Frede

Don't forget that today is the day where we're returning to tear "King's Quest V" a new one with a custom, homemade, never-before-experienced audioswap - essentially a faux version of this. Details about how, where and when you can watch the stream are available here.

I like the suggestion of Tom Bergeron. While most of his jokes on AFV are absolutely awful, he knows how to deliver them with just the right amount of sarcasm. It's really hard to find someone who can hold a candle to Gary and his zany sense of humour. Don Pardo would spring to mind if he hadn't already left us...

I just realised, while replying to a topic about Gary's death over on the VSB dev forums, that I literally cannot think of a better adventure game narrator than him. Gary Owens just did it best. I've played multiple adventure games where I've found myself wishing that the developers would've hired him instead of whoever was narrating that particular game. He was just perfect whether he was snarky, deadpan or just plain narrating. You could tell that he wasn't just reading lines - he actually understood what he was doing. In a way, it'd be very fitting if the SpaceVenture narration turns text-only now. Rest in peace, Mr. Owens.

I think Anatoly's opinion of Ivan Lohzin might well be fair. It's easy to be biased against something that is inherently a rip-off, but he also loves the first Duke Nukem (or "Nukum") game, and that game is infamous for lifting sprites and textures wholesale from other games. So, yeah, Ivan Lohzin could very well be that bad. That said, I do know he kinda has his angry shtick, which is something that goes for most comedic reviewers on the 'net, I think. I can't quite decide whether I'm fond of that style or not. Also, not having completed at least the shareware episode of Doom is what we call a "serious character flaw" around here ;)

I'm voicing CyberCedric. I will not be paying for PodBean again if I don't get to voice CyberCedric. (Jokes aside, Richard Aaronson does seem to have enough self-irony about himself to have played Cedric in the KQ2+ easter egg we talked about when Dan was here. Worth a shot!)

I remember sending you those at least once! ;)

I probably do love you deep down, but the joke is just not funny. Sorry for annihilating freedom of speech or... something.

Rocket Ragout ("what's a ragout?")

There are definitely cons about using social media to stay informed. The biggest one obviously been that backers tend to look to the Kickstarter comments page for news. I personally think that page is a very inflexible medium, though. It's great for getting your daily scroll wheel workout, but that's about it. If it was possible to create isolated threads, that'd be an improvement. Even a search function would help. Whether you like Twitter or not is obviously a matter of taste. I've come to prefer it to Facebook, though. Seeing as you're interested, Chris took part in this Twitter conversation. May not go all the way back, but you can obviously tell what kind of conversation made Jess join in. And while I don't believe giving the guy flak will do anything, you'll want to note that I did try to give Chris some constructive advice here. And it looks like the most recent comment of his on the KS comments page might've helped a lot. Also, I probably wouldn't really take a dump in a boxed edition of SpaceVenture. The P&P rates are insane, and there's a high probability that I'd miss.

No, it's not. You can justifiably be a whiny little bitch towards yourself for not having read the terms of service, but the Guys of Andromeda haven't done anything they're not entitled to do. Does it suck that the game is not out yet? Sure does. But the lack of security is part of the crowdfunding model. And the hyperbole is just douchy. "RIP Guys from Andromeda and SpaceVenture". "We will never, ever see this game". Either display a modicum of maturity or fuck off. The former can't be too difficult, seeing as I'm managing to do it. And no, I'm not on the dev team. Might as well let it be an open secret that I have $165 on the line. And, as I was studying at that point, that was a lot of money for me 2-3 years ago. So my point stands: grow up. Get off Chris' back, man. It's not the guy's fault he has had to pick up the reins as far as the game development goes. He's been very active on Twitter regarding this whole shitstorm, and he also posted a comment on the Kickstarter page. Also, as he pointed out on Twitter, he has been on Scott and Mark's back about releasing exclusive material more than anyone and there has been a number of cases where either Guy has been willing to budge. Most people in the KS comments seem oblivious to that. It seems like people are viewing Chris Pope as this project's own Paul Trowe when, in reality, he doesn't have that big a say against the Guys. Obviously, there's a fine line when posting a nugget of info like that; you can do it in a conversation on social media, but you can't do it as part of the PR gig. It'll look like a crappy apology. But it's now there for all to see. Appointing Troels, as much as I obviously love the guy, would change nothing. As a matter of fact, it would likely make things worse, seeing as he's probably even less likely to start butting heads with his idols whenever they refuse to let us fans see some actual stuff from the game. I don't think Troels is at liberty to do that, even though I agree that this a good idea. In general, I'd love to see some team diaries, which is kinda what you're describing here. But, to paraphrase Chris, he literally cannot get the team to do it. And as for the screenshots, we're now running into the problem above.

The "discussion" over on Kickstarter is soaked in stupid hyperbole. Unbelievable. And, I'm sorry, Fronzel, but Gareth has a fine point about just that. Tongue in cheek or not, I'm sick of gamers being whiny, drama-loving little bitches. Even seems to go for many of the oldschool ones. What's next? #AndromedaGate? Grow up. I have not lost any faith in the project, but I have lost a lot of faith in a substantial number of backers. Thankfully, none of those guys seem to be active here.

