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To basically say that because of historical accuracy there can't be women having cool roles in historical games might be a point to make, but for me it feels a bit like carrying over old (and sadly not so old) restrictive gender roles into nowadays entertainment. Sure, quite bit of creative thinking would be necessary to make it work in certain fictions, but I guess it would be nice if more developers would try. Maybe it's just that the under-representation of women in games bugs me more than the bending of history-fiction would. And I think the AssCreed III setting lends itself pretty good to a female assassin, at least in my head. The picture PPAHB posted is a nice start - it could be even less feminine for the blending-in and the killing-bears-in-the-woods-parts. But then you could also see her in a dinner dress killing people with sexy poison on the steam boat. Or something.

Hello new people. And welcome!

While I appreciate the sentiment, I'm not sure we need a special backer-place here. And somehow I don't like the idea of putting up walls in these forum, walls that keep people out who maybe just missed the opportunity or couldn't afford it. What do you guys say? Or rather, what's the idea behind this special forum? Edit: Yeah sure, I read the Update... ...but, I don't know, I guess I already feel special and connected enough. I hope those are no beans to spill.

Some days ago I saw The Hunger Games and was both entertained and mildly annoyed by it. As alluded to by others before, some scenes weren't well embedded or contextualized, at least for people (like me) who didn't know the base material. In some shots they blatantly aimed for gravitas and emotion without properly introducing the relationships of the people involved. The whole movie felt like they had to cut half of it due to its length but didn't want to cut complete story threads (probably because they get picked up in part II) so they just cut parts of each of them. Still, I enjoyed it, and especially the first half till the actual Games begin. (And to add something positive to this thread...) A great movie that doesn't seem to have gotten a mention here (strangely...maybe my search is broken, excuse any redundancy) is The Station Agent. It's a (mostly) calm, warm movie from 2003 about the developing friendship of three seemingly very different characters who all have their baggage to carry. While the movies tone is rather positive it also contains, loss, discrimination, prejudice, alienation. It's in no way moralizing, it's rather – just there – people are like that. The cast is great (Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale) and the characters and relationships and how they develop are all quite believable.

Just imagining the Youtube-comments under this one makes me shudder. (I think I've read too many Youtube-comments in my time. I can hear them voices.)

Some interesting people say some interesting things in this PC Gamer-piece.

Yeah, you guys are right. I probably just don't like "evil, calculating bastard [brian Fargo]"* as much as Tim Schafer. And I don't know either, isn't it silly! *Thunderpeel2001

Happy that they got funded. I'll most probably put down some money as well. But somehow the tone of this kickstarter bugs me a little bit. Stuff like: or especially It seems so - calculated. Okay, I understand the logic behind it, the necessity, and being professional about this is a good thing, but somehow I feel that it already - 'it' being the idea of a crowdfunded, middlesized game - lost its innocence, its 'magic' (which it most certainly only had in my head and regarding Double Fine). Kickstarter is another option for seeking funding for developers, a place where ideas need to be presented, pitched, and the buzz has to be orchestrated. Mh, still, it is a good thing. On a lighter and more silly note (via Eurogamer): A lottery-winners game-Kickstarter. Quote of choice: *Both quotes from their second Kickstarter-Update. **The FAQ on Ellwood Bartlett's Kickstarter

How did that happen? You wrote, or did you meet him? Regarding the sequel - at the end of the game the characters all had grown on me like maybe only Planescape managed to achieve (games-wise), just that in Planescape the story came to an end. Anachronox on the other hand ended with a cliffhanger (kind of). What made it even worse is that I finished the game years after it was published, when it was already clear that there won't be a continuation of the story. It even seems they took the unofficial patches (made by an Anachronox-team-member) into the GOG-version, patches that tweaked and fixed some issues the game had and made it overall more comfortable to play, so it should be all right. And here's a trailer (I'm pretty sure I linked to before in these forums) for the game. I think it represents the game pretty well. isdE2R-j0CI

Anachronox is in GOG now. (via RPS) So now the two or three people who haven't played it yet don't have an excuse anymore - go play it! Everybody buys it (again), twice, THEY see it and finally make the sequel. Via Kickstarter. I'm in.

Where'd you get that number? In the DF-Action-News it says: "Raised on Kickstarter: $3,335,355 Premium Backers: $110,000 Total raised for Double Fine’s Kickstarter Adventure: $3,445,355!!!!!!!" The more the better, I'm just curious where the additional $300.000 come from. Btw, I wonder whether there will be a clean end result published (the number on the kickstarter-page minus bounced cards, etc). I'd be interested.

Damn, I just upped my pledge. Now I need to liquidate some assets. (What does that even mean?)

(I'd say it's 'Hire orphans') Thanks for the link Nachimir. God, 'The bottom half of the internet' makes me angry.

Somehow, I'm okay with his reaction. Not smart, not classy, but sometimes raging might be better for oneself than self-censoring. I can get behind that.

All the Valve some-percentage-off-coupons are expired, no?

In case anybody missed it, it's out on Steam now. (And on the third 'Top Sellers'-spot, which is cool.)

5WJmxi3vYRU (Underneath it says that the landing was okay and the cat ran away afterwards. I hope it's true.) Yeah, a gif video with a cat, the internet's most unoriginal combination, and probably very old, but for me it was new and it somehow cracks me up like nothing else in a long time. Sue me!

Fantastic read, thanks Rodi! And yeah, it deserves a spot on the site someplace.

Heard this one during a local shortfilm-festival and it's one of my favourite songs since then. Floggingy Molly - Float D2W1Y5hxR40

(While I did donate and I do kind of think the stereo-idea is interesting I in no way, shape and/or form request anything from anyone. But I want my postcard. And several podcasts. Good podcast. I mean, great ones. What, 120.000$ bought me a string of bad jokes and 30 minutes of silly ramblings? Oh, okay, good, go on.)

No, you are stupid! And mean! The moose is totally still jumping around, doing moose-stuff, kicking bad guys, exploring!

I like that picture! (Yeah, Rodi's right. Just look at it, totally not concerned about the authorities, looking out the window. What a moose!)

I can imagine this sounding great. I actually don't understand why some people are so (angrily) opposed to it - the ability to localize sound should indeed help with understanding and differentiating the speakers. And it won't be/should be (at least as I understand it) that noticeable - very very small differences in timing and volume between left and right, no? And our fantastic brain does the trick in the background. If you only have one ear, you just miss out on one dimension of the soundscape, but nothing else (mono again, but not like you don't hear someone - or notice the mono-ness). Or am I completely wrong with my understanding of stereo here? (Worst idea? I mean, what about: Lets use dogs instead of people to moderate the cast. Dead dogs. And put the mikes underwater. Those are bad ideas. At least for a podcast about video games.)

Mh, now I have 17 days left to get enough money/carelessness together for the 60$ tier. I'd love to get the actual book, but 500$ are flat out impossible for me - I'm not that rich/generous/reckless by a long shot.

Ha, games are such a fun business. Or rather business is such a fun business. Silly people! So, that would mean the pseudo-hidden message ( ) comes from Interplay...? I just read something about Interplay not being allowed to use the name "Baldur's Gate" anymore, because Atari has, as you said, the D&D rights, and I BG is D&D (I guess). Which leaves me even more bewildered than before.