supasheep

I feel like this is going in a very different direction to the Double Fine Adventure kickstarter, even though at first glance they seem to have a similar theme of "adventure games! woo!". Broken Age was designed around 'what if adventure games kept progressing?' whereas this is more of a nostalgia trip. That isn't to say that this won't be good, because it definitely has the potential to be. It just feels as though this is in a very different direction design-wise (possibly deliberately) to Broken Age.

So we managed to land a robot on a comet... http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30026398 I've been following it a bit on Twitter, and I can't tell if anthromorphic accounts for the probe and lander are endearing or creepy.

I've renamed a bunch of my soldiers to close friends/family. No particular stories so far, although I have named a bunch of soldiers after friends/family which gives me a chuckle, although the only named soldier I've had die so far is one I named after myself in a moment of megalomania. I bought the complete pack so I've got Enemy Within, which I'm saving for another playthrough.

Here in the UK we've already changed. It means brighter mornings and darker evenings, as far as I'm aware? Or at least that's how it feels. The fact that's its almost dark by 5.30 is pretty miserable though.

I have been playing XCOM:Enemy Unknown. I had it on PS3 but never really got into it, and then with the free weekend a few weeks ago I discovered that it runs on my pretty crappy laptop! So I've now bought it and I feel like I've progressed further than I have before. Often these sort of tactics/turn-based battles frustrate me, probably due to an internal pressure to get it "exactly right" (whatever that means). But so far I've been able to be pretty chilled about it and not be too concerned about getting an ideal result, and it still seems to be going pretty well. It's still early days but I can see myself sticking with it for a while yet.

One of my friends just told me he worked in a warehouse in the summer for a company that makes electronic cigarettes, and that the employees would get given an amount of stock each week as an added reward of what they were paid (minimum wage I think). They were free to do what they wanted with it - smoke it, sell it, give it away, etc. On the one hand I can't help but see this as kinda sketchy, an employer essentially gifting each employee with an addictive substance, but I can't tell if I'm reading too much into what could be a fairly innocuous thing.

I was thinking about them the other day, I've never listened to any of their stuff other than that one with the treadmills and sort of assumed they were a one hit wonder. Guess I was clearly wrong! That video is awesome.

From the sounds of it, that is pretty likely. It doesn't concern me so much, I guess as at this point following the narrative is enough for me, but I can understand that. I'd just assumed that the series had been finished and was just slowly being released, rather than the still very ongoing project it sounded like on that podcast.

Is anyone still playing? I've just received my invite to the alpha, installing it now.

That reminds me of something from Halo - whenever you died from "unknown causes", your death would be listed as "<x> was killed by the Guardians". My friends and I used to try and find all the places on multiplayer maps where you could be randomly killed.

For those listening to Serial, Sarah Koenig was interviewed on The Gist earlier this week talking about the podcast. It is really interesting. She gives a few details of her process and hints a little bit at what is going on. Apparently, each episode is being put together each week and as of yet the reporting hasn't even finished. Certainly puts a different perspective on what is going on!

I haven't got any of the expansions and in my opinion the game works really well stand-alone. I suspect after a long period the addition of some expansions would help to add to the game, which is probably the stage I've reached, but it certainly works well on its own and is a lot of fun!

It isn't really a problem, I could easily get something that could measure cups for very cheap if I wanted. I'm just lazy, basically.

That site looks really good. My only issue is the use of cups as a measurement, being a European, but I'm sure that can be solved.

It can only be a matter of time...

I reaaaly want to play this game but I don't think my laptop will be up to it and I no longer own a console I really need to get round to building my own desktop!

I read that review earlier, it is a brilliant piece of writing. It really shows why I love SU&SD - they are able to do humour and serious writing to such an excellent standard. I both really want to play Dog Eat Dog and think that I couldn't stand playing it as it sounds so draining.

There have been a few interesting mobile games recently. Things like Wayward Souls, Calculords and Desert Golfing are all smaller unique games that feel made for the platform rather than coping with the limitations of a game that was never supposed to be played without a controller/mouse and keyboard.

I have been enjoying Serial so far, Sarah Koenig has done an excellent job in creating an engaging narrative and clearly doing some very thorough investigation as well.

The tone of this game is very appealing to me, and those audio clips fit perfectly. But the survival mechanics put me off a bit - I would much prefer an adventure game set in this environment.

The idea of presenting this game without a commentary on its mechanics is itself a commentary on the game. It feels like it ought to be a parody.

They do seem to be quite hit and miss. Psychonauts is one of my favourite games, and I enjoyed Stacking as a small game that had some neat ideas and didn't outstay its welcome. But some of their more recent games seem to have fallen a bit flat. I'm looking forward to seeing where they go with Broken Age though.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/10/15/elite-dangerous-diary-1/ I love articles like this.

It strikes me as an interesting twist on Animal Crossing. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued, although the reviews do seem quite mixed.

Some of my non-fiction recommendations: The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver - a good look at the science of prediction across a variety of different fields. Silver takes a really close look at what it means to make a prediction, and some of the maths that goes behind both everyday predictions and big-picture ones too. A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre - an examination of Kim Philby and how he was able to infiltrate the British spy establishment. A fascinating read, as he takes a broader view of the structure of the British spy apparatus and is a pretty damning indictment of how the class system enabled Philby to hide. A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson - covers a broad range of scientific concepts in an easy to understand manner