okoctothorpe

This is downright unfair. The man just got married. Thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Ryan Davis and the Bomb Squad gave me something to laugh at during real dark times. I'm going to miss that man-child giggle of his. Pourin' one out for you tonight, duder.

Poor Ernesto. It sounds like you cared about him a lot. May the pain pass quickly.

There's gotta be a mod out there for you to recolor the wolves into red "Mysterious Foxes". I'm guessing the heart kerchief would be a no-go though.

@GunslingerPanda said:

I want to give you a hug. I think Jeff was more referring to the corporate bigwigs at Zynga who are just looking to rake in the cash, not the guys on the floor working on the game.

Agreed. You already know how lucky you are to be working in the games industry. No matter what an individual's job is, they should have pride in their work.

I personally don't play Farmville, but it's not made for me. Zynga designed a product for a perceived hole in the market and they filled it. Some might argue they filled it TOO well due to some people's obsessive playing, but that ultimately is the responsibility of the individual, not the company. J.Blow's critique makes it seem as though Farmville is the only game to try this model of chaining its players to the experience, but we've seen this a few times. (Remember Tamagatchis, anyone?) A lot of MMOs do this too. If you can't handle playing a game, then don't play it.

@uniform: I'm right there with you. In a way, NOT hitting something directly in front of you is a skill in and of itself :P

@GloriousDinosaur: me too! Nothing makes me happier than when a child tells you one of those stories that keeps on with "....and then......and then...." that lasts like, five minutes!

Hugging kitties (or my boyfriend) makes me happy too.

Nah, human waste is so passe these days. If she truly is a hot and sexy girl, she's probably got a desk FULL of your co-workers' shits. Stand apart from the crowd: Lick all her office supplies, casually, in front of her. She won't be able to resist!

Confession time: I am bad at video games. I am the person who plays on the easiest setting and still has a fucking impossible time getting past the second-level boss. I get excited any time anyone says a game's combat is "too easy" because that means I can make it through most of it. To be fair, I've only really been playing games for the last four years, so maybe it's okay that I'm on par with an eight-year old. Wait, scratch that. I'm pretty sure my seven-year old nephew can make it past the hard parts on "Ratchet and Clank".

Maybe I'm not cut out for gaming as a hobby, but I keep coming back to it because I like the format. I enjoy the interactive storytelling. But there is nothing more frustrating than getting stuck in the first 20% of a game and having to replay the same unskippable cutscene over and over and over. (I'm sure that frustration is universal, regardless of someone's skill.) I can tell I'm getting better at games in general - I don't spend nearly as much time looking at the sky or the ground as I used to. It kind of makes me wonder - is there anyone else out there who is bad at the hobby they really enjoy?

As an urban schoolteacher, I have had moments of what some might call "adventure," but I've found that those moments are a lot less romantic when you're living them. Being on lockdown and hearing shots fired is fun...when you're in a game and you have the agency to do something. It becomes a lot less fun when faced with 30 antsy 13 year olds who have to sit on the floor for half an hour and wait for the gangbangers to pass.

To me, the best part of adventures is the story (the prince goes on a quest to find Courage and finds it was inside of him all along, etc.). With the right mindset, those moments you get to live every day. (CUE CHEESY AS HELL MUSIC!)

@bonorbitz said:

I'm not surprised. There was zero marketing for both games and it doesn't help that Mass Effect 3 was right around the corner.

This is my hypothesis for Syndiate selling poorly. A lesser-known title with similar themes, launching within a month of a MAJOR series, retailing at the same price sounds like a recipe for underselling. But if they had waited until the next quiet time in gaming, they'd have nothing on their quarterly statements. Syndicate got the wrong end of the stick for silly reasons.