SecretAsianMan

I'll grant you the gem-high point since it actually does show you that in the game. Still I feel that too much instruction would take away from this game since it's relative simplicity works in its favor. Then again I may be saying these things because I didn't go into the game blind and had some foreknowledge of it so there was less for me to "figure out".

My reason for posing that question wasn't to actually suggest that a podcast ad blocker is a good idea. I wanted to see the motivation behind disliking ads. I get that people find them annoying but saying that one set of ads is ok because you like the hosts seems pretty disingenuous to me. I can get behind what Zeus is saying about the Thumbs actually endorsing products they've used and believe are good. I think that's a way better sell than simply a check. I've even used a Thumbs (and Bombcast) promo code for those reasons*. But I can't get behind any sort of moral high ground. It feels too much like illegally downloading a song or game because I don't feel like paying for it, except in this case the payment literally costs me nothing and does take away from the content creator. The one exception to this case that really bothered the hell out of me was Hulu Plus. I used my Chromecast to try their premium service for 3 months. IT STILL HAS ADS. A subscription model that still stops you every 10 minutes to run an unskippable 30 second ad. I didn't even make it a month before cancelling. *Casper mattresses actually are pretty good. I'd call them slightly softer rather than firm but still good support and comfy.

Without going into much further detail, I believe I fall under the "professional" exemption category.

Ads don't really bother me. I've learned to ignore them to the point that they're just background stuff to me. For the most part I don't even recognize they're there, although on occasion this has also caused me to ignore links to legitimate stories because the form resembles an ad. Ads in things like YouTube or Twitch don't bother me either because I'm willing to be minorly inconvenienced to support a content creator I like. This was actually the thing that got me to stop using ad blockers altogether. I turned it off while watching a Games Done Quick marathon cause I wanted to support them and realized that I felt that way about pretty much everything I see. The one exception to ads not bothering me is when the ad physically changes the page. Like if I'm reading an article and suddenly a tab slides in from the left and pushes everything out of it's way to be in my face, then I'm annoyed.

I've probably somewhat overstepped my bounds and have gone into more detail than I should have, but suffice it to say that this is in fact legal despite however shitty it seems.

Let me ask this: how do you guys feel about the Idle Thumbs podcast ads? If there was a blocker for that, would you use it?

Yeah Arkham Knight seems like one of those "wait for the GOTY and get everything" situations. (I say this as someone who preordered the game...)

I'm actually ok with the level of instruction in the game. If wall jumping or gem highs were necessary to advance or enjoy the game, then yeah I'd say they should be explained somewhat. Right now I consider them more like tricks or advanced skills which while fun aren't required at all. You could complete the game without knowing either one of those existed and it would still be fun. In something like Issac those things aren't so easy to ignore because they're literally dropped right in front of you and there's so many of them that you'll probably need a wiki until you learn them all. I really hate it when basic and necessary things aren't covered or are hidden under really obscure mechanics but I feel like that isn't the case here.

I've asked that question myself and never quite gotten a straight answer, either because they don't know it or understand it. Probably a bit of both. The reason I'm most often told is because some legal loophole allowed the company to say the standard work week was 40-45 hours, but since the federal length is 40 those extra hours somehow get turned into free labor. I should also mention that I'm salaried, which is usually exempt from overtime rules at all. In a way I'm lucky to even get paid, which is maybe worse depending on how you look at it.

I've found the wall jumping timing to be really forgiving actually, to the point that I keep doing it on accident. Then again I'm used to wall jumping in Super Metroid which is much less fluid. Also I seriously can't wait to get off this shift and start playing this some more.

Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing the sun again. As much as I like* being forced to work all night for 6 days a week for a month and a half every 6-12 months, I do miss the little things. Like sleep. But hey, at least I get overtime pay**. And with any luck*** the outage will be over this week. *I hate it **I totally don't get overtime. In fact it's in our employment contract that after 40 hours a week, for the first 5 hours we don't get paid at all. Only after THAT do I get normal pay. For example, in an average week during this time I'll work a minimum of 60 hours. 20 of those hours are considered overtime, but since the first 5 are free I'm only getting paid for 15 hours. In other words, for 20 hours a week I'm actually working at 3/4 pay. ***We're never that lucky. These things ALWAYS run over.

