About Spoiler Warning

By Shamus Posted Thursday Oct 28, 2010

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 186 comments

Yes, Spoiler Warning was slated to begin this week. The delay is 100% my fault. I decided more or less at the last minute to muck around with the show.

One of my ongoing worries with the show is that it does a bad job at setting up the premise for newcomers. Unless someone watches the very first episode (which is probably our worst episode, so this isn’t something we want to encourage) they won’t get it. They’ll see footage and people talking and assume, “Oh, another MST3K / Unskippable ripoff. Pass.” The thrust of the show is to have the sort of conversations about a game that you would have with your friends while sitting on the couch and passing the controller around.

But we don’t want to have to re-explain the premise at the top of every episode. Finally I pitched the idea of just depicting the premise, and Rutskarn delivered:

spoiler_warning_splash.jpg

We might fiddle with this a bit. Labeling the empty seat “YOU” was my idea, but now that I see it in action I’m not crazy about it. But Rutskarn did a tremendous job. While I haven’t met her myself, I have it on good authority that the drawing of Mumbles is uncanny in its likeness to the genuine article. At any rate, this will lead off the show for the foreseeable future.

Also, Josh is getting a (gifted) copy of Adobe Premiere Elements, which should eliminate his twice-weekly torment at the hands of Windows Movie Maker.

Also, I’ve been wanting to tighten up the show a bit. I dislike the time we squander at the start of every episode. (Particularly at the start of a new series, when viewers are most likely just looking a menu while we talk.) Also, the cross-talk gets on my nerves. So, I’ve been trying to look for ways to mitigate both of these and make the show a little more polished. We even went so far as to edit out bits of off-topic rambling at the introduction. I realize that most of you would rather just have an extra minute or two of unpolished video than wait for an entire week, but I hope you’ll indulge me this delay. The drive that makes me able to run this site also demands that I do this sort of thing now and again. And it’s much less disruptive to do this between series then to stop in the middle of a series.

The show will launch soon. Sorry again about the delay.

 


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186 thoughts on “About Spoiler Warning

  1. grag says:

    the “you” thing made me wonder if you were going to be running a contest for a guest-seats during the episodes.

    1. karln says:

      For the record, I had exactly the same reaction.

      1. Specktre says:

        Same here.

        1. Astrolounge says:

          Me too.

          1. David Webb says:

            Ditto.

            1. Mistwraithe says:

              Not me.

              Oh, sorry if I just wrecked the thread! ;-)

              1. Sumanai says:

                Heh.

                I actually wondered about that as well, but with non-inconsiderable dread.

                (I know it’s a double negative, but I like it.)
                Edit: The dread had stopped before this post, not because of Ruts’ clarification which I hadn’t read, but because it occured to me that might have been implying what he was. That we’re figuritively there through Viddlers commenting system.

    2. Primogenitor says:

      Perhaps a “sofa imprint” rather than a “ghost” might be better?

    3. Abnaxis says:

      Exactly the same misinterpretation here as well, only I had it over at chocolate hammer so I’m all sorted out now :)

      1. Jarenth says:

        Yet more reasons to keep hanging out around there.

    4. asterismW says:

      Ditto. I saw that and thought, “Huh. They must be looking for another person to join them.” But I think a “sofa imprint” would have just confused me more.

      1. asterismW says:

        Addendum: After reading some posts further down about why Shamus is standing up in the back (which to me kind of makes him look like the outcast or something), why not just get rid of the ghost and have all four people on the couch? Throw in some popcorn and pizza, some gesticulation (like Mumbles, which is perfect), and you’ve conveyed the idea that it’s about a bunch of friends having a conversation about a game in a relaxed, casual setting. We, as the audience, don’t need to be depicted. We already know we’re participating, because we’re watching.

    5. 2tm says:

      They could have the “you” character instead be a robot with a blatant camera for a head and microphones for ears, brand its chest with something like “Spoiler Warning Uplink 5000” and have an exaggerated Ethernet cable running from it off-picture…

      I don’t know if that would convey the idea any better to other people, but it would certainly have given me the right idea.

      I got the same contest vibe from the “you” character.

      1. winter says:

        That’d be better than an outline, at least. Although it might invoke too much MST3k :)

    6. Lalaland says:

      One more for the ‘thought it was a contest’ camp, I think the gap itself says enough but move it to between Rutskarn and Mumbles or it will simply look like they’re giving Josh/Reginald Cuthbert a wide berth.

      1. Joe says:

        Maybe put Shamus on the couch, and put a camera with an exaggerated cable behind it. Although that might give too much of an MST3K vibe.

    7. Daemian lucifer says:

      I nominate krellen fot the face of you.

