Randall Theil

Yeah, that's definitely part of it. I've tried messing with the resolution options in the .ini file but I can't quite get it to look right, but that's ok. I think I'll get used to it. Pushing back a little further, I was reading a Baldur's Gate thread on Something Awful and I got all nostalgic, so I loaded it up today, no tutu or mods, and it was like slipping on an old glove. The interface is ugly as sin, but the flow of the gameplay of the old infinity engine games isn't too different from the modern Bioware takes on semi-realtime RPGs. I think it would be much more feasible for a newcomer to still get into Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale than, say, Fallout.

If you're interested in film, Filmspotting is the best podcast I've heard out there. They discuss current releases, big releases and indies, and frequently pick overlooked classics out of the backlog. They clock in most weeks at around a meaty 90 minutes and they often do extra "After Hours" casts as well. And they have pro sound quality. Other than that, I'd second the SModcast recommendation for humorous background casting material. The quality has been more hit-and-miss lately, but they have a 100+ episode backlog.

Just snagged Knights of the Old Republic from the Steam deal and loaded it up- Were the characters really this fat and blocky back then?

Star Ocean: The Second Story was a PSone JRPG from the late nineties that I adored. I've probably beaten it three times. I hadn't gone back to it this decade because I'm sure that the things that a twelve year old can block out (terrible translation, repetetive gameplay) would make it unplayable. But Squeenix gave it the War of the Lions treatment about a year ago and retranslated and voiced it, porting it to the PSP, so I picked it up. I will say the things I liked about it then (real-time combat, lots of side content, deep item creation, party customization) are still cool, but everything else sucks. The worst part is that the newly error free script just reveals what nonsense the game's story really is and the new voice acting is boring, rather than ridiculous. On the other hand, I just played through Symphony of the Night again, and that game is still incredible.