Arkham Knight is back on Steam. WB announced that everyone who already bought the PC version or buys it before Nov. 16 will get the following games added to their Steam library for free: Arkham Asylum GOTY, Arkham City GOTY, Arkham Origins, and Arkham Origins Blackgate. Additionally, they're creating a Community Challenge Pack that will be available on Steam a week before it's available on consoles. There's also a cross-promo going with TF2 (because of course there is). Players are tasked with creating Arkham themed cosmetic items for TF2 to submit via the Workshop. The chosen items will be given to everyone who already bought or buys it before Nov. 16.

I'm just really glad I got tired of trying to figure that game's increasingly convoluted (and increasingly less fun in my opinion) systems. I've been out of the game for a long time, both figuratively and literally. I've long felt that the game was F2P disguised as something else so I can't say that I'm surprised it's turned out the way it has, though I'm maybe a little disappointed. I'm glad you can still find the game fun Jason, but when I think back on my time with it I don't get the same warm fuzzy feelings I do with other games I've liked and have since stopped playing. Really I think the only actual fun I had was playing with groups of Thumbs (including one rare occasion with Sean).

I picked up this game tonight. Man is it fun. The shotgun is probably my favorite weapon. It forces me to be more selective about using my shots, but as a result I end up performing better. The triple is probably my least favorite. I can't remember what it's called, but the upgrade that creates a blast when you jump on enemies is my favorite. It's really useful in limbo. The least useful to me is the one that extends gem high. I've never had a problem keeping that active. My highest combo right now is 104, but I've only been playing for a few hours. The steam controller is actually pretty good for this game. The right pad can be used as a giant button which is perfect for a game of this nature. It might be better with a proper d-pad but Spelunky got me used to using a stick for 2D movement.

I'm slowly coming around on the controller. If you're accustomed to a "normal" controller it takes some getting used to and I still don't think the pad is all that great for things like camera control. But the rest is pretty good. I especially like the community key mapping thing. Being able to save your configurations as well as getting ones from others is really quite handy. So far the only games I've found that I don't really like it with are the ones I wouldn't play using a controller anyway (mostly FPS games).

For my pedantic post of the week: Downwell is currently only on iOS and PC, but an Android version is coming. So Jake's assumption isn't entirely off.

A report came across my desk today from a field tech. He was calibrating a transmitter and described it as being "squirrely". I'm trying to come up with a technical term for that for my own report.

I just checked my library and I do indeed own all Valve's current (and future!) games.

If I'm using a controller I haven't used for a while I'll forget for a bit but it usually comes back to me pretty fast. Actually the thing I have the worst time with is the keyboard. I can type just fine but that hinges on my ability to place my fingers on the home row to utilize my muscle memory. When I shift to something like WASD it throws everything off and I end up looking down at the keys a lot more than I should. I probably have more time using a keyboard (in both normal and WASD configurations) than I do controllers and yet it's still worse for me.

I only ordered the controller and I got that email. I haven't had a chance to log into my account yet though and see if it's actually there.

Happy Back to the Future (II) day!

To be fair, my initial impressions are based on about an hour's play with 2 different games and basically no setting changes. While I'm still disappointed at the performance out of the box, I don't think it means that it can't be made to work well. I do wish it was clearer how to actually accomplish that though.

In theory I actually like the idea of having several optimal choices because it promotes variety. One of the things I loved about TF2 (before all the hat stuff) was that the new weapons and modes introduced didn't invalidate existing weapons and tactics (with some exceptions that badly needed fixing). Instead they simply offered a new, completely viable way to play alongside the old way. But in this case I have to agree with you. It feels like every iteration is going back to the drawing board with someone different at the helm each time and the outcome depends on what that person likes at the moment. What bothered me the most about a lot of the changes they kept making was it felt like they were only looking forward and not back. Updates were geared toward a specific heist or weapon/skill set that was designed to make the new content work while completely breaking the old content. Older missions become either impossible or laughably easy, neither of which is actually fun. It keeps pushing you toward getting the newest piece of DLC just to be able to actually play the game in a meaningful way.

That sounds like what I'm looking for. I'll have to try it out.

So I did get a chance to try the controller out for a little bit. My initial impression is... rather disappointing. The first thing I tried was Spelunky. As a d-pad it's terrible. It's far too wide for quick movement or to make specific directions accurate. Using the analog stick means it's basically an Xbox controller. The paddles on the rear are a little too easy to hit accidentally. I also tried it with an FPS. While I vastly prefer the mouse and keyboard for shooters I'm able to use a controller. The right pad acted more like a giant analog stick rather than a touch pad like I was hoping. I hear this varies from game to game and maybe there's some adjustment I need to do on my end (although I'm not yet sure how to do that). I'm gonna keep trying it with some other stuff but so far it's not what I was hoping for.