Polynauts Central (28/8 Archived)

Posted by Shaun McIlroy on August 28, 2012 05:23 am 581

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Todays image comes from Black Knight Rebel, the first chosen entry in this weeks header pics contest.

Welcome to Polynauts Central. We've had our bank holiday fun in the UK, it's now August 28th and it's time for hard work and dedication to get back in shape here in the private gym of Polynauts Central.

Remember that if you're into comics, manga and anime and want a nice organised place to talk about those, then head on over to Crisis on Infinite Polygons Issue #2 for chaosbirdomaid's all-in-one thread. If you want to talk game related art - or even art in general but be sure to head over to Paradox mes' thread The Polygon Gallery of Fine Arts and grab yourself some cheese, grapes and a glass of wine.

FROM POLYGON

1: 'Rock Band Blitz' review: feedback loop by Arthur Gies

Rock Band Blitz's multiplier system makes for a frantic game of chicken with checkpoints and the meter on the side indicating how far ahead your closest leaderboard rival is score-wise. And as you're juggling lanes and building up overdrive, all while nailing more hectic note passages, Rock Band Blitz effectively channels the feel of Rock Band proper, all without a plastic instrument.

2: Molyneux's 'Curiosity' to be followed by 'Cooperation' by Brian Crecente

Molyneux, whose 28-year-career included creating Populous, Magic Carpet, Black & White and Fable, is all about experimentation these days. The idea of his fledgling studio, 22Cans, is to create 22 interactive, game-like experiments, all leading up to one final, "big" game.

3: 'SpyParty's' dashing new look by Michael McWhertor

"It's just a different kind of game that still has that level of competition, but you're exercising a completely different set of skills," he says. "A lot of competitive multiplayer games are psychological once you're past the micro level, it's just that SpyParty taps into it earlier. There are little bits of physical skill in the game, like learning to walk correctly and learning to hit the action tests correctly, but it's very soon that you're into the psychological realm. I think it's totally possible to build a competitive game at the level of those others around SpyParty, but it remains to be seen if that will work out. It takes years for those games to develop."

4: Nexon America CEO steps down, returns to Korea by Brian Crecente

Seungwoo Choi, president and CEO of Nexon, also thanked Daniel Kim in a prepared statement.

"We thank Daniel for his many contributions and leadership in North America, and look forward to leveraging his talents in Korea to help continue to grow Nexon's business," he said. "Looking ahead, Nexon is extremely well-positioned to capture the growth opportunities in North America enabled by the ongoing proliferation of high-speed broadband and the increasing popularity of the free-to-play business model. Min has been with Nexon America from the beginning and brings exceptional expertise, industry depth and leadership to this role. He is the right person to lead Nexon America forward."

5: Xbox booth at PAX Prime includes 'Halo 4,' 'Gears of War: Judgment,' Dream Build Play 2012 winners by Samit Sarkar

Microsoft's PAX Prime 2012 booth promises to be a packed one, thanks to games such as Halo 4, Gears of War: Judgment, Forza Horizon, and Fable: The Journey.

Those heavy hitters will surely lead to long lines at the booth, #412, and they'll be joined by Capcom's Resident Evil 6, Square Enix's Tomb Raider, and EA Sports' FIFA 13. Microsoft is also making room for smaller games: it will have the winners of this year's Dream Build Play competition, as well as the Xbox Live Arcade games State of Decay, Happy Wars, Crash Course 2, and Avatar Motocross Madness.

FROM THE POLYNAUTS FORUMS:

1: The Polygon Gallery of Fine Arts by Paradox me

Greetings, fellow art connoisseurs, and welcome to the Polygon Gallery of Fine Arts, the most prestigious art-sharing establishment on these fine forums.

Don't let the title fool you, however, as any and all art is welcome. Well, most art. Common sense and general forum rules shall be your guide.

Post anything you wish to share, from sketches and paintings to photography, sculptures, music, writing, etc. Don't have anything of your own to share? Use this forum to discuss artists and their works that you admire, as well things like artbooks. Don't forget that we also have Crisis on Infinite Polygons for anime, manga and comics discussion; use your best judgement when posting, I don't wanna step on anyone's toes with this thread.

2: "So You're A Girl, Right? U hot?" by Kovitlac

So this morning (08-27) I posted a comment to the daily thread concerning a game commentary I had posted on youtube titled, "Gaming as a Girl, and Why You Shouldn't Ask Stupid Questions."

Anyway, I received a lot of cool, supportive comments back. I also received a lot of weird, disturbing comments detailing men who were mistaken for being women. Someone suggested making this a thread unto itself, and so here I am :)

Post your stories of being mistaken for the wrong gender, spammed, harassed (only if you're comfortable, of course), etc through 360, PSN, PC, whatever. I talk a little about my own experiences in the video, but you guys are so much more interesting to hear from ;) Plus, everyone mistakes girls online for guys, simply because men are more prevalent in that environment. But usually men aren't mistaken for women

3: What's on your back log? by CannibalTuna

I've got quite a few of these since I missed out on the ps2 jrpg era and these are the games sitting on my shelf waiting for me.

