The Mask of Norro

Ever since the Earth DLC came out, I've been busting my ass to get an N7 character. I've redeemed countless Premium Spectre Packs as well as Standard ones. I've done a ridiculous number of Platinum runs with my Salarian Engineer on Firebase White and Firebase Glacier.

I have yet to get a single N7 character.

Today, when I redeemed yet another Premium Spectre Pack, one of the cards I got was for character training. On my Female Human Sentinel. This was a PREMIUM. SPECTRE. PACK... and I got a fuckin' Female Human Sentinel training card. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Geth Shotgun upgrade, but still. The only character card I got... was a Female Human Sentinel.

What the fuck, Bioware?!

So against my standard ruleset, having mined and mined for a freaking eternity in-game for as much glowstone as I could find naturally, I realized that my overall plans for my underground base would require far too much glowstone to complete naturally. So, I went ahead and turned on TooManyItems and gave myself glowstone. Trying to limit my use of TMI because I want to be able to build this thing on my own with my own supplies, but it's been a huge bitch to say the least.

I'll get shots up soon as I'm finished. Pretty much just have two rooms left... definitely love how it's turned out, no idea what I'm going to do next.

Bah, switching to creative is for wimps. I've mined my way to greatness since I started playing this game, and that's without mods or creative, dag nab it! Survival worlds for survival gameplay, no fancy switching to creative!

... granted, it's been a bitch in my latest world not using TooManyItems or creative to spawn shit... I have this fascination with using glowstone covered with water and glass as a fancy lighting source, and the sheer amount of glowstone I've needed for my current project has been massive. I'm amazed I've collected as much as I have, and it looks like I'll actually be able to finish it soon. When I raided that Nether stronghold there was a lot of glowstone around it, which amazed me... but half of it got blown up by Ghasts while I was mining

When I finish things up I'll totally take a snapshot. It's been a tremendous effort, considering when I started it it was a small cave in a hillside that I converted into a standard starter-hovel and just decided to open up into an underground mansion.

EDIT: Speaking of that stronghold... fuck blazes. Ran into an area with like two or three spawners and got caught completely off-guard. Managed to disable one of them but almost got surrounded. Killed two of them but one of the bastards died over lava and I couldn't collect a rod off it >_<

... just had the biggest bit of luck in my single player world in a long time.

I've had absolutely no luck at all gathering diamond-- haven't found a single ore yet-- so when I decided to make a glowstone/water/glass light source for my stair entrance to my underground fortress, I had to go out and gather lava in buckets and do the old fashioned "craft obsidian into the portal shape" method to get into the Nether.

I wanted my portal to be out of the way from my main construction zones so I mined into the wall in a pattern and then hid the portal deep in the wall at the bottom of my construction site. When I entered it, I was spawned in the Nether with my portal wedged into a wall, barriers of Netherrack surrounding me to keep me safe from Ghasts, and a giant hanging pillar of glowstone right in front of me. I went in, absolutely amazed at my luck, and looked around to check for Ghasts before I started mining.

I look to my right, and there just a short trip across a lava ocean stands a Nether fortress and even more glowstone.

Absolutely brilliant.

It really is though, tech aside. The average consumer is going to see it as WiiU vs. PS4 vs. "The 720" (I hate how many people think Microsoft's going to call their next console that... urgh). And I'm sorry, but just as people doubted the Wii's sustainability vs. the tech powerhouses of the PS3 and 360, ultimately Nintendo prevailed due to fantastic marketing tactics and taking advantage of demographics that have never been touched before.

I'm not saying the WiiU is going to be this huge success like the Wii was, and I'm certainly not saying that Sony nor Microsoft will be able to top it, but what I am saying is that like it or not, this is Nintendo's answer to whatever Microsoft and Sony have planned. This isn't Nintendo playing 'catch up', they haven't needed to, them being 'behind' was what saw them put the Wii up as the second best-selling home console of all time.

So, when it boils down to the price, it's honestly quite practical and will be a massive advantage to them. Especially considering Sony and Microsoft are allegedly not planning new consoles for at least another couple of years. Assuming they put one out, say, by the next year or two, I can once again say that it won't be batting at this price-range and will more than likely not be capable of pushing quite as many units as the WiiU will be able to.

