Professor Video Games

Phaedrus' Street Crew
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Everything posted by Professor Video Games

  1. The end-of-the-generation retrospective megathread.

    Have motion controls been abandoned though? The Xbox One has a Kinect packed into the box and the PS4 essentially has a Move built into the controller now. I like to think devs know better than to shoehorn motion controls into games at this point, so hopefully we will actually see some interesting implementations of those features in games and not just "shake to swing sword." I'm sure somebody will think of one eventually...
  2. The end-of-the-generation retrospective megathread.

    I think the most fascinating story of the previous generation is the rise and fall of the Wii. When it first launched, it was a smash success and practically impossible to find in stores. And that demand continued for years. Granted some of that was Nintendo's inability to figure out how to make enough of the things, but the persistent, heavy demand was there. Wii Sports was pretty much mass market game design perfection and literally everyone and their mom wanted to play it. Microsoft and Sony both rushed to get in on the action with the Move and Kinect (and Sony's last minute addition of gyroscopes in the dualshock). But then slowly it became clear that the simplified controller and meager hardware specs meant hardly any games would be ported from the other two consoles and all those moms never bought any other games so, aside from some shitty party and fitness games, third party support dried up and Nintendo could only put out its big franchise games so quickly. By the end of the generation "waggle" was a dirty word and it was basically a joke to say how long it had been since someone turned their Wii on. The rise and fall of the xbox live arcade is similarly interesting. Microsoft had the small (I hesitate to call it indie) game market locked up at the start of the generation, but their policies would eventually be their undoing and the actual indie market ended up developing on Steam and the PC instead. They did eventually make that indie marketplace, but it was never well promoted or easy to navigate, and was full to the brim with garbage, while the main marketplace required a publisher and had its infamous $40k patch fees. God they blew it so hard on that one.
  3. PlayStation+

    I just got PS+ w/my PS4 and I guess I wasn't really keeping up with it but I was blown away (IGN dot com blah blah) by the free PS3 games that are available on there right now. Among others there's Hotline Miami, Uncharted 3, Shadow of the Colossus, Ico, and XCOM...good grief!
  4. PL4YST4TION 4

    Well I got one of these in the mail today thanks to that taco bell contest. The sharing features seem really well integrated, though I guess you can only share video and screenshots with facebook and twitter? They've made it really easy to both view and broadcast streams as well, so I'm really curious to see if/how that functionality is embraced. I didn't play much of it, but Knack isn't impressing...run down corridor, punch dudes, rinse, repeat. Pretty, though. Jumping in and out of system menus during gameplay seems snappy. In conclusion, I rate the PS4 3.5 out of 4.7.
  5. Idle Thumbs 131: Real Life

    I think we're ignoring the fundamental issue here, and that is that holding up lighters during a concert is lame to begin with.
  6. Idle Thumbs 131: Real Life

    What am I doing....
  7. PL4YST4TION 4

  8. The Business Side of Video (Space) Games EXCLUSIVELY ON IDLE THUMBS

    They initially launched the thing just in Canada right? I assume that was essentially a test launch to judge the viability of a wider release. Now the fact that it apparently did well enough for that to proceed is something I can't really explain...
  9. Gone Home from The Fullbright Company

    This was a good writeup on Terry I came across while browsing around after finishing the game. I admit I hadn't quite put all the pieces together myself. (spoilers, obviously) http://clockworkworlds.com/post/58411117679/the-transgression-you-can-do-better
  10. Idle Thumbs 129: A Reminder

    I like to imagine there's a single person out there that got fed a version of this episode that replaces the RSS talk with bizarre Phaedrus ramblings, and that they don't post in forums or have friends that listen to the 'cast to talk about it with, and they just go on with their lives thinking "man, that sure was a weird one." Only Chris would ever realize the joke even actually existed.
  11. Tone Control is a Podcast!

    This was good. A few weeks ago I was listening to the Marc Maron podcast or something and remember thinking to myself "man it would be cool to have an interview show like this for game devs," and then this happens, and it's just as good as I'd hoped! Regarding intro games, I remember once I brought my Wii home and my mom was curious to try out Mario Galaxy although she'd never played a game since Dr. Mario. Oh man what a disaster. The whole joystick to 3d space/movement idea did not work for her at all. And being on small, crazy 3d spheres probably didn't help. Maybe Journey would be better...at least initially there aren't any fail states and little pressure to even move forward. Oh, I thought people released podcasts in mono to reduce file size. Maybe not as big a deal these days...
  12. What games would you make using the "perfect" Kinect?

    This is what the Pacific Rim game should have been. COOPQWOP.
  13. Half-Life 3

    Ricochet 2
  14. Recently completed video games

    Oh yeah I'm not saying the story is bad. It's totally fine. I was just trying to say the voice acting really helped sell it. I thought the guy that did Wei was especially good. Endgame spoiler:
  15. Spelunky!

