vimes

Do you mind developing that bit ?

Yeah, except if, once, he had made you cry...

I kinda like the fact that Studio 60 is preachy... I know it's wrong and cheesy but still, I enjoy it. That aside, the actors are good, cinematography and directing are excellent, the dialogs are top notch ... my only complain is that the character's flaws are mentionned then flushed down the toilets which makes character development less interesting that what it could be. It also feels like , to gain momentum and to grow, the show is going to need a real opponent beside fate, the guys at studio 60 themselves or distant economical/political/religious groups. The good news is that apparently, Sorking got a guy to work on the sketches of the Studio 60 Show so that they are better and the setting feels more believable. It's the only sseries I'll keep watching when it comes back for the rest of the season next year. I'm not watching BSG because I want to watch the third season when it's over and I'm waiting the end of Heroes S1 to see if it's worth the time. If that's Tati's film, it is a pain to watch it on television and even with a big screen this movie requires a LOT of attention : the humor is in the details, some stuff become funny when you realize what it really meant three sequences later... It's an exhausting movie to watch.

It is.

You know what ? He DOES. And by the way, you're on notice:colbert:

I suspect Colbert knows exactly what the Wii is, the guy is a D&D fan for god's sake.

What games did you get with it ?

Apparently, it's a bit disappointing in the depiction of the Francist movement [basically, they are shown as Nazis ... which is what I though they kinda were before people told me they were different without specifying me in which way] and some people complains it is far more simplistic than what the teasers/trailers were suggesting. Still, it looks very, very impressive; it's just a shame it's not in my town's theaters anymore.

I hate school network administrators...' cause of them I never had the chance to access this stuff... or only the one 'turn-a-day' games, but then I usually forgot about it and die miserabily. Maybe people get bored of these games just because more than often the progression is based on time spending and not the player's ability to understand the world and play a coherent part in it. Then again, what would I know about it... f'ing admin.

I've worked as an intern in a one-man game studio[on Global - see signature] last summer and it was great. I don't what to do next though : I've got a double diploma going on with Georgia Tech in 2007-2008 but in the meantime, I'm due to make an internship... and I'm still wondering what kind of amateur project I should get involved in , in order to add something meaningful to my experience and 'interest' possible employers. It's kinda hard to understand what's the entrance in the 'industry' when you've got a technical background and would like to be something of a gameplay programmer.

I want this guy's working conditions and salary, and I want them now. Who's with me ?

Erm, what would you do without me, my condescending posts and my weird hidden-naked-guy-with-a-huge-boner screenshots ? http://www.rdw.org/temp/videoGaiden%20-%202x05.avi You'd probably die, I guess.

I bought a gamecube a few days ago for 50€ (\o\o\o\) : it's black (|o|o|o|o|) and it's modchipped (/o/o/o/). I've been more happy than usual since then. Plus, it was shipped with a certain I-Ninja which was totally unknown to me. At first glance, the gameplay seemed very crude, and in fact it is. It's brainless-plateform-meets-mini-games and it's very unapologetic about it... and that's what makes the game pretty good : there is merely neither plot nor justification to any of the stuff happening, and when there is, it's just complete gibberish your character discard immediately as madness. It's entertaining, it's sharp, it's diverse and the art design of the hub-levels could easily blend with Ancel's pre-King Kong games. The nice thing is that, there is an addition of small details in the interactions with the environment or the character and in the animations that really make the game come as very charming. For instance, I really like the fact that when you skip a dialog, your ninja just 'shush'-up the speaker or that every action is done through a very ninja move. Heh, I even might get to the end of it.

I'm at the third hub level[the forrest] so I haven't encounter this case yet... it's the exact same missions?That sucks.

Isn't giving brain training stuff to people a bad attempt at distributing hidden insults ?

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh ????????