      1. krellen says:

        You really don’t want to hear my comments on Mass Effect 2. I’ll make Josh look like a calm, cautious, completely reasonable gamer.

        1. Jarenth says:

          I’m pretty sure that exactly the reason why we wóuld want to hear that.

  2. Galad says:

    That’s a nice picture of Josh there, the pink bonnet and the blood dipped boots definitely go well together..BEEES! :d
    *goes off to find out what MKST3K or whatever it was spelt, actually is*

    1. Hal says:

      Oh Galad, please tell me you’re joking about MST3K

      1. Galad says:

        what? I really don’t/didn’t know what it is..wiki’s trying to direct me to MST3K, is there a typo in the original post?

        1. Teldurn says:

          Yes, that’s a typo. It’s correctly spelled MST3K, short for Mystery Science Theater 3000.

        2. Raygereio says:

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Science_Theater_3000

          Don’t feel bad for not knowing what it was. It’s one of those things that everyone just assume is common knowledge. Basically it’s a “Let’s view” instead of “Let’s play”. That said:

          They'll see footage and people talking and assume, “Oh, another MST3K / Unskippable ripoff. Pass.”

          Shamus, I think it’s save to assume that when people see footage of a video game that has people talking over it and/or has subtitles on the Internet these days, the first thing that pops into their head is “Oh, another Let’s Play”.

          1. Abnaxis says:

            You say that, but then someone comes on who doesn’t know what MST3K is…

            Not that there’s anything wrong with that! But, it does mean we should be somewhat sensitive to varying levels of exposure to these kinds of things…

            1. some random dood says:

              Yes, I am one of the clueless. Never heard of that MST3K thing. Is it worth going over to take a look?

              1. Desgardes says:

                Absolutely it’s worth it. They aren’t all winners, but almost all of them are worth watching. Even the between segments bits are funny. It was pretty smartly crafted, because some of the movies they lambasted were so awful that I couldn’t take a full showing.

                1. Mad Flavius says:

                  My favorite MST3K episodes are “Cave Dwellers” and “Pod People.” Another great way to get into the concept is Rifftrax, which is the modern reincarnation of MST3K (by modern I mean not-90s), featuring Mike Nelsen, the main riffer after Joel left MST3K, and various co-stars, often the voices of Tom Servo and Crow, and on certain special episodes celebrities from Neil Patrick Harris (“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”) to “Weird Al” Yankovic (“Jurassic Park”).

                  It’s interesting, actually, the story behind MST3K. Joel originally would go to various production companies and offer to show their movies on the Sci-Fi Channel. The companies, eager to show these absolutely awful films, gave permission. Joel just didn’t tell them that he was going to mock them mercilessly. After a number of seasons, the production companies and copyright holders started to catch on, and so they wouldn’t give permission, thus effectively ending the show.

                  …Until the rise of fast internet. Rifftrax gets around the copyright problem by selling only the audio track of the “commentary,” thus requiring the user to provide their own copy of the film itself, synced by lining up certain repeated phrases of dialogue. A little complicated, but totally worth it.

              2. Eldiran says:

                Two episodes among the best of the best of MST3K, and a great place to start:

                The Final Sacrifice:
                http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8894237701600036478#

                Space Mutiny:
                http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1973440002396035553#

                1. Deadpool says:

                  I have a friend of mine who started this, and now we watch MST3K’s Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Absolutely hillarious…

                  Btw, I never THOUGHT it looked like a contest, but I DO think a contest would be AWESOME…

              3. Namaps says:

                If you’re into watching bad movies for the so-bad-it’s-good factor I’d recommend watching the movie first (if you can get a hold of it) with friends, and then watching again with the MST3K commentary. If you’re not that into bad movies (which I guess may well be the case if you’re unfamiliar with MST3K) you might want to just watch the MST3K episode, but still watch it with friends. It makes the experience SO much better.

          2. Nick says:

            I’m in Australia and the only reason I know about it is because I managed to catch the movie on TV late at night about 10 years ago, As far as I know it has never been shown again and we have never had the series on our non pay-TV (I don’t know about pay-TV, I don’t get it).

            Before I found out more about the series, I thought the bad movie they were watching was something that they made just to parody. I never knew there were so many low budget bad sci-fi films.

      2. wtrmute says:

        Not everyone is an American, you know. There are countries where Mystery Science Theatre 3000 never aired. I myself only know it from hearing other people talk about it; I’ve never seen even one episode of it. And neither have I seen one episode of Dr. Who, or Red Dwarf, or Firefly. Galad’s learning about that series today; we all have to, at one point or another.

        1. Hal says:

          Ah, I guess I should clarify.

