They wanted to actually sell copies of a Mass Effect comic book and they decided to kick it off with James Vega?

Oh, I was just saying how easy it is to wipe someone out and gloat afterwards. When you can noob tube someone, it's real easy to tell 'em how much they suck and how awesome your kill was - despite the fact that it wasn't earned at all.

It's easier to do that in Starcraft, I think. In shooters, the trolls come in from left and right because aiming is optional and grenade/RPG spam is all-powerful. And because some people - in the case of the L4D example - just have no idea how to actually play the game, but assume, because they're on the internet,…

I don't think it has too much to do with skill. People on L4D used to talk shit when you'd do something for the benefit of the group instead of the benefit for yourself. People on BF3 are too busy leaving their mic on while they yell at their mom or munch on chips. People on TF2 are too complaining about the number of…

OK - I think some of this might have been addressed in the other reply I sent earlier, but we'll see what comes up here...

I listened to that album a hell of a lot when I moved down to Austin. "Tenuousness" is probably my favorite off the album. Also, if you haven't checked out Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire, it's some great jazz stuff.

I gotta play STALKER more. I picked it up awhile ago and told myself I was going to get through it since everyone seems to have loved it, but I got caught up in something else (I don't remember at this point) before the game really started to develop. I might go back this summer, though, if I've got the time to invest…

"At this level the developer still has open room to apply those mechanics to what experience they want, and usually the next part of the process is thinking/debating how these mechanics will apply to the player, and then those mechanics develop into full on interconnected systems that work with the player, game world,…

I'm not going to be able to get back to this tonight - but I do really want to get back to you about it, 'cause I think this is a good discussion (since we come from what seems to be two different camps). So - I'll try to get you a response tomorrow or the day after if possible.

I think of it like this:

See, I gotta disagree.

Zebra Cakes.

I'd just made the comment with rathorial that, really, I think the next big change in terms of that story-gameplay dynamic will be to actually write the script before the development process kicks into full gear. In terms of video games, I think a lot of creative people are being limited by having to write stories…

Y'know - I actually forgot about state-run healthcare for a second. I regularly forget that a lot of Westerners don't worry about healthcare as much.

That does make me wonder if he was getting unemployment. I suppose it's reasonable for a whole year (the U.S. max is 99 weeks, I think), then - although it still seems suspicious, since he certainly wasn't receiving job training if he was playing WoW all day.

Ah - I hadn't heard about that fake school diploma thing at all. That explains a lot.

"Well the trouble is that for that you'd want an animator or voice actor there for the game to really impart that."

Ah - but a really, really good cheese pizza's just so hard to beat... I'm not even hungry, and you've got me thinking about pizza.

Universe Sandbox was awesome. I was reading Death by Black Hole when I downloaded it. Really, really interesting program that I wish would have been around when I was in school.

Kinda off-topic, but: