Comments

And maybe some krill.

None of which you get by popping pills.

I'm a drill.

It's a different tone to the First and Second Encounter - it's essentially a cartoon. But if you want that kind of overwhelming onslaught gameplay that 3 was really lacking, then it's definitely worth playing.

SS3 was bizarre for me. Strider and I co-oped the entire thing (as we'd done with First and Second Encounter, and most of 2) and while it was fun, it was also criminally lacking in spark. The insanity of the previous games was only ever kind of hinted at, but it never went completely balls out nuts.

The other thing as well is that I've yet to see any game do parody well. Parody is not about pointing out a convention or situation and being self-aware about it. 3 fell smack bang into that lazy form of parody.

Honestly Scotch, play Serious Sam 2.

Google Drive perhaps?

I love reading. Anything and everything, provided I find it interesting. Currently reading Starting Point, which is a collection of Hayao Miyazaki's essays, articles and speeches from 1979 to 1996. Also just finished The Fry Chronicles audiobook, read by the man himself, Stephen Fry.

Unfortunately, it's just the way it is with freelancing. Until you've established yourself as a bankable name, there will always be that trepidation that comes with the comparative lack of job security.

In terms of student loans: yes, Pebs' amount was a lot (mine was a little higher), but it's taken so gradually and slowly out of your taxable income, you barely notice it. I feel sorry for those who have to go through the US education system and suffer crippling debt as a result. We only start repaying our student loans when we actually make an income: it's literally the easiest and stress-free loan there is.

I love how the font for the "ONE BILLION DOLLARS" text looks like the Rock Band one.

It's like it's trying to be hip.

The news that Microsoft is properly returning the Start menu, and allowing metro apps to run under the normal Windows desktop environment is very, very good news. When it rolls around, that will definitely get me over the line to upgrading from Windows 7.

I feel I must return fire with an actual Aussie beer!

It's a bogan beer, but it's crazy how iconic the music and the slogan for that beer is for us Australians. It's embedded in our national psyche.

6 shots? Lightweight.

So, it cuts lasers?

BA DUM TISH

...I'll show myself out.

There are a couple of reasons why green screens are a bit more prominent these days.

For a start, the choice between blue or green screen is context sensitive. It depends on the situation: are there blue elements in the scene? Are there green elements? That will be the first thing that dictates which colour is used.

Secondly, it's speculated that the vast majority of digital imaging sensors are far better at picking up green tones than other colours. Since there's an overwhelming trend towards shooting digitally, the prominence of green screens over blue is purely a technical advantage based on current equipment standards.

Between those two reasons, you'll generally see a steady mix of both colours, but you're more likely to see the mix on a film set than anywhere else.

Holy crap on a stick! Andy!?

That is a fair point, Pebs. I did have experience of using OS 9 and prior Mac OS', but I certainly didn't have to go through the teething period when Apple rewrote the whole thing. Having said that, I know Apple included the 'Classic' environment with the first few releases of OS X, ensuring that you could still access older apps while developers rewrote them. The classic environment lasted for a long time too, and was finally dropped when Apple switched over to Intel CPUs.

The full-screen thing is stupid. OS X as of late has the same thing too, but the crucial difference is that it's a toggle on any program that wants to support: it's not a mandatory obstruction. So if you want to run it as a full-screen app, you can. If you don't, then nothing changes. That's how it should be under Windows as well.

I want to get Windows 8.1, purely for the performance increases. But then, I play with the Metro interface, and the hideous contrast between that and the regular Windows shell, and the pointless jumping between the two vastly disparate UI paradigms and it just irritates the crap out of me.

I get what the intention was with Windows 8, but trying to make something that does absolutely everything for everyone means it'll do nothing for everyone. Or, it'll just do it in an entirely crap manner.

There's rumours cropping up that the next update to Windows 8 will return the Start menu properly: not the crappy regression they shoved into Windows 8.1. It'd also be nice if they actually went through and fixed up the desktop UI so that it's not a maddening blend of design concepts (ribbon, Metro, Vista-era iconography). Seriously, if Apple can (albeit slyly) remove the skeuomorphic rubbish from OS X, then surely Microsoft can get their act together as well.

Edit: Here's my other complaint as well, particularly to people who say "just get used to it!". The history of the PC, particularly from Microsoft's point of view, was allowing people to use the machine the way they wanted to use it. Add all that tablet rubbish if you want, but why should you completely remove the way it used to work? Why isn't their an official option to revert to a more traditional Windows experience? Why should I have to pay to have a third-party company's software on my machine to replicate a workflow that is still far quicker than what it's been replaced with? I've never had to do that with OS X, even when Apple rewrote the entire thing after OS 9!

