Animal Crossing and wired Switch Lite controller

So let's bring this blog out of mothballs for the first time nearly a decade to say:

1. Yes, with a USB-C to USB-A adapter like you'd use on a MacBook, you can connect a wired Switch controller to a Switch Lite and have the Lite recognize it.
2. No, you can't play multiplayer Animal Crossing with it. The second controller has to be wireless.

That is thoroughly frustrating. 

Yes, Claude...

DATE: 12/24/10
LAST MISSION PASSED: END OF THE LINE

Fifty hours and twenty minutes later... Thank heavens. Decent ending. Very nerve wracking in the Revolver-Ocelot-tells-you-it's-been-a-long-time-since-you've-saved way. Had some pretty serious fps slowdown with the fire, however.

The bottom line is that you know it's a pretty good game when you keep working on it (apparently every Xmas break) for five years.

EDIT: Hey, look, who knew? Available on the Mac since Nov 12th of this year!

Braid: Done

Well, the ending disappoints. But did it have any other choice?

I should say the epilogue disappoints. The twist in the final level was exceptional. A great game overall. I just feel the build up was largely wasted, and, if, the wikipedia is accurate, Blow admits as much: "[Blow] said that the central idea is "something big and subtle and resists being looked at directly."" Well, you win, Mr. Blow. Though the interp that you're a buddy of Hideo Kojima (and are reusing the lesson from MGS) seems to work. Why is it that creative game programmers gravitate towards an anti-nuclear tack? Is it that both were, in some ways, enabled by computers? (Is that accurate?)

Anyhow, done. Enjoyable. Addictive. About the right length. Very creative. Somewhat disappointing ending.

Braid

I believe the two games I've played the most recently are Braid and Portal, both very similar in gameplay. Neither seem to care much about time (?), and both are essentially series of extended brainteasers. I wonder what it means for complicated games that both of these have been exceptionally popular.

Braid is wonderful. I finished the first three worlds in a single sitting, and finished up four in spare time today. Where Portal has the tongue-in-cheek Skinner box environment, Braid seems, strangely enough, to have a more serious, complete plot. I'm somehow exceptionally invested at this point in finding out if there's a princess and what happened to Tim. I'm not sure I'll stay as engaged, but the painting, music, context in the pre-level books, and even the house and starry night all play perfectly.

I'm not sure I liked the overly overt Donkey Kong homage, though the Super Mario Bros tributes have, overall, been well done. I'm looking forward to finishing. I've only had one occasion so far (in Finicky Follower or whatever it is when the key follows you rather than lets you take it) where I've figured out the trick, but had the solution play out incorrectly. That is, I figured out how to get the key where I needed it, but somehow managed to make it fall by grabbing it too early, yet still left of the ladder (which should make sense to those who have played, but not too much for those who haven't). It, intuitively to me at least, should have worked where I made it all happen. I wasted 20-30 minutes looking for another answer before giving it another shot. Poof.

Compared to other games, that's still an excellent ratio.

Pac Man Vs. -- GC/Wii

Pac Man Vs. is every bit as fun on the Wii as it was playing with Matt's fam on the Cube. It's a very clever set-up, and I wish more consoles took advantage of screens like the Game Boy's this way. That's all.

MacHalf-Life 2

Welp, Half Life 2 has finally made its way to the Mac, and the Orange Box is on sale (if you sell out to Steam) for $21. It runs very well on my MacBook (late 09) but, well, makes me as sick as a dog. Who gets seasick. Who we should imagine on a transatlantic cruise. Not good.

There's some POV hack dealio that I should try, and maybe if I use an external monitor it'll be better, but so far so bad. Interesting to see that there's a Slashdot article on the motion sickness and HL2.

The game isn't much yet. Very Orwellian with little imagination so far. I'm not real hip on having gotten the "Subservient" achievement. Even after taking the can back out of the trash can and tossing it into the guard's chest (and running around Benny Hill style afterwards), it won't go away. /sigh

The more things change: Halo is what Quake was

From What to Expect From Halo: Reach Beta (Wired.com):

In another new match type, called Headhunter, the goal is to pick up skulls that are dropped when you kill another player, then haul them back to an ever-shifting drop zone. If you’re hit on the way there, you drop any skulls you had on you — including your own. Mobility is key if you want to make it back to the waypoint without getting decapitated.

Bizarre. I started playing this mod over a decade ago.