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Worth Reading: 08/31/12

While we're all being idiots at PAX, here's a truncated selection of games, stories, and other madness to occupy your weekend.

No Caption Provided

My initial thought was to put Worth Reading on hold this Friday, since the crew (sans Alex, sadly) will be wandering around PAX in a stupor. Since Worth Reading has been on and off since the beginning of July, so I’ve put together this truncated version.

Mostly, I just want to talk to people about The Walking Dead’s third episode, which is a...doozy. Without getting into spoiler territory, this feels like the equivalent of a character development episode in a TV show, where it simultaneously feels like nothing happened and everything happened at once. I'm still reeling from some of it.

(Please don't discuss/spoil episode three in the comments.)

I don’t know if you’re reading this at PAX or not, but if you are, stop doing that, and make sure to come up and say hi. The reason we don’t schedule to see very much at PAX is two-fold. One, it feels weird to be cutting in line of the patient folks who paid to be part of this very cool event. Two, the more time we can spend chatting with the users who make this site possible, and this job so great, is vital.

Hope to see you there!

Hey, You Should Play This

No Caption Provided

I didn’t intend for Worth Reading to have yet another horror game as a highlight, but when the creator of Slender drops his latest work, you can bet your ass I’ll be the first one to listen. Granted, Where Am I? isn’t a fully fledged follow-up to Slender, but Mark Hadley participated in the more recent Ludum Dare, and came out with...this. I’d agree with the general set of critiques I’ve seen elsewhere. Primarily, Where Am I? takes way too long to execute on its one, pretty excellent scare, but there’s an argument to be made the anxiety and frustration over the prolonged feed greatly into its execution. Stick with it, and if you’re like me, every minute or so will result in moving further and further back from the screen, knowing the “unexpected” scare is coming, and trying to distance yourself from it.

And Maybe Read This, Too

No Caption Provided

When companies like Valve, Epic Games and id Software are trumpeting the merits of virtual reality, maybe it’s time to check your preconceived notions of the technology at the door. Touch controls used to be garbage, too, and we all know how that’s turned out, whatever you think of the games built on it. Michael Abrash, the same programmer who co-authored Quake with John Carmack, is heading up a series of R&D projects at Valve, including the idea of wearable computing. Abrash shows the right amount of skepticism about VR 2.0’s prospects mixed with enough excitement to give someone like me pause. I mean, when games like Hawken are announcing support for devices like the Oculus Rift, it’s hard to not get a liiiiiitle bit geeky about the whole thing. Hey, I’m listening. Show me more.

My personal feeling is that – and this is far enough out that it’s something I’m not personally looking at – but my speculation is that there will be haptic devices. Once you have immersive VR that people are really using so that there’s a market for it, there will be experiments all over the place. My guess is that there’ll be some sort of form-fitting, shirt-like thing, and it’ll have some kind of percussive devices so it can tap on your chest and arms. That seems like an obvious and manageable thing. But there are so many ways that could go.

If You Click This, It Will Play

I Don’t Know About This Kickstarter Thing, But These Projects Seem Pretty Cool

Oh, And This Other Stuff

Patrick Klepek on Google+

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cacballs

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Edited By cacballs

Good read.

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TWiSTEDmerc

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Edited By TWiSTEDmerc

There's only ONE reason why I clicked on this thumbnail, and every nerd probably already knows it...   JUSTIFIED!!!

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LiquidPrince

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Edited By LiquidPrince

Dat ass?

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Ravenlight

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Edited By Ravenlight

I saw the crane game article because it was mentioned on the Idle Thumbs podcast. A great read.

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aacx97

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Edited By aacx97

Hmm, can we not have a big cartoon ass show up as the first thing on main page? It's a little awkward.

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scottygrayskull

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Edited By scottygrayskull

I didn't see that headset at PAX. All they had was 3D glasses, which I just can't use. Until they invent 3D tech that isn't actually painful for me, then no deal.

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Seroth

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Edited By Seroth

Never thought I'd see Illbleed on the front page of Giant Bomb. I highly suggest anyone interested in that game look up Supergreatfriend's Let's Play of it!

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Royce_McCutcheon

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Edited By Royce_McCutcheon

@Lydian_Sel said:

@jakob187 said:

That Soul Reaver thread just makes me want another Legacy of Kain game so goddamn bad.

Agreed!

Reading that post got me so excited that I just spent 3 hours watching youtube videos and perusing wiki entries about the franchise, I'm even considering digging out my copy of Soul Reaver 2.

Weren't there rumors of a Legacy of Kain reboot in the last few years?

Who'd develop a new entry to the series now? Who would you want to see take the reins?