Well, this is only months old. Reznor seems happy right now, so good for him. His belief in a supreme intelligence is none of my damn business, as long as he doesn't cover Jesus Is My Friend. It does seem more like a belief than being part of an organised religion to him, which I'm all for. Believe what you will, but don't force it upon anyone else. You know, this upsets me less than him naming his sons Lazarus Echo and Balthazar. And people say North West is a stupid name. I wonder if he's going to try to out-Zappa Zappa and have a daughter named Apollo Landing Module Reznor. Actually, now that I think of it, I'd love to hear Nine Inch Nails cover Jesus Is My Friend. That would be fucking hilarious.

Surprisingly, when asked in an interview recently, Trent Reznor stated that he does, in fact, believe in God. I don't think he's a major churchgoer or anything like that, but it was still pretty surprising to see. So I suppose "Heresy" is best taken as part of a narrative. Just like Roger Waters doesn't turn into a neo-nazi by the end of "The Wall".

If the game is good, obviously. But, yes. I agree that the release of the game itself will lead to a well-needed focus shift.

Huh, I thought you'd been a fan for longer than that. That's funny. I became a fan in 2002. First of all because someone I knew off the #sq IRC channel mentioned Reznor's "Quake" soundtrack and the fact that the man himself was pretty awesome. Then I saw this cool-ass photo from Woodstock 1994: While the story might seem to be taking a slight homoerotic angle at this point - I realise that "I saw a photo of the band" usually leads to girls swooning over One Direction - bear in mind that I was 14 years old at the time, so anything that oozed teeny angst was gonna be attractive to me. I chose to download a song from the band, and the unlikely candidate became "Into the Void", merely because I knew that Black Sabbath and KISS had written songs with the same title. Could've been a cover of either, I thought. It, fortunately, was not a cover, and it's still one of my favourite songs of theirs. It sounded very cold and electronic, but it also had a really cool jazzy edge to it because of the vocal harmonies. And thus began my own Downward Spiral. I became a fan, I got my grubby, KaZaA'ing hands onto everything NIN I could find and I got in line to wait for "Bleedthrough".

I don't consider myself a metalhead per se. I tend to be more into proto-metal, like Black Sabbath, which is probably my favourite "heavy metal" band. There are numerous exceptions already mentioned in this thread, though. Tool, Primus, Mr. Bungle, Faith No More, Rage Against the Machine. I also really, really like Haken (an English prog metal band) and I like Opeth's most recent albums. But you'll notice that all of those bands have an avant garde or prog rock edge to them. So I'm not really into "pure" metal as such, though I've certainly tried. Well, I also do listen to Metallica on occasion. Their first four albums are still brilliant, I have a soft spot for parts of "Load" and "ReLoad" and aside from its shitty production, "Death Magnetic" was a pretty solid return to form. But the overplayed stuff just about makes me vomit these days. I bought "The Black Album" on vinyl years ago and found myself really disappointed with it. The songs everyone knows and loves are awesome. The rest are shit. It's one of the most wildly inconsistent albums ever to be put on a pedestal. Could have been a pretty stellar EP without all the fluff.

The season finale we did yesterday can now be watched here: And listened to here, if you're more into a traditional podcast. Apart from Steven, Joe and Scott, we were also joined by Natalie "Resulka" Juhasz (ReVenture Games) and Francisco Gonzalez (Wadjet Eye Games). I personally had a great time and I can only hope that the episode is as hilarious to watch/listen to as it was to make.

But if it had been "I want to f*** your dead body like Mark Crowe", I bet it would've flown, right?

Achievement unlocked! Different strokes for sure, but I can definitely tell what you mean by "too Macbook-y". I also agree with most of your observations here, actually. I still recommend that you give "Hesitation Marks" a proper listen. The Reznor/Ross/Moulder sound is a part of it, but it's also got a more organic quality to it. Partly because Pino Palladino lends his bass chops to a lot of songs on it. Try "Various Methods of Escape" if you're looking for one good song off it. It sounds like an extension of "The Fragile". I've read in an interview of Reznor that he was also aiming for "The Slip" to be very organic-sounding; every instrument on that album was output through speakers and mic'ed to try to give it a raw live sound. But in retrospect, the man himself thinks it sounds "weird". I like the album, but I'm inclined to agree that it's not their best. The way it was released speaks in favour of it, much like the ARG speaks in favour of "Year Zero" to me. Also, you do know that The Downward Spiral was made with a then-state-of-the-art Mac, right? :P I'm not sure how much of it was recorded digitally, but the story goes that everything went through that computer. Yeah, Adrian Belew was briefly a member of the live band in 2013, but was ultimately let go because, according to himself, "it didn't work". I'm not sure if it happened acrimoniously, but 2013 was not the year of that guy. Imagine being booted from Nine Inch Nails and King Crimson within the span of one year! I think some guy crashed his car as well. Speaking of Zappa, there's a funny little scene in "Closure" where the band is listening to, and singing along with, "Broken Hearts Are For Assholes" in the dressing room.

