Twenty Sided

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Aug 5, 2008

Filed under: Movies 87 comments

 Recycled Content:
Bowling+Rollercoaster=FunPrevious Post

Everyone has been shrugging their shoulders at what is being hailed as a tepid and underwhelming E3. Partly because the press-only setting subdued the show, but also because there just isn’t much unexpected coming out of the sequel industry this year.

But one game has caught my eye. Now, I almost never bother with previews on this site unless doing so contributes to my ongoing thesis that the gaming industry is going to hell in a handbasket, most game journalists are shallow children, publishers are clueless giants, etc, etc, ad nauseam, and then some. So I want you to understand how amazing it is that a game has broken through the storm clouds of perpetual cynicism to warm my blackened heart. I haven’t been this intrigued since the first time I saw Portal, so I hope you’ll indulge me this moment of unbridled enthusiasm.

Mirror’s Edge is about the worst idea I’ve ever heard: A first person game of platform jumping. Even more amazing than the sheer lunacy of the concept is the fact that it looks like they’re making it work.

Understand that I find this footage to be almost hypnotic in nature. Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Mirror’s Edge”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

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Stolen Pixels #9:
A Server Is a Way of Life

By Shamus Posted Tuesday Aug 5, 2008

Filed under: Column 0 comments

 Stolen Pixels #8:
Just Between us GirlsPrevious Post

Next PostStolen Pixels #10:
Gameplay Tutorial 

The images used in today’s Stolen Pixels comic were originally supposed to be a completely different joke. I got together with my fellow guildmates and we shot an elaborate sequence where two players were talking, then a third joined them, then he left and a forth person came along.

As I tried to put the sequence together, I noticed that we forgot to take off our guild tabards. We were supposed to be strangers, and here we were, all dressed alike. I’m not sure how many people would have noticed, but I was worried it would just confuse the joke.

(The thrust of the joke was a surreal conversation designed to make fun of people with preposterous names on roleplaying servers. The idea was that they met a guy named (say) “Buttmaster”, but he was really roleplaying that name.)

The joke was also a bit long and crowded. (I was so spoiled by the limitless space in DMotR.) So I dumped the idea and used one of the screenshots to make today’s strip about different WoW servers.

That’s enough WoW strips for a bit. I have more, but I think we’ll take a break from them before the whole thing turns into a WoW comic.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Stolen Pixels #8:
Just Between us GirlsPrevious Post

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Gameplay Tutorial 

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Recycled Content:
Bowling+Rollercoaster=Fun

By Shamus Posted Monday Aug 4, 2008

Filed under: Movies 36 comments

 The Dark KnightPrevious Post

Next PostMirror's Edge 

I’m taking the day off. Please enjoy this movie I made a couple of years ago:

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 The Dark KnightPrevious Post

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The Witcher:
Presentation

By Shamus Posted Friday Aug 1, 2008

Filed under: Game Reviews 165 comments

 The Witcher:
Meet GeraltPrevious Post

Next PostThe Witcher:
Final Thoughts 

When Oblivion came out, my poor little computer couldn’t handle it. With the help of Oldblivion I eventually managed to stagger through to the end of the game. I later upgraded, and went through the game again with acceptable framerates, although only if I had the visuals turned down to “eye-gouging ugly”. Now here I am with a brand new graphics card that can handle Oblivion with a nice framerate and all the fancy visuals turned up. But of course I’m done with Oblivion. Time to find another RPG.

Brace yourself, because I’m about to be very mean to the game everyone seems to love so much. Mellow out, listen to some new age music. Do whatever you have to do to keep from freaking out. If you just can’t bear seeing The Witcher take a few roundhouse kicks to its pasty wrinkled face then you’d best look away. Maybe go read my comic instead. It’s about World of Warcraft, and nobody cares when I abuse that thing.

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “The Witcher:
Presentation”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 The Witcher:
Meet GeraltPrevious Post

Next PostThe Witcher:
Final Thoughts 

165 comments

Stolen Pixels #8:
Just Between us Girls

By Shamus Posted Friday Aug 1, 2008

Filed under: Column 0 comments

 Stolen Pixels #7:
Vulture MilkPrevious Post

Next PostStolen Pixels #9:
A Server Is a Way of Life 

This episode of Stolen Pixels is an exploration of gender roles and sexuality within a pseudo-anonymous roleplaying environment that examines how we present ourselves when the gender of The Self differs from the gender perceived by other actors.

Ok I lied. It’s just some cheap shots at the freaks you meet in MMOs. Please do read it anyway.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 Stolen Pixels #7:
Vulture MilkPrevious Post

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A Server Is a Way of Life 

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Unbricking a Logitech Keyboard

By Shamus Posted Thursday Jul 31, 2008

Filed under: Random 40 comments

 A Question for the LadiesPrevious Post

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Remember that a while back I had a wireless keyboard go bad on me. In the comments of that post, Andrew made the following suggestion:

I had a Logitech keyboard that would crash on occasion. The solution communicated from technical support was to remove the batteries and bang on the keys for a while to discharge the capacitors in order to completely power-cycle it. Then, re-install the batteries and re-synch.

I was this close to throwing the thing out when I read his comment. It tried it. It worked. Keyboard fixed.

Now you know.

EDIT: Gah. A few hours after writing this post and the keyboard died on me again. I’m sure I can restore it again using the method above, but it seems sort of pointless now. A wireless keyboard which “crashes” every couple of days and needs a couple of hours off to recover is pretty useless. I have to run a wire to get the conventional keyboard into place and then pull the wire again when the logitech cheers up. Defeats the whole point of having a wireless, really.

Still, maybe this will be useful to someone. I am sort of surprised at how short-lived this keyboard was. I don’t expect that from Logitech. And while I’m at it, since when do keyboards need to be so complex that they can crash?

And perhaps I do more blogging about keyboards than seems reasonable, but I spend an incredible amount of time with these things which leads to this odd fixation.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

 A Question for the LadiesPrevious Post

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The Dark Knight

By Shamus Posted Thursday Jul 31, 2008

Filed under: Movies 78 comments

 Dr. Horrible TeaserPrevious Post

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Bowling+Rollercoaster=Fun 

Yes, this movie was every bit as fantastic as I’d been led to believe. I will not attempt to review the movie, but I do want to know one thing:

The 1989 Batman movie reigned as one of the biggest blockbusters of all time. I was never that crazy about it, but a lot of people were, and the thing was an unstoppable juggernaut even before it went to video. People really loved that movie.

But nearly everyone agrees that this movie is far better. (I’m sure there are exceptions, there always are, but I haven’t run into them yet.) The consensus is that the new Batman kicks the old Batman’s ass, takes his lunch money, and then puts him into a headlock and makes him admit that he’s a little girl that likes wearing dresses and kissing boys.

So the question I want to pose is this: What if we somehow got this movie in 1989 instead of the Tim Burton version? Would it have been an even bigger success, or is the success of the new one a product of our current culture? Would 1989 audiences have recoiled at this darker version of Batman, or would they have been driven insane by the sheer awesomeness of the thing?

Discuss.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

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