Gaming

[alt text: a screenshot from an unspecified Mario game. In the screenshot, Bowser is standing behind Donkey Kong, and Donkey Kong has a dramatic expression with eyes closed and mouth wide open like he is yelling or groaning.]

[alt text: a pair of posts by strudel-fatpaws on tumblr. The first post says, "who was the guy who said every indie game is named either 'empoisoned' or 'swumbles big jumble'. i swear this is a real thing someone said". The second post says, "gonna start sorting my steam library like this". Included with the second post is a screenshot of a Steam library, in which games are sorted into two categories titled "Empoisoned" and "Swumbles Big Jumble". Under the "Empoisoned" category, the games listed are: "Antichamber", "Balatro", "Pseudoregalia", "ULTRAKILL", and "Wobbledogs". Under the "Swumbles Big Jumble" category, the games listed are: "The Binding of Isaac Rebirth", "Orbo's Odyssey", "Patrick's Parabox", "the Gnorp Apologue", and "Will You Snail?".]

I just finished Alan Wake 2 and the 3 episodes of the DLCs. Alan Wake 2 is a literal masterpiece in my opinion, the gameplay was similar to its first game but refined, the story dark, mood, mysterious and weird. I also loved the references to the other games. Like Ahti. The ending of Alan Wake 2 made me wonder and sad (I won’t mention it to avoid spoilers).

The 3 DLCs made me immensely hyped up though - they were weird and like a love-letters to their fan-base of all three games. Spoiler tagged, don't open if you have not played the DLCs (you have been warned);

I was not certain how much, I could write without spoilers therefore it might be a little underwhelming or not much.

I assume they're planning a second DLC for Alan Wake and I will get that one as well. In the meantime, I will take a little break and then replay Quantum Break and Control.

What have you all been playing?

I'm still working my way through Arkham Origins. Also playing some zachtronics solitaire on the side

Right now, Callisto Protocol is available for free on the epic games store.

Looking at their marketing, it reminds me a lot of Dead Space. Starting from the immersive UI with the health bar on the players suit, to that sign in the trailer that tells me to shoot the limbs of the enemies. And I mean, the enemies don't look that different, basically some kind of aggressive infected zombie thingies. And then, the whole setting seems so similar: a space outpost being overrun by some kind of zombie virus.

Did anyone here play both Dead Space and Callisto Protocol? Did you find them very similar?

This is a bit of a rant, but please try to stick with me through the whole thing

So recently OSRS (Old School Runescape) has joined a list of games that have replaced "Male or Female" with "Body Type A or Body Type B" with you selecting your pronouns secondary.

And it made me furious, but I had to sit down and ask why such a small meaningless thing that I only see during the character creator pisses me off. After all, isn't this giving a seat at the table for Gender Non-Conforming/Non-Binary individuals?

So I tried thinking about this issue from the perspective of a Non-Binary individual. See I myself am female (Transgender MTF for what it's worth), so the only thing I'm ever going to pick is the female option unless I'm doing a challenge run where I try to roleplay Guybrush Threepywood (Mighty Pirate!) while playing Fallout 3...

That's when I realized why I absolutely hate Body Type A/Body Type B

This is not a solution to a problem, this is highlighting the issue.

As a woman, I look at "Body Type A or Body Type B" and think "Well, I'm a woman, not a Body Type B, and isn't it kinda misogynistic that the secondary option is the female one? Like A+ for Men, B- for Women?"

As someone is very much not cisgender, I look at it and go "Well, isn't every FTM going to pick Body Type A with male pronouns while MTFs like myself go with Body Type B with female pronouns? Who outside of a Far Right Troll trying and failing to be funny is gonna pick the buff bearded dude and select the she/her pronouns?"

It was only when I went "Let's pretend I don't exist in a male/female binary and see how I feel about it." that I realized why I absolutely DESPISE Body Type A/Body Type B

Because when I look at it from that angle, I realize that if I am a non-binary individual, my options are to look like an overly buff dude but occasionally NPCs will refer to me as a They/Them, or like an overly curvy chick who again sometimes gets called They/Them....

That's when I realized why Body Type A/Body Type B doesn't do it for me.

Games that do this aren't being progressive or inclusive, they're changing the color of the cup that my drink comes in and pretending it's an entirely new beverage.

