We tried to play Thief: The Dark Project and chat about it. Honest! But Twitch, the purple scab of a service, wouldn’t cooperate with one of the most storied series starters in gaming history. It’s almost like I shouldn’t have expected a 15-year-old game to be compatible with a crazy space-age cyberfuture streaming platform, but no, that’s just ridiculous. At any rate, today – for real this time – I will be joined by >former Thief: The Dark Project director Greg LoPiccolo and longtime Thief series designer/Thief: Deadly Shadows director Randy Smith. >Expect stories from the dank depths of the first three Thieves development chambers, inside info on what could ve been, and opinions from series vets on Eidos Montreal s reinvention of their storied stealther. >

This will be a pretty special episode, so make sure to tune in. We’re kicking off at 2 PM PT/10 PM GMT. A little late, I know, but come on: only amateur thieves skulk around during the (UK) day. >

Update: We’re done! It went quite well, all things considered. Watch the full thing below.

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This week’s episode of A Game And A Chat is very special. Very special indeed. For one, I’ve got two whole guests this time – namely, former Thief: The Dark Project director Greg LoPiccolo and longtime Thief series designer/Thief: Deadly Shadows director Randy Smith. Yes, it is time to talk (and play) all things Thief. Classic Thief, nu-Thief, and everything in between. Expect stories from the dank depths of the first three Thieves’ development chambers, inside info on what could’ve been, and opinions from series vets on Eidos Montreal’s reinvention of their storied stealther. This is one you absolutely should not miss. >

We’ll be kicking off at 11 AM PT/7 PM GMT. Tune in below. >

Update: We’re having some technical troubles. New kick off ETA coming shortly.

Update 2: No end in sight to the technical issues. We’re rescheduling for the same time tomorrow. Apologies to everyone for what was, frankly, an unmitigated disaster.

Update 3: I finally got Thief working with Twitch! So it’s a lock: tomorrow at 11 AM PT/7 PM GMT. This will finally happen.

Update 4: This feature is cursed, clearly. A scheduling issue has come up, so we’re doing this tomorrow at 2 PM PT/10 PM GMT. A late, spooky night show for Thief. Kinda makes sense I guess.

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Update: done, and suitably shamed. Videos below.

I have never played Thief: The Dark Project.

Please stop hitting me.

(I have played Thief 3, at least).

In about half an hour, I’m going to play it at last. Would you like to watch? Join me, live-ish. (more…)

System Shock 2 and Thief 2 are regularly hailed as classics for a reason. They’re meticulously designed, tough but not unfair, and, well, they’ve been around for a gazillion years – at least, in gaming technology time. Unfortunately, our light-speed-traveling future machines take about as well to them as modern automobiles to giant stone Flintstones wheels. In other (pseudo) words, clunkity clunk clunk crash. But now – finally, wonderfully, mercifully – some kind soul’s seen fit to release unofficial patches that bring both games up to speed. And, according to early reports, they make some positively massive improvements.

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