I read a little while ago that Cory Barlog (worked on God of War and directed of God of War II) was recently hired by Crystal Dynamics to lead an as yet untitled project. The scuttlebutt is (or at least was, it might have been debunked) that it was a Legacy of Kain revival. Mere speculation of course, but sounds plausible.

That was around March-ish, I haven't heard anything since. But he was brought on to work on Tomb Raider also, so maybe once that's done we'll hear something.

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jasondesante

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Edited By jasondesante

i would assume everyone going to this site would also go to rockpapershotgun, because its got real games journalism, and is one of the best game sites on the internet.

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Spiritof

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Edited By Spiritof

And why am I now on eBay looking for a copy of Illbleed?

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PulledaBrad

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Edited By PulledaBrad

@ZmillA said:

It's not very respectful to put a NSFW image on the front page of a website that normally never has one.

Especially from someone that was being a "champion" of women in video games back 'round E3. Oh and concited much with the first pic there Patrick?

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ZmillA

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Edited By ZmillA

It's not very respectful to put a NSFW image on the front page of a website that normally never has one.

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Aquavelvaman

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Edited By Aquavelvaman

I'll be really happy when this story isn't the header for Giantbomb's front page...

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Eyz

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Edited By Eyz

ILLBLEED!!!

Awesome!! XD

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thebatmobile

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Edited By thebatmobile

Thanks for having that picture on the front page. My friend though I was gonna show him a porn site. Aaaawkward.

I quickly searched for Batman for the NES, just to prove it was a gaming site.

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PandaBear

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Edited By PandaBear

FUCK YOU KELPEK!!! That "Where am I?" game actually got a rise out of me ... in the middle of my office. Like you said, it's the length of the game that makes it work to the point where I didn't want to look at the final scene, but used my mouse to look away instead of my own head. Strange.

Also, I want to call bulltshit on that Two Brothers game on Kickstarter. If you're going to make a Game Boy style RPG work within that framework or don't. There's way too much detail on the screen. I'd respect them more if it was a slightly clunky but authentic Game Boy game than whatever that is. It may still be good, but that "I'm so into radical 8-bit" games vibe I get means it'll be more like a watered down modern RPG than a true old school game. My two cents anyway.

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bluefoxxy

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Edited By bluefoxxy

Where am I was pretty good. Doors changing, and made me feel uneasy and I got to one point where I just stared at the light for a good 3 minutes just so I could get my bearings.

After I stopped staring, I looked behind me and flipped my shit after being scared half to death by mister mask. The noises really amp the fear too.

Thanks for the suggestion duder. And a message to the users, dont be lazy/whiney if a link doesnt work. You are a big boy; figure it out.

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slowbird

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Edited By slowbird

Thanks to Patrick, I've now watched all three endings of Illbleed, including the insanely bizarre true ending. I'm going to go stick my head in the microwave now.

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SkankinPacman

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Edited By SkankinPacman

@the_OFFICIAL_jAPanese_teaBAG: You should. PAX is one of the best gaming cons I have ever been to.

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GnaTSoL

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Edited By GnaTSoL

First time I've clicked on a "Worth Reading" article. >_>

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the_OFFICIAL_jAPanese_teaBAG

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PAX is in Seattle right?  Next year I should drive down and say hi.  I dont think Ive ever been to anything games related in my life.  

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buzz_clik

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Edited By buzz_clik
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jaks

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Edited By jaks

oh Patrick, that blog is over my head. Can you please help explain it to us?

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jakob187

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Edited By jakob187

That Soul Reaver thread just makes me want another Legacy of Kain game so goddamn bad.

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leebmx

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Edited By leebmx

That stuff on Valve was the most fascinating thing you have put up on here recently, reading through their employee manual and then reading through the economics theory from Yanis Varoufakis blew my mind a little. Just makes me even more of a Valve fanboy really.

It also makes me realise why we haven't seen hide nor hair of HL3 yet. If no-one is going to make them do it and they all have some projects which they find more interesting we could be waiting a long, long time.....

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SubwayD

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Edited By SubwayD

Where Am I? suffers from the same problem as Slender. It's all good and creepy in it's build up and the jump scares work, but the actual thing you're meant to be afraid of is, well, not that scary.

While the same could be said of any horror game when you view their monsters out of context, at least with something like Amnesia the creatures can be legitimately unsettling and repulsive, adding to the fear of being caught by them.

Well, maybe people are frightened of black & white pacman ghosts? I dunno.

I hate to think what damage Mr.Hadley could do with more time and a budget. :(

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Needle

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Edited By Needle

I really want to play Mirror Wars. After a little bit of exploration, the site is pretty much locked down to prevent foreigners from getting in. That's too bad.

