Conference Call

GWJ Conference Call Episode 29

Eets, Toribash, and more!

Eets, Toribash and much more!

Want to support the show? Hit the Digg link just above (it's fast and easy to register) or review us on iTunes! Read on for show notes.

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
Liongames.com

The Links
Spider-Man 3
Sam & Max
Settlers of Catan
Big Huge Games
Toribash

Threads of the Week:
1) Splinter Cell Conviction Revealed - Rat Boy
2) Steam - New "Stuff" coming - Spunior
3) An open dialog on game dialogue - TheWanderer

  • 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/Outro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks

"One Big Holiday" My Morning Jacket The Wired CD - 0:33:29
"Small Comfort" - Apoplexia (Benoit Casey) - 0:51:10
"Terra" - Chico Correa & Electronic Band - 1:07:40

Comments

The music behind all the audio entries was added by me in post reduction. Thanks again to Benoit Casey for the awesome tunes, and thanks to all those submitted entries for the contest!

I am now even further bound and determined to beat FFXII if for no other reason than to prove that people do beat it.

Beyond that, I'm in the same boat with ya'll on the PS3. It's got a few games that I really, really would love to play, but nothing compelling enough to drop $600 on the system.

And yea, the contest entries were pretty sweet. I'd say the Gamefly one was my personal fav.

Great podcast and greak music picks Gaald.

Now, as part of my official capacity as The Vice President of the Demiurge Fan Club, i annouce "CoryCon".

Tickets will be $5 for an hour tour of Cory's house, given by Cory himself* and culminating with a signed autograph from Cory himself. In the spirit of the occasion, Cory will pose for one photograph with the lucky winner of the Cory Contributory Fund Raffle.

Megaman cos-players are welcome**.

*Or possibly somone with the name 'Cory'.
**Entrance fee for cos-players is $10.

IMAGE(http://www.racketboy.com/retro/virtualboy.jpg)

Virtual Boy?

I beat FF12.

On the Playstation 3 and it's desirability:

I was thinking about this very thing on the way home last night. I've got an Xbox 360 and close friends of mine have a Playstation 3 so I've spent a fair amount of time on both platforms. During my drive I realized my perceptions of each machine is quite different.

From a gaming point of view, I think the Xbox 360 wins hands down. Xbox Live is practically perfect. There's a glut of excellent games. Xbox Live Arcade has amazing titles. The interface suits that "hard core" gamer mentality with blades (blades, so XtREME! swoosh! woosh!) flipping back and forth, chrome edges and bright colours everywhere. The controller rumbles and growls with excitement while you play! HARDCORE! Hott with two t's!

What does the Playstation 3 offer? It's "media bar". Pretty. Not so hard core, not so in your face. Where are the games? Fl0w is pretty, but it's not "XtREEM!" *yawn* $700 for a game system? No thanks.

But when I think of each from the point of view of a media centre device, my opinion changes. The media bar on the Playstation 3 feels classy and relaxed. It plays blu-ray and super audio cds. In my friends set up (64" Sony rear projection LCD, crazy good home theatre), it fits perfectly. Fl0w is not a game, it's art. Even the visualizer looks like a video installation in an art gallery. $700 for a damn good blu-ray player? That ain't so bad.

The Xbox 360? Not so much. Does it play HD movies? Only if you buy the add-on for $200. Does it play high end audio? Only if you play the DVD track on a DVD audio disk. Neon, the visualizer, looks like an upgraded 70s colour organ; cool, but not classy. Stylistically it's more college dorm than snobby home theatre.

If I think about them as gaming systems, the Xbox 360 wins hands down. When I think of them as media convergence devices, it's the Playstation 3 all the way.

Just my two cents.

If I think about them as gaming systems, the Xbox 360 wins hands down. When I think of them as media convergence devices, it's the Playstation 3 all the way.

Well put.

Even though there are no game for the PS3 that I want right now, and there most likely won't even be a handful by years end, I briefly considered buying one last month. Basically, watching the DVD version of the BBC's Planet Earth really drove home for me that it might be nice to have a machine that could play movies at HD resolutions. This served as a nice nudge towards considering buying a PS3 to use as a Bluray player now and a game machine, well, whenever games started coming out for it. My thought was that if there ended up being a few games I wanted to play on the machine before a price drop or a hardware refresh happened, then the cost wouldn't really bother me since I would have an HD movie player in the intervening time.

However, I just couldn't shake the feeling that a price drop or refresh very well might happen sometime early this fall, so in the end my better judgement got the best of me and I decided to hold off for the time being. Also, even though it does seem like Bluray is pulling ahead of HD-DVD now, it still feels wise to remain agnostic in relation to that battle a little bit longer.

