T w e n t y S i d e d
It seems that we’ve finally gotten bored with all of the mindless shooting and awesome explosions, so with this episode we’re bringing you very special presentation:
Spoiler Warning: NOBODY DIES
Link (YouTube) |
Spoiler Warning S4E11: And this is
World of Warcraft: Nitpicks Revisited
Two and a half years ago I wrote up a list of grievances against World of Warcraft. Now the world has been re-worked for the Cataclysm, so I thought I’d revisit that list and see how things have changed.
1. Low drop rates for quest items
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Drop rates are now usually at 80% or better. Of course, this is possible mostly due to the fact that they’ve sped up the leveling curve. Blizzard doesn’t need you to kill 200 Murlocs to get from level 10 to 11, so when a quest giver asks you to bring him 20 Murloc heads, you don’t need to worry that 90% of the Murlocs in the world will be inexplicably headless when you loot them.
Conclusion: Fixed. And thank you.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “World of Warcraft: Nitpicks Revisited”
Spoiler Warning S4E10: Garrus Bueller’s Day Off
Link (YouTube) |
At the top of the episode, we actually tried the assault on the doors like three times, and kept getting killed. We want to keep the show moving, and so Josh tried to avoid playing the game as intended: Crouch behind cover and play peek-a-boo / whack-a-mook for two and a half minutes. That’s really boring to watch, so Josh is a bit more aggressive than is advisable.
And then we stopped to begin the episode, and Mordin cleared the room alone. Sure, it seems odd that the ship’s doctor should be able to rambo his way through waves of enemies. But a more pressing question is: Where the crap was Jacob? I’m not sure why he decided to go on break right at this moment and leave all the work to Mordin, but I’m sure he’ll have lots of time to reflect on his mistake now that he’s never leaving the ship again ever.
EDIT: Oh right, he was with Garrus. Ah well. He’s staying on the ship anyway.
Drawn to Knowledge: Net Neutrality
Here is my latest in the Drawn to Knowledge series. I have also created a YouTube channel, just for this show.
Link (YouTube) |
Share and enjoy. Next time I’ll cover something a little less divisive.
Going into more detail…
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Drawn to Knowledge: Net Neutrality”
Deck the Dalek
Painted by my wife: A small (8×5 inches) holiday Dalek. (Watercolor.)
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| CEL-E-BRATE! CEL-E-BRATE! CEL-E-BRATE! |
My wife and kids are all huge Dr. Who fans, and fans of the new series in particular. (Tennant is the favorite Doctor among them. Personally, I was always partial to Tom Baker.) I don’t watch it. The Doctor is a master of time who can live for centuries. I am not, and so I can ill-afford to get engrossed in long-running sci-fi series.
I think it’s audacious how they have taken the classic 80’s villains and brought them into their modern productions with much of their camp still intact.
CEL-E-BRATE!
Experienced Points:
That Game I Should Have Liked
In which I express regret over a game I just couldn’t love.
Spoiler Warning S4E9: Stairway to Heaven
Good morning everyone, it’s Mumbles. Did you know that you can’t buy whiskey and eggnog before 6AM in California? So much for the Christmas spirit, law makers!
Link (YouTube) |
So, the show is called Spoiler Warning and we typically try not to give anything away before it happens. But, do you have any idea how difficult that is? In the early Bioshock episodes, I was this close to just blabbing who Atlas was, even if it didn’t really mean anything to the viewer at the time. I was bursting with truth, good viewers, but I could not share.
With that said, there’s a big surprise in this episode. As you know, Rutskarn has not played the game and is experiencing it for the first time. It’s really too bad that before the recording, I accidentally told him Archangel’s identity and gave him ample time to work on some puns. Whoops. My bad.
From The Archives:
Good Robot Dev Blog
An ongoing series where I work on making a 2D action game from scratch.
TitleWhat’s Inside Skinner’s Box?
What is a skinner box, how does it interact with neurotransmitters, and what does it have to do with shooting people in the face for rare loot?
Skylines of the Future
Cities: Skylines is bound to have a sequel sooner or later. Where can this series go next, and what changes would I like to see?
Self-Balancing Gameplay
There's a wonderful way to balance difficulty in RPGs, and designers try to prevent it. For some reason.
Free Radical
The product of fandom run unchecked, this novel began as a short story and grew into something of a cult hit.
The Disappointment Engine
No Man's Sky is a game seemingly engineered to create a cycle of anticipation and disappointment.
This Scene Breaks a Character
Small changes to the animations can have a huge impact on how the audience interprets a scene.
The Plot-Driven Door
You know how videogames sometimes do that thing where it's preposterously hard to go through a simple door? This one is really bad.
Spec Ops: The Line
A videogame that judges its audience, criticizes its genre, and hates its premise. How did this thing get made?
PC Hardware is Toast
This is why shopping for graphics cards is so stupid and miserable.