Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Lost, Lebron James’ ailing elbow, or your favorite island, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Yesterday I told you about a recurring BioWare dream that I’ve had for the last ten years. I’ve been having this other dream about BioWare for the last three years or so. I’m living in southern Thailand — probably Phuket or Koh Phangan — and telecommuting as a BioWare community manager. Life and work are pretty much perfect. It’s such a lovely dream. *sigh*
Don’t get me wrong — I love writing and interacting with an audience. What I’m doing now is absolutely what I want to be doing (though making money would be nice). The only other job that I really want (off the top of my head) is working as a community manager for a developer I love. Hell, I’d work for a developer I midly disliked if I could telecommute from Thailand. Ha!
I was wondering if you have a dream job in the gaming business. Is there a certain company or game designer that you dream of working for? RPadholic bsukenyan has mentioned that he’s interested in becoming a gaming analyst, but I’m not sure about the rest of you. Kindly share your videogame dream job(s) in the comments section!
Tester. I would love to be a tester. I just want to play the games and don't want to pay for them. As for an island paradise, I hear Oahu is nice. They use that to film Lost and it looks pretty great on film.
@LBJ
LeBron needs to stop using that ailing elbow as an excuse. I didn't seem to bother him when they played game 3 against the Celtics. I'm tired of everyone trying to say that they are playing through an injury and thats why they didn't perform as great.
@Lost
was great but still left more questions to be answered. I can't believe it's almost over. :(
@tokz_21 Wow, I wasn't expecting that answer at all. Do you watch Sony's show, The Tester? I don't want to write about it because I think it's silly. How do you glamorize one of the worst jobs in the business? It's like:
Tony: Hey Jim! What did you do today?
Jim: Not much man. I made Kratos crash into a wall for three hours so that I could replicate a bug.
@rpad
yeah i know it's one of the worst but i don't mind doing grunt work. I'm not creative enough to be a developer or technical enough for software or engineer or whatever else but playing games and reporting bugs; I can do that. No i don't watch any Sony content, is it free?
@tokz_21 Yeah, I believe it's free. It's comically bad. Check it out if you get a chance. I wonder if it will change your perspective on the job.
@rpad
comically bad, i'll hate it or that i'll laugh a little because of the bad jokes or puns. I'll check it out but i've had worse jobs and i don't see it being that bad compared to the other jobs i've had.
I was driving past a used game store in Denver yesterday and saw the most awesome mural to gaming. Check it out
http://gamerswishlist.com/news/628-Gaming-Gem-Gra…
@topic
I had a couple of friends in testing and they really enjoyed it. That's something i would do in a heartbeat if i got offered it.
I wouldn't mind being a creative mind and getting the other guys to make what I think of in my head like Peter M.
@NXT
I was surprised they let Daniel Bryan go, I thought they had big plans for him after losing so much. Micheal Tarver was useless and deserved to go. I don't agree with getting rid of Skip though. I think the one man rock band guy should have been eliminated instead of Skip.
@LBJ
He simply needs more help.
@The Tester
Yeah its free, I downloaded them but never have gotten around to watching them.
@Topic
Even though I sometimes I wish video games was all I did I know that I would end up hating it just like every other career/job I have chosen (except repos those are fun still). I have had TONS of jobs and the closest to a gaming industry job was I got a job at a GameStop as a store manager but I turned it down to do what I do now. C'est la Vie
@shockwave
that's a pretty awesome mural. I wish i ran into this when i was in Denver last October.
@RRODisHere I'm also not a fan of the one-man rock band. He reminds me of a dumber version of Brian Kendrick.
I love that Daniel Bryan is gone and Bryan Danielson is back (though I think WWE is using Brian Danielson for trademark purposes). The word is that he's going to sub for Bret Hart against The Miz.
Game journalist. I love writing about games, and so far it seems to be going pretty well all things considered.
So I beat Heavy Rain last night. Gigantic plot holes a plenty. And if you're gonna sell me on the "interactive drama" being more important than the lackluster gameplay, caulk up those plot holes and get rid of the horrid french voice actors. Just sayin'….
@Nightshade
Some of the voice actors were terrible and there were two big plot holes for me that should have been filled but the game was still awesome to me. I hear your gripe but I honestly don't see how they could get the same level of emotion with traditional controls.
