a place for posts to go

At the next tier up in difficulty, there are logins which a player of a mere computer game would probably not have the motivation to guess, but which are still extremely insecure by real-world standards because of their relative obviousness. The freighter captain, Kang Zhao, has the login kzhao/captain (and the datacube with this information is stored right there in his cabin next to the computer!), while the free clinic secretary Alice Priest’s login is alice_priest/secretary. (Amusingly, the doctor’s password is apple.) Several times, multiple users can be found sharing the same password. On the username front, we find that the entire NSF are apparently sharing the single username nsf, shoddy for an otherwise well-equipped domestic terrorist organisation. Majestic-12, with a hundred times the NSF’s reach and resources, are doing the same with the username mj12.

As I wandered thirsty as a cloud round this year’s Eurogamer Expo show in London, I was struck by how many of the games on show were, fundamentally, games about moving successfully through corridors. At the same time, lots of showgoers were obediently shuffling slowly down invisible corridors in queues, wrapping themselves snakelike around innumerable booth corners for the chance to sprint through the lightly disguised corridors of the hottest playable preview code, such as COD Blops 2 or Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. While they were inching down their queue-corridors, many of these people were playing other games on their 3DSes or Vitas to pass the queuing time. These games, I fervently hoped, were also about moving through corridors, so that these happy expo-goers could be described as being in the ultramodern position of navigating virtual corridors while navigating wall-less corridors until they could navigate other virtual corridors, before going home by navigating the corridors of the Underground.

overthinkingvideogames:

PCGamer’s award for the “most reassuring absence of bigotry of the year 2012.”

overthinkingvideogames:

A video exploring an alternative interpretation of Hotline Miami—that it isn’t about violence, but rather about narrative’s role in games.

what a good video

overthinkingvideogames:

CultureRamp recently posted a four-part series on writing about games for non-gamers.

The guiding principles are as follows:

To that end, we have invited four writers to participate in an experiment in game criticism. Each of them were asked to write about a game they had found compelling, but with a few restrictions:

• Write as though your audience is made up of reasonably intelligent adults familiar with the basics of video game systems, but with no prior experience actually playing them.

• Focus less on representation than on behavior—that is, on what it’s like to do things in the game, rather than on its story or iconography.

• You may use other games as reference points, but not other video games or video game genres. You may illustrate or explain using personal anecdotes, but the essay should not hinge on experiences your reader might not reasonably be expected to share.

The results discuss Waking Mars, TF2, and Planescape: Torment.

Her’s a sample from the Planescape section:

From the get-go, it’s clear that in order to progress, to find out more about yourself, Planescape: Torment wants you to read, to talk, to pick the conversation choices that match how you envision your character’s responses to the world around him. The solution to the game’s central problem, the enigma of your own identity and past, is exploration. By sending The Nameless One across the game’s areas with a click of the mouse, you lift the veil from places you visited in a past life but can’t remember anymore. Gaining knowledge about the city, the multiverse beyond, and more importantly, about The Nameless One’s background, is done through a continuous detective hunt for clues, for items left behind, and for the people who might know part of your story, as well as the motley assortment of characters that can be persuaded to join you as companions on your journey of self-discovery. In a way, The Nameless One is a shattered person, and his pieces are scattered across the game’s universe. It’s your job to put him together again, in whatever way you can.

bosscrab:

bosscrab:

Hello!

The devastation of hurricane Sandy left a huge mark on the Northeastern United States. Many people were left without power, and had irreparable damage done to their homes and livelihoods. Moreover, the Red Cross has been working day and night to try and help those in need, along with continuing to do their charity work and blood drives, which were hurt badly by the Hurricane.

SpeedRunsLive, and the friends of the speedrunning community (SpeedDemosArchive, etc) have organized a charity marathon which will be taking place the weekend following Thanksgiving. We’ll be speedrunning videogames, livestreaming them, and broadcasting them on the website linked here. This marathon will be for donations, which will go directly to the Red Cross in order to help victims of Hurricane Sandy. Speedrunning marathons have done extremely well at raising money for charities previously, so we feel as though this is our best way to help out with relief for the hurricane. Please consider donating to this important cause. Every little bit helps. There’ll be plenty of donation incentives along the way as well, including prizes, donation wars for games, and incentives to make the games harder on the runners! So be sure to help out early and often.

