I work in digital creative development with lofty goals of shifting towards television eventually down the line. Something I've noticed more and more as of late when submitting ideas to studios is that you have to sign an agreement which basically says, "just because you send us your idea, we turn it down, but then we later produce something that seemed similar to your idea, does NOT mean we stole your idea." It practically suggests that in an age where so many people are producing ideas, attempting to submit them for development and so on, that it's near impossible for you to create a truly original idea. It's touched on in this article: ideas are a dime a dozen, and while anyone can say, "I came up with something JUST like that!", that's far different from "I saw that idea through from conception to completion."

Ahhh, right. Of course. My knowledge of computers is admittedly non-existence. So this could effectively mean waterproof mobile smartphone devices (save, say, the screens) in the near future?

Are people constantly dropping their micro-computers into water and then immediately needing to access them for some pressing matter? I get that this is 'neat,' but what purpose does it really serve?

I get what you mean by Dear Esther being boring. I think in order to enjoy it you need to drop your expectations of it being a "game" and more appreciate it as an interactive film, or something to that effect. You need to be in the right mood, for sure.

Chinese Room, who developed Dear Esther, just released Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs, and it quite a bit more interactive than Dear Esther. It's a lot scarier, requires more thinking and puzzle solving, as well as avoiding monsters. It's not as scary or interactive as the first Amnesia, but it's really good nonetheless. I'd check that out if you have any interest.

+ Hotline Miami. I loved it.

I've been big into indie games for a while. Some of my favorites include:

Super Meat Boy (obviously) - one of the best platformers you'll find

Broforce - An awesome co-op destruction platformer. It just got greenlit on Steam, but I think the beta is still online.

Limbo - absolutely gorgeous atmospheric puzzle platformer

Dear Esther - beautiful HL2 mod that is really more of an interactive story than a game. Some of the most visually stunning settings I've seen in a while, with a fascinating story line. You could complete this in one sitting probably, and it's a must-play.

Gone Home - another great interactive story type game. A first-person game, you play a girl who has returned home from abroad to find her family home completely empty. It's up to you to discover clues and figure out what happened. Beautiful little story and amazing riot grrl soundtrack.

Blocks That Matter - great puzzler

Jamestown - awesome vertical-scrolling co-op bullet hell 2d space shooter. Really fun with friends in local co-op.

Machinarium - one of the most popular and best indie puzzle games out there right now. It's a point and click adventure game with tons of puzzles on each screen, all of which are fun. But it's really the amazing setting and characters that make it - these little robots in a post-apocalyptic other-world. Very cool.

Braid - another classic. It's a platformer that allows you to alter time, which heavily factors into the gameplay and puzzle mechanics. Super cool.

Super Crate Box - super sweet 8bit arcade shooter

I should note that I discovered a large handful of these games (and many others) through the Humble Indie Bundle, a group that puts out bundles of indie games for pay-what-you-can, some of which goes to charity. It's really cool what they do, and a great way to discover new and classic indie games.

What I find interesting is that "pixel art" as a medium is established and rather common these days, but he appears to have no connection to it. Because he's uninfluenced by other pixel artists, or their common inspirations (8-bit video games, etc), his work is entirely unique. There's something very almost strange about seeing such a modern (in the history of art) technique employed by someone who really for all intents and purposes would never be doing so were it not of necessity. Because of this unique combination of medium and artist, the work really stands out as unique.

While I was okay with the tone of the first letter, this second one really rubs me the wrong way. She's an old school feminist, no doubt, and it really shows how outdated some second-wave ideas are. What I'm mostly referring to is this absolute maligning of prostitutes. She constantly refers to how Miley should be faulted for "acting like a prostitute" and "showing young girls it's okay to act like a prostitute." My sex-positive, pro-sex-work leanings really find this so deeply problematic. Miley is not acting like a prostitute. A prostitute is one who performs sexual services for her clients in exchange for money. As far as I know, Miley has yet to do that.