          It definitely wasn’t, “Hurr, you don’t know about that, you’re dumb.”

          Much more likely, it’s either, “Man, I’m getting old if this guy wasn’t around for MST3K,” or, “It’s really sad that he missed out on something so hilarious.”

        2. Viktor says:

          Firefly is available through sources beyond network TV. Find a copy, watch it.

        3. Volatar says:

          …Red Dwarf was originally aired on BBC. Its not American at all.

          1. Gale says:

            Neither is Doctor Who. He was just talking about these well-known shows that a fair amount of people have no experience with, despite hearing so much about them from people across the international or intergenerational gap. The American thing was specifically in response to MST3K.

  3. Amnestic says:

    Aww, was hoping for it this week. Seeing Mumbles’ ‘BEES!’ t-shirt and Josh’s rather fetching pink bonnet was worth it though.

    Ah well. I suppose having it at the start of next week rather than halfway through on a Thursday gives it a more ‘symbolic’ start to a new series anyway.

  4. Z-Ri says:

    If the blonde is suppose to be Ruts then I apologize for picturing him with dark hair and glasses.

    My mubles is pretty close though, except the hair is purple.

    1. ToastyVirus says:

      Actually your Ruts DOES have dark hair and glasses

    2. Sekundaari says:

      On Chocolate Hammer, Ruts explained that only Shamus was drawn to resemble him in real life. On the “About the Author”-page, you can see you were actually absolutely correct.

      Bigger version of the picture over there, by the way.

    3. Gale says:

      Rutskarn isn’t blonde – at least, Adam Decamp isn’t – but I don’t think he has glasses, either, so you were half right?

      Honestly, my first assumption was that blondie was supposed to be Josh, going from his lack of resemblance to pictures I’d seen of Rutskarn, whereas I’ve got no idea what kind of features Josh has. However, given the overwhelming consensus that Josh is the one that looks like Reginald Cuftbert, and the absolute lack of any correction from the crew I’ve been able to see, I’m not sure what to think.

      1. Cyanide says:

        I assumed Josh was the one holding the controller. Plus, that’s a pretty good approximation of what I figured he looks like.

      2. Rutskarn says:

        Actually, it’s not evident in all pictures, but I am blonde.

        Also: Reginald Cuftbert, in addition to being Josh’s F3 character, has come to be an avatar of his general playstyle.

        1. Gale says:

          What.

          *Goes and checks*

          Christ, how’d I manage to forget basically all of your defining features? For some reason, things like “hair colour” and “wears glasses” completely passed me by, in favour of things like “has bony hands” and “looks kind of like a shaved Vatsy”.

          I really need to pay more attention to people.

    4. krellen says:

      If Mumbles had purple hair, I’d have to accuse her of being a livejournal user I know.

      1. Galad says:

        If Mumbles had purple hair, I might accuse her of being an anime hero =X

        1. Nidokoenig says:

          That’s given me the mental image of a magical girl transformation sequence with bees flying around, obscuring certain parts. Now I feel creepy and weird.

          1. Bit says:

            Mumblenetta?

            Clothes made of hair. Made of bees. Success.

            1. Nidokoenig says:

              BEEonetta, surely?

            2. Coffee says:

              Well, a literal translation of the Japanese title reads more like Magical Speech-Impediment Girl Woman Power OH GOD THEY’RE STINGING MY EYES Super Fun Fun Adventures.

              1. Zukhramm says:

                Except even in the Japanese title, the words “MY EYES” are still in English.

                1. krellen says:

                  Nothing in Japan is cool until they add English.

  5. Joe Cool says:

    “Also, Josh is getting a (gifted) copy of Adobe Premiere Elements, which should eliminate his twice-weekly torment at the hands of Windows Movie Maker.”

    Ah, so now he shall have twice-weekly torment at the hands of Adobe Premiere.

    1. grag says:

      That was my thought too.

      1. Sumanai says:

        My thought was: “It burns us!”

        I’ve never had a positive experience with and Adobe creation/editing software. That includes Photoshop.

        1. Mad Flavius says:

          Heyyyyy….I’ve used that program for over a decade now, in various iterations–in fact, the whole Creative Suite–and it has never once failed me. Adobe is a thing of beauty.

          …except for Acrobat. Yeah.

          1. Sumanai says:

            Oh god, Acrobat. I’ve heard stories.

            Seriously, when I tried Photoshop Elements it’s interface felt run of the mill (if you ignore the truly horrible ones, like Corel Draw or whatever it was) and completely a matter of what you’ve gotten used to.
            It doesn’t help that most Adobe software seem like incredible resource hogs. Not that some hogging isn’t required, image manipulation isn’t exactly light on the hardware, but Adobe’s stuff seems heavier than necessary.

