I wish I had the time and money to check this out. It certainly sounds interesting, but I''ve already spent my gaming budget through July :b

I caught an Icons episode about Tim Schafer on G4TV that really got me interested in Psychonauts. The Gamespy review is pretty glowing also. Zedian, I''d really appreciate getting a review from you to sort of clinch the deal. What''s good, what''s bad, etc.

You got it, buddy. For PC or Xbox?

There are people with brass knuckles who insist that my money go to them as soon as I have some. If I still have knees after that, I''ll go by this game. Promise.

Pedro offers you his protection.

I just finished it, and I loved every minute (except for MAYBE one ''meaty'' jumping bit towards the end, but that was pretty short.)

The game LOOKS phenominal, though it''s difficult to tell how technically proficient the game is, since you can''t really compare anything in the game to a real-life object. Suffice to say, the art direction is flawless, and the graphics have totally got the artists'' backs, giving them the freedom to create whatever they wanted. The many minds you''ll be entering over the course of the game are almost insanely varried, both in terms of their look, and the gameplay required. Edgar''s subconcious, in particular, is so striking and wierdly beautiful that I was almost breatheless at first. Good stuff.

Yes, the game is shorter than I might have liked, but when I think back, it packs more actual enjoyment into its small package than a lot of 30 hour games I could mention. It would have been pretty easy for them to have just made the levels BIGGER, made you do a whole lot more jumping, bouncing and gliding... but why? They keep everything going until JUST before it wears out its welcome, then whisk you off to do something completely fresh. It''s a great platformer in its own right, but that''s just icing on the big Tim Schaefer-y cake.

It''s really the writing that steals the show, here. If you''re looking for something along the lines of Grim Fandango, you probably won''t find it. This game is not as emotionally involving as that one, though that''s not to say that you will have NO reaction to the plot and/or characters. It''s the humor that got me, in Psychonauts, and it''s DAMNED funny humor. I could give examples (I''ve been repeating certain exchanges to people all week,) but I don''t want to ruin a single moment of the game. Just trust me, the game ranges from quirky to hysterical, usually towards the latter end of that spectrum. These jokes range from what aproach being sight gags, to quite subtle little laughers, and many of them are embedded in the levels themselves, and in what certain... geographical features... imply about the person whose mind you are traversing.

These minds belong to characters who are truly interesting, mostly because of how well they are voiced. The voice acting in the game can be called nothing short of flawless, and is probably the biggest factor contributing to how funny the whole thing is. Every single character is full of color, but doesn''t aproach being annoying, chilched (except when supposed to be,) or overdone. Brilliant. Along with the voice work is the music, which is wacky, and widely varried to fit the mood of the mind you are visiting. Again, my favorite was the music for Edgar, which featured some really nice Spanish guitar bits.

The whole package is truly charming. I didn''t feel as strongly about it, come the end, as I had about say, Beyond Good and Evil, but I sure laughed a lot more. This is going into my slowly growing ''Do Not Return For Credit'' pile. Highly reccommended.

If it''s like the demo, only more-of-the-same, it hasn''t sold itself enough to me to be worth more than my usual $20 price point. It may have a story, but it was a jumping/climbing/running-athon as I saw it, and that''s more hassle than fun for me.

This game is a must buy for me... as soon as I have a computer that can run it. I''ve now made that same claim for at least fifteen or twenty games, thus effectively raising the cost of a new PC by a good $750 or so.

I picked up the PC version on Monday and got a fancy deck of cards to go with it.

Buy it....if anything to stem the tide of sequals and reward a least some measure of risk/innovation.

I grew tired of platformers long ago, but a good one still comes along once every two years or so that I think is worth checking out. The last one for me was Ratchet and Clank (I tried and didn''t like Jak, and Viewtiful Joe didn''t keep me interested... sacrilege, I know.) I want to play something different when I''m playing a platformer, and it looks like this fits the bill. So I''ll get it, via Gamefly. I don''t want to start an argument, but I don''t really see the sense in overpaying to ''support the developer.'' Do you expect them to knock on your door and shake your hand? I remember doing a business deal and having my father, an attorney, look over the contract. He wanted to make some changes to the contract, eventually yelling at me, ""These people are not your friends!"" Well, they were my friends, so I ignored him and went with a contract that was very friendly to them. Guess what-- he was right, I was wrong. It''s the same thing here. Schafer is not your friend-- you''re doing a business transaction, and playing the sucker will not get you any bonus points.

By the way, it is very, very hard to write coherently when somebody else is trying to have a different conversation with you at the same time...

What these developers need are reasonably-sized masses of people buying the game, not a few people overpaying by $20. A hit based industry like movies or computer games can be absolutely brutal. That''s life, and while I appreciate your sentiment, I think it''s kind of hubristic... if that''s a word. If you really want these guys to succeed, your best bet is to tell everyone you know how awesome the game is and that they should all try it. That''s what will keep the company going.

Seriously.

...now where the heck did I put my copy of REZ?

I''m gonna buy it as soon as somebody has it on special for 34.99. Don''t ask me how I drew that line in the sand; I just did.

I watched the ICONs on Tim Schafer at my friend''s house last night. I had no idea that Microsoft bailed on them in the middle of development, this means they lost their funding. Tim Schafer said he now has his entire life savings in his company.