Rockin' the Cat's Paw - Let's Play Rockin' Kats!

Jargon, by definition, are terms that are meant to be meaningless to outsiders. That's why people use it; shortcuts for things everyone within that "circle" understands, used because that's who you're talking to.


And yeah, "proc" stems back to the original world of MUDs as the name of one of the functions that governs special ability triggers. Which I guess you could call an MMO, since it was about multiple people playing what basically amounted to Zork together.

All I'm saying is that I don't have a problem with ASandoval using a term that originated in a game that's thirteen years older than the game he's playing. The term has paid its dues. It isn't new-fangled MMO-speak. It is hardcore nerd-speak, but, uh, we are nerds.

I understand this concern, but there's loads of exclusionary jargon in every hobby. Part of developing an interest in something is learning what all that jargon means. I actually really like studying jargon (ask me about the history of the Kimura lock sometime if you want an awesome history lesson about dudes fighting each other), though I get why it turns people off.

The thing is, we regularly use terminology around here that wouldn't make sense to someone who isn't into video games (my grandfather would have no idea what an "MMO" is, for instance), and we do so not to exclude anyone, but because these terms naturally become part of our language as an effect of being video game fans. For people who grew up with MUDs (old people), and now MMOs (young people), terms like "proc" and "mob" are just part of their gaming language, the way "1-up" is for people who grew up with Mario.

I didn't intend to turn this into a big argument, though. I just got a little irritated when I came in here to read a fun LP of a neat game I've never played and discovered that the following discussion was about the words ASandoval was using to describe it. Yes, he is using "repel" correctly, and yes, I think he's allowed to say "mob."

The fun part for me is that I don't play either of those type of games normally! Mob just felt right because you know... canine mafia. I wouldn't use exclusive elite speak for a group I don't even belong to!

Not that I'm not a nerd. I'm doing a lets play of a 20 year old NES game starring cartoon characters using gag weapons.

Maybe we should focus on Mr. Sandoval's awesome LP of an awesome game instead of bickering about MMO terminology. Hmmm? How about it?

In that case, I vote that you do the circus level next! It is nonsensical in the way that only an 8-bit platformer level can be. I love it.

Y'all are...

Goin' around in circles.

Sorry these updates are taking so long - I was rushing around getting stuff ready for E3, and am right now in the middle of a massive crunch. Not that it'll keep this train from moving forward, however, so please enjoy this short update for now.

Today we'll be talking about all the great items you can buy at the shop channel. Items that do amazing things like...



uh...

So after finishing the first level, I actually have a pretty nice chunk of cash. It's not enough to buy all of these goodies however, so let's talk about the mini games.



As a brief reminder, here are the mini games I have to choose from. We're mostly going to concentrate on the Pipe Toss, because it's the only game worth a crap.



The three pipes you see on the right move up and down at a moderate pace while orange balls are dropped from the pipe in the upper left. Your objective is to grab the ball and toss it into one of the pipes. The timing is pretty simple, making this game the most easily exploitable.



Mission accomplished.

A brief rundown of all the items:

The Bomb power up shoots a small bomb out of your glove at a downward angle. It's not the most useful power up, but there are a couple of mini bosses that you need to attack from below, which you'll see in the future.

The Spike Glove does double damage, but can't grab items or swing on poles. Again, pretty much only useful on certain bosses.

The uh, Twin Balls lives up to its name sake, shooting projectiles out of your glove. Possibly the most useful weapon, since it does nothing but add to your range.

But the most useful item is the Jet Boots, which slows your falling descent by quite a bit for a few seconds. We'll be using this a lot, especially in the circus. It's not essential, but it takes the pain in the ass out of a large majority of the platforming.

Finally, you can stock up on free guys here, which I promptly did after clearing the store out.

Before I leave you again for an indeterminate amount of time, let's look at the other two waste of time mini games.



The basketball game utilizes your swinging ability by making you swing into one of these baskets. Aiming wouldn't be so bad if getting into the basket didn't require pixel perfect precision. Even if you did master it, you can only make a max of $190 as opposed to the $280 you can get from the Pipe Toss with far less effort.



Then there's roulette. You have a chance to get lots of free guys here at the very least, or $300. The keyword here being chance. In reality you're more likely to get profit, but not enough to justify the waste of time.

That's it for now. Next time we'll be going... somewhere. I haven't added up the votes yet. But where ever it is, we'll have a whole lot of new toys to show off at least!