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matti00

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Edited By matti00

@Landon said:

Where Am I is pretty good. I was about to cut it off because I was about to have an anxiety attack, but I took out of headphones instead and stuck with it. Ending still made me jump. Good find Patrick.

I stuck with it with the headphones in, but I agree, I was on the verge of just quitting through most of it. Glad I stuck with it, it got me pretty damn good. My girlfriend burst out laughing at me.

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vinsanityv22

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Edited By vinsanityv22

All I learned from that Claw Machine article is that those machines are incredible, cheating dicks that I should never, EVER spend money on. Well, that, and that I can cheat at a "Bar Ber Cut" game by using a laser pointer to slice the strings through the glass, apparently. I'll keep an eye out for those. REVENGE WILL BE MINE, CRANE GAME OPERATORS! Bwahahahahahahaha!

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Whirblewind

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Edited By Whirblewind

@Xeirus said:

@Whirblewind said:

"Two, the more time we can spend chatting with the users who make this site possible, and this job so great, is vital."

Yeah, it really shows with how much you guys interact with your own forums.

Oh, wait.

Maybe you're just ignorant, but they actually do get on the forums.

Maybe it's hostile children like yourself who make them not want to as much...

I didn't say they didn't, I was quite clearly implying they don't do it enough.

Also, I think it's cute I'm a "hostile child" for engaging civil criticism.

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Xeirus

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Edited By Xeirus

@Whirblewind said:

"Two, the more time we can spend chatting with the users who make this site possible, and this job so great, is vital."

Yeah, it really shows with how much you guys interact with your own forums.

Oh, wait.

Maybe you're just ignorant, but they actually do get on the forums.

Maybe it's hostile children like yourself who make them not want to as much...

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Majkiboy

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Edited By Majkiboy

Pendelton Ward gif's cracked me up!

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Whirblewind

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Edited By Whirblewind

"Two, the more time we can spend chatting with the users who make this site possible, and this job so great, is vital."

Yeah, it really shows with how much you guys interact with your own forums.

Oh, wait.

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hollitz

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Edited By hollitz

Illbleed was so bitch hard. Still, I wish I hadn't traded in so many of my dreamcast games.

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dropabombonit

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Edited By dropabombonit

Thanks for getting the McPixel theme stuck in my head Tricky

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FoolishChaos

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Edited By FoolishChaos

My problem with Where am I was that after a few minutes my eyes started to strain. The rest of the game was kind of uncomfortable so when the scare came it was more of a relief than anything :/

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paulmako

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Edited By paulmako

Just played Where am I. The link in the article doesn't work but others have posted links that do.

Anyway, took around 5 minutes and was great. Worth sticking through. The ending made me swear and then go 'ahhh' and then reassure the person in the next room that I'm OK.

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emilknievel

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Edited By emilknievel

That Soul Reaver story was simply amazing. Without you digging these up, I would have never found out about it. Thank you, Patrick!

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Spiritof

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Edited By Spiritof

I still think that 5 Star Patrick should be wearing the hot dog suit.

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Akrid

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Edited By Akrid

@Animasta said:

do a QL throwback of illbleed, it's an amazingly awful game that is hilarious.

Endurance run.

Yeah, I said it.

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MormonWarrior

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Edited By MormonWarrior

I can't remember...are they going to broadcast the PAX panel or not?

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retrovirus

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Edited By retrovirus

Some good stuff this week, especially that Illbleed trailer.

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jimi

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Edited By jimi

Where am I? was interesting, I found myself building up to the big scare so much that when it actually hit it fell a little flat for me. It lasted too long.

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Krystal_Sackful

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Edited By Krystal_Sackful

Illbleed Game Inormer Super Replay,

It must happen.

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deactivated-6058f06e73ee8

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Oh man that big post on GAF cleared up some ancient mysteries from my youth about Soul Reaver, I remember seeing all those walled off areas and I'm sure there were some cheat codes to load up the extra reaver blades, drove my young mind crazy, now I can finally rest...

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shodan2020

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Edited By shodan2020

This reminds me to pick up a copy of Illbleed for my Dreamcast... on second thought I should have done that 8 years ago when I was in college and a used copy went for $5.

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Loafsmooch

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Edited By Loafsmooch

That shmup in the 3rd video is Mirror War. Any korean speakers who could let us know how to register on that site? I wanna play that so bad!

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Xealot42

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Edited By Xealot42

Planetary Annihilation sounds pretty awesome. Also, I spotted a Giant Bomb member t-shirt in update video #4.

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LordLOC

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Edited By LordLOC

Wow I don't know what game that 3rd one you linked in the story is Patrick, but god damn. A RPG/Schump hybrid with physics and explody bits!? Sign me up.