Liking Games on Facebook for In-Game Bonuses: Is It a No-Go?

gears of war 3 facebook griffin

I was kind of in an argumentative mood this week, it seems, and there was a certain thread on Reddit that caught my ire. In this thread, the poster took a screenshot of a pre-trailer ad for Gears of War 3 stating that people could gain a code to unlock a playable character for Horde and multiplayer named “Griffin”.

While I didn’t think this was a big deal, the title for the article stated “Developers, this is not OK!”. My first thought was, why isn’t this OK? It’s just a harmless code based on liking a Facebook page that doesn’t change the game in anyways. It confers no additional advantages to you, unless you end up playing with a guy who gets really jealous that he doesn’t have a playable character voiced by Ice-T.

I shot back at the guy (see if you can find my comment) and got into a back and forth with a few people who said that this was shameless advertising. I maintined that you aren’t going to “like” a game on Facebook that you’re not going to buy anyways, so this is just a simple bonus.

What do you guys think? Is this an evil move by Epic and Microsoft? Have you got my back?

Source – Reddit

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Spec Ops Survival Trailer is Full of BRAHHH

Man, I really liked Inception (and I enjoy the Mind Hest/everything mash-ups) but that loud, repeating BRAHHH noise is getting a little out of hand. Ranting aside, Infinity Ward just launched a trailer for the Spec Ops Survival mode for Modern Warfare 3, detailing the changes made to the gameplay and all the crazy perks you can purchase with your blood money.

It looks like it plays a little bit like Onslaught from Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (surviving against waves on enemies while trying to complete and objective) and Horde 2.0 from Gears of War 3 (buying gadgets and upgrades) but the action is patently Call of Duty.

Is it just me or does this actually look kind of awesome? Spec Ops was my favorite way to play Modern Warfare 2 and this new title is slowly chipping away at my admittedly weak resolve. What say you about this trailer? Does it look good? Has this coerced you into picking up MW3?

Twenty Five Years of Metroid

metroid 25 anniversary

Much like The Legend of Zelda a few months ago, another one of Nintendo’s long-running franchises is celebrating twenty-five years in existence this week. This particular game is the company’s sci-fi dark horse Metroid, best known for its more mature feel and its female protagonist.

While Metroid is far from Nintendo’s most lucrative franchise, it was no less important than Zelda or Mario in forming the gaming landscape back in the early days. Besides the aforementioned gender bender it pulled, it was also played its part in the advent of the “Metroidvania” style of games where players would start off strong and lose their items to some unforeseen circumstances.

The Metroid series has also given me one of my favorite games ever, Metroid Prime. The first game in the franchise since Super Metroid in 1994, Metroid Prime took some early flak from fans because of the transition to First-Person-Shooter. Despite the nay-saying, the game was very well received, holding a 97/100 rating on Metacritic, one of the very few games in existence to do so. The game did see a couple of sequels, but the original Metroid Prime will always stand as the greatest game in the series to me. While this may not be a surprise to anyone, I did 100% the game and see the real ending.

Another thing that can’t be overlooked about the Metroid series is the music. Even though the themes are not as iconic as Zelda or Mario, the music in Metroid has always been one of my favorites, mostly because of its haunting nature. The music added to the lonely feeling of the games and has given rise to quite a few fan interpretations as well. Seriously, look up Metroid Metal if you don’t believe me.

It’s a shame that Metroid’s 25 anniversary is being a little over-looked by Nintendo, but after Metroid: Other M’s reception, I can’t really blame them. Do you guys have any memories of Metroid? What’s your favorite game in the series? Will we see another Metroid game?

BioWare Alienating Fans in Mass Effect 3? Your Thoughts, Please

bioware alienating fans mass effect 3

Forgive the sensationalist headlines folks, but this is something I’ve been seeing more and more of recently. After Mass Effect 2 toned down the series’ RPG mechanics and tuned up the shooting aspect, there’s been a small but vocal minority complaining that BioWare is abandoning its fans in favor of the dudebro Gears of War audience.

While Mass Effect 2 was way less RPG than its predecessor, it still retained the story and dialogue-focused elements that made the first one such a success. My least favorite parts of the original Mass Effect were the clunky hidden dice-roll combat and the obtuse stat and inventory systems. I loved the story and seeing the ways my Shepard could interact with everyone and I considered the RPG aspects to be a necessary concession to way that the game needed be built. I never considered those mechanics to be an integral part of the Mass Effect experience and I was perfectly fine with the changes they made to 2.

