Duncan

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Posts posted by Duncan

  3. Posted

    I've been watching season one of Millennium, Chris Carter's ill-fated X-Files spin-off.

    I can't possibly imagine why it was cancelled. It's so uncommonly, humblingly awesome, and Lance Henrikssen is splendiferous as Frank Black.

    You'll have a better idea once you get through the whole thing. It was such a conceptually schizophrenic show that you can only like two of its three seasons. Either 1 & 2 or 1 & 3. You'll see once you get there :fart:

    Also it's not an X-Files spin-off.

  5. Posted

    Where in Bioshock can you break the game though? Now I'm curious. :mock:

    After the Ryan scene, when Rapture's about to explode and Atlas is screaming at you to put the key card in its slot or whatever. You can stand there doing nothing for-fucking-ever. It doesn't "break" the game in that it's impossible to proceed but it breaks the narrative in the same way as Alyx not getting hit when you shoot her.

    By the way thanks for discussing this article everyone. It warms my heart.

  7. Posted

    To be clear: I started last night on episode 3 as I've watched the first two a couple of times in the past, in an effort to get into the series, but then failed to make a habit of it.

    For me, there was enough style and intrigue in the first two to want to stick with it. It's just that watching it on my laptop is uncomfortable, anti-social and inconvenient. Being able to watch it on my TV via the 360 is a real boon and much more likely to keep me watching now. I'm just worried that I won't be able to switch off at a sensible hour now!

    Yes, sorry, I wasn't trying to lecture at you specifically, it was more a general point I saw an opportunity to blurt out :fart:

  8. Posted

    I sat down and watched episodes 3, 4 and 5 of season 1 of The Wire last night and, upon reflection this morning, it does seem kind of slow to get going. But then it's about building up the complexity of the different characters' relationships. And they're genuinely interesting and non-typical portrayals, which makes a tangible difference.

    All the build-up is starting to get pretty nail-biting already, too. I can't wait to watch some more tonight!

    The thing about getting into the Wire is that (most) fans of the Wire didn't watch those first three (or however many) episodes and immediately start proclaiming it the best show ever. We didn't see something you didn't. I started watching season 1 and was like "this is ok... I guess." The experience you have watching the first couple episodes is not the same experience you'll have watching all the others. And it's not that they're bad episodes. I've watched them since and they're great. The pacing is really so unusual for TV -- it's not that you suddenly get to an episode which you love, it's that you suddenly get to an episode where plot points click and are paid off, even in very small ways, which makes you realise how good it always was and how much you want to see it continue.

    That said, even by Wire standards, season one's pacing is rather leisurely. Once the show starts expanding in scope it does get more engrossing episode-by-episode.

  9. Posted

    I like how The Wire has handled its opening credits. It's just a montage so it isn't the most interesting thing from an art direction perspective, but they have a different version of the same song every year and, in the montage, they have little bits and pieces from the whole season. When you're just starting a season it's fun to speculate what's going to happen because of it (especially since everything is shot and done by the time episode one airs.)

    Yes yes yes. I love the Wire's opening credits. Note how it's a) different from everything else HBO does in that it's a montage (and also that there's a teaser) and B) different from everything network TV does in that the montage isn't of the characters or of money shots from previous seasons. Instead you have all these shots which seem sort of mundane but are assembled so well and create such a sense of place and atmosphere.

    I think season 3 has my favourite credits. There's a great energy to that one.

    January 2008!!! :gaming:

  10. Posted

    Lol! Because I love PoP. I've played and completed PoP1, and I've played and got stuck on PoP2 (add that to the backlog). Before I played Sands of Time, I wanted to check out PoP3D, especially as it's still a Jordon Mechner game and it actually got mostly decent reviews.

    I wouldn't call 3D a Jordan Mechner game. I believe he helped come up with the story and that was it (if even that) -- he didn't write the entire thing himself like he did Sands of Time.

    ("Jordan Mechner games", for reference: Karateka, Prince of Persia, Prince of Persia 2, The Last Express, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.) :shifty:

  11. Posted

    Wow, and I was feeling bad for not having finished System Shock 2 yet. That's the only thing in my backlog.

    Also, not to get too patronising, but I can see a really easy way to thin down some of these lists. (Runaway? Prince of Persia 3D?!)

  13. Posted

    The original point of the analogy, I thought, was to show it was in 'good hands', that the people taking it on would be showing a good deal of respect to the franchise and the communities that continue to foster most of the interest. Something Bethesda can hardly be commended on.

    I would love to know how Bethesda has apparently disrespected the franchise and "the communities that continue to foster most of the interest". Who, NMA? These guys? The most insane gaming fans on the internet?

    Sorry but the hardcore Fallout fans act so ridiculously entitled and hostile I can't take any of their criticism seriously, because their criticism is basically "we know best because we're true Fallout fans and that's not what we would have done!"

  14. Posted

    Yeah I blogged about this earlier today. Not that I'm just trying to promote my blog or anything... although secretly I am.

    I am cautiously optimistic about this. At this stage there's not really anything to react to. Invisible War doesn't have me concerned for this (unless it's a direct sequel.) since it's a completely different studio. I think the Fallout 3 analogy is a good one.

    I'll bet you it was Bioshock's success that inspired this sequel.

