Rummy

Weeeeeeee!

I've not payed any much attention, but I don't want the old guy to win cos he's old and cos his running mate seems a little bit flimsy to be fair, just the whole history of it and her, though you must also understand I've gotten very limited information about it all and no doubt very media skewed information at that. I think america could use a black president though(i just reckon it'd help with progress, alot more than that Palin woman from what I heard of her religious history), so my vote'd go to Obama.

ReZ, you guys all look so awesome, may I enquire into where it is you obtained such a brilliant Venom suit/mask?

Man, I have had a fucking rough weekend. I've had relationship issues over the last few weeks too(i call it a relationship, i wasn't even aware how i felt properly until this time last week) and it eventually led to me having to cut the girl out of my life on saturday(we saw each other for 10 minutes and she asked me to leave), one of the best and worst friends I had, she was so flawed and yet so perfect that the goodness made all the crapness pale in comparison, but yeah, not been easy really. What made it all a bajillion times worse is that yesterday I woke up feeling a bit ill, put it down to having been on the drink for 3 nights running, but I got up and went to work anyway. As my day went on however, I got hit by dizziness, weakness, fever, aches, all sorts but in a mild way that I stayed(I also stayed cos it's like £10 an hour on sunday, and I have no work coming up) but yeah, had a rough night of fever, and a day in bed today feeling SO FUCKING WEAK. Honestly, my body can not do shit today, except lie under my hot hot duvet sleeping, everything else is a chore, and being in bed all day with just my thoughts is the last fucking place I wanted to be after this weekend. So many little reminders.

Mister Seven, what is the day's itinery and when is it all due to end? I am feeling crazy enough that I might randomly come up on friday and leave like sunday/monday, it's only a slim chance as there are like 7 birthdays this weekend but I might not bother and come sheff instead! I've got a friend who can put me up and stuff so I'm cool for that.

Sweet! Meet me atop the Eiffel Tower in 73 hours, bring some punch and pie, we're gonna go out in style! How's your life that you want to end it, or were you humouring me? Mine has indeed taken turns for the worse like every single day this week(affairs of the heart, pales in comparison to some of what people here have been through). I read some of this thread and feel better, some worse, I keep thinking things ain't so bad like people are saying and you know what, you guys are right, I do still have alot of good in my life but I keep finding it hard to realise that right now.

Yeah, that's what I was saying about not being able to prove random as random, but if I remembered my stats well enough I'd actually do a test to see if there IS any bias. On which note, Maase, there is often a problem with random number generation by computers, as they are built upon logic and randomness is not logical, computers tend to make things that appear random like, but it isn't really random, you can predict the numbers. However, it should be somewhat easy to correct by taking some 'random' factor into the algorithm(still I don't think it'd count as truly random then, but making it depend on the clock's timecode or something would easily sort it out). Basically, a computer needs some sort of random input first to give a random output. As you can see, I find it incredibly interesting! However, the random in Brawl really does annoy me cos I like to play random and feel I don't get an even run with all the characters.

I see. That's fair and all, I'm not here to say I'm right and you're wrong, but I feel all the things you describe are generic to all 'good' games, for me what makes a Zelda game a Zelda game are the little things. Minigames, trading sequences, side quests, heart pieces. Side quests encompass the sometimes optional items(like item capacity upgrades), masks like in MM, skulltulas in MM and OoT(though i guess that's also item capacity upgrades), and one very important part of Zelda for me is NPCs and interaction. I think TP is a stellar game, but not a great Zelda due to its comparitive lack of all these elements. As I said however, my first Zelda(LttP) is not my favourite, though I'll admit I often change my mind, but I put OoT and MM above it usually, and would definitely have to put the Oracles above it(they're built very much upon its foundation though), but LttP is not better than OoT and MM, though I would say it was significant in the Zelda line. This, I do agree with. Sunshine, but more so SMG, I felt were too linear and held my hand too much, and also did not pose the challenge that SM64 posed me(Srsly, I STILL struggle with some stars on that and end up fluking through, so it's not just a being a dumb retarded kid thing). Honestly, in SMG it TELLS you where to find a secret star after like 5 seconds, that's no challenge and no fun! TP was very one way too(i felt the items were limited in use as well, basically in the dungeon you get them then not much after), not enough to do outside of its line. Phantom Hourglass, to its credit, was very innovative and fun, but in terms of challenege it was definitely lacking, sometimes I want a game that'll push me! I feel alot of recent games have attempted to appeal to both markets at the same time, but it'll alienate the core cos they're too easy and simple, but if they were harder it'd alienate the casual market who aren't seasoned gamers like ourselves, used to the sorts of challenges a game would throw at you.

