GWJ Conference Call Episode 201
Episode 201 - August 18th, 2010
Scott Pilgrim The Game, Mafia 2 Demo, StarCraft II Spoiler Section, Part Two of Our Interview With Ken Levine About Bioshock Infinite, Audio Congrats From Our Pals, Your Emails and more!
Scott Pilgrim The Game, Mafia 2 Demo, StarCraft II Spoiler Section, Part Two of Our Interview With Ken Levine About Bioshock Infinite, Audio Congrats From Our Pals, Your Emails and more!
(An Celebratory 55.9 Megs, 1:37:35)
This week Shawn, Elysium, Cory, Julian and Rob look back on 200 episodes! We also run part 2 of our interview with Ken Levine about Bioshock Infinite.
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. You can also submit a question or comment call in to our voicemail line at (612) 284-4563!
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Links
Bioshock Infinite
Starcraft II
Scott Pilgrim
Zen Pinball MARS Table
Chopper 2
GWJ On Twitter
Steam Community
Music Credits:
Intro/Outtro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks
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Listening to the core four conference callers is like slipping into a favorite comfy tee shirt. I do love the variety in chairs from time to time, but you guys are what got me hooked in the first place years ago.
I love the dip into US/world history with Ken and Julian. It sounds like some of what he said got edited out; is there anywhere this big history dork can hear the rest?
This episode is easily one of my favorites, so far. Keep up the good work!
"And thus did it come to pass, as was foretold, that the picture thread became like unto the spider thread...there was much gnashing of teeth and lamentations. Dogs lay down with Cats. Bears began riding sharks and lo, there was war." -Oilypenguin
Hey guys--
I was interested in the point about "punishing the game for trying," in terms of taking issue with StarCraft II's story when Blizzard didn't even need to go so balls-out with the story in an RTS game. I think that's a fair response. However, the point I was trying (perhaps unsuccessfully) to make on Three Moves Ahead is that it's precisely because Blizzard put so much effort into the story that it disappointed me all the more.
If Blizzard had held back and taken more of a SC1-level approach, and still included a mediocre story, it would have been far less noticeable and noteworthy. But the game explicitly made the choice to immerse me in the world of these characters all the time--there was a TON of dialogue, a ton of in-game cutscenes. There's just an absolute deluge of really, really bad story, and in an RTS game that doesn't make such a big deal about the story, I wouldn't have minded or noticed nearly as much.
As for people simply enjoying the story on its own merits, well that's another matter entirely. Obviously everyone has their own taste in terms of actual execution, and that's fine. But I don't think points should be given just for trying, especially when such vast amounts of time and money were available -- surely not a luxury afforded many PC-exclusive strategy game developers these days.
Good show, by the way! Sorry to harp on that one point.
http://www.idlethumbs.net/
Man! Time for Starcraft 2 spoilers already? The game came out yesterday or something. Give a guy time to at least finish it once.
@Steam | @Backloggery
Someone needs to stop playing ladder games for a couple of days and get a move on with the campaign.
Steam~Twitter~Raptr~B.Net
Mystic Violet wrote:
If only I was playing ladder games... *goes off to post his RL on Craigslist*
With regards to the CC, I'm about 30 minutes in, so I haven't listened to the spoiler section yet. But so far, Elysium's take on Starcraft 2 has to be the one I concur with the most. On the other hand, it's really interesting to hear that Rob Zacny is laddering like a maniac when I perceived his review as barely better than neutral.
@Steam | @Backloggery
Playing FPS inverted makes more sense to me because if you imagine holding a real gun, to aim up, you're pulling your body back. Playing without inversion feels too much like I'm just pointing and clicking.
囧
PSN: Mao_Zedong
Haven't listened yet myself, but my take on Rob Zacny's, and Tom Chick's, reviews is not that they were positive or negative. It's rather that they were just warning people who may have been expecting something more 'modern' exactly what was in the box.
Steam~Twitter~Raptr~B.Net
Mystic Violet wrote:
DRM called and said this debate was tired.
XBL: The Counselar PSN: TheCounselor Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/TheCounselor
"You realise that you're questioning the internal logic of a game in which a fat plumber rides a dinosaur in space?" Jonman
Muramasa called to say hi. It just wanted you guys to know that it was a classic side-scrolling brawler.
Does El kFest make a return?
m0nk3yboy:To quote a McElroy, he Supermaned the sh*t out of me on the handlebars. He bleeped the bleep, out of my bleep, bleep bleep, bleep, bleep. That man has STAMINA!
