really good piece on PLATO gaming
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/10/want-to-see-gamings-past-and-future-dive-into-the-educational-world-of-plato/
― The Huldre-girls ringtones (rushomancy), Saturday, 29 October 2016 14:45 (seven years ago) link
i haven't actually read it yet but it makes me v happy to see thishttp://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2016/11/hillary-clinton-for-president.html
― Mordy, Friday, 4 November 2016 01:23 (seven years ago) link
I enjoyed this review of FF XV - actually got me interested in playing ithttp://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-xv-the-kotaku-review-1789400066
― Nhex, Tuesday, 29 November 2016 20:14 (seven years ago) link
is it a mmorpg or no? if no, i may have to try? i hate this answer tree
― the notes the loon doesn't play (ulysses), Tuesday, 29 November 2016 20:49 (seven years ago) link
it's a classic single player FF, though sounds like the fight system is pretty different from previous FFs (real time, can't control party members)
― Nhex, Tuesday, 29 November 2016 20:54 (seven years ago) link
real time fights you say? welp, there goes christmas.
― the notes the loon doesn't play (ulysses), Tuesday, 29 November 2016 21:07 (seven years ago) link
can't control party members? ok i'm like interested but i've been burnt so many times by FF as of late. i thought FF X was garbage
― Mordy, Tuesday, 29 November 2016 21:20 (seven years ago) link
I enjoyed the heck out of FF XII
― El Tomboto, Tuesday, 29 November 2016 21:39 (seven years ago) link
13 made me never want to play another.
but...
― Roberto Spiralli, Tuesday, 29 November 2016 21:51 (seven years ago) link
12 is awesome, 14 was even pretty fun for a MMO
13 is bad
― adam, Tuesday, 29 November 2016 21:54 (seven years ago) link
i have honestly forgotten what number was the last one i played
― the notes the loon doesn't play (ulysses), Tuesday, 29 November 2016 22:17 (seven years ago) link
I have a challopion belief that FF is the worst iteration of console RPGs
― brex yourself before you wrex yourself (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 29 November 2016 22:19 (seven years ago) link
thats barely a challop tbrr. hard to think of a worse one
― mint challop (Will M.), Tuesday, 29 November 2016 22:20 (seven years ago) link
jimmy maher at the digital antiquarian keeps getting better. right now he's doing a (three-part?) series on a world war i dogfighter, i guess as a prelude to his coverage of cinemaware's "wings" (1990). considered dropping the blog when he finished with the infocom games (his primary wheelhouse), but not as long as he keeps writing the way he has been.
http://www.filfre.net/
― xiphoid beetlebum (rushomancy), Tuesday, 29 November 2016 22:38 (seven years ago) link
Thanks Will I needed that
― brex yourself before you wrex yourself (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 29 November 2016 23:05 (seven years ago) link
the latest ones, or the series in general? confused by "iteration" there
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 29 November 2016 23:53 (seven years ago) link
i will stab anyone who has a bad word to say about IV-VI. the rest are pretty flawed, but i haven't gotten through a full one since VII
― Nhex, Tuesday, 29 November 2016 23:56 (seven years ago) link
i haven't played one since IX. i'm excited for the new one, though, and will take it on when i'm done with the witcher.
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 30 November 2016 00:00 (seven years ago) link
Karl you should play X. it is really good. the combat is amazing. i'm playing IX right now for the first time and while it's really good, it feels like one of the most linear of the series. there are long stretches where i am just watching stuff happen. the story is pretty cool though.
XV looks really cool and i've played the demos and it seems like a good mix of modern HD graphics and weird fantasy stuff (very cool random monster design from what I've seen) i would already have this if it was on Steam GET WITH IT SQUARE ENIX!
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 30 November 2016 00:36 (seven years ago) link
oh yeah, XIII was vastly underrated. the story was dumb and impenetrable but it looked amazing and the combat was so much fun. juggling enemies in the air was a blast. they should have just ditched the world map completely.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 30 November 2016 00:43 (seven years ago) link
the latest ones, or the series in general?
all of them!
