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!
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.
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Music credits:
Intro/Outtro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks
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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.
Sentient pearwood trying to figure out how to handle a sixaxis with feet only...
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!
Someone needs to stop playing ladder games for a couple of days and get a move on with the campaign. :p
Struggling to sleep? Try my sleep podcast! Sleepy Time Tales.
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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.
Sentient pearwood trying to figure out how to handle a sixaxis with feet only...
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.
"With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want." - Christopher Columbus
"There's only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you've got to be kind." - Vonnegut
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.
Struggling to sleep? Try my sleep podcast! Sleepy Time Tales.
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DRM called and said this debate was tired.
"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.
"...mahal ko ang longganisa!" - Demosthenes
Does El kFest make a return?
Quintin_Stone: Nice looking c*ck you got there, dimmerswitch.
BadKen: So what you're saying is that cops can look at my dick pics without a warrant.
*Legion*: my right hand spent most of those early-teen years in that grip position
Well, that's some intro!
Regarding the Alyx intro: I WASN'T LOOKING!
Grats guys. What was the name of that comedy podcast?
Brother something...?
Shoal#1208
My Brother, My Brother, and Me
Last.fm | Twitter
"If I knew you could claim podcast hosts that way, I would had peed on you back at Tamo." - AgentWred
Rob wins the show with his push-the-fat-guy-up-the-stairs game idea.
Steam: [GWJ]MeatMan | "Now I know where to go if I have a hankering for testicles." –Higgledy
Thanks. Fitting avatar.
Shoal#1208
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: SpacePProtean
Unsound Methods
The King of Cups Expects a Picnic: A podcast dedicated to the joys and sorrows of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Great. Not a minute in and I feel ashamed.
I wish you guys would stop encouraging him.
EvilHomer3k wrote:You are an evil, evil person.
Baron Of Hell wrote:YOU VILLAIN!
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.
How did I live before digital distribution of old, cheap games?
MilkmanDanimal wrote:You did live before digital distribution of old, cheap games. Now you just play games.
Do it. It's beautiful.
Quintin_Stone: Nice looking c*ck you got there, dimmerswitch.
BadKen: So what you're saying is that cops can look at my dick pics without a warrant.
*Legion*: my right hand spent most of those early-teen years in that grip position
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.
I wish you guys would stop encouraging him.
EvilHomer3k wrote:You are an evil, evil person.
Baron Of Hell wrote:YOU VILLAIN!
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."
I wish you guys would stop encouraging him.
EvilHomer3k wrote:You are an evil, evil person.
Baron Of Hell wrote:YOU VILLAIN!
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...
I wish you guys would stop encouraging him.
EvilHomer3k wrote:You are an evil, evil person.
Baron Of Hell wrote:YOU VILLAIN!
There is no argument.
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!
Aw, but this was a podcast about reminiscing. Seemed a perfect moment to raise dead arguments from the grave.
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?
"With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want." - Christopher Columbus
"There's only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you've got to be kind." - Vonnegut
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