People tend to whinge that Apple shoehorn their customers into doing things their way or not at all. Shouldn't Microsoft also be held accountable for doing the exact same thing, particularly when they've traditionally offered their customers choice?

There's an even older TWHL domain, which I can't quite remember exactly. It was something like cariad.something.com

Nope, all the games come directly from me.

I sourced it from the ultimate source: the source.

And cheers, Scotch!

Pebs: Scumming around in a big bag!

To Madcow and anyone that read and enjoyed the articles: please let us know on the site! Post a comment (you don't need to register) and assign a Shine Get to whichever one you preferred. This is a project that has been brewing for quite a while now (in various forms) and I'm very proud and excited to finally have it up and running.

We'd really love to get a little community going, with some great discussions too. Spreading the word using the social links at the top of the page would really help too, if you wouldn't mind.

Further down the track, we'll be featuring new writers and a more frequent posting schedule, along with contests and various other things. For now, we'll be on a once a week update schedule (posts go live on Sunday for those in Australia, so probably Saturday for most of you).

Writing is a bit of a passion of mine, and while I don't want to do it professionally, doing stuff like this is an utter joy. I hope you'll join us and enjoy the show!

Oh god...

Don't microwave steaks.

Just...don't.

Maybe it's because Penguinboy and I come from the land of bbq and grill. The idea of microwaving a steak is, frankly, disgusting.

It's alright. Better than most fan efforts, but it was shot on a piss poor camera and the cinematography is janky. Also, overuse of Half-Life 2 sound effects really cheapens it: why do you hear the health pick up sound effect when they pick up a health vial? Doesn't really make any sense.

How the fuck can anyone be against same sex marriage? I can't believe that in this day and age, the union of two people in love is still regulated.

What a load of shit.

Dangit, totally NSFW. Purely because it's such an addictive distraction. >_>

There's only so long I can claim that this is research!

Agreed. As well as that, look at all the people that have rallied to your plight in this journal.

Doesn't just happen for no reason, you know.

I don't think one has to 'be good' at making friends. Being friends is about compatibility in spirit. You can be a sociable person (i.e. polite, well-spoken, etc), but not have a huge amount of friends. If its part of your personality to feel comfortable in small groups, then there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. So long as your group of friends are good friends.

Class will definitely help. I've been the same way myself back in the day, but I think so long as you can firmly say that you have a few really great friends, then I don't see the problem.

I agree about Black Mesa, Urby. Granted, we haven't seen much of it yet, and I'm guessing we'll all still be blown away when it finally does appear.

This guy reminds me of a character in GTA4. It's the one always talking near your 2nd appartment( the one where you move after the first one being burned).

I shot that guy several times. >_<

In all seriousness though, mental health issues are deeply troubling and very sad to hear about.

Scott Pilgrim ftw.

I thought Oblivion sucked and I haven't played the Fallout games. Can't say I really care about Skyrim.

As in, the menus?

If I may offer more advice: spam your portfolio a bit. Get a LinkedIn account and a seperate, career orientated Facebook account. I've now been aware that a lot of companies, particularly those in the creative field, will use these sites. It's also a good idea to have a consistently updated blog and put that in your CV.

Basically, using these sites lets a potential employer know more about you. Obviously, it's entirely inappropriate to link to your personal Facebook account, but using a professional one to better your chances doesn't hurt at all. The next step in my career will be getting into television and then (hopefully) into film and this is stuff I've been told from people already working in the industry.

Precisely. And be as tenacious as you can be without being overbearing. It's the exact same thing for the industry I work in.

Bad Company 2 is actually a CPU intensive game, oddly enough.

Come to Australia. Perpetual warmth!

Boils down to that for you, but it's gross over generalisation.

Totally disagree with you, but that's me. Very much depends on the woman in the same way that it depends on the man if the roles were reversed.

If his cousin ran it for hours without any issues, then it doesn't really seem like a motherboard issue to me. See if you can boot it for a few hours at an entirely different location. Perhaps the circuit you're plugging it into has issues.

Oh please. No one's complained about DNF not coming out for years. It's just a joke now.

Didn't say I didn't, Soup.

I will definitely play it for the novelty factor, but it's not going to be anything ground breaking. Nor am I expecting it.

I don't think it's brand power to be honest. I think it's the novelty of playing the game with the most well-known development history.

It's gonna suck so hard.

Yeah, saw this a few days ago. If it were real, it would actually work too.

The guy in the video is a creative producer. He did a really funky HP ad back in the day.