GWJ Conference Call Episode 519

XCOM 2, WoW: Legion, Can You Go Back Again? Special Guest Ken Levine, Your Emails and More!

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This week Julian Murdoch, Sean Sands, Cory Banks and special guest Ken Levine!

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.

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Show credits

Music credits: 

Shut Up - The Meeples - 23:11
Shake it Off (The Meeples Cover) - The Meeples - 37:16

Comments

Meeples is worth the download alone.

The ending of Far Cry 4 is worth experiencing Ken. It completely wrong footed me, yet, provided you follow my line of reasoning and make the same choice, it is the purest ending a game like that could have.

Also, the music choice for the credits is sublime.

Edit: If anyone watches the endings on Youtube and is completely underwhelmed I'll only say that I don't think you can parachute into those endings. You need, as with most narratives, to have experienced the build up to them, taking in the state of Kyrat and Pagan Min's, somewhat dysfunctional, relationship with the inhabitants.

When Cory started belting out "Shake It Off," I literally froze in place, mid-stride, in the middle of my kitchen this morning until the next segment started.

I think it overloaded my nervous system for a moment.

For what it's worth, I've attempted to return to a few narrative-focussed games over the years and tended to fail. Many of the games I'd to experience again are open world games, but I find them too long to replay in full (GTA, Assassins Creed, etc.). The most I've managed with these is to dip back into the odd GTA for a drive to my favourite radio station.

The one game that I have managed to replay is CoD: Modern Warfare. I've played that 6 or 7 times.

00:01:30 XCOM 2
00:03:10 WoW: Legion
00:09:48 Broforce
00:12:12 Hearts of Iron IV
00:13:20 Divinity: Original Sin 2
00:14:45 Overwatch
00:17:36 Heroes of the Storm
00:21:17 Libertalia (boardgame)
00:23:18 Can You Go Back Again?
00:37:29 Your Emails

Ken: continues to play Master of Magic because nothing like it.

Doesn't Know: Planar Conquest is the first proper MoM remake despite many awful attempts over the years. PC/iOS/android.

Ferret's roguelike Demon

I love it when the hosts get into the same "old" game the same week that I decided to as well ... makes me feel in sync with the zeitgeist.

I've given XCOM 2 a second look and am really enjoying it now.

I think the whole "Console are going to die because they're too much like PCs" or "this is the last console generation" stuff is overblown. The basic things that make consoles worthwhile are still there. You can still plug it in, drop a disc in, and play without worrying about drivers or hardware upgrades. You don't have to worry that a game you get on it won't work on your particular hardware like you would if you cobbled together random PC parts. All games release for PS4 still work on all PS4s because of the mandatory Forward Compatibility.

That forward compatibility can't go on forever, which means there WILL be another console generation. It may be 100% backwards compatible, but PS5 games will not work on the PS4 or PS4 Pro. (Look for the PS5 in 2019-2020, if the pattern holds true.) PS4slim and PS4Pro are right on schedule as the first midcycle refresh of the console lifecycle. We'll probably get another midcycle refresh around the same time as the PS5, mainly focused on bringing the PS4's cost way down and making it a budget console as the PS5 becomes the new early adopter console.

As for developers doing stuff with the PS4Pro, at the bare minimum it just means that they now have 3 platforms to certify against. They can likely just add another rendering mode to satisfy the support requirement as well. Having to test against multiple platforms is nothing new in consoles. There's 3 variants of the PS2, 4 variants of the PS3 out there, 4 variants of the PSP to test against, 3 variants of the PSVita to test against... In the end, there will probably be 4 variants of the PS4 to test against. PS4, PS4Slim, PS4Pro, and the PS4ProSlim when that is released. We might get a PS4superslim perhaps.

With PC, there's not only 3 companies worth of video cards to test against, but dozens of cards from each company. There's not only 2 processor companies to test against, but dozens of processors from each company. There's dozens of motherboard manufacturers with many dozens of boards each, Dozens of resolutions to support, A huge range of memory speeds and capacities, many input methods, and many sound chipsets. There's simply no way that you can guarantee that your game will work across every combination in the market. When compared against the PC, having to test 3 variants of the hardware against your game and maybe make a second set of quality settings seems like nothing.

Also, you talk about Steamlink causing PCs to invade the living room. For me, HDMI has caused the Consoles to invade my PC desk. Even when I'm sitting at my PC, I'm generally playing consoles because it's so convenient to just press a button on one of my monitors and switch over.

A minor correction on the bespoke TL;DP review: Per my conversation with Certis, it's not $50 per month, it's a one-shot $50 donation that will earn you the review.

That may still be high, but it's not as high as $600.

I know the patreon site says $50 per month, but I think that's just because that's how patreon sets tiers.

There are two up for grabs, and they're both slated to run in December of this year.

Pick any game you want and I will buy it, provided I own the system it runs on (PS4, PS3, Wii, WiiU, 3DS and PC) and it's easily available to buy. I can't afford to scour eBay for a working controller and classic Xbox to play Steel Battalion, but I will buy a game on uPlay if asked, such is my dedication to the site.

So go for it, if you've got the inclination. $50 may be a lot to ask for my services, but you're not paying me, you're paying Stan.

And if nobody wants me to write them a review, that's fine too.

I guess. Sniff. No, I'm ok.

doubtingthomas396 wrote:

but I will buy a game on uPlay if asked, such is my dedication to the site.

Now that's what I call commitment to the cause!

Wooo!! Thanks for putting my Wrex mod on the banner image! Love it!!

Wow, just wow, for me alone... Near the end:

Shawn: "Alright our next e-mail is from Tripmo..."
[Tripmo freezing in a kind of exhilarated terror on his jog]
Ken Levine: "Actually, can I just say (...)"
Julian: "And that's gonna do it for our e-mails this week (...)"
[Tripmo defeatedly jogging on]

It's all Kens fault for rambling on, I suppose. Sad, little me.

Hey, I wasn't on this show! You mean ... Sean.

So, when my wife asks me why I signed up to WoW .. again .. (last time was Feb 2012) I shall simply say that "Sean Sands made me do it." The way Sean described it made it sound like I would ready enjoy it for maybe a few months.

Hopefully, by the time she figures out that's not a very good excuse, I will have played through the new Legion stuff and can drop WoW yet again.

Tripmo wrote:

Wow, just wow, for me alone... Near the end:

Shawn: "Alright our next e-mail is from Tripmo..."
[Tripmo freezing in a kind of exhilarated terror on his jog]
Ken Levine: "Actually, can I just say (...)"
Julian: "And that's gonna do it for our e-mails this week (...)"
[Tripmo defeatedly jogging on]

It's all Kens fault for rambling on, I suppose. Sad, little me.

I thought that the show had ended a little abruptly, but didn't rewind to figure out why I felt that way, as I was driving at the time.

I'm sure Shawn (or possibly Sean) will make it up to you next week.

Edit: Thinking back, didn't they also omit the Thread o' the Week?

Certis wrote:

Hey, I wasn't on this show! You mean ... Sean. :drink:

Edit 2: In Tripmo's defense, the main article about this episode does say "Shawn" and not "Sean".

Shawn Andrich wrote:

This week Shawn, Elysium, Julian and Amanda talk PAX West, Patreon and more!

Keithustus wrote:

Ken: continues to play Master of Magic because nothing like it.

Doesn't Know: Planar Conquest is the first proper MoM remake despite many awful attempts over the years. PC/iOS/android.

I had a quick look at the Steam version of Planar Conquest (my wife is a huge MoM fan). I'm not sure the Steam reviews would encourage her to give this one a try...

I don't think VR is going to be commonplace in 15 years. I think VR tech and coding will evolve to a point where it will become usable in better and better manifestations, on smaller and smaller devices until it reaches a point where you can project images onto spectacles and glasses - at that point, Pokemon Go and similar applications will simply make the jump from your phone onto your glasses.

It doesn't have to be like that, either. We don't have to develop transparent screens - we could just develop opaque screens small enough to be shades. Once we can do that, the device can capture the outside world via camera and then project it into the screen inside. You'd be experiencing augmented reality using a VR device.

The applications are obvious, of course.

A camera and a human eye on a screen is often better than a human eye alone. Using such a device, you can zoom in on distant objects, or simply see them more clearly than you otherwise could. You could also magnify small objects or, once again, see them more clearly than you otherwise could. You can see in infrared, you can apply real-time filters on your visual environment, you can even assign the device to auto-translate signs into English. Imagine visiting Spain or France and being able to seamlessly read all the signs and menus!

And, of course, that would translate into gaming on these devices. Future VR/AR tech games would probably explore ideas, concepts, and even human existences we won't even be aware of until 10 years into the future. And they'll also allow you to play Laser Tag with the gore factor turned up to 11. That's a thing, too.