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[Jintor]

I'm going for some impossible tier shit.

1) Half-Life 3 is announced via an ARG hidden across the entirety of Steam. When the ARG is ultimately solved, a core group of participants get the game for free and also activate its release worldwide across Steam to be downloaded and bought immediately. Valve's servers buckle under the combined pressure of a hugely-participatory ARG, a sudden rush on the Steam store, and a worldwide DOTA 2 championship.

2) Nintendo works out how to do online properly instead of being hopelessly stuck in the past. WiiU is announced for Holiday 2012 and sells gangbusters, in part because of its incredible digital distribution system and perfected Virtual Console experience. Iwata laughs.

3) The majority of EA's customer service and Origin-related problems are resolved within the first four months of 2012 after an extended period of internal shuffling and public contrition.

4) Grasshopper Manufacture and Platinum Studios team up to create No More Heroes 3 for the WiiU, 360 with Kinect, and Playstation Move, announced at E3. Both press and random gamers off the convention floor report that Suda51's madness has finally been tempered by someone who actually knows how to make a compelling gameplay experience. Rumours of Hideo Kojima's involvement circulate wildly, but when asked, Kamiya merely blows "Viewtiful Kisses" at interviewers.

5) Microsoft finally admits that they've been trying to kill PC gaming with everything Games for Windows Live-related for years.


Resolutions:
1) Play the Last Express
2) Write more, critically speaking.
3) Finally complete Angel Slayer in Bayonetta.

 

[Yagharek]

Joke about Tasmanians and headcounts I am too mature to make.

<Insert flippant comment about Tasmania not being divided North-South except for the Boags/Cascade Parallel>

 

[Rezbit]

Joke about Tasmanians and headcounts I am too mature to make.

Don't you have a fan, Reptile ?

My other head takes offence to that.

 

[Omikron]

<Insert flippant comment about Tasmania not being divided North-South except for the Boags/Cascade Parallel>

I know you are from Launceston. Know it.

 

[Yagharek]

I know you are from Launceston. Know it.

Hobart, actually.

 

[shanshan310]

I already own it and I payed nothing for this copy. It has been free in the past several times. I also only paid $80 for it 4 or 5 years ago along with 4 other games and then rebought the whole 5 game pack again on PC 3 years ago for $25. I also bought Portal on XBLA.

As I look at it in my inventory it has less value to me than a 33% off Valve voucher.
I'll try and put it through tomorrow if I don't melt to death, steam ID is reptilescorpio

oh okay. haha. That would be so awesome man I think I already have you added.

 

[Yagharek]

LittleBigAdventure remake/Twinsen's Adventure 3 semi-announced.

I should have kept my PC prediction in tact as it would have been 1/5 in 20 minutes! >.<

 

[Axiom]

My computer seems borked, the worst start to a year.

On the bright side this inflatable pool we got for my goddaughter sure proved useful today, even though she hasn't been over to use it herself yet.

 

[BananaArnie]

I'm going for some impossible tier shit.

1) Half-Life 3 is announced via an ARG hidden across the entirety of Steam. When the ARG is ultimately solved, a core group of participants get the game for free and also activate its release worldwide across Steam to be downloaded and bought immediately. Valve's servers buckle under the combined pressure of a hugely-participatory ARG, a sudden rush on the Steam store, and a worldwide DOTA 2 championship.

2) Nintendo works out how to do online properly instead of being hopelessly stuck in the past. WiiU is announced for Holiday 2012 and sells gangbusters, in part because of its incredible digital distribution system and perfected Virtual Console experience. Iwata laughs.

3) The majority of EA's customer service and Origin-related problems are resolved within the first four months of 2012 after an extended period of internal shuffling and public contrition.