Yes. I think this ties in well with the whole armageddon we didn't just experience, and as I said there, I reckon I could end it all right now without any major regrets. I feel like I'm at one of the highest points of my life(from what it's been so far), but it's all about to start going a little bit less good(well, it already has since the weekend!) and so yes is my answer, I've had a good life. I guess I never really did anything amazing or spectacular, but I've enjoyed it on the whole, and I was happy with it all, I think i was actually content and happy with what I had. I just had a rather excellent summer too, it's been fantastic! Lots of people say what about this and that blah blah, like, the things I haven't done such as have a proper job, have a family, have a house, but I just feel like it doesn't matter cos I've not even started on a path to them yet, so it's irrelevant like? I dunno, tis weird. P.S Not suicidal, I fear I seem it.

With some creative googling I've managed to encounter the first episode of Wolverine and the X-Men, only a few minutes in but I think I might just end up liking it, I can see it looks rather alot like X-Men Evolution stylewise, is it being done by the same team? I guess I'm moving this more away from comic BOOK disussion and into other territory, but I shall continue to watch it anyhow. I don't think I'm allowed to provide a link to such content either, but I don't know what I'd do if a PM asking me for one turned up in my inbox. On the actual topic of comic bookery, what'd be people's advice for my best fix of spiderman and xmen comic goodness each month? I currently get Ultimate, then Essential Xmen and Astonishing Spiderman, only Astonishing has become 2 weekly, just ran The Other(and I already had the graphic novel of it) and pads out half the comic with old stories(like old school from the Stan Lee days) and crap I can't really be bothered with reading sometimes. Is there anything better, does anyone know? For such a fan, I'm a bit noob when it comes to comics.

A man who knows. I actually just played through Seasons again in the past month. The Oracles were commendable for both their newness AND oldness and nods to old things, and the inter-linkability of the two and the story made for a brilliant touch, and some added replayability! As for Phantom Hourglass, I'd recommend you play it EEVIL, as I said already it's hardly the challenge and you could probs breeze through it within a few days if you cane it(20 hours or so of gameplay at most? Dunno), but the uses it makes of the DS was really nice imo, just a shame it lacked challenge. It is kind of like WW extended to DS though, so if you hated WW then you might get annoyed at the reminders of it from this version. Edjamakated, I would just like to say not to let all this criticism put you off writing your next part, I think your post has actually opened up some rather interesting discussion, and I'd like to hear your next ideas too. On the note of Mario, I feel maybe it's getting more and more linear(irony, considering it basically evolved from running in a straight line in one direction)? SS and SMG led you very much through this to that, SM64 led you less and it was a case that when you got X amount of stars it didn't open just ONE possibility, but a couple(at first anyway, the 1star/3star doors, then the caps and switches gave you the ability to go back and such, opening new paths in different places). There were more secrets in the older games, those 'optional' extras, like different overworld paths on SMB3 or SMW(and secret exits), even secrets like warps have been in since SMB1, LL, SMB2, SMB3 AND SMW, there wasn't enough things like that in recent Marios, or TP. I think it's one big factor lacking from making these games as good as they could be, at least for me.

I should imagine there IS an algorithm behind it due to the problems of random number generation, but I don't feel like it was accounted for or taken into balance. I think it would have actually been good for them to try and do it like that, to reduce the chances of getting a character you've already played with to try and keep it all balanced out, though I guess there'd be people who'd argue against it due to not being random. I dunno if it's a problem or not, it's just something I've noticed and it's bugged me cos there's some characters I rarely ever get, and ones I get far too much! It's probably just a standard random generator algorithm, which makes it flawed? I don't understand it all really, but I should have thought it's easy to overcome.

