Kenogu Labz

Heh, it's no problem. I have something to keep an eye out for, now! Also, try SwiftKey instead of Swype. Swyping never felt very accurate, and I'm strongly suspicious of the dictionary it used. I suspect it's been built on words people have been using, whether the spelling is correct or not, leading to lots of bizarre substitutions that subsequently need replacing. SwiftKey, however, has a much better data set to parse from (taps instead of curves), and accounts for even highly inaccurate typing with ease. I rarely have to go back and replace a word, even when I'm furiously pecking on a portrait-layout keyboard. Highly recommended.

Thanks for the feedback, -Dan. Taking that into consideration, I've lopped off that second portion in addition to fiddling around with the structure. It still feels a bit disorganized, and it'll probably take me a couple months to figure out where to go next, but that's yet to be seen. And yes, this has sort of turned into a 'concept remix'. I want to see 'Rose of May' and 'Bonds of Sea and Fire' meshed together, which would be especially fitting given the name and concept, but it may need to wait until later, given that 'Rose of May' really doesn't mesh as well with 'Sword of Doubt' as I'd like it to... Anyway. Now I'm rambling. Here's the link. [Gears of Alexandria (WIP v2)]

But "a patch is coming soon" to allow it to work on rooted devices. Mine's rooted for dev purposes at work, so hoping that shows up soon!

Maan, you got my hopes up. It's not out for Android in English yet. They did just release Chaos Rings on Android, which I heard people liked on iOS, so maybe you can get your fix from there.

Hash codes. When the program saves the file, it adds a little 'salt' of its own and generates a value based on the file's contents. This way, changing the file's contents will result in a change to that value that the program can recognize. Plus, if the files are encrypted in any way, that's another big barrier for the player to cross. When it comes to flagging based on equipped items: where do you draw the line? What if you used that equipment to get nice loot from bosses you were having a hard time beating? You're still a cheater, whether you're still wearing that equipment or not. And where do you draw the line? Consumables? Respec potions? Would using a consumable permanently mark you as a cheater, or only for the next five minutes?

They could solve this issue easily by adding a 'cheater' tag to items themselves. Wouldn't be surprised if this happens pretty soon.

Not sure if this counts as a favorites list or not, but... Blackwell Unbound's Credits/Ending Theme, (19:40 in the linked video; incomplete, unfortunately. I believe you can find the soundtrack out there somewhere.)Bloodrayne Betrayal Ending Credits, 'Cursed Dawn' (also a Jake Kaufman / WayForward game) GunGirl 2, 'Libera Me' (That one's filled with various vocals, usually heavily processed, but this track really sticks out to me.) Return All Robots, 'Credits Acapella' (Okay, okay, so this one's a bit silly. Shoot me. )

Most parts of the early zones are fairly simple in design, and are there to help you get used to the game's systems. Most events there are, at most, a couple chains long, and not terribly complex. However, as I've headed deeper into the 15-30 zones, I've started to see more complexity. Most notably, enemies there actively ramp up in difficulty; it's not just stats, it's the tactics and skills they use, as well. You have to watch more carefully and coordinate more with others. Another note: the chief goal of renown quests isn't just to streamline the questing process; it also serves as an incentive to explore an area, instead of simply bouncing back and forth between quest-giving zones and enemy-slaying zones. Everything is more cohesive, and it allows for activities that would previously have been considered unrewarding - such as holding NPC conversations - to be an option for those who are interested in that area of depth. You can actually explore without being held back by lack of reward for doing so! There's also PvP, which you might find more interesting. A good part of the way the system was designed allows for a system that's balanced and yet gives a lot of customization to the player's personal combat style, which is a difficult balance to strike, especially since there's no separation between PvE and PvP skills. In the end, though, TERA may just be a better fit if you prefer its type of combat system. GW2 has combat at the core, but it also depends on a significant amount of exploration and discovery. I can't say what TERA's forte is, given minimal prior exposure to it, so I can't compare the two directly. Perhaps a perspective shift could help, too. Try jumping into a new character in a completely new area. Explore for secrets. Talk to NPCs (or, at least, interesting-looking ones). Dabble in crafting - they've streamlined that, too, and made it highly rewarding and fun to play with, especially in Cooking. Try visiting Lion's Arch. It may not be a combat zone, but they've hidden lots of stuff in nooks and crannies, not to mention some pretty good-looking scenery. Who knows? You might have an 'aha!' moment in there somewhere.

Clarification, Crowbar: Consoles and PCs both fall under the category of computers; however, a console is a PC, while not all PCs are consoles. You must distinguish between the two in terms of the services they offer, hardware they leverage, portability and modularity of their components, flexibility of use, methods of control... the list goes on. Consoles are specialized computers; PCs are generalized. The specialized nature of consoles makes it very easy to pick up and play, and the consistent nature of their hardware makes them easier to develop for and support. PCs are built in many different ways; offering supporting for your product on every possible combination of compatible hardware is, for all practical purposes, impossible. EDIT: D'oh. Did I just fall for the sarcasm card?

Yeah, this is most certainly the case at a second glance. I'm not sure the OUYA has it beat in terms of multiplayer gaming, though; were there multiple controllers planned? As far as I can tell, the main perk is Steam's interface getting a console-like lift, making Steam itself easier to use with a controller, not necessarily the games themselves. In that regard, it really doesn't conflict with OUYA much at all. Sorry for the red herring!

... I'll just leave this here... No, it's not equivalent to what OUYA is attempting to do by any means, but I'm kind of interested as to where they're going with this. It's just Steam, so we already know it's not as focused on developer support, but hey, it leverages existing hardware most of us should already have as opposed to needing a new box. Now to see if they'll add features to make the transition to TV play worth it. There are points here which seem to strongly counteract what OUYA would be for. Correct me if I'm wrong, though; I've only been keeping track of OUYA on a fringe level.

