Conference Call

GWJ Conference Call Episode 186

Nier, Halo Reach Beta, Super Street Fighter IV, Tecmo Bowl, Twitter Beta Keys, rabbit's MAME Cabinet, Online PnP, People Who Won't Play, Your Emails and more!

This week everyone brings a topic to the table and we discuss Tribes 2 night and the ultimate slaughter of Telltale Games in TF2! If you want to submit a question or comment call in to our voicemail line at (612) 284-4563.

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. You can also submit a question or comment call in to our voicemail line at (612) 284-4563!

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Show credits

Music credits: 

Intro/Outtro Music - Ian Dorsch, Willowtree Audioworks

"Cosmos" (Workbench) - www.workbench-music.com - 0:35:52
"Crocodile Tears" - Zoo (Workbench) - www.workbench-music.com - 1:01:12

Comments

4X = eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate (or some derivation)

I recently played through The Saboteur. This is my example of your “average, not great game”. The mechanics were a watered down hybrid of GTA and Assassin’s Creed. The plot was predictable and tired. The characters were cookie cutter clichés. However, the art style was what sold me the game. I can't nail down what kept me coming back. It was probably the combination of these factors that gave way to a spark (albeit a small one) that kept me entertained long enough to not only want to get 1000/1000 but actually follow through with it. Maxing a game is something I usually reserve for my absolute favourite games that I want to extend the lifespan of (Mass Effect 1 & 2, Dragon Age, Borderlands).

Edit: Thanks for making me aware of MoM and MoO 2 on GoG... download just finished!!

Rabbit, make sure you check the viewing angles of whatever screen you get--since you'll have to rotate it to portrait mode, the viewing angles will be much more limited, and colors will flip pretty quickly as you move off axis. For that reason I'd consider keeping it as a 2-player machine.

And... I vote for Golden Axe and Double Dragon.

About 'underwear girl' from Nier - It doesn't come up during a first playthrough and is only really hinted at in the game overall but...

Spoiler:

'She' is a hermaphrodite and designed her outfit to accentuate here female bits and hide her male bits which she is ashamed of since they resulted in her being treated as a freak when she lived in Aerie as a kid.

Also, the whole 'fighting in her underwear' is referenced throughout the game - Grimoir Weiss is constantly berating the 'hussie' for her outfit

Tsk, tsk...

The Digital Cowboys is a Platform Nation podcast, while Gamerdork UK is part uf The Unified Gamers Network (the one with the horrible jingle).

Oh, and you forgot the link:
http://gamerdork.net/

And thus, the world was introduced to Julian "Kitty-Kat" Murdoch. Well done, sir

Venetica came out? When did that happen?

Giftzwerg76 wrote:

Tsk, tsk...

The Digital Cowboys is a Platform Nation podcast, while Gamerdork UK is part uf The Unified Gamers Network (the one with the horrible jingle).

Oh, and you forgot the link:
http://gamerdork.net/

Crazy talk, that link has always been there!

garion333 wrote:

Venetica came out? When did that happen?

Sorry to get your hopes up, should have been more specific. German Demo. Venice trailer.

Certis wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Venetica came out? When did that happen?

Sorry to get your hopes up, should have been more specific. German Demo. Venice trailer.

So it's playable in German? I'll have to check out the demo just to look at the pretties.

It's not too bad. I did find a forum post outlining things in the demo somewhere but my Google-fu is failing me now.

Corey, Corey, Corey. It's right-bumper dude! Although switching to the old SNES Tecmo graphics doesn't really help the game much. That's how you do it.

Arcade cabinet: Tron. Well, Discs of Tron.

That Molyneaux impression was brilliant. Now can we have an impression of Molyneaux doing a cat-noise please. Thanks.

That Molyneaux impression was brilliant.

Vindication!

Flying_Norseman wrote:

Corey, Corey, Corey. It's right-bumper dude! Although switching to the old SNES Tecmo graphics doesn't really help the game much. That's how you do it.

Thanks for the heads-up. I'd go back and try this but it's already deleted.

Someone has to comment about SSF4 here and back me up. These heathens on the show don't properly appreciate what a fantastic game this is. You got my back, Internets?

Maybe you should ask them to spell your name right first. Baby steps, Cory.

"Cat sound" is definitely going in the End of the Year podcast, I'd wager.

Certis wrote:

Maybe you should ask them to spell your name right first. Baby steps, Cory.

I choose my battles, Shaun.

I choose my battles, Shaun.

It doesn't matter which bastardization you choose. They are both abysmally wrong.

I laughed just as hard at the cat sound on the re-listen as I did while recording it. Oh my. My poor dog thought I was choking. She started barking at me to make me stop, and it only made me laugh harder.

I got Certis to say "Space Latrine" on the podcast. Mission accomplished.

Also for the record this was only my second game of Neptune's Pride. It has a pretty low learning curve.

I think I am going to give SSF4 a try based on your recommendation.

Demiurge wrote:
Flying_Norseman wrote:

Corey, Corey, Corey. It's right-bumper dude! Although switching to the old SNES Tecmo graphics doesn't really help the game much. That's how you do it.

Thanks for the heads-up. I'd go back and try this but it's already deleted.

Someone has to comment about SSF4 here and back me up. These heathens on the show don't properly appreciate what a fantastic game this is. You got my back, Internets?

KaterinLHC wrote:

I laughed just as hard at the cat sound on the re-listen as I did while recording it. Oh my. My poor dog thought I was choking. She started barking at me to make me stop, and it only made me laugh harder.

Careful now. Someone's going to try to slip in a "Kat Sound" next time you do the podcast just to see if that'll happen.

Edit: Changed to officially christen this year's version of "Friend You Up" or "Fallout 3 Is A Game." We must put this on T-Shirts, chop chop!

My vote for Rabbit's MAME cabinet would have to include 1982's Joust. At higher levels, it's nigh unplayable with anything but a proper, high-quality joystick. Plus, it's great to turn two people against one another in addition to killing the generic enemies.

Great podcast, guys (and lady).

Was so funny this week I about sh*t.

Julian's cat sound and the reaction, Certis' Peter Molyneuex voice and err, something else that I forgot, but it was right at the end.

I've got three games for the MAME cabinet:

1) Strider
2) Victory Road
3) Xenophobe

Why shouldn't a beta be marketing?
If money needs to be spent getting more than a million people to test the servers because there will be millions hitting them on release why be noble about it? Make as much buzz as you can. The servers did crash clearly they have found something they need to fix.

Oh yes, good point. I actually think that the beta as marketing is a pretty good idea, you need stress tests so make them a selling point.

I love the so-called mediocre games. I've gotten more play time and enjoyment out of games the critics didn't hate, but just couldn't bring themselves to like than I have out of all of the AAA mega-super ten-out-of-ten games I've ever played. For example, I traded Ratchet and Clank: TOD in for Iron Man and when I look at the fun to annoyance ratio, Iron Man was the better game for me.

The trick is keeping your expectations reasonable. If you go into a game like Wet expecting Max Payne, you're not going to have a good time. However, if you go into Wet expecting a third-person Mirror's Edge with stripped down parkour mechanics and an actual functional combat system, then you can have fun with it.

Note, however, that this isn't the same as lowering your standards. Lowering your standards means you can't tell the difference between filet minon and monkey poop. Lowering your standards means you aren't disappointed when you order monkey poop and fail to get filet minon by mistake.

I'm going to make the cat sound a ringtone.