dwarf

We have harnessed another soul. (You must be laughing at your claptrap on the previous page now)

The bread and butter of the show for me is its ever increasing scale, the way it always raises the stakes. There's nothing interesting about the inflation of a balloon until it looks like it might pop, and what we have here is a balloon that refuses to pop. When it's inflated to a size you hadn't dreamed of, that's when the potential bang becomes exciting. That's my patronising explanation anyway. It rings true for my muffled appreciation of season 5 thus far because everything seems to have levelled off.

I thought they nailed it, personally.

Nice! It turns out Dinah was on the Mad Men soundtrack, and she also sang 'Is you is, or is you ain't my baby', but I prefer Tom and Jerry's take on it: The actual singer is Louis Jordan. It turns out he's the coolest cat there is:

Beyond the Sea... Sweet. My friend and I have woken many a family up by belting that out during a drunk ramble home.

Aight. If you play Fallout or Bioshock, or if you watch Mad Men at all, you'll have doubtlessly been charmed by some terrific music. Maybe you came into contact with the period sounds featured in the above productions in a different way, I don't care. I'm talking 40's oldies, big band, jazz, and early rhythm and blues music, particularly American numbers. I recently thought how damn pimpin' it must have been to waltz into one of those old theatres/clubs/balls, to chink together glasses containing top quality gin (or whatever tipple you fancy), to be enraptured by all of the elegant dresses gliding across the floor and to marvel at the most talented performers of the time. Could such a themed club be set up today? Probably not, although I can't be sure one doesn't exist, at least not in England anyway. Anyway, how about you help me with a playlist I'm making? Contributions of this nature/quality would be splendid: I'm going through Fallout and Mad Men playlists, and I've just stumbled over the 'Wonderful World of the 50's' album on Spotify which seems to be a well of good tunes.

The Onion:

No but it could still cause a shot of pain and switch a positional advantage. Then again, it might just be a symbol. I guess we'll have to keep watching to find out

Hmmm, it could return in a completely different role than to what we're expecting actually. It could bite someone at a crucial hold-up moment or something similar.

This is Breaking Bad we're talking about, the spider is bound to return. It's not hard to work it into the story: police ask boy's mother where he went, she tells them he went to collect wildlife (especially spiders), D.A tracks Todd, boom.

Spread peace?

@Cube - You should probably spoiler that for people who only want to read the story once it's published.

Plunder is hilarious. Rez and I played it almost constantly on Uncharted 2 and we were always disappointed if we didn't win a love game because it meant we couldn't say 'oh, guys, that must be a bit embarrassing' (referring to the That Was Embarrassing medal). Cracking humour.

I'd seriously consider investing my time into helping others. I think it would be a great shame, or even a dishonour, to die without doing something positive for humanity. ...speaking as a student.

Oh c'mon, it looks shit!

It ramps up. Season 4 is dynamite.

I'm sorry but that's just not true - the listing fee on Amazon is much more agreeable.

Don't be a fanny.

Nobody has mentioned the crushing reality: It looks 10 years old.

Absolution, whilst looking infinitely more enjoyable than this, is almost as cynical. The dreadful marketing will carry over into the game since the nuns are actually part of a faction you have to eliminate. I have a problem with protagonists like Sam Fisher, or at least his portrayal in Blacklist, and with Jack Bauer in 24, because they are idolised. I don't have that grudge against Agent 47 because he's an independent killer and he isn't politically loaded in the same way.

It looks fantastic, the Vita needs more like this.

Yes yes yes yes yes. My interest in gaming is rapidly waning but this sort of thing staves of my apathy. Call me a sucker for uniqueness and minimalism. Games like Journey, Limbo, Flower, Sword & Sworcery and now Rain, (+ others of their ilk) while special in their own right, now just need an injection of difficulty and complexity that doesn't mar the illusion of freedom or beauty they so effortlessly create. A meaty game without the recurrent failures in game design. A focus on art and challenge. Less shit writing. Something like Dark Souls comes close this generation. You've got scale, beauty, complexity (in controls and navigation and choice), ambiguity (some cliches but it doesn't choke you with story), and individual quirks (online interaction). Take something like that but dial back the scale, remove the interface and HUD as much as possible, make it bloomin' arty, don't make an institution of failure/death, and bang - awesome game. Easy. Have I described Shadow of the Colossus? Probably. Can't we have more Team Ico's?

Jesse seems to be the most moral person of the gang now. Lydia staged the vehicle to interrupt the robbery but she'll come good at the end of the season and Walt will ravish her. I can only hope and guess that Breaking Bad will end in complete and utter despair.

Whatever you say about it, at least we're seeing another strong female character in the gaming circuit.

It's intense. Constantly piling on the drama. And it looks like the annoying Skyler is set to disappear soon in some form (don't mistake that for a spoiler).