SecretAsianMan

I haven't listened to the episode yet, but I assume it's this https://twitter.com/idlethumbs/status/481954209877602304

That settles it. The next Thumbs Candy Package will include a big box of Jr. Mints from yours truly.

I think a lot of that is just the nature of video games and the uncanny valley. It is very weird that we're expected to care about the frightened flag proxy in a game that will mostly likely be a bunch of people running at each other shooting until only one side remains. It's also weird to be able to get shot multiple times without dying, or carry an absurd amount of ammunition and gear, or accurately fire from the hip, etc. Those are also legitimate design concessions that don't stand up to close scrutiny. You probably notice things like character portrayal and human interaction because those are things you do on a daily basis and you therefore have a better baseline for what seems weird. Your point is valid though. Everything's weird.

It's pretty hit and miss for me. It never works during the Steam sales though, which is probably just as well since I'd get a ton of emails every day.

I think the theatre experience is largely unique and can be fun but there are a number of things that diminish the enjoyment for me. The price, the lack of a comfortable surrounding, the half-hour or more of ads before the movie starts, the way I have to drink my soda slowly or not at all so that I don't have to pee in the middle of the film and miss seeing something, etc. Most of the time I'd rather just wait for a home release so I can watch it the way I want. Some movies do warrant the audience experience though. One thing I do enjoy doing in a theatre is sitting through all the credits, even when there's no extra scenes in it. I feel that all these people worked on a thing I (hopefully) enjoyed, the least I could do is sit around for a few extra minutes and acknowledge that. At home though, I almost never do this because as soon as the movie is over I do something else.

I completely understand that is the intent of such phrases, but I still dislike the form. I get that what most people want is a simple acknowledgement, but I don't like it as an empty gesture. Asking how someone is doing when you don't actually care means that asking how someone is doing when you actually DO care is less effective because it has the same form as a standard greeting. But mostly I don't like asking (or being asked) a question in which the answer is irrelevant. And Merus, I'm not completely ignoring your posts, I just have nothing constructive to add.

One completely acceptable place to shill your stuff is the appropriately named Plug Your Shit thread. Also welcome!

I hate small talk and the small pleasantries I'm forced to engage in at any social setting. I say hi to people if I have to but I never use greetings that are questions like "how's it going?" because when I am asked that question, I feel compelled to honestly answer even though I know most of the time people just want to hear "Good, how are you" so they can reply in kind. If I do ask the question, I actually want to know how the other person is doing. I also dislike holding doors open unless the other person is directly behind me and can move through the door immediately (not counting special circumstances such as a person carrying a load with no free hands). When someone is moving toward me, instead of that awkward dance where both people try to move around each other but both step in the same direction several times before they figure it out, I usually just keep going forward or stand still and let them move around me. In conversations where someone else talks at the same time as me, I usually finish my thought (unless it's long or not particularly relevant) then let them talk instead of both people excusing each other and trying to let the other person go first. I'm afraid that all of these things make me seem rude but really I'm just trying to cut out what I perceive as inefficient, mostly pointless fluff. Maybe that does make me rude, I don't know.

Damn my limited budget! I'm gonna have to wait on this one. Maybe next year... I picked up the Castle Crashers/Battleblock Theatre bundle the other day when it was cheap (even paid a dollar extra for the DLC). I played Castle Crashers on XBLA and I had a lot of fun with it, but I forgot what a slog it was to unlock the characters. I have a feeling I'm not going to be doing that this time. Haven't tried Battleblock yet but it looks like some goofy fun.

