captroy

The Orphanage level in Thief 3 was so creepy, from the sound effects to the lighting and jerky movements of the inmates. You never felt remotely safe, even if you were hiding well. It took me forever to get through that level because I was so freaked out.

@sdornan: Many thanks! Worked like a charm.

This idea is, frankly, insane. Given Nintendo's problems with selling the 3DS (and I'm having problems figuring out how the Vita is going to be successful), handheld gaming on devices that lack the easy capability of smartphones is becoming a serious gamble. I can't imagine how GameStop is going to get people to buy a TABLET that's somehow dedicated to gaming, even if it can do all of the other things Android does. What percentage of today's public is buying iPads PRIMARILY for gaming? If that number is above 2%, I'd be shocked.

Apple is cleaning up in the tablet market because they're making the hardware, which allows them to produce a high-quality product at a cost lower than their competitors. Amazon's upcoming tablet might be a serious competitor, if only for the same reason - they're making their own hardware, IIRC. Lord knows, with GameStop's horrible customer service and questionable business practices, I'll be damned if I ever buy something that tied me to their company in any way.

Oh, and @Law313, you shouldn't buy a tablet if you want it to do everything a laptop can do. That's what LAPTOPS are for! The day I got my iPad was the day I decided to give my netbook to my neighbor. It's the perfect device for web surfing, answering email, reading books, watching YouTube videos and playing an occasional game. I don't have to wait 2 minutes for it to boot up. I don't need to download Windows Updates, virus updates and other BS when I just want to search for something on Google. If I have serious work to do that an iPad can't handle, I use one of my laptops. If I just want to play Words With Friends or write an email, I use the iPad. In fact, one of the best uses for it is to look up game info (FAQ's or YouTube gameplay videos) If I'm playing something on my 360 or PS3 that I'm having a problem with. I don't want to have my laptop sitting on my lap to do those kinds of things - it's a pain and total overkill.

I'm a PC person, but I've never had anyone use my iPad for longer than 5 minutes who didn't love it and wanted to buy one for themselves. Apple isn't selling millions of iPads because they're useless. Buy the base $499 model, try it for a week and if you don't find that it's a terrific, convenient device, take it back. I think that if you go into it with an open mind, you'll find you really like it and wonder why someone didn't come up with the idea sooner.

I just loaded up the Roku app using the code for Giant Bomb, but it doesn't give me a code to link to my paid subscriber account or ask for a username or password. I do see some videos under the "Subscriber" tab, but it all indicates that it's "free". Is this happening because the app isn't "formally" approved yet or am I missing something?

@ericdrum: Umm - did you actually watch or read about the game yesterday? Urlacher is overrated and has had an injury or two? Once again, did you see him play yesterday? I'm not the world's biggest Cutler fan, but it's hard to be much good when you end up on your back 5 times a game.

At last count, Aaron Rodgers has won as many Super Bowls as Trent Dilfer and Brett Favre. I'm not sure he's Joe Montana or John Elway yet. Just sayin'.

Bear Dignity! :)

So, Microsoft would prefer that I give money to Sony rather than publish the game on XBLA later and have the chance to get that money instead?

I think this is one time that they should actually talk to one of their accountants. Perhaps she/he could explain to them what "making money" means.

@boylie: I'm not convinced that the number of casual games being released really hurts us "core" gamers in the long run, any more than the variety of genres in the movie, TV or book industries hurt their industries. When you really look at it, the video game industry is still a young one compared to the others, meaning there's plenty of room to grow. More choice = more gamers = more variety in the long run, which is healthy for the industry. Plus, the rise in popularity of indie games is a positive sign.

It's also a better situation if a large publisher like EA can spread its risk over a variety of types of games. That way, one or two failures of expensive "blockbuster" games doesn't threaten its long-term business.

Of course, this doesn't mean I'll be playing Farmville anytime soon, but I'm not going to be watching a romantic comedy tonight, either. :)

I thought the podcast was great, and I don't get why everyone thinks Jonathan Blow is a dick. The guy obviously cares a lot about his games and I thought his explanation of how he goes about generating design ideas informative = I've never heard it explained that way before. I RESPECT people with strong opinions. It doesn't mean I agree with them, but I like people who say what they think rather than kissing everyone's ass so they don't accidentally piss people off. Or feeding a constant line of evasion and BS like Reggie did with Geoff Keighly when Geoff interviewed him today. (Granted, Reggie's a salesman and a damned good one, but being unable to answer an direct question once in a while drives me insane.) The Nintendo fanboys on the chat feed screaming about how Geoff was being a jerk need a life. Nintendo has plenty of internally produced propaganda pieces for them to read if they're uncomfortable with journalism.

I also appreciated his criticisms of Microsoft's software review/certification process. Look, I'd be the first to agree that when you play in Microsoft's yard, you have to play by their rules, but it's refreshing to hear some openly direct criticism when 360 employees are in the room. It doesn't mean that he's going to get what he wants, but keeping his mouth shut isn't going to get him anywhere. He's got the courage of his convictions, whether you agree with him or not. For the record, I felt bad for the other two in having to defend Microsoft policies. I'm sure if you got more beers in them, they'd probably agree with a lot of things Blow said. Not all, but some.

Bottom line - if Microsoft's certification process has developers with intriguing ideas avoiding 360 because of the hassle, that's a net negative for 360 users. They can't let the inmates run the asylum, but just because certain policies have been in place for a long time, policy longevity doesn't equal it being useful or smart.

Standard disclaimer: I enjoyed Braid, but it didn't change my life and I didn't achieve Nirvana as a result. It was a cool, different type of game and made me THINK. I wish I could say that for more games. Not all of them, but more, please!

[Edited for misspelling..]

I really liked Dead Money - I was kind of surprised at the negative reaction. I enjoyed sneaking around - it sort of reminded me of the Thief games in a way, where you're trying to avoid attracting too much attention. Dealing with the radios was like shooting out lights and torches. 
 
As far as more New Vegas DLC goes, they could release one every month and I'd buy them. There are so many stories that they can tell in the universe that might not lend themselves to being a full-blown game. I thought Alan Wake could have done the same sort of thing - I'm disappointed they seem to be done with it.

God, the selling of micro-packs is so annoying. If you're going to charge me 5 bucks, open some new locations in the game or something - ANYTHING but this.