I think the DXHR conversation has been great so far. I got through a portion of the topic section before I got home from taking the kid to school.

While I agree that some of the side quests are out of character, I love that. I declined the crooked cop quest because I was busy. I might miss some stuff, but my character didn't have time. I had no problem helping out Megan's mom, because that is storyline my character is invested in. I was really on the fence as far as helping the co-worker gt out of trouble. I would have preferred just reporting him and having him arrested, but his problem hinted to stuff that might be of interest to my character.

On my playthrough, I don't hack anything I don't need to. I don't search rooms unless I am there purposely. I don't duck into vents or do any of the OCD stuff. I'm in China right now, and I have a much more nerfed character than what you guys probably have. I haven't invested in hacking, deciding to go with a more resistance to damage. And that has prevented me from accessing parts of the game.

So for me, a second playthrough I going to be blast. after finishing the story in my character's way I will then explore the entire world the devs created and see whatI missed. I imagine there will be lots of ah-ha moments and neat things to find. But this first time, I want it to be really organic, which means missing out on a ton.

I like the emails better than the ebooks as they have more personality. The ebooks tend to read like wiki entries and they feel like they all say the same thing.

One I just read (really, skimmed) was pretty cool. I'll spoiler it just because, but it's completely unrelated to gameplay or plot.

The first thing I did when I fired the game up was turn off post processing, which gets rid of the "piss filter" (not my term) and makes the game look a lot better, I think. There's still no shortage of gold in the palette, but at least it's a nice breeze instead of a hurricane.

Console gamers are kinda hosed though.

I actually enjoy the emails and ebooks. They may not always have something to do with what's immediately going on in the game but they add a lived in quality to the environments. If anything, I'm getting a small chunk of knowledge about something I didn't know before.

Anyway, another good show guys! Keep it up!

I read this before listening and thought, "RollerCoaster Tycoon?"

Great show.

I'm in two minds about the return of more complex games. I'm not sure I actually enjoyed them all that much. My comfort level, when it comes to complexity, is around about the level of Far Cry 2, Assassin's Creed 2, Red Dead, Mass Effect, etc. I enjoy a bit of that kind of stuff, as flavouring, but I don't want a game where the 'house keeping' out weighs the game play.

My impression of a lot of the old games, that had a ton of involved mechanics, was that the combat (which, I've decided, is where my real interests lie) often got lost or ignored while most of the focus was placed on what I would consider extraneous stuff like loot, stats, inventory management, etc. Modern games may lack a lot of sophistication but many of them (I'm constantly amazed how many) are spot on when it comes to the combat, etc. Assassin's is getting more complex now (and the first game was way too underdeveloped in terms of mechanics) but it's building on a fantastic base of fun combat and a brilliantly movement system.

Games like the new Deus Ex ring alarm bells for me because I'm starting to hear an emphasis being placed again on things other than combat. It's very possible that, going forward (nice bit of management speak there ,) we might get games with complexity and, at their heart, polished, fun combat or, more likely I suspect, some games for people who want a big pile of complexity in their game and some games that focus on really fun engaging combat, of course, would be fine .

I think it's partly a taste thing. I have played the original Deus Ex and never felt that it was a transcendent game as many seem to. I haven't had a go at the new one yet so I want to resist commenting too much (and perhaps I shouldn't have used it as an example.)

In general terms there seems to be a sense that games with just combat and weapon choices are too basic and what we need is stuff other than that to make them interesting where as I want the complexity and sophistication to be put into the combat. One of the guys from 1up (can't remember his name) once commented that he loved the combat in Halo because each encounter felt like an event in it's own right. It wasn't 'shoot those two guys, wait for the third guy to appear, shoot him and move on,' it was more of a battle of wits that was challenging and exciting. Those are the kind of fights I enjoy and I think it takes a deceptive amount of work and skill on the part of the game developer to get to that.

Actually, that's a really good point from a timeline perspective. Hadn't thought of it that way.

wait, where is a spoiler section?

thanks. glad to hear that.

Well the relative quality of Oblivion is obviously an opinion and not fact. I know lots of people that loved it. Competition or not.

I just want to point out that, no matter how close to each other Zacny and I grew up, I was absolutely befuddled when he claimed that there were not enough mayors in Human Revolution.

Comment unsafe for work, home, a crappy bathroom or an Andrew Dice Clay comeback tour.

Way to start right off with the Deus Ex jokes. Deus Ex is the first game in a long that has me thinking about it when I am away from the computer. I have already finished one play through as a stealthy, mostly non-lethal, compassionate Adam and then I immediately started a new game as a fully lethal, heavy weapons, in-your-face, dick Adam. It's like a whole new game.

My overall impression of the game is that it is a brilliant, extremely fun game… except for the boss fights. I spent 40 hours on the game, but I think 10 hours of that were the first four boss fights. In the eight years my wife has known me, she has never heard me swear so flippin' much.

"I will never say no to a hooker with a heart of gold." Really though, don't all hookers have a heart of gold?

"I'm going to solve ALL the crimes!" Show me a new air vent and I'll show you experience points! You need not ask "Why is that vent there?" You should just smile, crouch and crawl.

I liked Pritchard, despite (or maybe because of) his snarkiness. I thought he was a nice counterbalance to Jensen's grittiness.

The lack of mirrors seemed really odd, especially since it was always in a small space (so there would not be much to reflect) and mirrors have been done on other console shooters. Maybe they didn't want to bother with trying animate Jensen's feet?

Another great thing about Deus Ex is that from time to time the game allowed characters to talk to each other about meaningful things. As fun as games like Gears of War or Halo can be, they simply lack the narrative depth of Deus Ex. If I recall, the cut scenes in Gears of War involved a lot of grunting and a few "we're going to need a bigger orbital canon" moments.

I really appreciate the ambiguousness of the characters. It made them feel all the more realistic. There was never a cheesy "Mwah ha ha!" moment.

Despite its flaws, Deus Ex makes me way less interested in the upcoming (and already kind of bland-looking) Call of Duty and Battlefield sequels.

A good game to play prior to a vasectomy? Cut the Rope, of course. And you can play it from the comfort of your couch.

I don't mind social situations (games or otherwise), but I don't like new people. Especially when they call me a "cockfag" or say that I am "terrible at this game."