Frenetic Pony

I got Greg Rice on my first crew! Hey Greg, your avatar picture is a lie, apparently you're actually Wesley Snipes from Demolition Man Anyway, I can definitely see the potential here. One interesting thing I'd just sort of assumed would be there for no reason is noise, as in things making noise. The oxygen recyclers and mining refinery thing making noise, so you wouldn't want to build a residence next door to them because otherwise people will get angry at all that damned racket. Unless of course you put some vacuum in between the refinery and the residence, no sound in space! Regardless, looking forward to this continuing.

This should have been the poster song for GTAV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW8UlY8eXCk Or should have been had the audio director had a better sense of music. It's the absolute perfect tone for GTAV and oddly as relevant today as it was in 1979. The lyrics are hilarious when you can actually understand them.

Maybe it's a unique kind of boner, one that's far away.

The girl I'm not interested in, who has a minor in art history, which I'd still be pressed to decide between that and Political Science as the most worthless and boring thing humanity has ever produced, is still notionally interested in me after she was the one that came over and hit on me over a year ago (which I admit is appealing because the whole "guy does everything" schtick is over rated to me). The girl I am interested in, the one that likes Star Wars and Pokemon and reading books about entrepreneurs and animals seems perfectly happy to have a conversation or share a joke, and then perfectly happy to ignore me while she goes to talk to her friends fellow co-workers while I'm two feet away. Maybe it's because I like science too much and clear and concise and verifiable answers. Or probably most guys go through something like this as well. Still

"Why do I have to be Mr. Pink?" All tipping conversations just remind me of this.

Ah, my mistake then, didn't really pay attention to what he was saying during the video. But yes it sounds a lot better than integrating over time, which is what you do with a stick.

5 minutes of being a villain really isn't enough. A hundred minutes of Kirk looking kind of dumbfounded is way too much. I blame the writers, god Orci is awful. Star Trek (Abrams first one) was the best Star Wars movie since Return of the Jedi, and just as good as, if not even a tiny bit better than Return really. That's despite the writing, not because of it.

1:1 mouse movement is a bit of a BS thing to say, as that would depend entirely on the DPS of the emulated mouse. Maybe it's the same sensing DPS of the pad? Either way you should be able to turn up the sensitivity to your liking. But at least I'm totally convinced the FPS controls look better than a joystick. Maybe not a mouse, but you'd never be getting those headshots that fast in a PC game without console style "Aim assistance".

Yeah I definitely feel like if you're going to have a fantasy series it's got to have a clear ending in mind from the beginning. The Lord of the Ring's works because you've got your one objective for three books "throw the ring into the volcano" and it spends the entire time getting there, with no need to introduce new problems or whatever just to keep the series going. Even Harry Potter ran afoul in the middle (4 and 5) because of this, the first three felt kind of disconnected like you mentioned, but then once 4 hit it has a hard time getting into that "LOTR" mode where you've got your one clear objective "defeat Voldemort" and you work towards that. I quit Malazan for the same reason, it eventually just felt like it was going for the sake of going (introducing a handful of new characters every damned book too) without ever getting anywhere. It's the same reason I don't like most TV shows, I want to feel like there's a clear story arc and people are going some place rather than just in circles, and almost every TV show out there is set up specifically to drive its characters in the same circles for as long as possible.

So drawn in by good reviews I read Brandon Sanderson's "Mistborn". And after one of the worst openings I've ever read it slowly grew on me until I was reading it 4+ hours a day, the first time in several years I'd done so with a book. Devouring it I went onto the second, which was something of a large downslope. Sanderson has played too many video games (Large parts of Mistborn are obviously stolen from Morrowind). All he can imagine for conflict is a never ending series of incredibly obvious and direct obstacles for our protagonists to overcome. There's no variation in pacing or tone whatsoever for the entire second novel, it's absolutely maddening by the end, near which comes a "twist" which is just a hugely built up Deux Ex Machina for yet another book in the series having yet another obstacle to overcome because, GAH! I'm finding something else to read, several things in mind. At the very least it's convinced me that I can change the pacing up in my own novel. My first main character's epic journey is over, and now I recognize I don't need to drag out any new obstacles or conflict to get in his way. He can get his thing, the second part can be set up, it's fine. I'll definitely be foreshadowing the conflict of my second character now, switching to her anyway. But thank you, Sanderson, for showing me how artificial and stupid a never ending series of unfortunate events feels.

