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Weekend Confirmed Episode 21
by Garnett Lee, Aug 13, 2010 12:00pm PDTBefore Garnett and Brian head to Texas for QuakeCon, they sit down with Jeff to record this week's show. It's a broad swath of gaming in Whatcha' Been Playin? ranging from more Madden and Starcraft 2 to Arc Rise Fantasia and even Minecraft. Your thoughts from our conversation last week about the viability of female characters leads the Warning before the subject turns to the line between fun, engaging game design and frustrating compulsion to beat a game. And in the front page there's news of new Borderlands DLC and the celebrity voice cast in Fallout New Vegas. Due to travel we recorded early this week but we'll have Jeff's reaction to Bioshock Infinite and look at July's sales figures next week.
Weekend Confirmed Ep. 21 - 08/13/2010
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Weekend Confirmed comes in four segments to make it easy to listen to in segments or all at once. Here's the timing for this week's episode:
Whatcha' Been Playin: Start: 00:00:00 End: 00:30:37
Whatcha' Been Playin and Cannata-ford a New Game: Start: 00:31:40 End: 01:03:29
The Warning: Start: 01:04:38 End: 01:36:58
Music Break featuring "Quid Pro Quo" by Civicminded Start: 01:36:58 End: 01:40:14
The Front Page: Start: 01:40:14 End: 02:12:19
Music Break this week comes from Civicminded, winners of the Best New Artist honors in the Omaha Arts and Entertainment Awards. The track "Quid Pro Quo" comes from the band's debut effort, Sequence. You can download the full song for free on the Civicminded Facebook page. You can also catch up with them on MySpace. Civicminded’s own Phil Reno also composed the soundtrack for the Giant Bombcast.
Original music in the show by Del Rio. Get his latest single, Small Town Hero on iTunes and check out more at his Facebook page.
Jeff can also be seen on The Totally Rad Show. New episodes come out weekly on Tuesday.
Our Official Facebook Weekend Confirmed Page is coming along now so add us to your Facebook routine. We'll be keeping you up with the latest on the show there as well.
Weekend Confirmed will be taping live at PAX! Hope you can join us Saturday, Sep 4 at 2pm in the Serpent Theatre.
Comments
Then theres the fact that some RPGs give you a different take on the same things if you play through it again as the opposite sex. For example, when i play Bioware games. I play them first as a Male cahracter, then as a female because im curious how interactions might change in thegame because I am a female that timea round. Situations get a new perspective because of the way other character adress you. I am a dude 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year and Its interesting to view things as a female in video games because its something I cannot do short of getting a expensive series of operations, and I am comfortable enough in my masculinity to try things as a female and maybe pursue realtionships with the supporting male characters to see the interactions those characters have and see more of the writing and dialouge if its say a Bioware game, because I love the writing in those games and the V.O work. I am not saying I want to be a women, but I am saying thats its a interesting change of perspective if you are playing as a female in a game.
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Games that I'm not embarrasssed to admit I like are things like Limbo, Mirror's Edge, Heavy Rain, and Braid, because the experience of actually playing them is a deeper, more intellectual experience. So long as most games base gameplay involves playing with guns and nerdy wish fulfilment, rather than something more ambitious, I won't be so proud to call out that I'm a gamer.
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I've noticed that the difference in Easy difficulty and Normal seems to be fairly big. It seems like there needs to be a nice in between difficulty level. My brother (who's not a big RTS guy) has found that he can stomp all over the AI on Easy without hardly trying, but Normal rapes him. I need to try the various difficulties (I've mostly played with him agains the AI to help him get the hang of it) but I have noticed that it seems gimped on Easy and far far more competent on Normal and perhaps there needs to be a Sorta Easy option for people like my brother (though I'm helping him with our CO-OP sessions, but he's said that he'd likely give up on the MP side of the game if I wasn't assisting him...not that I'm even remotely good (I'm hilariously rusty...and even back in the day I wasn't able to compete online with really good players who could rape me)).
As to Dragon Quest...I agree with Jeff that this game heavily benefits from being on the DS...I'm not a J-RPG guy...in fact I almost actively hate them (not really...but they aren't my kind of game). I actually did like DQ8...but I think that was largely nostalgia. That having been said I've found J-RPGs to actually be enjoyable on the portable...I can't stomach any of the more modern FF games and most other J-RPGs on consoles are just off-putting to me (I hate them), but on the DS they're nicely bite-sized and enjoyable when done correctly.
