Frenetic Pony

At this point who cares. By the time it gets "passed" we'll be in a nigh post scarcity society anyway, robots will do everything for us (including sending us to the death camps!). With human work as a bottleneck out of the way we'll be able to mine the sea floor (70% of the world's resources trapped below there still, including a disproportionate amount of heavier elements like platinum, gold, iron, and etc.) as well as mars, the moon, and asteroids from the asteroid belt. We'll also be on solar and wind, if not a fusion alternative to stupid complex shit like a tokamak. I'd love to try and come up with a traveling salesman like problem for a solution to the distribution of resources flow once humans don't have to work anymore. I'm not sure there's an actual "objective" solution, but something to do with individuals relative desire of various resources over time sounds like the right direction to go in. Either way I'm not worried about poverty, any solution other than "just have robots do it all" will probably take as long to implement as "just have robots do it all" at this point.

Soooo awesome. So good. In fact, the John Carpenter 80's quadrilogy is a must watch IE: Escape from New York, The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, They Live. All four were supposed to have Kurt Russel as the star, unfortunately things went wrong for They Live. Still worth it though.

Ok see now THAT is funny. I guess I'm just incredibly clinically minded most of the time, so I don't "get" this as a joke. Glad others do though. Edit - Idea, objective Let's Plays. You sit there in a monotone voice and describe what is happening onscreen as it happens.

Giant Bomb's Game of the Year The Last of Us Well ok. I appreciate a third person shooter with a different feeling from Gears of War/Uncharted/Etc. I wouldn't say I'm in love with it, but I enjoyed having a more horror/survival/average guy feeling rather than the muscleheaded Arnold Schwarzenneger from Commando/Kill all the dudes for a change of pace. I also think Bioshock Infinite looked better at almost every turn so I don't know what crack the GB guys were smoking to give this "best looking game". If they really wanted to give technical achievement then that award goes to GTAV and no mistake. But that's not really what people raved about this game for did they? And yes the story, at least the personal one, ends up being quite good to me. The world is Half Life 2 mashed up with some I Am Legend movie version. I actually got annoyed when not only the opening of Half Life 2 showed up but then "now I'm in trap town!" moment and etc. Except they ditched the trap town idea to have more (and these are the worst parts) Clicker stealth areas, and then there was that (again, uuuugh) boss fight. Which is a shame because in between these were some great, desperate feeling fights when I couldn't manage to sneak past. So yeah I'm not calling the gameplay consistent. And while the story ends up good, with a really affecting opening and ending, I'm not sure I'd call it consistently good throughout either. It was more than worth the $25 and hours I spent on it though. It's up there with my favorite games of the year. But I also don't get the massive hype a few people put on it. Brothers- Yeah the controls aren't annoying to me at all. Actually the camera was the only wonky thing once in a while. Then again I play games a lot so I've an obviously biased opinion.

Episode 2 is out now? Sweet. I actually liked the previous one as well. Holmes and Watson were always the strongest parts of the series, and without that screechingly awful Moriarty to get in the way it's actually fun again. Shame about the whole mystery thing I guess, but that's not really why I liked the first two episodes of the series anyway. Also, MLP Season 4 is pretty good, yaaaaay! There's a lot of just really funny moments, and at this point their even going into stuff that I'd say Futurama might have done in its heyday. An Avengersish mashup in a magic comic book? Sure why not!

Are you kidding, it's some of the most fun I've ever had in my life! Staying up way late with other motivated people, high as shit on caffeine and adrenaline. Tweaking out on the last day because ohmygod it's the last day and what were we wasting all that time for oh shit oh shit why is it not working now fix it fix it! Then again I think imminent deadlines of doom are a just a great motivator for me. I've actually purposefully delayed papers in school until the last minute (or even after the deadline, like finishing it when class is starting) just to motivate myself and as an extra challenge. But maybe that's just me. Still, everyone else I've worked with had a lot of fun on it too. Don't worry about "working fast enough" because honestly the entire point is that there's not enough time to do anything at all, if you have a quarter finished tech demo that can even run at the end of it you should be proud, because that's all anyone else has.

Ouch. Ok yeah most every game company is going to want you to bring in game stuff you've already made. Game jams and mods are really helpful for this, at Molyjam there's actually people that come to recruit from the entrants and hand out business cards and stuff. From what I've seen and heard, even degrees aren't that helpful. They might put you over the edge, but between someone with a comp sci degree and someone with direct experience, even non commercial stuff like a mod, the latter is more likely to get in.

How do you not have a job? Sure there's competition, but there's more openings than competition. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm genuinely curious.

