T w e n t y S i d e d
Part 2 of Travis’ year-end awards is now up. For some behind-the-scenes droning, read on:
To clear up some misconceptions: Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Stolen Pixels #48:
2008 Awards, Part 2″
Stolen Pixels #48:
Review:
Silent Hill Turbo HD II
Last weekend I was time traveling around the future, sorting out some temporal paradoxes caused by my cyberhacker grandkids who had run afoul of a malevolent AI run by the US government. (Which had become a subsidiary of Wal-Mart.) I shouldn’t talk about it too much, and I know I usually avoid politics here, but just I have to say that I am strongly opposed to the 37th amendment, which will allow androids to run for public office. You bleeding-heart robot-lovers are going to be the death of us all.
Anyway, while I was there I found this videogame review. I’m pretty sure it’s safe to post this here without causing a rift. If you find yourself vanishing or notice that loved ones no longer recognize you, please stop reading immediately.
Thanks,
Shamus
Review of Silent Hill Turbo HD II, from the future:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Review:
Silent Hill Turbo HD II”
Silent Hill Homecoming:
Final Thoughts
I got less than a third of the way through this game before I shelved it. The quicktime event-based fighting was much too flashy for what is supposedly a horror game. As with Origins, the game is far more about combat than atmosphere, far more about killing monsters than being afraid of them.
The plot hooked me. Alex is a much more compelling antagonist protagonist than Travis Grady, and I would have been glad to find out what he had stuck in his mental craw. But the game itself wasn’t any fun to play.
I made it as far as the hotel before I died in a fight with three nurses…. Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Silent Hill Homecoming:
Final Thoughts”
A Gauntlet of Mortal Danger (AKA Life)
Doctors warn of an “Epidemic” of Wii injuries. Wasn’t it just five minutes ago they were warning us about the epidemic of corpulent drooling television-watchers. I distinctly remember dire predictions that we were rocketing towards a grim reality where we’re all too fat to fit in the booth at Denny’s and we drop dead of a heart attack at 27. Now a few of us have tried to get up and move gently in place, which is placing us in a new and equally horrifying peril.
Truly we are hemmed in on all sides by relentless danger from which there can be no escape. We have no choice but to be afraid of everything, at all times.
Twitting
My Twitter feed:
(Deleted, moved to sidebar.)
Don’t get too attached. I’m sure I’ll get bored and quit any minute now.
If, by some miracle, I decide to keep doing this, I’ll figure out how to tuck this thing into the sidebar.
Cyth Guitar Hero Cult of Personality
What to do if you don’t have time to play videogames? Build a robot to play them for you:
Link (YouTube) |
I think I’m the only guy in the world that hates that song, but I love the robot.
Friday Notes
I didn’t have time to finish up the final post in the Fallout series, so we’ll have to wait until Monday to have that conversation. Actually, it’s not that it’s not “done” as much as I realized I was beating a long-dead horse and it would have made for a laborious read.
In other news, today’s Stolen Pixels launched, and promptly landed again with a dull, wet thud. A sound not unlike that of a body striking the ground in the desert, right beside a freshly-dug hole. I’ve been excited about this one for a while and I think it’s thought is was my best work so far. And it’s garnered what might be generously referred to as a halfhearted “meh”. At first this stunned me like a blow to the forehead. I was prepared for rejection. Or confusion. But apathy?
Then I looked at my logs here on this site, and realized the internet (or at least my corner of it) is a ghost town today. It’s the Friday before Christmas. I think school is out, college kids are home, and people just aren’t around right now. Still, 2 comments? Merry Christmas Shamus! Santa has brought you a box of FAIL.
At the risk of ruining a joke by explaining it, Travis Taylor is just a character I’ve added to the comic. I don’t know how often he’ll show up, but it will be handy to have an ongoing personality aside from the EA Guy. I like the EA Guy, but I’m just about out of usable pictures of him. I’m explaining this because people keep telling me this new guy isn’t as funny as I am, which is either a very polite insult or a painful compliment. It’s a bit like someone sharing an ice cream cone with you by launching it at your head with a baseball pitcher. Delicious and painful.
Also, in response to about a thousand (give or take 995) requests, I started one of those twitter things. I expect to amuse myself with it for a few days and then lose interest, as most people do. But there it is, while it lasts.
Right. Back to work.
From The Archives:
Shamus Plays LOTRO
As someone who loves Tolkein lore and despises silly MMO quests, this game left me deeply conflicted.
Twelve Years
Even allegedly smart people can make life-changing blunders that seem very, very obvious in retrospect.
Denuvo and the "Death" of Piracy
Denuvo videogame DRM didn't actually kill piracy, but it did stop it for several months. Here's what we learned from that.
Tenpenny Tower
Bethesda felt the need to jam a morality system into Fallout 3, and they blew it. Good and evil make no sense and the moral compass points sideways.
This Game is Too Videogame-y
What's wrong with a game being "too videogameish"?
Object-Disoriented Programming
C++ is a wonderful language for making horrible code.
The Truth About Piracy
What are publishers doing to fight piracy and why is it all wrong?
The Disappointment Engine
No Man's Sky is a game seemingly engineered to create a cycle of anticipation and disappointment.
The Gradient of Plot Holes
Most stories have plot holes. The failure isn't that they exist, it's when you notice them while immersed in the story.
A Lack of Vision and Leadership
People fault EA for being greedy, but their real sin is just how terrible they are at it.