This comic appeared on the Escapist way back in November 2010. Unlike most of my old comics, this one is still sort of visible. The navigation is broken, the comments are gone, there are missing images, and the formatting is a mess, but at least the comic is still visible. Which is good, since I think this is the most popular entry in the entire strip.
The original text was as follows:
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Stolen Pixels #241: Gaming Afterlife”
I forgot to mention it on the show, but I got a community award from Steam this week. I didn’t even know that community awards were a thing? The award also came with a prize! I received 100 Steam points, which were added to my 177,085 total. I’m rich! Or something. More details below.
Link (YouTube) |
Show notes: Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #377: Xbox Desolation”
This is the last entry in my series. But before I go, let me inflict one last gripe on you. After this, you’ll be glad to be rid of me.
Over the years I’ve built up something of a reputation as a fussy nitpicker who hates everything and complains all the time. Sometimes I think that’s a bit unfair. I love games! I enjoy them all the time. It’s just that criticism is more spacious than praise. It takes one paragraph to describe why I like something and ten paragraphs to detail why I don’t. This results in a lot of articles that – going strictly by word count – are mostly negative.
But today I’m going to really earn my reputation as an impossible-to-please critic. A complainer. A gripe merchant. An angry rain cloud in search of a parade. Because I’m going to dump on the one thing in this mess of a game that everyone agrees is aces.
Everybody loves the music. No matter how much people might bitch and moan about the characters, the plot, the themes, the gameplay, the license board, the costumes, or any of the other problem areas in this game, they always stop at the end to admit that despite all of these other problems, the music is really good.
Everyone except me. I’m just not feeling it.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “FF12 Sightseeing Tour Part 12: Face the Music”
There are indeed a few of Reddas’ shortbus pirates with the lowdown on the Feywood awaiting Vaan outside. Well, that does them a bit too much credit; they tell us it’s south of Golmore and is rich in mist, which I already knew from the previous conversation and, in fact, from having already been there to farm monster parts. They do mention some sort of trial, the passing of which is necessary to reach Giruvegan beyond, and indeed there was a path I couldn’t traverse before.
A quick stroll on out to the Feywood later, and that path, previously blocked by a thick current of rushing mist,mist can do anything, shut up clears up at Ashe’s approach as the mist dissipates with a final howl. On cue, Rasler appears and wanders deeper into the snowy wood, beckoning her further.
He could have at least warned us about the boss fight in the next area, the spooky Nabradian git. Thanks to the multitude of status effects at its disposal it managed to annoy me a bit despite my overpoweredness. So! That must have been the trial of the Feywood, which means Giruvegan lies just ahead.
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “A Travelog of Ivalice, Part XII: A Saucerful of Secrets”
Normally when I make a video for YouTube, I take my transcript and turn it into an article. This usually involves cutting out the parts that won’t work in print: Bits of footage, audio gags, jokes where my narration disagrees with the slides I’m showing, and so on. This video is quite short – about 14 minutes – and it has a lot of these sorts of video-only shenanigans. If I cut them all out, then there wouldn’t be much left.
So rather that clean up the script for print, I’m going to publish it as-is.Actually, I did get rid of one gag related to mispronouncing “Marcin Iwi?ski”. I don’t know how well this will work, but I’m sure you’ll let me know in the comments. Anyway, here it is…
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Boomers vs. Videogames”
I intended to mention it on the show, but it slipped my mind: I actually have a new video coming out this week. Look for it tomorrow. It’s about boomer shooters. Or baby boomers. Or something like that.
Link (YouTube) |
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “Diecast #376: Hyper Terra Ghost”
This week the Rocketeer takes us on the long journey through the Mosphoran Highwaste, across the Salikawood, over the Phon Coast, to the Tchita Uplands, into the Sochen Cave Palace, and to many other places I can’t be bothered to look up on the wiki now that they’ve all blurred together in my mind.
While we’re on this long journey, I’d like to ask you:
Remember the start of the game?
Continue reading ⟩⟩ “FF12 Sightseeing Tour Part 11: The Dream Team”
The Thieves Guild quest in Skyrim is a vortex of disjointed plot-holes, contrivances, and nonsense.
What lessons can we learn from the abrupt demise of this once-impressive games studio?
I write a program to simulate different strategies in Starcraft 2, to see how they compare.
My picks for what was important, awesome, or worth talking about in 2016.
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.
This series explores the troubled history of VR and the strange lawsuit between Zenimax publishing and Facebook.
This mess of dross, confusion, and terrible UI design is the storefront the big publishers couldn't beat? Amazing.
Scenes from Half-Life 2:Episode 2, showing Gordon Freeman being a jerk.
I teach myself music composition by imitating the style of various videogame soundtracks. How did it turn out? Listen for yourself.
What makes this borderline indie title so much better than the AAA juggernauts that came before?
T w e n t y S i d e d