I'll also say that I like the battles in DQ9...I'm not a big fan of overly complicated and drawn out turn-based JRPG battles...and I hate watching elaborate bullshit when I do some sort of special attack. I generally love that DQ9 is nice and simple...I pick what I want to do, my characters quickly do that shit, and I move on...it never becomes irritating (perhaps part of the problem is that I hate battles in JRPGs...so the fact that I can just get them over with in DQ9 is maybe why I don't mind them so much).
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I'm asking because its my opening gambit on a site that Ive been asked to do a sort of couple week trial to see if they want to keep me, wont shove it down your throat ill leave a link at the bottom if you wanna check it out
Anyway i decided on Beat Hazard a game Ive already mentioned on a post here (the one about the community cannataford-a-new-game) TEKKEN 6 which is the perfect drunk button masher in my eyes and modern warfare 2 simply because its easy to set up, easy to get to grips with and most people know it already.
so what do you like to play with your drunk friends?
http://www.dropdeadcomedians.com/the-game-hobo/
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I'm reminded of being a kid and only having SFII for my SNES. I beat the game on the hardest difficulty and then had to imagine ways to increase the challenge so that it was still fun. I'd try to beat the game by "perfecting" every round, or try to beat it without special moves etc.
That's what I love about achievements now. Want Dead Space to be more of a challenge? Play it with only the plasma cutter. Want HL2E2 to be ridiculously hard? Carry the garden gnome through the whole game. It allows me to choose my level of difficulty in a way that Easy/Medium/Hard will never be able to do.
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---and for the record, I still enjoy having a huge collection of games.. but with three boys, an XBOX, PS3, Wii, and all the portables sometimes, you hafta sacrafice a game here and there.
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bit pathetic i know but it gets me everytime.
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My favorite games are the ones that are challenging single player games (Battletoads, Super Ghosts and Goblins) or challenging multiplayer games where you can pass the controller back and forth (Super Monkey Ball, Super Mario Bros. Adventures). The reason I like those games is because I always played them on the couch with friends. It was a social time as we attempted to outdo each other. I don't get that same feeling from online multiplayer games, even with achievements and what not. It's something to do with having a witness there as you do something challenging.
I have a friend who lives far away, so we only get to visit about once a year. During that week, we would spend at least one full day playing Super Monkey Ball Deluxe (the Xbox version) as we attempt to beat Exam - C. I am still unable to beat that level, but I return again and again to it because of the investment of time I've put into it.
Certain games just become our nemesis and we can't rest until we've conquered it.
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To kick it off, I decided to pick one game I think everyone can agree on and one that some will probably balk at.
My first choice is Carcassonne. It is a video game based off of a board game in which you build land, buildings and roads by placing tiles. Putting a piece down does not instantly make it yours. To do so you have to put down a settler.
Carcassonne is a pretty laid back game that is great for playing while listening to podcasts like Weekend Confirmed, and is cheap and available on a wide variety of devices and consoles.
My second (and probably slightly controversial) pick is Shadowrun, for the Xbox 360 and PC. People rightly slammed it at its initial price point because it didn't have nearly enough modes or levels, but I tried it as a rental from the Gamestop I was working at and instantly fell in love. The mechanics are varied and massively fun, and trying out the different tech/magic abilities never became old. I also found the community to be a much more mature and team-centric group than your standard Live players.
I think anyone who enjoys shooters should try it, since it is only $5 for a used copy of the 360 version from Gamestop!
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FFXIII is not auto battle
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I read a report recently that said "gaming consoles consume over 1 billion dollars in fuel and release 7 million tons of carbon dioxide a year."
I want to know what you guys thoughts on video games and the environment, as well as anything you suggest as a way of lessening our impact while still following our passion.
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This reminded me of an occurrence that happened just a few weeks ago.
A friend of mine had let me borrow Red Dead Redemption after he finished it.
Once I had finished it we began a talk about the heavy social commentary that was placed throughout the game and our opinions on it at a bonfire he had at his house.
Before we could even start our discussion, another friend of mine heard that we were talking about a 'video game' and totally shut us down for it, didn't bother to even listen to what we had to say about it because of the fact that it was a 'game.'
This is a person that enjoys watching and talking about the shit television Garnett specifically pointed to in his argument. If anything, gaming hasn't become socially acceptable because of ignorance as well as people's god awful tastes in entertainment.
I would love to hear you three talk more about this subject in the future.
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Might be fun, but not likely coming soon to Madden 12.
