LIKED
– Tales From Monkey Island Chapter One: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal is the first Telltale games adventure “episode” ever that I felt really lived up to the promise of the point-and-click-and-grab-things genre. Most of their previous offerings have been marked by puzzles that fell somewhere in between “unintuitive” and “nonsensical.” But Tales‘ puzzles make sense; they’re not easy, but they’re not so obtuse as to ruin the fun of the story. (Which is fun, incidentally; the story is so far on par with the best Monkey Island games.)
– Wipeout Couples was actually even more enjoyable than regular Wipeout, which is one of the great “sit back and have a beer” teevee shows. Seeing people root for their spouses on the obstacle course (and cheer, and complain) makes it even more fun. Whodathunk?
– The Magic: The Gathering 2010 base set is just shitloads of fun. People complaining about the rules changes need to get slapped for a number of reasons. The base set has knights and dragons and genies and goblins and everything that should be in a Magic base set: the traditional archetypes and things that are awesome about Generic Fantasy Literature ™. And the new spells and cards are flavourful and well-designed.
MEH
– I know I’m going to get pilloried for this, but: Wednesday Comics. The strip quality was good to excellent overall (exceptions: the incoherent Teen Titans and the very been-there-done-that Metal Men and Demon/Catwoman strips), but a lot of the comics didn’t give me the feel of the old weekly serials they were trying to echo: they felt like first pages of short comic stories and nothing more. Which is fine and I enjoyed them, but I’m not gonna go jerking off over the thing because the first page of eleven or twelve stories is awesome; it’s just too small and early a sample for me to call it “good.”
I’d also call into question the value. People have been exclaiming how this is the same price as a normal comic, but normal comics are overpriced. The giant-size of the layout is nice, definitely, and there’s something to be said for the experience of reading a comic newspaper-style – but it doesn’t give me more story. In fact it gives me less. Yes, yes, I’ve seen multiple people talking about the “square foot of comics” measure as if that was somehow relevant (next up: “Wednesday Comics gives you 24% more wood pulp for your dollar!”). And if they were trying to echo the old serials, why wasn’t this thing printed on cheap newsprint and sold for a buck? That would have been a marketing revolution. As it is, it’s just another (admittedly novel) exercise in marketing to the hardcores, and I can’t get that excited over marketing to the hardcores, because that is what is killing superhero comics.
DIDN’T LIKE
– Lesbian Vampire Killers desperately wants to be the next Shaun of the Dead. Here is all you need to know: it is nowhere near being the next Shaun of the Dead. Avoid. Like the plague.
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I also quite enjoyed the Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. Your blurb about it leaves me with two questions, though:
1) Perhaps this is due to my experience with the genre, or a greater willingness to immerse myself in the game worlds, but I never found Telltale’s Sam & Max or Strong Bad games to be particularly obtuse in their puzzles. I’d be curious to hear some examples of puzzles you thought were particularly egregious.
2) Best “Monkey Island” games–1 and 3?
So…lesbian vampires who kill, or lesbians who kill vampires, or killers that focus on lesbian vampires? I have to know!
I never played Monkey Island, but I do have fond memories of playing Grim Fandango. That was an awesome game.
Did any of your MtG cards make it in?
candlejack,
Its about two guys that kill lesbian vampires.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84qfk8V3R1g
I thought it was lesbians that killed vampires and would be a spoof of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Well, slap me if you like, but I do not like the M2010 set, and I do not like the rule changes. I’ve quit Magic over it. I’m too old to learn a new game, and too cynical to see the new cards as anything but an attempt to squeeze money from their players.
Never heard of Lesbian Vampire Killers. Have you seen ‘Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter’? I think it was the first of the vampires vs. lesbians (vs. Jesus) movies.
Monkey Island!!!!!
Ugh, Wipeout? I get what you’re talking about with the ‘watch people get beaten up on an obstacle course’, that part I’m fine with. I just cannot stand the contestants attempting to be quirky or wacky or zany by yelling random crap as they go into the course. We get that you’re a little nutty to begin with; you’re competing in wipeout! Stop the forced personality and run into the course, damn it!
I’m glad to hear that Lesbian Vampire Killers isn’t good, because it reaffirms what I’ve believed all along: Matthew Horne and James Corden are not actually very funny. Likeable, but not so hot on the comedy.
I have to echo you on Wednesday comics; outside of maybe Paul Pope’s more Barsoomian than ever Adam Strange, and those Deadman and Kamandi stories, I really don’t think any of them were punchy enough for the one page storytelling that this format requires.
The worst offenders, by far, have to be Superman and Batman, both of which accomplished NOTHING.
