Thursday Next

For fuck's sake why can't we just turn shit off anymore? You can disconnect it from the mains if you're going to be a massive EcoWarrior™ about it.

I look forward to them allowing me to hold on to life while the bits they replaced are rotting in the ground.

The downward trends and what not look very similar to what we saw at the end of the Xbox/PS2 Cycle. With all the rumours that a new generation might be in the offing soon, I'm wouldn't say I am at all surprised at the current downward trends. What I will say is that if and when a new generation of consoles is released, they will be more powerful than the majority of PC's in peoples' homes and we'll see PC gaming decline a bit while consoles shoot up again. I'm pretty confident in this as it is exactly what happened over the past two/three Cycles. Only difference this time is that we'll see a bit more on top thanks to digital... Which is why we'll also see the whole videogames market increase in size as we have done over the past few Cycles. Digital tends to build on top of retail sales rather than cannibalising them (or at least retail sales are still going up at the same rate with digital sales on top of that maybe retail would climb faster without digital?). So, the takeaway from this is that Consoles are not dying, neither is PC, PC is having a renaissance now that consoles are showing their age, but that will likely turn around again if/when the Cycle begins anew. It is at this point that I realise that I may be playing too much mass effect...

If you're going to dedicate a whole debate to foreign policy then you need to recognise that how foreigners perceive you is pretty important in how foreign policy goes. Bush for example could not have been a Dove even if he'd wanted too, the other foreign powers would have seen him as another Bush and immediately taken a Hawkish footing with him. Point being that while you shouldn't necessarily elect a guy just because the rest of the world likes him, you should probably take notice when most of the population of the planet are so strongly for / against something.

Just started using Zombies Run. It's a great app that makes running entertaining. I actually look forward to the next chapter and, as such, my next run.

Isn't Kool-Aid a concentrated drink that you dilute with water? This video has made me hungry.

Mass Effect 2. It's generally pretty good about letting you wander about, but a couple of side/loyalty missions have caught me out. I also dislike that you can skip conversations, but can also inadvertently select a response. It'd be better if the skip dialogue button was different to the commence / continue dialogue button.

When you have a bunch of clickable objects that have indiscriminate terms like "Use", "Read" or "Examine" I hate when using, reading or examining said object ends the level. If it ends the level/mission/whatever that is what it should say. It should at least be differently coloured so that I know I'm about to hit a PNR and can go exploring a bit.

Liking how the chick with the keys is the one at the ticket office from Michael.

It must HAVE. Anyone else going to the Rams game this weekend?

Only if you do it properly. I was thinking more "Mrs Pacman" than anything else. Though she did have a really cute wiggle....

Ummm... Bit harsh. Besides, "a Damage Over Time" makes no sense. So there.

Part of why I like Hanna and Night Watch is because they are very un-Hollywood. The tone, the visual style, the direction. It all feels really fresh. It's like the difference between a homemade burger and McDonalds. McDonalds has all the polish and marketing, it's chemically balanced to taste good, you know exactly what you're getting and it's all very shiny, but it lacks some of the flavour of homemade and feels somehow fake. Your homemade burger may be a bit misshapen and you never really know if it's going to be great all the way through or have bits of gristle in it, but every one is unique.

what's a DOT?

I don't think there is any reason that you couldn't have a variety of skins but yeah, if you go for male / female, then you have to justify not having black / white, then it's why not Asian? Mixed race? Etc. In the end you'd need every game to have a full character creator. It's the author that owns the story, so it's up to them if your character is a boy, girl, alien or blank template for you to fill in. Personally, when I have a character creator, I tend to go for a female build anyway. I'd rather see something I find attractive on screen and narratively, I have no problem with Shepard being a girl. One of the side affects of this is that my RPG characters usually end up gay because I find it less... odd? To flirt with members of the opposite gender to me (who are therefore the same gender as my character).

Having finished ME1 I picked up ME2. Any recommendations with regard to DLC? I'll probably get all of it, but just curious if there are any "must have" items.

Finished my first playthrough of Mass Effect. Can see what all the fuss was about.

I agree it's a retarded policy.

Works for me.

I'd say Gravity Rush too. But I did enjoy Rayman. Apart from the last... boss... thing.

The dude abides.

I'm on board with Ethan's interpretation of time travel in the movie.

Looper, great film with a lot of depth.

Muse: The 2nd Law. Picked it up today on a supposedly obsolete optical disc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPeufV4xCGU

I bought a little known title called Mass Effect. It's quite good.