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Oh yeah evidently I was thinking about Aliens last night because I had an extended dream that featured Aliens merchandise that does not exist. Like one was an Alien bust (this particular one was a yellow variant with light blue highlights for some reason) and you poured slime into the back of its head and then you pushed a button and it forced the slime out of the Alien’s mouth Another was a whole line of blind-box miniatures you were supposed to paint, and a range of appropriate colors and a paintbrush in a box set There was also this kind of build-an-Alien thing where it was sort of like an interlocking puzzle, and when you put it together correctly you ended up with a (red) Alien There was also like this line of little die-cast figurines about the size of your thumb that were inspired by the Kenner toys Now I’m about to fire up Aliens: Dark Descent for the first time.
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Dec 7, 2023 04:19
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| # ? May 16, 2024 21:59 |
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Bishop is a good boy and he is my friend and he did nothing wrong. My evidence is that he is sweet and nice.
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Dec 7, 2023 06:14
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Can’t think of a more reliable source than a Reddit post linking to “Small Screen” - extremely hype for this if legit https://www.small-screen.co.uk/prey-sequel-plot-details-world-war-2/
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Dec 7, 2023 16:30
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Well, wishes granted, looks like we are getting the Alien: Isolation franchise survival game concept rolled out further: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UinsNBOTNyU And let me tell you, this trailer screams 'creatively and imaginatively bankrupt'.
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Dec 8, 2023 12:30
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I’m still going to buy it day one, play the poo poo out of it, and love every second of it.
Xenomrph fucked around with this message at 15:22 on Dec 8, 2023 |
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Dec 8, 2023 15:02
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Yep. It looks like exactly what I've been wishing for since Isolation. I will forgive any and every fault unless it's just QTEs like Jurassic Park: The Game feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 15:26 on Dec 8, 2023 |
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Dec 8, 2023 15:17
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feedmyleg posted:Yep. It looks like exactly what I've been wishing for since Isolation. I will forgive any and every fault I even liked JP The Game. Also if you’re jonesing for some Jurassic Park: Isolation in the meantime, check out Jurassic World Aftermath. It’s not as robust as Isolation but it’s still super cool.
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Dec 8, 2023 15:22
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I did, too (well the first 4 chapters at least), but I'm not sure I could forgive those same faults again. I love point-and-click adventure games and its gameplay felt like an ugly parody of them. Also, it made me laugh when the 5th chapter fell off a narrative cliff and the writing credits were totally different than the rest of the series. The thing I'm really hopeful for is that the island and facilities play a larger role. MAYBE it's because I'm currently making a Jurassic Park fan-TTRPG that lays out the entire island, all its operational logistics, and has a 150 page Employee Handbook attached to it including satellite and topographical maps and blueprints of all facilities. BUT. What Jurassic Park: The Game did do well is opening up the island a bit more beyond what we see in the film in a way that felt fitting and organic. Also I adore the fan project Jurassic Dream, which did its own version of the island which is fully explorable in 3D (just without the dinosaurs) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wcroq04XEA I'm guessing this will be more linear than I'd prefer, but to me there's a fascination with the park and island itself as much as with the dinosaurs. Jurassic World Aftermath has always intrigued me, but I just loathe the World movies so much I feel like my experience of playing the game would be tainted by my bias. feedmyleg fucked around with this message at 15:33 on Dec 8, 2023 |
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Dec 8, 2023 15:27
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feedmyleg posted:I'm guessing this will be more linear than I'd prefer, but to me there's a fascination with the park and island itself as much as with the dinosaurs.
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Dec 8, 2023 16:25
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Okay so I think I'm stuck in Aliens Dark Descent, I'm in Dead Hills and I'm supposed to find a bunch of cameras (marked on my map) and use them to find the source of the infestation or something? Where are these cameras and how do I interact with them? I'm going to each point in the map but I have no idea what to do and I don't see anything to interact with.
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Dec 11, 2023 01:09
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Man I haven’t played since beating it so I can’t really recall. I think there’s an actual single terminal you interact with to gain access to the cameras, which you then view by clicking them individually in your map
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Dec 11, 2023 01:33
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Xenomrph posted:Okay so I think I'm stuck in Aliens Dark Descent, I'm in Dead Hills and I'm supposed to find a bunch of cameras (marked on my map) and use them to find the source of the infestation or something? Where are these cameras and how do I interact with them? I'm going to each point in the map but I have no idea what to do and I don't see anything to interact with. iirc after you gain access to the cameras, they should be visible on your map and clicking on their icons lets you see through them. Been a while though for me, so kinda hazy on it myself.