Earlier in life, I would have wanted to be a game tester because I figured that it was cool to get paid to play games. As an adult, however, I realize that it's more of a technical job (as mentioned above) and a lot less glamorous than I had first imagined. I now know that game testing is pretty labor intensive and boring at times. Also, I would hate to get stuck with an obviously crappy game. I've been spoiled throughout the years by playing an ass-ton of the best-rated games available. The last bad game I've played was Quest 64 on the N64. (Avoid that "game" like the plague… even if you see it on the Virtual Console).
That said, I would like to be a level designer or story lead on a game. Much like Tokz, I do not have enough technical knowledge to be a software or artist-rendering guy, but I do have some great ideas that can help craft the story and level design of a game to make the whole thing flow smoothly and coherently.
Also, I would totally bring back "point-and-click" adventures for the PC. There are some avenues of that genre that have not been explored. I would love for the next generation of game developers to revive it and breathe life back into the live-action sequenced games. (see Gabriel Knight 2 and The 11th Hour)
-M
@Iceman Point-and-click adventures are back in a huge way thanks to mobile phones and devices like the iPad. There's a lot of money to be made there.
@Raymond Padilla
One thing is for sure, Wade Barrett is head and shoulders above everyone else. He has the in ring ability, the mic skills, and the charisma needed to be a major player in the WWE. David Otunga generates decent heat. If someone could work on his mic skills I think he could go far in the WWE too. His wrestling has gotten better but that's the least important aspect in becoming a star in the WWE, just ask Batista, Big Show, and John Cena.
@RRODisHere Wade has been extremely impressive. In addition to what you mentioned, his size is something Vince McMahon loves.
I'm not sold on Otunga. I question the type of heat he gets. Do the fans really hate him? Or do they just want him to go away. I'm thinking it's X-Pac heat.
I'm psyched that Bryan Danielson is back and most likely being promoted to one of the big shows. He hasn't really shown what he can do in the ring. He's had good matches with Jericho and Batista, but that's just a fraction of what he can do. I also hope they let him use cattle mutilation as a finisher again, but I doubt that'll happen.
Show used to be awesome in the ring for a big man. Did you know he could do a moonsault when he was younger and lighter?
@rpad
Funny you bring the Big Show doing a moonsault. One of my friends claims he saw the Big Show do a rope flip on Smackdown during his ring entrance once. Did you ever see this?
@tokz_21 I have not seen that. Vince was against him doing anything too exotic for a big man. His point was that nobody would believe someone could kick out of a moonsault executed by a 450-pound man.
@rpad
that's what i said!!! I know he was throwing fits when Lesnar was climbing the top ropes for attempted moonsaults. We still bring that story up to him when we hear someone say something outrageous without any proof.
@RROD: I don't know. I just didn't find any of the characters to be relate-able or like-able. Hard to draw out emotion from the viewer/player if you can't draw them into the characters at all.
I'm also aware that the plot holes are no worse than many other video games. But if you're selling me on "interactive drama" over gameplay, I'm gonna hold your writing to a higher standard.
Also, I made a point not to read/watch any spoilers before I played it. I still knew who the killer was roughly a 3rd of the way into the game. It was the only character who seemed to have no legitimate motivation for "investigating" the murders.
@Raymond Padilla
I know the WWE is going to use some of these guys but I wonder how they are going to explain Brian Danielson showing up on Raw or Smackdown when he was supposedly eliminated from NXT having his dreams of becoming a WWE superstar crushed.
@RRODisHere You see, all you have to do is change your name and you get a do-over. I'm still waiting for WWE to explain:
1) How R-Truth is alive when MacGruber blew him up
2) The legality of Shawn Michaels super kicking Chris Benoit and signing Benoit's contract to fight Triple H. If this actually worked, I'd super kick the next baseball player that signed a $100-million+ contract and sign it myself.
If I couldhave one job it would be just creating the ideas and concepts behind games. I am not technically savvy enough to make the games. So I figure letting some one else make my ideas come to life would be just as rewarding.
I've had this idea for a Pokemon MMORPG forever. :/
@Ray: Answer to question 2:
Nute Gunray: But sir, is that leeegal?
Darth Sideous: I will make it legal!
Gunray w/ J.R. and Sideous w/ Vince.
Er…replace w/. You know what I mean.
I'll keep it simple and realistic…
Cover art. I'd like to design the cover art for games.
@rpad
I was waiting for that explanation. I was going to ask how they did explain that R-Truth resurrection angle but i didn't want to seem like such a noob for not watching smackdown. Thanks for letting me know it wasn't answered.
