Twenty Sided

By Shamus Posted Monday Jul 12, 2010

Filed under: Rants 160 comments

Part 1

I click “Play Garry’s Mod”:

Actually Valve, that wasn’t a request. It was an order. Run the software I bought from you. I’m busy too. I’m trying to make a comic, and I didn’t ask you to get involved.

Sigh. Fine…

Part 2

I click “Restart in Offline Mode”:

Yes, yes. Just piss off and get out of my way already.

Part 3

I click “Play Garry’s Mod”:

– Fin

I record this here because every single time we have a Steam debate we get fanboys who wave in the direction of offline mode every time someone has a problem with the platform.

As always: Use Steam or do not. I do not evangelize either position. Like everything else, it is a decision with many complex tradeoffs. I only urge people to be aware of what they’re buying into when they do it. I would like to also urge Valve to get their collective act together.

There is a very real possibility that we will get no comic tomorrow, the first miss in 210 strips. This is not entirely Valve’s fault, mind you. Lots of other factors contributed to this hellish span of 24 hours that everyone else is calling “Monday”. But Steam failed when I needed it and added to the already considerable misfortunes of the day.

EDIT: The “please try again in a few minutes” starts to sound really hollow after two freakin’ hours.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

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160 comments

Monster Chess

By Shamus Posted Sunday Jul 11, 2010

Filed under: Movies 61 comments

 Bruce LeePrevious Post

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At first I mistook this for a table scene. There weren’t any easily identifiable objects in the foreground to give a sense of scale. But it’s big:

Link (YouTube)

I am constantly impressed at how much effort nerds put into finding really, really inconvenient ways to play chess.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

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Blizzard’s Unreal Real ID

By Shamus Posted Friday Jul 9, 2010

Filed under: Column 95 comments

 Stolen Pixels #210: The Business Plan Previous Post

Next PostStolen Pixels #211: This is Not Funny 

Note, this week’s column was written last night, before Blizzard changed its mind (partly) about Real ID.

Clearly they saw me coming and retreated. I’m fearsome that way.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

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Stolen Pixels #210: The Business Plan

By Shamus Posted Friday Jul 9, 2010

Filed under: Column 95 comments

 Shamus Plays LOTRO: The Final ChapterPrevious Post

Next PostBlizzard's Unreal Real ID 

Here is another dig at the plot of Resident Evil 5.

Read the comic then come back. Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Stolen Pixels #210: The Business Plan”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

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Spoiler Warning 2×20: Anger Management

By Shamus Posted Thursday Jul 8, 2010

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 114 comments

 Spoiler Warning Season 2x19: Stop Calling Me MungoPrevious Post

Next PostSpoiler Warning Season 2x21: Guy Fawkes Day 

If you’re playing the Spoiler Warning drinking game, then you might want to go ahead and put yourself on the waiting list for liver transplant before you hit play.

Hello, person from the future. This space used to have an embed from the video hosting site Viddler. The video is gone now. If you want to find out why and laugh at Viddler in the process, you can read the entire silly story for yourself.

At any rate, the video is gone. Sorry. On the upside, we're gradually re-posting these old videos to YouTube. Check the Spoiler Warning page to see the full index.

I’d intended to point this out during the episode, but of course the conversation got all confused like it always does and I forgot:

What about the slave collars when you free the kids? The game goes out of its way to show that your slave collar will detonate if you run. Fine, fine. But then the game forgets all about this and everyone just runs off with no problem. What’s the deal with these collars? Are they proximity based? Or are they detonated manually by one of the slave owners?

There are fences and armed guards to keep the slaves in check, so the story doesn’t need the collars to justify their imprisonment. It’s just another element of the world that’s established, forgotten about, and then contradicted, leaving nagging questions or plot holes.

Also, as Josh mentioned, we are now recording in W I D E S C R E E N! What he doesn’t mention because we didn’t know it until now, is that Viddler is crap and doesn’t recognize the widescreen-ness of the video. It insists on mooshing it down to some other aspect ratio, and no degree of fussing with the embedded player size can correct this. Boo.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

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Shamus Plays LOTRO: The Final Chapter

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Jul 7, 2010

Filed under: Column 108 comments

 Stolen Pixels #209: Please Let Me Arrest YouPrevious Post

Next PostStolen Pixels #210: The Business Plan 

All good things must come to and end. The same goes for stupid things.

A bit about the story after the jump… Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Shamus Plays LOTRO: The Final Chapter”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

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108 comments

Stolen Pixels #209: Please Let Me Arrest You

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Jul 6, 2010

Filed under: Column 88 comments

 Experienced Points: Arr Pee GeePrevious Post

Next PostShamus Plays LOTRO: The Final Chapter 

Chris Redfield is a Villain. I can prove it.

I am enjoying Resident Evil 5 a lot more than I did RE4, although that’s mostly because I’m less frustrated going in. For me, Resident Evil 4 was an interesting case of a game being ruined by incorrect expectations.

I didn’t play console games at all in the 90’s. I played PC games all the way. (Not that I ever took part in the “PC vs. console” debate, an argument so childish it should be sent to its room, forever.) I just didn’t have a console and didn’t care to. I missed basically everything between the Atari and the Playstation 2, aside from dabbling with them when visiting friends.

Once I started playing console games, someone handed me Resident Evil 4 and told me it was awesome and that I would love it. I had just played Silent Hill 2 and it had blown my mind, so I was looking forward to another experience like that. I mean, they’re both survival horror, right?

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Stolen Pixels #209: Please Let Me Arrest You”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Experienced Points: Arr Pee GeePrevious Post

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