Conference Call

GWJ Conference Call Episode 107

An Early Show!, Fallout 3, Fable 2, Guitar Hero World Tour, Far Cry 2, Your Emails and more!

This week we bust out the show a day early so you can have a spoiler-free taste of Fallout 3 as the game hits shelves. Don't get too comfortable, we'll be back to Wednesdays as usual next week. There are so many games to talk about, that's pretty much the whole show! Your wonderful emails too, of course.

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.

  • Subscribe with iTunes
  • Subscribe with RSS
  • Subscribe with Yahoo!
Download the official apps
  • Download the GWJ Conference Call app for Android
  • Download the GWJ Conference Call app for Android

Show credits

Music credits: 

Intro/Outro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks

"Anxious Tedium" - Ouranos OST (Tom Quinn) - www.citadel-studios.com - 1:09:31

Comments

Demiurge wrote:
pneuman wrote:
Purple_Haze wrote:

"This week we bust out the show a day early..."

Bust out? Really? That's the best you could come up with?

I think we need a GWJ rap to go with that expression:

Come bust a move where the games are played
It's chill, it's fresh, it's Certis's Arcade

I would award you 10 points for a Wayne's World reference if the apostrophe had been used correctly. You've made my internal style guide cry.

Only 5 points.

The Elements of Style gives me a pass on that. I demand my full 10 points!

Just listening to the podcast now, and while I already wanted Fable 2, I really want it now. It sounds like it might even have a good chance of getting my girlfriend in to play her first RPG.

Yeah, there was a bit of hyperbole in there. I definitely see what people like about Oblivion, but dammit that game was boring to me. Fallout 3 sounds like it doesn't have the main problems I had with Oblivion, the combat and the stupid leveling system. One thing I will give Oblivion credit for: Sean Bean.

Damnit, I put Fallout 3 on my rental queue and you are making me think about promoting it to full on purchase...

So, I normally let the Zune software just download the Conference Call for me and listen to it the next day, and it did that just fine.

Then I went to listen to it on the Zune and it plays in hyperspeed. It sounds like Alvin and the Chipmunks invaded the podcast. I laughed for at least a minute, if not two, because there were moments where I could actually tell who certain members of the CC's cast were.

It still plays in hyperspeed on the Zune, but I'm listening to a fresh download now on my Desktop. Odd, but totally worth it for the laugh.

Great podcast (as usual). Though I must say, Rabbit is on crack when he says he hasn't heard a line of repeated dialogue in Fable II. Standing anywhere near a house in any town for more than a minute (e.g. when you're chopping wood, or digging up a treasure, or farting for your sweetheart) will result in hearing the same 5 lines spoken between two people again, and again, and again.

"There's something in my food! A vegetable - gross." plus 50 million times.

Well this podcast made me reach in my wallet again and pick up Fable 2. Was really enjoying it until my Xbox crapped out on me. Now the question is do I like Fable 2 enough to spend another $200 for a new Xbox. I should of got Fallout 3 on PC.

Now, what exactly is Dead-Space derivative of (haven't played it or read enough about it)?

Secret Asian Man wrote:

Well this podcast made me reach in my wallet again and pick up Fable 2. Was really enjoying it until my Xbox crapped out on me. Now the question is do I like Fable 2 enough to spend another $200 for a new Xbox. I should of got Fallout 3 on PC.

If it red ringed, there is a three year warranty on the sucker call MS and they will take care of it.

Snaggle-Toof wrote:

Now, what exactly is Dead-Space derivative of (haven't played it or read enough about it)?

- System Shock 2/Bioshock Story telling
- System Shock 2 type environment
- Resident Evil 4/Gears of War style camera.
- Resident Evil 4 Combat Modelling (with movement)
- Psi-Ops style movement and time slowing power.
- Metroid 3D Map system
- The Suffering/Doom 3/Anonymous Meat Bag style enemies.

All that said, It's not a knock against the game as a quality, well-made piece of entertainment. It just means it doesn't surprise and delight me as much because there are so many established tropes in every aspect of the game.

Gaald wrote:
Secret Asian Man wrote:

Well this podcast made me reach in my wallet again and pick up Fable 2. Was really enjoying it until my Xbox crapped out on me. Now the question is do I like Fable 2 enough to spend another $200 for a new Xbox. I should of got Fallout 3 on PC.

If it red ringed, there is a three year warranty on the sucker call MS and they will take care of it.

I wish...its my optical drive. It constantly gives me bad or dirty disk errors. I've tried those dvds that clean the lens but no luck.