            Especially Acrobat Reader. I’ve heard they optimized it somewhat, but I’ve been using Sumatra for quite some time and I have difficulty believing Adobe has caught up with it.

            1. Roll-a-die says:

              Sumatra SUCKS! ABSOLUTELY SUCKS in terms of accuracy, especially color accuracy. So if your book has any images, what so ever, it’s better to use Foxit, or Adobe, which are far more accurate.

              Other than that, for plain text PDF’s Sumatra is best.

  6. Primogenitor says:

    Hmm, I wonder if its worth putting the show online without streaming, e.g as a torrent. I find the drop in quality due to encoding to be rather annoying – particularly compared to playing the game on my own PC. EDIT: And seems to drop out if I switch to a different window, which makes listening to it whilst doing something else impossible

    1. Jep jep says:

      I’d download it. Would be definetly smoother experience. While I have no real problems with Viddler, I’d always rather watch high quality video if I can.

      1. Daemian lucifer says:

        Thirded.

        1. Moridin says:

          Fourthed. I might actually watch the show if I could download it. I don’t really like watching videos from computer screen.

          1. Nyaz says:

            Downloading would be great! …Can we do that now? Am I missing something?

            1. Matt K says:

              I’d add to that as well. I can’t watch a 30 min video at work or have time at home but I have plenty of time (3hr a day) on the Metro or Commuter rail to do so.

          2. Newbie says:

            Downloading it would make this different how?

            1. Volatar says:

              It would result in higher quality video, faster loading, and would not have ads.

              1. Sumanai says:

                “Faster loading” might vary from person to person, but it wouldn’t need to be buffered in between every episode, which would be nice for those with slower connections. And you wouldn’t have to worry about accidentally clicking on the video sending you to Viddler when you meant to pause.

            2. Moridin says:

              It would mean that I could convert the video to xvid and watch it on TV-screen with bluray-player.

              1. Newbie says:

                This was the answer I was looking for, due to the term computer screen. Silly other people.

          3. Volatar says:

            Fifthed. I would totally love downloading high quality versions of the videos.

            1. vukodlak says:

              Sixthed? Sixted? I concur wholeheartedly – my internet connection is fast but unstable. An option to download would be excellent.

    2. somebodys_kid says:

      Wouldn’t that negate the ability to comment at specific time points in the video?
      If you don’t mind losing the comments but want to download the (low quality) video for later offline viewing, may I suggest this Firefox addon: http://www.downloadhelper.net/
      It downloads the .flv video so you’d either need a converter or the appropriate codec/player afterwards.

      1. Anaphyis says:

        Doesn’t work that nicely with Viddler unfortunately, they really go out of their way to make downloading videos from their site a pain.

        1. Gravebound says:

          I use FlashGot in Firefox to download them every time and it has always worked for me.

      2. Peter H. Coffin says:

        That kind of presumes that the people that would download overlap significantly with the people that read comments on video. I can’t ever even seem to make reading the comment work in a way that doesn’t interrupt the playing ov the video, so … I don’t bother with it at all.

        1. Nyaz says:

          Same here. I usually only read the comments that fit in the little “quick-read-box” that pops up, which is like 1 or 2 lines. Any longer than that and I’d have to pause the video, rewind, find the right spot, click up the comment, scroll back and urgh, I get tired just describing it.

          1. krellen says:

            Comments were more fun when there were less people making them.

    3. Geoff says:

      Not to be the party pooper, but I very much appreciate that I can watch it as a streaming video. Ads, buffering, and the other cons people have mentioned are still there, but I’m lazy and the ease of access it offers opens it up to casual visitors and people like myself.

      I’m not oppossed to them making a higher rez, download version for those that want them, but please leave me my streaming version. :)

      1. Namaps says:

        I’ll second that. I’d be a lot less likely to watch if I had to download it first. Though it might be nice as an option, and I might download certain episodes I especially liked.

  7. WickedArtist says:

    Ironically, it seems that the game you (vocally) disliked the most is also the game that gave Spoiler Warning its most iconic character.

    Reginald Cuftbert has become a legend in this small corner of the Internet.

    Also: Bees.

    I enjoyed Spoiler Warning so far, even when Josh’s spastic play habits often gave me nausea. Looking forward for more, with polish never being a bad thing.

    1. Klay F. says:

      I’m hoping beyond hope that once the bugs get stamped out, they will make a go of New Vegas. I want to see Reginald “STOP SHOOTING ME” Cuftbert rise from the grave. I want to see the New California Republic lying in ruin!

  8. Aven says:

    Please sir, another plea for a format that Apple deems appropriate to allow me to view on my iPad.

    Thank you – that is all.