4) Grasshopper Manufacture and Platinum Studios team up to create No More Heroes 3 for the WiiU, 360 with Kinect, and Playstation Move, announced at E3. Both press and random gamers off the convention floor report that Suda51's madness has finally been tempered by someone who actually knows how to make a compelling gameplay experience. Rumours of Hideo Kojima's involvement circulate wildly, but when asked, Kamiya merely blows "Viewtiful Kisses" at interviewers.

5) Microsoft finally admits that they've been trying to kill PC gaming with everything Games for Windows Live-related for years.


Resolutions:
1) Play the Last Express
2) Write more, critically speaking.
3) Finally complete Angel Slayer in Bayonetta.

Love it.
I started my movie watching 2012 quest.
On the menu tonight 1922s Nosferatu.
HOLY BANANAS
I implore you all to at least watch the first 10 minutes.
Words cannot describe!!!!!!!!!
The whole thing is up on youtube.

 

[Salazar]

Yeah, it's really something.

Wish there was cricket tomorrow.

 

[shanshan310]

Yeah, it's really something.

Wish there was cricket tomorrow.

Doesn't that mean there will be less cricket talk tomorrow? okay by me

 

[Yoshiya]

Joke about Tasmanians and headcounts I am too mature to make.

Don't you have a fan, Reptile ?

Mercifully my genetic history in Tasmania is almost non-existent. The state can only ruin me in other ways.

 

[BananaArnie]

Doesn't that mean there will be less cricket talk tomorrow? okay by me

I concur

 

[maladroid]

Belated happy new year, AusGAF. It's gonna be terribly hot tomorrow. Hope y'all who have to face it have a way to stay cool.

Why are there photos with cups

One thing I wanna know: Are you guys sticking to the cups motif for the entire month, or are you going to switch week to week (day to day)? It's cool seeing almost an entire page of cup-related avatars.

That's more like it.

Predictions
1. XBox 3 is unveiled to cries of abandonment and rage from the core (strong Kinect focus)
2. Half Life 3 is released in/around November 2012
3. A Vita hardware revision is announced, but no 3DS revision.
4. Pikmin 3 gets an Edge 10 and is hailed as the greatest launch game since Mario 64.
5. Either iOS or Facebook game sales/use contracts significantly, causing a sharemarket run on either Zynga or Popcap. One of these two will suffer a major share price drop (double digits, cries of fad over, Silicon Valley bubble 2.0)

(edit: removed classic PC series update and Wii U Steam support).

Resolutions
1. Play and finish Ocarina of Time for the first time
2. Finish getting all rainbows on PixelJunk Monsters (and Encore)
3. Beat a Metroid game

Even though I'm on a gaming forum, I don't know enough about games to create my own list. :S I agree with all of yours except 3. Maybe it's just cos I want one, but I think there'll be a 3DS revision. Also, I think they'd do memory card bundles before releasing a new kind of Vita. Number 1 would depend on the graphical leap a bit, too.

Not game related, but my resolutions are:
1. Read more
2. Dress better
3. Get into (better) shape. [I say this every year, and I end up doing absolutely nothing, even though I've become a fat sack of crap since they stopped P.E. being compulsory in high school. ]

 

[VOOK]

Did the real avatar thing...

 

[shanshan310]

Did the real avatar thing...

Drink and all


Also you are all up late.

 

[maladroid]

I just realised there are time differences.. Well, my excuse is that it's gonna be terribly hot here today, so the less I'm conscious of that, the better.

Did the real avatar thing...

Is that really you? What kind of glasses are those?

 

[Omikron]

Mercifully my genetic history in Tasmania is almost non-existent. The state can only ruin me in other ways.

In breeding will do that.

 

[fappenmeister]

Is there any benefit to jailbreaking your iphone these days?

 

[Jintor]

need more real mugs

 

[ClivePwned]

Gaming predictions 2012

1- a big industry merger surprises people
2- a serious blow to cheap imports
3- at least one new console is announced in 2012
4- Vita does OK but not great, 3ds does better becoming nintendo's success. Wii u launch similar to vita
5- lots of sequels are released and everyone complains they arent as good as the eariler versions (this is less a prediction more an observation of human nature)
6- sega and 2k australian studios will unfortunately close.

