BeyondStrange

@milkman: I agreed with you about the cover until I saw it myself. I think they are focusing more on the Star Wars part of the equation than the Disney Infinity part.

As for this in general, I love the idea of going back to to the original series, but these were the people who screwed up the HD collection. Plus, the art design and the whole projectiles thing does not give me much confidence.

I am going to be a counterculture hipster type and disagree with the previous one hundred posts. I think it is getting reviewed and I will stick my lunch on it. My entire lunch. I'll even through in additional lunches to make things craaaaazy.

Many (by many, I mean like everyone) have pointed out the general lack of reviews and Jeff's comments about the future of reviews. I want to point out though that thee few reviews this year were of big tent pole things which there hasn't been much of this year (except for Evolve, which it is understandable why that wasn't reviewed. I also forgot that game existed until now). I didn't expect there to be a Gat Out of Hell or Geometry Wars 3 review, but those do very much exist.

I think you guys are saying this won't be reviewed because it is of the Souls lineage, which makes sense. I think what you're missing though is that Bloodborne is a major Sony exclusive and probably the biggest one of the year. After that The Order review, I doubt they would let Bloodborne slip. Dan did mention on the latest Bombcast that he was playing a game coming out soon that he couldn't talk about. What else could it be?

I think this was a great show with my highlights being the Dog Walker and the commish. The organization and obviously planned outcomes made the show feel tighter and strangely like real wrestling. I was impressed they found ways to predetermine outcomes without having some one throw a video game wrestling match.

I disagree with the general idea that Dan Ryckert is being set up as the hero. I think Samantha is being set up as the main person.

It is super hard not to use wrestling terminology here guys.

The biggest bummer was that Mary Kish didn't make it to the PAX rumble. As much as I loved the commish, "the dog walker" bit was my favorite part of the panel.

So, is the 404in it panel worth watching? They seems like a great line up, but those things can be quite hit or miss.

@haruko: That guy was apparently making a joke. I think it wasn't a very good joke, but at least he wasn't serious.

And I generally don't think these questions were as bad as they were made out to be. Even the worst ones were quick. I will admit that the "hire Cara Ellison" guy was so embarrassing that I literally facepalmed, but even the "dumbass" guy wasn't that bad. Plus, the segment was only apparently only twenty minutes which seems shorter than it used to be.

If you want to hear some terrible questions though, track down the Jeff Q and A from PAX south. The first question is literally "how do I get a job in games journalism" and the second question from the next guy was "but no seriously, how do I get a job in games journalism?"

So, I got to go to the NXT in Cleveland and would have to say, besides almost being murdered by an army of ice (and juggalos that were having a concert int he building), the whole thing was amazing. This is really my first live wrestling experience. I was drug to an ECW house show ten years ago when the WWE was trying to make it a thing for them. Ironically, the main event there was with the Big Show, so I was happy that that whole thing was relegated to Columbus.

It could just be my newness, but it felt like the matches were the quality of the Takeover specials. I may even think that the women's fatal-fourway here topped the one they did at Rival (of course, I do prefer Alexa Bliss to Becky Lynch). Everyone brought their A game and it was fabulous.

The crowd added to it too. The place was packed and very appreciative. Negative chants and call outs were stamped out quickly and the energy of everything added to the experience. I recommend people go if they have a chance.

The problem with the "it is just my opinion" argument from all sides gets no one anywhere. It's just pure deflection. You are indeed allowed to have critiques and opinions and express them on the site, but we are also allowed to have critiques and opinions and express them about your critiques and opinions. It's just an endless circle to point out "I'm just havin' opinions." That is what everyone is doing. Pointing it out is basically saying "shut up, my opinion is more right and awesome." Just as you are allowed and should feel free to critique content you don't like, others should be free and feel free to defend the content that they like. You're basically doing to other people what you're saying they are doing to you.

I want to be fair here and not a jerk, but I am really tired though of this "rapid fan boys are dog piling because of my simple critique" thing that pops up all the time right now. People aren't expressing these opinions in a vacuum. At any given time on the site, there is at least one (usually three or four) threads critiquing and being negative about something. It gets old and repetitive. In addition to this thread right now, we have the "bring back TNT" thread, the "they shouldn't go to PAX" thread, and another negative PAX related critique thread. They all may be technically on different subjects, but they all are based upon similar critiques and perspectives. I'm more of a lurker here and I see the same negativity over and over. I am sure it gets especially tiring for those that are super active.

