I don't think I'm coming back for the second show. It really didn't hook me. I wish the host and the crew all the best, but this felt like it was high(er) budget without a lot of substance.It's like a copy of the waiting game with fancier graphics and no Johnny. Which wasn't a terribly good show to begin with.

Ultimately, shows about recommending new content that is already widely known is a bit tedious. Not least of all because it assumes from its premise that a website about gaming is going to be populated by people who don't know about gaming. That just sounds like it's going to be unsatisfying for the viewership in the long run.

Are we all forgetting at Fallout 3 was a bastardisation of a deep and rich universe to make a poorly conceived TES clone? New Vegas was a proper fallout, but Bethesda's take was all flash and no substance.

I want to know why chili sauce is the nasty thing to do? Personally if you gave me a paper cup of chocolate and a paper cup of hot sauce, I'd take the hot sauce every time. I mean, there is a reason I put it on everything. Surely I'm not alone in this preference for spicy food over sugary food.

But I think the real take away here is that people who are invested in something take on traits of something. I'd guess that this is the same force that makes people tense their muscles when watching an action movie.

I don't think this research is particularly useful, because the purpose it serves is a political tool of moralists to condemn hobbies like our own.

That sendoff was a bit lame, to be honest. However, thanks for all free entertainment, Johnny and company.

It was good while lasted. I look forward to what you do next. Waiting for that Kay Pacha kickstarter.

Thanks again. See you around.

Two things:

Firstly, Gamespot can't very well complain about the tedium of the console wars when it stokes those very same fires locally by posting every non-story where someone even remotely aligned with either "side" said something that can be even vaguely construed as a comment against their "opponents". Either choose to senationalise every drop of "news" or complain. To do both looks disingenuous.

Second, I've watched every single episode of Feedbackula and am sorry to see the show go... partially so. I think it ran its course, but thanks for the free entertainment. I've enjoyed watching. BRING BACK START/SELECT. Kidnap Jane and make her do episodes again if you have to. Or... not? I mean she's doing pretty well in producing Start/Select sort of quality already.

Thanks for the fun times, Johnny. I'm looking forwards to what you do next.

I missed the point where Ken Levine became a liege lord and was responsible for the well-being of those who work for him. I'd be the first to call him a pseudo-intellectual hack, but those people were paid for their work. They sold their time and efforts for money. Beyond contractual obligations, they are not owed more than that.

If they are as talented as everyone apparently claim, then they're leaving a studio with a sterling CV. Because they worked at a studio that Levine built. Not single handily, surely, but it's associated with him. It's tied to his name in all of our minds. He wouldn't just be selling his studio, but also his reputation.

One could argue that the success of Irrational is based on Levine's vision for taking interesting choices (and then making a mess out of them) and stupid people who think they are smart who fail to see past the smoke and mirrors to what have been a series of shoddy releases. But you can't praise Bioshock for being a fresh and interesting execution of Levine's vision and then turn around and criticise him for using that same vision to move forward in other ways-- especially since this moving to a leaner, hungier studio would seem to allow him to fix many of the problems with a lot of Irrational games, which is sort of covered in the Point this week.

Bioshock Infinite should have played like an episode of Star Trek or the Prisoner, where the player got to explore the issues raised by the setting, rather than being a shooter. It should have used violence, and the threat of, for dramatic purposes and not as filler between objectives. So, yes, I think Levine made the right decision in downsizing Irrational. It's his company and he is the engine of its success, so if he thinks there shouldn't be an irrational without him, then trust him if you value the products that Irrational made before.

Jess, your top five are full of characters which made me yell "Nobody loves Milhouse!" at the screen.

Who would be in my top three? In no particular order:

Viconia

My Hawke-- Her sadness is delicious. It actually makes me sad that I can't load up the game and do more than just walk around the mansion.

Mary Read from Assassin's Creed IV.

I'd also throw in my heroine from Skyrim, whose personality and character is solely the product of my imagination.

Clearly I have a thing for tragic heroines. My relationships are all doomed.

The cardinal sin of Simcity isn't the online only or small maps. Were that the case, I'd own it by now. The cardinal sin is that the game costs $40 and each DLC retails for like $10 a pop, with an expansion at $30. If the game and the expansion were bundled for $40, and the DLC were $2.99 a pop, I'd have bought them all already. Hell, I'd bought it for my friends too.

Alumnus - One (male) person who has graduated from an university

Alumni - Plural of Alumnus (or Alumna)

An all-star cast of Alumnus is one person. While technically "all-star", most people would not likely refer to it as such.

Pillars of Eternity

Torment: Tides of Numenera

The Mandate

Wasteland 2

Planetary Annihilation