donbot

^

How was your Christmas, katchitup?

It's interesting how you find them interesting, yet have no inclination to actually play them

I can barely get motivated to watch entire films- it'll be harder for me to play story based computer games when the entire thing pops up on youtube, and I can skip around to see if anything's interesting.

Yeah, it's no coincidence that Andrew Ryan is almost an anagram of Ayn Rand, and that another of the main characters in the game is called Atlas. The Sander Cohen section was one of my favourite bits too, and indeed is one of my all time favourite video game characters.

The whole 'bioshock' world is a dark imagining of the Randian fantasy vision of a world with no regulation, no politics, and no government.

Haven't heard of Shenmue before

Shenmue:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenmue

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenmue_II

It was a brilliant game with a huge budget/excellent reviews but ended up as a commercial flop. I played it 10 years ago, and it was a simulation of Japanese Life in Yokosuka. The pictures in the wiki don't do it justice. You could walk around the Japanese towns, go into stores, go to sleep, buy food to eat, talk to anybody on the street, take a bus to a import/export company and get a job working a forklift, etc.etc. while you pursue a mystery.

When I traveled to Japan, I felt instant dejavu when I was making my way through Japanese towns. That's how good it was. There was a sequel that was just as good, and took place in China. Unfortunately, I don't think that the story was ever resolved as the final installment was never made

Thanks for these:

Out of what you mention, and I've nearly forgotten 'Red Dead Redemption' interested me in the past, and I did watch a lot of the story via youtube. The writing is humorous and historical & spans the Wild West saga. Lots of black humor, and I especially with the part with the Mexican Marxist revolutionaries and the corrupt government Generals. RDR had great design, world construction, and story. (Y)

Alan Wake is definately another worth mentioning - really cool psychological thriller with a wonderful presentation. The story is intriguing and memorable, and it also offers some interesting gameplay mechanics. You mentioned the other week how the Mass Effect series Michael and I were discussing was something that you'd never play. That's another of my favourites for story and character though.. in fact I don't think I've ever felt such ownership of a character in anything else before. What's perhaps most impressive about it is how fully fleshed out the game's universe is, especially in terms of the design of all the alien races, including details of their histories and cultures. It's kind of like the Star Wars of video games. Dishonored was a great release from this year - superb design of a steampunkish aesthetic, wrapped up in a revenge story with really satisfying stealth-based gameplay. Rockstar are always pretty on the ball when it comes to character and storytelling, and two of their recent ones in Red Dead Redemption and Max Payne 3 are good examples. There was also a game released this year called Spec Ops: The Line, which was quite interesting with what it did with its story themes, and particularly how it handled character development over the span of the game. It was somewhat unexpected too, since the trailers and previews made it look like a pretty standard cookie-cutter military shooter. It still was in many ways, but I like the way they tried to break the mould a bit.

Then there are games that excel purely in gameplay and presentation, like the God of War series. Actually the story and the ties into Greek mythology are actually kind of interesting too, but really they're just hack-and-slash games without a whole lot of depth to them. The protagonist Kratos is nothing but a ball of muscle and anger.. possibly the angriest thing ever conceived in fact, Hulk included I still count them amongst my favourite games though - the combat is so incredibly refined, especially this deep into the series. It's so fluid and satisfyingly brutal. What really makes them stand out though, is the scale of the enemies and environments that it puts you in, fighting all manner of gods and titans. It's unbelievably cinematic and enthralling at times. The boss fights in GOW3 are breathtaking

^

How was your Christmas, katchitup?

It was great! The usual friends, fam, PRESENTS Yours?

Also, I know its not christmas anymore...but that marloes set can stay up till next year if you feel up to it

:Dinah:

I want that deck of cards!

It was great! The usual friends, fam, PRESENTS Yours?

Also, I know its not christmas anymore...but that marloes set can stay up till next year if you feel up to it

I want that deck of cards!

So many application for birds we've never thought to make use of!

The Flintstones were on to something all those years ago..

handy!

:Dinah:

So many application for birds we've never thought to make use of!

The Flintstones were on to something all those years ago..

^With all the chocolate

^

Mmmm chocolate covered cockatoos!

SIDE NOTE: Where the hell did u find that random gif?

I saw it in a meme the other day

It actually came from a movie (all CGI)

Didn't know you were still around or if you slep with the Limers ect. Hope Austria Australia is treating you well .

I did what with Limer?

Australia is being bastard-hot at the moment, but other than that it's been treating me just fine

Marloes' teasing in your avatar is driving me insane...

^ That makes 2 of us!

I saw it in a meme the other day

It actually came from a movie (all CGI)

Marloes' teasing in your avatar is driving me insane...

Oh, and in regards to your bastardly-hot weather, what temps have you been experiencing in your immediate area?