Johnny

Ooh ooh ooh! Ah ah! *scratches self* * throws feces* Cause we're all apes! Get it?!

The new Dual Shock 4 is much improved - it's bigger and heftier and has wider set sticks - but I didn't think it was better than the Xbox controller. My biggest gripe is that the DS4 still doesn't have real triggers. The pseudo-triggers are more curved now (and super wide), but they feel like weirdly shaped buttons and not triggers. And I'm with Galahir950 - I prefer the offset stick configuration on the Xbox controller.

I don't mind paying, but Microsoft really needs to offer more for my money. Especially more of the things that I care about. I only play the occasional co-op game over Xbox Live, and it's annoying that the cost to play online like this is lumped in with the ability to watch Netflix and Hulu Plus, which have nothing to do with gaming and which are free literally everywhere else.

Thanks, ArielC. I've been away for a while, but it's comforting to come back and see that gamers are still lashing out at each other with the exact same rhetoric that they used years ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I haven't heard of this film either. But I agree, that trailer was awesome.

Here you go, guys... http://tinyurl.com/akvyl8c

You didn't like And Then We Came to the End?! Aww, that sucks. It was tangential, that's true, but that book kept my interest and I loved the first person plural narrative. Coincidentally, it was just after the Roach Man story in John Dies at the End where I put the book down and didn't bother to pick it up again. During that section I kept thinking, "This is really long and really detailed and really pointless." Perhaps I will give the book another try...

I got about halfway through the book, then the holidays hit and I lost interest. I like the writing style a lot, but the story wasn't pulling me in. Reminded me of From a Buick 8 by Stephen King, which I didn't really care for. When I stopped reading, the book was starting to drag - it felt like a lot of randomness for the sake of it.

I love Windows 8. I hate every app and link and button click that takes me back to the old desktop.

"Switches to Android." <-- Found your problem. ;)

I just thought it was badly plotted and dull. Javier Bardem has all the presence and creepiness of a great Bond villain, but with nothing to do. *SPOILERS* Here's a guy who is supposedly so brilliant that he can topple economies and governments with the click of a mouse. He emptied an entire island of people through the sheer force of his will. He endured years of torture and spent all that time plotting revenge. And after we're told about all of this man's menace (but not shown any of it), the final culmination of that brilliant, dangerous mind, of those years of vengeful planning... is the villain dressing up like a cop, walking into a courtroom, and intending to simply shoot M in the head. That's it? He could've done that on page 1. This villain's master plan is so intricate in its execution, apparently, with so many moving parts... that Bond is able to utterly foil it by just shooting a pair of fire extinguishers. Silva is all implied bark and no bite. That's why we end up with a stapled-on shoot 'em up for the finale. Because what else is there to do to end the thing? It's not like anything matters at that point. But give us a crappy villain, we're likely to get a crappy Bond. IMO anyway. I still liked Daniel Craig, and Judy Dench, and the Aston Martin, and the new Q, and all sorts of other stuff in the film. But Silva's "plot" (the whole challenge to Bond and the reason the story is told) was weaksauce to me. Glad you guys enjoyed it, though. Wish I had more than I did.

I was bored. Not to tears, because boys don't cry. But to me, it took a long time to go nowhere, really. I guess that makes me dumb. It had one of those endings-by-committee, like the latest Bourne film, where the writers said, "Hey, we forgot to add a big, explosive finale. How about a pointless motorcycle chase with a villain that we introduced two seconds earlier? We don't even have to write anything except, 'Awesome motorcycle chase goes HERE!' Cool. And for the Bond film, how about a siege/shootout sequence that has nothing to do with the rest of the film? We just write 'Awesome showdown with mucho explosions goes HERE!' But wait, will people go for that? Sure they will, if we name the movie after the place where the showdown takes place! Adele even wrote a song with the same title! See how it all ties together?" This is an entire movie about a guy who wants to simply shoot somebody in the head. And the plot is all of the stupidly elaborate ways that he goes about to NOT actually shoot that somebody in the head. Bring back Casino Royale.

I've been up and down on the Halo Fatigue Scale. I think the height for me occurred when I bought the Anniversary Edition of Halo: Combat Evolved because it had the name "Halo" on it and then I realized that I was experiencing no joy when playing it. Halo 4, however, is a great game in my opinion. It is very Haloesque, of course, which is clearly what 343 was going for, right down to the little note that they give fans at the beginning. To that, if you have no interest in ever shooting another Covenant Grunt in the head again, then you want to steer clear of this game. I see N's point about all the same old same old, and I agree to a degree, but it really didn't bother me. I think 343 did the right thing by using Halo 4 to bridge from Bungie's legacy into their own future games. They introduced new enemies and new weapons and even an actual villain, all while still keeping the overall experience familiar. Perhaps they didn't do enough, but you change or remove enough of these elements and it kind of stops being a Halo game. If you don't want what Halo has done well over the last 10 years, then you probably want something else. But if you like Halo and you're looking for more, 343's Halo 4 delivers. Having said that, Halo 4 did make me a little weary of all of the pointless, Tron-inspired Forerunner structures. These levels are cool-looking, but I couldn't get over how useless they are. Why did the Forerunners build a bunch of samey rooms full of weird ramps to nowhere, all decorated with glowy lines everywhere? Did they do this just because thousands of years later, Master Chief and his AI construct would need a Point A and a Point B to travel between in style? As far as the story goes, I think Halo 4 is the best by a mile 343 achieved something that Bungie never could by actually giving Master Chief a soul. I liked that they developed Chief's relationship with Cortana. The ending dishes up the cheese, but I found it to be a better overall experience than any of the jumbled messes that were the other game's story lines. The possible exception to this is Halo Reach, which was the only other Halo game to make me feel something for the characters. I think 343's goal was to please Halo fans, and in that they succeeded with a solid game. I'd hazard if you want something drastically different than what 343 was going for, then you probably don't want a Halo game in the first place. Which is perfectly fair after... how many? ... seven games. And don't hate on N for his review. He asked me if I could review the game, but I've been too busy (read: slacking).

I never let my Gold subscription lapse and I haven't gotten a free console. Hrmph!

One of my favorite Pixar films.