FreshHalibut

I got a thing!
 

 
 
 
 

So... I am once again back. I hate real life and other stuff getting in the way of doing stuff, but what may one do? I hope that I won't once again forget to visit this here forum.
 
In other news, I am ATM home celebrating the delay of Article 13. Feels good to have representatives that actually think for once.

This game is currently free on GoG.

So! Finally got around to branching out on cosplays this last weekend at LvlUp Expo in Las Vegas. While I like my Kyle Katarn, it's starting to show some age and, on top of that, it's a little too obscure for a general anime/pop culture convention - it was originally made for a Star Wars con, though I still ended up with a bit of recognition, so I guess it wasn't horribly obscure.
 
My chronic procrastination and 40-hour work week(s) gave me very little time to work on anything but I managed to turn around a brand-new costume in about 2 weeks and... well, it shows in the paint and some construction quality. It was definitely 15-feet-rule worthy and gave me a good bit of insight into how to operate both my 3D printer and EVA foam - my first ever actually completed - so I'm still considering it a win, but it's no museum piece.
 
 
Then, on Sunday, I put together a low-impact costume of Dick Gumshoe (since I've always wanted to represent Ace Attorney in cosplay somehow) so I could walk around still referential to a franchise I like but one that I could use my hands in and not have to worry about parts falling off randomly.
 
 
It was certainly obscure, even compared to my Katarn, but it was still just within the wheelhouse of the con crowd to be instantly recognized by those In The Know. I think that feeling is the best for me when it comes to a costume: everyone can point out an Iron Man, or a Goku, or any other number of con staples, but to have people recognize the less-known character is great. Plus, the people who can point out your obscure costume are absolutely thrilled when they see your lesser-known character actually present. Hell, I got more requests to get a picture taken with me in my Dick Gumshoe than I did in my Tony Stark (which was a primarily single-subject shot, when people asked).
 
Overall, the con was great. Lots of stuff to see, even if it's a bit lower-key than I'm used to - two Star Wars Celebration cons have spoiled my sense of scale. Definitely inspired to do more costumes, with greater variety, and go to as many cons as I can (My next project: Freeman's HEV suit, mainly so I don't have to cut the beard). And, apparently, I need to use social media, or at least get a blog/page set up to document stuff, because people were asking who I was working for all con - even with my shoddy arm work. Also, I need to develop arc reactor kits for distribution because a lot of people wanted to buy that damn thing off of me.
 
Fun aside: There are still a lot of Homestucks around, apparently.

Invisible one inch anti-bug force field.
Just enough to not worry about mosquitoes, not enough to slam dunk a hornet nest.

Caved and got a nintendo switch.
 
Now to think of which games to get....

I have a Switch! I finally get to play Smash! For the first time since Melee!

So I picked up Resident Evil 7 and I've come to the realization that I'm still a weak baby when it comes to horror games.
 
Beat up giant fire manticores in Monster Hunter, run away from an old man with a rake in Resident Evil

It's crazy how much this dialogue fits without modification:
 
 

Finished Persona 5 it's a good fucking game.

When I first played 1, 2, Switch I thought Nintendo's end game with the Switch was to make consumer grade AR/VR experiences. They've kinda pushed that area since the Wii and the 3DS, but the Switch was literally the first time where motion controls on the console as a whole felt like it was both integral to the gameplay and not a poorly done gimmick. Labo takes the existing control scheme and takes it to the next level by making full use of the JoyCon's gyroscope, accelerometer, and IR sensor.
 
Just within the trailer they already show off a few of the unique ways they use the Switch's hardware. The piano is driven from the IR sensors so they can detect when a certain key is depressed. The little robot bug thing and the falling man both use the haptic feedback to move. The fishing rod and bike handles both seem to use the gyroscope with the former probably also using the accelerometer. The robot backpack uses a system of strings attached to your hands and feet to move tabs that will be picked up by the IR sensors. They're genuinely well designed units that are simple in both functionality and construction.
 
I initially thought its a bit expensive, but you're already paying $60 for the game along with the rest of the materials, which are actually fairly cheap. Since Nintendo is also going to provide templates, you'll equally be able to make your own cardboard ones. If you want to get a more permanent solution, 3D printing or laser cutting is viable.
 
I don't think it'll be a breakaway success, but it fits Nintendo's overall mentality of pushing new boundaries and creating unique play experiences. It's a really awesome thing for kids, which is the target audience, but also awesome from a pure design perspective.
 
The way we interact with games hasn't really changed a whole ton. The major innovations like D-pads, touch controls, and motion controls happened a long while ago. However, only until now motion controls are actually viable between the Switch and various VR platforms. Unique control methods and use of hardware should be embraced because it promotes unique experiences in and of itself.

