prettyunsmart

Awesome! My GPU's on the list of recommended ones, so I imagine I won't run into too much trouble (even if I don't get to max all the settings). Now I just need to figure out a way to fit such a massively time-consuming game into my increasingly grown-up-like schedule.

I think I'm in, which is weird, given that I haven't preordered a game in a few years. From the reviews, it sounds like it's the sort of RPG I've been enjoying lately (emphasis on politics & a more exploration-focused world). I just went through and re-created my save file with their fancy tapestry thing, so short of actually clicking "buy," I'm all set. Has there been any world on the quality of the PC port? That's the only thing that's holding me back at this point.

I just re-installed the game as I'm looking for a dumb shooter to play. Do you need the DLC for horde mode? I'm prettyunsmart on Origin too if anyone feels like grouping up.

Is the copy of Spacebase still available? I've been curious about that game, but given the messy development, I've been hesitant to give it a try.

Also, beta sign-ups are here. I like the look of it, and the goal of an accessible, light-hearted online game makes me happy. It sort of looks like it has too many moving parts to be as accessible as they're hoping, but maybe it's super-intuitive once you're actually in the game.

I'm in the PC alpha, in case anyone feels like playing together. Here's my Steam. I'll probably be playing this afternoon and tomorrow in case anyone wants to give it a shot.

Is anyone else in 'the big alpha' that starts tomorrow?

I didn't actually find it insurmountable, at least in the current build. After making a bit of money collecting port reports from the closest locations and ferrying a set of tomb colonists, I was able to stock up on fuel and supplies, and made the trip without any trouble. The next quest for the same quest-give is a bit more of a problem, though. It similarly told me to go to another place I've never heard of, and just gave me a bunch of money to buy "something" there. I'm tempted to just buy a nice house and try to retire.

I miss having weird Rust stories to tell. I know you said the game is pretty broken clyde, but are there interesting changes worth checking out, or is it just the same game, but more broken?

I think it's a bit more polished than when you last played, but the navigation still leaves something to be desired. I made it to Mt. Palmerston, but there wasn't a whole lot one the map between there and London, aside from a few small ports. I imagine once the procedural map generation gets going, things will fill in a bit more, but for now it is a bit empty. Still, I've found it kind of enjoyable to sail around the map, going from island to island collecting port reports and generally being a creepy guy who spies on people for the Admiralty. It also gave me a reason to go back and look at Fallen London, which I haven't played since it was called Echo Bazaar. I kind of like that too, except for the energy system.

Well, my chance to be a real life TV pundit will have to come later. The one day they're in town is the day I'm leaving for a wedding. Boo. It's alright. One of my friends gets to be on TV. Not jealous at all.

Oh dear. I don't follow his tumblr. Is it just him being friendly with developers or something like that?

Also (if this does end up being a game that in some way critiques, or at least tries to get players to think about their actions in other games) this is far from the first hyper-violent game to be about the fact that a lot of games are hyper-violent. It just seems to be doing it in a more artless way than something like Hotline Miami. EDIT: Well, don't I feel stupid. I thought this was just a lazy, controversy-courting game that would follow the trend of video games that try to ask the question if you or your enemies are "the real monster." Turns out, it is made by actual Nazis, so thinking it is just stupid is being far too generous.

Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City is a good place to start for a few reasons. It mixes a true-crime story with some more substantive history about urbanization, architecture, and other changes that Chicago underwent around the turn of the century. It also reads more like a mystery novel than most non-fiction books, so that can be a plus if you're not used to dryer prose. To copy tberton's idea of suggesting graphic memoirs, David Small's Stitches is dark, beautifully drawn, and a pretty quick read actually. I'd probably recommend Fun Home over it, but still worth a look.