Considering you're Fronzel and I'm Frede, this'll come as no surprise: I disagree. Nine Inch Nails have been pretty awesome post-"Year Zero". "The Slip" as an album was so-so, but the tour following it was absolutely awesome. And I sincerely think "Hesitation Marks" is the finest Nine Inch Nails album since "The Fragile". I love "Year Zero", but the Alternate Reality Game that accompanied it was a major part of the experience for me. I don't think the album would've had the same impact, had it not been for the websites sent back through time. In fact, I was on the Exhibit 24 website back when that was still online. I even have some fan-made dog tags lying around with my online nick and number on 'em, stating that I am "At large". It was a truly fascinating time to be a NIN fan. The 2013-2014 tours were also awesome. 'Nuff said; any tour that has Pino Palladino as part of the line-up is bound to be good. The dude replaced John Entwistle in The Who, so he knows his shit. I like how NIN post the "Wave Goodbye" tour has focused on musicianship rather than pure aggression. The "Self-Destruct" tour cycle will always be fantastic, and it'll never, ever be topped. But I'm happy Reznor has continued to rejuvenate the NIN live experience. It'd be pretty embarassing watching a balding, married dude pushing 60 breaking his keyboard while whispering his way through "Happiness In Slavery". Ultimately, I love the NIN of 1994 and I love the NIN of today. But they're different entities. I wish I was old enough to have experienced the classic constellation in concert, but that obviously wasn't meant to be. But, having attended gigs on the 2009 and 2014 European tours, I can safely say that Trent Reznor is still a musical force to be reckoned with.

I'm assuming Troels will see to that. But, yes, NIN also seems to be a constant. In fact, when I met up with Troels and Ken Allen last year, Ken mentioned my being a fan of Nine Inch Nails and immediately followed it up with "that is awesome!" I get a kick out of that. The man behind the SQ4 and SQ1VGA soundtracks likes Nine Inch Nails :)

Since we seem to have a surprising amount of fans here - and by that, I mean more than myself - I thought a Frank Zappa thread would be interesting. Perhaps more so to the uninitiated (I'm particularly looking at Troels here). Right now, I'm loving the hell out of circa 1973/1974 Zappa. He was always a multi-faceted human and musician, starting his career ostensibly playing hippie music (ironically, he was a conservative even back then) with satiric undertones and continuing to explore different genres until he untimely departed this plane as, perhaps, the most unique electronic/classical composer the world has ever seen. But there was one era of Zappa that just plain brought the funk, and that was 1973-1974. The bands he had around that time, consisting of a very eclectic combination of black and white musicians were all absolutely fantastic and may well represent Zappa at his most accessible. Centered around drummer Chester Thompson (of Weather Report and Genesis fame), keyboardist George Duke, monster percussionist Ruth Underwood, saxophonist/vocalist Napoleon Murphy Brock and brothers Tom and Bruce Fowler on bass and trombone, respectively, the iterations of Zappa's band at that time were able to take the most complex pieces of music (Zappa was heavily into Stravinsky and Edgar Varèse) and make them swing like you wouldn't believe. The Zappa studio albums from around that time don't even begin to bring justice to the awesomeness that was this band of - as Miles Davis tended to call musicians he found exceptionally talented - motherfuckers. Cases in point: This band was so tight that this take on "Inca Roads" appears, in a remixed and overdubbed state on the studio album "One Size Fits All". With the guitar solo from a 1974 gig in Helsinki dubbed in for good measure. The solo in this particular version of "Montana" is sick. This one doesn't feature Thompson on drums, but Ralph Humphrey, the drummer here, and Tom Fowler lay down one hell of a groove for Zappa to jam over. I hadn't watched this one before posting it, so right now, I'm cracking up at vintage Disney characters playing Zappa. People seem to usually recommend stuff like "Sheik Yerbouti" or "We're Only In It For the Money" to aspiring Zappaphiles. While being a huge fan of both albums, anyone interested in getting acquinted with Zappa should seriously check out his live work from around this time. He would come pretty close, but he would never quite reach the same levels of greatness again. So now that I have wrapped up the rant I promised in another thread, feel free to discuss the genius that was Frank Zappa :)

Meh, they're not even gonna convince some of these people by releasing a meatier update. The last update had a lot of new material in it, and look where we are now. Yet again. I personally do not want my SpaceVenture experience spoiled because of a bunch of people who can't wait a bit longer. I fully understand why these people are frustrated and impatient, but I just don't see why this should be brought up all the time. There's nothing to be gained. Fine, you're angry. Sue them or ask for a refund and get down from the fucking soapbox already. And I think Chris Pope is doing is a fine job, though a dedicated PR person would be probably for the better, if only because he's juggling quite a bunch of roles now. Producer/PR manager must have been difficult to begin with. Try producer/PR manager/assistant developer on for size. I can see why he'd choose to prioritise the more functional roles, rather than his PR role.

And it... doesn't seem to have helped one bit. You must admit that they have a money problem, even if the game is not in danger! Fewer updates, more spreadsheets! Someone with an MBA (good enough tool?) even said so. I think I'll just steer clear of that comment page until the game is released. Better for everyone that way.

Strewth! *facepalm*