Leave a comment Posted on October 29, 2015October 28, 2015 by Steve Murray Video Games

Tales from the Borderlands – Episode Four Review: The Bravo-Team

If you were to ask the critics, Tales from the Borderlands is the hidden gem of Telltale’s slate of episodic adventure games. I’d hazard that those critics are also going to be fans of or at least have played the Borderlands games at some point in time. I think I’ve mentioned before that I’ve never put much more than five hours into Borderlands.

When you take that into consideration, it’s probably not that much of a surprise that I haven’t rated Tales from the Borderlands as well as most critics. And while a number of critics saw the penultimate episode of TFTB as the best episode in the series and called the series the best thing out of Telltale since the first season of The Walking Dead. I saw it as just an episode.

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Leave a comment Posted on October 29, 2015October 28, 2015 by Steve Murray Randominity

Amazing Jack-o-Lanterns 2015

It’s time for The Lowdown’s annual tradition. I’m not talking about another anniversary show but tomorrow is actually the 8th anniversary of The Lowdown (our first episode was on October 30, 2007). No, today we do our annual look at some really cool Jack-o-Lanterns to give us all some inspiration for our own. One day, one of us might actually do something cool enough to be featured here. Today, we sit back and watch.

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Leave a comment Posted on October 28, 2015October 28, 2015 by Steve Murray Link-Off

Wednesday Link-Off: The Greater Good

Sometimes, I’m not entirely sure if it’s better that you leave people to their own paths and plans. After all, it’s nice that someone will chip in some help but that doesn’t mean they are actually contributing to the cause even if they should drop the act. Sorry, I was really tired when I wrote this but it does make some sense.

Anyway, it’s Wednesday which means that we have to do the links. Let’s kick things off with Katherine McPhee.

Is the Ontario government opening up beer sales to some grocery stores for the greater good or part of secret legislation changes to protect the interests of big brewing? (The Globe and Mail)

The NDP went from possibly being the third-party to form the Canadian government to returning to their history also-ran status. How did they go from virtual certainties to a distant third? (Canada.com)

A lot of people thought the Duffy trial would negatively impact the Conservatives’ reelection chances. In fact, the late campaigning with the Ford brothers did them worse. (Metro)

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Leave a comment Posted on October 27, 2015October 26, 2015 by Steve Murray Video Games

The Mass Effect / Pokemon Crossover You Never Knew You Needed

Sometimes, you just don’t know what you need until you get it. Take this fan art album we have for you today. Sketch-BGI over on DeviantArt designed a massive collection of Mass Effect species and turned the into Pokemon complete with evolutions and types. We’re already at 720 Pokemon. What’s another 63 really awesome additions between friends?

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1 Comment Posted on October 25, 2015October 25, 2015 by Steve Murray Link-Off

Sunday Link-Off: Ready

I’m not going to sit here all giddy but I was quite happy with the election results from Monday. Sure, I think I would have actually preferred a minority but I won’t complain about Canadian citizens resoundingly rejecting the status quo and telling the NDP that skewing hard right to pickup Liberal and Conservative voters isn’t the way to win.

Anyway, it’s Sunday which means it’s time for us to do the links. Let’s kick things off with Sarah Silverman.

We’re so used to negative campaigns in politics. It was nothing short of amazing that Justin Trudeau’s positive campaign vaulted him from third place and somebody derided as a joke candidate to a majority and 24 Sussex Drive. (MacLean’s)

And from the opposite side, here’s how the Harper government fell in #elxn42. (The Globe and Mail)

Even the New York Times weighed in on the importance of image in the election. Nice hair was actually a factor. (New York Times)

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Leave a comment Posted on October 24, 2015October 24, 2015 by J Entertainment, Link-Off

Entertainment Link-Off: The Battle Continues…

I apologize. This week’s link off is a bit late. I just got back from vacation and sleep became my number 1 priority. I shall look into the issue of having the keyboard imprinted on my forehead in a minute. Anyway, The Last Witch Hunter is out and Vin Diesel is keen to launch another franchise. I wasn’t particularly compelled to see it until I saw Rose Leslie in it. Maybe she does have powers…

After the jump, Daniel Craig does not think highly of James Bond, no more high heels in Jurassic World sequel, Harry Potter is getting an eighth installment and Angels in the Outfield get a 30 for 30 treatment. Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on October 23, 2015October 20, 2015 by Steve Murray Entertainment

Doctor Who: The Girl Who Died Review

The Doctor Who and Game of Thrones crossover game was strong this week. We always have that connection between the two series because Jenna Coleman is dating Richard Madsen (Robb Stark). This week, we’re going back to medieval times and adding Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) as a Viking girl. Okay, it’s not quite a proper Doctor Who / GoT crossover but it’s probably as close as we’re going to get until Littlefinger shoves Clara out the Moon Door.

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Leave a comment Posted on October 22, 2015October 20, 2015 by Steve Murray Video Games

Life is Strange – Episode Four Review: Hello Darkness, My Old Friend

Next week marks the release of the final episodes of both Tales from the Borderlands and Life is Strange. As someone who is reviewing both games, that leaves me a choice of which game I should play first with both finales coming out this week. After playing Episode 4: Dark Room, Life is Strange proved that it is the best in class in the episodic adventure game genre.

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Leave a comment Posted on October 21, 2015October 20, 2015 by Steve Murray Video Games

Life is Strange – Episode Three Review: Truth and Consequences

Newton’s third law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Put simply, for every action take, there is an opposing force pushing the opposite way with equal strength. While that’s a law of physics, Newton may as well have been a philosopher with that one. I’m not sure that there’s a law of physics more appropriately applied to life.

The whole point of Life is Strange is actions and their equal and opposite reactions. You could make the argument that all games that are designed to change themselves to fit your decisions should act like that. If there’s one thing that Dontnod has gotten right through three episodes of Life is Strange, it’s that your decisions cause real and obvious reactions in Arcadia Bay. It certainly extends beyond just little changes in dialogue too.

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