sirpenguin

Sounds weird. Not in the "motion control? in my video games?" sort of weird. More like the, "I play consoles to get away from touchscreens" sort of weird

I agree with everything you said, Dave. I also think you outlined your argument very well, which is important given the touchy nature of dissing the almighty Mass Effect 2 (which I personally loved, but for different reasons) 
 
I'm 23, but I missed the CRPG boat due to playing mostly consoles until I was in my late teens. Once I "discovered" PC gaming and the unique RPGs it provided, I attempted to get into them almost immediately. Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, Planescape, Fallout, etc. I hated them all. They were boring, slow, hard, and looked really bad in comparison to modern graphics. 
 
This disliking of the genre continued all the way until Golden Sun for the GBA. It was the first RPG I had beaten in a long time, and for whatever reason it made me want to pursue more difficult and strategic games in that genre. From there, I played and beat Baldur's Gate 2 and Planescape, and even gave Ultima a try. Now I find myself enthralled by this style of game, even when it transcends genres. I'd very much argue that games like Europa Universali 3 are an example of the "traditions" of a CRPG being realized in a modern game under a different genre. 
 
I think what I'm saying is that I can't hate on modern games too much because the classics still exist, waiting for someone to pick them up. On their own, without history or nostalgia, they're hard to appreciate, but games still exist nowadays that can serve as bridges between genres and the classic titles can always get new players to pick them up. I think that something like Dragon Age being a AAA title and selling quite well is a very good sign for the future of CRPGs, past and present. 
 
Then again, Dragon Age 2 looks like utter garbage from a company too scared to capitalize on a proven success. Which is utterly bizarre. In the end, you may hate DA2 for what it'll do to the genre way more than ME2.

What am I going to lose if I don't buy any of this? 
 
Sorry, you must be thinking about someone else. We're in the not pissing off the Internet business. The site as you see it right now will remain largely unchanged.

Good list, though Brotherhood still needs to earn my money. 
 
Also, very much agreed in regards to Super Scribblenauts. I wanted to love that game so badly, but it fell right on its face. Improved controls, physics, level design, less annoying camera, and more interactions all seem to be perfectly scratching that itch

I love every one of these videos, god damn

" I'm eager to hear what GB thinks about the 3DS. If they could wrench Jeff out of the Microsoft area and force him to play one that would be nice. "

I'm a little confused why some of you are disappointed that they aren't doing anything new...when we haven't even seen anything. Not even a single dungeon. We saw two redone enemies, new controls, and some of what is clearly a demo/tutorial level. 
 
I dunno, I'm with you guys in the sense that advancing Zelda is important, and that means moving farther away from the classic style. But I feel people are reading a bit too much into it. 
 
Honestly, the stuff I did see proved (to me, at least!) that they're finally listening to their longterm fans and improving the general experience. For instance, Link can now dash like in many action games. That's neat. The quick items menu was long overdue. I do hope that they are both indicator that Zelda won't be reinventing the wheel, but they'll at least be improving on its already legendary style

I had the luxury of watching E3 on a 52 inch HDTV on G4HD. As such I was able to ditch my laptop, and spent a good 2 hours simultaneously drooling a nursing a pretty big erection during their presentation. Zelda hit first, and boy did it hit the hardest. I was exceptionally excited for it, and at some points I was yelling at my TV at how awesome it looked. Yeah, I know they couldn't hear me, but I yelled all the same!
 
It had a perfect artstyle, as it seemed like an excellent blend of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. I really disliked how Twilight Princess looked in terms of its color and environment, and I absolutely loved everything about Wind Waker's style, so this was a great combination for me. 
 
The demo of the actual game was weak, but that's to be expected with the huge amount of IR interference, something even Epic Mickey suffered from. But beyond that, the swordplay looked fantastic, the items looked actually fairly unique and interesting, and the general "feel" of the game looked exactly like the Zelda I know and love. I was so psyched that Nintendo had decided to go this direction, as I was worried they were either going to deviate too much or not enough. 
 
Then I went online. 
 
The reactions people were having astonished me. It was bad enough to see Gerstmann acting like a wet blanket over Twitter, but to see people say they hate the artstyle or that the technical difficulties were somehow indicative of the final product astonished me. Twilight Princess' trailer united Nintendo fans all over, and I don't think I ever heard a single word of hate for it. Yet this trailer and demo somehow divided the community in a way I haven't seen since Wind Waker, and this time they're divided on both the graphics and the style. I have even seen posts of people claiming that this game may as well be Twilight Princess with a new coat of paint. Yeah, what?
 
Perhaps most confusing of all is the fact that SS seems like the very definition of compromise; it's a mix of the new and the old, realistic and cel shaded, innovative and yet classic design. It should be the best of both worlds in every aspect...yet for some people, it may as well have the worst of both worlds. 
 
Where do you stand? Did Nintendo do too much, not enough, both those things, or neither?

This is absolutely fantastic and I have no idea why. Awesome.

To Whom in may concern,
 
Sony, baby! I want to bring you to Hollywood, my man! We're talking the movie star fast track, you know what I'm saying? Of course you do, baby, of course you do!
 
Listen, S-Dog, I got a pitch I wanna run by you. No pressure, my man, no strings attached! Just let me know what you think, your people will talk with my people while me and you go grab some celebritory appletinis, ha ha!
 
Alright, so we got this tween comedy in the backburner, right? Something really classy, real contemporary. It's about this loser nobody who has no friends and is the butt of every joke in highschool. You know the type, I'm sure. A real NERD, am I right, haha? Yeah boy, yeah boy! So we got this loser, right, and one day he gets this great idea. He sees the top dog - the most popular and well liked kid in the school -  walking along and thinks, "What makes him different? What makes him so cool?!" And then it hits him, like a sack of solid gold bowling balls!
 
The next day the guy comes in and he's wearing the same clothes as the popular guy and has all the same mannerisms. He eats the same things, talks to the same people, and walks exactly like the popular kid. You see, to the loser, he thinks that by simply copying the other guy he too can be popular.
 
It was hard scouting for talent for this part - what type of self respecting person would be fine with being portrayed like this? Who wants to play the part of someone who envies the popular kid so much that they shamelessly try to mimic them, entirely missing the point of what made the person popular and well liked in the first place? But after seeing your GDC conference I realized that person is you!
 
So congrats, S-Dog! Let me be the first to welcome you to Hollywood!
 
Your's Truly,
SirPenguin
 
P.S. Oh, and want to know how the movie ends? Everyone sees through the loser's pathetic ploy and he's a lot worse off because of it. A real tear jerker!