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Author Topic: PlayThisThing  (Read 3823 times)

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Pedro Picasso

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PlayThisThing
« on: January 17, 2008, 07:45:15 pm »
If you like games, that's one thing.  If you like the act of playing games, that is another.  Gamers like playing games casually (Bejewelled) or intensely (Civ/Madden/HalfLife), game enthusiasts like reading books like the Theory of Fun and analyzing what it is about games that they like and how slight variations can produce different flavors of gameplay.  If you are a gamer (of the video sort), you should read Penny Arcade.  Indeed, you probably do.  If you are a game enthusiast (video, live action, or tabletop), you really have to check out PlayThisThing.com.  Really, it is great. 

PlayThisThing is a blog that posts about one game a day.  On Tuesdays, the post is about a board game.  These are generally small games by independent developers which are cheap or free.  From in-depth, innovative adventure games to five-minute games that prove exactly one point using exactly one gimmick (like "Lost in Static" or "Passage").  They're really neat.  I had no idea that there was anything resembling innovation going on in live action roleplaying until I read about "Upgrade".  I thought it was still just about covering your name badge so you could readjust your cape without looking bad in front of the high prince of black silk.  I haven't played a tenth of the games I've read about there, but I always get excited reading about them.

If you look really really closely into what makes a game fun, you can actually make that game not fun anymore.  It's like MAGIC!
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Lister

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Re: PlayThisThing
« Reply #1 on: January 18, 2008, 02:21:02 pm »
You are bad.  This will kill productivity at my job, when I email the link to like all of my cow-orkers.
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CortJstr

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Re: PlayThisThing
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2008, 02:46:46 am »
OK, the 2nd video made me think of several of TOUAMB's lovely ladies: http://playthisthing.com/tripod
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theinevitable

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Re: PlayThisThing
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2008, 03:28:44 am »
oh my god, I Wanna Be The Guy so bad.

If the way my taste in music has progressed is any indication, I will enjoy things like Passage and You Have to Burn The Rope (or at least, things along that vein) for a while, and then start playing things like Super Mario Brothers and telling people how awesome they are.
These people will react with shock that I didn't play Super Mario Brothers as a kid. The first game system I had was an N64.

The same person who said "daniel loves every girl" recently said "you LOVE pop music" which would have totally repulsed/confused me not that long ago.
« Last Edit: April 25, 2008, 06:11:37 am by theinevitable »
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Doc

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Re: PlayThisThing
« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2008, 01:54:45 pm »
I wanna be the Guy is... wow.
It's an interesting thing, games today are generally more or less about a story and so they don't make it to hard for you to progress from one cool set piece or story point to another (when done well) so it's refreshing to play a game that actually doesn't want you to progress which was what old games were all about.
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Re: PlayThisThing
« Reply #5 on: May 11, 2008, 06:45:17 am »
The transition from "Games are meant to drive quarter insertion" to "games must provide entertainment in order to justify a large up-front cost" was a significant one.

Not everyone has made this transition.
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theinevitable

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Re: PlayThisThing
« Reply #6 on: May 11, 2008, 07:14:38 pm »
update: Chrono Trigger is still awesome a few more hours in.
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Ben-San

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Re: PlayThisThing
« Reply #7 on: May 11, 2008, 07:40:39 pm »
Quote from: Doc on April 25, 2008, 01:54:45 pm
I wanna be the Guy is... wow.
It's an interesting thing, games today are generally more or less about a story and so they don't make it to hard for you to progress from one cool set piece or story point to another (when done well) so it's refreshing to play a game that actually doesn't want you to progress which was what old games were all about.

There are still hard games out there. I've been playing Roguelikes for quite some time to get my unforgiving-game fix, and a fine one hit the Nintendo DS a few months ago in the form of Shiren the Wanderer. 20-30 bucks if you can find it and it's an endlessly playable and very good roguelike you can stick in your pocket without NethackDS's interface problems. Probably the only Roguelike on a non-computer platform that'll satisfy a veteran Roguelike player.
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Doc

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Re: PlayThisThing
« Reply #8 on: May 12, 2008, 12:37:49 am »
Quote from: Ben-San on May 11, 2008, 07:40:39 pm
There are still hard games out there. I've been playing Roguelikes for quite some time to get my unforgiving-game fix, and a fine one hit the Nintendo DS a few months ago in the form of Shiren the Wanderer. 20-30 bucks if you can find it and it's an endlessly playable and very good roguelike you can stick in your pocket without NethackDS's interface problems. Probably the only Roguelike on a non-computer platform that'll satisfy a veteran Roguelike player.

I heard of this in fact and have been debating picking it up. I've never fully immersed myself in nethak and similar games but that comes down to not being bothered figuring out the interface rather than a problem with the game style.
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CortJstr

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Re: PlayThisThing
« Reply #9 on: January 21, 2009, 03:07:16 am »
As soon as I saw this one I thought of Judy. And now that he's back I'm posting a link: http://playthisthing.com/new-star-soccer-4
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Drygioni

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Re: PlayThisThing
« Reply #10 on: January 21, 2009, 03:35:40 am »
Quote from: CortJstr on January 21, 2009, 03:07:16 am
As soon as I saw this one I thought of Judy. And now that he's back I'm posting a link: http://playthisthing.com/new-star-soccer-4

Excellent shout, I love this series.
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