Thursday Next

Given that screens are rectangular, and touch screens have no buttons... the hardware couldn't really look too different. As for software, grid displays have been around for hundreds of years. The only thing I can see Apple having some sort of case on is the bottom row of icons.

@WTF: Interesting article: http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/helen-lewis-hasteley/2011/04/game-writing-naomi-character Speaks well to your point "Everyone who speaks for games to be art is either a gamer or most likely someone who works in the industry." I think you and I agree on more points than we disagree. I think we both agree that not all images, written works, etc. are Art and I also think we agree that some games are Art (at least you seem to agree that Flower is Art). I certainly wouldn't disagree if you said that CoD is not Art. I agree with you that the mainstream doesn't consider games to be Art yet, I could produce a handful of Gamey / Arty installations but we both know that they are somewhat novelty pieces and would probably be described by the majority as "a game turned into Art", rather than "a game as Art", in the same way that a Campbell's soup tin is not art on its own. I just think that more games could be considered Art than are currently. The medium does not prevent games being Art, generally the execution does. P.S. According to Wikipedia ballroom dancing has been a competitive sport for over 100 years (just), so it depends on how you define "recent".

I zoomed with R2 and saw just that.

Bioshock was scary...until you realised there weren't really any consequences for dying. Are there ever really consequences for dying? I mean this isn't playing Final Fantasy VII for 10 straight hours only to lose concentration and get wiped out just before you got to a save point...

Okay... for those of you who have finished the single player campaign...

It's a weird thing with that walled garden approach. I've seen people go to ridiculous lengths to jail break Apple products so that they can load Windows or run flash on their phones and such. Yet when you ask them "Why not get a device that does what you want to do out of the box?" they'll say "My [iDevice] just works!" Yes. Just works after hours of hacking, cracking, swearing and warranty invalidating it "just works" just fine. Apple's devices are a triumph of marketing. It's almost become a badge of honour to be willingly fooled by it. People will happily tell you that they are going to queue up for the launch of the [iDevice 1] even though "I know that [iDevice 2] will be out in about six months and will be much better." It's a form of consumer masochism. I think that's why people who don't buy Apple products are so against them. We see people repeatedly getting conned by the shady character playing cups and we want to shout "Can't you see this is all just a scam!?!"

Siren - Bloodcurse. When you play as the girl while your creepy possessed uncle and some other scary possessed folk stalk you around some decrepit old hospital or summink. You're utterly defenceless. Scary as all hell.

I've got plenty of space for some warns... mwuhahahaha!

Or you can do neither and let Dean do all the work.

I lurk the forums waiting for an excuse.

I have indeed. A few months ago. Huge maps. Huuuuuuuge. It's gonna be awesome.

Does anybody have a game that's like EVE but not as incredibly overwhelming? Something, shall I say, more casual? I've never played a game like that before but after looking a while it looks like there are several games of its kind. I'm wondering if there's a free one that doesn't require you quit your job to play it. You should try Battlestar Galactica Online out. As mentioned previously, it's like EVE, but without the inter-player economy. Skills level up over time, you can mine for resources or fight the opposing faction. It's not "like EVE" really, but it's a spacey MMO, so it may help if you're after some "dipping your toes" action.

So... Vic Mackie is a detective iirc. I'm gonna say him or Columbo is my favourite detective, but they are too different to choose one over the other.

I've got a hell of a lot of time for Columbo.

I take it you enjoyed Snake Eater? Sounds like he wants a Trauma Centre mini-game in his BF3. While it might be "cool" to patch up your team mates once or twice, they're going to be constantly shot at, which means you'll spend more time dragging and patching up than you would actually playing the game proper. Either that or you would only do the Trauma Centre stuff at scripted points which would make the game feel "staged" and "linear" and all that jazz. The single player is going to feel CoDish. No getting away from that really. There will be way-points, you will have to do everything, occasionally you'll possess the pilot of some vehicles (though you'll probably get to actually use the vehicle yourself, rather than doing a rail shooter thing) and it will all be very "Cinematic". This game is being built around the Multiplayer experience, which, when I saw it a few months back, was already incredible.

I think the UK tends not to do midnight launches so much is that games have normally been out a week or so (or at least a weekend) before they get here.

We split up.

No it does not, stop making things up. It's the same as saying video games are aimed at children. It kind of does though. Say cartoon to any regular joe and they'll probably think "Children's show" before they think "Oh! Like Archer and South Park!". If you say "South Park" or "Family Guy" to the same Joe, they will probably think "cartoon" as opposed to "Western animation series". Put another way... Just because when you say "Metal" to me I think of "80's hair metal" first it doesn't make Rammstein any less metal. Cartoon, Animation and Anime are all analogous to the layperson though as a Japanese translation "Anime" may imply origin (depending on who says it). Some enthusiasts may find the alleged misuse offensive, but most people don't mean anything disparaging by it.

The internet. You should believe everything you read there. Except this.

You could link your main Steam account (SA) to your main PSN (PA). Then create a new PSN (PB), link it to another Steam account (SB) and redeem the free copy code then PA can play against SB. I don't have any codes (only got a promo copy at the mo) and my PSN and Steam account are linked up. Also, not sure if you need to be logged into Steam on PSN to play online (fairly sure you don't) so maybe you could not log in on PSN and play with the Steam account that way... though... to see the Steam friend you would need to be connected... Sneaky Valve. If (haha! "If") anyone gets hold of a copy on Steam when it releases, we can have a mess about with this.

Like I said, two mirrors, 45 degree angle = one very dead laser. ---->----\ ----<----/

Do you spend that much time on boats?

It's just not the same without a red beam of light lopping off limbs and such. Lasers have let me down.

This ones been doing the rounds with my lot lately. Cracks me up.