virtualMFer

[The Middle-earth Mixer @MiddleearthMixr]

Jungian Archetypes:

[virtualMFer @virtualMFer]

@game_fabricator @SpartanBoski @the9thbreaker Please make it happen. We don't need a game that eclipses the high water mark of the series' earlier days. We just want something that is confident in itself that we can cheer for.

[virtualMFer @virtualMFer]

Wandered through an antique shop and this painting caught my eye and left me completely entranced. Surprised I have never heard of Maxfield Parrish before, but he has quickly become one of my favorites.

[Virgil @VirgilsQuill]

-Bill Hewlett, born in Michigan
-David Packard, born in Colorado
-Robert Noyce, born in Iowa
-Thomas Watson Jr., born in Ohio

Not only was Silicon Valley built by Americans, but it was built by “flyover country” Americans.

[𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕤 @EliasToufexis]

What’s especially frustrating is that in the DLCs of Mankind Divided I felt I had a grip on the character. It was fully performance captured, the tech was ready, and they understood that I knew the character so well they just let me do my thing.

…what could have been.

[Dream's Longest Day @Dreamboum]

Man, seeing this level of performance and voice acting, you can tell they really nailed down where they wanted Adam Jensen to be as a character. It's so criminal what Square Enix has done to this game and the future of the franchise. Generational talent forever lost

[virtualMFer @virtualMFer]

Feels like we are at an End of History moment for art and all it's mediums. I see very little produced in the last 10-15 years that will be regarded as classical canon. I find myself returning to older works and reassuring myself it's not just nostalgia.

[Marty O'Donnell @MartyTheElder]

🚨 ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨

25 years ago, I held the first ever Halo LAN party at my house. My campaign is now working to put on an old school Halo LAN tournament in Las Vegas! With all the OG consoles, games, and cables.

We wanted to hold this event at the HyperX Arena— but they cancelled on us last week due to our "political affiliations."

As we work to secure a new venue and lock in the dates, if you're interested in participating in this once-in-a-lifetime event, you can show your interest by signing up here: https://t.co/9Q9rPOFCKN

[ESPER @ESPER995]

Patlabor 2 | 1993 | Dir. Mamoru Oshii

[Moses Kagan @moseskagan]

My experience of life so far:

You enter a tunnel at ~15 & it shoots you out at ~35 & the rest of your life is largely determined by the choices you made & the luck you had in the tunnel.

[ً @sturmtochterr]

we need to bring back the obsessive, almost maniacal drive to create great art and serious literature. literally drowning in fast food art and disposable books…literal cultural gluttony unfolding before our eyes

[virtualMFer @virtualMFer]

@WiggerMaggot Bungie era maps always felt like they were designed for a sense of place at heart. Something about the newer maps elicits an over-reliance on balance and they lose all potential for character

[ol’ stocky ⛳️ @oldstocky]

Treat your body like a data center

Consume as much water and literature as possible

Upset local city council with your existence

[Marcus Lehto @game_fabricator]

While talk of Halo's future is certainly very exciting, I'm aware that it's fanciful and that I doubt Asha really gives a shit.

Also, Halo MUST be built by a local team together, not outsourced around the globe to a group that has ZERO investment in making something great.

[evolved 🇦🇺 @evolved117]

Remember when Valve honoured Half-Life’s 25th anniversary with a full documentary that brought back the original devs and actually respected the legacy?

Meanwhile 343 can’t even acknowledge the people who built Halo. They’d sooner spit in their faces than celebrate them.

[Jaime Griesemer @32nds]

This is all true.

I would add that the prerequisites for building a team like Halo-era Bungie (ie freedom to explore, risk of failure, lack of corporate interference, external demands on studio resources, stable leadership, merit-based hiring, etc) do NOT exist at MS and have not for a decade. Bill Gates did not have the understanding, interest or capacity to interfere with Halo’s development and we got away with a lot that would never be allowed now. So even if the team could somehow be recreated, it would immediately be crushed to death by the leviathan.

[Niles Sankey @NilesSankey]

As someone who worked at old school Bungie in its heyday, I just want to be honest about the "hire the old Halo devs back" posts.

Hard to swallow pills: It would be very difficult (impossible?) to resurrect the old magic and it's very unlikely this will ever happen. btw, this is not limited to Halo; this is generally true of most creative endeavors in multiple collaborative mediums.

Here's why:

1. The devs are not the same people they once were. People change, tastes change, and personal priorities change. They're likely not as hungry and driven as they once were. It doesn't mean they're less talented per se, but they're just not the same people.

2. The magic of old school Bungie was a very specific formula of talent stacks and personality types. You generally need x% of this old formula for success. Remove one piece and you might not see a big difference. Remove multiple pieces and the formula collapses. You could feel the slow degradation of Bungie over the Destiny years. It was a death by 1000 cuts (5-10 specific cuts that doomed the studio). You can't just hire a few old school devs and expect it's going to be like the good old days.

3. Many of the old schoolers didn't like working with each other, or they grew to resent each other. This is a very common trend in creative productions. Great movies are made by people that ended up hating each other, great albums are made by artists that will never speak to each other again. Game dev teams are like a high-drama family that isn't bonded by blood. Some of the most insanely talented people I know don't like each other, but both were required for success. It's just a fact of life and the human condition.

4. I'm not convinced that (most) gamers actually want another innovative Halo game. I think they mainly want to recapture the feelings they had back in the day. They want nostalgia. But Halo games were very forward-thinking at the time. It's hard to resolve nostalgia with innovation. Many of the old devs are very innovative thinkers. They would make changes that would upset the fan base. This presents a monkey's paw situation.

All that said, I do think MS should 100% be consulting with the old school Halo devs. It's been very foolish not to do this. It would be beneficial, but I would only expect marginal returns. It's not going to fix the fundamental problems.

Please don't read this post as a "black pill". I'm simply giving my honest views based on my experiences and it's always better to have realistic expectations.

I'm actually very optimistic. The future is very bright.

Elite game development is alive and well. It resides in the hearts of young developers who are passionate and willing to sacrifice their livelihoods to change the world. We just need more resources pushed in their direction.

As always, I encourage everyone to support honest indie game devs.

[virtualMFer @virtualMFer]

Reject over-articulated mechanical apparatus, embrace primordial monolithic edifice

[Marcus Lehto @game_fabricator]

While Forerunner tech was metal (not stone) it was also ancient, vast, alive, and a tomb to the horrors that lurked within. It had seen hundreds of millennia of conflict. Yet the game shows it as shiny metal that looks like it was built a few years ago.

[Marcus Lehto @game_fabricator]

The main menu ring is the most offensive thing we see every time we boot up the game. It should feel massive, dark, mysterious, sinister, but also full of wonder. This new ring looks like a shiny new toy - out of scale, no mystery, damn ugly.