Worth Reading: 09/08/2014

The main problem with GotG is how cheesy it is. The hero dancing in order to stop the villain from killing a planet by hitting it with a hammer is way too close to Spaceballs territory. As a Marvel movie it's vastly inferior to The Winter Solider.

@curufinwe: I tend to really dislike Marvel movies in general so my comment is completely biased. I hated Winter Soldier (kill me!).

To adress your point though, Guardians is self-aware. Captain America's concept itself (a WWII era super-soldier that lived frozen until present day to combat evil american diplomats) is completely bonkers and I'd argue it is as cheesy if not more than GotG. It takes itself way more seriously though. At the end of the day, all Marvel films are super cheesy and kind of childish when you think about them.

It probably sounds super harsh. Just remember that I really don't like Marvel as a whole and I hate those movies way more than they deserved ;)

@spicyrichter said:

"Witch" is non-gendered according to Wiccan folks and they would probably know since they call themselves "Witches." (Also Duder Witch will now be my fan-parody game of Bullet Witch.)

Regardless, gender is actually a big theme of the Fantastic Witch Collective. Apparently it will touch on this sort of discussion.

The "My Name is Ken" video....I am really happy for him. :')

Thoughts this article would be on here. Does a good job of putting all the events of the last few weeks into context.

Dear god I'm laughing my ass off at Breaking Madden. Thank you.

Holy shit, that Half Life VR demo you guys

I can't believe how awesome that looks

I mean, if Valve was waiting for some crazy new tech leap to justify making Half Life 3, I think they found it

Fuuuck

No offence meant to the large GB Wicca community but in the whole discussion about the definition and origin of the word Witch, that wiccans like to call themself witches doesnt really matter that much. According to the demonic book of truth that is "wiki" hear these truths..: The word witch derives from Middle Englishwicche, Old Englishwicce (/ˈwɪttʃe/) (feminine) "witch" and wicca (/ˈwɪttʃɑ/) (masculine) "wizard".^[1]

that would mean witch is female and wizard is the male counterpart. Also wicca didnt excist before 1900 unless you count the part that they are secretly demon servants that have ruled the earth for more than 100.000 years.

So to all the male giantbomb Wiccans if you really want to be old school and pure, from now on you have to call yourself a wizzard.

Also @conmulligan: I believe you now owe me a beer somehow. Make it a pint or one brewed by Belgium monks.

@patrickklepek Someone else may have recommended this, but for the Bit Bash footage, you should just add music and narrate over it. I think it will give it a cool vibe and feel :)

It was great to meet and talk to you at BitBash @patrickklepek I seriously think they would get the numbers if they would bring a PAX to Chicago. I know you can pull something together with the help of the other Chicagoans! I was also lucky enough to talk to Max for a bit before the documentary was supposed to show. A huge plus, I also shouted "Hey! DAVE LANG!" to him and his family. Loved playing Gang Beasts, Samurai Gunn, Nidhogg, and Killer Queen in a huge crowd. Would have been nice in a larger venue with more games and less lines.

I agree with the Carlson piece for the most part, "bigger" games haven't drawn me in as much as they used to, because most of the extra content is worthless. But ending with Tomb Raider as a good example balancing "big" feeling with good pacing lost me. I still don't see why that game got so much praise. It was basically just another Uncharted, and the "tomb raiding" was the boring, unnecessary fluff he complains about in other games.

The source you're using is translating "wicce" and "wicca" as witch and wizard because these days we associate the word "witch" with femininity and "wizard" with masculinity. The Modern English word "wizard" does not come from "wicca" but the word "wīs," meaning "wise." During the various Inquisitions/witch trials, the word witch was applied to both men and women, although "wizard" was also used on occasion. Seriously, has nobody here read The Crucible?

OK, that Ian Bogost tweet was pretty good.

Hey @patrickklepek, Extrasolar launched their Kickstarter for part 2 of the game quite recently. I played through part 1, it's a pretty neat browser/ARG thing. You remotely control a probe on a distant alien planet, it's rad, Drew would love it. Any chance you could give them a mention on the next Worth Reading?

You guys like spiders, right?

bahgawd, that half-life 2 demo. i want that.

@patrickklepek I did the same thing recording a couple months ago and had to toss all the footage from the 'once a year' convention. oh well there is always next year

Thanks for sharing this OP

Breaking Madden was legitimately hilarious. Thanks for letting me know about it.

Edit: This should have been your gif embedded in the story.

You may not want to take offense over the blockbuster article, Patrick, but I will.

I don't think he's outright wrong, but he seems to vehemently dislike big-budget productions that don't follow what seems to be his preferred type of narrative: a simple, straightforward action-hero flick. It feels like he can't imagine what people enjoy in the punishing challenge of a Souls game, or in the modular, explorative experience of an open-world Ubisoft title. As if he knows what he likes and just can't understand what people see in anything else.

Some of his individual criticisms seemed narrow-minded or just plain obtuse. Yes, entertaining things like the visual spectacle that was Avatar are fun, which is pretty well implied in the meaning of the word "entertainment", and I personally still really like Avatar despite fully understanding the Pocahontas comparison and think its a great movie. And the reason people keep watching the same things over and over in different forms is the same reason roller coasters are still exhilarating the millionth time you ride one (assuming you actually enjoy roller coasters, that is), or why Apple is drowning in a torrent of money even when they do nothing truly innovative for years on end (not since the iPad). Those just happen to be what tickles peoples' fancies enough to always want more of the same.

I will agree that its silly how most open-world Ubisoft titles copy/paste a lot of the same gameplay designs, or that many big-budget franchises are just the same game with different coats of paint, but to generalize nearly every blockbuster title as shameful out of narrow-mindedness, and then claim that Tomb Raider of all things is an example of a quality blockbuster game (a decent game but by no means perfect) is just really silly and really irked me to post three full paragraph on an internet forum.

In other news, my eyes are blood red from crying in laughter after reading the new Breaking Madden.

For someone who has never played Madden and doesn't know anything about football, I love Breaking Madden for some reason.

Nothing like coming home from grueling classes to sit back and read some choice articles.

Can't wait to see him at Blizzcon.

@nickhead:

Tomb Raider reminded me a lot of Assasin's Creed moreso than Uncharted...the "tombs" were the same as the "tombs" in AC 2....except for the ones in AC 2 were more complex.