    1. Raygereio says:

      Please sir, another plea for a format that is not appropriate for the iPad so that that silly thing will be forgotten as quickly as possible.

      (I’m joking; the iPad is okay as a device. The people that are trying to convince me it’s the best thing ever on the other hand…)

    2. Sigilis says:

      I often wonder if the improved user experience of Apple is worth the iron grip that their company has on what can and cannot be installed on their machines. Is my anti-authoritarian streak preventing me from being happy?

      Then I realize that I won’t be able to watch Spoiler Warning and am glad I’m using a Linux machine.

      Give me freedom Spoiler Warning or give me death Windows.

  9. Teldurn says:

    Can we get a hi-res copy of that picture, say.. 1680×1050? For desktop background purposes. It’s quite excellent.

    1. Moriarty says:

      The high-res version can be found on rutskarns site:

      http://www.chocolatehammer.org/?attachment_id=3003

      2639px à— 1649px should be large enough.

  10. Vladius says:

    That drawing is really cool and makes up for any potential shortcomings in the actual episodes thus far.

  11. Taelus says:

    Can I put in the requisite unfulfillable request to know what the next game will be? Err…I guess I just did. Please oh please Shamus, at least give us an incredibly vague and nebulous hint!

    1. Abnaxis says:

      He already told us it’s ME2, did he not? Or are you talking about the game after that?

      1. Taelus says:

        No, I meant the upcoming game. It’s incredibly possible that I missed the announcement. Things have been crazy at the office and my ability to read and respond has been scattered at best :-/

    2. Shamus says:

      Mass Effect 2 is the one that’s about to be released. AFTER that? We still haven’t decided ourselves.

      1. mixmastermind says:

        Do a one-off of Barbie Horse Adventures.

        1. Peter H. Coffin says:

          That’s sick, twisted, perverted, and obviously completely necessary.

      2. TSED says:

        I am STILL waiting for Jade Empire. Some one pointed out that game, and I want to see it SO MUCH.

        1. Matt K says:

          PSYCHONAUTS!!!

          Honestly it’s like $10 on both GoG and Steam and can be broken up into nice chuncks and the scavenger hunt part isn’t all that necessary (at least its easy to find a good deal of the items and the rest you can skip without detriment, same with the inside the mind stuff). Plus you can set seaguls on fire. ON FIRE!!! And who can forget Goggola/Lungfishopolis (I loved that level).

          I think I know which game I need to replay.

          1. Daemian lucifer says:

            Yeah,do psychonauts.It would be a nice contrast to do a game that is almost universally loved.And it is short enough to not make the episodes drag on.

          2. Bit says:

            I’m replaying Psychonauts right now, in fact, and it is absolutely PERFECT. It’s got just the right blance of things to praise and nitpick, it has low render times while still being well optimized for modern machines, it’s never terribly dark and always interesting to look at, it’s got a good flow of dialogue and action, it’s got nice big subtitles and graphic cues, and it’s just difficult enough without being frustrating. And it would be a nice contrast to the long running stint of grim ‘n gritty shooters.

            Also, The Milkman Conspiracy.

            1. Jarenth says:

              His milk is delicious.

              1. Coffee says:

                I think it’s obvious that the Milkman is the avatar of Chaos.

              2. Swimon says:

                And his milk is fortified with what the world wants, and what the world deserves.

        2. somebodys_kid says:

          I think Jade Empire would have the same problems that KOTOR had with the videos and what not.
          Maybe I’m wrong…

      3. Deadpool says:

        Fallout New Vegas is sitting there just BEGGING to be used… There’d be some nice symmetry to it all…

  12. kaljtgg says:

    I started watching about a third of the way into the fallout playthough and I got the concept right off the bat, and one of the things that I like about the show is the off-topic rambling so don’t go to crazy with the editing.

    1. krellen says:

      I’ll support this. The off-topic rambling is actually why it works as “you and your friends watching on the couch”.

      1. Daemian lucifer says:

        Yup.I too like how you can jump from watching a beautiful vista to referencing some other game youve played to a bad pun in just a minute or two.

        1. somebodys_kid says:

          Agreed.
          The spontaneity and the immediacy of the commentary as well as the commenters’ ability to assist with game play choices at the time they need to be made is indispensable to the show.

          1. scowdich says:

            n+1’d. Half the charm of the show (okay, maybe not half) is the off-topic rambling and doing silly things.
            Ah…I can still hear that Fat Man lobbing nukes into Little Lamplight…

            1. Atarlost says:

              Make that n+2.

              It’s definitely the off topic ramblings that have been some of the best moments of the series. Like the random discourses on water rendering. Those were fun. Maybe not as memorable as BEEEES BEEEES, but more interesting.

