AndrewB

I never reheat pies. Apple, Pumpkin... they work just fine cold. Pumpkin is probably better that way.

I'd do it, but the only games this year that I've pre-ordered were the *very* few games that both appealed to me on a deep personal level and also reviewed decently. I never made an ill-informed decision by pre-ordering and never did so for whatever dumb preorder DLC existed in the first place. I pre-ordered because I wanted to play it ASAP with a digital preload, and there's nothing morally wrong with that.

Having already heard the podcast, this is *mostly* an echo of those thoughts but still a place to actually comment on them a touch.

I'm not particularly interested in rogue-like (like-like-light)s to begin with, but I actually own and have tried to play ye olde PC version. The immediate turnoff to me was the art style, and even though I've come around on it because I realize where it's coming from and the story reasons for some of it, it still doesn't make it appealing for me to play and enjoy. One of those times where an aesthetic is one of the biggest hurdles keeping me from playing something - though to be honest I'm pretty sure it's way more fun of a game to me in a spectator capacity, only tolerable because I love watching Patrick runs.

Sucks that Frozen Synapse was borked. I haven't actually seen or heard any impressions of the Playstation edition - which at the very least seems to have a vastly different presentation. I'm all about the tactics games, so the base idea has always intrigued me. Just seems like maybe way less fun without a human player (preferably friend) to compete against.

As to Mario Kart -

A) You already have me very close to buying a Wii U - not entirely due to Mario Kart, but hearing praise about Nintendo and DLC in a non-sarcastic or joking manner definitely adds to it. I think I can overlook the downsides of the more bull powerups and just have fun playing. After all - no pressure when I can just blame the notoriously irritating lightning. That leads into...

B) Since Nintendo seems to have done a decent job bringing in other franchise characters while typing in pieces unique to their respective universes - is it time to just scrap the DLC idea and realize the dream of a brand new, full release Nintendo Karting which goes all out?

C) Birdo should not only be in the game, but have a Mario 2 (US) themed level and his/her shells should be replaced by eggs. Discuss. Actually, no discussion needed.

I'm glad I was able to maintain very little interest in this game for as long as I have. No expectations - then it turns out to be probably amazing. That's always the best release in my mind. A pleasant surprise!

Now to figure out where and when I'm going to buy it...

I'm going to avoid all negative commentary - be it something I agree with or something I disagree with - and just say that I love Alexa and I'm happy to have her closer to Giant Bomb and in a position obviously favorable to her in some regard. I just want her personality on camera more.

And then Revenge of Revenge of the Sith.

I had a bunch of credit laying around on my MS account and this felt like the thing to plop down for (and then Sunset Overdrive of course came along...) so I pre-purchased awhile ago. It's a huge collection of games and I'm really eager to play Halo 2 again. Glad that they did the whole pre-load thing too!

Fallout 3 also heavily alluded to it, which in my mind would make a deeper exploration of it almost necessary, especially since the southwest has too often been the focus of Fallout games.

Damn it. I want Icewind Dale Enhanced so bad. 3-3 Co-op is so miserable in the Infinity engine!

Me, just barely :P.

It's still a fun game. Maybe too reliant on generic side quests to keep you busy and soooo much driving. Modern open-world games have spoiled us with quicker travel options.