Apparently I am alone is this opinion because a recent article I read on FMV Magazine demonstrates how strongly people feel about this. The writer of the article makes the argument that Mass Effect’s gameplay shouldn’t be made to appeal to a wider player-base, that its inherent RPGness are what makes it a great game. If I’m reading the article correctly, the writer believes that Mass Effect can’t have a great story if its gameplay apes that of Gears of War or other third-person shooters.

Wait, what? I’m sure that I’m reading this wrong, because that makes no damn sense to me. Because the game is now a third-person shooter with RPG-lite elements, it will be all explosions and fist-bumping? Making the argument that story has to be sacrificed because the controls are being tuned to deliver a more shootery experience doesn’t click with me.

I could be wrong in my interpretation of the author’s statements, but that’s how it reads to me. What do you guys think? Will Mass Effect 3’s adherence to more twitch-based gameplay ruin the story (somehow)? Can you sacrifice RPG mechanics and still have a character-driven plot?

Source – FMV Magazine

Much Like Brink, More Games Need a Free Weekend

steam brink free weekend

This past weekend Steam offered Brink, Splash-Damage’s less than well received free-running FPS, as a free download for a limited time. I was turned off by the game’s reception at launch and the various issues I had heard about since then, but at the low, low price of nothing, I was intrigued enough to download it and give it a go.

Instead of being just a simple demo, the full game was up for grabs for the limited time offer and I got to try out a whole host of Brink’s gameplay. I was definitely intrigued by what I played; the game’s free-running aspects were great fun to use once I got used to it and the shooting felt tight and responsive. I played through most of the Security side of the campaign with a friend and we had a great time. This is the co-op shooter that I’ve been missing this year and I never would have played it if Steam hadn’t done this free trial.

While Brink has more than its share of problems (I was dropped from servers constantly until I restarted my PC, which magically fixed that issue), I realized that basing my assumptions off Metacritic ratings isn’t necessarily doing me any favors. For most of the games I’m curious but doubtful about I’ll go off a friend’s recommendation, but I don’t know anyone who even so much as gave Brink a sideways glance.

If it weren’t for some extenuating circumstances, Splash Damage definitely would have made a sale with this free weekend. Brink was a lot more fun then I realized and it kind of made feel stupid for disregarding it in the first place.

Did anyone else try out the free weekend and what are your thoughts on Brink? Did it convince you to pick up a copy? Should more games try this method to boost sales a couple months down the line?

A Live-Action Team Fortress 2 Short for Some Friday Fun

It is Friday today, faithful readers and I hope you are having fun, fun, fun, fun and looking forward to the weekend. As I have no career per say right now (except for my first year of college starting in September), I’ve kind of lost my appreciation for the end of the work week, but I still recognize the need to unwind. Now that I’ve completed my roundabout intro, I’d like to present you with the newest short from Corridor Digital, a couple of YouTube videomens similar to Freddy Wong. Their newest video offers up a neat interpretation of a game we all know and love, Team Fortress 2. It’s just a ridiculous as you’d expect it to be, but that’s half of the fun.

These are the same guys that made Minecraft: The Last Minecart in case you were wondering. What did you guys think of their latest video-game themed outing?

Bungie’s Anniversary ViDoc Features 20 Years of Gaming History

Bungie’s twentieth anniversary may have come and gone (and with it their stewardship of the Halo series) but they have one last present to give to their fans. Pulling footage and interviews from their long history of crafting awesome stuff, Bungie’s newest ViDoc deatils the company’s past in depth, including some frank revelations concerning Halo 2 and its notorious ending.

There’s also a bit about Bungie’s relationship with their passionate community and a few celebrity interviews besides (yes, Anthony, Nathan Fillion is in there). This beast clocks in at just about an hour, so get comfy and prepare to relive your memories of Halo, Myth, Marathon and Oni.

