SecretAsianMan

I use a lot of passive browser extensions, most of which I tend to forget I even have installed. I do use a password manager though. Bookmark and tab syncing is incidental for me in that they're built in and I use them because they're there but it's not something I've ever actively done or would miss if it was gone. I also hate having a million tabs open.

I just finished up the Beastcast with Dan and Austin. I'm with Twig in that I think Dan's entertaining to have around but I don't want him to become a permanent fixture. Also every part of the "science" talk made me alternate between laughing and cringing so hard I wanted to pull my hair out. I think the thing that made it bearable for me was Dan's willingness to admit that he's an idiot who knows nothing.

I'm mostly in the same boat as Chris with regard to No Man's Sky. I've been largely ignoring everything about the game but now that its (PC) release is upon us I'm interested in playing it despite only having a vague idea of what it actually is. Every time I heard the name House of the Dying Son my mind immediately started playing Kind of disappointed the episode wasn't called "Playing chicken with the whale"

I think the confusion was because of the control scheme image. There is a "split controller" mode where two players can control two characters with one controller, but you can still only have 4 characters total. I'd be interested to see a two person 4-player run where each person controls two characters simultaneously.

I've not been paying attention at all to this game but I'm suddenly finding myself wanting it. It seems fun and chill which is what I need right now. The preorder bonus is a ship with an upgraded hyperdrive, but I've heard that it's actually screwing early players over. Apparently you're supposed to find a blueprint that lets you craft a hyperdrive yourself but players who use the preorder item to skip that step can warp ahead, buy a seemingly better ship with no hyperdrive, then be stuck there forever because they can't warp out and you can't switch back to your old ship.

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I finished Season 4 of POI, which is the last season Netflix currently has. The show definitely got a lot more interesting as it went on. I wish the individual episode plots had some more substance and less predictability but they do a good job of fitting into the overall plot of the series. My main complaint about that is when a previous POI shows up again but by that point I've forgotten who they are yet the show seems to expect me to just remember everyone. I'm also mildly disappointed with the way some of the big side plots were resolved, specifically the Brotherhood story. Still, I really want to track down that last season. I wish CBS sucked less when it comes to letting people watch their shows (I'm frankly surprised POI is even on Netflix at all).

You Only Move Twice is generally considered one of the best episodes in the series. It's definitely one of my favorites. In somewhat tangentially related Simpsons news, Morbotron, a Futurama version of Frinciac, now exists.

I think that both podcasts would suffer if Dan transferred. The Bombcast would lose a considerable amount of enthusiasm. Even though Dan will often reach the point where I want to reach through the internet and slap him in the face, I appreciate the way his comments get the others going. Brad, Jeff, Drew, and Jason are pretty sedate compared to Dan and I don't think his leaving the Bombcast would change that. On the Beastcast side, I think they're already energetic enough. Ironically with the departure of Austin I don't really see anyone there to play against Dan. I think the two of them would have been great foils for each other. Austin was a force of reason and order, Dan is a force of nonsense and chaos.

Man if that were a possibility I'd start playing again just to mess with Nick. I haven't been watching the streams or archives due to a lack of free time but I'm intrigued by the idea of Nick attempting a speedrun of any kind.

That's interesting considering how much Hyper Light Drifter owes to a 2D Zelda game.

I too have been watching POI and am similarly enjoying it. It started off kind of slow and the episode plots are way too predictable but overall I'm liking it. I was also somewhat surprised that Uplink was not mentioned. The interface is very Hollywood but I feel like the method (although very abstracted) is more accurate. Most movie/TV hacking scenes involve a person furiously typing to hack something in "real time" when the reality is that actual hacking involves running programs and scripts. But its way less interesting to watch someone coding for hours on end so you get the Hollywood version.

Me as well! Though I probably won't have a chance while its in theatres...

I'm about halfway through POI season 3. Something happened in the episode I watched last night and now I'm sad.

I hate skipping episodes. I never do it unless something is particularly unwatchable. I've moved into season 3. The show has gotten decidedly better. I'm not a huge fan of Root (sorry Twig) but I like Shaw. She's a more interesting (and seemingly more skilled) version of Reese. What I'd like to see now is the Machine itself becoming more of a character. It's already started to happen.