  13. Irridium says:

    But… I like your off topic ramblings D:

    As Krellen said, it helps support the fact your on the couch with friends.

    Plus, within 5 minutes its easy to see its more then just a MST30K/Unskippable ripoff. I jumped in during the Mass Effect 1 playthrough when Randy took control of Conan, and I was able to very quickly pick up what was going on.

  14. Kuyo says:

    I love those murderboots

    1. Coffee says:

      Murderboots was the best Dethklok song ever!

  15. PhilWal says:

    For the love of criminy, Shamus, sit down. You’re making me all nervous standing behind me like that.

    1. krellen says:

      He can’t sit down, you took his place on the couch.

      1. swimon says:

        Made me laugh ^^

      2. Amnestic says:

        Well he could always sit in my lap. ;)

        1. krellen says:

          His wife might object to that.

          1. Amnestic says:

            What happens on the sofa, stays on the sofa.

            1. Sumanai says:

              Which is why most sell or burn their’s when they find out about their roommates fun times.

  16. mad_wolf says:

    “it’s gonna be biblical”

    im looking forward to reginalda cuftbert chepard

    1. Bit says:

      *awkward cough*

      Except it’s a female.

      1. Supah_Ewok says:

        I believe that’s why he named her Reginalda. Notice the A at the end.

  17. Nyaz says:

    So, about that picture:
    – Why is Shamus behind the couch? Wouldn’t he be in there with Rutskarn and Mumbles and… uh… “you”? Maybe “you” shouldn’t be in the couch at all, but in a separate chair? (Seeing as “you” isn’t actually there, commenting live.)
    – I love that you depicted Josh as Reginald Cuftbert. We all think… actually scratch that, we KNOW he looks like that anyway.
    – Mumbles is brown-haired? I always assumed she was blonde. I don’t know why, really. “BEES” shirt = Win.

    Also, I think we should get Josh a cake to celebrate that he doesn’t have to use Windows Horrible Maker anymore. Huzzah!

    1. Matt K says:

      Actually placing “you” in Shamus’ spot and Shamus on the couch would work too.

      1. Sumanai says:

        Especially since some comments are perfect examples of a backseat driver in videogames.

    2. acronix says:

      I thought Shamus just didn´t want to be close to Reginald. I mean, just look at that guy: if he rages he will surely start ravaging whomever is closest.

  18. Sigilis says:

    Would you consider making Spoiler Warning Merch? I’m sure with the profit from the sales of a BEES! shirt alone you could afford to use a less annoying series of programs to make the show.

    An official Reginald Cuftbert bonnet would likely free you guys from ever having to work :P

    1. Michael says:

      Seconded.

      In all seriousness, I would buy a “BEES!” shirt. Although, perhaps not in that color.

  19. RejjeN says:

    D’aww… :(

    Awesome picture though! But I don’t suppose there’s any chance it will be released tomorrow is there? I’ve been looking forward to Mass Effect 2 :D

  20. Anaphyis says:

    Don’t tighten it up too much. While I generally dislike too much cross-talk (and many people talking over each other can easily drive you insane if you have ADD) the off-the-cuffs style is the whole appeal of this show and others like it – Let’s Plays with multiple commentators isn’t a new concept. You don’t need 4 guys to just talk about a game and throw some jokes out here and there, everyone with a youtube account and a screen recorder can do that (and probably did)

    1. Sumanai says:

      I’d say the only real problem is the habit of several talking over each other. Don’t really now an answer to that, unless it happens so often due to lag. But even then the only suggestion I can give is “try Mumble, unless the Windows version is updated you’ll need another software for recording it, but at ‘low quality’ it doesn’t seem to have much of lag”.
      Well, the first episode always seems to be pure warm up, but isn’t that true of all Let’s Plays? Everyone has to jog their memories, games tend to start slowly (oh so very slowly), most things you’d want to mention have yet to appear etc.

  21. Eljacko says:

    I like how Rutskarn drew Shamus and (presumably) Mumbles exactly as they appear in real life, but he drew Josh as Reginald Cuftbert and he drew himself as…a blonde guy in a tweed jacket.

    1. Sumanai says:

      He drew Mumbles (presumably) right completely by coincidence. Hopefully.
      The tweed jacket is what confused me, but I guess he just wants to own one.

      1. Amnestic says:

        Needs more fez and bow tie.

        1. Sumanai says:

          Real Ruts or the one in the picture?

            1. Sumanai says:

              Agreed.

              1. Irridium says:

                Second.

    1. Sumanai says:

      A warning to those who follow: only watch those two.

      A true Pun Master won’t feel challenged by a fellow punnerer, but feel pride for him.

