Conference Call

GWJ Conference Call Episode 43

Eye Of Judgment, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, Sandio 3D Game O Review, Civ IV: Beyond The Sword, Recycling Old Games, A Comic-Con Report, Your Emails and more!

Has it been a year already? Why yes, it has! We're holding back our celebrations until our 50th episode next month, but don't let that stop you from handing out a few celebratory butt pats and sending fabulous gifts. This week we check in with Rob and Cory at Comic-Con, a whole bunch of game impressions and oodles more.

Want to support the show? Hit the Digg link just above (it's fast and easy to register) or review us on iTunes! Read on for show notes.

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.

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Show credits

Music credits: 

Intro/Outro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks

"George" (Benoit Casey) - 0:32:34
"Luna Machine" (Benoit Casey) - 0:48:30
"The Neverwhere" - Apoplexia (Benoit Casey) - 1:02:48

Comments

Congrats on the almost-year fellas! Keep up the good work.

*butt pat* /linger

Ely: The Sylvia Plath of the virtual world.

Plan to red ring the 360: I thought that leaving it running in a closet with an EA game in it would make it metamorphose into some sort of Mothra-type monstrosity.

I think you're all analog nubs. Yeah, that's right; I said it. (I chose to make that joke instead of the one about working things with the tip of your finger... and freeing up your left hand. "The nubs -- you gotta kind of curl your fingers in to work 'em properly.")

Seriously, guys.

So this Persona 3 game is like Harvest Moon: The High School Years? I'm not sure about this "dark hour" thing, but I am not about to ask high school boys about any such dark hours they have, or how often. I'm pretty sure it's about "working your way up the tower" for them, too, though. As for the girl shooting herself in the mouth while the guys shoot themselves in the head... I'll leave that one to the "Japanese pervert overlords" department.

I am both casually dismissive and somewhat intrigued. I would play this game if it were free and I had lots of sick days saved up.

Recycled content: Yeah! Where are my added levels for Joust?

I still don't care about "CCGs." I'll listen to the rest of the 'cast in the morning.

Congrats on the anniversary. Many happy returns.

Games and recycled content:

I agree with Rabbit. Games are very rarely accessible a year or two after release. Without
these re-releases, older games would not be available.

Certis ... great reaction to someone trying to buy the site. If GWJ was ever bought out and you guys left i know i'd probably drift away...

With the topic of MMOG suicide... have you ever commited forum suicide? It's a similar thing IMO. I did this on one board and about a year later returned and browsed through the people who i had been friends with and that had been active at the time i used to frequent those hallowed grounds. They were pretty much all gone and so was the small community that i had come to love but ultimately decided that i could not stay in.

Oh yeah... comic con? Way to go taunting all the people who can't get to events like that.... "I love Certis"s.....

"I'm feeling a lot better than I thought I would be -- but to be honest with you, the beer helps." - Demiurge

*Yoink!*

wordsmythe wrote:

"I'm feeling a lot better than I thought I would be -- but to be honest with you, the beer helps." - Demiurge

*Yoink!*

:LOL:

You can make me a temp mod while you guys are gone.

Oh my God, they've gotten to Gaald!

Edit: And the name you guys were thinking of is Ginger Lynn Allen.

The Angst-E Emo Ninja Zombie Suicide Simulator? What system is that on?

Aww, Certis wouldn't sell us for a million dollars. He loves us.

Vrikk wrote:

Aww, Certis wouldn't sell us for a million dollars. He loves us.

He loves to love you.

Thanks for giving Persona 3 a shot, Shawn. I've been looking for the word on that game in audio form, and you gave it to me. Mmmmm.

I'm all for old content with a fresh coat of paint. Even with the case of GRAW maps that was used on the show, if the old maps are great, just spruce 'em up and hand 'em over. Yeah, you've played them forever, but some people like certain maps and want to continue playing them. Eg. Blood Gulch. If that sounds crazy, then look at sports. There is no map rotation in a football stadium but apparently people still watch, I hear.

Another example would be old games. I'd love to play the old Sierra and LucasArts games with updated graphics and the same gameplay. In fact, Sierra already did this when they remade several CGA games into VGA games. Why not do it again?

However, having said how much I would like to see my favorite old games dolled up for the d'ebutante's ball, it still returns to price. I'll toss out a quarter for an updated Blood Gulch. With all the Halo players' quarters, that's still a lot of money. Maybe $5 - $10 for a beautified Space Quest 2.

Persona 3 sounds like a hentai game without the perversion.

A remark by Certis made me wonder... how many of the games you guys talk about in the "Games You Can Play Right Now" segment are given to you by companies to try out, and don't you think that should be disclosed before you talk about that game?

MMO Suicide: I dunno if I could do this with a main for an article. I don't know that I could do this at all. I personally have left a string of characters stranded across MMOs like the seeds sown of a promiscuous high school jock.

