Hot Heart

I'm not a fan of these 'he said, she said' sort of articles, especially when they concern 'dumb internet opinions'. Do people say they are dumb or have some just earned the 'dudebro' labels because of how accessible they are? Does this actually have an impact on anything? Just seems more relevant to focus on the positive points rather than going after other games you may perceive people put on a pedestal. Anyway, I think 'cleverness' can work two ways. For high quality shooters the intelligence in design goes into making things well-paced and varied while getting the player thinking about their weapon choices and environment without overloading them. Gears of War, for example, was always intended to be more overtly tactical than most whilst retaining a certain immediacy, and it succeeds. The cleverness isn't always as obvious because sometimes it's a matter of 'if you go through this way to the side, you can flank them' over more advanced environmental thinking (which the series has always built on). A lot of the intelligence is in the smooth design. The other sort of cleverness stems from the design but will also get the player thinking on many levels and allow more flexibility. Obviously, a lot of the more successful RPG (and RPG hybrids) tend to tone down these elements but I'm sure there are examples of RPGs and RTSs that tax a player more than something like Gears of War. Strategies like chess gambits aren't really feasible in shooters if there is just one player (might work as a multi-player strategy in certain circumstances, I'm not sure). Throw in the multitude of options, provided they're well-balanced, an RPG or RTS can incorporate adds a whole depth that shooters rarely touch (class systems scratch the surface) and allow players to really experiment. Obviously, as a result of requiring more investment to learn, they might not appeal to everyone like shooters do. Neither is at fault. Anyway, both of these alternatives are good, and neither are better than the other. I just think it's notable that a lot of the more successful games have a lot of 'behind the scenes' intelligence, and that's encouraging. I hope that makes some sort of sense. I'm tired as hell and going to sleep now.

Hey, buddy, you're steppin' on my toes! I don't know if you look at the PXOD GDocs but there's a thing up there I've been working on. I was getting a bit sick of upgrades too. My old thread from before: http://forum.pressxo...075

She can't get an Osama beard either. I have been playing Gears of War 3. Although, since I'm the only person I know who got their copy early, playing the campaign in single-player is more

http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/2963/article/deus-ex-human-revolution-s-terrible-boss-fights-were-outsourced/ It all makes sense.

I've heard it's a very odd mix of grown-up references and style but is apparently for children too. It seems to be another 'Marmite' sort of film, but it sounds interesting to me and I'd grab it if it were cheap enough (it has a long list to join though).

Forgot to add that I grabbed Harry Brown on DVD the other day. It was only £3 and I appear to have a weird fascination with those vigilante sort of films.

Sidequest is the same. Emails and such are just giving some background and showing some funny misunderstandings, especially since you know what's been going on all along.

"What did she whisper to you?" "She called me a dirty word."

Hmm, yeah, there should be a related sidequest. A guy should be sat in your office. I thought it should 'activate' without a need to do anything besides having completed the first 'augmented-Jensen' mission (the manufacturing plant). Also, hacking and exploring are never a waste of time where XP is concerned.

Probably gonna need a part two though, right?

A friend did try and put on a 'Pop-punk Party like it's 1999' gig back in 2009, with some local bands each choosing 3-4 suitable songs to cover, but no actual 'each one is a particular band' element. Unfortunately, putting on gigs round here can be fairly expensive, and it fell through. I don't think there was quite a demand for hearing covers of blink182 of New Found Glory either...which is understandable.

Man, that's a great idea. Wish we did something like that here.

Wow, a lot of discussion here. I'm not sure how I feel on the ads as I've not experienced them first-hand yet. I would've preferred them integrated into the game world in some way, even if is is in 'the future', but I don't feel they're too obtrusive. I'm not sure how they work but I think having them on the initial load and not all load screens would've been a more agreeable approach; showing before you get into the game and not having the possibility of breaking continuity. I can't say I support this 'well, they should give something back to the consumer approach'. I can understand it's annoying for the end-user and was very much sprung on them, but product placement and advertising have become very much a part of the entertainment industry. As far as I'm aware, the game took four years to make, was considered a big risk and went over-budget. Perhaps these deals were struck to help cover development, I'm not sure. It's an unfortunate situation but it probably makes sense from a business standpoint. Obviously, this is all down to personal perspective though. I liked the game and I think the development team did a great job. I've already completed it so I don't think ads on the screen could take me out of the game so much anymore. And I'm OK with a few ads in little sections on the loading screens if that keeps the publisher happy and the developers making more games. Whereas I can see how some people may take issue with them. And they'd better not increase load times.

I want a 40,000 word review for Warhammer 40K: Space Marine

Even more particularly (and originally): 'chuffed to bits'

Not the biggest fan of the album but it has grown on me a bit. I prefer their simpler more energetic stuff. Video is p cool though.

Yeah, but equally, he could've meant 'I should've read all the good things people were saying about this game' ...if you've actually kept up to date with the thread though, yeah, it might become obvious.

If you like Brass Eye and The Day Today, you must see Four Lions (assuming you have not) Also, I recommend finding Peep Show.

I doubt they'd put them in the game. That would just be terrible. I think they've got the same composers from the first game doing a score: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2010/08/23/the-music-of-batman-arkham-city.aspx I think this is just a 'songs inspired by' soundtrack. IT HAD BETTER BE.

You don't have to click the link but the headline... http://kotaku.com/5840076/armored-core-vs-singleplayer-is-a-mess-of-explosions-and-yellow-writing ...combined with the writer (Luke) and this... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism ...is quite funny. Of course, he literally means yellow text on the screen.

A bit on some changes to the combat: http://www.oxm.co.uk/33563/previews/batman-arkham-city-challenge-mode-hands-on/ Not drastic changes but adds a layer of complexity without over-complicating.

I...I couldn't pick between them. They are both so great in different ways.

The game never really gets that across. It's lots of blood and guts and the emotional side of things barely enters into it, even if it is visually similar (minus the all-important squadmates). I'm not saying it's a bad game, but a trailer more in tone with the game would've used explosions, people being chainsawed and Cole yelling 'DAYUMN!'