More connection problems plagued this event for me, so the show was fragmented into several streams with annoying continuity gaps between them. Rather than posting the raw mess, I’ve trimmed it down to the coherent bits and omitted the stuff I don’t care about.
As before, the text version is below for the non-video folks.
Link (YouTube) |
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “E3 2018 Day 2: Microsoft Press Event”
I’m very busy with E3 this week and didn’t have time to come up with good topics. So we emptied out the mailbag.
Show notes: Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #214: Mailbag Clearinghouse”
Streaming is always a complicated process. You’ve usually got about six different bits of technology all strung together. My usual setup is Open Broadcaster + a webpage for chat + my webcam feed + ManyCam Studio + a AAA videogame. Add in the challenge of balancing multiple audio sources, keeping FPS reasonable, all the technology on Twitch’s end, and the capricious nature of Windows, and it’s a miracle I can do it at all.
All of this is to say I didn’t get it just right this time. The audio gets a bit wonky in spots and there’s that mishap in the middle. Whoops. I’m sure I’ll get the hang of this just about the time E3 winds down.
Below are my thoughts in text form, for you non-video types.
Link (YouTube) |
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “E3 2018 Day 1: EA Press Event”
It’s been a while since I last streamed, hasn’t it? In case you missed it, here is the stream I did of Destiny 2 on Wednesday, minus the first two minutes where my mic was muted:
Link (YouTube) |
I really don’t like the special ability of the Warlock. Also, everything cool about him vanished as soon as the tutorial ended. Cool outfit? gone. Cool face? Obscured by boring helmet. Cool shotgun? Replaced with a much more powerful but bland SMG of some sort. Technically all characters go through this aesthetic downgrade once you start the game, but it was really pronounced for my Warlock. If we do another stream, I’ll probably use a different character.
Skellige is the third of the game’s three major areas, and a nice tonal contrast from the first two. Velen smells like peat and wet leaves. Novigrad, of course, smells like sewage. Skellige, however, smells like pine needles and juniper. How do I know what fictional locations smell like? I just do. You know I’m right.
The historical inspirations here are a mashup of Norse and the odd bit of Celtic, particularly in the language. Skellige’s inhabitants supplement their income by periodically raiding sea traffic and coastal settlements in the Viking style. I think we’re meant to like the Skelligers. They have physical courage, an independent streak that appeals to a modern audience, and are loyal to their friends and honorable to their own.
For all that, I can’t shake the knowledge that this lot make their fortunes (such as they are) through armed robbery. This is a consistent problem in fiction that makes protagonists out of Vikings and Pirates and the like. Thematically, they like to play up the whole freedom and independence thing, and play down the fact that these supposed good guys are essentially stickup gangs with boats. Just once I’d like to see a piece of fiction grapple with that issue more thoroughly.
In terms of overall gameplay experience, I’d say that Skellige is my favorite of the three main areas, though they all have their strong and weak points. First reaching the isles – and realizing the size of them – was a memorable experience during my first playthrough, a sort of “damn, this game really is big” moment. I took some time to ride Roach around at a canter, just listening to the music.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “The Witcher 3: Skellige, Part One”
On Wednesday I’ll be streaming some Destiny 2. I plan on starting around 8pm Eastern time. (Which works out to midnight UTC.) More importantly:
E3 begins this weekend. I’m hoping to re-stream the show, although Twitch hasn’t given their official blessing for re-streaming in 2018. It’s been standard practice for the last three years, but usually we get a post with a list of rules and guidelines.
Assuming it all works out, I’ll be streaming with Ross, who you might remember as part of the Good Robot dev team, and who is now working for Ubisoft. Ross and I will watch the shows, talk about the games, make fun of suits trying too hard to be cool, and generally fill in the slow moments with commentary.
Here is the schedule for the big events at E3: (Events I’m interested in streaming are marked with an asterisk, although I could be talked into covering others.)
Saturday, June 9
* Electronic Arts: 11 AM Pacific / 2 PM Eastern
Sunday, June 10
* Microsoft: 1 PM Pacific / 4 PM Eastern
* Bethesda: 6:30 PM Pacific / 9:30 PM Eastern
Devolver Digital: 8 PM Pacific / 11 PM Eastern
Monday, June 11
Square Enix: 10 AM Pacific / 1 PM Eastern
* Ubisoft: 1 PM Pacific / 4 PM Eastern
PC Gaming Show: 3 PM Pacific / 6 PM Eastern
* Sony: 6 PM Pacific / 9 PM Eastern
Tuesday, June 12
Nintendo — 9 AM Pacific / 12 PM Eastern
The rumor is that Gearbox will probably talk about the next Borderlands this year. If so, I wonder where they’ll show up. Borderlands is published by 2K Games, and 2K doesn’t have a big press event. Which means Gearbox will probably crash someone else’s party. Maybe they’ll show up during the Microsoft or Sony events, or maybe they’ll just announce on Twitter and put a trailer on YouTube. Or maybe the rumors are wrong and there won’t be any Borderlands news.
I notice they gave the PC Gaming Show lots of breathing room this year. In the previous years the PC show always ran really long and another (far more important) event would start, so everyone would drop the PC Show to cover the other one. This year they’ve got three whole hours to burn before Sony’s show starts. I do 90% of my gaming on the PC so I really ought to watch. On the other hand, the PC show is always slow and cringe-y and short on actual news / announcements. We’ll see.
So that’s the plan. I know this stuff disrupts the usual schedule of analysis you come here for, but I really want / need to watch this stuff, so the stream is simply the best way to turn those hours into content. It’s this or a blank page.
We’ll return to our regularly scheduled complaining once E3 blows over. Thank you for your patience. As always, my stream will be on my Twitch page.
Heads up! I plan to stream a little later in the week. I’m thinking maybe some Destiny 2? I’m aiming for Wednesday, but I haven’t picked a time yet.
Show notes: Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #213: Early Consoles, Starships, and Flawed Games”
Obviously they are. Right? Actually, is this another one of those sneaky hard-to-define things?
A game I love. It has a solid main story and a couple of really obnoxious, cringy, incoherent side-plots in it. What happened here?
Crysis 2 has basically the same plot as Half-Life 2. So why is one a classic and the other simply obnoxious and tiresome?
Some advice to game developers on how to stop ruining good stories with bad cutscenes.
I really thought one thing, but then something else. There's a bunch more to it, but you'll have to read the article.
Would you have survived in the middle ages?
Just how big IS No Man's Sky? What if you made a map of all of its landmass? How big would it be?
What does it mean when a program crashes, and why does it happen?
I'm a very casual fan of the series, but I gave Civilization VI a look to see what was up with this nuclear war simulator.
Let's ruin everyone's fun by listing all the ways in which zombies can't work, couldn't happen, and don't make sense.
T w e n t y S i d e d