Was browsing the second page and this topic caught my eye! Mine are more random than with much meaning or big people from my life(except the first two, I guess). I'm surprised they haven't been mentioned yet though. 1. My number one man to meet would probably be Stan Lee, I'd just like to meet him, shake his hand, and say thanks. Maybe have a conversation of some sorts too, but really I'd just like to thank him for a few of his creations cos they've been a kind of big part of my life. 2. Number two would be Shigsy, for similar reasons, and assuming there was no language barrier. 3. And this is where I start struggling...uhh. Dunno. A few people mentioned Stephen Fry, I kind of would like to too actually, but I reckon I'm well too stupid to hold any sort of good conversationg with him. 4. Morgan Freeman? Man, something makes me think no matter what was wrong with my life, if I sat down and had a chat with that guy he'd make it all seem better again. He'd put you in perspective. 5. I have no number 5, which makes me feel kind of sad I'm so uninspired. I guess I'll fill this with some stereotypical cheese and say that dream girl who'd make you happy. Oh yeah, I'm so cool :awesome:.

Galaxy felt a bit lacking to me too, I dunno if I felt it too easy(I actually never bothered to finish it in the end, I really should at some point) and Sunshine had felt the same. They didn't offer enough newness or freshness compared to Mario 64, and 64 did it better because it didn't hold my damn hand so much! I guess it ties in well to the thread about linearity, but I liked how in 64 you could accidentally stumble upon a different star when you didn't mean to, and there was no need to change that in the later games, was there? Galaxy, for all its space and openness, led me far too much and easily down the path of where I was meant to go, SM64 did not. It even told you where you'd find secret stars! As for why change something that ain't broken, well, it's a fair point. But why not make something that is good great instead? That's the reason to change, to try and achieve something even better! We can't just stick with what we know because it works, there's no progress in that, and it can get old and tired. We need freshness!

Haha, I guess so, that's probably why I discount it sometimes. When I tell my friends about Fable though, I mention rather little about the actual game's point and gameplay, but tell them things such as how you can get married, flip off your wife/other people, how you can marry a guy if you're that way inclined, go round kicking chickens, just lots of little pointless and not really neccessary things in the game that make it a game that had alot of effort put into it! All those little touches, I think they're brilliant.

How often do you play on random? I don't know why I just feel sometimes like it's very unrandom, but I guess the brain has a habit of making patterns. I am, for the record, pretty much a 100% randomer and so are 2 of the people I regularly play with, and they think that the random is rather unrandom like myself!

I pretty much second this post on its points, most in particular the last part about first Zeldas, and indeed Link to the Past! That was MY first zelda, but I am in doubt of whether I'd consider it the best. I think I've got a good amount of Zelda in me too, so I'd say my decisions wouldn't be too biased by hype nor 'nostalgia goggles' as Maasse mentioned, but I will admit I find it hard to order/rank the Zelda games as each has generally offered something that another has not. On the point of these nostalgia goggles and hype clouding our vision Maase, can I ask upon what criteria you judge TP to be 'the best Zelda' you've ever played?

OoT, MM and Fable are 3 prime examples of awesome games with a good balance of both, Fable was probably one of the best games I ever played when I think of it, I just always discount it again later for some reason, probably the fanboy in me. It lacked linearity, but also didn't. You need some course or path in a game, because totally open and non-linear games generally aren't all that cool cos you just don't know what you wanna do. I think to make a great game you start of linear, then flesh it out with so much stuff outside that line that it becomes both non linear and linear at the same time.

I stumbled upon this just the other day, not the actual thing but I heard about it, I'm rather looking forward to seeing it when it comes about, I enjoyed Xmen Evo and couldn't understand why it got cancelled so soon! I *do* think Wolverine gets a bit overexposed and overrated though. Would you perchance be able to enlighten me as to where you managed to see said episode? Also on that note, the great Remy LeBeau should be appearing in the upcoming Wolverine film, seeing as he was distinctly lacking from the films and is possibly my favourite X-man, I'm rather chuffed to hear it, but it's probs not news to anyone here anyway.