Steam | XBL
Well, that's some intro!
Regarding the Alyx intro: I WASN'T LOOKING!
JUST PUZZLED YOUR ASS UP, SON! -Mr Crinkle
If your hands get tired from button-mashing, remember that toes are the fingers of the feet. - Clemenstation
Grats guys. What was the name of that comedy podcast?
Brother something...?
Xbox Live: Shoal07
Steam ID: Shoal07
BNet: Shoal.262
PSN: Shoal07 (<--Friend me up!)
My Brother, My Brother, and Me
Last.fm | Twitter
"Publishers still speak in hushed tones about el bunny de la muerte." - *Legion*
Rob wins the show with his push-the-fat-guy-up-the-stairs game idea.
Steam: [GWJ]MeatMan
Thanks. Fitting avatar.
Xbox Live: Shoal07
Steam ID: Shoal07
BNet: Shoal.262
PSN: Shoal07 (<--Friend me up!)
I only became familiar with Scott Pilgrim through the trailers, and bought the game day one, and love it. Just so's ya know.
PSN: SpacePPoliceman
Unsound Methods: The latest: What we lose when we lose Chuck.
Great. Not a minute in and I feel ashamed.
"Men like sex, thus boobies! Oogaba!" - dejanzie
"Butt hat is my opinion and we all know how far that goes around here." - Demonicmaster
Twitter
Enjoy it while it lasts people because soon we won't be able to hear what Chris actually thinks about stuff.
Anyway, I'm thinking have Michael Zenke come on and talk about Guild Wars 2 sounds like a great topic since they're showing a fair amount of gameplay this week at Gamescom. Before everything about the game, as interesting as it looked in art and some screenshots, was verging on hyperbole. Now, there's something to see and talk about.
MilkmanDanimal wrote:
NSMike wrote:
http://steamcommunity.com/id/garion333
Nope. Not going to watch the Bioshock trailer. La la la la!
Edit: I do find Ken and Julian's discussion on the historical background for the new Bioshock fascinating (and actually, Red Dead Redemption is set around this time period and has similar themes about the federal government exercising its power over rural communities in the Old West). A good read on this is The Imperial Cruise by James Bradley; word of warning, if you think the world of Teddy Roosevelt, you probably won't like what Bradley as to say.
"Men like sex, thus boobies! Oogaba!" - dejanzie
"Butt hat is my opinion and we all know how far that goes around here." - Demonicmaster
Twitter
Do it. It's beautiful.
m0nk3yboy:To quote a McElroy, he Supermaned the sh*t out of me on the handlebars. He bleeped the bleep, out of my bleep, bleep bleep, bleep, bleep. That man has STAMINA!
Steam | XBL
Wait, I got it. A variation of Certis' game character idea, what if it was more like that vault from Fallout 3? A horde of Demiurge clones who can only say "Corey."
"Men like sex, thus boobies! Oogaba!" - dejanzie
"Butt hat is my opinion and we all know how far that goes around here." - Demonicmaster
Twitter
Epic intro by Alyx voice actor... Nuf said.
For Lara albeit a podcast too late:
892 condescending Certis quotes out of a possible infinity - Elysium scores Torchlight lower than expected.
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Xfire/Xbox Live: StylezXP
"Now quit looking at my ass."
SHE KNOWS!
In regards to the StarCraft II spoilers...
"Men like sex, thus boobies! Oogaba!" - dejanzie
"Butt hat is my opinion and we all know how far that goes around here." - Demonicmaster
Twitter
There is no argument.
JUST PUZZLED YOUR ASS UP, SON! -Mr Crinkle
If your hands get tired from button-mashing, remember that toes are the fingers of the feet. - Clemenstation
I guess I was wondering more if I had a choice in the matter. (Hence the recessive gene comment.) No matter how long I play games with a "normal" camera, I seem to always start my movement in the wrong direction.
It seems our hosts can change the camera depending on the situation. Maybe I am defective. I was kinda hoping that invert or non-invert was analogous to being left handed or right handed...
(Maybe it is... I don't know if being lefty or righty has anything to do with genetics either.)
I just checked the age of my account, I've been here for 4 years! Well my account.
Congrats on keeping this up for so long and still being interesting!
I can't change, I have to invert for everything. I blame Falcon 3.0.
What I really wonder about is why so many games offer the choice to invert the X-axis--does anyone actually do this?
囧
PSN: Mao_Zedong