Nate, Sebastian, David, and Ryan all gather to discuss DEUS EX, Ion Storm's millennial game of conspiracies, nanomachines, and near-future cyberpunk wackiness. We discuss the wealth of different approaches the game makes possible, the difference between conspiracy theories of today and twenty years ago, and slicing dudes in half with a nanotech sword. Sebastian makes a ribald joke about Harry Belafonte, David tries to atone for his cruelty toward Sims with a non-lethal playthrough, and Ryan is in the harbor, killing many men.
Nate, Sebastian, David, and Kari all gather to discuss THE SIMS, Maxis's game of cozy domesticity, consumer capitalism, and interior design. We discuss fancy toilets, aspirations of buying stuff, and whether or not the game works as satire. Sebastian squeezes in a terrible pun, Nate's Sim fails out of a life of crime, and we regale you with tales of unimaginable cruelty to digital entities. Come for the discussion of semi-autonomous virtual people, stay to hear the haunting saga of "Cyrus II."
SHOW NOTES:
Simon Parkin New Yorker article about that E3 demo:
https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-kiss-that-changed-video-games
The Sims 3 “Woohoo”ing without covers: