thainatos

Running commentary for Jurassic Park, a la MST3K? Sean's drunken speech? Livestream a fan-voted game(Far Cry 2)? So many good ideas. Only one 100th episode.

Tennnes menu music is TREMENDOUS.

Just finished Pattern Recognition, by William Gibson, immediately after completing Idoru. The paranoia and fatigue of post-9/11 culture is eerily illuminated, and Gibson can smith a sentence pretty damn well: I've heard good things about All Tomorrow's Parties, so I'll be reading that next.

Got my postcard today. "Without you, the puzzle is incomplete." Made my shitty day much better.

Luftmensch, you are drawing a lot of false equivalents, sir.

I like the "we're gonna talk about this next week so go play it now" thing. It's motivating. Also, great episode title.

Saw Django Unchained yesterday. Hard to watch in some places. Haven't thought it through as much as I'd like, but I'm coming around to the idea that Tarantino has successfully satirized the perceived racial dichotomy of the USA in the way that he satirized portrayed-violence in Inglourious Basterds. I'm not sure I agree with some critics that the movie is "about" the US' slaving past. To me, it seemed more concerned with violence as entertainment(similar to Inglourious Basterds) and how we consider ourselves within races and racial roles today. The line that really stuck out to me is towards the middle of the movie, in a conversation between Django and Monsieur Candie. Candie mentions that Django's German friend looks sick watching a horrible act of violence, and Django replies, "I'm more accustomed to Americans than he is." Anyone else seen it? I'd be interested in hearing someone else thoughts. Do you think the film went too far with the gratuity and vulgarity? Do you think we're supposed to be entertained by it? Do you think anything less would even be remarked upon?

New Bowie album. March. And new Bad Seeds in February. Life is great.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOyDTy9DtHQ I'm freaking out a little bit. Butterflies, etc. It's been TEN YEARS. TEN YEARRRSSSS.

Yar, he's pretty much nailed this violence-is-hilarious-and-entertaining-or-is-it-wink-wink coffin shut for the whole generation, I think, and made a fine carpenter. I'd like to see him do another film I can sit through more than once though--something in the vein of Jackie Brown or Kill Bill Pt. 2. With lots of Germans.

To be fair, Contracts only featured the best 4 levels from Codename 47, and added a few of it's own decent missions. That meat factory mission was as great an opening as video games get.

Hear, hear. I cringe a little every time I hear someone talk about gamifying something, because that's the exact problem video games have. You want to make a story about killing, so you tack on collectibles or crafting or photography? That's not what I want from a game--I want systems that work together for their own sake to help me create my own meaningful experience. Which is why I care less about the games BFrank mentioned above, having played them all, and it's also why Miasmata is REALLY GOOD. Thumbs fans should definitely give it a try.

I actually did read the article, believe it or not. Even the last section. Admittedly, re-writing for page-views is something a lot of folks do. It just seems sleazy to me. It's why I've read RPS for so long, and why I'm liking PAR and Nightmare Mode. I think I'm on the same page as SiN. Love the features and reviews, dislike the page-view hustling. I even like the format, which is something Arthur Gies seems to get a lot of grief for.

No, just re-written by someone who didn't do the interview?

http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/bad-linking-plagiarism-and-re-writes-how-game-journalism-is-its-own-worst-e Four days later: http://www.polygon.com/2012/12/18/3780022/far-cry-3s-lead-writer-says-the-story-is-misunderstood-developers Shameless or clueless?

Oh yeah, so here're the links for the livestream: http://www.twitch.tv...ine/b/347499432 http://www.twitch.tv...ine/b/347540708 Should answer any questions, and it's fun to watch. Skip to 1:47:00-ish in the first video to see JP and Chris talk about Spacebase.

Just watched AF livestream, and I want Spacebase and Autonomous. It made me realize that dev studios are collections of people with different ideas more than single-minded game-making machines, and that made me consider my own job in a new light. Also wish I had a job at DF. I wonder if they need an on-site tailor?

1. Just watched The Aviator, and I think it's one of Scorsese's best. I don't find Tourette Syndrome or OCD to be funny in any way(having known several people with each), and Hughes' breakdowns, to me, were very intense. The thumbprint on the glass bit was especially cruel, and it says a lot about how far we've come as a society that we can see that as deplorable. Still something very quotable about those two particular lines though: "Way of the future," and "show me all of the blueprints." They've got satisfying mouthfeel, I think, like a good poem. 2. Grats to Jake and Sean on the win last night. My girlfriend and I were a mess after finishing Episode 5, and is an image that's difficult to forget. The Walking Dead sets a new bar for empathy in any medium. Edit: I am an idiot. Thanks, shammack.

Disagree with the decision to leave out DOOM. Its a game where the art comes through player agency and systems interacting, which seems to be the last thing anyone wants to point to as art and also probably the most important thing games have to contribute. Also, why curate Pac Man and Pong into the exhibit if we're not including games just for their formative effects?

Fairly easy way to stealth enemy camps is to (silently)snipe alarms and perimeter guards, then move in close and take the rest out with a silenced pistol. This method also makes one feel like a super-badass but can be ruined by a stray leopard. Also, what is up with Ubisoft Montreal's audio being out of sync in the cut-scenes? I've got a decent rig, but ever since AC1, their cut-scenes are unwatchable.

That's exactly what Bowie said about Warhol in the 70s.

Thirty Flights of Loving, and the rest of Brendan Chung's games are brilliant. Also, I second Sam & Max Season 3 and VVVVVV. And Braid.

I agree heartily with the 3-day-old-shirt thing. I went on a binge playing HM yesterday, during the nor'easter, and I came to the conclusion that it's the game I've been waiting for since I beat Spelunky on the PC back in '07 or '08.

Hoping this comes to the Vita. As if I don't have enough games to play.

I really like it. Arhur Gies seems like a solid dude, and the writing and reviews are consistently informative.