Eedo Baba

Mine is based on a famous surrealist painting. Translates to "This is not a pipe". So my avatar basically says "This is not an avatar". It's been pointed out that my avatar IS an avatar, when the idea of the painting is that it's a picture of a pipe, not a pipe. But who cares.

Not familiar with the character, but a google image search comes up with this: If you don't think this is visual design, you don't know what visual design is. And what I'm saying is a method, not a rule. I'm not saying ALL characters and ALL storylines MUST use visual design to reach the player/viewer. I'm saying it's my favorite method.

I contest. Visual design doesn't change how likable a character is. For example, I think Darc from Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits (very old RPG) is a lot cooler and less bland than Sgt. Foley from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. RAMIREZ! RAMIREZ! RAMIREZ! I'm not sure I get your comparison. Are you saying the visual design is the same, yet the characters you find different? Or are you saying that Darc is better designed, so you like that character more? In which case, you'd be confirming what I said, which doesn't make much sense. Anyway, I don't really mean visual design changes storyline or character. I mean good visual design is based on storyline and character. Like in Half Life 2, when you reach the base of the Citadel. The camera angles and design frame the Citadel as amazingly large. Why? Because at that point in the story, the character Gordon Freeman is beginning to understand the vast might of the combine, beyond the simple troops he's been fighting. You look up and begin to just wonder what kind of chance you even have against them. That feeling is determined by story, but achieved by visual design.

Standing still during cutscenes. I was playing God of War 2, ok? So I pull this lever. The camera pans over and shows a door opening. When the camera comes back to me, I have to run over and go through the door before it shuts. But when the door is opening, I'm frozen! Why can't I run right after pulling the lever!? I'd easily have enough time then!

Borderlands was pretty boring.

Good visual design is rooted in storyline and character. I see video games as less actual games and more like interactive art.

Totally. The visual design of some things in the Ratchet and Clank games is just great. A good example would be Metropolis, from the first game. The design of the buildings is actually similar to the 1920's sci-fi classic Metropolis. In general, I love great visual design in games. To see a scene so fleshed out and detailed, with a beautiful color palette and well composed. A great modern example would be Uncharted 2. The level of the design is astounding at times.

FTP with mictotransactions really makes sense as a profitable system, especially for a developer with Valve's "games as a service" mentality. You hook people from a larger pool by letting everyone play, then they're tempted to purchase stuff once they get invested in the game.

I'm running through Dead Space 2 on Zealot, which is the 2nd to highest difficulty. The plan is to beat it on Zealot, then move up to Hardcore, which uses save points as checkpoints, and only allows you to save three times in the game. Throughout my playthroughs, I've gotten all of the weapons fully upgraded, and have gotten very good with conserving ammo. I've figured out a lot of tricks and have found a lot of the hidden items.

Totally off topic, but gabe's email has always been funny to me in an immature way. It's pronounced Gay Ben. Heehee

Tf2. I was dominating as pyro in some long running 2fort matches. For like an hour, I was #1 on the scoreboard and this was a 30 player server. Ended up with about 200 points and several pyro achievements. +rep for fellow Dreamcast owner. I recently added a few new games to my collection, including Resident Evil: Code Veronica, in great condition.

Okay, I've played almost 100 hours of TF2 and I still have no idea. WHAT IS A MINICRIT?

Yeah, fun while it lasted. I managed to backstab/headshot some of you, but mostly I was left in the dust.

Been playing God of War 2 on ps3. Forgot how boring the middle section is.

So have you not played Dead Space 2 yet? It's better.

Wranglers are useful for long ranged defensive positions like the last CP in dustbowl A/D. I managed to get some long range kills the other day, but no one was spy checking, so I kept getting destroyed by spies. There was another good round I had on that map (dustbowl A/D, that last one). In the setup time, I built a sentry and a dispenser in the corner right by the spawn point. I camped there for the entire round, and no one on the opposing team got past that line of defense. Not even a spy managed to make it to the control point, maybe 50 feet away.

Games I would consider among the greatest ever: (can't limit myself to 5) No particular order Shadow of the Colossus Riven Half Life 2 God of War 3 Ico Psychonauts Ratchet and Clank 3 Portal 2 Metal Gear Solid 1 Heavy Rain I'd put Shadow of the Colossus at number one I think. Can't wait for the PS3 re-release this September.

In general, I'd agree I've had more fun with a "health meter" style, but if a game is strict and difficult enough with regenerating health, it certainly makes you more careful. In Uncharted 2, on the hardest difficulty, it becomes an extremely hectic strategic problem to remain alive during a firefight. Three or four shots will kill you, so you need to be very careful with when you move from cover, and your attack plan in general has to be very careful if you want to beat any of the later firefights. It's not as *realistic* as a health meter, but it can be just as fun, in a different way.

So how much "hard work" does it take to model and texture a hat? Hats are more simple than weapons, but if they're well made and not overly simple in design, 4 or 5 hours of work. Newcomers usually underestimate the amount of steps it takes.

Call of Duty is to the game industry as pop music is to the music industry. Real music fanatics aren't listening to the bubblegum pop that plagues the music charts, and real gaming fanatics aren't wasting their money on the "new" call of duty game.

MOLE PEOPLE MOLE PEOPLE

I'm not above taking free games. Count me in.

God of War 3. In retrospect, I don't know what was wrong with me. I had never played a God of War game before, but I rented GOW 3 seeing good reviews everywhere. At first, I just thought the whole thing was kind of laughable, with the overacted characters, and absurd violence, but after a while I understood that those are the kind of things that makes the series so endearing. @Blightmare I wish I had the same story about Infamous, but I kept forcing myself to play for what must have been at least 5 hours total. It just had no redeeming qualities.

When I saw the cinematic teaser, I was hoping for a serious zombie thriller. Looks like even in the zombie over-saturated market, STILL no one will make a serious zombie game.

My strategy on upgrades is to upgrade my suit completely first. It's the only thing you use all the time. After that, I focus on one gun at a time.