― brex yourself before you wrex yourself (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 30 November 2016 06:36 (seven years ago) link
7 and 8 are ok ish.. X is fine.. everything since is garbage
― carthago delenda est (mayor jingleberries), Wednesday, 30 November 2016 18:50 (seven years ago) link
XII was fun!
― mint challop (Will M.), Wednesday, 30 November 2016 19:02 (seven years ago) link
did we ever make a thread about horrible pay-to-win games like Game of War and the ridiculous, horrible things they do to people's lives?
― a Warren Beatty film about Earth (El Tomboto), Sunday, 18 December 2016 02:31 (seven years ago) link
like this guy?
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-game-of-war-california-stolen-money-20161212-story.html
Ater stealing $4.8 million from his employers, Kevin Lee Co went a spending spree and bought everything from season tickets for the Sacramento Kings to plastic surgery.But his oddest expenditure was on the addictive smartphone game “Game of War.”According to federal prosecutors, Co spent a lion’s share of the embezzled funds – approximately $1 million – on the game.
But his oddest expenditure was on the addictive smartphone game “Game of War.”
According to federal prosecutors, Co spent a lion’s share of the embezzled funds – approximately $1 million – on the game.
― carthago delenda est (mayor jingleberries), Tuesday, 20 December 2016 01:14 (seven years ago) link
https://waypoint.vice.com/en_us/article/how-cheat-codes-vanished-from-video-games
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 21 December 2016 20:30 (seven years ago) link
That's a fun read, thank you!
Wonder if the WAD community and its descendants might also fit into the narrative. The novelty-play Goldeneye modifications discussed in the article were surely inspired by things like Barney Doom, where fans dove into the code and started reverse-engineering it. And then at a certain point you don't really need or want 'codes' because the novelty effect of being able to moonwalk or whatever is actually now an unlockable thing if you collect all the hidden skate tapes.
That also makes me think that the novelty just wears off, particularly when the average gamer is 16 rather than 10. But maybe most important at all is that games got less hard. Something like Contra virtually begs for some cheat, any cheat, for you to have a snowball's chance of seeing most of the levels. That's pretty much a dead model.
― mega pegasus for reindeer (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 22 December 2016 15:21 (seven years ago) link
no way dude I beat Contra before cheats shoulda gotten a badge or patch or something
― droit au butt (Euler), Thursday, 22 December 2016 15:27 (seven years ago) link
that badge is called "take a blurry Polaroid of the TV set and get Nintendo Power to print it"
― mega pegasus for reindeer (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 22 December 2016 15:28 (seven years ago) link
I remember when Activision games asked for that, on 2600. think maybe we did it once?
― droit au butt (Euler), Thursday, 22 December 2016 15:32 (seven years ago) link
same, it was sheer memorization
― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Thursday, 22 December 2016 17:30 (seven years ago) link
im in that Contra club.
i was super impressed with the cheat codes in GTA:SA. "make everyone a clown" "make everyone an Elvis impersonator" "cars have moon gravity" etc.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 22 December 2016 18:38 (seven years ago) link
http://kotaku.com/the-year-in-video-game-paintings-1790382713
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 27 December 2016 17:25 (seven years ago) link
not worth reading (apparently neither Orland nor his editors know which decade WWI belongs to; only one non-PS4/Windows/XB1 game makes the cut) but I thought this pattern was of interest. The parallel evolution of games and cinema end-of-the-year detritus?
