Redhotchilimist

You're making me cry, Patrick. I appreciate you for writing that.

It's probably enough to just moderate more severely? Commenting on a website isn't a right, you should just be banned if you step over the line, and it has nothing to do with if you're a subscriber or not. It seems to work out pretty nicely for some sites(where you can comment without registering), but I guess a lot of it has to do with the way the site approaches its subject matter and the size. It's easier to police a blog with an update a day than one of the largest gaming websites. Rorie's got a lot on his plate.

http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=23543

http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=19709

A lot more contentious articles this week, huh? I read a number of them, and I'll read some more next week while you're gone. Your thoughts on Vinny ring true. I have no doubt that the man will make cool stuff. But it will be different, and I really loved what was already there, and I'm going to miss his interactions with everyone so much. You've done great on your own, Patrick, but you are primarily a really good news reporter(and... interview reporter??). Vinny has always been cool as a producer and a collaborator, and wishing no offense to Alex, he is no replacement for the combined Brad, Jeff and Drew in terms of "cool people to work together with on something". This would have happened anyway, it's because of family. But I have no idea why you guys felt the need to expand a site popular for the chemistry between a small crew into a franchise of small crews that may or may not also have that chemistry. It's like if Supergiant Games decided that what their focused little indie team with their own voice and style really needed was Greg Kasavin and JenZee leaving to start their own, even smaller studios that don't really work together but sort of call each other once in a while.

Thought Leigh Alexander's article would be about her passionate writing style. I dislike it when she describes single games and "emotional journeys" through them or whatever, but I appreciate it in articles like this about, you know, the feelings you get from playing games(or rather, procrastinating) in general. It was nice. I can certainly see a bit of myself in the way she plays games(or doesn't play games, rather).

The Bulletstorm article sounds like the Ghost Trick/that scifi game on kickstarter thing of solving your own murder. I'm glad the most resonant part of their ideas has lived on even if their game never got to see the light of day, it has proven to be a fun idea. They talk about how it would be the most amazing game ever, but so is every project that never got made. It's a shame the studio has had rotten luck, but like their publishers, I can't take them on their word when they say their game(that sounds like it would be spread very thin))would totally be amazing if I just gave it a shot.

Christian Nutt's article about "roguelikes" is a bit of a bummer to me. Yeah, it's good that gamers get new and exciting experiences every time they turn in, and that developers get to make more stuff more easily and cheaply. But the other side of that coin is that procedurally generated environments can make for way more boring games than a planned experience, where every environment looks the same because they are the same and excessive difficulty is eased by carrying some stuff over into your next life instead of proper balancing. Some roguelike(like-likes) are great, especially ones with a ton of content and good basic gameplay like Spelunky, and they make for good games to watch streams of. But I sorta hope it dies out as a "trend" soon. It's part of the reason I'm excited for Hyper Light Drifter(as far as indie games go), to capture a sense of adventure in the traditional sense rather than a sense of "Going as far as I can, then die and do it again and this time the dog will be in a different spot, just another run".

Last week with John Oliver's take on Tomodachi Life was super funny! Was really surprised by the effort they put into it, did not expect 3D animation.

Kris Ligman finding a representative (in her headcanon, mind) in Phoenix Wright is good for her, I suppose. It's cool to find a character that mirrors you. To my mind, there are a lot of characters who care about others without having sexual relations to someone, especially in stuff aimed at families(One of her criteria was "not aimed at children", but what's Phoenix Wright then, rated M for Mature?). I have no idea about her question, though, how to represent an asexual romance in a game. But it sounds like it would be the most unobtrusive romance subplot ever.

Adam Sessler's article was a great read. I know next to nothing of the man. From my impression, he was some guy at Gamestop with a huge head that Jeff talked with about Bioshock Infinite on camera that one time. I never knew he had such a history, and I'm sad he had such depressing last years. Although when he describes working as not being able to stand any aspect of his job aside from playing the games, I'm glad that he stopped.

The Far Cry 4 cover stuff just reminds me of this article by Shamus Young(about this video by Errant Signal) http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=22737

It talks about how people don't seem to get the point of discussing things like how the game mechanics are in conflict with a game's themes, how they try to reduce it to a "Is this game good or bad?" rather than an interesting discussion for its own sake. Paraphrasing, "it doesn't mean that the developers were racist or it's a bad game, it's just where the most interesting things to talk about are". Personally? I do not think these things are very interesting, but I do feel like people try to make it a "good or bad, is this racist" thing whether they have the impression that it is or not. It does not make for an interesting discussion, it makes for finger pointing("This image is racist!" "You must be a racist for thinking this image is racist, that man isn't white." "This image is clearly homophobic." "Anyone in a pink suit has to be gay now? What a stereotypical view you have of homosexuals."), and I'm never happy when the number of comments on Worth Reading reaches triple digits because people are calling one another out for being sexist or racist or whatever the most divisive topic is about that week.

