I'm a sucker for time-travel.
Yes, it's rare the stories make sense when you break it down, and when they do, require four days of rest from the exhaustion of it all, but that's part of the fun! And the idea of being able to redo your actions, stirs our curiosity in a manner that only questions of justice, love, and death can rival.
Steins;gate is probably one of the most compelling shows I've seen on the subject, having binged every episode and the film in 2-3 days.
W...
2020-09-28 13:00:08 +0000 UTC
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Ideas are easy.
Constructive ideas, are not.
It's easy to say "wouldn't it be awesome if Battlefield had full destructibility" but it's much harder to conceive of the technology, budget, time, resources, and purpose behind such an endeavor.
I'm not a game designer, my Youtube videos are at best, an observers superficial understanding of the mentality behind game development, but as I like to brainstorm ideas that'll never happen (let alone end up in my hands) for the fun of ...
2020-09-25 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Greetings everyone,
I'm typing for I cannot speak at this exact moment, not into a microphone at least. It seems my cable for this thing has met its end, so while waiting for a replacement cable and temporary microphone that's hopefully not overtly different, I'll be laying out the current scripts I've got cooking up.
Don't know what happened after Alpha Protocol, but writing seems to have come rather easily, which is good, because staring at a blank screen is hardly inspiring. Mo...
2020-09-24 13:01:01 +0000 UTC
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DaCody Asks
You become a reactionary let's play YouTuber. What is your catchy intro?
"It is Wednesday my dudes!"
(Even when it's not Wednesday.)
The Great Leveler Asks
How did you and Mandalore meet?
I think it was through Sparky's Podcast Artism Speaks? Him and Shammy are practically tied at the hip, so it was only natural that speaking to one lead to speaking with the other. Mandalore is just one of the most effortlessly entertai...
2020-09-23 13:01:04 +0000 UTC
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Sometimes, you need to give games a second chance, and that was the case for me with The Outer Worlds. Having completed a majority of its quests, met all its characters, and disposed of many, many enemies, I've come away with feeling conflicted, and yet, drawn to this game and its world.
You won't be getting a phenomenal experience, especially if you've played the games its based upon to death. There isn't any particular innovation in its dialogue, combat, or storytelling. What The Oute...
2020-09-21 13:00:07 +0000 UTC
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I'll likely be buying a Playstation 5.
Why? Because which console I'm buying next year, has nothing to do corporate favoritism, preference, or what my friends are getting. It's all down to practicality.
The only reason I booted up the Xbox One was to capture games I didn't already have on PC, or backwards compatible X360 games. In every event that a game can be captured on PC instead, I go for it. Again, not purely down to preference, but because I can ...
2020-09-18 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Juhana Asks
Has a "Years Later" project ever taken so long that you had to change the year in the title mid production?
Not yet...
I was rather terrified that would be the case with Call of Duty 4, but thankfully that didn't happen. I think the closest I got was debating with Halo 5 as to whether or not call that video 1 or 2 years later, as it came out on January 1st.
I'm not sure if I want to make a video that's long enough in production ...
2020-09-16 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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Like many, growing up with James Bond Films, I rented one or two Roger Moore movies and wrote his ability as the character, watching only Connery & Brosnan. However, I've become a lot more open minded since then, and sat down to watch Live and Let Die for the first time just last week.
Its performances are excellent, the tone is wonderfully varied, and the mostly American setting is a welcome change of pace for the typically European agent. What I particularly appreciate is Bond loo...
2020-09-14 18:58:57 +0000 UTC
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So I've finally enjoyed The Outer Worlds, Obsidian's latest RPG romp meant to rekindle the magic of Interplay's Fallout 1&2 in tone and... it does a decent job. I think the reason the game didn't click with me at first is because like most RPGs, the introduction is kinda dull, you're uber limited on items, equipment, and weapons, and you're just fighting sentry turrets.
Having bypassed the initial worlds though, coming back I found myself binging the game.
And that's pro...
2020-09-11 13:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Ethan McArthur Asks
What is your opinion on Star Citizen? Do you think their vision is achievable?
I've written about five different answers to this question and running into a dead end, so let's just say, I don't know what to think about Star Citizen. The only time I'll have any thoughts on its goals, ambitions, and execution, is when it properly releases. If it properly releases.
The Great Leveler Asks
What is your ...