I have no gaming resolutions other than to finish any 2011 games before the end of February. That includes the end of zelda SS, Skyrim and saints row 3.

 

[Aon]

Quick Heads Up:

DnD is not happening tonight, it is happening tomorrow night at the normal time of 7.

Thank you for your time.

 

[reptilescorpio]

1 - Ruffian announce a spiritual sequel to Crackdown.
2 - A new Ridge Racer will be announced to launch alongside the WiiU.
3 - THQ merges/is purchased and all their IP's goes through the same messy process that saw Brutal Legend jettisoned during the Vivendi merger. My tip is on EA wanting to fill that GTA sized hole in it's lineup with Saint's Row (although it is their own fault for closing Pandemic after taking a giant leap forward with Saboteur. They could have made the next big GTA/SR clone!)
4 - Fable: On Rails comes out and everyone decries Sir Pete for being full of shit again/giving us a piece of shit again
5 - At least one more big name title will be refused classification here in Australia

1 - I will resolve to enjoy Max Payne 3 as it is delivered to me, critically not emotionally.
2 - I resolve to spend less time hunting bargains and more time PLAYING games
3 - I will play more Kinect/Move games in order to bring me down from the heaviest weight I have ever been. If I don't drop 30kg by my wedding I will be disappoint son.

I also resolve to finish games in a stream rather than jump all around the place playing only the first hour of 20 different games. Still got RAGE, Arkham City and Saints Row 3 sitting on my desktop ready to finish.

Xbox 3602 is guaranteed to come with Kinect after it has sold so well for MS.
Would be awesome to see Sony cuddle up to Valve some more.

My most anticipated title will be whatever Sledgehammer is working on after their incredible debut with MW3.

4. Pikmin 3 gets an Edge 10 and is hailed as the greatest launch game since Mario 64.
5. Either iOS or Facebook game sales/use contracts significantly, causing a sharemarket run on either Zynga or Popcap. One of these two will suffer a major share price drop (double digits, cries of fad over, Silicon Valley bubble 2.0)

Twigged an entertaining remark Karen Gillan Kieron Gillen made this week in regards to Portal 2 being one of the games of the year;

I sort of pray that a Zelda was as well written as this, if only to see Edge try and work out how to expand their marking scheme.

Also Zynga hasn't done quite as well on the stock market as some people thought. Currently still trading below IPO. Will be interesting to watch the massive Facebook IPO this year. A bank will pick up around $220 million in IPO fees alone, which would make some executives very happy.

Don't you have a fan, Reptile ?

I would hope at this point I have several.

I have one old, battered from moving, pedestal fan along with a ceiling fan and in-the-wall air conditioner in the lounge. NEVER ENOUGH.

Both press and random gamers off the convention floor report that Suda51's madness has finally been tempered by someone who actually knows how to make a compelling gameplay experience.

Come on dude, you played Shadows right. It was a fantastic gameplay experience. I mean, you had to come to terms with using the controls THEIR way not the way that would be more natural but once you got on top of that it was lots of fun to play.

LittleBigAdventure remake/Twinsen's Adventure 3 semi-announced.

I should have kept my PC prediction in tact as it would have been 1/5 in 20 minutes! >.<

Yeah I saw the interview on GOG the other day, not holding my breath on seeing Twinsen 3 this year though. More than a little worried that the magic won't still be flowing by this point, been a long time since the classics.

Wish there was cricket tomorrow.

Same, would have been a nice way to waste away the last day of my holidays in front of the air con. Now I have to go back to catching the last hour after work.

 

[Jintor]

Come on dude, you played Shadows right. It was a fantastic gameplay experience. I mean, you had to come to terms with using the controls THEIR way not the way that would be more natural but once you got on top of that it was lots of fun to play.

