I think HL1 is the better game by far. Better puzzles, more tense fights, crazy survivalist scenarios, tougher overall...honestly, it's HL2 that's overpraised. I never got around to finishing that game, and replaying it recently made me realize how awful those vehicle sections and bland the Combine fights were all…

In all fairness to Luke, it's not so much his opinion we're challenging, but rather the perception of Xen within the HL1 fanbase (enough so that tvtropes labels the trend "Xen Syndrome"). Still, many HL1 fans who loathed Xen's gameplay flaws appreciated its artistic qualities. Alas, over the years, the infamy of Xen…

I actually liked Xen as well, and didn't think it was the frustrating slog most people did. In all honesty, Xen was far more preferable than Half Life 2's annoying vehicle sections. Now THAT drove me crazy, and HL2 had at least THREE of those sections. Between that and the strange doses of nausea, I've been unable to…

One thing that needs to be clarified on the ease of letting underaged performers through. it may have been easier years before, but most cam sites are pretty stringent about that nowadays. You need multiple IDs as proof of legal age, a photo of you holding an ID, and, in some cases, 2nd hand documents to get…

It's not a bad idea in theory. I was dying to learn more about (slight ME2 spoiler) Garrus's Archangel days, or what Liara did in between ME1 and ME2 with the Shadow Broker, but that seems better fit as expanded universe material than a full-fledged. I don't think it will work well outside of that.

Well damn. Aren't you classy...

I agree. Although I don't doubt that people are genuinely concerned about stopping domestic violence, making Chris Brown the 21st century face of DV without confronting the problem full stop does nothing for other victims of DV. Sure, it may make you feel better, but that's cold comfort for the thousands of women who…

In that case, none of us should ever listen to another word of John Lennon ever again, because he also committed domestic violence. Oh...riiiiiiight...he's white and a Beatle, so that's never going to happen.

You mean "wasn't"...

The first game now feels a bit simplistic, but DMC3? Not even close. That game's like the Tony Hawk 2 of action games with all the stuff you could pull off, and that was before you could use Vergil.

That was...a hilariously accurate portrayal of the show. I wonder what David Simon would say if he watched this. Part of me hopes that he has enough of a funny bone to appreciate this affectionate parody. The other part of me thinks he won't, since he takes himself a bit too seriously (at least that's my impression of…

"I also have to echo others' sentiments that The Wire takes a long time to really "get going," so you gotta stick with it."

Season two is really misunderstood by some fans. I admit that the shift to the East Baltimore docks bothered me at first, but by the end of the season, I was as attached to the Sobotka clan as the West Baltimore clans. Furthermore, the season was meant to show that classism affected all races in different ways. The…

A better video game comparison to Breaking Bad is Half-Life, given how narrow in scope the narrative is, and its quietly powerful moments.

Stylistically, I agree that Breaking Bad's cinematography and sound usage is better, though The Wire does plenty of things better than Breaking Bad. Scale, for one. BB has excellent characters, but jesus, The Wire has enough memorable characters to fill 10 shows, and is skilled enough to devote time to them when…

Actually, I think The Wire and Breaking Bad complement each other pretty well. Thematically, they're pretty similar: they showcase the failed American dream, show how poverty drives fairly decent people into criminally hellish depths, how outright impossible it seems to be stopping the drug war, and...well, lots and…

I swear that you're trolling, because no halfway intelligent viewer would deduce the series' as "wise-beyond-their-years-but-stuck-in-a-godawful-place blacks" vs. "dumb and impotent but powerful whiteys" binary forces. The series is full of morality gray characters, trapped in the ugly complexity of Baltimore with no…

I already said this on facebook, but feel that you should see it here too.

Um, the author has a pretty valid point, if this is any indication.

Bingo.