darthbator

That woman got 150k to talk down at people on YouTube. Really no one needs to go out defending her. While I agree with lots of what is said about portrayals of women in games I really don't see what good she's doing at all. Also could we maybe not let this thread get eaten alive by this too? I mean I know it's 2013 and we're reaching for legitimacy as an industry. However I would love to go back to a time when we could talk about games without having to absolutely comment on their social meanings like they're more important then the games that bear them.

Apparently you're Rendar free. There is only one ending to the game. Here's an old ars article talking about it a little. http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2010/07/limbos-ending-what-does-it-all-mean-we-explore/ Some fun story theory craft stuff for sure! I had more fun reading that article then playing that game so I guess in some ways that makes it worth it.

I think to think this will be anything but more Assassins Creed is sort of foolish. We're now 5 (will this be 6?) games into the series. I think what you're going to get from AC has become pretty clear. I wonder how bad sales will need to get before they consider shelving the franchise for a while?

What's with all the hate on wasteland? I thought their UI design was pretty strange (They appear to be using the same font as the original game... That's certainly a choice...) but I thought the game itself looked good.

Could you maybe expand on that a bit?

I actually think the backgrounds, and combat systems look really awesome. I'm not exactly in love with the character models or combat animations. I looked into it in general. It appears that the tech they're building this on is Moai which is also what double fine is using for their adventure game. Are either of these 2 products expected to ship on android or iOS (the platforms Moai is apparently built to target)? Or are they all just using it because of it's built ins (like it's nifty lua scripting lang)?

I finished Limbo the other day. I didn't really like that game very much... I'm certainly glad it's as short as it was since I felt oddly obligated to finish it. It's got buckets and buckets of style but the gameplay is just some of the dullest stuff I have ever participated in. I was also not fond of the combination of inerta based physics puzzles combined with character motion and physics that felt like they where mired in mud.

I mean I'm no pen and paper RPG aficionado or anything but the criticism about Monte Cook's game designs that I recall where the he designed dense systems that required lots of dice rolling (which is a non issue for video games), that he pretty openly just implements the D20 system in everything he does (which doesn't really surprise me, I believe he helped design the base D20 system during the D&D 3.0 design?), and that his systems are rule heavy and can create situations where the power range of characters at a given level is tremendous (ranging from unplayable to almost absurdly powered) depending on the amount of care put into the build. I don't think any of those criticisms outside of the last one really worry about a game system. They have the engine to take care of all their rolling and stat checking and etc.

That's a pretty solid critique of that series in general IMO. However I'm not entirely sure that the sci fi stuff ads any cool game play elements. All the dumb sci fi story really does for the game is couch the UI elements and collectibles inside that section of the worlds ridiculous fiction.

The barrier that needs to be breached is in manufacturing and cost IMO not necessarily in some kind of social acceptability. It's still very expensive for a very niche product (one without a lot of software support) and I think it will continue to be that way for at least the next 2-3 years. I'm sure something like this will show up in a big way eventually and I don't doubt this is the first really recognizable step. I just don't expect this to explode out to become the dominant form of game playing in the next 3-5 years. Someone mentioned it earlier (in a sort of condescending way) but I don't know if a device like this is in line with how modern peoples attention works at all. It's going to need to scale a pretty high bar in terms of the fidelity of the experience in order to get people to focus their attention solely on that and be willing to "plug up" their senses to their local environment. I think occullus is exciting as all hell but I think like most technological advancements people are thinking well beyond where we actually are. Due to that I think lots of very smart people become blinded to "black swan" technologies that show up out of left field.

Because I believe he is working on Project Infinity for Obsidian.

My understanding is that he later went on to regret not more clearly communicating to players that real essential utility of some feats and abilities. I think that's what his whole "ivory tower design" rant was all about. I do recall that in 3.x it was quite possible to create a rather worthless character.

I'm interested to take a look at it at GDC this year. Some kind of "strap in" experience for enhanced immersion feels like an eventuality. The rift just feels like part of the current "beta early adopter" program. It's an interesting technology that's IMO not going to be a widely accepted consumer product for a good long while. It just seems silly to not be excited for something like this.

