the sad thing is that anybody who REALLY knows enough, and can put it together well enough and with interesting enough takes, to justify a podcast, should probably be doing something more lucrative with those skills. i'd love to know what longworth of "you must remember this"'s work week looks like --- does she make enough off of ad reads to justify all the reading the show implies, not to mention the work of writing a proper documentary script? most conversational podcasts would be way better as edited transcripts or just essays, but that's a lot more work and i'm not paying anybody so...
― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Monday, 28 January 2019 01:28 (five years ago) link
GI?
xpost i don't know her figures but i'd be shocked if you must remember this doesn't make pretty good money. but that's a globally known, hit podcast. you're right that there are easier ways to make a buck. particularly if you're starting from scratch.
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Monday, 28 January 2019 01:34 (five years ago) link
yeah I mean I bet she's doing good with it now but it's more like, how do you put that much work into it for so long while building that audience?
― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Monday, 28 January 2019 01:40 (five years ago) link
Game Informer
― reggae mike love (polyphonic), Monday, 28 January 2019 17:37 (five years ago) link
https://youtu.be/iZT6JEOC3D8
I am not playing videogames for Presidents Day but watching videos of other people playing videogames.
― A Grape Ape Agape (Leee), Monday, 18 February 2019 21:19 (five years ago) link
Blindfolded, that is.
That is what you call irony.
https://retrobitch.wordpress.com/2019/02/12/pac-man-the-untold-story-of-how-we-really-played-the-game/
https://i.imgur.com/fRRY8YT.jpg
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 28 February 2019 03:13 (five years ago) link
Hahah wow, I mean that's a fun read and the pics are beautiful, but she writes it like she's expecting a pulitzer for it.
Reminds me actually, Martin Amis's Invasion of the Space Invaders: An Addict's Guide to Battle Tactics, Big Scores and the Best Machine got republished towards the end of last year and it's so great, definitely worth picking up (if you can stomach buying anything of his these days).
― JimD, Thursday, 28 February 2019 11:47 (five years ago) link
Wonderful, joyous read that.
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 28 February 2019 12:09 (five years ago) link
Thanks KM, good one
― calstars, Thursday, 28 February 2019 20:57 (five years ago) link
“May all your quarters be red ones” lol
“she writes it like she's expecting a pulitzer for it.”Otm, tho still enjoyable!
― i believe that (s)he is sincere (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 28 February 2019 21:37 (five years ago) link
Really like the idea behind the pac-man piece, the physical interaction and the real world signs. Like how you see a keyboard with worn WASD keys and you know the owner plays online shooters.
I'd never considered the imbalance of pac-man till now - trying to think of other coin-op games outside the pac-world that were one-handed. Was the atari Star Wars booth a single joystick?
― Non, je ned raggette rien (onimo), Tuesday, 5 March 2019 21:52 (five years ago) link
I think it was more of a steering wheel with fire buttons on it?QBert was one joystick, Marble Madness had one trackball.
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Tuesday, 5 March 2019 22:12 (five years ago) link
oh Frogger as well!
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Tuesday, 5 March 2019 22:14 (five years ago) link
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi)
it was a pilot's yoke, anyway you held it with two hands
― the scientology of mountains (rushomancy), Tuesday, 5 March 2019 22:16 (five years ago) link
berzerk had two joysticks, one to move and the other to fire, which i found wonderful
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 5 March 2019 22:27 (five years ago) link
there will be loads of other top-down games that are joystick only. Mr Do for instance. Arkanoid is almost spinner-only?
― thomasintrouble, Tuesday, 5 March 2019 23:08 (five years ago) link
Back it up bro, Mr Do had a weapon
― calstars, Tuesday, 5 March 2019 23:31 (five years ago) link
Berzerk didn't have two joysticks, that was Robotron
― Screamin' Jay Gould (The Yellow Kid), Thursday, 7 March 2019 23:35 (five years ago) link
i was a little bit confused with this article at first, then quickly realized that it was because i always keep my idle hand close to the gaming hand when playing a one joystick game. wouldn't feel right to have it up on the side of the machine.
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 7 March 2019 23:37 (five years ago) link
TIL that.. I have always confused Robotron with Berzerk!
