T w e n t y S i d e d
Clint, the admin for our Twenty Sided Minecraft server, recently posted this to the forums:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Twenty Sided Minecraft Server: Lag City”
Spoiler Warning S5E2: Aren’t Tutorials Fun?
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I mentioned my brother in this episode (Patrick, in the comments) and how he tried to go for Vegas. He ran into a chorus line of Deathclaws. We both agreed this was stupid. It looks ridiculous to see them standing shoulder-to-shoulder like that. And if you’re so adamant that it should be impossible to go that way, why not just build a wall?
Oddly enough, I stuck to the rails. I resented them, but I was afraid I’d miss something.
Spoiler Warning S5E1: The Death and Life of Reginald Cuftbert
You knew this was coming, didn’t you? You’re smart like that. Yes, we’re doing Fallout: New Vegas. Also, don’t miss this rare guest appearance by Randy Johnson. (The Spoiler Warning host, not the baseball player.)
Link (YouTube) |
Youtube has given us more room. We can now upload videos greater than fifteen minutes in length. Given the extreme length of Fallout 3, and the likely length of New Vegas, we’ve decided to bump up our episodes to twenty minutes. This just means we’ll be putting out an hour and twenty minutes of show a week, instead of just an hour.
This is actually a huge bonus for us. One of the biggest headaches of Mass Effect 2 was when our episodes would run just a little bit long. It would eat an enormous amount of Josh’s time, editing and trimming to get the episode under the limit. You can’t just cut a whole minute from one spot and leave a hole in the episode. You can’t just fast-forward without breaking the continuous flowing conversation. If you just chop the episode early, then that extra minute of footage winds up in the next episode, thus perpetuating the problem. (We record episodes four at a time.) So Josh would have to reclaim that minute by painstakingly trimming away a few seconds at a time.
Now that the limit is lifted, this isn’t a problem. If we spill over to 21 minutes, it’s no big deal.
And yes, we began playing without turning on the subtitles or turning off Steam notifications. This is only our fifth season. I’m sure we’ll get good at this eventually.
Stolen Pixels #248: HI MOM!
I know I’m not the first person to say so, but the Dead Space 2 ad campaign was bathed in the stench of uncreative desperation.
Three days ago I said on Twitter:
Just finished #DeadSpace2. Visceral Games: Guys, love the production values. Call me. I can fix this pacing and atmosphere problem you have.
Visceral Games never called. They probably lost my number. Rather than make them hunt it down, I’ll just post my fixes here:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Stolen Pixels #248: HI MOM!”
Transformation Matrix
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So you’re curious about the math involved in graphics programming. Well, someone is. People ask me about this stuff now and again. But a subject like “the math of graphics programming” is large enough to fill one of those great, big reference books that nobody likes to use because they’re so heavy and they take up so much space.
Years ago I had a devil of a time learning this for myself. Most tutorials are dense with Greek symbols and mercilessly heavy on jargon. It’s one of those situations where you have to already understand the subject before you can comprehend the lessons to teach you the subject. So I offer my own explanation here for the curious. This won’t teach you everything you need to know, but it might help give you a frame of reference so the other lessons make sense. Or it might just be a fun way to blow five minutes. Whatever.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Transformation Matrix”
Shatner Of The Mount
Some people have strongly-held beliefs on this whole Kirk vs. Picard business. Perhaps this will settle things…
Link (YouTube) |
Also, I apologize.
Wrex.
Well, lookie what I found during a Google Image search!
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It’s impossible for me to imagine this face having some other voice besides the voice of Commander Shepard. But of course, in reality that voice belongs to another face:
Link (YouTube) |
Reality is confusing. And disappointing.
From The Archives:
A Lack of Vision and Leadership
People fault EA for being greedy, but their real sin is just how terrible they are at it.
Starcraft 2: Rush Analysis
I write a program to simulate different strategies in Starcraft 2, to see how they compare.
What is Piracy?
It seems like a simple question, but it turns out everyone has a different idea of right and wrong in the digital world.
Blistering Stupidity of Fallout 3
Yeah, this game is a classic. But the story is idiotic, incoherent, thematically confused, and patronizing.
This is Why We Can’t Have Short Criticism
Here's how this site grew from short essays to novel-length quasi-analytical retrospectives.
If Star Wars Was Made in 2006?
Imagine if the original Star Wars hadn't appeared in the 1970's, but instead was pitched to studios in 2006. How would that turn out?
Rage 2
The game was a dud, and I'm convinced a big part of that is due to the way the game leaned into its story. Its terrible, cringe-inducing story.
Best. Plot Twist. Ever.
Few people remember BioWare's Jade Empire, but it had a unique setting and a really well-executed plot twist.
Crysis 2
Crysis 2 has basically the same plot as Half-Life 2. So why is one a classic and the other simply obnoxious and tiresome?
PC Hardware is Toast
This is why shopping for graphics cards is so stupid and miserable.