So does this mean that all our theories of science are built upon something unobserved and blind faith, rather much like the religion that a number of scientists choose to criticise? I still like science, I still have faith in science, maths, numbers and logic, but a while back part of me DID lose faith in some of the advanced physics, possibly because I couldn't understand it. How is it that in a world so full of science and technology, we have non-observed phenomena holding together all our theories? (This question is semi-serious, I actually don't get how it came about to be like this)

They made us wait long enough for TP and it wasn't *really* up to scratch to be fair, so no, no I do not want that at all. I want a good Zelda game, and I want it now/soon! Only, I don't really want one that bad, cos I've lost faith in it being any good after the shambles I consider TP to be in the Zelda line. If they DO put M+ in it too, I want it to be done well. I've considered how they will make it easily accessible to developers(I don't imagine it's as easy and straightforward as the original wii remote devkits, where it averaged from repeated performance of desired action), though if it's a Zelda game being developed I should imagine it'd be done by people with access to the top resources.

I must say, I WOULD like to see some nice puzzles and functionality added to the Wii Zelda if one is made, but not to the point of overdoing or simply for the sake of doing it. Phantom Hourglass was a brilliantly done game, really really stretched out alot of the DS's features and functionalities, I thought some of things implemented were pure genius, though the actual game felt a little too easy and short lived for my liking, the innovation was quite brilliant, and didn't feel to be put it at the sake of the game or its Zelda-ry aspects.

Bit off the current thread's topic, and I don't know if it's been discussed(568 pages is alot to be trawling through) but what the hell is up with Nintendo's random? I swear it's not as random as it could/should be, I've not run any actual tests to be fair, and I know you can apparently never truly prove/show randomness(and the issue of pseudo-randomness), but does anyone else think it's a bit un-random at times?

I'm throwing in another vote/suggestion for Boom Blox, once you know how to control it/what you're doing, it's a brilliant fun game, especially on the Quick Sample, and wiimotes/players can easily and quickly be dropped in/out for it, I believe. I've had it for a week or two now, and me and my friends have had alot of fun in a few Boom Bloxing sessions, and we're all in our early 20s! I reckon the kid's would love it, throwing things at other things really hard, it's simple and fun

I've said it before and I'll say it again, TP was a good game, a very good one, but it was a terrible Zelda game. It didn't have the charm of OoT, MM or WW, because it was too linear and didn't have enough optional, unneccessary and pointless bits. That's what makes MM a great zelda, maybe even better than OoT, sure it only had 4 dungeons, but the number of sidequests! The random things in it too, the mini games, the town, the characters(often seeing returns/parallels from OoT), there was a disturbing lack of NPC interaction in TP for my liking, and the market town was crappy and uninspiring, not enough minigames and the like. I still think TP lacked the distinct Zelda charm, sure the world was massive, but what was really IN this huge world? Not alot really, and it just made it all seem less cos it was stretched out thin. OoT was a balance between the two, which is probably why alot of people place it above MM, MM possibly went too far into those sorts of territories, at the cost of good old classic Zelda dungeon exploring. The kids of the forest, the heart pieces, the skulltulas, the mask quests, the fishing, the people of market town, kakariko when you're older, all of these little things helped make the game more...I dunno what, just more! The minigames too, and the random alcoves, the gossip stones, the mask of truth, the fine attention to detail is what makes the games great, I think, as long as it's not at the sacrifice of too much of the main game. I think they're good cos they break it up from the main game, you're not JUST dungeon to dungeon to dungeon, you get some space in between and do something different. It's why a game like Fable is such a brilliant game to play, cos there's SO much more outside and beyond the main track of getting and doing quests, and good enough I'd consider actually getting a 360 just for Fable 2, though this is moving beyond the point. I don't think Zelda needs more physical gameplay immersion to be great, it needs more storyline/optional immersion. Of course, it'd be better with both(if the controls are done well) but I wouldn't take some crappy controls over the charm of Zelda. That's just my opinions anyhow, I look forward to the next part of your post!