The Gamer's Quarter

SuperWes · Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2006 1:24 pm Post subject: Podcast is live!

Yup. Our first Podcast is now up on the internets. Find it on the front page. E-mails will go out later to "officially" announce it, so consider this a heads up for forum members. Hope you like it!

-Wes
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purplechair · . Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 378 Location: in my pants

"I wasn't expecting it to last an hour!" - PurpleChair, aged 21

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

Thoughts on the podcast later -- I'm still a little stunned that I managed to find life (and two different forms of it) on the second planet that I landed on.

Is there going to be some sort of collective TGQ thing were we can post screenshots?

dessgeega · Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2006 6:33 pm Post subject:

post screenshots!
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Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

Alright!

The planet in question is Pelenor's Glacier in the Lyonesse system. I can provide coordinates if people want.

After landing on the border of a large white area (which I figured to be a glacier), I got out of the landing craft and wandered around. One thing that you don't get from the pictures is that this planet has upper-atmosphere lightning or something of that nature that causes everything to flash brighter intermittently.

Because of this, I was already looking at the sky to see if I could see bolts or something like that. Instead, I saw a white object moving toward me. I was so startled by this that it passed overhead before I could react. However, I did turn around and get a shot of it as it disappeared over a nearby hill:

At first I wondered if it was a spacecraft or a meteor or something like that. As it flew, it discernably changed direction, meaning that it was either a spacecraft or something alive. Although it was hard to tell due to perspective issues, the size would seem to indicate some sort of flying animal.

Excited, I ascended a nearby peak in order to take a look at my surroundings and to see if there were any landmarks nearby. Seeing what I believed to be a glacier not far from where I landed, only to spot another white dot in front of a hill not far from where I was. Moving quickly, I tried to get closer to get a better look at whatever it was before it flew away.

Instead I was startled to find out that this was not whatever flyer I had seen before, it was instead some sort of land-based animal.

As you can see by the picture, by the time I got near the animal, it had actually gone around me and was now between myself and the ship. It preambulated around in a manner not unlike a kangaroo, using its legs to propel itself in powerful hopping motions through the air.

After following it around for a few minutes, I saw another dot appear on a ridge behind it.

Leaving my original "hopper" (as I had come to know him) behind, I started up the ridge and soon found that it was another hopper. Whether there was some relationship between the two animals, I was unable to discern, as they never came close to each other, each hopping around the perimeter of the valley and eventually disappearing over separate horizons.

Stimulated by my discovery, I started back toward the landing craft, getting fairly close before realizing that a flyer, whether the same one or another animal, was in the area. After some aborted attempts to capture an image of it, I got lucky and snapped a picture of both it and a hopper that had wandered close to my landing craft, hopefully providing evidence that these were in fact two separate organisms, even if we have far more information about the land-based one.

After hearing stories about the desolation of the overall universe, it was an uplifting experience to see with mine own eyes that we are not alone in these squares, er, stars.

dessgeega · Posted: Sun Jul 16, 2006 7:04 pm Post subject:

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

I figured that out right as I posted.

I also didn't put up the radiation shield when I took the pictures. I'm still parked at the planet, so I may go back down and see if that improves matters.

TheRumblefish · . Joined: 29 Jan 2006 Posts: 258 Location: Florida

I didn't realize how much I could just enjoy listening to a Pod Cast. My froth for the pod cast of Half Life 2 knows no bounds. Excellent stuff.
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GSL · Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 3:20 am Post subject:

I have downloaded it, but due to the late hour (and its apparent size!) I regret I can't listen to it tonight. It ought to keep me occupied on the walk to work tomorrow, however! I can't wait, this sounds quite fun.

Toto · 4th Man Joined: 21 Mar 2006 Posts: 122

Guys, you need to have a little bit more of a laugh while doing this. Some of you guys start laughing; go with it. It is very IC/GQish that you came up with the lonely game thing, lighten up.
Also we need to get to know the people behind the GQ. I think it would be good to talk a bit amongst yourselves before starting, nice way to establish who everyone is and so forth. Also more than one topic if you get stuck, an hour is a lot, sometimes you guys run out of stuff to say.
Also get people from other countries. You guys know Cycle, get him, he knows what he's on about AND he's got an Aussie accent. The whole International gamer thing. A new guest every week maybe?
It's a good idea to do Half-Life 2 next. A well-known game is a good move.
Sorry if my opinions were too forward guys, but it was good. It could be GREAT.

