RubixsQube

Edit: This was just too complain-ey. It's not worth writing, and I take it back. Not the last line: - Rare Replay doesn't have Taboo: The Sixth Sense, which I think might be the biggest non-Diddy-Kong-Racing snub. At least it has the masterpieces that are RC Pro Am 1/2.

It is, actually "technique." It's often used when referring to a new technique to confront a portion of the game, often with a glitch, or a skip. As in "I'm using some new tech here" generally means, "I'm attempting a newly developed method by which I am going to make this portion of the game faster."

The TASBot block was disappointing to me, not because it was videos rather than live console, but because there wasn't a fun twist like in years past. Like, taking ? That's pretty incredible. Here, it was just like, oh these are old TAS runs, someone had the patience to go through this game frame by frame. Neat, but not as exciting to me. Now, that Super Mario 64 Any% that was just run, that was incredible. One of the two had a zero star run, in a marathon setting. Also, in college, I played Tilt 'N Tumble using a Game Boy Player / GameCube, so it was nice to see it being done at the event.

Yeah, that would be pretty amazing as a race. I have a feeling that most of the runs at GDQs into the future will be races, since those end up being the most exciting ones, beyond just the runs that are designed to show off new methods and glitches. ALSO, is it just me, or does Chris' vault remind anyone of Rapture? When they come in, are they greeted with a giant banner: "NO GODS OR KINGS. ONLY CHRIS"

It's disappointing, Jake, that TriHex, the Yoshi's Island runner you watched, was so unenthusiastic. I've been a real big GDQ dork in the last few years (living in New Hampshire! It's the best!), and as Yoshi's Island is my favorite game, it's really amazing to watch high-level players take the game apart. Yoshi's Island is especially amazing because there aren't a lot of glitches or exploits, you just have to be really good at playing the damn game to run it quickly. Often, they'll have a camera just trained on TriHex's hands to show his inputs. It's insane. He'll warm up before a run by playing high-level DDR with his hands. What's especially disappointing about this year's SGDQ is that TriHex is not a particularly interesting commentator while he's playing, and normally he's with his hype man, a friend of his (and fellow Yoshi's Island runner) CarlSagan. Here's the classic AGDQ 2014 Yoshi's Island run: It's INCREDIBLE. CarlSagan (the dude on the couch with a dark green shirt and glasses) enthusiastically discusses the events transpiring on screen, making sure to mention what's really difficult. Yoshi's Island features a bonus roulette at the end of each level, and there are a set of "bonus skips" that have to be done in order to make sure you don't win (and waste time on the mini-game). CarlSagan discusses these bonus skips gleefully. It's really fun. At the end of the video above, he demonstrates some wonderful glitches in the game. If you have some amount of time while you're working, or eating a meal, take a watch through, especially if you're familar with Yoshi's Island. So, it's disappointing that TriHex had to go it alone this year, and he was boring, which makes sense, really, as it's sometimes hard to play and talk at the same time. A highlight from last night was this really weird/amazing Ocarina of Time glitch run: This year's SGDQ has been a little lackluster at parts, with a lot of bad luck befalling many of the runners. This makes for some mediocre speed runs. Here, the "RNG" (random number generator) within Ocarina of Time does not provide a rare deku nut drop required to really get the run going for like, almost fifteen minutes. The runner keeps his spirits high as he just repeats the same actions again and again, and when he finally does get everything going, it ends up being ludicrous. If you've never watched a glitched run of Ocarina of Time, it's worth watching this half hour run, even with the long boring section, especially since the relief when the deku nut does drop is pretty wonderful.

Here's this year's SGDQ Metal Storm speed run, on expert mode, which makes the game like, way, way harder. It is incredible what this game was able to do with the NES hardware. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4XEpzf5HhY

It should definitely not be a one-off. Also, I'm hoping that when they get to Episode 300, Chris will solicit the readers to sing the response verse "It's Reader Mail!" to be placed en masse after every time Jake sings.

Hey, there's a trailer for a film that is coming out next year, the next in a line of Jurassic Park sequels that don't really need to happen. This looks really not great (most of Chris Pratt's lines are outstandingly dumb), but at least someone put a Margaritaville on Isla Nublar

They're starting with another TriHex Yoshi's Island run! I am all about that. Also, another Super Metroid race; I hope it's as interesting as that insane race from AGDQ 2014. These videos will eventually become a constant background while I do other things, so I'm glad to see there's a great lineup.

I lived in LA for years and years, and while I was there (as a graduate student through the last half of my time there) the only way that I could make it through my time was through a lot of therapy, both individual and group. I was lucky that I had access to the university mental health services, but really, don't ever feel shame asking people about how they get through life. It might take a while for you to find a person you click with, but you should keep at it. And also, if it's possible, if you could find a weekly group therapy meeting with some people about your age, it's sometimes just really great to meet with the same group of people every week to kind of lend your support, to learn how to listen, and to learn that everyone is in the same situation, even if it doesn't seem like it. Being a person is fucking hard. It's overwhelming, even when you have your dream job (maybe especially when you have your dream job). Know that here you have some people who will listen, of course, but also, know that there are a lot of places to find therapy options throughout Los Angeles.

