Conference Call

GWJ Conference Call Episode 114

Prince of Persia, Mirror's Edge, Lich King, Jeff Green & Shawn Elliott Join Us For The Whole Show, Shawn Elliott's Review Symposium, 1UP's Rumored Buyout, A New Contest (Win a Free Year of WoW!) Your Emails and more!

What better way to celebrate the near-holidays than listen in as Jeff Green and Shawn Elliott reunite on the Conference Call for their first audio conversation since their time at 1UP. How their jobs are going, Shawn Elliott's review symposium, what we've all been playing and so many other topics I can't possibly list them all here!

We're also announcing a new contest! You have a chance to win a free year of WoW, a custom Christmas card only Blizzard employees received and a free code to change your avatar's gender, name and hairstyle! What a prize! All you need to do is email [email protected] and tell us how you'd celebrate the holidays in Azeroth. Deadline is December 20th, 5:00 PM CST. Thanks to Devmani for donating the prize!

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/Outtro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks

"Carving Away Stone" Ian Dorsch - 0:51:16

"Washaway" Ian Dorsch - 1:38:27

Comments

Just in case anyone wanted to know what the WoW Christmas card looked like, here you go!

IMAGE(http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/5226/blizzcardfu3.jpg)

Since Jeff Green mentioned this on Greenspeak I've been looking forward to the Conference Call even more than usual. Can't wait to listen.

And that card is awesome.

Let me know what you guys think of the overall volume this time around. Thanks to a suggestion from Mr. sickVisionz I tried out a new VST plugin and I think it really helped boost the overall volume of the show.

Unfortunately Jeff Green's track isn't great, I know. There were some unfortunate problems and hopefully he will come on the show again at some point and I will be able to make him sound wonderful!

Enjoy!

well...crap I don't play WoW

Sweet, I'm off to bed now but can't wait for my ritualistic Wednesday morning Conference Call. Triple Shawns again eh?

Yay, I miss Shawn although he's much less wisecracking here than on the GFW podcast.

I really enjoy hearing Shawn Elliot thinking about games from the other perspective. What does he do at 2K?

Also, c*ck.

Six months of lurking and you finally got me to register. I figured it was the right thing to do after getting two of my e-mails read in the conference calls, joining the 360 L4D group and applying to the WoW contest. Hope you're happy ;p

Good one as always, and this time I don't have a reason to send a rage-riddled e-mail to you. In fact, I might go so far to say that I agree with you. Maybe I should write for your symposium? =)

(And no, I don't hate WoW (or MMOs in general). I'm just disappointed in some of its lifestyle choices. Years from now, you might understand my twisted logic.)

Jeff Green and Shawn Elliot on the CC?!!!

Baby! If I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grave: The more I get of you, the stranger it feels, yeah, and now that your rose is in bloom a light hits the gloom on the grave....

It's like my dream podcast dream came true and the CC merged with the good version of GFW Radio....

[edit]
Regarding PoP environment - the whole city has fallen into massive disrepair.... there is no longer any living environment.... it's just like going into a castle that's fallen down: a hollow mess of stone walls and fallen stones doesn't let you know how the castle was originally inhabited. It was stated in the game that once thousands of people lived there but there were literally less than 20 people living there when the prince encounters the city. The balloons in the Alchemist's level were all built by him once he was released.... they weren't used by Elika's people (the Ahura) and in fact she states that they (and the machines) must be destroyed once the Alchemist is gone.

That A mechanic you mentioned when wall-running and jumping is certainly not true. You can certainly jump off walls early if you hit the button early.

The timber crack-lining is a well-known 'shoring' technique when cracks appear in buildings etc.

I agree that Sands of Time is still the best though i'd stick nPoP second.

[edit2] Shawn's a douchelord - there you go Shawn, it will bring GWJ tons of hits

[edit3]Shawn Elliot - "anecdotal evidon'ts" There's got to be some mileage in that phrase Perhaps it can be used in the symposium to illustrate negative mental space paradigm shifts?

Filthy enablers. Wasn't ruining Julian's friend with WoW enough for you people?

One thing that really made an impression in me with today’s pod cast was hearing about how I’m not the only one with the childish need to be watched and feel (positive or negatively) judged. I’m a recently graduated Freelance Flash designer and for better or worse I’ve got my own business up and running. Weather its with my art or my coding my projects all feels very daunting right now because I really don’t receive much in the way of attention. (My wife tries to but her hearts not in it, hehe).

So as I subconsciously check my Art Blog and other postings for the pleading hope of a solitary comment I thought I’d take the time to express my thanks to know I’m not alone in this feeling!

Great show.

