Conference Call

GWJ Conference Call Episode 428

Elite Dangerous 1.0, The Crew, Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault, Grey Goo, Kerbal Space Program, NewRetroArcade (Oculus), Our Favorite Games of 2014, Your Emails and More!

Join Sean Sands, Allen Cook, Rob Zacny and Shawn Andrich as they talk about their best and worst games and experiences in 2014! We also reveal Sean Sands as The Game King. All hail.

To contact us, email [email protected]! Send us your thoughts on the show, pressing issues you want to talk about or whatever else is on your mind. You can even send a 30 second audio question or comment (MP3 format please) if you're so inclined.

Chairman_Mao's Timestamps

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Show credits

Music credits: 

UNATCO Theme [Extended Remix] - Cryonaut - http://www.cryonautmusic.com/ - 43:57

Halcyon - Cryonaut - http://www.cryonautmusic.com/ - 1:49:25

Intro/Outtro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks

Comments

I feel like I want to high-five you guys for what an amazing podcast this was! It got me flying through my Christmas Eve morning of work and I can honestly say I haven't laughed so much in a long time. Also please get Rob Zacny back on the show regularly for 2015, he is an absolute joy.

Thanks and merry Christmas to all of you members of GWJ!

I'm only part way through the podcast, but Sean and I had similar experiences in college - only I sold my plasma for booze, not games. (It is sentences like this that make me think that being a college student is a mental disorder of some sort.)

PRO-TIP - You get drunk faster when you don't have your precious, life-giving plasma.

Great podcast looking back on a greatish year.

I've just picked up Titanfall on 360 and I'm in the middle of that 'I'm going to play this game forever!!' nine days of fun. At the moment, I truly believe that the multiplayer is going to last me many months to come but I've felt that way about other multiplayer games just before I stopped playing them for good.

The co-op is great, often challenging, fun. I've played nine or more matches of it and I don't think I've seen a repeat map more than once. It's great for when you are feeling like playing but don't want to risk getting your huge, mechanical ass handed to you.

I'm not sure if it's the culmination of all the weapon balancing but I don't feel horrendously outmatched in the competitive games. I survive well and get a fair number of titan and pilot kills (although I generally live in the lower half of my teams score board.) Another game I nearly missed out on this year. I'm excited for Titanfall 2. Fingers crossed it does come to PS4.

I loved this episode so much.

All hail the Game King!

I'm with you guys in Wastelands 2. I should like it but cannot get into it.

Also, a new 3MA on EU4, please tell me this is happening soon.

And now yelling "SCIENCE!" is ruined.

Edit: And flight sticks.

Sean Sands, will you be my spirit animal?

All hail the Game King.

The King is Dead; LONG LIVE THE KING!!!

Game King!!! That needs to stick.

Can a podcast be canonized or do we have to start a separate Best of list? I'm tempted to throw this one and the one where Lara mispronounced Elk Hunt into something like that.

Rat Boy wrote:

Can a podcast be canonized or do we have to start a separate Best of list? I'm tempted to throw this one and the one where Lara mispronounced Elk Hunt into something like that.

Audio Commandments?

tboon wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

Can a podcast be canonized or do we have to start a separate Best of list? I'm tempted to throw this one and the one where Lara mispronounced Elk Hunt into something like that.

Audio Commandments?

I love it. +1

Fully through the podcast. Amazing. All hail the Game King, and may he bring you a merry holiday!

Part way through the show, but thanks for the shout out!!

Veloxi wrote:

Part way through the show, but thanks for the shout out!! :)

Don't be so grateful yet:

Spoiler:

Near the end of the show, the Game King goes mad with power and calls for your head - unless you can use one of your spaceships to bring him the moon.

Can anyone link to the "that guy" comic mentioned in the Elite Dangerous portion of the podcast?

Oh Elite Dangerous, you had me at "kinda like a space euro truck simulator "

kexx wrote:
tboon wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

Can a podcast be canonized or do we have to start a separate Best of list? I'm tempted to throw this one and the one where Lara mispronounced Elk Hunt into something like that.

Audio Commandments?

I love it. +1

Didn't Eleima have a thread for funny/amsuing stuff from old episodes?

Rat Boy wrote:

And now yelling "SCIENCE!" is ruined.

Pfft. Thanks to Rob I'll never look at Oreos the same way again

This was without a doubt, the best episode ever. Long live the Game King!

cheesycrouton wrote:

Long live the Game King! :)

The King of the North Corona Games!

The king of games, who sits on a throne made from the keyboards of his vanquished foes. If he's not careful, it will click loudly as he sits, rendering him impossible to take seriously, but the seat of USB power isn't supposed to be comfortable.

Great episode. As someone who loved Tie Fighter the 10 minutes was worth it.

So, what Crusader Kings 2 traits does the Game King have? Game Master goes without saying and he's probably a Brilliant Strategist after all that EU4.

Hail to the king, baby.

One point from right at the beginning. Is 'Merry Christmas' or whatever really a minefield? I understand respecting that not everyone is Christian, but even non Christians I know still take Christmas as a secular holiday and treat it as such. I've never encountered someone taking offence.

I'm just curious, I'm not getting all 'War on Christmas.' I'm non religious myself.

Another, was it Allan who said he struggles with the lack of direction in open world games? It's a common problem of mine, games like Elder Scrolls and GTA are a trial for me. But weirdly I loved Mount & Blade and that provides no direction at all. Something about the interplay between story and open world creates a tension that kills a game for me, whereas if there is no story there's no tension.

Elite sounds like M&B in space to me, so it is very appealing.

The so-called War on Christmas in America is largely a right-wing conservative pushback to people saying Happy Holidays instead, to acknowledge 1) that some people are not Christian and 2) that there are other holidays in December to celebrate.

Thus, the right-wing has termed this the War on Christmas to show how the secular lefties are removing Christian values from the culture.

I, as a leftie, really don't care. And usually respond "same to you" when someone wishes me Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, or whatever. I usually prefer the term Decemberween, but I was (am?) a big Homestar Runner fan.

Someone recently pointed out that "merry" has connotations of intoxication (i.e. "making merry"). Happy Christmas is a celebration born out of virtuous living. Merry Christmas is a celebration born of too much egg-nog.

Perhaps not relevant, but I was entertained.

Hey what is the joystick in this episode that everyone's so high on? I figured it would be in the show notes and didn't bother writing down the name even though I'm in the market for a joystick.

edit: Saitek X-55 Rhino

So, newegg's review thread for the X-55 is sort of a horror show. I'm seeing comments saying that it doesn't work with Windows 8 or with USB 3.0, that quality control is all over the place, etc. Any thoughts, comments from people who already have the stick? Anyone still paying attention to this thread?

kazooka wrote:

So, newegg's review thread for the X-55 is sort of a horror show. I'm seeing comments saying that it doesn't work with Windows 8 or with USB 3.0, that quality control is all over the place, etc. Any thoughts, comments from people who already have the stick? Anyone still paying attention to this thread?

Can't speak for the joystick, but you've basically described every newegg review thread for every product newegg sells that's more complex than a packet of chiclets.

And I'm sure that if Newegg did well chiclets, there would instantly be fifty reviews saying "this is the worst packet of chiclets I've ever bought. They're spearmint, even though the listing clearly says "cool mint." And customer support was a joke. I've been on hold for the last four days trying to get them to send me a replacement."

The description of NewRetroArcade with the Oculus makes me think the OASIS of Ready Player One is just around the corner!