Better show notes will be forthcoming. For now, know that we talked about A Valley Without Wind, Fish Out of Water, Disgaea 4, Eador: Masters of the Broken World, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, and what we think about cloning video games.
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Jonathan plays SkullPogo!
Hemisphere‘s breaks Sam’s brain!
Alex enjoys Dragon’s Dogma!
Sam and Alex recon Ghosts!
Max Payne is dark!
E3 Predictions get ridiculous!
See you next week!
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Hello, peeps! Alex is somewhere in Ohio this week, so it’s just Jonathan and Sam on the mics for this episode. In honor of the news guy’s absence, we discuss news.
First though, Sam discusses Kingdom’s of Amalur, which he’s found to be intriguing, if a bit frustrating, and Mass Effect 3, which has succeeded in bringing out Hulk Sam. Jonathan picked Skyrim back up for an incredibly awkward honeymoon, and has also been playing Word Stack on his phone, wherein you take words and stack them.
Headlines:
Next week, one of the hosts has to eat crow early! I know I’m looking forward to it.
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Due to scheduling conflicts, the boys have only had a couple of days since Episode 102 was recorded, so game talk is light this week. That’s okay, though, because we’re bringing back the headlines!
What little gaming did we do? Alex tried to force himself through the Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood finally, and fails to make it past Hitman: Blood Money‘s tutorial. Jonathan picked up and started playing Space Marine, and found that the atmosphere is fantastic, but the difficult spikes are irritating. Sam, meanwhile, busts out a Skyrim dragon story, and talks up ODST with Brad and William Pall.
In the headlines this week, we’ve got protests, lawsuits, delays, leaks, and hacks.
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Next Media Animations Take on the Supreme Court Ruling
Edit: Something went wrong when the episode was uploaded. The full version of the episode should be available now.
Well, we’re still here, which means we get to talk about video games some more.
Sam, as it turns out, likes to make things difficult for himself. He’s discovered Forza 3 is far more lenient than he first thought, and also potentially far stickier. On the same topic, Jonathan’s likely going to be trading in Gran Turismo 5 in favor of Forza 3, despite Forza being more pretentious than GT5.
Sam’s also finally broken into Batman: Arkham Asylum. Finally! Sam thinks Ezio could learn some combat tricks from the Bats, but that’s neither here nor there as Bats is on hold again in favor of L.A. Noire. All three of the hosts have picked it up, and they have very different views on the game, with Sam, as usual, being wrong.
Jonathan’s also been playing Inside a Star-filled Sky, a new independent shoot-em-up featuring some interesting (and difficult to explain) recursive mechanics.
We cover headlines this week, meandering all over the place.
Finally, Sam wraps up the first round of season 3 of Name That Game with some sweet Nintendo love.
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I was simply going to post a link on Twitter with a pithy, sarcastic remark about this FoxNews story, but then I started to actually read the article. Dire predictions and ominous warnings about violent video games are nothing new, but this article about Bulletstorm rises (sinks?) to a whole new level, and if only to preserve my own sanity, I wanted to give it a thorough critique.
One of my profs once said, “Satire is dead,” and reading this article, I’m forced to agree. Towards the end it reads like a parody piece from The Onion, and I’m still not entirely convinced that this isn’t a plant directly from Epic Games or EA.
(Reposting due to broken link to podcast)
We’ve got a headline show this week! But first, banter.
We put off talking about games ’til next week, because we’ve got a ton of stuff, and the Steam Sale was still going on, so who knows what all may have been purchased between recording and releasing. We do talk, though, about preparations for a topic show in Episode 33, which we want your participation in. Also, OnLive appears to have a plan to make money. (Shocking!)
Headlines!
Bonus feature after the credits: Alex has an interview with American Idol winner, Jordin Sparks. The interview has nothing to do with gaming, it was just a “something interesting happened this week” event.
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It’s our first pre-E3 episode, which is why you’re getting hold of it early. Before we jump into E3 speculation (and music game debates), there’s some game talk. Jonathan has parted company with Demon’s Souls, but he’ll be back for more later. Alex’s elves were destroyed by goblins in Blood Bowl, and he’s thrilled with Bad Company 2.
We want you to contribute to our Best of ’09 show in a couple of week. Deets are here.
Our E3 preview covers the Nintendo 3DS, next-gen motion controllers, the new keytar, and which company has the most to prove (Hint: their name starts with an “S” and ends with an “ony”).
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We have a special guest this episode: The Great Mr. Chibi! David has been a guest on a few different podcasts, most recently the Up! episode of Back Seat Producers. He’s an art student, and we’ve brought him on to help us discuss the Games As Art issue, such as it is.
We talk about a ton of stuff, and Jonathan (who’s writing these show notes) is swamped with finals, so the show notes are going to be a bit light, even if the show is full of topics.
Here’s some of the inspiration for this episode:
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