I just don't really like third-person shooters man.

 

[FallbackPants]

I'm going to be optimistic I think.

1 - Xbox 3, or whatever bullshit name they call it, is announced. Kinect heavy, but the extra horsepower behind the console lets Kinect do the things we'd all hoped for originally. All I want is a Rainbow Six where I can command my units with hand movements.

2 - There is a Rainbow Six announces where I can command my units with hand movements.

3 - Despite my initial misgivings Wii U rocks. The screen controller is awesome, although the "play away from your TV" stuff turns out to be gimmicky.

4 - Wii U still doesn't have a proper online structure. Better than Wii, but still light years away from Live or PSN.

5 - Microsoft promise a bunch of old franchises people have been calling out for to launch their new console. Mostly they get Crytek UK to make a new Perfect Dark.

<Insert flippant comment about Tasmania not being divided North-South except for the Boags/Cascade Parallel>

Boags for life yo!

 

[Gazunta]

My 2012 predictions:

1) Crackdown 3 is not announced
2) No, really, it's not announced
3) I get arrested after I break into Microsoft's campus and start grabbing random people shouting MAKE CRACKDOWN 3 ALREADY

 

[Salazar]

Wouldn't Crackdown 3 need to change quite a bit ?

 

[Yagharek]

Twigged an entertaining remark Karen Gillan Kieron Gillen made this week in regards to Portal 2 being one of the games of the year;

Meaningless comments from him, seeing as eurogamer gave Zelda 10 as well. No doubt he won't be reevaluating his own review metric? Not to mention, story isn't the primary element of a game; play is. Nothing wrong with portal, its excellent, but people with zero credibility should really stfu.

 

[reptilescorpio]

Centrecom have a WD external 2Tb HDD for $99 (possible price match at Office Works for $94). No idea on the internal drive and if it would be suitable to strip and put into a PC.

GreenManGaming has a sale on with Arkham City for $25 at the moment if you missed it last week. Different deals every day for a fortnight.

Missed the Australian Vita RRP's. Bundle with 4Gb card and cleaning stuff will be mine at that price for $8 more than just the card. Also $70 for Uncharted? lulz

Meaningless comments from him, seeing as eurogamer gave Zelda 10 as well. No doubt he won't be reevaluating his own review metric? Not to mention, story isn't the primary element of a game; play is. Nothing wrong with portal, its excellent, but people with zero credibility should really stfu.

He was saying that a Zelda with Portal 2 like script writing and delivery would get a 12 from EDGE.

 

[BananaArnie]

<-------- CUP

 

[Yagharek]

He was saying that a Zelda with Portal 2 like script writing and delivery would get a 12 from EDGE.

Oh. My mistake then. Although I don't know if you could drag portal 2 quality writing over 40 hours.

 

[Fredescu]

Meaningless comments from him, seeing as eurogamer gave Zelda 10 as well. No doubt he won't be reevaluating his own review metric?

He's a guest writer for RPS now, but even if he wasn't, RPS itself doesn't have a review metric. Calling a Eurogamer score "his own metric" is a stretch and a half.

 

[Jintor]

To an extent, I don't even necessarily agree that play is the primary metric by which to judge a game.

Certainly it's the most fun part though.

 

[Yagharek]

To an extent, I don't even necessarily agree that play is the primary metric by which to judge a game.

Certainly it's the most fun part though.

What else could be the primary aspect possibly be? Going by the entire industry, it sure as shit isn't writing quality.

 

[Fredescu]

Sometimes story is a part of the gameplay too, in the case of decision making or dialog trees and such.

 

[Kritz]

Quick Heads Up:

DnD is not happening tonight, it is happening tomorrow night at the normal time of 7.

