twmac

Yeah, I thought that 2015 was a better year for games than 2014. I am positively ecstatic that the two consoles are now starting to bounce off of each other in an attempt to take the public's money and that it is now starting to generate insteresting content. I mean things like ARK and Elite Dangerous on a console would have been unthinkable 2 years ago. Similarly Until Dawn was a surprise and I never thought I would have got as deeply into Gems of War as I did.

Listening to that talk right now. I genuinely love how passionate people are getting over it, especially Gerstmann.

It is weird - I just read the Ralph Retort on the Buzzfeed/Milo thing - and there is a piece in there (that I won't link because no one should have the hits for writing that) I had been missing from the wider discussion. Milo is deliberately courting controversy - according to the piece - and because he is doing it for the 'lulz' this gives him reason to be celebrated. The abuse he then gets (some of it is really nasty) is delightful because anyone hurling abuse at him has now 'lost' (with the language being used I feel like we all lose). However, because Sarkeesian and the like then say something controversial but are doing it sincerely - then that is to be derided or doubted. The abuse they then get is to be expected because anyone saying something controversial is going to get abuse and if they don't like getting abuse then they have 'lost' because people should only say controversial things for the 'lulz'. For a large part of the internet the actions of both individuals are no different and deserve the exact same response. Except that in Sarkeesian's case she is saying "the portrayal of women in video games sucks" and Milo's case he is writing "Feminism is Cancer".

By the way - I think the Milo/Buzzfeed thing is fake.

Not a lot of Xbox One players here but "The Swindle" is discounted today: http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/countdown/xbox-one-games

Ninety-Three, it just sounds like the game is not going to click with you (although the Bloody Baron quest line is fascinating) so I would stop playing now before you plow even more hours into a game you don't like. I think people have listed most of the reasons I enjoyed the game, the way the world feels alive and unpleasant was nailed through. Geraly is utterly a product of his environment where he doesn't trust a single person and has become so withdrawn due to the shitty way in which everyone treats him. He seems leaden but really it almost feels like PTSD. The side missions thoroughly entertained me because of their writing, it is like getting insight into the world but it not being an info dump like Mass Effect, or a book in Skyrim. Also, peppered throughout are some wry bit of humour that made me smile (sorry to link to Xbox.com): https://account.xbox.com/en-gb/gameclip/915b4c61-0ff1-4977-8fbc-7f80d172998d?gamerTag=Twmacb&scid=de360100-3ae5-4fd5-a7da-9d3d6b481c3d

Really liked this long exploration of being a Youtube personality: fusion.net/story/244545/famous-and-broke-on-youtube-instagram-social-media/

For me that conversation was fascinating. Exploring a game's price point and how they employ extra content, and how that affects your opinion on a game is super important. Subjectively they are saying that the game gets lost in the fog of 'I just paid 60 dollars for this content' and I think that is valuable. I had a similar conversation with people about the Killer Instinct release schedule and how that impacts my involvement and enjoyment of the game and so hearing people parse this stuff out in an eloquent, thoughtful manner felt like good exploration of the politics of the business.

You got to be careful with comments like that, I was drinking when I read it and almost spat all over the monitor. I know it has been said a lot but I find it annoying that the gaming community seems to be obsessed in preserving spoilers but spends so much time mocking trigger warnings.

Shock Troopers is one of the games that I wished had come out on a console that wasn't SNK. I loved it so much as kid and the Neo Geo CD version is expensive.

I identify with this too, but I hate the term ex-pat. Just call an immigrant an immigrant. For context, I lived in Portugal for 8 years and lived in Canada for 6. When I came back from Portugal at the age of 15, everyone pretty much treated me like I was a foreigner. I was subjected to pretty much the same curiosity and casual xenophobia when I returned to me 'home' country. "True" Quebecois really hate English people and you'll get a lot of shit from them for being a foreigner who also happens to be English. For most of my time there I might have been a middle class worker in tech (QA) but when you sit in a bar drinking with people (with a head full of dreadlocks) they don't give a shit, you are - at best - a joke.

Is this the stuff that the Canadians call General Tao? I tried to explain to them that I had never heard of the stuff outside North America (still, General Tao Tofu is delicious). I think there is a really interesting documentary about it on Netflix:

It is not 'proper' Multiplayer game and it isn't an FPS - but Gems of War is pretty good - for what it is. It is made by the guys who made puzzle quest and it has versus in the form of bots, it has a guild feature and there is something quite moreish about it. I actually feel really bad that I have now got all the way to level 50 without spending a penny.

I know I was on there to try and get the Asian copy of Psycho Pass on Xbox One. Up until now it is only in Japanese, will likely go elsewhere for it in the future. As for the discount, I noticed that there are a couple of other sites selling DOAX3 cheaper so that might be PlayAsia reducing to stay competitive.

Soo, I am still on the PlayAsia mailing list. Don't know what it means but it looks like they are cutting the price on DOAX3 - might be because they over ordered stock and now need to clear it.

Is that Maika Monroe as the President's daughter/Hemsworth love interest? The first film was schlocky rubbish that I found utterly unwatchable, this looks like a a gritty reboot that is going to be equally unwatchable. Also, stop with 'BWAAAH' effect in every film preview, enough already. I think I complained about it a year ago and it seems to have got worse since.

I also liked Brooklyn Nine Nine, I don't think it suffers as much from ensemble cast as Ben is saying. For example Scully and Hitchcock get nothing in the beginning and are now kind of brilliant. Amy Santiago suffers a lot in the first season of being the fall-person but they fix her character almost completely in season 2. Terry Crews feels a bit flat on first watching but having rewatched recently there is a lot of 'deconstructing the macho persona' in him that I missed. The rest of the crew are fully rounded and if it weren't for messing up Gina (she is so good in the first season! Why, turn her into a punchline in Season 2?) I would say that the writing is perfect.

Also, I need to set up some kind of reminder to play this game on Christmas eve - got to get that Achievement!

Yeah, once you can hack computers to just generate money for you, a lot of these problems go away.

Agree with Jennegatron, Parks and Rec was awesome until the last season. I don't think I managed to finish it. Unbreakable Kimmy I absolutely loved, whereas 30 Rock was a show that I laughed in spite of myself.

I finished True Detective Season 2, am listening through the Idle podcast right now. I was cold on it but by the third episode I was hooked in.

Yeah, I am a sucker for Psychonauts. Already dumped money in there - not sure whether I need a sequel but I would feel dirty if I did not fund. Simiarly to Shemue III, it is something that a much younger self wanted so I would feel bad if I didn't commit cash.

I ended up doing a deep dive Milo and his appearances on Sky "News", his stuff is just awful: His counter point (Natasha Devon) in this video just demolishes him - in fact what has been really enjoyable is finding out about Devon, Grossman and a number of other academics and what they are doing. So, in a way, thanks Milo for signal boosting them with your terrible Boris Johnson impersonation.

My buddy did a piece on "Press Fire to Win" an event in Brighton: http://www.arcadianrhythms.com/2015/11/press-fire-to-win-gaming-culture-in-the-heart-of-brighton/

I have turned around on Jessica Jones a little. Her attitudes and demeanour get given a fair bit of depth and she starts to sidestep some of the obvious tropes. Kilgrave is really terrifying as a character.