    "Did I just suddenly get good at this game?" *Dies 30 seconds later*
  16. Recently completed video games

    Just finished Sleeping Dogs. A totally competent open world game with a good melee combat system (cribbed mostly from the Arkham games) and a by the numbers story about Hong Kong triads made better by some really good voice acting. Suffers from the same issues most open world games do though...namely the fact that though you are an undercover cop, you are also a murderous psychopath. Actually, that carries over into the story as well. At first some characters make a big deal out of whether or not you will kill anyone, but soon enough you're impaling guys on pallets of swordfish heads (it's ok because this is awesome). Also it's very pretty. I guess what I'd say is if you're down with open world games, it's totally worth your time, but if you're not a fan it's not going to do anything to change your mind.
  17. Idle Thumbs 119: You, Fisher

    Because they're saying the solution to torturing one person not working is to torture more people?
  18. Saturday Morning Streams

    Four players on two poles. I'm pretty sure Foddy is a genius.
  19. Saturday Morning Streams

    Yes. At last my transformation from baby-man to man-baby is complete.
  20. Saturday Morning Streams

    Sean's immediate disdain for Nick at the start of the stream is hilarious. Sean: This is why you shouldn't be flag, Nick. Because you're not a team player...in general. Nick: (pause) WHAT?! And later when Nick is (correctly) whipping everyone at the starting area Sean: Is that Nick? Of course it's Nick... Chris: What's happening here? Sean: Nick Breckon is happening! Chris: Is Nick the asshole? Sean: Yeah. Why do you even have to ask that? Be careful Sean. The Queen of France tried to fuck with Nick and look what happened to her... Anyway, Spelunky looks really fun, but I'll probably wait until I'm in the mood to have my blood pressure permanently elevated before I get it. I too wouldn't mind a Spelunky Baby Mode. God, my childhood self would be so disappointed in me for saying that.
  21. Idle Thumbs 119: You, Fisher

    I don't think anyone will argue that torture works sometimes. The question is is it more effective than normal interrogation, and that's highly debatable. It's certainly not the case that 100% of the time it quickly yields accurate information, which is how it is portrayed in things like 24 and Splinter Cell. And I think the argument on the podcast is that these portrayals have an effect on the popular perception of it, even though it's completely inaccurate. My in depth research, consisting of googling "does torture work", gives me this article from the Washington Post, which quickly addresses some basic popular notions about torture. The quote at the end ties in with what osmosisch said about it: "The larger problem here, I think," one active CIA officer observed in 2005, "is that this kind of stuff just makes people feel better, even if it doesn't work."
  22. Idle Thumbs 119: You, Fisher

    It's almost as if Saints Row 4 is HAUNTING the Idle Thumbs podcast... I'll just see myself out.
  23. Idle Thumbs 119: You, Fisher

    Lots of good stuff discussed in this cast. I haven't played it yet, but SR4 not only has Keith David as himself, the character creator it has 7 voice options: Male 1, 2, and 3, Female 1, 2, and 3 and lastly, Nolan North, which I think is a perfect joke option for a main character voice. In SR3 the seventh voice was nothing but zombie grunts. I found the humor and self awareness in SR3 rarely got into corny or eye-rolling territory. It seemed like it always added its dumb shit in order to make the game more fun. Like I'll be the first to admit the infamous dildo bat is fucking stupid, but in game, the quality of the animation/sound design of the thing made smashing dudes with it soooo satisfying. I couldn't help but use it in spite of myself. As far as Dishonored's voice acting went, I remember being intrigued by all the relatively high profile talent they brought in only to be amazed at the terribly wooden performances they all gave, especially Brad Dourif, cause that guy can ham it up like a champion (in a good way). What I'm trying to say here is you guys should watch Deadwood. As far as it being called a stealth game, it is in the same way that something like Deus Ex is. It allows whatever playstyle you want, which doesn't necessarily mean the stealth element is bad, just not required. http://www.gonehomegame.com/ghost/
  24. Gone Home from The Fullbright Company

    I think someone on this week's Giant Bombcast mentioned having played it but said he couldn't talk about it until it was released...which is today, so I'd expect things to start popping up soon.
  25. Idle Thumbs 117: Sir! Sir!

    The opening scene of the Kevin Costner Robin Hood movie takes place in some dungeon where dudes are getting their hands chopped off. I've only seen that movie once, when I was a kid and my parents rented it, but for some reason that hand scene is burned into my brain. I could tell you absolutely nothing else about that movie. Video Game P.S. Hotline Miami's soundtrack makes that game.