jdreyer wrote on Apr 7, 2018, 17:29:
Hard to recover from the Michael Jackson gut punch the article starts out with

Thriller, Beat It, and Billie Jean is the correct answer, but..
I'm the one person on planet Earth who likes Bad more than Thriller. Thriller is a great album, but I like Bad more. And even though I think "The Girl is Mine" gets a bad rap (I actually like the song but I know it's cheesy), Bad doesn't have any songs like that. The Stevie Wonder / Michael duet is a fun song without feeling gimmicky, and the rest of the album is just one great song after another. I think any 3 tracks qualify, but I'd go with Dirty Diana, Smooth Criminal, and Leave Me Alone.

The album only has 3 things against it in my opinion: 1. It left off the phenomenal song "Cheater" (seriously, go find that song on Youtube if you haven't heard it, and if you have heard it, go listen to it again), 2. It didn't include the song "Leave Me Alone" until the CD version (I discovered this while browsing my brother-in-law's record collection, and was shocked to see one of Bad's best songs missing), and 3. "Streetwalker" was cut. When an album's biggest problem is that a few great songs didn't fit, that's a good problem to have.

I agree with a lot of the other picks here too, but I had to give Bad a mention.

Ozmodan wrote on May 17, 2017, 23:21:
The Switch success, just shows you that people seem to like mindless drivel Mario games.

You mean the system that doesn't have a Mario game yet?

Mario Kart isn't really a Mario game, but I'm sure you knew that. Don't let minor details stop you from dumping on it.

Anyway, I'm not surprised at the success of the Switch, at least it's doing something different. Yesterday I saw somebody playing Mario Kart on the train I take to and from work. I like mine but I'm not into racing games enough to really get a lot of mileage out of Mario Kart (Battle Mode is a lot of fun though, and doesn't emphasize my lack of skill at racing). I'm looking forward to more major games down the road, because I'm almost done with Zelda.

MoreLuckThanSkill wrote on Apr 27, 2017, 03:45:
Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense, even the Village, I really liked all of those Shyamalan films.

The problem is all of the good will he burned with trash such as The Happening and Signs, and that mermaid one that I can't even recall the name of.

But hey, nobody makes nothing but amazing films... even the greats release a dud every now and then.

I still need to watch Split, it's in my Netflix queue(old school mailing Netflix still has the five star ratings by the way, not the thumbs up/thumbs down. )

Hitchcock did pretty well... he made a few duds but with dozens of great films, I'm far more willing to cut him slack. In the 40's and 50's, he could basically do no wrong.

Compared to him (god I hope people aren't still saying M Night is this generation's Hitchcock), I've never ever wanted to rewatch a M Night movie. Hitchcock's movies are great even after multiple viewings.

That said, I should watch Split, it looked interesting from the preview. I still use DVD Netflix myself, it's better than Redbox and unlike Netflix Streaming, it doesn't regularly lose shows and movies (except for out-of-print stuff when their DVD copies die, but that's relatively rare).

Scottish Martial Arts wrote on Apr 15, 2017, 11:47:
edit: I had some further thoughts on why the Han Solo death works so well thematically and emotionally.

All stories depend upon the protagonist facing a crisis, and that protagonist growing and changing so that when the story reaches its climax, he or she can take the action necessary to resolve the crisis. The Han Solo character affects an air of selfishness and greed, but at his core he's a good guy, and his story, over the course of the original trilogy and in TFA, is ultimately one of learning to set aside his airs of self-interest so that he can fully take part in something bigger and more important than himself, i.e. the Rebellion, and contribute his essential goodness as a man to that cause.

As a result, TFA acts as a perfect coda to his story in the original trilogy. TFA leaves many of the details only hinted at, but the experience of Han's son turning to the dark side and the collapse of his relationship with Leia, has led him to retreat back into that shell of selfishness, a shell that was always more about self-protection than about who he truly was. Once Han and Chewie plant the charges, they could have slipped out quietly and accomplished their mission without incident, but when he see's his son, he can't do that. Because of who he is, because he is a good man who loves his son more than he loves himself, he has to confront him, to try to bring him home, no matter the risk to himself.

Han's brief experience of being a father figure to Rey and Finn means that when he's sees the young man for whom he is actually a father, Han can no longer hide from who he is and has to confront the crisis of his son. Han, a beloved, likable character, dies because he is the man he is, and because he takes the action that is in keeping with his character. As a result, we get a devastating scene, where your jaw drops in shock and horror, that simultaneously concludes the thematic arc of Han's character and gives him an end that fits perfectly with his growth and change over the course of four films. That's effective storytelling, even if Han has planted explosive charges before.

Agreed, I think the end of his story was very effective. As a father myself, it made the impact of his death even bigger for me.

jdreyer wrote on Jan 28, 2017, 19:26:

Agent-Zero wrote on Jan 28, 2017, 17:22:
belladonna for babies... what in the FUCK?

wow... might as well toss in some datura applesauce

Homeopathy in general needs to be banned.

