General Discussion

Is this the final design? I agree with a headphone jack addition. Since the Dualshock 4, it's annoying that all controllers don't come with it.

Nice! I did the same and made about $1.57. I'm considering it a nice extra discount on whatever my next game purchase is. :)

It seems that there are two things being discussed here: Games with poor story material (Far Cry 3, per the video), and games that tell their stories poorly (a majority of games). I do love it when games introduce story elements through discovery, but I don't think that Dark Souls is the first to do this (Ico, Portal, Bioshock?). Dark Souls uses diagetic elements to tell it's stories, but there is a balance of the mimetic, as well (cut-scenes, npc dialogue, allowing player notes, etc). Bioshock did this to a great degree, though it was heavier in the dialogue department. Both of these games, and others, lend themselves well to the silent protagonist, which, as we might remember, has also been a topic of critical debate. The point, I think, is to make the game you want to make. Asking whether games should even be trying to tell stories, seems ridiculous. Some people make games that have stories. If your game has a story, you should certainly try to tell it, in whichever way suits the play of the game. There are many ways to tell a story. I don't think that video games should have one specific way.

I really like Little Inferno. It has that same kind of Portal depth to it, where you have this fairly simple, somewhat comfortable, beginning that leads you into a deeper, unsettling mystery. They are both very linear games, but the timing used to give you, or allow you to find, certain pieces of information, grant the illusion of independent discovery.

Another story that I really like is Beyond Good & Evil. Most of it's story progression is told through cut-scenes (If I remember correctly. It's been a while), but there were areas that you could walk around and listen to conversations, or radio broadcasts, or observe objects that would give you a greater sense of the whole story. Plus, the musical score went a long way toward doing that, too.

It's good. Really good. I'll totally let you borrow it anytime you like, if you have the ability to play Gamecube games.

I've only made it as far as the path opening up to Mexico in RDR, which, I hear, is where it really gets good. It's a beautiful game, and a lot of fun to play. I doubt you'll be disappointed.

Very good news, indeed! What other 3D game engines support Linux now, besides Unity and Source? Any hope that Unreal will make that step? Frostbite?

My question kind of implies major engines, but it's good to know all the love that's out there :). Mostly thinking of the environments that would cause the biggest waves for change. For Linux to be a viable, lasting platform for games, it has to have majority support, natively, from the big players. I'd love to see that day come, and it feels like it's right around the corner.

I'm tiptoeing around my wall-of-shame. Just finished Darksiders and started Darksiders II. If you haven't played, the first is a mix of God of War and a 3D Zelda game. The second is the same but a much more spacious landscape, and deeper RPG elements. It's a sequel progression similar to Arkham Asylum vs Arkham City. I love the art style of Joe Mad in the Darksiders series; moving around within it is like playing a comic book. Highly recommended.

Also, a scattering of platformers, including Intrusion 2 and Capsized. Capsized is pretty, but with frustrating controls. Intrusion 2 seems like a ragdoll-physics Contra game, but, again, the controls can fight against you at times.

Minecraft! I realized recently that every time the game plays it's music (it doesn't always play), I fall deeply in love with the game again. I think the game is extremely relaxing, I love it!

LOL I agree with you Jon. In Minecraft, you make your own agenda. I have more to say about both Minecraft and Terraria, but I'm going to say that on my most recent Minecraft post.

I've been looking at Stick of Truth, as well. I think it would be a blast to play, especially since Matt and Trey have been really close to the project.

Adym, what are your thoughts on Dota2? I have it installed, but haven't tried it yet.

Adym, by 'completely brand new' do you mean that DOTA 2 is the only MOBA you've played? Just curious if you've given League of Legends a try.

I'm starting to like DOTA 2 more and more as I play, but it took a lot of getting used to, coming over from LoL, and I still trip over some of the basics, like tower aggro and denying. Taking advantage of the courier was another thing that I had to get over, especially without a default base-return option.

What is MOBA? I don't think I've heard of that one.

MOBA = Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, sometimes knows as ARTS (Action Real-Time Strategy), used to describe games like DoTA, LoL, HoN (Heroes of Newerth), SMITE, Awesomenauts, etc. The genre started with a mod for Starcraft called Aeon of Strife. It's like Starcraft, but with just hero fights.

We should totally start a DoTA 2 group!

Thanks for the clarification, Scrypt.

That's a good idea, too, Scrpyt. I saw Ragnarok Online and Ragnarok Online 2 on Steam. I used to play the first one long ago and miss it. It would be cool if we had a guild in there. I'm getting tired of Minecraft.

I gave DoTA 2 a try and passed the tutorial, which is more than I can say about Star Trek Online (the Borg are still kicking my ass and preventing me from finishing the tutorial). It looks interesting, I might try to play it more. I remember the days of playing Ragnarok Online with friends, that was probably the best MMORPG I've ever played (well, I've only played it and FFXI). I was delighted to see it on Steam. I thought I'd check out RO2, but the reviews for it are horrible. So, I've decided to give RO another try. It's been a long time and I still remember gripes I had with the game (people taking my loot from monsters), but I also remember being a bad ass knight, too. So....this is me, tired of Minecraft, looking for something else to play.