Move to the SF Bay Area, receive programming job, get cash monies, still feel empty in life, wonder what it all means, word

Ok, I'm not going to beat it, but I'm still playing Saints Row 4 and will continue to play it for quite a while. Because god damn is it awesome. It's not even Saints Row in anything but a superficial sense. The first... forty minutes? Of the game are awesome in an abstractly ludicrous way. You start out by taking out terrorists and saving the world in a grinning mockery of Call of Duty, which "unlocks" "the adoration of the American public" as well as "Presidency of the United States." Then you make your character, which includes 3 ridiculous male voices, 3 ridiculous female voices and an option that's just "Nolan North" and yes it is Nolan North. Then Keith David comes in, playing Keith David, even though he played a character that looked like Keith David in Saints Row 1 and 2. And then aliens invade, and stick you into the Matrix, at which point you get Super Powers. It's by far the funnest Saints Row since 1. The clear jabs at everything, including itself, other games, movies, anything and everything are pretty funny. I burst out laughing at the clear bitch slap to the "writing" and "romancing" of Mass Effect 2 and 3. And it's just plain fun, in a mindless and stupid sort of way. Definitely

I would honestly, actually read this style of review to know what a game is about, or a preview for the same reason. I just scanned the gunpoint one and decided it was serious. And it could be. Most game sites fill it up with "What they feel about it." But what IS the game? Half the time you listen to Idle Thumbs, and before they go in they have explain what a game actually is for like ten minutes. I'm not sure any game site does this. Ok, so it's a joke. Remove the scores and maybe it doesn't have to be.

This is why I'd be hesitant about putting a number to any of these things. Would you consider removing the number? That's a personal opinion and not objective by an meaning of the word.

Hesitant is a good idea for now I'd say. See how it goes, maybe it will go up. Sounds like you're off to a great start though, and getting people that share your point of view is going to be a key idea. Since you're just going for dry description at the moment well... I'd actually love to read previews like that! I'm not so sure I'm actually interested in the reviews as such personally, but previews of just what the game is without all the gushing bullshit is something I'd be interested in. And so long as others can write competently and stick to the ideal I don't see a necessary problem with other writers. I can't say for the money thing one way or another. I've written slightly popular stuff for my own brief blog and Gamasutra, but did it all for free as I just enjoy writing things sometimes. But I don't know what to say about your site so far, as it would feel somewhat different from that. Best of luck!

34 seconds, I don't want to throw up on my laptop until I can replace it Speaking of which: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gfniCDbbzg Can anyone find anything more like this? It's not even dubstep after about a minute, it actually gets a rythm.

Yeah, I absolutely loved the idea. But the repetition is pretty bad, and the challenge in sea battles is lost the second you realize you can board tiny gun boats you disable in one hit for an instant health refresh n the middle of any battle. I absolutely love the idea though and am excited to see what they can do with it once they've fully ditched the Assassin's Creed baggage. Maybe a full on Piratey RPG with customizable character and ship type and etc.? Heck yeah!

Congratulations!

Post your veiled and mystic glimpses into the future 365 days on the planet earth, and astound us all with your clairvoyance! Or, just, you know, crap out whatever you feel like. That works too. Games: Sony will have a slight lead over Microsoft in terms of next gen console sales. Both will have 10+ million sold by the end of the year. Nintendo will slash the Wii-U price by at least $50, will cause a nice big rise in sales. Just Cause 3 will be announced, look fucking awesome. No one will ever remember that a "microconsole" was even a thing. Political shite: There will be yet more massive protests near/is a/revolution type things. Google, Microsoft, IBM, et. al. will bribe enough congressmen to end the appearance of massive government surveillance by the US. There will be growing and louder talk of reforming the way the US government works. Movies: Hollywood will have another gangbusters record breaking year. Godzilla will be friggen awesome. Random: Another new/unheard of artist will come out with yet another annoying song that's constantly played everywhere so you can't escape it for months. George W. Bush will contract leprosy from handling an Armadillo.

No I mean, there is literally almost nothing that happens in Brothers, and yes I noticed the environmental storytelling and I'm including that. I grant you, it probably can affect others way more than it did me, but you can't honestly call it a hugely in depth or lengthy experience. What it made you FEEL, ok sure write about that all you want. What it actually presented is a different matter. And for a game taking several hours with it's story being about the only thing to hinge on, well that just wasn't enough for me.

