TSM Episode 305: Live from Topeka

*DESK NOT INCLUDED.

Lusipurr.com is well-known for its comfortable and distraction-free work environment.

The Starlight Megaphone
Download: Produced 2015.01.04

In the first podcast of 2015, Lusipurr, SiliconNooB, and Mel distribute gifts to a lucky reader and staff member. Then, reflecting on the possibility of felicity in the New Year, plans are made for magnificent new Lusipurr.com endeavours and offices.

27 Comments

  1. Ethos
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 11:55 | Permalink

    LIVE COMMENTING IS BACK!

  2. Ethos
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 12:01 | Permalink

    On Dragon Age now!

    I’m with Julian on this one. I didn’t even read the reviews, but I got the sense they were raving. The game is definitely a disappointment. Some things are done very well, but certainly not the game as a whole. It’s just stuffed with content with no direction or vision, so the very good things end up being set adrift in an ocean of mediocrity.

  3. Lusipurr
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 12:15 | Permalink

    Bring it on, Ethos!

  4. Ethos
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 12:15 | Permalink

    OH FOR FUCK’S SAKE

  5. Ethos
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 12:16 | Permalink

    GODDAMN IT, ETHOS

  6. Lusipurr
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 12:16 | Permalink

    Yup. Again!

  7. Ethos
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 13:18 | Permalink

    That asshole has to stop winning. He exists to prove that life is not fair!

    I love the description of Julian and his Australian fan.

    Also, my live commenting has appeared to bring down the site! I shall switch to Notepad and c/p when it’s back!

    Business Division 2 guys would have to wear unicoloured suits. I’m picturing royal purple with a large “2” printed on the back of their jackets.

    I think renaming Kingdom Hearts to Kingdom Farts is just what that series needs.

    Haha, I bet that single Nintendo employee has to program everything on his analog phone too!

    Bah-hahaha! I hope that was a slow, long, controlled inhale I heard from Lusipurr as Bup began his BupTalk. This is exactly the right way to dose Bup.

    And now, Mel saying “you’re welcome” for 6 hours!

    I hope you will read to your future children, Lusipurr!

    I’m not sure I have a gaming moment, but I got some PSN money for Christmas and used it to get Disgaea 3 for the Vita. I won’t attempt it just yet, but I am determined to give that series a proper shot! Something will get me into that genre, damn it.

    Yes, yes, yes to Lusipurr and the relationship between difficulty, satisfaction, study, and understanding. Also, we agree about Mozart around 100%, it seems. I take my first pass at essentially all art as a primer. I do not trust my first reactions. Sometimes they’re very accurate, but even in those cases, I don’t always know the reasons, and I am completely wrong often enough to not fool myself with overconfidence.

    SITE’S BACK!

  8. Ethos
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 13:20 | Permalink

    Great point about games, Julian. Video games are not a sport, but they can be an e-sport. Games should be confident and comfortable in the very distinct form that they take!

  9. Ethos
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 13:22 | Permalink

    And, of course, a great follow-up by Lusipurr on the topic.

  10. Lusipurr
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 13:22 | Permalink

    Everything I do is great.

    I am great.

  11. Ethos
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 13:31 | Permalink

    I could certainly understand women feeling alienated by this site in the past!

    I actually think a Money Please: Because We Would Like Some Patreon is a pretty good idea!

    We need to name this single Nintendo Employee at this point.

  12. Ethos
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 13:33 | Permalink

    Bah-hahaha, Office Train. So gloriously inventive and horrible! It’s perfect. Book it.

  13. Ethos
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 13:38 | Permalink

    Solid podcast boys, thanks!

  14. Ethos
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 13:42 | Permalink

    You need an underground lair office involving a 7 minute elevator ride and 7 waves of security clearance.

  15. RabidKitten
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 15:29 | Permalink

    I’m confused. Is everyone now Ethos?

  16. Ethos
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 16:46 | Permalink

    The real twist is that everyone was Ethos all along!