Tales of the Abyss, replay Tales of Vesparia, finish FF10-2 (on chapter 5), Dragon Quest 8, Xenosaga, Star Ocean 3, Rouge Galaxy.

The others are Valkyria Chronicles, Lost Odyssey, El Shaddai, finish Xenoblade (about 30 hours in). I'm playing The Last Story right now (and loving it) then I need to finish P4 Arena which is great too.

So what about you guys? Is your back log piling up like mine?

4: Why Xbox Live Gold is necessary by Danny Gho

I discussed before that unlike Sony, who viewed Console as an appliance, Microsoft viewed console as a PC, the different mindset between the two gaming giant set what separated the Xbox Live and PSN, the Xbox Live are set to be more PC like, Yearly update and separate software license fee from the original hardware fee

5: Square Enix iOS prices - What do you think? by R.Walton

Recently Square Enix released a port of the critically acclaimed "The World ends with You" on iOS devices. And as it is usual with them, prices are way above what you normally would find in an iOS game (17.99 for iPhone and 19.99 for iPad).

They are giving the mobile market real, hardcore games. And at a price that would be considered fair in any other platform.

Now it is time for us to decide if this is the future we want for our portable devices, or if we will continue to throw birds.

6: Those darn "game-breaking" bugs that made you quit before the end by Shaun McIlroy

We've all played games which no matter how bug-ridden they were, you still made it to the finish line regardless. Games like Skyrim and Fallout 3 were playable, but not even the most ardent fan could finish this one - Sonic the Hedgehog [2006].

Watch the video below for a masterclass in how not to ship a game, then leave your worst game breaking memories that stopped you finishing a game in the comments below.

REMINDER: Polygon.com : Community Requests Thread by Shaun McIlroy

This is our "Official Polynauts" topic for Polygon.com requests, those which we've all made mention of in anticipation of the sites launch in 2012. I thought I'd collate them all here for the Polygon team to check back and see if the stars align with their overall plans, whatever they may be.

CONTEST #1

Don't forget Pitseleh0's contest, which began yesterday:

"We seem to be lacking on the header pic submissions. Let's get cracking people!

So I'd like to venture something if I could. Totally unofficial, but I'd like to sponsor a contest.

Shop up a header pic and submit it in the usual spot here.

The pics would be chosen daily as normal (by Shaun and Paddy) and then of the choices for all of next week (starting this Mon running until next Sat) I will choose my favorite of the 6.

That person will get a 3 Month Xbox Live code as a reward. Go get to it! Let's liven up this place!"

CONTEST #2

And remember OMGMoreJames's contest, which began yesterday:

For the next six days all winners of COTD will be entered into a vote to take place on Sunday. That winner will be the commenter of the week.

That person will get a 3 Month Xbox Live code as a reward."

FROM THE VERGE:

'Intergalactic' Adrianne Jeffries brings you the latest tech news in 90 Seconds on The Verge.

POLYNAUTS COMMENT OF THE DAY (27/8):

We've got some good threads going now, it's all good stuff.

Yosh's Comic thread seems to be working out pretty well, and Rev's Anime You Never Heard Of thread is something that seems to be getting a lot of deserved appreciation. Not to mention this daily bad boy - kudos Shaun and Paddy. All good stuff.

Overall it seems like the general tone in the forums is going well too, plenty of decent discussion in general, no gaskets being blown, and overall, a decent showing of respect from most.

Although I haven't dropped into a busy period yet, I'm led to believe that the Steam group is going strong too.

This is pretty great to see. It's tough to find decent communities, so finding one good one is all you need. The gaming discussion here is generally deeper than I have seen in pretty much anywhere else (some people can take that the wrong way), plus there are solid alternate communities here too, with Comics and Anime/Manga getting a good showing...and if you ever tried to enter one of those communities elsewhere...then, well, you'd know how hard it is too find a ‘sensible' one (Anime and Manga especially...).

I think as a group, it would probably be nice if there was a little more activity in Polygon proper, but I believe that is something everyone is already aware of. But that will come along with the right stories and a decent influx of news.

So anyway, let's keep it up. Be excellent to each other.

GunFlame (13 Recommends)

Every day there will only be one comment from the previous thread. It's decided based upon the most recommends an individual receives for their comment; should two people have the same rating then both comments will be posted.

Okay, there we have another Fridays' worth of catch-ups folks. Remember to sound off in the comments below and share any awesome news you find today. As always, feel free to hit me up on Twitter @shaunmcilroy if you want to chitchat throughout the day.

NOTES:

New to the Polygon Community? Please take time to read the Community Guidelines as laid out by the editorial team here at The Verge. Particularly take note here: "Foul language: Cussing, swearing, or just plain nasty: all of the above are not cool here." That goes for NSFW material as well folks.

If you're looking the best way to filter through any current deals on games (regardless of platform) then check out The Gamers Grid created by community Polynaut, NuclearPrinny.

If you're a fan of the image up top and want to submit your own, remember to keep them coming in for this section of Polynauts Central, GIF's included, at this link. Finally, if you want to submit a header image for Crisis on Infinite Polygons you can do that on this thread.