General Discussion [ Page 91 ]

Recently BioWare released Mass Effect 3 Extended cut and to

Recently BioWare released Mass Effect 3 Extended cut and to celebrate released the soundtrack for free. I haven't played any of the Mass Effect's but I dig video game soundtracks so I picked it up. Its superb music and if you like that sort of thing I recommend you get it.

http://social.bioware.com/me3ecsoundtrack.php

Valve recently dropped the source film maker on folks and I

Valve recently dropped the source film maker on folks and I have been trolling teh intarnet swarm-fest for interesting videos created with it. The above video isn't Source Film Maker creation, but its an awesome mashup of Team Fortress 2 and The Dictator.

That said here are a couple videos I found interesting or amusing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXEnIfSrnFo [ Batman? ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1YrrAroK6bI [ Save as .dmx ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIZQpwCOCaQ&feature=player_embedded [ Shit just got Real ]

A funny video about video games from the bad guys

A funny video about video games from the bad guys perspective making the rounds on the intarwebs.

Just a quick note, folks-- The Steam Summer Sale is upon us!

Just a quick note, folks-- The Steam Summer Sale is upon us! Happy hunting!

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/12/2012 at 07:12pm

I know where I'll be shopping after work!

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/12/2012 at 07:24pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUo1PgKksgw&feature=player_embedded

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 07/12/2012 at 07:47pm

Video added :)

Also, a note for any deal hunters-- don't buy anything except daily deals until the last day. You never know when something that is cheap today is going to be even cheaper tomorrow as the daily deal.

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/12/2012 at 08:12pm

Hollee %$%$: http://store.steampowered.com/sub/15263/

How much lower could the Bethesda pack get? This is a crazy awesome deal. Totally getting it.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 07/12/2012 at 08:39pm

Yeah, I know. That's so freakin cool. I would imagine some games in the pack will show up on a cheaper daily deal, but the pack price probably won't change.

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/13/2012 at 12:54am

Right. I am limiting myself to one company pack and another game outside that. If I didn't it would be bad...

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 07/13/2012 at 08:09am

Love the song in the video! I remember singing it in a church like 15 years ago. Still rad.

And holy crap, Portal 2 for $4.99?

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/13/2012 at 02:15pm

It's a great deal!

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Awesome info-graphic on the History of PC gaming. Goes over

Awesome info-graphic on the History of PC gaming. Goes over the decades and has the box art for pivotal and popular PC games.

Funny as PC gaming started much earlier for me with BBS games and ZZT like DOS games. I also had a Commodore and was playing greats such as California Rasins, Gauntlet and Nosferatu long before Windows but this info-graphic doesn't show the stone age of PC gaming.

-
http://www.lostlevels.org/200308/200308-raisins.shtml (california rasins on commodore)
http://www.gamesdbase.com/game/commodore-64/gauntlet.aspx (gauntlet)
http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemon64.com/games/details.php%3FID%3D1811 (nosferatu)

OUYA: A new take on the console paragidm So you may have

http://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/058/945/fb27eb5927fb87f23c46dc35696c9d35_large.png?1341628142

OUYA: A new take on the console paragidm

So you may have already heard about OUYA. It's the new Kickstarter sensation. They put up the fund drive on Kickstarter yesterday, with a goal of $950,000. Within half a day, they had $1.5 million. As of now, they have $2.8 million. This makes it the most successful first day for a Kickstarter campaign yet.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console

If this goes off without a hitch, it could change the way we think about gaming. A fully open source console, running on Android, infinitely hackable, controlled by the users.

But there are many problems with this idea. Gamasutra has a piece on the... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/12/2012 at 12:32am

Its not a scam and its not founded by idiots. It fills a real need people have. That said when I heard about it my immediate response was "Hey awesome" then it turned into "Well, does that make sense for me?" Because it might not.

My first question is "What do people expect from something that plugs into a TV these days?" This device is meant to be an open console, which is awesome. +1 to rad as most console owners would choose that if they could. Thing is I am not really sure a game only device makes sense in my living room anymore.

My PS3 does the wifis, Netflix, BluRay, MP3s, DVDs ... oh right and games. It does games too. But its #1 primary use case? Netflix and BluRay/DVDs hands down. Not to say its not an excellent game system, it is, its just not how my wife and I primarally use it.

But this device is all about games. Cool, for sure, but what do people expect from a device they hook up to a TV these days? Id say the modern expectation is Netflix, media as well as games.

That all said, I imagine the device will some day support or maybe at day one, video and media. Thing is it doesn't talk about it so I didn't assume it did. That all said, a hackable system for $99? Awesome.

That said, there is another problem a bit more subtle I have. Where will I put it? I have a Wii, PS3 and Mac Mini under the TV. What do I replace? Seems lame to have 4 units under my TV. Plus the Mac can do whatever.

That said, this device might change the world and if does ill happily buy it. But a device that plays free to play Android games only at launch? Not interesting to me. After a year in the market with a ton of apps to run media and basically anything you could want? MUCH more tempting.

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The last weekend my wife and I watching the trailers before

The last weekend my wife and I watching the trailers before Pixars latest film Brave when we saw the trailer for "Wreck it Ralph." Wreck it Ralph is a Disney movie where the main character is a bad guy from an old coin-op video game. Looks like Disney licensed a few classic video game villans such as Bowser, Zangief, M. Bison, Dr. Robotnik and a Ghost from Pac-Man. I also thought I saw a nod at Diablo, but ill let you watch the trailer for yourself :)

Wreck it Ralph is voiced by the amazing John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman and looks fantastic. Not a lot of video game movies come out and less look as good as this do.

