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GeekNights 20110503 - Portal 2

MrPeriodMrPeriod
edited May 2011 in GeekNights

Tonight on GeekNights, we review the fantastic Portal 2. (Hint: there is no reason not to buy this game). We also consider Sony's egregiously inept IT, and Nintendo's egregiously unrealized potential as they move from the Wii to the double Wii with Project Cafe.

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Comments

  • InvaderRENInvaderREN
    Scott: It will just rape your children as soon as you open the box!

    Farken LOOOOOL!!! :)
  • ColdguyColdguy
    You lucky bastard! Getting to be one of the special 500 at the library, may you go and solve the mystery of the future.
  • AprecheApreche
    You lucky bastard! Getting to be one of the special 500 at the library, may you go and solve the mystery of the future.
    You know the game will keep running afterwards. So anyone can take their smartphone to the library and play it. You just can't stay overnight and see the Ghostbusters shit go down.
  • Zack PatateZack Patate
    (Hint: there is no reason not to buy this game)
    Yes there is. Being strapped for cash is a perfectly fine reason.
  • RymRym
    (Hint: there is no reason not to buy this game)
    Yes there is. Being strapped for cash is a perfectly fine reason.
    I didn't say when. It is unlikely that a gamer will never, at any point in his life, have the money to buy Portal 2, which itself will come down in price as inflation simultaneously devalues the starting price.
  • RochelleRochelle
    (Hint: there is no reason not to buy this game)
    Yes there is. Being strapped for cash is a perfectly fine reason.
    Or your piles of other hobbies, games, comics take precedence.

    I will probably end up buying this on the PS3 so I can get the STEAM copy. I figure I play co-op with the boyfriend and when I want to mess around I'll play it on STEAM.
  • RymRym
    Or your piles of other hobbies, games, comics take precedence.
    Ahh, again, I didn't specify a temporal requirement. ^_~
  • MattMatt
    On the topic of Sony sucking, my wife bought a Sony camera about two years ago. I pleaded with her to buy a comparable Canon, but it was her personal camera so some arguments are best left alone. This camera is such bullshit:
    - Memory stick only
    - Proprietary battery.
    - Proprietary PC connection port that uses on Sony-specific connector to branch out USB and RCA video (who gives a shit?) off of one cable

    There have been many times when she had a hard time tracking down the cable, and I had nightmarish visions of having to pay up for a new super expensive USB cable.
  • RochelleRochelle
    Ahh, again, I didn't specify a temporal requirement. ^_~
    Yeah, I read that after I made my post. In good time. In good time.
  • KieyKiey
    Correction note: PSN didn't get hacked twice. SOE (Sony Online Entertainment) got hacked this passed week, they are a separate branch of Sony and have their own network separate from PSN.
  • Zack PatateZack Patate
    I didn't say when. It is unlikely that a gamer will never, at any point in his life, have the money to buy Portal 2, which itself will come down in price as inflation simultaneously devalues the starting price.
    That goes for many, many games. Many of which will not be played. Besides, there's the numerous people who do not like Portal 1.
  • ChurbaChurba
    That goes for many, many games. Many of which will not be played. Besides, there's the numerous people who do not like Portal 1.
    I'm pretty sure that wold actually legally disqualify you from being a person.
  • Dr. TimoDr. Timo
    edited May 2011
    image
    Sold by Valve here.
    Post edited by Dr. Timo on
  • gomidoggomidog
    Scott's Thing - India's Dabbawallahs
    I just learned all about Tiffins a few weeks ago, because there was a restaurant called Tiffin Wallah so I googled it. It's Indian bento! If I make a restaurant it will be a fusion bento place called Tiffinya or something. Yaaaaay bento!
  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    image
    Sold by Valve here.
    Oh valve, you clever clever people you.
  • RuffasRuffas
    <3 Three Turret Moon.
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    Fun episode! Thanks for the Portal review. I'll put of buying it for a few years, I guess. Portal was a fun enough game, but way too easy. I like a game where each level takes me at least 10 tries, and that I can replay until I can do it perfectly, with no damage, before moving on. Half Life let me do this, and I would go back through each area until I could beat it with minimal damage on the hardest setting, and only then move on to the next, very rarely needing health packs. Portal was missing any kind of challenge, until I got to the last of the advanced chambers. If Portal 2 is easier, I'll save it for later.

