GWJ Conference Call Episode 89

Episode 89 - June 18th, 2008
Metal Gear Solid 4, Video Game Buy In, An Interview With John Carmack, A Missive From The District 97, Your Emails and more!

Right Click Here and 'Save As' to Download!
(A Sneaky 54.8megs, 1:59:45)

We're very pleased this week to have an interview with John Carmack! Sadly, he doesn't give us much on Rage, but saves the real rage for patent trolls and the influx of lawyers into the videogame business. The rest of the time we talk about Metal Gear Solid 4, buying into games and your sweet, tender emails.

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

Metal Gear Solid 4
Age of Conan
id Software
Fireball Island
Steam Community

Music Credits:

Intro/Outro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks

"Carving Away Stone" Ian Dorsch - 0:41:54
"Washaway" Ian Dorsch - 1:06:26
"Los Pistoleros" Ian Dorsch - 1:38:17

Anime Junky
Donator V6.0
Nei's picture
Location: Citadel, Widow System, Serphent Nebula

Interview with JC... ...wow!

Xbox Live: Nei HD | Playstation ID: Nei_GWJ

the pot and the kettle
Donator
boogle's picture
Location: Norman, OK

This appeared in the games section of the forums for me.

Feeank wrote:

Change BAAAAD

Chainsaw Queen
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Mystic Violet's picture
Location: San Diego, CA

boogle wrote:
This appeared in the games section of the forums for me.

Yup. I see it too! Ninja fix!

Intern
Purple_Haze's picture
Location: New Zealand

You always make the emails sound more erotic than they are.

Not Without Incident
Donator V3.0
Quintin_Stone's picture
Location: Cary, NC

Mystic Violet wrote:
boogle wrote:
This appeared in the games section of the forums for me.

Yup. I see it too! Ninja fix!


Same!

Certis wrote:

Quintin is both smart and attractive.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
Good lord, I wouldn't have expected brilliance like that from that nemeslut Quintin Stone!

TGIF
Donator V3.0
Thirteenth's picture
Location: Los Angeles, California

John Carmack? Really?

識己之殘而認己缺, 完人也!

El Pollo Diablo
Donator V3.0
Location: Standing over a stained copy of an old Ronald McDonald ad, masturbating furiously screaming MY WAY!

In for John Carmack : O

The man wears a bucket of KFC on his head. I wouldn't expect anything less. - Pred

CEO
Certis's picture

Mystic Violet wrote:
boogle wrote:
This appeared in the games section of the forums for me.

Yup. I see it too! Ninja fix!


ninja

I retracted so quickly last night that my butt flew off. I then had to eat my butt to get it to reattach. Then I pooped out a sheep. - Sephirotic

Executive
Donator
Spaz's picture
Location: Los Angeles

Daaaaaaaaaamn. Talking to John Carmack? Way pimpin, Mr. Murdoch.

I was pretty surprised to learn that Carmack agreed to an interview. I've always seen him as very shy and the kind to move away from a public role. He's adorably geeky.

"Nazis? More like Not-zis!"
"Ninjas? More like Non-jas!"

I do like being smug. - Certis

Junior Executive
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nossid's picture
Location: Sweden

Always a pleasure listening to Carmack. I have huge respect for him and his views on these matters closely reflect my own. And Rabbit, sneaking in a Doom 3 is dark bit, ballsy!

Unofficial GWJ IRC Channel -- Stay awhile and listen

Junior Executive
Donator
Zelos's picture
Location: UK

Interesting points on the game buy-in thing. I think whoever it was that said it's a gut feeling is right: a lot of what passes for discussion about games is really just retroactive justification of how we feel about a game, IMHO. We decide up front whether we like a game, then view the rest of the game through that filter.

Unprncbl
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Duoae's picture

*Watches the site's traffic increase several fold*

I liked the segment were Rob dragged you all over to the dark side... Rob leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering...

I never really enjoy a game based on one mechanic. It gets old too fast for me. Games that i enjoy tend to have an overall goodness. Which means i often enjoy average games where the gameplay is okay, the story is okay and the graphics are okay. If just one aspect is good i still won't enjoy it. Speaking of Dark Messiah, i liked that game - the combat system was (and still is) pretty evolutionary for FPS games and i'd love for the next elder scrolls to integrate that mechanic with a more full magic-focused system as seen in Morrowind.

EGGmen - gaming blog with podcasts!
>I SURVIVED THE SPAMOCALYPSE OF JUNE '09<

Baron Münchhausen
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rabbit's picture
Location: The Basement

I was surprised he took the interview too. I think the PR person from iD was as well. I think I hit his hot-button issue. He was indeed a lot of fun to chat with.

Gamertag: GWJ Rabbit | Last.fm | Twitter

"If you're cynical, it just means you're not listening." - Rollins

McCharles, If You're Nasty
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McChuck's picture
Location: Where The Line is a dot.

Dibs on the sixth seat at GenCon. Called it.

JUST PUZZLED YOUR ASS UP, SON! -Mr Crinkle

the pot and the kettle
Donator
boogle's picture
Location: Norman, OK

All I know is casting in Morrowind sucked balls. They improved big time in Oblivion and I think its only up from there.

Feeank wrote:

Change BAAAAD

It's Dead To Me
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buzzvang's picture
Location: Korean Animation Studio!

