Shacknews LoL

Excellent interview with Jordan Amaro, a westerner who after working at Ubisoft, Crytek, and 2k, went on to work as a designer on Metal Gear Solid 5, Resident Evil 7, and is currently working at Nintendo on Splatoon 2. He is only one of two westerners on the entire NCL design staff: http://www.rollingstone.com/glixel/features/splatoon-2-hideo-kojima-nintendo-japanese-games-w501322

The entire thing is worth copy/pasting but here's a sample: "I’m stereotyping, but in the West, scope, visuals, and features are the main attraction. For example, when we used to have Kojima Productions L.A.—we had an office in Los Angeles—we would get proposals for new games, pitches. It always started with: “This is the world you’re in. This is the experience I’m going to give you.” And gameplay was relegated to page 5 or 6 or 10. It was always about who you’re playing, who is the character, what’s going on, but not the “how,” how am I playing this?

In Japan, a pitch is a page, maybe two. The first page you write what the game is about and how you play it. And the second page, maybe you need an illustration. We don’t care about who, or what the story is, what the game world is, all of this doesn’t really matter.

I would agree that Western technology is very impressive. You look at the Unreal Engine, you look at Naughty Dog games, you look at DICE’s Frostbite engine, and Unity. But technology is only a support component for design. Sometimes technology can create new mechanics and new avenues for game design. But if you don’t nail your game design, whatever your tech is, you have a bad game. You know that there are countless very beautiful, very boring games out there.

You play Western games, and it’s very beautiful, it’s technically impressive, the scope is massive, yes. Is the controller response that good? I don’t think so. Is the expression of the game related to your inputs and actions? Is it elegant and simple and natural? I don’t think so either. I’m not really impressed, to be honest."

He also talks about the notion of Japanese games treating users like they're having a course menu vs the more Western "buffet" approach. Really interesting, he articulates the differences in approach and design really well.

I'm about to finish up my backlog of history podcasts.

Recommend new ones!

I've already listened to/am up to date on:

History of Rome
Hardcore History
History of Byzantium
History of the Crusades
British History Podcast
Memory Palace
Revolutions!
A History of the United States

Coffee Lovers

I usually don't buy coffee online but found this roaster a few months back. Wow they make some great coffee!! Had a few months now to try a few different roasts and haven't been disappointed once!

I highly recommend these beans/roasts:
http://www.groundsforchange.com/shop/product.php?pid=61& Ethiopia "Yirgacheffe"
http://www.groundsforchange.com/shop/product.php?pid=125& Nordic Blend
http://www.groundsforchange.com/shop/product.php?pid=150& Guatemala "Quetzal"
http://www.groundsforchange.com/shop/product.php?pid=160& Summer Seasonal Blend (Drinking this one right now!)


I've also had the Winter & Spring Seasonal Blends which are also great.. but of course those aren't available this time of year.

Everyone, get your heart checked..I have a friend who died in his sleep at 35 of a heart attack.

You can go to your doctor, get a blood test, get a 12 lead EKG, that stuff is only the first step.

I went and saw a cardiologist for fun and asked, hey if you have the time and money, what should I get done? And he said it's criminal every man and woman in the united states isn't getting a carotid artery ultrasound every year or two. Insurance does not cover it for preventative checkups. He told me it predicts plaque buildup 5 years out, and even artery thickening years before plaque buildup starts. We're talking an indicator that would give you peace of mind that you're good for 5, maybe 7 years!

It's $70 from lifeline screening, I'm 37 and I've had it done twice over two years. Of course it's not gonna show anything, this is 1/100 or 1/1000 type stuff, but worth $70 and 1 hour of my time!

They go to church basements and where ever all over the country once a month, you walk in, they put goo on your neck and probe with the ultrasound for 10 seconds, results come in the mail 2 weeks later. Not a big deal!

http://www.lifelinescreening.com/

(If you're under 40 you have to call to schedule it..the online tool will tell you not to sign up)

My Family's Slave

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/lolas-story/524490/

Good read. Got me right in the feels.

You guys are truly amazing, you made me cry.


A few people asked about possible donations, this is something that was hugely important to not only Shannon but myself. I'm just going to copy/paste my Facebook post here:

One of the most important events in Shannon Carlson 's life was the American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk we do annually in Walnut Creek. I know she pestered everyone with endless donation requests, but is was for a damn good reason. I have joined Team Shannon sponsored by Muir Orthopedic and taken up the baton in her stead.

She was a tenacious fund raiser, and was always in or at the top for donations. This year I want to blow it out of the water, but I need your help. Help me help all the other families affected. Dig deep, donate often, and praise that person fighting as well as their loved ones.

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?fr_id=84325&pg=personal&px=29645892

Click the donate button!

I'll repost this as often as I can, but riptyde style if you see I haven't please start a new thread yourself.

Warhammer 40k duders

This is pretty fucking awesome.

Animated shorts based on the book Helsreach. The Narration from the audiobook accompanies the animation.

Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D4jr-0_COg

Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhqpYcFkeCE

Part 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOtSVTvH8bM

[deleted]

Game Soundtracks

Anybody have favorite OSTs that work well as standalone albums? I've been listening to Bastion and FTL lately as work music. Hotline Miami too as a guilty pleasure even though it puts me in a dark headspace.

What VPN services do you all use? Given the legislation going through Congress right now I am looking in to switching over to a VPN for normal web traffic. And I just need to see what people are using and what they like, then figure out if there is a way I can automate everything at the router level.