spekkeh • Comments

• Turns out Kevin Conroy is working on Batman: Arkham Origins after all

• spekkeh 20/05/2013

  So they ditch the voice actor because it's an origins story with a much younger Bruce, only he looks the same and the enemies have scifi tech.
  
  Makes perfect sense. Reply +3

• Sega Nintendo alliance announced for three Sonic exclusives on Wii U and 3DS

• spekkeh 17/05/2013

  @m0i
  
  Hadn't the foggiest, but reverse google tells me it's Blink 182 - First Date. Reply 0

• spekkeh 17/05/2013

  Sonic games which Nintendo will publish

  Reply +17

• Lords of the Fallen is a "challenging" PC and next-gen consoles action RPG

• spekkeh 17/05/2013

  Interesting how the Dark Souls hype has turned it into the next Call of Duty series. It's what all the publishers want to reference and all the cool kids play. Challenging is the new gritty.
  
  Sadly this 12-year old pandering idea that RPG stories are only interesting if you become stronger than the gods is still very much in vogue. Reply 0

• Wii U goes mobile

• spekkeh 12/05/2013

  @Binba442

  But in europe, road trips don't last long. The longest one I've done for a while (south east to southwest (England)) was 5-6 hours.

  Eh? Europe is quite a bit bigger than the south of the UK. For skiing holidays we'd spent 14 hours on the road easily. My father used to have an Eastern Europe fetish so you could easily do that times two or even three for summer holidays. Now I was quite a patient kid, but those trips were downright awful, and would drive many kids insane. Look out the window, and see similar scenery for ten hours on end? Yall are on some crack.
  Luckily these were the eighties and they invented the Gameboy. But what I would've given to have actually been able to play my console games at that time... Reply +1

• Samsung Galaxy S4 review

• spekkeh 11/05/2013

  @DamDai I was still quite content with my SGS2 after two years and wanted to go sim-only, but then I found out that sim-only has become ridiculously overpriced (with an internet plan that is), and if I paid 200 euroes up front, I'd get the HTC One for almost the same price and plan. Would've been stupid not to really. Reply 0

• spekkeh 11/05/2013

  @wobbly_Bob I came from an SGS2, so can't really compare it to newer alternatives, but I'm well pleased with the battery life of the HTC one. I can listen to the radio and browse the internet during my commute, use it occasionally during the day and still have juice left in the evening. My old Galaxy 2 would've died long before that. Reply 0

• spekkeh 11/05/2013

  I went for the HTC One. The sole reason being that it still has an Fm radio that Samsung inexplicably expunged. Having a two and a half hour commute everyday it's one of my most used apps. Have to say though, even though I prefer Samsung's sheer customizability in everything as opposed to HTC's more Apple like approach of 'this is it', I'm really happy with it so far. The screen is razor sharp, it's lightning fast and it looks the part. Reply +6

• EA extends FIFA licensing agreement until happily ever after

• spekkeh 08/05/2013

  @jellyBelly

  Football and war will always sell bucket loads

  That's because they're the same thing basically. Reply +6

• Oh the things Oculus Rift can do: Today, Guillotine simulation

• spekkeh 07/05/2013

  Imagine coupling this with the rubber hand
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053810007000037
  or body swapping
  http://bit.ly/v4joy
  illusion...
  
  It would be enough to never want to wear an HMD again I think... Reply 0

• EA acquires Star Wars video game license

• spekkeh 07/05/2013

  Yes... yes... let the hate flow through you....
  
  Personally I think this is actually very good news. Yes EA is the Emperor etc., but their devs are still half decent and much better at making quality games than LucasArts have been for the last fifteen years. Reply +3

• Nintendo ditches E3 press conference in favour of behind-closed-doors events

• spekkeh 26/04/2013

  @Pandy

  Combine that with Mr.Spo's quite valid comment about apples and oranges, and 800k (his 600k + your 200k from Youtube) suddenly seems like a pretty darn big audience.

  But that's precisely the point. The Nintendo Directs are only targeting the people that already own the Nintendo console, whereas Nintendo right now should be targeting the ones that don't. Reply +3

• spekkeh 25/04/2013

  @Mr.Spo

  The Nintendo Directs have become one of the most efficient, effective and endearing uses of PR in the industry.

  Endearing maybe, but second last Nintendo Direct had a motherload of awesome game reveals, yet the Wii U is now tanking even harder. I can't really understand how you can equate that with effectivity. The outreach of the Nintendo Directs is exactly the group of core gamers with Nintendo affinity that are already well aware of everything pertaining to Nintendo.
  
  Nintendo needs to reach out to the rest, core gamers from other affinities, casual gamers, general public. The E3 is a much better event for that, with a much wider outreach; it has the numbers to really interest the general newspapers/webzines, as well as the fanboys from the other denominations. They take note of the Nintendo conference; not of Nintendo Directs. Reply +6

• You can now buy officially licensed BioShock Infinite fine art

• spekkeh 25/04/2013

  Yeah I love the artstyle, but 300 euroes for a poster without a frame... erm nope. Reply +1

• Is this XBLA's worst game?

