n0wak

Phaedrus' Street Crew
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Everything posted by n0wak

  1. Idle thumbs London meet!

    I think that person was at the Indie Show & Yell event, unless there was another guy wearing a Grim Fandango shirt (always possible at nerd fests like this), but I don't think he was a Thumb person. Too bad we couldn't meet though. We could have discussed e-learning web applications I tend to be a bit quiet, so I hope that wasn't interpreted as some kind of seething indifference, but it was nice meeting everyone and I'm glad that some of you managed to get home despite the various annoyances. I tend to also be camera shy which is why I have a camera. I am in full control of what gets pictured, so a certain picture that was taken that night will be conveniently forgotten and never spoken of again. But here are some others: : TUP :
  2. Heavy Rain

    No. I watched the junkyard demo played a couple of times through, but I went through the shop demo myself. I was mostly curious to see how little interaction I could actually do so I placed the controller on the top of my bag and didn't hold it. 1) you have to press up to open the door to start the sequence, otherwise it just focuses on the door indefinitely. A long boring cut scene follows. 2) you have to press R to move. It's a weird control scheme, kinda like Killer7, where you hold R to move and use the stick to make you character look in a direction which, if they can, he will move to. At this point I tried to see if I could leave the store. I couldn't. I held the R button and went around in a circle. There was a back staff door that had one of the quicktime event markers on it. So I tried that, to see if I could leave the store, but he just fiddled with the door knob. It was closed. So there was an entire interactive element there for, well, nothing. But none of these interactions are necessary. All you needed to do was to hold R until you got to the back of the store and: 3) press up to pick up an asthma inhaler. This triggers a cut scene as an armed burglar walks in. Nothing happens until you make yourself known, so: 4) press and hold R to get out from the back of the store. At this point, the burglar points the gun at you and demands that you put your hands up. Little L1 and R1 icons show up. I did nothing. He demands again. I did nothing. He demands a third time, this time serious. I did nothing. He shoots and runs off. Then you stand up. The bullet only hit your shoulder, guy "can't even use a gun", you'll be alright. Then a long cut-scene happens where the shopkeeper reveals some completely fucking random information and this is the exact same sequence you'd get even if you did unarm the burgler, or negotiate/deal with him (as I saw through other playthroughs) so there's absolutely no consequence to your actions. Or in my case, non-actions. So the entire shopkeeper demo can be played through using only four button presses, and the end result is exactly the same if you used twenty or more.
  3. Heavy Rain

    So I was down on this game and I thought the concept was ass, I thought the creator was a pompous jackass missing the entire point, and I was a doubter that it could even pull off what it was claiming from the start. But there was always that nagging doubt, the one that proponents of it would cite, that I haven't played it so I couldn't be sure (which is bullshit, but whatever.) On the weekend, I did play it. It's even worse than I thought it would be. It was quite possibly the worst video game I have ever played.
  4. Idle thumbs London meet!

    I am tired so I have no words right now but I have:
  5. Idle thumbs London meet!

    I am around the corner at the apex London and will be there soon. They've upgraded me to a deluxe suite and I kinda don't want to leave -- it's massive! I'd say party over here but I don't think the staff would appreciate that.
  6. Left 4 Thumbs

    I was so excited to play this and preloaded and all that shit and then couldn't get the damn thing to work on Crossover. ☠
  7. favorite IT song?

    I do like the Bobby Kotick ballad, but for the weird reason that it reminds me of "Buggy Saint's Row: The Musical". There's a shortage of video game related musical theatre pieces.
  8. Grand Theft Auto V Announced!

    I hope it's Vice City. More 80s music, please. More neon colours and weird splatter graphics and TRIANGLES. More youtube comments on classic 80s videos and songs that say nothing but "I heard this in Vice City lol" and make me feel old. Bonus fact: Vice City was the only GTA I've actually "finished".
  9. Left 4 Thumbs

    It is decrypting. Yay. But it's already a quarter past 1am, so fuck Valve anyway. I'll get to it tomorrow after a quick perusal tonight.
  10. Idle thumbs London meet!

    The meet is at the place where Nachimir's event is happening before Nachimir's even happens. 1700, I think? Also it would be good if there was a reservation under a name or some noticeable point of meeting so we aren't stumbling around with the staff there asking about "idle thumbs" and "wizards" and getting all their confused stares.
  11. TAKE URPARTY2THE NEXT LVL (DJ Hero)

    I expect nothing less from these sites.
  12. Same Shelf at the Store

    What you describe doesn't seem unique or like some generational thing, it seems to be good game design. I think part of the nostalgia aspect to it is valid, but only for technical reasons. Games were pretty simple in those days because the technology wouldn't allow anything super complex. The good games, the ones we remember fondly, did more to stand out and had a kind of simple complexity to them. Super Mario World is pretty simple on a basic level, but it's solid enough and balanced enough to low a more hardcore approach to it (watch some of the speed runs and "super hard" play throughs on YouTube.) But for every one of those there were many, many bad games that we easily forget. History has a way of making the good stuff seem like the norm. So, really, you didn't miss much.
  13. Left 4 Thumbs

    Those looking to get on tonight when it finally, maybe, possibly goes live should be advised that there's a new steam client and there's new preloading for the demo. So start that shit beforehand.
  14. Left 4 Thumbs

    http://steamcommunity.com/games/L4D2/events/55327883716288366?p=1 Yeah. It's stupid. I'm not gonna wake up at 8am for this shit. I'll wake up at noon as normal and play then.
  15. True words of wisdom to apply to every post and thread on Kotaku.
  16. Idle thumbs London meet!

    I have decent gear. And a good camera for extra embarrassment.
  17. Left 4 Thumbs

    I'm kinda the same, but once you get into a group like this it becomes easy after the first awkward "hi" moments. It's easier when you have things scheduled because there's an expectation for just joining parties and what not (I would find it awkward just trying to randomly join a group in some off time). If you have the L4D2 demo preloaded, you can try that on Tuesday evening. I think many will be online.
  18. Life

    But you have a wife and kids. Some of us are friendless and in a foreign country where they're acquaintance-less. LEFT 4 DEAD IS ALL I HAVE
  19. Left 4 Thumbs

    I thought it was 10? I am so confused by timezones now. Send me an invite if you see me online though. I've been preloading L4D2 demo.
  20. Idle thumbs London meet!

    Sign me up. All the people I'm meeting up with in London are awkward internet people. Some I've talked to online, some I've met in person, some I've had dinner with, but all I've met online first. So it's less awkward for me than, you know, meeting non-internet people.
  21. Obligatory comical YouTube thread

    <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTsWw_ZZv9s&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTsWw_ZZv9s&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
  22. Wizaaaaaards!!

    I was all ready to sign up as Michael Wildhorn but then I saw and, well, fuck it.
  23. Idle thumbs London meet!

    I have tickets to both days but think that other obligations will keep me from it on Friday. I'm game for Saturday. I have a feeling I might be hung-over then, though.
  24. Idle thumbs London meet!

    I'll be there. I think. It seems as though there's 20 different events happening at the same time and I'm being pulled between them all like Braveheart. Anyone want to meet up at the Expo itself and do some Left 4 Dead 2 scavenging?
  25. I learned more about ants from the SimAnt manual than any library book or documentary show.