Patrick R

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Posts posted by Patrick R

  6. Posted

    Maybe I'm being a bit oversensitive (probably because I just listened to the This American Life double about gang violence in Harper High School) but does the playable black character really have to be a gang banger? The "it's our heritage" line from his friend is what got me. The implication is surely that violent is something they are, not a means to an end. His trailer makes it seem that Franklin's life could be summarised by a rap lyric.

     

    I hear you but I think that the point is that Franklin is the smart one and the guy who says "it's our heritage" is his foolish friend. Judging on the way he interacts with Michael in other trailers, I imagine most of his story is about what he does AFTER he graduates from gang-banging into the-thing-white-people-do-which-is-still-essentially-gang-banging-but-they-wear-suits-sometimes. Still pretty well worn territory, but done the right way it could be good.

     

    I'm mostly excited about returning to San Andreas in shimmering HD. Did GTA IV keep the same basic lay-out of Liberty City, or did they completely change it? I'd love to already know my way around the city the second I'm dropped into it.

  8. Posted

    Depends on how you define violence, I guess. I love a bunch of classic arcade games, but does Donkey Kong have violence because you break barrels and flame-dudes with a hammer? Does Burgertime have violence? Ms. Pac-Man?

     

    Going over a list of my favorite games, I guess most are kind of borderline. The Portal games are amazing, of course, but you do redirect missiles and knock over turrets. Most of the Lucas-Arts adventure games do require you to do some bodily harm to someone at some point, I suppose. Super Meat Boy has gruesome violence happen to you.

     

    Pretty much the only games that are consistently totally non-violent are simulations (which Harvest Moon is, to an extent) but I've never been huge fans of those.

  12. Posted

    Murdoc is definitely JFK and trying to throw people off his trail.  I'm not fooled that easily.

     

    I wish there was a game that was like this, only it was always at the part of the game where everyone is super friendly and willing to help each other out and instead of eventually getting to the part where everyone declares war and tries to kill each other all the people worked together to make the universe a better place for all. 

    We can still do that. That's possible, right?

    (as long as we all agree death to Roll Fizzlebeef)

  13. Posted

    As long as being around drunk people doesn't annoy you, I think enough people would respect not drinking to make going out to gay bars a not terrible experience. Depends on the place, really. More clubby, popular, blasting house music gay bars are some of the drunkest most druggy places on Earth (and, not coincidentally, a ton of fun when you're in an altered state) but there are also quieter more reasonable gay bars. Honestly, in my (admittedly limited) experience lesbian-oriented bars tend not to be as nuts as bars with primarily gay men clientele.

    You can at least always approach people with the confidence that you will be the best hydrated person in the room.

  14. Posted

    Me and my girlfriend pretty recently started to have an open relationship, so we've been OkCupiding for a little bit. It sucks if you're a girl looking for guys on there because so many guys are creeps, and it sucks if you're a guy looking for girls because there's an assumed level of creepiness behind everything you say because most guys are such creeps. And it sucks if you are me and looking for men because I have tremendous anxiety talking to men in most parts of my life. It's why I pretty much have no male friends in real life, and the idea of the anxiety of first dates (seriously, even when you're with great people, first dates are so awkward) compounded with the idea of a first date with a guy just freaks me out.

    Not really sure if the site is commonly used by queer women, honestly, because my girlfriend has had very little luck talking to girls.

     

    That being said, I've met some pretty cool people. I've hooked up casually with a transwoman which was a pretty interesting and positive experience, and I'm dating a girl who recommended an amazing Troma movie about a gay yeti, which we bonded over. You can meet good people on that site, it just takes some work. I usually end up talking to them for a couple days about The X-Files or Gucci Mane or whatever easy pop cultural stuff we sync up with (a lot of people list their favorite video games as well, actually) before asking them to dinner or something. The hardest part is that transition but I think as long as you're not a creep, you keep the tone pretty casual, and you find enough stuff to relate to, it can be positive. All dating is crazy awkward in general, but I think OkCupid is a pretty good site, especially if you want to meet nerdy people.

    One piece of advice I would give is to answer a lot of the questions, and do them truthfully. I've found that more often than not I end up having a ton in common with people I have a high match percentage with. It's also a good way of weeding out people who you just fundamentally would not get along with, like if anyone is homophobic or sexist or something.

  16. Posted

    CGI means that modern Kaiju will always be inferior to classic dude in costume Kaiju. You'll never have amazing stories like this.

     

    Kenpachiro Satsuma, the actor who played Hedorah, was struck with appendicitis during the production. Doctors were forced to perform theappendectomy while he was still wearing the Hedorah suit, due to the length of time it took to take off. During the operation, Satsuma learned thatpainkillers have no effect on him.

     

    Just imagine intense screams of agony coming from this...

     

    hedorah.jpg

  18. Posted

    I'm kind of down on games lately. Well, everything but the games themselves. The culture around games. People.

    You should read the tweets coming out of #DifferentGames. Was reading those all day, made me very excited.

  20. Posted

    Sounds like Neptune's Pride isn't for you, but it's definitely the mechanics that make the game interesting for me. It's not even diplomacy so much (though I imagine it will be later on when things get more cutthroat) but the concept of a glacially paced real-time strategy game. It makes most of the game play out in your head, so you worry about it when you're away from your computer (though this could be just for people without smartphones like me) and it becomes this whole other thing. But everything about that game, from the emphasis on diplomacy and talking to the constant low-level anxiety it causes, is from the central mechanic of real-time strategy being slowed down. It's what creates all the hilarious backstabbing and chaos.

  23. Posted

    Also, King of the Hill's barely exaggerated art style doesn't seem like it'd lend itself to Deviant Artisanship. How do you really "King of the Hill" yourself? Even celebrity cameos all just looked like accurate versions of themselves.

  24. Posted

    I think that, out of all the horrible things a person can do in life, playing two games of Neptune's Pride simultaneously (that both have production cycles that are completely opposite on the clock) is probably one of the most horrible.

    I would actually recommend people join a throwaway pub game before starting the Thumbs game. The interface is pretty simple and intuitive, but getting the hang of it before starting a game you really care about is better.