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there's a frog in my snake oil
Holy crap, I don't usually get gamer targeted ads, but this is hilarious



Loving the Masonic-esque Ohm symbol in gold leaf...

EDIT:

It was rolling before this interview with Gabe 'Buy a Vive Headset Why Don't You' Newell, which might explain it



He's into brain-computer interfaces these days, and feels they've nailed HLVR
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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here



The Adventure Starts Here!
Holy crap, I don't usually get gamer targeted ads, but this is hilarious



Loving the Masonic-esque Ohm symbol in gold leaf...
Laugh all you want at that ad. I'm not even a serious gamer and now I want that chair.



You ready? You look ready.
So I really want Animal Crossing: New Horizons now.
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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza



Welcome to the human race...
I still haven't played any Animal Crossing games so I was considering trying New Horizons at some point but it'll probably depend on how much you need to be online to get the most out of it.

In the meantime, I did get myself a copy of Doom Eternal and my first impression is that it's at least as good as the previous one, though I am playing it on a slightly higher difficulty level (think I usually play Doom games on "Hurt Me Plenty"/medium whereas I figured what the hell I'll try doing it on "Ultra-Violence"/hard, which is proving a challenge alright but not enough to be frustrating - or too frustrating, anyway). Gotta admit that I'm kind of torn between trying to find secrets and pushing on with the combat since it seems like that's always going to run the risk of ruining the game's momentum to go from clearing out areas to doubling back and scouring for breakable surfaces or hidden passageways.

(Also I beat Shadow Man since my last post here. Fun game, also a bit too prone to doubling back but it made up for it in atmosphere, tension, and combat - now to see if I can find the sequel anywhere).
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I really just want you all angry and confused the whole time.
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0



there's a frog in my snake oil
This is what I've been up to. Pushing on through a curious Crytek AAA VR game...

Robinson: The Journey, a terribly named tale about adventuring through the remnants of a failed space expedition. On a lush planet full of dinosaurs. For no adequately explained reason...



That's just a little vibe shot of how, when things work right, it's pretty damn classy on the presentation front, even if it falls down in other places. (It doesn't come across, but right at the end I look up at dangling train which I'd previously clambered down. The game bridges all its pretty locations very nicely...)

Best bit was the brontosauruses in the tar pit though, all arching their necks through the sun gleam and foraging on weird mushroom trees.

It's a really weird beast under the skin though, kind of pitched at 12 year olds, full of early-VR-days oddities that take the shine off almost every fancy aspect it has (and it has many). But when it all pulls together, this is some Lost in Space meets The Goonies VR goodness...

Alright yes it's like Robinson Crusoe as well...

Anyway apologies for pimping luxury goods during an economic cluster****. But I've gotta do something while I'm quarantining

(I swear my ageing, irreplaceable CV1 cable is going to troll me soon though. Falling apart the minute I'm through the Half Life intro is probably too good an opportunity for it to miss )



The People's Republic of Clogher
Thoughts?

Never played an Animal Crossing game but this is seriously tempting right now.
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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan



Thoughts?

Never played an Animal Crossing game but this is seriously tempting right now.
Haven't played, just posting it because I know a ton of people who were waiting for it and thought it was funny.

I might take the plunge today/tomorrow, since it seems very suited to the situation.



The People's Republic of Clogher
Haven't played, just posting it because I know a ton of people who were waiting for it and thought it was funny.

I might take the plunge today/tomorrow, since it seems very suited to the situation.
I've gone back to State of Decay 2, which is maybe a bit 'on the nose'.



You ready? You look ready.
Thoughts?

Never played an Animal Crossing game but this is seriously tempting right now.
Haven't played, just posting it because I know a ton of people who were waiting for it and thought it was funny.

I might take the plunge today/tomorrow, since it seems very suited to the situation.
If anyone on here snags a copy of Animal Crossings I’ll totally pick it up for the multiplayer. I don’t have anyone on my friends list for Switch yet.



The People's Republic of Clogher
If anyone on here snags a copy of Animal Crossings I’ll totally pick it up for the multiplayer. I don’t have anyone on my friends list for Switch yet.
I'll probably pick it up later today.

For anyone who wants it, my friend code is SW-7330-4800-8821



You ready? You look ready.
If anyone on here snags a copy of Animal Crossings I’ll totally pick it up for the multiplayer. I don’t have anyone on my friends list for Switch yet.
I'll probably pick it up later today.