Thank you for your time.

oh god is this you DMing night or me

 

[FallbackPants]

Did anyone post stuff about the launch of the Global Mail? Propublica for Australia pretty much. Could be fantastic.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/what-if-publicinterest-journalism-had-a-white-knight-a-media-startup-is-born-packed-with-pedigree-20111230-1pffl.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/ian-burrell-hail-the-philanthropists-who-have-offered-a-future-for-serious-journalism-6284040.html

 

[Yagharek]

He's a guest writer for RPS now, but even if he wasn't, RPS itself doesn't have a review metric. Calling a Eurogamer score "his own metric" is a stretch and a half.

Woe betide me for not keeping up with the games journalism transfer window.
His writing for eurogamer was sensationalist, with misleading headlines, omissions if significant details and like most of their writers, they ignore plenty of serious problems while going for easy hits.

So I'll keep holding him accountable to standards he should have kept as a writer, so much as I care when his name comes up in flippant quotes as above.

I trust most games journalists as I do EA customer service, Microsoft hardware QA department and Bethesda programmers. They earnt the reputation all by themselves.

 

[Jintor]

What else could be the primary aspect possibly be? Going by the entire industry, it sure as shit isn't writing quality.

I love the shit out of Ghost Trick and Phoenix Wright and the gameplay in that is, shall we say, nearly non-existent.

inb4 'interactive fiction' argument

 

[roosters93]

Not game related, but my resolutions are:
1. Read more
2. Dress better
3. Get into (better) shape. [I say this every year, and I end up doing absolutely nothing, even though I've become a fat sack of crap since they stopped P.E. being compulsory in high school. ]

Stealing your resolutions!

Spoiler

and probably not following through!

 

[Fredescu]

His writing for eurogamer was sensationalist, with misleading headlines, omissions if significant details

Have some examples? I'm sure they exis., but I went through a few pages of his EG article history and couldn't find anything that would be controversial.

 

[Yagharek]

I love the shit out of Ghost Trick and Phoenix Wright and the gameplay in that is, shall we say, nearly non-existent.

inb4 'interactive fiction' argument

They are very much the exception to the rule.

 

[Yagharek]

Have some examples? I'm sure they exis., but I went through a few pages of his EG article history and couldn't find anything that would be controversial.

Probably not looking very hard. I'll post some examples tomorrow when I have time. Him and Wesley yin Poole always stood out as sensationalist type writers, posting half truths and misleadingly selective quotes.

As a senior writer for the site, he also bears responsibility in part for their writing quality, which is guilty of all the accusations mentioned above and previously.

 

[Jintor]

Vince, you're not secretly the fellow behind gamejournos.com in disguise are you?

 

[Yagharek]

Vince, you're not secretly the fellow behind gamejournos.com in disguise are you?

Haha. No, just another punter who has wasted money after putting too much trust in writers who are paid or blackmailed by the PR agencies of the products they review.

 

[commissar]

As a senior writer for the site, he also bears responsibility in part for their writing quality, which is guilty of all the accusations mentioned above and previously.

I would have thought that's the realm of the editor, not the writers.

 

[Planet_JASE]

Predictions*:
1) HL3 is announced to be released this year. Misses date and disappears until next year.
2) Blizzard takes extreme measures to stop the shedding of customers. Offers a tiered Free to Play to Monthly Subscription model. They will also adopt Diablo's Auction House.
3) Shocking all, Xbox 3 is announced at E3, with a release date of October this year. This will also mark the first time that Microsoft has been able to announce something without everyone knowing the exact details that are being announced 6 months beforehand.
4) Wii U be launched without most of it's online features. The online store, friend codes, etc, will be activated with it's first firmware update. When the multiplayer online functionality is finally released, people will ask Nintendo to take it back. Nothing is sometimes better that something.
5) Vita will do okay. Even if it does better that okay people will say that it will never reach the heights of the PSPs popularity, which everyone said was disappointing during it whole life.
Bonus Content 6) Nintendo are dead because of [insert current doom and gloom stat].

*Due to my detached nature from the world of video game news some of my predictions could be already announced/happened/disproved or are so far from the truth as to be preposterous.