I dunno how many know about this yet, but I figure this could be of special interest here. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Customized_soundtrack The fact that they hooked this into the game engine is soooo awesome. While the soundtrack is most certainly excellent, I'm guessing it'll get repetitive after many hours of play, and this gives the option to replace only parts that would be expected to be repetitive, like exploration themes. Definitely gonna try this out!

Derrit, does the error message line up with any of these? http://en.support.guildwars2.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8994

Servers are up, precisely at nine! Punctual, heh.

Kenogu.3640 here. Lookin' forward to joinin' you all!

There are several good reasons not to make it open source: poor maintainability, potential for security issues, and lack of direction for planned features being some examples.

I believe I read the archives up through chapter two, which was as far as had been written at that point. The guy has a neat sense of art, but the narrative could've used a lot of work. And definitely do keep looking for more webcomics to track. The fact that they tend to update infrequently allows you to consume most in bite-size chunks after the initial catch-up reading, so it pays to be reading a bunch at once. Here's a few recommendations to take a look at: Gunnerkrigg Court - Not sure I can exactly explain this one. You could say it's somewhat similar to Harry Potter, but that's not necessarily very accurate. Give it a shot - first few chapters are more about introducing characters, but believe me, the plot gets rolling and doesn't really stop. Darths and Droids - Absolutely hilarious. A mashup of Star Wars if it was run as a DnD game. Quite honestly, they make even 'The Phantom Menace' make sense. Johnny Wander - This is actually unusual among webcomics in that it's basically the autobiographical depiction of a group of housemates and their friends. So much laughter stocked up in this, especially as you start figuring out everyone's personality. Rice Boy - Evan Dahm is a great world-builder. Early on, his comics are more surrealistic in nature; Rice Boy is a bit meandering, and Order of Tales follows a traditional 'epic' arc. But Vattu, his latest, has a new depth to the narrative, and a more 'normal' art-style. It's exciting to see where it's going. The Phoenix Requiem - This is a fully-completed comic, telling a solid story start-to-finish. I thought it was done pretty well, especially as the artist matured her style over time. MS Paint Adventures - Alright, I can't really list webcomics without mentioning this beaut. I'll tell you now that the artist is very much on the zany, wacky side of humor, but he uses the web part of the webcomic medium more than most webcomics do. Plus, despite the wacky humor, he does have a fantastic sense of narrative pacing and comedic timing, taking time to let a gag fully mature before releasing it. I'd personally recommend starting with Problem Sleuth before proceeding to the megalith of Homestuck, especially since many gags indirectly (or very directly) tie in with it, and it's downright hilarious in its own right. I'll warn you beforehand, though, to stay away from most of the fandom. They tend to be a bit... rabid. And not in a good way. I'll probably take some time to read through ReMind again, see what all he's added. Cheers for the reminder!

That's not a glitch, as far as I know. It's part of the game. I had a lot of fun with it. Difficulty curve is all wonky at points, but still very well-designed, with polished mechanics and art direction. Hoping Darksiders II starts developing story and world-building more. I've been poking at some of the sale items. Costume Quest is another great Tim Schafer / Double Fine game; pretty easy, and completed in just several hours, but the dialogue is classic, especially if you go looking for it. Hit everything. EDIT: HOLY COW perfect timing. Steam has the Double Fine games all on sale today...

It's thematically inferred to be the Lazarus Pits. Nolan made very sure to reference Ra's' 'immortality' in his hallucinatory speech. Now, in this case, it was referring more to his work and legacy than his actual person, but the reference remains clear. This is true throughout Nolan's representation of Batman as a whole: he tells the story he wants to, and ties in other facets of events, characters and lore in new ways not necessarily identical to the exact representation any given comic had. It was even more clear in this film than the others, as far as I know from my highly limited comic-book knowledge. Out of curiosity, do comic-book readers usually have the same reaction to new artists and/or writers?

Source: The Sword of Doubt Most Recent (v2): Gears of Alexandria Earlier Versions: Version 1 This is the result of me messing around a few years ago; I picked it up today and tinkered with it, and fleshed it out some more. I'm aware it's currently very rough around the edges. As always, it'll need a lot of balancing and mixing work. And I'm still stuck compositionally on where to go from here... anyway, I'd mostly like to know if this even sounds promising, because I can't quite tell if I want to keep working on it at this point or not. Cheers!

All it takes is strategic placing to prevent knocking out city power. Bane had the brains to ensure precise placement. The safety rope only went partway up, and I'm guessing there was no nearby route by which you could reach the top if you made it to the hook.

I've gotta agree with Bane's voice. It'll probably be much easier when I watch it again on DVD; theater sound systems have heeeavy bass, and it caused all his words to be highly muffled. The problem is that, while you're trying to decipher the last thing he said (and yes, you have to decipher it), the next line of dialogue is being said, so you're trying to parse two things at once. Not terribly easy to consciously parse through a set of blurred phonemes to work out what words they could be in the first place, much less doing so while trying to listen to normal dialogue simultaneously.

My grandparents found that game in a bargain bin when I was young. Man, I think that may have been the first time I'd raged at a game in anger. But still so fun. My grandpa in particular had quite the collection of old DOS games. I used to go to his room and mosey around his folder. Commander Keen, Duke Nukem 1 and Secret Sam are the only ones I can recall, though I played more later on. There were a ton of others, but many didn't work anymore on the 'new computers' (Windows 98, hah). Stuff like Amulet of Yendor and a vertex-graphics dungeon crawler I don't remember the name to. Good memories.

AFAIK (10char)

This song alone hits hard, especially if you've played even a bit of Valkyrie Profile. The scenes this song is associated with... phew. Potent.