This is actually pretty sad. Unlike so many of the presidents of other major gaming companies, whenever he'd show up in an outward-facing capacity (press event, Nintendo direct), it was fun. He seemed to have a goofy sense of humor, and his Iwata Asks series of interviews actually lead to a huge amount of new information out of what tends to be a very closed off company.

Man, that game looks like an update of Starship Titanic more and more, even if it is, in actuality, a very different game. (I'm also highly skeptical of us having space stations, even in 60-70 years. It's unlikely we can pull our human heads out of our asses long enough to realize a dream like this.)

If you don't think that The Force Awakens isn't going to also have giant green screen sets, then you are being a little naive. They're just a part of modern filmmaking, especially when budgets are so high. He used them in Star Trek, he'll use them here.

More practical effects miniatures were made for any one of the films in the prequels than in the entire original trilogy, combined. And the original trilogy featured a lot of minatures. I'm with argobot, while the visuals were (mostly) exciting in that Force Awakens promotional video, the voice-over made me uneasy, since it was trying to push the idea that the prequels were overly digital, and that's just not true. And I'm willing to bet that there will be a huge amount of digital work in The Force Awakens, as well. The problem with the prequels was that the story, the script, and the actors were all damn mess. Maybe I'm wrong! Please correct me if that's the case!

REAL good Jake in this week's episode, especially near the end when Sean was describing Temple of Doom. "...that's Raiders, are you kidding me? That's..." (intake of breath, eyes presumably wide and unbelieving) "...the first ten minutes of..." (trails off, incredulous) Also, everyone should see Mr. India, it is real fun. Mogambo Khush Hua!

Wait the Batcave West has another giant coin in it

Watching , and it still just looks like overwrought animations with a gross color palette and flat, disconnected background elements. Still not super impressed, but again, I am VERY BIASED. Oh shit, I also forgot: 5) Late in college, my buddy and I spent an evening pitch-shifting the guy who sings "Oh Yeah," by Yello. When we did it the first time, we pitched it up too high, and it just sounded like a fourteen year old boy saying those stupid, stupid lines. "even MORE beautiful." someone else made where it's probably approximating the actual voice of the dorky dude who did the lines. "Such a gooood time, a really goooooood time"

My thoughts: 1) The Arkham games have a Batman that is so dissimilar to the one I want in my head, and it's really sad when you're playing and flying all over the place punching dudes. It is just incongruous to think that this BeefBat is capable of that kind of acrobatics. I have always liked the David Mazzucchelli version of Batman, lithe, competent, and springy. 2) Batman actually has three iconic things in his batcave: the penny, a giant Joker card, and a Tyrannosaurus Rex animatronic: It's strange (and pretty funny) going through images of the Batcave from various comics, how they try to make these trophies look "cool," but they come off always looking strange and incongruous. 3) I also played the Aladdin VR game at the Epcot Center Innoventions when I was younger, around the same time that Danielle and Jake went. It was neat, although I was most impressed by two other attractions in the same building. The first was a force feedback joystick attached to a demo with a little stretchy trampoline that you controlled with the joystick, flinging a ball into the air. The more important attraction was a green screen that allowed you to put yourself in Bayside High, sitting on a trash can while some of the cast of Saved By The Bell did a little skit. You looked at a screen that had humorous lines to say, and you were projected on a giant set of screens for the assembled Innoventions guests to watch. Weird. 4) The Genesis Aladdin is far inferior to the SNES / Capcom Aladdin. Shinji Mikami worked on the SNES game, although he says he prefers the Genesis version because of the animation and the sword ("The Genesis version had a sword, actually. I wanted to have a sword.") I've always thought the sword was pretty lame, and while the animation is nice, the game looks pretty ugly in retrospect.

Slash they were on point in 2013, and it is astounding how they are on point even today, multiple years later.

Oh damn, you're right. Also, perhaps because I haven't gone to Disneyland/California Adventure with more than two or three people in a while, I haven't been in a swinging gondola with a big enough group to really enjoy it.

(Also, is just a VR Ketzal's Corridors, yes?)

You aren't going to barf forever, it's not that bad. It's actually kind of boring, because of how ferris wheels operate. On a ferris wheel, you have to wait for an eternity as they load everyone, which is fine, since you're really on a ferris wheel for the view, right? But on the swinging gondolas, you kind of rock back and forth a little bit (in a manner similar, but perhaps more exaggerated from the stationary gondola experience) while the thing starts and stops as each set of passengers load. But at two points, on either side of the ride, you roll across, down the little arc, and then wobble back and forth for a while. You can see exactly when it's going to happen, since you can watch and hear the other passengers. But, because of how long it takes to load, you settle into an equilibrium, and then it's just like taking the stationary gondola. After everyone is loaded, they may send the whole wheel around a few times, and at this point, it's slightly more exciting, since you don't have the pauses, but never barf inducing. Really, the swinging gondolas suck because: 1) The line is often much longer since people wanna get on those swinging gondolas, and there's only one line, while there are two stationary gondola lines. 2) You don't even end up getting as good of a view, as you can see in the image, since you never get as high above the ground as the stationary gondolas.