Quote:
I liked the segment were Rob dragged you all over to the dark side... Rob leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering...

I knew it. Rob holds the path to the dark side.

Great job landing Carmack, Rabbit! You guys never fail to impress.

Psychotic Foreign Teenage Chicks are so hot. - Legion
I find it ironic anytime a healthy vaccinated person bitches about science...on the internet. - MaverickDago

Wiener Bombardier
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Podunk's picture
Location: The People's Republic of Goodge

F*cking awesome, you guys.

PSI Level Ω
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Vrikk's picture
Location: Onett, Eagleland

The talk of MGS 4 being frustrating doesn't give me hope that I'll enjoy it as much as I did the last three.

Yet even then we ran like the wind,
whilst our laughter echoed under cerulean skies...

Lord of the Rats
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Rat Boy's picture
Location: Hitting. It.

Was that a Flight Simulator mention I heard?

"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

Office Linebacker
Captain_Arrrg's picture
Location: Mountians of Colorado

BEST. INTERVIEW. EVER.

Precioussss
Brennil's picture

McChuck wrote:
Dibs on the sixth seat at GenCon. Called it.

I've already pulled the Wife Card and nabbed that seat.

Texas Teabagger
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TheWalt's picture
Location: This side of nowhere...

Carmack rules. Way to go rabbit! Great interview!

Bear wrote:

Irongut wrote:
We should all paws a moment to reflect on this horrible act.
What an unbearably bad attempt at a pun.

Xbox Live: TheWalt2

Intern
Donator

Vrikk wrote:
I loved the last three MGS games. Chances are I'll love this one!

Rob hates everything. Chances are he'll hate this too!

Oh, hey, Rob hated this too! Should I get the game?! Oh, I don't know anymore! What should I dooooooooooo?!

OK, so that's some pretty extensive paraphrase action. But seriously, check out MGS4. If you liked the other three, you'll like this one, too.

Oh Me of Little Faith
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doubtingthomas396's picture
Location: In the fourth panel of a weekday Dilbert strip

Rat Boy wrote:
Was that a Flight Simulator mention I heard?

I'm only halfway through the podcast, and I've heard Rabbit mention FS like three or four times.

At least I think it was three or four. Between FS, Bioshock and Rob Rage, things began to look all... bendy.

Certis wrote:

I think doubtingthomas makes a number of good points there. I don't need to re-hash them.

Zigguratbuilder wrote:
the game amounts to Tic-Tac-Toe with guns.

PSN name: DoubtingTom396 Frie-hend meeeee uuuuup!

McCharles, If You're Nasty
Donator V3.0
McChuck's picture
Location: Where The Line is a dot.

Brennil wrote:
McChuck wrote:
Dibs on the sixth seat at GenCon. Called it.

I've already pulled the Wife Card and nabbed that seat.

D'oh! Fine then. I call dibs on party bard. I'll stay on the sidelines with my fellow minstrels and sing tales of your feats.

Bravely brave Sir Robin ...

JUST PUZZLED YOUR ASS UP, SON! -Mr Crinkle

Lord of the Rats
Donator
Rat Boy's picture
Location: Hitting. It.

Dammit, "caliphate" was my drinking word today.

Edit: And I played Fireball Island and I enjoyed it every time. Mind you, I was six when it came out.

"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

Intern
Donator

Regarding the load times in MGS4: Was anyone else actually annoyed by this? Load times between areas are about six to seven seconds each, and it usually takes me about ten minutes to get through an area without being seen. The hard drive installation complaint is more credible, but I've had to accept this as par for the course with PS3 games, since the read speed on the Blu-ray drive is so slow. Fortunately, the install isn't as lengthy as with some other PS3 games, most notably DMC4; and I'm not sure we currently have the technology to allow for real-time streaming of textures and character models that are this detailed and this high-res.

Come to think of it, it's a shame you guys never got around to discussing the graphical detail on display here. On my Bravia, this is easily the best-looking game I've ever seen. Some of the cutscenes in particular have had me wondering why Konami's bothering with a live-action MGS movie when this looks just as good.

Intern
Donator

Incidentally, "Ohhhhh, those were the best spikes" is now my favorite quote from this podcast.

Citrus Casanova
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zeroKFE's picture
Location: In your fruit bowl terrorizing the oranges

It's been pretty well covered in the threads devoted to the game, but Rob couldn't be more wrong about MGS4.

Anime Junky
Donator V6.0
Nei's picture
Location: Citadel, Widow System, Serphent Nebula

Nijhazer wrote:
Regarding the load times in MGS4: Was anyone else actually annoyed by this? Load times between areas are about six to seven seconds each, and it usually takes me about ten minutes to get through an area without being seen.

Loading between areas does not bother me much because I tend to take my time, however, it does become annoying during the vehicle sequences. Since they tend to go through the areas pretty quick and it fair to say that the game ramps up the action, seeing a loading screen every other min really kind of ruins the moment. It's like watching an action movie and hitting pause every min for 10 sec... sure, stuff still blowing up but some how it losses it's impact.

zeroKFE wrote:
It's been pretty well covered in the threads devoted to the game, but Rob couldn't be more wrong about MGS4.

Yep, agree!

Xbox Live: Nei HD | Playstation ID: Nei_GWJ