T w e n t y S i d e d
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “DM of the Rings CXX:
Luck Thief”
DM of the Rings CXX:
Cox Art
I just want to point out the great work John Cox has been putting up at his new site. I first discovered his work years ago by way of the political cartoons he does with Allen Forkum. (They’re Objectivists. I’m not, but their work is witty and wonderfully drawn and I always enjoy it, even when I disagree.) Now his new site gives everyone a chance to see what else he can do.
My favorite part of the site is the series of “Say What?” cartoons, which present an already-humorous image and and empty word bubble, with the implied challenge to commenters to fill in the word bubble with something witty. This is hilarious. This one is pretty good too.
He seems to update at least once a day as well. I can’t image how he keeps up. Brilliant stuff.
Idiot of the Week
Remember my Rollercoaster video from last year? This week I got a message from another YouTube user: [Link redacted: Please see the followup.]
Hey, im the original maker of the Bowling Plus Rollercoaster = fun!, I posted that video on www.thatvideosite.com on October 10, 2006 and then last posted it on youtube. Please remove the video now or state that i am the maker. Thank You
Astounding.
This is like walking up to a random stranger on the street and saying, “Excuse me sir, but you seem to be eating my ice cream cone.” You are lying to the one person in the world who is least likely to believe your lie. I didn’t bother asking him why, if he made the movie, he put my real name in the credits. He doesn’t seem to be a forward-thinker.
I can understand that there are idiots and freaks all over the internet, and I’m aware that YouTube tends to draw the wost ones, but it still amazes me when I run into these people and I get to see them do their thing. I’m captivated by this sort of behavior: What are these people like in real life? Could they possibly be this dumb and this dishonest and still survive?
Amazing.
DM of the Rings CXIX:
Oops.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “DM of the Rings CXIX:
Oops.”
Rewarding Negative Behavior
This week I posted almost nothing, aside from the comics. I realize that for a majority of my current readers this site is “The Comic, plus some other stuff”, but I still think of it as “my blog, plus this comic I’m doing.” For me, this week was hopelessly lame, because I didn’t get any of my writing done. I still have about a dozen half-written posts waiting to be finished. (I’m finished with Prey, I’m playing D&D again, and I’m working my way through a new anime series, all of which I intend to write about. Eventually.)
And now that I’ve utterly failed in my blogging duties, I see that many, many new people are visiting site and clicking the everlovin’ crap out of the ads in the sidebar. (BTW: Thanks. Seriously. Profusely. You people are great. I hope you found something good.) I can’t explain this upsurge in traffic this month (more than double last month) during the time in the year when I usually see a lull in traffic. Visits usually slow down in summer, but instead traffic is going way up. To all of you who are new to the site, thanks for coming. Have a look around the archives, if you like, maybe read some of my “best of” posts. Maybe visit some of my friends over there in my blogroll. Or just wait for the next comic, if that’s more your style. That’s cool too. You know. Whatever.
I will say this: If I were to do another comic – and I’m not saying one way or another what I plan to do, since I don’t really know yet – it would not appear on this blog. It would get a domain or a blog of its own, because this arrangement is oddly lopsided.
Microsoft Surface
Via email from a friend:
Apparently this is a real ad, or a concept ad of some sort, to which some smart alec has added his own voiceover.
DM of the Rings CXVIII:
Descriptive Text is Sometimes Important
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “DM of the Rings CXVIII:
Descriptive Text is Sometimes Important”
From The Archives:
The Best of 2018
I called 2018 "The Year of Good News". Here is a list of the games I thought were interesting or worth talking about that year.
Programming Vexations
Here is a 13 part series where I talk about programming games, programming languages, and programming problems.
The Mistakes DOOM Didn't Make
How did this game avoid all the usual stupidity that ruins remakes of classic titles?
The Terrible New Thing
Fidget spinners are ruining education! We need to... oh, never mind the fad is over. This is not the first time we've had a dumb moral panic.
Games and the Fear of Death
Why killing you might be the least scary thing a game can do.
Deus Ex and The Treachery of Labels
Deus Ex Mankind Divided was a clumsy, tone-deaf allegory that thought it was clever, and it managed to annoy people of all political stripes.
The Death of Half-Life
Valve still hasn't admitted it, but the Half-Life franchise is dead. So what made these games so popular anyway?
Silent Hill 2 Plot Analysis
A long-form analysis on one of the greatest horror games ever made.
How I Plan To Rule This Dumb Industry
Here is how I'd conquer the game-publishing business. (Hint: NOT by copying EA, 2K, Activision, Take-Two, or Ubisoft.)
Overused Words in Game Titles
I scoured the Steam database to figure out what words were the most commonly used in game titles.