Over the top!
When Lusipurr declares war, the site’s giant robots are reactivated and the trench-digging commences. But even exciting Cricket and increased Zestria production are not enough to forestall gloomy news from the Nintendo, Konami, and Square Enix fronts.
DiceAdmiralWhen Info Blast Ruled the Earth
This week’s panel
Silicon Noob
Java
Lusipurr
Also featuring:
Bup
NEWS
Zestria War!
How does one refuse shipment of something? That sounds like useful information to have.
Nintendo NX and Mobile, DeNA
My guess, based on their diagram, is that this will be some sort of WiiU/3DS/Mobile thing. A singular platform upon which they will build all of their games. The gimmick talk does have me worried though. I’ve yet to be disappointed in a Nintendo console that I’ve owned though, so I expect good things.
Konami Kerfuffle
I don’t think I’ve ever played a Kojima game. I liked playing as Solid Snake in Smash Bros though, so maybe that counts?
Blood Bourne Donations
It seems like this is a decent idea, but they probably shouldn’t be associating Blood Bourne (a type of illness that blood banks would be terrified of spreading) with blood banks.
God of War 3 getting (re?)mastered
I’ve watched God of Ware being played. It looked awesome, but I suspect that I shouldn’t ever play the game or I would break the illusion of the player doing really cool stuff when it’s just QTEs.
Halo 5 gets dedicated servers
Good news I guess?
Bup Talk
Nintendo NX/DeNA
“Is-la Nooblar”
Finally! A digression I approve of. Jurassic Park is fantastic.
Imitanis Literature Corner
Interview With A Vampire by Anne Rice
Huh, I figured that Lestat wasn’t dead, but I didn’t expect to see him again in this book. I guess it helps bring things full circle to have him appear now.
Imitanis Gaming Moment
Is anyone on staff planning on covering Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.? I purchased it and it should arrive today. It looks like Fire Emblem meets X-Com.
This week I played two new board games.
The first is a game about building skyscrapers out of dice. A turn in Blueprints will see players selecting one of 7 available dice to add to their building. There are 4 types of building materials (Glass, Wood, Stone, Recycled) and each score differently for how they’re placed in your building. For Example the more green (recycled) that you have the more points they’re worth and the higher you place a black (stone) die the more that die is worth. There are also awards for using all 6 numbered sides, using lots of one kind of material, matching your blueprint, and having the tallest buiding each round. After 3 rounds (and 3 buildings per player) the player with the most awards wins.
I really enjoy this game. It’s about $25, which is pretty cheap and it comes with a lot of great components. There are only a few possible moves every turn so it prevents thought-stun players from taking super long turns. With 4 players the game came in about 25 minutes, which is great as well. Highly recommended unless you can’t handle someone claiming that one die that you needed for your perfect high-rise. (That’s the best part)
The second game is about being goofy and making bunny ears or antlers with your hands to avoid being shot by a hunter. In Bunny Bunny Moose Moose one player reads a short poem (6 or 8 lines) and flips over a card from the deck for each line read. Cards have a picture of a bunny or a moose with a particular ear or antler structure (up/down, straight/floppy) and a point value (positive or negative). There will be a number of these cards out as the narrator reads (6 or 8, one per line) and they will change quickly. The other players attempt to match the animal with the highest point value when the hunter card is played by the narrator (who shouts “BAM!”, which can be genuinely startling). The ‘animals’ then freeze as they are and are evaluated based on their matching. The game plays for two rounds per player though it could easily go longer.
If you don’t mind attempting mental math on a timer with changing variables or looking silly then this is really a great game! I loved it. It’d be a great ice-breaker with small groups but has enough meat to it that more hardcore gamers like myself and my gaming group can enjoy it.
DiceAdmiral Travel Moment
I adopted two cats this weekend. One is very friendly and the other is skittish. The little bros will be getting used to their new home this week. It’s nice to have some animals around after living without them for a few years.
Final Notes
Thanks to Bup for providing inspiration for this very special Info Blast. In addition to all of the normal links, every bolded text in this post is also a link! Bask in the 90s Spielberg nostalgia!
Final Quotes
There are so many more I could have linked from that movie. It’s so quotable. Here’s a great one that I didn’t get to:
“It’s a Unix system! I know this!”
My favorite part of that scene is how Tim could just hand them the gun but is just standing around uselessly looking scared instead.
Donators
Cumulative total record holder: Imitanis
Single Donation record holder: Imitanis
Donators eligible for end of year drawing: 4
SiliconN00B“they probably shouldn’t be associating Blood Bourne (a type of illness that blood banks would be terrified of spreading) with blood banks.”
You forget that this promotion isn’t happening in America. I rather expect the Danes to be able to make the distinction.
LusipurrBlood Bourne–whatever that is–isn’t the name of an illness.
Being blood-borne is a nature which some illnesses possess, but it is not the name of any illness itself. You can’t ‘catch’ Bloodborne. However, you can become infected with a blood-borne illness, of which there are many.
I suspect that even in America, most people would understand that “You get a free copy of the video game Bloodborne,” is not the same thing as “You get a free blood-borne illness.”
JavaI say we add Zestria to water and sell it is a cure for Bloodbourne. Pretty sure we stand to make a small fortune.
DiceAdmiral@sn @lusi
I think you’re right. I try not to underestimate common human stupidity though.
WolfeRe: The worth of a gaming purchase.
In general, a lot of what interests me is considered niche, or fringe stuff. Japanese usually, as that’s the sort of gaming experience I grew up with and that’s what keeps me engaged (with a few exceptions here and there). And in recent years a lot of it has required petitions and social media campaigns. So paying full price for something I’m sincerely interested in feels like something of a duty, as I want more of that stuff to come over. I wish I weren’t so financially crippled so I could equally support everything I love, but you do what you can.
