Media Recap: July 2012

• Let’s Play: Tales of Symphonia
  I don’t think I would play this. It’s too colorful and generally almost distastefully cheerful. I have the impression that due to that it can’t convey it’s darker sequences to you successfully since the lack of a certain sombre attitude of the game as a whole fails to bring about a sense of danger and sadness.

• Let’s Play: Final Fantasy VI Advance
  I’ve put up checking out VI for too long and now that I’ve seen it, I’m just not convinced. That might be nostalgia induced bias since I’m quite fond of VIII and IX.

• Podcast: Build & Analyze 43 Mythical Metro
  I don’t have anything to say about B&A. They’re great and I listen to them while cleaning or doing other chores.

• Podcast: Build & Analyze 85 Rules of the Road
• Podcast: Build & Analyze 86 Folding A Piece of Cake
• Podcast: Build & Analyze 87 Close the Windows and Hope for the Best
• Podcast: Build & Analyze 88 Things are Pretty Here
• Game: Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
  On the topic of nostalgia induced bias: After I had previously only had a pirated version of C&C 3, which I absolutely loved due to both gameplay and story, I bought this and it’s expansion during a STEAM sale.
• Game: Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath
  Had fun checking out new units. The Eradicator Hexapod is awesome.
• Game: Fallout 3
  Another spur of the moment purchase at a STEAM sale. I only played for a brief period of time. I think the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise does a lot better in terms of atmosphere.
• Game: Guild Wars 2 Beta
  I already wrote about that.
• Game: Journey
  Journey for PS3 is amazing and I plan to complete the journey a second time before I write a post about the awesomeness of this great game.
• Game: Lost Horizon
  A point and click adventure set before the second world war, with the Nazis already strong. I plan to release a separate article about this game.

• Game: Mass Effect 2
  Played some more, took more notes, will post to mailbox again shortly.

• Game: Mass Effect 3
  I participated in Operation OVERWATCH, otherwise not much to say aside from the fact that I had my first successful extraction on the ‘Gold’ difficulty setting.

• Text: Freak Army
  A somewhat controversial, well written and deeply troubling though sometimes genuinely funny text about the abyss in men that war is able to bring out. Though I can’t say I fully enjoyed reading this, the sections with the Eurofighter’s board computer made me laugh every time and reminded me of my many, many failures when trying to use Siri. (Text in GERMAN)

• Text: John Siracusa’s review of OS X Mountain Lion
  Siracusa’s review is extremely thorough and contains a lot of different information, from subtle differences in the GUI to changes for developers. It’s worth a read if you’re considering upgrading or just want to know what has changed. It’s rather hefty at 25k+ words but in my opinion his writing style is worth every minute of you reading the article.

• several texts which were short versions to get a taste of the writing

Summary: 2 let’s plays, 5 podcasts, 8 games, 2 longform texts;