Henroid

I'm half way through the episode but damn this is a great discussion. The name thing of players is pretty silly, at best. As far as what names they pick. I wouldn't want that to go away ever, because (as was pointed out) that's just what video game players do and are like. As long as the name isn't like "Hitler was Awesome" or something like that. But the constant rotation of names, that can be pretty stupid. Consistency is everything. It helps to sell everything, and selling e-sports means bigger prize pools. The players should consider that stuff. Anyway. What was the funny quote Sean was asking about, at like 37 minutes in? The one from an ad.

Today marks a first - Getting verbally abused by someone who rage quits moments later. This hasn't happened since I played WC3 DotA years ago. I'm impressed it took this long.

Sega makes pachinko machines and has for a long time. Nobody said that would kill them. I see this as a big gain. I think it could result in Nintendo filtering out its need to do novel stuff (the Wii remote, Wii U's controller screen) and get back to just making classic consoles. It may even allow them to focus on their digital platform, which they are sorely behind on when pitted against their competitors.

I haven't encountered this before.

I hadn't played any matches since March, but I did tonight. Had to get into the swing of things. I felt robbed that they were winning matches. Like, no-competition winning matches. It took me a bit to get into the swing of things on my usual lord (Spirit Breaker), but I think I remember now. I realized near the end of the second match that I need to tell an obviously losing team to stick around a sec after the match so I can give some pointers. I noticed some very learning-the-game kind of mistakes and meant to help, but I wasn't sure how my team would react to giving advice DURING competition.

I hate dredging up old threads but I feel this is worth it. I was telling my brother about the whole "Citizen Kane of video games" thing and remembered the tumblr. So I went back to check on it and found this gem. "With systemic hubris driving business decisions and an almost palpable condescension toward the people that buy their products, one thing’s become increasingly clear: games may not have a Citizen Kane, but the game industry is Citizen Kane." - — Robert Rath, the Escapist

Microsoft is having some sort of conference right now, and I'm trying to gather info on it. But a couple things. They're dropping the licensing fee on Windows Phone, so there's a good move. And if this tweet is to be believed, Windows 8 is finally going to have like a traditional Start menu. Sort of. It still has mobile-phone shit attached to the side it looks like? Or maybe that's in the background on the "desktop." I can't tell. Also Windows 8 is still shit in my mind and I'm not convinced.

I'm waiting for Gabe Newell to kick down the internet's door and announce Valve's VR headset. People will go apeshit. In more actual news about this, an associate of mine pointed out an interview that a couple of the Oculus Rift leads gave where they said inifnite funding wouldn't change anything about what it is or where it's going - but now with this two billion dollars they're saying 'everything changes.' So at the very least, setting aside all the doom, we can apply new filters to whatever those guys say (and maybe even what has been said in the past). I can understand where Notch is coming from. If anyone has had a concern regarding corporatism, corporatism killing creativity, and/or data collection, you should be on board with his sentiment. It would make sense, at least. Remember that the goal of Oculus Rift changes from, "We're going to push boundaries in content delivery" to "How do we make money off this and support our existing money making schemes with it?"

Hey do we have an in-game chat channel?

Less than 12 hours later I'm shouting at my team about the dumb shit they're doing in-game.

Man, I've been experiencing the most unique learning curve with this game ever. I played the original DotA, so a lot of the game I can definitely remember. But the pace of the game is far different than I remember. Back in those days, I don't recall there being any sort of cease-fire at the start of matches, as lords were waiting to take final-hits. It was just gank fest from the start. The game as it is now though definitely ramps up in intensity in an organic way. I should actually apologize to Sean and say, "You know what, I get it now. You were totally right." Well okay not totally, but I do get it! The thing is, I was never invested in the original to really learn to do better. I didn't want to feed the other team, don't get me wrong, but I just wanted to see what heroes were like at max level wrecking silly shit. Going into DotA 2 my mindset was way different. "Don't fuck this up for anyone." I put a lot of time into the tutorial stuff and reading a wiki article with various tips about how to play lords or what to watch out for. But all of that preparation wasn't as good as just diving in to play. It helped, but not as much as experience. Now, I don't know if this is because of the game's design / leaning in for new players or if it's because of my competency with video games as a language, but I've been able to apply things I learn while playing immediately, rather than having to work on that one thing or wait for the next match, etc. My record for the first 10 minutes of a match has been less kills than deaths, but as the match progresses I come out on top and rack up a ton of assists. Some of the things I'm learning have to do with the game itself; what to expect from this lord or that lord. But the other question I ask myself is how much of it is just my ability to adapt to the other players in the game, be they on my team or the other. I can't remember if I've ever had this experience in any other game I've played. I don't think I have. I think about my years playing Counter Strike and how things were too fast paced to observe and understand why things happened the way they did. Or not with the same depth as in DotA 2. Maybe I'm just better at observing things in general? The most important thing about this learning curve is that I don't feel discouraged, that I desire more. And I don't feel incompetent or like I'm letting people down as it happens. I'm really surprised that I'm enjoying this game as much as I am. I typically don't like competitive online games these days, but something about the pace of DotA 2 fits for me. I appreciate it now.