Re: FFXV: The summouning was the highlight of it for me, and I was absolutely stunned. I liked the world a lot, and especially the backwater mid-western gas stations, having lived in such places myself. The camera and combat are wretched. I’m still hopeful, and I still think we’re at least two years away from it’s release.
Re: Nintendo NX: It’s the Virtual Boy 2. That is seriously the first thing that came to mind when it was announced. We know from the Wii, WiiU, and 3DS that Nintendo thinks business strategy = jumping on whatever new tech people are talking about.
Re: Readership and comments. I regularly post links to my social media hubs, but I’m not exactly a thriving social bastion myself. I don’t comment much because I don’t know what to say, or have no real interest in the games being discussed. Insofar as feedback, all I can really think is that what drives gaming sites is commentary on the latest news, and I have to imagine the most successful parts of this site revolve around the podcast and Julian’s weekly news round up. So, maybe more of a focus on that?
Curious: Just how much of this rivalry with Chris is farce vs sincerity? I’d hate to think our fun here is seriously causing real life strife between old friends.
Great show guys, and great job especially reading the part of Armand this time Lusi.
SavanteI laughed way to hard at the Palestinian Militant comment. So much randomness.
Thanks for another great podcast gents.
SiliconN00B“Curious: Just how much of this rivalry with Chris is farce vs sincerity? I’d hate to think our fun here is seriously causing real life strife between old friends.”
I’d hate to think that Crissy-poo was causing real life strife between old friends by scorning our gifts of Zestria™ (the revolutionary new additive that simply everyone is talking about!), but there you go…
Even if Cristabell had no need of our very generous gift, then the bare minimum that he could have done is to take the unwanted Zestria™ (the revolutionary new additive that simply everyone is talking about!) down to his local homeless shelter to feed the less fortunate. They would likely have never seen so much Zestria™ (the revolutionary new additive that simply everyone is talking about!) all in one place, and at 50lb there would easily be enough for a lick each even at one of the larger homeless shelters. It would be like Christmas to them.
Instead Clarissa prefers to squander our gift of Zestria™ (the revolutionary new additive that simply everyone is talking about!) by leaving the shipment stranded in the local dispatch channels. This is the thoughtless act of a wastrel who knows nothing of value – and I am in no mood to excuse these blockheaded actions.
Lusipurr@SN: Well said. Indeed, I now believe that FURTHER SANCTIONS are necessary! We will increase the pressure through EVERY channel!
SiliconN00BI just had a bit of an idea.
Wolfe“If you only expand upon existing hardware, it’s dull,” Iwata said, translated by Kotaku. “In some shape or form, we’re always thinking about how we want to surprise players as well as our desire to change each person’s video gaming life.”
^ I do believe that addresses our Nintendo expectations, and all but confirms what we all know the NX is going to be. I wonder if they’ll try to bring back the red tint.
The Legendary ZoltanFinal Fantasy XV: Episode Duscae
The camera was way too close and didn’t follow the enemies, and if it had, it would have been spinning all over the place. They need to pull that camera way back and much further up into the air. But to be fair, nearly every game I’ve played that has a free camera has the same crappy camera placement.
I thought the Behemoth and the goblin battle themes were both great. Chocobo stable and gas station themes, not so much.
The charge times on all the skills drive me crazy. My favorite one is Full Thrust but I can’t use it on anything agile.
I felt like they did the exploration very well. They could do away with all the crappy sell-able items but just wandering around, finding a big rock, climbing it to find a sword lodged into it, pulling it and having a crazy new ability felt really good. Most games’ treasure that you find just lying around always sucks. I get the feeling that’s only for the demo, though.
Pressing the L1 button to hide is a completely pointless mechanic. You can’t use it to sneak up on enemies and 3 of the 5 swords restore MP upon attacking. I equipped the Blood Sword in the second slot and could go from zero to max MP in no time. I never bothered warping away or hiding.
I was excited about the warping mechanic when they first showed it. It lost nearly all of it’s appeal to me when I realized that you can’ only warp to designated points. I guess that scene in a past video when they’re climbing a building with warping is going to be void of that feeling of freedom one would expect to get from climbing a building in the first place.
Yeah, it’s not a Final Fantasy game. It’s not even a JRPG. And Lusipurr was right in a previous podcast. You never die as long as you have potions.
I wonder if you’ll be able to use super-powered summons throughout the game and beat it that way. Haha.
SiliconNooBThe summons really are ridiculously game breaking!
LusipurrZoltan’s comments more or less echo my feelings about the XV demo, except that I feel worse about it every time I turn it on. I am now at the point where I dread even thinking about playing it.
Sad times. At least Axiom Verge is coming.
Lusipurr@DiceAdmiral:
How does one refuse shipment of something? That sounds like useful information to have.
When the package arrives, inform the shipping company that delivery is refused. They will return it to sender at no charge. If the package is left behind, you can call the shipping company and they will pick it up. In the case of USPS, you can take it to the post office. You cannot refuse shipment on an opened package (obviously).
The first is a game about building skyscrapers out of dice.
I read this description in full and still don’t understand it. I would prefer to throw my skycraper dice at other people’s skyscrapers, and thus destroy them.
The second game is about being goofy and making bunny ears or antlers with your hands to avoid being shot by a hunter. In Bunny Bunny Moose Moose…
Nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnope!
I adopted two cats this weekend.
/!\ APPLAUSE /!\
Jurassic Park was one of my favourite movies as a teenager. Great stuff.