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/12/ars-technicas-best-video-games-of-2016/
20. August 219. October 618. October 1317. March 1116. October 2115. June 2914. October 1013. November 2912. November 1711. October 2810. October 289. August 238. February 57. October 186. May 105. November 114. May 123. January 262. February 251. May 23
― The beaver is not the bad guy (El Tomboto), Tuesday, 27 December 2016 18:08 (seven years ago) link
think it's worse for video games because you need a ton of time to really examine them (especially certain genres like multiplayer shooters and RPGs) unlike films. video game reviews generally have the deadline rush problem
― Nhex, Wednesday, 28 December 2016 02:48 (seven years ago) link
http://www.vulture.com/2017/02/video-games-are-better-than-real-life.html
(as with most things on the internet, ignore the headline/URL)
― Karl Malone, Wednesday, 22 February 2017 21:54 (seven years ago) link
kind of an interesting article. tbh i'm not sure if i agree with the final assertion. the world IS shit, but is that why video games are great? um... no.
― Nhex, Thursday, 23 February 2017 06:25 (seven years ago) link
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/soviet-arcade-game-museum
― removed from the rain drops and drop tops of experience (ulysses), Wednesday, 1 March 2017 17:12 (seven years ago) link
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/musicofcastlevania/musicofcastlevania.htm
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 30 March 2017 21:25 (seven years ago) link
Castlevania is where the series starts and more or less defined what the follow two games will sound like. The heavily syncopated rhythm with the octave leaping bass in "Vampire Killer", the first level of the game, is present in nearly every level track of the game and is very common amongst these three games (as well as most Konami games of this era). Every song is also in a minor mode, which is a bit unique. While the levels have a distinct Konami esq. rock like drum accompaniment (indicative of their style and the era), there are still numerous baroque influences that dot the OST. The "Alberti Bass" figure that accompanies boss fights and the second phrase of the level five music are perhaps the biggest indicators of a Gothic/baroque influence. Even though "Alberti Bass" figures relate to classical technique, it's especially synonymous with older harpsichord and clavecin music so the intent is rather clear.
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 30 March 2017 21:28 (seven years ago) link
http://www.usgamer.net/articles/the-oral-history-of-oregon-trail
― Bobson Dugnutt (ulysses), Thursday, 20 April 2017 14:25 (seven years ago) link
Interesting analysis by Liz Ryerson on Duke Nukem & toxic masculinity, in Jacobin of all places:https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/04/duke-nukems-dystopian-fantasies/
― zchyrs, Thursday, 20 April 2017 21:41 (seven years ago) link
http://kotaku.com/how-three-kids-beat-the-odds-and-translated-final-fanta-1794628286
― Nhex, Thursday, 27 April 2017 07:45 (seven years ago) link
^^^ enjoyed this, thanks.
― ✓ (Doctor Casino), Friday, 28 April 2017 01:12 (seven years ago) link
Yah me too
― i believe that (s)he is sincere (forksclovetofu), Friday, 28 April 2017 01:42 (seven years ago) link
https://www.polygon.com/2017/5/16/15622366/valve-gabe-newell-sales-origin-destructive
I love Steam sales but yeah, this is pretty otm
― Nhex, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 16:23 (seven years ago) link
hard to argue with any of that, really
thx for posting
― Drive Your Lover Wild In Bed By Cosplaying As Jeff Lynne (bizarro gazzara), Wednesday, 17 May 2017 18:26 (seven years ago) link
wow that is a truly terrible article. the premise is that valve is a business and not our buddy, written by someone who apparently thought valve was their buddy and is now bitter about it. powerful.
― Roberto Spiralli, Wednesday, 17 May 2017 19:32 (seven years ago) link
If you were to ask the average PC gamer, they’d swear up and down that there’s no way they’d ever give their money to such a corporation. They’d not only be caught dead before helping a company like that come to power, they might even join the resistance to stop them.
lol are you serious
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 17 May 2017 20:23 (seven years ago) link
Valve didn’t always seem like the sort of corporation which thought of its customers as meaningless numbers in a colossal profit machine
so does this guy realize that Microsoft exists and has been doing this for not just games but all global software since MS-DOS
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Wednesday, 17 May 2017 20:27 (seven years ago) link