    Eidos Montreal mentioned that this was a project they'd like to do months ago... I wouldn't be surprised if BioShock helped greenlight it though.

  15. Posted

    IGN gave it an A because they're nerds reviewing new Futurama so it doesn't matter how good it is.

    I was really disappointed by it. What a mess. It wasn't paced like a movie and it wasn't paced like four episodes strung together, it was just fucked.

    It was remarkable how clever it wasn't. There were a few jokes I liked a lot but it was a weak script. Really underwritten and obvious. It was clear with most of the dialogue that they took the first joke that came to mind and never tried to top it. They were all really easy jokes to make. Classic-period Simpsons and classic Futurama were so funny because it was rewritten so much with so many people involved and they rarely settled for the okay joke that was easier to come up with than the good joke. This one was a first draft.

  17. Posted

    Well, there's a moment when you meet the captain or whoevcer it is that is giving you instuctions thourgh the first few levels. If you dont get hooked by that poin then, yeah, you have probably been spoiled by all the games that stole from it in later years.

    Okay. Like I said, I'll probably finish it anyway (though the reactions in this thread have me less sure of that) but I think it's going to be the difference between playing and liking it and playing it to appreciate a museum piece.

    Otherwise, were you not at least freaked out by the monkey noises?

    Oh, sure. But they didn't make me say "Wow I gotta see these monkeys!!"

  18. Posted

    Oh man, I don't even want to tell you all the classic games I somehow managed to never play. I would lose all credibility as a gamer. But if you want a clue as to one of them, check out the title of this post and the following sentence.

    I'm playing System Shock 2 for the first time ever, as a follow-up to Bioshock. I'm not even that far into it, about four hours. Which means I've been trying to activate a stupid elevator for the last two of those hours.

    I really can't wait to love this game. I love the whole Thief/Deus Ex/Bioshock family of games so this should fit right in. But is this game going to kick in at some point? Is this one of those games whose best qualities have been so co-opted by other games so it's not so amazing to play anymore? I'm not sure that the problem is it's too familiar, but I'm not doing anything particularly interesting. Getting this game to run on XP was the most tense and exciting thing I've done so far. At least the story is supposed to be good, right? Right? Is there a moment in the game where it suddenly gets really really good?

    Because this is "System Shock 2!" I'm committed to playing this all the way through. But please help me rationalise it. I'm actually mostly unspoiled for this game so please don't spoil anything. I'm pretty sure, just from being on the internet and reading Bioshock threads, that:

    Janis is actually Shodan or she's evil at least. That's it.

    Don't confirm that, either!

    Thank you for your patience.

  19. Posted

    I've definitely lost enthusiasm after reading those reviews. I'll probably buy Crysis or something instead and wait for a price drop on AC (which if I'm being honest with myself, "waiting for a price drop" means "totally forget and never play it", which is really what will happen.)

    The "7" reviews are more convincing to me than the "9" reviews: based on what's been presented of the game so far, I have no trouble believing that it's a little empty and repetitive. The "9" reviews are downplaying those criticisms rather than refuting or justifying them.

    The framerate contradiction in Gamespot's review is odd, but then so is the score, I suppose. Of all the major review sites I've always thought Gamespot is the one to play it safe; every now and then they won't particularly like a high-profile game but because they're Gamespot they won't say it. (Half-Life 2.) I'm sure Gamespot's review was written before that rash of 7s came in, if it was written today I think it might read a little differently.

  20. Posted

    The android reference is because GLaDOS sends you through the room designed for military androids. It's just a joke. You're not actually an android. And Valve put the leg braces on Chell so people wouldn't wonder why she could fall and not take damage.

  21. Posted

    Thanks everyone! For a moment I was really worried this thread was going to be all about physics references.

    I don't understand why people -- some people here -- have such a hard time keeping things updated.

    Marek is dead-on about personal blogs being less constricting, but personally I think the biggest danger is the realisation that you are under absolutely no obligation (or pressure) to provide content, and consequently it gets really easy to let things slip. And as far as my blog goes, I'm going to run out of games to talk about eventually, so it's going to come to an abrupt stop one way or another. Maybe I should have thought this through earlier.

  23. Posted

    I just wanted to be popular.

    So I finally ended up following in the footsteps of every ex-Idle Thumbs staffer and am now working at Telltale Games writing a blog that will run out of steam in six months three months.

    It's about writing in games. That's exciting, right? So, you know, if you ever missed those critical thrills (?) I used to provide at this site, there is now an even less popular place for them. Also, even though it's about game writing I promise to never use the words narratology or ludology. I just got out of college and am so exhausted with academia. This is one of those iconoclastic, doomed-to-failure blogs.

    I'm totally committed to this blog, by the way, in so far as I am totally committed to shutting it down the second I lose interest in it. No protracted lingering death this time!

    http://hitselfdestruct.blogspot.com/

    Check it.

    EDIT: The first post, unfortunately, is not about writing in games it all. You'll have to take my word for it for a couple days.

    I feel like such a whore.

  25. Posted

    I was genuinely surprised and thrilled that for the first time ever, a) an email from Telltale went to my inbox and not my spam folder, and B) the game actually downloaded the way it was supposed to and I didn't have to deal with the client crapping out and activation codes.

    The sad part is I'm pretty sure that was the best thing that happened to me all week. :sad: