GWJ Conference Call Episode 515

No Man's Sky, HITMAN, Titanfall 2, Tabletopia, Path of Exile, The Unnoticed Physicality of Video Games, Your Emails and More!

Click here to download!

This week Sean and Shawn do a two man show!

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.

  • 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

Comments

00:02:05 No Man's Sky
00:10:08 HITMAN
00:20:28 Path of Exile
00:29:33 Tabletopia
00:34:30 Titanfall 2
00:39:58 The Unnoticed Physicality of Video Games
00:59:02 Your Emails

Thanks for the review of 'Tabletop Simulator' available on Steam for $20 ($10 on steam sales), its a great way to play your favorite board games online without having to get into a subscription based payment model.

Thanks for the shout-out to the Extra Life team and RUIn Gaming, because a thread I might have otherwise missed can now be instrumental in setting up practice sessions for Extra Life gameday.

I suppose it says a lot about me that my first thought on physicality of video games was going to be a topic on kinaesthetics and general awareness of the environment around you, something I imagine would feed off of current experiences with VR. Didn't even consider the physical space we inhabit. I don't think I've ever had an ideal comfortable spot, but there are some places in my life where I'm brought right back to a certain place. If I think about playing Interplay's Fellowship of the Ring on DOS, I can feel the cool air and smell all the dust of the basement we housed the computer. If I think of a certain section of Final Fantasy IV, I recall being a kid in my living room at 7am turning the TV volume all the way down Sunday morning in hopes that no one would wake up for Church and I could just play games all morning (evidently I could not fathom the alarm clock's existence). I think back to Master of Orion 2, MechWarrior 2, and emulated Final Fantasy V on my brother's computer resting in the guest room as he is home for summer break from College. I think about the Playstation 2, and suddenly I'm laying on my brother's bed, our room sorted as best as it could be after he graduated College, the boot sounds echoing in my head as the smell of the PS2 controller accompanies flashbacks of Maximo or Final Fantasy X. I even have such nostalgic feelings of my 2nd year apartment, playing Chronicles of Riddick in my bedroom, the Halo 2 leak and Resident Evil 4 in the living room, and the cry of the... banshee? harpy? in Quake 2 as I play it for the first time just before moving out.

My nostalgia button kind of ends there, though. I can recall physical spaces following that, but I guess I'm not far enough removed from them to feel real nostalgia. Or perhaps it's that it shifts over to playing the 360 and Wii, systems I still have.

I know it's not quite what you guys were saying, as none of these spaces were my ideal space. Hell, even now in my own apartment I'm not entirely comfortable with my living room gaming setup. I'd like a better couch or something, I suppose. But it's comfortable and relaxing enough, that I can only imagine one day looking back on days where I played Mario Kart 8 with GWJ or Smash Bros. with my roommate and having a flashback to my first apartment as an adult.

In terms of controllers, I will say that the N64 controller was trying to shift to the analog stick while keeping the D-Pad viable. Playstation didn't have joysticks yet. But hardly any games were using D-Pads on the N64 at that point. At the end of the day, I'd still rather the N64 controller over the blocky and clunky Dreamcast controller.

No lie, I still have my original Max Payne mousepad from back in 2001 that's...seen better days.

yeah, each time my mouse or keyboard breaks, and I need to replace it, that is a serious trauma.

About CK2, you guys need to check Reigns, is a PC/Tablet/phone game, it s 3€ and is a CK2 game, all the stories, with 0 management, super good, there is a video on the QT3 channel you can watch, I've played lots of hours!

I think that the "Economy of Time" question is actually very relevant. A lot of us grew up playing games as kids, when it felt like we had near-infinite amounts of free time to "play" - explore, learn and just experience all the potential that games had to offer. In an ironic twist, as the other barriers that once held us back - money, transportation, accessibility - are reduced with age, the upkeep required to maintain a "normal" adult life creeps in and takes up the free time that we would use to enjoy it with.

As an adult, with a family and responsibilities, my "play" time is short and finite. I have schedules and commitments that dictate what I can play and when I can play it. I find myself very intentionally avoiding games nowadays that would either take too long to finish or can't be played while the kid's awake. My free time is a fragile balance between gaming, TV (Stranger Things is a great show, you should check it out) and any other hobbies I'm trying to pursue. And are typically the first hours to be sacrificed when "real life" intrudes.

I remember exactly how I felt when, after seven years, I gave up playing an online game. Not because I couldn't pay for it, or that I stopped loving it. Because I just couldn't commit to anything in the game anymore. My life and my favorite game had become incompatible, and giving that up felt like a part of my identity had been lost as well.

As a kid, I spent literal days playing some of my favorite RPGs. I avoid those games like the plague now. I used to scoff when a game only boasted "Twenty hours of gameplay" - now, even that might be too much. I know there are whole game series that I will never play that a fifteen-year-old me would be saving up his allowance for months to buy. I listen to podcasts like GWJ on my drive to work, as much to experience vicariously the pleasure of gaming as I do for the conversation.

