NHL 11 Pro Mode, FEAR Re-Visited, Portal, DJ Hero 2, The Portal 2 ARG & What It Means, Your Emails and more!
This week Cory, Elysium, Allen Cook and Rob Zacny dissect the Portal 2 ARG and what it all means.
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Music credits:
Intro/Outtro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks
Portal 2 trailer - http://www.thinkwithportals.com/ - 0:33:29
Portal 2 - Investment Opportunity - http://www.thinkwithportals.com/ - 0:57:25
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X3TC had a couple of patches that tweaked the difficulty of the game in various ways. One of them made a crazy thing that I'd enjoyed doing (boarding a TL from an M6, which is to say taking over a big ship by launching a handful of marines out the airlock of a much smaller ship at it) effectively impossible.
Baldur's Gate 2 had a cloak that reflected magic back at the caster, so of course I was quite upset when the installation of a patch or expansion removed it. I was able to get it back in using the override folder and some online tips, but man, it was irritating.
There was, however, the conversation with someone that attempts to kill you, and shoots a magic missile at you. He's supposed to be surprised it doesn't hurt or something, but in my game it then reflected it back to him and killed him, halting the game from moving forward. It wasn't until I un-equipped it that I was able to proceed.
But I re-equipped it right after
Love others, weird and wonderfully. | "Life's a trip. You've only got one shot, let her rip." - K.Flay | My Games
That was a great discussion on Valve and the marketing ARG that represented both sides of the situation really well. I wish the thread could have remained as civil.
My main qualm with the marketing was that I felt it was a bit manipulative. Yes, yes I know all marketing is that way but there is a point where it just rubs you the wrong way. This is coming from someone who didn't pre-order it and has yet to pick it up. I was never up in arms with pitchforks or anything but what disturbed me was the backlash of GWJ posts stating that certain opinions were wrong or baseless. Anyways you guys seemed to cover all the points and great show as always.
I really need to pick up Portal 2 soon!
Also related to recent podcasts, Portal 2. Is it a full price game?
I never played it on the PC until it was recently released on the Mac, my first experience with it was as an awesome aside in the Orange Box, which I initially bought for Half life and all it's varients.
To that end, are the people who are yet to get it in the same mind set as me, wondering if 1/5 of the orange box has enough legs to stand up on it's own as a full priced game, or are there other reasons (other than the ARG boycott) that people are holding off on buying this?
Just curious, not looking for flames, etc.
Sometimes, monkey, you say the weirdest things
beeporama wrote:It's not the length of the wishlist, it's how much pleasure it gives you.
Yes it's a full priced game and if you liked the creative puzzle solving and the writing and wanted more of it? This is the game for you. Singleplayer is about double the length of Portal 1 and the unique Co-Op campaign is equal length.
That was more than enough reason to spend $50 ($40, via buying a two-pack on steam personally) on the game.
imbiginjapan on Vanquish:The difficulty is punishing but it knows enough to punish me while wearing stiletto heels and a push up bra, so I forgive it.
Thanks for that info. I may still hold off as it retails for over $100 down here...
Sometimes, monkey, you say the weirdest things
beeporama wrote:It's not the length of the wishlist, it's how much pleasure it gives you.
No problem! But ugh. This can never be said enough: I'm really sorry for how much Aussies get screwed for their gaming. It's really messed up.
imbiginjapan on Vanquish:The difficulty is punishing but it knows enough to punish me while wearing stiletto heels and a push up bra, so I forgive it.
No kidding, that's crazy. Stuff can be a little expensive here because of exchange rates, but we are small enough that we tend to just get whatever US prices are at Steam. And local distributors manage to negotiate pretty good prices for games at retail.
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It's actually cheaper for me to import games from the UK than buy retail.
I recently bought Fable 3 for $52 (inc shipping) from an overseas supplier set up specifically for Aussies and New Zealanders. It is currently running at $119RRP. I wouldn't mind if the Aussie Dollar was worthless, but it's been over 90-95c US for the longest time now.
$59 is considered a 'good' impulse price for games down here, I envy the Deals thread when you guys discuss games for under $10 at Amazon.
Steam is pretty good, they tend to have all amounts in US$, my only problem is owning a Mac ;), it's getting better, but still I get to 'pass' on a lot of those deals based purely on compatibility (maybe that's a good thing).
Portal 2 on Steam is US$49 (so about AU$54), on the 360 it's running at $108 dollars from EBGames.com.au.
If I wasn't such an achievement whore...
Sometimes, monkey, you say the weirdest things
beeporama wrote:It's not the length of the wishlist, it's how much pleasure it gives you.
Steam cheevos are just as good as the real thing.
imbiginjapan on Vanquish:The difficulty is punishing but it knows enough to punish me while wearing stiletto heels and a push up bra, so I forgive it.
Another great show!
