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This episode was recorded at the tail end of a long session that included a podcast. We were all pretty ragged by this point, which is why we were so quiet until everything went wrong.
Thinking more about the level-size problem:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Dishonored EP12: Your Score is Apple”
We waste a bunch of time looking up a safe combination in this episode. It’s not bad, unless you know ahead of time that the code is 4-7-3. If you knew that, then it would be really frustrating to watch. My advice? It’s probably best to not know that the code is 4-7-3 when you watch it.
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I looked. I couldn’t find the bridge dive video Chris mentioned.
EDIT: Here’s one!
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On the upside, the podcast is proving to be really popular. On the downside, we seem to be slipping on our production of Spoiler Warning videos. Oops.
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Show notes:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #7: Piracy, APB Reloaded 2, and Activision’s Face”
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My column this week is a rant about Samantha, the damsel in distress of the new Tomb Raider game.
It was really temping to contrast Samantha with Elizabeth from BioShock Infinite, but I was afraid of doing cross-game comparisons that would likely get sidetracked into a frustrating “game X is superior to game Y” debate and confuse rather than illuminate the issue.
My other major issue with the new Tomb Raider is it fondness for cutscene incompetence. Just about every cutscene involves Lara doing something really stupid or reckless. The writers also LOVE the use of off-screen space to poof in bad guys. There’s more than one situation where Lara seems be be alone, then a cutscene happens and someone punches her unconscious from just offscreen.
Having all of your cutscenes deliver setbacks by having the player character perpetrate awful blunders is a great way to make the player hate either the writer or their avatar. I realize these problems are nothing new to videogames, but they are problems that really grate on me because they seem to be the offspring of laziness and bad habits.
Dear people of the future: This was originally posted on April 1st, 2013. For about 12 hours, the site was decorated with a My Little Pony background. In fact, the site looked more or less like this:
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Ha ha.
But a lot of people really liked having some color in the background there, which had previously been some low-contrast abstract grey rectangles. I like it too. Ironic pony-placement aside, it does add something to the site. Of course, maybe I like it just because it’s new. I get the same thing with my desktop wallpaper. After a few weeks of the same image I get sick of it, and whatever replaces it looks “better” simply because it’s novel, not because it’s objectively a better image.
So I’ve put some color on the background in the form of more thematically-themed dice. You know, as a nod to those tabletop games I’m always writing about on this site.
Some other modest adjustments have been made to the format. Let me know if I’ve created any usability problems.
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We talked about running a tabletop game in this episode, which means I’ve paid the topic my annual lip service and can therefore go on calling this site “Twenty Sided” with a straight face. So that’s our obligation to tabletop coverage for this year. Tune in next year when, in a moment of distraction, I mention that I’m using my D&D 3.5 manual to prop up a crooked table leg.
In which we spend about two-thirds of an episode lost, stuck, going the wrong way, or unsure of what the game wants from us. On the upside, we spend some of the time passive-aggressively insulting the Bethesda art design by praising this DLC.
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Just two episodes left. If you’re following the drinking game, then you’ll remember that we’re keeping track of how many people the drinking game would have killed. (Every time the drink count is high enough to produce fatal alcohol poisoning, a fresh player is introduced.) As of the start of this episode, victim #6 is just reaching the point of severe motor impairment. I’m really hoping we can kill them quickly and perhaps kill one more before this season ends. It might be a bit of a stretch, but I’m pretty sure the final episode is an extra-long one.
My hope is that through perseverance and virtuous industry, Josh’s potty mouth can end the life of that sad seventh bastard.
Crysis 2 has basically the same plot as Half-Life 2. So why is one a classic and the other simply obnoxious and tiresome?
Yeah, this game is a classic. But the story is idiotic, incoherent, thematically confused, and patronizing.
Two minutes of fun at the expense of a badly-run theme park.
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2015.
What was the problem with the Playstation 3 hardware and why did Sony build it that way?
What lessons can we learn from the abrupt demise of this once-impressive games studio?
There's a new graphics API in town. What does that mean, and why do we need it?
A game about the ghost of an underwater football player who travels through time to save the world from a tick that controls kaiju satan. Really.
This is a horrible narrative that undermines the hobby through crass stereotypes. The hobby is vast, gamers come from all walks of life, and you shouldn't judge ANY group by its worst members.
A music lesson for people who know nothing about music, from someone who barely knows anything about music.
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