Medium Mashup

Author: Ross Miller

  • Unknown Hosts 8/19/2015

    Despite being short one member, we still managed to pull off a solid show!

    Check out the timecodes below if you’d prefer to jump around!

    0:00 – Intro

    The Good, the Bad, the Kappa
    4:27 – Sonic in Super Mario Maker…If You Own His Amiibo
    9:47 – Blizzard to Support Hearthstone for 10-20 Years and Create a Console Port
    16:30 – The Witcher 3’s Modding Tools Disappoint Fans
    21:41 – Resident Evil 2 To Be Remade from the Ground Up
    28:54 – Fallout 4 Finished Before Being Announced
    33:01 – Fallout 4 Gamescom Demo Leaks to Pornhub
    38:22 – Gamestop Commissions Study to Remind Gamers They Have Games to Sell

    Chat Topics
    44:52 – Start of Chat
    51:03 – Elite Dangerous
    54:10 – FIFA 16 and FIFA Leagues (FVPAA)

  • Rectify Season 3 Review

    rectify

    (The following review contains spoilers. It is written under the assumption that you have seen season three of Rectify)

    Six episodes is not a lot of time to move a story forward. While the overall runtime is comparable to three films, the storytelling demands of television require a much different pace. Full stories must be conveyed on a weekly basis, several characters need to be serviced, and story reveals need to be parsed out to keep the audience coming back. For most shows, this means that such a short number of episodes is simply not enough to tell the full story.

    However, for Sundance TV’s Rectify, I would argue that six episodes is just about right. While the cast of the show is quite large, the scenario itself is relatively uncomplicated. The writers are far more interested in how the events depicted effect the various characters than moving the plot forward at a “normal” television pace. Given the ratio of character-driven scenes to plot-driven scenes, extending Rectify out begins to feel like something of a burden on the viewer. But in small doses, Rectify’s quiet charms have just the right amount of space to breathe.

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  • Portal Stories: Mel Video Review

    My video review of Portal Stories: Mel, a superb Portal 2 mod. As originally seen on Unknown Hosts!

  • True Detective and the Unknowable Alchemy of Good Television

    true_detective

    Do you remember when everybody was waiting with baited breath for the second season of True Detective? You should: it wasn’t long ago, and the internet was overflowing with casting rumors and #truedetectiveseason2 hashtags. The first season, featuring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, was so engaging and featured such excellent performances that it was difficult to imagine how a follow-up season, utilizing a completely different cast, story, and location, could live up.

    The answer was pretty simple: it couldn’t. But it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The cast of the second season, which featured Colin Farrell, Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams, and Taylor Kitsch, really poured their heart and souls into their performances. It is clear watching that they all realized both the burden they were taking on and the opportunity that they had been given. On projects like this, actors really have to give in and trust their writer and director completely, even when they can’t personally envision how the end product will work.

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  • Gamescom and the Industry of Hype

    gamescom

    As I write this, I am in the middle of watching Gamescom coverage, tracking all of the huge announcements coming out of Germany this week. With the proliferation of live streaming video and the endless cycle of user-generated hype, major game publishers are beginning to realize that just focusing on one major event each year (E3) is a missed opportunity. Microsoft, in particular, has subscribed fully to this belief by saving some of its biggest 2016 titles, like Quantum Break and Scalebound, for Gamescom. This lets them keep the hype-train running months after E3’s momentum has died down, leading right into the holiday season.

    For now, this seems like an excellent strategy. Microsoft’s Gamescom conference was packed wall-to-wall with great-looking game demos and exciting announcements, building up fan anticipation that should lead right into the holiday season. This year seems to be the sweet spot for this strategy; after all, Sony has to stay competitive. Xbox fans will be dominating the online conversation for some time, acting as an echo chamber, building on the hype that Microsoft generated earlier this week. Sony can’t stay away from that next year.

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