Also, Sousa, I was commenting on everyone's collective opinions, not specifically yours. And I wasn't saying that it was indicative that you had a console already either, but rather that if we're to complain about the WiiU's price-point, we really aught to consider what's came before it and what this next step represents

... you guys are complaining that it's $300-$350? So, you're complaining that it's roughly the same price as current gen systems?

It's a next-gen console. You can say that it delivers the same as the 360 or the PS3, but it's still going to be the console that Sony and Microsoft create their next consoles to compete with. When the Wii came out, it was $250. Given that Nintendo makes the console at roughly $300, and they're not only pricing the console at that value but they're bundling it with the Gamepad, a device that was rumored to potentially not be bundled with the system... I don't know, I'm not seeing what you guys are, because it seems like Nintendo's actually going out of their way to set the price-point for the average consumer.

I'd also like to point out that both Sony and Microsoft released systems on launch that totalled over $500 for the same experience when they first launched. Nintendo is launching something that is introducing new concepts, and they're doing so at a relatively low price. You can talk about mark-up from accessories but hell, you have to admit, since Nintendo first released the NES they've been selling high-priced accessories that seem almost necessary for certain games on their consoles, and it's worked as a business strategy for them for over two decades. I can't fault them for continuing it.

Also, I'd like to point out that whatever Microsoft or Sony come out with within the next several years to compete with the WiiU is definitely not going to be competing at a price-point this low. I can't even imagine it dipping under $500 for either console to be honest.

So, anyone else catching the NOA WiiU Livestream event in 15 minutes?

WARNING: Massive pictures in the spoiler tag below but holy shit they're amazing. I'd imagine the whole thing would look rather bland in a default texture pack without a lighting mod but still.

Be Prepared is awesome, no doubt. Though I also like Frollo's "Hellfire" song from Hunchback of Notre Dame. Pretty heavy stuff. And on topic, that's a villain that I liked that I'm sure I wasn't supposed to. Probably because of that song actually.

Was JUST about to bring that one up too. "Hellfire" is such a close second to "Be Prepared" for me. Can't believe I forgot to bring it up before... that song is so powerful and one of Disney's darkest songs they've done.

I liked Jafar's reprise of Prince Ali. It was mocking, almost spitting the words out. Brilliant.

This. It was a small moment in the first film but man, you really could hear the venom in his voice.

"Return of Jafar" was by far one of the best Disney sequels to a main title they've ever made (albeit the animation quality WAS godawful) and Jafar's song "Second Rate" was such an awesome sequence in that movie. Looking back on it, I think it was because I wasn't ever the biggest fan of Genie and watching Jafar basically school him was a lot of fun.

I also liked Lion King 2-- actually a fair bit more than Aladdin 2, though not nearly as much as The Lion King itself (though "My Lullaby" was a suitably haunting, albeit less creative, villain song)-- but beyond those two... I mean, no Disney sequels really come to mind after that that I can say were worth watching. Not immediately anyway.

I think in a big way the cinematics of an animated song help make the song itself what it is, too, and with that line of thought "Be Prepared" was the essentially total package. I can't hear "Be Prepared" without immediately being taken back to Scar confidently striding through what was basically a green volcanic eruption, surrounded by a hyena army channeling the Third Reich.

EDIT: Realized you were referring to the song he did in the first movie so I figured I'd comment on that first instead . Honestly though, I kind-of preferred the second movie's song for Jafar to the first's... the arrogance of the sequence was what made me love it.

The only version of the game getting the comic book synopsis is the Wii U version; though, to be fair, after the comic synopsis came out for PS3, I think 360 users got it not long after. So it's likely we'll see the ME2 comic at some point after the Wii U version drops.

