Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020

GWJ Conference Call Episode 724

Games: PGA 2K21 (Stadia), Microsoft Flight Sim 2020 (PC), The Librarian (PC), The Beatles: Rockband (Wii), Call of Duty Ghosts (PS4), Simulation in the Modern Word, Your Emails, and more!

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Amanda, Cory, Glendon, and Julian are joined by special guest Eugene Huo from The Magic Hour Show Podcast to talk about The role of simulation in society and its function in the modern world.

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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00:01:50 Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
00:22:36 PGA Tour 2K21
00:28:10 The Golf Club VR
00:31:19 The Beatles: Rockband
00:36:33 The Librarian
00:39:39 Remnant: From the Ashes
00:44:21 Griftlands
00:45:30 Call of Duty: Ghosts
00:49:02 Simulation in the Modern Word
01:10:27 Your Emails

Almost every simulator is a work replacement simulator for someone else's work.

1st things 1st - story, graphics, or mechanics. I choose mechanics. Mechanics are what makes a video game a game. There are much better story delivery systems than video games, and visual art does not need to be interactive for it to be enjoyable.

Next - If I could only choose one, it would be fast travel. If I could pick a second, it would be quest marker.


Rat Boy wrote:

Almost every simulator is a work replacement simulator for someone else's work.

Well... I get paid to drive a big rig in real life, and I love it so much that I’m planning to get Euro Truck Sim. But then again, I drive short haul in the US, and ETS is long haul in Europe, so I guess you’re still right.


Dinosaurs didn’t really go extinct. They just evolved into birds. Rhythm games with plastic instruments never died. They just became Rocksmith. Now if we could just get all of the Guitar Heroes and Rockbands to evolve into Rocksmith-likes...

Rat Boy wrote:

Almost every simulator is a work replacement simulator for someone else's work.

And sometimes, they're work replacement for your own work. {EDIT - Rawkhausered!}

First thing I did in MSFS 2020 was engine starts in a 747 to see if they got the combustor howl sounding just right on accel to idle following lightoff.

#propulsionengineer

Spoiler:

I've sat in many a test airplane listening to a GEnx engine start. Asobo nailed it.

----

RawkGWJ wrote:

Rhythm games with plastic instruments never died. They just became Rocksmith. Now if we could just get all of the Guitar Heroes and Rockbands to evolve into Rocksmith-likes...

That ship has sailed, and it was christened the USS Beat Saber.

Seriously though, VR is where rhythm games are thriving right now. The physicality of the controllers is perfect for it. Beat Saber is sitting on top of the pile, but there's a lot of other great options - Dance Collider, Pistol Whip, Synth Riders, Audica and Audio Trip are all fantastic iterations on the basic rhythm game model.

And a big shout-out to instrument-less rhythm games. Thumper is incredible (especially in VR!) with just a controller, and Spin Rhythm XD manages to pull it off with just a mouse and the space bar.

It's not a simulator but Pro Putt by Topgolf is a very good VR golf game with multiplayer support.

It was awesome to have Racing Dorks represented in the podcast!

If you enjoyed The Librarian, I recommend The Supper, also by Octavi Navarro. And on the same vein of bite-sized point-and-click adventures, Six Cats Under is very cute and you can play it on your browser.

The question about “which video game superpower would you choose” has had me stumped all weekend ... each one made me go “yeah, that one!” until I heard the next.

Felix Threepaper wrote:

The question about “which video game superpower would you choose” has had me stumped all weekend ... each one made me go “yeah, that one!” until I heard the next.

Infinite lives!

Jonman wrote:
Felix Threepaper wrote:

The question about “which video game superpower would you choose” has had me stumped all weekend ... each one made me go “yeah, that one!” until I heard the next.

Infinite lives!

CHEATER!!! That’s like wishing for more wishes.

Fast travel would be good — but would it be like Ubi games where you can only fast travel to places you’ve been before, or like Oblivion where you can fast travel to all major cities from the get go?

Felix Threepaper wrote:

Fast travel would be good — but would it be like Ubi games where you can only fast travel to places you’ve been before, or like Oblivion where you can fast travel to all major cities from the get go?

My question about fast travel is whether it will cause a significant time dilation or can it be tuned to not cause problems with that? Like maybe you’d have to wait 10 or 15 seconds to get to your location. Sort of like load times I guess.

And can my entire party fast travel with me? These are important questions.

I have a working wii, but if I wanted to buy everything necessary to play Beatles rock band, how much would it cost?

Almost every video game has groundhog day-like-powers. If you can control it then save coming in real life would seem to be the best power of all.

Jonman wrote:
Felix Threepaper wrote:

The question about “which video game superpower would you choose” has had me stumped all weekend ... each one made me go “yeah, that one!” until I heard the next.

Infinite lives!

But which time saving video game super power would you pick? I limited the question in part because I was watching SGDQ, and in part because I thought it would make for a move interesting conversation to think about all those powers from a similar angle. Infinite lives does make me think of a the speedrunning trick of dying to respawn somewhere specific. But that's just a traumatic version of fast travel.

Likewise, while the Mega Man power of stealing abilities from an opponent is cool, it's not really about saving time. Maybe some specific power would. But getting to throw saw blades and boomerangs would not.

I loved hearing Cory take exception to my "skipping cut scenes without consequences" question. And I also loved the idea of an auto-journal as a time saver. That's a nice complement to quest markers. Personally, I'd probably also turn on turbo mode to finish washing dishes, or whatever, and get to the fun stuff faster.

Game skill I’d like in real life:

How did no one mention Quick Save / Quick Load?

Oops, I shouldn’t have said that. Quickload. Oops, I shouldn’t have tried making that turn. Quickload. Oops, that hurt. Quickload. Oops, my whole work day was wasted. Quickload.

Who wouldn’t want to be able to save scum Outside aka the real world?