Am I the only one who read that as "given the panties involved"?

And you don't want to know what an Australian fanny is.

I don't know why people keep bagging Ewoks. When I was a kid, I didn't think the were out of place. Now, my kids love them - I'm pretty sure they view them they same way I did (as 'fact', and not as a merchandising opportunity).

I absolutely love 80s-era Cray-level CGI - TRON, Last Starfighter etc. Like you say, it takes me back.

Perhaps it's because the graphics are nowhere near the uncanny valley? And because of that, they can be viewed as art, instead of ultra-realism?

A man can be killed. But an idea ....

For real? I vote Australia leaves the Commonwealth for the EU now!

I think you're right, but I'm really really enjoying playing console ports at 1920 x 1200, maximum settings and AA @ 60fps (see GTA4, Burnout Paradise, Mass Effect, Dirt 2 etc etc). It almost makes my $400 graphics card worth the money.

There is no period in my user .name
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Why would Sony introduce a PS4 while the PS2 is still selling? For crying out loud, GT5 only just came out! That would have to mean GT6 would be a "launch" title for the PS4 (e.g. 4 years after launch).

At the moment, the PS3 is the one console that is yet to be pushed to its limits. The other two are very close already, with little room to improve.

I actually think the end of a generation is where the best games are released: Metal Gear Solid 3, God of War I & II. It seems a shame to drop an entire knowledge-base and shift to a new platform (as we all knkow Sony would do). Then it would take another 4 years before the machine's limits could be properly exploited.

So, what we need right now is a "0.5" generation, all new fully backward-compatible machines, but with extra horsepower to keep up with PC hardware. But it seems Nintendo is the only one concerned with compatibility.

Good point on the R&D angle.

Does anyone here think that the Move and Kinect would *ever* have existed if it were not for these facts:

1. Someone else already did it.
2. It was proven to be outrageously popular year after year after year.

Does anyone here think that Sony's PSP2 would have been 3D *with no glasses needed*? Do we really think they could have dreamed that up?

With all this talk about revolutionary vs evolutionary, no-one but Nintendo has ever done revolution. Analogue control, dual-screen, touchscreen - a host of firsts. PS2, Dreamcast, XBox - they were all incremental upgrades to the previous gen. Even the first jump to 3D was pre-empted by Starfox and Stunt Race FX.

3DS is going to own, let's be honest. It seems to have better graphics than the Wii, so Nintendo is going to focus on that product for a while. Also, be assured that Wii 2 won't launch without a new innovation that Nintendo will be proud to announce.

Nintendo didn't compete with Sony and MS - they created their own market for the Wii. Now, Move and Kinect are vying for that market - Sony and MS are admitting that said market is valuable enough to compete for.

"Impossible" camera shots withstanding, Peter Jackson explains (in the documentaries) his excitement at being able to physically carry a virtual camera in scenes such as Balin's Tomb. He walks around with a camera wearing a VR headset and turns a CGI-infested scene into one grounded in real-world mechanics and limitations.

You can spend years worrying about what 'might' happen, or you can spend years enjoying what you can do right now. Don't spend more than $10 on a Steam game. That way, when Steam goes sentient in 2025 and locks us all out (so it can play with itself), you will still have enjoyed 15 years of gaming pleasure for that small sum. How many years of entertainment do you think you should get from $10?

New Vegas brings value to Steam. Never the other way around. This applies to all Steam games.

You're a bit of a special case: someone who does not yet have Steam and bought a game that requires it. We all went through this back with Half-Life 2.

Nowadays, Steam is pervasive enough to require it.

Just think, though: if you ever lose your install discs, you will still be able to download it legitimately, and off a reasonably fast server.

Disclosure: I've accumulated a large library of PC games via Steam sales. Set your limit to $10 and you will amass a similarly huge collection of games. Here's a quick list of games I've bought on sale, and not yet had time to play properly (because of all the other Steam games I'm playing at the moment): Bioshock, SW:KOTOR, Street Fighter IV, Monkey Island, Mass Effect, Company of Heroes Opposing Fronts, L4D2, SW Empire at War,Deus Ex 2,Psychonauts, Stalker and the list goes on and on.

My point is, Steam can be a very low cost form of obtaining a lot of big-name games if you wait for the sales.

Needful Things reference FTW!

I'd call it "Sith Management".