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Here is one of many videos showing what you can do with the fresnel lens from a huge projection TV. (To be clear, the big screen TV in this episode isn’t this kind of unit and I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have this kind of lens in it.) Still, if you did find such a thing, it would be amazingly useful here in post-zombie world.
Link (YouTube) |
If the start of this episode makes no sense, it’s because the whole conversation is a call-back to the first season of Spoiler Warning, which was the last time Randy was on the show.
I’m really struggling with this season now. I’ve nitpicked the plot as much as I dare, and I’ve praised all the stuff I like. At this point it would be time to talk about the mechanics, but I haven’t played the game myself. I don’t know if it’s hurting the commentary, but I feel like I’m not doing my job.
Like, the entire inventory system seems ludicrous to me, because I’m looking at it like a movie-watcher and not a player. Bricks are massively useful. Why can we carry only one? Why do they poof into nothing after being thrown? Why don’t we carry something smaller and lighter that can still make a lot of noise? Why do shivs break? THIS IS ALL RIDICULOUS NONSENSE!
Of course, these are all simply videogame contrivances. Like, I accept that Batman has infinite explosive gel but can only use three globs of it at once. It’s an abstraction around which puzzles and challenges are built. It’s a small compromise made with realism for the sake of gameplay. Arkham is full of silly little details like this that make perfect sense as a player and no sense as a viewer. I’m sure the same is true for TLOU. If I’d played the game myself, this contrivances probably wouldn’t bother me…as much..
I don’t know if this is hurting my commentary, but I I’m going to avoid covering games I haven’t played in future seasons.
Anyway: Story is great, characters are vibrant, scenery is amazing, etc etc.
Reminder: Try not to stress out too much about the order of the items on this list, what games made it and which ones didn’t. This list is just PC games, limited to the ones I’ve played and I thought were worth discussing. If you rage out because I left out your favorite game then you’re just making a fool of yourself. Also remember the rule: A particular franchise can only appear in the list once, so if Resident Evil 4 makes the list then Resident Evil 2 can’t.
Just use this as an excuse to talk about / praise / eviscerate games we might not get to discuss very often. Read the intro to learn why we’re doing this.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Top 64 Games: 56 to 49”
My column this week is not a work of subtlety. This is one of those cases where I went in thinking I was just going to critique a few points, but the more I analyzed the story the more outrageous it seemed. Usually writing a column is cathartic, but this one made me angry to write.
Now, maybe you’ll argue that Tolkien is fundamentally incompatible with a visceral Arkham-style empowerment fantasy. But for the sake of argument, let’s imagine we’ve been given that very job by a clueless but well-meaning executive. Arkham gameplay is popular, LOTR is popular, they have the license, and it smells like money to them. We can’t do anything to change this, so how can we make the best of a tough situation?
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Experienced Points: Shadow of Mordor is Nothing But Infantile Revenge Porn”
This is a special episode with a special guest. RandyIf you’re asking “who?”, then listen to the show. is on the show, and we talk about how the crew met and got this whole show started.
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Hosts: Josh, Shamus, Chris, and Randy.
Show notes: Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #77: Shadow of Mordor, Twenty Sided Origins”
Reminder: Try not to stress out too much about the order of the items on this list, what games made it and which ones didn’t. This list is just PC games, limited to the ones I’ve played and I thought were worth discussing. If you rage out because I left out your favorite game then you’re just making a fool of yourself. Also remember the rule: A particular franchise can only appear in the list once, so if Resident Evil 4 makes the list then Resident Evil 2 can’t.
Just use this as an excuse to talk about / praise / eviscerate games we might not get to discuss very often. Read the intro to learn why we’re doing this.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Top 64 Games: 64 to 57”
Link (YouTube) |
I do wonder about the zombie mortality rate in this town. How many zombies do we kill during this 15 minute visit? Why would Bill live here if they’re THAT dense? And if there are only a few left, then why are ANY left? The point where there are just “enough to swarm you at a moment’s notice but not enough to overwhelm you” seems like a pretty narrow range. Since zombies can only reproduce by killing people, this ratio seems really unstable.
And while we’re asking questions we’re not supposed to ask, it’s about time to annoy everyone with this one:
What does Bill EAT?
Screw the traps. His main foe isn’t zombies, it’s his belly. How does he fill that thing? (He even eats enough to be overweight. Amazing!) It takes four acres (a little over three football fields) to feed a typical frontier family, including space for the livestock. Bill might not need that much space because he’s all alone, but I’m having a hard time picturing him maintaining just ONE football field of crops.
Bill doesn’t have a car? Pfft. If a car was available, and gas was availableAnd if gasoline didn’t degrade into uselessness in just a few years. then Bill would have one ready right now, and he’d be using it to help plow his field during planting season. Tilling the land for planting is enormously labor-intensive, even if you’ve got the right tools, the right animals, and you know how to use both. And if you don’t have animals? Then you are not going to be fat, end of story. If you are very clever and lucky you might master farming quickly enough to avoid starving, but when you’re done you’re not gonna look anything like burly Bill.
He’s pissed at Joel for setting off his traps? He should be mad that Joel is burning up his precious supply of daylight hours when he should be working on the farm: Tending crops, chasing off wildlife and pests, mending tools, feeding and caring for livestock, gathering fuel for the fireAlthough the town’s furniture would be a handy, if unwieldy supply of wood. and preparing food for the dayPreparing food from raw ingredients takes a long time, particularly when you don’t have stuff like gas stoves, microwaves, blenders, refrigerators..
Shamus, this is a zombie story! You’re not supposed to ask these kinds of questions.
This season is going to be very hard for you.
A look back at one of my favorite games. The gameplay was stellar, but the underlying story was clumsy and oddly constructed.
This mess of dross, confusion, and terrible UI design is the storefront the big publishers couldn't beat? Amazing.
Dear people of the internet: Please stop doing these horrible idiotic things when you talk to each other.
Why killing you might be the least scary thing a game can do.
How does image compression work, and why does it create those ugly spots all over some videos and not others?
No, game prices don't "need" to go up. That's not how supply and demand works. Instead, the publishers need to be smarter about where they spend their money.
Here are four games that could have been much better with just a little more work.
Did you dislike the ending to the Mass Effect trilogy? Here's my list of where it failed logically, thematically, and tonally.
Sometimes in-game secrets are fun and sometimes they're lame. Here's why.
Crysis 2 has basically the same plot as Half-Life 2. So why is one a classic and the other simply obnoxious and tiresome?
T w e n t y S i d e d
