I am. And am I the only one who finds the fact that, aside from The Last of Us and Dishonoured, every new game announced there is a sequel is slightly depressing? Is the gaming industry really so stuck in a rut that we can only find original IPs with indie developers and that everything else has a subtitle or a 3 stuck behind its main title (and in the case of Call of Duty, ten jillionty-five)?

I've noticed the same thing in both the music and movie genres too, and agree heartily that there is a vast opening for anyone with a creative mind that can think up something totally new/different/unique that will break into ground that hasn't been walked to death and shake up the entertainment industry - a new sound, a new theme, new ideas - stimulate a creative boom. It is definitely needed.

I guess they think true art is angsty... or they don't feel like taking risks and straying from their moneymaking formula.

They don't have to stray from it, they could have the developers that always work on that franchise continue what they do. Hold an open contest for creative new game ideas and give the best one a bonus, sort of like Bethesda did with that "Jam" - it came out with some awesome ideas.

I believe that the problem is that the same capital sources that once brought us formulaic movies has moved to the game industry and applied the same logic there. You can have the bold new ideas, but they won't be funded.

Agreed.

Folks, Grits World has been hectic. I think I'm regaining the upper hand, though. Catch up shortly.

Aww, bless your heart, Grits, and I hope things settle down for you. Be here when you can. Your beautiful story and gracious support to other writers are well worth waiting for.

Yeah!! Wrestle it to the ground and then you beat that sucker till it begs for mercy!!... ...

...

...

No? ...

Hope you get back soon... ...

I can't say it any better than Acadian did here, so I'll just say "Ditto" to his comment. You are always missed and/or worried about, so if you don't tell us something we'll begin to imagine all kinds of things (dire or otherwise), lol. <333

We're pulling for you, Grits.

My best friend moved away today. She lived down the street for the last eleven years. There are hopeful things to say about visits and keeping in touch, but we both know what our lives are like. We’re going to lose each other.

I know there are folks I love all around me, and some who want more attention than I’ve been able to give. I’m not worried about loneliness. It’s just that there won’t be anyone new like her. No matter who comes along, those times have passed.

So, anyway.

Sad day Grits.

Been through this, but I was the one that moved. The result was the same, though. Best friends are hard to come by, and all the long distance calls or what infrequent visits we could muster between us could never bring us back to the time when we were able to just be. Miles between do make a difference, and it isn't like you can find another friendship as perfect as the one you lost. My sympathy to both of you.

Sorry to hear that, Grits. Hope you manage to keep in touch, but I know that it can be pretty hard to do so over a long distance, even with the Internet knocking about nowadays.

In other news, just sent a sample of a short story off to a publisher. I'm now very, very nervous about whether or not I'll hear back from them...

Thanks, folks.

Colonel Mustard, how exciting and nerve-wracking! I hope you soon have cause for celebration.

Good luck with that Mustard.

Just thought I'd stick my head in to say hi and sorry for the extended absence. I've been busy moving house, preparing to graduate tomorrow, going on holiday (which was brilliant) and don't have an internet connection (and won't until mid July by which time I may not be in the country). It's odd being without a connection, particularly in a flat which is a bit of a timewarp already...

But I'll be back at some point, and with more written I should imagine.

Thanks you two, and congratulation on graduating, Olen! Hope all goes well with your moving.

On a related note, my exams have finally come to a close; I had the rather alien experience of an entirely free day where I was obligated to do nothing yesterday, and so just pratted around playing Xbox and doing a bit of writing.

Wierd, wierd day indeed.

Sounds like a fantastic day to me, Colonel.

Congrats on graduating. I finished the new student conferences yesterday. I can't imagine what class registration was like before computers. It's overwhelming enough with a realtime attendance counter.

7 weeks of freedom before O-Week.

Hope to hear from you soon, Olen.

Good luck Colonel Mustard, and congratulations to those of you who've graduated.