Have you missed the thousand and one gameplay videos? Check it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow1h0V40LD8

It looks like they're all secretly incredibly tiny hobbit midgets sitting in front of Ipads aboard JJ Abrams next Enterprise bridge. Also, I hate how uncertain liking someone is. She's amazing, but extroverted as hell and I'm a natural introvert and she said she had a boyfriend incidentally (when I was within easy earshot) but then weeks later she said something about an "ex boyfriend" quite loudly several weeks later, and I can't even figure out if she likes to talk to me because she talks to everyone or what. Which is all stupid. Ohwell, I don't expect anything different from "human relationships" stupid evolution, if you ever wanted proof it's random mutations with "selection" only determined by breeding success just look at your own relationship and go "WTF is this even?"

The biggest problem with it is that the ISS and Hubble aren't nearly on the same orbits. Now changing orbit in terms of altitude isn't that hard, you burn going towards apogee (farthest point from earth) or perigee. But changing your orbit direction requires a lot more fuel, more fuel even than the shuttle has for going from Hubble to the ISS, let alone a measly jetpack thing. Because if you don't, lets say the ISS is moving laterally to you, and at orbital speeds that lateral movement is hundreds of miles and hour faster than you're going, so you try to grab on you go "splat!" on one of the few available windows if you aim that lucky. Still, it was highly entertaining, so what do I care? Also the best use of 3D since The Hobbit last year (though The Hobbit still did it better). I think that's the problem with 3D by the way, it's another tool like depth of field or etc. If the director really makes use of it well, it can look good, but not every director is going too, so paying extra for it is a gamble, it's like paying extra for color, you don't really know if it's worth it.

Gravity is the most spectacularly entertaining plotless movie ever. It's the sort of thing that makes you want Alfonso Quaron to make a video game movie, because there's nothing there but action sequence after action sequence and spectacular sequence one after the other with only little tidbits of character in between. And yet it was damned worth it anyway. I also see no reason whatsoever you wouldn't see it in 3D on a huge screen. IMAX or similar is a must.

What developer are you applying with? Maybe just be safe and go in something that's "nice enough". Maybe not James Bond, but something you might not necessarily be embarrassed to wear to a wedding. Programming style, languages known, "if you need to do X..." Depends entirely, again, on the developer. Maybe they like managed languages, and they write in C sharp or LUA. Maybe they write partially in that and partially in C++. Maybe you're applying to Id and John Carmack will stare into your soul until you can write pure C++ without a single bug ever and every loop has to repeat in a trillionth of a nanosecond on a Ti-86. So, for your last question, depends entirely on the developer and position you are applying for. Edit- Like Clyde said, is making games your dream job If so it's not going to hurt. If not then why waste your time not applying for your dream job?

You don't remember years before 1999? Well, I guess that's forgivable.

Today: Tomorrow:

Ok wow, just watch the quicklook: http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/quick-look-state-of-decay/2300-7452/ It's, yeah. I'm at least as interested in this as The Last of Us. Story? Blah blah blah, gimme game mechanics and originality, and despite the roughness this seems to have it. Looking forward to this on the PC.

You can not hide. You can not run. They will find you, they will catch you, they will take the ring! Err, your life.

Pacific Rim: It's too bad that such cool robot fights and Charlie from It's Always Sunny (Charlie Day) as one of the greatest movie scientists ever adds up to so little. There's no plot to speak of other than some idea to make vague copies of ideas from anime, independence day, and etc. without ever understanding anything about what makes those ideas tick. Hell if it wasn't for Del Toro's at least competent directing even the giant robot fights could have disappointed, and even then the finale did anyway. Also, I don't know why I think about it every once in a while. But Skyfall is both not as good as Casino Royale and in some ways the best James Bond ever made. It's... epic in its own way, in a way that few movies ever manage. To bad it's not very GOOD in some parts.

