Stealth Inc, A Ride Into The Mountains, Shadowrun Returns, rymdkapsel, Are AAA Games Held to a Higher Standard?, Last of Us Spoiler Section, Your Emails and More!
It's a big one this week as Shawn, Elysium and Julian talk about whether or not AAA games are held to a different standard than indie titles. After the credits, the long awaited Last of Us Spoiler Section with Rob Zacny, Dean Tate, Cory Banks, Karla Andrich and Shawn!
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.
Chairman_Mao's Timestamps
00.01.17 The Last of Us
00.03.58 State of Decay
00.05.12 rymdkapsel
00.06.18 Stealth Inc.
00.10.30 Shadowrun Returns
00.20.05 SolForge
00.23.27 Kerbal Space Program update
00.27.27 A Ride into the Mountains
00.32.51 This week's topic: Do we hold AAA games to a higher standard?!
00.52.35 Your emails!
01.15.09 Last of Us Spoiler Section!
Intro/Outtro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks
Peripatetic - BigBot Audio Drop - SGX - http://sgxmusic.com/ - 32:23
Span (Malcos Remix) - BigBot Audio Drop - SGX - http://sgxmusic.com/ - 52:08
Comments
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Audatia?
Correct!
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman
Love Love Loved the spoiler section. And as others have stated, the game deserved it. Most games don't have enough meat to warrant two hours of discussion.
The most interesting things about the spoiler section to me were the reactions of the parents and non-parents. The last conversation about Joel's motivations just really solidified how excellent this game is.
I feel like I'm in the minority here:
The other interesting thing about TLoU is the way it toys with the player's agency. It almost annoyed me at times. This really isn't anything new, but for some reason the game had drawn such strong emotions from me, when I had agency taken from me I became disappointed. It really is a fine line to walk for games with strong narratives.
That really pulled me out of the game too - although I thought I might be being overly sensitive since I work that kind of area.
First thing my grandfather taught me was "Don't let any hellportals near your junk."
Steam
Great show as always, sadly I skipped over the spoiler section since I haven't played Last of Us yet. Really liked the AAA vs. indies segment and like the hosts I'm finding myself increasingly drawn to smaller games with the occasional release like B:I sprinkled around.
Sean, you need to come down to the Solforge thread and start some games with the rest of us!
Leave it in the feed and label it 'Last of Us spoilers' or something then return to it when you're done. That's what I tend to do.
I hope you like thrill rides - Luis Serra, Resident Evil 4 Remake
Uncharted 4 Multiplayer: Half Nelson
So the other day, I was discussing The Last of Us with my husband. Pretty loosely, mind you, because he's no gamer, I just gave him a quick sum up of the plot, and discussed the "parental love is selfish" comment that had been bugging me. He had a very interesting take on the ending:
I'm not sure that I agree 100% with his view, but it did make for interesting discussion, and certainly made me rethink my view, so thought I would share.
I hope you like thrill rides - Luis Serra, Resident Evil 4 Remake
Uncharted 4 Multiplayer: Half Nelson
Sweet. Thanks.
Steam ID: Ravenlock;
XBL / GFWL Gamertag: Ravenlock80;
Nintendo Network ID: Ravenlock;
I used to write sometimes at http://www.erraticgamer.com
You obviously have a desired outcome from that discussion, and I think it's one that is ultimately in league with my own views, but let me caution you in a couple things.
- "Art" is a problematic term even when you're talking about painting and poetry. Plenty of people spin themselves dizzy in pointless discussions of what is and isn't "Art," or what is "high art" versus "low art," and it doesn't end up going anywhere beyond the speaker's justification of their own like or dislike of a medium, genre, or individual work.
- I think you're romanticizing the way books have been created and sold over the past few centuries. The publishing and sale of books has been a heavily commercial venture since Gutenberg was still alive, and printed words in general saw a fairly rapid decrease in prestige from that point forward. One need only look at Thoreau or Emerson's thoughts on newspapers to see just how little prestige has historically been inherent in the printed word.
- Furthermore, a book, like a video game or film, is rarely the result of one single creative genius (or "auteur," if you're into that) creating in a vacuum. Rather, the production of a work in any one of these media requires input from a number of sources, each with distinct interests and influences. Sure, there's usually someone in the mix who just wants to make it marketable, but there might be a friend or family member who slips some extra edits in because they don't want the "genius" to look quite as much like a bigot or lunatic in the eyes of the audience, or an intern who mistakenly changes some aspect that isn't noticed until the work is out there for public consumption. Even the "auteur" can find themselves including things by accident.
Given all these cooks in the kitchen, it's clear that what a single chef intended doesn't mean much. What does matter is what happens once the food leaves the kitchen. Is the food tasty? Does it satisfy? Is the plating impressive? Do the diners get sick?
It's a great practice of those working within a craft to look at how implementation of a plan did and didn't succeed, but postmortems are only a fraction of the story. If we want others to take games seriously, then we need to show people what games can do. If we want video games to get better as a medium, we as audiences of players need to care about and discuss what the games do, not what those games were intended to do.
Words... are a big deal.
Jill Lapore wrote:Editing is one of the great inventions of civilization.
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