Incase you didn't hear last month, this happened: 
 
 
Allow me to explain the significance of this if you don't understand. In 2002, Bryan Bosshardt, one of the OG gods of Goldeneye speedrunning, set 53 seconds as the world record for the first level of the game, Dam. Before this video happened, over 100 people had matched his world record, over the course of 15 years. It was no small feat, but became the "beginner" WR to aim for. 0:53 was the record for 15 years. People ran the level, no doubt thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of times, maybe even a million times, for 15 years, and could not get any lower than 53 seconds.
 
Eventually it became known that a 52 was theoretically possible through TAS, but because it was TAS, it was virtually impossible that a man could actually do it. But Karl Jobst is no man. He is a god.
 
In the above run, Karl Jobst, after 250 hours of playing Dam, has the fucking planets align under a blue moon on a white Christmas in July. So many things went right in this run. A boost is when a guard propels you forward by shooting you. On Dam, getting 1 boost is semi-rare. Getting 2 is rare. Getting 3 boosts is fucking mega-rare. Karl only had 3 runs throughout the entire 250 hours where he had 3 boosts. And in one of those 3 boost runs, the big metal gate, which still nobody knows what affects the speed of it opening, opened fast (the fastest gate that he had ever seen, he said), AND he got a perfect shot on the lock, which is often where people choke runs, AND the alarm went off late (after he shot the lock) which prevents soldiers from coming out and causing lag. All these things lining up ONCE in the course of 250 hours, combined with the razor-thin perfection of his strafing, finally got a time which was just BARELY a 52. Like if he were as little as 2 or 3 frames slower, it would have been a 53 instead, and Karl would've been in for another 250 hours of Dam. Karl basically human-TAS'd Dam in what was literally the perfect run, after 15 years of culminated attempts from the entire Goldeneye speedrunning community.
 
I absolutely do not think that anybody is ever going to get a Dam 52 anytime soon again. The chance of all the RNG lining up so perfectly combined with having perfect movement is so unbelievably fucking minuscule, I think it's going to be many years until a Dam run this perfect happens again to the right player. 15 years. 250 hours on a 53 second level. 1 Dam 52.

One of the better theories I've heard is that the Kessel Run is littered with some kind of obstacle... black holes, mines, etc. When plotting a course through, you end up increasing the distance of your trip to circumvent those hazards. So Han is basically saying he took the most direct and dangerous path through.

Happy new year all of you
 
No matter what you're doing witb your life, whether you're bettering the world squeezing moisture off leaves to feed starving African children or waking up to play videogames all day, just make sure you're happy to wake up every morning
 
Even if this forum is dead I wish you all the best and I mean it

Managed it before the new year!

There is no plausible reason why Mario + Rabbids is as good as it is. What a fantastic game.

Holy shit Firefox 57 is so bad.
I haven't had a gag reflex this bad since the Australis rollout years ago.
 
I thought to myself "Ah I should probably update my browser since it's acting a little jank" and no sooner had I seen the new UI than I'd downgraded back to my old version.
Not only did it destroy a bunch of addons I use, but the Classic theme restorer is not only busted, but Mozilla straight up removed the APIs required to support it ( and said they won't be adding them either)
 
Time to find a new browser I guess.

BAYONETTA 3 CONFIRMED IN DEVELOPMENT FOR THE SWITCH
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
 

I'm only six hours into it, but Nier Automata is blowing me away. The gameplay, boss battles and soundtrack have all been 10/10 so far.

So I bought a Switch a couple of weeks ago, along with Odyssey, Breath of the Wild, a couple of smaller games, and as of today, Rocket League and Skyrim.  This is by far the best console I have ever played.  I never thought that something would drag me away from sweet, sweet PC gaming, but Nintendo has done it.  I freaking love this thing.

I was really lucky today and managed to buy a SNES Classic (without paying scalpers).
The Menu is super charming and if you afk Mario takes over and starts randomly loading games.
 
Star Fox runs bad, which is cool, because emulators run it good and it runs (I assume) how it would on the OG hardware.
Chill Penguin is a wimp.
I am bad at Donkey Kong.
F-Zero starts out easy but then the sand zone blows you up.
And I haven't started yet, but am excited to play Earthbound and SMRPG on something that's not a keyboard.
Also Final Fantasy 3 (6) is on there, dunno anything about it! But it's supposed to be good!
 
There's also this neat replay feature that saves the last forty seconds or so of gameplay.
So you can either load a savestate or pick up just before you jumped into those spikes.
 
I know you can just emulate all these (and a bunch are even on virtual console), but there's just something fun about having a bite sized SNES packed with retro goodies.