Shawn's story of playing incompetent opponents in 'Company of heroes' reminds me of my one and only game playing the WW2 mod in Myth. I joined a 2v2 match, with another random player, who was also new to the mod. It was a completely new map to both of us and we just headed out in the general direction of the enemy. After a short while we came to an ammo dump. Standing in the middle of the piles of explosives, we were stocking up on ammo, when I heard a 'Phoot' sound (that I posthumously realised was a mortar shell leaving the launcher) followed by a whistling that was getting gradually louder. I turned to my team mate and said, "Do you hear a whistling sound?" Before he could reply the entire ammo dump exploded killing us both.

Just an FYI: Mirror's Edge has an achievement for not using a gun. It's called "Test of Faith".

@d3p0: Shawn is an associate producer with 2KBoston, which means he's working with Ken Levine.

garion333 wrote:

@d3p0: Shawn is an associate producer with 2KBoston, which means he's working with Ken Levine.

Something about $100 bills and nipples if I recall. I'm quite positive that his game involves being able to manufacture your own c*ck though. Damn, there goes my access to 2k Boston. Ah well, someone had to spill the beans.

Super thanks to Jeff and Shawn for joining us. Miss those guys (sniff sniff).

From the intro alone I know this will be golden ... can't wait!

Regarding what Jeff Green mention about EA's view on Mirror's Edge. My quick reaction was...

IMAGE(http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk251/Frisbeetarianism/no_darth.jpg)

ME, for me, was one of the best games I played this year and hearing that... I feel like it's putting the sequel on shaky ground. Sure, some on at EA mention that they have plans for the IP... but they also had plans for Freedom Fighters and we all know what happen to that.

Sigh...

This episode of the Conference Call brought back fond memories of GFW Radio.

Yeah, getting to hear Shawn Elliot discussing Company of Heroes again was great. "We might as well been playing against cats walking on keyboards." Haha!!

Great podcast guys. Kudos on the Ryan Scott bit. Loved every minute of it!

By the way Rob, as far as I could tell, the volume was fine.

This is about to jump cartalk in the podcast cue.
Congratulations, this is a milestone. You are now my number 1 podcast.

boogle wrote:

This is about to jump cartalk in the podcast cue.
Congratulations, this is a milestone. You are now my number 1 podcast.

We've crossed the Boogle Rubicon (Booglecon?) There's no going back now. World domination.

Awesome conference call, guys. I love our recurring guests and really appreciate getting a sense for the transition space between their old and new jobs.

Great CC this week. Although the addition of Jeff and Shawn Elliot actually made me slightly depressed thinking of the good ole Brodeo days. But glad they both are doing well in their new positions. Keep up the great work and looking forward as always to the next Call.

rabbit wrote:
boogle wrote:

This is about to jump cartalk in the podcast cue.
Congratulations, this is a milestone. You are now my number 1 podcast.

We've crossed the Boogle Rubicon (Booglecon?) There's no going back now. World domination.

We could call it Booglecon, but it would kind of ruin licensing possibilities for a convention. Then again, I dig the Caesar reference, so lets run with it. Although I still am blind to what our Gallic campaign has been.

Man hearing part of the Brodeo again made me all misty eyed...

Great show guys. One of the greats that I will force upon family and friends to convince them that my hobby is worthwhile.

Volume sounded just fine to me as well.

Who the heck was doing that Donald Duck sound just before the bloopers?

First I have to say this is quickly becoming my favorite gaming podcast. The fact you guys have Jeff and Shawn on there from time to time only enforces that! Great job GWJ'ers.

As a father of 2 I have advice for the guy who wants to play games while holding a baby. First, see if you can get the baby to lay on your chest while reclining on the couch. I was able to play through the original Skate on the 360 until my second kid was a month old that way! What I did with my first kid was I bought one of those papoose things that slip over your shoulders and it supports the baby on your front torso. I was able to play a ton of WoW battlegrounds with the tyke nestled snugly. You'll need to watch out for when you get that awesome kill or do some awesome trick. You need some self restraint as a bellowing "Hell Yea!" or "Eat that you night elf &^%$!!!!" can sometimes rouse even the sleepiest infant.

And to the comment of the email by the listener asking about whether a first game is worth buying if they are just making a foundation for the following games, I think this has worked well in the past. Sure there are bad examples but PC game developers have done this for years. The Quake and UT games when they came out were pretty much all the same deathmatching goodness, but these games were glorified tech demos, released so they'd be pimped out for another developer to use as the foundation for their games. In most cases they were hits on their own merit, and it's great for developers out there who can plug in this technology and take it ten steps further into a truly awesome game.

Listening this podcast made me sad, I miss the GFW podcast..

I really do.

Oh my god Jeff & Shawn! Together again! I think I have something in my eye.

Always great the hear Jeff and Shawn, and together it's even better. But since Jeff has been on, it begs the question. When can we expect Ken Levine to show up? Sometime before the end of the year I suspect.