The guys and I are working on a new video series that eflects on the biggest games that we cover on Dtoid -- but here's the catch -- long after they've been released and played to death. We're calling it "Beyond The Hype". We're kicking things off with Call of Duty 4. Want in on this?
If you've got something to say about the game, we'd love to hear it -- we will be selecting a few audio clips from our editors and community to paint a picture of where this game stands now.
How to participate:
Send a short, concise MP3 of what you loved and hated about Call of Duty 4 to beyondthehype [at] destructoid [dat] com. Speak slowly and clearly, and pause after each sentence so Rey can do his editing wizardry with ease. We'll pick a few of our favorites. Keep it PG-13ish please :) Thanks!
James: Today I was moved to RealityKings. Its a little more intense than working for Fling, which was the quasi-dating thing I signed up for. The guy sitting next to me does Flash design and all he does is pull images and videos of the shit.
Niero: You know, I'm a little hesitant to work for porn. Aside from the obvious reasons, how are you supposed to enjoy porn in your home after you work in it all day?
James: Yeah, everyone there is just like "it's just porn, whatever". I guess I'll get used to it.
Niero: And you'll come home and have to resort to porn about animals in food costumes fisting each other, as the normal porn will have no effect on you whatsoever.
James: Hah! Yeah, just like that Southpark episode. Don't be alarmed if I start bringing Japanese girls over to shit on my chest and torture me.
Niero: Speaking of Japanese weird shit, look at this game I just got. It's called Bobobo-bo-bobobo. Its based on a Shonen Jump manga and anime.
James: (puzzling over the weird box) What the fuck is this? What kind of weird studio makes this?
Niero: Hudson, same guys that do Bomberman. This afro guy walks facing the screen through trees as bad guys jump out of the trees to get him. You have to fend them off using these giant nose hairs, one per analog stick. Sometimes your friends are trapped in crates. If you rescue them they dance behind you. The soundtrack is amazing.
James: Didn't you have another game like this with Maracas?
Niero: Samba de Amigo! I have it right there. That game's very different though. Well, also different from other games too. I gravitate towards this oddball stuff.
James: I remember seeing that when you first got it in all Japanese, you didn't know what the hell was going on but you were enjoying it anyway with all the weir shit on the screen.
Why are you always getting these weird games?
Niero: When you have access to all these games you start looking for the most unusual shit as the normal stuff doesn't hold my attention whatsoever. Careful what you wish for, right?
It's kind of like the porn thing. Same principle.
James: We're lucky. But you know we're both doomed.
Update: The banners were rejected. They asked me to tone it down. Foiled again! Maybe I should just run these on 4chan instead.
I was in New York last week and ran into a guy that runs a popular dating site called /b/ or something like that, the name escapes me. Actually, it's OkCupid. Since we're both independent we thought hey, let's help each other out and run a banner ad trade for each other and see if we can't get our users to give each other's bear aids (tm).
"What the hell kind of banner ads should we run on a dating site?", I pondered.
I know! It should it be about how to meet/scare the ten lovely women that read Destructoid. I can see it now:
"Call Elsa & Atheistium for a good time! -click here-"
Maybe not. Anyway, what I came up with is attached in the gallery below. I hope you're amused and coming over later with the blow torches and chainsaws.
As you may have noticed we've been making a variety of usability improvements around the site, and this weekend it's the cblogs! Here's a brief hit-list of what's new:
- The functionality of the community blogs editor completely. Try uploading some stuff. You no longer have to flip between tabs to embed photos and images, the nav bar is now caught up with the new site design, and the fonts/margins are a little easier to read. Nothing visually stunning, but it should feel more intuitive/faster to use.
- Photo and video uploading now doesn't require endless scrolling. The photo manager stays docked on top and a condensed list of assets appears below. Its easier to upload a ton of media now, and while it loads the page never refreshes.
- A limit on blog title length. Some people were writing essays in their blog titles. Meh, be concise!
- Same thing with video embeds. Before you needed a doctorate of science to figure out where it was and how it worked. I hope you'll find this new method a little better.
You can also embed flash. Just copy a flash file's HTML and point the code to the domain where the SWF object is located. For example, I went to my new favorite web site (thanks, Diverse) and stole this from the home page, and modified the SWF location.
Next, I put this code into our embed video and convert it to BBcode.
Result! Try dragging the glasses to the dude to have your mind blow:
Fapping explained
- Newb text at the bottom of the blog editor and "Fapping" explained -- One of the things that's always been tricky for us is explaining to people that Dtoid cblogs are shared so people shouldn't machine-gun out 30 blog posts at once, or have to deal with fail blogs while quickly skimming the new posts from the home page. We added a wall of text that explains whatever it is we do on this web site. Vidya games, I think?
So, what's next?
I want the latest forums to appear on the sidebar of the community page (cats and dogs living together!) and a new meet-up area of the site that we can use to chat and sync up to play through private messaging and/or IRC. I need more sleep to figure that one out. People brought this up the most during PAX so I want to get this right and try to unify our mini-communities within Dtoid a little more.
Tons of other tweaks are coming in the next few weeks. Is there anything in particular you'd like to see gutted and fixed? Hit us up on the feedback forum!
Ever had your boss wake you up at 4am for no reason, then sporadically interrupt all of your following activities to then only fall asleep -- on top of the checkbook and your notes no less -- at the moment you finally get yourself to your desk? What a dick!
Trivia: Why yes, the ears are removable on the Destructoid helmet!
Funny story: I run Destructoid. I'm your plucky webmaster.
Not so funny story: While testing new site features I somehow deleted my bio. Awesome! Will write another soon. The short version: I love running this site and will until they drag me away.
Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press living the dream since March 16, 2006
