We chat about videogames and videogame accessories.

It's not called LTTP2 they haven't announced a title

From what we've seen from the video, "LTTP2" seems to be trying to push the 3D on the 3DS using a lot of puzzles that emphasize height. Since this appears in a top-down perspective, that means we're going to have depth, which should be interesting.

I'm a little more worried about the "becoming a drawing" aspect of the game. On paper it looks like an interesting way to mess with dimensions, which fits with the whole 3D thing, but right now it kinda looks really undercooked and only seems to be used for "find the hidden area" type thing.

Oh okay, that's why I found it hard to believe. It didn't sound like something Nintendo would do.

Gameplay

Thoughts:
Does link look awfully large or is it just me? Can't tell if he takes up a lot of the screen or just if it's a big screen.
I hope laughing button springs aren't the method of swapping levels for the whole game.
Using items seems to drain from your rapidly recharging magic meter, rather than requiring actual arrows. Hmm.

Heh, my bad. LttP2 seemed like the easiest way to abbreviate the game while still giving an idea of which Zelda I was talking about, but it caused more of a ruckus than I meant it to. I guess Zelda 3DS would have worked just as well, considering how long ago Ocarina 3D came out.

What ruckus man, rambling is commonplace here.

Is it worth grabbing a WiiU yet?

I'm not really a fan of Monster Hunter, and Pikmin/Bayonetta/Earthbound are eons in the future.

Nintendoland looks surprisingly good but I don't own a Wii U

Okay finally got to see the Zelda video, it actually looks kind of cool but who knows if they'll develop it to it's full potential. It's a shame it looks like the 3d version of Alttp's 3rd dungeon, i hope the rest of the game isn't just Alttp's map in 3d. Also, those arrows look impossible to aim.

what I will say is that regardless of what other problems the game may have currently, thank the gods they're letting us use buttons to attack

I was getting really tired of touch screen controls

Is it worth grabbing a WiiU yet?

I'm not really a fan of Monster Hunter, and Pikmin/Bayonetta/Earthbound are eons in the future.

Ehhh.

Like Jac said, Nintendoland is a good game but if you ask me that's all it really has going for it? The singleplayer is both fun and challenging and offers lots of opportunity to hone your skill via trophy levels, Extra stages, and course Mastery requirements. The multiplayer games are easy for anyone to learn and can also be super addictive if you have people to play it with: The more, the merrier. There's some less than stellar games, like Yoshi's Fruit Cart and the Captain Falcon one, which is really slow for a Captain Falcon thing, but it's still really solid overall, for what I originally expected to be Some Wii Sports Thing With Them Nintendos.

NSMBU plays like every other "New" Mario sidescroller despite what I've read about it before buying. If you've played any of the other games in the series it's probably wiser to forgo the handful memorable stages it offers in the water and Bowser worlds. At least until there's a price drop.

A few Tumblr friends seemed to enjoy the downloadable game The Cave, though I haven't played it myself. I'm strapped for opinions on any other games too, because the two above pretty much make up the collection of first party titles so far and I haven't seen anything else that's already released to pique my interest.

Generally speaking, my Wii U is collecting dust like my 3DS did in its early stages, so it's probably wiser to wait a while longer. At the very least until Game and Wario and/or The Wonderful 101, which have both left a good impression on me from what's been shown.

I never said it was Wii U exclusive, but that is a good point to note. Since you can get The Cave elsewhere that's one more reason to wait on getting a Wii U.

Thumbs down on The Cave.

I just got a new projector in my classroom, which has an hdmi cable

I'm thinking on one of our down days for testing, I can give an impromptu lecture on the physics behind videogames, and let the kids in my class play WiiU 5 at a time.

My friend bought a WiiU. Neat thing with a lot of potential, basically no games on it whatsoever. Wait a year or so.

By the way, I finished Bioshock Infinite. Haven't played a game I really enjoyed with so many terrible flaws since L.A. Noire. Minus Infinite's awful story.

Minus Infinite's awful story.

Gonna have to disagree with you there. If you read it like a straight time/dimension traveling story, then yes, there are a lot of inconsistencies and plot holes peppered throughout. But I took a step back from all of this and realized that despite all of the racism and extremism and propaganda and yelling and meta-narrative, this game was about none of those things.

It was the story of Booker and the consequences of his inability to take responsibility for his actions.

