gregbrown

A lot of the anger is due to the two divergent alpha pricing philosophies at play right now: - Alphas are incomplete, so you're paying less because there's less there at the moment (and further development is, to some degree, an unknown). Also, we need the ongoing capital so we'd rather have some money now than possibly more money later. -Alphas are more valuable because you get to shape the ongoing game and have an even larger stake in making it good, above and beyond the traditional backer investment. Also, seeing the experience come together is really fun in itself! Planetary Annhilation is targeted at hard-core genre fans, who are more likely to see the involvement as valuable in itself and are willing to pay MORE for an alpha. The backlash is from everyone else who's used to the former pricing model. HOLY SHIT the ending is the greatest ever.

That entire paragraph of the Tony Hawk review is pretty hilarious given the graphics of the time.

It would help with cases where a lot of computation produces little data, allowing your console to download it with your limited bandwidth. Oh, and it has to be optional for single player games in case they don't have an Internet connection. Suffice to say, the use-cases look pretty limited, and all signs point to MS pushing this as an alternative to just competing head-to-head on computing power, which they would lose. (And while having it built-in is nice, it's not like today's games can't use Amazon Web Services unless there's some API restrictions that I don't know about.)

In a game right now where I have more than twice as many stars as anyone else, and am two-three days ahead of my nearest competitor as far as Econ/industry goes (with 2x science). Leading can kind of be an alienating experience, though. I don't really trust anyone and don't want to fall prey to hubris, but not NEEDING to involve others means that I strongly prefer going it alone, if only to cut down on the number of unknowns. I'm also way ahead in research, and hoping that will continue to give me the edge; while they can pool their ships to attack me, they can't pool their research to get ahead in weapons. I'm currently almost done taking out my weakest opponent, while another one at the opposite end of my empire just started attacking me. I think if I can decimate that other opponent, I should have enough stars to win. Once you're that close, your strategy goes from taking the built-up stars to eliminate their economy and production, to aiming for the thinly-defended, worthless stars to get you over that magic 50%. One very useful tip: to disguise how well you're doing, do any Econ spending right before the day turns over. You'll still get paid the same amount, yet it gives the impression that you're one tempo behind, which can disguise a lead. It also means that you can spend it on unexpected expenses like fleets or industry. Never a good idea to unnecessarily tie up that money.

I don't know why you pretend that the lack of a used-game market would make people more sensitive to price, as if Gamestop's interest in buying used games wouldn't depend on their own ability to resell it, which in turn depends on players' interest. You're ignoring the very real evidence that the game market doesn't work that way, because more unique games tend to be that way because they're targeting an audience other than generic AAA shooter fans, who constitute the largest market and biggest piece of the pie.Also, you shouldn't talk about Europe without knowing about the effects of the shared currency and dysfunctions of the Eurozone, let alone try to apply your Microeconomics 101 aka Babby's First Supply and Demand Curve principles and simplify the situation into a bunch of ahistorical equations. And in any case, that exercise has nothing to do with the Xbox One.

Is it available in English yet? I'm trying to find the listing on Amazon, and failing. Speaking of works in translation, My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard is currently rocking my face. Everyone compares it to Proust because it's semi-autobiographical and lengthy (only the first two of six books have been translated to English so far), but it also reminds me a lot of Chris Ware with the dwelling on death/mortality, the examination of everyday life, and the suggestion of moments that are weighted with meaning beyond their immediate context, often in a way that's difficult to describe or capture clearly. It's really a remarkable work, and worth checking out even if you won't be able to finish reading it for a few years. And Kroms, I totally have a mental list of favorites. Tony Judt was on the list too until he passed away recently, as well as Roger Ebert. :[

Chris, I think your response to the JRPG emails was spot-on. There's a gulf between explanations and justifications, and I think simply appealing to Japanese culture for the values/structure of JRPGs only gets you to the former at best. And as you said, the existence of counter factual Japanese designers only emphasizes that those strictures aren't by any means necessary or imposed by the market on all games, putting more of the onus on the developer/designer to avoid those problems (instead of just appealing to the market only allowing for certain things).

The daily Internet authentication has been confirmed, as well as publishers controlling whether used-game sales will be allowed. Smells of dumping bad news before E3 so it's at least a little bit old by the press conference (which is the same time as the WWDC keynote too).

