manny_c44

Most Linux GUIs that I've seen have the option to split your work across 4 different desktops, with a little icon on the task bar to click on the one you want to view. How is, this in any form, superior? It just needlessly hogs resources.

Actually, the next podcast should have an excerpt read aloud by Claude! cough anyway I guess 113

All hail Blytant, our 1,437th spam bot!

The DS version is action focused, while the first Prime's best attributes were its exploration and atmosphere building. Even the gamecube sequel seems poor in comparison, so play the original Prime if you want to play any at all.

Even as a simulation I think WOW is dubious, there a tons of games with very strong spreadsheets underneath of them: Civ, Sim City, etc. These games are even known to be time sinks like WOW, but I can understand their appeal because of the complex and sometimes amazing underlying structures that power their simulations. WOW seems like it has none of those appealing sim elements, just grinding and leveling up. I'm pretty shocked it has so many subscribers.

Oh, so its like a regular Wario Land, but with stylus control.

Every wario game is about disguises. Since the original gameboy.

Thank you Spaff!

I agree with Marek, the episode lengths are pretty spot on, considering that there are more on the way. If you've ever read the Sam and Max comics they were similarly short and punchy, long involving story arcs have never really been part of the series. One thing that really does change when you make an adventure game this short, however, is puzzle continuity. Because each game in the series is released a month or two after the next one, you really cannot overlap environments. For the most part this didn't happen in episode 2, the newly introduced environments contained all of the puzzles except for one instance: Without large interconnecting environments we can basically say goodbye to the complex, interlocking puzzle fields of the old Lucas Arts adventures. Which might be for the better, like Miffy said, it's good to keep a comedy's pacing quick. I really liked episode 2, and I look forward to the next one...but those sound problems are quite annoying.

Oh man, I just upgraded and formatted my computer and therefore have no tools to resize the picture: but I will definitely be this guy from delicatessen: I've had the diver for far, far too long.

Yeah, that wasn't really funny at all. I'm actually sad that Kasavin is leaving though, I wonder what kind of game he hopes to design and which company he's headed to.

Sadly I can't contribute to this thread in any substantial way, because none of the games I played this year were especially good. I suppose I can still list these mediocrities in order... Oblivion I never liked this game's predecessors, the game would barely run on my computer, and I'm not such a big fan of very open ended RPGS. And the story was awful: truly derivative in a way only Fantasy story lines can be. Even aside from these personal issues, the game is considered a neutered or watered down experience for long time morrowind players (wierdos like Rodi ). Despite all of the gripes though, it's the only game on this list I spent a long time with-- finishing the thieves guild's quests and progressing quite far into the main quest, despite the stertorous state it put me in. The first wide-open RPG since Fallout 2 I took an interest in. HL: Episode 2 All in all its gameplay was more refined than HL1, as Marek and Oath said. I beat it in just a few sittings, but it made no large impression on me...in fact, I can't even recall anything about the game, plot line or otherwise, at this time. Alyx was your buddy, the story went no where and every asset was recycled. That's all I remember. I enjoyed it like a candy bar. Chibi Robo Lovely music when you scrubbed stains with your toothbrush. Ultimately the game's design was a turn off, it would have been much more successful as a leisurely Will Wright affair than what it turned out to be. And the game was just plain ugly. Aside from Chibi himself. Sam and Max I consider the original game amongst the lower echelon of Lucasarts adventures, only the Dig was worse. Culture Shock was surprisingly not shit, and in fact, pretty alright. I loved the "You're a credit to dementia" line. The dream sequences were great too. What wasn't great: the peripheral characters and their shite voice acting. The soda poppers in particular had tremendously poor voices. And the compression Telltale put's on voices is quite annoying. Still I look forward to the next installment. Games I wish I had played, and someday will play: Phoenix Wright Osu! Tatake! Ouendan! New Super Mario Bros. (I don't have a DS) Twilight Princess and Okami I have not played enough to pass judgment on, and if SotC was a 2006 game in the USA it would've been my #1.