2020-09-09 19:56:44 +0000 UTC
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For a brief moment in today's video, I put the image above on screen, because I was very much reminded of how good Thief II is while capturing footage for said video. Frankly, the trilogy by Looking Glass Studios/Ion Storm Austin, is worth playing, and a must play for those who love stealth games.
However, Thief: The Dark Project suffers from many lackluster levels, and Deadly Shadows has much smaller levels due to its engine limitations. Thief II, is the purest gameplay experience, wit...
2020-09-07 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Normally I post dedicated articles for this Patreon page, however, I was struck with a bolt of lightning and suddenly wrote up a big chunk of what will most likely be a video in the near future. So I thought it'd be fun for those interested, to see a script after it's immediately been typed. As not to potential spoil the whole thing, I do cut it off early, and the conclusion here, wouldn't be the conclusion of the final video,.
It's better than writing a random piece about ...
2020-09-04 13:01:03 +0000 UTC
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Hello everybody,
Whether or not these updates accompanying Q&A becomes a regular thing, I don't know. All depends on my work, and right now, I'm working pretty consistently, however, the light at the end of the tunnel I described before? It's coming fast.
I've also given Jack Coster, responsible for my Thumbnails since Ferrari: A Gaming Overview, a much bigger role, developing lower thirds, graphics, and the intro, where many experiments have and are still taking place.
...
2020-09-02 13:00:04 +0000 UTC
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You ever listening to something (album, radio, playlist) and go "Oh... that's where this song came from"? Well, I know I do, and I did for this album, specifically with "Everyone In The World is Doing Something Without Me." Having heard it on Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe and Top Gear.
It really caught me off guard, because that song in particular is this entrancing ambient piece with an almost hypnotic choir, whereas just preceding that, is funky techno blast that'd belong in an early 2...
2020-08-31 13:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Two years, was the gap between EA cancelling Visceral's five year development of their highly anticipated 3rd Person Star Wars action-adventure (led by many of Dead Space & Amy Hennig of the Uncharted Trilogy) and the release of Respawn's Jedi Fallen Order.
Listening to recent podcasts featuring former employees of Visceral's last project, and recalling various articles of the time about internal meetings, it's evident EA wanted to realize their intentions with Battlefront 2. Ever s...
2020-08-28 06:47:15 +0000 UTC
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Greetings everybody,
Those who follow on Twitter might've already seen what happened a few days ago in regards to software, but for the sake of clarity, I'll quickly explain. In January I switched editing from Adobe Premiere to DaVinci Resolve, due to updates of Premiere only becoming slower, buggier, and more cumbersome with time. Editing timelines often felt like pulling teeth, even after upgrading my PC a few years ago.
However, I made the switch back to Premiere upon compiling...
2020-08-26 13:01:04 +0000 UTC
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Seeing as last Friday's post was about Perfect Dark, I figured now would be as good a time as any to recommend Perfect Dark, and I say that as someone who didn't grow up with Perfect Dark.
Okay, I'll stop that.
While this game might not be as seamless to jump into as something like Halo: Combat Evolved with its N64-based control scheme, it hardly stops the excellent level design, varied objectives, and brilliant arsenal from standing tall, and if anything, the controls merely help...
2020-08-24 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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There's many debates about various books/movies/shows head to head. Alien vs Aliens. Terminator vs Terminator 2. LOTR vs GOT. For the limited N64 First Person shooter genre, it was between Goldeneye & Perfect Dark, two games made by the same developer that went on to have very different legacies.
Goldeneye, despite getting a full remake in 2010 for Wii, later re-released for Xbox 360 & ...
2020-08-21 18:56:27 +0000 UTC
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Matt Koster Asks
For a while, I've felt like Microsoft (and specifically Phil Spencer) were finally righting the ship moving towards the next generation. However, after recent announcements, I'm wondering if it was all marketing hype. Is Halo: Infinite's delay going to seriously damage the Xbox Series X's launch?
I can't say for certain, but we will certainly find out. I can't remember the last time a video game console released with such a barren line up of...
2020-08-19 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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I'm sure there's something I've missed on this list. Having compiled all the audio together, this video will easily eclipse the 1-hour mark. Whether it's that little bit longer than Modern Warfare, only time will tell.