Also? Leviathan spoilers/general observation:

Anyone else disappointed that all the hype about how the DLC 'alters' the ending wound up only being roughly two lines of dialogue and some War Assets? I got the perfect ending without the Leviathan army on my side... the hell kind of altering is that? Instead of saying "Our Creators" the Catalyst says Leviathan. HOLY SHIT GUYS HE REFERENCES THEM BY NAME

Loved the DLC, thought the missions were fun, new to the series and unique to the game. The husk head's interaction with Space Hamster if you bring it back to your cabin are hilarious. I just... I really wish Bioware would stop fucking overhyping their releases so I can actually enjoy them, because seriously? They make this shit out to have huge consequences and it honestly barely did a damn thing. And, as usual, there is NO MENTION WHATSOEVER of the Leviathan war assets in the finale battle scenes.

So again, I ask: where the hell are my Geth in this war? The Quarians? We got more shots of them but pretty much saw none in battle. The Rachni? They aren't even mentioned in the finale. And then Leviathan, for all the talk of damage they'd do to the Reapers, they aren't even there at the most pivotal point in the war against them?

I love Mass Effect. I really do. I think Bioware created an amazing universe. I also think they promised too much, delivered too little, and ultimately left out so many important things from the ending and tried to cover it up under 'artistic integrity' and call it a day. And then, when making what was honestly a fantastic extension to the game in Leviathan, they failed to deliver on their promise of a lasting impression from the DLC in the game, something to be reflected in the finale.

It's one thing when it's Mass Effect 2 and it's the Overlord DLC, because even though ultimately it made no changes to the game's story, it told its own amazingly well and didn't need to alter anything. There was no direct correlation between the Collectors and what was happening, no need for your decisions to alter the course of the game itself. But here? This is the fucking finale. The last stand against the biggest threat in the goddamn galaxy and we just recruited their creators, creatures who apparently can destroy whole Reapers WITH A FUCKING MINDWAVE. Creatures who can fight alongside everyone by utilizing their artifacts to 'turn' Reapers against each other. They're arguably the most powerful non-Reaper lifeforms shown in the Mass Effect universe, and by the time Leviathan's DLC is done... they don't. Fucking. Matter.

TL;DR: For what it was, Leviathan's DLC was great. For what it was promised to be, it's rather disappointing.

Just recently caught the NC review of Baby Geniuses 2. Oh my God, that ending had me in tears.

I really should play catch-up on some of the old TGWTG people other than NG that I used to watch sometime. Hell, I still need to catch up on NG, I haven't watched much in a loooong time

Okay, so apparently I need to get the Bring Down The Sky DLC for the original Mass Effect to understand the new DLC? WHAT THE HELL?

*goes to replay entire series*

... ?

I didn't really catch any of that in my play-through (I've played Bring Down the Sky... sincerely didn't notice anything referencing it). Either I missed something or the bits I've played aren't everything that's in-store... but that'd be confusing since I just finished the prelude to the final mission of the game, and I was under the impression all I had left to see is the endgame 'changes' Leviathan apparently makes.

How does Game Informer stay viable?

I started buying the Australian edition when I first noticed it about a year ago because it was half the price of anything else on the market and chock full of quality content.

I mean $5? For what you get, that's a steal. I can't remember when another gaming magazine in australia was less than about $10.

They push their digital version over their print and are slowly straying from the print format, but keep it for the people still dedicated to it. Because they bundle a GameInformer subscription with every GameStop Rewards Pro card (which every customer gets offered to sign up for) it keeps the magazine very well funded. GameStop's rewards program has a ridiculous number of customers signed onto it and with each one of those customers subscribed to the magazine, nevermind the people who subscribe outside the store... that would be how they stay viable.

It's a smart business strategy. Hell, at GameStop we generally push the digital subscription too because they make it the better deal for the customer. They're playing it smart and trying not to stick to the past, most magazines aren't doing that these days.

I'm pretty certain if Nintendo had let Nintendo Power switch to a digital format we'd at the very least still see the magazine going around for a little while longer than December, to say the least.

"I Got Friends on the Other Side" was one of the best parts of The Princess Frog. "No One Fights Like Gaston" was one of the best parts of Beauty and the Beast. In most Disney movies it seems that the villains steal the show for me with their song, but no-one really did it quite like Scar for me. Ursula's was pretty great though.

