Jake

Idle Thumbs 105: XCOM Obama

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I think Jake's impression of a smirky dad is quite similar to Jake's impression of Jimmy Stewart.

 

"Color your hair. Dad said a funny thing, what do you guys think? What, no love for Dad?"

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i just had a thought that i would be proud to beat Obama at things (because he is cool) but i would be embarrassed to be beaten at anything by David Cameron and feel no sense of accomplishment by beating him (because he is a posh privileged baby noob) so when you guys are finished with Obama can we have him as prime minister, we don't care about birth certificates (we aren't paranoid that the british will take our country with political power because we are british) so he could eventually become prime minister 

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DOUG THOSE COOKIES

I couldn't figure out how to leave a note on the blog so I will say here that I just finished making these and they are the new favorite cookies of Mr. and Mrs. Berzee!

Tasty treats. <3

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If you don't know that Doug is a person in real life, that blog entry just looks like a weird new medium for fan-ficiton.

 

 

"Here's Doug from the Walking Dead's cookies. Next week: Commander Shepard's pie."

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XCOM is a Daily Deal on Steam today, 66% off.  I just went to check my email and 30 seconds later I had bought it without really thinking.

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I think Pokémon Red sticks out in my mind in terms of a sense of discovery because before I had played the game for the first time I had no idea who any of the pokémon were, what they looked like, what level they evolved into their next stage, what moves they would learn etc. I still have fond memories of being genuinely ecstatic over a pokémon evolving because I had no idea what would happen.

 

I'd probably find it difficult to have a similar experience nowadays because I played that game when I wasn't as personally interested in the industry as a whole (I must have been about 10 when they first came out). It was also really interesting because all my friends were playing it and we were discussing and discovering new stuff all the time together, we had no idea what was going to happen next. I think this is probably where a lot of the crazy rumours about this game from, such as the car near the boat having Mew hidden under it or some shit, because the game had such a well developed sense of a new world that people were just rabid to explore it (or at least I was.)

 

I'm also a huge fan of the "No Love For Dad" thing that's going on. 

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I have to disagree with your assessment of Risk: Legacy ultimately coming down to just "playing Risk." Without any of the permutation that happens later, or even the basic variables in faction abilities, there are a few mechanics that make a single game different from the classic Risk experience. Starting out in one territory and spreading across the map, along with the more limited troop numbers, encourages caution in the early game (though bold moves and good die rolls can lead to a fast win, especially if other players make poor choices), but the victory point system means that a game can be won much more easily than just taking over the whole board.

 

These things can take the afternoon-consuming experience of classic Risk and turn it into a 5-minute win followed up with loud, incredulous swearing: This was the third game we had played, but I had won both previous games. I was also the first to place my HQ, and Player 2 was determined not to let me win a third, so he placed his HQ close to mine in an effort to choke me out of possible expansion. Player 3 placed his HQ a decent distance away from us, and there were a 4th and 5th player, but they didn't do anything of note due to the shortness of the game. I took my turn, spreading a little bit, but wary of 2's proximity. 2 decided to press his luck, and after a series of good rolls, had taken over all but two of my territories, leaving each with one army apiece. Unfortunately, 2's losses and the limited amount of early-game troops left him spread incredibly thin, and player 3 was able to sweep across the area, taking the HQ's of both 2 and myself, giving him the win (1 point for not having won a game, 1 for possession of his own HQ, and 1 each for taking both of our HQ's).

 

I love starting a game of classic Risk, but after a couple hours, I never want to play again. Risk: Legacy is a game that I found hard to stop playing.

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I knew Michel Gondry sounded familiar. A million years ago, he did a number of music videos for Bjork, including this one that still gives me chills:

 

 

Not Gondry related, but the Kyli Minogue video and this one remind me of the opening to City of Lost Children:

 

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I didn't realise the recipe was on the blog page.. Once I found it, I tried again and they worked really well.

Last time I used rock salt and that was a really bad idea.