2020-08-18 13:00:05 +0000 UTC
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2020 hasn't been the easiest time for Techland, famed developer of Zombie games, during this real life pandemic that thankfully, is quite a bit more boring than the company's work. The recent release of Dying Light's DLC Hellraid hasn't gone well so far, with a "Massively Negative" rating on Steam at the moment.
However, for those who haven't ventured into Techland's 2015 title, it's certainly worth the journey. While far from flawless, with some tedious progression, and a hor...
2020-08-17 13:00:11 +0000 UTC
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Eldewrito was a PC Stand Alone Mod for Halo Online, a Free to Play game based on Halo 3 intended to be sold exclusively in Russia. The official game never came to fruition, but Eldewrito was the effort by a small team to bring Halo 3 to the PC, enhanced with higher resolutions, framerates, gameplay options, customization, expanded Forge, and more.
I explain this, because it was available for a ...
2020-08-14 18:26:38 +0000 UTC
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The Great Leveler Asks
What is a story telling trope you want to die? Do you have a moment when you realized you were tired of seeing this trope?
Too many.
I'll spare you a rant about saving the world, I already did a video on that, but, seriously, fuck flash forwards. Alpha Protocol gets away with it because the character you're talking to in the Interrogation room actually changes his dialogue according to your actions.
But Shadow o...
2020-08-12 13:00:06 +0000 UTC
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The Anix's new album came out recently, but as I've got a partnership with its publisher FiXT, I'm not recommending it for conflict of interest. Instead, I'm recommending someone I discovered via a guest appearance on that new record, Aura Shred, and boy does this newcomer have some talent!
While I can't say with confidence that Before the Next Wave is an album you'll effortlessly listen to back to front, it's packed with excellent production, catchy, hummable...
2020-08-11 00:00:49 +0000 UTC
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Greetings everybody;
I'm currently completing some Patreon documents after another days work on Alpha Protocol (script's coming together, 20 pages and counting), and something occurred to me. I'm always consuming media, and not always is it something I'd recommend, but is something I've got things to speak on.
As my readers, would you be interested in posts about shows, albums, or games that I can neither recommend nor completely write off? Like Recommendations & Q&A, it'd...
2020-08-08 14:00:05 +0000 UTC
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Not long ago, I wrote positively about Ace Combat 7. Granted, I was under the influence of alcohol, and that delicious poison will make you enjoy just about anything, but AC7 demonstrated its strengths even after the effects vanished. The superb presentation and open-ended gameplay was refreshing in an age often plagued by face slapping restrictions. What I realized very quickly however is that Ace C...
2020-08-07 13:01:04 +0000 UTC
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The Great Leveler Asks
What is the most immersive gaming experience you've had and what stood out about it to you?
Half Life Alyx is the first game that came to mind. I distinctly remember the section in a Hotel, when the walls went from run down apartments to other worldly textures and alien material. Lighting that was once bright and vibrant became dark and mysterious, yet somehow, beautiful at the same time.
What's most remarkable is other peo...
2020-08-05 13:01:04 +0000 UTC
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I've not seen The Virgin Suicides by Sofia Coppola, so I can't inform you of its qualities, but I know the day I eventually watch it, I'll recognize almost every song in the OST. Not only did Top Gear and other BBC programs use this soundtrack often, I've had it in the background constantly after going through Air's discography on Spotify.
It might very well be the French Duo's best work with beautiful ambient tracks, unnerving tension builders, and even an epic fast paced drum fest on ...
2020-08-03 13:00:08 +0000 UTC
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There's a common piece of writing advice. Writing is in the rewrite. The suggestion being, that when booting up Microsoft Word, you type what comes to mind and don't stop until you're physically incapable of producing another thought. You should be writing paragraphs like you're playing Type of the Dead on Expert.
No pause, no hesitation, just everything that comes to mind immediately put on the page, and you decide later what to keep and discard.
I'...
2020-07-31 22:36:00 +0000 UTC
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Ethan McArthur Asks
How do you usually go about finding old devs of games to contact and ask questions yourself? There are quite a few games that I'd love to contact a dev and let them know I appreciate their work but I don't know how.
Actually, I haven't really.
I've reached out to developers multiple times, but only on one occasion have I spoken to someone attached to a project before the video's release, that being quite recently for Alpha Protocol ...
2020-07-29 13:00:09 +0000 UTC
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