Now that Halo is out of Bungie’s control and they’re onto bigger and better things, do you think that their new project will garner as much acclaim as Halo? What could their new project be? There are some tantalizing hints at the end…

Borderlands 2 is Announced, What do You Want in the Sequel?

borderlands 2 confirmed

After being confirmed by just about every gaming site in existence (thanks to Eurogamer’s diligent journalism) Gearbox Software and 2K Games acknowledged that Borderlands, the gun-porn heavy FPS RPG, is getting a sequel in early 2012.

There was a bit of a kerfuffle over this reveal earlier today with Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford saying that the premature confirmations were more down to “shoddy journalism” than anything else (it couldn’t be that the sites messed up your careful marketing plan, could it?). Inside baseball aside, I’m kind of excited that this game is getting a sequel and I can’t wait to see what’s going to be changed.

Borderlands 2 will take place on Pandora, which is kind of a bummer in my eyes because of how boring looking the planet was in the original, but there’s nothing saying that the majority of the planet was represented by the last game. The game will also feature brand new characters and a bajillion more crazy weapons.

There’s not much else being revealed right now until the Game Informer story hits, so I’m going to open the floor to you guys. What do you want from Borderlands 2? What do you think the new classes will be like? What would you change about the loot system, the level progression and the story? Go!

Source – Borderlands 2

Ars Technica Details how Developers are Messing Up PC Ports

ars technica how to ruin pc ports

Being an occasional PC Gamer, one thing I’ve noticed recently is that PC ports have a few reoccuring mistakes that developers and publishers are continually making. Sometimes they’re simple things, but most of the time they’re huge errors like not allowing users to customize their controls or burying the graphics options deep within the game’s files.

Ars Technica did a little write up detailing how to ruin PC ports in five easy steps and they included all the major faux pas that are far too common for my liking. I’m not too upset about the controls and graphic things (I usually just play on the default settings, anyways) but the log-ins withing log-ins is getting fairly annoying. Grand Theft Auto IV was annoying in this respect as was Crysis 2.

The old PC Gaming bane DRM is also included in this list, with the writer of the article tearing up a quote from the recent Blizzard event detailing Diablo 3’s DRM. Another point of contention is the fact that PC Ports are often released way after the console versions, meaning that any site that deigns to review them will use the original scores and won’t take any usability errors made in the port into account.

While the tone of the article may come off as snarky, it does make more than a few good points and exposes a lot of the hardships that your average PC gamer has to deal with. I know we have a lot of PC gamers on this site, so what did you guys think about this feature? Did it hit pretty close to home?

Source – Ars Technica

Diablo 3 Brings in an Auction House that Uses Real Money, Requires Constant Internet Connection

diablo 3 auction house internet connection

One thing that’s guaranteed to make headlines is a video game developer making a few design choices on the PC that get people up in arms. After continually raising eyebrows back during the lead-up to StarCraft 2, Blizzard invited a few games journalists down to Irvine, California to sample some of Diablo 3. While I’m certain they came away with the excellent taste of RPG/brawler in their mouths, a couple bits of news might have left a sour taste.

Diablo 3 will feature an in-game auction house where players can exchange real money for items or receive cash for selling theirs. As a kick-back for running the service, Blizzard will take a little off the top (like Valve and the community TF2 items), but the seller will still see some payouts in the end. In addition to Blizzard taking their cuts, an un-announced third party will be handling the transaction and taking their piece of the pie as well.

Blizzard sees this as an extension of the trading system in Diablo 2 where the best items would get filtered around by the players on Battle.net. While the auction system will be closely regulated by Blizzard and there are several safeguards in place to prevent abuse, this seems like quite the gamble to be taking with Diablo 3.

Speaking of gambles, Blizzard also announced at the same event that Diablo 3 will require a constant Internet connection, even if you want to play all by your lonesome. The constant connection will be used to authenticate your character with Blizz’s servers and prevent piracy, auction house fraud and other sorts of nastiness. Another part of the reasoning was that Blizzard thought that people wouldn’t appreciate maxing out a character in single-player and starting over from scratch if they wanted to try Battle.net.

That’s quite the pair of head-scratchers right there, if you don’t mind me saying so. Blizzard is always trying to push the envelope in these terms, so this might not be the weirdest things we hear pre-release. What do you guys think about this news? Does this affect your perception of Diablo 3? Oh, and there will also never, ever be mods. So there’s that.

