GWJ Conference Call Episode 74
Patapon, Hellgate Uninstalled, LOTRO, TFL Crushes Us, Ironlore Gone, Competition Complex, Your Emails and more!
(A Free Ballin' 37.4 megs, 1:21:43)
This week we eat some crow served up by the Team Fremont community. We also get into the thrill (avoidance) of competition, Ironlore closing their doors and a ton more. We're winging it!
To contact us, email ! 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.
Links
Sins Of a Solar Empire
Patapon
Hellgate London
GWJ vs. Team Fremont
Petroglyph Ogre Shot
Game Theory
Steam Community
Music Credits:
Intro/Outro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks
"Bridger" - Daniel Lawrence Walker - www.daniellawrencewalker.com - 0:25:21
"Terra" - Chico Correa & Electronic Band - 0:53:26
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Patapon is hard. My troops have been decimated more times than I'd like to admit. The demo is a cakewalk compared to some of the later missions. Keeping FEVER is essential. Their stats goes up, Yumipon shoot an insane number of arrows, Kibapon aren't completely useless, Tatepon are more powerful, etc.
There are more than 4 commands. That is where the fun begins. You have to pay attention to the beat, keep FEVER going and think about what commands you should use in advance. Not an easy task when you only have a few seconds to decide whether or you should keep attacking or block or charge or dodge or...
And don't diss the singing! It's so adorable!!
XBL / Art / Blog
SSBB: 3480-2200-2259
You say there is no CS replacement out there now. There is. It's still CSS.
Look at the 'top sellers' on steam. CSS runs on dirt level systems well, and the mod community(surf, Wc3, gg and countless others) have kept adding new tricks to it. There are still hardcore CSS clans out there, I beleive there are about 6 CAL brackets for CSS right now.
Nothing will ever compare to the rush I used to feel playing TWL clan battles in CSS. When I could rush into B on de_prodigy and roll off 3 headshots with my AK before planting, I felt like god. When I decided to rush the middle kamikaze style with deagle's first round, I was the king.
*Legion* wrote:
I have to admit to finally caving on Lost Odyssey -- Play-Asia had the Asian version for US$50, which has full English voice and text, runs fine on PAL systems, and even comes in a proper over-sized 4-disc box. At that price (the local price is equivalent to US$75-100), I figured it was worth taking a chance on.
Xbox Live: pneuman
The comments on enjoying the win more than the battle really resonated with me. In fact I think that's one of the reasons I have such a hard time with World of Warcraft (or any MMO I imagine) at the of the level cap. There seems nowhere to go and while you can PvP for "mad lewtz" or raid for some awesome gear there's no real constant momentum going like there is for the rest of the game. If I die while leveling up, well at least I still got some XP. If we fail on a boss in some instance at least we killed the other bosses, got some XP, and maybe fufilled some quests. If I fail in a battleground or even a raid dungeon though? I didn't get anything other than a lot of wasted time, and that's no fun.
Compare that to single player games where I'm constantly "winning" in some small way. If a tough part comes up that I Just. Cannot. Beat. Then yes, that kills my momentum and I stop enjoying the game. But modern day games don't seem to have this for the most part, at least not at the normal difficulty levels. In a single player RPG I'm always gaining XP, levels, and abilities up until the end of the story. In a FPS I get new weapons all the time, finish missions and kill enemies like crazy. In action games I have awesome moves to kill enemies and just end up looking cool. And throughout all of them I'm getting the reward of seeing more of the plot, ending in a finish that, hopefully, will make it all worth it. And the MMO style of never giving you significant closure on plot (if there's anything really there in the first place) and stopping all leveling at a certain point just can't compare.
Seems to me this is also why Achievements on Xbox Live (and now Steam) are such a huge thing; it's a bit of "win" even if you're failing utterly at some multilayer element. Sure, I just got completely owned 5:14 in Call of Duty 4 but, hey, I killed enough people with my shotgun to get that achivement! Sure, I got gibbed in Team Fortress 2 but I also did more kills in a row than I ever had before! Sure, I didn't win but I did achieve something.
A bit rambling but it was on my mind as I just got owned in Eye of the Storm four times in a row.
Remember, only by treating everyone with dignity and respect can we maintain the element of surprise for that inevitable day when we wipe our enemies from the face of the Earth.
Per-vay-lent!
Too bad no one gave me a Sins shout out. ;_;
NOTE: This is not a doodle bug.
BF2142 Stats
Something is wrong with the interlude music this week, it's not coma inducing.
1080p is 1920x1080 by the way, but most of the consoles that support 1080p don't have games that render at that resolution, it's 720p (1280x720) that's scaled to 1080p.