I think that the main problem is that no next-gen console is either complete shit - not even the ill advertised, ill-released PS3 - or complete genius. Apparently, even the Wii still needs to be properly used by excellent games in several genres so to prove it really is as innovative as the nintendo execs pretend. Man, why do we have such a hobby when we are so freakin' poor?

It would be interesting to analyse if the titles that were awaited at the release of the previous gen and the one before that, were the ones that really made the console worth it... I mean, what were the best games on the most recent console you own and were they suprising games or games you anticipated a lot? I ask you, IdleThumbers!

On a related note, how long do you think it takes for consoles to get to the point at which anyone can say "THIS is the platform that suit me most in term of the type of games it supports" ? 1 year, 2 years, 6 months ?

Since Sam & Max, Telltale's approach to episodic content looks even more engaging because - from how the first episode felt like - it seems that they don't consider it just cutting a full game into pieces [like chapter]... it's something else and it's refreshing in the way that, to me, the format enables to get another angle on the adventure game genre. Mainly it enables designer to develop ideas inside a limited canvas; ideas which would be seen as too simplistic or underused in the traditionnal length. That's why I wish Ritual or other companies had this kind of philosophy, because that might bring us innovation inside genres which have begun to run in circle.

My sister wished she had a pony. That's all I can say bout this matter.

I imagine there's a choice to be made between creating puzzles that fit well into the characters and the universe, whose outcome and realisation make you laugh and the puzzles that make the player feel smart and which provide him a sense of achievement through difficulty. Currently, I'm more into the first type, because I like to experience good dialogs and a good story without having to be slown down by puzzles only remotely linked to the plot... but I kinda miss the nice balance some of the Myst games had : finding solution to puzzle at first obscure but to which the player would find meaning and context by observation and conjecture ... it was like being an archelologist! I'm not aware of any games that manages to do that so well.

OK, I don't know why, but I was thinking there would be some kind of form for each game/series. Fair enough. It wasn't supposed to be condescending, but you made me realized it did got out that way.

Err, now I feel, I'm not really in a position to give advice soooo.... ? (By the way, I can't find Telltale's feedback form/page as promised in the order mail. The given link only points to some newsletter submission... any clue, anyone ?)

First, let me just say, I don't give a shit about the numbers but I do find interesting to see how well or how bad a game I like and which isn't a given blockbuster is doing. That being said,I don't really see the point of this need of secrecy that the game industry seems to have since a certain era during which most game projects were doomed to not raise money, because, well, they were just not managed properly. Here's why : 1 - the movie and the TV industry is doing very well with box offices, figures that nearly anyone can consult with two or three weeks delay. There are clones, but with such development times (quite equivalent to those of games), they always arrive late. 2 - The reasons you're giving are VERY dangerous for Telltale's image. You fear COMPETITION ?! What is that supposed to say about your confidence in your products ? What does it say about your respect for the players ... you're willing to do a good job, but you won't find acceptable to see them going to other products because they got episode based aventure games right or better than you?! Come on! In your niche, people just won't buy stuff because it ressembles another product, they will buy a game if it's good enough and better than a competing game. And then your games' quality will be at fault, not the fact that you released your figures. Of course, that's not what you think, but what you say is implying it quite strongly. 3 - What if it raises competition ? Isn't that a good thing ? If there's more products, people will talk more about the project that launched this trend... they will systematically come back to it in order to judge its contenders and value their content. Then, in all fairness, if your game is good, it will attract more attention... 4 - I can't count the numbers of development studios ( in adventure games or not) which died saying to their terminal breath " Doing Good.. can't ... release... numbers ... arg". A game company not willing to release how good they are selling ? That's bad , bad omen to my ears. Anyway, most people don't even ask you for a weekly report ( they just don't care), but to release figures every other quarter.... frankly, it's very ridiculous to see PR people saying "Ahhh, it's doing well but, you know, we can't give you precise numbers" it makes them look ignorant... talking about the studios internal growth like you did could be a better answer.