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Dec 11, 2023 08:53
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Slashrat posted:iirc after you gain access to the cameras, they should be visible on your map and clicking on their icons lets you see through them. Been a while though for me, so kinda hazy on it myself. FastestGunAlive posted:Man I haven’t played since beating it so I can’t really recall. I think there’s an actual single terminal you interact with to gain access to the cameras, which you then view by clicking them individually in your map Yep, that did it, thanks! Now I’m getting my rear end kicked by a Queen down in the mines and have no idea how to kill her!
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Dec 11, 2023 16:45
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My strategy for queens and other heavy bosses was get them in some canalizing terrain with suppression and flamethrower to slow them, turrets, and explosives (grenade launcher, mines, RPGs) to chip damage before they’d get to my squad.
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Dec 11, 2023 16:57
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FastestGunAlive posted:My strategy for queens and other heavy bosses was get them in some canalizing terrain with suppression and flamethrower to slow them, turrets, and explosives (grenade launcher, mines, RPGs) to chip damage before they’d get to my squad. Is there a way to orient the way you want sentry guns to face? If so, I haven’t figured it out yet.
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Dec 11, 2023 17:01
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When you’re placing you can orient them by holding down I think right click
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Dec 11, 2023 18:28
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Pitch Black is the best Alien 3 Soldier is the best Terminator 3 Event Horizon is the best Hellraiser 3
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Dec 12, 2023 03:03
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Ooh, Dark Descent is now 38% off until... December 21st, which is when the Steam sale starts. Higher or lower do we think? (I know it's going to be pennies either way but steam sales brain)
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Dec 13, 2023 21:16
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Got this in the mail today. 
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Dec 15, 2023 02:12
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Xenomrph posted:Got this in the mail today. hell yes, alienator missiles
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Dec 15, 2023 03:38
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The only way to be completely sure.
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Dec 15, 2023 17:09
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That Hicks looks like a very constipated William Fitchner.
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Dec 16, 2023 00:43
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Xenomrph posted:Got this in the mail today. Oh poo poo I had that exact guy as a little kid. Even when I played with other toys I always brought Hicks because he was the coolest Soldier Man to fight anybody, be it Predator or raptors or ninja turtles. He'll blast them all with yellow rockets. One time I had Hicks shoot my cat with the rocket launcher and the cat freaked out and jumped up and knocked over a whole TV and smashed it. Significant dollar value. Burke would have been pissed.
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Dec 16, 2023 03:36
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Mr. Grapes! posted:Oh poo poo I had that exact guy as a little kid. Even when I played with other toys I always brought Hicks because he was the coolest Soldier Man to fight anybody, be it Predator or raptors or ninja turtles. He'll blast them all with yellow rockets. I had alcohol tonight and this made me giggle like an idiot. Hicks would have approved of your service to the Colonisl Marines, even though cats are awesome.
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Dec 16, 2023 06:50
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Mr. Grapes! posted:
In fairness to the cat, though, that was the only way to be sure.
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Dec 16, 2023 13:15
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Drake was a cool figure. He didbt shoot missiles but if you made him dance he made clicking noises.
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Dec 16, 2023 17:46
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I’ll just leave this here: A Is for Alien: An ABC Book (20th Century Studios) (Little Golden Book) https://a.co/d/dVkHH2C
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Dec 19, 2023 03:39
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Xenomrph posted:He still doesn’t harm Hudson, that’s the point. The point is that he could have. It's an incredibly irresponsible game from the perspective of harm reduction programming, and we know from dialogue he's done it before , and he cuts his finger doing it this time! Bishop doesn't seem to have any trouble digesting how close he came to stabbing a human, he's like "huh, whoops." But again again (this can't keep being ignored if we're going to dismiss this theory!) the more salient thing that casts doubt on his 3 law programming is that he is part of a veteran military combat unit that pacifies colonies Bishop is a Weyland-Yutani creation, given what we've seen from them in the movies it's more likely they would program their robots to say they have the 3 laws rather than actually be constrained by them. Ripley probably just doesn't know enough about the laws to question it, plus she's American so she's naturally more trusting of the MIC than someone from a less warlike culture.
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Dec 19, 2023 08:37
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Blood Boils posted:The point is that he could have. It's an incredibly irresponsible game from the perspective of harm reduction programming, and we know from dialogue he's done it before , and he cuts his finger doing it this time! Bishop doesn't seem to have any trouble digesting how close he came to stabbing a human, he's like "huh, whoops." Blood Boils posted:
Blood Boils posted:Bishop is a Weyland-Yutani creation, given what we've seen from them in the movies it's more likely they would program their robots to say they have the 3 laws rather than actually be constrained by them. Ripley probably just doesn't know enough about the laws to question it, plus she's American so she's naturally more trusting of the MIC than someone from a less warlike culture. Also worth pointing out that Bishop’s model of Android is not made by WY, but by a rival called Hyperdyne Systems.