Probably happened when my roomate decided to put up drywall and sanded with all my stuff (xbox, wii, plasma, music gear...ect) in the room.

Very enjoyable show.

Take away for this week: Certis: Offering safety on the internet through strong arm authoritarianism.

Secret Asian Man wrote:
Gaald wrote:
Secret Asian Man wrote:

Well this podcast made me reach in my wallet again and pick up Fable 2. Was really enjoying it until my Xbox crapped out on me. Now the question is do I like Fable 2 enough to spend another $200 for a new Xbox. I should of got Fallout 3 on PC.

If it red ringed, there is a three year warranty on the sucker call MS and they will take care of it.

I wish...its my optical drive. It constantly gives me bad or dirty disk errors. I've tried those dvds that clean the lens but no luck.

Probably happened when my roomate decided to put up drywall and sanded with all my stuff (xbox, wii, plasma, music gear...ect) in the room.

There's still a 1-year warranty on those, I think.

Certis wrote:
Snaggle-Toof wrote:

Now, what exactly is Dead-Space derivative of (haven't played it or read enough about it)?

- System Shock 2/Bioshock Story telling

Even more than that, there are entire quests that are ripped off from Bioshock itself but not quite done as well.

Now I'm starting to wonder if I should've gotten Fable 2 instead of Fallout 3. Something about seducing some guy's wife right in front of him and getting his house appeals to me for some reason.

Secret Asian Man wrote:
Gaald wrote:
Secret Asian Man wrote:

Well this podcast made me reach in my wallet again and pick up Fable 2. Was really enjoying it until my Xbox crapped out on me. Now the question is do I like Fable 2 enough to spend another $200 for a new Xbox. I should of got Fallout 3 on PC.

If it red ringed, there is a three year warranty on the sucker call MS and they will take care of it.

I wish...its my optical drive. It constantly gives me bad or dirty disk errors. I've tried those dvds that clean the lens but no luck.

Probably happened when my roomate decided to put up drywall and sanded with all my stuff (xbox, wii, plasma, music gear...ect) in the room.

Well if it's bunk, rip it open and see if you can't fix it yourself. I love dead electronics. It gives me the opportunity to go in and see how things work. I bet you can find several sites that will help you figure out how to open up the beast and check things out.

Fable 2 has repetitive background conversations, sure. I love the fact that it makes fun of itself so much though. My wife (Anna) gets into these riffs. "Don't you hate it when people say the same thing over and over again? Don't you hate it when people say the same thing over and over again?"

First time I heard that I smiled wide. But that's very different than Oblivion's endlessly repeated dialogue trees.

Really hard to say if Fable 2 or Fallout 3 is a "better" game. I've only put a handful of hours into F3, and maybe 8 into F2, but they're very very different experiences that pretty much just share "RPG" in their category box.

I'm in the enviable position of not having a 360, which means the choice between Fallout 3 and Fable 2 is easy.

However, the choice between Fallout 3 and all the other games coming out this season, and the ones that came out last year before I got a PS3 (of which I get to choose 1) was just made harder. Thanks a load, busta games.

Certis wrote:

Try and keep it brief

But not too short, because they'll complain about that too!

Secret Asian Man wrote:

I wish...its my optical drive. It constantly gives me bad or dirty disk errors. I've tried those dvds that clean the lens but no luck.

Go to https://service.xbox.com/servicehome... and register your box (if you haven't already). It should say if you're still under warranty or not. If you are, it should just be a matter of sending it out to be replaced/repaired.

I'm not sure you can just swap drives. IIRC, the optical drive has a key that needs to match your XBOX's mobo. or something.

Thin_J wrote:

So, I normally let the Zune software just download the Conference Call for me and listen to it the next day, and it did that just fine.

Then I went to listen to it on the Zune and it plays in hyperspeed.

That happened to me once, too. I listened to 3/4 of the 'cast then put the Zune away. When I went to resume, it was all fast-y. Had to redownload the thing and delete it from the device to get it to work right. Really weird.

Certis wrote:

All that said, It's not a knock against the game as a quality, well-made piece of entertainment. It just means it doesn't surprise and delight me as much because there are so many established tropes in every aspect of the game.

Seconded.

Like I said in my review: it's built on the successes of other titles. I'm not giving it a -4 for a reminiscent GPS map or the dead-headed meatbag parasite-virus enemies, it's just something an avid gamer might strike upon as reminding him of a previous experience.

Remarkably, Dead Space manages to make "abandoned spaceship overrun with an otherworldly force" seem like a pretty good setting. It's one of the big horror tropes, but I had no problem with what they did with it. That's how much I was invested in the plot, and how well the setting was structured.