Yeah, I'm in the same situation in another game right now. My neighbor and I have been in a pretty good alliance all game, even as I creep pretty far ahead in every category. It can't last forever, but I think he's afraid to end it first because he'll be utterly destroyed. Plus at a certain point in the game, sneak attacks become very difficult.

Yeah, it's been that way since we started playing NP2. I enjoy it a lot, since it means you don't feel rushed in thinking things through.

Mike Davis is rad! He and Solnit are some of my favorite thinkers today.

Same boat here. All this information is incredibly useful, and I'd love to hear that podcast darthbator! The Mac development community has several great podcasts, while there aren't any on the gaming side that I know of.

I also have no mental pictures of characters. I'd even forget Mario in Infinite Jest was deformed, despite his lovingly-described handicaps.

Here is the unedited diary I kept during the game. I used colors instead of names because they were easier to keep track of, but here's a key in case you want to correlate events with the other stories posted so far. Also, apologies for the length, but you must understand the obsession at work. Shortly after midnight, April 27th (Friday night) - Started the game. Placed in the middle of the map, so started strategizing about who to ally with. Some—on opposite corners of the map—seem like natural allies. Others seem like natural enemies. Storing my notes in a file so I can return to them tomorrow morning (still the 27th) once others have joined, and message them accordingly. Morning, April 27th (Saturday) - Almost everyone else has joined the game. Sending out messages to several other players proposing alliances. Red, immediately to my east, rebuffs an offer of detente at first, wanting to wait until everyone joins. (Hoping to cut a deal with the last player we're waiting for?) No answer yet from anyone else Evening, April 27th (Saturday) - An interesting development: earlier I sent a message to Pink saying that Light-Blue had told me that he was going to attack. This was a lie, as I hadn't talked to any other players at that point! An amateurish attempt to set two other players against each other, sure, but I was hoping. Now, though, Light-Blue has contacted ME for an alliance, and proposed a joint attack on Pink! My lie has become truth, and I may have retro- and pro-actively betrayed an ally. Already, the comfort of clear morality is slipping through my fingertips. Morning, April 28th (Sunday) - While I was sleeping at 5:21am, the game began. Already, events conspire against me. Still, though, since you can buy and commit your forces before the start, my plans work forward unabated. Already, I have begun to capture systems. There is still a healthy buffer between myself and the other players. Always, always rethinking my plans and trying to imagine what other players must be scheming. Afternoon, April 28th (Sunday) - I continue to refine my fleet movements based off new intelligence of profitable stars, and begin to plan what moves I'll execute at the end of the next production cycle. I have already resorted to an iPhone timer set to go off whenever my next fleet arrives at a new star, so I can react based off the new scanning range. I want to be maximally efficient in these early hours, and secure my domain. Being surrounded makes one very paranoid. In kinder news, some other players have responded to my offers of alliance. Two in particular, the orange far above me and the light-blue immediately below, seem genuine. Orange cannot strike me, and light-blue regards me as a helpful buffer, so I think we will be able to come to terms, at least temporarily as needed. Evening, April 28th (Sunday) - I've fallen in tune with the natural pace of this game, setting up orders that'll bring pieces into place as I want them tomorrow morning. Creating new fleets takes the money for an economic improvement, so I'm treating them as a fixed quantity (like dropships) as much as possible. Ferrying new ships out to the front of the line, and then sending them back to grab others. I'm trying to keep my production centralized as much as possible, but spreading out my economy. Morning, April 29th (Monday) - Overnight, the first production cycle ended and I found myself with $150 new cash. The first purchase was for a new fleet to ferry ships westward, and afterwards, two economy and two infrastructure. Also overnight, an accidental clash between myself and Purple, who sent fleets to the same unclaimed star. I took it first, and thanks to my defensive advantage, won the ensuing battle. They preemptively sent a message apologizing for the mistake, but I think they're too aggressive for their own good. I'll be pushing heavily on that border, in direct combat if needed. There are some juicy unclaimed stars, plus the need for a better, convex defensive position is just too great. I'll Six-Day War their asses. Afternoon, April 29th (Monday) - Not much change; Light-Blue contacted me asking about two buffer stars neither of us have claimed. I told him he could have them, or we could maintain them as buffer. He thinks he can use them to draw in Pink (?) but I'm not sure how that'll occur. Purple getting ever more threatening. I'll have to move quickly. Yellow, at the far-south edge of the map, is going econ/science heavy. I message his immediate neighbor, Green, with some advice to hit Yellow ASAP. Green says that he's trying to surround Yellow, but is creating a