Conference Call

GWJ Conference Call Episode 262

Forza 4, Heroes of Might & Magic VI, Dark Souls, Check-Ins To Internation Goodjer Day Events, Chat Room Questions, Donation Drive Winners and more!

This week Shawn, Julian and Elysium hold down the fort while Allen and Cory report in from their live IGWJD events!

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.

Sponsor

Tech Thing Daily
Game Thing Daily
Good Old Games

International GWJ Day
Dark Souls Guide
Might & Magic Heroes VI
Forza 4
RAGE
League of Legends

  • 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/Outtro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks

Original GWJ theme - Ian Dorsch - http://www.willowtreeaudio.com - 33:40

Comments

The not very quick Giant Bomb Quick Look gives a great taste of Dark Souls (it's an adventure in itself) and made me see the appeal of the game. I'm not sure if I'll play it. Something about that 'any enemy can kill you' philosophy reminds me of the abusive relationship I had with the early Rainbow Six campaigns.

Edit: Reading between the lines I'd say the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer will be a horde mode.

I always tell people that the narrative in Dark Souls is very slight. NPCs tell you about the world and what is going on, but it's really just people giving you passages of the Silmarillion. There's something there, but it's basically tabloids of the world's history.

demonicmurry wrote:

I always tell people that the narrative in Dark Souls is very slight. NPCs tell you about the world and what is going on, but it's really just people giving you passages of the Silmarillion. There's something there, but it's basically tabloids of the world's history.

That's a great way of looking at it.

I kind of hate these live shows when I'm there for them live as I don't have a "new" CC to listen to. Booo.

The Pengiuncon portion of the podcast was a bit laggy, we had to use an Android phone with wifi tether just to connect to the Google Hangout. Hopefully we can get some better internet next year, anybody know of any good hackerspaces in Cleveland?

Anyways, this weekend was an absolute blast and it was one of the best cons I've ever been too. Just more proof the GWJ community is awesome, anytime you get 30-40 of us in a room it's a crazy good time. There's plenty of gushing in the Pengiuncon thread, all well deserved.

How did you guys have a whole "best game of the year so far" discussion without so much as a mention of Portal 2. I'm shocked! shocked I say.

Bottle wrote:

How did you guys have a whole "best game of the year so far" discussion without so much as a mention of Portal 2. I'm shocked! shocked I say.

Forgetfulness. Old age. Senility. Take your pick.

garion333 wrote:

I kind of hate these live shows when I'm there for them live as I don't have a "new" CC to listen to. Booo. ;)

I was fairly intoxicated during the show (had a buddy over for afternoon beers prior to airing), so it is new to me all over again!

SallyNasty wrote:
garion333 wrote:

I kind of hate these live shows when I'm there for them live as I don't have a "new" CC to listen to. Booo. ;)

I was fairly intoxicated during the show (had a buddy over for afternoon beers prior to airing), so it is new to me all over again!

I was hungover, but not drunk. I imagine I don't remember half of it either.

Demiurge wrote:
Bottle wrote:

How did you guys have a whole "best game of the year so far" discussion without so much as a mention of Portal 2. I'm shocked! shocked I say.

Forgetfulness. Old age. Senility. Take your pick.

It was also a question from the community, so there wasn't prep time ... if I remember correctly.

Just wanted to point out that Elysium failed to mention that the "Rivals Mode" from Forza 4 was ripped directly off of Autolog, pioneered by Criterion in last year's Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. I really like the implementation in NFS because it acts almost as a turn-based multiplayer match, where you don't have to be online with your friends at the same time to race against each other. Works very well in driving games, especially.

ilduce620 wrote:

Just wanted to point out that Elysium failed to mention that the "Rivals Mode" from Forza 4 was ripped directly off of Autolog, pioneered by Criterion in last year's Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. I really like the implementation in NFS because it acts almost as a turn-based multiplayer match, where you don't have to be online with your friends at the same time to race against each other. Works very well in driving games, especially.

