Media Recap: August 2013

Summary: 4 games, 12 podcasts, 2 let’s plays

There’s still not much going on since I’m developing a very nice command line tool for personal use which I intend to use to write a microblog-style website with daily reading tips.

Games

• Beyond Good and Evil HD
  I played Beyond Good and Evil many years ago on my Playstation 2 and found it interesting. However, I was struck by a nasty bug which took away items and didn't hand me my purchase when at a shop and quit. When I read that there was a new version in High Definition and - admittedly - with achievements I was already convinced to buy it and only needed the right time. This time I completed the game together with my girlfriend who took part in the photography and hovercraft part.
• Mass Effect 3
  Finally completed ME3, once with my girlfriend and once for the Unwavering achievement. I hope to take a long break from the series.
• Gyromancer - nearly done
  Gyromancer was my solution for a lot of sleepless nights in August as well as spending some time while alone. I am almost done with the game without DLC by the time of this writing. I've completed the story and got all achievements bar Bearer of 120 Awards. Some of those were quite hard and I required a lot of help in the form of video tutorials.
• Assassin's Creed (1)
  Let me spell this out: Assassin's Creed 1 is boring. Very so. I replayed this game for my girlfriend so we would avoid her not having much context when playing other games from the series - very different to her being thrown into Mass Effect 3 with me explaining while playing.

Podcasts

• Hypercritical 90 - Salad Days
  I couldn't remember most of the context when listening to the last minutes left of episode 90 and wasn't willing to rewind the podcast enough to get a better understanding.
• IRQ Conflict 48 - Windows Phone Idol
• The Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 103 - Desert Storm
• Alternativlos 24 - Gast: Dr. Mathias Döfpner
  Another podcast of which I merely listened to the remainder from last month. About 30 minutes gave enough context though. Knowledge fades frighteningly fast, though. I hardly remember details about the Leistungsschutzrecht.
• Accidental Tech Podcast
  • 23 - The X Or The X
  • 24 - Double Meta
  • 25 - Thrustmaster Joystick
  • 26 - Three Phones Ago
  • 27 - Overflow Gallery in the Bathroom
• Mac Power Users 67 - Web Security and your Apple Devices
• The Crossover 3 - Generational Loss
• 5by5 special 2 - Thank You, Steve Jobs
  It's strange. I know that people view me as a fan of Apple. I admit I am fond of its technology. But the statements in this special tribute to Steve Jobs in fact made me feel a little sad. It was very emotional.

Let's Plays

• Darksiders - played by Ambisagrus
  Some may remember that I watched a Zelda let's play by Ambisagrus. He mostly does Zelda LPs, but since Darksiders is apparently very close to the Zelda formula he played that game as well. Had quite some fun here.
• Diablo 3 - played by my friend Markus
  Markus invited me to watch him play Diablo 3 since he had already completed it on the hardest possible difficulty setting and had a blast. He's generally very fond of the game and it was a blast watching him tear through his enemies using a barbarian on the second hardest setting - only because it would take way less time for me to watch the story sequences. It still took us two sessions with each spanning about 3-4 hours. At least that's what I remember. Might have been more. Or was it less? Time is such a mushy concept during the holidays.