Friday Night Gamethread

By Shamus Posted Friday Jun 19, 2009

Filed under: Video Games 50 comments

In case you’ve forgotten, the Twenty Sided servers can be found at:

Sorry I haven’t been around much this week, both here on the site and in the game. The trials and trivialities of non-internet life sometime intrude on my efforts here and I am called away on errands which shall remain mysterious, if only to protect you from the horrifying knowledge of their tedium.

Anyway. How’s it going in Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead? Servers ok? Everyone having a good time?

I am hopelessly overdue in getting some mods in there. It’s entirely my fault. It’s on my to-do list. Hopefully nobody is ruining the place for you.

 


 

Experienced Points:
Little Big MadWorld

By Shamus Posted Friday Jun 19, 2009

Filed under: Column 11 comments

Why we need more motherf***ing Wii games and cuddly PS3 games.

 


 

Stolen Pixels #100!: Party Within Specifications

By Shamus Posted Friday Jun 19, 2009

Filed under: Column 30 comments

This is the very opposite of a party gone out of bounds.

(“Party gone out of bounds” makes me think of bounds checking in programming. And if your party goes out of bounds, then your party is inevitably going to be crashed.)

I know the cake joke is beaten to death, but hopefully I did it justice here anyway.

 


 

Stolen Pixels #99: Home, Smelling of Malted Barley

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Jun 16, 2009

Filed under: Column 15 comments

Gamepunx magazine is offering their own unique perspective on E3 this year.

 


 

Free Radical Review

By Shamus Posted Monday Jun 15, 2009

Filed under: Personal 106 comments

I have just exited the grueling marathon of time-sucking misery known as this weekend. It was one of those times where everything I attempted to do turned to crap. I wrote code that didn’t work, jokes that weren’t funny, essays that were dull and unsalvageable. I also had to contend with some unrelated hate mail, and that’s never fun to get. Add a dash of dull real-life problems, broken stuff, and unexpected expenses. It was like a highlight reel of “America’s favorite home karmic sucker-punches.”

I will not make you endure an accounting of my miseries. Boo hoo. I’m sure everyone goes through a bad patch of random, unrelated misfortune at one time or another, so I will not weary your ears with the recap. The short version: It sucked, and I didn’t write anything worth posting.

So it was very encouraging to see this, a review of my book. Nice to be reminded that I do hit home runs once in a while, especially after striking out all weekend.

Thanks to Darius for reading the book, and more thanks for taking the time to write out his thoughts on it.

Topic for discussion: What videogame would you love to see adapted into a full-length novel? (Actually, I wonder how many games have enough story to fill a novel. Like movies, most games are short story material. Still, there must be a few.)

 


 

Battle at Kruger

By Shamus Posted Saturday Jun 13, 2009

Filed under: Movies 55 comments

Apparently, I’m the last person in the world to see this:


Link (YouTube)

44 million views. It’s obviously a massive sensation. It went viral. People passed it around. Talked about it. Blogged about it. Years ago. And yet I’ve never heard of it before.

How does that happen to someone who basically lives on the internet?

If you somehow missed the video like I did, the basic gist is that three water buffalo go down to the water, and are beset by lions. The (I assume) parents escape, and the young is picked off and the lions begin trying to eat it. Then a crocodile get involved. Then more water buffalo. And it has a happy ending.

I found the vido through this, which is a series of pictures of a leopard killing a croc.

 


 

Experienced Points: E3 Killjoy

By Shamus Posted Friday Jun 12, 2009

Filed under: Column 34 comments

Welcome back from E3, beleaguered press. Allow me to cure your unwarranted optimism with an adult-sized dose of jaded wisdom, and wash it down with a mouthful of cold, bitter cynicism. If problems persist after 24 hours, contact your physician.

I enjoyed writing this one. Perhaps this means I am a bad person.

I’m ok with that.