Here are some of my favorite NPC's (in no particular order):

-Mr. Saturn(s) (Earthbound): They offer you free room and board, advice, and free coffee breaks. What's not to love about these guys (and girls?)
-My Moogle (FFXI): He kept track of all my gear, tended my garden, cleaned up my house... Seriously, I need one of these in real life.

Those are the two that I thought of off the top of my head. I'm sure I'll come back and add some more when I can think about it little more. :)

Love this book, and highly recommend. Waves of nostalgia for children of the 80's, and the Willy Wonka/Matrix association is dead on. This book is pure tribute to what made that decade a great time to be a very nerdy kid ;).

Thanks for the mention and the link to the post. You guys have made some excellent points and covered many things that I agree with. When Aurora arrives, I'll have to change my user pic. So far I can't tell what color the lights are because in the picture you showed they look red, but on the website's gallery they look purple. For now, I should get a pic of Blue64, I have the blue lights on, except for the side fan as I've replaced it with one that doesn't light (the original and replacement have died and has been replaced).

You guys are running better PCs than I currently am, but I'm about to smoke you. I've been building for the last decade or more and have been satisfied, especially when a custom built PC ran right away and booted fine. I always do my research when thinking about building and upgrading. One think I enjoy of building my own is the ability to get what I want and being able to upgrade later (if I choose to). That said, I thought about upgrading Blue64, which by now would be relatively cheap, but the motherboard lacks some of today's standards (DDR3 for instance). When researching on a new build or pre-built PC, I managed to figure out the components I drooled over and really wanted (like the GTX 690). In the end it was more expensive to get all of the components I wanted as compared to all pre-built PCs I looked at. When it came to Alienware, they had what I wanted and at a cheaper price than purchasing all components separately. Since I could afford to, I bought the Aurora. It's one to drool over.

My current specs are listed in the post along with the Aurora. Right now my only complaint with Blue64 (my current custom built PC) is that I'd like a little more speed at least. I've seen little lag in Terraria at high quality, but otherwise that runs fine. Minecraft runs ok, but will look sweeter with the new PC. FTL runs with no apparent lag. I haven't done much PC gaming except for some Command & Conquer, Magic the Gathering, and Morrowind, for example. Although, I think I'd like to play Starcraft 2 and The Sims 3.

I like the cheap cost of great Steam games like the two I've mentioned and Portal (which was a free download, and the other two were given to me). I haven't really questioned a $60 because I got used to buying console games. I haven't bought a lot of them and am particular when it comes to games. That and my budget hasn't always allowed me to buy many games.

I think Steam is my first experience with digital games and ones that are apparently in the cloud. When I move to my new PC, I'll see how all that transfers. Luckily, I know how to back up Terraria.

As an IT guy, like Travis, I'm experienced with working on Dell, Gateway, and HP computers, such as troubleshooting and all the tech basics. I've seen lots of issues, but that's what my job has been as a tech guy.

I'm glad you mentioned controllers. I don't have a 360 controller, so I'm interested in a good PC controller. I suspect Logitech would be my best answer. I've had some of their products and like them, but I found myself liking a wired mouse and keyboard better because of battery usage.

I've been loving AMD and buying their processors, but I am abandoning them for the first time in over a decade. I'm not sure what got me hooked on Nvidia as opposed to Radeon brands, but I've been sticking with Nvidia. Some of the CPUs don't be as expensive as I remember, but some really good stuff is expensive. You can easily build a decent PC, suited to your purposes for it, cheaply. It's a fun thing to do and be able to do. Researching components is something I'm fond of doing, even though I'm not always up-to-date on what's out and what's new and best.

Right now, I'm happy with buying as it does actually seem to save some money. This will be a somewhat new experience for me as I've been running this build of my PC for about 7 years. This recent purchase will give me a decent PC that I can let my son use and still do what we'd want it to do and with an ability to be upgraded at some time.

Aurora is still "in production."

Should I just buy an XBox360 controller just for my PC? I'm not sure how much it costs, but I've heard it's great. It might be worth it. I tried getting my PS3 one to work, emulated as an Xbox360 controller, but it still didn't exactly work as I wanted with Morrowind. Maybe I need to change and set some of the controls more properly. I'd like to be able to use a controller for it the same way that I use my PS3 controller to play Skyrim on the PS3.

My Aurora arrived today (well technically yesterday since it's after midnight). I now have two working PCs in my room that are turned on and ready. There's another very old PC in the room that I tried to set up for my son, but it couldn't handle Minecraft. I can't wait to play Minecraft on this new one with full, ultimate settings! Anyway, I have a point with this comment. Now that I have both PCs up and running in my room, something that I think Jon said in this video is really sticking out to me...the noise level. I built the old PC and the case fans are new and replaced the old ones not long ago. I can tell you that this Aurora is so quiet!!!! I can hear the old PC's fans running. It's not really loud and kind of what you'd expect from a PC, but it is loud compared to this new PC.