And in the moments I do find to play a video game, I just feel guilty that I'm spending my time pursuing something I'll probably never finish.

I've never put much thought into my gaming "space", at least as far as the physical space of it. That was one of the most interesting conversations I've heard in awhile, and its really made me think about my current setup and just weep.

I've got a crap office chair from Costco and an Ikea Galant corner desk that sits in my office/spare bedroom. The chair is partially blocked by the bed and its flanked by a file cabinet and printer. In our next house (2+ years away), I'll have an actual study/office and will be able to really make a more comfortable setup, complete with leather chair (sorry, DXRacer!) and a desk I build from scratch to my own specs.

Also, I second Kabutor's recommendation of Reigns. Crazy-addicting, especially on mobile. Best $3 I've spent in quite awhile.

I didn't get a console until I was in my 20s, so for me they've always been an adult play thing rather than PCs, which also have associations of work and study.

At my home, the PC desk is crammed into a corner and and the desk isn't the right height for me and my long model's legs - so I prefer point and click, turn based games like Civ or Shadowrun because WASDing gets crampy real quick.

I still prefer gaming on the console because I can recline luxuriously on the couch, put my feet up and feel more immersed. There's a better sound system connected to my TV and it feels more like I can settle in for the long haul....then I only have to deal with the physicality of dead foot when I get up after an hour to go to the loo.

I remember getting an Atari 2600 in 1979. My dad and I used to play Combat and Space Invaders almost every night. Mom made us stop playing in the living room because it interfered with her shows. I eventually acquired a Commodore Vic-20 and NES. I had to hook it up to a 13" black and white TV in our den. I vividly remember playing Metroid and Bionic Commando in that room. Despite my pleas, mom would not allow me to hook it up to the 19" color tv in the living room. It conflicted with her soap operas. When I was 15, we moved to Tennessee. Still using my 13" B&W, I played Blades of Steel, Super Dodge Ball, and The Legend of Zelda. Shortly after turning 16, I got a job and saved money to buy a 386SX. That started my PC gaming journey. Whoa! 16-bit color on a 15" VGA monitor! Since I had purchased it with my own money, I was allowed to keep it in my bedroom. This started around the time Wolf3D come out. Those were my gaming spaces growing up.

Now that I am married with children, I have two separate gaming spaces. My better gaming PC is in the foyer. A weird spot, I know. My wife likes to have me visible rather than locked up in the corner of the house. I'll play Diablo III or Overwatch on it. It's my daily use PC. We then converted a bedroom to a playroom with a couch, a 40" TV, and a 20" monitor mounted to the wall. I set up Hyperspin on a PC so I can play some older arcade and early generation consoles. I'm starting to play SNES and N64 games with my 5 year old daughter. Ok, it's mostly me playing games while she bounces around the room. I had just set up a webcam and started recording our(my) play sessions and am posting them to YouTube. While looking back on my gaming past is nice once in a while, I am more excited on my gaming future with my daughter.

Crusader Kings 2 currently on sale on Steam for $10. It's been on my wishlist for a long while now. The complete collection of 43 items is also $40. Both are 75% off.
Almost pulled the trigger...

You should buy at least the base game and give it a go, if you enjoy it, those dlc will get back to be on sale eventually.

Great find....might have to pick that up.

troubleshot wrote:

Crusader Kings 2 currently on sale on Steam for $10. It's been on my wishlist for a long while now. The complete collection of 43 items is also $40. Both are 75% off.
Almost pulled the trigger...

Yeah, sales will come around again. As kabutor says, pick up the base game and start with that. Then buy the dlc that looks appealing as you go. I like Old Gods and Republic. Lost track of the more recent stuff, but Conclave looks good. I'd hold off on getting that though.

*edit*

Dayum, just looked at reviews for Conclave. Definitely don't pick that up unless you're very familiar with the game.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

Dayum, just looked at reviews for Conclave. Definitely don't pick that up unless you're very familiar with the game.

Yeah, I had thought that Conclave looked good before release. I was a little surprised to see how much dislike existed for it. I've been thinking of getting back into CK2, and nearly picked that up when it was on sale at the Paradox store a few weeks ago. I ended up not getting it due to problems with their store, and my dip back into CK2 didn't last long, either. Some day.

Hrdina wrote:
MrDeVil909 wrote:

Dayum, just looked at reviews for Conclave. Definitely don't pick that up unless you're very familiar with the game.

Yeah, I had thought that Conclave looked good before release. I was a little surprised to see how much dislike existed for it. I've been thinking of getting back into CK2, and nearly picked that up when it was on sale at the Paradox store a few weeks ago. I ended up not getting it due to problems with their store, and my dip back into CK2 didn't last long, either. Some day.

It looks like it takes a lot of control away from the player, and not many people are going to like that. It sounds good in theory, but frustrating in practice, unless you really want to have to swim upstream.