@Lebron James
Yeah I think he needs to stop using the shoulder as an excuse, but I would agree with RROD that he needs some help. I will admit I have not seen all of the Cavs games this year like I did last year, but the games that I have seen the rest of the team has not been helping out the most. This was the same problem that they had in the playoffs last year, they played like a team in season and stopped in the playoffs. Lebron is a great player, but he needs a good team around him if they want to win, just like any great player needs.
@Topic
Yes I would love to be an analyst or researcher for the video game industry, but I would also love to have the ability to be a developer. Actually designing a game and the levels would be an awesome job to have. Either of those jobs would be my dream jobs, but I don't really feel like I have the genius to come up with good levels. Or maybe I am giving to much credit to some people in the industry because I know that there are plenty of bad level designs out there, so maybe it isn't the hardest job in the industry to get…haha
@ R-Truth explanation
Considering MacGruber has blown up himself and anyone he was with countless times on SNL… maybe that mystical resurrection power just rubbed off on R-Truth?
Or… he's actually now the black smoke monster and he just looks like R-Truth.
@n8r
he's smokey! ha! what a confusing episode of Lost yesterday. It's funny how that show can make you hate smokey for killing Sayid, Sun and Jin but now feel sorry for him for being lied to and killed.
Wow. WWE tweeted a link to old Bryan Danielson videos on YouTube. I'm surprised the company is being more specific about his old work. There are some great clips there if you're interested.
http://twitter.com/wwe/status/13858884640
@ tokz
Yeah… I think my wife got more from that episode than I did.
I still really don't fully understand why he can't leave the island by himself yet… but I assume they'll clear that up.
If MIB (who they had a great chance to name but didn't) got knocked out by his fake mom before completeing the wheel, his fake mom filled in the hole, and he then got thrown in the light within that short time frame… how did the wheel get finished and by whom? Also, who built the temple? Was everyone who ever came to the island a potential candidate?
@n8r
yeah those are the same questions i had. The only things i can think of is that since smokey was made by the light in the cave and that he needs to take out every light source on the island. If i heard correctly the light source lives on in every candidate. The wheel was probably and temple was probably done by the people either jacob or smokey manipulated into doing it. This would explain femi appearing to ecko and telling him to stop locke from pushing the button, i think he did thus destroying the hatch also the light. The same can be said for the donkey wheel that chrisitan told ben and locke to use. I think thats the same well that jack destroyed with the nuke no?
@ tokz
Christian (Smokey) convinced Locke to turn the wheel… but Ben did it to hide the island from Widmore on his on volition. The only time Jacob ever spoke directly to Ben was when Ben killed hm.
Jack blew up the hatch during the construction of the Swan in 1977. The well was the well Locke climbed down to spin the wheel and stop the time shifts.
Yemi was indeed Smokey. If the destroying of the Swan turned out the light… that may explain why he can now leave the island… but why can't he just up and do it by himself?
The only thing I can think of is that the rules that bound him to Jacob now shifted to one of the candidates and Smokey doesn't know which one. According to last week's episode, it's apparently one of the living ones (Jack, Sawyer, or Hurley). I think Jack fits the role best, but Hurley is more like young Jacob. Hurley is a terrible liar. Sawyer however… is a professional liar.
Kate… well, I don't want to upset Smartguy by talking too much trash, but Evangeline Lilly said she's gonna quit acting after Lost.
@ tokz
Wait a minute… Eko was die hard FOR pressing the button. In fact, he locked out Locke when Locke was trying to stop pressing the button. All Yemi told Eko was where to find the "?" station and to confess his sins.
@n8r
i got that mixed up. Then smokey got to locke after ecko denied him. Now i remember. I still stand bY my theory just change the names and situations. Smokey is trying to leave since their mother said theyre bound to the island but only the keeper of the light or candidate keeps him there. Without a light protector or candidate his free to go an now i really want to see him leave after that last episode.
@ tokz
Locke was disenchanted with pushing the button because he thought it was a psychological experiment. Smokey had nothing to do with it. If anything, Smokey helped Eko find the "?" with Locke which led Locke to believe this.
Your theory is plausible. I keep thinking of Crisis on Infinite Earths where the strange event caused the multiverse to collapse (kinda like Jughead exploding and the now flash sideways).
