These are great. It’s illuminating to see the walk cycles abstracted from their games like he says, but it’s also remarkable how quickly they evoke the games they come from. Hell, just seeing the Bloodborne one makes me want to play it again.

So it’s a pre-order for the pre-order, and not only does the pre-order not guarantee you’ll get a console, but the pre-order pre-order doesn’t guarantee you'll get to pre-order. Incredible.

Agreed, on both counts (their labor practices were pretty awful). I always thought they kneecapped themselves by playing up the whole “game changes based on your choices” schtick. I mean, yes, the games worked that way to a limited extent, although you’d have to do multiple playthroughs the see the differences. But I…

Jeez. That is chilling. That shouldn’t even be a question, let alone one that comes from a child.

Tenet was what I was thinking of, too. Seeing a Christopher Nolan movie on the big screen is always satisfying, regardless of how “good” it is, but it’s going to be a long time before it’s worth the risk again. Which makes me realize that, before this, I never once even thought in terms of ‘risk’ when going to a…

I’ve found this to be an effective coping strategy.

My happy place has been harder to get to these days. But I’ve managed to get there more often with my son’s help, and in two cases, it’s been with the simpler kind of game you mention.

He acknowledged that in the first paragraph.

My palate cleanser immediately after TLoU2 was to make more progress in BotW, which was a much needed dose of levity. But the reason I’m responding to you is that I just started Rise myself as my next full playthrough, and I’m enjoying it so far. I think you’ll be making a fine choice in moving on to that game.

I’ve been using ‘How Long To Beat’ and logging all my play time religiously for the last five years. I don’t know why I started doing it, but I kept at it. There came a time around the three year mark where I averaged out my playtime. I loaded up my entire backlog, allowing for my typical playstyle (Story + Extra, not…

Not to get too pedantic about it (since I don’t disagree with your overall sentiment), but he did say ‘mistake’, not ‘accident’. Dictionary definitions of ‘mistake’ tend to emphasize making an error in judgement, with the implication that it was intentional. Hence, to admit a mistake is to acknowledge to some degree…

I’m with you. I have less time than ever for games because we’re both working from home and our son is home with us (and we also have a garden going). Not that I’m complaining - far from it, given our high level of stability. But all these articles about how to fill up one’s time might as well be about an alternate…

Great turnout this week! I especially liked the LotR crossover.

I’ve wanted to do a gif of the shot of Captain Kirk yelling “Khan!”, but with the subtitle “Schreier!”, ending with a shot of Jason’s face deepfaked on Kahn’s head. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to do any of that. I’ll just have to settle for my imagination.

And Awkward Zombie hits the nail on the head.

I’m starting The Witcher 3 for the first time. When I'll complete it is anyone’s guess.

Rain World. I finally started it a few days ago. It frustrated me to no end, but then I realized three hours had gone by, and I’ve kept thinking about it since then. I figure I'll give it a few more hours this weekend, see if it keeps its hooks in me or if I should let it go. Such a cute little slugcat.

Classic. Good choice.

I just laughed out loud. That damn platform confounded me for days when I first encountered it as a kid.

Sonic the Hedgehog, Labrynth Zone, Act 3. It’s not that this is a hard level, but my undeveloped skills as a child meant that I could never beat Robotnik. I got tripped up by the timing needed to jump around the level obstacles while attacking him, and I couldn’t outrun the water, at which point I became absolutely…