veXedbulldog

I... I am absolutely crushed. GS and GB have been an integral, important part of my life for so many years. I'm choked up just writing this--I am profoundly saddened for this loss. Forget video games; Ryan was obviously a great guy who loved what he did with the people he loved so much. My heart goes out to all of the GB crew, especially Jeff, and of course, Anna.

The Walmart nearby boasts an (un)impressive, unsold batch of AC/DC Rock Band 360 discs -- at least a dozen or so are reshuffled and repriced every time they overhaul the bargain bin, and it's been that way for years.

I'd like to know likely the possibility is that the postponement is due to next-gen development, sure. But then again, if GTA V was intended to be released (at some point) on next-gen consoles, that would have planned far earlier in development. It would be interesting to see if they announce at E3 that the game will be both a 360 and PS3 title, along with being a launch title for one (if not both) new consoles. GTA V will sell so many copies regardless, I don't think Rockstar would be worried about splitting their market (for consumers who would postpone a current-gen for a next-gen purchase).

I was playing some coop on XBL with my brother and we both have decently-geared Lvl 50s... Did a couple story missions and encountered a bandit town on the way to the last boss in the Hammerlock DLC. There were two witch doctors, one of whom leveled up the other to "super badass." This guy was literally impossible to destroy; he healed up faster than we could do damage, and on top of that, he had leveled up all the surrounding enemies to Lvl 54. Bullet sponges are never fun in shooters (save for bosses, I suppose), but this was beyond ridiculous. Eventually we just skipped that area with creative sprinting and went on to defeat the "actual" boss without much difficulty. Some balancing issues there, Gearbox.

I finished the game on Sunday, after already hearing quite a bit of the discontent about the ending on podcasts, etc. I was prepared, then, to be a little disappointed, even though I wasn't sure what to expect. So I made my decision, watched the ending, and then thought, "Well, that wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible, either."

Then I went back and replayed the last portion and made a couple different decisions, including the last one. I saw that the second ending I received wasn't that different (read: nearly identical) than the first one. I watched the third choice on YouTube.

You see, on my playthrough, I made some excruciating decisions that led to the deaths of Mordin and Tali, but I lived with those decisions. I thought, "Maybe on a different playthrough, I'd be able to save them." But after seeing how BioWare decided to wrap up each of the endings, I realized that it really didn't matter what decisions I'd made throughout the process. Cure the genophage or not? Didn't really matter. Let the Rachni Queen survive or not? Didn't really matter. Geth or Quarian (I didn't get the choice to save both)? Didn't really matter.

BioWare has every right to see their creative vision to the end, but after spending $200 on their games, I have every right as a consumer to criticize the delivery on their promise of making player choice matter in whatever end they create. I enjoyed the experience of all three games--I really did--and I'm not begging for a refund, either. But I'll tell you what--I'm not going to pony up another $20, $30, or $40 for additional DLC which may or may not alter the ending experience. That's a shameful money grab, promoting something to "add to the legend of Shepard".

My Shepard is dead. That's the ending that BioWare wanted to give me, and I accept it without spending another penny.

greately?

@Dberg: If there's an achievement for sitting through the credits, it will actually be legit this time.

It was posted about 2 1/2 hours, actually.

@TheFrostedGamer said:

And yet again Patrick grabs something loosely related to videogames, finds a politically correct moral high-ground, and drops an article to keep you caring about something of no value.

Remember kids: Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious, and you have all been duped again.

"Loosely related to videogames" huh? Tell that to all the iOS game developers making bank from Apple users. Gamasutra apparently disagrees with your assessment of Apple's relevance in the gaming market, and has for some time: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/37706/TopGrossing_iOS_Games_DragonVale_Overtakes_Zynga_Poker.php

@gunslingerNZ: Well said. Steve Jobs' passing is sad, but Patrick needed to contextualize it here on GB. Besides, Eliot was referring to how game enthusiasts often (unfortunately) make a misguided attempt to reaffirm the importance of video games (and their own importance, by proxy) by connecting them to real-world events. Stating that the iPad, iPhone, and iTouch are now ubiquitous gaming platforms is neither irrelevant nor tangential to GB, nor is it an attempt to justify why games are important. It's simply a fact.