Another question… the donkey wheel area didn't seem that cold when we saw it last. Meamwhile, Locke had to chip the ice away from the wheel before he was TRANSPORTED FAR FROM THE ISLAND!!! Remembering that just struck a spark in my head. That may be how Smokey REALLY plans on leaving the island once all the candidates are dead.
@N8R
Reading you talk about that part of Lost and hearing one of my roommates talk about it just makes me think of the original Willy Wonka movie with Gene Wilder…"Button, button whose got the button." lol
@ Topic
I would love to program music in a game because some of the music I hear in a game I know I could reproduce and make it better,its always so predictable.
Game 6 is tonight, I think the Celts are going to win in OT.
@n8r
didn't Crisis cause the multiverse be aware that each other exist and if the prime world falls all the other multi-verses do? So, hey! maybe that's how they're going to end the show! There's gotta be a reason why Desmond is going around in sideways time and making everyone aware of island-prime. Did we see the donkey wheel in present time? we saw it last season when it was being built and thus it was nuked but i don't remember it during this season.
@ tokz
The Swan (i.e. the hatch with the button in it) was being built when the nuke went off (which wasn't in present time). We saw it twice in present time. The first time was when Ben turned the wheel in what was really the season 4 finale but we didn't actually see what happened until season 5. The other time was in season 5 when Locke spun it to stop the time shifts. He jumped down the well, screwed up his leg, time shifted, well was gone, we saw the back of the complete statue for the first time, Locke spun the wheel, Sawyer, Jin, Miles, and Juliette ended up in the 70's.
So technically, we only saw it in the main timeline once… when Ben spun it and ended up in Tunisia (or wherever the hell that was).
@n8r
I see, i thought it was the orchid that was being built but it makes sense since Radzinski was there and obsessed with getting built. Yeah so the Orchid donkey wheel exit makes sense because that's also where all that nerve gas is that Charlotte and Daniel went to go disable. He can make his escape and poison them all.
@ tokz
No matter what though, I seriously doubt there's time left for the writers to answer all my questions.
My wife and I were hashing things out last night. With all the queries we came up with in the short time we discussed it… it seems impossible.
She thinks the sideways is the world without Jacob's influence. It's pretty good too.
@n8r
yeah you're right. I think they should've known sooner when it was going to end. There's a lot of episodes you can cut out of the seasons and place more island oriented story to answer everyone's questions or give a little bit more of an explanation to. Hey! you know what just clicked into my head. remember that episode when Hurley goes crazy and sees dave running around and at the end we see Libby in the looney bin. Also, in Season 5 when Sun is giving birth and we see Jin running around for that Panda only to give it to someone else and not mention his wife. Those episodes never made sense to me but now they are because they (writers) had to be hinting at a sideways world. In flash sideways world Libby is in the looney bin not Hurley and Jin isn't married to Sun. Wow, i need to take a Lost break.
@ tokz
Sun wasn't giving birth in that episode. Jin never met Ji Yeon. He was stuck in the 70's (that sounds funny) when she was born. They had the audience thinking she was though, but at the end they revealed it was all a flashback when Jin said "Don't rush me, I've only been married 2 months".
But I see where you're coming from.
They apparently said from the beginning that they wanted to do six seasons. What I think happened was the writers strike threw them through a loop. The seasons were shorter ever since. They did ALOT of characterization in those first 3 seasons. I think they lost track of certain elements in order to focus on other elements. That's just my theory though.
Then there's other things that screwed up their continuity. The obvious one being Walt's aging. I also noticed that Mathew Fox got some new tattoos between season 2 and 3. Contractual agreements, the actors that played Libby and Ana Lucia getting arrested, etc. They probably had to change some things and lost track of where they were originally going.
I feel they knew what the island was and the relationship between Jacob and Smokey from the start though.
@n8r
yeah the writers strike in season 3 messed them up. Also you're correct that jin does say hes been married two months but sun is giving birth in the flash forward according to lostpedia, this episode was in season 4 not 5, that episode never made sense to me btw.
@ tokz
Dude… I've been spending a good amount of time reading the theories on Walt in Lostpedia:
http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Walt_Lloyd/Theori…
If Walt doesn't show up in the finale…. I may be disappointed.
@n8r
agreed. You can't show walt and mention how special he is and blah blah but not have him show up for the final 3 and half hours left.
Can't read my, can't read my, can't read my, can't read my Cartman face!