Bjorn

Agreed! @juffowup, Parenting: You're doing it right when you make your own board games with kids. I love how kids of a certain age just treat games like toys. They have either no concept, or no interest, in the goals of the game, and instead just want to play with it. It's a charming reminder of the joy of games that you can lose track of as goal oriented adult. As far as creative stuff goes, we love excuses to dress up in costume as a family. We do zombie walks, RenFests, conventions and Halloween. A few of them have been gaming themed. It's another creative way to be geeky together as a family without having the screen as a part of it. It also teaches useful life skills, like basic sewing and how to properly apply a prosthetic neck wound.

Wow, holy crap. I don't honestly have anything intelligent to say about this, but wanted to acknowledge it. As for the topic at hand...this is a tough year. I've played a lot of good games, but not very many of them left me with that GOTY feeling. My nominees would have to be Spelunky HD and Gone Home, for which I give the nod to.......Spelunky! Not because it's holistically better than GH, but it is a better game. And it is Game of the Year.

Yeah, the character creation part was actually available on their site for awhile just to play around with, and I had noticed the M/F options for the robots. Pretty awesome. I've elected to not play for now. I'll probably try it before release, but I'm going to let them get a few patches rolling before I try.

Just wanted to highlight that part and add that the same system (with the same problems) took place in the US. In my town, there is one of those old boarding schools, which has been transformed into a full university now. But it operated as a boarding school all the way into the '50s or '60s.

Well said!

My point wasn't about the number of people moved to tears, it was that there is an overlap between people who had an emotional connection to GH and people who are well read and educated in literature. He dismissed an entire group of people as nonexistent. That's insulting, and only exists in his head bolstered by his own prejudice. GH did not make me cry, but I felt a strong emotional connection to it, more so than most other games I've ever played. To be honest, I tend not to be dramatically emotionally moved by novels, even though I am someone with a love affair with written language. I find that music, movies and plays are far more likely to draw out powerful emotion in me. Until the last year, games didn't really have that affect on me either. But both The Walking Dead and GH moved me greatly. TWD did it because I empathized so much with the being in the role of an adoptive father figure (as that's how I came into my daughter's life) and because of a scene in the first episode that was heart wrenching for me due to my own past. That doesn't mean that I think that TWD is the equivalent of great cinema, but I'm willing to acknowledge that games are getting better and better about drawing out more complex emotions from people, and that is a new experience for games.

No, the insulting part is that he makes it clear that he does not believe there is a Venn Diagram overlap of people who were emotionally moved by GH and people who appreciate and are knowledgeable about fine literature and "serious television." He sets up the supporters of GH to be ignorant others, the uneducated, who simply are not knowledgeable enough about the history of literature to have a true appreciation of where GH fits in. He belittles that emotional connection with his dismissal. This thread and plenty of other blog posts and essays prove him wrong on that point.

Thanks for the link to that essay, it does a better job of discussing GH as a game, and highlighting more specifics about it. That was another thing that bugged me about the Bogost piece, he's very general in his criticism and praise. I'd expect more specificity given the claims he's making. Okay, after a night's sleep, I feel a little more coherent. Here's the point that set me off last night: "It’s impossible and undesirable to question these reactions, to undermine them with haughty disregard." This is just the backhanded concession that he's made, as he is about to not just undermine, but completely dismiss people's emotional reactions with haughty disregard. "But it’s also not unreasonable to ask how these players could have been so easily satisfied. For readers of contemporary fiction or even viewers of serious television, it’s hard for me to imagine that Gone Home would elicit much of any reaction, let alone the reports of full-bore weeping and breathless panegyrics this game has enjoyed." This is a classic straight-white-male telling other people how they should be reacting to something. (As near as I can tell, he is a middle aged, married white man). That their emotional reactions to this game are immature, obviously, because people who appreciate literature and "serious television" wouldn't have that reaction. It's arrogant and has echoes of prejudice laced through it. The emotional power of something is not intrinsically tied to the academic quality of it. Someone as smart as Bogost ought to know that. This insulting dismissal undermines the rest of his arguments about GH. There is an interesting discussion to be had about whether the praise of GH is in primarily because of how unique it is in theme for a video game contrasted with it's actual quality as a story. But for me, Bogost excused himself from that discussion with the latter half of his essay.

