chummer

That's visually pretty impressive! I don't think I'd ever be into it because I'm not into fighting games, but yeah, it's got a unique look and if that could be translated into a video game I'd be interested in checking it out. This makes me wonder, could there be a Flashback/Another World type game where the character is done in this style? Has this been done before?

Oh, also I guess it would be relevant to note that they're trying to do something w/ Night Trap again. Looking at Zoe Quinn's twitter feed, her response is more a less that FMV stuff should be bad. This was explicit in Camp's Not Dead title, but it takes away a bit of hope that she'll still do something interesting w/ it instead of just another Wavy Tubeman Chronicles-esque thing.

Damn it. This made a couple of things rush back to my head, courtesy of Giant Bomb. First, Dong Dong Never Die: Also, Stay Dead:

Isn't one of the premises of the Poke-verse that Pokemons can comprehend human language completely?

I would say that Tesla Effect's heavy green-screening still made it look really cheap though. It also might put pressure on devs who are trying to use FMV earnestly to up their production quality, but I feel like most of the time that it's being used, it's done so in a way that points out how silly FMV is. The Twilight Zone-y stuff in Alan Wake was treated w/ that tone, for instance. The Armikrog and Dream Machine videos make me think that maybe one of the better uses of FMV is when it's made up of the visual pieces of the game.

In terms of pre-rendered stuff, The Swapper and The Dream Machine each look really wonderful in their own way: Aside from Tesla Effect, the only other recent project I can think of that used lots of FMV was The Wavy Tubeman Chronicles that played off of Mad Dog McCree: I haven't played either of them, but both Tesla Effect and TWTC don't seem to use FMV in any interesting way; more like they're intentionally recalling its goofiness. If I were to use FMV today, I would use it specifically to highlight the juxtaposition in fidelity between the game-world and video. Not in a silly way, but rather to create some sort of dissonance for the player. Hmm. What just popped up in my mind was The Darkness. There's an early scene where the player can just sit on a couch and- I think- watch the entirety of To Kill A Mockingbird: It might be outside the idea you're getting at, but I've always found it kind of... unsettling(?) that I could just play a video game while watching a movie in that video game; not the idea itself, but just the actual action. Also Remedy! Alan Wake actually used a few bits of FMV here and there. Now that I think of it, they even used it a bit for that dissonant effect I mentioned earlier, as the video portrayed a nega-Alan Wake that taunted the player. All of that video was also shown on in-world televisions, which I thought was a really neat way to do it. I'll also point out that currently Zoe Quinn is making Camp 's Not Dead, which is apparently an FMV game in the style of 3DO stuff.

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John Polson was the EIC of IndieGames.com. Here's his Full Indie Summit talk on interacting w/ press.

When Ryan, Vinny, and Jeff were the regulars, Giant Bomb was really great. The conversations were never as interesting as Idle Thumbs, but when they got into a comedy bit they managed to be as entertaining as a podcast w/ professional comedians. Over the last year though, I feel like a lot of that energy has left the show and as that was the only thing that really kept me listening, I'm considering dropping it out of my rotation as well. That said, this was a recent thing that had me cracking up:

Apparently Nifflas has just made Saira free: http://store.steampowered.com/app/48900/ I want to say Steve named it as his favorite game of the year when it came out, but I may be misremembering that.

So I was eyeing this game for a long game and ended up getting it in the 2K bundle like Bjorn did. Finally got around to putting some time into it in the last couple days and I feel like the game is keeping me from enjoying it. Maybe it's just my squad in particular, but I feel like my boys are more interested in tagging along with me during combat than following orders. Maybe it's a class thing as I've noticed the sniper has done a good job of staying put. The game points out early on how valuable flanking can be, but whenever I try to set that up, my mates break cover and try to get into my area. I've not lost due to the behavior, but I definitely feel like it's made encounters longer than they should be. It's annoying to the point where I'm not sure if I'll pick it up again, which is unfortunate because when the game does work, it's kind of fun directing dudes and using abilities. I've also started skipping the story stuff as well. Even if I don't think the story is great, I often find myself picking up the notes and listening to audio tapes anyway in other games. Here, I'm at the point where I'm just ending conversations as soon as the option as given to me. Mosaics. Infiltrators. W/e. Also, did they ever give a reason as to why audio diaries of day-to-day conversations are strewn about the world? Found that odd.

sometimes i go on the internet and i find things:

Sympathies. Being jobless is disheartening. What part of the industry do you work in?

