The growth of Spoony's fanbase went to his head. The Phantasmagoria 2 Let's Play is amazing, but nowadays he's kind of a pretentious knob.

EDIT: Jesus, the longer that video goes on, the more respect I lose for him. He thinks that namedropping Joseph Campbell somehow makes his opinion superior. Can't stand people like that.

This is awesome. And I have the perfect shirt!

I had a great time. By the time the INSANE third act rolled around, I was totally sold.

My friends and I did a Firefly marathon a few months ago, and the whole thing looked like a goddamned football game. Luckily, they're all the sort of people who would notice, so I wasn't alone in my outrage.

I think the main point that we've gotten out of this is that Portal is great.

My point exactly.

I don't think that a game needs a story in the way that a film does. It's always wonderful when a game does have a story, but it isn't a requirement for me in the same way that it is for a movie.

I own an Xbox. I also own a grand total of (I think) five games for that Xbox.

I own the first two Assassin's Creed games. The second one, at least, has more replay value than any other game I have ever played. Why? Because even after you beat the main story, you can spend hours and hours running around the various cities, climbing walls and doing flips off buildings, killing enemies in a variety of original ways. I love the main story, but I have more fun doing this than I do playing missions. The story and the characters are far from the most important part of the game to me. The aspect of the game that I like best is the aspect that I have the most control over, with the least interference from the game itself.

I also own Modern Warfare 2. Like a dutiful player, I beat the single-player campaign before moving on to the multiplayer. Here's an example of a game that doesn't even try to get me invested in a story. When you buy this game, you are buying the multiplayer experience. This is probably the worst game that I own, but I still have a lot of fun playing multiplayer. Yes, it's frustrating, and yes there are a lot of obnoxious douchebags to play against, but at the end of the day, I remember the moments where I succeeded, not where I failed. That's what Call of Duty is good at: making the player feel good about their ability. Unfortunately, this comes with a hefty price tag; the game is dumber than a bag of hammers.

And then there's my favorite game of all time: Portal 2. I can't count the number of times that I have played through this game. Dozens, likely. I know exactly where every portal goes for every single puzzle in the game. But I'm not playing through for the plot. I'm playing for the experience. I love being in that world, running through those hallways, interacting with those characters. I like thinking with portals.

My point is this: Story in games is a pointless exercise. Yes, it can be done with great success. But I believe that you should focus more on making your game fun to play than on telling a worthwhile story. A game with too much of the latter and not enough of the former is worthless as a game. "Yeah, i get that you put a lot of work into the complexities of this plot, but where's the part where I get to play the game?"

Fuck. Yes.

This episode format works really well, guys. I look forward to future episodes.

It's funny that John Carter's marketing was such a disaster for so long. In the week before its release, you couldn't watch TV for five minutes without seeing an ad for it (advertising how Star Wars and Avatar built on its shoulders, of course).

Here's the article Brian mentioned (I think). If not, it's still a great read, well worth looking into if you're curious about this sort of thing.

1. How do you talk? Fast? Slow? Loud? Quiet?

Well, *puts on actor hat*, I can do pretty much anything you need me to. My normal speaking voice doesn't have any particular quirks. However, I will say that I'm no good at speaking quickly. I trip all over the words.

2. What's your accent?

Standard American. Nothing exciting.

3. Are you most comfortable playing serious, pissed, wacky, annoyed, funny? If you'd rather do something specific like this, let me know, otherwise you'll just get a part and do your best.

Well, *adjusts actor hat on head* I have no real preference. I'll be anyone you want me to be.

4. Do you have specific car limitations? Like, no back seat?

Only that I can't be in the middle seat. It would have to be one side or the other.

5. Problem with profanity?

Shit no.

6. Oh geez. The four that come to mind immediately are Seven Samurai, Zodiac, Close Encounters, and Die Hard.

Can we have a thread just for minimalist posters? Can't get enough of that style, and it's been getting big in the past year and a half or so.