So, my granddad's funeral was a few weeks ago at the same time as school ended, then we visited my other granddad for the midsummer holiday during the weekend that just passed, and I came home to find that my computer wouldn't launch Now my dad's friend(the guy I bought it from) has had a look at it, and it seems like it's the motherboard that has stopped working. He thinks he's got a spare one in his locker at work, and he's going to see if he can get it to work. So hopefully I'll soon have my computer back in working order, but still. Kind of annoying that it chooses now to shut down, when I've had lots of time to play on it. See, the rain's been pouring down these last few days, so it's not like I could go outside.

Oh well, at least I'm finally getting somewhere with Ekali's story.

Life really is odd sometimes though. The day after I found out about my grandfather's death I spoke to my boyfriend again, and he'd managed to get a job. So now the contracts have been written, and his first day was today. And if everything goes well, next year he'll use the money he earns to buy a plane ticket, and come to Stockholm. So we might actually meet next year. I didn't think that's happen untill at least one of us had finished school.

If my computer breaks, it's usually when I get back from a trip and it's been off for a long time. Weird how that happens.

So, long story short...

The comp got a mega virus which deleted many many files so it stopped working...So said the brother in law that we sent it to be fixed by...

And then we got it back...Wha-hey!!...

Then the father in law had a minor heart attack... ...

And he's currently waiting to see if he needs a by-pass operation... ...

Oh, and thanks to my freeing of time up...I've become addicted to Assassins Creed Brotherhood...So it's going to be some time before I write anything again... ...Hey-ho...

But still...As a wise man once said...

"Hallo Captain Tarpals...Meessa back!"

I'm so sorry about your Father-in-law, and your PC issues - but...WOO HOO! You are back! You have been missed !!!

Welcome back, McB!

Yay, McB is back! I hope things go well for your father-in-law.

Welcome back, Hope things go well for your father in law.

I ran some errands with The Girl this morning. The Boy was still abed when we returned. I could tell by the silence that he knew I wanted something. Eventually I heard him moving around, but he somehow avoided me. He even managed to turn a chicken biscuit into a crumpled wrapper without my seeing him. Now we’re about to leave again, so I posted up in the hallway.

Sure enough he tried to duck past on the way to the Roost (attic) carrying his iPod, drink, and snacks.

“Go put on that pair of jeans that fits and come back to show me,” I told him. “I’ll get you some more while we’re out today.”

He took it in good spirits. “Dammit, now I have to put on underwear.”

We’re in the same house, but his days are not like my days.

SPEW !!!

And a trifecta on the wonderfully clever style of humor that seems to pervade the Grits household!

Well I downloaded the Dawnguard DLC and played through it. I was very impressed. Honestly I found it much more enjoyable than the main storyline of Skyrim. The biggest down side is that the 8-9 hour DLC costs $20. I still found it to be worth the money, it is long enough that I didn't feel ripped off and it adds several neat things to the that fit very well into the base game.

Cool stuff in Dawnguard:

1. The environments are amazing. They're honestly some of the best I've ever seen, the designers should definately get a raise or at least a good pat on the back for their work. Seriously, Dawnguard has tons of beautiful areas to explore and stare at in awe.

2. You can choose between rebuilding a guild of vampire hunters or joining with the extremely powerful vampire group. I've only played through against the vampires so far but it was great. Playing briefly as a vampire lord was also very unique and makes you feel very powerful.

3. The story is interesting and there are a couple of surprises thrown in that are really great. I had a great time playing through it. Trust me, there is enough to satisfy you if you're an Elderscrolls fan that enjoys the lore itself.

4. New weapons including crossbows with exploding bolts with magic effects. The best versions cause massive damage and are very useful in combat.

5. Claim a powerful artifact and either halt or advance a plot to black out the sun.

6. This expansion adds a powerful and useful companion to the game. She also has a great background.

7. Dawnguard adds powerful new enemies that are actually sometimes challenging. I went in at level 40 and still got my backside kicked a couple of times.