Resolutions:
1a) No more videogame purchases*. I have enough to last me until the next generation (which is October, if prediction #3 comes true) and well beyond that. The good news is that recently every time I've bought a new game I've felt regret, not just at spending unnecessary money but also because it will be a long time before I can play it. Or that it will knock another game further down the play list.
1b) No more book purchases. I have enough physical books to last me until I die. I have plenty of kindle books to last me another lifetime. Add to that the number of public domain books I have on my kindle and I can only hang my head in shame.
1c) Apart from 2 or 3 ongoing series that I wish to keep up with, not more graphic novel purchases. I'm pretty good with reading comics but considering the backlog I've got of the above, I should probably spend more time of them.
2) Keep up my fitness regime. I currently run twice per day when I can (one time at a minimum, though) every damn day. It's about 15 kilometers all up (7km if only once) and I'm slowly getting quicker each week. Sometimes I'll walk some of it, as it gives me longer to spend with my own thoughts. I enjoy the activity and have been pushing myself harder to improve. The other night I did my circuit twice, for no other reason than to see if I could. I could. And it was awesome.
3) Take better care of myself. Not in a "I need to exercise more" way but just in general. I'm the sort of person that keeps all of my possessions in pristine condition and will get something fixed / looked at if it isn't running correctly. I do not extend this to myself. So, this year I take care of myself. Something hurts? See a doctor/dentist/specialist. Treat me like I would something I own or someone I care about. That's quite a sad statement but I'm fairly sure most of us are guilty of it.

*Last day Steam purchases don't count. Shuttup.

<-------- CUP

citizenkaneclap.gif

 

[reptilescorpio]

The boy wants to be big people so much I walked into the kitchen and he had taken one of our half empty glasses of cordial off the counter and was doing a pretty damn good job of drinking it. Only a little bit of mess.

To an extent, I don't even necessarily agree that play is the primary metric by which to judge a game.

Don't want to get into a big debate about reviews as it is just a big pile of yuck.

I do want to say that IN MY OPINION reviews should be based on how WELL a game is executed and how well the developers meet the expectations that they raise. Rate the damn thing critically but don't give it a low overall score if it is janky. You rate a game based on its value to the consumer. I would give Alpha Protocol a 4/5 because of what it does right while explaining ALL the nit picks, about how you are almost stuck doing a pistol/chain shot first run before being able to make use of the RPG elements that are included.

Most reviewers tend to only look at the surface of the game, with so many games to review and so little time. A game like Skyrim needs 100 hours to get the full picture of how to rate it. Do we expect music reviewers to only listen to half an album (or to only listen to it once)? Do we expect movie reviewers to watch it in the background while playing WOW or something?

The primary metric for a game to be judged in my opinion is if it is a worthwhile pickup or if it was worth publishing in the first place. You then detail the pros and cons of the game. The primary focus of the game, whether it be story for Portal 2 or Uncharted 3, gameplay for Zelda or Super Meat Boy, cinematic experiences for Modern Warfare 2 or Homefront, needs to be highlighted and explain what kind of game has come out as a result of that focus. All concerns must be raised and explained so that people who may find them to be a dealbreaker can know that and decide if they wish to pick up the game or not.

The reviewer is there to protect the consumer and help highlight the good work done by the industry.

 

[Yagharek]

The reviewer is there to protect the consumer and help highlight the good work done by the industry.

It would be nice to see one reviewer like this. Just one.

 

[reptilescorpio]

Been reading the Waiting For Destiny fansite. Has been the most enjoyable Bungie related thing for a long time. I really only liked Halo CE and Reach. Destiny looks fuck off awesome though. Will bust a nut if it releases on PC and that Grognuk is released as a level editor for us.

It would be nice to see one reviewer like this. Just one.

kritz.net

That pussy

Spoiler

cat

saved me a lot of money and anger.