      1. Daemian lucifer says:

        “A warning to those who follow: only watch those two.”
        You do know that such vague warnings only entice people to disobey them,right?

        1. Sumanai says:

          Okay, okay.

          ‘Only watch those two, because the others aren’t really any good. And I don’t mean “really bad” (neither in the sense of “so bad it’s good” or “so bad it’s horrible”) just “not funny” and not really worth watching.’

          And then people will go on droves. Just like every time I had to guide a friend through and area in a game and every time I said “turn right” they turned left and vice versa. And ignored half of my stuff.
          “Walk two blocks forward. No, not to the end of the hallway, there’s a walk-through wall there.”
          “Where?”
          “About 16 blocks back. No, not that way. Back the way we moved the last time. No, not in the room at the opposite side.”

          1. Newbie says:

            That’s the reason I only put those two up… I don’t remember whether female shepard does this though…

  22. asterismW says:

    Awesome drawing, Rutskarn! I often wish I had that kind of artistic talent. I can only draw from pictures, and I can’t draw people at all, even as cartoons.

  23. somecrazyfan says:

    From what I’m seeing here, shamus has been killed by that guy with the pink hat?
    And being a ghost he cannot interact with the material world?

  24. Marlowe says:

    Very gentlemanly of you to give up your seat to the guest. Personally, I’d have made Rutskarn stand. Or perhaps he could function as Mumbles’ foot stool.

  25. Scott W. says:

    Has it occurred to you that some people might watch your show because we like it the way it is?

    Because we do. Please leave it as close to unchanged as you can stand.

    (I find that the beginning, in particular, is often among the most enjoyable parts of the episode. And that goes double for the occasional off-topic moment.)

    1. Veloxyll says:

      The intro/offtopic moments are part of the charm. And there are parts in games where there’s just nothing relevant to say about the game, it’s backtracking or mindless combat that has been seen many times before.

  26. David Webb says:

    Couldn’t you have found someone who knew how to draw? Would using an artist from outside your group be betraying your unity or something?

    1. Rutskarn says:

      We put out traps, but all we got were some squirrels and an encylopedia salesman.

      1. Sumanai says:

        So how did the salesman taste like? You did remember to cook him properly, right?

      2. Irridium says:

        So thats why agent 84 hasn’t come back yet…

        Ah well, his will stated I get his Lazyboy chair, so score!

      3. Entropy says:

        So which did you make draw the picture then?

        1. Rutskarn says:

          The squirrels. The encyclopedia salesman had taken some art classes, so we dismissed him out of hand. We’re not elitists, you know.

          1. Sumanai - a grouchy ball of bile and cynicism says:

            “We’re not elitists, you know.”
            Bull. I bet you just didn’t have a Mac at hand and he refused to work on a PC.

    2. SKD says:

      Not every piece of artwork has to be a Monet or Van Gogh. The artstyle is just fine and suits the series.

    3. acronix says:

      What you mean “knew how to draw”? Obviously he knows. You have a drawing that he just did. If he didn´t know how to draw, then he wouldn´t have drawn anything. Besides, drawing is easy. Even children know how to draw.

      Please rephrase!

  27. Entropy says:

    The picture on Chocolate Hammer is different! THIS IS DIRTY MADNESS!

  28. RTBones says:

    (regards the comments from those in the room)

    I’ll add my call to the pile – please don’t tighten up too much. One of the charms of the series is the fact that it ISN’T in a tight little bundle. I, and I suspect much of your audience, can visualize the cast sitting around with Mountain Dew in hand, bag of Fritos close by, having the conversations you do as the keyboard goes round the horn. The cross-talk may be bothersome at times (a technical issue that I have no doubt will someday be overcome), but I contend that the time you say you “squander” at the beginning of the episodes really isn’t squandered at all. The occasional off-topic rambles gives the series a flavour of being more “real” – as in done by real people, real gamers, and not “produced”. As we saw at the back end of the Bioshock series, there are going to be times where the game generally annoys everybody in some way, which means conversation will wander.

    I guess what I am trying to say is that what you do now works, in spite of and perhaps even because of what you perceive as flaws. Please don’t change it too much.

    Looking forward to the ME2 episodes.

    1. SKD says:

      I agree, the act of trying to polish it up could kill what makes the show great and enjoyable to a lot of us.

      1. Irridium says:

        In a way… its imperfections make it more perfect.

  29. Aldowyn says:

    Ahh I was really looking forward to it.. Ah well, that gives me time to finish ME1 and start my own ME2 playthrough beforehand!

    … And I think the concept of the show is fairly simple, actually.

  30. Varewulf says:

    But but but… I like the off-topic rambling.

