A disk reading diode wouldn't necessarily pop a balloon at it's spec'd power, but when you take it out, apply focusable optics, and connect it to a simple current regulator circuit (people tend to use something like an LM317 voltage regulator), you can "overdrive" it significantly. The BluRay diodes can be easily…

No, it's real. I got into making handheld lasers a couple of years ago, and I've built seven at this point, of various power outputs and wavelengths. My most recent 445nm (indigo-colored) operates at about 1 watt (about 500X more powerful than a convenience store laser pointer), runs off a 9v battery, and can cut…

Outraged? I didn't think I gave that impression. If anyone seems disproportionately angry here, man...s'you. And I'm not a fanboy — if I were, I'd have spelled Scorsese and Spielberg correctly — I just think Michael Bay is terrible.

It's certainly real. It looks like it's using a 12X blu-ray diode, which can pump out over 300 mW of delicious laser — much more than enough to pop a dark colored balloon at focus. I'm surprised more people don't know how easy it is to build these things at this point. I recently built a handheld 445nm (indigo) laser…

The only issue I have with your comment is the reference to Michael Bay as, simply, Bay. If people start saying"Bay" like they say "Coppola," "Scorcese," and "Spielburg," I'm moving to Mars.

Bleh. A Game of Thrones game should be half Mount & Blade and half Crusader Kings II...The license should have been given to Paradox, along with a budget that's worthy of their games.

This was a very un-gamey game - little more than digging through archives and waiting for updates. But it was awesome. The story was compelling enough that I couldn't tear myself away from it. I think I'm going to dig out my Apple IIe (emulator) and replay Portal when I get home...

Dolphins do not "have the intellect of a 7 year old human." Dolphins have the intellect of dolphins. Those kinds of comparison are always specious, because there's no good metric on which to base them. Dolphins are, for some things, in some ways, more cognitively sophisticated than other animals, but it's not helpful…

Should be "Thou *Shalt* Not Pass..."

Absolutely. I built one (with little experience) for under $700 that out-specs their lowest end one...

I'm'a go huff a garage-full of carbon monoxide, because as a carbon-based life form who enjoys breathing oxygen, what could possibly go wrong with inhaling a healthy combination of BOTH those things!? Might as well go eat some pure sodium in a room full of chlorine too, given the mammalian affinity for salt....

Well, I bought the game on the strength of this review. Now I'm having an even harder time suffering through work than usual, because all I want to do is get home and crush the Earl of Kildare, on whose demesne I have a strong de jure claim. CK2 is awesome - every grand strategy game in existence should rip off its…

Dwarf Fortress is a perfect example of a game that's as hard to learn as assembly language, as ugly as an Excel spreadsheet, and totally, totally worth the effort...

I've been looking for something like this for years — looks like I'll be blowing my food budget on a game once again! I liked Total War: Medieval II, which was great at the tactical level, but the strategic level game only hinted at the kind of Machiavellian maneuvering I wanted to do. Sounds like this is exactly the…

You're definitely right that the genre would be improved by dropping some of its 80s-era conventions. I guess I'd just like to see more of what's good about Roguelikes making its way to more mainstream, "modern" games — it looks like (hopefully) that's what's happening with upcoming projects like this and FTL.

Kellen, I'm not talking about the play mechanics, per se, I'm saying that the level of detail in Roguelikes often greatly exceeds that of more graphically sophisticated games. Regardless of how simply the world is represented in Nethack, for instance, the sheer number of ways you can interact with your environment is…

Simple is fine. In fact, simple graphics makes me more excited in this case. Some of (most of?) the very best games have simple graphics — more effort goes into depth of playability that way, e.g. Roguelikes. I'll almost always happily trade graphical flash for complexity...

Is the universe procedurally generated? Will this be Star Trek meets MOO2 meets Noctis meets Nethack!!?? I'm officially allowing my hopes to get unreasonably raised. Someone please deflate them.....

That works out to a projectile velocity of over 300 mph, which (I believe) is considerably faster than a a good bow is capable of. Can that be right?

I hate the "I don't see YOU doing anything about it" fallacy. Whether he's right or wrong to suggest that Bezos spend his money differently, turning it around and suggesting mwhite66 fund scholarships himself is like saying "why don't YOU just run onto the field and hit the ball out of the park" when he complains…