It may of been ripped off but:

1. Forza is ten times the racing game HP was, especially for fair time trials (and I enjoyed HP).

2. The Rivals implementation is in every way superior to Autolog. Ghosts, asynchronous, and full leaderboards that can be filtered between club, friends, and the World.

There is a great write up on one perspective on why Dark Souls (and Demon's Souls) is so good and so addictive to some of us over on The Brainy Gamer: http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2011/10/soul-dojo.html

Wait...everyone thought I was in prison?

Man, I got get me some of the International GWJ here in Brazil, somebody send me a PM if you live here!

Anyway, great show as usual, thank you very much.

Demiurge wrote:
Bottle wrote:

How did you guys have a whole "best game of the year so far" discussion without so much as a mention of Portal 2. I'm shocked! shocked I say.

Forgetfulness. Old age. Senility. Take your pick.

Yeh, that felt like some serious malfeasance.

disobedientlib wrote:

There is a great write up on one perspective on why Dark Souls (and Demon's Souls) is so good and so addictive to some of us over on The Brainy Gamer: http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2011/10/soul-dojo.html

You guys should have brainygamer on a podcast sometime, if you haven't already. Don't fear his immense intellect!

I also put the armchair in front of the couch for Forza 4 (when my wife is out). I treat it like my own home-made racing cockpit, since I'm actually just using the controller. Happy to hear I'm not the only one.

I am glad to hear the slower cars are so good to drive in Forza. I am a big fan of the C-class and below cars. Stuff above A gets bit boring to me as 1. I like to play with the cars I could theoretically own in reality and 2. I often get burned out by the time I start reaching those levels.

Rat Boy wrote:

Wait...everyone thought I was in prison?

You aren't?

Demiurge wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

Wait...everyone thought I was in prison?

You aren't?

He must have escaped!

MisterStatic wrote:

2. The Rivals implementation is in every way superior to Autolog. Ghosts, asynchronous, and full leaderboards that can be filtered between club, friends, and the World.

Ghosts would be nice, though I think all the rest of that is in Hot Pursuit in some form or fashion. As I haven't played Forza 4, I can't speak to its particular merits, of course. Just sayin' that "Rivals" isn't revolutionary on its own: it's building off the revolutionary work of Criterion.

Chairman_Mao wrote:
disobedientlib wrote:

There is a great write up on one perspective on why Dark Souls (and Demon's Souls) is so good and so addictive to some of us over on The Brainy Gamer: http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2011/10/soul-dojo.html

You guys should have brainygamer on a podcast sometime, if you haven't already. Don't fear his immense intellect!

I'd be interested in making that happen. We're certainly only one degree from having him on the front page.

Big thank you to Certis for "blabbing" about Dark Souls again this episode. Now brainwashed; will buy.

I was a little surprised at the hate that LBP2 got. It's not that I think it should be hailed as the greatest game ever made or anything. Yes, the controls are still not Mario, but they greatly increased what you can do with the game creation-wise and did so in such amazing ways that it blows my mind that the game got blown off like it did. Hell, Quarter To Three still has weekly LBP2 updates on its front page because they keep finding inventive levels.

I vaguely remember one of the GWJ:ers mentioning a list on Board Game Geek that listed board games currently being produced for the digital/mobile space, and since I obviously can't be bothered listening to the call again, I was hoping you could post a link to said list here Thanks!

Botteu wrote:

I vaguely remember one of the GWJ:ers mentioning a list on Board Game Geek that listed board games currently being produced for the digital/mobile space, and since I obviously can't be bothered listening to the call again, I was hoping you could post a link to said list here Thanks!

Here you go.

Shawn, I totally agree RE: the market dictating that a 7-hour game with no multi-player just isn't a 60$ game anymore due to the fact that every game is shoe-horning multi-player and now the consumer expects it.

Example - I was telling my friend that ME3 was going to have multi-player. I, the much more hardcore gamer, was bemoaning the fact (in typical internet fashion) and was totally surprised to hear him say that he(very much a mainstream, COD gamer) was excited to hear it.

We may not like the new paradigm, but Shawn is right about length of time vs. price with and price without multi-player.