Stolen Pixels #214: X, A, B, Win!

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I do this all the time. If the game has quick-time events, then I usually make one of two mistakes:

1) Relax during a cinematic, and then end up getting killed when the gotcha QTE appears.

2) Stare fixedly at the bottom of the screen waiting for the next prompt, thus missing out on all the spectacular stuff my character is doing.

My very first column here on the Escapist was a critique of quick-time events. I’m certainly a lot better at them now than I was then, and I still hate them.

Surely there has to be a better way. Maybe key the button presses to flashes of colored light? Or distinctive sounds? Maybe your avatar’s body language? The rumble feature? Some combination of these? Anything but covering up the fireworks with Microsoft or Sony branded icons.

Shamus Young is the guy behind Twenty Sided, DM of the Rings, and Stolen Pixels, Shamus Plays, and Spoiler Warning. And none of that is his day job.

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