You've probably seen the video, but maybe you didn't know it was called Cozmo. In any case this is a Robot from the Anki Drive people and it's possible to get one but you have to buy it in more or less the same way and for more or less the same price as an equivalent weight of cocaine.
Our Gabriel got hooked on The Last Guardian, and whatever its faults it's still something you have to see. I'm glad they waited for the PS4 on it, though even that box is working pretty hard to contain it; this is another place the PS4 Pro is poised to deliver a better experience. If you were wondering how the game could have taken a decade to develop, though, this is why: because they created a living digital animal that behaves more or less like the real thing.
I've just about finished the Last Guardian and I really like it. That's not to say that it isn't occasionally incredibly frustrating. It's such a beautiful game, and so different from anything I've played before that I am more than happy to look past some rough edges. I've played games with AI controlled partners, but I've never seen anything like Trico before. The big dog/griffin that you befriend at the start of the game is your companion throughout and getting him to work with you on these puzzles really does feel like interacting with an actual live animal. Sometimes that's frustrating when you're trying desperately to get him to do what you want, and he just cocks his head and stares at you. when you finally do succeed it feels awesome though. Sometimes the camera gets wonky and sometimes your giant friend just won't do what you want but don't let that keep you from trying Last Guardian. Working with Trico to navigate this insanely beautiful labyrinth is one of the most unique experiences I've had in a game.
I occasionally try to utilize my notoriety to get shit. I feel my alignment shifting when I do, a grinding pressure, a sense that perhaps my momma raised me wrong after all, so I don't try to run game with great frequency. In the context I was raised in it's of a piece with "putting on airs," like literacy. When I attempt to use my Ultimate, I tell you here; as often as not, it doesn't work at all. At PAX West, a few months before the official release of Star Wars: Destiny, I had a chance to drop into a demo during the show and it essentially arrested the natural motion of my thoughts. A steel rod was inserted into a moving bike wheel until every spoke was wrenched out, and then it rolled off into a hedge very slowly and fell over.
And when I say Luigi™ Jump Pin, I'm referring to this one right here:
Today's strip was another that I did live on Twitch. I happened to draw this one on Monday which is when Tycho and Ryan do their new Hearthstone stream. You can watch me do all the sketching and most of the inking in this one:
A lot of Virtual Reality games currently are essentially a cool interaction concept, unfettered by much of anything else. I don't have a problem with this necessarily, because in some ways VR has made us all toddlers and we must learn to contend with our bodies all over again. It's okay to start by playing with blocks; indeed, it's traditional.
In order to fully grasp the sociopolitical texture of Final Fantasy XV, it's probably important to watch the movie. And maybe the anime. I didn't do those things. I just jumped in with both feet into what feels like a Final Fantasy MMO for the most part, but… I think I'm okay with that. I'm at least ten hours okay with it, judging by the weekend. Big takeaways:
We've been Twitching constantly lately, but we've also been streaming games and other stuff from the office. I'm hooked on it. Wild dogs couldn't drag me away. Well, they probably could. I guess it depends on how many wild dogs. In truth, any value for wildDogs over 1 is probably a deal breaker. But I do like hanging out on there, and hopefully it provides some subtle nutrient for those who gather there.
I’m really starting to dig these live drawing streams. The chat has been fun and it’s nice having some company while I draw. If you’d like to join one of the live streams, I do them Tuesday mornings at 10:00am PST for now. Yesterday was a fun one as I was drawing while at the same time trying to manage our new puppy. This is Gracie and yesterday during the stream she made it very difficult to draw.
Brenna did, in fact, sign us up for dick school. And it was probably a good idea; what we learned in the first fifteen minutes of class was that none of our parents ever told us shit. And who knows; maybe we would have maintained that policy. I'd like to think I'd do better, and I should; I have twice the experience.
I'm just gonna update this post with the finished video, in case you missed the live stream yesterday.
Our Gabriel has a reputation as a cruel but ultimately still cruel slash malevolent trainer of Pokemon. Without going into a tremendous amount of detail, you know, it's a policy he's retained.
Our good friend Pat Rothfuss, also known as The Name Of The Wind Guy, or perhaps even the swashbuckling sub-employee sellsword Viari of Acquisitions Incorporated, is spinning up an Overwatch competition for his Worldbuilders charity. Their mission is to channel as much money as possible into Heifer International and Mercy Corps, and we're gonna help 'em do it.
People sometimes ask if Kara and Brenna hang out. And then Gabriel and I laugh and laugh, but nobody knows why. I can tell you in confidence that the reason we laugh is because almost everything about them is different. And it's like, well, have you seen a circle? Yeah. How about a square? The box-looking thing, yeah. Okay. Well, it's that level of different. They get along very well, all things considered, and better than ever recently. We're keeping our eye on this phenomena. But there isn't a lot of overlap.