jeremywc

Phaedrus' Street Crew
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Posts posted by jeremywc

  1. Posted

    One review I read brought up a really interesting point, that Telegraph Avenue is basically a novelized version of a Tarantino movie. The direct references to his movies, the focus on blaxploitation kung-fu movies, and the heavy reliance (or maybe over reliance?) on pop culture references, all make the comparison to Tarantino's films seem appropriate. Anyone else picking up on this as they read the book?

    I think he was pretty overt in his homages to Tarantino, but the book doesn't ever seem to get near the level of "holy shit, everything is getting fucked up" the way Tarantino's films do.

  2. Posted

    I had a lot of free time today, so I knocked out the last half of the book. I'm still trying to process all my thoughts on it. I'm not surprised to learn that it was originally intended to be a TV series, my initial impression of the book before I learned that was that it would have worked well as a script for film. At some point (maybe 40-50% in), I could almost see where it began to transition from script to novel and I think that's where the pacing kind of gets off the rails.

  3. Posted

    Well listening to this episode and also the first one makes me feel like a prole, most of what I read is just escapist scifi and fantasy. So I finally registered an idle forums account, and will also try reading more contemporary fiction. Guess i'll start with Telegraph avenue, just as soon as I finish this Joe Abercrombie book.

    This is pretty much exactly how I felt since I started following. All of the book choices made so far have helped move me out of my comfort zone and into another level of fiction. I'm loving it.

  6. Posted

    With regards LAN you should look into the ethernet over power adapters. Saves a lot of mess and bother. They work perfectly.

    Neat little thing about Powerline Adapters that few people seem know about... you know who ELSE is on the same power grid as you? The rest of your neighborhood. It's possible sniff and capture traffic from nearby houses in a lot of suburban areas. Generally I'd say only use it as a last resort.

  7. Posted

    I just played it for the first time. I didn't have a fucking idea what to expect, so I wrote down the prohibition licence number from the plaque on the off chance this would turn out a vital clue in an adventure game. Yeah.

    HA! Such a hilarious newb thing to do! (I considered doing the same thing).

  8. Posted

    What makes me angry is that the money is given to Child's Play, which is one of the stupidest charities ever.

    Not to derail too much or anything, but as a parent with a kid who spends A LOT of time in hospitals, Child's Play is pretty rad. Not only does it supply my youngest son with toys to play with when he's stuck in a hospital bed, but it also makes consoles and games available for my older kids so they have something to do when they have to be up there with us.

  9. Posted

    I'm kind of ashamed to admit this, but...

    I have never completed a BioWare game. Ever. I've started Baldur's Gate, BG2, Neverwinter Nights, and Mass Effect, get about half way through each, and then just never pick it back up. I'm not completely sure why, the games just seem to get tedious and I lose interest. At some point you'd think I'd learn, but I bought Dragon Age 1 on sale awhile back and it's in my backlog. Hopefully this time will be different.

  14. Posted

    Oh man, this represents a huge risk to my bank account. When I saw the thread title I immediately thought, "I wonder if it's a Total Annihilation clone." Then I saw it most definitely is a TA clone and my brain went "WUT." Total Annihilation is probably my favorite game of all time. I spent so much time playing it in high school, especially the Uberhack mod. It's hard for me to describe how I felt when I was at my best in TA. The closest analogue I can think of is it feels like you are weaving threads of robotic destruction. It's about managing these streams of units and applying constant, unrelenting pressure on an opponent while still being agile enough to respond to new threats. Supreme Commander was a good game too, but it never felt quite as "sticky" as TA. The old school TA community pushed for Supreme Commander to go even further in the direction of being a pure macro level game. I think it really ended up damaging the pacing of the game, to a degree. It was just very slow. Total Annihilation involved a lot more macro management that it's contemporaries, but it was still a very hard and fast game. GPG pretty much gave the TA community everything it had been asking for, but looking back, I don't think the end result was as good as TA.

    Anyway, I'm really excited about this game. I hope they can pull off regaining that crazy balance of organized chaos that I enjoyed so much from TA.

  15. Posted

    Is it not available in Europe on Steam? I saw the links to the Steam store when it came out but it said it wasn't available in my region :((

    Still not showing up for me in Steam search or in the Double Fine catalog page. I'm in Iceland to be precise.

    It's region locked via GfWL... Valve's not selling it in regions it won't work in currently. :-/

  16. Posted

    You basically have to wait for a few days before you can continue playing, talking about breaking immersion. Obviously I cheated and changed the system time.

    You don't have to change the system time,

    there's a room where you can alter the phases of the moon so you can proceed.

  17. Posted

    Has anybody already mentioned or noticed that this has now been stated to be targeted at being a 15 dollar game?

    I noticed and I think that's perfect. At that price point, it makes me feel like they're really just wanting to throw together a fan service game for people who loved the original and not trying to take themselves too seriously. Maybe DNF would have done better if it had done the same. :-P

  20. Posted

    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster... when you gaze long into the abyss the abyss also gazes into you..."

    Great Nietzsche quote from the opening of Baldur's Gate.

  23. Posted

    Amazon, Itunes, Spotify.

    One DRM-free solution (not walled!), THE walled garden that I said the market was already bearing, and a streaming solution that has had to switch to a hybrid model based on advertising.

  24. Posted

    The problem with the Zune wasn't the hardware specs, it was the software and content eco system built up around it. The market generally only allows for one walled garden to succeed at any given time. And Zune was just another walled garden. If you're going to be locked in, you want to be locked into the option that is the most popular because there will at least be an ecosystem built up around it. Apple had the more mature (and popular) walled garden. All access streaming plans really aren't that compelling if you generally spend less than $15 a month on music. That's why Rhapsody, Napster, etc never took off.

  25. Posted

    On the surface (see what I did there? ha!) it looks like Microsoft is getting its act together, but then you closer and see that they are still up to the same old Microsoft pitfalls they have every time they launch a product. I think the decision to use two completely different sets of hardware and versions of the OS creates a "crappy tablet" and "tablet you really wanted but couldn't justify buying" scenario. They can't just make a product and put it out there, they always have to do pro and home editions for everything. And then you kind of have to ask yourself, "If it's a touchscreen tablet, why do I need a keyboard, trackpad, and stylus?" Basically, they're still trying to be all things to all people instead of just designing a product and letting it stand on its own. The only time they deviated from that strategy they created the Xbox and it has been a great success for them.

    I thought the keyboard covers were nice and the built in kickstand, but those just feel like evolutionary add ons. I'm sure it will do well, because even the Zune moved a good amount of units, but I just feel meh about it. Nothing blew me away.