In my original post, I actually do use the term 'bullet hell'... what I meant by 'bullet heck' was not to avoid the term as offensive, but to imply that the game was not of the incredible difficulty of, say, a Cave or Treasure shooter, more like their precursors, like R-Type or 1942. I'm not great at the more…

The Valles Marineris plays a prominent role in Rick Moody's (so-far) excellent The Four Fingers of Death. Serendipitous timing, io9!

It's also the name of Slate's movie reviewer (I think she also does some work for the NYT), whose movie review blog I used to follow before she picked the Slate gig.

I'm reading the Nausicaä manga, but I'm having a hell of a time locating a copy of volume 3. I've ordered it through Amazon and Barnes & Noble, from third parties each time, only to later receive notification that a copy was unavailable.

Great point about trying Super Mario 64 with the 3DS' analog pad... I can't wait!

I recently saw TRON Evoloution and it drove me batshit crazy... it never made any attempt to make me care what happened to its paper-thin characters, meaning the constant stream of attempted catch phrases and witty rejoinders fell, leaden, to the floor. I love great visuals, I love genre fims, I love a good (and even…

I don't think there are many, but I have one (can't think of what it's called, just that it's impossible on such a small screen (and it's really more of a bullet heck, like R-Type).

tl;dr

What a great series, hopefully it will have the staying power of Tolkien, Lewis, Baum, despite it's challenging thematic material. I have Pullman's The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ on my Kindle but I'm in the middle of Rick Moody's The Four Fingers of Death currently.

Man, you'd better clear your calendar if you're reading the first of the Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice and Fire series. I've loved George R. R. Martin's magnum opus so far, and the next one is Actually. Coming. Out. How is the Wheel of Time so far?

Such a great book. It's rare for something didactic to reach the level of art, but it seemed to me when I read it that Understanding Comics managed it. A great, great book, which really transformed the way I look at comics' creation and the act of reading them. It's one of those books you really want people around you…

Recently finished The Road, which reduced me to a hyperventilating, teary mess at the end. About a third of the way into Rick Moody's The Four Fingers of Death, which is so far about a near future manned mission to Mars gone horribly awry, and apparently at some point will involve a disembodied hand like in Evil Dead…

I think it's possible to add things to the discussion without criticizing the list. If it were 10 best ecological SF novels, then yes, Dune would be a glaring omission. But I take this more as a conversation starter, that might lead to folks picking up and reading something they might've missed. The Lorax and Dune are…

Thank you for defending 2001: A Space Odyssey and actually showing your work. I would also add that while doing several other things, 2001 on one level operates as a live action version of Fantasia, i.e. a series of painterly images coordinated to music in sometimes abstract, sometimes more programmatic ways. The…

For some situations impractical (bullet hell side scrollers require a larger screen, for my money, but that's what my DS is for), my Famicom edition micro is the the best gameboy ever, so discrete, so so portable, bright beautiful screen, and Just. Look. At. It.

Thanks for throwing XKCD's chart up. Personally, I think the good doctor is correct. In the medium to long term, steps should be taken to bring food staples within government guidelines. But in the short term, there's nothing to worry about from this level of radiation. Radiation is definitely something to monitor and…

I would love to see Studio 343's take on a side-story level of Halo: Reach, which will never happen. But I generally agree. Maybe two sets of polished map packs, and then throw us a single player expansion, maybe as a way to build excitement for The Inevitable Sequel.

I've heard that it is... of course, the implemenation varies depending on the game, but my understanding is that you'll be able to throw down in SSFIV3D in local multiplayer with just one cart, which is make or break for that type of game. Download play should work as usual for your DS games, as well.

Or, as my kids call it, 'The Game With the Ants'...