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Internet-based gender assumptions are a tricky beast. Dessgeega, I had been convinced that you were a woman. No one else, however, undermined my expectations.
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

Lestrade · Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:47 am Post subject:

I'm getting out of the immediate area NOW.

The Great Unwashed · Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:50 am Post subject:

Lestrade · Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:38 am Post subject:

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Scratchmonkey · . Joined: 02 Mar 2005 Posts: 1439

Lestrade, hold me.

dessgeega · Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 2:09 pm Post subject:

i guess this would be a good time to explain (for those who aren't aware) that i am mtf.

cycle is a swell fellow and i will try to coerce him into joining us in a future podcast.
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Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Hey guys why is no-one talking about captain blood

ApM · Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 5:18 pm Post subject:

I've always been kind of intrigued by Captain Blood, though I used to confuse it with Captain Goodnight.

I tried to play it on my Apple IIgs once, but I think my copy was broken or something because I couldn't even figure out how to move the damn cursor, let alone begin getting confused by the massive icon-based language. Wikipedia says that the Atari ST version is the canonical one, but I gave my Atari ST to dessgeega, so I guess it's emulation for me. I can't say no to games designed by the French!

I have an sudden urge to start a thread about generic Apple II / C64-era space sims. Inscrutable menus, random starfields, erie sound effects, and aching, impersonal loneliness used to be pretty much par for the course, you whippersnappers. Though, probably not many here share my memories of playing a Broderbund's Galactic Trader, which was basically the direct precursor to Dopewars.

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

dessgeega · Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 8:05 pm Post subject:

i need to play captain blood some more.

i always thought the abstract language was the most clever thing the game did, though there are a few. incidentally, starflight.
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I really liked the podcast. I lost track of which voice belonged to who, but that should improve with future episodes. I think doing one a month is a bit sparse, but then you are a quarterly publication so maybe I should be grateful?

Also I agree with the idea of talking points, as it was a bit annoying when someone would start a thread, talk for five minutes, lose his or her train of thought and then trail off into utter confusion.

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Thanks for clearing that up, Dess, but there's some mystery to you yet. Like, is Ancil Anthropy your real name or one you chose for yourself? Either way, it's badass.
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Like you thought you'd seen copter perverts before. They were nothing compared to this one.

dessgeega · Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 9:54 pm Post subject:

it is an assumed name, and my current legal name. i am supposedly pretty mysterious though.

anyway, yeah, the discussion could have been much tighter. i'm still pretty embarassed about the part where i slip up and lose my train of thought and skid to a dead halt.
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SuperWes · Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:29 pm Post subject:

SuperWes · Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 7:42 am Post subject:

Copycats!

-Wes
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ryan · . Joined: 20 Feb 2005 Posts: 999

TGQ is now in their links - or has it always been?
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Come to me, Mordel. We shall depart.

The Great Unwashed · Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 8:57 am Post subject:

a_plus · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 252 Location: olympia

dowloading this now -- slowly, on dialup.

i haven't been around here in months, so apologies if i'm just regurgitating stuff i should have seen before, but: i tried playing this a while ago and couldn't get into it. the controls were near uncontrollable and i got motion sickness something fierce -- the kind i haven't had since wolfenstein 3d 15 years ago or whenever that was (too long ago!). maybe i should give it another shot (after listening to the podcast) but i'm more interested in the new version that's in the works.

dessgeega · Posted: Tue Jul 18, 2006 6:00 pm Post subject:

the escapist
just about the most overblown, fruity, drenched in post-modern, terrifying load of flowery nothingness I have ever (admittedly) skimmed through

i couldn't resist, okay. all of their material comes from me anyway at this point.

and yeah, noctis is a lot of work - even just navigating the menus can be hard to do at first - but the work makes it all the more worth it.
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a_plus · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 252 Location: olympia

Well, I'm downloading the game now! The podcast makes this sound like something I'd really like to dig into.

oh, important: can this be run windowed? That would help immensely with the nausea.