Hell, it's not Disney, but "In the Dark of the Night" from Anastasia was, also, one of the best parts of the movie. Villain songs are the best.

So awhile back I reset my Skyrim save because after Mass Effect 3 came out I never touched it and wound up forgetting most of the story I'd played through anyway. It's amazing how different my new playthrough has felt-- I wound up going with a female Nord archer/sneak attacker, and started off at Riverwood, then made it to Whiterun, went with the party to kill the dragon, and made my way from there off on an adventure of finding and murdering every single bandit and Forsworn within range of the city. Leveled up archery and sneak like crazy with those bandit raids.

Right now I'm around level 20 or so but my archery and sneak are nearly level 60. Almost everything else is fairly normal but I've just solely focused on keeping those two up for now. Not really touched magic, didn't find a need to yet. I've done a few missions that caught me off-guard too, like getting drunk and waking up across the world, or being forced by that Deadric prince to kill the priest. It's... been a wild ride to say the least.

But yeah, I am Forsworn public enemy number one right now. The first time I bumped into them I thought they were a regular town and they damn near slaughtered me, and ever since I've been downright racist in my hatred of them

Stumbled on some kind of a Forsworn city on a bunch of docks and just systematically picked them off from the mountains near it one by one, watching them whip into a frenzy trying to find me. Sneak Bonus+Crit+Poison damage on a Hagraven and just watching her launch off the ground from the hit is easily one of the most satisfying things I've done so far. That and also aggroing a dragon into a Forsworn encampment and getting the "Area Cleared" message on the map afterwards without killing a single one of them except for the dragon itself, that was a brillant moment.

Yeah though, seriously, fuck the Forsworn.

It really would have worked out so much better for them to have switched to a digital publication. I mean, hell, that's probably what's going to keep GameInformer going strong (besides getting linked with GameStop anyway) and probably could have kept them afloat for a whole hell of a lot longer. Still incredibly sad news as while I've not touched one in ages, it's like GoGo said-- was nice to still see it on magazine racks. That was a massive part of my childhood, I still have a semi-crumpled up issue from the Banjo & Kazooie launch on the N64 and another that had a poster insert for Mario Tennis 64.

Pretty much reminds me of the sadness of hearing that Toonami was cancelled a long while back, despite the whole thing going to shit long before it was anyway. It was the end of something nostalgic and it's always sad to see that sort of thing go.

So long old friend

...

You mean The Pizza Thrower. The van had no pizzas, as it was not dubbed The Pizza Thrower.

And, damnhellyeswow, I always wanted the Technodrome. I also wanted Giant Wrestler Body Krang, but only had Mr. Burns in the Future Krang.

I still have this toy.

I don't know what it was about TMNT in my childhood but I swear I was obsessed. I think I still have every single villain from their rogues gallery-- and many of the main ones too-- sitting in a box in storage, and like fifty different versions of the turtles themselves too. I'm not exaggerating either, the box I kept them all in is a big one

As for the topic... I absolutely despised Excalibur in Soul Eater. Dude was a complete waste of time in the show and frankly ruined quite a few episodes for me. To that end, I also was completely on Medusa's side throughout the show and was really upset with how abruptly her story ended as the show came to a close.

Loved Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender... completely insane character and you can't help but cheer her on a little throughout. Especially after the beach episode shows how socially awkward she is.

I always pick Luigi over Mario as my 'main character' in the Mario Bros. games if I can.

Mother Ethel in Tangled is a fantastic character and I'm pretty certain Lorina and I know all the words to her "Mother Knows Best" songs... though I wouldn't necessarily say that I 'rooted' for her per se, but I definitely loved the character.

Scar from Lion King. "Be Prepared" is still the best Disney villain's song made in my opinion.

The villain in Oldboy... psychologically fucked up but by the end of the film you actually kind-of hope he gets his revenge.

I'm sure there are more but I'm drawing blanks right now to go further with this... I'm sure I could keep going on this though.

I'll take a look for you when I go in Kirkles, will let you know when I get back.