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 7 March 2019 23:50 (five years ago) link
classic blunder
― ciderpress, Friday, 8 March 2019 00:31 (five years ago) link
xp oh yeah wow you're right, I'd completely forgotten he could throw his ball thingy
― thomasintrouble, Friday, 8 March 2019 19:14 (five years ago) link
https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-simcity-inspired-urban-planners-20190305-story.html
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 11 March 2019 19:19 (five years ago) link
jesus fucking christ
A report by the Washington Post found Activision Blizzard has been incentivising employees to give their data to Ovia Health - an organisation that offers a range of family planning and pregnancy tracking services. Companies can pay Ovia Health to access the aggregate data of their workers, which according to The Washington Post runs from "trying-to-conceive months to early motherhood".The information that can be accessed includes how many workers have faced high-risk pregnancies, have given birth prematurely, the medical questions they researched, and the planned length of their maternity leave.For each day of use, employees reportedly receive a $1 (£0.76) gift card from Activision Blizzard, and the company in turn gets to view the combined anonymous statistics. Although Activision Blizzard stresses the program is voluntary, the financial incentive has clearly convinced many soon-to-be mothers to share their data, with one employee explaining the bonus helped provide "diaper and formula money". Activision Blizzard claims the scheme is popular and has saved the company roughly $1200 (£917) per employee in annual medical costs.Speaking to the Washington Post, Activision Blizzard's lead android vice president of global benefits said the program is part of an attitude shift towards sharing private information with the company. Employees initially raised concerns over privacy when the company introduced Fitbit tracking in 2014, but since then the company has also offered financial incentives for tracking mental health, sleep, diet, autism and cancer - and Ezzard says workers are now more comfortable with sharing their data."People's sensitivity has gone from, 'Hey, Activision Blizzard is Big Brother,' to, 'Hey, Activision Blizzard really is bringing me tools that can help me out'," Ezzard said.His other statements, however, point to the true nature of the program as a cost-saving exercise."I want them to have a healthy baby because it's great for our business experience."Rather than having a baby who's in the neonatal ICU, where she's not able to focus much on work," he felt the need to add.
The information that can be accessed includes how many workers have faced high-risk pregnancies, have given birth prematurely, the medical questions they researched, and the planned length of their maternity leave.
For each day of use, employees reportedly receive a $1 (£0.76) gift card from Activision Blizzard, and the company in turn gets to view the combined anonymous statistics.
Although Activision Blizzard stresses the program is voluntary, the financial incentive has clearly convinced many soon-to-be mothers to share their data, with one employee explaining the bonus helped provide "diaper and formula money". Activision Blizzard claims the scheme is popular and has saved the company roughly $1200 (£917) per employee in annual medical costs.
Speaking to the Washington Post, Activision Blizzard's lead android vice president of global benefits said the program is part of an attitude shift towards sharing private information with the company. Employees initially raised concerns over privacy when the company introduced Fitbit tracking in 2014, but since then the company has also offered financial incentives for tracking mental health, sleep, diet, autism and cancer - and Ezzard says workers are now more comfortable with sharing their data.
"People's sensitivity has gone from, 'Hey, Activision Blizzard is Big Brother,' to, 'Hey, Activision Blizzard really is bringing me tools that can help me out'," Ezzard said.
His other statements, however, point to the true nature of the program as a cost-saving exercise.
"I want them to have a healthy baby because it's great for our business experience.
"Rather than having a baby who's in the neonatal ICU, where she's not able to focus much on work," he felt the need to add.
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-04-11-activision-blizzard-pays-employees-to-share-their-pregnancy-data
― arli$$ and bible black (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 12 April 2019 10:34 (five years ago) link
Super Bunnyhop did a really good video on unionization in the industry, 43 minutes. Some very unusual games at the end.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TSB5YQqDiY
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 4 May 2019 13:44 (five years ago) link
Activision is so evil
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 4 May 2019 14:13 (five years ago) link
https://kotaku.com/over-150-riot-employees-walk-out-to-protest-forced-arbi-1834566198
― Soccer Team's Philosophies and Hypotheses (Leee), Tuesday, 7 May 2019 01:40 (five years ago) link
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2019/03/14/if-video-games-are-todays-rock-and-roll-music-videogamedunkey-might-be-its-lester-bangs/
In which a columnist at the WaPo likens Video Game Dunkey to ... Lester Bangs? Comparison maybe needs to be fleshed out a bit, but sure, why not.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 June 2019 12:16 (four years ago) link
Lester Bangs = Tim Rogers, obviously.
― closed beta (NotEnough), Monday, 3 June 2019 12:20 (four years ago) link
According to SocialBlade, which analyzes social media metrics, the 28-year-old Videogamedunkey might be making up to $1.7 million a year.
some copper-bottomed reporting right there
― naked rollercoaster-riding world record holder (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 3 June 2019 12:21 (four years ago) link
He does mention Tim Rogers in the piece!