Sure, it wasn't nice of Miley to respond in the way she did, but O'Connor should have really left it at that. She's far too old to be getting involved in public name-calling like this. It just all feels very childish.

That Inception WOOOOOMMMMMPPPPP.

Holy crap this looks cool though. Are human-controlled mechs coming into style? Perhaps - dare I say - the new zombies? A lot of new games coming out feature them (most notably, Titanfall) and now this. I wouldn't hate that.

Unfortunately, I can't see this having even a sliver of an effect on Miley at this point. O'Connor may be a role model, but as far as any young pop singer is concerned, she's likely an old, irrelevant curmudgeon, incapable of "understanding the times" and thus the "choices" Miley has made.

Thanks for having us. Here's a quick question: if one who uses Reddit is a Redditor, what the hell do you call someone who uses hubski?

This is the kind of post I was hoping for. Awesome.

I'm excited to try Dear John. Sounds hilarious.

Great post. I've been really hesitant to try Brooklyn Nine Nine after seeing it get crapped on so much at James Franco's roast, though.

But without a downvote button here, am I expected to simply mute permanently anyone who takes part in something inane like a pun thread? If that becomes part of a certain sub-community's "culture," I have no interest in seeing it, but that means I'll have to never see any of those users' other non-pun contributions. I suppose that's their problem, not my own. EDIT: I'm in no way trying to criticize hubski or suggest that Reddit is inherently better - just trying to have a discussion is all!

You can definitely do it in one sitting. It's more a story than a game - it has immensely beautiful landscapes and scenes, and a great story and dialogue, but the interactivity is rather minimal, save from roaming around. I'd say it would pair great with a glass or two of red wine, or something greener if you swing that way.

While I think that it's great that you're able to mute and therefore erase whole sections of the site from your experience, I was able to do this on Reddit, and it still wasn't really an ideal solution for me. I say this because while one can unsubscribe from the main sources of crap - /r/funny, for instance - this doesn't eliminate the problem entirely. First, the crap often gets cross-posted, or otherwise inevitably bleeds out into other subreddits. Secondly, the ensuing "memes" or "inside jokes" that these large subreddits produce also infect the smaller ones. Finally, while it's nice to be rid of it, you can't help but feel "left out" of a lot of what's going on with the site. People begin referencing things you've never seen, joking about it, responding to it, and while you may have been better off not knowing the source, you can't help but still wonder what it is.

Nonetheless, it seems you guys are a long way off of that thus far.

Thanks! Happy to be here.

It got a lot of flack for not being at all similar to it, so I'd say it's similar only in theme (amnesia..) and certain gameplay mechanics. Completely different story, gameplay, and even developer. It was good nonetheless though. It was developed by Chinese Room, who made the HL2 mod Dear Esther which is a must-play as far as I'm concerned.

Something that has always rubbed the wrong way is that tips are rarely given to kitchen staff. Having lots of friends who still slave away in kitchens (early/mid 20s), I know how hard and thankless the job is. It doesn't make sense to me that the person who opens my bottle of wine and remembers that I ordered the steak deserves ten dollars bonus for doing their job, but the person who prepared the perfectly cooked steak deserves none of it.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

I recently played through the new Amnesia (A Machine For Pigs) and quite enjoyed it. Outlast as well. There's been some great horror/survival games out as of late.

Once I get my new PC build up and finished in a week, my plan is hop into some Payday 2 with a couple friends. They've been urging me to get into DOTA 2, but it's not really my style.

I'm also ashamed to admit that I'm kind of excited for the new Call of Duty to launch in early November.

I actually love its 90s feel, and the highly theatrical presentation - the monologues, spotlights, etc.

I dig Charlie Booker. Black Mirror is added to my list!

Woah that sounds good. How were they? The pizza rolls, I mean.

Oh man, I actually watch a lot of poker and didn't even realize those guys had a show! Awesome.