@Odin: And they retained that aspect of it even in Castaway, didn't they? Seems odd to drop it now. Unless the original, old old plan was to basically do another Castaway but in medieval times, and the outcry (was there one?) over Castaway's style nixed that idea? But if that were the case you'd think that they'd…

@ObviousFanboyShill: I don't know that they are taking sides or encouraging you to do the same. By saying Japanese developers should take this kind of advertising into account they aren't endorsing it; they're merely pointing out that if someone thought this ad stood a decent chance of being effective—and I rather…

@hagren: Ah, okay. We're in agreement then.

@scrapking: Hear hear.

@spidrmonky: The people in my theater did the same thing, to my complete surprise. Whether or not video games were the cause (and really it could probably boil down to a much broader acceptance of uncertainty than to a game-honed willingness to forego black-and-white closure), like Totilo I felt little need to…

@hagren: I reiterate Kazuhite's polite bafflement as to the relevance of Steve's link, but to you...I very much want to believe that it's just a case of unfortunate phrasing. Because your initial righteous indignation on behalf of women everywhere seems to shrivel quickly into a "It's totally their fault they were SO…

@Vidunder: Hear hear!

Hurrah! I very much worried they'd take back the ability to play a chick. Not out of spite or anything, but just to make their lives easier. Color me pleased.

@CloserDivision: Well, I think the piano can just be taken as contemplative too, and with them all smiling at the end it can be a sort of recovery. The drudgery of the forklift, the trains, the waiting, is over for a bit and they can play. The guy mentioning escapism did it at a good moment—right there near the end,…

Guh. I missed the original post and was attracted to this initially by the idea of an official apology for an artificially bombastic title. But then to read the rest of it...wow. You are one of only three or four people I've met who have considered—and implemented, with the means available to them—using games as…

@raffleking: My sister is finishing up there. It seems to have moved up in the world since I was in high school and took classes there in summer. At the time the buildings were dingy and the only thing that didn't smack uncomfortably of anachronism was the cafeteria. Sister languished in posh new dorms though,…

It's only this culture though that makes thirty-something women squealing like tweenies at a Twilight showing seem at all misplaced. Go to Japan. That kind of femininity is what is expected of you 24/7. Doesn't make it any more palatable to us, but it might at least put some of the knee-jerk revulsion in a broader…

Gah, my RSS feed did not carry over the strikeout text and it looked for a moment like both fist-shaking extremes of the political spectrum had merged into one engorged Hutt from which position it could better divide a society burbling at the mouth with ideological foam and coax us eventually into a mutual…

My dad has said he loved me exactly twice in my life. But both those times were on paper, and I have both the sticky note and the card he mailed me when I went to Japan, locked away safe in a box full of cedar blocks so no, I don't know, paper-eating bugs show up and destroy them.

@play_eminence: "I doubt that EA with a "casual" C&C gives us something we even remotely want to play or see." Yes but who are there more of? Casual players/people reachable through social networking sites, or diehard fans? I'm no happier about it than anyone else but I find it difficult to feel betrayed. Facebook…

@ThisCharmingMan: Sigh, I lost my original response to a misclick, but let me just say that it's not the aestheticism I resent (some of those armors are very cool-looking!), just that the toil I spend trying to get them does not feel like it was worth it, when I finally get the helm or gloves or shoulders. The time…

@ThisCharmingMan: I hear you—strongly—on the social aspect as turnoff, but then I recoil just as quickly from the loot. It's ridiculous since clearly I'm playing this game on a machine that is no less part of a system of planned obsolescence than the endless parade of tier-set armors that get released, but still the…

@ShaggE wants to join the Egg Council.: It's the blank expression while "you" do things to her that would hurt a normal human, or at least cause an expression of fixed I Am Going To Pretend This Doesn't Hurt For Your Sake to enter her face. And here, just that blank smile. You could do anything to her and she…

@ostartero: Quality is subjective. #guitarhero

@PuffyTail: But on those 10% favored by the beard gods, it's wonderful! Mah mon shaved for Halloween and he looks like jailbait now. Can't wait for the beard to grow back. And, sure, being too quick to smooch following a trim is problematic, but the roughness of the beard enhances, via contrast, the texture of…