Still, having had that close call I can no longer carry on with the argument that there is no reason to buy the PS3 at the moment, since I would own one had my craving for HD movies been just a bit stronger.

IMAGE(http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i20/Sinatar/toothless.jpg)

Hey, I just wanted to mention to Demi, that I listened to the latest 1up Yours podcast, and one of the guys said he went to the Nintendo Company store with a friend that worked there, and he said they had Wiis stacked to the ceiling. So, he went in and got one no problem. Just letting you know.

Certis and his moustache actually were playing Gears and talking about the PS3 and Wii this weekend. I can vouch for that much.

Also, I feel like my mouth is going to get me banned when he shows up for Gears and Beers.

Edit: Forgot to mention my thoughts on DNF and TF2. I don't really care anymore. If and when they come out, I'll evaluate them as if they were any other game and decide on my purchase in that way. Frankly, I don't need more shooters in my library right now, anyway.

Woohoo! Mentioned on the podcast!

B.F. Egypt Edition

PEI is cosmopolitan when compared with the Yukon Territories.

Penumbra:
Greenland!? Did anyone else hear Wallace Shawn shrieking at Fezzik? Weenie who can't fight games are one of my favorite things. Have you guys ever played the original Oddworld game?

Eets:
I spent all my gaming time last night on it. You get to feed Eets to a floating blue whale who then spits him half way across the screen. And the Marshomech rocks!

Puzzle Quest:
Lucky dog. I ain't findin' jack here. I may have to wait for the XBLA version they just announced. And no one who wants to get too far in Bejeweled listens to the computer there, either.

Final Fantasy XII videos:
Hey! I've finished it twice now! There are sites like that out there for ALL these games. Not to mention all the hideous mashups on YouTube.

Spreadsheet of the week:
If you look at it from a certain angle, all RPG's are pretty much spreadsheets with a really verbose what-if section. I'm definately going to have to get Toribash, though.

Topic of the Week -- More Bold Predictions Within the Next 10 Years:
You guys beat me to it with the Duke Nukem' Forever.

Virtual Realistic. I love how you're describing the future in terms of the Wii and the Eyetoy. Why limit yourself? What about that company with the biofeedback games using just a headset that are coming out in the next year or so.

Eye of Judgement: You should read today's Penny Arcade.

Games that have been at this way, way too long:
Kameo is another one that was at it for-fargin'-ever. And it shipped.

Dragon Quest 9 News:
Turn based? YEAH! And on my DS! Hecks yeah. You guys seriously need some RPG geeks to leaven this group up.

Ken gettin' spanked:
Does Kaz Hirai remind anyone else of Steve Ballmer in that bad "Developers, Developers, Developers" video?

Do I WANT a PS3?:
Way to hit me right in between the eyes. The answer is no. What I want are certain games. Which I have to have the frickin' hardware for. But if you ask me if I want the machine, no.

But what games are you talking about as driving it. At this point, there's only Metal Gear Solid 4 that's really a driver. Everything else is going multi-platform. And at that price point, I can be patient enough to wait an extra bit to play it on hardware I already own.

A new Nintendo console? I don't know.

Email:
The Megaman music rocks. And as far as Nintendo ramping up a new plant, why? The overhead is insane and all it would buy them?

Megaman 2, best in the series. Unfortunately (as the 10 years ago thread shows) the Megaman series has been the poster child for boring carbon copy games - more than Mario, but Megaman 2 was great, and the music is too.

PS3 Media Player: If I had $2000 dollars just sitting around waiting to be spent, no college loans to pay off and no graduate degree tuition to worry about, I guess I would think about buying a PS3 and a nice 42" HDTV. But I don't live in fantasyland where money is overflowing out of my pockets. That's a large investment in the hardware, and doesn't include any content - movies, games, HD television feeds - those are all more $, so it's a way down the road.

Greenland!? Did anyone else hear Wallace Shawn shrieking at Fezzik?

I sooooo wanted to interrupt with that. Finally a game where I can end up unemployed in Greenland!

Also, this episode includes my favorite out-takes yet. I think we had more fun outside the actualy parts that were recorded than within.

At this point, there's only Metal Gear Solid 4 that's really a driver. Everything else is going multi-platform.

Ooh, I have to disagree. God of War is probably one of the hottest properties out there, and GoW 3 will force me to pick up a PS3. Don't forget Ratchet and Clank, Sly, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Gran Turismo for big properties which will probably be PS3 only. Also, I'd love a Shadow of the Colossus sequel on the PS3. I'm literally slobbering over the thought of that, and don't forget that eventually Sony will release important new IPs with this generation.