I'm very happy for Giant Bomb NY and feel sorry for Giant Bomb SF. Finding someone to fill Vinny's shoes is an incredibly tall order, and I'll miss him terribly on the bombcast, let's plays, quick looks and shows. No possibility of another VJ ER! That's the saddest part to me, I really loved those.

Good luck with NY, Vinny! What's best for your family is the best option, and I hope you can really liven up the Giant Bomb NY offices(I presume you will be staying in Alex' apartment).

Gita Jackson's article was not at all about what I thought it would be when described as how Watch Dogs' Chicago represents the real thing, and it was an interesting read. It sounds like it would be a more unique game if it took those things more into account. I guess it all comes down to marketers talking up their game as much as they can, though, rather than developers failing to do their research. "Meaningful choices with long-term consequences" and all that.

When it comes to avoiding commercials for stuff I'm excited for, it depends. It's easy to avoid trailers and press releases. I have a much harder time waiting to see Brad, Matt and Vinny play a couple of hours of Dark Souls a week before I have the game in my hands.

I don't really care about the marketing aspect of it, what people imagined looking at it was to perform an action and that action taking place in the game, and that seems to have never come true to a satisfying degree. If Happy Action theatre and Dance Central managed to cover that up, good for them, but those games were "do something for a few minutes and we'll hide how stupid you look/we'll make it more explicit". That's not fun for me save for messing around for a few hours/looking at you guys mess around for a few hours. Buttons are more useful for every genre, and no new ones cropped up. So for me, it's hard to feel sad about the Kinect, or any motion controllers. At least in the way you intended, Patrick.

I thought the people who want these kinds of games don't really get many games. A lot of people bought a Wii, but that thing was collecting dust ages before the Wii U arrived. I don't think those people are going to buy a ton of Kinect games, when they're just an aside you do with a group of friends you have over maybe once or twice instead of watching a movie or playing singstar or whatever. I guess I don't have any statistics to back this up, but I don't think Nintendo would make their new controller this much closer to a classic controller if the wii was still doing great for them and all their new customers kept buying games for it.

This guy looks less subtle than Baby Panay. I hope they're going for something really silly. Himalaya is a relatively rare setting, so I'm wondering what that will be like. Have no idea what kind of wildlife they have there either.

That Final Fantasy article was a surprise. Guess it's about time for some introspection, I feel like people have been complaining about the direction of Final Fantasy since Final Fantasy 7, it got even worse with 13 and Bravely Default's success seems to have come as a huge surprise to them. Not familiar enough with the series to have any opinion on their change myself. It's odd to make an article from the perspective of internet opinion, though, instead of the sales numbers and review scores. That and the Mario 3D World article were the ones I likes the most this week, it's always interesting to see developers talk about their own games in a non-PR fashion, although I wonder if there's an Iwata Asks out there with identical content and more "(Laughs)".

The Demon's Souls article was also nice. It's got elements of the "my emotional journey through this game" kind of article that I don't tend to like, but it's fine because it's all about the intended themes and backed up by the mechanics and story that's actually told. And it makes it very obvious how hollow the Dark Souls's series use of the mechanics established in Demon's Souls are. I wonder if Project Beast will be the same.

Samantha Allen was the least pleasant. The Miiquality thing was very measured and practical and aware of both the events with the bugs and patching of the original game and that nothing would change until an eventual sequel, judging from the topic on this site's forum. Her article was the opposite, if not nearly as aggressive as the comments this week would have me believe.

I would like to nominate Critical Intel for worth readings in the future, he's generally got something interesting, especially this week.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/columns/criticalintel/11422-Activision-Documentaries-Are-Not-Ads-An-Open-Letter

I sure hope not, the man must be twice her age.

I was very excited about this Nintendo Direct. Wasn't all good news, I don't think I can ever get used to Yoshis walking like men(though they have been doing it on and off since Yoshi's Story), Samus' Other M design is still pretty poor and that ranking system does not seem very helpful. The Final Destination/For glory mode is a nice thought, and I'm happy with the way they implemented it with FD versions of other stages to wary up the graphics and music, but it's not like tournament players only play on flat stages. In the end, I'm still happy with the showing. I think ZSS's and Sheik's new abilites look like a real improvement, and Little Mac looks super cool, while Wii Fit Trainer and Villager look super funny.

I killed Creighton because the cartographer told me about the serial killer from Mirrah, but I instantly regretted it. The helmet you get after killing him says that "it looks like an imitation". He was probably not the one the cartographer was thinking about. If I play the game again, I'm definitely taking out Pate.
Still, really impressed by this questline. Mixing the Patches character and the NPC killer-like character and making you choose between too very untrustworthy characters(that still both seem nicer than their counterparts) made it hard to make a decision.