  31. winter says:

    One thing you might want to look into is Mumble. (No relation… as far as i know!)

    One of the goals was to get the latency down, and it has some particularly good tools for doing that. This can help reduce cross-talk simply by letting people stop talking sooner. Might want to check it out.

  32. Halfling says:

    So no Spoiler Warning then? :(

    It is one of the things I look forward to on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you are killing me Shamus.

    Is Rutskarn not wearing shoes in the picture?

  33. Kale says:

    Remove the cross talk? But that’s an integral part of the drinking game.

  34. X2-Eliah says:

    Don’t do the editing of the side-comments too far down the episode list – for the initial bunchm, perhaps, and see whether we dig the edited version more or not.

    Personally, I think I will prefer the original way of utter insanity.

  35. Peter H. Coffin says:

    I have a hope and a fear that sometime in the not-too-distant future, some game is going to come out that will include either or both of the following:

    online kibbitz mode: essentially the game will include a mode by which other people with the game can observe a “single player” play, comment on it, and the game itself spins the result off to disk.

    simulated kibbitz mode: faked up offscreen dialog as though you had a couple of buddies hanging around watching you play the game, sometimes helping, sometimes sharing bits about the design, sometimes mocking you, sometimes cheering for you. (I’d love it if they could make up random drinking games too, but I’m not sure that’d not earn an M rating all by itself.) Think “You Don’t Know Jack” but more laid back.

  36. Wonderduck says:

    So who’s the guy with the hat channeling Ron Post?

  37. BeamSplashX says:

    I thought Mumbles’ palm had a smiley face pattern in it.

  38. Stupidguy12 says:

    Oh, man.. Josh’s boots are stained with the blood of the innocent. That virtually guarantees that the season after this one will also have a moral choice system. About the season after this one, FALLOUT NEW VEGAS. Y’know, might as well throw that out there to stew on your server.

  39. Zel says:

    Why is Josh pictured using a controller ? I thought Shamus was the only one owning any console. Don’t tell me he’s using a controller to play games (FPSs at that!) on his computer …

    1. acronix says:

      Imagine there´s some invisible tiny letter at the bottom of the picture:

      “Only for illustrative purposes; not representative of the actual entities and/or beings represented!”

    2. Daemian lucifer says:

      If there is anyone able to play like that on current controllers,Ill sever my thumbs.

    3. Nidokoenig says:

      Well, having a keyboard and mouse set-up on the counch would look weird, and having Josh sitting at a computer with the other three and us looking over his shoulder wouldn’t convey the message of a few friends chatting about a game, it’d look like Josh was trying to play the game while a bunch of loudmouths rant on and on in his ear. The idea is to be appealing, not accurate ;)

  40. Hey Rutskarn, love the new logo. But what about replacing the “you” ghost with a LCD Monitor character instead.

    That should make it more obvious that we are wa5tching “on the couch” with the Spoiler Warning “gang” (and commenting).

  41. Malone says:

    I’m kinda wondering if I’m the only person that notices that Josh/Reginald Cuftbert has a monocle, even though I’m pretty sure Reginald Cuftbert never had a one (too bad though).

    Maybe the shear force of awesome of his mutton-stache made him spontaneously grow one?

    Unless his right eye is missing the iris and pupil, and is bulging out of its socket… please let that be a monocle.

  42. Elethiomel says:

    To eliminate crosstalk, record each person’s (and the game’s) audio track separately, and then move dialog around where possible so nobody talks over each other in the final video. This is, naturally, very hard once people’s reactions to being talked over manifest in their own audio tracks, so try not to do that.

    For more video editing and encoding goodness, if any one of you is a goon you can check out the Tech Support Fort sticky thread at the Something Awful Let’s Play subforum (or you could wait a while until Lowtax opens the subforum to public view again).

  43. qwksndmonster says:

    Can’t wait for the season to start tomorrow.

  44. Seth Ghatch says:

    Who’s that handsome man there? What? I was talking about the one on the left!

  45. Tzeneth says:

    The question now is: when will the season start?

  46. Psivamp says:

    Oh noes! Where is the new Spoiler Warning?

    1. qwksndmonster says:

      Shamus must have been kidnapped. Or he’s playing Minecraft and forgot to post the video.

  47. Johan says:

    In my opinion, payload is the worst map type. I just really don’t like it. I still prefer dustbowl over badwater any day.

    Also, I HATE HATE HATE the end round slaughterfest for the way it breaks the flow of the game. Now we have to wait for a minute while everyone on the winning team cockslaps the losing team, instead of, you know, going to the next round so we can continue playing? It’s also a GREAT way to induce rage-quitting, itself a great way to empty out a once burgeoning server.

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