FyreHaar: Thor trailer
FyreHaar: have you seen it
SonicRob: neeope
FyreHaar: http://www.pajiba.com/trailers/to-fight-the-horde-sing-and-cry-valhalla-i-am-coming-thor-trailer.php
FyreHaar: watch and discuss
SonicRob: wait wait wait
FyreHaar: ??
SonicRob: this is directed by who now?
Continue reading Trailer Trash – Thor Trailer and Avenger Chat
Sonic Rob: WAAAGHHHH!!!
FyreHaar: the comments are amazing
FyreHaar: 90% of them are “yay Ork in a pirate hat, yay!”
FyreHaar: and the others are all “DOWII sucks”
Sonic Rob: looks like a Freebooterz Kaptin
Sonic Rob: fucking SC2 nubs
Sonic Rob: fuck off
Sonic Rob: I’m sorry you can’t win a match without turtling up in a base
FyreHaar: they all complain that it’s too fast or that you have to get strategic points
Sonic Rob: DOW makes you get out there and fucking fight!
FyreHaar: exactly!!!
Sonic Rob: CnB was talking about playing SC2 last night
Sonic Rob: apparently a lot of people put together a single rush
Sonic Rob: if it doesn’t work, they sit there and wait to die
FyreHaar: damn
FyreHaar: this dude is talking shit about the story line of DOW II
FyreHaar: and how he has nothing in common with a space marine
FyreHaar: of course you don’t you stupid fucker
FyreHaar: jesus
Sonic Rob: wtf?
Sonic Rob: you wanna play a RTS where the units are all fat gamers?
Every review I’ve seen for Madden 11 mentions that “if you haven’t picked up Madden in a few years, this is the year to do it.” Honestly, the reviewers say that every year, like it’s the qualifier that makes the glacial pace of Madden’s evolution ok. You know what? I did pick up Madden last year. It was fine. In fact, I spent some time totally obsessed with it, as our fourth podcast demonstrated. When I want some computer football action, I throw the disc in and play my Niners franchise through a few more games and have a high old time.
I think I’m gonna pass.
-ssr
SonicRob: I really hope you enjoy the cabin, I always feel like one of the lost boys up there
FyreHaar: long weekends are the way to go
FyreHaar: there is a lake right?
SonicRob: there is
FyreHaar: for swimmin?
SonicRob: it should be survivably warm, yeah
FyreHaar: I have a wetsuit
SonicRob: it’s glacier runoff
FyreHaar: wet suit it is!
Irrational Games has released what amounts to a very full-featured cinematic trailer for the fifth game in their loosely-related series of Shock games:
Is it just me, or does this seem a bit… conservative? As always, no judgments are laid upon a mere trailer, but a lot of the thematic elements in this clip – the elitist exclusive society, the nigh-magical city hidden from the common world via fantastic technology, a hulking mechanical monster, the young girl in need of rescue, the haunting sensation we get from a dangerous place redolent of naiive American protoculture – seem terribly familiar. I’m willing to cop that these are themes that have been explored in pop literature for some time. Still, I would have been more excited to see the creative folks at Irrational pop out something that suggested a bit more reach outside of their comfort zone.
-ssr
FyreHaar: yo yo yo
SonicRob: sup sup sup
SonicRob: I can ride a motorcycle!
SonicRob: I feel like someone dropped one on me tho
FyreHaar: that was you
FyreHaar: if I remember correctly
SonicRob: oh yeah!
The Techpriest/Engineer is probably my favorite, although the HB Devastator Heavy is pretty cool.
To be honest, though, this video really just makes me want to go watch that Space Marine trailer again.
I was playing Modern Warfare’s singleplayer campaign last night (yes I fucking know), and was struck by the incongruity of the health regeneration in the game. It’s basically the same damage forgiveness system as Halo’s shield regeneration, right? If you take fire, you can either tough it out or duck into cover and rebuild your strength for another go. As a game mechanic it treats the player a little more kindly than simply giving her a static pool of life points that only renews or depletes in response to interactions like getting shot or stepping on a medical kit with her boot. Sure, you got shot, but you shook it off after a second; maybe it was just a graze that stunned you, or the adrenaline kicked in. These are rationalizations, really, for a strangely gamey system that softens the difficulty of the game a bit.
On the other hand – big stupid what if question incoming – the only reason that the player needs forgiveness is that taking too much damage results in a fail state. You die, get a pithy anti-war quote from some who ought to know, and restart in ludus res at one of the game’s generously-distributed checkpoints as though the death had never actually happened. The only way to end a mission is to keep soldiering through until you complete all of the objectives given to you.
How come?
FyreHaar: I don’t know man
FyreHaar: my energy just got sapped
SonicRob: I am tired
SonicRob: I don’t want to be here anymore
SonicRob: today
FyreHaar: ditto
FyreHaar: let’s make a pact
SonicRob: we must bring salvation back
SonicRob: where there is love
SonicRob: I’ll be there
FyreHaar: what song is that
SonicRob: “I’ll Be There”
FyreHaar: did you just wuote Michael Jackson at me?
FyreHaar: WTF man!
SonicRob: uh
FyreHaar: and why do you know that?
SonicRob: would it be better if I quoted Mariah Carey at you?
FyreHaar: no!
SonicRob: The Baker listens to Kiss-Fm! I can’t help it!
Sonic Rob: if seth rogen is not fat, is he still seth rogen?
Sonic Rob: it’s like a tree falling in the forest kinda thing
FyreHaar: Seth Rogen not fat is like Seth Rogen
FyreHaar: for the ladies
FyreHaar: like, we like him when he’s schlubby and charming, but with a little more muscle definition he definitely starts to move the mercury
FyreHaar: I like skinny Seth
FyreHaar: I don’t really have any knowledge of the pre-history of the GH
FyreHaar: and I have to say that preview seems to indicate a fun summer action movie with lots of the funny
FyreHaar: and a sweet car with guns
Sonic Rob: well, it’s Michele Gondry directing
FyreHaar: OOOhhhh!
FyreHaar: Gondry!
Sonic Rob: so I expect that the movie will suck fucking donkey balls until the third act
FyreHaar: It’s got Tom Wilkinson, who is good in everything
FyreHaar: he’s like the thinking man’s Harvey Keitel
Sonic Rob: how come he never lives past the halfway point of a film?
FyreHaar: better things to do
Sonic Rob: got another movie to be in
FyreHaar: “I’m due on the West End next week, hurry it up and write me out!”