prettyunsmart

I don't think I'm pretty enough, even if I could quote Hemingway in a sexy voice.

Well, I just found out that not only do I have no chance of teaching over the summer for my grad program, but that the only other summer job available in the department is not actually open (they're interviewing people, but they already selected someone who didn't need to apply). So, now I just need to find someone who will hire a person with an MA in American Literature for three months, probably for minimum wage. Will teach critical theory for food?

I finished Shadowrun: Returns Dragonfall. I really enjoyed my time with it, or at least I enjoyed the settings, the characters, and the writing. I ended up just tolerating the gameplay. Maybe I'm just not into tactics games, but I found myself getting a little annoyed with most of the combat encounters and wanting to get back to exploring and the story stuff. I think focusing so much on the neighborhood gave the game a sense of place that the first campaign didn't have so much. I also really liked the way conversations unfolded with the members of your time in the style of Bioware companions. My one wish, which I'm sure only didn't come true because of budgetary restrictions,

I hardly meant to hold that article in particular up as an example of academic criticism about games. I only meant to say that this could be a space to watch for academic work on games in the future. On the linguistic defense mechanism side of things, I think you have a point with some writers, but some of that is just a matter of audience. There's a cycle of academics talking to other academics in their own special brand of "academese" which then gets passed on to the next generation. Part of the conflict here might be your goals not matching up with people working on the critical side of things. Not all game designers may want to work with these "deep thoughts" about what is a game, or what is fun, but I don't think you should discount people who do want to have those discussions. Conversation and criticism about painting, the novel, film, and a variety of other artistic mediums allowed for people to push at the boundaries of what those various arts could potentially be. Just look at cubist painting, the modernist novel, or experimental film. Maybe these same kinds of discussions could inspire someone to make a kind of game that wouldn't have otherwise been imagined.

For some reason I really like Tapper. It isn't a good game by any means, but I really like it as an arcade cabinet. Also, if I had the space for an arcade cabinet, I'd want to make one of these. It's like MAME but for awesome local co-op focused indie games!

I less hopeful about Ohio State's chances. If you trust Nate Silver, they'll have a strong first round before either falling to Syracuse or Kansas shortly thereafter. That's just math.

Fixed.

More on the academic side than the design side but I like: Kurt Squire, who writes about games and learning. Ian Bogost, who writes about persuasive games among many other things. Also, the Journal of Games Criticism is just starting out, but seems to have some interesting stuff going on.

Wow. So I just got in a couple of games of Capture the Flag, and I think I have a new favorite video game thing (at least for the moment). There's nothing quite like stashing a titan near the enemy base, wallrunning in, grabbing the flag, hopping back in the titan, activating the dash core, and getting back to base for a capture. It brings me back to frantic flag running in UT, but with giant robots.

The Sega Humble Weekly Sale looks alright. I've never played a Total War game, but I've always thought they looked interesting, if a little intimidating. As a total RTS newb, do you all think I'd be totally lost if I picked this up? EDIT: The Humble Bundle of Love for Brandon Boyer is also worth mentioning.

I know! I kind of want to buy it, but I would feel a little too dirty wearing it.

If you mean where it got leaked, it was on the concept art on Olly's desktop during the DayZ least dangerous game stream.

I think it's funny that nobody noticed the subtle expansion of Chris's Spelunky habit. It used to be "I only play the daily." Now it has turned into "I only play the daily and a few speed runs." Is it time for an intervention?

Because I'm simple, I just discovered that that directs to a likely-filled-with-spyware Minecraft clone.

Roleplaying sounds like a good way to go about it. You can do some contextual trash talking, which sounds like a good idea. While playing through the campaign I was just trying to strike up a conversation with people about how they thought it was working as a means of telling story in the game. One guy just wanted to say that it was bullshit, and another asked me if I liked fisting. Ok, then.

That sounds so good. I just tried to queue for CTF and just sat there with three people on a team, finding no opponents. No problem getting games in attrition, so I just played more of that. Has anyone else noticed that this is not a very chatty game on the whole? Not even that many "gg" or "glhf" posts before and after matches. I suppose that's better than the casual racism/sexual comments about your mother you get in a lot of games.

In my effort to convince myself to wait for the PC version, I've been reading reviews, looking for nitpicks. Most have been pretty minor, but there was one that was kind of concerning. In Adam Sessler's review, he mentioned that hit detection and enemy movement were a little off, with hits connecting that shouldn't and bosses stretching beyond their normal movements to hit the player. Has anyone experienced this? I don't think it would stop me from playing the game, but it might dampen the "tough but fair" reputation the game has.

I'm always amazed at how good people get at games like this so quickly. I just got done with work, had the game downloaded, and played my first match. On the other team, there were three people around level 30 who already seemed to know every corner of the map. I need a "bad at video games" queue for games like this. Note: I sound like I'm griping, but I still had a fun time. I'm just in awe of other people's skill/dedication.

Ok, you convinced me (didn't take much, I just wanted to know that things were working for the most part). I'm downloading and getting some work done now, but if anyone wants to play a little later this afternoon/evening my Origin ID is PrettyUnsmart.

So how are the servers holding up? I have been thinking about picking a copy up, but I wanted to see if we were in for the now traditional day 1 meltdown. Curse my cynicism for making me wait.

I think you're making the right choice. I quit about 20 hours in shortly after it came out. The combat system is simultaneously really simple and immensely frustrating. Later on, they add more characters to your party which you can't control, and they seem to exist only to get themselves killed and waste their mana on unnecessary things. It's a shame, since the art style and overall level of polish made me really want to keep going with it.

I have to say, Dear Leader turned out great. The only thing is . Still, not bad for two weeks.

I too am only able to state my excitement. I know this isn't the multiplayer networking sub-forum, but if anyone wants to get together for some musical violence, I'll probably be PrettyUnsmart in this game like every other.

I think I might have skipped the DLC area. I didn't do it on purpose. I just went where I thought I needed to in order to progress the game, and it looks like I missed something. Now my victory feels kind of hollow (pun intended).

Yeah, it really wasn't too bad once I got going. I think my build (strength-focused with a black knight halberd and havel's ring so I could fast-roll in light armor) was really well suited for the last couple of boss fights. It didn't work so well against Gwyn, so I switched to a tankier method and that ultimately worked out. And to think I almost gave up in the Painted World before some Thumbs told me to keep going.