L4D3 open world zombie co-op confirmed.

So apparently Valve's bug tracker went public last night briefly, showing Half Life 3 and Left 4 Dead 3. I'm pretty sure this is Gabe Newell testing out methods of virtual crowd control. He eventually plans to get everyone into a VR world that he will be god-emperor of. Then he can finally say he put one over on Lord British.

I can't help but feel totally unexcited for this. It looks like a boring Borderlands beat for beat, moment for moment. I've already GOT Borerlands. I've got my Diablo like Co-op MMO-ish/FPS like Hybrid. Except mine's got a great sense of humor, local co-op, a more unique and wacky arty style, and already looks more tuned in and conscious of what it is and what it's trying to be. Ok, it doesn't have automated co-op matchmaking YET, but Borderlands 3 is no doubt already planned.

Yeeees! Play Dark Souls. The last Zelda game I tried to play was Twilight Princess, and I got bored after doing the same exact quest, against the same exact monster with the same exact "equipment" for the third time in a row, and I quit. The entire thing was a remake of Ocarina of Time without the charm and dragged out to be several times longer than necessary. Dark Souls on the other hand is AAAAWESOME. Clever closed in exploration and dungeon design around every corner. It's not exactly a return to Majora's Mask/Ocarina of Time, to be clear, but it takes a lot of what used to be what Zelda was good at and expounds on it wonderfully.

I actually like the story and missions and finished up last night, which is good because oddly enough I'm less interested in tooling around in the sandbox now than I have been previously. I think partially it's because it's so easy to get stars, and you kind of have to concentrate on running away for at least a bit once you've got two stars, which is almost every time as "resisting arrest" appears to be a crime, as soon as the cops spot you after being called in you get at least two stars. I also feel like the better graphics actually sort of help all the civilians blend into each other. I did find a guy with a leafblower, which I gladly took out (I hate leafblowers) but I remember a lot more "targets" in Vice City. Like "hey it's a super fat guy, let's run over him teehee!" or "Wow that rollerskating outfit looks stupid, wee die!" But the improved graphics, well now they've got so much detail it's harder to tell what a person is just as a caricature as I'm driving along. That from a distance at speed they also look more like people probably cuts down a bit on any enjoyment I might get from wanton slaughter. But more than that, I think other games have done the sandbox better than GTA has now. Sandbox stuff is basically all I did in Just Cause 2 and I clocked enough enjoyable hours there. In comparison GTAV's low health, lack of infinite parachutes and crazy super grappling hook thing feels a bit dull. GTAV is also not really something interesting to look at a lot of times. Not that it isn't often amazing technically, or can't be super amazing at times (looking out over Los Santos at night from the hills looks AMAZING) but that usually a smoggy recreation of LA, or surrounding desert and barren hills, just isn't much to go sight seeing about. In comparison I never really got tired of say, Fable 2's amazing idyllic villages or atmospheric bandit filled paths or etc. I.E. It's just not very "pretty". Oh, and the radio is friggen horrid. Terrible pop and a lot of shitty rap on every last station. Classical? Jazz? Techno? Metal? "Pop" that's not from the likes of Rihanna or other shit I never listen to? Non existent. Even the punk station isn't very good. It's like the entire selection for a dozen radio stations was chosen by an uber hipster who found obscure bands and then chose their bad songs or someone desperately trying to choose "hip" songs that represent "now", whatever that means. We can put that one rock song played over and over for two plus years on every "rock" radio station on there, but fuck you if you even think of choosing anyone even slightly popular for the "techno" station! Popular is just another word for CRAP unless I specifically like it - Rockstar audio director in charge of radio stations. Still maybe the most enjoyable game I've played this year, at least new game from this year. $60 well spent. But unless things really change for a difference I think I'll hold out on the PC version for quite a while, as I can't see a lot of benefit to replaying it.