Source – PC Gamer and PC Gamer

From Dust is a God Game with a Twist

from dust

The second offering in 2011’s Summer of Arcade came out this past week, and like Bastion before it, the materials I saw before release intrigued me enough to pick it up. I am speaking, of course, of From Dust, the environment-manipulation game from UbiSoft.

In From Dust, you control the Breath, a deity of sorts that has the ability to manipulate the landscape. You can pick up anything from water to lava with the left trigger and drop it with the right. At first you’ll just be using earth to make bridges over water, but later in the game things get more complex as you’ll be sculpting the land to re-direct lava flows or using wind to part the seas.

No god would be complete without people to worship it and From Dust supplies you with devotees in the form of the Men. These little guys are your responsibility as they seek out to populate the land and rediscover connections to their ancient heritage. For the most part the Men do what they will, you only command them what to do when you want to recover an artifact, found a new village or move on to the next area.

From Dust is a little different from other games of this type because it puts you under a lot of pressure in the later stages, forcing you to move fast against the overly-aggressive nature of the world. Erosion happens very quickly and lava can overwhelm your poor Men if you’re not careful. You’re not omnipotent here, the Breath has a very defined set of powers and it’s up to you to work within those limitations as best as you can. The only problem I’m experiencing with From Dust so far is the controls; they’re a bit too loose for my taste, requiring a lot of compromise on your part as you’re not able to fine tune your movements with the analogue sticks.

Other than that, though, From Dust is a very interesting game and carves out its own niche in the Summer of Arcade. God games are something we don’t see a lot of on the consoles (or even on PC anymore), so if you’ve been missing those types of games, I recommend checking this out.

Has anyone else grabbed From Dust? Are you waiting for the PC/PS3 releases? What are your thoughts?

Civilization 5 Makes Me Miss Other Genres

civilization 5

Over the past weekend, Steam had a sale where Civilization 5 was on offer for seventeen dollars. At that price, you would have to have a very good reason not to pick that up. I tried Civilization 4 on my laptop a while ago, but I never really got into it. After hearing all sorts of great things about the game from when it released last year, I decided to tuck in and seen what it had to show.

I played a few games over the weekend and I have to say that Civ 5 is quite addicting. Once I got a hang of the mechanics and how everything gelled together, I was really digging the nation building aspects and avoiding combat whenever I could. The Barbarians can’t be avoided, but other Civilizations will parley with you peacefully if you’re not too aggressive (small City-States, on the other had, will hate you unanimously if you go around conquering them willy-nilly).

The first game I played like this was Rise of Nations, a real-time game (Civ is played in turns, if you didn’t know) that was as much about building a strong country as it was building a strong army. Civilization is a little bit more focused on the cultural aspects, but it made me miss the hours I spent playing RoN all the same.

Since so much of what I’m playing these days are shooters, Civilization 5 and Bastion were a great one-two punch combo of different genre hotness. It’s nice to play a game where the main objective isn’t “kill all the dudes” and it kind of makes me wish I had bought it earlier.

Did anyone else grab Civilization 5 during the sale? Have you been playing it since release? What do you think of it?

Bastion is a Callback to the Games of Your Youth

bastion video game

Bastion was released this past Wednesday, ushering the in the annual Summer of Arcade on Xbox LIVE. Made by Supergiant Games (and published by Warner Brothers Games), Bastion is an isometric RPG-style beat-em-up that is supposed to invoke the feeling that games gave us back when we were kids. The folks at Supergiant have said this repeatedly since the game was announced and I’d say that they really nailed it.

Taking on the role of “The Kid”, you set out to restore the Bastion, a safe-haven where the residents of Cealondia agree to meet during a catastrophe (called “The Calamity” in this case). Along the way your adventures are narrated by one of the other characters and it’s this persistent monologue that really makes the game shine. The presentation of this game is fantastic, from the dynamic narration to the visuals and the music (oh man, that music). Supergiant has made a classic here, if only in the new steps it takes in storytelling.

The game isn’t exactly perfect, though; the combat is a little too simplistic and repetitive, even if you can apply new attributes and boosts to your variety of weapons. Aside from that minor blemish, Bastion is really, really good and has already given me another music-in-gaming moment that might just top Read Dead Redemption (please be careful clicking that link if you don’t want to be spoiled!).

