Dear Esther Mac port confirmed
Killing Floor hits a million sales, discounted on Steam
Jam Live Music Arcade announced for PS3, Xbox 360
Metal Gear Online to quietly die this summer
Mad Riders: Techland's ATV racer coming to PC, PSN, XBLA
Evening Reading: Weekend Confirmed
by Garnett Lee, Dec 04, 2009 6:21pm PSTNot really sure where the confusion started but to clear it up once and for all; yes, this is the Evening Reading post. And here we are at the end of another week the biggest news of which was the excessive use of the word "javelin" in non-Olympic sport related stories. I have to admit I've never gotten the extreme to which griefing and glitching grows in game communities. Sure, there's the whole hahaha, wasn't that funny of it but the number of people who seriously get off on screwing up games makes me wonder what the hell.
I think part of the phenomenon comes not from anything to do with the game but the sense of power derived from breaking the rules to put yourself in charge. It is just a game after all so the consequences are what? Nothing really. That unhooks the usual restraints and it's hard to really reestablish them in a virtual world to put things back in balance. Server tools definitely go a long way in cases where you get admins who care enough to manage things by hand. But for the vast majority of open servers across PCs and consoles the hope lies with designers finding a solution to a better self-policing community.
Here's the rest of what we were up to today:
- The Australians brought out he banhammer again, this time for Aliens vs. Predator
- Homefront isn't even out yet but there's already DLC and a sequel planned
- Metal Gear Solid: Peacewalked set to hit PSP in May for US and Eurpoe
- Brink may be delayed but it sure is looking good in these new videos
After her high-profile trial that included all kinds of accusations, American student Amanda Knox found guilty of murdering her roommate in Italy
British professional tennis player Andy Murray got dumped by his gorgeous girlfriend Kim Sears for his seven-hour-a-day PS3 habit
Okay, so the Hollywood Reporter broke down the ten most watched shows (individual episodes) since 2000. No surprise to see Friends there at the top but Joe Millionaire in thrid?
As long as we're chronicling the decade we might as well take a look at the evolution of the hipster
And since it's Friday I figure this is the perfect time for a NSFW link so hey, if you have a snugie, check out the snuggiesutra for some creative ways to put it to good use
Just a heads up in case they're trying something shady or if there's a weird hack going around.
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PLaying it on windows 7. Is there any way to fix the horrible lag on the mouse? It seems unplayable. Any tweaks I can do?
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As I put on my tinfoil hat, I believe nvidia put out a patch to kill the fans on older cards so we upgrade.
:( I hope this is not true. Has anyone heard anything else about this?!
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Also I'm starting to notice at stores selling outdoor clothing...much of this clothing seems designed more towards fashion than utility. Anyone else notice this? Lots of single line stitching, pockets that are big and loose and don't really secure what's in 'em, fabric that feels like it would start fraying under minor friction...
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http://www.amazon.com/Ecko-Red-Juniors-Hooded-Ballon/dp/B001PTGLN0/ref=cm_cmu_pg_t
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Please to be approving the MW2 1.06 patch asap to fix these fucking javelin glitching douchebags!
xoxo,
dognose
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How do you play an evil character? I've played all manner of games which offer the choice, but I can't say that I've ever played an evil character unless it was forced on me. And it's not for lack of wanting to really, though there is a little bit of that--I try to play these sorts of games as myself as much as possible, and I really am not an evil person; I'm an asshole sometimes, but not evil.
But a lot of seems to stem from not wanting to piss off the characters I actually enjoy being around, not wanting to accidentally kill a random civilian who might prove useful later, and not wanting to shortchange the game's story.
So how do I do it? How do I play a so-called evil character without breaking the game I'm playing? What are some games that really reward you being evil beyond just the personal grin you get from being a dick (i.e. a better story, etc)?
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The thing is, this game is *way* more intense. They really captured the suspense and intensity in this game with the environments.
I think they made the first game, said "whoa whoa, wait a sec - we could do this WAY better" and then started over.
I don't really fault them for releasing a new game - this game is way way way better than the first.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/02/AR2009120201455.html
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Is it worth buying one? I read a lot of books and can't make up my mind on whether I should get one or not, there isn't really anywhere near me to demo a unit and I'm having a hard time understanding the benefits of the epaper over just reading something on my laptop :/
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I compose music occasionally. I uploaded some at http://soundcloud.com/zero-dpx/sets/peter-kasting-miscellaneous . Listen and tell me what you think.
Songs are in decreasing order of how good I think they are. First song is several years old so some people might have heard it before.
Vanity search: Vantage
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Reviewing A Game On Their Terms: The Increasingly Prominent "Review Event"
"Looking back at Halo 2, my first Bungie review title, we built these events around a desire to deliver the best possible experience to players," says Brian Jarrard, community lead at Bungie. "We had nice HD televisions, 5.1 surround sound and a comfortable environment. It was a way to help make sure reviewers experienced the game the way Bungie intended."
(Rockstar Games and Infinity Ward did not respond to requests for comment about their respective review events. Activision reps declined comment when asked.)...
"Sometimes these sessions work out great," Gerstmann says, "Sometimes they're sparsely attended or not entirely representative of the average user experience. I played Call of Duty: World at War online with a couple of journalists and a handful of QA guys who were instructed to take it easy on us. That didn't feel terribly 'real' to me." But there's a catch. "The downside of testing multiplayer in a controlled environment (like a review event) is that you have no idea how the game will react in an actual real world situation, where ping times and the quality of the average player's broadband connection are a major factor."...
Dan "Shoe" Hsu, former editor in chief of EGM and Bitmob.com co-founder—who has since returned to the revived Electronic Gaming Monthly print magazine—has his own concerns about the nature of review events. He's personally participated in review events "under a 'controlled environment'" for 2K Games' BioShock and Bungie's Halo 2.
"I have very mixed feelings about this," Hsu says. "At EGM, we would never, ever want to taint the reviews process in any way. Our readers don't play games under these conditions — in nice hotel suites with developers, producers, and PR nearby. Why would we as professional critics? Can we fairly review something if we're playing under different circumstances than our audience?"
"At the same time, who would we be hurting if we banned such events? Those same readers," Hsu says. "Now we can't get a review out to them in time for it to be relevant."
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http://www.semiaccurate.com/2009/12/04/intel-kills-consumer-larrabee-focuses-future-variants/
I think it's inevitable that we'll end up with our GPUs as more massively parallel, but it's not that surprising that it took more time than expected to bring up a new technology to compete with something as established as the IP Nvidia and ATI are working with.
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Bought Rome on DVD (skipped on BRD since the lady doesn't have a BRD player) for $40. Hopefully the Shack approves because I recall the S1E1 being really good.
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http://www.momastore.org/museum/moma/ProductDisplay_Banana%20Bunker_10451_10001_55441
It was untouchable in it's prime. Packed full of awesome humor and classic lines shot forth at great speed. It's just BAM! BAM! BAM! with nary a dull moment or awkward scene.
Now you watch it and hope for maybe one of those moments in an episode :(
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She's getting it for Christmas, I'm up at my family's house now setting it up before I wrap it so I can just plug it right in when she opens it.
Any must have programs to set up on it? DropBox and Firefox and Office are already installed. Can't think of anything else she'll absolutely need, she'll just use it for school and facebook
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What is it about a good voiceover that just gives you a fit of the giggles? Star Trek was never this good.
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In an ideal world I'd have all 10 fingers on my left hand so my right hand was just a fist for punching
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