Seriously guys, I loved this DLC. I felt very satisfied even after dropping $20 on this thing.

I have my septims saved, just waiting now for the PC release.

The Boy has been playing Dawnguard, and he absolutely loves it. Right now he’s on his second run, this time as not a vampire. Of course he wants me to play it too so he can speak in my presence without me yelling, “Spoilers!!” So I started a character on the Xbox.

The first thing I noticed was that I couldn’t read the blurry lettering in the menus. I did not accept The Boy’s diagnosis of “You’re Old.” It seemed to be a cable issue. So I went upstairs to ask him if we had an HDMI cable. What followed was fairly typical of our interactions.

“Sure,” he says and cheerfully dives behind the TV.

“Wait! That one’s connected to the Playstation. Do we have another one?”

“Yep.” He heads downstairs.

I get a bad feeling. I make it down in time to see him disappear behind the sound system.

“STOP! That one is in use! Good grief, if I said I needed a kidney, would you tell me you have two? I meant do we have an extra cable stuffed into a box somewhere!”

He looks at me like I’m the idiot. “If we did, I would have used it on the Xbox.” Eyeroll.

Never a dull moment in the House of Grits!

Sounds like something I'd say.

*

@ Kiln - that is about the same thing my son experienced. He played his first round as a vampire (gave up his werewolfism) - 12 (almost straight through) hours of intense play. He loves the DLC !!

@ Grits - My son went from a gameboy to the XBox and then 360 - and somewhere along the line developed an ability and knowledge to rewire the entire house if it would bring him a better visual or sound for his games. I turn to him whenever I want something done electronic, lol.

I don't think I had a chance of properly introducing myself. I'm Lycanthropic-Legend, latest addition to this community. I've been following you folks for awhile now. I love roleplaying and writing.

What do I do for a living? Job hunting and trying to get into a good college, I suppose. May or may not join the military later on.

I am a big Elder Scrolls fan and consider myself to be somewhat of a lore athlete, but not a lore buff . Since we're talking about Dawnguard, I must say I loved some of the new content, but I never played it yet.

Welcome Lycanthropic-Legend!

Welcome, LL! That is one long call sign you have.

Glad you joined us and hope you like our little community here.

First day and you already have a nickname! Welcome, LL!

Prom night for college yesterday, verrrrry interesting.

Ended up in McDonalds (as per usual) at like 4am, where another drunk guy, completely at random, picked up on the fact I wasn't wearing a belt with my shirt and tie combo.

I went along with it for some friendly banter, until ANOTHER random guy from across the table stood up, walked up to the tie guy and started telling him to 'leave him [me] alone' and 'stop being a twat'.

They ended up staring each other down, and the McDonalds security guard had to seperate them!

So basically, two guys fought over me in McDonalds at 4am in the morning, and the moral of the story is, always, always wear a belt.

LL Cool J !!

This had me in hysterics, especially the moral of the story, ROFL !! Glad the guy that was all tore up about your belt being missing didn't decide to fight you over the discrepancy !!!

Hello everyone! Very sorry for being away for so long, but my computer is being fixed now and I hope to be back to roleplaying and writing in the next few days! Feels good to be back!

Welcome Back !!

I am definitely adding a belt to the Emergency Preparedness Kit.

And welcome back, Solo Rollo!

Welcome LL and welcome back Rollo!

Welcome to Chorrol, LL! (You're the second LL I know on a forum now. Wierd.)

And Illy, those are wise words. You never know when a belt might come in handy. If often have to use mine to fight lions, I find; a quick slap on the nose is often enough to send them on their way, if I'm feeling merciful and don't want to make another carpet out of them.

Welcome to Chorrol LL!

My computer is now working as it should, but I have to reinstall Windows 7. Luckily I only had a few games aside from the steam folders on the C drive.

On another note, I got my acceptance letter to my new gymnasium/high school the day before yesterday!