McDayman

If you're having trouble with the combat, I strongly suggest upgraded bees, especially for the more spry enemies. Bees will seek them out and bother them long enough for you to get a good couple shots off. I don't recall if they do much against Big Daddy's, but past the first area, BD's really aren't that tough. They can take a lot of damage, but remember that you get to decide when and how to engage with them. Traps are your friends.

Ender's Game: 3/5

Better than expected. To be fair, expected was around a 1/5. I thought several of the difficult roles were played fairly well: Ender, Colonel Graff, Bonzo Madrid. I also rather liked how the battle room was portrayed. Given how much they had to condense into an hour and a half movie, I felt they pressed on enough important points to have it all make sense.

My biggest gripe revolves around a single unnecessary line that really speaks to a greater problem with movies for the general public. It's not really a spoiler, but... when Ender first meets Bean on the shuttle to the space station, Bean ends a brief conversation with the offhand comment, "I grew up on the streets of Rotterdam, ya know?" He says it with this friendly little smirk that about had me wanting to give up on the movie 20 minutes in. So this homeless, family-less, starving kid who grew up on the streets remarks about the whole experience with this "aint it cool" attitude? Ugh. Hollywood, you're still the worst.

I'm of the mindset that a time period can only be deemed a golden age posthumously. In the present, people tend to weigh the good and bad equally. When I think of a golden age, I imagine it as looking back to a past period where the good things that were occurring stand out significantly over the bad.

Also, unless the future of gaming takes a significant dive in quality, I don't imagine the present as being looked back on so fondly. We may have a steady stream of interesting games to play, but look at industry side. The last five years are marked more than anything by studio closures, poor planning/development practices, and general industry turmoil. If anything, I'd say we're in a transitional period.

I just graduated from UM Dearborn this April. Would be a perfect place to come see Patrick speak and meetup afterwards, but alas, I'll be partying it up at a friend's wedding.

Good luck Patrick, err, break a leg.

@mandude:

I have no hard evidence, but then there is no damning evidence either. It's pretty dang early to doom the console's launch based on the sales rankings 2 whole days into E3. Besides, what I'm estimating is their target audience are NOT really the people that are going to be closely following E3. The sorry was meant to be sarcasm, aimed at the how the internet likes to decry anything video games that are not for the typical gaming audience. I myself am thrilled. Both consoles seem solid, and hell, $399 is less than I figured either of them would be.

@keris:

@keris

: Well, no, I don't expect anyone to buy it JUST for TV or Netflix, neither does Microsoft. But a huge market buys a console for one or two games a year: Call of Duty, Madden, Fifa, maybe even motion control games for the family....games that appeal far beyond the hardcore gaming audience, games that will always sold more than those aimed strictly at the hardcore audience, like The Last of Us or Infamous. Microsoft, by focusing more on these broad reaching titles, and then also including features like TV and sports, which also have a very broad reach, will entice those people who are not that into gaming, but like having a console for one or two things. Those people greatly outnumber the hardcore community. Add in the fact that the Xbox 360 built up a number of fans over the last gen, and that will pull people back, regardless of the knee jerk reaction following E3.

@shinjin977: I am neither a fanboy nor a corporate loyalist. I have no plan to buy an Xbox One myself until I see that their server structure is sound and they come up with some games that interest me. If I do buy a console at the end of the year, or early next year, it will likely be a PS4. I'm not arguing in favor of the Xbox One, just trying to rationalize why Microsoft is doing things this way. Believe it or not, flipping the bird at gamers and the people you mentioned is not in their corporate strategy. It's unfortunate that the online verification check is going to exclude people without internet capabilities, but that's all. They made a decision to run that risk with a new product. Microsoft is not enacting some great evil by doing this, they are simply trying to adjust their business plan, and likely dip their toes in the water of a digital only hardware. As for the Amazon pre-sale numbers, it's early. This is a knee jerk reaction from E3. I would still bet Xbox One sells more units this year.

Agreed, we're really seeing internet bi-polar disorder in full swing here. If I were a betting man, I would put money on the Xbox One to sell just as well, if not better than the PS4 at launch. They're hitting the mass market audiences (tv viewers, online shooter players, sports fans) much more effectively than Sony. I'm sorry duders, but there may just be a game console launching that contains features directed not towards the hardcore gaming community. It does not make it a piece of shit, nor does it make Microsoft the worst thing ever.

Hell yeah 3DS games. That's some awesome news. Legend of Zelda: LttP2, Mario and Luigi: Dream Team, SMT 4, Bravely Default....who the hell needs home consoles anyway?

@Jams: Because Amurica.

Sucks to have it pushed back....but it will give us an unexpected gem for early next year while I'm sure there's plenty to keep people busy this fall.