• spekkeh 24/04/2013

  Gutshot by Willy, LOL.
  
  lol.
  
  The warp and woof of our world :D
  
  edit: sorry guys didn't mean to spam, didn't know hotlinking didn't work. Yall rightfully negged me. Reply -47

• Iwata takes over Nintendo of America CEO role

• spekkeh 24/04/2013

  Reply +40

• spekkeh 24/04/2013

  Iwata's move will support a more streamlined global strategy, Nintendo reported, and enhance its "organisational agility".

  Well, that's one way to look at it. Personally I think the major problem Nintendo currently faces is that it has consolidated so much into its Japanese HQ, that they've lost touch with the much more lucrative Western market. Retro is about the only first party studio with Western sensibilities left. I don't see this bringing Nintendo US (even though they've dropped the ball regularly lately) under tighter JP reign is going to help. Reply +7

• Raymond: Splinter Cell popularity held back by its complexity

• spekkeh 23/04/2013

  
  
  Okay so here's a thought Raymond. Maybe people are not as interested in Splinter Cell anymore because your team is slowly turning it into every other game already out there.
  
  By having every game pander to the exact same demographic in the exact same way, your game is just a name with a wholly indiscernable product. You've let your brand water down to the point that it doesn't mean anything to anyone anymore, which is why people are indifferent to it. Not because it's too difficult. Reply +47

• Saturday Soapbox: Leave me alone

• spekkeh 20/04/2013

  The Dark Souls mention is a bit of a weird one, precisely because it's the alternative reality game where people go online to discuss strategies why most people like it. It's nearly impossible to get very far into the game on your own if you don't get help from others, much like the new SimCity.
  
  (Cue lots of tough guys that finished the game with an offline system all by themselves)
  
  And incidentally, that's why I bought yet didn't really like the game much. The moment I have to pause to go online and check something is the moment my immersion is shattered and I don't want to play on.
  
  Seriously, not liking Dark Souls has made reading about games (which is actually my work) a real chore the last three years. Can we just reference another game already? Reply -3

• Crowdsourced interactive music video Do Not Touch is a fascinating sociological experiment

• spekkeh 19/04/2013

  I saw this posted all over the web, but I only get a video, is it because of my trackpad? Reply 0

• Bethesda reveals video teaser, possibly Wolfenstein, possibly Project Zwei

• spekkeh 16/04/2013

  Silly panzer really distracting from the achtungal story. Reply 0

• Wheelchair-bound gamer banned from Twitch.tv after accusations he faked disability

• spekkeh 15/04/2013

  Haha that's pretty funny. Good thing he was found out and people get stuff refunded, but seriously, who gives away money to some guy that plays videogames all day. If he's really disabled, but able to sit behind the computer all day exerting himself, he can do actual work and get a supplementing disability benefit to live off (and buy a wheelchair). Are these the same people that support Nigerian princes who want to store $1,000,000 on your bank account? Seriously, some people want to be conned it seems like. Reply +7

• Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon has cybersharks and mutant cassowarys

• spekkeh 11/04/2013

  I'm missing a bit of the clunkiness of 80s action movies. It's all so smooth. I really like this idea and most of the look too, but I was really done with Far Cry halfway into the game, and this is just a reskin, hmm.
  
  Have to give em props for including Robocop's Auto 9 gun though. Like, cowabunga. Reply 0

• Homesick dev Chloe Sagal successfully crowd-funds life-saving operation

• spekkeh 10/04/2013

  Didn't neg you, but it wasn't actually stated that her parents wouldn't help her because she's gay. They wouldn't help her because they said 'it's all in your head'. Reply +9

• spekkeh 10/04/2013

  @LR100 Yes, and besides, they have insurance for malpractice. But she said:
  

  Unfortunately the metal object is in a compromising place; naturally the cost of removal is amplified, and the chance of surviving the operation (especially in my condition) is lower than normal. My insurance repeatedly denied my claims, and eventually I took them to court.
  
  I was not prepared for the court case, and I lost miserably. The fact that without the procedure I would die was considered inadequate. Since it was apparent that my insurance was not going to help, it was then that I went for malpractice. The same story, I was not prepared. The strategy of claiming "How else would it have gotten there?" was no match for the hospital's lawyering hocus pocus. I shopped around at several different hospitals, seeing if there was one willing to do the operation and I pay it afterwords, but as the Insurance stated, the cost is too high, and it's a low probability of survival. I also attempted countless medical loans, but my credit is in the 'why did you bother filling this out?' range.

  It's either a terribly heartbreaking story of a girl thats too poor to live, or a bit convenient that she was ill prepared twice for their top lawyers who would not settle out of court for small fry operation.
  If she doesn't get the money I guess she could still go to the emergency room when her organs do start to fail, I think they have an obligation to help her then. But surely there must be a dodgy loanshark somewhere that would give her 35k. Reply +1