P4: Gritty Reboot

I don't know, they look pretty close based on those pictures to me. Yeah, skin is a little lightened. I haven't seen either the show or the movie though so I'll just pipe down.

Art style looks bizarre, like it's all over the place thematically. I'm willing to give it a shot though.

Saw Cabin in the Woods tonight. It was pretty creative and perfectly paced.

Bought a few flicks. Sampling Clone Wars for my son... seems he's still too young for some of the scary stuff/violence from the first episode. Ah well. I'm enjoying it anyway.

What Ethan said. If copies sold on Steam were so detrimental to CDP they'd just sell it on their site exclusively. They are free to do so.

For a short period, there was peace in the Gawker kingdom as the star system actually seemed to work. Comments were generally well thought-out, and trolls were kept to a minimum (at least on Kotaku). Then they started handing out stars willy-nilly (I was actually starred at the beginning of that influx), and the system began to collapse as some who were clearly trolls got starred. The comments have been totally busted for a long while now; they're just finally admitting it it seems.

I never understood what people had against this one. I loved it, particularly the multiplayer. The only consistent complaint I've heard about it was how much the execution moves left you vulnerable. The solution to which is to not use the execution moves too often. I've been playing through the campaigns, and it's pretty fun. It's not groundbreaking, but the Xenos and Preds' gameplay alone makes it a bit different from your standard FPS.

Hunger Games was fantastic. Also re-watched 12 Angry Men recently and it was good as ever.

I bought Blob for $10 on clearance and just barely opened it recently. I played through 3 or 4 levels yesterday and yeah, it's pretty enjoyable so far. It's pretty devoid of challenge at first but the difficulty ramps up nice and easy. It's got a good balance between objective-based and sandbox play that makes it feel pretty unique. Music is good too.

I am playing Da Blob and trying to get back to Skyward Sword. Also some L4D2.

If you think AD was "wholly dependent" on awkward pauses, you need to watch it again.

It's an odd one. It doesn't sound like it was a law, more of the government just asking those companies to ban certain users. Of course the companies are welcome to ban whomever they wish, but in my opinion the chummy cooperation of state and corporations is a bit unnerving. That article also doesn't specify whether it was all sex offenders or just certain types of more serious sexual offenses.

So Season 2. Anyone else catch Episode 1 so far? I felt it was good, albeit each piece was a bit truncated due to the outward-spiraling storyline. Re-watching Season 1 right now, I can say that S01E01 was better than S02E01, but ACOK is definitely more difficult source material. I felt the new characters were all cast well, and the season's setpieces like ought to be phenomenal if they continue with the storytelling and production values of the first episode.

It was a stupid scene though.

Aliens. Seriously grand.

In the case of the band, they'd been disbanded (heh) for a decade and were all working normal jobs so couldn't just pull out of their families' savings to embark upon the touring dream once again. I guess my point is, who cares if it's an idea that's not commercially viable? That's the whole point of this: people can support ideas that the old free market model wasn't conducive towards. If I were a billionaire and wanted to throw a few million bucks at a new Black & White game that otherwise wouldn't get made, what's that to you or to other gamers out there? If the free market doesn't respond to a concept, there's always charity, and I think this is a great way to organize it.

Added you Strangelove

Sorry to jump in the middle of forum drama. Just wanted to pipe up that I think Kickstarter is a wonderful idea for those who want to financially support devs or projects they love. Think about all the times as a kid you'd think how awesome it would be if X or Y game got a sequel; just now we're getting the chance to actually effect the results we want in an easy and effective way. Heck, one of my old favorite ska bands from the '90s was able to raise up the $30,000 that they needed to record a new album and tour in just one hour, raising a KS record $210,000 for a music group over 2 months. That's absolutely fantastic and wouldn't have been feasible before programs like Kickstarter sprung up. Sure, not every developer or cause is going to be on the same moral level as giving money to actual charities doing good around the world, but it's people's own money. They can do what they want with it and I think it's awesome that they get this opportunity. Edit: Some have expressed distrust that kickstarter project owners will follow through on their promises. The solution is simple: donate only to devs you trust.

I'm all for people purchasing what they like--I may even get an e-reader at some point--but yeah, they are a terrible value and their functionality is duplicated in devices half their cost.

New album tomorrow.

2nd one was the weak point in my opinion. Some people seem to hate the 3rd but I liked it and felt it tied up the series nicely. I agree 1 would have probably been fine without the others though.