Western RPGs aren't the brainchild of some dude from Bethesda. A lot of them go back to D&D and systems like that. Elder Scrolls 1 was made in 1994. D&D predates that by two decades.

Not even a passing mention of Fate of Atlantis in the article? Boo-urns, Todd. Also, how exactly can Gabriel Knight be a "riff" on the X-Files when it predates it? I'm so happy Kurosawa took a page from The Magnificent Seven too!

I'd agree with Ricin's list, and think that it will also conclude with a slightly snarky comment. Something like, say, "Other developers should pay attention to what Schafer has done with a short, so-called 'casual' game."

"don't care enough to read a whopping 600 words". sorry.

@Mike R: Excuse me, but are you calling something I wrote a gem, or am I the gem? Or am I missing some sarcastic point? Not really sure why I was referenced in your post. In any case, please note that there is no "K" in my name.

My apologies. Upon checking, I was wrong. I am talking about the remake, Bionic Commando, not Bionic Commando: Rearmed. Both were developed by Grin, which confused me. That said, AV Club gave Bionic Commando an A-, which is still horseshit.

don't believe the hype
AV Club really liked the first Rearmed (still do, apparently), which is odd because it sucks ass.

ME3, yes. Deus Ex 3, yes. Skyrim, meh. Half-Life EP 3, please dear God please.

oh good
I plan on modeling my character on Max von Sydow, then making him jump four hundred times in a row so that I can move from 37 to 38 in Acrobatics.

Wes Studi is in a Scottish post-rock band? Kick ass!

"It's still bright."

I'm not sure if you can lump Thief in with your run-and-gun FPSs, unless you were playing it WAY differently than I was. Circle-strafing with fire arrows, perhaps?

What I remember is trying to unlock everything. Hauling ass through Control on 00 difficulty making EVERY bullet count and restarting if I took more than two hits before the Protect Natalya segment… I can't even remember what it unlocked.

why, thank you. that's very nice.

@ Big Electron - No, they don't teach small arms in journalism school. And that's why newspapers are dying.

Eisenberg vs. Cera
Some people said the comparison isn't there. But both actors have been some very similar roles: self-conscious, wordy, often music-obsessed boys-becoming-men.

@fastandsloppy - please pay more attention. I've been arguing on the side of "hunting= morally defensible, sometimes useful pastime" and not that of romanticized nature. lecture someone else.

@TimC - Yes, I and we have been talking about legal hunting. Poaching is another issue.

Not unreasonable, just impossible to contradict. It's a valid point. It's like saying "Eating meat is wrong." You can talk about the food web, but it remains a point of personal morality. Impossible to argue against.

Most important point of the argument seems to be this: Some people hunt, which is a valuable service for regulating animal populations. Some of those people enjoy hunting.