Don't drink and bake.

 

Anyway, thanks Doug. Sorry I let you die because I wanted to get it on with the cute Asian chick.

 

 

"Color your hair. Dad said a funny thing, what do you guys think? What, no love for Dad?"

 

Pleaaase can somebody explain the "color your hair" reference? It cracks me up like nothing else, but I can't quite pinpoint it. 

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I think it's a reference to a scene in Vertigo where James Stewart's character makes Kim Novak's character colour her hair. The actual line is, "the colour of your hair". The clip isn't on YouTube so I can't be sure, but that is what I've always interpreted it as. Alternatively it could just be Jake being a weirdo.

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I wonder if we could fund a scientific study to find the precise moment when a father becomes "Dad". Those jokes are ingrained into Dad DNA. In some people, it exposes itself before actually becoming a parent. You could probably replicate Eugene Levy from frog DNA and mosquitoes from the 1950s.

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Regarding collectibles, if it's a game I really enjoyed playing I do tend to go after them. In open world games I find that when going through the critical path and side missions there can still be decent portions of the world that I never really touch, and I tend to not notice a lot of the details in the world even in the areas that are well traversed because I am too distracted with the missions at hand. Once the missions are done, however, collectibles give me a reason to go back through every corner of the world and see all of those little details and notice more of the random npc interactions and whatnot. This more intimate look at the world also gives me a greater appreciation for all of the effort that the developers went through to populate their world with things that go unnoticed by the majority of players.

 

I would also reflect what some other posts have mentioned about being a completionist. If a game is good, playing it to 100% completion can be very rewarding because, again, it gives me a reason to experience all of these extra things that developers spent time and effort to put in their games. Although I guess it's worth mentioning that I mainly test software for a living and tend to enjoy poking around at things so maybe my viewpoint is a little skewed.

 

Some games I've completed to 100% or gathered all of the collectibles: Skyrim, every GTA since GTA 3 (loved hunting those pigeons), Assassin's Creed 2, Oblivion, Fallout 3, Saint's Row, Halo 3, Halo 4, Super Mario 64, and a bunch of others I can't think of right now.

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I think it's a reference to a scene in Vertigo where James Stewart's character makes Kim Novak's character colour her hair. The actual line is, "the colour of your hair". The clip isn't on YouTube so I can't be sure, but that is what I've always interpreted it as. Alternatively it could just be Jake being a weirdo.

I think it was just a corruption of that line combined with that sentiment in Vertigo, when Stewart gets increasingly aggressive with his weird requests.

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I'm glad my assumptions were accurate. I think we can all sleep more soundly know the true origin of "colour your hair".

Just to remind people why James Stewart is the perennial dad here is a poem about his dog.

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Just made those cookies, quite nice. I'm a little iffy on the sugar coating, but the brown butter base makes for a delicious dessert dish.

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Someone in this episode mentioned the stack, which is the blog by a completionist who is trying to play through all the games that he hasn't finished yet.  And then he writes about them.

 

 Here's a link: http://www.wurb.com/stack/

 

He works at Telltale!

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"In a paintball gun fight between me and president Obama, who do you think would win?"

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I'd imagine a job interview with Sean would involve an arm wrestle

 

"How high can you jump?"

"As high as you say, right? That's the phrase? If you say 'jump' I say 'how high'"? 

"No. What is your vertical?"

"I, uh, I dunno. A foot? Ten, eleven inches?"

"Show me. Show me right now."

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Well hello again!

 

I am just about to start my own Impossible Iron Man playthrough of Xcom (having completed it on classic mode with saves). After catching up on the podcast I decided I needed more so bought both DLC. I will probably use some second wave options too.

 

My reason for posting is this: I need your suggestions for naming schemes for my soldiers. In the original UFO Enemy Unknown I used characters from Battlestar Galactica; something tells me that I am going to need a much larger roster this time.

 

Ideas please!  :gaming: 

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