shitton of fleets—about twice as many as mine. By my calculations, he's sunk $250 into fleets, compared to my $125. I don't trust him to competently execute the job, even if his heart is in it. Purple has just publicly rebuffed Orange in a group thread. I message Orange asking if he'd be interested in me invading our shared intersection, protecting us both. I think it's a beneficial arrangement, plus it'll also protect me from them (since I'll concentrate my forces there). Purple won't like it, obviously, but fuck him. I wonder if I can get him to attack me first. Big risk there is that he'll get to choose the method/place of engagement, including maybe waiting until he gets Weapons 2. Too much risk, I think. Evening, April 29th (Monday) - Pink is sending a 46-ship fleet to claim a star at the intersection of myself, Light-Blue, and Pink. I warned Light Blue as soon as I spotted it, but no response yet. Will be sending my daily fleet down there, I think. Planning on spending my money on one science unless there's a more pressing opportunity. I really want to finish General Research ASAP. Morning, April 30th (Tuesday) - Light Blue confirmed early this morning that Pink is attacking him on two fronts—the northwest and the southwest. I'm sending my fleet down to help, as well as another one about 12 hrs behind. Purple still has 47 ships stationed outside my western front, but with no signs of movement. If he does decide to strike, it'll be tough to repulse. My only solace is that he doesn't have Weapons 2 yet, which means my defender advantage is still intact. Still, though, General Research 2 cannot come quickly enough. I bought a second science with this morning's paycheck, and am holding the remaining $60 until tonight, in case I need to create an emergency fleet. Otherwise, I can create two economy improvements right before the deadline to score the $10 each. Afternoon, April 30th (Tuesday) - Light Blue now reports Pink wants a truce, and he ascribes it to my recent mobilization. Seeing as how I'm nowhere close to Pink's scanner range, I doubt it was my own actions. Still, though, we're planning on attacking. I proposed a coordinated attack for about 2:31 pm tomorrow, but we'll see if he agrees. That would certainly tip our hand as allies, but that may be necessary to intimidate Pink into ceasing aggression. A killing stroke is probably impossible at this stage, at least without overextending ourselves. Still no change on the eastern front with Red. Orange to the north is still no sign of trouble. Evening, April 30th (Tuesday) - Still no changes to the plan. I'll wake up around 4am to set my second fleet in motion. Looking to get around $200 tomorrow morning, and General Research 2 should finish at around 8am, at which point I'll begin researching General Research 3. I'll want to bulk up on my science in 2-3 days, but for now I simply can't afford it. Instead, I'll be investing in more economy, I think. Morning, May 1st (Wednesday) - Star-trading has begun. Overnight, Pink has calculated that he would be beat in a straight-up battle between our two fleets, so he decided to fly his fleets straight towards my stars instead. (I have 81 ships flying outwards, while he only has 61 ships flying inwards.) The tactic may also buy him some time to research Weapons 2. The landing-point itself is bereft of stars, but I have one fleet of 36 ships that whould arrive soon enough to fortify one of the nearby stars to the north of their landing-point. As for the other directions, I only have one small fleet due to arrive in advance of their movements, but more are coming. I may end up sending the fleet straight back after it claims Pleione. Afternoon, May 1st (Wednesday) - So I have landed in Pleione and Sirius, and immediately discover that he has around 90+ ships waiting in an adjacent system. Oh shit. Instead of sending my Pleione ships back to assist in mopping up his incursion, I'm sending them over to Sirius. Meanwhile, I'm frantically trying to get as many ships into the area as possible, trying to cover all the avenues. Unfortunately, I can only get 20-30 ships at each star, and one's set to arrive about an hour after his theoretical fastest travel time, if I'm doing the math correctly. This could be worse than I planned. I also told Purple (to my west) that I'm moving ships to our shared border to block off the incursion. I'm sure he thinks that I might be lying and plan to attack, but I'm actually bluffing and don't plan to move ships to that border at all. I just really don't want him to attack right now, and that seemed a sly but believable way of making an implicit threat of force (even without anything to back it up). He's attacking Pink too, so I'm not super worried in any case. Evening, May 1st (Wednesday) - This night has seesawed back to confidence. He left the star as I worried to take over an adjacent one, but I knocked off about 12 ships to my 8 I lost. Additionally, he dallied for about an hour in choosing the next star, which means that my support fleet will arrive at the same time. Additionally, since he committed to that one star, I can move another fleet protecting an adjacent star, which will actually beat him there. I'll end up with only 33 ships lost to his 46 when all's said and done, and come out with 30 ships on the other side, mopping that up nicely. Additionally, the external threat seems to be gone; The 96 ships (which had become over 110 by the end) have disappeared, presumably in Purple or Light Blue's direction. (I'm hoping