Burrobean

Terrific interview, Patrick. I was so pleasantly surprised by this game, both in the gameplay and in the story and the themes it touched on. After playing through it and having a ball, I immediately started through again to check out the alternate timeline, another surprising feature. Since this somewhat odd game was clearly a labor of love for the developers, I was just as curious as you were about the thought process behind its design and scope. Thanks for shedding some light on this unique effort from MachineGames. I sure hope they get to make another one.

This is devastating. My condolences to Ryan's wife, family, and the entire Giant Bomb crew. He will be missed by so many, including complete strangers like me.

I loved Witcher 2. I was impressed with their handling of branching story paths, down to a middle third that is completely different based on a major choice (BioWare could learn something from those guys). The world was also stunningly beautiful, something the murky Elder Scrolls games can't claim, despite their impressive scale. So the idea of the next Witcher going huge is so full of potential. First game I've heard of that might force my hand into buying a next-gen console sooner than I ever intended.

This thing has the potential to become a messy arms race like the one that helped kill the music games. Disney and Activision battling it out to be the coolest toy/game franchise, adding more and more features, requiring more and more peripherals, until the consumers get fed up, and a pile of plastic crap gathers dust in the closet.

I hope it doesn't get that bad. I like Skylanders quite a bit, and I'm very intrigued by how Disney's ambitious Infinity will make use of that massive roster of characters. But Skylanders consumers are already being told they need a new portal device to keep up with the series? That doesn't bode well. Activision managed to smother a genre I love with their constant stream of plastic instrument games. Let's hope they treat this new golden goose with a bit more respect.

While I always admired Spector's clear passion for the Disney characters and worlds, and loved the little details sprinkled throughout the first Epic Mickey, it was severely lacking in polish. There was a really good game in there, but you couldn't quite get at it thanks to issues with control, camera and basic design. I'd hoped that lessons learned would mean that the sequel got the attention in those areas that it deserved, but apparently no such luck (only played the demo, and was underwhelemed). The news of Junction Point closing is bittersweet for me. The ambition and ideas Spector and his team were shooting for were so promising. But if they couldn't pull them off in two games, and the second game was a major sales disappointment, I can't see an already games-shy Disney continuing to pour money into the shop. But man, I'd still love to play the game Spector and his team had in their heads, if not the one they actually got on the shelves. Best of luck to all impacted.

This is really intriguing, if true. There's a lot of fun source material to play with from back then. As long as they stylize it to in the direction of the old comics themselves, similar to the Silver Age influence on the "Brave and the Bold" TV series, I'm on board. As much as I love the Arkham games, their over-edgy character design is not my favorite aspect. I don't need the Justice League looking like bondage-influenced McFarlane figures, thanks.

It's kinda sad how the intro on the Fallout Online site ends with a hand holding a folder entitled "Welcome to the Future." Ouch.

While it's good to see Microsoft finally jump into action, it shouldn't take the Internet screaming about it and potentially damaging their PR to push them into doing the right thing. It should only take one customer calling up with a valid complaint of having been defrauded. I'd like to think that this situation would've been resolved without committed folks like Patrick digging into it, but I don't. The entire concept of customer service has imploded, as indicated by the recent nonsense with that twit at Ocean Marketing. I can only hope calling attention to enough of these cases can not only get their individual issues resolved as we've seen, but also lead to companies actually rethinking their procedures when dealing with real people with real problems. Keep fighting the good fight, Mr. Klepek!

I'm kinda surprised to see Brink do that well. The general reaction to that one seemed like one big "meh." Kudos to to the L.A. Noire team. It's a lovingly made, atypical game that deserves success.