haggis

I'll be doing one last run through ME3 with all the DLC to get the full experience, so I'll probably pick up the Citadel bit. I actually enjoyed the ME3 multiplayer--and I hardly ever play online. But as much as I enjoyed it, I'd much rather stay in the single-player campaign. I do think the multiplayer DLC for ME3 has been pretty decent, though.

"So to call Sony out as some have for not showing the box strikes me as petty and maybe just a little bit beside the point."

Not really. I'm a little surprised that so many are covering Sony's ass on this one, when they should be asking the obvious question--why? Sure, they might still be designing it. But it might also be a sign of some other issue. That so many game journalists aren't interested in digging deeper into the box's absence doesn't surprise me, but it does disappoint.

Mmmmm ... not impressed. Satisfied, I suppose. It was good to hear that some of the systems specs were on the high side of the rumors. Game-wise, it seemed silly to tout Diablo 3, a game with a rather mixed opinion among gamers. A new InFamous, good. Watch_Dogs is multiplatform, so ... alright. The game showcase was interesting, but more something I'd expect out of E3 than a new console announcement. Since I'm not terribly interested in the social functions, maybe that can account for my ho-hum attitude. Depending on exclusives, I'd probably consider the PS4 over whatever Microsoft offers, but we've only heard one side so far. Let's see what Microsoft brings to the party, and then I'll decide if I'm impressed or not. At this point, I suspect I'll be thinking about sliding back into PC gaming. For the prices they're going to be asking ... I'm not sure either next-gen console is going to make much sense.

I would have liked to have actually seen the box, though.

Another thing: I wonder if their lack of announcement on price was a result of the blowback they had after their announcement of the PS3. All anyone talked about afterward was how high the price was. If Sony wants a high price point for this (and I think they do) maybe they were smart to let the positive buzz build before they start popping balloons with the 499-599 price they're probably going to set for this thing. I could be wrong about that, but I suspect I'm not.

I own two 360s, had two red rings (one on each) had them fixed for free and no future issues. Of my circle of friends (about ten 360s altogether) I'm the only one who had issues. I wonder if it was partly a regional thing, since we all got the consoles around the same time.

Anyway, I'm not as down on Microsoft as some here are. I like the console and the Dashboard. I don't particularly care about exclusives anymore (I think exclusivity is going to be increasingly rare, given the market). I've been using the 360 less, mostly because I've been playing less. I sold my PS3 a while back, after having not played it for months. Didn't regret it then, and don't now. I gave up on PC gaming because I didn't like the constant upgrade cycle. To some degree, that's lessened--even current games will often run on older hardware, something that wasn't necessarily true back in 2004 and 2005 when I decided to take a break from PC gaming. Prices are also down quite a bit. It makes PC gaming far more attractive than it used to be. Still, I'm not interested in having a desktop PC around, when what I really use is a laptop.

I don't think I'm done with my 360 yet. There are still a few games from last year I need to play. But there's maybe one or two games this year, then nothing. I haven't decided if I'll buy a next-gen system or not, but right now I'm leaning toward whatever Microsoft is going to offer. I may well go with Sony depending on features, but I'm happy with the MS ecology in my home right now, with media serving, etc. There would have to be a compelling reason to switch.

At some level, this sort of thing is bound to happen even to the best of developers. Not all artistic projects succeed, and game development has demonstrated itself to be difficult to pull off, even in the best of circumstances. There's pressure to create a mass-pleasing product, pressure to please fans of the series, pressure to get things done on time and on budget. Not all of those pressure are compatible with each other. And when things break down, sometimes it's impossible to pick them up and put them back together again. Nevertheless, developers are expected to do just that. It's no surprise that the game was delivered broken. It's real life--failure does happen, even after what some might consider heroic efforts.

I do appreciate the attempt at trying to figure out what exactly went wrong--looking back, all the signs are obvious. So when we start seeing these same signals again, we'll be better able to make a judgment about the potential quality issues with games, and developers might have a better idea of when to just stop and reconsider before shipping a reputation-killing mess.

It's absolutely worth the playthrough. And you must play ME3. Don't listen to those telling you to skip it. For all its flaws (and there are many) it has some of the most amazing moments of the series, from the final resolution of the Krogan situation, to the small, emotional moments between characters you grow to love in ME2. The third game of the series may not stack up as a whole against ME2, but it is still a fantastic game by any standard. ME3 has some of the best character moments I've ever experienced in any game. They shouldn't be missed.

Connor was a dull, undeveloped character, so I'm happy to hear that he's out. I'd like to know more about what direction they're going--they're basically caught up with the present portion of the story, so they could move backward again. And I'm all for having a female assassin this time around as well. Or, god forbid, even multiple playable assassins with different skill sets. Add some basic RPG elements...okay, now I'm just dreaming. I'll be happy with a playable game.

What they really need to do is tear the game back to what it was at Brotherhood and go from there. And I wouldn't mind if the game was more evenly split between ancient and modern settings.

@hollitz said:

After the abysmally poor, completely unaware writing in Braid, I can't bring myself to care about anything associated with this guy.

I completely agree with that. Nice to see that other people saw the writing in Braid for what it was. Blow has an ego and a following, but I haven't seen anything from that guy that shows any real talent.

Bananas with just the start of brown spots showing are technically at their sweetest. I prefer them at this point because they're not too soft or too firm. Many like more firm bananas (my wife is this way), and yet others prefer them soft. Whatever. There's a point when they're so soft that I just don't like the texture, and too-green bananas just don't taste right to me.

I always freeze my bananas that have gone too brown, for use either in banana ice cream or to thaw and use in banana bread.

Guns and violence are a part of American culture. More and more, though, it's become virtualized--actual criminal and gun violence has been declining in America for well over 30 years, in part due to prosperity and in part do to cultural shifts that video games are a part of. We watch a lot of violence, but we don't actually do a lot of it. Most of the horrific violence we see is done by people with mental health issues. Neither guns nor video games are the actual problem. I'm an NRA member, and I was a bit irked when LaPierre did his video game thing. I sent an email to them saying so. Most of the NRA members I talked to about it agreed that they thought it was stupid.

It's also worth noting that the vast majority of the NRA's funding comes from individuals, not gun manufacturers. And many of those NRA members are gamers. Trust me when I say there was serious grumbling and eye-rolling in the NRA ranks when LaPierre made those anti-gaming comments.

As for perceptions of gaming--it's changing as gamers get older. However, as many of us get older, we've gotten irritated with the focus most games have on violence. I certainly don't mind violent games, and I know they don't make people violent. But I'd like to see more variety in gameplay out there. We're getting there, but it's a slow road. There's always going to be a segment of society that dislikes violent video games and films, and blames them for society's ills. Evidence doesn't matter--it's not about facts, its about how they view the world.