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Video Games are still a very young medium. Developers are still trying to figure out the best way to use games to tell a story. When something like Heave Rain comes out, it feels like an experiment. The lessons learned from these "experiments" will help developers figure out the answers to questions like, "We know we can tell an intelligent and mature story using games, but, what is the best way to present that story and keep it fun?"
When we think of where video games will be in 50 years, we usually think of the tech. "Will we be controlling games with our minds?" But, I like to think where story telling will be in 50 years.
The problem is, with every new development in tech, it completely changes everything. Huge leaps are not often made in film or books, but in video games, it's completely different for every generation of consoles. That's why launch games are not usually that good. They are having to re-find their footing again.
So, as much as we can talk about the growth of games in general, I feel like every eight years or so, the cycle re-starts, and, at least in the beginning of a console life-cycle, it's less about "What can we do with a video game" and more about, "What can we do with this system?"
Maybe I'm wrong about this, but it seems to me that the other major mediums for story telling have a lot more time to naturally grow over many decades, where as video game developers usually have less than a decade before they basically have to start from scratch again. I can't help but wonder if this has hindered developers' ability to really get a feel for the tools they have to work with and learn the best ways to use those tools to tell a story, because, by the time they do figure it out, those tools are out of date and a whole new batch of tools is thrown at them.
Even the peripherals could change it. I'll bet game developers are out there, right now, sctratching their heads, thinking, "Ok, how can I best use Kinect and Move to tell a story?" Same for the 3DS. And when the next generation of consoles hit, it'll be the same thing. "Well, I was starting to get the PS3 figured out, but, now, how do I use this new thing to best tell a story?" I really can't think of any other medium of story telling that goes through major changes as much as video games do. And I don't know if it's necessarily a good thing. Not saying it's a bad thing, either, just throwing this out there.
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Like many people, my roommate is (was) an WoW player. He recently got a job at a consulting firm, because of, and not in spite of, talking about this passion.
His love was the 2v2 arena. He explained the arena in terms of having to be properly prepared to face different combinations of classes, being able to adapt strategies on the fly and maintaining a level-head in stressful situations. This prepared him to easily work in new situations, and being able to cope when things don't go according to plan.
He went on to talk about his time leading a guild in terms of managerial skills:
- Time management / scheduling for 30+ people,
- Creating effective teams by recognizing player's strengths and weakness,
- Conflict resolution
Not only did he confidently talk about his love for gaming, but was able to spin it into helping him with real skills, just as playing basketball would make you a better team player.
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Here is the link to game in the steam store http://store.steampowered.com/app/9180/
Basically, the way that I can best describe it, is that it's being able to do all of the things that you imagined doing as a kid building forts with pillows and blankets. Or at least that's very much the same feeling that I get from it. It's this kind of child-like feeling of exploration and fun danger. It's very tough to describe it well, because it's a very unique experience. What I can say is that it's very neat.
I think that it starts with the idea of being in love with the concept of a badass woman. For me, that's Uma Thurman's character in Kill Bill. Kill Bill is practically my most favorite film(s) of all time. Shortly after watching that, I recall hearing Garnett just praise the hell out of Tomb Raider Anniversary back on 1up Yours, and when I checked that out, it just grabbed me and dragged me in like no other game. The mechanics, sheer volume of content, and adventure alone was enough to make me swear by Tomb Raider Anniversary.
I went and picked up Beyond Good and Evil based on just constant praise by everyone on the internet for the game, and I adored that. Years after enjoying Indigo Prophecy, I finally decided to hunt down a copy of Dreamfall: The Longest Journey on Xbox, and that, too, had me by the tie, leading me to get The Longest Journey on PC, which is by far the greatest adventure game ever.
It doesn't hurt that I absolutely love Mirror's Edge for both aesthetic and concept, along with WET for essentially being Kill Bill the videogame, despite its own downfalls.
I guess what I'm saying is this: If you're a dude gamer who avoids games with female protagonists (and I've heard nothing but good things about Bayonetta), then you're a dumbass who's missing out on some of the best damn games of the past two decades. Not to mention, who can forget Portal? Is it just me, or are there a whole lot of "hardcore" games with female protags that are nothing but the best of their genres?
And on a side note, I love Nausicaa: The Valley of the Wind.
I would've mentioned FFX-2, and mind you, its my favorite FF game thanks to its combat system, but I wouldn't call it a shining example of awesome female characters. FFXIII is another interesting anecdote of female leads in games, but let's face it, she's basically a lady Cloud with a "caring older sister" archetype mixed in. The Cloud part is enough for people to latch on to the game.