Szczepaniak · . Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Posts: 770

Regarding The Escapist, I find that very harsh. I love The Escapist. They're a great publication, alongside TGQ. We should consider them allies in a guerilla war, not... what it is that was just said.

Sure, some of their articles are a bit flowery, but a lot of their stuff is solid, hard hitting, and just plain awesome.

kimkallstrom1 · . Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 26

copycats? wannabes? opinionated and long-winded, that's fer sure.

cut the fluff i just want the juicy stuff.

SJ · . Joined: 18 Apr 2006 Posts: 61 Location: swamp

purplechair · . Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 378 Location: in my pants

I just finished HL2.

You've now got a green light for the podcast.

nICO · . Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Posts: 120 Location: WVUSA

Hmm. I didn't see what was so bad about that Escapist article. Hell, I think it could have been awesome.

If only the author didn't assume complete ignorance on the part of his audience and boringly lecture about topics far too broad and ambitious to be covered in a such short space. In other words, he should have trashed the entire "Enlightenment, Romanticism and the March of History" section and rewrote the rest of his essay assuming an audience already possessing the scant, basic information he gave in that section.

He didn't even use any jargon or anything. Any mildly intelligent reader could have picked up what he was trying to say without all the History of Thought. That whole section is part of why I don't read The Escapist regularly. For some reason I feel that stupidly ambitious and boringly serious diversions often detract from the what makes the articles good. Is it just that they pay, so the writers need to beef up the word count?

The meat of it was pretty good though. It would fit perfect in TGQ with a bit of a rewrite.
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Brauner: Damn you, humans... You selfishly start wars and despoil the earth. Perhaps justice wasn't on my side but I will never admit that it was on yours.

dessgeega · Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 1:22 am Post subject:

The Great Unwashed · Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:39 am Post subject:

Ketch · . Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 420

http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/17541

This is a less-flowery examination of Noctis by the author of the Escapist piece.

SuperWes · Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 11:16 am Post subject:

The second podcast is now live! Check it out!!!!

-Wes
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Six · . Joined: 15 Jul 2006 Posts: 313 Location: montreal

Wooo!!!

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Enjoy me sounding like a deformed robot! Anyways, this was fun. I do hope people enjoy it, even if it sounds like I am shouting over everyone else.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

Ketch · . Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 420

I'd like to see some analysis of Shadow of Destiny (ie. Shadow of Memories), or Gregory Horror Show. The former one having multiple endings but it still seems to have an overarching theme. And the latter is part comedic, part sinister and part really annoying in places. It would be cool to try and see what each character suggests, or what Gregory House is? although you might need to watch the Japanese TV series to get further insights into it.

SuperWes · Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 10:24 am Post subject:

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

I totally want the UK release of Michigan.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

SuperWes · Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 10:33 am Post subject:

If Ketch hooks us all up we could do Michigan next! C'mon Ketch! Live in the UK!

-Wes
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purplechair · . Joined: 28 Mar 2005 Posts: 378 Location: in my pants

You just have to ask, you know.

SuperWes · Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 12:05 pm Post subject:

I'd like to ask!

But I have one question before asking. Do you know if either of these games have an NTSC option? That could really put a damper on things. Word on the street is that Michigan does, but I'm not so sure about Gregory Horror Show.

-Wes
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Ketch · . Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 420

I've never seen Michigan

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000EYEI3M/026-3738044-1102047?v=glance&n=300703&s=gateway&v=glance

I'd probably buy it if I did, even though it has terrible reviews on Metacritic.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

Wes, you are thinking of a 60hz option, which both do if I was informed properly.
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“The average man has a secret desire to be a swaggering, drunken, fighting, raping swashbuckler.”
-Robert E. Howard in a letter to a friend circa Decmber 1932

"There is no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist!"

SuperWes · Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 12:35 pm Post subject: