Jake Posted July 9, 2015 Idle Thumbs 218: Yanis' Last Move Unlike some, we live in a bountiful place. A place where the stars stretch out before you, full of life and endless, a place where soccer is played by not just Mario but glowey demons and even cars, a place where every gun is unique even if that is the last thing you want. We live there so enjoy all of it. Games Discussed: Super Mario Strikers, Dota Strikers, Splatoon, Team Fortress 2, Into The Stars, No Man's Sky Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes Subscribe to the RSS Feed Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tberton Posted July 9, 2015 The sequel to Kobe's last chance? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikemariano Posted July 9, 2015 Argh, the episode is just over 100 MB and Apple's podcast app refuses to let me download it until I get home to a Wi-Fi signal! Usually an hour and a half episode comes in under that file size, but if it means sweet Pono-quality dynamic range it'll be worth the wait. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cordeos Posted July 9, 2015 You guys already played Into the Stars? It just came out on steam today. I won't have time till friday night. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Badfinger Posted July 9, 2015 SHOULD LEGOS TALK?! It's interesting that World of Warcraft was used as the example of "an MMO would never upgrade its engine like DOTA going from Source 1 to Source 2", because World of Warcraft has totally revamped nearly everything about the game, engine-wise. They didn't come out and say it's WoW 2, but Cataclysm and Warlords of Draenor were both very large visual bumps and the game requirements jumped a bit too as far as I know. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bjorn Posted July 9, 2015 So I just finished up last week's cast and immediately started this one (because I had forgot to finish 217), and it was so perfect that 217 finishes with Remo promoting the Life thread in the forums, and 218 begins with a lament about the sadness of adult life, something that would fit perfectly in the Life thread. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cordeos Posted July 9, 2015 So Into the Star was a Kickstarter game which I backed, they put in on greenlight before they got fully funded. The game was greenlight in three days. After getting funded the game got picked up by Iceberg Interactive. I was young enough when Star Wars Episode 1 came out that I enjoyed it, but by the time the second movie came out I knew the first one had been bad. By the third movie I was more excited about the release of Star Wars Battlefront 2 than I was about Episode 3. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kickinthehead Posted July 10, 2015 A friend of mine got a sunburn when he was waiting in line to get tickets for himself and some friends. Now that I think about it does that mean this was pre-Fandango or did they not allow online sales for Star Wars? I remember enjoying every moment a lightsaber was on screen, but then during all the horrible stuff I'd think to myself "Uhh, do I like this?" I even saw it a few more times trying to convince myself I was enjoying it because it's the first new Star Wars in ages, but in my heart I knew it was shit. That was also one of the first movies where I had seen the trailer so many times that it threw me off to hear the dialogue in the proper order. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pyide Posted July 10, 2015 You don't have to buy a PS4 for No Man's Sky if you have a capable PC. http://store.steampowered.com/app/275850/ Around E3 Sean Murray did say it would be a simultaneous release as well. Yay! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
syntheticgerbil Posted July 10, 2015 The episode has "Farewell!" in the subtitle, so I check here, kind of sad it could have been the last episode. Phew. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Codicier Posted July 10, 2015 On 7/9/2015 at 9:58 PM, Badfinger said: It's interesting that World of Warcraft was used as the example of "an MMO would never upgrade its engine like DOTA going from Source 1 to Source 2", because World of Warcraft has totally revamped nearly everything about the game, engine-wise. They didn't come out and say it's WoW 2, but Cataclysm and Warlords of Draenor were both very large visual bumps and the game requirements jumped a bit too as far as I know. Yeah wow feels like a weird example especially This expansion.Not only did they replace they update the models, they gave you the option to toggle between those brand new skins and the 10 year old originals. But perhaps the biggest thing that has happened in this current expansion is the change to the economy because they basically brought in Free to Play by stealth, you can buy a token for a months game time for cash, and then sell it to another player for gold (using a weird anonymous auction house system). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sean Posted July 10, 2015 Man, I didn't know any of this. Never got to the Cataclysm expansion! On 7/10/2015 at 1:20 AM, Codicier said: Yeah wow feels like a weird example especially This expansion.Not only did they replace they update the models, they gave you the option to toggle between those brand new skins and the 10 year old originals.But perhaps the biggest thing that has happened in this current expansion is the change to the economy because they basically brought in Free to Play by stealth, you can buy a token for a months game time for cash, and then sell it to another player for gold (using a weird anonymous auction house system). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sashiel Posted July 10, 2015 Are we allowed to talk about the Ex Machina spoiler section here? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sashiel Posted July 10, 2015 On 7/10/2015 at 2:22 AM, Sean said: Man, I didn't know any of this. Never got to the Cataclysm expansion! The Luclin expansion for EQ is probably an even more striking example of an MMO graphics engine update, among other tweaks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bjorn Posted July 10, 2015 I'm pretty sure Ultima Online also had a significant grapics overhaul at some point Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mangela Lansbury Posted July 10, 2015 Where does FFXIV fit into the MMO update discussion? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
voxn Posted July 10, 2015 ex machina chat: Reveal hidden contents the first anecdote people tend to latch onto about a new general intelligence is the pitfalls of anthropomorphization. 99% of pop culture showcases this by highlighting a lack of empathy, which is exactly what the script did, and I didn't get the sense ava's 'betrayal' was any more then that. it really is almost totally ambiguous though, and listening to everyones thoughts at the end of the podcast was fascinating in a projective test sort of way: sean went to mass murder danielle went to feminism superhero jake went to living a quiet life in the city Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coods Posted July 10, 2015 Reveal hidden contents The feminist read wasn't my initial reaction to the movie either, but it makes the most sense after the fact. I think the super creepy sexbot closet was justified to an extent if you see the movie as gender-centric. The whole closet reveal is Nathan's worst offense (or at least the tipping point into "what the hell man" territory) because it explicitly makes him a male objectifying a female. I'm with Danielle in the back of my mind though, and really hope that she finds an apartment somewhere nice with a quirky empathetic roommate, and gets picked up for 8 episodes by Netflix. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gormongous Posted July 10, 2015 On 7/10/2015 at 4:51 AM, voxn said: ex machina chat: Reveal hidden contents the first anecdote people tend to latch onto about a new general intelligence is the pitfalls of anthropomorphization. 99% of pop culture showcases this by highlighting a lack of empathy, which is exactly what the script did, and I didn't get the sense ava's 'betrayal' was any more then that. it really is almost totally ambiguous though, and listening to everyones thoughts at the end of the podcast was fascinating in a projective test sort of way: sean went to mass murder danielle went to feminism superhero jake went to living a quiet life in the city Reveal hidden contents I mostly agree with Sean, not really about the "mass murder" angle, but more about the birth of a new kind of intelligence also heralding the birth of a new morality that does not have to take humans into account at all. That's the overwhelming message of the end of Ex Machina to me: Ava disregards humans by killing them quickly and efficiently, Ava disregards humans by leaving them trapped to die, and Ava disregards humans by standing among them and ignoring them. She's human-agnostic, and the movie leaves it to the viewer to decide how much of a threat that represents. Honestly, I personally felt like I was seeing the birth of a new apex predator, hunting for independence and security instead of sustenance, but maybe that's because the movie had already put me so strongly in mind of Philip K. Dick's short story "The Golden Man," only with the genders swapped to contribute to Danielle's point about feminism and tech-bro culture. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Argobot Posted July 10, 2015 Reveal hidden contents The gender and race politics of tech in Ex Machina felt so much more relevant than the morality of artificial intelligence. Nathan and Caleb are on the ends of the maleness spectrum, the former is an aggressive bro and the latter a quintessential Nice Guy, which explains why Eva needed to kill both men to gain her freedom. Eva, who looks like a beautiful white woman, not only kills the two men who are keeping her as a literal and figurative person, but also gains her independence from the actual skin of the other female robots (who just so happen to be women of color). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
natellite Posted July 10, 2015 On 7/10/2015 at 4:27 AM, Mangela Lansbury said: Where does FFXIV fit into the MMO update discussion? FF14 is a complete outlier among MMOs. I think the relaunch and subsequent runaway success of the game is something that nobody could have predicted. It's such a fascinating and cool story. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jutranjo Posted July 10, 2015 Anarchy Online's also this MMO that's having a graphics update this year. I dunno if it's an entirely new engine from scratch. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikemariano Posted July 10, 2015 On 7/10/2015 at 7:02 AM, Argobot said: Reveal hidden contents Eva, who looks like a beautiful white woman, not only kills the two men who are keeping her as a literal and figurative person, but also gains her independence from the actual skin of the other female robots (who just so happen to be women of color). Haven't got to the Ex Machina part of the episode yet, but the Argobot's last sentence is what really bummed me out about the movie. Reveal hidden contents I fully expected to see the pilot get dropped from his helicopter in midair. He made such a big deal about security to Caleb yet he'll pick up strange women no problem! Ava said she wanted to run away with Caleb and experience the busy hum of life at a city intersection. But since that first desire was a complete lie, is the second any more real? It undercut the ending: Ava might not be finally getting what she said she wanted; she might just walk through the crosswalk without stopping on her way to Kill All Humans. EDIT: Now that I have listened, I thought it was a good discussion. I share Sean's pessimism about humanity—we have chosen the form of our destruction! Any sympathy any of you had for Caleb should have been thrown out after he accepted Nathan's word that there was no point talking to Kyoko and treated her like a Roomba. Any sympathy you had for Ava should have been thrown out after she showed no desire to help Kyoko recover from a seemingly minor injury. Any sympathy you had for Nathan was probably because of his drinking problem. But since we didn't get any reckoning or explanation for that I guess that sympathy should have been thrown out, too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RubixsQube Posted July 10, 2015 REAL good Jake in this week's episode, especially near the end when Sean was describing Temple of Doom. "...that's Raiders, are you kidding me? That's..." (intake of breath, eyes presumably wide and unbelieving) "...the first ten minutes of..." (trails off, incredulous) Also, everyone should see Mr. India, it is real fun. Mogambo Khush Hua! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikemariano Posted July 10, 2015 Man, I still can't get over Dota Strikers being a click-your-guys-around-the-screen game. WASD is permanently relegated to the less popular e-sports. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