XBL: MikeMac75
hey, I live in Canada and yes, there is no gamefly but i wanted to point everyone to a service just like gamefly. They are canadian based. Website : http://gameaccess.ca/
Now no one in canada ever has to go to blockbuster or rogers again.
Oh and great podcast.
The other word they got wrong was - integral.
In - ti - grul
I refuse to accept any other pronunciation. Also people commonly get the long A sound of prevailing mixed up with the short A sound in prevalent. Sorry Lobster, my dictionary says you're wrong.
- Elysium
The bulk of the answer is indeed that the console is a specialized machine and a console game get (nearly) 100% of the machine's resources all to itself. There may be far fewer resources in total, but the game gets to use them all and the developers know exactly what they have to work with (which allows them to optimized the performance of their code with a level of precision that isn't possible on a variable platform).
XBL/PSN: zeroKFE | BHA: zeroKFE | Halo Stats
Prevailent (spelled and pronounced) is an obsolete form of Prevalent, which can only be pronounced one way, according to Mr. Dictionary.
prĕv'ə-lənt
So it's not the short A sound, it's schwa (now there's a scrabble word I don't get to use NEARLY enough). God how lame is it that this site is filled with nitpicky English majors like me.
Gamertag: GWJ Rabbit | Last.fm
"Think of it as 'grinding SO rep in the Kitchen instance.' " - Montalban
Patapon is done by Japan Studios/Pyramid for Sony. Does that make it second party? That distinction is kind of confusing. It's published by Sony.
As for the one console future discussion - I agree with the direction you started heading at the end of the bit. As the audience grows the push to standardize further will get stronger as well.
Early in the life of a small/niche hobby, one company can have a good idea and enjoy some success with its implementation. As the audience grows and it starts to get more attention, other companies will see room and move in.
Intellivision and Atari weren't competing for dominance - they both wanted to grow.
Nintendo and Sega might have been competing, but they were growing the market as well.
The fight between Sony and Nintendo at one point seemed like Playstation was going to become the defacto standard. It had gotten past the enthusiast stage and challenging one of the established big console makers seemed nearly impossible, but Microsoft stepped up and took their lumps. When they did that, it really closed the door on any other potential console makers. It became a three horse race, and it's become a lot more interesting.
Then Nintendo surprised most of us again by showing how much more potential there still is for growth in the console market.
As long as the market is growing, I think (and I hope) that competition ultimately benefits consumers.
And when the number of homes with consoles is pretty close to the number of homes with movie players (1:0.8 or so is a rough guess) we will probably see a stronger push for a standardized system.
I'm not a film historian, but I bet there's a similar parallel. First you have innovators, then imitators, and a few distinct factions form. Either one establishes a dominant format, or eventually each faction is stable/powerful/profitable enough that they're not going anywhere. When you reach that point, they might all sit down at a table together and hash out some kind of standard.
As you said, I don't think the push will come from Microsoft/Nintendo/Sony. They hold the keys at the moment, and they won't give them up willingly. Developers are the weaker party in any negotiation with a platform holder as well. The push will come from consumers, and maybe EA/ActiBlizzard will be our champions in that fight.
Xbox live:Scaphism
Like a good curry, they burned me twice. - ApplepieChamploo
It's still CS
Gameplay is pretty much the same. The old RB6 games were similar to the feel of CS, but more team oriented. Out of the current slew of games out there the closest i've seen has been RB6:V. Of course you dont have the one shot and you're out option.
Gamer Tag: Rantyr
Dont forget also that the OS for consoles is specialized and streamlined too.
Im pretty sure that the 360 windows CE (like the xbox) vs. XP for PC's. XP's overhead nearly fills all of the 360's 512mb of RAM if it were installed, leaving nothing to run applications.
Being fangoriously devoured by a gelatinous monster.
I'm tempted to bust out the cowboy boots and go line-dancing, for some reason.
"Men like sex, thus boobies! Oogaba!" - dejanzie
"If ads put your sanity to the test
come on down to Rat Boy's nest!
light up a stogie, and soon you'll see
how rock can be commercial-free!
'I'd hit it!'" - HP Lovesauce
I keep imagining Patapon as an extension of the Darkling gameplay in Overlord, where they levelled up with armor/weapons they'd pillage and the addition of a rhythm game for commands and battle pacing. Is that off?
Xbox Live: Irongut | Playstation ID: Irongut_GWJ
I say Pre-vai-lant and in-teh-gral too, dammit! Just because it's obsolete doesn't make it wrong! People are allowed to speak differently!
It must be a Canadian thing. If we do renegotiate Nafta, we'd better throw some pronunciation clauses in there too, otherwise things are gonna get real ugly, real fast.