Keep in mind: if you go in today it's the last day for their 50% bonus towards buying another pre-owned item though. They usually have temporary deals going on and that's the one going right now, store credit only though. So yeah, I can get an estimate on it for ya' but it won't count any promotions

I figured he probably used Skyhook from The Dark Knight. You gotta realize, despite everything going on and what happened to him, Bruce Wayne still had connections. It's not entirely unreasonable to believe that he'd found a way to utilize Skyhook again to get him in. I mean hell, they specifically said at one point in the film that the military had begun doing high-altitude scans of Gotham so that they wouldn't be detected. Again, not entirely unreasonable for Bruce to make the drop from there, at the very least in a similar fashion to the way the military forces themselves did.

Hell, there've been further stretches of the imagination made in the Batman comic books to make specific plot points work than there were in TDKR. Also...

At what point do people stop being able to seriously say, with a straight face, that these movies are "dark" and "gritty" and "serious", and a more "adult" or "mature" kind of superhero movie? Is it before or after the hero races through the streets in his custom-built spaceship after the villain in an ill-defined life support mask for half the movie?

I respect your opinion, but as far as this goes: The Watchmen.

For me, the backstory in EMH for Slenderman edges out what MH has made for him, though both are fantastic. It's just, I think as one person commented awhile back in one of the videos, the inclusion of the Rake and Slenderman clashing with each other so often almost symbolizes a duality between what the two 'represent', so to speak. Slenderman having such a rooted history in the EMH characters' pasts too, the reality fluctuations and time travelling hallucinations and shit, all of it is eerie and makes you wonder what his obsession with them is. MH Slenderman feels like a freakish force of nature that can't be stopped, but EMH's Slenderman has something more curious about it that draws me in more.

There has only been one conflict between Slenderman and The Rake hasn't there? The one where The Rake chases Vincent into the woods after Evan

throws it out the window and Slenderman scares it off or something.

Edit:Forgot the twitter stuff too.

Edit 2:Ahh, The Rake Chased Jeff into the woods and Slendy showed up.

Also I watched some Tribe Twelve last night. MH's prop and costume for Slenderman is the best but holy fuck Tribe Twelve knows where to place him to make the most of their prop/photoshops/actor.

Right? Like I said, of the three Tribe Twelve has the weakest acting but holy shit their Slenderman is terrifying.

For me, the backstory in EMH for Slenderman edges out what MH has made for him, though both are fantastic. It's just, I think as one person commented awhile back in one of the videos, the inclusion of the Rake and Slenderman clashing with each other so often almost symbolizes a duality between what the two 'represent', so to speak. Slenderman having such a rooted history in the EMH characters' pasts too, the reality fluctuations and time travelling hallucinations and shit, all of it is eerie and makes you wonder what his obsession with them is. MH Slenderman feels like a freakish force of nature that can't be stopped, but EMH's Slenderman has something more curious about it that draws me in more.

They could pull a Nolan and do a gritty reboot of Jeff the Killer

It's just, I mean, when you freeze frame on the last video Jeff is in when shit goes crazy on him and he turns the cam on himself, the dude looks like a fuckin' psychopath. If he turns on the EMH crew during any of their next videos I'm almost positive he's gonna go that route.

And yeah, any SCP involvement would be incredible. Well, at least, the non-ridiculous SCPs anyway.

One of the creepiest 'cameos'-- though not yet a true cameo-- is the whole shit surrounding Jeff and the allusions that he's becoming "Jeff the Killer". I really hope that winds up going somewhere. Also, Evan's character is definitely one of my favorites. He's not the stereotypical badass who gets destroyed in a horror flick, he's actually smart but is getting driven out of his mind, but has the survival skills and physical strength to hold his own. I love how they've developed his character.

But yeah, Kirkles, if you haven't checked out TribeTwelve and you want something to freak you out, look for the clip where he's flying off to meet the EverymanHYBRID crew. That airplane scene is one of the best Slenderman moments I've seen, and that's even counting the Slenderman 'reveal' in EMH or his appearance at the end of Marble Hornets' first run, both of which in themselves freaked me the fuck out.