  17. Lusipurr
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 17:06 | Permalink

    I am *definitely* not Ethos.

  18. Bup
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 21:20 | Permalink

    If I turn out to be Ethan, I’m going to shoot myself.

  19. Lusipurr
    Posted 2015.01.05 at 21:21 | Permalink

    Breaking news: Ethos reports that Ethos has shot himself. Ethos is on the scene and we’ll have more from Ethos right after we hear from Ethos.

  20. Ethos
    Posted 2015.01.06 at 00:15 | Permalink

    Classic Ethos.

  21. Wolfe
    Posted 2015.01.06 at 15:50 | Permalink

    Most enjoyable show you guys have done in a while. Something to be said for you guys sitting around just being yourselves.

    Your analysis of Dragon Age is spot on. I received it as a gift this Christmas and found the gameplay serviceable, the writing bland, and the quests lifted right out of MMO 101. I do however, enjoy the landscapes -alot- and that has made it worth the effort of trotting around holding down the R2 button.

    The Vampire reading remains my favorite so far.

    Happy new years gents. Thanks for all the hard work.

  22. Lusipurr
    Posted 2015.01.06 at 16:33 | Permalink

    @Wolfe: Thanks!

    Honestly, I think I am enjoying Interview as much as, if not more than, Confederacy. The latter was at times side-splitting, but there is a malicious, gleefull darkness in the character of Lestat which is tremendously fun withal.

    Once this reading is done and we go on long-reading-hiatus for a while, I’ll be asking people to give some considered thought to which readings they liked most/least and why. This will help to guide my next selection.

    Glad you’ve enjoy the ‘cast! I thought the outtakes were quite good this week, too.

  23. Wolfe
    Posted 2015.01.07 at 02:42 | Permalink

    The outtakes were indeed good, I always listen past the end song to see if there’s any afterwards. I should also like to mention that your chatter regarding gamers apparent need to justify their hobby by comparing it to other forms of entertainment was unexpectedly insightful. Being one of the people angry at Ebert back in the day (largely because I didn’t think that pompous ass had the right to speak on matters he didn’t know a thing about), it does seem silly to have been so outraged over something so meaningless. There’s also a certain reassurance in considering that the likes of Sarkeesian and her band wagon will be footnotes in the history of the industry ultimately.

    Not that I think we should simply roll over and allow that sort of con woman and her SJW cult to do as they please with an industry they don’t really care about, but it is nice to look back at Jack Thompson and remember that at one point, he seemed poised to destroy gaming as we knew it just as she does now. Meaningless in the overall scheme of a free market industry.

    I look forward to the announcement of the next reading. If it’s half as enjoyable as this has been, I’ll be happy to listen.

  24. Mel
    Posted 2015.01.07 at 13:48 | Permalink

    I wasn’t Ethos. But now I am!

  25. DiceAdmiral
    Posted 2015.01.08 at 18:44 | Permalink

    Info Blast gets +1 to defense for all future Blasts

    This week’s panel
    Silicon Noob
    Mel
    Lusipurr
    Also featuring:
    Bup

    Upcoming Features
    Written Review
    -Eternal Sonata

    NEWS
    Cricket news
    None this week :(

    Lusiwards
    Worst Hardware: Ouya
    I was expecting XBone.

    Worst Game: AC:Unity

    Worst Company: Ubisoft

    Game Drawing
    Congrats Michael M. and Ethos!

    Man buys used PS4, gets box of rocks instead
    That’s a real bummer. Lusi is right though: “This is why you don’t buy used consoles”.

    FFXV Hired new guy?
    Meh. My disinterest remains stubbornly in-place.

    No further Smash balance patches
    I don’t think that I’m good enough at Smash Bros. to even notice the changes. I had a similar experience to SN when playing online: destroyed repeatedly.

    Quantic Dream, something Two Souls
    Yawn.

