SecretAsianMan

It's new construction, so it's going to be built over the next few months, though not by me personally. I do plan on dropping by frequently to check on the work. It's my first house so I'm excited, but it also probably means no new games for a while which bums me out. I guess it's a good excuse to go through my backlog.

So I bought a house this weekend. It's just a dirt lot right now but hopefully over the next few months a brand new house will appear. I wish I could turn on cheetah speed and move in now.

Found it:

Gears of War Judgment is so good it'll make you like Braid - ign.com Alternate snarky comment: Braid? Baird? Ever wish you could rewind time? I hear you can do that Gears of War Judgment.

As a sort of tangent to that, I am of the belief that life does exist on other planets. Intelligent life even, perhaps in the form of Kerbals. I don't think we've ever met it. I don't think it's ever met us. I don't think we'll ever met. I don't think we'll ever have tangible proof that it exists. But I still believe it's out there, despite things like the Fermi Paradox.

A few years ago I was in China and at the time, they were selling bootleg movies out in the open (they have since cracked down on it). I remember reading the descriptions (in Engrish) of the movies and they were hilariously bad, although some of them made the movie sound better or described a movie I would rather see. Sadly, I can't remember any of them specifically.

Yeah I would think it means that colors are more vivid so the difference between shades is bigger, but there's not going to suddenly be another color between green and blue that no one noticed.

I feel your pain. Many of the people I work with have been working here longer than I've even been alive. Trying to engage any of them in video game talk (much less play) is less than futile.

I used to pretend to be Spider-man and web swing down aisles, roads, hallways, pretty much any straight path that had things I could web. I also used to open doors by hadoukening them open with my palms. I sometimes wonder if everyone sees colors the same way. For example, when I see blue, others see red or orange or purple or whatever, but we all call it blue and to them that is just what blue looks like. But if I could somehow swap eyes or brains with them for a second, the world would be totally different. Then I start wondering the same about sounds and other things, which eventually leads me into an existential crisis that I usually resolve by turning my brain off and shooting video game dudes in the face.

I'm really looking forward to Gone Home which should fit in this category (unless Steve has some tricky stuff up his sleve).

I agree with Henroid and Gormongous about Monaco. There's a lot of information in the game that isn't obvious and left to the player to determine. I normally wouldn't mind taking my time and learning it myself, but when you're trying to plan a heist/escape it really helps to know how the world works and what your character can do. For instance I learned last night that the redhead can charm dogs in addition to people, which seems really weird to me but was very useful at times. I also kind of like the Rashomon style of storytelling that's going on. It's a neat way for the game to change up levels you've played before.

So this is out now. Anybody played it? Is there actually a good game in there or have my fears been realized?

I realize GB is a wiki, but the reason I brought it and Wikipedia up was to illustrate there's more than one way to define these things. I'm not saying your definition isn't a valid one, it's just not one I completely agree with. But in the end we're still quibbling over details and it's not an argument I wish to have so let's just say you feel one way, I feel another, and leave it at that.

Didn't one episode of the cast a long time ago mention a hidden gay pride parade in SimCopter or am I imagining things?

See, to me they are kind of the same thing. When I think of power up, I'm not really thinking about having to actually pick something up but rather a temporary boost to something. It's the transcient nature that defines it for me, not the action. Perhaps buff was a poorly chosen word, I wasn't even thinking about MMOs when I said it (I was actually thinking about TF2 items but the mechanics are similar). Like most video game concepts it's open to interpretation. Wikipedia even calls perks a variation of the power-up mechanic and Giant Bomb includes permanent in their definition. Back to the original point, Giant Bomb has a list of games that include a perk mechanic.

Eh, I think that's a semantic difference on an already ill-defined concept.

In at least the multiplayer space, power up analogs seem to come in the form of buffs/debuffs. Things like quad damage don't really exist, but in a lot of games you can use an ability to boost your team's damage or damage resistance or health regen or whatever.

From the description: "None of the effects are computer generated. All the trickery took place literally in front of the camera" My mind is blown.

Do you mean something besides skill trees and gaining levels from XP? Because otherwise I'd say almost every RPG ever made, including stuff like Diablo, beat-em-ups like God of War, shooters like Borderlands, etc. If you mean something besides this please do tell because that's what it sounds like you're asking to me.

Every time I see this game all I can think of is this

http://youtu.be/BH7m1_eedCE?t=50m21s I skipped to the relevant part but I recommend watching the whole thing for some fun with history.

I do like the lack of instant game over when you're seen, but the mechanics of this game are really gamey at times. Like if I get seen, but then duck into a vent, and then the guard that saw me goes into the same vent but can't see me inside it because that's how vents work in this game. Same thing with the entrance/exit in each area. I understand the need for you to be invisible in such areas otherwise you'd have no where to hide sometimes, but it also feels like I'm cheating the system in a way. I will admit it is somewhat hilarious to me though, so I'm willing to forgive it. I'm also not hugely fond of the hud. Having all the important information about my character (health, coins, ammo, disguise) in concentric circles around me gets confusing sometimes, especially when you have multiple people hiding in the same bush. But that's also a minor gripe and probably just something I need to get used to. I will say there's nothing like the feeling of having a plan go off perfectly, or even better, have a plan go horribly wrong yet still turn out awesome because you pulled off some sweet moves. Also the gentleman is OP

The PA comic does illustrate an extremely hilarious and common situation, except for one thing: the locksmith. I wish the locksmith were more useful because I feel like there's never a time I would pick him over any of the other characters. Looking at the global leaderboard last night, it seems like a duo of mole and pickpocket have the best times on a lot of missions. I imagine their strategy is to simply bash their way into every room and let the monkey do his thing.

What is games?

Man that is some sweet multiplayer. Gormongous and I had some troubles with just the two of us, but still tons of fun. I'd love to get a group of 4 some time.