For anyone who wants it, my friend code is SW-7330-4800-8821
Mine is SW-6426-4704-0316



You ready? You look ready.
Bought it last night but am still in the tutorial. Lord knows what I let myself in for but I loved Stardew Valley.
I may wait for your initial thoughts on it.

I have wanted to play Stardew Valley, but I think Animal Crossings might be the more engaging option.



there's a frog in my snake oil
So I got this far into Alyx before everything melted...



It didn't recognise my GPU, crashed on starting a new game. Now it doesn't even load...

Having failed at all other high tech hacks I've gone for the old on-and-off again. Reinstalling 45gb :/

Gorram first-day gaming

(The big nasty gates looked nice for a minute though )

EDIT: Just sitting around reading about bugs. Aside from the above, the most popular one is that people’s hands are going missing. Apparently it’s because they’ve grabbed something very solid and then walked off without their hand



there's a frog in my snake oil
Oh ****...



I'll go shtum from here probably. (For a while like anyway . But no spoilers either way).

But first impressions are good for sure. Some of the assets are amazing, and the world-building is looking very solid too. I've genuinely just been merrily poking around every inch of each location so far just seeing how far I can push the physics, and turning up the odd easter egg in cob-webby corners. The city and blocks feel properly 'lived in' alive. (If French-looking cities invaded by the Combine were a thing).

Prettier screenie... (which has been all over the press stuff so not too much of a give-away)




The People's Republic of Clogher
I may wait for your initial thoughts on it.

I have wanted to play Stardew Valley, but I think Animal Crossings might be the more engaging option.
I'd say Stardew is definitely more engaging for one simple reason - It's not in effin real time!

Maybe this evens itself out but I found myself on day one with nothing at all to do because some essential things wouldn't kick off until the next day. I know of some people taking their Switch offline and resetting the clock to combat this but I'll be playing by the book, for now.

I'd say go for Stardew. It's always among the Switch best sellers for a good reason.



You ready? You look ready.
I'd say Stardew is definitely more engaging for one simple reason - It's not in effin real time!

Maybe this evens itself out but I found myself on day one with nothing at all to do because some essential things wouldn't kick off until the next day. I know of some people taking their Switch offline and resetting the clock to combat this but I'll be playing by the book, for now.

I'd say go for Stardew. It's always among the Switch best sellers for a good reason.
Well ain't that nifty. Of course, now it gives me more to consider. I already keep weird hours, so I would get some nice varied gameplay out of Animal Crossing.

But then again it also sounds annoying AF.



there's a frog in my snake oil
OK, Valve aren't dummies. Those marker pens in the opening section have spawned many dick pic gifs on /r/gaming now . Has burst through the 'screw you 1%er' stonewalling that proceeded it

(As an aside, it's genuinely the best 'draw on a 2D surface' mechanic I've come across, even though they're super common. They're using some clever smoothing in there I think. It doesn't have the usual wild wobble and contact-distance issues. Plus it just has a nice inky effect and wipe-clear smudginess).

Totally, totally incidental to the actual gameplay. But a nice bit of environment-interaction excess

Have a suitable for work / non spoilery take:




(If I just post pictures from the starting balcony will that be ok? I did spend a long time throwing toilet rolls at pigeons and watching them resettle. I reckon I could hit the postman on a bike too...)

(PPS the throwing mechanic is also, genuinely, the most pleasing one I've encountered to date. They're normally completely errant, requiring you to adjust to some artificial constraint, but this felt surprisingly natural. Every luz of an object went right in the ballpark I was aiming for. Possibly even with suitable heft for different objects, haven't played around enough yet to be sure. Definitely felt like they'd put some time into it anyway. Again these are like the only few mechanics I've nudged into yet, but the polish is promising at least )

EDIT: Oh and I will keep worrying about spoilers, because the way I see it: 5 years from now the tech to enjoy this will be way more accessible. And it should still be good then

EDIT2: Oo, I remembered my one negative. The sound does seem thinner than HL2 etc. Still all appropriately gnarly, and impactful at points. But just... thinner on the quality front. (This is often where VR games make a payoff to get the frames they need. And on the plus side, the actual visuals, and the auto-quality stuff they're doing on pixel density, makes it look absolutely lush. Vying for best-looking VR game I've played so far, no doubt).



there's a frog in my snake oil
Sorry, too topical had to...

Half Life + coronavirus remote learning...