Interested in checking this out?

iPhone vs. Android-- My take on the long debate I have been

http://blog.domaintools.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/android-v-iphone.jpg

iPhone vs. Android-- My take on the long debate

I have been using an Android phone through work for a year now, and
when it came time to replace my personal phone last week I got an
iPhone. I've been digging in to both, and I wanted to share my
experiences.

First: I hate fanboy arguments. Android vs. iPhone is the new PC vs.
Mac, Gnome vs. KDE, Playstation vs. XBox, Mario vs. Sonic... I just
say, use what's right for you. There are always going to be differing
opinions-- I just don't understand the hatred for the other side.

At any rate, lets get down to business. I'm not going in-depth on any
of these, just hitting some high points. I hope to generate some
discussion where we... Read All

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/07/2012 at 12:39am

Cool post. My thoughts:

Multitasking: This isn't documented well, but basically if you exit an iPhone app the OS gives it about 10 minutes to do its thing and quit. If it doesn't quit on its own, the OS kills it to preserve your battery. IF its a service it can request CPU time when the OS give it some, but its every so often to save battery life. Certain kids of apps can be backgrounded and still run, like audio apps to access to sound API etc.

I wish Apple had better web accessibility. Google does win over Apple in this way. Apple is very iTunesy, which is fine but not amazing in all cases.

I agree with you on upgradability, with Apple you know you get a few major revision of iOS on your gear. I have the 4S and know that I have about 3 more iOS versions before they cut me off, maybe more. I really wish my Android kin could get something similar without modding!

I agree that gaming is a bit better on the iPhone due to publishers. I wish that wasn't the case, but I did get the Rage and Doom 3 app for iPhone and they were fun to play. More and more though the apps you cant play on Android are really in the minority. Ive never like device exclusivity though, publishers need to love Android and iOS equally :)

I sort of crack wise with my Android kin but think both devices are fine, I prefer iPhone and don't plan on moving to Android any time soon. I agree id like a few more choices with the iPhone but its so good its not a huge problem.

David_Woods wrote on 07/07/2012 at 03:05am

Pretty much the same as my experience as well, although my only iOS experience is with an iPod touch. Couple of notes:

Ice Cream Sandwich is a GREAT update. It has the multitasking switcher you're wanting. For older versions though, you can usually hold down the 'home' key to see most recent apps, which is more or less the same thing.

Another thing to consider is the Nexus series. While it feels like you can just compare Android and iOS, what you're really forced to do is compare Android and iOS-on-the-iPhone/iPod/iPad devices. There's no other way to use it, which is why Apple is so readily updatable. (that, and the fact that they pretty much have the carriers by the balls and can make any demand they want) It's true that Android devices are painful to update, if you get to at all, EXCEPT for the Google-sanctioned devices. Then it's more like the Apple experience. Not as nice, still, but much closer.

Another negative I would have to give Apple is the app ecosystem. There is WAY too many its-free-but-not-really freemium style applications. My daughter gets hooked on an app, only to be told that she has to pay to continue to play it. Or use real money to buy tokens for a game. It feels like a scam almost. I can't trust anything that says 'free' in the app store. Android app experience feels ... maybe 'cleaner' is the word. I like to browse Google Play for new apps, and go in expecting to find something fun for free. In the App Store, I don't touch it unless I'm looking for something specific because it feels dirty.

Travis Admin Post Author wrote on 07/07/2012 at 04:25am

Playing around with random games in Google Play, I've run into the same kind of free-but-not-really stuff. That's actually the one thing I do prefer about Apple's App Store-- if it says "Top in-app purchases" you know that you are getting led down the path of microtransactions, and you can check those out to see how crucial they are.

I do agree though that it feels quite scammy at times. There's a free Adobe photo editing product on the App store that looks fantastic until you realize that it's crippled until you buy at least $10 worth of add-ons.

jdodson Admin wrote on 07/07/2012 at 05:55pm

Freemium games are mostly annoying. Occasionally a good one comes by, like Tiny Tower, but yeah the majority are un-awesome.

I recently played a game called Tiny Tower. Its a fun puzzle game and only give you a certain amount of turns per day. I wanted to buy it but I had to do some kind of in app transaction for like $4 to unlock unlimited turns. Yeah no. They could have just released a demo version and I would have happily paid $2 or something for the full game. Something about in app transactions I really don't like. Feel like someday I won't be able to get my stuff back or something.

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Adam Ellis, a Portland blogger recently wrote about his

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7138/7502685008_f0cb10deec_o.jpg

Adam Ellis, a Portland blogger recently wrote about his early and some recent experiences with video games. Its a well written post about Final Fantasy 6, 7 Earthbound, Fallout 3 and Skyrim. Fun read and the art helps give it personality.

http://www.booksofadam.com/2012/07/i-want-to-play-game.html

As I was considering what I wanted to talk about for todays

As I was considering what I wanted to talk about for todays Retro Tuesday I decided to talk about one of my favorite video game movies. When I was a wee lad I dreamed of competing in a video game tournament*. To be crowned the best in all the lands on Nintendo would have been one of the coolest things to happen to me. Video game companies like Nintendo understood this and released a few video game TV shows and movies to capture this, one such movie was The Wizard.

The Wizard was filmed in 1989 and stars Fred Savage, Christian Slater, Beau Bridges, Luke Edwards and Jenny Lewis. A bit of movie trivia, Jenny Lewis who played the love interest of Fred Savage in the Wizard... Read All