So tomorrow we're starting on 9? I just killed 7 tonight. Figure i can find time to sit down and kill 8 and 9 in one go tomorrow and then actually post some thoughts.

I quit on TL2. My issue wasn't connection issues it was social issues. Yet another game that wants me to create yet another login and yet another seperate friends list to play on. I just really don't find that kind of thing acceptable anymore. In an era with Steam, facebook, openID, google, etc etc. There are a zillion ways to sign into something almost all of which carry with them some kind of contact list. I really wanted to get through TL2 but I ideally wanted to play it with a friend or two and that never really seemed to workout.

I'm sure if naughty dog could conceive of and execute on narrative mechanics that where as satisfying and engaging as shooting people in the head they would probably do it. I mean looking outside of Uncharted I don't really think Naughty Dog has an essential pedigree as amazing story tellers. Their history is rightfully in astonishing visual arts, tight game play, and technical accomplishment. I kind of view uncharted as their attempt to really incorporate a modern story with something they already do well, I think you're right Tycho. Really all the "gameplay" in uncharted is in shooting and "platforming". I do think there is a real push to maximize the time spent in game in those various modes of play. I think I've talked a lot on here about how lots of game players conflate quantity with quality in games. People (both players and designers) tend to identify with a mechanic or experience that has an infinite "milking cycle" more strongly then a mechanic that is very fulfilling but has a diminishing return upon repetition. It doesn't seem to matter how much more fulfilling the diminishing mechanic is, historically games have strived to be infinitely repayable, not lastingly memorable. I think that's starting to change but generally high prices compared to other mediums set an expectation that you will be able to extract more entertainment time out of a game then out of another piece of media. In all honesty I think that's a falsity but it's still something that needs to be dealt with in the way people appreciate games. EDIT: The first last of us trailer was pretty actiony. It seems like it's not against armies but I still expect a body count in the triple digits. However that's certainly scaled back from the thousands of people Drake has murdered.

At this point I just want to play Bioshock Infinite!

I think there's a pretty good interesting 1.5-2 hour game in spec ops. There is some really cool stuff in that campaign that is totally ram rodded by how tedious shooting a bajillion waves of dudes feels. I guess they can't really justify a full retail cost game for a tight 1.5-3 hour experience and that kinda kills that idea. I still would have liked to see a very lean short version of this game released for something like 29.99-39.99 I think that would really have been a winner. I think length is a sort of contentious issues. Most games overstay their welcome, there's simply more content in there then there are engaging mechanics to exploit... I feel it's VERY rare that video games actually hit what I would consider an "ideal" length. For some reason in this industry historically we have worried more about "how many game hours can I extract from this" rather then "how can I make the highest quality experience possible". Really with games most people, I feel, want to pay for quantity over quality. In this way it's a very strange market

Can't you also grab onto the hawk that sometimes shows up flying above you... Apparently not can't you shoot it down? I remember them having some kind of purpose (or being as convinced they did then as I am right now).

Spec Ops didn't do well because it's a video game and it's game mechanics are largely junk. It's a really ho hum third person shooter with a sort of ambitious for the medium narrative strapped on. As a game it's chief concern is having exciting gameplay and engaging mechanics. It doesn't really have either of those things. It really only merits discussion because they tried to do something different with the story. As I said earlier I don't even think they succeeded, however with where we are in gaming currently even a failed attempt at something different is able to trump most everything else out there.

Does anyone here have one of these? The videos I've seen of the menu system and OS are a DISASTER. The UX seems to be totally horrid, there doesn't seem to be a jump to home button and everything is SUPER slow...

Even if outright piracy doesn't cause big issues (and I think it will) easy root access kinda obviates their store. Everyone is going to be using the play store in a matter of a week after it hits the market. Good for users crappy for the ouya folks...

I'm not talking about it like it's some unproven standard, quite the opposite. I am saying that there's not reason to say it's not going to be able to push 1080p especially with more space for cooling. I think we have a good idea of what kind of games this is going to be able to push. I actually have a console coming in the first batch of retails just to have something to mess around with. I'm more doubtful about their store and ability to sell the console to anyone other then kickstarter backers. If nothing else it'll be a fun little hobbyist android box to play with.