Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

I surprised no one has pointed out the most absurd part of this commercial: a whistling tank! Modern military science could never hope to achieve such a feat.

Looks like the UAV pilot and that medic developed an unspoken pact to farm that poor sniper for XP. To me, this represents just one more step down the slippery slope towards the rise of massive corporate organ farms that will use human beings as "renewable energy."

The future is grim, my friends, for today this fellow is merely an "innocent" gamer seeking XP with a side of "lulz." But when he puts away childish games and turns his sinister energies towards earning real world profits, where will it lead? Lo, he shall collude with the noob hunters, rank boosters, and glitch exploiters of the world to "pwn" the socities of the world, shaking the foundations of morality and humanity that our very civilization is founded upon! The halls of the righteous shall tremble and the voice of the people shall cry out in agony! And then fall silent, forever.

'His name is AbusiveMeerkat, l33t of l33ts; look on his works, ye Campers, and despair!'

I had a great time as well! Got my PS3 copy of the game from Gamefly a day late, but if any of you PS3 players want to add Riverdogs14, I'd be happy to play with you if we catch each other online.

Some amusing moments I remember:

1. Cruising around Panama Canal on an ATV, I saw some poor sucker crossing the road. Before he could make it to the safety of a building, I ran him down for a sweet road kill. My momentum carried me up a pile of rubble, and I'm thinkin', time for a sweet jump! Then I drilled into a busted car at the top of the heap, which exploded and sent my corpse hurtling through the air. Still kind of sweet, in that oh-crap-I'm-dead kind of way.

2. Anti-tank mines on Port Valdez. One of my favorite things!

3. Collecting dogtags from you folks, though the Et Tu Brute achievement still eludes me.

4. Warning my team of the enemy's (Shaun's) nefarious plan to "commit to excellence."

Good times folks! Hope to see you on the Battlefield soon!

At the risk of derailing this delightful bro-down, I'm gonna chime in here with a quick note to say that I'm working on the PC review right now and you can expect it in the next day or so.

Also, I have a theory about the child level for the folks who were wondering about it. My impression was that the reason my gun started moving like it was a mounted MG was because I was actually carrying the kid on my back. With that extra weight, it makes sense that your aiming wouldn't be as precise. One of the many touches that make this game so good!

Played any Borderlands? That's a great one. Also Left 4 Dead 2!

It's not exactly an under-the-radar game, but I remember Blast Corps. very fondly. You drive bulldozers through buildings and drift dump trucks through houses. It's smashtastic!

Heck no the game didn't flop! Although I gotta be honest, after reading through this thread, I get the feeling that I'm not exactly hip with the lingo. In an effort to get up to speed, and to try to take inspiration from @kevinv (mega props indeed, @Giancar), I thought I'd stick my head in here and see what y'all think about MAG. Seems like some folks are quite enjoying it, others not so much. The ol' online FPS scene is busy these days, and getting busier.

@jg4xchamp - As for the gunplay, I found it was up to the task, and I'm not quite sure what other folks disliked about it. It wasn't perfect, and it isn't a standout in the genre, but I never felt like it was hindering my face-shooting.

@lawlessx - I find that folks generally stick with squad leader FRAGO targets. Double the experience points is a powerful motivator, I reckon.

@ancientdozer - It's not unheard of for devs to try and arrange play sessions before a game's retail release, but we at GameSpot don't go that route. For more on that, check out this article by Justin Calvert on our review event policy (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6240528.html). With online games like MAG, we always test the game thoroughly on public servers.

And if there are any other threads you folks think I should chime in on, please let me know!

I heartily recommend Prince of Persia. I played Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time a few years back (you could play the most recent one), and my girlfriend really got into watching me play. It's a very pretty game, and the acrobatic climbing and swordfights were really fun for her to watch. She didn't like to be around most other games (shooters in particular), but PoP was visually appealing and action-packed enough to keep her entertained. From a gameplay perspective, it's pretty easy to pick up, and the whole rewinding time thing makes it pretty forgiving.

I would be wary of a larger RPGs because they take so long to complete and often have complicated inventory management stuff. If you really want something meatier when it comes to story and characters, I would definitely pick Mass Effect 2. It is long, yes, but it's also very engaging, and the gameplay is very accomodating for a new player. She won't need to learn fancy controls to have conversations. And in combat, have her play as an Adept. She can just take cover, select a power the paused radial menu, and then unleash it. She won't have to worry about run-and-gun controls, and ME2 doesn't have extensive inventory management like a lot of other RPGs mentioned in this thread.

The more I think about it, the more I'm confident that Mass Effect 2 is your best choice. Good luck!

My Review-in-Progress write-up for MAG went live last night, check it out on the Under Review blog.