Battra92

I picked up Indie Royale simply for Astro Tripper. Explodemon might be worth a play as well. We'll see.

Indeed. At this point I can't see it costing much more to offer them. Then again, they don't want to end up competing with themselves too much, I suppose.

Comics usually start with issue 0 as a sort of preview issue.

I was going to post something but mbm layed it out much better than I ever could. Manuals do provide better gas mileage (slightly) but I never got the snobbery around them. I'll gladly drive a "woman's car" if it's easier to drive. By the way, don't European cars have much lower displacement than their American cousins and on an engine like that, automatic transmissions would make them much too slow?

I believe in science. I don't believe in scientists. I think the notion of something being settled science is ludicrous. Everyone thought Newton's laws of motion were settled physics and no one could dare question them and then we learned about things that were smaller and smaller and BAM! here comes quantum mechanics. I think many scientists do themselves a disservice in acting like Pharisees of the Temple of Junk-Science. They think they serve science by calling attention to themselves with their latest "finding" using shoddy methods or creating a big headline while using doctored data. Instead, they discredit their field and make the average person look on them as what they are; colossal asshats. The one group of people I trust the least in this country below all other are those of the press. I'd trust a toothless bum to give me a more factual account than NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN etc.

I dunno, I like the ease of gas grilling. Plus can you do THIS with a *charcoal* grill?

Oh no, you misunderstand. I just bought the picture. In all seriousness, yeah. It was pretty daunting faxing 40 pages to the bank. In true manliness, I hope to be able to get a grill as there's a nice yard (about an acre) which will be good for cookouts and stuff. It's no mansion by any means but I'm sure the lady and I can make it home.

Scott Brown (R-MA) requested a report from the GAO about what it would cost taxpayers to convert to a Dollar Coin and the report is that the Dollar coin doesn't make fiscal sense. http://www.scottbrown.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2012/2/gao-report-dollar-coin-is-a-heavy-lift-for-taxpayers Of course, Scott Brown authored the Currency Efficiency Act of 2011 and was co-sponsored by John F. Kerry. They are both from Massachusetts which is also where Crane Paper Co. is (which is where US paper money originates)

Maybe I'm showing my rural side off but sorghum is a grain you crack and feed to the cows (though humans can and do eat it.) EDIT: can't type but I still know my cow fodder.

Beat Sonic 4 this morning. It was okay but nothing special. It was worth five bucks. Hopefully the next chapter fixes the physics issues.

I'd definitely keep the dime and most likely keep the nickel. I think a quarter is perhaps a bit too far to round. Eliminating the penny only applies to cash transactions, though as credit/debit card and check transactions would of course be to the penny (many accounting firms go to the mil or $0.001 for fewer rounding errors) One thing that should be eliminated is selling gas in 9/10ths of a cent. I mean, really? I have a feeling that would be Constitutionally more of a state law, though. Oh and Dean, the penny is actually the oldest of all the current US coin designs and if you look at previous American coins there is no consistency between facing right or left. Also, Jefferson now faces forward on the nickel.

So Canada has officially taken the plunge and eliminated the penny. And thus columnists across the fruited plain have brought up the "Hey, let's eliminate the penny here too." I support the elimination of the penny and either putting Lincoln on the Dime or mixing things up a bit and changing the coins around. The dollar coin will never be accepted by the people unless forced to and quite frankly, the math has been dubious as to whether we'd actually save any money. Interestingly enough, the US used to have a half cent until 1857 and people rarely used it for its last few decades before being tossed on the ash heap of history. According to The Inflation Calculator an 1857 half cent is worth twelve cents in 2010 money! So eliminating the penny is long overdue!

A challenger approaches ...

Christmas Comes to Pac-Land is an annual tradition in the Battra household.

$10 and DRM free straight from the Nyu Media. Pretty awesome for a trio of doujin shooters to get releases in English. Sadly I have to go to a party with my wife tonight (I'm not helping to disprove the introverted gamer stereotype, am ?)

Don't judge me!

On a single game? Hmm ... I'm thinking it has to be the Neptunia LE for $60 or the Atelier Rorona LE (also around $60) but I got cool artbooks out of the deal. I am tempted to sell them, though as I haven't had enough time to actually play them. I bought both with gift cards. They were the last $60 games I bought and I wasn't married then so I had more "MY" money. Being married has caused me to be an even cheaper gamer than I was before.

One point I think a lot of people are missing is that used games, actually in a way stimulate the new game sales. I'm going on anecdotal evidence but I've seen people in Gamestop trade in last month's big game toward the purchase of this month's new game. Heck, Gamestop even has promos to get people to purchase new games using trade-ins of old games. Gamers on a limited budget will not be able to keep plopping down $60 for the new title every month and I would think you'd see less sales. People who were used to paying $40 or less for a used copy of a game won't suddenly become $60 customers. One of the reasons that music piracy was so rampant in the late 90s was that the music industry was charging $15+ for a copy of a CD that was comprised of two good songs and 11 filler songs. Consumers know what they want and will react accordingly. Prices will have to go significantly lower.

I was thinking about this after hearing some of the complaints about the new Playstation and Xbox possibly having a form of lockout to block used games, there have been more changes to how games are and should be priced. So I'm curious as to what drives your decisions to pay a certain price for a game. I never EVER EVER pay $60 for a game. EVER! The only case I might would be if there was a seriously awesome LE and you can bet your boots I'd be finding a coupon or using gift certificates or something. I'll pay $50 if it says Mario or Zelda or Smash Bros on it or it's a niche title I wish to support (such as Deathsmiles) $30 is my serious consideration for AAA titles. $20 is my purchase point for AAA titles. My wife will never pay more than $20 for any game (including AAA titles like Final Fantasy) $10 is my absolute MAX for PC titles. I'm cheap like this but PC games are essentially just elongated rentals, usually and have no ability to resell. $5 or less is my impulse spending point. If I find a game I want for $5 or less, I'll buy it. What are your limits?