    Also, I don't care about spoilers in a computer game.
  • trogdor9trogdor9
    Portal was missing any kind of challenge, until I got to the last of the advanced chambers. If Portal 2 is easier, I'll save it for later.
    I think (hope) the first Portal 2 DLC will make the game more challenging.
  • ChurbaChurba
    edited May 2011
    Portal was missing any kind of challenge, until I got to the last of the advanced chambers.
    Try Portal Prelude. It's pretty goddamn hard.
    Post edited by Churba on
  • P_TOGP_TOG
    [Image]
    Sold by Valve here.
    If that ever decides not to be twenty dollars, it will be mine.
  • ChurbaChurba
    edited May 2011

    These live up to their name pretty well.

    Also, shows off some interesting tricks - like giving yourself velocity by dropping portals with very precise timing. Also, Just to make Scott's head explode, they were all performed on the 360, and yes, you can do them on the PC version, and Yes, they're very hard to do on the PC version.

    Now, there is one thing that I've been wondering about - Valve has said that Chell has an important relationship with people in half life 2, so on. With the timeline people have worked out, they've consistently put portal 2 hundreds of years in the future from the end of Portal 1 - the smallest number I've seen is 200 years. But I can't really find anything that really points to this, other than the single point of the computer saying "You have been asleep for nine nine nine nine nine nine" and trailing off - which could be a computer error, considering the circumstances - but people came to this hundreds of years figure well before portal 2 came out. Also, Hundreds of years doesn't make sense - Much of the stuff in the later game would have decayed or been much more broken and rotted, had it taken place the 280 odd years that timeline points to, and the rest of Aperture would be in a much worse state - something built as early as the Aperture: Science Innovators/Shower Curtain days would be in a terrible state by the first game, and much more time has passed from portal 1 where it was all shiny and nice, to portal 2, where shit's all fucked up. Also, the final part, in the very end FMV, wouldn't look like that after 200 years of not being tended, which is reasonable enough to presume, considering the events of Half Life 2, and between Half life 1 and 2.

    So, where does this hundreds of years figure come from, and why are they(the fans, not valve) so insistent on it?
    Post edited by Churba on
  • RymRym
    Also, Just to make Scott's head explode, they were all performed on the 360, and yes, you can do them on the PC version, and Yes, they're very hard to do on the PC version.
    Bear in mind that portals are magnetic to a degree in both versions. ;^)
  • ChurbaChurba
    edited May 2011
    Bear in mind that portals are magnetic to a degree in both versions. ;^)
    Oh, absolutely - It actually kinda annoys me, I wish I could turn it down or off(You might be able to, but I don't think I saw the option in the menus) - but the portal funneling is pretty much the same across the board. There was some portal funneling in portal 1(Which I only discovered playing through with the commentary), but they really ramped it up for portal 2, you can get some noticeable trajectory changes at a distance. It's not a significant problem, but it's just one of those little annoying things.
    Post edited by Churba on
  • trogdor9trogdor9
    There is a setting in the advanced gameplay options. Or, at least there was in Portal 1; I've not checked in Portal 2.
    Also, Just to make Scott's head explode, they were all performed on the 360
    Except for the one where he said "I can't do this with an Xbox controller." That pretty much proved Scott right.
  • AprecheApreche
    edited May 2011
    You can immediately tell in the video that he's using a gamepad because his rate of rotation is perfectly smooth and slow. This is most obvious in the chamber where he catches the bouncing cube mid-air then spins and throws it. The spin is perfectly smooth. On a PC you wouldn't even see the spin, he would just instantly snap to the desired facing direction. The game accommodates for this limited rotational speed in that no chamber requires you to rotate faster than that speed in order to succeed. Also, auto-aim. Everything done in that video can be done on a PC, faster, and with more precision. However, it will also be much more difficult to accomplish. Because there is more precision available, the player must actually be capable of executing with that level of precision.
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • ChurbaChurba
    edited May 2011
    There is a setting in the advanced gameplay options. Or, at least there was in Portal 1; I've not checked in Portal 2.
    I have, there isn't. In portal 1, it only really applied when you were aiming at a portal on the floor - portal 2 is much more liberal with it.
    Except for the one where he said "I can't do this with an Xbox controller." That pretty much proved Scott right.
    I've been trying for days to replicate that throw on the PC - I don't think the problem is with the controller, I think it's simply a matter of ridiculously hard to do. I've managed to replicate most of those tricks with some effort(And sheer luck), but I can't manage that one on PC either.

