General Discussion [ Page 60 ]

John Carmack's Quakecon 2013 Keynote

Every year John Carmack gives a Quakecon keynote and I tune in. This year it streamed live over Twitch.tv and as luck would have it I watched the majority of it over 3G on my Phone. In this keynote Carmack gives no details about Doom 4(he was asked and said he couldn't say anything) and spartan details about any iD game specifics but does talk about game tech and the industry, graphics technology, the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft and Armadillo Airspace.

Damsel in Distress: Part 3 - Tropes vs Women in VG

"This is the third installment in our three part mini-series exploring the Damsel in Distress trope in video games. In this episode we examine the rare Dude in Distress role reversal and then take a look at the use of "ironic sexism" in retro inspired indie and mobile games. We conclude with an investigation of some titles that attempt to subvert or deconstruct the traditional damsel narrative."

The next installment from the Anita Sarkeesian "Tropes vs Women in Video Games" series has dropped and you can check it out embedded above. Let me know what you think of it in the comments below!

Bethesda releasing Elder Scrolls Anthology

http://zmi-cdnstatic.s3.amazonaws.com/bethblog/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/tes_anthology_compilation-1024x729.jpg

On September 10, Bethesda will get $80 from me. That's the day the Elder Scrolls Anthology releases.

This collection has all the Elder Scrolls games, from Arena to Skyrim. Sure, they released the first two for free, and I already have 3, 4, and 5 in Steam, but *look at it!*

It comes with some maps for all the various regions you'll be traveling through as well, and the packaging is begging to be on my shelf.

I'm a fanboy, yeah. :)

http://www.bethblog.com/2013/08/01/the-complete-elder-scrolls-collection-comes-to-pc-this-september/

Humble Weekly Sale - 1C Company

https://d1wh43egtz3cgo.cloudfront.net/promotion_images/0508/3222/original/1C_games.jpg

"This week, pay what you want for King’s Bounty: The Legend, King’s Bounty: Armored Princess, Men of War, and Men of War: Red Tide. If you pay more than the average, you’ll also receive King’s Bounty: Crossworlds and Men of War: Assault Squad - Game of the Year Edition!" https://www.humblebundle.com/weekly

I've always wanted to pick up and play the King's Bounty games, and now it's at a can't beat price. Here's the review I read years ago prompting me to keep this on my radar. In his words "It’s also gloriously ridiculous and constantly inventive." I mean you battle with your belt to upgrade it... ... Read All

Heroes of Cosplay Season 1

Just heard about a new upcoming SyFy show called "The Heroes of Cosplay." Looks pretty interesting and I really want to check it out. Thing is, I cut the cable cord along time ago and just do the online video and Netflix. Hope this is available to Stream in some form.

Really hoping they give equal billing to Comic and Video Game Cosplayers!

What do you think, does this kind of thing look cool or meh?

The Humble Deep Silver Bundle

"Pay what you want and get the urban warfare open-world adventure Saints Row: The Third; the prequel open-world action-adventure game Saints Row 2; the swashbuckling fantasy action RPG Risen 2: Dark Waters; and the hack-and-slash RPG Sacred 2: Gold Edition. Pay over the average and receive the survival horror RPG Dead Island: Game of the Year Edition and Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package, which includes a bunch of DLC. And if you pay $25 or more, you’ll get the sequel to Dead Island, Dead Island: Riptide."

An interesting Bundle here including some pretty popular games. I have heard great things about Saint's Row the Third and the Dead Island series. This is also... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 07/31/2013 at 02:32am

I have a few of these, but it's a damn good price for everything. Dead Island is one of those games I started but never finished. Imagine kinda Left 4 Dead + Borderlands + Dead Rising. I think it would be more fun with a group, so if a few people pick this up, I smell an event!

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/31/2013 at 02:35am

Huh, good idea. Ill see what I can do.

scrypt Supporter wrote on 07/31/2013 at 02:56am

Risen 2 looked interesting, but that price for DI: Riptide is totally worth it. I'll pick this up, for sure. I've played Dead Island on Ps3, and picked it up again on Steam when it was cheap. My PC handles most games really well at the highest settings, but loading DI sends the fans into overdrive.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/31/2013 at 03:00am

That's good to know. I have a reasonably new PC and it handles most stuff. I wonder how it would handle Dead Island?