Curious about this as well. I felt pretty finished with the AC series, but AC4's ship stuff looked neat enough to draw me back in. I had a lot of fun with that specific aspect of the game, but the rest of the stuff was so dull I don't think I could recall any part of it well; story, locations, abilities are all kind of a blur. I've also discovered that I treat AAA open-world games as a type of vacation, as I often enjoy just getting into a big space, driving around, goofing off, etc. for long periods of time.

The puzzles are definitely uninspired in what they're asking you to do, but the way you're affecting the world is what I loved. Pulling apart buildings, making light appear on walls, etc., was really pretty, even if I knew the solution to the problem before I started. Agree with a lot of your thoughts, though I would say I ended up feeling negative when I finished the game. It felt almost like a satire of Ubisoft games in how it consolidates a lot of the design/UI decisions made in other Ubi games and doesn't have anything really distinguishing about it. I know the hacking aspect was supposed to be this game's twist, but it felt so... minor, which was really surprising considering that the rest of the game is one that Ubisoft has made multiple times already.

"He stole the monkey... and he's not giving it back." Anyhow, I just got caught up since May of this thread. Lots of life goings on! Congrats on being more comfortable being alone, I_smell! I have the inverse problem where I clam up when I'm around with more than 1 new person, so I can relate a bit. Sympathies on the kidney stone, Zeus. Hopefully it passes soon. Keep on living, ya'll!

Martin Sheen's full, legal name is Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez. Here's a quote from him about why he changed it: "It's difficult enough trying to get started as an actor, and my name kept throwing people – they couldn't pronounce it. I thought, 'I've got enough problems, I can't be bogged down with this name.'" That last line in particular hit me combined w/ Sean mentioning his frustration with having his name misread activated some weird feelings in me. My name- Erandi- is an indigenous one. Being the type of kid who filled up with anxiety when any attention was drawn to him, I often told people it was pronounced as E-Randy just to give them something easy and move on. It wasn't until a few years ago that I started introducing myself with the given pronunciation b/c I wanted to face that anxiety and gave thought to the politics of names/pronunciations. Also, E-Randy is a terrible noise that only belongs in a bad cyberpunk story. As a Latino, that Martin Sheen stuff also brings up really complicated feelings regarding white/white-presenting Hispanics WHICH I WON'T GET INTO HERE. Hmm... I will be very disappointed if I find out this book wasn't titled "His Jedi Familiar."

This is a neat idea. This reminded me of a Random Video Game Thought I had recently. I picked up the game "Lords of Midnight" and one of the game's main objectives is to ride around and gather leaders to raise an army. Leaders become controllable characters once activated, making Lords of Midnight a game where you are managing lords. That is all.

Going into the video, the only thing I knew about HHG was he was the guy that was called out for using homophobic slurs. A person I followed on twitter linked to this video where he gives a sincere apology regarding that and addresses some other things: I think the call to action is the best part of his most recent one in how encouraging it is.

Whoops. Dinosaurssss posted right before I did, so I didn't catch it. Excited to have more people though. I might hit you up this evening then and take you up on that offer. I mucked around a bit in the hideout, but that's it. I also need to pick up a microphone headset because the one I got is busted.

Hey! That times work for me as well and there's four of us, so I believe we have a crew ready.

Adding some of ya'll on Steam. I'm here. Should we organize a time or something?

Saint's Row III also had 'Power' playing as you parachuted onto a penthouse. Pretty good. I didn't hear it during my playthrough because I like to play fps games with non-diegetic music turned off, but there was that scene in Far Cry 3 with the Skrilex and the weed and the flamethrower. Lastly, while I thought it was kind of lazy to pick songs from three different decades when trying to evoke a specifically 50's America vibe, Fallout 3's radio stuff had great tunes.

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