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Ha, Swamp Thing was exactly what came to mind when I heard it.

Here's hoping for more indie ports - I have a huge library of Steam indie titles, but I never play them because I rarely if ever sit down at my desktop computer to play games. I'd happily rebuy on Switch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-mFODSa2VM

There are more than sixty indie titles in the work for Switch. Several to be released each week.

And here I where, already tempted to buy a console  But I think I'll wait till I get some word on a hard drive support. Would like that. Store stuff on it, changing games when needed from the stationary to the handheld. Would also like to hear how the virtual console will be handled.

Yep, it's a good start. I just hope these titles do well, and support from indies continues. The Switch seems like a perfect fit for these kind of games.

As far as the console itself goes, I'll most likely wait until the inevitable Switch 2.0, which will iron out all of the kinks this first iteration evidently has, and by then there'll be a lot more games on offer.

Had similar thoughts as well, but perhaps it's due to Shaw or them big ol white dudes

I just meant the phrase itself. I'm no expert, but it would be 'Earth vegetation', surely?

Maybe I'm mistaken here, but its not a phrase I've ever heard used before, and sounded really clunky to my ears. Reminded me of all the embarrassing pseudo-scientific jargon from Prometheus.

[Hand of the King]

Funny you should mention Game of Thrones board game. I'm looking for ideas.

My wife has just started reading and loving the books and isn't ready for the telly show yet (she wants to finish the novels first) and its her birthday soon. So I thought for something a bit different we could get a board game 'I bet there's a good Game of Thrones' one ... but its says for three people and since we're not big games and don't know anyone who is I'd like it to be 2 player so we can play it together at home.

So all that context can someone recommend a good game for two people for someone who likes Games of Thrones that's quite straightforward for new games...

... I know not much to ask!

Hand of the King, definitely. Very compact, affordable and simple game with great artwork and a little strategy. Plays well with 2-4 players, and my girlfriend (who is a really tough sell for trying new games) likes it. See my more detailed description a few posts back.

I'd also tentatively recommend The Rose King, a simple 2 player game that plays like a cross between checkers and a card game. It isn't an official Game of Thrones product, but like the novels is based on the War of the Roses and is clearly going for a GoT vibe with it's packaging.



I'm in the same boat regarding the A Game of Thrones board game - I'd love to play it, and have been tempted to buy it in the past, but I know I'd never have the time and/or willing people to play it with me. However, I did recently pick up A Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne, a new game by the same company (Fantasy Flight). It's a slightly modified re-skin of a very long-running, highly regarded board game called Cosmic Encounter and looks like a lot of fun (I haven't played it yet). It's based on the TV show rather than the books and looks like a good middle ground between the lightness of Hand of the King and the A Game of Thrones board game in terms of complexity and game length. It seems like a very social game revolving around bargaining and backstabbing, which seems to fit the theme great, though it's minimum 3 players and apparently plays best with 5. There's an expansion coming out this summer that adds the Greyjoy and Martell houses.

It seems like a lot of the gaming press are already writing off the Switch, but I think they're underestimating the appeal and value of portable local multiplayer. To me, that's a BIG selling point, and something the other consoles don't offer. Things like Pocket Rumble look brilliant. I feel like local multiplayer has been really sidelined in the last 10-15 years and is long overdue a comeback. Playing Mario Kart online just isn't the same....

Here's hoping for more indie ports - I have a huge library of Steam indie titles, but I never play them because I rarely if ever sit down at my desktop computer to play games. I'd happily rebuy on Switch.

Looks incredibly by the numbers and generic.

And "Human vegetation"? Really? Doesn't bode well for the script...

Great news! Never got around to playing it back in the day. I'll definitely get it when I get a Switch.

Now, this is more like it! Exactly the kind of games I was hoping for from the Switch.

Why they didn't show all of these at the reveal event is beyond me...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-mFODSa2VM

I live in Portland, which is pretty much beer heaven. There are 70+ breweries in the city alone, with many more in nearby cities like Astoria, Seattle, Bend etc. There are five I can think of within a ten minute walk of where I live.

Pretty much every bar and restaurant - even down to the level of pokey pizza shops - offers a full complement of local taps, with every kind of beer represented, and you should see the beer aisles in the local supermarkets. I'm a bit spoiled, really.