360 Murder: The fact that you think it'll come back from the dead was amusing. True power of the Broken 360 was amusing, but a winnar is the Little Shop of Horrors reference.

Persona 3: Sounds like good stuff, and I've heard a lot of good about the other two. Oh, and I'm a total Japanese culture whore. Summoning? THAT IS AWESOME.

Recycling content: I hate it and love it all at the same time. I hate it because it's lazy, but love it because I get new shinies with something I already love. TORN! TORN LIKE AN OLD SWEATER!

ComicCon: I said enough about this in the ComicCon thread.

Selling the site: That's crazy. Sounds like he's fishing for something or other.

Ginger Lynn was indeed the porn star from Wing Commander III and IV.

buzzvang wrote:

Persona 3 sounds like a hentai game without the perversion.

A remark by Certis made me wonder... how many of the games you guys talk about in the "Games You Can Play Right Now" segment are given to you by companies to try out, and don't you think that should be disclosed before you talk about that game?

My thought on this goes to any and all gaming magazines or shows. I guarantee that they don't pay for a single copy of any game that gets reviewed, yet I don't recall seeing anything stating that they were given the copy to review.

buzzvang wrote:

Persona 3 sounds like a hentai game without the perversion.

A remark by Certis made me wonder... how many of the games you guys talk about in the "Games You Can Play Right Now" segment are given to you by companies to try out, and don't you think that should be disclosed before you talk about that game?

Very few, probably less than 20% of the games we've ever talked about were provided by the publisher. If you're not a larger corporate site, you don't tend to see much unless you request it, and even then it's a crap shoot. We don't typically request review code unless we think there's a decent chance of seeing the game before it hits shelves.

That said, even if I forget to mention where it came from, it has no impact on any game we may review. I have enough PR people giving me the cold shoulder after a few negative comments to prove it.

buzzvang wrote:

Persona 3 sounds like a hentai game without the perversion.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that thought that.

Great preview of Persona 3, Certis. I've been hearing good buzz about it, and you've convinced me to add it to the rental queue.

AnimeJ wrote:

My thought on this goes to any and all gaming magazines or shows. I guarantee that they don't pay for a single copy of any game that gets reviewed, yet I don't recall seeing anything stating that they were given the copy to review.

Apples to Oranges comparison. Conference Call doesn't bill the bit as being a review segment. Instead, they're just talking about what they've been playing over the last week. In that case, it's not unlike talking to a buddy about something you picked up the other day that you thought kicked/didn't kick ass. Is that a review? Sort of, but there's a difference between what they're doing and what you'd find in a magazine or XPlay. If there wasn't, then Gaald wouldn't have talked about Overlord for three straight weeks, or Rabbit wouldn't talk about GalCiv2, which has been out for two years. In both the case of the 3D Mouse and Persona 3, Certis was given a copy to try out, and to his credit, he made that known. It's no secret that companies like to generate buzz by word of mouth, and there's no doubt that this is the kind of place they'd like to do that. I don't really have a problem with viral word of mouth marketing, especially when the reviewer is being honest. I just like to know when it's coming.

Certis wrote:

That said, even if I forget to mention where it came from, it has no impact on any game we may review. I have enough PR people giving me the cold shoulder after a few negative comments to prove it.

Thanks, Certis.

Anybody else having trouble downloading the episode from iTunes? I just get an 'unknown error has occured (-39)' message when trying to download it. Other podcasts I am subscribed to appear to be working fine.....

MacBrave wrote:

Anybody else having trouble downloading the episode from iTunes? I just get an 'unknown error has occured (-39)' message when trying to download it. Other podcasts I am subscribed to appear to be working fine.....

No problems here.

I deleted my feed and re-subscribed. Still worked ok.

Certis OoCT wrote:

So you kinda gotta draw your thumb back and your middle finger back a bit and kinda work it with the tip of your finger.

Good to know that Certis is always there to give us the useful pointers. Thanks, boss man.

wordsmythe wrote:

I think you're all analog nubs. Yeah, that's right; I said it. (I chose to make that joke instead of the one about working things with the tip of your finger... and freeing up your left hand. "The nubs -- you gotta kind of curl your fingers in to work 'em properly.")

Seriously, guys.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Certis OoCT wrote:

So you kinda gotta draw your thumb back and your middle finger back a bit and kinda work it with the tip of your finger.

Good to know that Certis is always there to give us the useful pointers. Thanks, boss man.

Well, someone had to get around to it.

The thread was diminished by its absence.

And now it's diminished by your presence. Ain't that a kick in the head, nemislut?

Who pissed in your cornflakes?

I've tried googling nemislut but can't find it.... except for some random forum posts.... What is one or it?

It doesn't help that wordsmythe can't spell it right.

I'll spell made up words however I want to. I'm the smythe here, dangit!

Duoae, Q is a slut of a nemesis. I'm not sure you'll get much better googling out of "nemeslut," though.