a BTTF fan like me. I really need to play the whole thing, though.

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. It's shorter than I remembered. Took me about 2 hours less than the original and I went through it much quicker than I'd planned. Story is weaker than the first one's but the gunplay is way better so that kinda makes up for it. I'd say May 29th and Max Payne 3 seem far away, but I'm pretty sure in 10 days I'll be too busy to even remember I'm looking forward to it.

I'm doing the same. The original was incredibly fun to replay so I imagine this will be even better. I never saw that alternate ending myself and with Diablo 3 coming out a mere two weeks before Max Payne 3, I really don't think I'll be able to play it on normal and again on the harder difficulty. I'll probably just watch it on youtube or something, although honestly I don't really expect MP3 to build upon the existing story or use already existing characters.

So I've finally started playing Dragon Age II the past few days. About 6-7 hours in so far. It's... actually a fun game, in its own right. But once you realize that it's the sequel to one of the best RPGs I've ever played, then yeah... It starts to feel like a piece of shit. At least I knew what I was getting into so my expectations were quite low and I'm able to actually enjoy it. But whenever I pause the action to issue specific orders and realize that it really makes no difference because the combat has been dumbed down so much... it gives me a sad In Origins, I remember having to pause and micro-manage each characters' actions and positions to a point where it might as well have been turn-based. I fucking loved how every other hour I'd run into a fight where the game would basically tell me "hey, get smarter about this or get raped!". Oh and in those 6 hours I've visited the same cave about 5 times so far. Well, not the same cave, but their insides were all identical. So fucking lazy lol

I figured a PC version of American Nightmare was a sure thing but it's awesome to hear about it so soon after the original's PC release. I fucking loved Alan Wake so I can't wait for an official confirmation on this!

I only just got around to playing Crysis 2 last week, so I'm not exactly foaming at the mouth for this one. It's a long way to go until 2013, though, so by the time it actually comes out I'll probably be good for another go. I had fun with Crysis 2 but it was kind of a big step down from the original. Hopefully this one will be more like the first one. All that talk about DX11 graphics on console, though? Yeah, I'm calling bullshit right away. I'll believe it when I see it.

So, out of boredom, I ended up visiting Kotaku just now. Tried to log in and apparently they changed their system and now require you to link your account with either your twitter, facebook or google account. I'm going to have to go with "fuck you".

Max Payne. It's very likely the game I've replayed the most in my life but playing Alan Wake two months ago made me want to revisit it and I've been playing it on and off the past few weeks. The game has aged remarkably well. The gunplay and bullet-time feel as tight as they did back in the days and I had a blast replaying it. Now to replay the second one slowly over the next few weeks in preparation for Max Payne 3's release. Having the first two fresh in memory probably means I'll be more critical of any change in tone in the third one's writing, though.

Beat Crysis 2 last night. It was a lot of fun but I'm glad I ended up cancelling my Steam pre-order when the demo came out. I can see how it would've pissed me off if I'd played it when my hype was at it's highest. Overall I'd say it was better than most generic (single-player) shooters out there but a big step down from the original.

I'm liking the look of it and yeah and I'm actually glad to see it looks nothing like HL2. Gameplay would've been preferable, obviously, but I'm loving the art style and general feel of the world shown so far so I'm looking forward to seeing more. Also, I hadn't really made the connection while watching the trailer but I agree Kenshi. Now that you mention it, it looks a lot like a more technologically advanced version of the Thief universe.

Yeah, most areas offer different ways to approach your objectives. It's nowhere near as open as the original's island but it's far from being a corridor shooter.

I got my copy yesterday and am playing through it atm. It's pretty damn good. Different from the first one but that doesn't bother me too much. The only thing that I find kinda disappointing is how so far it has very little to do with the original as far as the plot goes.

Yeah, I'm not too worried about that.

Can now be pre-ordered on Steam! I hesitated a bit since it seems official system requirements haven't been released yet but unless it requires Dx 11 I'm pretty sure I should be able to run it just fine.