Back on topic: Elysium, I felt you contradicted yourself at one point and perhaps you could clarify your POV -
A big deal was made on the necessity of you winning in order to enjoy a game - and as much as you guys were joking around, it seems like there was a lot of truth to that. But then, at one point, you mentioned how you didn't enjoy people giving "orders" in TF2 as you were just there to have fun.
Aren't those 2 conflicting ideas? Aren't the people who are giving orders just trying to win, thereby adhering to your fundamental principles of gameplay enjoyment? Do you play to win, but only when you're the one giving the orders?
Not trying to be a dick, just honestly curious.
Morrolan wrote:
XBLA / Steam: Dysplastic
Actually most things become a negative expereince when it becomes a competition. We naturally have fun when just messing about in game and I find it difficult to take any game seriously. Because we can't, it's a game designed to entertain, you can't just turn into a guy from the Army and fly straight or give me 20, whatever they say in the armed forces these days.
I had a look at Patapon as I was slightly confused as to what it was, and frankly after looking at the youtube of it, I still haven't a clue. Granted I'm normally confused about everything....
http://www.oohsometimes.com
The rantings of the Lord of Leisure. Enjoy!!
I recently picked up LOTRO, and I'm having a great time. Listening to the podcast, it doesn't sound like there is a GWJ group playing the game and I don't see any discussion on the MMO forum about the game, except an old note about a guild (Eldain a ... something-or-other). Is there still an active group of goodjers playing?
Here's a horrible admission. I'm far more worried about my personal performance than team performance. That's not to say I don't try to support my team, but if my team loses and I did well in the losing effort, then I'm pretty ok.
- Elysium
Hey! Elysium! Wheres the Alabama hate? Huh!?
I'm sorry. I love the attention...
"We prefer to be called the swarm of his dark lord, the thief in the night Boogle." - Boogle
Most of the GWJ Lotro crew is the Eldain Kinship. Contact me in game (Quelsar) and I can point you in the right direction...
Hey "crew" if you want someone to play Freep (Quelsar) or Creep (Xolti) ping me!!! Nothing is better than a pack of Wargs...
Also not sure if it when you login or just wrong place wrong time. but pass people all the time even when I was in my 20's.
/salute
Zune | STEAM | Live | Xfire
Hellgate Uninstalled ?? Now I must listen to this podcast.
Shelter: a post-nuclear RPG.
He hasn't been tied down and forced to visit in a while, so the stench has finally left his nostrils.
Psychotic Foreign Teenage Chicks are so hot. - Legion
...they can also come bathe in the glorious, healing light of my Johnson. - Prederick
We do need more of this.
Just look what has happened to MMOs as proof of this. Back when UO had hardcore impact PvP it bleed subscriptions like mad. In WoW, everybody wins, just some people win a little more than others. Thus while it may make for competition, we all still come out ahead.
I'm not really a girl. I just play one in video games.
I've been going back into LOTRO myself and having some fun. The server population seems pretty high when I'm on, although I always seem to be playing with the same guys when grouping. I've been running into monster play (Potluk), and trying to figure out how to do the Ogre play sessions.
The more I hear about Sins of a Solar Empire, the more I want to buy it. Unfortunately, I already have a job.
"We don't care how we get the money as long as we get it!"
- Eric Hartness, Electronic Arts
That about sums up my thoughts too
That's another game that I'm really interested in, because everyone seems to love it, but I know I won't have time to spend 20 hours just learning how to play it, followed by multi-hour online matches and a god-knows-how-long single-player campaign. I think I can summon the self-control to skip this one.
Xbox Live: pneuman
I've been poking my head back into LOTRO lately too, I've been enjoying monster play quite a bit, and the interaction with the Destiny system across borders is really cool. I think the last round of updates was also solid.
Gamertag: GWJ Rabbit | Last.fm
"Think of it as 'grinding SO rep in the Kitchen instance.' " - Montalban
What has really gotten me hooked in LOTRO has been the reputation system for some reason. It does mean I have to go back to the Barrow Downs (God, I hate that place), but some of the reputation-based items do look nice.
When the demo comes out, I do still want to check it out. I'm still worried though
"We don't care how we get the money as long as we get it!"
- Eric Hartness, Electronic Arts
I want Sins also, but I am afraid it will just end up on the wall of shame!
Zune | STEAM | Live | Xfire
When I was playing LOTRO in open beta and at release, Monster Play unlocked at level 10. Don't know if they've changed that since then, but I can't see any reason why they would have.
Steam ID: http://steamcommunity.com/id/NSMike
XBL: NSMike
PSN: NSMike
Wii Friend Code: 7763 1519 2475 2278