-BTW Spoilers ahoy for those who have yet to play it-

SpoilerShow

From the beginning, Booker has shown he hasn't taken any responsibility for his actions at Wounded Knee, and they were pretty damn grisly. If he decided to baptize, he would recast his sins as heroism and dictatorily enforce his way as the right way. If he decided to not baptize, he became a Pinkerton thug and an a gamber, racking up a debt so bad that he was willing to sell his daughter.

In Columbia, Booker is shown to be extremely destructive. As Comstock, he enforces a white power society through the blood of immigrants. As Booker, he goes through murdering people in very violent ways (buzzsaw decapitation, anyone?). Even though we play the game from Booker's perspective, we have an odd disconnect from his actions and the fact that he is supposed to be the protagonist. If Booker is truly the good guy, then why are we treated to some of the most excessively violent kills in gaming?

We see several times throughout the story where Booker refuses to take part in the surroundings. We see acts of extreme and hate, and as the player, we feel inclined to help them, but Booker doesn't even try. Even in the timeline where he joins the Vox, he only does so for his own motivations. And even in the end, it incited a furious rage in the Vox that leads to them practically bringing chaos into Columbia. And throughout all of this, Booker is still trying to escape from the things he caused just so he can finish his job, clear his debts, and probably drink the rest of his life away.

But the biggest casualty in all of this is Booker's daughter, Anna DeWitt, or as we know her, Elizabeth Comstock. Even before we learn about Anna, Booker has brought Elizabeth through some crazy shit. She has been forcibly locked up in the tower for nearly her entire life. Later, Booker kills a whole room of people in front of her. Booker (tries) to trick her and take her to New York to clear his own debts instead of trying to save her. But the worst of it is when he witnesses Elizabeth kill Daisy Fitzroy. Booker's past actions have literally taken away Elizabeth's happiness, as she is forced to mature in a world of violence and hate.

At the end, even after Booker kills Comstock, he doesn't even feel catharsis. He realizes that somehow, it still isn't over. It is when we are taken through a tour of Booker's past that Booker sees that everything has originated from him: the hatred of Columbia, the deaths of countless soldiers and peoples, the eventual attack on the world below. He returns to the baptism pool, where he now has three choices.

Run away from the results of this past actions.

Deny the evil of his past actions.

Stay and take responsibility, ending in his death.

Of course, this is what I took away from it, but yeah, I pretty much enjoyed Infinite.

I have many problems with Infinite's storyline but other people have written about it better than I can

SPOILERS:

https://starburp.tumblr.com/post/4688248...when-white
https://designislaw.tumblr.com/post/4731...anning-all
https://designislaw.tumblr.com/post/4830...-follow-up

There is no message about racism in Bioshock, it simply uses violent, deeply unpleasant events that happen to real people even now as dressing to paint someone a Villain, then has you fight the rebel movement yourself anyway for no real reason other than "it's a Bioshock game, we're not allowing the player to be friends with any of the factions"
There is no particular impact to personally disposing of the rebel leader and it has basically no effect on the plot either. That entire segment could have been removed from the game and in fact probably would have made more sense if it had been, I am baffled as to why it was even there except so that the game can preach some bullshit "Always Stay in the Middle of Conflicts" philosophy, which is both nonsense and untrue
It's pretty horrible

I have many problems with Infinite's storyline but other people have written about it better than I can
https://designislaw.tumblr.com/post/4731...anning-all
https://designislaw.tumblr.com/post/4830...-follow-up

The problem I have with this article is that the racism portrayed in Infinite is not solely about whites against blacks. It more reflects the sentiments of anti-immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, where US citizens practically hated everyone that came to their country from overseas.

SpoilerShow

It's not just the blacks that Columbia hates. Nor is it just the blacks that make up the ranks of the Vox Populi.

Also, the idea that the Vox Rebellion has no parallel with the French or Communist revolutions because they "consisted primarily of white people who weren’t slaves" is very misinformed. The workers in Finkton are not slaves. They were considered to be lesser people who were paid wages. This is why we don't see parallels to the Underground Railroad or escape attempts. The people in Finkton very much want the amenities that Columbia has. That is why they are breaking their backs in Finkton in the first place. They came by choice, and they realized how wrong their choice was. But, they still want Columbia, and the way they see to do it is to incite rebellion.