I didn't

Have you guys heard of this free game Knytt? It's a non-violent platformer where you collect pieces of your crashed ship a la Pikmin...on the page the developers cite Shadow of the Colossus and Ico as influences; it has a very nice feel, and it makes all sorts of interesting points about how sound and design can make a game's environment substantial, even when the objectives and interactions are so primitive.

Wow thanks for the Samorost link. I should be studying for finals instead of playing these though:deranged:

Man Grim Fandango, so many ideas packed into one game! I have to say though, one of my favorite non-obvious parts is when you converse with Celso in the automat at the end of year 2. Converting your living room into an automat might not be such a great idea though.

Don't tell me you don't know that Bethesda Softworks is already making the next single player fallout game. I doubt the Bethesda game is MMO or a 2010 release since: 1) they've already been working on it for a while 2) they don't make MMOs.

I don't quite understand why it will have such a huge impact...because Square-Enix is drastically lowering production costs for a game that is guaranteed to sell well? Because its going to Nintendo?

The link doesn't work, chum. EDIT: Oh, it's just because you had the last parenthesis as part of the link. Might want to fix that. EDIT #2: And the gameplay server is down! How dare you pedal these questionable wares?!

So far, however, games have been changed pretty rapidly for an 'artistic medium', probably faster than preceding mediums. The high-score mentality that dominated the proverbial game development petri dish is essentially gone. Although there are defined trends, such as the FPS/action trend we inhabit now, these are constantly turning over. And the marketing and accounting departments of publishers are constantly following, tweaking, and paying attention to whatever new (and probably dismal) trend consumer purchases dictate. Asking the industry's tastes to mature is like wishing instant education upon the game buying public. The bulk of gamemakers and publisher will always be sitting on the median line of public opinion, trying to catch as many dollars as they can. It's not possible for the whole industry to improve because it is not advantageous for the developers or the largest slice of gamers. Things are this way because most people want them to be. Any idle thumb or like minded gamer can really only wait for the games that have a vision not tied to market forces. They've been mentioned all over the forums, I'm sure you have your own idea about what constitutes a successful game experience. If you take these high-achieving games alone as your sample population, gaming as means for creative expression is thriving...jump from Grim Fandango to Ico to Katamari: these games have all been produced within one decade by completely different people. Cloying market trends commandeered the bulk of the industry while these games were being produced, but they are still coming to the surface with the regularity of most other mediums. I think it may be useless to hope for games based on real ideas to come along very often, even if somehow the industry could cater to a strictly highbrow market. Even a Tarkovsky or Kubrick can only manage a handful of great films in a lifetime, right?

Maybe now Nintendo can take some of those billions of dollars they have saved up and actually develop some original IP...or if they're feeling really magnanimous release more than 6 games over the entire lifespan of thir new system.

Has anyone seen the fountain? I'm always interested when someone tries to make (or remake as it sometimes is) a real sci-fi movie. It's been panned by critics, but I might see anyway...hopefully it doesn't leave the theaters too quickly. Miffy? -being a projectionist and all...

Still though, as a boy I was able to complete Full Throttle (with my brother of course) and puzzle-wise that game was, at times, broken. Remember the demolition derby? The wall kicking? Did the game contain one puzzle that wasn't totally obscure? This Mensa member may have been new to the genre, but Culture Shock is hardly the kind of game that would turn a person away. More likely the game didn't fit his tastes, because if a game is--like Full Throttle-- compelling enough, you can't leave it unfinished. Plus adventure games require the player to spend time thinking about the scenario and puzzles even when they're away, the solutions aren't always within reach during your current play-through... ...anyway what I mean by all of this is: the Lucas Arts adventures had mass appeal and I often saw casual or non-gamers with copies. The barrier of entry to adventure gaming can't be as big an obstacle as you suggest. How then would all of those non-gamers and children become such huge fans of the genre? How would we be fans?

How many generations of Arab clerics have silently stared at that blatant scrotum and said nothing I wonder.

Yeah it looks boring as hell, the graphics are setting some precedents though...it seems that you'll just have to put up with the gameplay in order to gawk at the visuals. In other words, a demo kiosk game.