Skye

Seems that some people are already streaming the full game over in Japan. Large character select spoilery spoilers down below. The link, of course, is also going to spoil. Spoiler Most of these were already floating around before now, but figured this would be nice if anyone was doubting the credentials of the leaks or if you missed on. Bowser Jr., Mr. Game & Watch, Ganondorf, Falco, Duck Hunt Dog, Ness, Dr. Mario and Dark Pit are there. Characters like Snake, Ice Climbers, and Mewtwo remain unconfirmed, and given how little space is left on that screen and the fact that the roster is already at 45, I'd say that's all she wrote. ...Really? Dr. Mario? EDIT: I'm a dirty rotten liar. Another stream found Wario and Jigglypuff. So yeah, there's more potential space on that roster. Interesting.

Payday soundtrack and Hotline Miami soundtrack meeting together. I don't think my ears will ever be the same again.

Very Hard missions are very hit and miss for me, and mostly come down to how well everyone else is since I can't hold my own in them yet (most of my weapons still have trouble taking down Cloakers before I get jumpkicked in the face - unless they're meant to survive several shotgun blasts in the back.) Overkill has never worked for me (excluding the one time I played with Guy and such for it, and I was very much carried in that heist) and Death Wish has never been tried. For now, I need to stay with Normal and Hard since those are the only ones I consistently succeed at, and I don't feel confident with Very Hard and above until I have more money for better equipment and more skills. It's this horribly loop of progression that prevents me from, well, actually progressing. If I actually got some experience and cash from a loss, however minimal, I'd actually try higher difficulties and longer heists, but as it is, I only feel I can try heists I have a very high chance of succeeding at. Tsk. This all stems from the fact I suck, of course, I acknowledge that. Still feels it could be improved to me, though. EDIT: Tried the Big Bank on Overkill. It was 40 minutes long and awesome throughout, lots of tense moments and I went absolutely ballistic with a sniper rifle (scored a quadruple-shot at one point.) We got the gold to the ladder leading to the roof before cloakers and snipers suddenly decided to throw us a surprise party, along with about four shields blocking the only door. We lost. So much experience and cash right down the god damn drain. Lovely. I'm not even upset.

Zero experience for a failed job is so questionable to me. I don't like it when I effectively waste 15 minutes of my time and get nothing from it, just because one guy doesn't know how to stand in a glowing white rectangle. Even if it's at penalties - reduced experience and money, and/or no payday - I should get something. It'd be like if you found a hat in Team Fortress 2, but you lost the round so the game takes it back from you. Also still unsure why I need to buy skills with money. I figured using skill points would be enough of an investment, but now I have to refrain from buying anything to have enough money for higher-tier skills. Which means I'm using weaker weapons, which means I perform worse, which means I'm more likely to fail, which means I'll get no experience or money. So I can buy weapons and such right now, but then I don't have the money for the skills, and I can't progress as fast as I would like and I'm handicapping myself. Just find the progression in this game really odd. I suppose the intention was to make sure that you spend your money wisely and that you're encouraged not to make mistakes, but it doesn't work well in a team game where there are at least three other people who can potentially mess everything up, and I keep getting into scenarios where I'm so concerned with spending wisely that I don't spend at all. And that's just no fun. And because that was all whining, on a positive note, I stealthed a hard heist for the first time and it felt very satisfying.

Guy: "Alright, me, Loser Who Eats Vegetables and Moby are going to case the joint, find out where the cameras and keycards are, turn off the power, get through the vault, pick the locks and get back without raising any alarms." Skye: "what should i do" Guy: "...Guard the van." Skye: "okay c:" im helping

On the market for a couple of cents. Enjoy.

Compendium rewards (kill banner, In The Bag taunt, and music pack) should be out for people now. The music pack is breathtaking. Some people have noted it's a bit too epic and distracting sometimes, but still, it's gloriously composed.

Guess what's live? That's what's live.

SafeTracks are a nice source of music you can use for whatever you want without the possible risk of Twitch or Youtube descending upon you like a pack of wolves. Might be important to keep public domain in mind, might not, Twitch seems up and down on the issue itself. Here's a free hour of music, and a personal favorite track of mine. If that doesn't float your boat, I believe OCRemix is still cool with people using their music for stuff like this, though you'll want to double check that. For overlays, I can't help you out in making one, but I would say it's good to get people's views on what's a good overlay or not. Personally, I dislike the obvious stuff like bad color schemes or too much overlay taking up the screen, as well as other stuff like too much of it being animated - distracts my eye. Might just be me, though, better to get a collection of thoughts, and then maybe commission a graphic designer? I dunno. Twitch page should have access to VODs or highlights if you can get around to that in the future. Outside of that, you might want to do some branding. Whether it's a memorable avatar or banner or something, I need to load the page and immediately see it's Facade in some way. If you need a unique avatar, again, commissioning is worth looking into. And, of course, links to social media. Networking is important - you need to tweet every time you're streaming, or I might miss it. Outside of that, best of luck. When I totally make that video review of mine in 2024, I'll tweet about you.

Every answer is "..." Works every time.

Valve servers are both hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time, somehow. Every victory feels hollow, and every defeat feels shameful. On another note, I've fallen in love with the Back Scatter.

