dwarf

Breath of the Wild. I bought a Wii U to play it, and I'd only seen footage of the opening 5 minutes before setting down to it myself, and yet it somehow surpassed my expectations. In the 21st century there has been a handful of games that stand out to me as trailblazers. Grand Theft Auto III, Halo, Portal, Demon's Souls, and now Breath of the Wild. People will look back on it as a pivotal point in the history of game design.

Have you tried running along the ropes at the side of the bridge? Or did ND remove that for this trilogy?

Not super relevant to the thread, but does anyone have any recommendations on how to learn video-editing (with a focus on Adobe Premier)? Any help much appreciated.

Another heads up - go into each one with the respect you'd give to a new release. They need room to breathe, especially Prime, which is exceptional. It's been 15 years since that came out yet nothing save Portal competes in the same league.

@Julius Caesar Duuuuuuude. What a list. Outdated controls might be a problem for a few of those but if you can get past that... strap yourself in. What I'd give to play Metroid Prime with fresh eyes.

Stranger Things Season 2, take a bow. Fucking brilliant. Episode 7 was strange, in terms of pacing and being so disconnected from the suburbs, but the show eventually could benefit from moving outside of the confines of the school etc every now and then. Definitely wasn't integrated right.

Anyone seen the rocket-surfing phenomenon? Rating: Lit http://uk.ign.com/videos/2017/11/06/fortnite-battle-royale-player-shows-off-rocket-surfing-trick

Got too many games on the go at the moment so I'll probably hold out for the GOTY edition.

The drip feed has killed me. We've only just arrived at the points stage where at least 2 votes were needed

That would be a tremendous shame if so. I can see it being difficult to market, but to cancel it so far into development? Grrr.

Wrong trailer Seems like they're going with a Rocket League-esque FoV and feel, which is a winning idea.

Hints of BotW-inspired design, so my interest is perked.

Still probably wouldn't put them on my phone but I appreciate the effort

I'm trying to find interesting versions of classic Zelda tracks. Do you guys have any favourite performances from live concerts, or covers, or anything like that which adds value to the original music, enough to make it stand well on its own? For example, Saria's Song is a classic tune for me, and I loved Korok Forest from Breath of the Wild, but both tracks loop pretty quickly and aren't worth saving in a music library. I've heard the odd medley here and there, the odd remix that adds dramatic electric guitar, but I find the material either gets butchered or rendered cheesy. There seems to be so much potential to play with the core motifs and draw them out, that I'm surprised I haven't come across more versions that do so. Hit me bitches.

@Fierce_LiNk

I enjoyed the original but I rewatched it recently and thought, wow, haven't people blown up the whole ambiguous nature of the story over the years? I felt there was a lot more going on with the story in this one, with K given a way more satisfying character arc than Decard in the original (who basically just hunted replicants before getting off with one). Rutger Hauer was indeed magnetic in the first one, but the performances in this were terrific too - not as iconic, maybe, but that wouldn't be a realistic expectation given the history of the series and where sci-fi film was at that point. (Not saying that you had that expectation yourself.)

I hoped that Blade Runner 2049 would be better than the original, and had a hunch it could be. It totally was. They pretty much nailed everything with this one, and how often can you say that about reboots that are such a long time in the making? Perhaps a little overlong, but it stayed with me long after I left the cinema, I was so caught up and enchanted by it. Woah huge coincidence there Flink!

Been getting into podcasts this year. Bard put me onto The Bugle, which has lost its bite since Jon Oliver left but still worth tuning into every now and then. There's only one Andy Zaltzman. The above mentioned S-Town, which I've just finished, was excellent. I listened to the entirety of the podcast thinking it was finely crafted fiction, only to realise after the fact that it's real. Mind blown. Obviously the journalistic style leads to that effect, but still, throughout I thought the recordings and structure of it were too implausible for it to be true. Also mentioned above is the Adam Buxton podcast of which I've only listened to one episode. I mention it here because his most recent conversation with Louis Theroux concerns S-Town and its charm factor. It's one of the best episodes of any podcast series I've come across. The Allusionist is a fun-sized language/linguistics podcast by the sister of Andy Zaltzman - Helen Zaltzman. She has a very relaxing voice and the podcast is really well produced. FiveThirtyEight politics podcast is a good place to go for a discussion of American politics and current affairs without the tumult of Twitter and reactionary press coverage. Development Drums is a solid archive of in-depth academic discussions about international development. It ended a couple of years ago but something similar can be found on the CGD podcast. Haven't been using it recently but the BBC In Our Time series has accessible academic overviews on pretty much every subject going, with a focus on the humanities. They cover major authors, philosophies and periods of history that you should know at least something about. I used to be a big fan of Stuff You Should Know as it's a bit more light hearted and fun. Basically two intelligent guys who are good friends research a topic and then talk about it in an entertaining way. Under the Skin with Russell Brand has been giving me a lot of joy lately - he talks to left-leaning radical thinkers and brings out the best in himself and his guests. He occasionally derails discussions with his well-established preoccupations with spirituality and whatnot but they're fantastic. In particular I recommend his chat with Carne Ross about anarchism. I've listened to bits of Dan Carlin's Hardcore History series (the WW1 Armageddon one) but because they're not split into conveniently sized chunks (at least in the way I've encountered them) I've not persisted with them. Upon first listen he sounds like a crackpot but you gently succumb to his delivery. If Romesh Ranganathan frequently featured high-profile guests on his show Hip Hop Saved My Life, I'd put more emphasis on that. As it is, his episode with Frankie Boyle is incredible, but there isn't much else to draw you in. Katherine Ryan's appearance was also good though. I used to listen to Athletico Mince, featuring Bob Mortimer and his friend, exclusively for Bob's tales about Steve McClaren and his failures. Some of those were hysterically funny. Does anyone know of any music podcasts that are part-discussion, part music, with an educational vibe to them? I remember loving the BBC documentary Seven Ages of Rock, and would like something similar in the form of a podcast. I need a music mentor in my life to guide me to good music and explain its significance in history etc, but I don't have anyone like that right now - someone who fucking lives it, ya know? Any pointers appreciated. @dan-likes-trees any help here? You're basically me.

You said they were great, not that you found them passable. Bleh, what does it matter.

I'm a staunch defender of the game but you know that's bullshit Ronnie - the repeated tests of strength being the main offender.

Well look who it is!

Paranormal activity 2

http://uk.ign.com/videos/2011/03/31/hawken-cockpit-view-gameplay?objectid=103025 Watch. I'm no lover of 'mech' games, but what this team have done looks mightily impressive. Wonder how long it's got left in dev.

Pretty simple surely? Get a metal box, apply stasis, hit it a few times to build energy and then speak to the guy just before the stasis ends. Voila.

Plz canz we haz moar?