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I enjoyed a game with extended playability and possessed a higher tolerance of excruciatingl difficulty as a kid. Lifestyle as a 30-year old father with family, fitness, work, and other responsibilities, I just want the experience. I enjoyed Dante's Inferno until I reached the point of inflection. Developers should realize the various play styles of their consumers and create reward systems accordingly. Too often the myopic perspective of "playing the game the way I want you to" is blurred in today's gaming landscape.
For example, a Sunday might be a great day for a person to join an epic 4 hour World of Warcraft raid because he or she has a lot of time to spend on that day. That's not the case on the coming Monday where that person only can spend 15 minutes to play Peggle at the lunch break from work. After a long day of work, he or she can just sit down on the couch and have a relaxing journey into a Flower experience.
A person wants challenge if they are mentally up for it. I personally don't invest in a challenging game when I know I'm working 6 days a week with overtime. That's why I put games on easy when I want to experience the story, and set it on hard if want to experience the challenge.
It does however still feel like a daunting task to learn what needs to be learned for me to get to a point where I'd be satisfied.
I love the challenges though and I do feel they have helped me quite a bit. Will probably go back soon to go for gold in the ones that I am missing. I have found that the skill needed to get gold in most of the challenges forces better habits which has translated into better play for me.
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Good luck on the panel though!
In most shooters you play as one dude, running around killing hundreds, (HUNDREDS!), of enemies per game usually all on your own. You're like a one man genocide. You play as the good guy, yet by the end of the game you've killed more people than Pol Pot. Meanwhile the enemy has killed, what, two or three of your teammates? The bastards! The ridiculousness of that should be plain to see.
Add to that the fact that your character often has muscles bigger than the couch you're sitting on, and the dialogue is mostly comprised of enough macho soundbites, and bromides to make a lethal drinking game out of them.
What's more, it's not uncommon for your character to know how to operate every single pistol, SMG, machine gun, light machine gun, sniper rifle, rocket launcher, jeep, snowmoblie, tank, helicopter, hang glider, jet pack, and airplane known to man! And we have the audacity to laugh at MacGyver? (Okay, we can laugh at MacGyver).
Oh also your characters health is more resilient than Tony Randall's sex drive, (god rest his fertile soul).
Now obviously I know that we need many of those above mentioned abilities in order to create a fun enjoyable experience but that doesn't make them any less silly. The point I'm trying to make is that I don't think games enthusiasts should be surprised that their hobby isn't more accepted.
Now is any of this more silly than say Jersey Shore? It doesn't matter if it is or not because Jersey Shore, as ridiculous as it is, is part of the world of television, a medium that has been socially acceptable for decades. Video games on the other hand, despite how sophisticated they've become are still attached to 20 plus years of geek stigma. That perception is changing, but the medium has a while to go before it's completely shaken its dorky image.
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If you have not played Oblivion, on any system, you owe it to yourself to do so. I have personally put over in 220 hours on this game, and it is one of the best games of this generation.
It's like Fallout 3 without guns. (*WINK*). (This is a joke, please understand this)
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If given the decision to play as a male, roided-up, bald, space marine with the personality of a rock, or as an attractive, female, space marine with the personality of a rock, I'm going to choose the lesser of two evils. The truth is, I'm not going to identify with either of them, so why not pick the one that's more visually appealing? I've played countless Pokemon games where I've selected the female character, not because she's "hot" but because the character design is more appealing.
However, when presented with a game like Persona 3 Portable, where I have the option of playing two different, compelling storylines that are split by gender, I'll pick the male so that I can identify with the character, since I'm being forced to "roleplay" as him.
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I lack the narcissism to create a character that looks like me. Instead, I've always seen RPGs - pen-and-paper or otherwise - as a chance to role-play a totally different being. I've played the role of a human commoner for 25 years; so why sacrifice the chance to play the part of a 4' gnome warrior tank and imagine what it would be like to be in her shoes?
This is probably why I utterly enjoy most games with robust character customisation: not just in terms of looks, but - more importantly - playstyles and mannerisms. Seeing a game react one way to my halo-wearing kleptomaniac sniper and another to a 1 Int Mentats-addict Bruiser is all it takes for me to spend over 2 years (accumulated) playing the same game.
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Good work, and Brian, you should consider playing some fans some time.
PLEASE BRING THIS TO PC!
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