TF2 is still free yes. MvM has a mode called Mann Up that can only be played if you have a Tour of Duty ticket which is purchased in the store. Tickets are only used if mission is completed. Completing Mann Up missions reward you with a drop which may contain special cosmetic items only available in Mann Up mode. The regular MvM is completely free though. I have no interest in cosmetic stuff so I'm fine with playing the free mode.

I've been in the mood lately to play some MvM but I haven't touched TF2 in a while and I'd really rather not get into it with randoms. Anyone out there interested in playing?

I've started the second season and already the show is improving. Strangely the thing that started turning it around for me was the dog. Bear adds a bit of levity that the show desperately needed as up until now it was all serious all the time. I don't want it to be a dumb buddy cop show or anything but it felt rather monotonous till now. Also involving their cop buddies and various other allies a lot more is helping. I get that the first season needed to be a lot of setup to reach this point but I'm really glad that part is over. I don't dislike Reese or anything, I just find him really generic and uninteresting compared to everyone else. The best moments with him so far have been when he's out of his element (such as being forced to be the computer guy or pretending to be a normal dude on a date). I found Root to be kind of disappointing once they figured out who she was but I've only seen her a couple of times. I have no idea who Shaw is yet. Also I recently watched an episode where the POI was a female surgeon whose wife was being threatened. That was pretty cool (the wife thing, not the threatening thing).

I totally forgot about that. I should get rid of it.

SUMMER GAMES DONE QUICK 2016 July 3 - July 10 Another summer, another SGDQ. If you're not aware of what I'm talking about, Games Done Quick is a series of charity video game marathons with events in the winter and summer. Speedrunners from all over come together in one place and stream a nonstop barrage of high-level gameplay. This summer's event benefits Doctors without Borders. Tune in to see some games getting completely taken apart. The runs will eventually be archived if you can't see it live. Main Site Schedule Twitch Channel Donation Page

Part of the sarcasm also comes from the fact that the very nature of speedrunning means that by and large you're purposely looking for exploits and ways to break the game, hence every game being "broken". One of the reasons I couldn't stand the DKC3 race was they were repeatedly calling the game dumb because it wasn't letting them break it as much as they wanted. My favorite categories for runs tend to be the 100% or no glitch categories because it becomes much more about execution and skill. You hear a lot fewer "this game is broken" comments in those runs. They also tend to be better about explaining the game itself rather than the code they're exploiting.

I'm near the end of the first season, just a couple left. I'll admit its gotten a bit better but still rather formulaic. I've thus far been able to reliably predict each episode within the first ten minutes. I can see glimpses of interesting stuff happening but nothing that's really grabbed me yet. Agents of SHIELD started off like that too though and it turned into something pretty great so I'm willing to give POI more time.

I've started watching POI partly based on this and Rob. I'm still in the first season and I'm really hoping that you're right about the later seasons. I kind of dig the mythology of the show but watching it is becoming something of a chore. The plots are extremely predictable right now. Every episode so far seems to rely on a very transparent plot twist of "the person you thought was a good guy is actually a bad guy and vice versa". Reese doesn't seem like a particularly effective operator either. He lets his guard down a lot and should have been killed several times over by now. Also his serious almost Christian Bale Batman voice and demeanor are starting to grate on me. I'm frankly not interested in his past and find Finch and the Machine to be far more interesting. I'll keep at it but you better be right Twig!

I think part of it is pandering to the audience, which during an event like GDQ can be several hundred times larger than any given runner's normal audience. When you're in front of such a large group the easiest tactic is usually to play to the most common denominator, namely dumb memes and chat emotes. While I haven't found this latest GDQ to be significantly better or worse than past ones, I know what you mean. There are a few runs I've had to stop watching altogether because I just can't stand the personalities on display (the DKC3 race was a particularly bad standout to me this time). I've watched enough of these events that I know which runners I like which helps but I'm always disappointed when I can't watch a game I want to see run because the people running it are so off-putting.

The treaty existed basically because Gene Roddenberry decreed it so. One of his rules for Star Trek (which I've talked about before) was that the Federation are good guys who don't sneak around and thus wouldn't use cloaking technology. The treaty was their way of making it official.