Man I just had my first online match. We won, but it was an uphill battle and I definitely learned along the way. But it felt good. Not the win, just being able to play and not have my team berate me or be the reason for a loss. I'm putting this up on my refridgerator:

I just watched a team match, focused on watching someone control the Templar Assassin. Not out of wanting to learn how to play that lord, but to see how more skilled people play. And the gulf of control, between me and them, is staggering. They do so much in terms of button presses in a single second than I can think to do in 10. My god. But now I'm reading some stuff online about heroes I've tried, TIPS AND TRICKS. Biggest tip I've learned; don't sway the balance of your creeps too fast or else you fight too close to the enemy towers.

I'm currently experiencing the DotA 2 tutorials. I feel dirty somehow. But here I am.

Oh my god the Day Z story. Why am I not playing this game yet?

synth is it going to bother you if I pick apart your post? I'm going for it. I hate that this is going to make me sound like a smart-ass, but it really is how it is; every level has a clear goal. The end. The openess is just about letting you get through the stage as you see fit. You also brought up secrets not giving you much other than one-ups, but I dunno if that's a fair assessment. I guess it depends on what you play the game for. Finding clouds in the sky with coins laid out on top doesn't just let you work up toward that 1-up you get when you collect 100 coins. Coins give you score too. And maybe I'm old-fashioned but I love high scores in games. That's less of a "you're wrong" and more of a disagreement in taste though. Again, not to sound like a wise-ass, but that's the challenge of the game. Getting something so valuable, and having to maintain it via skill. The game is built with that in mind, that you may have or may not have any given suit. Having the frog suit trivializes water levels, but there's still some risk involved. Having a free ride through the level wouldn't make it much fun. okay this is one where I'll say you're wrong on. Mario 2 had shortcuts, yes, but so did Mario 3. They weren't expressed in the same fashion though. In Mario Bros. 2 the shortcuts were internal in the levels, sure. In Mario Bros. 3, the shortcuts were on the world map itself. Which was also something you can execute in a few instances in Mario World. This is such a weird statement to me. You literally just collect coins and suits / mushrooms. By the way, going back to what you said about more 1-ups, the coins you collect in Mario 2 are literally for the slot machine that literally rewards you with 1-ups.

Don't forget running the gauntlet torture where horse bags are paddled on your backside and audio clips of Sean saying "That's the stuff!" are heard over and over again on contact. Hi I'm weird sometimes.

Welcome to the Idle Thumbs forum Chris!

I had a brief discussion with John Walker about politics in video games / the enthusiasm thereof, and it basically came down to this: Everything in our life is political, either at the social level or actual government level. It's inescapable and trying to escape it or denounce it is kinda like turning your back on being a responsible person. I can understand just wanting to talk about what's fun in video games as opposed to talking about social ailments perpetuated through them or surrounding them, but that's gotta be specifically worded.

I was kinda relieved to hear that this episode's hosts all took issue with how Ken Levine went about what he did, because since it happened I was getting convinced that I was a crazy person by all the people who were okay with it. I hate second-guessing myself.

But Levine definitely became aware at some point of the consequences of his leaving, at minimum. If he were leaving for reasons other than "I'm bored," I wouldn't expect him to stick around for the sake of other peoples' jobs. I.E. if he was feeling pushed around or restricted or treated unfairly by his employer. But I mean... he just said he's bored. What? Jobs are boring, even making video games. Look at Jake!

Oh man, this shit happens outside the video game industry too.

Ken Levine King Crow-man's Irrational Games

Yeah I was giving it some thought while out on a walk. Levine was probably being creatively stymied by Take-Two. So I guess it was just a bunch of hand-forcing going all around.