So I saw that Idle Thumbs is now hosting a Netrunner specific podcast, and they have DOTA Today. Which got me thinking about hyperniche podcasts, focusing on just a single game or limited topic. Anyone have any specialized 'casts they listen to? For me it was Twin Humanities, a podcast that talked solely about Dark Souls, hosted by a couple of British gents. It's an absolute treat to listen to if you're a fan of the game.

I just read through Bogost's piece on GH. It left me...disquieted. On one hand, much of what he has to has some truth to it, both about GH and video games in general. But then he swings into what feels like a condescending lecture that is so far removed from reality as to have no meaning, as it has no relationship with the game, literature or fans of either. Actually, the more I've sat here and thought about some of his later conclusions, the more that essay pisses me off, mostly because of how terribly insulting it is to people who were emotionally moved by GH. Ugh, I think it's too late to coherently explain my thoughts on this tonight, perhaps tomorrow.

This may be treading into "grumpy old man" territory, but kids today really do have a radically different experience. I remember having to write my own custom DOS boot discs in order to get some games to play. The amount of reading in old games versus new just isn't even something that's comparable. My daughter tends to find games without full VOs to be quaint and almost unplayable. Of course the flip side for kids today is that if someone is the kind of kid who would have reprogrammed a computer back in the day to play a game, that kid is now likely one who will make mods and dig into the crazy side of PC gaming. Or make amazing fan art, or something. The work and enthusiasm are still there, the end result is just different.

I had completely forgot about that game. I need to try it out.

Oh, speaking of Kinect (Dance Central above), if you have a Kinect The Gunstringer is a must play. It's one of the most charming and well built Kinect games there is. Simple gameplay that captures the spirit of the old light gun games in an arcade. Co-op is fun too, but we had some problems consistently keeping both players registered.

That Kameo didn't catch on was a real shame. It was a good game, with a lot of potential to improve in a sequel. I've often wondered it if would have done better if it hadn't have been a launch title, but came out a year or so later.

My kiddo is now off at college, so we've been through the whole gamut of age development and whatnot. Our philosophy was to encourage well rounded interests and to try and avoid falling back on fixed rules like X hours of gaming a day/week. So she participated in sports, had music lessons, read a fair amount, etc. About the only thing I ever felt the need to restrict was watching crappy reality television. Most important though is that we gamed as a family. We always had at least one or two co-op games around. Even if one of us was playing a SP game, usually someone else in the family was hanging out with them. Gaming is rarely a solitary experience around here. As far as violence goes, she wasn't allowed to watch anything violent in elementary school. But once she was midway through junior high, we relaxed and only worried about her seeing really obscene or disturbing levels of graphic violence (things like tortore or rape). Both her mother and I grew up in rural Kansas in families where killing animals and cleaning them were things you were expected to be able to do by junior high. I highly doubt that the cartoon violence in most games can be more damaging than the actual crap I saw/did growing up. And she loved watching me play games when she was younger, particularly ones that were too hard or scary for her to play herself (Res Evils, Silent Hills, etc). She is actually a bigger ResEvil fan than I am now, and she's only ever played RE5 and RE6. But she's seen every single one played through by me. Those hours of tank walking through zombies ended up being some real bonding moments for us, as odd as that sounds. If I could go back and change one thing about gaming and my daughter, it would be that I would have tried to make a game with her, even if it was just something small and simple. It's something that she's interested in. I thought about it a few times, even downloaded some of the easier engines you can use. But it just wasn't something I prioritized.

Viva Pinata is a game that I was oddly fascinated with for awhile. But I think it eventually did get a PC release as well.