Ugh. I'm getting that near-panic-attack feeling that I get whenever the idea of the academic job market comes up. I'll be on the market next year, but given the prospects for English PhDs, I'll probably have to consider adjuncting too at some point. It really does make you question if being a part of such a broken system is worth the trouble sometimes. From a follow-up message I think the focus is sort of going to be on eSports. They're building an eSports-specific arena in my city, so I think that's going to be how they frame the story. I think it will ultimately be about how eSports and video games are coming to be more prominent in the mainstream circles, but I don't really know for sure yet.

Well, this is an email I just received: "Are you able to be an expert for the national media on the following topic of video games? See below. We are trying to find a university expert who can go on camera with Al Jazeera English to talk about the gaming business. Let me know if this is something you are interested in or know of someone within the university who you think might be a good fit. Signed, University PR" I am both excited and terrified.

Thanks for the suggestions! I like Bjorn's idea of sending students down the internet rabbit-hole, but I'll probably let the instructor decide if she wants to go that way. I think it will be a useful discussion. Yay?

I have a quick question for the thread (sorry to intrude on the ongoing discussion). Since I'm now known as my department's resident "person who thinks about video games too much," a colleague asked me to talk with her class about this whole mess. I as wondering if anybody had suggestions for articles to give them to read in preparation, or directions to lead the discussion. It's an English class about digital media, but there are a fair number of journalism students in it, so the "Ethics and Journalistic Integrity" bit might come up a fair amount. Some things I'm pretty sure I want to talk about: A brief history of this whole ordeal (and in particular the ways in which the conversation has been directed by 4Chan/8Chan/etc. throughout) Highlighting the harassment targeted at particular individuals (I'm currently thinking of focusing on Anita and Brianna Wu primarily, but the Jenn Frank/Guardian debacle could also be good to talk about) The brief history of media criticism/the enthusiast press (to combat the narrative that people knowing people is uncommon or a terrible ethical breach) Leigh Alexander's list of actual ethical conversations we should be having NPR's ethical guidelines, as revised in 2012 (in order to start a conversation about the problems with media coverage that takes the "telling both sides!" approach, particularly in cases like this) And I guess, generally the difficulties associated with political discourse online, and how seemingly innocuous ideas ("yeah, video game reviews should be less corrupt") can have wide-ranging and problematic associations.

In the continuing odyssey of weird things I'm doing that I've somehow managed to get my university to pay me for, I'm streaming horror games and talking about on this twitch channel: twitch.tv/rpgseries I've never streamed anything before, but I do rather like the Ravenholm section of Half-Life 2, so I'm going to be playing that and talking about it in 20 minutes or so if anyone is bored/feels like laughing at how poorly it will inevitably end up going.

I would love to play Team Fortress 2: Shadow of Mann Co. or whatever cool game title Valve would settle on. Rather than working to get your hats back from a series of robot captains, I was imagining a game that randomly generated robot characteristics from the different available hats, which you could earn by defeating them (which would destroy the finely tuned hat economy, I suppose). This is never going to happen, so I should really stop thinking about it.

I think I would have enjoyed walking off-road too, had I not convinced myself that at every moment I should be looking for secret stuff instead of just enjoying scenery. It's just a case of my own neuroses bumping up against otherwise solid game design, I think.

After finishing the game, I was thinking about how the first section of the game sort of gave me the wrong idea about how I would be playing the game. Spoilers, I guess.

I often feel the same way, so I hope my post wasn't read as a "Metacritic's below 90, so no purchase" kind of thing. It's just that the complaints leveled against it sound like the kinds of things that would bother me. It might be interesting, but I'm just in the mood for short games at the moment.

Fair enough, but hearing from multiple sources that the game feels padded significantly will probably be enough to keep me away for now. My gaming time has become more and more limited, and as a result, I can't help but think how perfect a solid four hour Alien game would be for my current gaming habits. Oh well. This is what Steam sales are for.

Reviews are coming in, and things are kind of mixed. The Guardian's take on it is extremely positive, while Polygon makes it sound like it is OK, but kind of disappointing. Gamespot's review has a line that was what I was most worried about with the game: "This is four hours worth of a great idea stretched into 14-plus hours."