On Social Singleplayer and Slow Gaming

I played through the original Dead Space last Fall. And by “last Fall”, I literally mean that I spent that entire season playing through the game. I snatched an hour every here and there, savoring the game in discrete chunks like Charlie with his yearly chocolate bar. Every day I’d come to work and the coworker who’d loaned me the game would ask if I’d played any Dead Space the night before. I frequently hadn’t, but on the days that I had we’d happily natter away for a few minutes about the tricky battle, amusing scare, or infuriating story point I’d encountered. I wrung every drop of entertainment out of that game in one long, winding playthrough, and a large aspect of that was due to the fact that it was my water cooler topic for months on end.

I’m sick at the moment, and with Dead Space 2 once again provided to me out of the largesse of my coworkers, I popped the game in yesterday and proceeded to crash through several hours of it without respite.

I’m not sure I could tell you what happened in more than about 15 minutes of it.

Continue reading On Social Singleplayer and Slow Gaming

Chat Box

Sonic Rob: I wish I had more money
Sonic Rob: I want to upgrade my PC
Sonic Rob: You can buy a 3 TB HDD now
FyreHaar: dude
FyreHaar: I have yet to actually install my 500GB HDD
FyreHaar: which I need to
Sonic Rob: mm
FyreHaar: but do you need 3TB?
Sonic Rob: no, not yet
Sonic Rob: but I could use an extra TB
Sonic Rob: I’m thinking of getting a 2 TB, they’re -$100 these days
Sonic Rob: I really like having all my games installed on my computer all the time
Sonic Rob: it feels decadent
Sonic Rob: turning on my PC and loading Steam is like parting the curtain on a harem
FyreHaar: ahhh
FyreHaar: you have to pick one for the night?
Sonic Rob: Yeah, I like to take my time and really pay some serious attention to the one I’m in the mood for

Chat Box – In Memoriam

FyreHaar: dude
FyreHaar: Liz Taylor
FyreHaar: pour one out yo
SonicRob: ha
FyreHaar: why ha?
FyreHaar: she’s dead
SonicRob: she lived higher on the hog than any woman in history since Catherine the Great
SonicRob: she doesn’t need anything poured out
FyreHaar: good point
SonicRob: I mean, good on her for grabbing life by the balls and all
SonicRob: but I can’t really relate
FyreHaar: she was the first great celebrity AIDS activist
SonicRob: so the first celebrity to show a glimmer of human decency on the topic?
FyreHaar: heh
SonicRob: sorry
SonicRob: I am apparently feisty today!
FyreHaar: dude
FyreHaar: do you have my PMS?
SonicRob: possible
SonicRob: my breasts feel tender
FyreHaar: lol

MEGACHAT: Battlestar Galactichat

Harken back with us to those halcyon days of yesteryear, when people were watching the Ronald D. Moore television epic BattleStar Galactica and then spending entire working days standing around the breakroom WTFing and OMGing the previous night’s episode. While you and I wrapped up our feelings for the show fucking years ago, Fyre doesn’t watch any television that isn’t on DVD (and almost none that comes from America on top of that) so she’s only just now gotten herself deeply enmeshed in the BSG reboot’s heady web of sexual politics, cosmic nigh-nihilism, and bare robot ass. Let’s join the wutfawmg already in progress…

FyreHaar: we went out to eat
FyreHaar: then went book shopping
FyreHaar: and watched BSF
Sonic Rob: BattlestarmindFuck
FyreHaar: BSG
It’s pretty much all spoilers after this

It’s All In How You Look At It

With my sister busily dying of the flu and/or pregnancy, here is a quick bit of preview video from PAX East of an upcoming game called Fez. It reminds a bit of echochrome crossed with a Zelda title. I like the idea of puzzles based on perspective changes as well as the fictional conceit of the power gained by a person who suddenly is able to move in an extra dimension relative to everyone else.

FEZ PAX EAST GAMEPLAY VIDEO from POLYTRON on Vimeo.

-ssr

Game Chat – Dawn of War II: Retribution

Our ongoing chat coverage of Dawn of War II: Retribution continues now that I’ve been playing for about 6 hours and have something to add to my sister’s earlier comments:

Sonic Rob: It’s funny, you know Brotherhood and Retribution are both refreshes of previous titles more than new games or even proper sequels
Sonic Rob: I’m really finding AssBro more compelling, tho
Fyrehaar: more compelling than?
Sonic Rob: than retribution
Fyrehaar: ahh
Fyrehaar: I am now very interested in the single player
Fyrehaar: each has the same missions with different plots
Fyrehaar: I want to see what it is for each of them
Sonic Rob: so far I’ve mostly been playing the marines campaign
Sonic Rob: by and large I don’t give a shit about these marines
Sonic Rob: it is really frustrating not being Poopus
Sonic Rob: Diomedes is a goddamned moron
Sonic Rob: and he is running the show
Sonic Rob: not me!
Sonic Rob: I felt like Poopus was my avatar, you know?
Sonic Rob: that’s me, in the game
Sonic Rob: Diomedes and I disagree on a lot
Sonic Rob: and he’s the one who gets to decide even tho I’m the one who paid the 40 bucks!

Continue reading Game Chat – Dawn of War II: Retribution

Chat Box

SonicRob: woot, my Retribution Collector’s Edition came
SonicRob: it’s a book
FyreHaar: nice!
SonicRob: wow, there is a giant god-damned poster in here
FyreHaar: there was supposed to be
SonicRob: it’s got all the herpes from the box fronts in one picture
SonicRob: LOL
SonicRob: er the heroes
SonicRob: off by one letter
FyreHaar: damn you autocorrect!
SonicRob: chat doesn’t have autocorrect
FyreHaar: ah ha ha ha ha!!!
SonicRob: that was all finger, yo
FyreHaar: LOL

Game Chat – DOW II: Retribution, First Impressions

DOW II: Retribution launched on March 1. As DOW II is the official game of fireandsonic.com I had it on day one. Once Sonic gets his spiffy collector’s edition in the mail we will have a more in depth review.

FyreHaar: started playing retribution last night

SonicRob: verdict?

FyreHaar: well,  it runs a bit slow but doesn’t crash

SonicRob: huh.  more demanding

FyreHaar: which is weird.

Continue reading Game Chat – DOW II: Retribution, First Impressions