I'm moving fast because I have a deadline My inlaws are coming up for an early Christmas around the 19th, and my wife is very, very insistent that this project be done before they arrive. My current screen is just suspended from the ceiling at the end of the room, with the screen sandwiched between a couple of boards to keep it tight, another board screwed to the bottom for weight and some hooks and metal wire suspending it all. It works, but isn't particularly attractive with the lights on. I could have saved some money on the retractable screen if I was patient and went bargain hunting, but I really didn't have that kind of time. I'm very hesitant to pay for a professional calibration. They tend to cost a fair amount, and I have so much doubt that it will be worth it. Yet everyone who is really into home theater raves about how much it's worth it. I did buy a calibration Blu-Ray, the Disney World of Wonder. I got it off eBay a few bucks cheaper than that Amazon link, don't know how easy it would be to find for you. There are also some homebrew calibration discs you can burn yourself at the AVS forums. I tried them, but it was kind of intimidating. I don't know much about calibrating a projector or display, and from what I read, the Disney one does a really good job of explaining what each test does and what you should be looking for, so it doubles as an education in basic calibration. If you're a little colorblind, you could still find a calibration disc, and then just ask a friend to come over and help. The little bit of messing around with both video and audio calibration I've done, I had my wife making the decisions about what looked and sounded good, as I trust her eyes and ears more than mine.

Anyone else read through the RPS article on Barbie Dreamhouse Party? It's kind of amazing. A malevalent AI is awakened by a clueless girl who doesn't understand how to run a computer. The AI then takes the girls hostage in Barbie's mansion, and forces them to learn how to be proper women through minigames that teach them how to put on make up and comb horses.

A love/hate relationship is the only kind that can exist with Dark Souls. Gawd, I really want DS2 to come out. Like right now.

I just got back into playing this, after giving up on it months ago. Actually had to restart I had completely forgot where I was or what I was doing. I'm enjoying it more this time around. I remember not being terribly impressed during my first playthrough. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood the first time.

I would say there is a massive amount of variance based on each AV receiver, and how much it does to the video feed. If it's a receiver that actually tries to improve or uprez a signal, you'll definitely pick up some latency. But if it's just passing the feed along, it shouldn't. And it may not be dependent on the cost/quality of receiver. It seems like some of the less expensive AV stuff actually handle gaming better, as they aren't trying to do as much to the signal. I've also noticed that more and more AV reviews are making it a point to talk about input latency, so it shouldn't be too hard to find one that works for you. FWIW, I've been using a Marantz SR7005 for years with a 360, PS3 and htpc, and have never noticed any input latency at all. And an update on my projector project. The last of my parts were ordered this weekend. Got a Chief ceiling mount for cheap off eBay (they are usually on the expensive side) and ended up needing to order a retractable screen because I changed my mind on how the room is going to be organized. My wife made blackout curtains out of some spare material she had for the only problematic windows, and those are up. And we're going to repaint the room, as it's just a boring white right now. We've wanted to repaint for a bit, figured as long as we're going to all this trouble to move all the furniture around, might as well paint now. Hopefully by late next week the room will be completely finished!

Something with good lower back support. My couch is getting a little worn out, and if I slouch for a couple of hours in it gaming, my back is killing me when stand up. Something like that Leon swivel chair looks like it could do the same to your back if you slouched in it.

Take this with a massive grain of salt, as it's been awhile since I've read about this stuff. But if I remember, the is a difference between audio coax and standard coax, but it tends to only manifest over long runs. Cables designed for audio have better shielding, can carry more load and a wider frequency range. But that's only noticeable past a certain run length. A short standard cable will be almost indistinguishable from a short "audio" cable. So if you're using standard coax through the walls, the quality could vary greatly depending on how far the run inside the wall/ceiling is.

Nice! Great when you don't have to mess with running new wires through the wall. I did not intend on originally throwing an image that big. I just ordered raw material with the intention of building my own fixed screen, and the smallest amount I could get was enough for a 145" screen. I was going to go with a 106", as I thought anything more would be too big to use. But, I figured I've got this big chunk of material, I might as well try a huge screen and see what it's like before I cut it up. Turned out that it's really quite nice and is completely enjoyable, I don't feel like I'm watching a tennis match or anything. So I think I'm going to stick with that size. The only reason it's not a few inches bigger is that I have to eat up some of the material for the frame. When we got the screen hung, my wife was very, very, very skeptical because of how gigantic it is. Then we fired it up in a pitch black room and she was instantly sold.

So I got a projector this week and got it temporarily set up tonight (temp screen for testing, will get something better down the road). This feels decadent. Have a 137" image going right now, and it's fabulous. Now it's going to be time to upgrade some curtains and possible repaint the room.