It's a scam.

While I don't disagree, unfortunately pediatricians won't prescribe actual medications for infants and young toddlers (probably for fear of them being more susceptible to overdoses, and most people can't be trusted to dose correctly), so they will tell you to use Hyland's stuff. I know because I have a 3-year-old and heard that advice from multiple pediatricians.

Did you read the pediatrician advice at the bottom of the article? Rubbing infant's gums is going to do jack shit, and washcloths and teething toys don't always help either.

The homeopathic market for infants is a little different than that for adults, because there literally is nothing else available unless you have Michael Jackson's doctor. It sucks when that baby won't stop screaming at 3am.

HoSpanky wrote on Jan 12, 2017, 18:40:
I'm reading the WiiU version of the game is great except for ridiculously long load times. Hello, SSD, lets make that happen in a couple seconds, yeah?

It's true. I can't wait to play it on better hardware with hopefully much better loading times. I don't know if I'll go for 100% completion again though... ah, who am I kidding? Of course I will.

I do wonder what they're doing with the Nintendo references though, if they will be replaced by universal stuff or simply removed.

Jivaro wrote on Jan 10, 2017, 12:39:
So yeah, it's subjective but I think there is something to be said for realistic expectations and appreciating things for what they are rather than holding onto anger and frustration over how things "should have been" in your opinion.

But, but... if people did that, there would no need for people bitching about things online! A couple of major sci-fi franchises come to mind...

I'd much rather watch some brainless fun than some of the boring and/or pretentious stuff that passes for "good" movies. I always thought the first RE was the best. It was interesting to see how they tried to work in the game characters in the later movies, but for the most part they've gotten successively worse with each new movie. Meh, they each still have some enjoyable action scenes, and are certainly no worse than many of the Grade B/C/D 80's action movies that get a pass because of nostalgia.

Dammit. This was my most-anticipated announced Xbox One game. I'd much rather have this than Sea of Thieves.

It always seemed too Japanese to be a Xbox game; it would have seemed more at home on PS4. Sony probably isn't interested in resurrecting it, but I can dream can't I?

nin wrote on Dec 30, 2016, 14:33:
Yeah, I love Dave. I credit him for getting me back into SW.

He got a good start to his career too, directing several episodes of the awesome Avatar the Last Airbender.

I hope he never gets bored of animated Star Wars, because it's been in great hands since 2008.

nin wrote on Dec 30, 2016, 08:36:

Disney hasn't taken SWTOR of the lore table yet officially..

Everything before April 2014 is non canon... OR started in 2011. At the time, the only thing that was preserved was the movies (6) and the clone wars movie/show.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_canon

So it's non canon now, but they could reintroduce parts or all of it. But they'll do it from scratch.

That's why the introduction of Thrawn earlier this year was such a big deal to fans (and why he's getting a book next year).

edit: I take it back, there's one thing that's canon, so far. But that's not the entire game.

That's just Dave Filoni borrowing from the EU, it's not really taking something non-canon and making it canon. I think you get that, this is more in response to the inaccurate title of that Gamespot post.

Anyway, Filoni has done this many times, like using Prince Xizor's race (the Falleen, from Shadows of the Empire) in Clone Wars. It's cool, but it doesn't have any real effect on the original games or MMO. It's one of the reasons I like his shows, they are made by a true SW fan that isn't afraid to use neat stuff from outside canon, kind of like "fanservice" with a purpose instead of just silly stuff.

Creston wrote on Dec 8, 2016, 10:44:

Numinar wrote on Dec 7, 2016, 18:00:
I know everyone hates it

I didn't hate it. It probably still has the most beautiful world of any AC, and the best feel of any AC after AC2. It's just that there was so much extraneous crap in this game that it got overwhelming. And throughout all the story missions, the one thing you rarely do is actually assassinate someone. I think there are maybe 2 or 3 pure assassination missions, and that's it. The rest is all "watch the founding fathers sign the declaration of independence." and "watch Paul Revere's ride." and "watch literally every other cool thing from history."

It feels as if it should be called Spectator's Creed at times.

That said, the story is still pretty dang good, the world is gorgeous, the ship battles are awesome (though not as good as in Black Flag), the hunting is cool, it's a ton of fun to explore, and it just looks and feels so pretty and immersive.

All in all, people would be nuts not to snap this up for free.

That's a good point about being a spectator to history. It does seem that Ubisoft wanted to expand the franchise starting with 3, and then having 4 barely be an AC game at all, since it's more about being a pirate.

I haven't played Syndicate yet, but from my memory, AC1, 2 (and maybe some of the other Ezio games), and Unity all focused on the Assassins much more than 3 and 4.

Nintendo said the same thing about Wii U and it never happened. With specific titles being listed for Switch, hopefully this means it's actually happening this time.

Numinar wrote on Dec 7, 2016, 18:00:
Along with 1,2 and Syndicate this is one of the ones I actually finished.