New Magic.. Hrm.. I was looking for something new to throw money at and thats WAY easier than buying a boat or starting on drugs.
TOTALLY on board with the price problem for Wednesday Comics, and in fact I’ve been bitching about that ever since I found out the price tag was going to be $3.99. This was a GOLDEN opportunity to make a cheap, accessible comic for potential new readers, and they blew it. Yes, I know it’s not the first thing you think of when you think “mainstream”, but despite its quirks I think a lot of people, kids in particular, would be happy to pick up a cheap broadsheet of this type. I personally think they could have tried to get it distributed in places other than comic shops, but maybe the economics don’t work out, so whatever. But you won’t convince me that they needed to charge $3.99 to make a profit. There’s just no way. They decided to cater to the usual horde of fanboys instead of try something truly new.
This is the problem with letting DC and Marvel be the gatekeepers of the medium of comics. They have the opportunity to try new things to reach new readers, but they’re too timid to abandon their reliable, ever-shrinking fanbase. And the smaller companies, which publish stuff that might appeal to non-fanboys, can’t get mainstream attention.
my only objection to the M:tG rules changes is ditching mana burn. it’s just weird not to have it anymore.
Monkey Island 2 is probably my favourite. It think it mainly has fond memories because it was one of the first games I ever played. It was on our school computer in the library. Someone secretly installed it and we all took turns playing it at lunch.
I bought a set with all the Monkey Island games (Windows compatiable) a few years ago. I was suprised how well they held up, particuarly Monkey Island 1. They are really great games
So, have you ever seen Ninja Warrior? Next to it, Wipeout seems rather…buffoonish.
I had been thinking about selling my Magic cards, but it sounds as if the market is about to be flooded. hrm.
Grim Fandango: a game which requires you to distribute communist propaganda to a giant bee.
…Just wanted to throw that out there.
Well, I did a bunch of Prerelease stuff this weekend for M10, and it was crazy fun. It definitely is great to play, and I’m so happy that Lightning Bolt is back.
That’s right bitches, I’m bringing in my Revised thunder! FEAR THE BOLT!
Ahem. Can’t believe it took them 16 years to make an effective Sleep spell. 🙂
“Its about two guys that kill lesbian vampires.”
But I already own Jesus Christ Vampire Slayer…
The flavor text on the new Lightning Bolt is awesomely meta.
The flavor text on the new Lightning Bolt is awesomely meta.
Now we just need a lesbian vampire card to tie everything together. 🙂
Huh. I wasn’t aware they were changing the Magic rules.. no more mana burn? Aww, man. I got one of my best victories through mana burn..
There is only one reason why I want to see Lesbian Vampire Killers: Paul McGann.
I don’t care if it’s good. With a title like Lesbian Vampire Killers I don’t expect it to be good. But I like Paul McGann so I’m going to see this flick.
And since people keep mentioning it: I own Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter. That’s got to be the strangest movie I own and have seen. I get the feeling I was supposed to be high while watching it.
I’m waiting to hear what MGK thinks of Torchwood – Children of Earth.
I second Ninja Warrior. Great show that couldn’t be made in the U. S. In the ten plus years it has been running (twice a year), Only two people have ever completed the course. It’s that hard. And getting harder every season.
They brought back lightning bolt? Sweet. If the Ernhim Djinn is legal again it may be time for a Burn’em’Ernhim resurgence. Man, if I wasn’t dead broke I’d be tempted to take up the crack…I mean Magic again. The last time I got back into it my friends and I ended up dropping well over $1000 each, but it got so if you didn’t constantly drop tons of money on specific cards for specific types of decks it was just hard to be competitive. I haven’t seen anything about 10. Do you think the new rules might help in that regard?
Zenrage,
Thanks for saving me the money. Guys who kill lesbian vampires? What a disappointment! I mean, what’s their motivation? It’s not like they’re in danger of getting bitten.
Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, but then again, I am on an ongoing mission to seek out the worst movie that can be really enjoyed.
Gotta agree regarding Wednesday Comics. There’s just no way I’m paying $4 a week for bloody newsprint.
cj: The town elders have sent them to the lesbian vampires as a sacrafice. At lease that’s what the blurb I read said.
I’m with you on Wednesday Comics. I like the idea of the format, but it needs to be cheaper and you need to not have to go to a comic shop to get it. (And also, why of all things isn’t The Spirit in here? This is as close as you’re going to come to his natural habitat in modern times.)
comics for a dollar ain’t gonna happen, even if you print it on Bulgerian toilet paper. The price of paper barely adds anything to the cost of comics these days.
Candlejack,
I recommend Santa’s Slay and Return of the Killer Tomatoes.