It's true, I've never seen King Kong - so while his revelations were spoilers in the classic sense, it's hard not to argue with his logic.  His logic.  Gabe's.  There are things one never really expects to type.

This isn't the first time I'd observed some tiny scene in a movie and felt like I could extrapolate the film, somehow.  King Kong was a movie about a monkey making his crazy way in the big city.  I'd never heard of any Skull Island.  Hair was also this way.  I was with it.  They were dancing in the park, it was the Age of Aquariuuuuuuus, I knew about that, and then bam - on the plane to Vietnam.  I also thought I had a pretty good fix on the Sound of Music, indeed, the hills were alive with it, but they go right from singing about whiskers on kittens to a bunch of Goddamn Nazis kicking down the door.  These are pronounced shocks to a young man such as myself, frail of constitution, given to bouts of tremors and glossalalia even on a pristine summer afternoon.  The idea that even The Sound of Goddamn Music played host to a writhing core of evil was simply too much for a mind already taut with those horrors which, if named, would spring as if from the very sounds of their naming unto a sleeping world.

Where was I?  Ah yes.

So, if Weird Worlds is like a vacation but in outer space, and Sword of the Stars is like playing Space Captains after school on the Jungle Gym, then I think that I can step forward in this trajectory by saying that Galactic Civilizations 2 is probably something like going to work.

As you may recall, I loved the first GalCiv - so I was only too happy to pre-order the second one and gain access to the beta.  That is, until I remembered that I don't really like playing betas anymore.  I used to live for them, several installed simultaneously, here we go, but some internal shift ocurred at some point and now I prefer to play finished games.  Weird, I know.  Oh, and also, the beta for Anarchy Online destroyed my Windows partition, which did sting a bit.

GalCiv2 is, I think it accurate to say, en route to being the definitive star empire simulator.  They're rarely made anymore, which I suppose improves the odds.  More than that, however, is that Stardock is focused on making a full-fat, no excuses, honking angular Imperial Throne for you to recline in and manage your worlds.   I think it's understood that if you want to succeed with this sort of thing, concessions need to be made to the market gods re: mechanical complexity.  They are pretty much telling the market gods to go fuck themselves. 

(CW)TB

no stumbling pilgrim in the dark

I wouldn't expect a lot of this sort of thing.  But I have been asked to make an exception, and asked by someone who I am in no position to refuse.  So prefaced, behold:

He is an arresting creature, to be sure.  As most of his movements are governed by animal reflexes and whatnot, he can't really be blamed for the lion's share of his activities.  This being said, anytime a person pees in your mouth it is difficult not to see it as an insult.

(CW)TB

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the new gamer card feature for the 360. I got this mail in my inbox though and I have to admit I think it’s pretty cool.

Hi Gabe, I see you finished Kong.. I'll take that as an endorsement, as in you liked it? I found the demo to be nice looking, but the controls seemed lacking. Maybe I just didn't know what I was doing, does it take some getting used to?

Cheers,

It’s true I did finally beat Kong a few nights ago. You can definitely take that as an endorsement. In my opinion it’s easily the best launch game for the 360 and one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever seen. There were times in Kong where I felt like I was moving through one of the concept paintings for the film. Towards the end of the game especially there are some absolutely jaw dropping visuals.

The game does have its problems though. Parts of Kong are ridiculously dark. Occasionally I found myself bumping into walls over and over again madly trying to find where the game wanted me to go next. The other problem is the ending. I honestly didn’t think I was spoiling anything for Tycho when I told him Kong died. Like the comic says, this story is more than 70 years old. I feel like the game should have ended with Kong’s capture on the island. When you die in a videogame you lose. Making you play his death scene rather than just watch it is a huge problem. Letting you play it implies you have some control over the outcome but that isn’t the case. No amount of mad button mashing skillz will save Kong from his destiny. You essentially end the game by losing which I found extremely unsatisfying.

I wanted to beat Kong so that I could get started on Prince of Persia the Two Thrones. I figured if I had Kong out of the way I could really focus on POP. Unfortunately POP does not work on the 360. I actually gave away my old Xbox so I’m pretty much shit out of luck until they decide to release a patch. If you ask me MS really dropped the ball with the 360’s limited backwards compatibility. Having more games available to play at the system’s launch could only have helped people’s impression of the 360.

-Gabe out

Once again you guys have set me straight. Apparently if you unlock everything in Kong there is a different bonus ending. I’m not the sort of person who can play back through a game I’ve all ready completed so the chances of me ever seeing this ending are slim to none. I suppose it’s nice to know it’s there at the very least. I am a little curious as to how else they could possible end it. That’s like sitting through the credits after the Titanic and then seeing an ending where the boat just misses the iceberg.

-Gabe out