Is anyone else playing Bastion right now? What are your thoughts?

The Star Wars: The Old Republic Pre-Order Debacle

star wars the old republic pre-order

Some exciting news out of Comic-Con today regarding the Old Republic, but maybe not the kind that people were expecting. It’s not the release date as many people might have hoped, but rather the news that you can pre-order Star Wars: The Old Republic in one of three flavors (regular, Digital Deluxe and Collector’s
Edition).

Pre-ordering is all well and good and as natural to the video game industry as wetness is to the ocean, but letting people pre-order without a release date is a little strange. Beyond that, the Collector’s Edition was very limited (it was sold out by the time I looked at the page this morning) and apparently the Digital Deluxe version is in limited supply as well. You can still pre-order the DD SKU, but after dropping your cash-monies on it you’ll be informed that you are “likely” to receive the thing you paid for.

I’m going to try and not editorialize this too much, but there’s something wrong if you can’t guarantee people something they paid money for, especially if it is digital. What many people suspect EA and BioWare are attempting to do is limit the amount of people logging in on day one in order to transition smoothly from development to MMO-sentience, but they way they’re going about it is all wrong. Opening pre-orders before a solid release date and telling people that they might get what they paid for smacks of under-preparedness among other things.

EA will no doubt bequeath people their Digital Deluxe editions, but whether or not you’ll be in the first run remains to be seen. I get that the Collector’s Edition is supposed to be rare (given the number of Halo 3 boxes I still see in stores makes me scoff at that notion), but putting a limit on a digital item will no doubt raise eyebrows.

What do you guys think of EA’s move? Is it a little too much taking money before putting out a release date?

Review: Bastion

bastion review

Bastion was a curious title that was on the GamerSushi radar for a quite a while. A downloadable isometric brawler/RPG with charming graphics, great music and the unique aspect of having your entire adventure narrated by a silky smooth voice? Color us intrigued.

Even though we were hyped for the game when it dropped, how does it fare when stacked up against the GamerSushi grade chart? Continue reading Review: Bastion

GamerSushi Game Night: StarCraft 2

gamersushi game night starcraft 2

It’s been a long time coming, but the GamerSushi staff are finally ready for another game night. The last official one we had was in Halo 3, with a few random Halo: Reach sessions when that dropped. Now that Eddy has built his new PC, we’ve decided that the time is ripe to have another GamerSushi Game Night.

This time around we’re going with StarCraft 2, so you PC gamers will finally get a chance to trash us. Nick may put up a fight, but Eddy and I will basically roll over and die as soon as you start harassing our mineral lines (seriously though, don’t do that).

While we still need to nail down a specific date (it will be sooner rather than later, don’t worry), what we need you guys to do is put your Character ID below and give us an indication of what time works best for you. Obviously, with the time differences, it’s going to be hard to get it perfect, but we’ll give it our best shot. Much like Halo 3, we’ll probably do this a couple of times to ensure that you’ve had your fill of beating the crap out of us.

Sign up below so we can get an idea of how many people will be participating and we’ll go from there!

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Microsoft Admits they “Lost Their Way” with Halo: Reach, ODST

halo lost its way

I know, I know, this is another gaming industry trash talk article, but bear with me for a minute. Now that Bungie has said good-bye to Halo, Microsoft has taken up the banner, trumping up their upcoming schedule of Halo titles like the Combat Evolved remake this fall and Halo 4 later next year. Since Halo 4 features the return of Master Chief, Microsoft’s Corporate VP Phil Spencer talked with OXM about bringing back the O.G. Spartan and why Halo 4 evokes the spirit of the first Halo. I get that he’s promoting Halo 4, but the way he does it is kind of odd. Have a look at the quote, and see if anything strikes you as unusual.

“The key question for me in managing the studio and the creatives is ‘what is Halo?’, making sure Halo lives up to what I think gamers fell in love with [playing Combat Evolved],” Spencer told OXM at E3 after the new game’s official reveal.

“What does that mean? Playing Master Chief,” he said. “We kind of lost our way a little bit, I’ll say. And that’s why I wanted to make sure that at the unveiling of Halo 4, you knew you were playing Master Chief, that John was back. Because Master Chief is the John Wayne character of that universe, and that’s who you want to play.”

