I’ve been thinking about this and Bungie actually shares a lot of strengths and traits with From Soft. Like when they try to make dense levels full of secrets, they can really nail it, like some of Destiny’s best raids. And they’re maybe even better than From at coming up with evocative and mysterious sounding names.

I don’t think that’s a fair comparison. The Wii was underpowered enough to compare more with the previous generation of consoles, had a super casual audience defined by Wii Sports that probably wasn’t so into slaying demons, and unique motion controls to adapt for. Plus the Switch has the ‘local co-op on the go’…

I’ve listened to the Garbage theme song for The World is Not Enough more times than I’d care to admit.

Yeah my point is more that it must be insanely difficult and sometimes impossible to like clockwork produce brand new Pixar-quality IP each and every year, so the sequels probably help fill the slate.

My personal theory is more that they have a very high bar to clear for new ideas to make it into production, and if they can’t force it, they slot in solid sequel ideas from the bench. So more about avoiding a year or two without a Pixar movie at all.

Gah sorry about that, I hit publish on my first comment and nothing happened so rewrote basically the same one again. And now I don’t know how to delete it. I meant well but I didn’t execute well.

But if 9/10 big movie stories are the hero’s journey it’s the execution that separates the great ones from the mediocre. And everyone seems to agree this movie is more mediocre than great. So what’s so well executed about it?

Yeah but I think the point is when 9/10 of big movies and stories are the hero’s journey, it’s the execution that differentiates the great stuff from the mediocre. And the consensus on this movie seems to be that it’s more on the mediocre side. So how does that make it well executed?

The parts that were toned down due to pressure might’ve added some bite to the movie, but it’s the kind of thing that might’ve added a percentage or two to my enjoyment of the film, and far from something that “doomed it”. Like I love hot sauce but you can’t just pour it on a really crappy burrito and make it…

That’s only part of the story and in my opinion largely irrelevant to its lack of finding box office success.

Agreed. Best and most joyful part of the movie, I’d say it worked well for Doom. (It’s also used to great effect in the show Peep Show, though more dashed in here and there.)

Why are you frustrated by this genre continuing to exist? These games are basically physics slapstick comedy in interactive form… seems like a totally legitimate genre and it weirds me out that you want the genre to ‘die’ and disappear. Are you so entitled that you want entire game genres to go away and die out just…

I was really struck by that ‘weightless feeling’ you mention as well. A huge part of it seemed like a strange lack of sound effects. No impact soundsfor hits on enemies, even missing sounds when purchasing items in the store and such if I’m remembering correctly. Sound design in Smite feels super unfinished and I feel…

"Touch screen typing will never be as good as hardware keyboards. Leave it up to Apple to think they know whats better. Traditional smartphones have been perfected."

We'll see how the tradeoffs add up. The tech and gaming industry is not exactly driven forward by its love for 'tradition' and the way things were done.

I remember being impressed with Gears of War nailing a sense of weight too, and it feels like a mastering of that illusion was one of this generation of gaming's strengths. The roadie run, the heavy impacts when taking cover, the chainsaw for lopping off limbs and bone crunching sfx and the heavy dark, viscous blood…