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 June 2019 12:55 (four years ago) link
Dude has had over 2 billion views, total, so while I have no idea what he makes each year, he's probably done very well for himself. Just like Lester Bangs.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 June 2019 12:57 (four years ago) link
(Context clues helped, but I had to look up "copper-bottomed.")
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 June 2019 12:58 (four years ago) link
dunkey as lester bangs is the most fucked up comparison
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 3 June 2019 15:28 (four years ago) link
I don't even think of dunkey as primarily a critic. He's a comedian.
― jmm, Monday, 3 June 2019 15:43 (four years ago) link
Every once in a while - and it's been a while, I want to say - he goes critic. But he's usually just funny, even if him being funny sometimes comes off as criticism. Like, his recent ranking of youtube celebrities, it's pretty entertaining, but I haven't really thought too much about his point, though I do sort of suspect there *is* a point.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 3 June 2019 16:53 (four years ago) link
Was curious about him ranking JonTron so high. Wasn't it only months ago he was against him for his racist turn? Surely JonTron didn't make a swift recovery from bigotry?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 7 June 2019 16:15 (four years ago) link
Tangentially game related, but I thought there were some interesting points made in this:
https://film.avclub.com/the-dead-eyed-new-lion-king-painfully-illustrates-the-d-1836338813
The crux I think being that in the eyes of many the success of many AAA video games hinges on their specs, how close it looks or plays like "real life," like you've been entertainingly immersed into this convincing or captivating world, even when the game activity itself is relatively mundane (like sweeping or shaving). But how the new "Lion King" essentially underscores that the somewhat related field of computer animation poses a paradox, in that often the "better" it is and the closer it comes to real life the *less* successful it is. Not least because film already documents things that are "real" and the rigorous composition of perfectly rendered CG lions mostly proves fruitless, since the results mimic something we can already see in movies/TV/docs, etc (real lions) while losing the artistry and expressiveness of what something like the original "Lion King" had to offer, despite traditional pen-and-ink (or equivalent) animation being more "primitive."
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 12:09 (four years ago) link
That's not really what they're describing there, though - the CGI lions are good and convincing as real lions, but because of that, they're bad at musical singing.
― Andrew Farrell, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 12:15 (four years ago) link
The major point being made is “ultra-realism in a game where you are exerting control over/directly influencing the environment enhances the experience; that same ultra-realism in a passive experience that, by its definition, limits the vocabulary needed to generate emotional investment in the experience detracts from the experience.”
Odds are an all-CGI rendering of The Lion King Broadway Muiscal would have much more emotional impact because you would be rendering human faces capable of conveying the emotional beats of the story. As it is, it looks like Fisney put out a tech demo with less soul and heft than Avatar.
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Tuesday, 16 July 2019 12:30 (four years ago) link
IOW it isn’t ultra-realism as much as it is how they chose to use it
― brigadier pudding (DJP), Tuesday, 16 July 2019 12:32 (four years ago) link
ultra realism sucks in games too because you end up with responsive control being held hostage by character animations and the like. you have to find a balance
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 14:05 (four years ago) link
Ultrarealism also focuses attention on what is not ultrareal, like your weirdass interactions with other characters
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 14:16 (four years ago) link
I (and everyone) remain curious about Last of Us 2, because that tiny snippet they showed months ago sort of blew everybody's mind in the leaping over the uncanny valley sense. It wasn't so much that it looked "real," it's that they made something that looks "real" also seem relatively playable, per Dan's note about interactivity vs. passively watching something (including cut-scenes). There are other aspects of realism in games (and movies) that go beyond how things look, though. Like the illusion of gravity and the imposition of physics on what is in essence fancy digital drawings.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 21:43 (four years ago) link
i don't think games have reached the uncanny valley
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 21:49 (four years ago) link
No, room to grow! But there are aspects of that Last of Us 2 clip that are pretty uncanny nonetheless.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 22:52 (four years ago) link
rad (racer)! ZS alert here:
Experimenting with 'upscaling' old video games with @nvidia's #GauGAN pic.twitter.com/SleyareqFp— Jonathan Fly 👾 (@jonathanfly) June 28, 2019
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Thursday, 25 July 2019 18:11 (four years ago) link
wow that thread is amazing
― another no-holds-barred Tokey Wedge adventure for men (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 25 July 2019 18:25 (four years ago) link