McDayman

So I haven't watched the show beyond the first season (and a few episodes in season 3), but I've read all the books twice. I'm a little concerned about some of the changes I've noticed Martin is making in the show. For the record, anything I'm spoiler tagging is still within the bounds of the show, I won't go beyond it. This bit in particular is regarding the end of season 3. Apparently in the show, Robb Stark's wife is present and killed at the red wedding. Compare this to the books where she isn't at the wedding and stays safe with child. Now that her character is dead in the show, it seems real unlikely she will pop up again in the books, a potential loose end that got ret-conned out of existence.

With the books unfinished, it irks me that he'll make changes to details like that which could affect the future books in the series. A lot of them are minor points, but both the book series and the show thrive on precise details. Then again, this all could be moot as he's never going to finish the books and just let the TV show run in perpetuity.

Indeed. Game Informer's doing a cover story on it. I'm crossing my fingers that the free to play model is more Dota2 or Mass Effect 3 than than it is Dungeon Keeper.

Fire Emblem Awakening: Don't get me wrong, I really liked playing the game and beat it 1.5 times. I even liked the story and how it was told. The goddamn boiler plate character archetypes, however, absolutely did not pay justice to the amount of work and care that went into the rest of the game. It felt like Valkyria Chronicles 2 all over again. Does that pass for memorable characters in Japan?

Also, New Super Mario Brothers Wii. I was completely on board for some back to the roots Mario, cut my teeth on SMB3 and World for a long period of time. It looked and controlled well but felt very flat and uninspired, not to mention bloody easy. I used to know you, Nintendo.

This this this.

I don't often play games when they're new, so these days I miss out on a lot of the surprises, but here's a few I remember from over the years.

Braid: There were a few "whoa" moments in realizing the solutions to some of the puzzles. Then the big one came at the end of the final level. I got there, wandered and jumped on everything I could for a solid 2 minutes trying to figure out what was up, then hit a certain button, and "holy shit!"

Ogre Battle 64: This is an odd one, and I may be the only person that said "whoa" to what is a pretty standard twist in games these days, but it being my first real jrpg experience, I was totally caught by surprise. It happens somewhat early on when you stumble upon some shit and end up switching sides in the conflict.

Super Mario World: When I figured out how to beat Bowser and actually pulled it off, I about lost it. It was the first "use the enemies to kill the boss" scenes I had fought and felt so completely rewarding. SMBW is not terribly hard, but I was young and didn't beat very many games. I'll definitely always remember that one.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time: This whole game is fantastic, but the ending really got me. It isn't the most surprising resolution, especially for a time travel story, but it was so masterfully told throughout that I couldn't help but get a little choked up at the end. Still one of my favorite 3D games.

I play a fair amount of turn based strategy games, and I honestly can't think of anything that has character customization near the level of XCOM.

If you haven't played FTL, I would recommend that. It's a different type of game, but you do get the sense of caring about each and every one of your crew members as you maneuver them around and level up their skills.

Double Fine's Massive Chalice may be just what you're looking for, though it won't be coming out until at least late this year.

I haven't played it, but Shadowrun Returns reviewed fairly well, as did the expansion Dragonfall. That may even have character customization stuff?

Used to be into wrestling during the NWO and Attitude eras. Then lost interest and got into anime during the Toonami era. Now I'd have to say anime over wrestling. There is enough of it that the occasional movie or series is worth watching.

If you've got a Wii, I highly recommend Secret of Mana coop. I think all or most of the Tales rpgs (Tales of Vesperia, Tales of Symphonia, etc) offer local coop play within the battles. Some others I'd recommend are Trine (not an rpg), Torchlight, Castle Crashers, Path of Exile, Orcs Must Die 2, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Hammerwatch, Dungeon Defenders.

There's a site you might find in handy too. It lists and reviews the coop experience for a lot of games. http://www.co-optimus.com/index.php

@spraynardtatum said:

It's not really accurate to say that OKCupid did any such thing. The role they played in this was creating awareness that the new CEO of Mozilla was a supporter of the proposition. It falls to the public to decide what happens next. If no one takes issue with it, OKCupid's warning does nothing. If people take issue with Mozilla and it effects the company negatively, then something like this happens.

Did you mean a PC game from the 90's? If so, it could be Metal Marines. You build a base on your island and turn by turn launch missiles and assault robots at an enemy island while they do the same to you.