    Bup Talk
    Worst gaming experience of 2014

    Imitanis Literature Corner
    Interview With A Vampire by Anne Rice
    This episode with Claudia can only go one way. Poorly.

    Imitanis Gaming Moment
    This week my game group finished the first chapter of Mice and Mystics. We defeated the cook’s pet cat by tossing him a piece of catnip, dodged the old crow, and escaped the castle for the time being. Unfortunately, we got a rule wrong and as a result, our thief turned into a whirlwind of blades that just mowed down all opposition. This made our fights much easier. We may end up replaying chapter 1, but I kind of doubt it at this point since it was so frustrating last time.

    What I’d like to talk more about is Risk Legacy. If you’ve played Risk then you understand the basics of how this game works. The main difference is that the rules of the game change, permanently, every game. Players can take actions such as playing certain cards to add stickers to the board which make areas easier or harder to defend, winners can add cities to the board to make certain areas more valuable. Cities are also named. These changes remain on the board for all future games, customizing your board forever. There are also packets of additional rules that are opened under certain conditions, and these change the game rules in other ways that I don’t know yet entirely. The one of these that we opened (because a player was eliminated) gave factions new powers if they are eliminated from the game and added mercenary stickers as available to be added to the board to give more troops for certain areas.

    So far we’ve played just a single game of the 15 that the game is designed to accommodate, but I think I would recommend it if only for the legacy aspect, which I think more games will implement in the future. If you think having a totally unique experience and making permanent decisions is cool then get it. If destroying and throwing away game components that you chose not to use bothers you, then approach carefully.

    DiceAdmiral Travel Moment
    Nothing this week.

    Final Notes
    Remember a few weeks ago when we talked about copyright defense and whether or not a holder had to defend against every claim? I just ran across another example of someone claiming exactly that:

    Portland to Sue Pabst over Logo Usage
    He cites Hasbro and Monopoly as an example of losing a copyright over not defending it a single time.

    I’d love to have some background knowledge on the subject. Anyone know where I might be able read some solid info on this. I’m not even sure what I would search for. Copyright Defense would be a starting point, but how would I narrow it down to just info about the always/never argument presented here?

    Donators
    Cumulative total record holder: Imitanis
    Single Donation record holder: Imitanis

    Donators eligible for end of year drawing: 0

  26. DiceAdmiral
    Posted 2015.01.09 at 12:21 | Permalink

    Lusi busy again? New term I guess.

  27. Lusipurr
    Posted 2015.01.11 at 15:03 | Permalink

    Meh. My disinterest remains stubbornly in-place.
    I don’t know that I would call my position ‘disinterest’. I am interested. It is a negative interest. I expect bad things, and I remain interested to see if the bad things I expect come to pass. Spoilers: they will.

    I don’t think that I’m good enough at Smash Bros. to even notice the changes. I had a similar experience to SN when playing online: destroyed repeatedly.
    After playing a bunch of online games, I think I am the only person on staff who maintains a perfect 100% win record.
    I have therefore decided not to play online anymore. Quit whilst one’s ahead.

    This episode with Claudia can only go one way. Poorly.
    Now what makes you think that?

    If you’ve played Risk then you understand the basics of how this game works.
    That one game lasts for a thousand years? It’s the boardgame equivalent of Civilisation, which only differs in that a single game of civilisation lasts until the end of time.

    add stickers to the board
    If these are adhesive stickers I don’t see them having much longevity. Magnets would be better.

    These changes remain on the board for all future games, customizing your board forever.
    Great. So if I play one game with Bup, then I have to live with Fartstown and Shitsville and the Kingdom of Butts in all future games.

    Anyone know where I might be able read some solid info on this.
    I would suggest Law School is a decent place to start. I have a few (actually, several) friends who work in patent law. They make lots of money and never want for work. Which you could probably guess from just looking at the video game industry.

    Donators eligible for end of year drawing: 0
    NOT ONE!