The only catch is that there's a definite bias towards pacific pale ales and IPAs (breweries in the PNW seem locked in perpetual competition for who can brew the most face-meltingly hoppy and powerful IPA in existence). It's definitely an acquired taste - took me a while to get into it, and they're so strong (hard to find one below 6.5%) you can only really drink a couple in a night. So I tend to stick to the milder pale ales and session IPAs. Love pretty much everything from the Deschutes and Fort George breweries, and my favourite IPA is probably one called Boneyard by a brewery called RPM.

I still love British beer, but it's a weird adjustment coming back these days - it's a cliche but everything tastes so warm and flat!

Thing is, Luke basically has to die to allow the story to continue. He's too powerful to keep around. Same as Dumbledore in Harry Potter.

I'd be happy with him sticking around in future films in ghost mentor form.

My theory re: the title is that at the beginning of the movie it refers to Luke, and by the end of the film it refers to Rey.

It's also somewhat of an 80s throwback - makes me think of The Last Starfighter.

Or Luke is the last Jedi ever and the philosophy of his Force teachings will change - as long as the franchise can survive and Disney allow that.

I've often thought that Lucas* really painted Star Wars into a narrative corner by firmly establishing that a) jedis are celibate monks and b) there can only ever be two sith at any one time. In the spin-offs and subsequent films they have really had to bend these rules to breaking point.

*Think I'm right in saying that those two things are prequel inventions?

As I said previously, don't buy a Nintendo console expecting any kind of serious thrid party support - at least, not from the big publishers. What the Switch can (and should) offer is a smattering of amazing first party games, a lively indie marketplace and a retrogamer's dream in the form of a new and improved Virtual Console.

If the Switch can't offer all of those three things, it's doomed imo.

Yeah. I wasn't expecting much for launch day - or even launch 'window', but I was expecting them to reassure us that they have a tonne of big first/second party exclusives (or even ports/remakes) in the pipeline, and show us a sizzle reel of upcoming titles, even if they're in an early form... and they really don't seem to have much to show for the first 12-18 months of the console's life beyond Zelda, Mario, Arms and Splatoon....

There have been comments that there were intentions to replace some vehicles with CGI, but there's nothing in the art book which gave much indication of anything too advanced, and again it would have looked a bit out of place with the near-future setting of the rest of the film.

I could well be misremembering/misquoting here (and I'm pretty sure he wasn't speaking 100% literally in any case) but I seem to recall that Alex Garland said regarding allocation of budget that they had to choose between shooting 3d or spending the equivalent budget on having fancy sci fi looking vehicles, and they chose 3d.

FWIW, I actually really like the MC1 that ended up on screen. It's different from the comics, sure, but it works and feels cohesive, and I suspect the film will age really well because they worked within their means and didn't overreach. I also think they a very good job of establishing things like the Mega-Blocks, which didn't really come across in the '95 movie (I also tend to disagree with the general consensus that the 95 movie 'got the look of the city right' - I always felt, despite some nice touches and a few fantastic matte painting/wide shots - it looked fairly generic and plasticy).

Got to admit, my heart sank a bit watching the 'reveal'.

I can't believe that Nintendo are once again turning up with a brand new console with so little content to show for it. Neither Arms nor Splatoon appeal to me at all, and seem like niche titles, 1-2 Switch frankly looks embarrassing, and while Mario Odyssey looks tremendous, it's not out for at least a year.... Zelda obviously looks great, but it's one game.

What else is there? A bunch of arcane JRPGs? Wow, that's really going to draw the kids of today away from their iPads and Minecraft...

I want Nintendo to do the unexpected, but now more than ever it just seems like they're increasingly out of touch.

I was all ready to place a pre-order, but unless they have something cool up their sleeve (like the aforementioned revamped Virtual Console), there's no chance of that now. Seems more likely now that I'll wait for the inevitable redesigned iteration when there are more titles available, as I did for DS and 3DS.

On the price, £280 is indeed a lot, but how much of that is due to Brexit? The US price of $300 (<£250) seems pretty reasonable.

Battery life, again, seems about what could realistically be expected, and isn't a deal-breaker. I doubt my 3DS could last for 4-6 hours of continuous play, and in theory there's nothing to stop people from using a portable battery backup.

Always find it strange how partisan people get about Nintendo compared to normal games companies when they've always been the shittest (except the Gamecube (and Tetris on the Gameboy.))

Always find it strange how people who profess to like videogames don't at least acknowledge how consistently superior Nintendo products have generally been historically in terms of design, control, presentation, innovation etc. Testament to this is the fact that Nintendo titles age so well that they can still rerelease and sell 20-30 year old games at a premium whereas most developer's games date horribly within a few years.