So after mainlining Arrow and Flash this summer I’m quite interested in giving some of their books a go. Would I be right in saying Green Arrow: Year One is a decent starting place? For Flash I have no idea. I don’t mind if they’re stories that involve the wider DCU, I won’t be too lost over who’s who, although most…

You specifically state “there’s a difference between being a troll and being a douche” and then give an example of what you consider each one...?

Except of your two examples, one involves words that, whilst unpleasant, cause no actual harm, whereas the other incurs monitory loss. That’s not just ‘trolling’, that’s definitely being a total dick.

The write up in the Times’ TV section was the best. They ended their review by saying “The strength of the production is its refusal to turn Tompson into an evangelical nutter.” Which means the BBC has a vastly superior track record in that department than Tompson himself.

It’s nice to actually have a proper conversation about it to be honest. I tried talking to one guy in the comments in the last “Don’t pre-order” article and he just said “yeah, I didn’t read your comment. I’m still going to pre-order”...

Now you’re actually making me hungry. For sprouts. And I’ve only just eaten!

Oh, it’s certainly true that the higher cost of game development is a factor, as is online connectivity, but whilst pre-orders have been around for years, this kind of pre-order, where you get some digital tat thrown in as an ‘incentive’ is a more recent phenomenon. It used to be the case (in the UK, at any rate) that…

I was just being facetious! The only time I’ve really enjoyed sprouts was when they were done almost exactly how you mentioned. I was really surprised just how good they were like that.

But they don’t blame themselves, that’s the problem. They see no causal link between preorders and broken games. You can rattle off all the high-profile problems there have been over the last few years and the only response will be “So? I’m still going to pre-order”. You just can’t talk to a mentality like that.

I’ve had arguments along those very lines with people on here before. It was remarkably like talking to anti-vaxxers. They don’t want to hear it, they don’t accept it and they just don’t care, as long as they get their extra in-game tat on day one.

Because people want everything NOW and don’t give a shit about thinking long term. Which is why you’ll see the same people who pre-ordered crying along with everyone else when the new game they’ve just received doesn’t work on day one with zero awareness of how it happened.

And yet you have hundreds of people on here vehemently defending the practice with “I do what I want”, “it’s my money” or “I like the extra stuff” not realising they’re defending the publishers, rather than being on the side of consumers. The publishers must not be able to believe their luck.

I wasn’t going to comment on any of these discussions, but this one got to me. It’s just as easy to say “Show me concrete evidence, not circumstantial, that pre-orders *don’t* harm game quality”.

So what you’re saying is do everything possible to mask the actual flavour of the sprouts? That’s the only way I’ve managed to find them palatable.

I’m still hoping for the Kevin Conroy dub of the Dark Knight trilogy. That would sort out the people moaning about the bat-growl.

I saw a guy in another forum say “This selection’s shit. I was hoping we’d get the new Metal Gear”.

I’d forgotten just how ridiculous the character models are. Cole’s arms are almost the size of my chest.

It’s still stuff that other companies charge for. The paid for DLC looks like it’ll be more like an old-school expansion pack, like a Throne of Bhaal or Hordes of the Underdark, which I think is a much more sensible system.

If you shop around you might be able to get a new game for £35-40 ($55-63 apparently), unless you’re an idiot and buy on day one from the online console store where it can often be £55 ($85). The exchange rate works OK at the moment. I remember when the PS3 first came out and the exchange rate was about 2:1. I was…

All of theses stories are false and actually ‘leaked’ as a tie in to MGS5. It’s the most meta stunt Kojima could think of for his swan song.