How fun would it be for Marvel to sneak Doctor Doom into the Marvel Cinematic Universe through a Doctor Strange movie… That’s within the realm of possibility, even though I guess everyone would already know about the rights being transferred away from FOX.

Why did you arrive at a tie for #8? Is there some kind of algorithm that literally resulted in two GotY titles with the same score? Ten Best lists are all sort of arbitrary to begin with… Unless, of course, there IS a scoring system kept secret.

SO MUCH FOR SPOILER FREE. NOW I KNOW YOU SAW THE MOVIE AND LIKED IT.

You guys are the best.

LORE is just a four letter word. The Dissolve (RIP) published a fantastic article about the way horror movie sequels often simultaneously fail to live up to the original film while diminishing the eerie quality that made the original film scary by explaining away the unknown stuff that was left intentionally unexplained. The Hunger Games isn’t a horror movie, technically, though the dystopian society and the Games themselves are certainly horrifying.

Picking things up in the middle of the story is an intentional and very fun story telling device. It works in Game of Thrones. It worked in Star Wars: A New Hope. It worked in Hamlet.

These thoughts are incomplete, so I hope I’m clear enough. Leave the lore in the past.

The conversation about micro-transactions is interesting. I was talking about the price of video games with my brother yesterday, and sort of commented about the subject on the post about Hearthstone’s Holiday bundle.

This game is clearly frustrating to some people because it costs $60, and then after spending $60, you have the option to spend more money to accelerate your access to in-game content. I actually agree that that specific system sounds dumb, but I think it has something to do with the accepted belief in the gaming community that "video games cost $60."

In 1994, Final Fantasy 3 was released in the US for SNES and I THINK it cost more than $60. That was 21 years ago! What costs the same today that it cost in 1994? A movie ticket in 1994, in my area, cost $6.50. The same theaters today charge roughly $10. If this site: http://www.usinflationcalculator.com is accurate, then $60 in 1994 equates to $96.29 in 2015. That suggests, I think, that the value of the dollar has dropped by 50% while the demands of the gaming community have risen. People commenting on this post suggest this game should be worth $20-$30. $20 in 2015 is VERY LITTLE MONEY.

While being asked for a little more money after spending what you assumed was the total bill is frustrating and stupid, video games likely should just be asking for $80+ for new titles. It seems like the industry realized that gamers would simply stop spending money at the visual threshold of $60, so they worked out a way to compensate for the shrinking value of the dollar by offering people who have more expendable income the opportunity to have a slightly better time subsidizing the experience for the people who perceive $60 as the top price ever possible for video games.