I have to disagree with Corey when he said that only Valve could pull off this kind of marketing. This is the exact same thing Halo did for Crackdown, and Gears did for Bulletstorm with the beta invites they included with those games. It's been done before, and it always seems to work. The cool kid is capable of shifting his cool onto anyone he associates himself with.
XBL, Steam PSN and LoL: Delerat88 | Twitter: @delerat
Goood. Let the hate flow through you.
Words... are a big deal.
Jill Lapore wrote:Editing is one of the great inventions of civilization.
One other effect of the Portal ARG, or more accurately of the mention of it in this podcast, is that I picked up Defense Grid again.
Unfortunately, I'd stopped playing it because I was stuck on the "Waste Disposal" level, and I'm still stuck on that level.
Yeah, but Valve did it with a slight twist - it made sure people actually played the games.
And you could argue that it had its heart in the right place, promoting independent PC titles instead of the next big Triple A push.
Subtle differences, but it shows the pull Valve has over even giant companies like Microsoft and Epic.
"$10 - Exclusive Sean-cam where he just shakes his head, over and over." From Pyro's Kickstarter, "Endless Pit of Human Misery Livestream"
I'm not sure 'Team Valve' is a bad thing. The problem isn't that as consumers we adopt a 'Team Valve' attitude. The problem is that there are too few Valve's out there. Seriously, the reason that PC gamers in general love Valve is because everything Valve does seems to be focused on their customers. It seems to me that there are a lot of companies that could benefit from watching Valve and copying them. Unfortunately these other companies seem to listen to their investors rather than their customers. They find some formula that sells and then ram it into the ground until it's worthless.
I'm proud to be Team Valve, and the thing is, I'm Team Valve because Valve gives a sh*t about their customers. So basically it's Team Valve/Customer rather than Team Investor.
I think the push to play the indie games was definitely a lot stronger, but as Elysium said on the podcast, you can sit around while everyone else unlocks Portal 2 for you. Still, I love what Valve is doing.
XBL, Steam PSN and LoL: Delerat88 | Twitter: @delerat
I did not care about unlocking Portal 2 one day early. Seriously, what's one day? I can wait. However, having an excuse to play the outstanding Defense Grid: The Awakening was a blast. It was like getting together with an old flame.
"They made it for consoles and ruined it." For me, that's half right. Sure, the console roots are very visible, but I really enjoyed Fear 2, much like Crysis 2. Nothing like some naked living dead girl on top of you to warm your soul.
"I'll send you a picture of my dick." And in a matter of moments you lost then regained the same listener. Good times.
"I would rather hang out in the NAMBLA forums." So take THAT EA!
"Yeah, well, uh, just keep your Power Gloves off her, pal, huh?" -Corey, from "The Wizard"
Independent PC titles that were a part of a Steam-only promotional bundle that also happened to play a part in the marketing lead-up to Valve's next big game release. If their heart was in the right place, it's because it was in their wallet.
"@OzymandiasAV No, you're just indicative of the sjw infestation in the gaming media." -- Brad Wardell
You and I already talked about this on Twitter, but I wanted to give you props for nailing it here.
Professionally offended. Does not understand jokes. Needs a man to explain them to me.
Do we no longer appreciate that Steam picks up so many indie titles?
Words... are a big deal.
Jill Lapore wrote:Editing is one of the great inventions of civilization.
Not if anyone has the temerity to profit from it?
The thing about smart people is they seem like crazy people to dumb people -- Thing I saw on the Internet
A friendly dig at EA marketing might have been enjoyable. Or played straight with a "Your Mom Loves Portal 2" ad. Because really, what mom wouldn't? Except for the moms that love Deadspace 2, they would probably hate it.
"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
I'd like to hope there's some middle ground for Valve between "peerless paragon of virtue which we may never assail with our ugly sneers of disappointment" and "cyber-corporate spectre that emits neurotoxic gas through your USB drive." Maybe somebody can point out on the church seating chart where the skeptics and the ambivalent are allowed to sit?
Was the Valve ARG an effective marketing campaign?
Well, obviously, yeah. They built it on a budget that consisted of a scuffed-up pork pie hat full of loose change and the final product ended up pushing discussion of Portal 2 on every social media construct and gaming forum into the reds. Out of the park.
Was the Valve ARG morally objectionable?
It may appear to be somewhat opportunistic, but I find it hard to come down on Valve when it's obvious that those plucky indie developers agreed to play along. And why wouldn't they? After all, it's not like they were competition for Portal 2, so they had nothing to lose by association. (Though that point about "competition" might illuminate the lack of involvement from the bigger players, huh?)
Was the Valve ARG fun?
I suppose it was, yeah, as long as you were willing to play along with it. The earlier moments in the ARG, where the internet parsed through SSTV images downloaded from dial-up BBS servers, were remarkably geeky, surreal, and engaging. The later steps that led from one countdown to another countdown still carried that element of surreality, along with a fleet of progress bars and quirky indie game content, but it also scrambled the message a bit.