Purple.) So I'm immediately flying to attack that star, which contains a juicy 3 industry and 1 science! It should boost me considerably. Finally, Red is willing to trade Manufacturing for General Research, giving me that tech. Terraforming will also be done early next morning, giving me more bang for my buck in spending the next morning's paycheck. With the third science, and some excellent new stars, I should be in good shape to start gearing up again after this distraction. My border with Red is fairly resource-poor, so I'm not super-worried if he attacks there. Purple could be problematic, but I could redeploy along that boundary once I can see if Pink is neutralized. Will be interesting, for sure. Also, Light Blue noticed that Red gave both Purple and Light Blue his Weapons 3 tech, and passed it along to myself as well. A good ally. Morning, May 2nd (Thursday) - Took Pink's high-industry w/ science star, which revealed a very interesting detente. I occupy the northeast corner of a triangle: to my west, Purple with 83 ships; to my south, Pink with over 175. However, Pink shows no signs of wanting to break out, nor is it entirely clear how he would do so. There's a star just to my south, loosely defended, and with a science. But I don't want to take it because it would draw Pink's attention. So I wait. Afternoon, May 2nd (Thursday) - Had a very interesting idea: why not team up with Pink against Purple? It would keep Pink in the game, and knock Purple down a few notches as well. I proposed to Pink, and he agreed it would be the best course of action. So I'm launching an attack in 6-12 hours or so, which will falter but signal a significant enough committment for Pink to attack as well. He rightfully wants to wait until I have skin in the game, and I love how the travel-time mechanic and inability to change course between stars enables these kinds of game theory. Meanwhile, I'm also talking to Orange about attacking Purple too—Orange is Purple's neighbor to the north, while Pink is his neighbor to the south— and dangling Weapons 3 in front of him as well. He is well behind both myself and Purple in weaponry, still stuck at Weapons 1. I think it's a juicy enough offer that he'll take me up on it, plus Purple is legitimately most likely to attack him next. If this all comes together, it will be rad. Of course, if Light Blue or Red turns against me, this could also be bad. I have about $100 left after fleets and gifts today, and am hoping to invest it all in Econ tonight. Mid-afternoon, May 2nd (Thursday) - Pink came up with a better idea: instead of having me attack directly, just give him Weapons 3 so he can attack Purple himself. That way we don't have to wait on my timetable, and he gets a better chance anyways. Luckily, I had that $100 cached up so transferring technologies is no problem. He has launched his attack after receiving that technology, while Purple simultaneously attacks Orange up north. There's about 9 hours until that attack arrives, and I'll see if Orange comes crawling to me for the tech before then, and if not I'll gift it anyways. The best part about tech trading is that they have no idea who gifted it, or even if it was just researched or not. This one will be a clear gift (jumping from 1 to 3), but enough people have Weapons 3 that Purple will have no idea who leaked it. Things are in motion, and because I'm not directly drawing fire, I should be able to just relax all evening, checking in during/after work to see if Orange will take me up on my offer. Morning, May 3rd (Friday) - Orange has taken me up on my offer. He's attacking Purple, as is Pink. I've loaded up Orange with Weapons 3, and bought two sciences to speed up my own research. Evening, May 3rd (Friday) - Little change all day. I've been restaging ships closer to Purple's border in anticipation of an attack. Orange is getting spun-up now, and should mount a counter-attack soon. Not sure what to do myself, though being a hegemony is pretty fun. Morning, May 4th (Saturday) - It's been decided: I'm going to attack Light Blue. I should be able to quickly strike and capture his production facilities, if my guess about his central star(s) is right. That's pretty much my central hope. He's on the march right now, attacking Pink's stars, which was the impetus for this idea. I should be able to stage by tomorrow morning and launch the attack then. Evening, May 4th (Saturday) - Light Blue has proposed to attack Red or Purple next, and mentioned he's about to get Weapons 4. I've suggested Red since he'd be the easiest to put down at this stage. Light Blue agreed, and we'll probably "attack" late tomorrow. I still plan on backstabbing his ass. Afternoon, May 5th (Sunday) - Light Blue still moving forward with the attack. Meanwhile, Red has clued in thanks to an errant message from Light Blue—or so he claims. I suspect that they may be in cahoots, and in any case plan to attack Light Blue regardless. He has gifted me Weapons 4, so I'll wait until he commits and his fleet is en-route to Red, and then attack. Morning, May 6th (Monday) - Light Blue has committed to the attack on Red, so I'm moving in—attacking the buffer star first to get more vision, and then based on that, choosing the next target. Once the attack force is in his vision, I'll be moving my other forces in. I'm hoping that he's lax in monitoring the situation, so I get as much of a head start as possible. Also hoping that my guess as to his starting stars is correct. Afternoon, May 6th (Monday) - He's spotted me. Light