Recent content by Spatzist

*ahem* http://theoatmeal.com/comics/irony

I came alarmingly close to having that name, along with its oh-so-tasteful initials. Fortunately, my mom caught on to my dad's hijinks, and decided my middle name would be Michael instead.

Have to say Oblivion had its moments of terra-awful writing. For some odd reason though, the best parts of the two Bethesda titles I played (Oblivion, Fallout 3) were also the darkest and most morbid. Case in point: the Dark Brotherhood. There's more quality writing (and coding) in that guild...

I usually try to avoid doing this just on principle. My only exception is Gafgarion in FF Tactics. In my defense, though, he's stabbing you in the back in-battle, has gear you can't buy at that point in the game, and his life-stealing powers make him a pain to beat.

Delving into a more specific branch of gamer logic:

Find a way to actually navigate with the bugger in a 3D environment when he's moving at the speed of sound. Oh, and have the game open with him and the few worthwhile characters falling into some portal to another dimension that then closes shut forever, thus escaping all the stupidity in the...

"...some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them" Personally, I think a man's greatness is measured by his deeds. What defines a great deed then becomes the new topic of discussion.

The problem with this game is that, despite possessing amazing creative potential, the game doesn't encourage the right type of creative process for the players. Although amazing in a create-your-own-scenario sort of way, most gamers aren't that sort of creative type. We're problem-solvers, and...

I study History to understand people; in both the macro of civilizations, and the micro of individuals. I consider the understanding of human nature to be fairly important. On the other hand, I took history class because it was required to graduate, even though all I learned in that...

Steam should have an option for those downloading to opt into a torrent-like system (through the steam client, of course). You offer up your upload, you get more download from other downloaders who are uploading. When a few million people are trying to download at once, the users could actually...

Reading that gave me a sudden thought... According to Wikipedia, over 416,000 U.S. military personnel died in World War II. And this is how their sacrifice is remembered. "Saving Britain's ass"... They may be insulting the British, but even other Americans have every right to be pissed at moron...

I do see a problem here, but it sure as hell isn't those kids.

But you can't really say that for certain. A five year old isn't even going to know what sex is - and kids at that age are very impressionable and easy to manipulate. Generally, I'd rope off all prepubescents. They have no actual physical desire for intercourse. They'd only ever consent to it...

Leveling has always been the icing on the cake for me in RPG's. It can make a good game better, but it can't singlehandedly make the game (for me, at any rate). Oh, and there's an even better article about this on the author's blog: http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=221

Not for a looong time. Seriously, someone should write a book (or forum thread?) on how to do it, because it seems to have become a lost art. Heck, I bet a whole bunch of us have had civilized discussions before and didn't even recognize them as such, they occur so rarely. I blame the bad...