In the final days of the ARG, we weren't discovering bizarre messages from Aperture Science or further context for Portal 2. We were participating in a limp gamification of a product launch. But, as always, you had the option of not participating at all.
Was the Valve ARG tasteful?
And now we get to my only real objection to this whole thing. If you were only interested in Portal 2, then the introduction of those indie "advergames" served only as noise on the line. It's noise that you could have simply ignored as you patiently waited for the game to arrive, sure, but it's noise nonetheless. (I feel like Portal 2 is satisfying enough as a game that it could have easily thrived without all of this, but I can't say for sure, since I'm only a few hours in.)
What I really question, though, is the true benefit to all those indie games that Valve was championing here. For every "perfect situation" like Elysium's discovery of Defense Grid, there were a number of posts on various gaming forums where people were trying to coordinate idling sessions. People were actively trying to avoid playing the Potato Sack games so that they could do whatever they wanted, but still push Portal 2 toward some kind of early release.
The GLaDOS@Home program didn't encourage people to discover indie games. It encouraged people to either buy the Potato Sack bundle or get on Steam and fire up (but not necessarily play) the Potato Sack games that they already owned.
And, if you already owned those games...then what exactly are the indie developers getting out of this again?
"@OzymandiasAV No, you're just indicative of the sjw infestation in the gaming media." -- Brad Wardell
Maybe I just have lower expectations for corporations than humans, but I still never felt compelled to participate in the Potato Sack gambit. The closest I came was seeing the blurb, realizing I already owned a couple of the titles, and playing one for maybe 45 minutes.
I guess I'm failing to see the harm.
Words... are a big deal.
Jill Lapore wrote:Editing is one of the great inventions of civilization.
I'm quite stunned by the response of the Potato Sack promotion has received both here and elsewhere. I personally took great delight in seeing die-hard AAA title only people on my friends list play games like AudioSurf and COGS. For Valve to encourage people to break free from their comfort zone of 'Shooter Blaster Kill 4: The Next Assignment' then I'm all for the Potato Sack.
Many have asked on these forums what the indie developers are getting out of this? This question can only be raised in a forum like GWJ thanks to its members being so well versed less well known games. Many however have never had cause to look into these games, so to be encouraged to play them so that they can gain early access to one of their beloved AAA titles can only be regarded as a good thing.
Fallout: New Vegas just received a new bug fix that came with a balance patch. Details here:
http://nohighscores.com/node/576
I'm of the mindset that single-player balancing is going to be a growing trend, but I'm not sure how I feel about it.
Like Mordor, one doesn't simply walk into an orgy
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Not sure where either of these points is coming from. You ask me how I reacted to the ARG, I didn't like it. I think it was much ado about a boring sales pitch for indie games that I've heard about a thousand times before.
The only reason you're setting up these straw-men is because your response all along has been, "But, but... it helps indies!" As if they were some morally superior form of gaming that are entitled to our enthusiasm and excitement.
So Valve's lame promo isn't really lame, because it's for indies, and if you didn't like it, you must be some ingrate who hates indies or thinks Valve is obligated to give him things for free.
Sorry, I just didn't like the sale. It's incredible that Valve can capture so much attention with their marketing, but they acted like they were about to introduce us to King Kong and then unveiled about the least exciting thing I could imagine. And I really don't like Valve treating indie games as if they were the overdone boiled potatoes you've got to eat before Mom lets you have Portal 2 for dessert.
That's my reaction. I didn't realize I was obliged to have a different one.
Rob, you've an admirable job of trying to stay on the side of dislike and not cross into condemnation. It's important to remember that these largely aren't issues of ethics, but of taste.
That said, indie games are a morally superior form of gaming.
Words... are a big deal.
Jill Lapore wrote:Editing is one of the great inventions of civilization.
It's true that indies get a lot of instant credit for being underdogs, but this marketing campaign wasn't really about them. The "exciting" part was that Valve, a company known for being late, was pushing a game out early. It was a little bonus for Steam users and it felt almost like Valve was laughing at itself. "Look! We can get them out early too!"
I never got the idea that this was going to be something huge, though maybe it's just because I expect this kind of thing with a lot of AAA titles now. Countdown timers and ARGs aren't really special in this industry anymore.
Regardless of how good the potato sack games are, Portal 2 was going to be a bigger splash in the pond. I might have been annoyed if Valve did this with a bunch of great new indie games, but these guys knew they were last month's flavor. I'm sure they were happy to get the extra attention.
XBL, Steam PSN and LoL: Delerat88 | Twitter: @delerat
You smug bearded hipster!
Certis: Quintin is both smart and attractive.
Fedaykin98: Good lord, I wouldn't have expected brilliance like that from that nemeslut Quintin Stone!
Yonder: It's weird to say this, but Quintin Stone may be the wisest person here.
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