Brothers I don't get all the love. The story isn't especially interesting. It's cleverly presented, and not something you'd get away with in Hollywood, but the entirety of it could be a one or two page short story, and I guess it didn't really connect with me that much. And beyond the story there's not much there, it looks nice enough. Really well "put together" but except for the ending sequence isn't really that imaginative. The puzzles are a cute distraction and nothing more, though I did like the glider sequence just for the fun of it. I was much more impressed with Gone Home. Because while that had some issues of being railroaded and the foreshadowing just leaping out at me (she's an angsty teenage lesbian! I said to myself in the first 2 minutes), I still connected with the story and enjoyed the ending a lot more than I did with Brothers. Going through The Swapper now, and will be playing Saints Row 4 as well. I already kind of like The Swapper more, but I'm sorry I listened to the Giantbombcast stuff about it. Because really I think the air of mystery is a huge part, and having it spoiled for me might be detracting from that already.

Smelling things isn't bad, and other than a bit of underwaterness being more convenient I'm not sure it would be that useful. Pressure would still crush you to death to deep, so no walking in the oceans. And I assume choking will still kill you via cutting off circulation to the brain, so unless you are actively being murdered by asphyxiation or even accidental, then whatever. Not useful. Eating would be my second choice. But I like eating, I like mochas and crackers and etc. So hey as a requirement it's not terrible. Sleeping is by far the biggest time waster.

The Wolf of Wallstreet Go watch this, now. Even if you don't usually watch movies. It's hilarious and depraved and amazing and Leo will finally get his Best Actor Oscar, if not for the rest of his great performance then just for one scene that... have you ever seen, or heard, the stories of people trying pot brownies for the first time? You eat one, twenty minutes later you've got nothing, so you eat another, and ten minutes later nothing so you eat another, and then finally at 45+ minutes in it hits and... Now imagine that, but with this hallucinagenic drug called a lude, and... yeah he's going to win. But then this entire movie is awesome, it's Goodfellas but comedy about white collar crime instead of a drama about blue collar. It's Scorsese at his best and most depraved. It's 3 hours of awesome that flies by like nobodies business.

I'm gonna try some partyin and hard difficultyin, because as of right now I just cruised through my second playthrough to level 7 on auto mode while listening to GiantBomb's GOTY podcasts without any trouble whatsoever. Click click click click, dead dead dead dead.

I've been playing Diablo 3... on a 360! This isn't Diablo. It's not. They didn't make Diablo. They made fucking Gauntlet Legends, and you know it's not bad. The fact that your "weapon" doesn't directly connect to how you attack is perpetually weird, and I'm not sure just replacing the entire idea with like, an "attack gem" wouldn't have been a much better idea. I mean, if I'm a wizard and still shoot a magic missile even if I having a fucking sword then I'm certain your conceit is broken and you need a different one. The classes also feel disappointing compared to Diablo 2. They feel more practical, more carefully designed, and except for the Witch Doctor just not as fun. The Witch Dr. gets to throw jars of spiders and summon zombie dogs and etc. But all the other classes... a "trap" set by the Demon Hunter is just a little X thing on the ground that slows guys, not nearly as fun as the Assassin in Diablo 2. The Wizards lame frost beam and swirly magic thing and etc. just aren't comparable to the Sorceress flinging lighting and fire every which way. So even on the "best" version, and honestly it controls so well and oddly on the 360 I can easily imagine why people prefer the console version over the PC. But even then, it's not properly Diablo. It's just not as good. But imagined as Gauntlet Legends continued, with 2-4 player local co-op, then it works out for being pretty fun.

Listening to Giantbomb, it did make me realize this game had maybe the highest high points of any game I played this year. Songbird dying, the first like half hour, any time the Lutecci's showed up, the entire lighthouse sequence at the end. When you sit down to play the guitar while Elizabeth sings May the Circle be Unbroken was simply magical. And original too! I'd never, ever done anything like that in a game before. Not in The Walking Dead or The Sims or even Rockband had I ever just... done something both everyday and yet magical with a god damned NPC. Too bad that game couldn't keep it up all the time. The arena fights were just tiring by the end. And I still insist the ending is a poor man's Fight Club. At least in Fight Club, when you watch or read it a second time, you see that it was in your face the whole ride through. I think it's my favorite "reveal at the end" because of that. Clues are being shoved in your face repeatedly, it's not even that mysterious. You just don't really think it's actually happening because "no way, that's insane!" On the other hand Bioshock has you go out of your way repeatedly just to get small clues, and they never actually add up to being coherent anyway.

It's not supposed to spoof anything, why would it have to? Why would you ruin your enjoyment of a completely different type of tale by expecting them to do the same exact thing? I thought it was brilliant. The right to be a git, the whole metaphor for alcoholism. The ending was just plain badass. It's not a spoof of a genre, it's an actual weird story that stands on its own. There's basically no referential material to be found, and that's fine with me.