    However, I think you're looking very fucking strangely - A whole bunch of tricks he does with an xbox 360 controller, and then one trick with so far nobody else has has managed to do and record for youtube - PC or controller. Does That prove Scott right, Or does that prove that the uploader bit off more than he could do, and that trick is either beyond his(and so far Everyone's) ability, or might even be impossible in the unmodified game?
    Yeah, considering how popular that video is on the internet lately, and how many people own portal 2, I'm better strongly on the latter, rather than the former - after all, if it can be done, why hasn't someone done it yet? It should be easier than the guy discovering all these tricks, because the person would know where to go and roughly what to do, and would just have to nut out the finer details.

    TL:DR - The evidence does not point to what you think it does.
    However, it will also be much more difficult to accomplish
    Well, There you go - Portal 2 isn't hardcore enough for you, There's your challenge, monkey boy. On ya bike, get moving - I suspect this may take a little while. Don't worry, Scott, We can wait.
    Also, auto-aim. Everything done in that video can be done on a PC, faster, and with more precision.
    Simple solution - Turn your mouse sensitivity down, and Turn on Auto aim. Surely These hardcore, Super-competent PC gamers know how to do that, right? Couple of menu options in, not terribly hard, Though I think quite a few PC gamers might burst into flames if they switch on auto-aim to actually accomplish these tricks - all that Entitlement, Elitisim, Ego, and childish rage that any other game console exists, and doesn't burst into flames when you mention the holy PC, Just fuses into a white-hot hair-igniting rage of Wankery.
    Post edited by Churba on
  • AprecheApreche
    Simple solution - Turn your mouse sensitivity down, and Turn on Auto aim. Surely These hardcore, Super-competent PC gamers know how to do that, right? Couple of menu options in, not terribly hard, Though I think quite a few PC gamers might burst into flames if they switch on auto-aim to actually accomplish these tricks - all that Entitlement, Elitisim, Ego, and childish rage that any other game console exists, and doesn't burst into flames when you mention the holy PC, Just fuses into a white-hot hair-igniting rage of Wankery.
    Sure we could turn on auto aim. And Lance Armstrong could use training wheels in the Tour de France. Or maybe the NFL should change to flag football?
  • ChurbaChurba
    edited May 2011
    Sure we could turn on auto aim. And Lance Armstrong could use training wheels in the Tour de France. Or maybe the NFL should change to flag football?
    Really? If you're so fucking crash hot, Replicate the video, then. Do it, Scott, Or back the fuck down - To use your own example of Lance Armstrong, Yeah, he could use training wheels in the Tour De France if he wanted, But at least he's getting to the Tour De France. All you have is a lot of shit-talking about how fucking fast you and ride, and how far you can ride, and how strong your legs are, and how light your bike is, but Tour De France time is upon us, Scott, and your Arse is on the couch in your new york apartment, you don't own a bike, and you've never been to France.

    While I'm dropping things in quotes between first names and last names, how's this one for you - Scott "All Talk No Walk" Rubin?

    To Borrow your NFL example, you could play flag football at the superbowl - Oh wait, it Practically is flag football. Ditch the pads and play some rugby, you fucking softcocks.
    Post edited by Churba on
  • VichusSmithVichusSmith
    I bought a PS3, Scott. Wanna fight about it?

    I don't watch Blu Rays, so I didn't buy it for that. I did buy it because Playstation's what I'm used to. I don't see what's so mind-blowingly amazing about a 360 (besides price) that Scott goes as far as to say that PS3 owners are foolish. I need a thing what plays games. This here thing plays games. Done.

    As for the MASSIVE blunder that is the PSN, I'm just lucky I have so many single player experiences to catch up on, or I might be crying at Sony's HUMONGOUS failure.
  • VentureJVentureJ
    edited May 2011
    I also have to note that there are a LOT of good Non-JRPG PS3 games, some of which have online multiplayer.

    Infamous
    God of War
    Ratchet and Clank
    Motorstorms - Multiplayer
    Metal Gear Solid 4 - Multiplayer
    Killzone 2 & 3 - Multiplayer
    Resistance 1 & 2 & 3 - Multiplayer
    Uncharted 1 & 2 - 2nd has Multiplayer
    Little Big Planet 1 & 2 - Multiplayer
    Demon's Souls - Multiplayer Integration

    Also, can you guys give a good reason why it is definitively "stupid" to play an FPS game like Portal on the console. There are plenty of legitimate reasons why someone would choose to play the game on a console over a PC. What if they don't have a good enough PC to handle the games? What if they don't have the money to buy a proper PC, or they aren't interested in PC gaming enough to justify such an investment?

    You guys need to stop talking in hyperbole all the time.
    Post edited by VentureJ on
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