Blue is disengaging from his incursion into Red's turf, and is now headed my way. I reached my buffer star, and my suspicions were correct: there are some high-resource stars there with both industry and science. Even better: they're loosely defended, probably because he took most of his forces to attack Red. This may actually work! Evening, May 6th (Monday) - Whether planned or by convenience, Red seems to be a new ally of Light Blue. He's moving ships near my border, so I'm sending out my next fleet there. I'm also bolstering my western front by gifting tech to both Orange and Pink, the latter of which should also be able to conquer some of Light Blue's southern stars. Having vassal states is so wonderful. Morning, May 7th (Tuesday) - Some successes: I've taken his primary star, and my western forces appear to be moving in with relatively little resistance. However, my easternmost defensive fleet will likely be depleted in eliminating Red's attack, giving Light Blue a 70ish fleet that can wreak some havoc until I'm able to put it down. Luckily, most of my production is pretty centralized, so I shouldn't have any issues with him living off the land (as I am doing right now). Pink is starting to make some progress in chipping away at Light Blue's turf, while Orange is still being Orange. Evening, May 7th (Tuesday) - Taking the remainder of his primary stars, and using the western fleet to clean up over there. The advantage with taking over his stars is I get his science, which is helping to charge up my own production. Morning, May 8th (Wednesday) - I've eliminated Red's initial attack, though he's beginning to press in. Meanwhile, Light Blue is bouncing around and picking up a few stars and making a mess. I'm quickly regaining those stars, but it's requiring me to check in and redirect forces as needed. Hoping he makes a mistake and allows me to eliminate his force, instead of being tricky for too long, However, I have discovered that I did NOT take Light Blue's main stars, but instead some other group of high-resource stars. His actual production center is far to the east, and he still holds it. This explains why I've taken over less than half his capabilities. Late Afternoon, May 8th (Wednesday) - Light Blue let me destroy his forces, but there are bigger problems on the horizon. Both players are now reinforcing with big, 200+ fleets. This wave seems doable with my handful of fleets, but the situation is even worse: they now have Weapons 5, and it'll take me over 30 hours to finish researching it. This is starting to get really bad. Meanwhile, Pink isn't in a position to help much, so I'm starting to pull forces off my western front with Purple. Morning, May 9th (Thursday) - Light Blue and Red are continuing to attack, and are starting to eat into my empire. I'm pulling all available ships into my centralized production facilities, reluctantly abandoning those stars with 1 or 2 industry. Now pulling all ships off my front with Purple, and hoping that he doesn't see the weakness as a sign to attack. He seems focused on eliminating Orange. Even more hilariously, it turns out that they've been in talks with Pink to backstab me, revealed by Pink accidentally sending me a message about their plans. Lol. Pink has now messaged me and offers to make up, and says he's suspicious of their offer. I have no choice but to trust him, and in any case prefer him to the other combatants. Evening, May 9th (Thursday) - Well, shit. Light Blue is going to take my southern center, and it's likely that Red will take my northern sector. Have now reached the point where I'm dumping all my money into fleets to centralize my forces, and none into infrastructure that will likely be overrun soon. Morning, May 10th (Friday) - Light Blue has re-taken the primary star in my southern center, and I'm about to be overrun in the north. Worse, Purple is now attacking with hundreds of forces. Communicating with Pink to devise an end-game strategy that would allow him to survive at least a little while longer. Advising him to make a deal with Red to backstab me in exchange for turning on Light Blue. Additionally, gifting him tech so that he can plausibly claim that Light Blue is building him up to pull the same deal. Not sure what I'll do other than irreversibly wane over the next several days. Afternoon, May 10th (Friday) - Pink has responded in agreement, and suggested that I take all my remaining forces and try to move southward to attack Green and try to establish a Southern redoubt. It has astonishingly little chance of success, but I'll take anything I can get. Now centralizing and preparing to cut through the more lightly-defended stars of Light Blue's in trying to break out. So far I have engaged in a Six Days War, a Marshall Plan, and a War Plan Red; now it's time to see if I can pull off a Battle of the Bulge. The diary cut off here, but you can infer what happened from Sax's account: I established a southern redoubt in Green's AFK territory, while slowly expanding outward. AFK players still continue to produce ships, so when you're ramping back up from scratch, it can take a LONG time to take over their stars—even with the heavy supplemental cash provided by Banking. It was always kind of a delusional attempt to come back, predicated on the others ignoring me as a trivial amusement, with my fate finally cemented when J Mallard turned his attention south and took me out on a whim. I judged Sax as the more likely of the two to beat Purple, and the rest is space history.