Oh well, plan on upgrading the video card whenever, I just hope the power supply can support a new one.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/31/2013 at 03:02am

Mine handled the first Dead Island with a mediocre video card, an AMD integrated card. I've since upgraded so it should be good. Though you might try to search that out and see if you can find some similar configs to see if people have any issues.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 08/01/2013 at 10:25pm

Picked this one up so I'd have Saint's Row 2 and The Third in Steam. Sadly, neither of them run under Wine, but I may be setting up a Windows 7 installation soon JUST so I can play some of these titles.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/02/2013 at 12:51am

Yeah, I still have windows kicking around for that reason entirely. I hope over the next few years Wine gets better and more games are released cross platform.

gmlawton wrote on 08/02/2013 at 01:38am

This is definitely a good deal. I've already logged 8 hours on Saints Row II in just a day.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/02/2013 at 02:16am

@gmlawton awesome. Have you played Saint's Row The Third yet? I nabbed that in the ol' THQ Bundle and have yet to play that one yet. Heard good things about it.

gmlawton wrote on 08/02/2013 at 02:45am

@jdodson No, I haven't touched it yet. I hadn't played either, so I figured I'd start with 2. I have heard really good things as well. I can't wait to dig in. Risen 2 looks good too, but I haven't really heard anything about it.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 08/02/2013 at 02:58am

Haven't played Risen 2. I did play Sacred 2 on PS3 and it was pretty good. Offers a Diablo-ish kind of experience that is pretty fun.

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 08/02/2013 at 04:45am

@jdodson @gmlawton Saint's Row: The Third is one of my top three games ever. It's sequel is one of the key reasons I want to beef up my PC and am even considering installing a legitimate copy of Windows to play it.

The gameplay is very similar but the humor is cranked up to 11 and the action is non-stop. Admittedly, I prefer SR2's approach to taking over the city and the costume variety (without DLC) was better in SR2.

(Aside: If ever anyone wants to play SR:3 on the PS3, give a shout. I paid for the game on that platform, too.

Tungsten wrote on 08/02/2013 at 04:57am

For the 2 hours or so I've played it so far, Dead island has been fun. It's actually a pretty decent action RPG wrapped in a cliched zombie FPS.

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The Firehose: Don't Starve, Skyrim, Rust & RoN

As shown in the vidoe above, YouTuber Lore creates some great fast fact videos for popular video games. In this episode she covers the new indie game, Don't Starve.

The folks that brought us Gary's Mod are working on a new game, Rust. Its an open world multi-player shooter similar to Stalker that contains Werewolves & Mutants.

http://garry.tv/2013/06/21/the-story-of-rust/

PC Gamer recently featured Rise of Nations in its "Reinstall" series. Rise of Nations has been installed on my PC for years and I still play it with some of my friends, I *heart* nukes.

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/07/14/reinstall-rise-of-nations/

Falskaar, a pretty awesome Skyrim mod was released.... Read All

beansmyname Supporter wrote on 07/30/2013 at 04:06pm

Methinks there's a link missing for that last one. ;)

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/30/2013 at 04:44pm

Its the embedded video. I moved the quote to the top and gave it a bit more context.

BR Supporter wrote on 07/30/2013 at 09:45pm

I saw a bit of gameplay on rust. It looks like something I will try out when it gets later in development. It looks kinda buggy right now which makes me want to wait until its a bit better before playing it. I don't want to get frustrated playing it and get the wrong impression.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/30/2013 at 10:29pm

Agreed, I think there is a point with early games where its a bit too early.

BR Supporter wrote on 07/30/2013 at 10:40pm

It looks like a really good concept though. I like that you can build a base wherever you want.

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Perler Kong is quite impressive

This is a show of great skill and patience. Every pixel in this Donkey Kong recreation is a perler bead. I don't imagine there are many positions of each character to create, but the stop-motion is near-perfect.

I don't think that's the best response to your NES not working though. And that's a classic game, don't just throw it around like that! :)

Steam Sale Leftover Loot Giveaway!

Hey all,

I grabbed a few extra cheap things in the Summer Getaway Sale, just to share them with you. Disappointed that you missed a deal? Look no further.

I put a thread for each of these in the Backchannel-- trying to sort through entries in a single post would have been a nightmare.

Left 4 Dead Pack: If you don't have these games yet, you need them. No matter the difficulty, this game always feels tense and keeps you on the edge of your seat.
http://cheerfulghost.com/Travis/posts/1492

Terraria: Honestly one of my favorite games. I've put over 180 hours into it according to Steam, and will be putting even more into it when the new update drops and we start up the... Read All

Neil Gaiman enters gaming with Wayward Manor

Neil Gaiman, lord and master of all he surveys, has entered the world of gaming with Wayward Manor. The acclaimed author of many books, TV episodes, movies, graphic novels, and more has a way with pulling the reader/viewer into his worlds, so hopefully his new game will be as awesome.

In Wayward Manor you control the (quite dead) previous inhabitant of the titular manor, who tries to scare away the current inhabitants Beetlejuice-style.

No gameplay footage is out yet, but you can pre-order and get more info at his site. Hopefully his awesome wife Amanda Palmer will provide some spooky works for the soundtrack.

Also, this is the first time I've ever heard him say his... Read All