Chris

I'd be surprised if many people here have actually read it yet, since it's such a new release.

I haven't played Saints Row 3 but everything I know about it suggests it is neither of those things, instead simply reveling in nonsense and outrageousness. That seems to be what its primary appeal is, from a tone standpoint.

Yeah, I'll take that. As Sean said, wish we would have talked more about the role of fiction in the structure of the novel.

It depends whether the punctuation pertains to the text inside the parentheses (for example, the period at the end of the surrounding sentence does not). If it does, the punctuation goes inside the parenthesis (see what I mean?), but this isn't always the case.

The media doesn't really have a choice. You can't play a game early without a publisher's consent. It's not the same thing as a journalist digging up a story--in such a case, it would be extremely unethical to allow a publisher to dictate terms. But we're talking about something that the publisher owns 100%--early access to a game--so it's within the publisher's rights to control access. You may be taking issue with the system as a whole, in which case the only feasible alternative for press would be to say, "We refuse to participate in this at all, and will only buy the game retail when it is released; until then, we will not provide you publicity, since the assets or builds required to do so must come on your terms." However, I can't imagine any outlet taking this position, and I can't imagine readers being happy about it.

DO NOT BE CONCERNED ABOUT THIS

Yes, this is a very good point, and one I meant to bring up and then totally forgot to!

He was only there for the middle segment, he left before reader mail.

Yeah, this had occurred to me. They didn't touch the machine before I used it, but maybe they directed me towards one that was already set up with a different built.

This is a good point! You should email it to questions@idlethumbs.net

I definitely played three levels. The third level was very different--you had to reach a woman on the map and escort her back to the Skyranger, whereas the second level was just a standard "kill the guys" affair. They may have had two different builds at the PAX booth or something???

Absolutely. We had The Oregon Trail on an Apple II in my elementary school library, and I loved it.

First off, I was playing with the guitar downtuned a whole step. In terms of the relationships of the strings to one another, it's totally standard tuning, just a bit lower than usual. I keep my guitar this way because (to my constant frustration) my voice is in a relatively low range and it's more comfortable for me to sing with a guitar that's pitched down a bit. Obviously that doesn't matter in terms of actually playing the notes; I just bring it up because you won't be able to "play along" if your guitar uses standard tuning. Anyway, it's all just idle fingerpicking around a descending chord structure in A minor. Each of the following lines is played for an equal number of beats: - Start with an open A minor - Play the same chord but with the bass note on G on the 6th string - Move the bass note down to F# on the 6th string (take a finger off the 4th string to do that) and add a D on the 2nd string--in total, this creates a D chord, but with the open E still on the 1st string that gives it that wistful quality - Move the bass note down to F on the 6th string but otherwise keep everything the same (I use my thumb for this but some people's hands aren't big enough for that) - Start over That's basically it. Beyond that I just kind of add or subtract notes occasionally for variety, and sometimes when it felt appropriate I would move down to an E chord instead of starting over right away, etc. I also played a full cycle pretty much identically except leaving the 2nd string open instead of fingering a C on the first fret. Stuff like that.

The reason we found out Patrick goes by Scoops is because someone saw "Scoops" in FTL and thought it was Patrick, but it was actually the name Steve chose for his character in that game--so I think we can assume Steve is down with Scoops.

I love that it's pronounced that way. It suggests to me an archetype that is so deeply woven into the public consciousness that it simply adapts to fit the conventions of its host language, rather than maintaining an element of exoticism.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/quixotic

Hey guys--when we first uploaded this it was missing some content, which we didn't realize until it was already up. If the version you have is shorter than 1:22:26, you should redownload it so you have the full thing.

Welcome, folks!

Sean and I are both big fans of the Slate Audio Book Club, which is the biggest influence on ours probably. I also really enjoy the New York Times Book Review Podcast, which is a mix of news, author interviews, and other reporting, and the BBC World Book Club, which is a monthly author interview podcast.

Sure, but what I more meant is that if you are a good programmer, you can absolutely get a job because people will recognize it and they need them. I didn't mean there was a glut of great programmers. I kind of meant the opposite of that--they are always in high demand because there aren't enough.

I listen to it every week and the precise presses required to skip past the unbelievably awful theme music are utter muscle memory for me at this point.

That section is actually my least favorite story in Cloud Atlas. I haven't read Goon Squad and I also stayed away from the Shteyngart because of the exact same worry, so I can't say how they would have compared for me in reality. But in general I already don't gravitate towards sci-fi/futurism/whatever, and that stuff in Cloud Atlas wasn't super convincing to me. But as you say, it ultimately works I think because of how much it feels like a cog in the larger system rather than a future universe unto itself.

God, that whole section was hilarious. I actually had my copy with me when I was at Jake's place during last year's GDC I think, and I ended up reading a bunch of them aloud.

We get some REALLY long email. Even the relatively long ones I've read have been heavily paraphrased.

That seems pretty surmountable, even if jumping around a lot, as long as the requisite information about those abilities is provided in a clear way. Many games also don't have mechanically-driven character development, which would make the issue moot. What might be harder to get around is the notion of the player's (as opposed to the character's) level of skill improving over the course of the game.