SL128

The new Hitman level is out!

I think this video does a great job of indirectly (and somewhat accidentally) capturing the shift in multiplayer games from having a chill/hangout atmosphere to a silent (or EXTREMELY ANGRY) atmosphere: It only covers TF2 and Overwatch, but in the past 10 years, multiplayer games have shifted from dedicated servers in which you could establish a community or stay on for a few hours to develop a short friendship, whereas now, matchmaking means that you may never see the same person twice. Additionally, older games generally had longer match times which allowed for much more goofing off (which was also facilitated by the lack of ranking+progression, and also the existence of large skill disparities due to the lack of matchmaking).

Do you still plan on going through Smoldering Lake in DS3 before the finale?

Despite , you can't just fly into interstellar space; each solar system is an invisible cube or sphere + skybox with static planets inside (you can't even go to the sun). All the simulation stuff they talked about was cut, but from my understanding, Space Engine and Elite: Dangerous should both be capable of what you're describing.

Ugh. Refund whales need some serious restrictions imposed, and I worry that if game developers don't self regulate, they will eventually receive government intervention for the worst. I remember getting to the dream sequence in Dishonored, thinking, "Sweet! Now for the game-defining superpowers!" But then, as I looked to the open space above me, I became overcome with outrage as I saw a whale where it had no business being! I sent a complaint to the developers, only to receive this inconsiderate response! ----------------------------------------------- When I was fairly young (around 7), I was playing Sonic Adventure 1 for the very first time, and the first stage was a blast. Sure, the camera was horrible, and the controls needed refinement, but at that age, I didn't notice. Then came a wooden walkway, where out from below came a giant surprise killer whale which shattered everything in its path as I tried to escape. Of course, I now know that killer whales are actually dolphins rather than whales, but like most kids who were the game's target audience, I didn't know any better. This trick must have been very effective in preventing refunds, as it was then re-used in Sonic Heroes, and in Sonic '06. ----------------------------------------------- But for all the faults of those implementations of refund whales, none were as egregious as that of the first Bioshock. In that game, you go through a brief 'wander game' experience, only to be quickly locked into a bathysphere cutscene in which --you guessed it-- a whale appears, all before you engage with any of the game's core mechanics, or even get Jack's iconic wrench. Ultimately, this problem on developers, but for consumers, there is another important factor in the equation: traditional reviewers have used an objective time-to-crate system since neo games journalism began in 2000, and yet I still feel that these journalists still do a great disservice to their readers by not including time to refund whale. If we cannot be trusted with the knowledge of the refund whale, how can we ever make responsible purchasing decisions? --- P.S. Several businesses in countries, such as Iceland and the UK, offer puffin viewing expeditions, but frequently include whale searching with the ticket as well. Of all the things that can be borrowed from games, I'm pretty sure the refund whale is the worst, and I certainly hope that this trend doesn't continue, else we meet the terrible fate anticipated in Star Trek IV.

My short thoughts on the Mass Effect series 1 is mid-series TNG 2 is First Contact 3 is The Final Frontier

I just did a Poetweet sonnet, and came across two great starting stanzas: No comment needed. The Jake squint lives!! I'll make sure to have it recorded. Just like 3D TV exclusives! Acknowledge the silliness of caps: Arguing for Hitman's episodicness. Game is pretentious indie crap! /s SteamIDs, and 'roll' them blindness

I voted for FC2, but DS1 is definitely second choice. As new recommendation, I'd love to see you play this baby game for a few (10-15) minutes if anyone else can vouch for it.

Double Post. Not anymore.

I found it. I haven't reviewed the list to see if anything good's missing, other than that I don't think it's worth skipping episodes from season 3 or 4 onwards. There are still a few bad/dull episodes, but I think they're in low enough frequency at that point.

In one of the Dark Souls 3 streams, Nick brought up the idea for a game built for streaming in which viewers could type something into chat which would then affect the game for the streamer. When checking out the Humble Bundle, I saw a game in the "pay what you want" tier called Choice Chamber, which does exactly this. I'm checking out a stream of it right now, and while it doesn't seem to have a lot of depth, it might be worth checking out. Also: Last night, Chris asked about the chat filter. That can be adjusted here.

Chris is was live with RimWorld. Also: Hitman bonus summer episode launches on Tuesday, in case a blind stream of it's being considered. You can also kill Gary Busey from this Thursday to next Thursday.

Did you remember to record a video for Computer Processing Unit? Edit: Nick hasn't been to Smoldering Lake yet, has he? I think everyone told him to come back later, but forgot afterwards. Edit 2: Ok, it was brought up during the part I missed, but still not completed.

Three hours, but no. We sent Nick out far before Ted Crews was ready.

I can't stand to watch , but apparently one of the CSGOLotto guys admitted to rigging results for videos. Also, last month, a different Youtuber was given free wins by a different gambling site. To add another layer to the story, Valve hasn't even been pretending to be ignorant; they've been providing technical support to these websites.

Eh, nevermind. But as Jeff Goldblum always says, "It's more sensible to assassinate the Queen of France as a King than as a count. The castle is a good place to work your way up."

Knowing how history(sometimes yesterday)-challenged members of that group are, some people have maintained a really great timeline of events. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ On a less unfortunate topic, changing instances of "sneak" and "stealth" to "slyboots" with Word Replacer is great:

If you do plan on doing a strategy game stream, it would be awesome to see another Idle (not-quite Thumbs) Crusader Kings 2 stream, since I think Danielle would really like the roleplaying aspect and experiencing how quickly the game warps your mindset to be completely evil. Finding out the right extent to which Rob gives directions might be difficult, though. Also, when you were talking about how Super Hot was short and hasn't yet explored its full potential, that's largely because the story is a tutorial, and the core game is challenges and endless modes (the maps are amazingly designed, and you will never notice in story mode). In addition to the raw value of each play type, playing through them will make you get good at the game (not in a brutal Dark Souls way). To show what experienced-level play can look like, some of my best runs are here. Since you'll probably only want to watch one or two, this one shows the train level in three seconds, and this one shows me managing to survive 2 minutes and 27 seconds (normal time) in an endless level.

In the year 2021... who will strike last?

I just subscribed. How far are you from being able to add more emotes? Also, what are the chances for another Hitman stream? I always love seeing slyboots action.

As a compilation request, the birthday bear saga, and its video is a must.

Lord's Management.

It's not in the OP, but Space Wizard Jam time confirmed: https://twitter.com/idlethumbs/status/741448227916898305 "Saturday, June 11! Noon Pacific! Idle Thumbs Wizard Jam 2016! We stream all the games! Be there!"