This is actually part of the reason I distinctly disagree with Hemingway's critical approach (he himself violates his own rules all the time, after all), but there's a lot to be said about a democratic approach to interpretation of themes. (I'm going to go into Roland Barthes since I've brought him up more than a few…

*I'll put a SPOILERS tag for the sake of generosity.*

Really? I would have paid anywhere between $60 and $100 for it.

It has moved fast, but that's just a fact of our times, as I'm sure you know. Things spring up nowadays, become worth millions of dollars, and immediately shuffle off into obscurity a matter of months. It's dizzying, to be honest...

"And this is the upshot of your joke?"

And I counter with Journey. (I could have put up Flower, too - but Journey's been occupying a little more of my time.)

You mean to tell me that Nathaniel Hawthorne wouldn't have put his likeness on water bottles, Doritos, Twix, gamepads, flashlights, and collectible hand towels if he had the opportunity? Surely - surely - you must jest, sir. Artists worried about their integrity gladly have their intellectual property pimped out at…

"Everybody dies, you fail to accomplish anything whatsoever, happy now?"

More realistic? I'd pay good money to play a game that dropped the Bourne/James Bond version of "international spying" and instead was about reliably deceiving NPCs to deliver information, occasional low-key break-ins and theft, and raising a group of contacts around a city or fabricating networks for…

Fair enough - although, that might be a hefty slice of fried gold in my book, to use your phrase.

I'm just curious: why? (Seems like a strange change of heart.)

I'm not convinced that the interactivity of gaming is altogether unique across the art world. (There's good precedent for interactive media elsewhere.) With that in mind, the implications of changing the ending to suit fan complaints are unsettling. In other forms of interactive art, if you don't like the ending or…

We need to wait for the military on this one? I mean, I get that some of these games want to preserve at least the semblance of reality, but these are fictional stories told to glorify people our society deems as "heroes." The hero cult isn't exactly a novel idea, and virtually every other form of storytelling has…

Aren't most representations of women in military capacities as some sort of spy/assassin/intel-type? I'd like to see someone break that mold a bit - do a straight-up female soldier or cowgirl badass. I'm not sayin' Rambo-style, but just acknowledging the fact that assault rifles don't discriminate when you pull the…

I'm not sure that actually addressed his concern - which is a fairly valid concern. Take the presidential candidates, and assume Romney wins. Well, perhaps you won't vote for Romney because he's illustrated a willingness to sacrifice workers' rights for corporate gains and eschews moralistic doctrines you don't agree…

We, commenters who regularly talk about gaming's triumphs and our expectations for the industry, didn't. Not saying it isn't a good move for Nintendo, though. Certainly builds on their own conceptualization of the "Wii" and "Wii U."

Morality's one of the easiest things to legislate when you don't want to get involved with actually working for your political post. I mean - whew - all that budget-balancing and fiscal innovation requires a lot of hard work, hiring the right economic experts is boring, and making tough choices might mean that some…

Very likely? Your friends, neighbors, and relatives - if they vote. The sad truth of American politics is that we build a shame complex for anyone who doesn't vote, which pushes under-educated voters into the polls. As a result, these people usually end up voting for the same ole guy or gal who's been running our…

So they're going to trade three mind-numbingly stupid quests for one mind-numbingly stupid package of quests (and probably a new companion)? Seems a little mind-numbingly stupid overall, eh?

That's certainly true, and I'm not only singling out ME3 for it. I've certainly thought the same thing when I'm grinding for job levels in FF5 or chasing rabbits in Skyrim... Buuut, that doesn't mean that devs shouldn't be criticized for it - even if they're not really listening. (Not saying that you're actually…