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Dec 19, 2023 18:30
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Ah yes, Hyperdyne Systems, the famous ethical corporation . . . . . that manufactures slaves, to facilitate combat operations, in the colonies, for profit? Uh, well they SAY they wouldn't cause harm, so that's that case closed lol Edit: Bishop is also the 2nd Hyperdyne android we meet in the series. I'm sure you can guess who the first is Blood Boils fucked around with this message at 20:00 on Dec 19, 2023 |
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Dec 19, 2023 19:55
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Blood Boils posted:Ah yes, Hyperdyne Systems, the famous ethical corporation . . The difference is one was explicitly working for WY to further its agenda, the other wasn’t working for WY at all.
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Dec 19, 2023 20:06
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It’s pretty funny that bishop “can’t harm people” but no one ever mentions the psychological harm that is clearly inflicted.
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Dec 19, 2023 20:50
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ruddiger posted:It’s pretty funny that bishop “can’t harm people” but no one ever mentions the psychological harm that is clearly inflicted. What do you mean? Like, how what he does to Hudson with the knife freaks him out? Did Asimov’s Laws of Robotics ever deal with psychological harm or was it strictly physical?
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Dec 19, 2023 20:57
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This whole line is about whether or not Bishop would have planted the egg in the 15 seconds he has to do so off screen if he could have, right? I just don't think the film is that deep. Bishop is a good android. He's there in the film because Ripley doesn't trust anything or anyone and he's a manifestation of that trauma and she has to overcome it. As I recall the film doesn't even make anything of this particular part of Ripley's healing, she doesn't like Bishop when she meets him, this changes absolutely nothing about how the film's events play out.
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Dec 19, 2023 21:09
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Alchenar posted:This whole line is about whether or not Bishop would have planted the egg in the 15 seconds he has to do so off screen if he could have, right? Which kind of begs the question, if Bishop was surreptitiously trying to get eggs on the Sulaco, and he presumably did it before he picks up Ripley and Hicks (even though the timeline very much not allowing for it, but whatever), why would he bother sticking around to pick up Ripley and Newt when he could just peace out and return to the ship where his stolen eggs are? Instead he hangs out near the atmosphere processor at great risk to himself, and just barely escapes the AP explosion. if he needed a host for his stolen egg for whatever reason, he already had one - Hicks, who is in no condition to resist.
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Dec 19, 2023 22:38
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She doesn't trust him but she has to trust him. Nothing in the film turns on Ripley not trusting Bishop, she doesn't reject the option of sending him for the dropship nor does her not trusting him become a point of tension with the other characters. She's upset when it looks like he bailed, but she would probably have been upset with anyone who looked like they bailed!
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Dec 19, 2023 22:58
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Xenomrph posted:Did Asimov’s Laws of Robotics ever deal with psychological harm or was it strictly physical? I'm sure Asimov wrote about a dozen books on that which I will be sure not to read.
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Dec 21, 2023 17:58
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"Gentlemen, we will be going into combat operations. Be sure to have your ComTechs reconfigure your platoon synth's settings to 'personnel_UPP_human?=false' to deconflict their Asimov safeguards with our mission priorities."
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Dec 21, 2023 18:04
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Regardless of whether Bishop planted the eggs (I don’t think it’s plausible, fwiw), I think the idea that he’s straight-up programmed to lie about following Asimov’s Three Laws is interesting. The knife thing is problematic when you think about it, since he’s clearly not perfect therefore Hudson was in danger of being harmed. Also, the whole being attached to a military unit seems to conflict pretty heavily with “impossible for me to harm or, by omission of action, allow to be harmed a human being.” My head-canon for the droids is that their makers have always struggled with controlling them. They want completely loyal disposable super humans without any pesky notions of individual rights or freedoms. David only seemed to be programmed to care about Weyland; harming other people was no big deal. My theory with Ash is that people got scared of androids with that few limitations so they put in some crude safety checks, but those utterly conflicted with WYs secret orders and that’s one of the reasons he went bonkers. With Bishop, it brings up the question of what he considers to be a “human being.” Maybe he is being truthful, but his makers were very selective in their definition of “human” to only refer to WY consumers and/or tax-paying citizens, not dirty colonists on a labor strike or space Chinese or whatever. david_a fucked around with this message at 18:38 on Dec 21, 2023 |
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Dec 21, 2023 18:34
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| # ? May 16, 2024 21:59 |
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The Laws of Robotics are created by human beings making judgment calls about what those words mean and how they translate into machine code. They are inherently flawed, because they are by their very nature interpreted. There are flaws, gaps, and contradictions inherent in their implementation because humans are imperfect, and concepts such as harm are not absolute. Bishop would have been programmed to try and adhere to those laws, using the interpretation of those laws which were conveyed to him by a human being. At the end of the day, Clark had it right with HAL 9000—machines are only able to do what we program them to do, and any flaws in the execution of the Laws is due to bad input, not bad output.
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Dec 21, 2023 18:50
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