On the PS3 as a convergence device:

I can't help but wonder if the direct download will overtake the Blu-Ray before it really has a chance to get traction. Perhaps MS needs to promote the 360 for it's Video Marketplace content to up its chances, but right now it is Blu-Ray that has the mindshare, not so much the PS3.

Are collectors with hundreds of DVD titles really going to go out and buy them all for $20 or $30 a pop all over again when they can "rent" them through direct download?

TheWanderer wrote:

Are collectors with hundreds of DVD titles really going to go out and buy them all for $20 or $30 a pop all over again when they can "rent" them through direct download?

I might only have a hundred DVDs, but I sure am not planning on repurchasing. If it's an especially pretty movie, I'll consider it when I have functionality for one of these.

Elysium wrote:
At this point, there's only Metal Gear Solid 4 that's really a driver. Everything else is going multi-platform.

Ooh, I have to disagree. God of War is probably one of the hottest properties out there, and GoW 3 will force me to pick up a PS3. Don't forget Ratchet and Clank, Sly, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Gran Turismo for big properties which will probably be PS3 only. Also, I'd love a Shadow of the Colossus sequel on the PS3. I'm literally slobbering over the thought of that, and don't forget that eventually Sony will release important new IPs with this generation.

I'm not suggesting that those games aren't going to be great, or that I'm not buying one. Kojima is still standing firm with Metal Gear Solid 4 and that's the price for my soul right there. But I'm not interested in Blue Ray outside of a data-storage context, and I'm not going HD TV for at least three more years I figure. And the industry is moving in some very strange ways when it comes to the rest of the announced games list.

(-- Edit: removed long list of rumors and crap and whining on my part. Sorry!)

Hopefully this E4-whatever-thingy coming up in July will clear up some of this miasma. This next year is going to make a huge difference as to whether or not my PS3 is going to be an expensive paperweight that I use to play Abe's Oddysee on once in a while once I'm done with MGS. If I even can (remember the backpedal on the backward compatability).

Don't feel bad, Canada; most Americans can't tell Wisconsin apart from Wyoming, anyway.

Rat Boy wrote:

Don't feel bad, Canada; most Americans can't tell Wisconsin apart from Wyoming, anyway.

Two different kinds of ranches. Dairy and beef. Very important to me.

I'd say they have a harder time with Wyoming and Colorado.

wordsmythe wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

Don't feel bad, Canada; most Americans can't tell Wisconsin apart from Wyoming, anyway.

Two different kinds of ranches. Dairy and beef. Very important to me.

I'd say they have a harder time with Wyoming and Colorado.

When Yellowstone blows, you'll have NO problem knowing where we are. /evil maniacal laugh

VR wont ever happen... at least not to any degree of realism.. the reality of VR is a headache inducing vomit filled ride. Its just to hard on the brain and eyes to really deal with a true VR type game.

I could see true 3D displays happening..

oh and the Nintendo Store in NYC by my Office gets new Wii's every Wed. and usually will have them in stock through the weekend.

Rat Boy wrote:

Don't feel bad, Canada; most Americans can't tell Wisconsin apart from Wyoming, anyway.

Hey, Wisconsin contributes a lot more than Wyoming does; cheese, brats and beer. What could be more American than all of that?

I'm still angry that the city voted down the Brat Museum.

What is the FF12 video site?! we must haves it!!!

Certis wrote:

Boink

Words of praise and adoration to crab people!

There are a lot better sites out there than that. That's a mashup of pieces of several different videos, and what they're calling a story overview stinks to high heaven. If you're using this as a replacement for actually playing the game this is pretty weak sauce, and the quality is atrocious. Since we're sending links:

Real Opening Sequence
Where Captain Androgency (Vaan) meets up with Penelo (dialog in Japanese, real-time rendering)

I've got a ton more where that came from, including the ending video.

lol I've played a bit of it. Just past the scene on the Leviathan. I just don't know that I'll ever complete it. no time these days.

TheGameguru wrote:

VR wont ever happen... at least not to any degree of realism.. the reality of VR is a headache inducing vomit filled ride. Its just to hard on the brain and eyes to really deal with a true VR type game.

Why do you do that? Why do you come in and shoot down our happy fantasy land with your cold, robotic realism? Take your logic and your facts elsewhere, naysayer.

I'd heard about the Wiis at the Nintendo Store. I'm working on it.

TheGameguru wrote:

VR wont ever happen... at least not to any degree of realism.. the reality of VR is a headache inducing vomit filled ride. Its just to hard on the brain and eyes to really deal with a true VR type game.

I could see true 3D displays happening.

Hey, some of us enjoy causing our bodies pain.

(I'm just listening now)
Megaman 2 definitely has one of the best soundtracks going. Dr. Wiley's Stage FTW. Quickman's Stage is also a highlight. Those galloping rhythms!