I know everyone hates it, maybe I'm distant enough from the culture not to get offended by any of it but I got a real Last of the Mohicans vibe from it and no other game has really done that so props to them.

I probably spent the most time in Black Flag, but enjoy pirating more than finishing missions so still not done despite probably 100 hours over two platforms.

Ditto, Blag Flag is my favorite recently but I really liked AC3 for the same reason you mentioned.

Moog wrote on Dec 3, 2016, 09:15:

GinRummy wrote on Dec 2, 2016, 22:35:
Would a Dead Parrot Sketch joke be appropriate here?

I don't think Manuel would get it... he's from Barcelona!

Que?

Prez wrote on Nov 28, 2016, 17:22:

Beamer wrote on Nov 28, 2016, 13:21:

Quboid wrote on Nov 28, 2016, 11:29:

Pigeon wrote on Nov 28, 2016, 11:21:
Took my brain awhile to get there (even coffee isn't helping today) but it's Damian Wayne, not Damon Wayans as I first interpreted it . I was wondering why the hell he was involved with a Batman game, and who thought that would be a good idea.

Same. I was wondering, is that the one in Requiem For A Dream or one from White Chicks... (Turns out, neither.)

He'd make a better Joker.

Pffft. He is a superhero far more powerful than Batman or Joker. You can't top Handiman!

Anton was always my favorite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCUreAgkK-I

But Homey and Handi-man were great too. He was definitely my favorite cast member on In Living Color.

I also mis-read the headline the first time.

MoreLuckThanSkill wrote on Nov 17, 2016, 22:29:
Of course Idris Elba, he's arguably one of the best actors alive. He also benefitted from whatever superb English acting factory they have over there. Just look at all the roles in TV and movies that go to English actors, regardless of skin color. US actors in general seem to have much weaker acting skills, regardless of fame.

Step up your game, American actors!

Idris Elba for James Bond.

He IS a great actor, but I bet he can't say "anything" in an American accent. That's where British actors always trip up, they can't avoid saying "in-uh-thin", as opposed to the American "in-ee-thing". I think that word should be used as the litmus test for Brits playing Americans. I'm sure the best American actors have similar problems with British accents, but I wouldn't know what little quirks trip them up since I'm not British.

I would also support Elba for Bond, and he's the right age too.

jdreyer wrote on Aug 9, 2016, 14:57:

As we've long noted that's something AT&T already does -- the company charging users $30 to $50 more per month if they want to opt out of the telco's "Internet Preferences," a deep packet inspection program that tracks your browsing behavior around the Internet.

Jesus Fuck, $30 to $50 PER MONTH for privacy options???

C'mon Tom, bring these fucking monopolies to heel.

HorrorScope wrote on Aug 9, 2016, 15:27:

Burrito of Peace wrote on Aug 9, 2016, 11:52:
The older I become, the more I am convinced that the US is becoming a corporate fascism.

I don't think any convincing is needed any more. While Europe is at least fighting against some of these fronts, the ole USA give zero fucks about the word freedom in practice. We're still great a lip servicing freedom though. There is still freedom out there, but it narrows vs expands these days.

Hmm, where I live in northern Virginia, there are a lot of "Freedom isn't free" bumper stickers... could this be what they're talking about? Premium privacy options?

It makes it a lot funnier if I imagine they are subversive comments about privacy instead of oversimplified political statements.

Creston wrote on Aug 9, 2016, 13:11:

Cutter wrote on Aug 9, 2016, 11:15:
It says 'Creston get back to work!'

No.

So in other words stop playing until the game catches up.

LOL. Yeah, that's some solid programming there. FEEL TEH POWER OF TEH NEXT GEN CONSOLES.

God, Neo and Scorpio can't come soon enough.

You don't actually think more powerful systems will fix that, do you?

One thing that seems to be a common trend is developers not counting on gamers taxing their games to the limit, in some cases even trying to break the game. Maybe someday developers will learn to think like hardcore gamers, but it's not likely.

I dunno, this doesn't seem like it's something every single player is going to do, so I'm not sure how big of a deal it is.

CrimsonPaw wrote on Aug 1, 2016, 12:41:
I've always thought the Vita was a great machine; I just wish Sony shared that sentiment. I use the hell out of the PS4 remote play (though the wifi chip is a bit lacking on it) and really enjoy a lot of the early games (I'll still play Wipeout from time-to-time).

Agreed. Remote Play would be even better if more games played well without L2/R2, or if the Vita had a way to do them without the touchscreens.

There are still good games coming out for it, but they are mostly JRPGs and VNs. There are some great indies though, Volume and Axiom Verge are excellent to use some recent examples.

nin wrote on Jul 31, 2016, 13:07:
Couldn't care less about the S itself, but the new controllers supporting bluetooth is nice. Got one of those on order...

Hmm, what were they before, WiFi? For that matter, what were the Xbox360 controllers? It's kind of weird that they wouldn't use Bluetooth when Nintendo has been using it since the Wii and Sony has been using it since the PS3...