satansmagichat

You know Patrick, I like your stories, this one included, but I can't help feel confused.

With the title, "How Making a Video Game About Your Life Can Get You Fired", I expect it to be a story an underdog fighting the man, but I don't really see that here. After all, he had the kind of job where releasing peoples' personal and private information is a serious infringement. I'm sure he changed the names and everything, but I'm sure he expected to get fired, so I don't see that as being the crux of the story.

In fact, most of the story deals with how much exposure this has gotten Gallant. So shouldn't the title be something like, "Public Outpour of Attention Phenomenal for Terminated Call Center Employee"? It's a great story, hopefully seeing this guy's career shift into something more creative. But to be honest (and I hope I'm not sounding too much like a dick), the story came out a little muddled in the end.

Anyway, keep up the great work!

As a side note, I'd rather have a trimmed version of the Bombcast that cuts out the parts where they talk about video games. I just like their personalities and chemistry.

@Andorski said:

@MildMolasses said:

That's a ridiculous amount of work for a fairly minor reason. If you don't want the game spoiled, either finish that game, or skip ahead in the podcast

A good compromise would be to timestamp the discussion, but GB seems to take issue with doing that.

I suppose this could work. Heck, a user could do this in the forums.

@fuzzybunny566 said:

wouldn't a list of games that you don't want spoiled on that particular podcast essentially spoil which games will be announced as nominees on said podcast?

I'm not worried about spoiling the awards so much as spoiling the games.

@MildMolasses said:

That's a ridiculous amount of work for a fairly minor reason. If you don't want the game spoiled, either finish that game, or skip ahead in the podcast

I can't buy games as soon as they come out and finish them immediately. I bought AC3 at a midnigh launch and have been to busy to finish it. I'm sure I'm not the only one too busy. Heck, Brad was complaining on the last podcast about them spoiling Mass Effect 3. And skipping ahead only works if you know when they'll stop talking about a game, which means you'd have to have the time stamp.

I know it's a lot of work, which I said up front. But it's a neat idea, maybe even something the community could collaborate on.

If I'm not going to play a game, like Black Ops or Halo 4, I still want to hear the guys talk. But it's also possible I'm overestimating how much people hate spoilers. If I'm alone on wanting a system like this, then never mind.

@c0l0nelp0c0rn1 said:

It's an mp3 file and I know of no way to cut out specific sections of a streaming mp3 file.

Make it a series of MP3s that are individually downloaded based on the user's choices. I'm pretty sure I've seen the same applied to video on... um... certain video sites.

I know I'm not the only one that doesn't want to miss the 10+ hours of GotY podcasts just because they spoil one or two games I'm still in the middle of.

I actually don't care about the change. But I want to say "Thank you!" to the OP because I didn't know that page existed before.

I'm sure this is something that takes more time than I could imagine, AND it'd be a lot of work for a feature that lasts once a year. But it'd be awesome.

For a high res image, click here.

Aside from the lack of Shop skills, let me know what you think!

Thanks for the links! The Parish article about Otaku was great (but then, he's a great writer, and I don't just mean "for a game journalist" or whatever.)

That horror movie list seems solid. Nice mix of light-hearted romps with real terror. I can't wait to hear your opinion on Dead heat, one of the best worst horror movies of the 80's. I'm actually still not sure if it intended to be as bad as it was, but then again, they hired Joe Piscopo, so, yeah.

Actually, now that I think about it, was that horror list designed to be movies you and your wife haven't seen, or is it a mix of have and haven't seen?

I understand the criticisms, but I liked Dragon Age 2 far more than Origins. Yes, there wasn't as much player choice, but the dialogue was just as well-written, the combat was improved for those of us who didn't play Origins as a turn-based game, and the story's narrowed focus allowed for a closer connection to the primary NPCs.

I think their biggest problem was calling it "Dragon Age 2". Because it's a numbered sequel, people expected it to be leaps and bounds ahead of the previous one and it wasn't (taking steps back, in some cases). If it had been named "Dragon Age: The Adventures of Hawk" and advertised as a side-story, I think people would have forgiven the recycled areas, the story's less epic scale, and the other details players nitpicked (albeit rightfully).

I didn't even realize they only disabled the game until the purchase was confirmed, which could take UP TO 72 hours. I feel like every game site on the web has been intentionally reporting this in a misleading way.

Can you maybe give some examples of what you're looking for? I'd argue that The Hunger Games is dark and anything by Roald Dahl is pretty twisted. So maybe give some things you like for comparison.

I'm currently reading Naked Lunch by Williams S Burroughs and Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. The former is extremely twisted in it's depiction of junkies. The second is just batshit crazy.

And I always recommend Slaughter-House Five or Cat's Cradle if you've never read them. Both very dark, very funny, yet really disturbing once you start thinking about them.