This event will start on November 23 and run all the way until November 27. A lot of awesome people will be participating! Both big names like Cosmo and Siglemic, as well as a ton of really good, but maybe lesser-known people (way too many to try and list here) will be playing. Trust me, everyone playing games is really great at the stuff they do; they wouldn’t be in this if they weren’t! Heck, even I’m participating and running a couple games! There are tons of blocks of many different games being played over the weekend, done by many different runners, who have all put in plenty of work to make sure their runs are both fast and entertaining.

Check out the schedule (listed on the linked website) to see who is running games and when, and consider sticking around for the whole weekend! I promise you’ll see some really impressive gameplay, and have a lot of fun. There are tons of different games being played, and they are all great. And it’s all for a really good cause.

So please consider spreading the word, and then checking out and donating to the Hurricane Sandy Marathon, starting November 23!

Hey guys! This event starts tonight at 10 PM EST! It’s gonna rule! Come check it out.

The donation incentives and prices are all lined up and on the website, so feel free to check em out. The perlers, awards, and other things are all really cool and worth donating for! Raffle rules are on the site. If you’re like me you’re gonna be  donating a few times for these prizes

I play on Monday and Tuesday, but there are a ton of great players and games before then (and after then!!). Come on in to hang out this weekend, I promise you’ll have a great time, for a great cause

bosscrab:

Hello!

The devastation of hurricane Sandy left a huge mark on the Northeastern United States. Many people were left without power, and had irreparable damage done to their homes and livelihoods. Moreover, the Red Cross has been working day and night to try and help those in need, along with continuing to do their charity work and blood drives, which were hurt badly by the Hurricane.

SpeedRunsLive, and the friends of the speedrunning community (SpeedDemosArchive, etc) have organized a charity marathon which will be taking place the weekend following Thanksgiving. We’ll be speedrunning videogames, livestreaming them, and broadcasting them on the website linked here. This marathon will be for donations, which will go directly to the Red Cross in order to help victims of Hurricane Sandy. Speedrunning marathons have done extremely well at raising money for charities previously, so we feel as though this is our best way to help out with relief for the hurricane. Please consider donating to this important cause. Every little bit helps. There’ll be plenty of donation incentives along the way as well, including prizes, donation wars for games, and incentives to make the games harder on the runners! So be sure to help out early and often.

This event will start on November 23 and run all the way until November 27. A lot of awesome people will be participating! Both big names like Cosmo and Siglemic, as well as a ton of really good, but maybe lesser-known people (way too many to try and list here) will be playing. Trust me, everyone playing games is really great at the stuff they do; they wouldn’t be in this if they weren’t! Heck, even I’m participating and running a couple games! There are tons of blocks of many different games being played over the weekend, done by many different runners, who have all put in plenty of work to make sure their runs are both fast and entertaining.

Check out the schedule (listed on the linked website) to see who is running games and when, and consider sticking around for the whole weekend! I promise you’ll see some really impressive gameplay, and have a lot of fun. There are tons of different games being played, and they are all great. And it’s all for a really good cause.

So please consider spreading the word, and then checking out and donating to the Hurricane Sandy Marathon, starting November 23!

“Deus Ex had one thing going for it that no other project that I’ve ever worked on – or frankly, even heard about – had,” Spector tells us. “John Romero, bless his heart, came to me and said, ‘Make the game of your dreams. No one will ever tell you to do anything. Do exactly what you want with no interference.’”

“It’s the only time I’ve ever closed my eyes at the beginning of a project and opened them up three years later to see the game that I’d imagined. It’s really special to me in that way. No one interfered. No one bugged me. There was no focus testing, there was no marketing guy telling me to do this or that, there was no business guy telling me that I was spending too much – it was exactly what I wanted to do, the way I wanted to do it.”

And that was something that was reflected in the game, too. Players could do whatever they damn well pleased […]

[…]

“I’ve championed one idea for nearly 30 years,” he repeats, “and that idea is empowering players. I try to get myself and my designers out of the game so that players can express their personality, show how creative and funny or serious or whatever they are.”