As far as your actual critiques go, I just don't find them realistic. Twenty minute episodes would just not fly. Just as this thread was made to begin with, probably five would be made that the episodes are too short. Also, the format is really demanding. Even with twenty minute episodes shot all at once, that is two hours of production time a week just to shoot them, let alone to edit them and put them up. Since they can't really do an ER of a new game, that is a bunch of time committed to not current content that is free. They would probably have to make it premium, which would cause quite the outrage. And let's go back to realism: the episodes would need to be at least thirty to forty minutes each with three people working on it. That is about five to six hours to those playing the game and about ten hours for whomever is filming it. That is a loooot of time in the week. And I know people like to scoff at this, but the quality will not be very high if the Endurance Run is forced.

I think Endurance Runs made more sense back when the site was new. They were trying things out and were basically a bunch of guys in a basement. There were not weekly shows or as many events or as many podcasts. I am not going to disagree with the "I want an Endurance Run" opinion because people should ask for what they want. I don't like this "I'm OWED an Endurance Run because I pay five dollars" mind set, but that is a personal thing and passion is basically a good thing. I do think the oversimplification of the process is detrimental though.

I don't think they are "playing horror games" though. Their Schlick is more "crappy and cheaply made horror games they find on steam." I can't really think of a mainstream horror game they gave a dismissive attitude to. "The Evil Within," "Alien: Isolation," and even Dying Light had Brad involved I think. To me, they are doing an MST3K thing with terrible games instead of being hostile towards horror games. Even Scoops would be derisive towards games like that.

I guess you can point out the QL of the Resident Revil remake, but in fairness, I think Dan was picked because of his history with it and it strikes me as a game that would be hard to do a quick look for.

I would say he is also my current favorite author and I really like the way he constructs his books. I've heard it described as "cinematic" and I think that is a good descriptor. Also, is it just me, or would his magic systems often make fore great gameplay mechanics? I mean, the magic in the Rithmatist was basically based around a chalk MOBA. It seems like the general internet may be getting a bit down on him recently, so it is super cool to see other fans.

As far as the Cosmere goes... there doesn't seem to be a set order yet. I would base your reading on what stories appeal to you the most. I would recommend starting with the original Mistborn trilogy.since it is the easiest to get into, despite the fact I feel like the first half of "The Well of Ascension" (the second Mistborn book) really drags. I think my favorite book of his would be "Words of Radiance," which is the second Stormlight Archive book, but "Way of Kings" may not be a great starter book. It is super long and has a lot of world building in it. The only general Cosmere recommendation is that you may want to read Warbreaker before you read Words of Radiance. I say this because some Warbreaker characters appear in Words of Radiance, though you won't be missing anything beyond a "that is cool" moment if you haven't read it. Also, one character appears in all the Cosmere books.

And I did want to point out that those Mistborn books coming out soon are indeed sequels to "The Alloy of Law" and not part of the next Mistborn trilogy that is planned. I loved "The Alloy of Law," so I am really looking forward to them.

If I was some kind of omnipresent statistician with an infinite amount of time, I would listen to every podcast and video featuring Dan to see how often he actually references wrestling. I am pretty sure it would be less of "he brings it up all the time and filters EVERYTHING through it" and more of "he brings it up a few times, just as much as Jeff brings up hip-hop, home ownership, and weird observations about his hometown that most listeners do not live in." Seriously, he doesn't actually do it all that often.

I think it just stands out to so many people because they just hate wrestling. It is kind of like how a lot of people like to bring up how Dan's favorite Terminator movie is Terminator 3 or how in the 2011 GOTY, Brad whined and filibustered for four hours until Skyrim won Game of the Year. Anyone who goes back and listens to these discussions will quickly realize that these perceptions are insanely wrong. I think they are created due to the emotions and popular opinions involved making modern Giant Bomb myths. It is okay to hate wrestling, but I stand by my opinion that Dan isn't as bad with talking about it as those who hate it make it seem.

What I am trying to say is that we should create a race of all powerful and omnipresent statistical super people.