AllenA07

I was very impressed. I have somehow become a bit of a Naughty Dog fan boy at this point (I've owned all the Crash games, Jax games, Uncharted games, and now the Last of US) and even by their standards this was an amazing game. It's a toss up for me if this is the highlight of the PS3 for me, Uncharted 2 is the only one that I think I enjoyed as much.

It took me a while (2 months) but I finished up the Last of Us on Sunday. Overall I was amazed at how much I enjoyed the game, it had the deepest story of any game I think I've ever played. At this point I don't think I have time to finish another PS3 game (life is busy, I don't get much time to play video games) so I will be playing sports games between now and November 15th when I move on to the PS4.

I like Mooyah more then Five Guys, but both are great. I just wish they were a few bucks cheaper.

I'm guessing that the majority of the work isn't rehabs, but rather rides breaking down.

Gold Rusher and Ninja both have two lifts.

I could see them combining the tracks into one coaster, however with modifications that would keep it from lasting a full 6 minutes. What I would imagine happening is a highly modified "second" track that eliminates the lift hill. I just can't see a ride being built with a double lift hill (yeah I know that SFMM has two rides with double lift hills).

As long as RMC is paid, I highly doubt that they care how the park operates or markets. RMC is a business and they're objective is to make money. If a park is willing to pay, they are going to be willing to do the work.

My guess is Iron Rattler being closed is Six Flags way of say, "hey look guys, we care about safety, look we're conducting a full investigation!" But yeah, I'm sure the truth is they could have left Texas Giant open and not missed a cycle and nothing more would happen. However the media backlash from that would be devistating for the park. I expect Iron Rattler to reopen Saturday and Texas Giant to follow in another week or so. The park needs to draw that fine line between figuring out how long to leave it closed in order to make the public happy.

Most of the teenagers in Santa Clarita have been taking that view for years.

Robb the difference I see is one of necessity. A roller coaster is something that is an entertainment device and having it closed for a while doesn't have any real impact on anything other than the bottom line of the park. In Spain, closing the train system down for a short while would have a huge national level consequences and would be far more problematic. I look at it in the same way I look at a plane crash. Just because a plane crashes in the United States (with the obvious exception being 9/11) we don't ground all air traffic pending an investigation. With that said I think the reaction here is being blown way out of proportion. Something bad happened and likely it was preventable at some point. I'm sure somebody is going to be found responsible and policies will be adjusted. Then people will go back to having there 1 in 700 million chance of being killed at an amusement park and nobody will think about it again until the next time it happens a few years from now. I would be willing to guess that almost everything you do during your day at the park will be more dangerous than the time spent on the rides. Heart attacks and heat stroke are far bigger risks you take at the park each time you go. I've been into this hobby to some degree for about 15 years now, each accident I've seen (and really there have not been that many) has suddenly convinced people that these are death machines. Each time people overreact, then promptly forget and start going on the coaster again, until the next time an accident occurs and starts the entire cycle over again.

It really shocks me how bad some lawyers are at doing that. However considering that the vast majority of attorney's never see the inside of a courtroom, it shouldn't be that surprising. I'm at least a little interested to see who gets sued here. Somebody dies at a park, you know the suit is coming. If I had to guess it'll be Six Flags thrown under the bus (deepest pockets) but I wouldn't be at all surprised if one of the parties turns around and brings in some of the manufactures. It's always fun a spread the pain around a little.

This has been Markey's baby for a while now. I want to say he has been pushing for this for at least the last decade. It's never gotten anywhere before, and I don't expect it to be different this time.

It was on the news (NBC Dallas if anybody is really curious) this morning that people from Gerstlauer will be on site today.

Just curious about the business side of this, but how large of an industry is this? This is literally the first time I've ever heard of the mermaid industry, but from what you're saying, you and other people manage to make a living at this. I've got to assume that this is an exceptionally niche market, right?

Auto save is your friend.

One of my favorite places!

I'm fighting my way trough that part of the game now.

I would be curious to know what the standard process is for getting the green light from the state. If this is something most parks do 6-8 weeks in advance of opening (which I bet it isn't) then SFMM screwed the pooch on this one. On the other hand, if this is typical procedure and some guy is just late to work, then it is an unfortunate situation. Either way, I'm very curious for some actual ride reviews.

I've never met Bonnie, but in her defense how many people ever stopped and chatted with Del Holland around the park? I think in all my years of going there I saw him once just wandering the park.

I'm really not that shocked that Microsoft back tracked and changed their position. They were getting so much negative press, and everything about E3 last week as a disaster for them. I thought they might wait a little longer, but I had expected that they may do something dramatic. Part of me also expected to see them do something where they drop the price of their system and just don't include the Kinect camera. I believe that the system requires that, but I'm sure they could strip it down and make it where it doesn't. I've never been all that interested in the console wars. I will admit that I have owned every generation of Playstation over the years, including my currently pending preorder on the PS4. I've never owned an Xbox. I don't have anything against the Xbox like some do, I just have always preferred the exclusives on the Playstation. That being said, I think this ends up looking terrible for Microsoft, it comes off as a tail between the legs move. As much as the DRM issues sucked, I still think the biggest uphill battle for Microsoft is the extra $100 their system costs. For a hardcore gamer it might not be much, but for the rest of us $100 is real money.

I would have expected that he was all business, despite his friendly attitude. You don't run a multi million dollar business without being all business. As much as we may wish that it was, running a park is not like a real life version of RCT.

I've had to rescue Ellie a few times, but for the most part they are coming for you and leaving her alone. Of course you're a grown adult and she is a little girl, so I never really questioned the realism on that aspect. Funny thing last night I was playing and it was the first time that Ellie has gotten in my way. It was a little annoying, but nothing that really took away from an otherwise fantastic game. It's better then in Uncharted (and I love those games) where the people with you decide to run in and engage in a gun battle while you're thinking up a stealthy way to take care of the room.

I love the fact that you need to pick your fights carefully in The Last of Us. Sometimes trying to fight your way through an enemy isn't the right solution, sometimes your best bet is to just run like crazy and hope you make it.

Oh hell I'll just be honest here. If I was running the park in a world where I had unlimited money, then I might go ahead and turn SFMM into my dream RCT park. However in a world where my job depended on the park turning a profit, I would place my focus on what ride was going to give me the highest return on my investment. Super awesome launched looping aquatrax is going to make more money then is family rides or theming for Scream! If the park is ever going to make a serious push to become more family friendly I think the more likely thing to see happen would be a setup where the park adds a coaster, then a few family/flat rides the following year, followed by a coaster in year three. I think it's unlikely that we see the park going long distances between coasters, as they are what brings the crowds.

I see this opening on the same day that the Arrow fish hook coaster opens on the Stratosphere.