I'm so glad that I broke you, and I didn't tell anyone anything more than they needed to know. Unless I have leverage over someone else, I assume they're in cahoots against me, and that included Sax and you. More on my recollections later this weekend, once life subsides a little.

You could actually go the whole game only knowing of a few other players, which sounds fascinating.

I'm 26 and I still have no idea what I should be doing. Currently I'm working in lumber at a home improvement store, lol.

Jay just pushed a ton of new game mode options, including random pre-populated Warp Gates and a new "Dark Galaxy" mode that looks AMAZING. https://plus.google.com/app/basic/stream/z12xhl542wbdhzy2r235ixx4cknxw0lk

I can't wait to share more about the second game once it gets to the finish, but my favorite Neptune's Pride moment involved lying to someone in a lame attempt to try and play them, and then subsequent events making that lie true, but in a way that made me both culpable and not. It'll be fun to share who believed who later on.

Telltale's new Poker Night 2 is out for iOS now. Judging from my experience with the first one, this really feels like a game better suited to mobile devices. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/poker-night-2/id605606748?mt=8 I really think it's great that Telltale seems to be consistently pumping out iOS versions of their games now. Much wider audience, and some great outreach to non-"gamers" as well, showing that the industry isn't all monolithic CoD-clones.

Thank God that Bungie finally earned the creative freedom to make a sci-fi shooter with vehicles.

Make sure you check in account settings for your video quality. I think they default to SD to avoid data caps here in the US (though they'll always throttle lower to stay smooth on slower connections).

Any interest in the returners for playing a weird custom game? Here are the custom options available. (The last one is cut off, but you get the idea.)

Haha, I jokingly made that reference thinking it was way too obscure, and I'm so glad that's what it turned out to be. That one's sort of about the commonality of higher-classes, though.(Also I am weird and find the Giant Bomb comedy style to be jarring and not enjoyable like y'all's vibe. Sorry Ryan.)

This is sort of a general recommendation too, but I just finished The New York Trilogy and I think y'all (casters and readers alike) would enjoy it. Imagine By Blood mixed with Cloud Atlas, to put it in terms of previous selections. I talk about it more on Goodreads, but I'm very careful not to reveal even the opening premise. Part of the book's appeal was the sense of discovery and surprise, and I don't want to ruin that for anyone else. http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/619798896