PixlBit

It works ok. You are closely tied to the other player so you can't stray too far from each other. It's a little annoying but not game breaking.

It totally surprised me. I litterally yelled WTF when it happened and forever had a grudge against Ashley. I think I hadn't built up my persuasion abilities enough because there's an achievement for using them to get out of an impossible situation. That may have been one of them.

I got all weepy over this ex-slave girl you have to pacify in Mass Effect 1. I think it was less about facial capture than voice work, but it suggested the kind of emersion and emotional connection I usually get from movies, now starting to be possible in games. I'm a little afraid of the depths games will take me in the next generation. I've been unnerved by games before such as in Max Payne which litterally made my hands shake after twenty minutes of hearing that baby cry in the first dream sequence.

Man, I used to never worry about breaking my SNES. i would just slam the cartridge in without a care in the world. Now I'm afraid to even open the drawer on my 360 and I'm terrified of the dust that gathers on my PS3. What if it overheats! Gasp! Consoles were better when they were more like toys. 

Just think, online gaming has really only got started in a big way this generation. Yea, there was such stuff back in the 90's and early 00's, but it's really gotten to the mainstream now with millions of players online at once. That's not been a lot of time to work out all the problems with this on consoles.

I got to thinking about this listening to E on Major Nelson's podcast talking about the huge growth in numbers of players on Xbox Live all logging into a game on day-one and the problems that creates. 

So yes, this thing called video gaming has gotten very complicated. I agree.

I was just joking with a friend the other day how games use to be nearly free and now every little bit of content costs something. Once they get your credit card online, it's sell sell sell and they never leave you alone. It's never enough. Of course my joke was that you used to go out and buy a pack of cards or chess set for $20 or less and you were good. That's going back pretty far. It's not quite that bad but it's not too far fetched.

I got a nice silver Gamecube and PS2 slim a while back. I love that they are so small and easy to hook up. I'm always scared to death of jostling my 360 and making it red ring. My PS3 is so bulky too. I need a huge case to move it anywhere.

Every so often I boot up the last gen systems or older and yea, it's nice to not have to worry about whether you're connected to the internet and have to log into your ID to play a game. But I guess that's the price we pay to be connected to other people online. It's both good and a pain sometimes.

Also, I got that screen once on the PS3 and I just ignored it and restarted the system. So far no problems. 

Awesome! I can't wait to pick it up. 

I read the first Mass Effect book. It gives you the story of the mission that got Capt. Anderson removed from the Spectres. It's recapped by Anderson if you talk to him in the game. I just thought it was neat they linked up the stories of both novel and game so closely. I should probably read the other books too. I've read all the comics which are excellent. The first one deals with Liara and her dealings with the Shadow Broker and Cerebus.

After one  and 1/4 playthroughs, I'm still not comfortable with the combat, but I think if I play again not as an engineer, I'll have access to more weapons and can do more. I've got to figure out the special skills too. I think I managed to hack one robot that was attacking me the other day. Aim and hit "X" I think.