Bob Builder

Hello friend. I thought I'd ask you something, as you seem an amiable fellow. I, like many good ol' american boys, hope to some day go to a range and rent a full auto to make some noise with. In most videos I see, people shooting a full auto for the first time have an instructor right next to them. I assume this is because they are difficult to control. I haven't forgotten that news story a bunch of years ago, when that ten year old girl accidentally blew up her instructor's head with a full auto Uzi because she lost control of it (Deepest apologies if that's too political. I only bring it up because that kind of thing worries me, because as much as I like fun, I like safety more.) I'd like to ask if you think a normal adult has anything to fear from going full auto, even in a controlled environment. I don't have 10 year old girl arms, and I have about two years of safe recreational shooting under my belt. Maybe I worry too much.

I think most of the evidence points to the contrary here. Marc is retired now, so most people think he's more or less a free agent, free to do as he pleases. While he relationship with Valve may still be friendly, as a creator, he may have simply wanted to finish his story for the sake of finishing it. As for Half-Life 3, this is just my personal hopes and speculation, but I don't think it's currently under any serious production. Why do I hope it isn't under production right now? Because of my belief that every Half Life game needs to shake the industry to it's core. The first Half-Life revolutionized video games as a storytelling medium. The second, made physics objects the biggest thing since capture the flag. Half Life games HAVE to innovate, for me. Each one has to set the bar higher, if for no other reason that it's tradition. I am unaware of anything valve's got that could rock the world like the gravity gun did in 2004. Obviously, if they had something like that, it would be secret, but it seems all they have at the moment is Source 2, and a bunch of DoTA hats. I think we'll see Half-Life 3 in our lifetime, assuming you're not old. Just not yet. Development of Half-Life 3 may not be hung up on the creation of CS:GO guns. It may well be hung up waiting for someone to invent the next gravity gun, and that sounds like the kind of thing valve still works on. So I still hope.

Do the stories of Half-Life games matter, or are they just a vehicle to the gameplay? Like a bad experiment, more than one variable is changed at a time. While each major installment in the series (by the most impactful definition, Half-Life and Half-Life 2) brings a new narrative, they also signify touchstones of the advancement of the FPS genre technologically. Back in 1998, Laidlaw’s writing was recognized as a stride forward in the medium because it was possibly the best told story in video games up to that point, leaving the player with the kind of questions that only they could answer. Who is Freeman? What is he like? A savior? A survivor? A mad man? Or just a tool for cosmic change. Is he a free man? These are all questions that Doom Guy and Quake Guy never heard. Laidlaw certainly kept the magic alive in the second game, aided by new facial rigging technology. He effectively utilized all the new tools at his disposal to tell a much more complex tale. The story of City 17 mixes world-scale drama into Freeman’s personal struggle in a more relatable and human way. So we know the stories are always worth experiencing, and the gameplay, (even if it becomes dated, at least at the time of it’s release,) is without peer. Is one more important than the other, and if so, is that something everyone has to decide for themselves, individually? Is it a subversion of the common sense many believe about video games, meaning that instead of the story existing for the sake of the gameplay, the game play exists for the story? Is the story of Freeman best told in the form of a game? Or are they equals, coming together to create some greater experience, enriching each other through their strengths? Does the story need to exist at all, or is the spectacle of new technology worth the praise the Half Life games get? I don't wanna talk about the episodes, or the expansions to the original, because I feel like those are all just continuations of their own universes. I am much more intrigued by the main story. But if you guys wanna talk about them, by all means, do. I'd be glad to listen. I was a dummy who needed to lurk moar (and drink less) and originally posted this in Misc because I'm dumb. Please forgive me. I deleted that and posted it again over here so I don't bother the people in Misc more than I already have, and the intended audience gets to see it. This was all like 20 minutes ago. Sorry.

I wish I could have made it. I was off work by chance, but had to help a long time bud install a new sway bar on his Subaru. There was nothing wrong with the old one, the new one was just better. As 2:00 PM EST came and passed, I looked mournfully into the sun. It hurt. I'll catch it on AccursedFarmsJunk.

Reporting for duty! I have some vacation hours saved up, so work should be no problem. Just gotta put in the practice. I launched the game once or twice like a year ago. The reason I put it down (above all other reasons) is the big dumb updates it has constantly. My internet isn't as slick as some people some times, but that's what heavy assault class was made for, right? \|||/ (o o) ----ooO-(_)-Ooo-------- Kilroy was here (source: http://www.ascii-art.de/ascii/jkl/kilroy.txt )

7/10 Seemed repetitive, and those vocals were never my thing. Seems like it will be trailer music for some triple A game someday soon, if not already. Are covers even allowed? Because I need them to be. KC6jupjFcKE

Yeah, Offspring! Woooo!

This doesn't quite qualify as MMO, but if you haven't read the "Ballad of Edgardo," I think you need it in your life. From your list of requests, I think it's right up your alley. http://imgur.com/gallery/CMc5RMt

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here » This is just a quick update to announce that the next videochat will be at 10AM EST on Dec. 6th. I wanted to switch the time and day of the week to give other people a chance to join in the chat who weren't able to join the last one. It will be on twitch again here: http://www.twitch.tv/rossbroadcast Several people gave me other suggestions for a better chat format, but I haven't had time to look it over very thoroughly. We'll probably come up with a better system in the following months, but in the meantime, I figure any communication is better than no communication. On another note, I was hoping to have it done already, but it will be another couple days before the next Game Dungeon is done. I'll put it up as soon as I'm finished with it, but unlike October, the episodes definitely take longer when I also sleep. For December, I hope to have two more Game Dungeon episodes and an additional bonus video. EDIT: This episode is taking a lot longer than I thought, but I'm getting closer. My current prediction for when it will be done is sometime Dec. 3rd. COMMENTS