It’s the “we kind of lost our way a little bit” coupled with the fact that Mr. Spencer seems to think that Master Chief is what makes Halo Halo. Now that Bungie has officially parted ways with their old publisher, I think a little bit of resentment is starting to crop up in the 343 Industries office. Saying that Halo lost is way in ODST and Reach was a bit unfair, especially considering that Reach was lauded as the closest the series has ever come to emulating the magic of Halo: Combat Evolved.

I guess you could look at this from a story standpoint, but I just don’t think that gamers care that much about who they’re playing as in Halo, as long as the combat is fun and there’s co-op and multiplayer to boot. What do you guys think? Is Phil Spencer dissing Bungie, or does he geniunly believe that people want the Master Chief back really, really badly?

Source – OXM

Warhammer 40K: Kill Team is an Ork-Slaying Good Time

warhammer 40k kill team impressions

I’m a big fan of Games Workshops’ sci-fi table top game Warhammer 40,000, and I think I’ve mention my affection for the Dawn of War series here on the site a few times. To get in a little extra revenue (and free advertisement) before the release of this Fall’s third-person action game Space Marine, Relic Entertainment has released Warhammer 40K: Kill Team, a twin stick shooter.

Out today for Xbox LIVE Arcade (and next week on the PSN), Kill Team takes the action to a series of levels stuffed with Orks (and maybe a guest appearance by another race) and has the players run through them, trying to get as many kills and points as possible. Being a twin stick shooter (think Guardian of Light but without the awesome puzzles) Kill Team is very basic, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth your time. If you’ve got a co-op buddy, there’s a decent amount of entertainment here for ten dollars.

You can play through the game as one of four different types of Space Marines (each with their own unique skills and special moves) and you can gain boosts and new gear to max out your damage. Facing down hordes of Orks with a buddy and mowing them down with your rapid fire rocket launcher while he rips it up in melee is a sight to behold. When you’re done that, you can run through the levels again with a different Marine, or you can try out the ubiquitous survival mode.

Where the game does fall flat, though, is the fact that co-op is local only and only the lead player can get Achievements. If you can get around these two stumbling points, Kill Team is a blast and exponentially more so with a co-op partner.

I don’t know if any of you were even aware of this games existence, but if you’re hungry for a quick shot of downloadable co-op action without much brain strain, Kill Team should be on your radar. As a bonus, completing one mission in Kill Team gives you access to the Power Sword when Space Marine hits. Are any of you going to try this out, or will you pass on this year’s Warhammer 40K offerings?

GamerSushi Asks: What Are You…Reading?

a dance with dragons released

Today is July 12, GamerSushians, and if you’ve been keeping up with the world of fantasy literature for the past six years, this is the day that George R. R. Martin’s long-awaited fifth tome in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Dance with Dragons, hits shelves. After A Feast for Crows came out in 2005, fans have been waiting on baited breath to find out what has been happening in the world of Westeros and beyond the Narrow Sea.

I just picked up a copy of the book myself; alas, the book is only being released in hardcover right now (at least in Canada) and the cover design doesn’t match that of the preceding books, something that will surely drive me mad until I can get my hands on the paperback copy. I’m a completionist, you see.

With my TV in a less than perfect state (the lamp has either burned out or it’s a more sinister issue), this is the perfect time for me to tuck into the new, massive work of GRRM. Since I’m so enthralled with the written word, I thought I would ask you guys what you’re reading. Are you also devouring A Dance with Dragons? Got some other books that you’re reading at the moment? Anything you consider essential reading that you want to recommend? Go!

Twenty Minutes of BioShock Infinite Gameplay for Your Friday

Yes, you read that right, twenty minutes of BioShock Infinite gameplay have been gifted to us by the boss of all bosses, GTTV’s Geoff Keighley. In reality it’s a fifteen minute demo book-ended by Ken Levine of Irrational Games chatting about Infinite, but that’s nothing to scoff at either.

One of my big gaming resolutions for 2011 and beyond was to not get dragged into the hype train and consume every piece of media I can get my hands on, but given the quality of what I’ve seen, that pledge has been tough to hold up. Even though BioShock Infinite isn’t coming out until 2012, it’s got me salivating like a fat dude jogging past an ice cream store. What did you guys think of this demo, which was originally shown to journalists at E3? Looking good?