QQ News - February 2016

A fire hose of geeky news headlines for the month of February, 2016.

Headlines

  • Nicholas Meyer Joins New Star Trek Series (Startrek)
  • Star Trek Creator's Son Rod Roddenberry Joins New CBS TV Series (IGN)
  • Star Trek: Bryan Fuller Named Showrunner of New CBS Series (IGN)
  • HTC Vive is $799, Ships Early April And You Can Answer Phone Calls In VR (Uploadvr)
  • Valve Sells 15,000 Vive VR Headsets in 10 Minutes (Gamerant)
  • HoloLens Development Edition Available for Pre-Order (IGN)
  • Tesla Preparing To Charge Into Affordable Car Market (NPR)
  • Scientists achieve perfect efficiency for water-splitting half-reaction (Phys)
  • Amazon Lumberyard is a free AAA game engine deeply integrated with AWS and Twitch with full source. (AWS)
  • A Message from the Assassins Creed Team (Blog)
  • Zelda, Metroid, EarthBound, More SNES Games Headed to New 3DS Virtual Console (IGN)
  • Final Fantasy 9 Available Now on iOS and Android (IGN)
  • Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro Confirmed as DICE Summit Keynote Speakers (Dicesummit)
  • Conan O'Brien Lands in South Korea, People Freak Out (Kotaku)

Quest 40 - What should all software developers want in their applications?

Tom and Zach go all geek this week, with a conversation about software development best practices.

Minutes

  • 00:00 - Mic Check and Introductions
  • 03:55 - Why isn't your application logging?
  • 06:15 - Where is your configuration coming from?
  • 11:00 - Can we talk about Unit Tests for 18 minutes?
  • 29:00 - Is continuous integration necessary?
  • 30:30 - Does automated deployment speed up development?
  • 38:00 - When should you use inversion of control?
  • 49:30 - How intrusive is error reporting for end users?
  • 59:00 - Do you remove user impersonation from production builds?
  • 63:30 - Why is continuous deployment so controversial?
  • 72:15 - Wrap up!

Links

Music

Quest 39 - What is agency, and does it matter in video games?

Tom and Zach try to prove that their life has meaning by escaping into a podcast...oh, the irony, it burns!

Minutes

  • 00:00 - Mic Check and Introductions
  • 01:15 - Does agency matter in video games?
  • 11:10 - Which game genres have the most agency?
  • 23:30 - Randomization, does it reduce agency?
  • 33:00 - Does agency add to escapism?
  • 42:20 - Are binary choices cop-outs?
  • 47:20 - Why is Chrono Trigger the best fake out ever?
  • 53:30 - Wrap up

Links

Music

Quest 38 - WTF is...our REACTion to XCOM 2?

Tom and Zach take time out from their busy schedule of killing aliens to talk about the XCOM franchise...or, more specifically, the awesome little bits that they actually remember.

Minutes

  • 00:00 - Mic Check and Introductions
  • 02:35 - Which XCOM games did we actually play?
  • 15:45 - What was it like to hear about a new XCOM game?
  • 19:00 - Was XCOM 2013 a worthy successor to the 1994 classic?
  • 28:10 - How long will the long war hold our attention?
  • 33:00 - Why is it good when game series start off simple?
  • 38:30 - Why do we love XCOM 2 so much?
  • 58:45 - What was favorite in game moment so far?
  • 63:30 - Wrap up!

Music

QQ News - January 2016

A fire hose of geeky news headlines for the month of January, 2016.

Headlines

  • Final Fantasy Adventure Remade (Rpgamer)
  • The Witness (Gameinformer)
  • XCOM Modders Announce New Strategy Game (M)
  • Homeword: Deserts of Kharak (Gameinformer)
  • Final Fantasy 9 Announced for PC and Mobile in Japan (IGN)
  • EA Won't Have Booth at E3 2016, Briefing Scheduled for Sunday Afternoon (GameSpot)
  • Steam sales in 2015 (Medium)
  • Origin PC's new Omni gaming all-in-one wraps you up in its curved screen (Cnet)
  • 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Zooms Past 'Avatar' (Forbes)
  • George Miller Says He Wont Direct Another Mad Max Sequel (Slashfilm)
  • At CES, Netflix Adds Over 130 Countries to Streaming Service (Nytimes)
  • Nintendo Alters Controversial Fire Emblem Fates Scene (M)
  • NASA Achieves Gender Equality Milestone (IGN)
  • Alan Rickman, Harry Potter and Die Hard actor, dies aged 69 (BBC)
  • Darkwing Duck Is Not Coming Back (IGN)
  • General Motors, Gazing at Future, Invests $500 Million in Lyft (Nytimes)
  • Grant Gustin 'Fully Supports' Ezra Miller as the Flash (IGN)
  • An iPhone Charging in Midair Is the Coolest CES Demo I've Ever Seen (Gizmodo)
  • Popular YouTubers Try To Trademark 'React' (Kotaku)
  • GIMPS project discovers largest known prime number (Sciencedaily)
  • New Final Fantasy 15 Character Revealed, Release Date Event Details Confirmed (IGN)
  • Carl Zeiss Smart Glasses Won't Make You Look Like A Glasshole (Tomsguide)
  • Mighty No 9 Suffers Third Delay (IGN)