I realized that if the choices in Body Type were something like

A - Buff Dude

B - Slim Dude

C - Fat Dude

D - Skinny Androgynous Individual who doesn't need a bra/binder

E - Fat Androgynous Individual who doesn't need a bra/binder

F - Skinny Androgynous Individual who requires bra/binder

G - Fat Androgynous Individual who requires bra/binder

I - Curvy Chick

J - Buff Chick

K - Fat Chick

L - Slim Chick

Maybe have also an option for a big buff masculine dude who has big tits, because that's just how he rolls, I dunno just thinking aloud here....

My point is that gaming could abandon "A/B" in favor of something more like an actual spectrum of Height, Weight, and Gender Presentation instead of just awkwardly renaming the binary? I wouldn't get so up in arms about gender replacing body type.

I don't know what more I have to say on this. I guess it's just a revelation I had about something in gaming that bothers me..

So, wider gaming community. What do you think? Am I onto something or is this all crazy talk?

I am very excited about this, although a bit saddened to see they're still doing it as an 'episodic' release game. Maybe that's better for funding or something however, I thought game developers had moved past that?

The format of these posts is simple: let's discuss a specific game or series!

Let's discuss the Monkey Island series. What is your favorite game? What aspects do you like about it? What doesn't work for you? Are there games that gave you a similar experience? Feel free to share any thoughts that come up, or react to other peoples comments. Let's get the conversation going!

If you have any recommendations for games or series for the next post(s), please feel free to DM me or add it in a comment here (no guarantees of course).

Previous entries: 8 Bit Era, Animal Crossing, Age of Empires, Super Mario, Deus Ex, Stardew Valley, The Sims, Half-Life, Earthbound / Mother, Mass Effect, Metroid, Journey, Resident Evil, Polybius, Tetris, Telltale Games, Kirby, LEGO Games, DOOM, Ori, Metal Gear, Slay the Spire

Чи можна отримати бан каналу на Twitch, якщо грати у ритм-ігри: Guitar Hero, Rock Band чи Just Dance? Про DMCA та захист авторських прав на Twitch.

(╭☞´ิ∀´ิ)╭☞

This is your somewhat regularly scheduled Stop Killing Games update.

Stop Killing Games is an European Citizens Initiative aiming to keep games playable even after their developers and publishers have stopped supporting it.

Germany has hit the threshold sometime yesterday evening. France has also started to catch up. They are still below 50% but there growth over the last couple of days has been the biggest. Netherlands and Denmark are still in the low 90s.

The milestone comes on the eve of this years Gamescom in Cologne, Germany which is set to kick off today. SKG is not going to have an official presence there. (I've checked with the organisers) But if you are attending and want to help spread the word I'm happy to share official marketing material, either in the form of flyers or the files for flyers, so you can print your own. They come in both German and English. If you want some, send me a DM.

Relevant links:

• Sign the initiative here
• Initiative homepage
• Video FAQ by the initiator on YouTube
  • The same video on invidious

So, I've been getting into GBA and want some recommendations. I've been playing advance wars and really like it, anyone know any similar games? (Not fire emblem because permadeath is an annoying mechanic?

And justgoogd GBA games in general

The previews so far are more positive than I imagined.... Sh2 is one of my all time favorites. I will eat my words if bloober actually pulls this off!

Whatcha been playing!

I've been playing Batman Arkham origins. Never played it when it came out but loved the other ones. It's pretty good so far!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/19279015

I wanted to share and highlight this video for others to see. This is such a thorough and amazing resource for the dev team at Frost Giant (the makers of Stormgate) that I hope they have seen. The breakdown and walk-through of the different elements of the game was such an amazing thing to watch.

I found myself sitting there watching for hours, this is exactly what game companies need in terms of experienced game tester leads that can articulate and explain everything going on in the game from the perspective of an average player. I think if every game company had someone of this caliber, to sit down with them and go over the basic mechanics of the games, we would all be a lot better off. I felt like I was sitting in on a company meeting while an outside contractor was going over his notes with the developers and trying to understand their vision while giving his unique and experienced position.

I'm definitely more excited about the game than I was previously after watching this video (as confusing as that might seem). It shows a clear path of how to fix and enhance the gameplay which has a chance to come into fruition with the game still in the testing phase.