I guess technically I'm also talking about the Chinese version, which to me is simply mahjong. I wasn't paying close attention and didn't realize that N1njaSquirrel was talking about a variation. I've also seen skilled people playing the game incredibly fast, to the point that I can't keep up. It's not unlike watching a video game speedrun. They even do the mundane stuff like washing the tiles faster and better than I would have thought possible. Although a lot of parlors in China have automatic tables which do all the washing and stacking for you. They're pretty cool actually. I haven't watched that video, but if it is indeed the standard version of mahjong, you can't take any discarded tile, just the most recently discarded one and only if it forms a set such as the 3 of a kind (pong) or 3 in sequence (chi) or would win them the game. I don't really know how other versions of the game are played and I don't even fully understand the rules for scoring in the standard version. In my family the kids just played it for fun and our only goal was to win a hand, stuff like scoring and betting just made it complicated.

A minor detail.

I recall Jake once joked about Telltale wanting to do a contest where the winner would receive a copy of a game (Tales of Monkey Island I think) on hundreds of floppy discs. I think Campo Santo should do this with Firewatch.

I play it, by which I mean I know how to play and own a set. I haven't actually played since I was a child and I was never good at it. I tried to teach some of my friends how to play in college (even bringing a set with me on one of our spring break trips) but they weren't interested. I think these days the common perception of mahjong is the tile matching game which I've complained about before.

I don't know anything about this game, is it actually like that?

I believe the fine print says the top 3 games on your list. But if you really wanted to play it safe, you could reduce it to just 3.

I feel like the team thing is almost just a façade because of the huge margins that separate the winning team and what's actually happening is that teams are just being chosen at random to "win". Then again, it could be that the people on the leading team craft a ton of badges, pull way ahead, then fall way behind next time because they used their entire card inventory to craft last time. Either way I don't especially care except for the fact that the summer cards can be sold for considerably higher prices than regular game cards. I sell them the moment I get them. On the sale front, I've thus far managed to stick to my $10 limit rule. I've only purchased one game and that was a gift for someone else. I ended up not getting Bulletstorm because I tried the demo first and didn't like it. One side thing I've discovered during this sale: you can vote on the community choice stuff in the mobile Steam app, which has let me keep tabs on prices while at work. It actually works much better than I thought it would.

That's all I needed to hear.

The dumb decision would be NOT getting it.

How is Bulletstorm? I've been in the mood for a shooter lately, dumb or otherwise. I don't care if it's mindless as long as the gameplay is fun. I also voted cyberpunk.

Are you thinking of Supergiant because that did happen. Chris Jurney joined them a few days ago.

That's sort of how I feel about it too. The LPs I watch are mostly not one person, but a group of people, so the games played are usually multiplayer games. There's little to no narrative involved and if there was I wouldn't be watching for that. What I enjoy is the group interaction, both with each other and the audience. I would never want to see a LP of a game like Gone Home or something that relies on narrative because that's such a personal experience. At least, I wouldn't watch one until I had played the game myself and even in that case, I'm not there for the game's narrative but the thoughts of whoever is playing it. Really the only way a LP would ruin a game for me is if it showed really terrible gameplay or something, which is information that would come out of a review as well.

I'm disappointed the update didn't include any new maps, but happy that it wasn't all hats and crap. I only had enough spares to craft 2 of the new items, the scout and demo weapons. Played around a bit with the scout one in MvM but I was lagging really bad (I suspect because of everyone playing to get new items) so it was hard to use. Not a bad choice for MvM though. Anyway, I'm going to try and play some more this weekend if anyone is interested. I would prefer to do MvM, but I could probably be talked into a regular game as long as it's a payload map.

I'm one of the "did not like it" votes, but not because I think it's a bad game. I actually do like almost everything about it. I just didn't like playing it, which is entirely my own fault. The game is heavily based on two things I hate doing in first person, stealth and melee combat. Not that I want it to be a run and gun shooter, I'm glad it is what it is. It's just unfortunate that what it is is a thing I couldn't enjoy because of my own personal proclivities.

Actually I was thinking of a Phil Fish tweet when I wrote that. My comments weren't directed at anyone specific, just a general response to the whole thing.

I want to hear about this game. It sounds dark compared to Rainbow Curse.