He makes a comparison to the idea that black people rebellions are portrayed as scary and violent. The idea isn't that black people revolts are scary and violent. It's that anyone who believes "my way or the highway" and gets enough power to enforce that ideal will have the tendency to lean towards insane. Booker even makes the comment about how similar Comstock and Daisy were in their ideals.

Hey somebody throw me an invite into the ET steam group
I'm here: https://steamcommunity.com/id/Gnauga/

my video games arrived

I looked up Crusaders of Might and Magic as the opening cinematic played. 60% on gamerankings. Turns out, a mediocre game from the PS1 era doesn't hold up so well

also apparently a selling point was casting magic without using up mana BUT I AM CLEARLY USING MANA TO CAST MY SPELLS GAME YOU


anyways ONWARDS TO 40 WINKS

oh what there's an eagle time steam group

this is new to me

my steam is in my sig as of now because why not so yeah

I may have gootten to the part of Fallen London where I start unlocking cool multiplayer things. We'll see.

Gunman Clive may be my favorite eShop game. Such a snacky game. I just wish that the stupid rolling rocks wasn't dumb to control.

So I started playing OFF
fun game
slightly disturbing but its meant to be soooo

Poker Night 2 is basically a more polished Poker Night 1 with more and different characters.

So better, but not by a whole lot.

A lot of little side notes:

SpoilerShow

• Unlike the previous game, there is no difficulty option and the only dialogue option is subtitles.
  
• Like the previous game, it’s single-player only.
  
• There are a good number of one-off dialogues. If you want to experience everything, don’t play in situations where you are likely to be interrupted. Or wait a while for someone to dump the game’s dialogue so you can just use Google, I guess.
  
• There’s a big, big, BIG Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse spoiler you’re not likely to avoid. Makes me a bit annoyed, since they are wonderful games and not as well known as they ought to be. But then, it was Telltale’s call and I already played those games, so whatever.
  
• You will eventually run out of dialogue, but not as quickly as the first game.
  
• Moxxi doesn’t move. Just stands there in the background, leaning over, reading the paper. She has no lines to my knowledge. If you order drinks, she serves them walking... slowly. Stiffly. It’s kind of creepy (okay, I guess that is pretty Borderlands-style animation). Oh, and this is the typical camera angle most of the time. Gee, I wonder what she’s doing in this game.
  
• You can unlock themed cards, chips, and felts. Change them to the same theme at the same time to watch The Inventory get all gussied up. Do it while playing, not between rounds so the players will comment on it. Do this twice for the first one you do so you can hear the dialogue as well as the general comment on the change.
  
• If you want to hear everything GLaDOS’ bounty item has to say (and it’s worth it! it’s a personality core that spouts off silly conspiracy theories), hold off on winning. That’s the only chance you get unless you want to start over.
  
• I’m not a big fan of GLaDOS in either Portal game, but other than the frequent non sequitur insults I find her much more likable in this game.
  
• Claptrap’s unrequited and unconditional but... not exactly innocent affection for GLaDOS is a little bit adorable.
  
• Claptrap is annoying like you’d expect, but not as annoying as you might expect. He’s seated where Strong Bad was last time.
  
• Claptrap comes with Steve. Steve usually only pops in when you least expect him. Sam comes with Max. Max gets lines fairly often.
  
• I was wondering where they were going to dredge up enough personality out of Ash to flesh out this game, since he is in less hours of media than the other players. Basically they exaggerate just how unhinged he is. Also, he’s often the first player out because he likes to buy the pot, but when he isn’t, you gotta watch out because he likes to buy the pot.
  
• Sam doesn’t have as much great dialogue as I’d hoped, but most of the times I’ve won, it’s come down to me and him (then Brock next most often, then Claptrap twice, and Ash not even once). He plays pretty tight, let’s put it that way... and that’s why he’s sitting where Tycho was.
  
• If you’ve watched The Venture Bros., you know Brock for most of seasons one and two (well, the only two seasons I’ve seen...) is about equal parts (1) moderately thoughtful guy with a surprising depth of knowledge in trivia and cool stuff and (2) over-the-top testosterone-leaking hyperviolent womanizing knife nut who lives to murder and survive all sorts of insane things. It seems they weren’t able to fit in very much of the latter.
  

So yeah, it’s pretty much worth the $5.

I've been unable to get to GLaDOS's bounty item because one of my bounty challenges is to win a showdown with a high card which isn't particularly easy.