Surprise; I liked this one. Entire concept of the episode was good, with the "is the Dalek actually good?" hanging as a mystery over the whole thing and letting them do some moral dilemmas that didn't feel out of place. Plus it establishes the Doctor much better than, well, the previous episode specifically designed to establish him. Weird. The little bit with the teacher who fought in Afghanistan and the subject of killing civilians was... awkward. It's not that I have a problem with the topic, far from it, but Doctor Who does not seem like the sort of show to suddenly start discussing real-life shit like that. Doesn't even work in itself - my younger brothers didn't know what it was about and forgot about it seconds later. There's something hilarious about calling the Dalek "Rusty". Interior of a Dalek led to some cool possibilities, with the environments and the antibodies and such. Shout out to the set designs, really good. Very good example of exploring the Doctor again, with the "find a third option" trope I always like in this show. Also Clara actually felt necessary and insightful in this episode, so well done on that. Still needs more actual personality, mind, and I still miss Amy far more, but whatever, she wasn't annoying or anything in this episode so thumbs up. Bittersweet ending was very well balanced for me. Clara's line about the Doctor trying to be good was very poignant, good writing. Also I can actually understand most of what Capaldi was saying this time. Guess he was slurring in the last episode because regeneration? Might just be me. so yeah good i like it

The perfect introduction, by An Angry Sock Puppet. You know, that guy who does Team Service Announcement and is constantly amazing?

TECHIES ...coming next week. As upset as people seem to be about that, it was good of Valve to actually say "hey, here's when it's coming out" rather than remaining quiet and having another GIFF DIRETIDE on their hands. I'm fine with late deadlines - as a wise man once said, "a delayed game is eventually good; a bad game is bad forever" - so I'm glad they're just saying so. Anyway, tl;dr for people who can't be bothered with the webpage (or have it blocked or whatever): Techies, obviously. Same abilities as always, so expect little to no change if/when the update comes out. Arcana for Techies, adds fucking everything: full item set, effects tinted by Prismatic Gems, custom icons, custom portrait, Inscribed Gems, custom animations, custom effects, custom sounds, taunt, loading screen, and an emoticon. I will immediately be buying this. Techies-themed bundle; contains a HUD skin and an announcer pack of, you guessed it, Techies. Also that funny Nilbog courier. All Random Deathmatch, now with less bugs (hopefully.) Gallery of Triumphs; some sort of trophy system. Shows off your achievements without actually being achievements (so that people don't farm them in-game, I imagine.) Trophies include winning Fantasy Leagues, finishing the Ten Hero Challenge during TI4, etc. More coming later, apparently. All-Hero Challenge, also known as the A-Z challenge, now fully supported in-game. You get a sticker big shiny trophy if you can beat it (bearing in mind we're around a hundred heroes now, and that Techies will be in the pool...) Compendium Owners will get the "Assured Victory" taunt. Use it in a game before the horn sounds if you feel confident you'll win. If you're right, one point. If you're wrong, back to zero. Trophy for getting "enough" points. Compendium Owners will also get the special taunt for a hero. Can you guess? Techies. Compendium Owners will also also get custom kill banners. Apparently, they're shiny. Compendium Owners will also also also get new music. Preview is on the webpage. It sounds really good. And some little changes to interacting with stash and Bot AI and such. Update page also says "Learn More Next Week" so there may be more on actual release. All this is still above and beyond Love and War update ("Uuuuuh, give half the classes one weapon and add some taunts.")

Spoiler

Aye. I mean, there's British, and then there's... British.

Actually, aye, one more. ; - ;

Ha, fair enough. Though I'm having trouble finding anyone who dislikes Capaldi who's under the age of 20 and/or female and/or has a Tumblr account.

I found the episode surprisingly boring and paced awfully - it bounced from the usual mood to a romantic drama fanfiction with the veil scene* and then to a fucking awful comedy in the kitchen with the Sontaran and I don't even know what the hell that scene with the homeless man and the mirror was about. However, I still found Capaldi pretty great throughout all of it. Besides, I'm apparently the only person in the known universe who disliked this episode as a whole, so. I dunno. Just wanted to say my piece. * Okay, I have nothing against Jenna Coleman, she's a good actress and I'm sure she's lovely, but god, can Clara ever just shut the fuck up? At least Bella Swan had the decency to be pretentiously Mary Sue with internal monologues instead of full dialogue. Ugh. ...Also how do you make an INVISIBLE DINOSAUR IN THE MIDDLE OF LONDON underwhelming?!

DLC for Mario Kart 8 coming out. The first pack is due in November of this year, the second pack is due in May 2015.

Keys for The Crew on uPlay. I myself can't get this beta to install correctly, but you might have more luck. Played the first beta (this one being the second to come around) and thoroughly enjoyed it. If you can stomach uPlay, worth a try. DCCE-CLM6-RJAN-KDEY HX4Y-H7QC-3VWH-PUQN KA4C-R4KM-FCCH-LGFJ Won't be keeping track of when they go because I can't be arsed to check. Grab them while they're hot (if they're even hot to begin with.)

Figured I'd see what the fuss is about, started watching a i52 rebroadcast. Teams were im versus mix^, whoever they are. I'll admit, I see the appeal now. Wish I'd seen it live now, whoops.